Taller Shorter Longer Measuring Without Tools
Part of the Math for Young Minds curriculum — designed for neurodivergent students, grounded in real-world examples.
📋 Session plan (for teachers)
Session 8 — Taller, shorter, longer — measuring without tools
Kindergarten · Math for Young Minds Total time: ~17 minutes Common Core: K.MD.A.1, K.MD.A.2 Today's idea: To compare lengths, line up the ends. Then look.
What students will be able to do
By the end of this session, the student can:
- Compare two things and say which is taller, shorter, or longer.
- Notice when two things are the same length.
- Put three things in order from shortest to longest.
Materials
- 2–3 pencils of different lengths for each pair of students
- Worksheet (one per student)
- A pencil for marking
Substitution: No extra pencils? Use crayons, spoons, sticks, or strips of paper cut to different lengths. Anything straight works.
New words
| Word | Meaning we use in class |
|---|---|
| taller | Higher up than something else. |
| shorter | Not as high or not as long as something else. |
| longer | Stretches further than something else. |
| same length | The same from end to end. |
That's the entire vocabulary for today. No other terms.
Heads-up — common confusions
- Not lining up both ends. If one pencil starts higher than the other, it will look longer even if it isn't. Always line up one end first.
- Taller vs. longer. Taller is up and down (a friend standing). Longer is side to side (a pencil on the table). Both are about size, just different directions.
- "Big" and "small." A child may say "big" instead of "taller" or "longer." That's okay — gently echo back the precise word. "Yes, that one is longer."
Plan
1 · Hello & today's idea — 2 min
"Today we're going to compare things. We'll find out which one is longer, which is shorter, and which is taller."
Hold up two pencils of clearly different lengths. Hold them with the bottom ends lined up.
"Look. I lined up the ends. This one is longer. This one is shorter."
Now stand up tall. Crouch down small.
"Standing up — taller. Crouching — shorter. Same words, different direction."
2 · Hands-on explore — 5 min
Hand each pair 2–3 pencils of different lengths.
Problem 1 (together):
"Pick up two pencils. Put one end on the table. Line them up. Which is longer?"
Walk around. Watch for:
- Are both ends lined up at the bottom?
- Do they say "longer" or "shorter" — or just "big"?
If a child holds the pencils with ends not matching, kneel down. "Slide this one down. Line the ends up. Now look."
After everyone has tried, ask one pair:
"Show me. Which one is longer? How do you know?"
3 · Connect to the math — 3 min
Stand at the front. Hold up two pencils, but this time hold one higher than the other so the longer one looks shorter.
"Hmm. Which is longer?"
Let them guess. Then lower your hand so both bottoms touch the table.
"Look now. Line up the ends. That's the trick. Now we can really see."
Hold up two pencils that are the same length, ends lined up.
"What about these two?" Wait. "Same length. The same from end to end."
4 · Practice with support — 5 min
Pass out the worksheet.
Problem 2 (solo):
"Look around. Find two things of different heights. Which is taller?"
Give them a moment. Let a few share. "My chair is taller than my shoe."
Problem 3 (solo):
"Find two things that look the same length. Now line them up. Are they really?"
Walk around. Some will be surprised. That's the lesson.
Problem 4 (stretch):
"Pick three things. Line them up from shortest to longest. Then draw what you did on your paper."
Help students line up one end. Point with their finger from shortest to longest.
5 · What we did + Try at home — 2 min
"Today you learned to compare. Taller. Shorter. Longer. Same length. And the trick is — line up the ends."
Hold up two fingers, one bent.
"Which is taller?" Wait. "Yes. You did it."
Wave the family guide.
"At home tonight, pick three things — pencils, books, shoes, or stuffed animals. Line them up from shortest to longest. Show someone in your family."
Observation rubric — what to notice in this session
Use this during the session, not as a test. One observation per student is plenty.
| Where the student is | What you'd see |
|---|---|
| Developing | Compares without lining up ends. Uses "big/small" only. Needs your hand to line things up. |
| Using | Lines up ends on their own. Uses taller, shorter, longer, same length correctly for two things. |
| Extending | Orders three or more things shortest to longest. Notices when ends aren't lined up and fixes it. |
No fail state. "Developing" today is "using" next week.
What's next
This is the last session of Kindergarten. You've finished counting, comparing, building 10, adding, taking away, shapes, and measuring. That's real math — and your students will use it forever. Celebrate with them.
✏️ Worksheet (for students)
Math for Young Minds · Kindergarten
8 · Taller, shorter, longer
[ Hello ] → [ Explore ] → [ Connect ] → [ Practice ← we are here ] → [ Try at home ]
My name: _____________________________
Today
Line up the ends. Then look. Which is taller? Which is longer?
