Does that say Volume 52?!?!?!?! You read it right! This is my 52 installment of Monday Math Literature which means this has been ...
Incorporating reading into your math lessons can be a great way to engage kids in math learning! Here are 5 simple ways to teach with math story books!
It can often be difficult to engage reluctant learners in any subject, but it seems especially challenging to excite and engage kids who are uninterested or struggling with math. One of my favorite ways to draw kids in and share math in a non-threatening way is through the use of math story books! If you're not familiar with any, there are a wealth of quality story books out there that introduce various math topics in a way that is fun!
Are you looking for a fun way to begin talking about math to your young children? Everyone Can Learn Math is the story of Amy who decides to push through her math anxieties and is the perfect book to instill a growth mindset in our kids.
Engage students with these math story books. Ideal for using as a starting point for math investigations in the classroom.
Literature is a fun, relatable way for kids to learn math concepts. When presented in words and pictures, abstract concepts are more concrete.
Need to know how to help students write summaries? These lesson ideas and summarizing ideas and tips for the upper elementary classroom will help you teach summarizing and help your students write summaries as they read.
You'll love these picture books that teach fractions and other concepts having to do with fractions like ratios, percentages, and decimals.
Can you complete the story? In this early reading worksheet, your child uses pictures as clues to fill in the missing letters to complete the story.
Looking for a new and engaging way to teach math? Check out this fun list of the BEST books to teach addition and subtraction!
It's never too early to introduce kids to biographies. I love the increase of the number of biographical picture books in the last number of years. It's
Math doesn't have to be boring! Encourage a love for math with your children using this great list of books covering a wide range of mathematical concepts.
Get your early readers responding to reading with this reading response booklet. It is the perfect resource to use during guided reading lessons to allow students to develop and demonstrate their comprehension skills. It goes with ANY fiction text which means it can be reused all year round. The pages include opportunities for students to draw pictures and write short text to complete the activities. The booklet is 20 pages and options are included for both handwritten and normal lines. The pages include: ♥ A Cute Cover ♥ Making Predictions ♥ Story Retell ♥ Main Character ♥ The Plot ♥ The Best Part ♥ The Characters ♥ My Favorite Character ♥ The Setting ♥ The Beginning ♥ The Problem ♥ The Solution ♥ I Would Have ♥ Interesting Words ♥ My Book Review ♥ My Opinion ♥ Making Connections ♥ The Lesson ♥ Invent a Character ♥ About the Book Both an AUS/UK and USA Version are included. You may also like: Guided Reading Tracking and Assessment Tools Kindergarten Reading Booklet ♥♥♥ Follow me to be the first to hear about FREEBIES and updates ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ Earn TPT Credits when you leave feedback ♥♥♥ I welcome and appreciate any feedback, comments or suggestions. You may also contact me on [email protected]
The math and literature connection is powerful during the elementary years. This post shares why and how to add literature into homeschooling math lessons.
