Venn Diagrams

The English teacher in first grade showed the kids what a Venn diagram is in the context of the content of books they have read in class. They read two books and drew two circles representing different characteristics and based on these two the students classified to which region in the diagram the books they had read belongs. They also drew Venn diagrams to show the common and the uncommon themes discussed in the books they had read.

I did not know that when the teaching/learning took place. I only learned about this when Ballet Girl and I encountered Venn diagrams in the context of shapes in Beast Academy 3A. I was delighted to talk about Venn diagrams and bring about again the idea of classification. The first example I coined was about bird belonging to the class of animals but not all bird being able to fly, and not all flying animals are birds. Then we went to the library and saw the different ways books are classified and discussed how there is always some element which produces an overlap, just like the game Spot It!-there is always an overlapping element in the cards that are presented!

I can only rave about the Beast Academy books. Even if your child is not a math whiz, these books are so entertaining that your child will extract something useful from them. Again, I encourage and recommend these-not as a curriculum, but as a supplement to a regular curriculum.

I also encourage parents and teachers to think outside the box when presenting concepts. When I was little we were told to memorize and retell, but when I hit high school, we were told to come up with our own examples. By that moment, this task was incredible difficult. So, my recommendation is, in order not to scar your children, think outside the box for examples, and most importantly after you have thought of a few, let your children come up with their own. Learning with all senses is the most lasting learning.


Happy math Happy learning!