This adorable programme airs on Treehouse for children aged 3 to 5 and follows the adventures of a little girl named Peg and her pet cat. Peg+ Cat succeeds in making math fun and relevant by showing kids how math is present in their lives and can be used to solve a variety of problems, from giving her mom the proper number of birthday presents to saving baby chicks. Peg + Cat follows the Ontario grade one curriculum, making it a great tool to prepare kids who are going into grade one, or to reinforce their current learning.
Ontario’s grade one math curriculum is designed to help children develop necessary skills such as: problem solving, reasoning, reflective thinking, connecting concepts to the world around them, representing mathematical ideas visually, and communicating their thinking clearly (Pg.32 of 135). Peg + Cat helps to develop these types of thinking and behaviour very well. The content in each episode is repetitive as the creators take the time to teach it’s viewers in multiple ways. Whenever there is a problem to be solved, Peg verbally explains the problem while writing it down for viewers to see and then explains each step of the solution in the same manner. While Peg, Cat, and friends carry out her plans their, they all sing about what they are doing and why or what they learned. These problems are anchored in the real world to further emphasize that math is everywhere. As we see in The Slop Problem, Peg, Cat, and the teenagers need to catch and place the chickens back into their coup. Each person can carry up to five chickens, thanks to a smart phone app, and they learn about counting in fives.
Peg + Cat teaches more than critical thinking and communication, however, as the types of math taught can be linked directly to more specific goals in Ontario’s grade 1 math curriculum.
Number Sense and Numeration
Two of the three overall expectations in Ontario’s curriculum for students are to “demonstrate an understanding of magnitude by counting forward to 100 and backwards from 20;” and “solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of single-digit whole numbers, using a variety of strategies.” (Pg. 33).
In the episode The Arch Villain Problem and The Birthday Present Problem Peg and Cat practice counting forwards and backwards. In The Arch Villain Problem, Cat can only do nine clumsy things before he scrapes his knee. Peg keeps track of his blunders by counting backwards from nine in order to help keep him safe. Meanwhile in The Birthday Present Problem, Peg and Cat must collect five rocks of from six different places in order to give her mom 30 rocks for her 30th birthday.
Measurement
This section’s goals are to “estimate, measure, and describe length, area, mass, capacity, time, and temperature, using non-standard units of the same size;” and “compare, describe, and order objects, using attributes measured in non-standard units.” (pg35).
In The Slop Problem, Peg, Cat, and the teenagers have to clean up the farm animals before the farmer comes to check on them, but they have trouble figuring out which animal should go in which tub and how much water to use. Peg must help them understand how to estimate and relate size with mass and capacity.
Geometry and Spatial Sense
Peg + Cat fits into two of the this area’s learning expectations of “identify common two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures and sort and classify them by their attributes;* compose and decompose common two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures.” (pg. 37).
The Straight and Narrow Problem
deals with a mysterious villain who starts turning other shapes in town into triangles, and it is up to Peg and Cat to save the day! Together, they teach viewers how to identify various shapes and how to combine them to make new ones in order to restore the city.
Data Management and Probability
“collect and organize categorical primary data and display the data using concrete graphs and pictographs, without regard to the order of labels on the horizontal axis; read and describe primary data presented in concrete graphs and pictographs; describe the likelihood that everyday events will happen.” (Pg, 40).
In The Mega Mall Problem Peg and Cat must search the mall for the teenagers who wondered away right before their dance competition started. By learning how to read the mall’s map and creating a graph to represent what each teenager wanted before disappearing, Peg and Cat were able to find all of the teenagers and get back to the dance competition right on time.
This is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
After watching five eleven minute episodes, I was able to find all of this information. Just think of what the whole season can teach kids. I may not be a teacher but I’m giving Peg + Cat an A+
Works Cited
The Ontario Math Curriculum can be found here
Links to the episodes below:
Peg + Cat Episode 11, The Slop Problem, The Birthday Present Problem.
Peg + Cat Episode 12, The Mega Mall Problem.
Peg + Cat Episode 17, The Arch Villain Problem, The Straight and Narrow Problem.
All screen shots were taken from the episode links above and edited by me.
1. Female Lead - Zootopia has a female lead, which is uncommon for films that target boys and girls. Judy does not have to sacrifice her femininity in order to succeed as a police officer either, which is a trap that many female characters fall into when they are portrayed in traditionally male roles.
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2. Predator vs Prey - Zootopia challenges racism in a way that is easy for kids to understand by using the predator vs prey metaphor. Racism is not simply about making a group seem different, it is about intentionally making their differences seem scary, even threatening. While the predators seem like a threat at first by randomly going ‘savage’ the film teaches us that the real predator- the real threat, can be an animal of prey. In addition to being able to turn ‘savage’, the main villain is -spoiler alert- is the seemingly kindly sheep assistant mayor Bellwether, an animal of prey.
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3. Confronts Unconscious racism – Zootopia confronts the prejudice that many of us continue to carry based on racial and cultural characteristics. This is accomplished through Judy’s character development as we are given a lead that is unconsciously racist. Despite her parent’s views and the trauma from her childhood bully, Judy considers herself as an ally to predators. But, we see that she has not completely shaken the idea that predators are dangerous. When Judy goes out she keeps fox spray on her person and when she she feels threatened, she reaches for it. Judy also adopts the idea that a predator can go ‘savage’ because of their DNA rather easily, nor does she not stop to think how such ideas could be harmful to predators. Zootopia goes further to have Nick confront her about these points, making her realize the extent of her actions and the hurt they can cause. This allows her to overcome her prejudices, take responsibility for it, and grow as an individual, while the encouraging the audience self-reflect and to do the same.
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4. Displays the Effects of Racism on its Victims - With the flashback to Nick’s childhood trauma of being bullied in the Junior Ranger Scouts, we see that from childhood, Nick was told that he was dangerous and untrustworthy because he was a predator and a Fox. This created such a deep scar in his heart, that he eventually came to believe it, and embraced it. He was a fox and therefore untrustworthy, so what else was there to do but become a criminal, a con-man?
This is a real issue that minorities struggle with, and as we see with Nick, has lifelong effects on people. Through this wonderfully crafted scene, viewers are able to see and experience this type of behavior and its effects for themselves. For some it gives justification, and for others, refection on their own behavior.
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5. People are Capable of Change - When Judy was little, there was a bully named Gideon. He was a fox, and when they were children, he ended up scratching Judy across the cheek when she tried to stop him from stealing tickets from her friends at a fair. Years later, Judy meets him again as an adult and the first thing that comes out of his mouth is an apology. Gideon confronts what he did, explains why he did it, emphasized that it was wrong regardless.
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6. We Can Lead Change - Judy’s parents had always been cautious of predators, which we see multiple times in the film. However, Judy had continually advocated that there was nothing to be afraid of. It is because of Judy’s persistent vocalizations that her parents later decide to go into business with Gideon, something they admit to doing because of her influence.
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7. It is Reflective of Current Society - Zootpoia represents cities that exist all over the world that house millions of people from many kinds of ethnicities. This helps audiences to relate to the film, and shows them that racial prejudice continues to exist today.
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8. It’s a Well Developed Story - The issues that Zootopia faces does not feel out of place or forced, rather they add depth to the story. The characters are likable and well developed, the plot makes sense, and the story progresses smoothly. Most importantly, Zootopia communicates its messages in a way that is clear and easy to understand by children and adults alike while still being immensely entertaining.
