Measure It!

$Measure It! book cover$

Grade 1
3 skill lessons · 4 math-through-reading

Math

Skill lessons

The mathematics the book carries, taught directly. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1Six Rulers Tall
2How Do You Know?
3Longer, Shorter, Shortest

Math + reading

Math through the reading

The same book, entered through a sentence it prints. Change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it.

4One Word, One Answer or Three
5The Snake With No Number
6How Do You Know?
7Two Towers, Two Sentences

Reading

Reading and language lessons

The same book read as a text. What a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how the writing is put together - no mathematics.

8The book asks, the book answers
9We use a ___ to measure ___
10Longer, taller, shortest
11The book is talking to you

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Skill lessons

3 lessons on the mathematics the book carries. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1. Six Rulers Tall Concept · Measuring a length by iterating one unit and counting the iterations

The book hands over its own unit and its own conversion in a single printed line, one ruler equals one foot, and then prints the ostrich at six feet without ever showing the six rulers that make it. Students build those six. They lay one ruler along a paper strip end to end with no gap and no overlap, mark each stopping place, and fill one box on a counting strip every time the ruler moves. The concept is that a length is a count of copies of one unit, so the answer is not read off anything: it is produced by moving one ruler and keeping track. The book's line about the foot is what lets the count be renamed, and children say the same height twice, once in rulers they moved and once in the word the book uses.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Lay the ruler down again and again (6 min)
Take the ostrich strip and lay your ruler along it, starting at the very end with no gap. Mark where the ruler stops, then pick the ruler up and put its end exactly on your mark. Keep going to the end of the strip. Never leave a gap and never let the ruler overlap what you already measured.
Word preview: ruler, length
Let's measure the length of the snake.
Ruler's measure length.
2. Count the rulers as you go (5 min)
Fill one box on your counting strip every time you pick the ruler up, and say the number out loud as you fill it. One touch, one box, one number word. When you reach the end of the strip, say how many rulers long the ostrich is.
Word preview: count
How tall is the ostrich?
The ostrich is very tall.
3. Say the same height in the book's words (5 min)
The book says one ruler is one foot. Say your count again with the word foot instead of the word ruler, so six rulers becomes six feet. Point at your six filled boxes while you say it. Then check your number against the number the book prints for the ostrich.
Word preview: foot, feet
1 ruler equals 1 foot or 30 centimeters.
6 feet or 1.8 meters tall, 4 feet or 1.2 meters tall.
4. Measure the snake the same way (4 min)
Now lay your ruler along the paper snake, starting flush at one end. Say how many rulers long the snake is, then say it again in feet. Tell your partner why the snake needs so many fewer rulers than the ostrich did.
Word preview: ruler
The snake is as long as the ruler.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Lay the ruler down again and again (5 min)
Lay your ruler along the ostrich strip from the very end, mark where it stops, then move the ruler so its end sits on your mark. Keep going with no gaps and no overlaps until you reach the end.
Word preview: ruler, length
Let's measure the length of the snake.
Ruler's measure length.
2. Count the rulers as you go (4 min)
Fill one box on your counting strip each time you pick the ruler up and say the number out loud. At the end say how many rulers long the ostrich is, then say it again in feet.
Word preview: count, foot
1 ruler equals 1 foot or 30 centimeters.

Three levels

Support: Work on the snake strip first, which takes one ruler and settles the rule with a single move: end flush, mark, stop. Then take the ostrich strip already folded into three, measure one fold, and say how many rulers that fold took. The counting strip and the saying stay exactly as they are for everyone else; what comes off is the length of the run, not the unit or the count.
At Grade: Measure the ostrich strip end to end with one ruler, filling a box and saying a number word at every move, say the total in rulers, say it again in feet using the book's line, and then measure the snake strip and say both of its numbers too.
Extension: Measure the ostrich strip a second time with a ruler that has been cut in half, and say how many of the short rulers it takes. Say why the number got bigger when the ostrich did not, and tell your partner which of your two numbers you would have to say the unit for if you wrote only the number down.

English learners

The act transfers completely: laying a unit end to end and counting the moves needs no English at all, and a child can produce a correct six before they can say any of this aloud. Never gate the measuring behind the words. English measures length with a noun that is also a body part, foot, and its plural is irregular, so a child who says six foots has the mathematics exactly right and the morphology wrong. Accept six foots and echo six feet back without correcting the child aloud. Rehearse the count as a chant, one ruler, two rulers, three rulers, before any strip is measured, so the number words are already in the mouth when the hands get busy. Invite children to count the moves in their strongest language while the ruler is still moving, and to say the finished total in English at the end.

