Tag: early childhood

FIAR: Math in a Picture Book: Katy & The Big Snow

This post originally appeared on The HSBA Post on February 28, 2012.

When I opened Katy & The Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton to find some math, I was shocked. I didn’t have to look far at all – it was everywhere!

Math is disguised in all sorts of fun places in this beautiful book!

Katy includes graphing!

The book starts off with the map of the city. Maps are graphing.

And when the city is shown on other pages, if the orientation is different, a compass is shown to indicate direction. The compass represents the x-axis (N/S) and y-axis (E/W). It also shows the 360º in a circle.

When Katy (the tractor) is introduced, you can see lots of symmetry – especially in her big snow plow. Symmetry is another important concept in graphing.

Factors and multiplication are in the book.

Katy’s features are outlined in the margins and include her horsepower. Instead of merely writing “55 horsepower,” Burton illustrates it with 55 horses, and they are counted in 5s.

Skip counting like this shows factoring as well as multiples (which are used in finding the GCF and LCM – remember those?).

And Burton doesn’t just stop at 5 and 10, she illustrates and counts all 55 horses.

(Note: I put the red circles on the images.)

So when you read Katy & The Big Snow with your children – you can support their math learning by seeing and saying the math in the pictures!

Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

February 28, 2012
FIAR: Teaching Math with a Picture Book: Ferdinand

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!

December 29, 2011
FIAR: See the World, Do the Math, Make an Apple Pie

This post originally appeared on The HSBA Post on November 22, 2011.

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman is an “instructional” picture book that takes children on a journey through the world to pick up ingredients to make an apple pie.

Lots of great shapes!

An apple pie recipe is included in the back which has obvious math. But you can use the rest of the book for some math lessons as well!

Here’s a set of math stimulators to share with your kids. Don’t forget that math is a discovery process; if your children are compelled to answer a question or not answer a question, that’s okay.

Here are the questions and some hints and coaching tips for you, the parent.

Find the shapes in the pictures.

See if you can find circles, trapezoids, ovals and rectangles. Also identify the irregular shapes. Have your children trace them and see if they’re made up of regular shapes.

How far is it from your house to Europe?

Also ask: How fast will the ship have to go in order to get to Europe from your house in six days?

How many Italian words do you think you would need to learn each day in order to speak Italian?

How many words are there in an average Italian’s vocabulary? How many words do you need to be considered fluent in Italian?

What time does your train leave Italy?

Notice the time on the clock.

This one encourages children to look at the pictures as well as the text. Also ask, “How far is it to France from Italy?” And to take it farther, “What time would you arrive in France?”

How far is Sri Lanka from France?

Pull out an atlas or globe to get some geography lessons. Also ask, “Which route do you think is the fastest to get there? Which would be the most fun?”

If you were to make two apple pies, how many apples should you pick from the apple tree?

This is what many students would call a trick question. In the book, she picks 8 apples so that she and her friends can enjoy 3 and use 5 to make the pie.

It takes some thought for a child to realize you only need 5 apples for the pie, so you’re not doubling the amount you pick. You have to double the amount for the pie (2 x 5) then add the 3 apples for the friends to enjoy.

Looking at the recipe, how much of each ingredient would you need if you made two pies?

This question allows them to double everything on the recipe. You can also triple or quadruple or get into fractions by asking, “What if you made one regular sized pie and one mini pie – how much of each ingredient would you need then?”

What’s next?

You can use the book How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World and the math stimulators in your Five in a Row math day or integrate it into any other math curriculum. Also try using the same line of questioning with other picture books you have.

Oh – and don’t forget to share how it went in the comments!

November 22, 2011
FIAR: Doing Math with The Pumpkin Runner
This post originally appeared on The HSBA Post on October 20, 2011.

The Pumpkin Runner by Marsha Diane Arnold (illustrated by Brad Sneed) is a sweet story about a man and his dog on a 900 km race across Australia. What’s nifty is that you can use this story in your math lessons! Below is a list of some questions to try.

Filter all these questions before asking them of your children. Some children might find them more advanced and need some help and discussion. Others may dig right in.

Use this downloadable list of math stimulators, if you want to give them to your kids without the tips.

And keep in mind, math is a discovery process; you can get to the right answer in many ways.

How old is Joshua?

You can point out that he’d been running for 50 years and he started when he was 10 years old.

How many generations of dogs did Joshua run with?

When 10-year-old Joshua ran for the first time, he ran with an ancestor of Yellow Dog. The book says he started running with the “great-great-great-grandfather of Yellow Dog.”

How old did each dog get? Is it possible that Joshua ever ran with more than one dog at the same time?

How many pumpkins will Joshua need to run the race?

Children might think about it this way: If one pumpkin gave Joshua enough energy to run 40 km (his very first run) how many pumpkins might he need to run 900 km in the race?

Children can also count the number of pumpkins loaded in the Jeep. Allow your child to ponder, guess, speculate, or calculate the answer.

What’s up with Damien Dodgerelle?

He trained for the race for three months.
- How many kilometers do you think he ran each day?
- How many kilometers did he run total in this training time?
- How long should it take him to run 900 km based on how he trained?
How long did it take Joshua and Yellow Dog to finish the race?

Joshua got to the finish line two days earlier than any previous winner. How many days do you think it took him? Why was he faster than everyone else?

How much did each person “win”?

When Joshua split the winnings, how much did each person get? If he only kept enough for new overalls and gum boots, how much do you think he might have given to Aunt Millie and Rancher Waudley?

What’s next?

You can use the book The Pumpkin Runner and the math stimulators in your Five in a Row math day or integrate it into any other math curriculum. Also try using the same line of questioning with other picture books you have.

Oh – and don’t forget to share how it went in the comments!
October 20, 2011