I use this activity at the end of the year to wrap up skills we have been practicing. This resource includes the following skills:

• Measuring using length and width (customary)
• Finding Area
• Unit Conversions
• Rounding Decimals
• Scaling Measurements
• Planning

Supplies:

• Measuring tapes (1 per group)
• Writing utensils
• Clip boards
• Building materials
  • Toothpicks
  • Skewers
  • Glue
  • Cardboard
  • Etc. 

Instructions:

Divide your students into groups. I chose groups of 5 or so because they will have to work together to measure the basketball court.

1. Give each group a measuring tape and model how to use the tool. 
2. Have students measure the length and width. Your measuring tape will not reach all of the way. Members of the team will have to record measurements to add together at the end.
3. Use page 1 to record measurements.
4. Find area of the court.
5. On page 2, students will convert measurements and round. There is a conversion chart on the bottom. 
6. On page 3, students will divide by powers of 10 to scale. I purposely did not chose the power of ten because they need to figure out how large or small they want. Realistically, it would need to be scaled down to fit on a 8.5 x 11 paper.  I prefer to use exponents for extra practice in that area.
7. On page 4, students finally get to sketch what they want the court to look like, labeling EXACT scaled measurements. 
8. Once the group’s sketch has been approved, they get to build a scaled model with supplies. They love this part!