Materials

A one-foot ruler for every pair, all of them the same length and unmarked on one edge
A paper ostrich strip cut to exactly six ruler lengths, one per pair, rolled to carry
Low-tack tape and a pencil for marking where each ruler-length ends
A counting strip of six blank boxes per pair, one box to be filled per ruler length
A paper snake strip cut to exactly one ruler length, one per pair
Word cards: ruler, foot, feet, length

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

2. How Do You Know? Reasoning · Settling a stated weight comparison by citing the printed quantity that funds it

The book states the comparison, asks how do you know, and then simply prints two labels and moves on. That gap is the lesson. Students commit to an animal with a card in the air before any number is read, then read the two printed labels aloud and answer the book's own question with one of its numbers inside their sentence. The mathematics is comparing two whole numbers whose size is obvious once both are heard, and the demand is that the number appears in the answer rather than the feeling: a lot is what the book says and it is not an answer. The last step reads the kilogram row instead and asks why a different pair of numbers gives the same verdict, which is where a child meets the idea that the unit and the number travel together.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Hold up the animal the book asks about (5 min)
Your teacher asks the book's question out loud. Hold up the walrus card if you think the answer is the walrus and the fish card if you think it is the fish. Keep your card up and look at what everyone else is holding. Say nothing yet about why.
Word preview: weigh, weighs
How much does the walrus weigh?
The walrus weighs a lot.
2. Read the two labels aloud (5 min)
Your teacher holds up the two weight labels the book prints. Read the pounds number on each one out loud. Point at the bigger number and say which animal's label it is on. Say the two numbers one after the other, the big one first, so everyone hears them side by side.
Word preview: pounds, kilograms
2,000 pounds or 907 kilograms.
10 pounds or 4.5 kilograms.
3. Answer the book's question with a number in it (6 min)
The book asks how do you know and then stops. Say your answer to your partner and put one of the labels' numbers inside your sentence. Say which animal weighs less and say the number that told you. A sentence with no number in it does not count yet, so say it again with one.
Word preview: less than
The fish weighs less than the walrus.
How do you know?
4. Try it with the other row of numbers (4 min)
Now read the kilograms number on each label instead. Say the two kilogram numbers out loud. Say whether your answer about which animal weighs less changed when you used the other row. Tell your partner why it did not.
Word preview: kilograms
2,000 pounds or 907 kilograms.
10 pounds or 4.5 kilograms.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read the two labels aloud (5 min)
Your teacher holds up the two weight labels the book prints. Read the pounds number on each one out loud, point at the bigger number, and say which animal it belongs to.
Word preview: pounds
2,000 pounds or 907 kilograms.
10 pounds or 4.5 kilograms.
2. Answer the book's question with a number in it (4 min)
The book asks how do you know and does not answer. Say which animal weighs less to your partner and put one of the numbers you just read inside your sentence.
Word preview: less than
The fish weighs less than the walrus.
How do you know?

Three levels

Support: Work with the pounds row only and leave the kilogram row covered for the whole lesson. Read the two numbers aloud with the teacher, then say the answer with the frame card in front of you and the number already circled on the label, so the sentence is built around a number your finger is on. The citing is not reduced and the frame still has to be finished aloud; what comes off is the second row of numbers.
At Grade: Commit to an animal with a card before any number is read, read both pounds numbers aloud, answer the book's question in a sentence containing one of them, then read the kilogram row and say why the answer held.
Extension: Cover the walrus label entirely and tell your partner what you would still be able to say about the two animals from the book's words alone, and what you would no longer be able to prove. Then say which of the book's two sentences about the walrus you could argue with if you had only the fish's label, and what number would settle it.

English learners

Number and comparison transfer, and a child who reads 2,000 and 10 knows which is larger in any language. The two things that do not transfer here are both worth planning for. The first is that English builds this comparison with a three-word chunk, weighs less than, whose middle word carries the direction and whose last word is almost never stressed, so a child may produce weighs less the fish and be understood as saying the opposite. Rehearse the whole frame The ___ weighs less than the ___. before the labels come out, with than said slowly. The second is that pounds and kilograms are not neutral: many children arrive already fluent in kilograms and meeting pounds for the first time, so the kilogram row may be the easier row for them and the pounds row the strange one. Say so plainly and let a child answer from whichever row they read more comfortably. Invite children to say which animal weighs less in their strongest language with a finger on the number, then say it again in English with the frame.

Materials

Two animal picture cards per pair, one walrus and one fish, big enough to hold up
Two large weight labels the teacher holds up: 2,000 pounds or 907 kilograms, and 10 pounds or 4.5 kilograms
The sentence frame card: The ___ weighs less than the ___.
Word cards: weigh, less than, pounds, kilograms

