Michael Strong tutors four-year-old Alana through addition, subtraction, and abstract reasoning about size and age. He uses everyday examples like cherries and eggs, asks open-ended questions to prompt her thinking, and has her test rules like "older people are bigger" against real examples from her life.
Ask him if he can hear you.
Can you hear me?
Yes, yes, I can. I'm gonna take off my head now.
I can hear you.
Okay, I don't know what's going on.
It actually might be our end, um, her headset. Like, I can hear you fine now on speakerphone. Yeah, how about now? Can you hear Michael now?
Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
It must be our headset.
I'm so sorry for making you start your phone. Sometimes these things happen.
Yep.
Anyway, how are you, Alana?
Good, I'm good. How are you?
I'm very well, thank you. Did you have a good week?
Yes, I did. And after this I'm gonna go to the beach again.
That sounds like so much fun. Do you go to the beach every Sunday or almost every Sunday?
Almost every Sunday, almost.
You go almost every day or only on Sundays?
Maybe all books every day.
You are one lucky kid, I think. You think it's great you go to the beach a lot?
Yes, but I wonder why. Because—
because why?
Because I'm gonna be excited when my grandparents come and they're gonna take me to the beach. Maybe.
I think you have great parents and great-grandparents because they all take you to the beach.
Yep, they love to go to the beach and make— I don't know.
Do you make sandcastles?
Yes, I do, but I lost my shovels.
Uh-oh, that happens. You get some new ones?
No.
Okay, well, um, I want to think about math. Is it okay if we think about math today? Yes. So can you explain to me what math is?
Mm, that helps you learn the numbers, and also we can learn from it. Like, I do my math before I eat my vitamins.
You do your math book before you eat your vitamins?
Yeah.
That seems really interesting. What do you do in your math book?
Like yesterday I did math for when I bombed a hill and I got these big strawberries.
Oh my goodness.
I got two on my knees, but they don't hurt anymore. Plus I tripped on a big piece of wood on my scooter.
Oh, that sounds painful. Was it painful?
Yes, it was.
Wow. So in your math book, are you doing addition, like 1 1 2?
Yeah, and 5 1 6.
So you know how 5 1 is 6?
Yes. How about 5 2 is 7? 5 3 is 8.
That's pretty good. Um, how about 5 4?
Well, I always use my fingers before I do hard things.
Okay, do you want to use your fingers for that one?
Sure. Okay, so 5 plus 4. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Good job, good job. So I want to think about something a little bit different. Suppose you had 2 cherries, you added 1 cherry. Do you think you have 3 cherries?
Yes.
How about 2 eggs and you added 1 egg, would you have 3 eggs?
Yes.
How about 2 friends and you got a new friend, would you have 3 friends?
Yes.
So do you think that numbers are true for all things? That is, you have 2 of anything and you add 1 more, you always get 3 things?
That would be unbelievable.
Tell me, tell me why it would be unbelievable.
Because, because when I get my vitamins, I get 4 and I don't always get 3.
I see, but if you had 2 vitamins and you got 2 more, then would you have 4?
Yes.
So do you think that math works for vitamins?
Uh, yes.
And cherries?
I don't know.
So do you think if you had 2 cherries and— let's do it 2 and 2. You have 2 cherries and 2 cherries, you're gonna have 4 cherries?
Like 2 and 2, I could have 4 cherries.
So I guess what I'm wondering is, can you use math to add? So that's addition. You know that you call it addition when you add 2 numbers together?
Um, I think I heard the word from you.
Okay, so yeah, we call that addition. Um, have you ever heard the word subtraction?
Nope.
That's okay. How about take away? Like you have 5 and you take away 1 and then you only have 4.
That's really smart.
Have you ever done takeaways like that?
Yep.
So what's 3? What happens if you have 3 and you take away 1? How many are you gonna have left?
3.
No, if you take away 1, suppose you take away 1. 2.
Okay.
How about if you have 2 and you take away 1?
1.
There we go. How about 6 and you take away 1?
Excuse me?
If you have 6 and you take away 1?
5.
That's right. Um, so that's when you add things together, when you do 1 1, that's addition. When you do takeaways, that's subtraction. Make sense?
