Charlotte Morgan and the Great Big Math Problem--Chapter 15--First Encounter

 This is my next book.  

It is currently being copy edited, (so there will be the occasional typo in this version) and I am having a few illustrations done.I am including the tag #steemiteducation because I wrote this thinking like a teacher.  The characters use math and describe their math thinking as they work through problems.  I am a former 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade teacher, so I used my experience and background from those years as I wrote this.

Update: The book is now available for preorder on Amazon.  

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Chapter 15: First Encounter

Summary:  Charlotte has her first encounter with Gavin the bully as her partner during math class.

At 7:10 am the next day I got up, and I changed the number on my wall.  I took the ten down and put up the nine.  Nine days or 216 hours or 12,960 seconds until the Turning Elementary School Math Bee.  And today will be the first time I have to deal with Gavin Eggelston as my math bee partner. 

I headed down stairs to the kitchen, where my dad was drinking his coffee and reading his tablet.  “Good Morning, Tambourine.  What is 4 x 12?”

I saw the problem in my head.  I knew that 2 x 12 equals 24.  If I added 24 twice, 24 + 24, because that’s 2 x 12 twice, I got 48.

“48,” I replied.

“Very good!  I gotta start asking harder questions,” my dad sipped his coffee.

Later that morning at 9:35 am, during Morning Meeting, Mrs. King talked about my Math Bee partner problem.  We sat in the circle and Mrs. King began the meeting.

“Good morning class, I know that some of you are concerned about about your partner is for the class math bee,” Mrs. King was using her firm voice.  “But, I decided to assign partners myself.  If you and your partner have any difficulty working together let me know, and I will work with you.  If you bully your partner, I will deal with you.”

The room took notice of the comment and no one spoke.  I glanced at Gavin.  He didn’t look at me.

For the rest of the meeting we turned and talked to the person next us about what we should do if we know if someone is being bullied.  I don’t know why teachers keep making us talk about this.  We know to tell teachers if someone is bullying us.   So my partner, Brian Switzer and I talked about a Youtube video we saw of a dog dressed up as a cat.  Which made me think that I should do the same thing to Charlie.  Dress him up as a cat and make a viral video.  Charlie will be famous and wouldn’t even know it.

Morning Meeting moved into Math, and the moment I had been dreading finally came and Mrs. King gave us our instructions, “Okay, class, instead of our normal opening word problem we’re going to split into our math bee partners.  Then we will practice answering math bee problems.  So let’s first find your partners and decide on a place to work.”

I turned my head and I saw Gavin.  My stomach was queasy.  I stood up to go talk to him.  He never got up.  He pointed to the empty desk next to him, “You might as well sit here.”  I sat down in Calvin’s seat.  I looked at Mrs. King, and Gavin sat quietly waiting on the question.

Everyone found their partners, Mrs. King stood in the middle of the room and gave her instructions.  

“Here is how this will work.  I will first say if this is math fact, such 5 x 3, or a problem such as 83-17, or word problem, and I will give the word problem.  I will place all problems  here on the smartboard.  You and your partner will work together to solve the problem.  Between the two of you choose someone the share the answer.  If you and your partner don’t agree, I will call on the person that is supposed to answer.  So take a moment to discuss who will answer for your group.”

I looked at Gavin, “I will be the person who answers.”

“I am fine with that, you know all the answers anyway.  It’s not like I am going to know any of the answers,” he replied.

I was fine with that, so I sat up straight and got ready for the first question.

Mrs. King stood by the smartboard, and she read from a paper in her hand, “The first problem is a math fact.  What is 9 x 7?  Confer with your partner.”

I looked at Gavin. “I don’t know the answer,” he said.

 “The answer is 63,” I replied. 

 “I hope she calls on you,” he replied.

Mrs. King pointed to Brian, “Brian, what is your answer?”

“63,” Brian replied.  

“Excellent.  Our next question is a problem.  What is 90 minus 44.  Work it our with your partner,” said Mrs. King, and she got quite, and walked around the room watching the students work.

I put a piece of paper on my desk, and wrote down the problem.  I started to solve it.

Mrs. King walked over to my  desk, “Gavin, I see that Charlotte is working on the problem, what about you?”

“She knows all the answers!” 

Mrs. King looked like she was going to blow her top, and then the next second she calmed down.  She spoke her firm but soothing  voice, “Gavin you need to help, and if you don’t know how to solve a problem ask Charlotte how she solves the problem.”

I could do this problem in my head, but I wrote it down because I know Mrs. King would want to see my work.  Gavin sat with his arms folded and didn’t do anything.

“Gavin what is the answer?” Mrs. King asked.

Gavin huffed and looked at my paper  “46,” he said.

“That’s correct.  Thank you Gavin and Charlotte.  Did everyone else get 46?”

The rest of the class raised their papers to show their answers, and several students yelled “Yes!”

“Here is our final problem is this morning, a word problem.  Kevin buys three packages of cookies.  There are 8 cookies in each package.  He eats two of the cookies.  How many cookies does he have left?”

Mrs. King put the word problem on the smartboard so we could see it.

“I hate word problems,” groaned Gavin.

I took a deep breath, “This is how I solve it.  I draw a picture.”

Gavin made a face, “You draw a picture?”

“Yeah, like this.”  I drew three boxes on my paper.  “These are the three boxes of cookies.   Then for a cookie, I put a dot.  So we put eight dots in each box.”  I drew eight dots in each box.  That shows how many cookies he bought.  See count.”

Gavin counted the dots.  “Twenty-four dots,” he said.

“So that means he bought twenty-four cookies,” I said.  “Now if I cross out these two dots for the cookies that he ate, and the dots without Xs on tops of them are the cookies he has left.”  I handed the paper to Gavin.  “Count the dots I didn’t cross out.”

He counted the dots,  “Twenty-two, he has twenty-two cookies left.”

“So, Tanya, how many cookies does Kevin have after eating two of them?” Mrs.  King asked.

“Twenty-two,” replied Tanya.

“Cool,” Gavin said.

“Okay, class back to your seats, and get out your homework,” said Mrs. King. 

I got up and went back to my seat.

I survived my first encounter with Gavin as my math partner.  

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