Friday, June 11, 2010

Math Themed Story Books

I went on a math binge at the library, and checked out a number of math themed stories, that also looked liked fun picture books. The five below have emerged as this week's favorites with the children.

Minnie's Diner, A Multiplying Menu by Dayle Ann Dodd, and illustrated by John Manders, is a comical, down-on-the-farm, rhyming tale of a father trying to get some work out of his hungry boys, before they succumb to the lure of the local diner, that just also happens to teach the concept of exponents.




Tryannosaurus Math byMichelle Markel, and illustrated by Doug Cushman is your typical dinosaur story, with T-Rexes, an Ornithomimus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurs, Hadrosaurs, volcanoes, meteorites, and earthquakes. But, it also has a fun dose of addition, number sentences, skip counting, ordering and comparing, subtraction, inverse relationships/operations, symmetry, multiplication, reasoning, organizing data with graphs, geometric shapes, arrays, division, fractions, nonstandard measurement, and estimation. Not to mention the fact, that it's a pretty cute book.



The Sundae Scoop by Stuart J. Murphy, and illustrated by Cynthia Jabar, is a sweet, simple story about combinations.




The Monster Who Did My Math, by Danny Schnitzlein, and illustrated by Bill Mayer, doesn't teach any math at all. Instead, it's a cautionary tale about what happens when you try to take short cuts to get through your math lessons, without bothering to learn them.



And finally, my favorite, The Real Princess, A Mathemagical Tale, by Brenda Williams, and illustrated by Sophie Fatus, is a clever retelling of The Princess And The Pea, teaching counting, and number recognition. On the publisher's website, you access an audio version of the story for free, as well as an activity page, and a key to the math test at the end of the book.



For additional children's book reviews, and recommendations click on over to The Adventure's of Motherhood's weekly, Feed Me Books Friday link-up, or the What My Child is Reading blog hop, hosted by Mouse Grows, Mouse learns.





It's great to be a homeschooler.

10 comments:

Ticia said...

Hmmmmm, that last one could work super well with our upcoming theme. Looks really interesting.

TEFL Ninja said...

Oh woe is me having a library full of only Italian books.

I really like the sound of Tryannosaurus Math.

14 quid on amazon.

I may have to get my head around this ebay thing, or I'll go bankrupt.

Chels said...

Awesome theme! Just perfect for my daughter this summer! I hope some of these are at my library.

Thanks for your comment on my ocean life books. Yes, I thought it was quite funny that 'Over in the Ocean in a Coral Reef' is similar and has the same tune that's in Jennifer Ward's singing book 'Somewhere in the Ocean'. Hope you can find it!

Aspiring Mom2three said...

I've loved using fun Math books with my kids. I have one about a sack of potatoes, M&Ms, and another about fractions using candy bars. the Tyrannosaurus Math looks great! I'll have to look for that The Monster Who Did My Math for this next school year. I think the boys would really enjoy it.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Thank you for this awesome round up. I have to look for that T-Rex book, it looks something that daughter might enjoy.

Christy Killoran said...

Fantastic post! I'll have to check out these books, especially the princess book. Thanks!

Joyful Learner said...

T-Rex Math book is great! We'll be taking that out again when JC is older.

Debbie said...

I will have to stop and look at these books a little closer. The last few times I brought books home that contained math lessons in them, Selena was luke warm to them, yet she loves to practice simple addition and subtraction.

Anne said...

I'm intrigued by The Monster that did My Math... I'm going to have to share that one with my teacher friends for the classroom next fall! I like the idea of a cautionary tale that's not too heavy-handed...

Janna said...

All of these are so fun! I don't remember ever seeing books like this when I was a kid but my B will definitely be enjoying them. Yes, math can be very, very fun:)