"Two beans, a bean and a half, half a bean and a bean!"
Someone once told me that joke and I never found it funny... but somehow over the years its grown on me and become a real family joke. And somehow when I got married my wife managed to slip it into her wedding vows!!!
jake
3 Comments
"How many beans make five?" (kids don't ask 'five what?")
"A bean, a bean and a half, half a bean and two beans"
It's not just a silly or funny (or not funny) saying. It teaches children fractions. We start learning in just whole numbers, then we learn, maybe, about halves (sharing with a brother or sister). With this little chant we learn that wholes (a bean; two beans) and parts of wholes (half a bean) and a mix of wholes and parts (a bean and a half) make up a new whole (Five...beans). It's cleverer than some people might realise.
The trick, when the child has learned it, is to ask them:
"Ok, so how many pomegranites make five"
Hey you know AdGuy always gets the last word! ;)