The One with Magic Shows

Lesson 1
22 August

That number 1 in "Lesson 1", do you think it is a Cardinal, Ordinal or Nominal Number?
What about the "22" in the date?

These were some of the first few tricky questions at the very beginning of our lesson posed by our professor,


Dr Yeap Ban Har



 Tonight, Dr Yeap stimulated us with mind-boggling "magic" tricks. While still in awe (mouth-gaping and all) and wondering whether he is involved with withcraft, Dr Yeap had us brainstorm, count, look for patterns and find alternate methods. Ah, not withcraft. Just logical reasoning through patterns that can be found by numbers. I am overwhelmed by tonight's activities, so Im just going to list down Big Ideas I gathered from tonight's lessons.

1. Use of Numbers - as cardinal (to count no. of people, items. Quantity); ordinal (to indicate position either in respect to space eg: 1st on the left, 3rd from the right; or in respect to time (1st to reach the finishing line); Nominal No. (number to name item eg Bus 14); Measurement numbers; Number patterns: Rote counting or Rationale Counting.

2. Best to introduce counting sets of identical attributes, followed by not so identical.

3. The Four Prequisites to counting: able to sort/classify; rote-counting; one-to-one correspondence; ablility to utter the last no. as the answer.

4. Make-10 Strategy, Double 7.

5. 10-Frame is a good starter to develop reference to 5s and 10s. Through this, the child will develop understanding of conservation and visualization.

6. Games we played:

• 99th Letter in B A N H A R
• Cookies for Jun Jun, Lasene, and Siti.
• Poker Cards Magic
• Number Sense through T-shape grid

Tonight's contents helped us understand Chapter 8. Seems like my classmates are enjoying the class despite having to pause every act of the magic show to do some mental works. I like the fact that Dr Yeap did not put down any wrong answers. He constantly responded with "Let's Try".

"This is a free world" brings a smile to me.