We talk a lot about using picture books in our teaching. I am wondering though if you are using wordless picture books in your lessons. If not, you are missing out on a great teaching resource. I try to incorporate wordless picture book in my lessons for a variety of lessons. picture source Well, besides the fact that a picture is worth a thousand words, there are plenty of other great reasons to incorporate wordless picture books in your teaching: -They lend themselves to any lesson you could think to teach. -They level the playing field in the class. Without text to contend with, you can still teach reading and writing skills/strategies to the whole class or mixed ability groups without needing to level. This is great for your lower performing students and your ELL friends. In fact, I find that my high ability students are often the ones that don't so as well with wordless book activities. They often like to stick to the text and want it to be "right." With wordless picture books, you have a lot of wiggle room which can make them uncomfortable. My lower performing students are often able to take the lead in these types of activities. -It sparks your friends imagination. Without text, you will be amazed at what they read into what they see. -You can use the same books across many grade levels depending on what you ask your friends to do with them. They aren't just for little kids! -A lot of the ways I use these books require my kids to be up and moving or working on the floor in small, cooperative groups. Anything different from seat work is always welcome! -These lessons also often require collaboration, conversation, and decision making as a class. I thought I would share with you some of the ways in which I have used wordless picture books in my classroom. Now, for each of the skills/strategies I list below, I have given an example of how you can teach it. However, there are a bazillion other ways you could teach these lessons. These are just some examples. You could expand the lesson or simplify it as you see fit or maybe you have your own idea on how to do it. Do what works for you! Sequencing -Copy all the pages of your book. Divide the pages into three parts; beginning, middle, and end. Give it to three groups. Each group sequences their pages. Then, bring the three groups together to decide the sequence of the three sections. Once they have decided, I tape the pages in order up around the room and we view the story from beginning to end. As a groups, they can make any last minute changes at this point. We then read the actual book and see if we sequenced the same way the author did. This is where the real lesson comes in. If there were no changes, you can discuss how they determined sequence. It's important for them to verbally justify their reasoning. If their sequence doesn't agree with the book, they have to defend their reasoning. I find that there are times when the sequencing my friends do really does make more sense than what is done in the actual book. It is in the discussions where I hear how my friends are applying sequencing skills. This is great for your ELL friends as it puts them on an equal playing field to the rest of the class as there is no text to struggle with, and still teaches them the skill. Many of the lessons that follow are great for your ELL friends for the same reason. This is also great for the lower grades if you use a simple book. They can organize simply for beginning, middle, and end. Inferencing & Predictions Without words, you must really analyze the story story through the illustrations. When reading the book with your friends, have them make predictions before the next page. Without text to cite, they really must apply some good inference reasoning. When you do this as you read the book, they are always in anticipation of turning the page to see if they were correct. Dialog & Mood Select a page or two that has two characters. What would those characters be saying in this situation? How do I write that dialog? Using just one page for this makes it a good quick hit for a mini-lesson. You can then give your friends another page to write the dialog in independent practice. This is a great way to have them practice crafting power sentences as it forces them to incorporate mood, which they must determine from what is happening in the illustration. You can also just use the illustrations to determine mood without having to write the sentences. In this case, the dconversation you have with your friends is critical. They need to explain how they determined mood. What in the picture gave you that idea? What are the characters doing? What is the setting? Did the illustrator use darker, moodier colors or brighter, happier colors? I find this same technique an excellent way to teach internal monologue. After reading the book with the class, I focus on a page that comes later in the story. At this point, there is something going on in the story, some conflict, so my friends have something to work with. We then focus on one character in the illustration. I ask my friends what this character might be thinking. What would his thought bubble say? We go on to discuss how internal monologue gives us insight to the characters, their feelings, motivations, etc. and how it can give us additonal information that we may not otherwise know. My friends then work in pairs to come up with internal monologue for different characters in the book or for the same character in different parts of the book. Without fail, I find after I do this lesson, my friends begin to incorporate internal monologue in their own writing. Character Analysis After reading the book, what do you know about the main character/protagonist? This really focuses your friends on a characters actions. Create a list of character traits with your friends. The lesson comes, again, in having your friends justify their choices. What makes them say the character is kind or frustrated or loving? You get the idea! Narrative Writing Obviously, there is no text in a wordless picture book. Have your friends write the story guided by the illustrations. This is a good way to teach or review narrative writing. You can write the story on chart paper as a shared writing activity. This way you can be sure to guide them in incorporating the required narrative elements. Or, you can always do this as a small group or independent writing assignment. I like doing it in small groups at the end of the narrative writing unit. I can see my friends applying what we have learned. Also, it is really a lot of