Measuring in Inches

This is a complete lesson with instruction and exercises for fifth grade. It teaches students about measuring in inches, using the 1/16 parts of an inch.

Here are four rulers that all measure in inches. They are NOT to scale. Instead, they are magnified to be “bigger” than the actual rulers, so you can see the divisions better.   The tick- marks are:   every 1/2-inch: every 1/4-inch: every 1/8-inch: every 1/16-inch:

1. Find the ½-inch mark, 1 ½ -inch mark, and 2 ½-inch mark on all of the rulers above.
 

2. Find the ¼-inch mark, the ¾-inch mark, the 1 ¼-inch mark, the 1 ¾-inch mark, the 2 ¼-inch mark,
    the 2 ¾-inch mark, and the 3 ¼-inch mark on the bottom three rulers above.
 

3. On the ruler that measures in 8th parts of an inch, find and label tick marks for these points: the
    1/8-inch point, the 5/8-inch point, the 7/8-inch point, the 1 5/8-inch point, and the 2 3/8-inch point.

    Also, find these same points on the ruler that measures in 16th parts of an inch.
 

4. Look at the ruler that measures in 16th parts of an inch. On that ruler find tick marks for these points:

5. Measure the following colored lines with the rulers given. If the end of the line does not fall exactly
    on a tick mark, then read the mark that is CLOSEST to the end of the line.

a.	b.
c.	d.
e.	f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.

6. Measure the following lines using different rulers. Cut out the rulers from the bottom of this page.

a.    Using the 1/4-inch ruler: __________ in.   Using the 1/8-inch ruler: __________ in.   Using the 1/16-inch ruler: __________ in.	b.  Using the 1/4-inch ruler: __________ in. Using the 1/8-inch ruler: __________ in. Using the 1/16-inch ruler: __________ in.
c.    Using the 1/4-inch ruler: __________ in.   Using the 1/8-inch ruler: __________ in.   Using the 1/16-inch ruler: __________ in.	d.  Using the 1/4-inch ruler: __________ in. Using the 1/8-inch ruler: __________ in. Using the 1/16-inch ruler: __________ in.
e.    Using the 1/4-inch ruler: __________ in.   Using the 1/8-inch ruler: __________ in.   Using the 1/16-inch ruler: __________ in.	f.  Using the 1/4-inch ruler: __________ in. Using the 1/8-inch ruler: __________ in. Using the 1/16-inch ruler: __________ in.

 You may cut out the following rulers:

7. Find six items in your home that you can measure with your ruler and measure them.

8. Carefully measure the sides of the
    quadrilateral at the right, and
    find its perimeter.

9. A small rectangular bulletin board
    measures 15 3/4 in. by 9 1/8 in.
    What is its perimeter?
 

10. Janet checked the amount of sugar in 10
      different cookie recipes. The amounts were (in cups):

      1 1/2   1 3/8   1    1 3/4   1 1/2   1 1/8   1 1/4   1 1/4   1 1/2   3/4

      a. Make a line plot from this data (below) by drawing an X-mark
          for each measurement above the number line.

      b. If Janet made the recipe with the least amount of sugar
          three times, how much sugar would she need?

      c. If Janet made the recipe with the largest amount of sugar
          three times, how much sugar would she need?

11. Make a line plot from these measurements (lengths of cockroaches, in inches, in Jake's collection):

      1 1/4   1 1/8   1 1/8   1 1/2   1   1 1/8   1 3/8   1 3/4   1 3/8   7/8   1 1/4   2 1/8   1/2   1 1/4   1 1/4

      1 1/2   1 1/2   1 1/2   1 5/8

      This time, you will need to do the scaling on the number line.

      b. What is the mode of this data set?

      c. Jake took his five longest cockroaches, and placed them
          end-to-end. How long a “train” did they form?

12. Measure a bunch of pencils to the nearest 1/8 or 1/16 of an inch. Then make a line plot of
      your data.

This lesson is taken from Maria Miller's book Math Mammoth Fractions 1, and posted at www.HomeschoolMath.net with permission from the author. Copyright © Maria Miller.

Math Mammoth Fractions 1

A self-teaching worktext for 5th grade that teaches fractions and their operations with visual models. The book covers fractions, mixed numbers, adding and subtracting like fractions, adding and subtracting mixed numbers, adding and subtracting unlike fractions, and comparing fractions.

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