Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

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Four Pieces of String

10 Comments

20 feet 
16 feet
20 feet
12.5 feet

Find a room big enough and stretch the string out, making a rectangle with a door-sized opening at one side.

Measure a bed, a dresser, a table, a stove. Mark the furnitures’ dimensions on butcher paper and arrange it inside your string rectangle.

What do you have?

A furnished soddy! Imagine a family living together in this small space. 

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The Twelve Days of 2k12 interview 

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Filed Under: May B., teaching

Comments

  1. Natalie Aguirre says

    December 12, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    Interesting to imagine. And to think of all we feel we must have now.

    Reply
  2. Caroline Starr Rose says

    December 12, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    Yes! It’s quite a shift, isn’t it?

    Reply
  3. Shannon O'Donnell says

    December 12, 2011 at 6:32 pm

    WOW. And so many people today feel cramped in 2,000 square feet.

    Reply
  4. Janet Johnson says

    December 12, 2011 at 9:01 pm

    Wow. Makes you realize what we have, huh?

    Reply
  5. Caroline Starr Rose says

    December 12, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    I know! When I was researching for this book, I often thought of trying to spend the day in one room of my house, just to see if I could get a small taste of living this way. I never got around to it, but I’ve thought often of what tight living that must have been.

    Imagine feeling like you needed some private space, if only for a minute. Where could you get it? Outside, I suppose.

    Reply
  6. Caryn Caldwell says

    December 12, 2011 at 10:23 pm

    Wow! That sounds like a tight fit.

    Reply
  7. Joanne Fritz says

    December 13, 2011 at 3:13 am

    What a simple yet elegant way to get that across. Wow!

    My first apartment wasn’t much bigger and I couldn’t stand to spend too much time in it! Of course, I wasn’t married then, so it was just me. I couldn’t imagine four people in that tiny space.

    Reply
  8. Mia says

    December 14, 2011 at 12:33 am

    What a great exercise for the kids to do! Would make them realize that they need less than they think!

    Reply
  9. Amy L. Sonnichsen says

    December 15, 2011 at 4:49 am

    This would be a super fun thing to do with my kids over Christmas break. They love to play “poor people” and this would make it all more real. LOL!

    Reply
  10. Caroline Starr Rose says

    December 15, 2011 at 5:27 am

    Amy, take a picture if they do!

    Reply

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