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

3. Longer, Shorter, Shortest Reasoning · Comparing two lengths directly and ordering three to find the shortest

The book asks two different questions four sentences apart and they are not the same question. Which snake is longer picks one of two, and which feather is the shortest ranks three and takes the end of the line. Students do both with paper strips, lining every set up at one end first so the comparison is settled by where the far ends fall rather than by how the strips happen to sit. The reasoning is in the last step, where a child covers one feather and finds that the superlative stops being answerable while the comparative would not have been disturbed. Nothing is measured here and no number is produced; the whole lesson runs on lining things up and looking at the far end, which is what the book's own two questions do.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Line two up at one end (6 min)
Take the green snake strip and the brown snake strip out of the envelope and lay them on the paper with both left ends touching the same line. Look at the other ends. Say which snake is longer, then say which snake is shorter, without moving either strip.
Word preview: longer, shorter
which snake is longer, the green snake or the brown snake.
The green snake is longer.
2. Say the pair both ways (4 min)
Point at one strip and say a sentence with longer in it that names both snakes. Then point at the other strip and say a sentence with shorter in it that names both snakes. Your partner checks that the strips did not move between your two sentences.
Word preview: longer, shorter
The green snake is longer.
3. Put three in order (6 min)
Take the three paper feathers and line all three up at the same end. Move them so the longest is at the top and the shortest is at the bottom. Say which feather is the shortest and point to it.
Word preview: shortest, longest
Look at the three feathers.
Can you tell which feather is the shortest?
4. Tell why shortest needed all three (4 min)
Cover one feather with your hand and ask your partner if they can still say which is the shortest. Then uncover it. Tell your partner why you had to look at all three feathers to find the shortest one, but only two snakes to say which was longer.
Word preview: shortest
Can you tell which feather is the shortest?

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Line two up at one end (5 min)
Lay the green snake strip and the brown snake strip with both left ends on the same line and do not move them. Say which snake is longer, then say which snake is shorter.
Word preview: longer, shorter
which snake is longer, the green snake or the brown snake.
The green snake is longer.
2. Put three in order (4 min)
Line the three paper feathers up at the same end and move them so the longest is at the top and the shortest is at the bottom. Say which feather is the shortest and point to it.
Word preview: shortest
Can you tell which feather is the shortest?

Three levels

Support: Stay with the two snakes and do the lining up and both sentences, longer and then shorter, about that one pair. Use the frame card and say it twice. The three feathers come out only after both snake sentences have been said, and a partner lines them up with you rather than you doing it alone. The comparing is not reduced; the number of things being compared is.
At Grade: Line the two snakes up at one end, say the pair both ways naming both snakes each time, then line the three feathers up and put them in order longest to shortest, say which is the shortest, and say why finding the shortest needed all three.
Extension: Take a fourth feather from your teacher and slide it into your line without lining it up at the end, then say whether you can be sure where it belongs. Line it up and say whether you were right. Then find two things in the classroom you cannot line up at one end, a door and a shelf, and tell your partner how you would compare them and what you would have to carry from one to the other.

English learners

The comparison itself transfers: every language a child brings has a way to say one thing goes further than another, and a child who cannot yet say longer can already line the strips up correctly. The two questions this lesson is about are separated in English by a pair of endings, the -er of longer and the -est of shortest. Both are unstressed, both sit at the end of the word, and many languages mark comparison and superlative with a separate word placed before the adjective instead. So a child may say more long and most short with the mathematics perfectly in place. Accept both and echo longer and shortest back without correcting aloud. Rehearse the frame The ___ is longer than the ___. as one whole phrase before any strip is touched, saying than slowly, since than is swallowed easily and it is the word carrying the comparison. Invite children to say which is longer in their strongest language with a finger on each far end, then say it again in English.

Materials

A long strip of blank paper per pair to lay objects along with one end lined up
Three paper feathers per pair, cut to clearly different lengths, in one envelope
The sentence frame card: The ___ is longer than the ___.
Word cards: longer, shorter, shortest, than

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Math through the reading

The mathematics is reached through a sentence the book prints: change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it. These carry their own standards, matched against these lessons rather than inherited from the skill ones.

4. One Word, One Answer or Three Integrated · Children answer the book's feather question and a swapped version of it, and find that changing shortest to shorter turns one right answer into three.

Children answer the book's feather question and a swapped version of it, and find that changing shortest to shorter turns one right answer into three.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Line all three up and answer the book (5 min)
Children take three paper feathers from an envelope, lay them on a strip with every near end touching the same line, and answer the book's own question by pointing at the shortest one and saying it aloud. Nobody moves a feather after the answer is given.
2. Answer the swapped question instead (6 min)
Children take a card with the swapped question on it, choose any two of their three feathers, and answer shorter about that pair. They then choose a different two and answer again, and put both answers on the table side by side. Each child produces two different correct answers to the swapped question and one answer to the book's.
3. Say what the ending did (5 min)
Each child says aloud to a partner which question had one answer and which had three, and says the two words that made the difference. The partner's job is to check that both words were said and that the child pointed at feathers while saying them.
4. Try the pair of snakes (4 min)
Children put the feathers away, take out the green and brown snake strips, and say which is longer. They then say whether the book could have asked which snake is the longest with only those two on the strip, and why it did not.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Line all three up and answer the book (5 min)
Children take three paper feathers from an envelope, lay them on a strip with every near end touching the same line, and answer the book's own question by pointing at the shortest one and saying it aloud. Nobody moves a feather after the answer is given.
2. Answer the swapped question instead (6 min)
Children take a card with the swapped question on it, choose any two of their three feathers, and answer shorter about that pair. They then choose a different two and answer again, and put both answers on the table side by side. Each child produces two different correct answers to the swapped question and one answer to the book's.

