Kindergarten - MATH
1: Letters
Unit 1: A - A Is for Musk Ox
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are instructed to cut brown yarn into 6-inch strips, which references a specific length. The directions also ask for tearing about 1/4 of a cotton ball to make a tuft and for gluing on as many strands of "hair" as can fit, which involves working with quantities and fractional amounts. The review asks the child to practice counting to 20, showing number familiarity that can support measurement tasks.
Unit 3: I - The Little Island
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are shown a ruler and tape measure and asked to measure lengths such as the child's height, the length of a table, a sofa, and a room, and to write down these measurements. Students are asked to compare those recorded measurements to identify which is longest and which is shortest. An optional extension has students look at inches and feet and see that there are 12 inches in a foot.
Unit 4: T - What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 1 has students compare two yarn "tails" and state which is longer or shorter, and then put eight tails in order from shortest to longest and vice versa. The optional extension has students measure tails by laying paper clips end-to-end and counting how many paper clips long each tail is. These tasks have students use and discuss the measurable attribute of length through comparison, ordering, and nonstandard measurement.
Unit 5: L - We're Going on a Leaf Hunt
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to name and use adjectives to describe leaves (e.g., colorful, brown, crunchy, soft, sharp, shiny, round, big) and to discuss how objects are described. The skills list explicitly tells students to observe objects with their senses and to classify objects by physical properties, including size and weight. Activity 1 has students gather a variety of leaves, and Activity 2 has students sort and count leaves, which requires attending to observable attributes (such as size or shape) when classifying.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students lay out a collection of leaves, examine features, and are guided to sort the leaves according to attributes such as color, shape, or size (for example, small, medium, and large). Students count the number of leaves in each group and then perform a new sort by a different attribute (color). The activity also asks students to think of other features they could use to sort the leaves.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to examine plants and talk about parts (roots, stem, leaves, flowers) and to compare features such as what a tree root is like compared to a blade of grass. The lesson prompts students to talk about "what sizes and shapes do leaves come in" and to observe seedling stems, leaves, and roots using a magnifying glass as they grow. Students also plant seeds and watch growth over time, which creates opportunities to notice changes in size.
Unit 6: F - Fireflies
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills section explicitly asks students to "Compare and sort common objects by one physical attribute (e.g., color, shape, texture, size, or weight)," which directs students to attend to measurable attributes such as size or weight. The Student Activity Page includes a firefly pattern that students can observe or manipulate, allowing them to notice physical attributes of an object.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students sort creature picture cards into groups (insects vs non-insects) and count the number in each group. Students are prompted to come up with new ways to sort creatures, with examples that include comparisons of physical attributes such as "long legs versus short legs" and "thin bodies versus round bodies."
Unit 7: E - But No Elephants
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly prompts students to recognize that "Objects can be measured and compared." In Activity 1 students identify and color five animal pictures, discuss which animal is biggest and smallest, and order the animals from smallest to largest and then largest to smallest. The activity has students physically arrange cut-out animals to compare relative size and to discuss pairs whose sizes are close.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students sort and count geometric shapes and are asked to "order each group from smallest to largest," which requires comparing size. The Student Activity Pages list shapes described as "large," "medium-sized," and "small," and the Elephant Assembly Diagram asks students to select and assemble shapes of different sizes to make a single object.
Lesson 3
Day 3
In Activity 3, students sort animal pictures by number of legs using number cards 0, 2, 4, and 6 and count how many animals are in each category. The activity asks students to count the number of legs altogether in each category and to count legs by 2s, engaging students in quantifying an attribute. The lesson also suggests sorting by size as another way to group the animals, prompting consideration of size as an attribute.
Unit 8: C - Millions of Cats
Lesson 1
Day 1
Activity 1 instructs children to pick a feature (color, size, or pattern) and sort the die-cut cats by that feature, then count the number of cats in each group. The Skills list includes "Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count," which has students compare groups by an attribute. Activity 2 has students list physical features (whiskers, tails, paws, fur), showing practice in identifying object attributes.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Option 2 asks the child to arrange coins into a lowercase 'c' and to note that an uppercase C is the same shape as a lowercase c but the lowercase c is half the height. This prompts students to compare a measurable attribute (height) and to notice relative size and shape.
Unit 9: G - The Real Mother Goose
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 2 has students identify the shape of lids, put the round objects in order from smallest to largest, and find a way to sort the objects while explaining how they decided to group them. The stamping activity asks students to experiment with different sizes of circles, implicitly comparing object sizes as they make prints.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are shown a die-cut circle and a ball and asked to identify similarities and differences; the text explicitly tells students that the circle has length and width and the ball also has depth, introducing length/width/depth as attributes. Students are prompted to name spherical objects and to explain where a sphere is compared to another object using descriptive phrases (for example, "the sphere is on top of the shelf"), giving practice with describing position and dimensional vocabulary.
