The Gallon House

      I was teaching liquid measurement in first grade one day.  I realized that the "Gallon Man" most of the teachers were using was fun to make as a craft, but didn't seem to help the kids with the measurement conversions.  I thought that the measurements needed to be inside the graphic, just as two cups are inside a pint.  So I came up with the above graphic and the poem that follows:

                     The Gallon House it has four floors,

                      Each one's a QUART, it has no doors.

                      Each floor has two PINT sized rooms,

                      With wallpaper and lots of blooms. (or lots of teeny tiny brooms)

                      Each room has two windows, dear.

                      Each one's a CUP--I hope that's clear.

                      And if you cut the house in half,

                      That's a HALF GALLON and will make you laugh.

The kids loved it.  They can color the house.  They can make it out of construction paper and glue the poem on the back.  They can use it to answer measurement questions such as "How many cups (windows) are in a gallon?"  "How many quarts (floors) are there?"

"How many pints are in a quart, a half gallon, a gallon?"  You get it.