Measuring with a ruler: printed rulers, real rulers and paper clips

I handed a six-year-old a ruler and a crayon and asked how long the crayon was. He put the end of the crayon at the 1 and read off 5. Not wrong, exactly. Rulers are harder than they look, and the lining up is the part that needs practice, not the reading.

What the sheet looks like

The measuring length generator prints six activities. Measure with the printed ruler shows an object on a ruler drawn on the page, in inches, centimeters or both alternating, with whole-unit marks or half units too. Measure with your own ruler prints objects at actual size, so a real ruler gives a real answer. Non-standard units lines up cubes, paper clips or blocks under an object to count. Compare and order has three objects to put shortest to longest, draw a line gives a start dot and a length to draw, and mixed combines the printed ruler with non-standard units.

Pages hold 4, 6 or 8 problems, with actual-size pages at 5 or 6 so the objects fit, and the answer key is included.

Why it works

• Non-standard units first. Counting four paper clips teaches that measuring is repeating a unit end to end, which is what the marks on a ruler are.
• The actual-size pages are the honest ones. A printed ruler already lined up removes the skill the kid most needs, which is putting zero at the start.
• Half units are a separate step. A child who reads 4 inches confidently will read 4 and a half as 5 for a while, and the half-marks option isolates that.

Who it suits

Kindergarten through third grade. Non-standard units and compare and order are kindergarten pages; the printed ruler in whole units is first grade; half units, centimeters and the draw-a-line page are second and third. After this, the measurement estimation sheets ask the child to guess before measuring, which is the next skill.

Check the print scale before an actual-size page. If the printer shrinks to fit, every answer is off by a quarter inch.