How Big Is a Foot?

by Rolf Myller

Thrown in jail because the bed he made for the Queen is too small, an apprentice comes up with a more accurate way of measuring size.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, School, Fiction, Teaching, Counting

Paperback

First published August 28, 1962

Reviews

[Isabel Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a kindergarten teacher it is important to me to teach my students about standard and nonstandard units of measurement. This book does a great job comparing standard and nonstandard units of measurement as well as highlighting the need for uniform measuring tools. How Big is a Foot? clearly illustrates the difference between the length of a person's foot and a foot long ruler. After reading this book we made can make tracings of our own feet and cut out foot long foot shapes to make an outline of our own beds that will be 4 ft x 6 ft. This will further illustrate the concept of standard and nonstandard units of measurement. This book is awesome and every kindergarten teacher should have it.

[Shani Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for introducing non standard measurement and standard measurement to students. If a teacher were working on measurement with their students in the classroom, the teacher could instruct students to explore the classroom and measure and record the lengths of different items using a ruler as well as their own choice of unit for measurement. Students could use their foot, an eraser, one of thier fingers or a pencil as a non standard unit for measurement. This exercise should show students why having a standard unit of measurement is important and provide practice using and reading rulers properly.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Big Is a Foot is a bemusing story about the origins of the imperial system of measurement. It’s not 100% true, but it is entertaining, and shows a need for a standard system of measurement. The story follows a king, who orders a bed to be made for his wife. The king measures out the bed with his feet, but when the measurement is replicated with the apprentice’s feet, the bed is much too small. In the end a copy of the king’s foot is made, as well as a perfectly sized bed.

The first part I like about this book is the structure. It has a repetitive pattern that children can pick up on, but it changes ever so slightly to avoid monotony. The illustrations are basic black line art with red color, but that kind of design does appeal to me. I also liked the witty writing that makes you do a double take sometimes (ex. Because at the time beds had not been invented; called the prime minister, who called the chief carpenter, who called the jailer, etc.)

I would use this book when introducing measurement. It’s a whimsy story, yes, and not totally true like I said above, but it does emphasize the need for a set measurement system. It also introduces the measurement of “feet” so children aren’t so thrown off when shown feet and inches.

[Tiana]

Where’s the Math: Common Core Standards K.MD. 1. Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight. Describe several measurable attributes of a single object.
2. Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has “more of”/“less of” the attribute, and describe the difference. For example, directly compare the heights of two children and describe one child as taller/shorter

Genre: picture book- story

Theme/Keywords: Measurement, Problem solving, Predictions

Features of print: Type of illustrations Simple illustrations Text density and Features of print (Is there a lot, a little or moderate amount of text? Are there any ways attention is drawn to the text by playing with size or position?)

Language considerations: The idea of foot as measurement requires the idea that the same word can have multiple meanings and uses. This could be a language challenge for some children. There is also very little context with the illustrations. No real setting for New Language Learners to explore.

Cultural considerations: The hierarchy of characters with in the story may pose a challenge with children who are not used to reading these types of stories.

Open Ended Question to invite mathematical thinking: How could we use other body parts to measure things?

Extension Activity- Children will trace their own foot. They will use unifix cubes to measure their foot, then compare and contrast their foot size to other students.

[Danielle Boles · Rating 5 out of 5]

How Big Is a Foot by Rolf Myller is a story about a King who wanted to make a Queen a bed, but beds had not been invented yet. Nobody the King came in contact could figure out how big a bed was. Finally, the King said the Queen had to be big enough to fit the Queen! He told the Queen to lie on the ground and walked around her, he said the bed needed to be 3 feet wide and 6 feet long. Essentially, the bed was too small because nobody knew how big a foot was. When they measured the King's foot, everyone knew how to make the bed.

I thought this was a clever story for children because it teaches dimensions and everybody needs to know that. Although it doesn't talk about how big a foot is exactly, it brings forth the problems caused when you don't know the exact dimensions. In our world, dimensions could be a hard thing for young students to understand and I think this story is a clever way to bring up that issue.

[Tony Ruiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Big Is A Foot? – Rolf Myller
Grade: K-2
Pages: 48
Theme: King/Queen, Measurement, Communication
Genre: Historical Fiction
Response: How Big Is a Foot? Rolf Myller. Information. 31 pages. Primary. An apprentice is sent to jail after making a bed for the queen. The king gives him a specific length and width of 6 feet by 3 feet. The apprentice thinks he's figured out what had went wrong, and and wants to create a new bed for the queen.
Class Activity: This is a great book to use in a younger classroom with measuring. Students would measure items around the classroom by using their pinkies, arm’s length, and even their own feet/shoes. Afterwards, they would learn how to use and measure with a ruler.

