What other problems might he have?

1. The world’s tallest man! Chinese man, 27-year-old Zhao Liang, is the world’s tallest man. He measures in at 2.46m. He needed two beds to sleep on when he went into hospital for a foot operation! What do you think Zhao does when he needs some clothes? What other problems might he have?

2. The world’s smallest man! He Pingping is the world’s smallest man. He comes from Inner Mongolia and was born in July 1988. He measures 73cms tall. Hi, I have to interview He Pingping on my TV show soon. Can you come up with some good questions for me to ask him please?

3. Body parts In every height measurement there are: 4 femur lengths 7 head lengths 7 foot lengths 7 ulna lengths 5 tibia lengths 3 head circumferences True of false? How many of these bones can you name? How can you find out?

4. Up2d8 maths Teachers guide In April Zhao Ziang, a 27 year old from China, came to our attention in the news when he was declared the world’s tallest man at a staggering 2.46m (8ft 1in),10 centimetres (four inches) taller than the current holder of the official title At the time of writing Up2d8, Zhao had declined to be named in the Guinness book of records so has no official status. His clothes have to be custom-made. …continued on the next slide

5. When he was younger his mum made them for him. He can just squeeze into European size 56 shoes and needs to get them from Japan or the US. When he was young he stayed at home because of his height, he wouldn’t play with other children because he was so much taller than all of them and was embarrassed. He left school at 14. In 2006 he was noticed by an artistic troupe and they employed him as a musician. This really improved his life, for the first time in his life he had friends. At the other extreme He Pingping, a young man from Inner Mongolia, was officially recorded as the world’s smallest man in 2008. The following spreads make effective starting points for discussion and mathematics surrounding length, analysing data and ratio and proportion.

6. 1st spread: The world’s tallest man! ● Look at the picture of Zhao and ask the children to describe what they can see. Compare his height with that of the nurse. Discuss what it means to be tall: higher than the normal or average height of a of a man, woman or child. What would be good about it e.g. climbing tall trees, seeing above the heads of people, what would be the disadvantages e.g. buying clothes. Lead a discussion on the question ‘What do you think Zhao does when he needs some new clothes?’ ● Ask the children to read the information and discuss how high 2.46m is. Ask some children to measure this amount on strips of paper and stick them together to represent that height. ● Compare this height with theirs, the height of the classroom (could he stand up straight in your classroom?) and other things until they can picture how tall he actually is. ● In pairs the children could measure each others heights and make their own strips of paper to represent these. Once they have, line all the strips in order from shortest to tallest. Find the height of the shortest and ask the class to estimate the next one and then check with its owner. Use that as a basis to estimate the next and so on. ● Order these heights on a number line and then compare them, finding differences using counting on. Select a few to compare using this method with Zhao’s. ● Younger children could make men out of platsicine or similar and order them according to height. Ask questions such as which is shortest, tallest, whose has the longest arms?

7. 1st spread: The world’s tallest man! continued… ● Discuss the possible size of his hands and feet. Will they be very large? Can the children think why? Introduce the idea that our bodies are proportional. The third spread goes into more detail on this. ● Ask the children to discuss, in pairs, the question about what Zhao would need to do if he wanted to buy some clothes. ● Discuss the other problems he might have e.g. what if he needed to catch a bus or tube, wanted to go on a ride at a theme park, visit the children’s homes, eat at a restaurant?

8. 2nd spread: The world’s shortest man! ● Lead a discussion on what fun it could be to be so small e.g. where could you go that you can’t go if taller? Next discuss the disadvantages. ● Give the children some time to work with a partner to make up some questions that the TV presenter could ask Pingping. ● Ask the children to estimate how long Pingping’s feet might be. Give them some paper and ask them to sketch one and measure it with a ruler. Remind them that seven feet lengths are about the same as a person’s height. ● Compare Pingping’s height with the children’s using the paper strips and the ideas from spread 1. ● In the Foundation Stage, make a paper model of He Pingping, at 73 cm high. Children can compare their height with He Pingping. Are they already taller than him? If not, how many birthdays do they think they will need to catch up? How many He Pingping’s would need to stand on top of each other to be as tall as Zhao Liang? Make a paper model of Zhao Liang and check estimates. Use the paper models to check if Zhao Liang and He Pingping can go everywhere in the classroom. Check everywhere! Invite Zhao Liang and He Pingping to join you for story time. ● Find the difference between Zhao’s height and Pingping’s and ask the children to show this amount using paper strips. ● Discuss the differences and similarities between the pairs of words long and high, length and height. The children could practically illustrate these by using play people and set them head to toe to the same length as the height of Pingping.

9. 3rd spread: Body proportions ● Direct the children’s attention to the skeleton and ask them to try to identify the parts shown. If it is helpful, provide appropriate resource books for them to look at. ● Look at the body ratio information and discuss how they could find out if the statements are true. ● Provide tape measures, rulers, paper strips etc. so that the children can test the statements out. ● Explain that a person’s height is dependent on the size of their bones and that there is usually a ratio between these e.g. 7:1 for feet to height, 3:1 for circumference of head to height. You may need to explain the term ratio first. ● You could extend this by working on proportion as a fraction of the whole e.g. 7:1 for height to feet, a foot would be 1/8 of the height of the person. ● Next ask them to explore their height measurement and their arm span – what do they notice? Are they the exactly or very nearly the same? You could explain that some people are square shaped and others oblong with either their height or their arm span longer than the other. ● They could explore other body ratios e.g. hand to ulna, finger to hand.