Three levels

Support: Work with the two snake strips for the whole first half rather than three feathers, so the comparative is settled on a pair before any set is ranked. Then take the three feathers already lined up on the strip by a partner and answer only the book's question about them. The swap still runs and both words are still said aloud; what is reduced is how many alignments the child has to make with their own hands before the words are compared.
At grade: Line the three feathers up at one end and answer the book's question, then answer the swapped question twice with two different pairs, put all three answers on the table, and say to a partner which word gave one answer and which gave three, pointing at the feathers while saying it.
Extension: Add a fourth feather cut to exactly the same length as one already in the set, and answer the book's question again. Say what has happened to the single answer and whether the word shortest still promises one. Then say what you would have to change about the question, keeping the same feathers, so that it had a single answer again.

English learners

The mathematics is entirely transferable and a child will sort the feathers correctly before saying anything at all, so never gate the lining up behind the words. The specific thing this lesson is about is the part that has to be taught: English marks comparison and superlative with two unstressed endings, -er and -est, that differ by one consonant at the end of a word, and many languages mark both with separate words placed before the adjective instead. A child may say more short and most short with the distinction perfectly clear in their head, and a child may also hear shorter and shortest as the same word in a busy room. Say both words slowly and side by side with a hand on two feathers and then on three, so the ending is tied to how many objects are in play rather than to a sound. Accept more short and most short and echo the English back without correcting aloud. Invite children to say which feather is the shortest in their strongest language with a finger on it, then say it again in English.

Materials

Three paper feathers per child, cut to clearly different lengths, in an envelope
A green paper snake strip and a brown paper snake strip per pair, the green one longer
A blank paper strip per child with one line ruled across it to lay near ends against
Two question cards per child, one printed with the book's feather question and one with the swapped version
The book's two questions written up side by side, the snake question and the feather question
A large three-feather set on the board that the teacher can cover one feather of

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

5. The Snake With No Number Integrated · Children find that the book never says how long the snake is, then derive it from the two sentences that do fix it and say the number with a finger on the sentence that funds it.

Children find that the book never says how long the snake is, then derive it from the two sentences that do fix it and say the number with a finger on the sentence that funds it.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Hunt for the snake's number (4 min)
Children are handed the three sentences the book prints about the snake, on separate strips, and asked to find the number that says how long it is. They look, and they report that there is no such number on any of the strips. Each child says aloud which strip has a number on it and which animal that number is really about.
2. Lay the ruler against the snake (5 min)
Children take a paper snake cut to exactly one ruler length and lay the ruler along it with both ends started level. They say what they find: the far ends finish together and the snake takes exactly one ruler. Nobody has a number in feet yet.
3. Put the two sentences together and say the number (7 min)
Children put the two sentence strips side by side, the one saying the snake is as long as the ruler and the one saying what a ruler equals, and say the snake's length as a number in feet. The rule is that the number and the strip that funds it are said together: a child gives the number with a finger on the sentence that let them have it, and a number said without its sentence is asked for again.
4. Say it in the book's other unit (4 min)
Children read the second half of the ruler sentence and say the snake's length again in centimetres. They say to a partner whether the snake changed length when the number changed, and why it did not.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Lay the ruler against the snake (5 min)
Children take a paper snake cut to exactly one ruler length and lay the ruler along it with both ends started level. They say what they find: the far ends finish together and the snake takes exactly one ruler. Nobody has a number in feet yet.
2. Put the two sentences together and say the number (7 min)
Children put the two sentence strips side by side, the one saying the snake is as long as the ruler and the one saying what a ruler equals, and say the snake's length as a number in feet. The rule is that the number and the strip that funds it are said together: a child gives the number with a finger on the sentence that let them have it, and a number said without its sentence is asked for again.

Three levels

Support: Take the two funding sentences on their strips only, with the third strip left out, so there are two sentences on the desk rather than three to sort through. The teacher reads both aloud and the child points at the one that mentions the snake, then at the one that mentions the ruler, before saying the number. The measuring, the number and the finger on the sentence all stay exactly as they are for everyone else; what comes off is the amount of text to be searched.
At grade: Search all three strips for the snake's number and report that it is absent, lay the ruler against the paper snake and find they finish level, put the two funding sentences side by side and say the length in feet with a finger on each, then say it again in centimetres and say why the snake did not change.
Extension: Your teacher gives you a paper snake cut to two ruler lengths instead of one. Say how long it is in feet, and say which of the book's three sentences you can still use and which one has stopped being true. Then say what the book would have had to print instead of the snake is as long as the ruler for your new snake, and whether your sentence still gives exactly one answer.

English learners

The mathematics transfers completely: a child lays the ruler against the snake and sees the ends finish level without any English at all, and that finding is the heart of the lesson. The three-word equality phrase as long as has no meaning in any of its parts and is easily heard as a comparison rather than a statement that two things match. Many languages express this with a single word or a quite different construction. Rehearse as long as as one unbroken chunk with the ruler and the snake already side by side and the two level far ends being pointed at as it is said, so the phrase is attached to a thing a child can see rather than to a rule. The second thing to plan for is that centimetres will be the familiar unit for many children in the room and feet the strange one, which is the reverse of how the lesson is ordered; say so plainly and let a child give the answer in centimetres first and in feet second if that is the way round their measuring works. Invite children to say what they found when they laid the ruler down in their strongest language, with both hands on the level ends, before saying the number in English.

