Ah math....
The members of my family are simply not mathematical thinkers. We are creative people...with a natural bent for literature, relationships, and big pictures. Today I found myself becoming increasingly flabbergasted by my five year old daughter during our math lesson:
Me: Today, Grace, we're going to practice the doubles facts with teddy bear counters.
Grace: I want pink teddy bears.
Me: We don't have pink teddy bears. We have purple, green, blue and red teddy bears.
Grace: Well, that will have to be okay then.
Me: Okay, number one: 2 + 2 = 4
Grace: One green bear who is sleeping. One blue bear who is sleeping next to him.
" Green bear, move over, you are crowding me." "No Green Bear, I'm cold."
Me: Grace, honey just get two bears and then get two more bears and we'll count them altogether.
Grace: "But Mommy, green bear is crowding blue bear. If we add two more bears, there won't be enough room in the bed!"
The members of my family are simply not mathematical thinkers. We are creative people...with a natural bent for literature, relationships, and big pictures. Today I found myself becoming increasingly flabbergasted by my five year old daughter during our math lesson:
Me: Today, Grace, we're going to practice the doubles facts with teddy bear counters.
Grace: I want pink teddy bears.
Me: We don't have pink teddy bears. We have purple, green, blue and red teddy bears.
Grace: Well, that will have to be okay then.
Me: Okay, number one: 2 + 2 = 4
Grace: One green bear who is sleeping. One blue bear who is sleeping next to him.
" Green bear, move over, you are crowding me." "No Green Bear, I'm cold."
Me: Grace, honey just get two bears and then get two more bears and we'll count them altogether.
Grace: "But Mommy, green bear is crowding blue bear. If we add two more bears, there won't be enough room in the bed!"
Oh my word! We had about seven problems on the page...and Grace insisted on embellishing each problem with a very complicated storyline! When we got to 5+5=10, I finally had to stop her. The story (minus numbers) became the focal point and she couldn't stay focused on the number sentence.
I think next time we'll count buttons. I don't think she'll personify them!
Blessings,
©2008 Y.M.F.
Teddy Bear Counter Photo from EAI Education
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