Finding a Teachable Moment
I recently purchased a childhood favorite, Hi! Ho! Cherry-O! for my daughter. Originally intended for a fun before nap activity, it easily turned into a math lesson. After each spin she had to SUBTRACT one or more pieces of fruit from her tree. I wasn’t afraid to use this word. At first she looked at me when I used this “fancy” word, but I continued on letting her figure out what I meant when I said, “Oh, you need to SUBTRACT 3 green apples from your tree!” She figured out what I meant; she had played the game before. But my 3 ½ year old certainly hadn’t heard the word SUBTRACT. Now she has. How about the word COMPARE? I certainly could use this math word on our next game to notice the differences and similarities between my fruit tree and hers.
Taking an …













