Home Geography for Primary Grades · Lesson VII · Unit 2: Distance, pictures and plans
7. How to tell distance
Goal: Your child measures things in inches, feet and yards, guesses distances before measuring, and has a feel for how far a mile is.
You'll need
- A 12-inch ruler and a yardstick or tape measure
- Optional: a phone or car trip meter for measuring a mile
- A geography notebook (any notebook kept just for these lessons) and a pencil
What's in the book
The lesson says that to find a place we need its direction and its distance, then teaches the inch, foot, yard and mile, with oral exercises measuring the slate, desk, room, windows, doors and street, and estimating heights and distances in the town. A note says to guess by eye first and then check by measuring.
The lesson, step by step
Direction is not enough
Read the first lines together.
To tell where a place is, we must know its direction.
SayIf I say "the store is east," you still don't know if it is next door or a hundred miles away. We also need to know how far. That is called distance.
Inch, foot, yard
Show the inch line in the book and on the ruler. Count the 12 inches in a foot. Lay the ruler three times along the yardstick.
A yard stick is three feet long.
Guess, then measure
Follow the book's note: first guess, then measure. How many inches long is this book? How long is the table? How many feet long is the room? How wide is the door? The window? Write each guess and each real answer in two columns in the notebook.
How tall?
Ask your child to guess the height of the room, the house, a tall tree nearby. Measure what you safely can (the room); for the others, compare: "The house is about as tall as how many of Dad stacked up?"
What is a mile?
SayA mile is much longer than a yard. It is 1,760 yards, or 5,280 feet.
Think of a place about a mile from home. If you can, walk it together, or drive it and watch the trip meter. A child walks a mile in about 20 to 30 minutes.
The neighborhood
Ask the book's town questions, fitted to your home: Name the nearest river or creek. In what direction is it from home? Which way does the water run? In what direction, and about how far, is the nearest church or store?
Wrap up
Ask the book's last question: What must you know to go to any place? (Its direction and its distance.)
Afterwards
On walks this week, guess how many steps it is to the next corner, then count. Guess in yards, then check with a tape measure on the sidewalk.
Tip
Children get better at guessing very quickly. The book says to keep practicing "until the work becomes quite accurate."
Answers to the book's problems
There are 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, and 1,760 yards (5,280 feet) in a mile. To go to any place you must know its direction and its distance. Measurements of your own book, table, room and street will be your own; the number of blocks in a mile depends on your town (you can find out by walking or driving a mile and counting).
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.