Frightfully Fun!

Lady GaGa has a legion of fans she affectionately refers to as her Little Monsters.  Not one to be left out on a trend, I have my own little monster.  His name is Marty the Math Monster and he regularly visits my Kindergarten classroom to introduce new math concepts or present some sort of problem for my students to solve.  The children always look forward to Marty's visits.

I discovered Marty in a fancy lady toy boutique on 124th Street.  As soon as our eyes met I knew that this little monster would be a perfect vehicle to get my young mathematicians excited about numeracy learning.  A colleague at another school has implemented a similar idea with a large Curious George stuffed animal.  She places puzzles, number problems, and math games in George's backpack.


Throughout the school year, Marty teaches the children important math vocabulary.  These  key words are placed on a 'Marty's Math Words' poster that the students can refer to.

One question I am most often asked is "Where can I get my own monster puppet to use in my classroom?"  The store I originally purchased Marty from is, unfortunately, long gone.  However, on a lovely summer day in Banff, I happened upon a whole rack of monster puppets in the store 'Duck, Duck, Moose'.  To my delight my eyes met up with a replica of Marty (probably his twin brother) and another puppet who followed me home and quickly became Marty's Mama Monster.  A frightfully fun family reunion, indeed!