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Sharpening Math Understanding through Literature

Wednesday, January 23, 1:30 pm, North Branch

Marsha Landau, Ph. D.

mathmarsha.blogspot.com
[email protected]

Looking for creative, fun ways to use children's literature to develop and improve your
child’s understanding of math? Use storybooks and poetry to teach math concepts, and
enrich the whole experience of sharing literature with your child.

Following the workshop, you will find many specific ideas on the blog for each of the
books we explore today. There are also bibliographies of suggested books for both
children and parents.

This handout is deliberately brief so you will visit the blog!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WAYS TO USE CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS

Though many children's books are explicitly about mathematics, such as books about counting
or shapes, other books have mathematics embedded within a larger context. These books are
generally not perceived as "math books," but mathematics appears as a natural element within
stories, problems, personal vignettes, or cultural events. Welchman-Tischler (1992) has
classified the ways to use such books as follows:

1. To provide a context or model for an activity with mathematical content.

2. To introduce manipulatives that will be used in varied ways.
3. To inspire a creative mathematics experience for children.
4. To pose an interesting problem.
5. To prepare for a mathematics concept or skill.
6. To develop or explain a mathematics concept or skill.
7. To review a mathematics concept or skill.
From ERIC Identifier: ED464807. Publication Date: 2001-12-00
Author: Haury, David L. Literature-Based Mathematics in Elementary School. ERIC Digest.
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The Doorbell Rang
By Hutchins, Pat

From blog --- mathmarsha.blogspot.com

An excellent resource to use when creating your list of books to look for at the library is Math
Patterns in Children's Literature. Before I read this book with my granddaughter, I found
photos of a chocolate chip cookie and a plate from my everyday china pattern to make it
realistic, and we acted out the story, sharing a dozen cookies among an increasing number of
children. My granddaughter personalized the experience by using her stuffies to replace the
humans in the story.

I can share the cookie and the plate:

From http://www.eyeoneducation.com/bookstore/client/client_pages/samplechapters/699-
3.pdf
Questions Parents Can Ask: *How many cookies for each person? How do you
know?
*What if the doorbell rang only one time in the story?
*What if there were twice as many cookies in the story?
*What patterns do you notice?

Challenge:
Try making up your own story about division and fractions.

From Math Through Children's Literature: Making the NCTM Standards Come Alive By
Kathryn L. Braddon, Nancy J. Hall, Dale B. Taylor
http://books.google.com/books?id=QwSJcOH1wqAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=exploring+ma
thematics+through+literature+thiessen&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Hi_vUImpOIelrQGmiIHwDA&ved
=0CFsQ6AEwBg - v=onepage&q=greenwillow&f=false
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Good ideas here: Literature and Algebraic Reasoning by Cheryl A. Lubinski and Albert D.
Otto

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-67494682/communicating-mathematically-
children-literature.html
(need your library card for access; for some reason Evanston didn’t work for me but Wilmette
did!)
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Using "The Doorbell Rang" to Explore Fractions

multiplication and division concepts using the book, The Doorbell Rang

http://lessonplanspage.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ADozenCookies.gif

http://lessonplanspage.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/CookieMath.gif

From http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/doorbellrang.html

Review

Ma has made some cookies for her two children and is now trying to wash the kitchen floor.
There are twelve cookies -- six apiece-- and the children think they look and smell as good as
Grandma's, but "no one makes cookies like Grandma". That phrase is repeated throughout the
book, as is "the doorbell rang" as more and more children enter to share the cookies (tracking
up the floor as they come.) Eventually the children only have one cookie apiece and the
doorbell rings yet again. However, this time it's Grandma with a big tray of cookies, which is
perfect because no one makes cookies like Grandma.

This is one of those picture books that practically begs to be included in the math program.
We've got pattern, problem solving, computation and data gathering for starters. The book is
full of visual and verbal patterns. The children seem well conditioned to share their bounty so
the computing of how many cookies apiece changes as the other children enter the picture and
that, of course, involves problem solving. Since the number of cookies and the number of
children is left to the reader, data gathering becomes necessary.