We did this together
✏️━━━━━━━━━━
✏️━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
↑ shorter ↑ longer
Both ends start at the same spot. Then we see!
Problem 1 — together
Pick up two pencils. Line up the ends.
➤ Draw your two pencils here:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Circle the word:
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ LONGER │ │ SHORTER │
└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
Problem 2 — on your own
Find two things of different heights in the room.
➤ Draw them standing up:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Circle the word:
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ TALLER │ │ SHORTER │
└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
Problem 3 — on your own
Find two things that look the same length. Line them up!
➤ Draw them lined up:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Circle one:
┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐
│ SAME LENGTH │ │ NOT THE SAME │
└──────────────────┘ └──────────────────┘
Problem 4 — stretch
Pick 3 things. Line them up from shortest → longest.
➤ Draw what you did:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ shortest │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ longest │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Today's words
| word | what it means |
|---|---|
| taller | higher up than something else |
| shorter | not as high or not as long as something else |
| longer | stretches further than something else |
| same length | the same from end to end |
🏠 Try at home tonight
Pick three things at home. Line them up from shortest to longest.
- 🖍️ Three crayons
- 👟 Three pairs of shoes
- 📚 Three books
- 🥄 Three spoons
- 🧸 Three stuffed animals
Line up the ends. Then look!
🏠 Family guide (for parents)
Math for Young Minds · Kindergarten · Session 8
Tonight: line up three things, shortest to longest
What your child did today
In class today, we practiced comparing sizes — without rulers or any tools.
We picked up pencils, lined up the ends, and figured out which was longer. We looked around the room for things that were taller or shorter. We even tried putting three things in order from shortest to longest.
The big idea: you can compare two things just by lining them up carefully.
Why this matters
Measuring starts long before rulers. Before a child can understand "5 inches," they need to understand what longer and shorter even mean — and that both ends have to line up for the comparison to be fair.
This is one of those skills that looks obvious to adults and is genuinely new to a 5-year-old. We're not in a rush. Understanding comes first; the tools come later.
🏠 Try this tonight (1 minute)
Pick three things at home that are the same kind but different sizes.
| Easy starters |
|---|
| Three crayons |
| Three pairs of shoes |
| Three books |
| Three spoons |
| Three stuffed animals |
The script:
"Let's line these up. Put one end of each on the table edge. Which is shortest? Which is longest? Can you put them in order?"
If the bottoms don't line up, gently slide them so they do. That one move — lining up both ends — is the whole lesson.
Words your child is learning
- Taller — higher up than something else
- Shorter — not as high or not as long as something else
- Longer — stretches further than something else
- Same length — the same from end to end
Saying "big" or "small" is fine too. We're just adding the more exact words alongside.
If your child says…
"This is easy."
Wonderful. Ask them to find two things that look the same length, then line them up to check. Often one is a little longer than they thought. That's real measuring.
"This is hard."
That's okay. Start with just two things, not three. Hand them both pencils and say, "Line up the bottoms. Now which one sticks up higher?" One comparison at a time.
"I don't want to."
No problem. Try again tomorrow with shoes by the door, or stuffed animals on the bed. Anything they care about works.
What's next
Next session is our last one of Kindergarten. We'll look back at everything your child has learned this year — counting, comparing, building 10, adding, taking away, shapes, and measuring. Real math they'll use forever.
Thanks for taking a minute tonight. These small moments are where math lives.
— Math for Young Minds
🔑 Cheat sheet (visual)
📏 Taller, shorter, longer
The big idea
| |
| ✏️ |
|✏️ | |
|| | |
|| | |
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
shorter taller
Two things. Compare. Which is more?
⬆️ Taller = up and down
🧒
🧒 🧒
🧒 🧒
🧒 🧒
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
taller shorter
➡️ Longer = side to side
✏️━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
✏️━━━━━━
↑ longer
↑ shorter
⭐ Line up the ends!
GOOD ✅ OOPS ❌
|✏️━━━━━| | ✏️━━━━━|
|✏️━━| |✏️━━|
start here not lined up —
↑ can't tell!
Both pencils start at the same line. Now you can see.
🟰 Same length
✏️━━━━━━━
✏️━━━━━━━
↑
ends match on both sides
1, 2, 3 — shortest to longest
✏️━━
✏️━━━━━
✏️━━━━━━━━
short → medium → long
The Big Rules
✅ Line up the ends. ✅ Taller for up. Longer for across. ✅ Ends match = same length.
❌ Don't compare without lining up. ❌ Don't mix up taller and longer.
🌟 Try it
👟━━━━━━
👟━━━━
Which shoe is longer?
. . .
the top one ⬆️