Best Math Book

Donna @ Math Coach's Corner is having a party about math books.  Reading is my better subject, so I am super excited about all the math book suggestions.   My favorite math book is Math and Literature by Marilyn Burns.  There is a K-1 book and a 2-3.  There is an intermediate grade book as well, and I think it covers 4-6.


Each chapter is based on a children's book and then guides discussion/activities around it.  The book reads like you are reading a transcript of the classroom while they are participating in the math lesson.

I have three favorites:
1.  Caps for Sale:  Students figure out the total amount of hats sold as well as how much the peddler would have if he sold all his hats.
2.  Inch by Inch:  Students use a unifix cube (a one inch square) to find perimeter of objects around the room.
3.  Rooster's Off to See the World:  Students uses a growing pattern to figure out how many friends end up on Rooster's journey.


Check out other great books through the Best Math Blog Hop.


Happy Sunday,
 

Smooth Math Day...What!

Solving math story problem.

Math was so smooth today...math is never a smooth part of the day.  Crazy is generally a better word to describe it.  I think mostly because it is a bit less structured than reading and also because it is during the last hour of the day. 


I had 10 students meeting with me on the carpet.  We worked on solving math story problems.

Story problem solving

My lovely story problem drawing

While we were meeting on the carpet, the other 18 students had the following choices:
ABC Math Hunt:
I taped 18 double digit math problems (labeled with a letter of the alphabet) around the room.  Students had to find the math problem, copy it into the box with the matching letter and solve it.  They love doing this!

Math Packet Pages:  
Do your kids love worksheets?  I do them so rarely that when I put them out my kids think they are 
the bees knees!

Pages and more kids looking for math problems.

Toy Store:
Students had to choose one of three characters from the top of the page, decide what they two things they should buy, add it up, and then figure out the change owed.  (Difficult stuff for some of them!)

Then half way through math, the two groups switched.
Do you work with small groups during math?  What other things do you have students do while you work with groups?


Happy Monday,