Measurement (time): Voracious Vole
Challenge level ⭐
(designed for children with prior knowledge of the Year 3 programme of study)
Learning Objective
We are learning how to solve a natural world problem by using and applying our skills and knowledge of measurement and time, number and multiplication.
Useful prior knowledge:
- To record time in hours, minutes and seconds
- To compare length in cm and m by using scaling
Credit: BBC Two - Springwatch
Clip Description
Growing to a length of around 30 cm, the water vole is the largest of the UK’s vole species. Often mistaken for the brown rat, the water vole is commonly found living along the banks of rivers and streams. They use the waterways to swim away from danger. Unlike the brown rat, the water vole has a blunt, rounded nose and small ears that are half hidden in fur.
In this fascinating clip, we meet the water voles of Glasgow. Unusually, they have made their home in a park, far away from the riverbank. These tiny mammals like nothing more than eating juicy blades of grass. How would you know if a ‘grassland’ water vole was living in a park near you? Watch the clip to find out.
Quick Whiteboard Challenge
In the video, you can see the water voles eating lots of grass. It’s their favourite food! They must eat a huge amount of grass every day, nibbling off blades of grass and storing them around their burrows.
If each blade of grass eaten measures 8 cm, how many blades would they need to eat a metre of grass?