Math colored glasses are really just a way of describing a curious, noticing mindset. When you put them on while you are out and about, you start to see the world a little differently. You notice patterns in the tiles on the floor. You meditate on your father-in-law’s triangular prism of a Rubik’s Cube for a little too long. You wonder how many apples are in that pile at the grocery store.
This is something every single one of us is capable of, including your child, and including you. You just need to notice and wonder.
In our math classroom, we use a tried and true routine called Notice and Wonder. Originally introduced into the math education lexicon by an educator named Annie Fetter. It is beautifully simple. We look at something… a picture, a graph, a set of numbers, even just a handful of objects on a table… and we ask two questions:
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
That’s it. There’s no wrong answer, no pressure, we just look, and we think, and we share. Students start building on each other’s ideas, asking deeper questions, and making connections. It is a way to open the doors to curiosity and put out the welcome mat, and it leads to some incredibly insightful and sophisticated math thinking from the hive mind of a lower school math class.
Notice and Wonder teaches children that their observations matter and that their curiosity is valuable and that math isn’t about rushing to an answer. Sometimes it is actually about seeking the problem itself! Math is a powerful way to make sense of the world.
Takeaway point: you don’t need a worksheet or a math app to bring mathematical thinking into your home. You just need to notice and wonder together.
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