RM Winter 2016 FLIP

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Reading Matters
Research Matters
| 14| Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 |
However, my field notes revealed that I had mixed feelings
during this process. At times, I feel worried. It takes time to do this
(incorporate math and picture books) and today I wonder if it is
worth it. Should I spend these extra fewminutes working with a
child one on one? I struggle with how to use the short amount of
time I have with these students. Not all of my students were like
Kate and I often felt conflicted about this new way of teaching.
Ben, uncomfortable reader and mathematician
Ben said he could not get good grades in math and gave
thumbs sideways or thumbs down to the picture books, which
did not seem to engage him. However, he used his math journal
to practice other literacy skills. After we read Jim and the Beanstalk
(Briggs,1970) he wrote: I wonder if the beanstalk will grow back?
I wonder what he will grow next. Ben used the questioning skills
we practiced in reading and applied them during math time.
Although Ben was not particularly interested in the
incorporation of children’s literature during math, he enjoyed
asking questions and writing about possible solutions to his
questions. Research suggests that teachers can use math
texts to support students like Ben by encouraging them to
find answers to questions that matter to them (Williams,
2009). This also helps students make connections to the
real world, making math more meaningful and relevant.
In my research journal I wrote: Working with Ben reminds
me that although I have a goal for using these texts, my attempts
might not reach all learners in the same way.Reflecting on my
journal entries and other data sources helped me understand
that my efforts to incorporate a variety of math texts into math
time helped Ben and perhaps other students, in other ways I
could not have imagined but were still equally important.
Ellie, ready writer and thoughtful mathematician
Ellie, at the beginning of the year, said that she did not think she
could do math. Ellie gave several thumbs sideways on her slips and
my observations during math class indicated that she seemed to
lack mathematical confidence. After we read HowMuch is Million?
(Schwartz, 1985), she wrote in her journal: I notice they used a lot of
big numbers. Like a million. I think that is a lot. Ellie uses her journal
to clarify her thinking. She thought a million was a big number,
but may not have been certain enough to verbalize it during our
class discussion after reading the text. Without the math journal, I
may have missed this “big moment” for Ellie. It made me wonder if
there were other content concepts, from the math texts we were
reading, that she was trying to process through her journal writing.
Once I started reading the picture books during math,
I noticed that students were more interested in looking at
these books during self-selected reading and after they
finished their work. Although the math books were all
grouped together in the same browsing box, students such
as Ellie showed little interest in them earlier in the year. This
observation supports other research that found students are
more likely to select texts for independent reading if their
teacher has read it aloud to them (Dreher & Dromsky, 2000).
I also noted in my field notes about the change in saw in Ellie
over the year. I see good progress with Ellie’s understanding of math.
She is taking the concepts and applying themmore consistently in
her seatwork and even with the problems of the day. She seems more
confident and willing to raise her hand to solve a problem at the
board. Journal entries like that one helped me continue to use the
children’s literature during math for the rest of the school year.
The Bigger Picture
The various sources of data revealed that both successful
and struggling students were actively transferring strategies
(such as predicting and asking questions) they were being
taught during reading and language arts to mathematics
and that the use of children’s literature was fostering this
transfer by giving them more opportunities to use the
strategies with different types of texts. For example, after
learning about making connections during our literacy
block, several students made connections during math time
from the book I was reading to other mathematical books
we had read previously. Such findings connect with Hyde’s
(2006) recommendation that teachers use comprehension
strategies to connect literature to mathematical concepts.
Incorporating children’s literature into daily mathematical
lessons can improve understanding and help children explain
their reasoning (Clarke, 2002). The student’s journal entries
highlighted that some students expressed much deeper
thinking about concepts, beyond what I had seen in the
past with traditional tests and worksheets. The journals also
showed that when a student was struggling to understand
a concept, they struggled to write about it. In terms of the
students’ feelings towards math, utilizing children’s literature
made math time more enjoyable for some students, it did
not impact others, and some students didn’t like it despite
my efforts to incorporate a variety of math texts.
Final Thoughts
Investigating a new practice, incorporating children’s literature
into math time, provided an opportunity for deep reflection.
Rereading my field notes allowed me to see how over time, the
use of a variety of math texts engaged my first graders. This
endeavor also forced me to investigate the types of mathematics
literature I owned as well as what our school library offered.
As a result of what I discovered, I worked with our librarian to
order more math books so all students and teachers would have
greater access to these materials. Each year more books written
that merge the content of math and literacy. Some of my new
favorites include: From Here to Infinity by Menotti & Labat; The Wing
Wing Brothers Math Spectacular! by Ethan Long; Seeing Symmetry
by Loreen Leedy; and Wumbers by Rosenthal & Lichtenheld.
Hartman (2002) suggests that using various genres in the
classroom helps teachers energize their own teaching. I certainly
found this to be true. I became more purposeful about selecting
texts to read aloud to students, not only during math time but
also throughout the day. I was also able to maximize instructional