Building on the Light Table

Light tables are a great surface for exploring many materials, including clear plastic cups in various sizes. We spent some time today building with cups we found around the house. It was interesting to see the natural math language emerge in our conversation.

"How many are you going to use?"

"Lots! I'm going to fill the whole table!"

"How many to fill the whole table?"

"1, 2, 3...." (counting and pointing to the cups)

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm building a tower. It's taller than me!"

"How tall is it?"

"Nine!" (counts each cup)