1. Drawing Objects to Scale

2. Measure
You and a partner will be given a measuring tape and two objects to measure in the classroom.
You will have 5 minutes to measure. Round your measurements to the nearest foot.
Examples of items for students to measure. Remember they are measuring to the foot, so larger objects should be considered: RECTANGULAR OBJECTS SHOULD ONLY BE CHOSEN
whiteboard
Door
Large window
Cabinet
Wall
Area of the floor tiled area (4 tiles x 10 tiles)
Tabletops

3. Draw the two objects
Draw an accurate picture comparing the size of the two objects.
Hand each student a piece of graph paper and an architecture ruler. DO NOT tell the students what the ruler is, just instruct them to draw straight lines and have them accurately draw the object.

4. Tools
3-sided architect ruler: each of the sides has 4 different scales.
We will be using 1/8”, ¼” and 3/32. Lets measure two lines: 10 feet and the other 19 feet at a 1/8” scale
Use the example of the ruler on the slide to show what the number signify on each side. Demonstrate what the fragmented measurements mean before the scaled numbers. These numbers are for including partial feet. Note the examples above.

5. Tools
The 1/8” scale is TWICE as small as a ¼” scale as noted by the lines below.
Use the example of the ruler on the slide to show what the number signify on each side. Demonstrate what the fragmented measurements mean before the scaled numbers. These numbers are for including partial feet. Note the examples above and compare the red ¼” with the blue 1/8” scales. Then point out to the students that smaller scales are used to show the overall picture of a landscape and larger scales are used to show detail of a landscape, perhaps one area (patio, fountain, walkway, etc).

6. Your Turn
Re-draw your objects at a 1/8” and ¼”. If possible place the same object next to each other to see the differences.
Students may need another piece of graph paper to fit both objects on the paper, depending on the size of the original object.

7. Circles??
Not all objects are not rectangular. It is important to understand how to represent curved objects.
Circle stencils are used to represent the birds eye view of trees, shrubs and other pieces of vegetation.
Look up the diameter of the plant you have chosen.
Use your scaled ruler and find the circle that is the same diameter of the plant.
Note the hash marks on the circles. These signify the points to line up when measuring the diameter.

8. Using our ¼” scale, we start at 0 and the circle can represent any thing that is 6 feet in diameter!
Now look up two plants that grow locally and draw their diameter in 1/8” and 1/4” scale.
-If you do not have access to stencils then visit the math department and see if they have compasses. These work just as well.
-Plants can be preselected and the student can practice looking up the mature size of the plant. Or you can simply give the class circles to practice with.

9. Site Sketch
You will be assigned an area on campus to complete the following:
Dimensions of the area
Sketch on graph paper
Note this is a good way to reinforce measuring scale. If students are having a hard time understanding, this is a great real world application. Pick areas that are rectangular so that the students won’t have too many roadblocks when completing this. Great places for this are tennis courts, quad areas, planters, parking spaces (of course without cars), sports fields, etc.