Much of the action in the illustrations goes beyond that mentioned in the text -- Ma's attempt to
keep the floor clean, for instance. In fact, readers may notice that the increasing dismay on the
faces of both Ma and her children is caused by two different factors: the cookies and the
kitchen floor.

Connecting literature, language, and fractions. (teaching fractions to elementary students)

By: Conaway, Betty ; Midkiff, Ruby Bostick

The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins (1986) can be used to extend the understanding of
fractions… Although this book does not directly discuss fractional concepts, the story provides
a real-life problem-solving situation using fractional portions of 12. After the students have
listened to the teacher read the book and have discussed ways to divide twelve items, ask the
students to divide twelve paper cookies, twelve real cookies, or twelve pieces of popcorn.
Extend this discussion by writing similar problems using a different number of children and
cookies. For example, these two bags contain twelve cookies each. How many cookies do we
have? (24) We have twelve students in our group. How many cookies will each student
receive? (2) What fractional part of the cookies is that? (2/12) Then, depending on the grade
level of the students, explore the concept of simplifying or renaming
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Grandfather Tang's Story

by Ann Tompert
Three Pigs, One Wolf, and Seven Magic
Shapes
by Grace Maccarone
These books introduce your child to the Tangram Puzzle -- seven geometric shapes that can be
used to explore a wealth of topics in geometry and measurement.
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Cook-a-doodle-doo!
By Stevens, Janet

Available online resources:

teaching tips from the author

Posing Problems from Children’s Literature

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/cookadoodledoo.php

Berry Fun Cooking

http://www.orls.org/crctt/second/cookadoo.pdf

http://artsunite.blogspot.com/2009/11/theater-thursday-integrating-theater.html
Math Links: Teaching the Nctm 2000 Standards Through Children's Literature (lesson starts
on page 124)
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Harriet's Halloween Candy
By Carlson, Nancy L.

From mathcats.com: Math Literature and Graphing Activities

> I will soon be a student teacher. In my method class for math I was instructed to create a
book lesson intergrating math. I want to use Harriet's Halloween Candy by Nancy Carlson,
since it will be Halloween when I present this to my class... I thought I would begin my lesson
by reading the book, then demonstrate what they would be doing. I am going to tell everyone
that they will all get a bag of candy, then when you get the candy, I want you to sort it out into
different groups such as tootsie rolls, etc., then color in graph of the amount of candy you have.
( I am showing them as I am talking) How does that sound? Wendy, 10/25/00

Your thoughts are well thought out... Other things might be: graph what they have sorted or
create Venn diagrams of the candy -- those with wrappers, such as Toostie Rolls and those
without wrappers, such as apples.
KathyB/1st/IA, 10/26/00 on teachers.net math board
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Best of luck when you present your lesson. I'd like to suggest some further ideas in a different
format which you may or may not find helpful.

Integrating math with Harriet means not only sorting and graphing, which is good, but also
how can you tie the feelings of selfishness and greediness into your lesson, which I believe is
the lesson Nancy Carlson wants the reader to explore. Here's an idea:

Choose the attributes you want the students to work with (i.e. size, color, shape, etc.) and fill
the bags with any and everything (not just candy) that can be sorted like this. (As candy is
expensive, not very reusable, would probably take some of your young students off task just
thinking about eating it, you might use different macaronis, shell beans, attribute or fraction
blocks, some hard/soft candies with,w/out wrappers, paper clips, marbles, etc. -- the more
creative the better!) Be careful that what you put in bags can easily be sorted into the attributes
you work with in your lesson: you may only want to focus on size and color, for example, and
fill as many bags as you have students. Put these bags into larger bags so that you end up with
one huge bag!

Hand this bag to one person - what do others think? I'm sure you'll hear, "That's not fair;" talk
about why and what would be fair. Also, tell that one person that s/he will have to do all of the
work. Discuss briefly and then go on to give everyone their own bags.

Go on to sort, graph, diagram (using rope circles on the floor works well and working in
groups helps).

