after-MATH

As I was posting about Minnie Minus yesterday, the kids were off playing, pretending they were characters from our "Four Friends" story. Just about the time I hit "send", they appeared at my elbow and demanded "What is 'Multiply'?"

Trying to hit the balance between letting them make their own discoveries about the story as it relates to mathematical concepts, and providing them with information they need on that path, I queried, "You mean like Max Multiply?" They nodded, and I assured them that we would figure that out as we went. That wasn't good enough. "We want to know NOW," Zoo Boy demanded.

I sighed. This wasn't quite how I'd planned it, but the last thing I wanted to do was to squash enthusiasm for math! So I just offered "Well, what does Max do in the story?" "Cartwheels," J piped up. "Goes fast," Zoo Boy added. I nodded and asked, "And what's he doing while he's cartwheeling fast?" "Picking up gifts," J noted. "FAST," Zoo Boy added. I nodded again and commented, "Yeah, when you're picking up handfuls at a time, you collect more than just adding them one at a time." The boys looked at each other and headed back down the hall.

And here's what I came upon when I followed them a few minutes later:

I have to admit, I was a bit surprised. If you look at my actual lesson, while we DID work with the stones while doing word problems, they have never seen a manipulatives worksheet (which is what J created here on his magnadoodle), and I've never discussed the multiplication symbol with them. And yet, here was the very work I was going to introduce them to in another few weeks or so. Zoo Boy proudly pointed at the equation, and stated "2 multiply 4 is 8!" I softly corrected "2 times 4 equals 8", and the kids immediately shifted their language to reflect the proper phrasing as they played around with other equations.

Meanwhile, I started lunch. By the time I called the boys to eat, they had moved on to division, without ever asking me about it. I did hear J say at one point "oh, I know what divide is, it's where each gets his fair share" (a line from the "Four Friends" story). I watched as he worked through "12 divide by 6". He set out 6 of his Bakugan, then distributed 12 stones amongst them. At that point he realized I was standing there, and looked up at me with a smile and said "12 divide by 6 equals 2". I nodded my head at him, and we headed into the dining room to eat.

Later that afternoon, I found J writing out equations, asking them to Zoo Boy who was using his fingers to figure out the answers.

They've sort of rushed through 2 blocks worth of math on me. But that's OK. J already sort of knew this stuff before we started it -- the point of my bringing them the stories and the manipulatives isn't to teach them anything, it's to provide a stronger grounding in mathematical relationships and concepts, and provide the sign posts along the path to them making their own discoveries.

They're doing the learning on their own. I'm just here to document the journey.