Measuring America Two Feet @ a Time

Quinn and I flew back to Los Angeles from Boston on Monday. We are here for a week to finish packing up our house and moving the lot to storage. Although there has been much work to accomplish on this trip, we have had a great time feeling the California sun on our skin again and visiting our beloved Wonderland Avenue Elementary School in Laurel Canyon. It is the school where I have taught Art since the 2005/2006 school year and have been so fortunate to have Quinn in attendance since Kindergarten. It is more than a place of work or a school to us, we consider it a home and leave behind many wonderful friends and family members. It was a gift to Quinn from one of them that inspired one of our homeschool lessons. Echo has been in class with Quinn since Kindergarten and on his last day at Wonderland she scored 100% on her Spelling Test earning a prize, a small tape measure / level keychain. She told Quinn that she wanted him to have it and now we will put it to use. Instead of flying back to Boston, Quinn and I will once again be hooking up our trailer. Along with our dogs Lola and Bessie we will be traversing the country in 12 days. In each city we visit I will be giving Quinn a list of objects he must find and measure. After finding each object's width, height, or depth in total inches he will convert each measurement to feet and inches and then log his findings into his journal and make comparisons between objects. Because the tape measure is only two feet long Quinn will be exercising his skills in addition, subtraction, fractions, comparison, and writing.

Los Angeles, California

1. The Width of the Front Door ----------------- 36" or 3'

2. The Width of the Bedroom Door ------------ 32 " or 2' 8"

3. The Width of the Kitchen Sink -------------- 33" or 2' 9"

4. The Height of the Toaster ---------------------- 9 "

5. The Height of the Front Door Step ----------- 7 "

6. The Height of the Front Porch Step ---------- 5 "

7. The Height of the Back Porch Step ---------- 7 "


The Width of the Kitchen Sink   >   The Height of the Toaster

The Height of the Front Porch Step   <   The Height of the Back Porch Step

The Width of the Bedroom Door   <   The Width of the Front Door

  

Las Vegas, Nevada:

1. The height of the trailer step ---------------------------- 9"

2. The width of the trailer step ----------------------------- 24" or 2'

3. The height of the bedroom doorknob ----------------- 36" or 3'

4. The height of the table ------------------------------------ 24" or 2'

5. The height of the inside trailer step --------------------- 6"

The width of the trailer step  =  The height of the table

The height of the bedroom doorknob  >  The height of the table

The width of the trailer step  >  The height of the inside trailer step

Cedar City, Utah:

1. The width of the tree ---------------------------- 14" or  1' 2"

2. The height of the barbecue --------------------- 20" or  1' 8"

3. The height of the table -------------------------- 29"  or  2' 5"

4.  The height of the fence ------------------------- 36"  or  3'

5.  The width of the barbecue --------------------- 7"


The height of the table  >  The width of the tree

The height of the fence  >  The height of the table

The width of the tree  <  The height of the fence

(To be Continued)