Roanoke Rapids daily herald., 1948-12-06
Arithmetic
Reading"
Problems
By GARRY CLEVELAND MYERS, Ph.D.

BY GAKkI ILEfELANu MILho, En'u'
WHEN was a lad in the country
school ut about the fifth grade level
there were three Of US in the arith-
metic class. The other persons were
Meta Sosey and Charley Atkinson.
Meta was older and smarter than
we were.
We did our classwork in arithme-
tic at the blackboard, Meta in the
center. When the teacher dictated
"reading" problems, Charley and l
always waited and watched to see
what Meta did. If she added we
added, if she multiplied we did like
wise, and SO on. When Charley and
added or subtracted we tapped
with chalk against the board, max
ing a sound similar to that made by
chickens pecking grain from the
barnhoor. 1t was several more years
before I knew the basic addition
and subtraction facts by heart. I
had always counted them out. l then
supposed there were about a mil
lion of them, though l have learned
since there are only hundred Of
each. We had learned the multipli-
cation facts by heart and we merely
reversed these facts in division.
Reading Problems
Back to the "reading" problems.
Several years later we had mental
arithmetic, when I first learned to
get the meaning Of verbal prob
lem before attempting to solve it.
We had each problem right before
us in the book. Fortunately today
not many teachers dictate verbal
problems to children.
If your child in the fourth or fifth
grade has trouble with verbal prob
lens he may often try to solve the
problem before reading it carefully.
He may not even read it but Just
glance hastily from one number to
another among the words and guess
it is an add, subtract, multiply or
"guzinto" problem. You can help
him by creating a serene atmos-
phere and inducing him to read
the problem through carefully for
meaning.
District School
In that district school we later
took up denominate numbers, deal
ing with inches, feet, yards; gallons,
quarts, pints; ounces and pounds.
At the board we were set to chang
ing inches to feet, gallons to quarts,
ounces to pounds. We knew we
should either multiply or divide as
we did 50. But we always watched
to see what Meta did. By and by,
one morning before school Charley
told me he had made a great dis
covery. While helping his father
make cider and store 1t in gallon
crooks and quart cans and pint cans
he found that the larger measures
held so many times as much as the
smaller ones. "When you change to
smaller measures, you multiply"
he said, land when you change to
larger measures you divide"
That night went home and tried
it out with water. Also I found the
same simple rule as l measured
with my fathers square and weighed
with his steelyards; we had no
scales. Why that teacher didn't have
us work out these simple rules l
don't know. For the same reason,
I suppose that so many teachers
don't today.
Here's where we parents can help,
obviously. Fortunate the boy or girl
who at home is encouraged early
to cook and bake from a recipe,
getting simple practice at measur-
ing, weighing and comparing guam
titles. See what may be done for
making arithmetic meaningful to
the child who at home makes things
for fun with his hands, especially
from wood, who has home work
shop. (My bulletin, Home Helps in
Arithmetic" may be had in q
stamped envelope.)
Answering Parents Questions
@. What is the cause Of the most
frequent difficulties in the child from
eight to twelve with arithmetic?
A. His failure to learn accurate
ly by heart the basic number facts
in addition and subtraction, only 100
Of each. My "Home Helps in Arith-
metic," which includes these facts,
may be had in q stamped envelope
saAsssssaAsasssaAsssaas
SH-~Ae~-.