There were ten in the bed...

Clarkson (2006) suggests that rhymes and folktales can be useful and creative resources for teaching mathematics. I have developed this resource as a response to the article.


Original Rhyme: There were ten in the bed and the little one said, “Roll over, roll over...


Teaching focus: Can be used for counting backwards or subtraction – each time a child rolls over, there’s one less


My variations:


Teaching focus: to help children understand the connections between the different operations by focusing on division by repeated subtraction (Reys et. al., 2006)


There were ten in the bed and the little one said, “Hey, two of you, roll over, roll over...”
How many times will the little one have to say “two of you roll over” for all ten to end up off the bed?



Teaching focus: to help children understand the connections between the different operations by focusing on multiplication by repeating addition (Reys et. al, 2006).


And then (after they have all rolled off)...There were none in the bed and the little one said, “Hey five of you, roll on the bed...”


How many are there now?


Child: Five


What if the little one said it again? “Hey, let all five of us roll on the bed...” how many would there be then?


Child: Ten


How did you know?


Child 1: Because I counted five more than five, so the answer is ten.


Did someone else have another way?


Child 2: Because I know that five plus five is ten.


Are there any more ways to working it out?


Child 3: Yes, five times two is ten.


References:
Clarkson, P. (2006). Rhyming and folk tales. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom. 11(4), 18-22.

Reys, R. E. et. al. (2006). Helping children learn mathematics. Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons