The Flexible Rule

Somewhat like the number line

Is the rule or the measuring stick,

Once we used the Imperial rule

But these days it is mostly metric.

It is made of wood in some cases

But many are also made of plastic,

Not as popular is the metal rule

But any of them will do the trick.

Do not use as percussion sticks

Or to make music on your desks,

A damaged rule that cannot measure

Is nothing more than useless.

The rule is an important member

It should be in the mathematics pack,

A schoolbag without the essential rule

Is travelling down the wrong track.

Do not use it to introduce measurement

Bring it further down the line,

For measuring without a true concept

Is most difficult to refine.

Start with paces and hand spans

Measure the desks and the floor,

Then move outside to the corridor

And the playing field

If you need to measure more.

Then you will see the need for a rule

With the varying paces and hand spans,

For students come in different sizes

And also their paces and hands.

Use the rule to measure the paces

Use the rule to measure the spans,

Then create a problem in mathematics

And see if the pupils can make a plan.

It would be quite tedious

Measuring the corridor with a rule,

But to find the size of my pace

The rule would be an important tool.

For now knowing the size of my span

And knowing the measure of my pace

I can calculate using the rule

The measure of almost any place.

I can obtain a ball of string

And then wrap it around a tree,

To learn the measure of its diameter

The rule would come in quite handy.

Use the rule to measure the string

It is the same measure as the tree,

And knowing the measure of the string

Will be the diameter’s measure exactly.

A procedure to bear in mind

The rule comes after the number line,

Both show the zero coming first

In measuring remember that every time.

It’s different from counting items

Where the first item is number one,

On the rule there are spaces

Like the paces used to measure the lawn.

I trust the foregoing fourteen verses

Have shown the importance of the rule,

Notwithstanding its shape and rigidity

It can be a flexible measuring tool.

Stewart Russell © 2016