Proverbs 12:27-28 “A lazy life is an empty life, but “early to rise” gets the job done. Good men and women travel right into life; sin’s detours take you straight to hell.”
These two verses remind me of two “life lessons” I teach my students along with the “real math lesson”.
We just finished chapter 10 which covers finding the volume and surface area of pyramids, prisms, cones, and cylinders. (Fun, huh?) I drill into these sixth graders mind that you must show your work for each step to find the answer. Before they move on to the next problem they are told to go back and check the formula to make sure they have completed each step correctly. Sometimes they discover that they have forgotten to divide by three if it is a pyramid or divide by two if the shape is a triangle. (You didn’t know you were going to school today, did you? Haha) If you get the answer wrong you can look back at your work and see where you made your mistake and make the correction. The process is really simple if you just write the formula, plug in the numbers you are given, and work the process out one step at a time. If you just start plugging in the number to a calculator, without showing your work, you just may get the answer wrong. The slip of a finger on a number or symbol could easily happen and then you would have to start over again, unless you wrote the process down. (Remember these are 6th graders and we are not allowed to use calculators on county, state, or national test, so they don’t know the correct way to use a calculator. Mistakes will happen.)
When I read verse 27, “A lazy life is an empty life, but “early to rise” gets the job done.” It reminded me of the work one must do in a math problem instead of being lazy and using the calculator the whole time. One of my students has a saying on her binder that says, “The elevator to success is broken. You must use the stairs.” I’m not sure who to give credit to for that one, but I love it! That is a life lesson used when I teach math.
Don’t be lazy! Do your work and get the job done right! Life is not going to be handed to us, we must rise up and do some work. It may take a little longer to get to where you are going, but it is so worth it in the end.
In verse 28 it says, “Good men and women travel right into life; sin’s detours take you straight to hell.” Well, I may not say those exact words at the end of that verse when teaching my students, but the idea is there. This past week the kids were learning integers (positive and negative numbers) and graphing on a coordinate plane. (Your second math lesson for today.) You see, when teaching the four quadrants of a coordinate plane and reminding the students which way to go for negative and positive numbers, I told them when you do things “right” in life and you are “up” beat in your attitude, you are a more “positive” person. But when you are not doing the right thing (going “left”) or bringing others “down”, you tend to have a more “negative” attitude. Positive and negative numbers go to the right and up. Negative numbers go to the left and down.
Thoughts….Don’t be lazy, and do the right thing!
Okay, I’m done teaching for the day.
Have a blessed day.
(oh my! I just inserted the picture of the coordinate plane, and look…it’s a cross. Another fine way to tie math into the godly life. 
| May 5 |