‘How Big is a Foot’ by Rolf Myller introduces students to non standard units of measurement. If a teacher is working on measurement in the classroom, she can ask the students to search the classroom, measure and record the lengths of different objects like desk, table etc using their foot, hand spans or a string as a non standard unit for measurement. A great way to introduce children to measurement but due to its inconsistent and varying lengths of object, using this informal unit to measure is not dependable.
This is a knowledgeable story for children because it teaches about size, perimeter and area. Although it doesn't talk about how big a foot is exactly, it brings out the problems caused when you don't know the exact size of the foot.
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The concept of using a foot as a measurement tool requires the fact that the same word can have multiple meanings for e.g. best foot forward, have one foot in the grave. This could be a language challenge for some children since there is no scope for new language learners to analyse. The arrangement of characters within the story may pose a challenge with children who are not used to reading these types of stories (Booker, Bond, Sparrow & Swan, 2014).
Not a good book to read since the story is very dry but does have good mathematical concepts. The illustrations in the book are black and white with a little bit of red added to them. There are no background images, just plain white space. However, it would be good to use for a math lesson as students would discover how big a foot is and the need for standard units of measurement (Booker, Bond, Sparrow & Swan, 2014).
Students and teachers could benefit from this book by integrating the content in literacy and math for example making connection between the story and their hands on activities measuring space and objects in classroom and at home. There is every possibility that students can get confused because there is no uniformity in non standard units, some people's feet are smaller or bigger than