Fish Eyes

At first glance, the book Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert appeared to me as a counting book. The slogan "A book you can count on" underneath the title was somewhat deceiving because the book provides so many more opportunities than just counting. There are a lot of counting books out there and I'm looking for literature which can be used to explore a wide variety of mathematics topics-- not just counting. This book provides opportunities for a variety of mathematics concepts and also promotes imaginative thinking. It opens up with a few pages describing the narrator wishing he/she was a fish and what he/she would do if he/she were a fish.

This book provides a great jumping point for patterns in addition at an elementary level. The pages have a number of fish on them and then in the corner it says something like, "4 striped fish plus me makes 5". Not only does this provide a good transition to the next page, which would have 5 fish on it, but in reading you can just say "4 striped fish plus me makes..." and have the students respond. It is important for students to make connections in mathematics and if students are able to connect that any number plus one is really just like counting up one, they will never struggle with those types of addition problems.

The artwork in this book also allows study for geometry. Ehlert does all of her illustrations in bold, solid colors. The fish are all a little different and have various shapes inside of them. Some fish look similar to others, so these could also be used for classifying and categorizing different objects. Additionally, the book could be used for a study on symmetry and determining which fish are symmetrical and which fish are not. It would be neat to have students make their own fish out of construction paper using different cut out shapes and then explore what fish are symmetrical and which ones are not.

A little motivation to think outside the box and incorporate different books to make mathematics more meaningful:

"I learned math by memorizing facts, doing worksheets, and through direct instruction by the teachers. I never saw any need or understood why I did what I did."

-Matt, pre-service teacher

Eight Animals Bake a Cake

The title of the book, Eight Animals Bake a Cake, by Susan Middleton Elya, immediately enticed me when I saw it in the library this afternoon. I figured that since the title had a number in it, it had to do with math (most likely counting). While I was partially true and you can count the different animals and the ingredients that they bring to bake a cake, the book has many other curricular connections.

There are 30 Spanish words in the book, and each one is presented in context with English words to allow the reader to determine the meaning of the Spanish word. Thus, this book is especially useful for English Language Learners (ELLs). Although math is the same in every country, ELLs may struggle learning the English words for numbers and this book helps with that. Word problems would most likely prove to be challenging for ELLs simply because they have to try to comprehend what the question is asking. This book is a good starting point to creating word problems which use both Spanish and English words, which would not only make the ELL(s) feel included, but also increase comprehension.

The book also shows the characters solving a problem in a unique manner. Although the problem is not in a mathematical context, the concept of problem-solving could be discussed with the class and problems could be created using the 8 different animals (or animales, in Spanish). In a creative way, students could pretend to be the different animals to learn the Spanish and English words and create their own word problems-- incorporating the Spanish/English words from the book. In the front of the book is a glossary and pronunciation guide to help readers with meaning and proper pronunciation.

I found this book muy interesante! (Very interesting!) The book has won numerous awards. For more information, visit the web-site at http://www.susanelya.com/files/l_8animals_cake.htm.

Caps For Sale

Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina is a book which offers a lot of both math and literacy activities. It is also humorous, which makes it more appealing to children of all ages. The story is about a peddler who is trying to sell caps to make money so he can eat lunch. When no one wants to buy his caps, he sits down under a tree and decides to take a nap (with the caps still on his head). Later, when he wakes up, he realizes that all of his caps have been stolen by monkeys in the tree. The monkeys refuse to give the peddler his hats back, so the peddler throws his own hat on the ground in frustration. When the monkeys see this, they decide to do the same! The peddler then collects all of his hats back and continues on his way.

This book provides math connections mainly for the primary grades K-3. For very young children, they can practice identifying colors and counting the numbers of caps in each color and in all. This could also lead to a study in adding up parts of the whole. (Example: 4 gray caps + 4 brown caps + 4 blue caps + 4 red caps=16 caps total) A problem like this could be a good jumping point for problem solving activities where students are able to get creative. What if the peddler sold 2 gray caps, 0 brown caps, 1 blue cap, and 4 red caps? How many caps does he have left? Depending on the students in the class, the students could even act out problems by having one student be the peddler and everyone else in the class coming to purchase hats. If students are able to see a real-life dramatization of what the problem is asking, they will build visualization skills to help them on other problems.

Another connection this book makes is money. Each cap in the book is 50 cents, so this provides a whole host of curricular connections. Students could use coins to show different ways to make 50 cents. Or, they could pretend to buy a particular number of hats and have to determine how much 2, 3, 4, or more hats would cost all together. (Repeated addition serves as a good introduction to multiplication!)

Visit the Slobodkina Foundation at http://www.slobodkina.com/Childrens%20Library_Caps%20for%20Sale.htm for more information about the book as well as free downloadable activity pages.

"My experiences learning math content were never positive ones. I remember drills and tons of worksheets. If I had learned with a story as the content, it would have been much better."

-Allie, pre-service teacher

Introduction

Hi! My name is Kara Geiger and I am a senior Elementary Education and Special Education major at Elizabethtown College. I am currently pursuing an independent study in mathematics by examining various ways to differentiate mathematics instruction-- specifically in word problem-solving strategies.

Last semester, I completed my student-teaching experience at Bainbridge Elementary School, in Elizabethtown Area School District (Elizabethtown, PA). I spent half of my semester in 4th grade and the second half in Learning Support for 3rd-5th grade. Both of these experiences were priceless for me, providing me with many learning experiences that simply can't be learned inside a college classroom. During my time there however, I encountered many students that struggled significantly with mathematics word problem solving. It was very challenging for them to solve these problems for numerous reasons, and I have decided to devote my time looking at the struggles these students have and various ways teachers can help them overcome them.

I have been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to continue working with the students from my student teaching experience in an after-school math tutoring program. Hopefully, I will be able to test out some of strategies from my research to see first-hand if they can help children succeed. Growing up, mathematics was always my favorite subject. I love working with numbers to try and solve problems. I am still intrigued by the mathematics problems faced in everyday life, and want students to be able to solve these problems successfully-- and enjoy doing so.

In my preliminary research, I have found many sources supporting the use of literature in mathematics. When I thought about this, it makes complete sense. Not only is it good practice to connect subjects across the curriculum, but the major problem that I have encountered in working with children solving word problems is that they don't comprehend what the problem is asking. If problems are presented in a story form, students have picture clues to aid with comprehension. They also are more prone to incorporate all of their strategies they use in reading comprehension to understand the problem. It makes sense!

As a pre-service teacher however, I am just beginning to explore the use of literature in mathematics. Therefore, I have decided to keep a blog and post after each book I read to reflect upon and share the possible uses in the field of mathematics. Hopefully, throughout the course of the next few months, I will establish a good basis of various books across a wide range of topics in mathematics!