Picture Book Corner
If the World Were a Village by David J. Smith is the author with illustrations by
Shelagh Armstrong. As Americans we take many aspects of our lives
for granted. This book makes it clear
how fortunate Americans are compared to others that live in our global
village. At the present time 6.6 billion
people live in the world. If all of
these people were represented by a village of one hundred people the following
would be true: twenty-one people speak a Chinese dialect, seventeen can not
read or write, thirty always have enough to eat, twenty-four do not have
electricity, twenty-eight have televisions in their home, and five are from Canada and the United States. The book provides similar information related
to ages, money, religions, and much more.
I think that you and your students will find many surprises. Math vocabulary , its importance and strategies to help students with vocabulary acquisition are provided by Miki
Murray in her book “Teaching Mathematics Vocabulary in Context.” She states that “Mathematical communication requires more than
mastery of numbers and symbols. It
requires the development of a common language using vocabulary that is
understood by all.”
The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns may be a familiar book to many of you and one that you may be using. In this book, students learn about polygon shapes. The unhappy triangle visits a “shape shifter” to increase the number of sides and change shapes. The triangle goes from quadrilateral to pentagon to hexagon and on and on and finally adds so many sides that it becomes a circle. Ultimately, the triangle reverts to its original three sides. Students learn the names for several polygons as well as examples of where students will find these shapes. Three activities related to geometry are included in this article. These activities create a greater depth for student’s understanding of properties of polygons.
A Million Dots by Andrew Clements and illustrated by Mike Reed, published by Simon and Schuster. This book actually has 1 million dots within it pages. It begins with a picture of 1 dot, then10 dots, 100 dots, 500 dots, 1000 dots and continues with references to numbers in the world around us. Challenge your students to verify the numbers in the book. Would 364,800 cans of soup actually fill 950 grocery carts? Or have students create their own numbers from circumstances that students experience in their world and place them at appropriate places in the book or make a classroom book of students’ numbers.
13 Days of Halloween by Carol Greene was the focus of an article in Teaching Children Mathematics. Many of the ideas presented here and several more are in the article “The Thirteen Days of Halloween: Using Children’s Literature to Differentiate Instruction in the Mathematics Classroom” pages 82-90 in the September 2004 issue. Students can be directed toward mathematical investigations at their level or allowed to find and solve their own problem which is most often at an appropriate level. This book is similar in format to “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.
G is For Google by David Schwartz. While this book’s reading level is more appropriate for upper elementary and middle level it does create ideas for vocabulary activities for all levels of students.
Sir Cumference by Cindy Neuschwander. What do King Author, Camelot, Lady Di, and Sir Cumference have to do with mathematics? When you find out Sir Cumference is married to Lady Di who comes from the town of Ameter, has a half sized son named Radius, his carpenter is Geo of Metry, their country is being invaded by people from Circumscriber, and King Author is not pleased with his rectangle table the geometry possibilities are limitless.
"Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter" is
another in a series of books written by Cindy Neuschwnader and illustrated by
Wayne Geehan. Book Review Link This book begins with Lady
Di of Ameter (diameter) teaching her cousin Radius the game of “inners and
edges.” This game involves finding the
area and perimeter of different rectangles.
What makes a picture book good? “New Visions for Linking Literature
and Mathematics” by David Whitin and Judith Lindfors from NCTM and NCTE is an excellent resource. Not only does this book review and highlight
many different books, one chapter is Criteria for Selecting Math-Related
Books. The authors offer four criteria
for selecting books; mathematical integrity, potential for varied response, an
aesthetic dimension, and ethnic, gender and cultural inclusiveness.
Hop Like A Frog by David Schwartz. Have you ever wondered about the jumping ability of a frog? If so, in this book you would discover that “If you hopped like a frog…you could jump from home plate to first base in one mighty leap.” An excellent resource from NCTM and NCTE, “New Visions for Linking Literature and Mathematics” by David Whitin and Judith Lindfors provides book reviews and highlights many different books and has a chapter Criteria for Selecting Math-Related Books.
"If Dogs Were Dinosaurs" demonstrates how
imagination can be used to enhance mathematics.
Book Review Link David Schwartz ponders such questions as “If the moon were a marble …”
and “if a submarine sandwich were a real submarine…” and comes up with possible answers like “you
could play baseball with the planet Earth” and “a pickle slice could save your
life.”
The Dot by Peter Reynolds is a picture book that demonstrates the power of providing students an opportunity to build self-confidence. The math connection is found in estimating the number of dots in a picture of a hot air baloon using pointillism created by my daughter Jacy when she was in high school. Jacys balloon is a word document with the balloon picture.
If You Made A Million by David Schwartz. The mistake in the book as told by David Schwartz at the National NCTM conference in San Antonio is on the page describing the height quarters. This page contains the picture of a horse, hot air balloon and yellow stars. “Or you can receive your ten dollars as a 3 ¼ inch pile of forty quarters.” This incorrect height was placed in the text when the book was first created as an estimate. The exact height is closer to 2 ¾ inches which might explain how it got past the editors.
Math Curse written by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith is delightful, entertaining, and educational. Get some ideas to use the book in your classroom.
I Think I Can is about “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper which has been around for a long time. One of nine instructional strategies in Bob Marzano’s book “Classroom Instruction That Works” is reinforcing effort and providing recognition.
Educational Service Unit #6, Milford,
Nebraska
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