Domino Day 

Some children learn to count by matching the dots on dominoes. We used to spend hours playing dominoes. My grandfather used the game to teach me a bit of math. I learned to add the number of dots at the ends of each line after I played. I wanted to get a number that can be divided by five.  Then I could add that number to my score. We played dominoes for hours!

Then we liked to build little buildings and towers. We liked to stand the dominoes up in lines and curves. Then we toppled one of the dominoes at the end. The trick was to get all the dominoes to fall. 

This week, I learned that there is an “International Domino Day.” That day is in November. On that day people line up hundreds of dominoes. Then they topple the one at the end. Then the whole line will fall. Each domino falls on the next, until all of them fall. The record number is over 4 million! It took two hours for all of them to topple.

If just one domino stays standing, the others behind it do not fall. So each one “has its job!”  This reminds me of our literacy group. We teach people to read. Our motto is “Each one -- teach one.” Together, we can make a difference. But it takes all of us -- teachers AND students.

Word List: Dominoes,  toppled,  International,  literacy.

-- dcw