Unit 10: O - Owl Babies
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students cut out and sort circles, ovals, and triangles and are asked to order the shapes within their categories by size. Students are prompted to identify how many sides a triangle has and to distinguish a circle from an oval by describing the distance from the middle. Students color the biggest and smallest shapes (e.g., color the biggest triangle and biggest oval brown; color the two small circles and the small triangle orange).
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to make progressively smaller and larger lowercase o's ("make the smallest letter o... then ask him to make a bigger one. Try a really big one!") so they compare sizes. The lesson points out that a lowercase o is half the height of an uppercase O and that the lowercase o "only comes as high as the dotted line," which has students attend to height as an attribute.
Unit 12: D - Dinosaurs Big and Small
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly lists the skill to "Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight" and to "Describe several measurable attributes of a single object." In Activity 1 students measure a child's height with a tape measure or yardstick, cut yarn to that length, measure dinosaur lengths (3 ft., etc.), lay the yarns side by side, and answer who is longer/shorter and which is longest/shortest. Students directly compare lengths of multiple objects (child and several dinosaurs) and describe differences (longer/shorter).
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students build and use a simple balance to compare the weights of two objects: they predict which is heavier, place objects in the bowls, observe which side is lower and which way the bead hangs, and try to make bowls equal by adding objects. Students identify and produce descriptive words for dinosaurs (tall, short, long necks, sharp teeth, big/small) through a poem and picture prompts, and they practice the word "big" in reading. The activities explicitly ask students to compare weights and to describe dinosaurs using adjectives related to size and length.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 directs students to look for adjectives that tell size or other descriptive qualities and lists examples such as gigantic, longer, thick, sturdy, heaviest, tallest. Students are asked to find or think of describing words for pictures in books and then share some of the adjectives they found or thought about. Activity 3 has students paste realistic dinosaur pictures and dictate factual sentences, which could prompt use of descriptive words about those dinosaurs.
Unit 13: P - Harold and the Purple Crayon
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson asks students to identify rectangles and squares and to explain attributes: "A rectangle has 2 long sides and 2 short sides" and "A square has 4 sides of equal length." In Activity 2 students sort cut‑out squares and rectangles and count how many of each, which requires attending to side lengths and relative size.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 3 asks students to explain the difference between a square and a rectangle and explicitly states a rectangle has "2 longer sides and 2 shorter sides," having students decide which solid matches which flat shape. Students trace the bottom of a cube and a rectangular prism and notice the bottom shapes (square vs. rectangle). Students count the number of flat sides (faces), edges, and corners of the assembled cube and rectangular prism.
Unit 15: R - Rain
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to use all five senses to describe a cup of water and a piece of ice, answering how it looks, sounds, feels, smells, and tastes. Students describe shape properties by noting that a liquid takes the shape of its container while ice (a solid) has a particular shape. Students observe change over time by predicting and then watching the ice melt and comparing the cup of water before and after freezing. These tasks require students to describe several attributes of the same object (water/ice).
Unit 17: M - Marshmallow
Lesson 3
Day 3
The Measuring Animals with Marshmallows activity has students form a line of marshmallows next to a toy from top to bottom, count the marshmallows, and write down the length measurement. Students repeat the procedure with a second toy and are asked to determine which animal is longer. The lesson also prompts students to consider size comparisons using words like bigger, longer, or heavier.
Unit 18: U - Umbrella
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to describe clouds they have seen and explain how they are alike and different, and then to recreate cloud shapes with cotton balls, which involves observing and describing shape and size. In the origami fan activity, students are instructed to fold about 1 inch repeatedly and to fold about 2 inches for a handle, which has them use and apply the measurement term "inch" and create parts of a paper object with specified lengths.
Unit 19: J - Jump Frog Jump
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson's Math/Social Skills list includes: "Compare and sort common objects by one physical attribute (e.g., color, shape, texture, size, weight)." This explicitly asks students to attend to physical attributes such as size and weight when comparing and sorting objects.
Unit 20: K - Kindness
Lesson 2
Day 2
The craft instructions tell students to cut a piece of string that is "6 inches" long and to cut two "half inches" of string for whiskers, so students handle and produce specified lengths. The student page provides three circles of varying sizes for tracing, so students work with objects that differ in size. These steps require students to follow and use length measurements (inches) in a hands-on activity.
