Math Books

Hello,
How many of you have students that don’t like math? How would you like a book or two that might help them with math and entertain at the same time? If you answered ‘Yes’ to both questions, this is a great post for you.

This week I will focus on Math and books that help supplement that subject. Some of these will also help to answer the question, “When will I ever use math in real life?”

Stuart Murphy writes the MathStart books. They are picture books geared for Preschool through 3rd grade, and they really help to explain a concept. Here is a partial list and the math concept it teaches. For more titles and activities, you can check out Stuart Murphy’s webpage.
1. Every Buddy Counts – counting
2. Just Enough Carrots – more, fewer, the same
3. The Best Vacation Ever – data collection
4. Get Up and Go! – time lines
5. Give Me Half! – understanding halves
6. Probably Pistachio – Probability
7. Dave’s Down-to-Earth Rock Shop - classifying
8. Divide and Ride – dividing
9. Lemonade for Sale – Bar Graphs
10. The Penny Pot – Counting coins


The Sir Cumference series written by Cindy Neuschwander is about angles, ratios, pi, and shapes. The stories are clever and older students will groan at the puns, but they are fun and interesting. The first title is Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi (A Math Adventure).

Greg Tang writes math riddles for students to solve. The Grapes of Math shows students creative ways to find answers to solve math problems. Just in case you are wondering, there is an ‘Answers’ section at the back of the book! Greg also has other math titles, too.

The Math Curse by Jon Scieszka (pronounced ‘SHESH – ka’) and Lane Smith. These two men write the funniest books. This particular one is about math and numbers in daily life. One example is: If the Mississippi River is about 4000 kilometers long, how many M & Ms would it take to measure the length of this river? These two men collaborate to write and illustrate their very popular books. You might know them from ‘The Stinky-Cheese Man and Other Stories’ and ‘The True Story of The Three Little Pigs’.)

How Much is a Million? By David M. Schwartz and Steven Kellogg. This concept of a million of something is difficult for adults to comprehend, much less children. David Schwartz does a wonderful job of helping us understand a million of something. This duo also writes “If You Made a Million” (a fantasy for us teachers!) and “Millions to Measure”. David Schwartz also wrote “G is for Googol” which is an ABC book for grades 6 and up. The letter W is for “When are we ever gonna use this stuff, anyway?” In case you have to have more David Schwartz books, you can also get “Q is for Quark” a science Alphabet book.

Well, I’ve given you a start on fun and interesting math books. Think about using them in conjunction with your math classes, reading “Divide and Ride” before starting the division lesson. You can also assign them to groups of students who teach the concept to the class. These ideas can help stretch the K – 3rd grade level up to your middle grades and maybe even junior high students.

Have a great week.
Audrey