The Magic Meter

M
THE
M agic
eter
1

2

There once was a clever old king
With a hobby like no one before.
He went through the land,
With his ruler in hand
And would measure whatever he saw.
His ruler was different and special.
For instead of the ruler we know,
It was taller in height
And was always a fight
To hold it and be on the go.
a
3

4

He called the long ruler the meter
And would find things he wanted to measure.
From the height of his horses
To the length of golf courses
And the width of his chests filled with treasure.
The king would shout out all the measures
He took with such pride everyday.
“Two meters, Sir Horse,
But you know that, of course,
I measured you just yesterday.”
5

6

“Hello, Mr. Snake,” said the king.
“You measure just one meter long.”
“Why thank you, dear king
What a wonderful thing
With your meter, you're just never wrong!”
7

8

So slowly he went on his way
Writing down all the lengths that he took,
When he saw Mr. Toad
On the side of the road
Heading off to go swim in the brook.
“Good day,” said the king to the toad.
“May I measure you now with my meter?”
“Of course, yes you may,
Then I must go and play
With my friend, for I said I would meet her.”
9

10

So the king took the meter to measure
Mr. Toad, like he did with the rest.
But the toad was so small
And the meter, so tall,
That the king became instantly stressed.
“You're just far too small,” said the king.
“And my meter's too tall next to you.”
Said the toad to the king,
“Measuring ain’t my thing.
Surely you know just what you should do.”
11

12

“You're not even one meter long
And I'm not sure of measures so small.
I have never, not ever
Tried so hard to measure
An item so little, at all.”
13

14

“I think that this meter is broken!
Your size is too small for the charts!”
And with all of his might
He squeezed it so tight
That it broke into 10 equal parts.
15

16

Mr. Toad froze in shock at the sight
Of the king acting out with such rage.
For surely this king
Shouldn't do such a thing,
Especially, someone his age.
Now when Mr. Toad looked before him
And the king also looked with surprise,
They saw on the ground
All scattered around
Smaller rulers, each one tenth in size.
17

A
18

“There, look!” said the toad with delight.
“Do you now see what's there, O wise king?
Instead of a meter
To measure all creatures
Use the pieces to do the same thing.”
“That's it!” said the king with such pride,
For he always was one for surprises.
“To measure the small,
The long and the tall,
We need units of all different sizes!”
19

20

So he picked up a piece from the ground,
Fixed his hair so it looked somewhat neater,
Then he held the piece out
And announced with a shout,
“This piece, we will call DECIMETER.”
The creatures rejoiced all together
At this small but yet magical thing
That was one-tenth the size
Of the meter, how wise
Was King William, the measuring king.
21

22

He took the piece called decimeter
And held it near small Mr. Toad.
The king was surprised
At the toad's length and size -
He was one decimeter, it showed.
Now the king once again was quite happy
And he went on his way through the land
To seek out all creatures
With all sorts of features
With his decimeter in hand.
23

24

And as he looked down the king noticed
Something small staring at him with glee.
It was Sammy the snail
With his voice oh so frail
Shouting, “Oh dear king please measure me!”
“My pleasure,” said wise old King William
And positioned his tool with delight.
But when he now tried
To measure, he sighed,
Because something now just wasn't right.
25

26

This tool that was just very useful
Was longer than Sammy the snail.
“What shall I do now?”
For the king knew not how
To measure him using this scale.
“This new decimeter is useless.
Can't measure a snail after all!”
He was mad as a hatter,
Threw it down and it shattered
In ten equal pieces, so small.
27

A
28

“Hey, look on the ground,” said the snail.
And the king noticed what he had done.
For instead of one ruler
He had something way cooler,
Ten small equal pieces - not one!
29

30

And although very small, he picked up one
And looked at the piece that he chose.
“For the smallest of things
Like insects with wings,
Maybe use this to measure, who knows?”
So after much thought on the matter,
The king then declared with delight,
“What more could be sweeter
This new CENTIMETER
Will measure the small things just right.”
31

32

So he went on his way taking measures
Of many small objects that day
Like a worm and a bird,
He looked mighty absurd
Taking measurements in this odd way.
And as the king sat on his blanket
He saw something move near a plant.
Right next to the ground,
He saw moving around,
It was Milly the lovable ant.
33

34

The king came a little bit closer
To Milly, he wanted to see
Just how very small
That she was, after all
Most ants are as small as can be.
“Well hello, King William, how are you?
Are you measuring things yet again?”
She knew he was strange
But thought he had changed
From pursuing this silly campaign.
35