Unit 21: V - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students compare a can and a paper towel roll and are asked what is the same and what is different, with the expected response that the shape is the same but the size is different. Students examine a die-cut cone and describe observable attributes (round on the bottom, pointy top) and identify other cone-shaped objects. Students look at instrument pictures and identify which instruments have cylinder or cone shapes, noting that some instruments combine shapes.
Unit 22: Y - Little Blue and Little Yellow
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson's skills explicitly ask students to "Understand how objects are described based on their physical properties and how they are used" and to "Classify objects by observable physical properties (including size, color, shape, texture, weight, and flexibility)." In activities, students identify shapes (e.g., naming Little Blue and Little Yellow as circle-like and as spheres in solid form) and manipulate spherical objects while observing color mixing. The activities prompt students to observe and name observable properties such as color and shape.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to collect items "if the item is small enough to fit in the lunch bag," which requires them to judge the size of natural objects during the scavenger hunt. Students sort collected items into color boxes, and are instructed to sketch large objects (such as a tree trunk) when they cannot collect them, engaging with size differences. In Activity 2, students tear and arrange "bigger shapes of the same color for the parents," creating and recognizing larger versus smaller shapes.
Unit 24: Q - The Quilt Story
Lesson 3
Day 3
In Activity 2 students match die-cut shapes to name cards and respond to spoken clues that describe shape attributes, including length-related language: "All of my sides are the same length" (square) and "I have two long sides and two short sides" (rectangle). The shape clues also ask students to identify counts of sides or corners (e.g., "I have four sides and four corners," "I have six sides"), and one clue refers to decomposition/size relationships ("You can fit 6 triangles inside me"). The student activity page lists shape names and provides cut-outs for hands-on matching.
Unit 25: X - An Extraordinary Egg
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson's Skills list explicitly tells students that objects can be described in terms of physical properties (e.g., color, size, shape, weight, texture, flexibility, attraction to magnets, floating, sinking). The Skills list also requires students to observe common objects using the five senses and to observe and describe similarities and differences in appearance and behavior of plants and animals. Activity 2 asks students to page through the book and record factual aspects about frogs, which requires students to generate descriptive attributes.
Lesson 2
Day 2
In Activity 1 (Observing an Egg) students hold and manipulate a chicken egg and are prompted to describe its color, size (with an option to measure or compare), shape, and weight (using a scale or a balance to find an equivalent object). Students are also asked to describe texture, flexibility, magnet attraction, and whether the egg floats or sinks, and then observe the inside of the egg after cracking it open. These prompts explicitly ask students to attend to and describe multiple measurable attributes of a single object.
Unit 26: Z - Greedy Zebra
Lesson 1
Day 1
The sewing activity instructs spacing holes about 1/2" apart and notes that "the farther apart the holes are, the larger the stitches will be" and "make the holes closer together for smaller stitches," which gives students a concrete, length-related relation to observe. Students are given a needle, thread, and a grid of holes and encouraged to sew patterns, physically producing stitches of different sizes based on hole spacing. These directions require students to manipulate and observe a quantitative spacing (1/2") and the resulting change in stitch size.
Lesson 3
Day 3
In Activity 2, students examine animal cards and sort the animals into groups based on the number of legs they have. Students count how many animals are in each group and are asked, as an added challenge, to count how many legs are in each group. Students also generate and apply different sorting criteria (e.g., flying vs. land-dwelling, color, horns vs. no horns).
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to look at animal cards and line them up from shortest to tallest and then number the animals, which has them compare and order by height. Students choose pairs of numbered animals and state comparisons such as "The elephant is bigger than the onyx" or "The rhino has more legs than the hornbill," practicing comparative language about attributes.
2: Holidays
Unit 28: Thanksgiving
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to cut strips of construction paper "about 1"x3"" to make Lincoln's beard, and to use three rectangles to make a stovepipe hat, which requires attending to size and dimensions. Students are also instructed to attach a ruler to the back of the mask, providing an explicit tool associated with measuring. The handprint turkey step asks students to trim the paper into a rectangle that contains the handprint, involving selection of a measured shape.
Unit 29: Christmas
Lesson 1
Day 1
In Activity 1 students are given rectangular strips labeled with specific lengths (about 2", 3", 4", 5", and 6") and are asked to put them in order from shortest to longest, which engages them in comparing and describing length. The trunk is described as a brown square about 3" x 3", and students are asked to identify shapes and discuss features like number of sides while decorating the tree with foam shapes.
Unit 30: February Celebrations
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students fold a piece of red construction paper and draw a large heart, then cut it out to produce a visibly larger shape. Students are instructed to create a "slightly smaller" pink heart to glue onto the red heart and the activity title asks them to "Create The Biggest Valentine Ever," prompting comparisons of size between hearts. These steps have students produce and compare different-sized objects (large vs. smaller).