24

4 Long and Short

23
22

Lali is selling things at her father's shop. A farmer comes to

21

buy rope.
20

Can you give me 7

arms of rope?
19
18

Here is your 7
arms of rope.
17
16
15
14
13

But this is only

6 arms long.
12

Why don't you measure

your arm with this rope
11

and take 7 times of that

length?
10
9
8

So, the farmer measures his arm with

7

the rope and Lali gives him 7 times

6

that much rope.

Measure your arm and your mother's
5

arm. What is the difference?

4

Children should be encouraged to look around and see how lengths of different things are measured
3

in different ways using local or non-standard units. For example, rope, garlands or cloth may be
sold by the cubit, handspan, fingers, etc. They also need to do activities of measuring lengths
2

(and distances) with their own body parts.

1

46
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1
How Many?

2
3
4
❋ In how many steps will

5
Dorji cross the road?

6
7
8
❋ How many cups can be

9
placed in a line on this

10
table?

11
12
13
❋ How many pots can be

14
placed to reach the tree

15
branch?

16
17
18

❋ How many shirts can be

hung on this wire?
19
20
21
22
23

47
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23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8 How Much is a Centimetre (cm)?

The matchstick is 4 centimetres long.

7

The die is 1 centimetre from every side.

6

The lizard is 13 centimetres long.

5

The leaf is centimetres long.

4

The wax colour is centimetres long.

3

Now, look at a scale that you find in a geometry box. How many
centimetres does it have?
2
1

48
0
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The small scale that you mostly use in school is like this one.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

8
9
Is it easier to start measuring from the 0 mark? Look at the

10
things drawn near the scale and find out their lengths.

11
❋ What are the little lines on the scale used for?

12
❋ Look for things that are
❋ About 10 centimetres long

13
❋ Between 10 and 20 centimetres long

14
❋ Less than 1 cm long. Mouse! Where

15
❋ Draw some of them here. are you?

16
17
I
am
18

here.
19
20
21
22
23

49
24
24
How Big is My Hand?
23

Measure the length of your

22

thumb and your little

finger. Use the scale on
21

this page.
20

Which is longer? Thumb or

19

little finger?
18

Bring a measuring-tape to
your class.
17

Guess the length of different parts of your body and check if

16

your guess is correct. You can use a scale, string, measuring-

15

tape etc.
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
5
4

Think – How will you know the number of centimetres if

you measure with a rope, shoe-string, thread etc.?
3
2
1

50
0
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1
My measurement My friend's
measurement

2
Nose centimetres centimetres

3
Around the wrist centimetres centimetres

4
Around the head centimetres centimetres

5
Ear centimetres centimetres

6
Hand (tip of middle centimetres centimetres

7
finger to wrist)

8
0
1

9
2
3
Compare your measurement

4
5
6
7

10
with your friends'.

8
9
10
11
12
13
✒ Who has the biggest head

11
14
15
and who has the smallest

12
head? ,

13
✒ Who has the longest hand

14
(from middle finger to wrist)?

15
✒ Which is longer? Your ear or
your nose? 16
17
✒ Is any of your nails more 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
18

than 1 centimetre long?

19
20
21
22
23

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24
24
Gibli and the Grains
23

Ant Gibli has to reach the grains. She is looking for the shortest
22

road. Can you tell her which is the shortest?

21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8

Can you draw a road shorter than these? What is the length of
7

that road?
6
5

It is more important for children to be able to get an estimate of a metre as related to known
things, such as, their own heights, rather than do tedious exercises of converting metres to
4

centimetres, etc. Children at this stage may not be able to perceive of bigger units such as a
kilometre. They must be encouraged to speak of a kilometre in the context of a story or narrative.
3

The Map of Agra is an exercise with a narrative involving children, with familiar images (icons) to
help the initial understanding of mapping in 2 dimensions.
2
1

52
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Take 2 metres cloth
How Long is a Metre?

1
for your kurta.
ke
I want to ma
a long kurta.

2
A metre is equal to 100 centimetres

3
4
5
6
And how many
You need three

7
metres for a long
metres!
skirt for me?

