The Median Sib

I’ve heard a lot about FREAKONOMICS in the past week or so, and I want to read the book.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Here’s the publisher’s description of the book: Steven D. Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives - how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of…well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.

It sounds fascinating to me — and with all the press it has gotten, apparently it is fascinating to others as well. I’ll report back here after I read it.

Another book recommendation is ONE GRAIN OF RICE by Demi. This is a book that always grabs the kids’ attention. In this story set in India, there is a rice famine, the people are starving, but the raja is hoarding all the rice for himself. Then a clever village girl named Rani returns some rice that has fallen from one of the raja’s baskets. He decides to reward her for her honesty. When he asks what she wants for a reward, she requests a single grain of rice, and continues “Then each day for thirty days you will give me double the rice you gave me the day before. Thus, tomorrow you will give me two grains of rice, the next day four grains of rice, and so on for thirty days.” Each time I read this book with children, they want to know if the math is really true. How does one grain of rice become over a billion in only 30 days? So we do the math and see that it is indeed true. It’s a great way to teach multiplication and other math concepts through authentic literature. Plus it throws in a lesson on honesty and caring for others.

One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale

Today was a special day at school. It was Homecoming Day at the high school across the street. Ordinarily a high school homecoming wouldn’t affect an elementary school. Not here, though. Homecoming Day means that the high schoolers would have their homecoming parade and that it would come through our elementary school parking lot. Around 1:45 p.m. there was an announcement over the intercom that the parade was starting, and that all classes who wanted to see it should make their way to the front parking lot immediately. Such excitement! Children, teachers and parents lined the parking lot and waited while the local police stopped traffic, and the parade began. The floats were obviously a labor of love of the high school students. They wouldn’t have won any awards in a commercial parade, but that didn’t matter. The excitement and fun reflected on the faces of the students were better than any award. Most of the parade vehicles were student-driven cars and trucks that had been decorated with streamers, balloons, paint and, in one case, mud. Two police cars led the parade with their blue lights flashing. Another cruiser with flashing lights brought up the rear, with an assortment of floats, cars and trucks in between. High school kids were packed into the cars and trucks — standing up through sun roofs - hanging out windows - packed in the truck beds -waving and cheering, honking horns, revving up the engines. Excitement reached new heights whenever brothers and sisters or friends would see each other. Little ones would proudly point out their older sibling, and the older ones would yell to the younger ones. The high schoolers threw candy to the eager elementary students. I watched as high school students caught the eyes of former teachers and called out and waved to them. I imagine most of them were remembering past years when they had been the younger students in this event. It was loud. It was not a standards-based learning activity. It was a tender moment - one you wouldn’t see in city schools. I looked down the road at the traffic backing up behind the police barriers, and I wondered what non-locals were thinking of this display of small town pride and celebration. Traffic was stopped for a good 20 - 30 minutes as the parade moved from the high school, across the street to the elementary school, through the parking lot and then back across the street to the high school again. When the children got home from school this afternoon, they may not have been able to remember what they learned in class today, but I guarantee they’ll remember the fun and excitement of that parade.