You're in for a treat and some warm fuzzies! My friend, and former principal, Beth Ferguson, has written a special post just for elementary math teachers. It connects the hard work that we do to her work with high school students. She and I share a passion for math. Whether math intimidates you or excites you, I think you'll find her post very enlightening.
My hat is off to elementary
teachers! I have much respect for the
work that they do in teaching a wide array of subjects to young children. Nurturing children’s curiosity, fueling their
love for learning while laying the foundation for reading and math are huge
tasks!
Early each year I introduce
sets of numbers to high school students.
So that my students understand that our course isn’t in a vacuum, but
built on the foundation they already have, I use a routine that goes something
like this:
“When you were a little bitty
child, your parents wanted you to be so smart!
They taught you to count, 1, 2, 3.
You repeated dutifully, 1, 2, 3!
Your parents were so proud! “My
baby can count!” they exclaimed. We call
those numbers the set of counting
numbers.
Then you got to school and
your first grade teacher read you a book about zero, maybe Zero the Hero; and you learned that zero added to any number did
not change the value of that number. Zero
makes a difference though in the set of numbers! No longer just the counting numbers, zero
introduces the natural numbers,
0, 1, 2, 3….
In grade 3, your teacher made
a big deal about fractions. You acted
out the story in The Doorbell Rang to
divide cookies; she read the Hershey’s Milk
Chocolate Bar Fractions Book and you divided the candy bar into parts. In high school we call the fractions rational numbers. All counting and natural numbers are rational
numbers!
In grade 6, your teacher
introduced you to the number line again, this time with the book, Less Than Zero. You learned about negative numbers. The positive and negative numbers together
are called the set of integers.
All along you had been
learning about multiplication, division, and decimals. In grade 7, your teacher read the book, Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi. You measured circles, diameters, divided and
discovered a common ratio. Maybe you
memorized as many digits of pi as you could. Your teacher pointed out that pi
as a decimal never ends. In high school
we call numbers like pi (and the square root of non-square numbers) the irrational numbers.
So we have … the counting
numbers, the natural numbers, the integers, the rationals, and the irrationals
… all of these put together create the set of REAL Numbers! Your
elementary and middle school teachers taught you all about these various sets
of numbers. They laid the foundation for
our study where we talk most often about this set of amazing REAL numbers!”
At this point, a student
almost always asks, why “real” … are there numbers that aren’t real? And of course, there are the imaginary
numbers. But that’s information for
another post.
I share this routine with you
to remind you that your work is significant!
Your passion for numbers, patterns, problem solving – the intricacies of
math – make a difference! You already
know that, but this high school teacher wants to say, “Thank you!” for sharing
your knowledge and expertise with young learners, and especially for sharing
your passion for math!
One last thought … if you
want to connect with me, I’d be honored to talk math with you! You can find me on Twitter @algebrasfriend or on my blog, Algebra’s
Friend!
Holub, J., & Lichtenheld, T. (2012). Zero the hero.
New York: Henry Holt.
Hutchins, P. (1986). The doorbell rang. New York:
Greenwillow Books.
Murphy, S., & Remkiewicz, F. (2003). Less than zero.
New York: HarperCollins.
Neuschwander, C., & Geehan, W. (n.d.). Sir Cumference
and the dragon of pi: A math adventure.
Pallotta, J., & Bolster, R. (1999). The Hershey's
milk chocolate bar fractions book. New York: Scholastic.
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