Every night after story time Cat and I practice her math facts. She will have four timed tests this year and will have to be able to answer 100 math questions in five minutes by year end so we have begun mini-practices now.
“What is 6+6?” I ask.
“12″
And on we go for five or ten minutes.
Tonight she was stuck on 8+5. She began to get very frustrated and anxious so I decided to tease her out of her mood and help her to remember by playing with the math facts.
“What is 8+5?” I asked after she had already answered correctly previously.
“13???” she asked.
“Yep, and what is 5+8?”
“13″ she said more confidently.
“Yep, and what is 8+5 again?”
She paused and hesitated, looking very stressed and started to tear up.
“Let me ask it another way,” I tried. “At what age will you turn cross, grumpy and difficult to be around?”
Cat thought for a second and then said “What age are you again?”