Math in Children's Literature - Teacher's Secret Weapon

The Vehicle

Why would one consider using children's literature to teach math? Most parents and teacher know from empirical evidence and their own experience, that children learn best through language and engaging in hands-on activities. That said, children's literature provides interesting narratives and colorful illustrations that can frame the abstractions of math in a way that make them more concrete and approachable. Through literature, children can appreciate the wonder of mathematics in much the same way they appreciate the wonders of a great story in the hands of a great story teller.

The Tour Guide

We've selected children's literature as the vehicle by which we will transport children to strange and exciting places; exposing them to math concepts along the way. As the tour guide, it is our job to highlight and speak to the points of interest as the tourists (our students) progress through the tour, while crafting a contextual narrative for each of the points of interest.

The Map

Unlike the maps with which we're familiar, the maps for our literary math excursion are comprised of three parts: Curriculum, Standards & Focal points, and Literature. While the curriculum is what it is, breathing life into the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Standards & Focal Points, and selecting appropriate books are creative endeavors influenced by the class room community (or tour group... to speak in analogy parlance).

The most amorphous part of creating the map is grappling with the NCTM standards. Since entire books have been written on the subject, I'm not going to attempt to address it here, but will provide a few resources:

Math Links: Teaching the NCTM 2000 Standards Through Children's Literature -- ISBN: 1563087871
Math Through Children's Literature: Making the NCTM Standards Come Alive -- ISBN: 0872879321
What Successful Math Teachers Do, Grades 6-12: 79 Research-Based Strategies for the Standards-Based Classroom -- ISBN: 1412916194
The book is last piece needed to complete the map, and as such we are looking for points of interest to drive home a given math concept. The appropriate book must be a good vehicle (unfurling a good story) and supply great points of interest relevant to the math subject matter being taught.

Finding an appropriate book seems fairly straight forward, but it's not as easy as it sounds, inasmuch as many databases lack the necessary tags to identify books by math topic. So, a search for "geometry in children's literature" won't find all of the books on that topic. The aforementioned search on the Library of Congress Online Catalog finds 29 books, while I have found over 70 titles on that topic using various means.

Don't reinvent the wheel! There are websites that speak to "Math In Children's Literature" and lists books under various categories, as well as noting the applicable grade level. Once you have the vehicle, and you (as the tour guide) are prepared to lead the tour, and you've prepared your map, you can lead your students (the tour group) on exciting excursions where math is fun and comes alive.

Manuel D. Thomas is a computer programmer, a husband, and a dad, whose passion includes family and imparting knowledge to others.

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