fun when we read the stories from the different groups. While we all had the same illustrations to follow, the stories are always different. The plots vary, some go for humor while other groups are more serious. Some groups embellish beyond the pictures, while others pretty much stick to the pictures. Identify Plot Structure, Story Climax For this, I usually have my friends sequence the story first. Then, we discuss the story plot. Once we know what is happening in the story, my friends identify the story page that shows the climax of the story. We can then look at the pages before and after. If you have taped your story along the wall as we do, you can then move the pictures to show the plot mountain. picture source When you tape the pictures in a visual display on the wall, they can then use sentence strips to label the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. It is a very concrete, visual way to teach these elements. Main Idea & Supporting Detail If you've done either the sequencing or plot structure lessons above where you ordered the pages on the wall, you should try this lesson. Have your friends identify the page that essentially shows the maid idea. Once you are all in agreement, have them take down any pictures that don't support that main idea. You will be left with only pages that show events which support the main idea. Again, a very visual and concrete way to teach this skill. I would chart this with words. Write the main idea and then, looking at the pages, come up with a sentence for each supporting detail. I would also just suggest being particular about what book you use. Some wordless picture books tend to be very fanciful and imaginative. This works best with a book that follows a less imaginative, "real" story. Those are just some ideas for lessons you can teach with wordless picture books. Depending on your learning goal and what you require of your friends, I find them to be excellent books to use across all grade levels. In particular, your older students will really get a kick out of using them because it is so different from their norm. So, let's talk books. Wordless picture books can be hard to find if you don't know what you are looking for. In my public library, the wordless picture books are mixed in with all the other picture books. You could spend forever looking for one without words. With a simple Google search, I was able to find a few different lists. Below are two links I think might be helpful in getting you started. I selected these list because they both have books I have used with great success. I'll tell you a little more about two of my favorites that are on the lists. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has a nice selection of books listed online. One of my favorite books on this is list: The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney. It is a wordless retelling of the Aesop fable and won the Caldecott in 2010. It's perfect for so many different lessons. This one book can easily be used for all the lessons I listed above. The Louisville Free Public Library also has an online list. A few of the books on their list are the same as on the Carnegie list, but there are some different ones. One I like and have used is You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum by Jacqueline Weitzman. Being just a quick train ride away from New York City, my friends can always make connections to this book as many have been to large museums in the city. What I really like about this book is that there are multiple illustrations on each page. There is usually a larger, main illustration with smaller ones around it. It is like having supporting details on the page for the main picture and is very helpful for your students that need more information or visual clues. Between these lists, you should have a good starting point. There are a lot of great wordless books out there, and these are just a small sample. There are so many others I could go on about. Talk to your school media specialist, and see what they recommend. It would be nice if they had a special section just for these types of books. However, don't be discouraged if you can't get your hands on any wordless picture books or don't have the time to go looking. It is easily solved. Grab your favorite picture book and some Post-It notes. Simply cut the Post-Its to cover up the text. Voila! You can turn any picture book into a wordless picture book. So, is any of this helpful or have I just rambled on? :-) How are you using wordless picture books? Do you have a favorite to share?
Picture books that teach advanced math concepts like factorials, fractals, infinity and complex patterns to 8 to 12 year olds.
Reading and colouring worksheet - ESL worksheets
Tweet Welcome to year 2 of Monday Math Literature! If you missed last week's post that contains the grand list of almost 100 math literature books reviewed on this blog, you can click on the Math Literature tab at the top of this page to access it anytime. It is free to download or you can just peruse it online. Today I want to share with you one of my very favorite books for teaching 3-D shapes. It is by the very talented Cindy Neuschwander who has written several of my favorite math literature books. You might have read some of her Sir Cumference books. Mummy Math: An Adventure in Geometry In this story two siblings go on a trip to Egypt with their parents. They accidentally get trapped in a pyramid and have to use the hieroglyphics on the walls to help them find the way out. The clues are all about different geometric solids and the pair uses what they know about them to answer the riddles and get out of the pyramid. It is a very engaging story, and kids get hooked in quite well. There are quite a few words on each page, but the pace is excellent and kids definitely remain engaged. It is an excellent addition to any unit on 3-D geometry and reviews the different shapes as well as terms such as faces and vertices. I have used it in grades 1-4 with great results. The next time I do this lesson in the classroom, I plan on using my shape posters to have kids do a 3-D shape hunt around the classroom. I will spread out the posters around the room and have kids bring examples of each type of shape back to the poster that it matches. My 3-D shape posters are available in red, green, purple and blue! You might also want to check out this lesson that combines literature and 3-D shapes! Does anyone have any other recommendations for children's literature that can be used to for a 3-D shape hunt?
