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In a message dated 12/21/2001 2:24:36 PM Pacific Standard Time,
joylyn@... writes:


> Anyway, I am learning that I can not actively
> teach her, using paper and pencil and books
> and such and that she will still learn. This
> is a big step for me. :-)

This is a chance to throw something in there about fractions. There IS a
median, of course, it is halfway between 5 and 6 so she could say 5 1/2 if
she wants to be right in the middle on a scale of 1 to 10. The good thing
about talking about fractions like this is that most people ONLY talk to kids
about fractions as "parts of a whole" (a slice of pizza) and in this case it
isn't part of a "thing" -- but something much less concrete. You could think
of it as part of a distance - if you have numberlines in your head - but that
isn't going to be obvious to Lexie when she's holding up her fingers. Good
opportunity to NOT get her stuck on thinking of fractions in the piece of a
pie way. This can be a handicap, later, when we need to think of fractions as
other things like probabilities and odds, ratios, division problems, and so
on.

--pam



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In a message dated 12/22/01 10:29:06 AM, PSoroosh@... writes:

<< The good thing
about talking about fractions like this is that most people ONLY talk to kids
about fractions as "parts of a whole" (a slice of pizza) and in this case it
isn't part of a "thing" -- >>

Pizza is infinite that way. There's a half a pizza, but there's always a
half of that, and a half a piece, and a half a bite, and a half a pepperoni...

And maybe if cheese were melted thin enough it would be infinite. If all the
cheese in the world were melted on one (really) big surface, maybe it could
cover the moon.

I must be hungry.

Sandra