ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to explore:

opening out oral mathematical story to smaller groups

prompting possibility thinking through creative dialogue

children’s response to small group oral storytelling.

<inline-graphic content-type="colour" xlink:href="<a href="https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203357392/b3e11d17-62de-457a-9da7-2c138c5740e2/content/speaker_C.jpg" target="_blank">https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203357392/b3e11d17-62de-457a-9da7-2c138c5740e2/content/speaker_C.jpg</a>" xmlns:xlink="<a href="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" target="_blank">https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink</a>"/> ‘The Greedy Triangle'

Retold by Suzanne Kelham

A triangle becomes dissatisfied with life. The triangle goes to a shape witch and asks for ‘one more side and one more corner’. The triangle is happy being a square until dissatisfaction sets in and it asks the shape witch for ‘one more side and one more corner’, turning into a pentagon. This is fine until the pentagon feels dissatisfied and asks for ‘one more side and one more corner’, turning into a hexagon. It is then that the hexagon shape realises that actually it was happy as it was and returns to the shape witch to become a pentagon, then a square and finally a triangle.

(adapted from Burns 1994)