Teaching math with Sir Cumference makes it fun and engaging! These books are clever and entertaining, and teach important math at the same time.
Books for teaching sequencing should have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Here are 16 great books for kindergarten or first grade.
STEM picture books with reviews! Great STEM books for kids to inspire.
Teaching plot elements to upper elementary students? Use a picture book to engage your students! Read it aloud, and then create a plot diagram!
Inside: 7 Math Picture Books For Kids As I dreamed about my future as a little girl, I KNEW I was going to do a few things. Be an amazing wife and mom. Grow up to be a teacher. And dance. I was CONVINCED I’d be a ballerina. The only problem I didn’t factor in,...Read More »
We were motivated to edit this book when we began to hear stories of exceptional students who were struggling with reading, writing, or math, but who could solve seemingly any problem with computers, or build the most intricate structures with Legos, or could draw beautiful pictures, or could tell the most creative stories but ended up in tears when asked…
This Math Curse Activity Pack is meant to correspond with the book Math Curse! It's a fun way to get kids to think about the math they encounter everyday.
Nous avons déjà présenté deux ouvrages de la collection Enquêtes et maths. Nous avons voulu essayer les deux autres ! Titres : Les mystères du musée et La planète des énigmes Auteur : David Glover Illustrateur : Tim Hutchinson Éditeur : Rue des enfants...
Fun math picture books for kids that teach concepts appropriate for kindergarten, first and second grade. These math books are NOT boring!
Yes, there are plenty of picture books for middle school students! This giant list includes books with rich language and content perfect for older kids.
The term living books is a very popular one in homeschooling, but what are living books? Simply Charlotte Mason explains them this way: Living
Hi there! As you can see, we gave our mentor text linky button a makeover! Although I loved the first button, I just felt it was time to make something a little different! The cute spotlight comes from Melonheadz's Hollywood clipart bundle! I thought it was just the thing to show that we are spotlighting great books! So, on with the show linky! Today I want to share a book that I found on Amazon recently when I was buying some other books that I HAD to have. You know how Amazon decides to show you books that you might like? Well, that is where I saw this book and I am so glad that Amazon is getting to know me! ;O) Here is the book Amazon thought I had to have! I am sure that you have heard of these books. I had heard of these books, but I had not seen this one. I am very excited about it! You can probably tell from the title that this book is about the different types of angles. Of course, it explains about how the character, Radius, names angles acute and obtuse, which is always fun! I love these books because sometimes I feel like in math we teach them vocabulary by just telling them "Ok, anything smaller than 90 degrees is an acute angle," and there's nothing to connect it to besides saying, "See, it's a small angle...isn't it CUTE? That's why it's called, acute!" Well, by reading this story, it's giving them one more connection that may help them remember which angles are acute and which are obtuse. And, the book comes with a cute medallion looking protractor in the back! So, I created this graphic organizer (because you know I love a good organizer!) to use while reading this book. Once again, it's super simple! While reading the story, we would write the definition or explanation that Radius gives for each angle. After reading the story, we would use protractors to draw examples of each angle. You can get this organizer for FREE by clicking on the picture. :O) Now, as an extension, I was thinking that this would be a great opportunity for my class to write their OWN stories explaining how THEY think that these angles got these names. After all, this is just this author's imaginative story of where the names of the angles came from. So, why can't my students make up their own story and why not just incorporate writing into math?? So, technically, this organizer could ALSO be used to brainstorm a fictional story of how the angles got their names. How's that for a multi-tasking graphic organizer? ;O) I just love it when an idea comes together!! I hope you have a great week! And those of you going back to school this week, I hope you have a great start to your year! Amanda Please Link Up!
I find that using books about math helps to break down the barrier that some kids have with the idea of math. Here are 10 of the best math books for kids.
