MEP Math - Week 1, Day 2

We're on day 2 of MEP, year 1, and there is another poster with more stories to tell! (PDF lesson plans here, poster here; we're on week 1, day 2, poster 10.)

The Mouse Meeting - Belling the Cat, another fable from Aesop

The mice once called a meeting to decide on a plan to free themselves of their enemy, the Cat. At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away. Indeed, something had to be done, for they lived in such constant fear of  their claws that they hardly dared stir from the dens by night or day.

Many plans were discussed, but none of these was thought good enough. At last a very young Mouse got up and said:

"I have a plan that seems very simple, but I know it will be successful, All we have to do is hang a bell about the Cat's neck. When we hear the bell ringing we will know immediately that our enemy is coming."

All the mice were much surprised that they had not thought of such a plan before. But in the midst of the rejoicing over their good fortune, an old Mouse arose and said:

"I will say that the plan of the young Mouse is very good. But let me ask one question: Who will bell the cat?"

It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite another matter to do it.

The wolf and seven little kids - A Grimm Fairy Tale; I'm not going to post it here, because it's rather long, but the link takes you to a page where you can read it or print it.

The wedding of Cricket and Mouse - I have nothing for this one. Not a clue. Guess we'll be making it up.

Little pig and the wolves - One begins to wonder if the person thinking up these stories remembers things incorrectly, or if their parents made up their own versions of folk tales. The only thing I could come up with for this one is The Three Little Pigs, an English folk tale. If you know of a story about a pack of wolves chasing one pig up a tree, please tell me! This is another longer tale, so I won't put the text here, but the link takes you to two different versions of the story.

The ugly duckling - We know the story of the Ugly Duckling, who turns out to be a swan! This tale comes from Anderson's fairy tales, and can be found here.

In the lesson, you tell the story about each picture, and then count the number of living creatures and put a dot in a box for each one. If you look at the poster, you'll see the boxes for the dots. I tell shortened versions of the stories, because the lesson would take much too long for my busy little man if we read the long versions every time. I do find it helpful to know the stories, though, because it's much easier to summarize than to make it up myself.