Then read the book, drawing on students' experiences and how they felt when doing the math
lesson and tie it with Harriet and her brother's feelings, summing up similarities/differences.
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How Big Is A Foot?
By Myller, Rolf

Use this lesson: http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L205

Ask why the bed created by the apprentice is not what the king expected.
Print a Making Beds activity sheet for your child.
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Discuss your child’s responses to the tasks described on the Making Beds activity sheet. In
particular, discuss responses to questions 5 and 6. Question 5 asks, "Why do you think the ruler
was invented?" Question 6 asks students to consider, "The preface of the book says, 'To the
wonderful metric system without whose absence in this country this book would not have been
possible.' What do you think the author means by this statement?" Students might discuss how
the Metric system is not used in our country. Students may discuss how much easier it is to use
and convert in the Metric system because it is based on powers of ten.

Another excellent treatment of this book is in

Math and Literature, Grades 2-3 by Marilyn Burns.
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One Hundred Hungry Ants
By Pinczes, Elinor J.

Lesson for grade 3 from Marilyn Burns

100 Hungry Ants

Materials: counters for building arrays, copy of 100 Hungry Ants; Elinor J.Pinczes
__________________________________________________________________________
1. After listening to the story, ‘One Hundred Hungry Ants’ choose one of the following
numbers: 12, 24, or 36.
2. Suppose that there were this number of ants going to the picnic.
How many different ways could the ants arrange themselves into equal rows?

3. Draw an array and write a number sentence for each solution that you find.
4. How do you know that you have found all the possible solutions for the number you chose?

From Helping Young Children Learn Mathematics: Strategies for Meeting the Needs of
Diverse Learners by Jennifer J. Chen and Linnea Weiland

Utilizing children’s literature in teaching mathematics not only can enhance early childhood
learners’ understanding of abstract concepts in concrete ways, it can also serve as a vehicle for
addressing diverse learning abilities and styles. Children’s math-related books have been
increasingly incorporated and shown to be effective in teaching mathematical concepts
(Forrest, Schnabel, & Williams, 2006; Huber & Lenhoff, 2006; Whitin & Whitin, 2006). The
following set of activities based on the children’s book, One Hundred Hungry Ants, written by
Elinor J. Pinczes and illustrated by Bonnie MacKain (1999), demonstrates how teachers can
incorporate this book to facilitate children’s understanding of mathematical concepts:

In the story, a hundred ants are marching to a picnic and want to get there as quickly as
possible. Marching one by one takes a long time, so one of the ants suggests two by two, then
four by four, and so on.

After listening to the story, young children can count aloud the number of ants that are
illustrated on each page. The teacher models oral counting by twos on the page where the ants
march in pairs. By doing this, she provides the opportunity to enhance learning for visual and
auditory learners.
When the teacher asks the children to physically become the ants and march one by one and
then two by two, she has created a situation that appeals to kinesthetic learners.

To further apply the mathematical concepts from the book and engage children in open-ended
mathematical investigation, she could ask questions, such as:

! What would happen if there were 24 ants on their way to the picnic?
! How could you show different ways these 24 ants could march?
! How could you use blocks to show the 24 ants?
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When children share their pictorial representations of the situation and describe verbally how
they chose to show the ants marching, they are translating the visual into oral language.

By demonstrating their selected arrangements with blocks, and then describing the actions they
use to solve the problem, children are again provided with the opportunity to make connection
between concrete experiences and abstract concepts.

The activities described above utilize children’s literature to enhance understanding of abstract
mathematical concepts by:

! providing opportunities for concrete experiences

! presenting situations that maximize various learning modalities
! teacher scaffolding through modeling
! engaging children in open-ended mathematical inquiry and investigation
! promoting both individual and social construction of knowledge.

Excellent ideas in this article:

Literature and Algebraic Reasoning by Cheryl A. Lubinski and Albert D. Otto

How many ways can ants...

Additional ideas – look at amazon.com customer reviews!

Here are a few:

My kindergartener and I were talking about money, one day, and he volunteered that he'd
learned that ten dimes make a dollar when his kindergarten teacher read "One Hundred Hungry
Ants". This book has no discussion of money, but it teaches that 100 equals 2 times 50, 4 times
25, 5 times 20, and 10 times 10, just the right lesson for him at that time.

