Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Language & Symbol: 1, A, Circle, Aleph

Language and Symbol (math): Ancient Hebrew, Letter Aleph, A, Number 1, Circle
We moved near a whiteboard and told the children there were people who lived a long long time ago, called the ancient Hebrews, which used a picture of a head as the first letter in their alphabet. They had animals, called oxen, which are kind of like big, strong, powerful cows. We drew an ox-head with horns on the board as we told them that to ancient Hebrews, letters meant more to them than just a sound to make. The head of an ox also meant things like strength, power, and leadership.
Over time, as more and more people used this letter, it changed, bit by bit, until it became the letters we use today in English, and in other languages like Latin and Greek. In the English language the ox-head became the letter, “A”. We drew the ox-head sideways, and finally, upside down, showing how the shape evolved into our letter.
We explained that the ancient Hebrews also used the letters in their Alphabet as numbers. We asked what number we usually start counting with (1), and drew the number 1 on the board. We pointed out that we only have one head on our bodies, and asked how hard it would be to make decisions and do things if we had more than one head.

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