First Week of School

As you very likely know, PDS opened last Wednesday. I must say it's been very nice to be back with the kids again. There's something quite wonderful about children waving enthusiastically at you from halfway across the room and yelling out"Hi, Math Guy!" Makes a man feel worthwhile!

This blog is also back from vacation, so perhaps it will have some children yelling, "Hi, PDSMathGuy blog!" from across the room at it...Or texting "Hi, PDSMathGuy blog!" Or emailing it. Or perhaps not.

In any case, a few little stories, vignettes from the first few days of school to get you smiling (I hope):

***I am presenting a lesson to first graders about odd and even numbers. Part of the followup includes a grid of numbers: 1, 2, 3, and so on. Kids are supposed to determine which numbers are even and which are odd, then color odd numbers blue and even numbers red. One child digs in the colored pencil box and pulls out a blue one, which--alone among all the pencils in the box, it seems--has been sharpened on both ends. "It's a good thing I'm supposed to color the odd numbers blue," she tells me. "This is a blue pencil. And it's very odd."

***A second grade class. A child is paying extremely close attention to her teacher, who is showing the children how to play a game. You can see the child's eyes locked onto the board, her body still, her jaw determined. When she gets up and heads for her seat, there is a Weary Expression on her face. Dropping down on her chair like a rag doll, she shakes her head and looks up at me. "Hard...work," she says emphatically. "Hard...work!"

***Another second grader. The question is to come up with two numbers you can add to make 27. I'm asking him to try the problem in his head, without manipulatives and without writing numbers on a sheet of paper. "Okay, 15," he says proudly. Well, that's a fine start, I tell him, but I'm asking for two numbers and an addition expression, so just saying 15... He nods. "Well, 15," he says, "plus whatever number you put with 15 to make 27."

***Yet another second grader. "What are some things you know about math?" I ask. "Well, ONE thing I know is that math is fun!" he responds immediately. Then, thinking a moment and remembering who he's talking to, he adds, "And I bet you would agree with that!" (P.S. He's right. I would!)