RM Winter 2017 FINAL

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Reading Matters
Teaching Matters
| 42| Reading Matters | Volume 17 • Winter 2017 |
story contents to real life applications. The ideas go so far as to
suggest activities for things to do in the car, on the playground,
taking a walk, having a snack, cooking, games, shopping, etc.
Math Matters
The second series is Math Matters published by Kane Press.
This 38 book series, written by a range of authors, also covers a
variety of math skills such as counting, measurement, patterns,
attributes, time, distance, etc. In the back of each book is a section
called “Activities that Matter”which gives activity suggestions
for parents and teachers. The literacy piece addresses using
pictorial and context clues to make inferences or predictions,
and recalling details. The math piece has suggestions relating
to content skills such as graphing and charting, creating
puzzles, using sponges or art stencils to make shapes and
patterns, and making meaning of mathematical terms. Higher
level thinking is encouraged with “how” questions and “why”
questions and by suggesting activities for home and school.
Another resource for books that lend themselves to math
integration are the Hershey’s Chocolate series. What kid doesn’t
like candy, right? Hershey’s has partnered with Scholastic to
establish a series of books by Jerry Pallotta where the candies
can be used for mathematics activities. The series covers skills
such as counting, adding, multiplying, fractions, and weights and
measurement. Activities to accompany and expand upon these
books can be found online in such sites as ,
, mathforum.org, and even .
All of these series are easily found online by publisher,
company, or author. For those teachers who wish to venture
away from the prearranged series, there are many other books
available that lend themselves to math instruction. The following
book summaries and activity suggestions will help teachers
implement the use of children’s literature for math instruction.
Division
The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins (1986) is about a mother
who makes a batch of cookies and tells her children to share
them. When they divided the cookies between the two of
them, each had six (inferring that the original batch consisted
of one dozen). Visitors begin to arrive, prompting the group
of twelve cookies to be divided by four, then by six, then by
twelve. When they get down to one cookie per child and the
doorbell rings again, grandma arrives with more cookies.
In order to actively engage students, the teacher gives counters
which represent the cookies to the students (in small groups
or individually, depending on the ability levels of the students,
the number of available counters, and the number of students.).
Students divide the set into two groups (6 each), then four groups
(3 each), then six groups (2 each), then 12 groups (1 each) as the
story progresses. Students are not only engaged in the story, but
are actively engaged in the hands-on division process. Encourage
students to represent their work by drawing their answers on
paper or a dry erase board. For students who have difficulty in
drawing, consider having students paste paper cut-outs, or have
students place circle stickers on index cards. Move students into
problem solving and higher level thinking with questions such as:
“What if only one guest had shown up first?” Students must
add one arrival to the original two children to determine that
three children were dividing the batch (4 cookies each).
“What if five children were dividing the.
cookies?” This would require a remainder.
“What if Grandma brought 20 cookies? This requires
addition to arrive at a new total, thus changing the
dividend in the division problems in the story.
Geometric Shapes
Grandfather Tang’s Story by Ann Tompert (1990) is a delightful
story told by a grandfather to his granddaughter. This magical
tale is about two little foxes that change into other animals only
to find that danger ensues. In the end, their friendship saves
them, and they return to their original fox form. Each page
of the book has sketches of Tangram animals. As the teacher
reads, students make their version of the animal with their
own set of Tangrams. This activity offers an opportunity for
students to explore size, congruency, slides, flips, turns, etc.
Students can explore the Tangrams making a square, a triangle,
or a parallelogram, as well as non-standard polygons. They can
create their own Tangram puzzles by arranging the pieces into a
design and tracing around them to create the puzzle template.
Students will write on the design the number of pieces required to
make the picture on the template and trade with a friend to solve.
Students can work in small groups to make a square, a
rectangle, a parallelogram, and a trapezoid with their Tangrams.
Further skill is required when students record their results and
the different ways that they solved for making each shape
(and with how many pieces). Students can begin to categorize
their polygons according to convex and concave. Once they
have shown their ability to identify each type, they may begin
to create their own. Additionally, students can identify angles
within the polygons as acute, right, or obtuse. Once students
show that they are able to identify the types of angles, have
them create polygons that have specific guidelines (i.e. a polygon
with four right angles, a polygon with four right angles, etc.).
Time
The Grouchy Ladybugby Eric Carle is about a ladybug that is
grouchy and doesn’t like anyone. She is mean and cranky and
is always trying to pick a fight as she comes across different
critters throughout the day. On the top right corner of each
page, there is a picture of an analogue clock, and when the
narrator says a specific time, children can see what it looks like
on the clock. At the end of the story, the grouchy ladybug is
back where she started, tired and humbled. Not only is this
book a great opportunity to talk to children about manners and
kindness, but it also lends itself to teaching about size and time.
As the story progresses, students can work with geared mini-
clocks individually or with partners to set the time on the clock