8
9
10
11
12
Let Us Make a Metre-rope

13
You must have seen shopkeepers measuring cloth with a
metre rod.

14
✒ Use a metre rod and a rope.

15
✒ Make a knot at one end of the rope.
✒ Keep the metre rod with the rope. 16
17

✒ Mark 1 metre on the rope and make

18

a knot there.
19

✒ Now the length between the two knots is 1 metre. This is

your metre-rope.
20

If you don't get a metre rod use a measuring-tape and mark 100
21

centimetres on the rope. 100 centimetres are equal to a metre,

22

so you get the metre-rope.

23

53
24
24
23
22

Guess and Check

21

Activity 1
20

❈ Find some things that look 1 metre long.

19

❈ Use your metre-rope to find which of these things are more or

18

less than 1 metre.

17

Name of the thing More than Less than

16

1 metre 1 metre
15

Length of table – –
14

Width of table – –
13

Width of door – –
12

Length of door – –

– –
11

– –
10

– –
9
8

Activity 2
7

Some Class III children

have marked a 1 metre
6

height on the wall of their

5

class.
4

You can also mark 1 metre

on your class wall.
3
2
1

54
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Now make a chart of the heights of your friends.

1
To measure the centimetres, you can use your small scale.

2
3
Name Taller/Shorter/Equal How many centimetres more
to 1 metre or less than a metre

4
5
Shambhu Taller 4 centimetres

6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Let me see if I
Yahoo! I am 4 cm
am also taller

13
more than 1 metre
than a metre

14
0
1
2
3
4
5

15
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

16
13
14
15

17
18
19
20
21
22
23

55
24
24
Centimetres or Metres?
23

Which of these will be in centimetres and which will be in

22

metres?
21

❈ Width of a computer screen

20

❈ Length of a Pagdi worn by Sikhs

19
18

❈ Height of a 1-year old child

17

❈ Length of a banana
16

❈ Waist of an elephant
15
14

❈ Height of a sugarcane
13

❈ Depth of a well
12

❈ Height of your mother

11
10

❈ Distance from classroom to school gate

9

❈ Length of your father's arm.

8
7

Trip to Agra
6

Marie and Baichung are going with their family to Agra. They
get down at Agra Cantt. Railway Station and take a rickshaw to
5

Taj Mahal. After 3 hours, they start for Agra Fort, again in a
4

rickshaw. In the afternoon they take a bus to go to Fatehpur

3

Sikri.
2
1

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1
MAP OF AGRA

2
3
Babarpur Forest

4
Agra Fort

a
un

5
am
erY
Riv

6
i
Sikr
ur Taj Mahal
To Fat ehp

7
Taj
Forest

8
Agra Cantt

9
Railway Station

10
Now look at the distances between these places (for kilometres

11
we write km).

12
❖ Agra Cantt. Railway Station to Taj Mahal – 5 km

13
❖ Taj Mahal to Agra Fort – 2 km

14
❖ Agra Fort to Fatehpur Sikri – 40 km
Now find from the map

15
❖ Which is farther from Agra Cantt. Railway Station — Taj Mahal
or Fatehpur Sikri? 16
17

shows the railway line.

18

Which of these is nearer to the railway line:

19

❖ Babarpur forest or Taj forest?

20

❖ Agra Fort or Taj Mahal?

21

Which is closer to the river Yamuna:

22

❖ Taj Mahal or the Railway Station?

23

57
24
24
23 Match the Correct Length
Draw lines to match each picture with how long it can be.
22
21
20
19

Length of an 2 kilometres
18

earthworm
17
16
15

5 metres
14

Height
13

of a child
12

10 centimetres
11

Width of a
10

finger nail
9
8

Length of a 1 centimetre
Sari
7
6

e School
om
5

H
4

27 1 metre
Distance from home
3

25
to school
2
1

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The Long Tail Competition

1
The animals in this picture had a

2
competition. The animal who had the
longest tail won a prize. Now who do

3
you think won the first prize and

4
who won the second....? Just guess

5
the length of the longest tail.

6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Do I have
a tail?
18
19
20
21
22
23

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24