Sometimes when you teach little 'uns concepts, they seem to get it all the way up until the point they are about to leave the carpet to do an independent task, then you realise they have not a f*cking clue. It's like they all decided with each other to nod their heads at the appropriate times, look like they're doing correct partner talk, and spew out close enough answers to mislead me.
Today this happened in today in maths.
More specifically, teaching money and paying for objects. In the time I was off, the kids did a lot of coin recognition activities and basic coin work. Excited to be back, I recapped this basic coin information and started to do a bit of adding coins to get a certain total. Mistake.
"Ms. Thomas really wants to buy this toy car, it's her favourite colour. The thing is, it's 7p. What do I need to buy this car?"
"A 7p coin!!" - called out every child. For all you in North America, there obviously is no 7p coin. Who would make such a denomination?? No one is the answer I was looking for. And no one did.
So I take it back a notch.
"Wait, guys thumbs up or down...is there a 4p coin?"
Thumbs waved up, down, middle all while there is a call of "yyyyyyyaaaaaaa....nnnnnnnnnooooo...yyyyyyeeeeeeeessssss" while heads whip frantically around to see if anyone has a more solid understanding than they do.
This repeated for three other types of coins that would never exist. "What about an eleventeen coin everyone? Hmmmm? Maybe? OK."
There is nothing more infuriating than this moment, but also just hopelessly silly that you have to laugh with them. We broke into a fit of giggles before moving on, knowing we all needed a break at that moment.
My stepdad once said that baby animals are made so cute so that their parents don't kill them or eat them when they annoy them. It's a natural trait to protect them. Although I've never wanted to eat any of my children, there are some days when a squish might do. We'll see how tomorrow goes.
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