Infinity Street

Just realized that I needed to write one thing down before I returned all my Nonny Hogrogian books and started work on Art History plans for Yoko Ono.

The Cat's Midsummer Jamboree by David Kherdian

And this has to do with teaching place value in math. Waldorf does this in 2nd grade and I -- because I'm also trained in Montessori -- use the Montessori color coded materials for place value in my Waldorf classroom.

Including the Infinity Street lesson!

from the simple family... all the way up to septillion

If this lesson is new to you, start here:

Introducing the Equals Sign ("Is the Same As") and Infinity
Jul 2020

How I Teach Place Value
Sep 2020

A Distraction of Prefixes
Dec 2024

I use Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss for an introduction to the names of the higher families (trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, octet, nonet).

Looking at musical terms is especially helpful for clarifying that the base is actually < sext > and not < sex > when representing six!

The Cat's Midsummer Jamboree could also be used in this way, and may be a little more thought-provoking. The cat begins by playing his music alone. As each animal joins him, the group grows and gets a new name.

cat with a mandolin

+ toad with a harmonica - duet

+ fox with a flute - trio

+ badger with a drum - quartet

+ skunk with a violin - quintet

+ goose with a bassoon - sextet

When they encounter a raccoon playing an accordion, the group grows larger once more. But David Kherdian stops using mathematical terms:

"The cat called up, 'Come with us, and we will have a jamboree.'"

It would be interesting to say to the children, instead of a jamboree, what should they call their group to show that it now has seven members?

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