Reading and Learning Math at the Same Time!

Some of you may know this, but I come from two generations of Elementary school teachers. Both my Mom and my Nanie are teachers. This is part of the reason why literacy and education are so special to me, because as I was growing up, I would leave school to come home to more education. I think that education shouldn't end when a child leaves school grounds. The best opportunities to learn can come at the dinner table, before bed, even during commercial breaks while watching television. My mom is constantly offering great advice on literacy techniques and books to use, and this week's books are directly from her. The great thing about these books is that they are all math-based, and classroom tested. So while your child is reading a funny story on ants, he or she also learns valuable multiplication skills. Enjoy!

One Hundred Hungry Ants 

by: Elinor J. Pinczes

Summary: A rhyming text describes the progress of one hundred ants marching toward a picnic. To travel faster, one ant suggests dividing into two lines of fifty, then four lines of twenty-five, and finally ten lines of ten. Their frantic reorganization takes so long that the picnic is gone by the time they arrive. Ages 4-8

Grandfather Tang's Story

by: Ann Tompert

Summary: Here's a folktale with a twist: Tompert uses tangrams, a traditional "visual aid" employed by Chinese storytellers, to spin a tale about two shape-changing fox fairies. Seven "tans" (standard-sized pieces of a square) are arranged and rearranged to represent various characters in the story. The fox fairies vie to outdo each other--the first one becomes a rabbit, the other a dog who chases him, and so on--but when the two chase each other right into danger, they finally have to set their competition aside and pull together. Parker's graceful, impressionistic illustrations have a gentle Oriental flavor, and the constantly changing tangram configurations add a novel touch. A traceable tangram is provided at the end for do-it-yourselfers. Ages 3-7

Here is one of the tangrams used in the book

Also, if you are still reading "The Search for Wondla" with me, let me know how it is going! I will post my thoughts on it soon!