This post originally appeared on The HSBA Post on December 29, 2011.
The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf, is a tale of mistaken identity: Ferdinand is a sweet bull who loves to smell flowers and has no interest in anything remotely violent. He is selected to be part of the Madrid Bullfights due to an unfortunate event with a bee.
I’ve enjoyed this book since I was very young. The nifty thing is the breadth of teaching opportunities Ferdinand gives us. There’s even math in it!
To integrate math in this wonderful tale, try using some of these questions when you read the story:
Distance
Where is Spain? Where do we live? How far away is Spain from us?
Height
Look at the page where it shows how tall Ferdinand is. How many marks are there on the tree stump? How long was the time between each of the measurements? Is that equal? Would there be a better amount of time between each mark?
Suppose the marks for Ferdinand’s height were at 6 months, 1 year, 1.5 years and 2 years. Approximately where on the stump would those be?
Amount
Five men came to to pick the “biggest, fastest, roughest bull.” Why do you think there were five?
How many Banderilleros are there? How many Picadores?
Page Numbers
Most books have page numbers. Ferdinand doesn’t. Why do you think that is? How many pages is Ferdinand? Could the book be written in fewer pages? How would that be done?
What’s next?
You can use the book Ferdinand and these math stimulators in your Five in a Row math day or integrate it into any other math curriculum. Or do it just for fun! Also try doing math with other picture books you have.
Oh – and don’t forget to share how it went in the comments!
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