She Got More Than Me!

After cleaning out the pantry the other day, I discovered a stray Chris Moose lurking behind the dried parsley.   We plunked the packet of mulling spices into the stock pot, added some apple juice, and started anticipating a warm drink on a cold, rainy day.  I was in the process of pouring the cider into cups when one the girls did a quick eye calculation and pronounced, "She got more than me!"

Now between that utterance and "That's not fair." I don't know which one takes the prize for being one of the most annoying phrases that tumble from my kids' mouths.  Sigh.  Except this time I just happened to have one of those glass Pyrex measuring cups sitting on the counter.  Seizing on inspiration I looked at my whiner little darling and said, "Oh really. You know we can solve this problem," and I dumped all the cider from our mugs into the measuring cup.  

She was a little startled.  I'd cut her off at the pass before she could get a chance to properly mount her favorite soap box.  

"Now look," I continued.  "There are two cups of cider and three of us want to drink it so what do we need to do to make sure everyone gets the same amount?"

And just like that we were smack dab in the middle of a session of Sneaky Math.  Sneaky Math is when I get the kids to use math without them thinking about the fact they are actually using math.  Kinda like hiding vitamins in a nice spoonful of tasty applesauce or sticking zucchini squash in some muffins.

Now, sometime last century, when I was an elementary undergraduate student, I spent a whole afternoon cutting out fraction circles.  I would never have the time or desire to do that these days, but they sure have come in handy.  Like in this instance.  I put out three options for dividing each cup into equal parts:  halves, thirds and fourths.  After thinking about it for a bit, the girls decided we needed to divide each cup into thirds.

We traded out two whole circles for circles divided into thirds.  Then we divided the thirds into three piles and decided everyone needed 2/3rds of a cup of cider if all involved were going to get the same amount.  

After that, we figured out how to pour exactly 2/3rds cup using the Pyrex measuring cup into three different mugs.

And finally, we got down to drinking the cider.  Wonder of wonders it was still warm.  

So next time you hear the words, "They got more than me," and you feel your blood pressure start to rise, pull out your Pyrex measuring cup and have your kids work on some fractions instead.

Oh, and one of our favorite books is called, It's Not Fair, by Amy Rosenthal.  A great resource to whip out when the "It's Not Fair" chorus gets on your nerves.

Shared with Math Monday