Teaching Capacity with Gallon Guy...or Girl

One of the more difficult topics to teach in the Measurement unit is the topic of capacity.  In my years of teaching, I have witnessed it being taught a multitude of different ways but being a hands-on learner myself I wanted my students to have something they could not only see, but also experience themselves.  I stumbled onto Gallon Guy one afternoon while thumbing through a magazine and knew I had to have him!  He came in and I have been using him since then.  My students love him!  When constructing Gallong Guy each student gets at least one piece to place on Gallon Guy as he is being constucted.  Construction begins with the largest capacity unit: gallons, which makes up his torso and then continues with quarts which create his arms & legs.  The pints help create his hands and finally the cups help create the look of fingers.  Although Gallon Guy is not anatomically correct, he is a great way to get the students up and moving and involved in the process of learning the topic of capacity....AND once we make one as a class, they get to create their own.