36

“Why yes, do you mind if I measure you
With this small centimeter right here?
With this marvelous thing
And me, the wise king
I'll be done in a bit, have no fear.”
So the king held the ruler so gently
To measure the ant oh so small.
It again was too big
And he tripped on a twig
As Milly watched King William fall!
37

38

“I'm smaller than one centimeter
You now hold in the palm of your hand.
But, one second, dear king.”
She did a strange thing,
She called nine more friends on demand.
a
Now, ten ants all stood on the ruler
And linked up their arms on the tool.
Then the king realized,
As he widened his eyes,
That each ant was one tenth – oh how cool!
39

40

“So, one ant is one tenth of this ruler!”
And he stooped a bit lower to greet her.
Then he said, “My dear Milly,
This may sound quite silly
But you, dear, are one MILLIMETER!”
And as the sun set in the distance,
The measuring king grew so weary.
He thought of the day
Which caused him to say
“I've created an awesome new theory.”
41

42

“The meter that I started out with
Has been broken down smaller and smaller.
And throughout the day long
I have never gone wrong
With some objects small, and some taller.”
“I need rulers of all different sizes -
Some small, some large and some tall.
Millimeter, Centimeter,
Decimeter and Meter
Are all useful tools after all.”
43

44

The king thought of all the new measures
And knew that you simply can't guess.
For the really small things
Like a fly's tiny wings
Millimeter is probably best.
And all bigger things are best measured
With a much larger unit he knew.
“So, the meter is best
For the large things!” he stressed.
He was proud that he knew what to do.
45

46

But, by now he was far from the castle.
He had walked at a mighty fast pace.
Then his mind started spinning
And the king thought while grinning,
“How far is my home from this place?”
So he took out his very last meter
But, this meter now seemed far too small.
It would take him forever
With this meter to measure
From here to the great castle wall.
47

48

Then he took out his old magic wand
And he waved it with all of his might!
With a flick and a fling
Of the wand, said the king,
“I need a long length, not a height.”
And then, in an instant before him
Appeared one thousand meters – what fun!
They were laid end to end
And he started to spend
The day counting them each one by one.
49

50

And when he was almost done counting -
“Nine hundred and ninety-nine.”
Then “One thousand,” said he,
And he turned back to see
On the ground was a very long line.
“Aha, yes that's it I'm a genius.
I've discovered again something neater!
One thousand in all
Of such meters, I'll call
This very long length, KILOMETER!”
51

52

And so, in the land of King William
With creatures both big and some small,
There are some hidden treasures
And those magical measures
That we use every day after all.
53

Use your meter
ruler to measure the
following items around the
house in meters and centimeters
Write your answers in the
spaces provided
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Join King William in his measuring quest!
Item Meters Centimeters
Broom
Kitchen floor
Sofa
Front Door Height
Your height
Mop
Bedroom floor
Front Door Width
Dining Room table
Patio
Schoolbag
Refrigerator
Washing machine
Back yard
Bathtub
Belt
Pair of pants
Bed
Your pet
Your parent
54

A special type of
measuring system that uses
multiples of 10, which
makes calculations simple.
Each unit has a different
name. This makes it easy to
measure anything from the
very small, to the very big.
The unit of length is the
METER. Some variations of
the meter include
millimeter, centimeter,
decimeter and kilometer.
mm
10 millimeters = 1 centimeter
cm
MILLIMETER
CENTIMETER
DECIMETER
METER
KILOMETER
55
10 centimeters = 1 decimeter
10 decimeters = 1 meter
1000 meters = 1 kilometer
dm
m
km

Clint W. R. Higgs, A.A., B. A., M.Sci.
Author
Like King William, Mathematics has been
more than a hobby for me, it has almost
been an obsession. From as early as the age
of 9, when in Grade 4, my teacher made the
subject not only fun but interesting,
challenging, meaningful – it came to life and
turned into something almost MAGICAL!
Since then, the love for Mathematics has
exponentially increased, directing me in the
paths of teaching and writing Mathematics
books. This story started out in 2015 after
observing how challenging the topic of
m e a s u r e m e n t w a s f o r s t u d e n t s t o
understand. Despite being a system with
multiples of 10, students could still not
understand the relationships between
smaller and larger units. Written in a poetic
way, it makes the story line a little more
enjoyable while learning how each unit
relates to one another. The worldwide
pandemic enabled the completion of this
project and gives the world a look at King
William and the importance of his MAGIC
METER.
56