Materials

A one-foot ruler per pair
A paper snake strip per pair, cut to exactly one ruler length
Three printed sentence strips per pair, carrying the book's three sentences about the snake and the ruler
A longer paper snake strip per pair for the extension, cut to exactly two ruler lengths
The three sentence strips enlarged on the board so the class can be asked which one holds a number
One ruler and one snake strip held up together with the far ends level for the whole class to see

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

6. How Do You Know? Integrated · Children answer the question the book asks and abandons, saying which animal weighs less to a partner playing the book's voice, with one of the printed numbers inside the sentence.

Children answer the question the book asks and abandons, saying which animal weighs less to a partner playing the book's voice, with one of the printed numbers inside the sentence.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Take a side before the labels come out (4 min)
With both weight labels face down, children hear the book's sentence and its question and hold up either the walrus card or the fish card to show which animal they think weighs less. They say nothing about why yet. Each child's card stays up long enough for the room to see the split.
2. Turn the labels over and pick your ground (6 min)
Both labels are turned face up. Each child reads the two numbers on the row they choose and decides which of the three answers they are going to give: the pounds, the kilograms, or the book's own words. They put a finger on the part of the label or the sentence strip they are going to use.
3. Say it to the book's voice (6 min)
Children pair up and take turns. One holds the animal cards and asks the book's question in the book's words; the other answers in a sentence that has a number in it and finishes with what they used. The asker answers you are right only if a number was in the sentence, and asks again if it was not.
4. Meet the answer with no number in it (4 min)
The teacher gives one pair the third answer to defend, that the walrus weighs a lot. Their partner's job is to ask how much a lot is, and the class hears that the book does not say. Each child then says which of the three answers they would give next time and why.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Turn the labels over and pick your ground (6 min)
Both labels are turned face up. Each child reads the two numbers on the row they choose and decides which of the three answers they are going to give: the pounds, the kilograms, or the book's own words. They put a finger on the part of the label or the sentence strip they are going to use.
2. Say it to the book's voice (6 min)
Children pair up and take turns. One holds the animal cards and asks the book's question in the book's words; the other answers in a sentence that has a number in it and finishes with what they used. The asker answers you are right only if a number was in the sentence, and asks again if it was not.

Three levels

Support: Work in the pounds row only, with the kilogram half of each label covered, so there is one pair of numbers on the desk rather than two. The sentence frame stays in front of the child with the chosen number already circled on the label, and the partner asks the book's question exactly as written. The child still has to speak the answer and the number still has to be in it; what is reduced is how many numbers are in play, not the demand to justify.
At grade: Take a side with the labels face down, turn them over and choose a ground, then answer the book's question aloud to a partner playing its voice with a number in your sentence, and hear the answer that has no number in it be met with a question the book cannot settle.
Extension: Take the position that the book's own words are enough, that the walrus weighs a lot, and make the strongest case you can for it to a partner who is allowed to ask how much. Then say what would have to be true of two other animals for a lot to stop working as a reason, and give an example of two animals where you would need the labels to decide.

English learners

The comparison transfers completely and a child will know which animal weighs less before any of this is said, so never treat a silent child as an unsure one. The English frame this lesson requires, weighs less than, is a three-word chunk whose middle word carries the whole direction and whose final word is almost never stressed in speech; a child who produces weighs less the fish has the mathematics right and will be heard as saying the opposite. Rehearse the whole frame before the labels are turned over, with than said slowly and a hand moving from one animal card to the other as it is said. Plan also for the units themselves, since many children in the room will arrive fluent in kilograms and meeting pounds for the first time, which makes the kilogram row the easy row for them and the lesson's default row the strange one. Say that aloud and let any child answer from whichever row they read more comfortably, and treat the decimal in 4.5 as something to read together rather than something to get past. Invite children to say why they know in their strongest language with a finger on the number first, then say the sentence again in English with the frame.

Materials

Two animal cards per child, one walrus and one fish, big enough to hold up
Two printed weight labels per pair, one reading 2,000 pounds or 907 kilograms and one reading 10 pounds or 4.5 kilograms, each with a cover flap over the kilogram half
The sentence frame card per child: The ___ weighs less than the ___, because its label says ___.
A sentence strip per pair carrying the book's words about the walrus weighing a lot
The book's question written up in its own words, how do you know
The two weight labels enlarged, kept face down until the second segment

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

7. Two Towers, Two Sentences Integrated · Children build the book's two printed heights as cube towers and say the relation between them both ways round without moving a cube.

