Longer or shorter than a metre

In your book, Maths Mela (Chapter 6), children at a School Health Programme are being measured. Some things measured are lengths, like how tall a child is. Other things are not lengths, like how heavy a child is (weight) or how hot a child is (temperature).

We use many words for length. How tall something is, is its height. How wide it is, is its breadth or width. How deep something goes, like a well, is its depth. And how long it is, is its length. Height, breadth, width and depth are all lengths, so they are all measured in the same units, like metres.

In Grade 3 you learnt the metre. Now judge some lengths against one metre. Most children in Class 4 are taller than a metre. Your arm is shorter than a metre. The door of your classroom is taller than a metre; a grown-up has to walk through it! So if someone says 'the door is shorter than a metre', that is incorrect.