Texas Mathematics Teacher Spring/Summer 2021 - 17

TEKS and Toons: How Modern Cartoons Align With the TEKS
Peg + Cat
The next cartoon analysis I will share is Peg + Cat. This
show is about a girl named Peg and her cat named Cat.
In each half-episode of this series Peg and Cat have a
" big problem " they must solve. The characters then solve
math-related problems to resolve their " big problem. "
The episode I analyzed is from season 1 episode 13 titled
" The Birthday Cake Problem/The Doohickey Problem "
(Greenberger & Bobiak, 2014).

This episode has a running time of 27 minutes, split
evenly between the two half-episodes. In the " Birthday
Cake Problem " half-episode, the characters must make
a cake for a teenager's birthday. In " the Doohickey
Problem " half-episode, the characters must find a way
to fix their spaceship to travel back home. In both parts,
mathematics-related questions are solved. In this episode
of Peg + Cat, no questions were asked directly to the
audience. Tables 5 and 6 list the math concepts I observed
in this episode and the related TEKS.

Table 5: TEKS Addressed in Peg + Cat Half-Episode " The Cake Problem "
TEKS Number
(Grade Level)

How TEKS were Addressed in Episode

111.2.b.2.a (K)

The audience is shown characters counting many times, including counting from 1 to 10,
counting from 1 to 13, counting from 1 to 14, counting from 1 to 15, counting from 1 to 3,
counting from 1 to 12, counting from 13 to 19, and counting from 5 to 1.

111.2.b.3.a (K)

The audience is shown characters solving 14 + 2 = 16.

111.2.b.5 (K)

The audience is shown a pattern on a cake with blueberry, blueberry, and strawberry. A
character is then asked which was missing in a given pattern.

111.2.b.7.b (K)

The audience is shown a character putting a big pizza on a small plate and small pizza on a
big plate and resolving this problem by switching the pizzas to fit the correct sized plates.

111.4.a.4.a (2nd)

The audience is shown an explanation of 13 = 10 + 3, 14 = 10 + 4, 15 = 10 + 5, and 16 = 10 + 6.

Table 6: TEKS Addressed in Peg + Cat Half-Episode " The Doohickey Problem "
TEKS Number (Grade
Level)

How TEKS were Addressed in Episode

111.2.b.2.a (K)

The audience is shown characters counting many times, including counting from 1
to 16, and counting from 5 to 1.

111.2.b.5 (K)

The audience is shown several different patterns: Blue (B), Red (R), B, R..., B, B, R,
R, B, B, R, R..., B, R, R, B, R, R, B, R, R, ...

111.2.b.6.a (K)

The audience is informed that triangles have 3 sides, squares have 4 sides, and
pentagons have 5 sides.

Sesame Street
The next cartoon analysis I will share on is Sesame Street.
This 5-minute scene was titled " Plate Full of Math "
from season 44 episode 20 (Kingsley et al., 2014). In this
scene, Tyler Perry is explaining to Elmo how math is
everywhere, even on a plate full of chips.

In this scene from Sesame Street, no questions were asked
directly to the audience. Table 7 lists the math concepts I
observed in this scene and the related TEKS.

Table 7: TEKS Addressed in Sesame Street Scene " Plate Full of Math "
TEKS Number
(Grade Level)

How TEKS were Addressed in Episode

111.2.b.2.a (K)

The audience is shown chips being counted on a plate from 1 to 12.

111.2.b.6.a (K)

The audience is informed that the chips are triangles because they have 3 sides and the
plate is a rectangle because it has 2 long sides and 2 short sides

111.2.b.3.a (K)

The audience is shown chips being sorted into 7 yellow chips and 5 blue chips, this
shows that 7 + 5 = 12. Also shown model of 12 - 2 = 10 by taking away chips and
eating them

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Texas Mathematics Teacher Spring/Summer 2021

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