This book was sent home with 100 unifix cubes to use along with the book. We used the cubes
as the ants. We started off with one line of 100 cubes (as the ants). Then, in the story, they split
into 2 lines of 50, so we split our cubes, too. Then, 4 lines of 25, and so on.... Excellent book to
use with the cubes to demonstrate different ways to make 100.

This book is fabulous and a staple in any good elementary classroom. I love teaching arrays
with this book. I use color tiles and 1cm graph paper to create the different arrays and then cut
them out and place them on display to understand multiplication, addition and area.

Yet another treatment of this very popular book appears in Math and Literature, Grades 2-3.
Here, children are asked some good “what if?” questions—e.g., “The littlest ant wants to know
if he can put all one hundred ants into three rows with no leftovers. We have to tell if he can do
that or not.” “Write a story similar to One Hundred Hungry Ants but using your own numbers,
characters, and setting.”
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A Remainder of One
By Pinczes, Elinor J.

Best resource for this book:

March of the Dividing Ant Divisibility Rules; Factorization

Blackline master of ants for acting out the story:

http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/A-Remainder-of-One-activity-ants.html

Activity pages:

http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/A-Remainder-of-One-activity-1.html

http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/A-Remainder-of-One-activity-2.html

Lessons:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tsl/archives/05-1/lesson008.shtml

http://lesage.blogs.uoit.ca/wp-uploads/2010/08/A-Remainder-of-One-NCTM-April-20001.pdf

http://education.scholastic.co.uk/content/3512
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Sir Cumference and the First Round Table
A Math Adventure
By Neuschwander, Cindy

‘Round-N-‘Round We Go: A Math Adventure with Circles

http://www.charlesbridge.com/client/client_pdfs/downloadables/RoundTableDiscussionGuide.
pdf

Sir Cumference and the First Round Table 2

Activity: Sir Cumference and the First Round Table

http://www.mathcantakeyouplaces.org/teachers/pdf/Measurement-Lesson07.pdf

http://www.k-state.edu/smartbooks/Lesson016.html

circumference packet

http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/p59_visualizing_grade6_mathematics.pdf
1. Read page 3 and stop before the last sentence. Describe the mental picture that you see,
such as many men on foot and knights in armor on horseback congregating on a hill
overlooking the place where you are standing. Ask some students to describe the picture they
see.
2. Read the story stopping at page 8 and ask some students to describe their mental images.
Have all students sketch or make a picture of the new table.
3. Read through page 11 and again have students represent the newest table using the
special rectangular papers.
4. Read through page 14 and ask students to quickly sketch one of the flags.
5. Read pages 16 and 17. Give students time to work with a partner to create the octagonal
table from the parallelogram. Provide written or verbal clues from the diagram on page 17 if
necessary.
6. Read pages 18 through 25 and have the students sketch, create with string and pencil
compass or select a circle.
7. Read pages 26 through 31. Have students identify the diameter, radius and
circumference of their circles at the appropriate point.
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A Cloak for the Dreamer
By Aileen Friedman

Complete lesson and discussion, with black line master at

Math and Literature: Grades 2-3 by Marilyn Burns, Stephanie Sheffield, page 9

Activity centers around these shapes, on the BLM. Two approaches are presented.
The first teacher interrupted the story and had the children describe the problem and propose
their own solutions. The next day they read the entire story, got tagboard printouts of the BLM
below, and the directions that follow.

In the second approach, on page 13, Marilyn Burns read the whole story with the children in
one sitting. Then:
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Here is a video describing how to create a tessellation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lg19NvW_sU
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There's A Zoo in Room 22
By Sierra, Judy

From the mathmarsha.blogspot.com discussion:

Recently my granddaughter and I were reading There's a Zoo in Room 22 by Judy Sierra.
(Preview here on Googlebooks.)

It is written in verse, so we discovered and labeled the rhyming PATTERNS.

This one is ABAB CDCD: This one is AABBCC:

My granddaughter declared that "hexaflexagon is not a word."

