Measure Length Using a Ruler

Students practice correctly aligning a ruler at zero and reading the measurement at the end of an object in both inches and centimeters. Students will measure real or pictured objects to the nearest whole unit.

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Real questions from this skill, graded here. No account, and nothing is saved.

Grade 2 · Measuring Length · question 1 of 3

0 of 12

12 rungs. A star at the top.

Rosa holds a crayon up to the ruler. How long is it?

Your answer:

How it is taught

0:00 of 2:44

Length is how far from start to end.

Line the object up at 0 on the ruler.

Read it: Line the stick at zero

A stick lies along a ruler to ten. Starting at one makes the length look shorter. Put one end on zero, then read the far end.

Place one end of the stick on zero.
Look along the stick to where it stops.
Read the mark at the far end: 6.

Starting at one and reading five looks close, but the first unit of the stick is hanging off the ruler.

When the stick begins at zero, every unit of the stick covers one jump on the ruler.

From zero to six there are six jumps, so the stick is six units, not five.

Start the stick at zero, then read the number at the far end.

Starting the stick at one and reading five instead of six.

Put the end on zero. The far end sits on six, so the stick is six units.

A bar lies on a ruler with one end on 0. The far end is at 3. How long is the bar? — 3. Length is counted from 0, so the number at the far end — 3 — is the length.

How long is this crayon?

Let's measure how long this crayon is. We'll use a ruler to find out.

Here is our ruler. The numbers tell us inches.

Grade 2 · Lining up at zero and reading inches

First, slide the crayon so its left end lines up with zero.

Starting at zero is the most important step. If we start at one, we'll get the wrong answer!

Now we look at the other end of the crayon — where does it stop?

It points right at the number four.

So we read the number where the crayon ends — four.

The crayon is four inches long. Great measuring!

Now you try. Read how long this object is on the ruler. What is the length?

What you see

While they climb, your page writes one true line to ask about tonight, and a short note each Sunday.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Did you know?

A chessboard has 64 squares — share them out between the 8 rows and each row holds exactly 8.

Today’s goal: 1 star — one skill mastered, every rung of its ladder climbed
Climbing now: Divide within 100

An example student.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Maya earned 2 stars this week — Interpret multiplication as equal groups, which took 6 answers over 3 days before its star landed 3 days ago and Multiply by 6, 7, 8 and 9. Next up: Divide within 100.

An example week.

More of the library

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Standard

CCSS.2.MD.A.1

Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools such as rulers, yardsticks, meter sticks, and measuring tapes

Grade 2

Quoted from the Common Core State Standards.

Where this sits

Comes after

Choose the Right Measurement Tool

Leads to

What a star here means

A star here is the top of a twelve-rung ladder, in four blocks of equal length — three of facts and one of the skill used in a real question — where a right answer climbs one rung and a wrong one drops back to the start of the block, never below it. The star is kept for good. How we grade

All of Grade 2

This is one rung of 85 in Grade 2 mathematics, in the order they build on each other.

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