[Roshini R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific book to demonstrate and engage in a discussion about standard and non standard measurements. I read it to my second graders since we are exploring measurements. Students and teachers alike benefit from integration of content in literacy and math instruction. Students were making connection between the story and their hands on activities measuring space and objects in the classroom and at home. They were able to apply what was learned in class to suggest why the king's measurement and the apprentice's measurement differed. They also suggested other methods the king and the apprentice could have measured the bed for the Queen. More importantly, they understood why we have standard measurements in place.

[Taryn Loyd]

This book is about a king who wanted to build a bed for the queen, so he measures with his feet how tall the queen is and sets out to find someone to build it. However, the problem is that the apprentice's feet are smaller than the king's, so the bed is too small for the queen. So the apprentice is thrown in the jail till he comes to this conclusion, so they make an exact marble copy of the king's feet to measure the new bed. The apprentice uses the marble copy and is able to successfully make a bed big enough for the queen. So from that point on, they used the king's feet measurements to measure anything.

I liked this book okay. I feel as though it would be a good book to read before teaching about the metric unit, however, I am unsure if I could incorporate it or not.

[Honah Miller]

This book uses a story of how the measurement of a "foot" was invented. The style of the illustrations is simple and in black and white with only the color red used to highlight different images like the characters clothes. The text and pictures are oriented differently on each page sometimes in the middle, left, right, or even going diagonally across the page. The thing that caught my attention most was the dedication, it read "to the wonderful metric system without whose absence in this country this book would not have been possible." I thought this was a unique dedication that most people may overlook.

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book underlines the several measurable attributes of an object. It is great for introducing non-standard measurement and standard measurement to students. I could use this book with students when exploring the classroom, measuring, and recording the lengths of different items using a ruler as well as their own choice of unit for measurement. Students could use their foot, an eraser, one of their fingers or a pencil as a non-standard unit for measurement. Also, students have a chance to practice the usage of a ruler. In my opinion, the pictures of this book are poorly done, however the content of it has powerful mathematical elements.

[Shelby Beasley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the Queen's birthday and the King has decided that her present should be a bed. In order to craft this bed, the king has to measure his wife, so he has her lay down and he walks the length and width of her. He declares her however many feet, but when the apprentice measures, the bed is too small.
This a funny, simple book that I probably wouldn't enjoy if I wasn't a teacher. However, I am a teacher so the lesson applications make my teaching genes dance with excitement.
This a perfect book to use to open up a lesson about standardized units--very basic, I know. But this book was literally formulated for that, so I'm not going to look that gift horse in the mouth.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

When talking about how the foot came around and how people started using the foot, this would be a good book to use. This book talks about how the foot came from the king's foot. Also, it talks about how you can measure something with your foot and then measure it with someone else's foot and it would not be the same, because you have two different size feet. Also, it talks about how the bed sizes came to be such as the king, queen, and etc.
This is a good math book to use for talking about measurement.

[Monalisa Johnson-brown]

This is about a king and his wife. It was the queen's birthday and the king decided to give the her a bed. The king asked his apprentice to measured how long the bed should be with his feet and sent the measurements to the maker. When the bed was completed it was too small. The problem was that the king asked this apprentice to measure the length using his feet which was smaller than the kings. Finally the king measured with his feet and send it to the maker. The queens birthday came and she received the bed. She was able to fit on it and she liked it very much.

[Chloe Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Bis Is a Foot? is a great story about the importance of measurement and how much we need it. The King in this story wants to make a bed for the queen so he asks his servant to measure how long the bed should be using the servant's feet in which the bed came out too small. When the bed was made using the King's foot measurements the be came out big enough. This is a great lesson to teach non standard measuring units to children. As a class, the students could measure different items using their feet as a lesson.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

How big is your foot, is a rather clever way to teach your students about measurement. I would love to use this book as a opener for a math measurment lesson. This book would be great use with your students during a hands on math lesson such as allowing your students to use their foot and measure it to understand how big is a foot.
The story explains how the queen's birthday is approaching and the king wants to get her a bed. However, no one knows how big a bed is so the king goes through a lot trying to figure out the measurement.

