Creating a Floor Plan

The students have been drawing, recording measurements and talking to each other about the different ways they might complete their final map of the ‘Community Garden Plots‘. To help us visualise other ways of documenting measurements, we created a floor plan of the classroom. This time, instead of drawing directly on paper, we wrote our measurements on post-it notes. 

First, we measured the length and width of the classroom. The students decided that the meter stick would be the most appropriate tool for this purpose.

Next, we thought about the measurements 790 cms X 947 cms. We used what we know about rounding to make the task easier. Our new measurement was 800 cms X 950 cms. The students realised that we cannot draw this on paper. We needed to think about a scale. They suggested we use the scale 1cm=10 cms. We used this information to draw the classroom floor plan.   

Then, each student measured different pieces of furniture that were in the classroom. Again, they rounded to the nearest 10 and wrote down their new measurements.

Finally, they drew a picture of their object to include on the floor plan. We used blu tak to position the objects as they could be moved around easily.

We wonder how this experience might influence the way the students create the map of the garden plots. How might rounding, scale and shape, influence the layout of the final map?

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