For the past couple of weeks, we have been digging deeper into the numbers through storytelling. Usually we have the illustrations in books to support our understanding of stories, but in this case, we needed to rely on a new reading strategy called 'visualization', which means making a picture in our head of what we are hearing. Ms. Alison adapted a beautiful story from a Waldorf mathematics blog to tell a story of the number one. The children absolutely loved it. Everyone showed excellent listening skills and has been able to retell specific details from the story. Some have even included the story in their free play! |
My family stayed there for many days. Every day we woke up with the golden sun and wandered along the edge of the water. We loved looking at the big green trees in the forest. It was a very special time.
One night there was a full moon. I could hear the wind. It sounded like it was whispering to us, telling us to begin an adventure. When we went out, we could see that the moon had magically changed the sea. The tide had shifted. The stars twinkled and I could hear the thundering sound of waves on the rocks of the beach. My mum said to me, "Come quick Alison...there is so much wonder to see in the world!"
So we collected our baskets, packed some food and blankets, and left. We explored the beach discovering so many little treasures. I wanted to fill my basket, but my mum reminded me that we were looking for ONE special shell, ONE that was as old as the ocean and carried the whispers of the mermaids.
A seagull called out and landed on a shell. I looked at it. On the outside the shell was rough from the tumbling of the waves, but on the inside it was perfect. Mum looked at it, picked it up and smiled. Yes! This was the one!
After listening to the story, we all listened to the ONE special shell. We could hear the whispers of the mermaids!! We each took a counting shell and one pearl to put inside it. We discussed all the things that there were one of in the story and that we could think of in our own world. We made a list as a class and learned a poem to remember how to write the number one:
A straight line down that's very quick!