Here is the post script to my entry on the poetry of math. My dream math poetry book is a book of Fibs about shapes, numbers, patterns, and all manner of things mathematical. Such as:
guess
who
three sides
three corners
equilateral
fish tail, bird beak, ship's sail, tipi
Okay, so a tipi is conical, but kids look at it and think triangle. And, how do we feel about punctuation in a Fib? Do I need a question mark? (That who just screams for one and I really want it!) Perhaps Gregory K can help me out here, or my favorite poetry aficionado, Elaine at Blue Rose Girls.
The wheels are turning, folks. Perhaps what we need is a book of math riddles written entirely in Fibs! This may be a fun activity for my preservice teachers to take to their classrooms when they return from spring break. I'm going to ponder this for a bit, while I attempt to write some more Fibs.
**Updated with second draft! Thanks to Gregory K and Elaine for commenting.
Here it is, the second draft. I didn't like the first two lines, although my very first draft was one/two instead of guess/who. Technically, a yield sign has rounded corners, but kids will see the general triangular shape. I could argue that most of these examples are isosceles, but that's 4 syllables, not 5. Talk about choosing words effectively, whew!
I'll just keep drafting away here. Your thoughts? Send 'em!
The wheels are turning, folks. Perhaps what we need is a book of math riddles written entirely in Fibs! This may be a fun activity for my preservice teachers to take to their classrooms when they return from spring break. I'm going to ponder this for a bit, while I attempt to write some more Fibs.
**Updated with second draft! Thanks to Gregory K and Elaine for commenting.
Here it is, the second draft. I didn't like the first two lines, although my very first draft was one/two instead of guess/who. Technically, a yield sign has rounded corners, but kids will see the general triangular shape. I could argue that most of these examples are isosceles, but that's 4 syllables, not 5. Talk about choosing words effectively, whew!
What Shape Am I?
yield
sign
three sides
three corners
equilateral
fish tail, bird beak, ship's sail, tipi
Absolutely, you can use punctuation in Fibs, but it being poetry and all, you don't HAVE to. Personally, I'd add the question mark. Of course, when I read your Fib, my first reaction was that my hat, it has three corners... so maybe I shouldn't be a trusted reference!
ReplyDeleteMuch as I love Fibs (and yes, I'm quite biased), I wonder if a book of math riddle poems using various math poetry forms wouldn't be the real dream book.
Tricia,
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think your math Fib is better with a question mark after who. But...I'm not the creator of the Fib. I guess I should defer to Gregory K.
Children draw and cut out triangles for tipis--so I think tipi is fine in the Fib.