Yes.
So it sounds like most of the math you do is addition. 1 1, 1 2, and so forth. Yes?
Yes.
Okay.
And you know, like 5 1 6.
Yeah.
5 2 7.
Yeah.
5 3 8. 8.
Yep. And you do math every day before you get vitamins?
Well, not really every day because I don't usually get my vitamins.
Okay. Do you do some kind of math most weeks or most days?
Maybe most days.
Okay. Do you ever use— do you ever count things? Like, do you ever count how many toys you have? Or count how many vitamins you have?
Well, I know I need to have 4 vitamins, but I cannot count all my toys because I have a lot.
Okay, too many toys to count. Could you count all the sand on the beach?
No!
Why not?
Because they're too little.
Do you think— do you know what a microscope is? That lets you look at things close up?
No.
So microscopes are really fun. I'm going to suggest, or actually just a magnifying glass. How about just a magnifying glass?
Yeah, I lost my magnifying glass.
Oh, but you used to have one? So do you think with a magnifying glass you could count the sand?
Yes.
How many sand How many pieces could you count?
100 and a million.
Can you count to 100?
No.
How high can you count? What's the highest you've ever counted?
Maybe 29.
That's pretty good. 29 is pretty big. Do you know anybody who's 29 years old?
Nope.
Um, do you think that your parents are older than 29 or younger than 29?
Maybe younger than 29.
Okay, and how old are you again?
4, but I passed 4 and a half.
You did! And how old is Logan?
He's 18 months.
You think he'll be 1 pretty soon or 2 pretty soon?
Well, He's already 1 and a half, but my parents call him 1 and a half.
Okay. Um, do you know anybody who's 5 years old?
Yes.
And are they older than you or younger than you?
Older.
So would you say if somebody is 6 years old, are they older than you?
Yes. I know. Wait, excuse me?
How do you know that if they're 6 years old, they are older than you?
'Cause my cousin Ian, he's 6 and he's older than me.
Do you think there could be somebody who is 6 years old that was actually younger than you?
No.
Why not?
Because 6-year-old is older. They're pretty big, so I don't think there's no one can— no 6-year-old that can be smaller than me.
You think that, um, so you're 4. Have you ever met a 3-year-old who is bigger than you?
Nope.
You think you're bigger than every single 3-year-old on the whole earth?
Maybe.
You think that you are smaller than every 5-year-old?
Yes. And 5-year-olds are smaller than 6-year-olds.
What if somebody was smaller than you, but they told you they were 5? Would you believe them?
No.
So, so the bigger we are, the older we are, is that it?
Yes.
So do you think the biggest people on earth are the oldest people on earth?
Yes, like adults.
So is your— are your grandparents all bigger than your father?
Are they dead? No. No?
So your dad is bigger than your grandparents?
Yes.
So does that mean he's older than your grandparents?
Yes, but—
Does he look older?
Yep, he looks older.
Okay, okay, so I guess the bigger we are, the older we get, right?
Yes.
And the older we are, the bigger we get.
And the older we get, we get a little shrink when we're a lot older.
Okay, do you know how old your grandparents are?
Uh, no.
Okay. How about when they take you to the beach, see if they're bigger than your dad or smaller than your dad, okay?
Okay. I know they're smaller.
You do? You do? So do you think they look younger than your dad?
I—
Can you tell? Do all adults look the same? Do we all look old?
My dad! Maybe we do look all old.
We do look old. Do you think you look older than Logan?
Wait, excuse me?
You look older than Logan.
Excuse me?
You look older than Logan.
Oh yes, I am older.
But do you think just from a photograph Anybody could tell that you look older than Logan?
Um, maybe. I'm an A1.
Okay, okay. Will, I want you to think about things like older and younger and bigger and smaller, okay?
Okay.
So that's, that's kind of your, your thinking experiment is to look at all your friends and see if the older ones are always bigger and And the younger ones are always smaller. Okay? Anything else before you go have a great day at the beach? I will almost certainly see you next weekend, and I hope you have a wonderful day at the beach.
Okay?
Okay. Bye-bye, Alana. Bye.