Well!
I happen to HAVE hexaflexagons--in fact, all of the following:
trihexaflexagon
tetrahexaflexagon
pentahexaflexagon
hexahexaflexagon

So after finishing the book, we explored the flexagons.

For directions and patterns to make your own, go here.
And an exciting video here.
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Another note about poetry and the mathematics of patterns:

From Making Connections to and with Mathematics,

Figure 2.3

Nursery Rhymes and Pattern Development

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, !! !! !! "

How I wonder what you are! !! !! !! "
Up above the world so high, !! !! !! !
Like a diamond in the sky. !! !! !! !
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, !! !! !! "
How I wonder what you are. !! !! !! "

Jack be nimble. !!!!

Jack be quick. !!"
Jack jump over !!!!
The candle stick. !!!"

… students can use pattern blocks to build visual

correspondences to rhyming linguistic patterns. Once students learn this technique, longer
nursery rhymes can be constructed geometrically, thereby involving students in actively
predicting, comparing, and checking both geometric and linguistic patterns.
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The Twelve Circus Rings
By Chwast, Seymour
and
The Twelve Days of Christmas

Both of these books CAN be used simply as counting books—but that would be missing a
great opportunity to investigate triangular numbers and tetrahedral numbers.

To start, just focus on the number of gifts received each day.

Day Number of gifts my true love gave to me

1 1
2 2+1=3
3 3+2+1=6
4 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 10
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Do you see a pattern?

How is the total related to the day number?

Can you write an expression for the number of gifts on day 12?
If the pattern continued, can you write an expression for the number of gifts on day 100? On
day N?

The numbers 1, 3, 6, 10, … are called triangular numbers because each number of objects
can be arranged in a triangular shape (think of 1 as a “degenerate triangle” – a mathematical
term).

The notion that numbers have shapes is not unfamiliar to you—think about square numbers,
obtained by multiplying a counting number by itself (n)(n) = n2: 1, 4, 9, 16, …
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There are many cool patterns to notice already.

For example, each square number can be separated (do this, using pennies) into two
consecutive triangular numbers. That is, 4 = 1 + 3; 9 = 3 + 6; 16 = 6 + 10; etc.

Also--you obtain the next triangular number by adding consecutive counting numbers. For
square numbers you add consecutive ODD numbers.
(This raises a nice “What if?” question – What if you work with EVEN numbers? Start with 2
and add consecutive even numbers? What shape are the resulting numbers?

2, 6, 12, 20, … are called oblong numbers.)

For the oblong numbers, it’s relatively easy to see that each number is the product of two
consecutive counting numbers. That is:
1x2 2x3 3x4 4x5

So the formula for the kth oblong number is k(k+1).

But then compare the oblong numbers with the triangular numbers. Each oblong number is
twice the corresponding triangular number. So what is the formula for the kth triangular
number ?
1
k (k+1)
2

But wait—there’s more!

We also want to find out about the TOTAL number of gifts received by the end of each day.
!
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Day TOTAL Number of gifts my true love has give me so far

1 1
2 3+1=4
3 6 + 3 + 1 = 10
4 10 + 6 + 3 + 1 = 20
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

This time we’re getting the SUM of the triangular numbers. This set is called tetrahedral
numbers because they have the 3-dimensional shape of a tetrahedron (triangular pyramid). And
this shape is also entirely familiar: You’ve seen cans or fruits arranged in a pyramid in the
grocery store:

diagram from http://milan.milanovic.org/math/english/tetrahedral/tetrahedral.html

Finding the formula is beyond the scope of this workshop! It is

So for n = 12: 2(13)(14)

The total number of gifts = The sum of the first 12 triangular numbers = 364.
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Double the Ducks
By Murphy, Stuart J.

Complete grade K lesson with links to everything you need to enrich the story is here.

