Math and Children's Literature

Using literature to connect with a math lesson is a wonderful way to involve students in both literacy and mathematical thinking (Whitin & Wilde, 1992, 1995).

When teachers link children’s literature with mathematics, children are better at explaining their reasoning and strategies, enjoy mathematics more, show greater overall persistence on difficult tasks, think more about what they learn, and experience a level of success (Clarke, 2002).

When children’s literature and numeracy are connected in an interactive and meaningful way, students will understand the mathematics concepts readily and will sustain the knowledge (Raymond, 1995).

Many experts have stated that combining mathematics and literacy development will lead to a child's improvement in both.

“How children experience math has a profound effect on what they are able to learn. If we want our children to be successful in math, it is important that we create a learning environment that supports the development of understanding, positive attitudes and habits of mind that cause children to be interested, curious and eager to learn new mathematical ideas” (Kathy Richardson, Math Time).

At first glance, the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears may seem like any other story, but if you look at it using a mathematics lens, something should immediately come to mind - the number 3! Not only is the number 3 part of the title, but the entire story is based around collections of 3 (bears, bowls, chairs, beds). Also, the number is continually reinforced.

Not just numbers...

Also, the story exposes children to ordering (small, medium, large and cold, warm, hot), correspondences between ordered sets (smallest bed for smallest bear, next for the next larger bear), patterning (repeated phrases – too little, too big, just right). WOW! What a great math book!

Books provide a great starting point for rich, authentic mathematical thinking and mathematics lessons. Children’s literature also motivates children to explore concepts in greater depth, and encourages them to make connections among and between mathematics topics. Books also help to stimulate interest and provide real-world contexts for problem solving. Children are very quick to relate to fictional characters and situations.

A word of advice...

Before you talk about the math content in a story with children, make sure that they are very familiar with the story. You can't expand on anything without a solid foundation. Once a child has built up a good schema, you can begin drawing attention to the math in the stories you share.

The Role of Early Math

In Canada, more than 49% of people lack basic numeracy skills (Statistics Canada, OECD, 2005). Isn't this astounding?!? Math development starts long before children enter adulthood. A large body of research indicates that the foundation of these skills start even before children enter school - before they reach 4 years of age.

Early arithmetic abilities have been found to be the strongest predictor for later school achievement (Dunan et al., 2007).

Counting ability is the best predictor for the initial level of math performance (from a longitudinal study from preschool to second grade by Aunola, Leskinen, Lerkkanen, and Nurmi, 2004).


The graph above is a visual representation of the Matthew Effect (Source: www.balancedreading.com). Basically, it explains that people who "have" will continue to "have" and even get more, while the "have nots" will always stay at the same level and never catch up to the latter group.

Sounds like a good reason to start building a solid foundation from birth, right?

Peter Penguin

Meet my friend Peter Penguin. He is a very picky eater and he will only eat things that begin with the sound /p/. Can you help me feed him?

Doing activities like this with your child will help them develop phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is hearing the small sounds in words. In this case, it's the /p/ sound. You can make this activity suit any sound you would like to work on with your child.

Can you think of any other animal friends who are picky eaters?

Letters to Santa

Canada Post is in its 29th year of the Santa Letter-Writing program. This offers a fantastic opportunity for you to practice writing and mailing letters with your child. Please visit the link below to find out how you can write a letter or email to Santa with your child.

http://www.canadapost.ca/dec/santa/writesanta/default-e.asp

Holiday Baking!

Looking back to my younger days, I fondly remember the time I spent with my aunt making cookies on Sunday afternoons. Baking is an excellent activity you can do with your child to help them prepare to learn to read, among other things.

For younger children, pouring ingredients into bowls and mixing help them understand the concept of cause and effect. They learn to understand the concept of "hot" when something hot comes out of the oven.

Baking helps children learn new vocabulary. Your child can try new foods to expand their palate. Also, baking serves as a fun way to explore mathematical concepts like quantity through measuring and counting. Your child will learn about the concepts "more" and "less". They can learn to read print by matching words in recipes to words on store containers like "eggs", "baking powder", "suagr", and so on.

Bake something special with your child today. The recipe can be as simple as rice krispy squares. Spending time with your child doing something they will enjoy is something that they will remember for the rest of their lives.


Do you have a simple recipe you can share?

Mitten Weather

Thumb in the thumb hole, fingers all together.
This is the song we sing in mitten weather.

It's the time of year that we begin wearing heavier layers to keep warm. Talking, singing, and reading about layering our clothing will help children understand how to stay warm. This time of year brings out many new vocabulary words.

As a simple activity, make a paper mitten in each colour from construction paper. Children can help you tell the story, "Red Mitten, Red Mitten" which models Eric Carle's story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

Fostering creativity in children

Here is an interesting story...

The Little Boy
Adapted from Helen E. Buckley

Once a little boy went to school. He was quite a little boy and it was quite a big school.

One morning, when the little boy had been in school a while the teacher said, "Today we are going to make a picture". The little boy was happy. He liked to make pictures. He could make all kinds: lions and tigers, chickens and cows, trains and boats. He took out his box of crayons and he began to draw.

But the teacher said, "Wait, it is not time to begin" and she waited until everyone looked ready. "Now", said the teacher, "We are going to make flowers". The little boy was happy. He liked to make flowers so he began to make beautiful ones with his pink, orange and blue crayons.

But the teacher said "Wait, I will show you how." She drew a flower on the board. It was red, with a green stem. "There, now you may begin", said the teacher.

The little boy looked at the teacher's flower, then he looked at his own flower. He liked his flower better than the teacher's, but he did not say anything. He just turned his paper over and made a flower like the teacher's. It was red with a green stem.

On another day, the teacher said, "Today we are going to make something with clay". The little boy was happy. He liked clay. He could make all kinds of things with clay: snakes and snowmen, elephants and mice, cars and trucks. He began to pull and pinch his ball of clay.

But the teacher said, "Wait, it is not time to begin". She waited until everyone looked ready. "Now, we are going to make a dish," said the teacher. The little boy was happy. He liked to make dishes. He began to make some that were all shapes and sizes.

But the teacher said, "Wait, I will show you how". She showed everyone how to make one deep dish. "There, now you may begin," said the teacher.

The little boy looked at the teacher's dish. Then he looked at his own dish. He liked his better than the teacher's, but he did not say anything. He just rolled his clay into a big ball again and made a dish like the teacher's. It was a deep dish.

Pretty soon the little boy learned to wait, to watch, and to make things just like the teacher.

Then, it happened that the boy's family moved to another city. On the first day at his new school, the teacher said, "Today we are going to make a picture." The boy thought about how much fun it would be to draw a picture, and he waited.

The teacher didn't say anything. She just walked around the room. When she came to the little boy, she asked him if he wanted to draw a picture. He said yes and asked her what he should draw. She said he could draw anything he wanted to. He asked her what colour he should use. She said he could use any colour he wanted to.

The little boy looked at his blank paper and thought hard for several moments. Then, he picked up his crayons and started to draw.

Can you guess what he drew?

For more information on children and creativity, please visit:

Children and Creativity

Process, Not Product