Groundhog Day

Is it possible to be back once again to third grade everyday math?
Wasn't I just kvetching about this?
AHA!
My first grader is now in third grade!

BUT what is different now, is, that sneaky Harcourt is creeping back in. Folders of yesteryear are being emptied of math mimeos...and used!
"Fidelity to the Program" has been replaced by "Some of my old materials cover it better."
Yippee!

Partial sums kiss my patout! Latice method turn into lettuce!
I feel better. Not perfect, but better. I get a do-over.

On another note, is it highly suspect that Microsoft is opening their first brick and mortar? So Apple and Microsoft, biggest purveyors of the internet and doing all business online have actual you-get-to-walk-in-and-touch stores. Retail stores. Ironic? I think that seems too soft and fuzzy. Really, tell me, is it just me?

what's Woz got to do, got to do with it...

Hearts and flowers abound while mr. 3rd grader pastes black cut-out hearts on white paper, and mr. first grade does the reverse. It is a bold move to create a valentine other than classic red with white doily.

Steve Wozniak gave parents a bold valentine the other night at a Children's Discovery Museum dinner, by stating (and I clumsily paraphrase) that our culture would not change if every kid were able to do upper level math. Our society would still be full of painters, writers, philosophers, attorneys, gardeners, etc. etc. Why expect that ALL children must be able to solve problems as an engineer would? They are not all going to be engineers, or mathematicians, or statisticians.

Thanks Woz!

... Woz love got to do with it, got to do with it....

lighting fires & shopping is the test!

Try and imagine the excitement a gift card creates! And one LOADED with big bucks- for my kids, this means a trip to the bookstore. I think the test of mastered arithmetic is for them to shop for the things they want- and figure out if they have enough money. Can your kids round up, figure tax and add in their heads? Happily, and with a little help, my kids CAN.

It was scary to see my kids light a dry leaf on fire with a magnifying glass a couple of weeks ago, but it is even scarier to think of them dependent on outside power; be that a calculator or PG & E.

just what IS a flute-o-phone?

I called my mother today, and proudly told her that her grandson had been issued a flute-o-phone during music time, and was learning to play this instrument. In between laughing so hard that she had to snuffle and wheeze, she inquired, "So, what performance of the symphony are you going to take him to so he can see it played?" "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH"

I tried to explain that it is some kind of plastic hybrid recorder thingy, but by this time the only words I could make out between the "HAHAHAHHHHAHHAAAHHAHAs" was an occasional "flute-o-phone" and "bathroom".

All I can say, is that I am glad that I can laugh at this stuff- but then again, why can't our kids have real instruments?

Does spiral equal spin?

Here's a thought : As I was sorting and paper clipping together first grade Everyday Math worksheets, I realized that some of the sheets looked vaguely familiar. Like the "measuring in cms" and "addition review". Didn't I just see measuring in cm's? That awful termite in 3rd grade? When it hit me. Oh my gosh, what if "spiraling" through is code for SPIN. As in, "we can use the same little bits over and over for every grade- no new material needed, we can use the same stuff! savings! efficiency!" And we can spin it as "spiraling through"- Looky Looky! Marketing! Value added! (Get it? spiral? spin?- haha very funny EM mad publishing marketers)

Yeah, it is an odious thought.

1st grade Everyday Math Family Letter "What's my Rule?" 5.2

I get that there are rules to follow. I like rules, and use them liberally around my house- I think I am pretty clear when I dole them out, like, "Please do not climb the doorjambs. We do not live in a cage at the zoo". Or, " Eat your vegetables or you will not get dessert". So when I come across rules that are #$%*ed up, it makes me mad. It makes me wonder, "is it just me, or are these Everyday Math people messing with me?"

Last night's Family letter is all about "What's My Rule?". It concerns a little diagram of their "function machine". Students drop a number into the funnel at the top, it passes through the rule part, and comes out the funnel at the bottom changed as per the "rule" section. For example, the rule could be plus one, so drop the number one in the top funnel, it adds one in the rule part, and comes out as a two. Seems simple enough, right?

So when my first grader started grousing "I don't get it", all I could think was, "nooooo I thought I was safe till 3rd grade..." and looked at the worksheet. Seems the last example of their machine was unclear. Instead of the "missing rule" having a question mark where the rule should have been, the rule (a plus) was there. The question mark was in the place of the number. Shown inside the box as the missing rule was a "+?". That would have been ok, except that the equation was a subtraction! So with the numbers THEY provided to solve the problem, it looked like 6 +?=4. Chase was perplexed, as was I until I realized that the example needed the student to replace the rule AND the number. Two separate issues. In my opinion, the example SHOULD have been written as "??" or ?2". Then the durn machine would have worked!

This is not an easy thing to write about, and I am sorry I do not have a virtual chalkboard like Salman Kahn. But I can tell you that this morning in 1st grade, our teacher asked how homework went last night, and one kid said "there was a mistake. One problem should have been a minus". Proof enough for me!

Staten Island Chuck bit Mayor Bloomberg last year-I know why

It truly is Groundhog Day, as I am revisiting the same frustration that I felt as a child over learning math, with my child. I do remember my 4th grade teacher losing me. I didn't get it, and got left behind. And I felt really, really bad. This was the 60's- remember "new math" then?

Thought not.

Anyway, I am what is known as a visual thinker. I see the picture first in my mind. I am not a linear thinker. I do not extrapolate from abstraction generally. In other words, draw me a picture (or a diagram)! I think my son may be, too. So, when I looked at the drawing of the square with the grid inside it, (10 columns, 10 rows) on my son's worksheet, I saw that it had 65 of the little squares shaded out of the 100. The worksheet asked for the kid to name the shaded part as both a fraction and as a decimal. My son had 1.65. And smarty mcsmarty pants me says, There is no "one". "Yes there is MOM!! It's right THERE!!!" he screamed at me. And thus began my Groundhog Day.

I pleaded to the lump on the floor to please listen to me, but all I could muster from him was a snarl. This called for emergency tactics. So, I started in with my Marva.

"OK! Let's pretend I just broke my arm off into 100 pieces, and they all fell on the ground. I would be armless and look like THIS: (and I jammed my arm behind my back and made awful gurgling noises). If someone picked up a few of the pieces, say 65, and glued them back on, my arm would look like this: (and I bent my arm so my forearm and hand was still bent out of sight). I'd have a little more than 1/2 an arm, but no hand. If I were a Lego, you would need more pieces." And I got a response!!!!!! "Mom, Lego arms only have 2 pieces". So, I say, "Right! one piece in this case would be half or one piece, 2 pieces would be the whole ARM. So, 100 pieces would be MY whole arm. Then it would be ONE arm. 50 pieces would be half of my arm".

The lump was actually looking at me when he reached over and corrected his paper.

Only 65 of the squares were supposed to be "there" and counted, but the whole square WAS still there. I know, logic and following instructions is the way to go, but when the picture brain takes over, what is one to do?