More resources online:

Double the Ducks math facts K-1 free work pages PDF

There are excellent ideas at the end of the book, following the story:

Double the Ducks (Doubling Numbers)

• After you've read the story together once, reread the story, using small objects such as
buttons, marbles, or blocks. Ask the child or students to "double the number" of objects
to match the storyline.
• Tell the child or students that you have thought of a number and then doubled it. Then
say what the doubled number is and ask if they can figure out what the original number
was. For example, if the doubled number is 10, the correct answer is 5. If the child has
difficulty, use a group of small objects—buttons, paper clips, or pennies—that total
your doubled number. Then have the child separate them into two groups.
• When making a simple treat, like instant pudding, help your child or students double
the recipe.
• Have the children make “Doubles Books.” To prepare, take sheets of 8 1⁄2 x 11 inch
paper, turn it so it’s horizontal (wide) and draw a line down the middle. On the left-
hand side of each page, draw an object (for example, 1 person, 2 ducks, 3 balloons, 4
trees, and 5 flowers). Make enough photocopies so that each child gets a set of pages.
Ask the children to draw double the number objects on the right-hand side of each page
(for example, 2 people, 4 ducks, 6 balloons, 8 trees, and 10 flowers). Using a new sheet
of paper, have the children draw a cover for their Doubles Books. Staple each book on
the upper left hand corner. Your math whizzes are now authors!

I think the story lends itself to exploring more advanced concepts involving ratios and
proportional reasoning, so I like the idea of sharing the book with older children as well.

Go BEYOND the numbers in the story with questions like;

If 5 more ducks joined the group, how many more _____ would be needed?

If 3 more friends showed up to help the boy in the story, how many ducks could they care for?
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Sixteen Cows

What If We Changed the Book? Problem-Posing with Sixteen Cows

Problem Posing with Sixteen Cows

OBSERVATIONS “WHAT IF” EXTENSIONS
There are 16 cows. What if there were 20? 30? 100?
There are 2 fields. What if each owner had 2 fields? 4
fields?
There are 2 owners. What if there were 3 owners each with
8 cows? 4 owners?
Each owned the same What if each owned a
number of cows. different number
of cows but the total was still 16?
All the cows escaped. What if only half the cows escaped?
All the cows were the What if some cows were brown and
same (adult, female, white? Calves? Bulls?
black and white).
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Ten Sly Piranhas
A Counting Story in Reverse, (a Tale of Wickedness-- and Worse!)
By Wise, William

From Utah State Office of Education, Academy Handbook Kindergarten:

http://www.usu.edu/coreacademy/Materials/2008/Handbooks/Kindergarten2008A.pdf for
blackline masters

Ten Sly Piranhas Practice Ideas

To reinforce the concepts introduced in the book and strengthen subtraction skills, here are
some ideas you can try at home with your child:
• Count out 10 Goldfish crackers and have your child “gulp” down one at a time. Talk about
how many crackers there were before and after the “gulp.”
• Have your child draw a picture of a river. Have them retell the story with Goldfish crackers.
• Using 10 small items from around your home (buttons, Legos, cars, cereal) to practice
subtraction.
• After practicing subtraction with the items, repeat and write numbers along with subtraction.
• Using the crackers or small items, have your child tell you subtraction stories. These are
simple tales that give meaning to the subtraction process. For example: “Five birds were in the
nest. Two flew away. Three birds are still in the nest.”
• Have your child make a book retelling the story of the piranhas. Let them read it to you.
• Involve your child in everyday subtraction around your home. Talk about what you are doing
with them and have them solve the problem. “We need five glasses for dinner. I have three on
the table. How many more glasses do I need?”
Use your imagination and have fun with your child. Math is an important skill we use
everyday.
Make it fun!
Thank you for your help!
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Clement, R. (1991). COUNTING ON FRANK. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens Publishing.

From:

available here:
http://www.ed.sc.edu/raisse/pdf/MathArticles/IncorporatingLanguageArtsintotheMathematicsCurriculu
m.pdf

Lesson 2 - Estimating Volume by Counting on Frank

In this lesson, students read the book Counting on Frank. They use information in the book to
make estimates involving volume. In particular, students explore the size of humpback whales.

