Little Ming and Little Fung are slowly walking home from school. The new term is only a few days old and already the children are getting back to old ways.....

LM: Why does a school day feel so much longer than a day over the weekend?

LF: It all depends on whether or not you are enjoying yourself.

LM: So goody - two shoes what has been so nice today? Because my day has not been that rosy!

LF: You should behave more in class, pay more attention and do what is asked.

LM: Perhaps but today who could get excited by measuring things?

LF: Admittedly most of what we do at home we practised in school today.

LM: But who is to know that!

LF: I'm more interested in things that can't be measured so obviously.

LM: How do you mean?

LF: Well we have length, breadth, width....

LM: Yet but what about weight? Mass? Temperature?

LF: I know and I have not forgotten time! Angles! Or volume!

LM: Or do you mean capacity! (teasingly)

LF: Look you and I can measure most things and we can read most measuring instruments be it ruler or micrometer. It is all those things we have not got instruments for that I want to find out about.

LM: How do you mean?

LF: Well how do you measure how clever someone is?

LM: How do you measure stubborness?

LF: You've got it!

LM: Well there is beauty? Merit? Honesty?

LF: Can you have different amounts of being scared?

LM: I suppose you can measure strength or weakness?

LF: Yep, just as you can measure speed and acceleration or density.

LM: Can you measure different degrees of wetness?

LF: Not sure I know when I am damp but I know when I am soaking wet..

LM: Yep, last night was fun but we should not have cooled down by standing in the fountain - someone will have seen us and they will tell Granma T!

LF: See, how do you measure nosiness!

LM: Carelessness? Clumsiness? How does a hospital measure pain?

LF: Eh, let's stop dawdling - it is almost tea time; we had better get a move on...........

In the meantime..........

Children..you might like to :

i. Complete the silhouette of the children dawdling home from school.
ii. List all the things that you can measure and all the different instruments you can measure things with.
iii. Discuss how accurately you can measure your height. Now do it!
iv. Consider things you would like to measure that presently you cannot.

Parents you might like to...

i. Bring together all the measuring instruments that you have in and around the home. How can you classify them?
ii. Discuss the issue of measuring accurately. When does accuracy matter, when does it not?
iii. What units are used for measuring different things? Make a list of the units of measure in 'common' usage.
iv. Find out about and discuss the use of compound units of measurement.

Teachers you might like to....

i. Brainstorm any ideas the children already have about measuring.
ii. Discuss more fully with the children aspects of life that cannot be accurately measured.
iii. Devise an experiment to test the children's accuracy of measuring the length of the school hall (say). Discuss the outcomes!
iv. Encourage the children to devise a scale of measurement for nosiness/ clumsiness/ naughtiness.
iv. Plan and prepare a story about someone who HAS to measure every aspect of their life. What would you call such a person?
v. Work with the children as they set about measuring the water in a puddle or the weight of an arm or the amount of leaves on a tree.