We have spent days in my room being able to read and interpret line plots, as well as learning how to measure to the nearest quarter inch and ordering fractions including mixed numbers. This activity requires a lot of background knowledge, but it's great and a lot of fun!
To start, I cut up pieces of ribbon into varying lengths between 2 inches and 5 inches. I highly suggest using a wider ribbon (at least 1/2 inch) for easy handling and one that will not fray easily. I then used tiny snack size baggies and gave each student 12-15 ribbons (the amount of ribbons and diversity of measurement helped to differentiate the assignment!).
After using a focus lesson/launch of ordering fractions and mixed numbers, students set off to work with their learning partners.
If you are trying to teach your students 3.md.4, or just want to teach an interactive math lesson, my students LOVED this. It took about 30 minutes, varying from different sets of partners, so make sure you have 'Early Finishers' task cards ready to go! I uploaded the activity sheet at my TPT store for free so make sure you download a copy!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Measuring-and-Creating-Line-Plots-with-Ribbon-1778011
Enjoy!
