World of Tan 23 - Transform This Into That

This activity follows on from World of Tan 22 - An Appealing Stroll.

It is Saturday morning. There is no school today and Little Ming and Little Fung are fast asleep. As usual, Granma T has already been up for hours!

The smell of fresh bread drifts upstairs and gradually wakes the children...

Granma T: Come on you two! There is much to be done.

Only groans can be heard as the children argue about who gets to use the bathroom first...

Granma T: It's no good putting it off with stories about 'transformations' or whatever it was you did at school. The yard has to be transformed. So...

Little Ming: Why did you have to go on about the transformations we did at school? Granma T seems to have found a perfect excuse to get us doing chores...

Little Fung: Again! Surprise, surprise...

Granma T: Come on now, no more moaning. Get your breakfast then get out into the yard. Let us put the theory into practice.

Little Ming: Ugh!

Granma T: Yes, I was very interested in what you had to say about transforming one thing into another... my mind has been racing with things that transform... from one state into another... and into another.

Little Fung, yawning: Oh yes?

Granma T: Flour, water and yeast are transformed into bread. Bread gets eaten and transformed into energy. Children who are full of energy go out into the yard and tidy it up... it's the perfect example.

Little Ming: What was that about being full of energy?

Little Fung: Granma, you've got the right idea about transformations. But we were only talking about mathematical transformations and the things that stay the same after some change has taken place...

Granma T: Things that stay the same? Are you sure that makes sense?

Little Fung: Yes! We could go into the yard and do nothing!

Granma T: It's already seven o' clock. The yard must be tidy before the others appear and they begin to transform our closed removal firm back into an open one.

Little Ming: Come on Little Fung, let's just get on with the yard...

In the meantime, transform this:

into that!

Extra activities:

• Write down some ways that a shape can transform. Do these transformations turn the shape into a new shape, or is it still the same shape after the transformation? Why/why not?
• Look up 'word ladders' and have a go at transforming one word into another by changing one letter at a time.

The story continues in World of Tan 24 - Clocks.