The most common mistake
Children often start measuring from the end of the ruler, or from 1. On the printed-ruler sheets every object starts exactly at zero; on the “use your own” sheets they have to line it up themselves.
Real size
Every sheet is drawn to scale, so the objects are as long on paper as their measurements say. That makes it easy to check an answer with a real ruler.
CAPS links
- Grades R–1Compares lengths side by side and measures with informal units such as hand spans, paces and pencil lengths.
- Grade 2Meets the metre as the first standard unit, using metre sticks or metre lengths of string.
- Grade 3Estimates and measures lengths in centimetres with a ruler, without converting between metres and centimetres.
- Grade 4Uses rulers, tape measures and trundle wheels in mm, cm, m and km, and converts between units.
Measuring with a ruler is a Grade 3 skill in CAPS. Before that, children measure with hand spans and pencil lengths, so let Grade 1 and 2 classes measure the printed objects with paper clips or counters first and record the length in those units.
South Africa uses the metric system only, so keep the sheets on centimetres. Ask children to estimate each length before they measure: from Grade 1, CAPS pairs estimating with measuring every time.
Summarised in our own words from the DBE’s CAPS for Mathematics, Foundation Phase and Intermediate Phase Grades 4–6 (2011).