Children build the book's two printed heights as cube towers and say the relation between them both ways round without moving a cube.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Build the two heights in cubes (5 min)
Children read the book's height line and build two towers side by side on a base line, one of six cubes and one of four, with one cube standing for one foot. They count each tower aloud as they build it and say both numbers before touching anything else.
2. Find the two cubes that stick up (5 min)
Children put a finger at the top of the shorter tower and slide it across to the taller one, then count the cubes above their finger and say how many. They do not take the towers apart and they do not write anything down; the difference is the part that sticks up, found by matching the towers side by side.
3. Say it both ways without moving a cube (6 min)
Each child says the relation as a taller sentence and then as a shorter sentence about the same two towers, with both numbers in each sentence. Their partner watches the cubes and says whether anything moved between the two sentences. Nothing may be rebuilt to make the second sentence easier to say.
4. Try a pair that will not fit in cubes (4 min)
Children are shown the walrus and fish labels and asked to build those two as towers. They say why they cannot, and say what they can still be sure of about the two animals without building anything.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Build the two heights in cubes (5 min)
Children read the book's height line and build two towers side by side on a base line, one of six cubes and one of four, with one cube standing for one foot. They count each tower aloud as they build it and say both numbers before touching anything else.
2. Say it both ways without moving a cube (6 min)
Each child says the relation as a taller sentence and then as a shorter sentence about the same two towers, with both numbers in each sentence. Their partner watches the cubes and says whether anything moved between the two sentences. Nothing may be rebuilt to make the second sentence easier to say.

Three levels

Support: Build the two towers with a partner rather than alone, and use the sentence frames one at a time on separate cards, taller first and shorter second, so only one frame is in front of the child at a time. Both sentences are still said and both numbers still go in each; what is reduced is how much is on the desk at once, not the reversal, which is the thing being learned.
At grade: Build the six and the four as towers on one base line, slide a finger across from the shorter top and count the cubes above it, say the relation as a taller sentence and again as a shorter sentence with both numbers in each and no cube moved, then say why the walrus and the fish cannot be built the same way.
Extension: Lay your two towers down flat end to end and say how tall a creature made of both of them would be, then say whether that number is anywhere in the book. Then build a third tower for a creature you can describe with a sentence that is true of it and the six-foot tower at once, and say your sentence both ways round.

English learners

Comparison is the place where a child's mathematics is most likely to be fine while their English is not, and this lesson is built on the construction that goes wrong most often. English puts the comparative ending on the adjective and then requires than, which is unstressed, easily swallowed, and the very word carrying the relation, so taller than the four one can be heard as taller the four one and lose its direction entirely. Many languages mark comparison with a separate word before the adjective, so a child may say more tall than with the relation perfectly clear; accept it and echo taller back without correcting aloud. The reversal is the harder half and it is harder in every language, because a child must produce a sentence that feels new about a fact they have already reported. Keep the towers standing while both sentences are said and point at the same two cubes each time, so the sameness is visible rather than asserted. Rehearse both frames as whole chunks, the ___ is two feet taller than the ___ and the ___ is two feet shorter than the ___, before any cube is picked up. Invite children to say the relation in their strongest language with a hand on each tower, then say both English sentences with the frames.

Materials

Twenty snap cubes per pair in two colours, one colour to a tower
A base line ruled on paper per pair, long enough for two towers side by side
Two sentence frame cards per child, one reading The ___ is ___ feet taller than the ___. and one reading The ___ is ___ feet shorter than the ___.
The two printed weight labels per pair, brought out only in the last segment
The book's height line enlarged on the board, six feet and four feet
One pair of towers built at the front on a base line, kept standing for the whole lesson

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Reading and language lessons

4 lessons on the reading and language the book carries - what a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how a text is built. No mathematics: these are matched against the English language arts curricula, which are a different and smaller set than the mathematics ones.

8. The book asks, the book answers Comprehension · Following a text that is built as a question followed by its answer

This book is written almost entirely as questions with their answers underneath, and once a reader sees that shape the whole thing becomes easy to follow. Students read three printed passages, mark the asking sentence and the answering sentence in each, and then find the one printed question the book asks and never answers. They finish by saying what a reader should do when a book leaves a question hanging. Nothing is measured; the work is following how an informational writer has built the page.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Find the question and find the answer (5 min)
The teacher reads the printed passage aloud, then the class reads it together. Draw a box around the sentence that asks. Draw a line under the sentence that answers it. Say the answer aloud in your own words.
Word preview: question, answer
What can be measured? Almost anything.
2. Find the same shape on another page (6 min)
Read the printed passage. Box the asking sentence and underline every sentence that helps answer it. This time the answer is spread over more than one sentence. Say aloud whether the answer arrived all at once or was built up piece by piece, and say which underlined sentence gave you the most.
Word preview: asks, tells
How much does the walrus weigh? The walrus weighs a lot. The fish weighs less than the walrus.
3. Find a question the book leaves hanging (5 min)
Read the printed passage. Box the asking sentence. Now look for the sentence that answers it. Is there one? Say aloud what the book asks here and what a reader would have to do to answer it.
Word preview: question, answer
Look at the three feathers. Can you tell which feather is the shortest?
4. Say what kind of book this is (4 min)
Tell your partner in one sentence how this writer puts the book together. Use the frame on the board: This book keeps asking a ___ and then ___. Your partner says whether they noticed the same shape.
Word preview: question, answer, asks, tells

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Find the question and find the answer (5 min)
The teacher reads the printed passage, then the class reads it together. Box the asking sentence and underline the answering sentence. Say the answer in your own words.
Word preview: question, answer
What can be measured? Almost anything.
2. Find a question the book leaves hanging (4 min)
Read the printed passage. Box the asking sentence and look for an answer after it. Say aloud whether the book gives one.
Word preview: question, answer
Look at the three feathers. Can you tell which feather is the shortest?

