Today I went straight from my middle school placement to read some math books for a kindergarten class. What a culture shock in terms of classroom management. There was a ton of enthusiasm for the books and substantial participation. What happens to this enthusiasm? It definitely exists but it is harder to draw out with the middle school kids.
The purpose was to read the books and ask questions along the way. The first two books were too easy. The third one more difficult. It covered odd and even numbers, a concept which has not been explored yet. The book was very clear about odd groups and even groups however, the kids were certain still that odd and even numbers had to do with the color and or shapes illustrated on the pages. Additionally, they thought odd and even had to do with more or less which is a concept they are currently studying. They applied the previous knowledge and assumed that odd and even were about quantity. I was not looking for right or wrong answers, just information on how they thought about this new concept. I asked "if you were playing with one friend, would you want an odd number of toys or an even number of toys?” Interestingly, the boys all wanted an odd number of toys (the picture with the 5 cars); the girls wanted an even number so it would be fair (the picture of the 4 cars). I asked why and got many answers all at once but it had to do with having more for the boys and the girls consistently said fairness was important. What a fun time it was. What a fun loving and nonjudgmental age.
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