This article tells the story of one student who chooses her personal interest in pigeons and their lifestyle to demonstrate her understanding of measurement concepts. The student's work is used to consider the possibilities for assessment afforded by tasks designed within reform-based curricula. Anita (pseudonym) was a Grade 6 student who was part of a research project investigating how classroom teachers are positioning numeracy in an emerging values-based curriculum setting and how this positioning influences student experiences of numeracy and their development of mathematical understanding. The motivation for the larger project is the reform-based curriculum in Tasmania, centred around five Essential Learnings: Thinking, Communicating, Personal Futures, Social Responsibility, and World Futures (Department of Education, Tasmania [DoE], 2002), and encouraging transdisciplinary activities. Other Australian states and territories are also re-conceptualising curricula in terms of similar over-riding big ideas. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)