Math Tip Monday: Four Great Books to Teach Measurement

Welcome to Math Tip Monday! 

Kayla, from K's Classroom Kreations, and I host this linky each month to encourage teachers to share ideas, tips, and best practices for teaching math in the primary classroom. Please join us and link your blog post below. Don't forget to include the Math Tip Monday image in your post and please link back to the host blogs. Also, please share the love by leaving comments to let our bloggers know you appreciate their ideas.

I love connecting children's literature to my math teaching. Today, I thought I'd share with you some awesome books I use while teaching my measurement unit. I've provided links to each book's Amazon page, but keep in mind that most of these books are available through multiple sellers. For each book, I've included an idea for a follow-up activity that will engage students in actively exploring measurement concepts.

1)  

http://www.amazon.com/How-Big-Is-Ben-Hillman/dp/0439918081

I often start teaching measurement by comparing sizes. I use How Big Is It? to talk about the size of various objects in relation to other objects. My kids are always fascinated by the pictures and it helps them to get a real sense of how large these well-known objects really are. My kids are especially fascinated by the animal comparisons. The photograph of a polar bear standing on a basketball court next to some incredibly tall players is mind-blowing! The giant squid lying in front of a two story house and the giraffe whose head reaches into a second-floor bedroom are equally impressive. 

I usually follow this book up with some practice using comparative language. Students locate objects outside or in the room and then write comparative sentences in their math journals. 

"A water bottle is taller than a milk carton." 

"This stick is shorter than this bench." 

"My arm is longer than a pencil." 
"The I-pad is as long as my pencil box."

It's a little bit like a scavenger hunt and the kids get good practice using the vocabulary to compare various measurements. And my kids love it!

2) 

I love Leo Lionni's Inch by Inch! It's a great way to introduce the concept of measuring length using inches. The story is simple. An inchworm avoids becoming a meal by measuring various parts of  different bird's bodies. He is stumped, though, when he is asked to measure the length of the nightingale's song. My students always appreciate how the quick-witted inchworm cleverly avoids becoming the nightingale's breakfast.

For a follow-up activity, I ask my students to measure the length of various objects around our room. We use inch-long pieces of chenille stems - I always get green ones so they can measure using their own fuzzy inchworms! I've also used some commercially produced inchworms for this activity, but my kids seem to enjoy the ones I make just as much.

3) 

How Big is a Foot? is the perfect book for helping students understand the importance of standard versus non-standard measurement.  The story tells about a young carpenter's apprentice who is charged with building a bed for the queen. Confusion reigns when he discovers the bed he built was way too small. My kids immediately understand how the mistake occured. The king's foot and the apprentice's foot are not the same size.

This year, my kids had a great time with this follow-up activity:  I had them create two doll-sized beds. The first was created using small paper clips to measure the length and width. The second bed was created using large paper clips to measure. They created the beds, recorded and analyzed their results, and then wrote about what kind of doll might fit in each bed. This activity was also very useful as an assessment. I was able to see who was having trouble with measurement concepts before we moved on to using standard units and measurement tools.

4) 

I just discovered Loreen Leedy's Measuring Penny a couple of years ago. This is a wonderful book to use for a variety of measurement concepts: standard vs. non-standard units, comparative measurement, height, length, weight, volume, time, temperature, and money. In the book, Lisa measures her dog, Penny, in lots of different ways. 

This book is a great introduction to a home-school connection. Next time I use it, I plan to assign my students a measurement project to complete at home. Just as Lisa's teacher does in the story, I'll challenge my students to measure something in their home in several different ways. I wonder what my students would come up with!

Do you use literature in your measurement lessons? What books and activities would you recommend? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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Math Tip Monday: Place Value in Primary Grades

Welcome back to Math Tip Monday! This month, our wonderful teacher bloggers will be focusing on great ideas for teaching place value in the Primary Grades. 

I enjoy using children's literature in my math instruction. It captures my students' attention and provides them with a context for understanding math concepts. Today I thought I'd share with you three great books that I use to teach place value.

How Big is a Million by Anna Milbourne and Serena Riglietti

This adorable story is about a penguin who is on a quest to find out how big a number a million really is. On his journey, he finds a group of 10 fish, a group of 100 penguins, and a group of (about) 1,000 pretty snowflakes. This book provides a great introduction to place value and using place value charts. It's great for comparing numbers and helping students understand estimation. 

Activity ideas:

1) Challenge students to use cubes or other objects to investigate how many groups of ten are in 100. Then, ask them to discover how many groups of 100 are in 1,000. Students who need a challenge can figure out how many 10s would be in 1,000. This is the type of discovery learning that helps students remember concepts.

2) Connect the idea of 10s, 100s, and 1,000s to using a place value chart. Model and practice making different multiples of ten on the chart with base 10 blocks or other manipulatives. If your charts are laminated, have students write the numbers below the blocks after they make them. You can also use sticky notes or number cards to have students write/make the number.

Graphics courtesy of https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Zip-a-dee-doo-dah-Designs 

Font courtesy of https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hello-Literacy

The King's Commissioners by Aileen Friedman

This amusing story helps teach students the value of grouping objects in order to count accurately. A rather confused King appoints a different royal commissioner to be in charge of every problem in his kingdom. After a while, he begins to wonder how many commissioners he actually has.
He gathers the commissioners together in order to count them, but quickly loses track of how many there are. Luckily, his two Royal Advisers are also counting. One counts by twos, the other by fives. However, the king is quite confused by their methods. His daughter, the Princess, helps out when she has the Royal Organizer arrange the commissioners in rows of ten.  I love the way this book helps students to see that there are different ways of grouping and counting objects, but the result stays the same.

Activity idea:
Have students work in small groups to count a variety of objects. I usually gather between 25 and 100 small objects for each group. We count shells, mini-erasers, beads, beans, and anything else I have on hand.  This is easy to differentiate because I give my struggling math students smaller numbers of objects and my high-flyers greater numbers of objects.  Students work together to count the objects. First, students count by ones. After students have finished, we discuss reasons why counting by ones is not always the best choice. Students then recount the objects, by 2s, 5s, and/or 10s. We then record and discuss the results.  I keep the objects in a math center for additional counting practice as needed.

Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens A Math Adventure by Cindy Neuschwander

In this entertaining book, Lady Di of Ameter and her husband, Sir Cumference decide to throw a surprise party to cheer up the king. They invite people from all over the country and a huge crowd shows up. This causes a problem when Lady Di doesn't know how many guests she will need to feed for lunch and dinner. Confusion reigns until Lady Di realizes that putting 10 rows together equals 100. As the crowd grows. the castle workers pitch tents sized to fit up to 9 people, 90 people, 900 people, and 9,000 people. The final page of the book relates the story to Knightly Number Neighborhoods and includes a drawing of a place value chart.  This story really builds the understanding of how numbers work in a base ten system!

Activity ideas:

1) Have students "act out" various pages of the story using base ten blocks and place value mats. 

2) Provide pairs of students with four number cubes (dice). Students take turns rolling the dice and working to create the biggest number.  For example: If a student rolls 5, 2, 6, and 3, he might make the number 6,532. Then the partner rolls. If she rolls 4, 5, 1, and 2, she might make 5,421.  Student A would win the point for this round because he made the greater number.  The student with the most points at the end of the game would win. This game is great for practicing comparing numbers. It can be differentiated for younger grades or struggling students by using 2 or 3 dice instead of 4.  


Do you enjoy using literature in your math instruction? If so, please share any books that you enjoy using in the comment section.  

Don't forget to check out the other great bloggers in this linky for more great ideas for teaching place value!

An InLinkz Link-up