Inchy
Measuring by laying the same unit end to end, no gaps and no overlaps
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Inchy is a small green inchworm who measures the whole world with one thing: Inchy. To find out how long a twig is, Inchy stretches out, tucks up, stretches out, tucks up — step, step, step — all the way along. "Four Inchys long!" Each step is exactly one Inchy, end to end, with no jumping ahead and no doubling back. Same-size steps, every time. That's the trick.
Two ants, Bex and Nim, are having a squabble. "MY stick is longer!" says Bex. "No, MINE is!" says Nim. They hold their sticks up in the air, far apart, and glare. But you can't tell longer from shorter when the sticks are waving around in the air. The squabble just gets louder, and both ants feel hot and cross.
Inchy loops over. "Let's find out for real," says Inchy. "But we have to be fair. We measure both sticks with the same steps — my steps. Start right at one end. No gaps between steps, no stepping over the same spot twice." Inchy lays down flat next to Bex's stick. "Watch. Step... step... step. Count with me."
Bex's stick: step, step, step, step, step — "Five Inchys!" Nim's stick: step, step, step, step, step, step — "Six Inchys!" Same steps, same way, both times. The ants go quiet. "Six is more than five," says Nim slowly. "Nim's really is a little longer," says Bex — and to Bex's own surprise, it doesn't sting. It's just... true. Now they both know, the fair way.
Bex and Nim lay their sticks down side by side and look. The measuring made the argument melt away — there was nothing left to shout about, only something they'd figured out together. A cool, settled calm spreads through both ants, the calm of knowing for sure. "Measure me next!" says Bex, lying down straight. And Inchy, happy as can be, starts to step: one Inchy, two Inchy, all the way along.
The MeasurePals ensemble
Inchy is part of MeasurePals's distributed-narrative cast. Each character embodies a different curricular primitive; together they teach the full subject.