[Keidra Polite · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a very cute story. The book tells how the measurement of a foot came about. The king wanted a bed for his wife so he measured it using his feet. He told the man the measurements, so the man measured it using his feet. The bed was too small because the man's foot was smaller than the king's. From then on, they used only the king's foot size when measuring so there would be no confusion. It is a good book to use to show the importance of being consistent when you measure something.

[Shareena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was hilarious and non-fiction. It helped students learn how important measurement was and how important it is that the same length the original item was measured with is the same object and length the other person uses to make the final product (i.e. a bed in this case). As well as who was making the measurements for example one persons foot could be 8 in and anothers 12 in which means there is a difference of 4 in. It discusses how we came to know a foot equates to 12 inches.

[Lana Clifton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Help children discover concepts in standard measurement with this story about an apprentice who designs the first bed ever made for the queen. The apprentice runs into a problem when he makes the bed using his own feet for measurement. In practical context, students will learn exactly how big is a foot and why. Extend concepts in small groups where students measure various objects with their feet. Are the measurements the same or different, and why?

[Joyce Munzwandi]

Help children discover concepts in standard measurement with this story about an apprentice who designs the first bed ever made for the queen. The apprentice runs into a problem when he makes the bed using his own feet for measurement. Students can learn about non standard measurement. Students can get involved in measuring activities in the classroom and they can also measure their feet in non standard measurement and check what their standard measurement is.

[Inna Nako · Rating 5 out of 5]

-book on measurements
-the King want to give the Queen a bed for her birthday since beds weren't invented yet
-explains how the King would calculate using his foot, but when the apprentice measures using his own feet, the measurment is different
-shows why the same standards of measurement are needed
-can be used to show perimeter and area of objects, such as a rectangular bed
-fun to have kids predict whtat would happen in story

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like "Measuring Penny," I would use this as a mini-lesson to activate students' knowledge about measuring. Then, they could break up into smaller groups to measure things around the classroom. If we've already measured everything and discussed measurement with "Measuring Penny," then the students could write their own mini measurement story showing their understanding of the difference between standard and non-standard measurements.

[Roshunda Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book when teaching measurement. This story tells the story about how the standard measurement of a foot came about. The king wanted to give his wife a bed for her birthday so he measured the size he wanted it to be with his foot. However, the bed-maker's foot was smaller than the king's foot so the bed was made to small. From that point on, only the king's foot size was used for measurement.

[Cameon Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I would normally read this with lower grades, I recently read this book to a group of fifth graders as a connection piece to a measurement activity we were doing. This book was great in scaffolding the students’ thinking on connecting measurement and why it is important to have a standard measurement system because it can change from one person to another. They thought the book was funny, and the illustrations are colorful without being distracting from the purpose of the book.

[April Scheivelhud · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a clever little book. The jester is supposed to measure the Queen's new bed by how many feet the king told him. the jester used his own feet to measure, but the bed was too small. This is a nice example of measuring with non-standard units. It is also an excellent example of why we need standard units!

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun math book to read, especially when teaching about units because it talks about how a king wanted to build his wife a bed so he walked around his wife to measure how tall she was, using his feet and the unit, and when the carpenter went to build the bed, his feet were much smaller than the kings so it didn't match up and the bed ended up being way too small.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that would be great to introduce a measurement unit in math. It is an amusing story that is based on a true story that gives students insight on why a foot is 12 inches long. Some cute activities to follow this book would be making a foot for each child and use it as a non standard measuring tool.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great book about measurement, its about a king looking for the perfect bed for his wife for her birthday. He tells the person that works for him that his wife needs a need that will fit her and her crown. But the guy who works for him keeps giving him the wrong size bed because he has a different foot size then him.

[Becca Holcomb]

This book was a fun introduction to a math activity I did in my placement. The stduents learned about estimating and using the non-standard unit of their feet to measure items in the classroom. They loved seeing how when people have different shoe sizes this can also make their measurements different too!

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good picture books make math so much more fun. We used this book to start an activity on measuring. All my girls traced their feet and cut them out. Then we measured Syd's bed in these "feet" and of course everyone had a different measurement. It's a great lesson to talk about the need for standard units of measurement--and it's a fun story as well.

[Debra]

K - 3

Measurement in Feet. Non-Standard Measurement and Why Having a Standard Measurement is Important. Can also work for calculating area and doing comparisons. Fun activity can be modeled in the classroom. I did a Math-Literature lesson in 3rd grade class using this book. The students loved it.