Constructing A Football Field

To teach the students about the importance of having good number sense we used the situation of constructing a football field. We presented the problem to the kids that we wanted a field that had even sides and was squared up. We gave the students the measurements of 90 feet long and 30 feet wide. We gave them the tools of the surveyor's wheel and a string line. They used the wheel to determine the length of all the sides. The kids used the string line to make sure the sidelines were straight. They used the wheel to mark every ten feet with cones . We will introduce the builders square next week so that the rectangle truly can be in square.
In the previous weeks we have taught the children about using standard and non standard measurement. They learned that so many steps would equal ten feet. They had been marking the field using the pacing method. We introduced algebraic thinking by asking them to tell us how many steps it would take to equal 10, 20, ...100 feet.
This was also helpful in the football game because the defensive line has to stand back ten feet before the snap. We also make the children go 30 feet for the first down.
As a side note we have the students keep score on our flip the numbers board. We reinforce the terms of tens and ones while they are changing the score.