Reading Sixteenths: Ruler and Tape Measure Practice

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Career and Technical Education · Engineering / Robotics / Industrial Technology
SP-ENGR-002 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 2
Reading Sixteenths: Ruler and Tape Measure
Practice
Career and Technical Education · Engineering / Robotics / Industrial Technology · Grades 7-9 · 50 minutes
Time needed
50 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student). Write the worked example from the steps on
the board.
Technology
None. Calculators are optional for arithmetic only.
Student
independence
High. Students work alone, then check answers together.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet, Whiteboard or chalkboard, Rulers (optional, for checking only)
Goal for today: Students will read lengths to the nearest sixteenth of an inch from described scales, add and subtract
mixed-number lengths, and convert between feet, inches, centimeters and millimeters.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ On the board write: One inch = 16 small spaces. Count the marks past the whole inch, write the count over
16, then simplify. Example: 3 marks past the 2-inch line = 2 3/16 in.
☐ Rulers are optional. If students have them, they may lay them next to the page to see how marks are spaced.
Nobody should use scissors, blades or cutters.
☐ Keep the answer key (page after the worksheet) on your desk.
Say this to start
Good morning! Today is measurement practice, just like a carpenter or machinist would do before building anything. A
ruler can look tricky because the marks are very small. You will learn to count the marks and turn them into fractions.
Everything is on paper, and the example on the board shows how to do it.

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Career and Technical Education · Engineering / Robotics / Industrial Technology
SP-ENGR-002 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 3
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–5
Take attendance the way the school requires. Hand out the
worksheet.
Settle in and take out a pencil.
5–12
Read the passage on the worksheet aloud. Then read the
board example: “3 marks past the 2-inch line is 2 and 3
sixteenths inches.”
Follow along and listen.
12–22
Tell students to fill in the fraction table, then do questions
1–5. Walk around and ask, “How many marks past the
whole inch?”
Complete the table and read the five
described lengths.
22–36
Tell students to do questions 6–10 in the work boxes. They
should show each step and include units.
Add, subtract and convert lengths, writing
every step.
36–46
Tell students to complete questions 11–15. Let partners
compare answers quietly.
Compare fractions, convert metric units,
and find the error in sample work.
46–50
Collect all worksheets and put them in a stack for the
teacher.
Hand in the worksheet.
If things go wrong
• If students say, “I never learned fractions on a ruler,” tell them to count the marks and write the count over
16. The fraction table on the worksheet shows how to simplify.
• If a student mixes up the “past” and “before” wording, tell them: past means add to the inch line, before
means subtract from the next inch line.
• If calculators are out, remind students they may use them only for arithmetic. They still need to show the
fractions.
• If the room gets noisy, remind them that this is individual work until question 11.
Early finishers
• Write three original ruler descriptions (for example, “7 marks past the 5-inch line”) and trade with a neighbor
to solve.
• Find three objects in the room that are shorter than 12 inches and estimate each length in sixteenths.
Support and challenge
• Support: Let students use a calculator for arithmetic, and require only questions 1–5, 6, 9 and 10.
• Challenge: Ask students to write the length 2 11/16 in as a decimal to the nearest hundredth (2.69 in) and
explain how they found it.

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Career and Technical Education · Engineering / Robotics / Industrial Technology
SP-ENGR-002 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 4
Notes for the teacher (you fill this in)
Jot a few lines before you leave. A full Daily Sub Report is in the free Sub Survival Kit at SubstitutePlans.com.
How far the class got / what to pick up next:
Students who were especially helpful:
Anything the teacher should know: