Out With The Old

Years ago I found myself in a brouhaha without much context for the issue. It was the early ‘90s and Chico Unified School District had chosen to switch to a new math curriculum called “Math Land.” As the mom of a kindergartner, I was new to the public school parent advocacy game, but it seemed as if I should be concerned if everyone was in such a tizzy. I attended a “Parent Information Meeting,” that felt as hostile as a lynch mob, and tried to keep up. A near as I could tell, the parents were mostly freaked out because the new system wasn’t the old system and comfort-zone cages were being rattled. I don’t remember the specifics, but I do remember that “Math Land” is very heavy on the “manipulatives“--teacher talk for stuff you can hold in your hands. There were lots of those little plastic bears for counting and weighing, and those brightly-colored “Base 10” blocks for I don’t know what. Other pieces were collections of geometric shapes referred to by people in the know as tangrams, which I’d never heard of and didn’t know how to use. It turns out the shapes are not only an early introduction to geometry, they are also part of an ancient Chinese storytelling art. I only know this because Nick read Grandfather Tang’s Story by Ann Tompert to Scarlett and then helped her make her own set of tans. It’s amazing what you can learn when you’re open to new possibilities.

http://www.amazon.com/Grandfather-Tangs-Story-Dragonfly-Books/dp/0517885581

http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/birthbios/brthpage/01jan/1-11tompert.html