SILVER BLAZE

In the story, 'Silver Blaze' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, we read
     'Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?'
     'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time'.
     'The dog did nothing in the night-time.'
     That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Homes.
     Here is a sequence:

     1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 14, 16, 17, 19, 22, 26, 28, 29, 41, 44

     Thinking about Holme's point, what is the next number in the sequence?

Preschool Counting

Studies show that number is a fundamental component of the world children know.  Babies show numerical competence almost from the day they are born.  In fact, children enter the world prepared to notice number as a feature of their environment.

Most of what preschool children know about number is determined by their developing understanding and mastery of counting.  Think about how complex the task of counting is!  It involves thinking, perception, and movement. 

As children learn to count, their thinking changes in a way that shapes their concept of number.

Learning a list of number names up to 100 is a challenging task for young children.  However, the structure of the number names is a major influence of the difficulties children have in learning to count correctly.  These difficulties have important implications for the initial learning of mathematics in elementary school.

The desire to quantify the world around them seems to be a natural one for young children.  They are positively inclined to do and understand mathematics when they first encounter it.

Play counting games with your preschooler and watch the wonder!!! 

 

Number Fun

Try this!  Use your calculator and work out the following:

(8x8) + 13
(8x88) + 13
(8x888) + 13
(8x8888) + 13
(8x88888) + 13
(8x888888) + 13
(8x8888888) + 13
(8x 8888888) + 13

Do you see a pattern?  Isn't math interesting?

Playing Games to Promote Strategic Thinking

Children love to play games.  In this world of high tech, we sometimes overlook the simple board games that promote interaction and strategic thought.  Many of today's families are starting family game night. Whether the family consists of one child and one adult or many children and several adults, the results are that children interact with family instead of the computer, the baseball team or other outside distractors.

I would like to hear about your family game night.  Let's share ideas.

Welcome

I have been involved in education for over 30 years.   I would like this to be a place where teachers, parents and students can come for support and to share new ideas.  I will try to post articles that are relevant and timely, and hope that you will become engaged in rich discussions.

Thank you for joining me.