African American Educators of Mathematics

  Make 10! I have a five-year-old grandson named Jonah. He is five going on fifty—curious, thoughtful, and Full of Energy . As the start of kindergarten approaches, I have been thinking about ways to help him prepare for school. Years ago, I did the same thing with my sons—Jonah’s dad and uncle. I wanted to make sure they were ready for their first day of school, and now I find myself continuing that tradition with a new generation. Today, Jonah read to me, which was a wonderful reminder of how quickly he is growing. However, as an educator whose specialization is mathematics—particularly elementary mathematics—I am naturally drawn to helping him develop his mathematical thinking as well. While my expertise has traditionally focused on older children, I am currently writing a new P–2 mathematics education course syllabus and am intentionally exploring early childhood mathematics development. What better way to learn than by observing and interacting with my own grandson? Why Focus ...

Tell Me About Zero, Jonah Conversations with My Five-Year-Old Grandson I have a five-year-old grandson named Jonah. He is five going on fifty—curious, thoughtful, and full of energy. Jonah loves learning, especially anything involving numbers, letters, and patterns. He can spend hours watching Numberblocks , Alphablocks , and just about anything that challenges him to think mathematically. Since I love mathematics, I have decided to spend this summer exploring mathematical ideas with him and sharing our conversations here on the blog. Today's conversation was about one of the most fascinating numbers in mathematics: zero . Zero is a unique number. Sometimes we think of it as a placeholder in our place-value system. Other times, we think of it as representing "nothing." But how does a five-year-old make sense of such a powerful mathematical idea? So, I asked Jonah. Me: Jonah, what does zero mean? Jonah: Zero means none! Me: What do you mean by none ? Jonah: It means no...