I picked up my son from school and we were working on his homework. He had a sheet on which he had to practice drawing the number 5. The teacher has a little rhyme for each number, to help the kids remember how to draw it. The rhyme for 5 is, 'The number 5 has a hat that's funny, then a neck and a big fat tummy!'. So my son says, "Ryu is number 5! He has a funny hat and a big fat tummy!" I'm a proud Mommy today.

I like it TJ. I will have to remember to use it for my children who are making backwards 5's. BTW I also used your "e" story "draw a table top and then around". I think it helped. Ask you son what the other number rhymes are. Has he learned something for 6 and 3 yet?

Originally posted by Transmute Jun I picked up my son from school and we were working on his homework. He had a sheet on which he had to practice drawing the number 5. The teacher has a little rhyme for each number, to help the kids remember how to draw it. The rhyme for 5 is, 'The number 5 has a hat that's funny, then a neck and a big fat tummy!'. So my son says, "Ryu is number 5! He has a funny hat and a big fat tummy!" I'm a proud Mommy today.

That is just so cute!

Originally posted by clouddancer Ask you son what the other number rhymes are. Has he learned something for 6 and 3 yet?

Yep, these are the rhymes: 1 Down we run, 1 is fun! 2 Around and back on the railroad track! 3 Around the tree, around the tree, that is how you make a 3! 4 Down and over, and down some more, that is how you make a 4! 5 The number 5 has a hat that's funny, then a neck and a big fat tummy! 6 First you come down and then around, a number 6 is what you've found! 7 Start from the sky, slant down from heaven, that is how you make a 7! 8 Make an 'S' but do not wait, go back up to make an 8! 9 Make a balloon and then a line, that is how you make a 9! 0 Make a zero, that's our hero!

Those are nice TJ! The 3, 6 and 7 rhymes do not help with reversals. I guess if I think about it the 5 rhyme does not either. Children could still do the number backwards, which is what some of my grade ones are doing. Of course, when I think about it, my letter rhymes do not help for letter reversals either. Can you tell that is my big push in class right now? I want to stop all reversals in term one. I won't get 100% success but I do get 90 % in letters and probably 85 - 90 for numbers. I hate marking term two, addition and subtraction work and not knowing if the child meant 2 or 5 for their answer.

Well, my son is in Kindergarten so I think they're more worried about letter formation before they worry about it being backwards. It makes sense that in Grade 1 there would be different priorities.

Originally posted by Transmute Jun I picked up my son from school and we were working on his homework. He had a sheet on which he had to practice drawing the number 5. The teacher has a little rhyme for each number, to help the kids remember how to draw it. The rhyme for 5 is, 'The number 5 has a hat that's funny, then a neck and a big fat tummy!'. So my son says, "Ryu is number 5! He has a funny hat and a big fat tummy!" I'm a proud Mommy today.

Awww that is so cute!