This week my kids worked on arrays. We colored graph paper, made stickers charts, used geoboards, and found examples of real objects in our classroom It was fairly typical 2nd grade fun.
As we went on a search around our room, my kiddos realized that our cement block walls, ceiling tiles and the tile section of our classroom floor could also be considered large arrays. Real world math problems began....
The question was soon raised, "Do construction workers count floor tiles?" We decided to take our paper, pencils, and clipboards into the hallway to find out. I took them into our intermediate hall and within minutes we decided that using math was a much better way. It would take over 1,350 tiles for us to tile just that one hallway! I asked if anyone wanted to double check by counting them one-by-one. They said they didn't need to. "We did the math." :)
One student asked how much each one costs. He knew that our bathroom had a cracked one and wondered if it would get fixed. Another boy stated that sometimes it is hard to fix just one, so they may have to fix the whole bathroom. Apparently the girl's bathroom has some issues, as well. Would you believe we had a ten minute conversation about floor tiles? I kept trying to go back to arrays and multiplication number sentences, but more important lessons were being learned--about respect for property and others, the value of hard work, and the benefits of working together.
I love this class. They notice things. They recognize needs. They want things better. They don't just want things better for themselves, but also for the people they care about.
They will graduate in 10 years. The colleges, careers, and families they enter will be darn lucky to have them. I don't question it at all. Ten years.... I did the math.