Story Summary
The narrator likes to collect facts with the help of his dog, Frank. Each two-page spread of this
book includes a different fact involving such mathematical topics as counting, size comparison,
and ratio along with delightful illustrations.
Structuring the Investigation
Ask students to brainstorm what they already know about humpback whales. If they do not
know a great deal about this topic, discuss where this information can be found. Two internet
resources include:
• Enchanted Learning
• PBS Nature
Ask your child to predict the size of a humpback whale, and explain her estimates.
Read the book, Counting on Frank, by Rod Clement aloud. Print a copy of the Getting The
Facts activity sheet (reproduced below).
Ask your student to calculate how large a box is needed to hold the average humpback whale.
Because the data will most likely include weight and length, your child will have to make
inferences about several dimensions of the box. These decisions should be justified in
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questions 1 and 2 of the Getting The Facts activity sheet.
After estimating the size of the boy's house, encourage your child to describe the process she
used to find the answer. Discuss the information needed to determine the number of whales
that would fit inside the house. Have your child complete the activity sheet.
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One Grain of Rice
A Mathematical Folktale
By Demi

A Grain of Rice
Written and illustrated by Helena Clare Pittman

The King's Chessboard

By David Birch
From

http://www.broward.k12.fl.us/learnresource/html/Reading_motivation/lit_math.htm

One Grain of Rice: A Middle – Using expressions, Formulate algebraic equations

Mathematical Folktale by equations, and inequalities to that would predict the number
Demi. New York: Scholastic, represent situations and solve of grains that would be given to
1997. (ISBN 059093998X) problems the raja daily, etc.

From

available here:
http://www.ed.sc.edu/raisse/pdf/MathArticles/IncorporatingLanguageArtsintotheMathematicsCurriculu
m.pdf
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Inch by Inch
By Lionni, Leo

Connecting Literature and Math #12: Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni & Actual Size by Steve
Jenkins

Book: Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni

First Reading of Inch by Inch

Prepare to read the book, Inch by Inch.
Show cover; give title, author and illustrator. (Explain that author is the person who writes the book and the
illustrator is the person who draws the pictures.)
Ask children to look at the cover and predict what the story is about. Call attention to the inchworm and say, “This
is an inchworm. Let’s read and find out what happens to the inchworm in the story.”
Read the story so all children can see the pictures in the book.
Follow up by showing pictures and inviting children to help you name the different
birds that the inchworm met and which parts of each bird’s body the inchworm
measured.
_______________________________________________________________________
Second Reading of Inch by Inch
Bring measuring tools to story time: ruler, metal measuring tape, cloth measuring tape, yard stick. Keep them out
of sight of the children until you have read the story to them.
Prepare to read the book, Inch by Inch.
Show cover, give title, author and illustrator.
Ask children why they think the title of the book is Inch by Inch.
Ask children to show how big they think an inch is.
Read the story so all children can see the pictures in the book.
Follow up the second reading by showing the children the measuring tools. Allow
them to examine the tools.
Ask children to find the numeral 1 on their tool. Explain that this means one inch.
Help children find the numeral. Children may notice other numerals on the tools.
Explain that the 2 means two inches and so forth.
Place the book on the floor and turn to the page where the inchworm is at the top
of a plant looking at the nightingale. Use one of the measuring tools to measure
the inchworm and say, “This inchworm is one inch long.”
Invite children to suggest other objects in the room they might measure.
State that some of the measuring tools will be placed in learning centers for
children to use for measuring.
Place measuring tools in Block Center and in Discovery/Science Center, for
example.
_______________________________________________________________________
Third Reading of Inch by Inch
Prepare to read the book Inch by Inch.
Show cover and invite children to recall the title. Give name of author and
illustrator.
Involve children in discussing the objects in the room they measured. “How many
inches long was______?” (objects they measured)
Read the story so all children can see the pictures in the book.
Follow up the third reading by asking children why the inchworm could not measure the nightingale’s song.
(Inchworm measures things, not songs) How did the inchworm keep the nightingale from eating him? (He inched
out of sight of the nightingale).

Another lesson on estimation and measurement based on this book is included in Math and Literature, Grades 2-3