March 21

Curious Math

Monday was St. Patrick’s Day. The kids were super lucky because they found some random Lucky Charms cereal in our house.  It appears there was a leprechaun playing tricks and he left these treats behind.  So, lucky for them because we generally eat Oatmeal Squares and Oatmeal.

On Tuesday morning I noticed something interesting that my son Riley was doing with his marshmallow charms.  He had started to sort them.  We discussed his inquiry.

“What do you think the mode is Riley?”

“What’s mode?” said Riley.

“Mode is the most common number.” I said.

“Oh, I think Suns, Balloons and Four leaf clovers because they all have 4.”

“What is the maximum, or largest number?”

“It’s rainbows! The total equals 9.” Riley replied.

This went on for a little bit and I left the table.  When I came back, this is what I saw.

Riley sorts and graphs his Lucky Charms.

Riley sorts and graphs his Lucky Charms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riley was beginning to graph all of the Lucky Charms that he sorted.  The surprising thing about

thisRiley's Lucky Charm Graph was that he did it on his own.  Maybe it wasn’t crazy.  Maybe it was perfectly normal.  I suppose we’re always thinking about math, but most of the time we don’t even know it. This is real world mathematics.  When have you done something away from school, like Riley, to help you understand something better?  Also, what questions would you ask Riley?  Below I’ve shared his final graph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category: Data, Math | LEAVE A COMMENT