The Power of Math

As you know, POWER is of huge interest to children.  I told a story back in February which demonstrated how one could use the POWER OF MATH, a story I created to help children solve problems.  I held a large piece of red paper and said, “MINE.”  They looked unhappy.  I told them I would use the POWER OF MATH to change something.  I took the paper, cut it in half and said, “MINE, YOURS” and handed the second piece to the child next to me.  I went on and on cutting my piece of paper saying, “MINE, YOURS” until each child had one.  The unhappy faces turned to smiles each time.  (No one said anything about the smaller and smaller sizes.  It didn’t matter.)  This past week I used the POWER OF MATH to change one pretzel rod into two, (or 4)…same with a string cheese…same with a clementine…same with a graham cracker.  A child said to me this week, “My mom has the POWER OF MATH.  She takes the jug of milk and pours a cup for me and one for Johann.”  Another said, “My mom has the POWER OF MATH.  She took a yogurt and said, ‘MINE.’  Then she opened it and spooned out some for me and some for her.”  Children said, “I have the POWER OF MATH” and broke a pretzel rod into smaller and smaller pieces.  They even tried to break a Goldfish cracker into “MINE, YOURS.”  This is powerful language, I think, and it leads to powerful thinking.