Three levels

Support: Work only the first printed passage. Read it with the teacher. Point to the question mark. Then say the two words Almost anything as the answer.
At Grade: Mark the question and the answer in all three printed passages, and say which one the book never answers.
Extension: Two of the printed passages answer their own question and one does not. Say two sentences about why a writer might leave a question for the reader instead of answering it, using the printed passages as your evidence.

English learners

English question words sit at the very front, What, How, Can, and the rest of the sentence follows a different order from a telling sentence. Read the question and then a telling sentence about the same thing, one after the other, so the swap is heard rather than explained. Rehearsable frame: The book asks ___. The book answers ___.

Materials

Measure It!, the passage printed in this step
Pencils
Sentence frame on the board
Word cards: question, answer, asks, tells

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

9. We use a ___ to measure ___ Language · Noticing a sentence pattern a writer repeats and filling it with new words

One sentence shape carries most of the information in this book: we use a tool, and the tool measures a thing. Once students see the shape they can read a new sentence quickly and can build one of their own. Students read three printed passages that all use the shape, mark the tool word and the thing word in each, and then write one sentence of their own in the same shape. Nothing is measured; the work is seeing a pattern in how sentences are built.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Meet the pattern once (5 min)
Read the printed passage together. In the second sentence, circle the tool and underline the thing that gets measured. Read the sentence aloud, saying the circled word loudly and the underlined word loudly.
Word preview: use, measure, tool
We measure to find out the size or weight of objects. We use a scale to measure weight.
2. Find the pattern again with a new tool (6 min)
Read the printed passage. Circle the tool and underline the thing measured, just as before. Then say aloud what changed between this sentence and the one in the last step, and what stayed exactly the same.
Word preview: pattern
We use a thermometer to measure temperature. We can measure temperature to see how hot or cold something is.
3. Read a sentence where the pattern is broken (5 min)
Read the printed passage. It tells you about a tool, but it does not use the same shape as the other two, and the printing has gone wrong in it as well. Read it aloud exactly as it stands. Do not change it. Say what the sentence is telling you a ruler does, and say how it would sound if it were written in the We use a shape.
Word preview: tool, pattern
Let's measure the length of the snake. Ruler's measure length. The snake is as long as the ruler.
4. Build one sentence of your own (4 min)
Think of a tool you have used at home or at school. Say one sentence about it out loud in the book's shape, using the frame on the board: We use a ___ to ___. Your partner says whether your sentence fits the shape.
Word preview: use, measure, tool, pattern

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Meet the pattern once (5 min)
Read the printed passage together. In the second sentence, circle the tool and underline the thing that gets measured. Read the sentence aloud.
Word preview: use, measure, tool
We measure to find out the size or weight of objects. We use a scale to measure weight.
2. Find the pattern again with a new tool (4 min)
Read the printed passage. Circle the tool and underline the thing measured. Say what changed from the last sentence and what stayed the same.
Word preview: pattern
We use a thermometer to measure temperature. We can measure temperature to see how hot or cold something is.

Three levels

Support: Work only the first printed passage. The teacher reads the second sentence, then you echo it. Point to the word scale, then to the word weight. Say the sentence once on your own.
At Grade: Mark the tool and the thing in the first two printed passages, notice the third does not use the shape, and build one sentence of your own.
Extension: The third printed passage says what a ruler does without using the We use a shape. Write that sentence in the book's shape yourself, then write one sentence about which version is easier to read and why.

English learners

The frame We use a ___ to ___ packs a purpose into the little word to, which learners often drop or replace with for. Say the frame slowly and swap only the two open words, so the fixed part becomes automatic before the meaning is discussed. Invite students to name a tool from home in their strongest language first. Rehearsable frame: We use a ___ to measure ___.

Materials

Measure It!, the passage printed in this step
Coloured pencils
Pencils
Sentence frame on the board
Word cards: use, measure, tool, pattern

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

10. Longer, taller, shortest Vocabulary · Reading comparing words that end in -er and -est and saying what is being compared