“Choices made, whether bad or good, follow you forever and affect everyone in their path one way or another.” ― J.E.B. Spredemann, An Unforgivable Secret Everything in life has a cause and an effect. You study for a test you get a good grade. You forget your umbrella when it rains, you get wet. You break a rule you have a consequence. Kids cause, deal with, and are involved in cause and effect situations every day, all day long; however, they may not know that they are dealing with cause and effect. It is important for students to know and understand what cause and effect situations are. They should be able to identify an event that is responsible for the cause that resulted in an effect. Identifying these three things can help create analytical thinkers and minds that can work through complex problems. It will also help students socially; they will understand and be more willing to accept the consequences for their actions –whether good or bad. People that are good at identifying cause and effect scenarios and enjoy finding those connections make great investigators (police, insurance, mechanics) and researchers (doctors, scientists, historians). Teachers can foster this strategy by giving students ample opportunity to talk and write about WHY? Children are naturally curious and always ask WHY – Why did you do that? Why do fish swim? Why is the sky blue? Why do birds fly? As teachers, we are the ones that now need to ask WHY?. I think it is quite funny that my favorite questions to ask are WHY questions and my students’ least favorite questions to answer are WHY questions, even though they LOVE to ask their own WHY questions. Students don’t like why questions because they have to write more than a one word answer, they have to think about the cause and effect and they need to explain how and why they are connected. Given the opportunity and continued practice students will gradually see the connections and uncover the events, causes and effects that happen all around them. To ensure that students recognize cause and effect and know how to properly answer the cause and effect questions they need to know key words and phrases to help focus their thinking. Key words to help find cause and effect statements: so, because, therefore, since, if, then, so that, without, cause, effect, how, explain. These words are key because they will help students to identify cause and effect questions and statements as well as be able to write sentences that show the cause and effect relationship. To immerse your students in cause and effect, teachers should ask questions using question stems so that students get used to the language. For lower students you can give questions that require them to answer with a yes or no answer or they can point to pictures to show the answer. Regardless of the question, each answer must contain text evidence. They must show something from the text that proves their thinking and shows the relationship between the event, the cause and the effect. Question stems: · Did _____ cause _____? · Was ____ the cause of ___ or was _________ the cause? · Why did/didn’t __________? · Tell me why _____________. · Tell me what happened when ____. · Why _______________? · What causes ________________? · How did ___ effect ___? · What is the effect of ____? · Explain why _________________. · Why did _____________? · What did ________ do as soon as ____? · If you want _____, you should not … · Which sentence best tells why ____? · According to paragraph ___, when ____ happens, what happens next? · Why do you need _______________? · In the passage, how did _____ show _________? · What effect did ___ have on ___? · According to the text, why ___? · What caused the character to ____? · In paragraph ___ why did _____________? · According to paragraph ___, why _____? · Why was the narrator ______? · If _____, how would the end of the story be different? · What would have most likely happened at the end if _______? Linguistic pattern and response frames: · _____ because _____. · ______, so _______. · The cause is _____________. · ____ causes _____________. · _____ happens because _____. · Because ____, ____________. · _____, so __________. · If you want ____, you should not ____. · According to the text, ________. · Since _____, _______. · You need ______ because ______. · In the passage, ____ showed ____ by ______. · ____ thus, ____. · According to the text, _______, thus, ____________. · __ made the character _____. · In paragraph ____, ___________ because __________. · According to paragraph ____, ______, which led to _______. · Due to the fact that ____, ____. · ________ as a result of____. · If ______, the end of the story______________. · Based on ______, _____________. There can be many causes and effects that are the result of one event, for example: When it comes to the cause and effect from a story it is important to show students all the possibilities. Some cause and effect examples may be better than others but they are all connected. For example, take David Goes to School by David Shannon. Here are some example questions that use the question stems above. Using a multi-flow map you can quickly and easily show the event, cause and effect connections. For this story, the event is that David goes to school; the events that connect to this are all the things that happen because David is at school. So now that you are armed and ready, you and your students should have lots of fun finding those cause and effect connections. Don't forget to look at and recognize those connections...everywhere! You can pick up the poster set from my TpT store. Happy teaching!
Discover 7 of my favorite books about tattling that you can read with your kids. These children's books are not only entertaining but also educational, helping your children understand the important difference between tattling vs.
