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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think I've been doing '5' wrong...

93 replies

FurrySlipperBoots · 10/03/2019 15:45

my whole life?!

teachingmama.org/number-formation-rhymes/?fbclid=IwAR1_4E-PRQWOgMEmfkGMZeKsmexISYL1Ca-_zKPRMTLspq9g2nzaeEUxre0

OP posts:
DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 10/03/2019 15:46

You defo have, I was taught that way, although not with a pretty little rhyme! Grin

Jennywren2978 · 10/03/2019 15:49

Yep that's how I have always written a number '5' so if you do it differently it's not wrong just different. As long as it looks like a 5 it doesn't matter how you write it.

Pinkvici22 · 10/03/2019 15:49

This is what my 6 year old does - I wasn’t taught this way either!!

Violetroselily · 10/03/2019 15:50

I was taught "down, around, put its hat on" at primary school

DramaAlpaca · 10/03/2019 15:50

That's how I was taught to write a 5, back in the day.

stopitandtidyupp · 10/03/2019 15:51

I was taught to put a hat on in the 80s . I was lazy and didn't want to pick my pen up again so just started it at the end as I do now.

Pascha · 10/03/2019 15:53

That's how I learned in the early eighties. Different rhyme, (something to do with getting out of bed, eating breakfast then putting his hat on), but the same steps.

MrsMartinRohde · 10/03/2019 15:54

I was taught that way in the late 70s. I can still hear the teacher, "down, a fat body and a hat on top"

ApolloandDaphne · 10/03/2019 15:56

I don't remember any rhymes (60's child) but that is how i write a 5.

Trills · 10/03/2019 15:57

Why would I draw a 5 with two strokes when it can be done in one continuous line?

GottenGottenGotten · 10/03/2019 15:57

I was taught that way, but don't write it that way now.

Stinkytoe · 10/03/2019 16:04

I do mine in one swift movement, left along the top then down and around.

Pinkvici22 · 10/03/2019 16:07

That’s how I do it Stinky! I was taught in the 80s and find it very odd putting a hat on the 5 Grin

OddCat · 10/03/2019 16:08

I'm trying to write a 5 and have forgotten how I do it now Confused

gamerwidow · 10/03/2019 16:08

Same stinkytoe I'm not messing about with two lines when i can start at the top right and go left, down and around.

HariboLecter · 10/03/2019 16:10

Start at the top, similar to writing an S.
DH says he writes his in the same way.

SheSaidNoFuckThat · 10/03/2019 16:11

I'm with @Stinkytoe and @gamerwidow! My kids write theirs the same way as me too, never seen anyone write a 5 like in the link

MillicentMartha · 10/03/2019 16:11

It can start to look like an ‘s’ if you write quickly in one go. Not useful if you’re doing lots of algebra.

Petalflowers · 10/03/2019 16:12

I don’t recall any rhymes, and i don’t Think my dc were taught rhymes either.

To test how I do it, I just wrote out 75 and 25, and found myself doing the one stroke method, writing the five from top to bottom.

MsChookandtheelvesofFahFah · 10/03/2019 16:19

Short neck, belly fat. Mr 5 wears a hat. Such a lovely rhyme in my school! Grin

PigletJohn · 10/03/2019 16:20

if you were right handed, and using an unworn fountain pen, or a dip pen, or a quill, then the point of the nib would dig into the paper if you tried to do the top stroke right to left.

But nobody does, so it doesn't matter any more

ILikTheBred · 10/03/2019 16:21

My mum was a primary teacher (retired now). She taught my son to do a 5 with ‘a head, a big fat belly, feet and a...hat!’.

DropZoneOne · 10/03/2019 16:21

One line method here! But my 4s are a continuous line too - my 4s and 9s look like those on a keyboard

BlackberryandNettle · 10/03/2019 16:23

I do it as in the rhyme. I remember being pulled up in the 80s for doing it like an S.

RogersVideo · 10/03/2019 16:25

I've never seen that before. Why would you use two strokes instead of one??

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