Math and Poetry

The Mostly-Annual PDS Math Contest (TM) is drawing to a close. This year, the challenge is to submit a poem about your favorite number, or your favorite number sentence. Entries are pouring in. 7 and 9 seem to be popular choices, as are the ol' reliable 1 + 1 = 2 and 2 x 2 = 4, but we have some, um, more creative favorite numbers and sentences as well...All will be revealed shortly.

In the meantime, another thought about poetry and math. Some people claim that the two disciplines are unrelated. How very wrong they are! Here's an example from just last week of how an understanding of poetry can help children improve their math skills. Yes! Srsly!

Background: We asked first graders to solve a word problem that involved finding the sum of three addends--5, 7, and 5, in this case--and to EXPLAIN how they got the answer (a big step for children that age). Most of the children wrote something like "I added 5+5=10 because it's a doubles fact and I know that 10+7 is 17." Short and sweet. Some used their fingers to help, or drew sketches as evidence. BUT one young lady had a very different approach:

"I remember when we were studying haikus. Haikus go 5, 7, 5 [that's the number of syllables per line--SC]. I counted how many altogether in a haiku and it was 17. So I know 17 is right."

Another example of the interdisciplinary learning PDS does so well...:)