by Carol Hurst
When I think of oral language and math, I think of folk tales. It's the storyteller in me that will not be repressed. Folk tales abound with numbers, especially threes. There's a lot of supposition as to why. Some say it's because the number three has been a mystical number since antiquity. Others say it's because of the Trinity. I say it's because those old storytellers knew their stuff. They knew that listeners would sit still for three tries or three characters, but if you get to four, it's overkill and you're pushing it.
Get the kids finding threes in folktales; sometimes it's easy:
" Three Bears," " Three Pigs," " Three Billy Goats Gruff." Other threes are more subltly hidden.
