Friday, March 27, 2015

Join the Decimal Point Police!

You've heard about the Grammar Police, I presume--people who are out there saving the world with correct placements of apostrophes, semicolons, commas, etc.

 For years I have been deeply troubled by misplaced decimals in prices using the ¢ sign. I mean this in all seriousness. This issue got me started as a writer of stories for children that have math at their core.

 People tend not even to notice the errors, demonstrating that they have no comprehension of the meaning of an amount of money  written as .79¢. The error is widespread. I have several photos from real life to prove it.

 So... please read my first story, intended as a read-aloud picture book for children in about grades 3-6, and let me know what you think.  (I'm in an endless loop of revisions!)

 Read it to your children or grandchildren and let me know what THEY think.

 Invite your children or grandchildren to submit illustrations to me, mathmarsha@comcast.net so I can make a "real book" for e-publication.

 Take photos of misplaced decimals in your real life experience (now that you will be noticing the errors) and share them with me via email or by posting to my math mentoring page on facebook:

 Marsha Landau--Mentor for Gifted Math Students

 And now for the story.


Yes, That’s MyMother!





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8 comments:

  1. Beth C PeloquinMarch 30, 2015 at 4:40 PM

    I love this!!!

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    Replies
    1. Marsha Landau, Ph.D.March 30, 2015 at 4:56 PM

      Thanks! If you have students or children with whom to share it, please do, and let me know what they think.

      Delete
  2. UnknownMarch 30, 2015 at 4:41 PM

    Love the story. Gonna check the signs tomorrow at the market. Hoping for a free eggplant. :)

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  3. JohnMarch 30, 2015 at 6:32 PM

    I liked the story, but wonder if children would get bogged down with the egg example. It doesn't seem like it can be evaluated without first reading the explanation at the end. And it is a much more difficult example than the cents example at the core of the story.

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    Replies
    1. Marsha Landau, Ph.D.March 30, 2015 at 8:10 PM

      Thanks, John, for your thoughtful reply. I've tinkered with that part of the story for a while, and may do so again. With unit pricing right there on the shelf in supermarkets, eggs are just about the only food where the shopper would have to do the work to find the better buy. But I don't want to torpedo my own story. "Food for thought" for me--again.

      Delete
  4. UnknownApril 2, 2015 at 5:35 PM

    I enjoyed your story.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownApril 20, 2015 at 9:37 PM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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