Ruler Skills

We are working on the concept of measurement. I got her a ruler, and I made some lines on a page, each line a different color and each so many inches long. On one page I did the lines in order - 1 inch, 2 inches, 3 inches, and so forth. On another page I mixed up the lengths, so they were 3 inches, then 6 inches, then 2 inches, etc. This is what I learned: Before a kid can learn to measure, they have to have the concept of a line having and end and a beginning. My daughter had no idea at first with the ruler. Then I showed her - "This is the beginning of the line, and this is the end. Put your finger on the beginning of the line. Now on the end." Once she understood that the line starts and stops, we went back and put the ruler by the line with the beginning of the ruler at the beginning of the line, and we looked for the number on the ruler next to the end of the line. It took awhile, but she got it. It is so neat to see how accomplished she feels and how much confidence it builds in her when she figures out something like this. And it builds my confidence as a mom that I can figure out how to teach her well.