Materials
1' (30 cm) rulers Container for the rulers
Instructions
1. Introduce the set of rulers to the children, explaining that each one is one foot long and that the children will be measuring things with them in the classroom.
2. Use the rulers to measure a familiar object in the room, such as a shelf, by laying out as many rulers as needed along the shelf's length, then counting the rulers.
3. Explain that if the object being measured is a little longer or a little shorter than the last ruler, it will only be measured "to the nearest foot." If it is a little more than the last one, don't count the extra; if it is almost as long as the last ruler, go ahead and count it.
4. Measure several familiar objects in the room. Be sure also to measure one of the children; ask the child to lie down and then place rulers in a straight line beside him from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Children love to measure each other this way, and they especially love to measure the teacher!5. Return all rulers to the container and place the container where it is available to the children; invite them to choose this activity during free-choice time.More to doMore science: Use a larger set of rulers and measure objects or distances between objects on the playground. Point out that each one-foot ruler is divided into 12 inches, and measure objects to the nearest inch by first counting the rulers, then the inches on the last ruler to the end of the object being measured. * Have a "measuring wall" with a wide piece of paper fastened securely to the wall from the floor to about five feet. Mark each child's height on the paper and let him write his name beside the mark. Then let each child measure his height from the floor to the mark in feet and inches. Measure once in the fall and again in spring to show the amount each person has grown during the school year. * In a large open space, possibly outdoors, mark a line as a starting point and let the children make standing jumps from this point. Let each child mark where he lands by placing a plastic chip by the heel of his shoe. Then measure the distance from the starting point. To minimize any tendency to "stretch" the distance of the jump, the children could work in pairs with one jumping and the other measuring and then reversing their roles.