This book leans on comparing words, and each one quietly tells a reader how many things are being held up against each other. Longer compares two; shortest picks one out of a group. Students read three printed passages, find the comparing word in each, and say what is on each side of the comparison. One printed question has lost its capital letter and its question mark and is read exactly as it stands. Nothing is measured or ordered by size; the work is reading what a word ending tells you.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Find the two things being compared (6 min)
Read the printed passage. Circle the comparing word that ends in -er. Then draw a line under each of the two things it is comparing. Say aloud: this word is comparing ___ with ___. Read the question exactly as it is printed, even though it starts with a small letter and ends with a full stop instead of a question mark. Do not change it.
Word preview: longer, than
which snake is longer, the green snake or the brown snake. The green snake is longer.
2. Find a comparing word with the word than (5 min)
Read the printed passage. One sentence compares two animals and uses the little word than to join them. Underline that sentence and circle the word than. Say aloud which animal comes before than and which comes after it.
Word preview: less, than
The walrus weighs a lot. The fish weighs less than the walrus. How do you know?
3. Meet a word that picks one out of many (5 min)
Read the printed passage. Circle the comparing word. It does not end in -er this time. The first sentence names a group rather than a pair, so say aloud whether this word is picking one out of a group or holding two things against each other, and say how its ending differs from longer.
Word preview: shortest
Look at the three feathers. Can you tell which feather is the shortest?
4. Say a comparing sentence about your own things (4 min)
Put a pair of pencils on the desk and say one sentence about them using a word ending in -er. Then put a whole handful out and say one sentence using a word ending in -est. Your partner says which ending you used and whether you were comparing a pair or picking one out of a group.
Word preview: longer, less, shortest, than

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Find the two things being compared (5 min)
Read the printed passage. Circle the comparing word ending in -er and underline the two things it compares. Read the question exactly as it is printed, without fixing its small letter or its full stop.
Word preview: longer, than
which snake is longer, the green snake or the brown snake. The green snake is longer.
2. Meet a word that picks one out of many (4 min)
Read the printed passage. Circle the comparing word. Say whether it picks one out of a group or compares two things, and say how its ending differs from longer.
Word preview: shortest
Look at the three feathers. Can you tell which feather is the shortest?

Three levels

Support: Work only the first printed passage. The teacher reads it twice. Point to the word longer each time you hear it. Then say which snake the passage says is longer.
At Grade: Find the comparing word in all three printed passages and say what is on each side of each comparison.
Extension: The printed passages use longer, less than and shortest. Write two sentences saying which of these three you could not use when only a pair of things is being held up against each other, and why, quoting the printed sentence you are working from.

English learners

English builds comparisons two different ways, an -er ending and the separate word less, and both need than to attach the second thing. Many languages use one marker for both. Put the two printed sentences side by side and read them one after the other. Rehearsable frame: The ___ is ___er than the ___.

Materials

Measure It!, the passage printed in this step
Pencils
Sentence frame on the board
Word cards: longer, less, shortest, than

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

11. The book is talking to you Comprehension · Noticing when a text speaks straight to the reader and what it asks the reader to do

This writer keeps turning away from telling and speaking directly to whoever is reading, using you and let's and giving instructions. That choice changes what a reader is supposed to do with the page. Students read three printed passages, find the words that point at the reader, and say what each one asks them to do. They finish by saying how the book would feel different if those words were taken out. Nothing is measured; the work is noticing who a text is addressing.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Find the word that points at you (5 min)
Read the printed passage together. Circle every word that means the person reading. Then say aloud what this passage asks you to do, starting with the words It asks me to.
Word preview: you, look
Look at the three feathers. Can you tell which feather is the shortest?
2. Find the reader being answered back (6 min)
Read the printed passage. Here the book asks something and then answers as though you had spoken. Underline the sentence that speaks to you as if you had just said something. Say aloud what the book thinks you said.
Word preview: you, tell
The green snake is longer. You are right. How tall is the ostrich?
3. Find the word that puts you and the writer together (5 min)
Read the printed passage. Circle the word that means both the writer and you at the same time. Say aloud who is doing the measuring in this sentence, and say how you know it is not only the writer.
Word preview: together
Let's measure the length of the snake.
4. Say what would change if you were taken out (4 min)
Tell your partner one sentence about how the book would feel if it never said you and never said let's. Use the frame on the board: If the book did not say you, it would feel more like ___. Your partner says whether they agree.
Word preview: you, look, tell, together

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Find the word that points at you (5 min)
Read the printed passage together. Circle every word that means the person reading. Say what this passage asks you to do.
Word preview: you, look
Look at the three feathers. Can you tell which feather is the shortest?
2. Find the word that puts you and the writer together (4 min)
Read the printed passage. Circle the word that means the writer and you at the same time. Say who is doing the measuring here.
Word preview: together
Let's measure the length of the snake.

Three levels

Support: Work only the first printed passage. The teacher reads it. Point to the word you. Then do what the first sentence tells you to do, and say aloud that the book asked you to do it.
At Grade: Find the reader-words in all three printed passages and say what each passage asks the reader to do.
Extension: The printed passages say you, You are right and Let's. Write two sentences about the difference between a book that tells you things and a book that talks to you, using two of those printed phrases as your evidence.

English learners

Let's is a squeezed form of let us and does not look like the word it means, so read it out in full once before using it. English you does the work that many languages split between a singular and a plural form; here it means each reader on their own. Rehearsable frame: The book asks me to ___. The book and I ___ together.

Materials

Measure It!, the passage printed in this step
Coloured pencils
Pencils
Sentence frame on the board
Word cards: you, look, tell, together

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.