"I enjoyed helping out in the Measurement Olympics. It was a great learning experience for me and my classmates, " declared Hadiyah Barnett of the Math Measurement Olympics held during the morning on February 26 and 27.

An annual event since 2004, the Measurement Olympics were organised by Northlands Primary School mathematics co-ordinator Keisha Allen-Smith. The purpose behind the event was to make students more aware of how Maths in general and measurement in particular were a part of everyday life.

Nine activity stations were set up around the assembly hall and at each station children were asked to complete a measurement activity that was related to weight, length, capacity or time. At the cotton ball shotput, students had to measure how far they could throw a cotton ball, while measuring distance jumped took place at the broad jump station.

Students were also asked to determine whether their foot was actually 12 inches in length.

Time activities included determining how long a student could hum and could balance on one foot — not simultaneously!

The weight activities asked students to weigh their backpacks, the lightest bag winning and determine the weight of the mini teddy bears they could grab in one hand. Students also had to guess the volume of a block made from connector cubes and measure the volume of water they could squeeze from a sponge in one squeeze.

Each class, from primary one to primary six, had half an hour to complete all the measurement activities in the hall.

The winner from each class for each event was given a prize. The Primary 6 students monitoring the stations were responsible for giving instructions and for all the measuring and recording at each station.

"The Measurement Olympics was a great experience for all the grades. It taught us everything about math and measurement," P6 student Shondenae Woods-Bell noted.

Classmate Destinee Taylor agreed: "The Measurement Olympics was a great chance for us to learn about measurement and to help show the younger children that math can be fun."