"Can We Play BEEP BEEP in Math Today?"

Six children walk into the Trees Classroom and see a wooden bus on the Nest. 

One goes right to the bus and the other five excitedly get a double from the block area.  

They each put one wooden figure on the bus stop. 

We now have one driver, and 5 passengers waiting at bus stops.

The driver starts to drive towards the first bus stop and calls out in a friendly voice ...

"BEEP BEEP  — There are zero passengers on my bus."



Then the first passenger boards the bus and says, 

"0 passengers plus 1 passenger equals ... 1 passenger!"

Then the game continues, as the bus makes it way slowly around the Nest...


"BEEP BEEP  — There is one passenger on my bus."

"1 passenger plus 1 passenger equals... 2 passengers!"

"BEEP BEEP  — There are two passengers on my bus."

"2 passengers plus 1 passenger equals... 3 passengers!"

"BEEP BEEP  — There are three passengers on my bus."

"3 passengers plus 1 passenger equals... 4 passengers!"

"BEEP BEEP  — There are four passengers on my bus."

"4 passengers, plus 1 passenger equals... 5 passengers!"

The BEEP BEEP game brings counting and adding into a real-life situation that the children can simulate, creating a concrete framework of a familiar routine around an abstract concept. 

One group of children learned this game and are teaching it to the rest of the class. In the group, they also made the game harder by introducing the idea that more than one person could get on at a time (adding two or three, instead of one), or even having passengers get off the bus — subtraction. 

This is an example of how small group work can serve to increase whole-class understanding, to encourage children to expand on ideas, and to give children a turn to teach and learn from each other. 

Everything we do in the Trees Classroom during activity time primes our mind for mathematical thinking, even a simple game of Beep Beep Bus.