JEFFERSONVILLE —
Wearing a blue, sequined vest, David Mitchell showed the audience at Wilson Elementary School his one red scarf, then slowly pulled out two additional colors from the red one.
“One, plus one, plus one, gets us?” he asked the audience.
“Three!” children yelled excitedly at once as they cheered after seeing the green and yellow scarf attached to the red one.
Mitchell, who is from Mobile Ed Productions, came to the school Monday, using magic and humor to show how math is entwined in everything — from sports scores, to counting beats in music and more.
However, this wasn’t just for fun. Principal April Holder said it’s about raising ISTEP scores. The number of students passing the math portion of ISTEP fell nearly 7 percentage points from spring 2009 to 2010. She said next week, the school will start math interventions.
“We know math is our focus, so we wanted to get kids excited about it,” Holder said. “Some kids are scared of math, but really it is everywhere.”
The performance was broken down into two sessions, with third through fifth grade going at one point and the younger kids participating at another. Holder said that way the math was more age appropriate.
Kids said they did learn from the event.
“I thought it was good. First of all, the magic and he did Sudoku,” 10-year-old Damion Young said. “[I learned] you do math in almost everything.”
“I thought it was pretty cool. He was showing us magic tricks and I didn’t know math was used in so many things,” Haley Adams, 10, said. “I didn’t really know it was used for cars, like in the shapes used for bridges.”
Teachers said they liked using a performer to approach the subject.
“I think it’s wonderful and the children seem to enjoy the magic part of it,” said Frances Dillard, who teaches first grade. “They need to know math makes a connection in our daily lives.”
“I hope they see a connection to what we teach in the books to how it’s used in the world,” said Ann Williams, an interventionist at the school.
Holder said the program cost $500, which included having two performances. She said the school may make this an annual event for whatever subject area the students are needing extra focus on.
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Related Photos
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Students at Wilson Elementary School laughs as they watch a magic show Monday afternoon in the school's gymnasium in Jeffersonville. The show used humor and magic to present math and its everyday uses. Staff photo by Kevin McGloshen
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Performer David Mitchell wears a chef's hat and a pair of funny glasses as he teaches students at Wilson Elementary School how math is used during cooking. Staff photo by Kevin McGloshen
Discussion
Magic math: Performance at Wilson Elementary to kick-off math interventions
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