Ratios &
Percentages:
Doubletree
Today's
Snack: Eat
something that comes from a tree: an apple, a peach, a pear, a banana, some
cherries . . . or maybe walnuts, almonds, pecans or other nuts. Wash down with
fruit juice that comes from a tree, such as apple juice or orange juice.
--------------------
Supplies:
A roll of brown butcher paper |
scissors | tape | black marker pen
Here's an activity to show you how
quickly things can add up when you're doubling. A 100% increase is plenty big .
. . but when you increase by 100% time after time after time, pretty soon,
you're talking about a gigantic impact.
First, cut a tall piece of paper
from your roll - maybe five feet tall? Keep it as wide as your roll so that it
is very wide and tall.
Tape it to the wall. Draw "bark" and maybe a knothole
with the black pen to make it look like a tree trunk.
Now let's start doubling. First, cut
two major "branches" out of more butcher paper that will extend maybe five more
feet to the left and right of your trunk. It's OK if they have straight edges;
more branches are coming.
Make the two major branches look natural, like a real
tree, but make them very thick - half the thickness of your thick trunk.
You may have to stand on a chair to tape these two
major branches to the wall. Add some lines for "bark" to make them look like
real tree branches.
Now let's double again. Cut four
fairly big "branches" out of butcher paper, and tape two to the left major
branch, and two to the right major branch. Again, make them look fairly natural
in shape and markings.
Do you see how this works? Now cut
eight medium-size "branches" out of butcher paper, and tape four to the
left-hand branch, and four to the right-hand branch. Or you can tape one or two
at random to the main trunk so that your tree is not so uniform. Again, draw
"bark" lines or whatever you need to make it look natural.
Now cut 16 smaller-size branches and
add them wherever you'd like to, to keep your tree looking real.
Then cut 32 even smaller-size
branches, and add.
Now cut and add 64.
Now cut and add 128. By now, your
"branches" should look more like twigs.
You can keep going if your hands
aren't too tired to cut. But do you see how quickly the quantity increased from
2 to 128? That's the power of doubling.
It's . . . TREE-mendous.
