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Our Journey Westward

Why the Math and Literature Connection is So Important (with GIVEAWAY!)

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Books are incredibly effective tools for teaching. Charlotte Mason homeschoolers certainly understand that fact as it pertains to subjects like history and science. But, did you know the math and literature connection can be just as powerful?

The math and literature connection is powerful during the elementary years. #math #homeschooling #livingbooks

 

Why Math and Literature?

There are many reasons math and literature pair so well together:

  • Books introduce math concepts in a non-threatening way and build interest.
  • Good stories make math come alive and children find that math isn’t boring or inaccessible.
  • Mathematics within stories provides context that illuminates the meaning of otherwise abstract concepts. This is especially helpful for struggling learners.
  • Oftentimes, literature connects math to real life. This gives meaning to “why” math is important.
  • Books build connections to math for linguistic learners who tend to think in words.
  • Books connect math to other subject areas, which helps children innately learn that all subjects are intertwined.
  • Some books offer sneaky ways to review math facts.
  • Gifted mathematicians can benefit from literature connections, especially when books present concepts in new ways or dive deeper than the student has been before.
  • Some books are excellent at presenting math as critical thinking. These are especially useful considering math textbooks aren’t the best at presenting logical thinking ideas.

Selecting Good Math Books

As with all my other discussions about choosing books for your homeschool, I’m going to stand firm that it’s important to choose living books for math. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of math twaddle out there.

What is a living math book? It will typically have an engaging story line, but it will always be worth your time spent reading. It will present math concepts clearly (and soundly) without spewing them out as mere facts. It will present nourishing ideas about math that are likely to be savored much longer than the book is in hand.

There is one other consideration beyond choosing living books. You will also want to make sure the stories are presenting “ability appropriate” math concepts. There’s no harm in reading math literature for the pure joy of it. However, if you plan to use the books to help teach math, the “instruction” will need to be in line with your child’s current understanding.

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For example, if your child is just beginning to understand geometrical shapes, you’ll more likely prefer to read The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns rather than The Sword and the Cone by Cindy Neuschwander. The first covers the concepts of 2-D shapes and how they vary from one another, while the second covers in-depth facets of 3-D shapes.

Examples of Living Math Books

Some top-notch examples of living books for math that come to mind right off the bat include the Warlord’s Series, the Sir Cumference Series, and other Charlesbridge Math Adventures stories.

By far, those are not the only examples of amazing literature for math! Here’s a very small sampling of some of my favorites. I’ve tried to choose examples that cover a variety of math concepts to show you just how many topics can be reinforced through books.

Warlord's Puzzle, The (Warlord's Series)Warlord’s Puzzle, The (Warlord’s Series)Sir Cumference and the First Round TableSir Cumference and the First Round TableMultiplying Menace: The Revenge of Rumpelstiltskin (A Math Adventure)Multiplying Menace: The Revenge of Rumpelstiltskin (A Math Adventure)The Doorbell RangThe Doorbell RangOne Hundred Hungry AntsOne Hundred Hungry AntsThe Greedy Triangle (Scholastic Bookshelf)The Greedy Triangle (Scholastic Bookshelf)A Remainder of OneA Remainder of OneWhat's Your Angle, Pythagoras?What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras?Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last SundayAlexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last SundayOne Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical FolktaleOne Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical FolktaleJim and the BeanstalkJim and the BeanstalkHow Big Is a Foot? (Rise and Shine)How Big Is a Foot? (Rise and Shine)Full House: An Invitation to FractionsFull House: An Invitation to FractionsSpaghetti And Meatballs For All! (Rise and Shine)Spaghetti And Meatballs For All! (Rise and Shine)Fractions in Disguise: A Math Adventure (Charlesbridge Math Adventures)Fractions in Disguise: A Math Adventure (Charlesbridge Math Adventures)

How to Use Math Living Books

I’ve provided a set of ideas for using literature alongside math lessons in Loving Living Math.

Loving Living Math: How To Make Math Meaningful #math #homeschooling

But let me share a quick example of how I might use Jim and the Beanstalk by Raymond Briggs to teach a math lesson:

This story is a unique version of your typical Jack in the Beanstalk story. The boy, Jim, finds a giant who is somewhat depressed and Jim sets out to help the giant through a series of events that involve measuring the giant’s face for glasses, measuring his mouth for false teeth, and more.

The perfect follow-up activity to this book, then, is measuring real body parts.

I’ve done this activity two different ways in the past:

  1. Give students a tape measure with inches on one side and centimeters on the other. They measure various body parts twice (once in inches and once in centimeters) and note both measurements on a simple chart they create. Children love comparing measurements between themselves and others. This activity allows for length, width, and circumference measurements.
  2. Trace each child’s body on butcher paper. They measure the various body parts from the drawing and write their data directly on the paper. While children really love measuring their life-sized bodies on paper, this activity only allows for length and width measurements.

As you can tell, this lesson provides real-life practice in measuring. It gives meaning and purpose for the lesson, as well as teaching a great deal about the differences in inches/centimeters and making comparisons. And, it’s fun!

Living Math Lessons for The Warlord's Series    Living Math Lessons for the Sir Cumference Series
My friend, Bethany, from Math Geek Mama has developed some really fun curriculum to go along with my two favorite math book series! The Warlord’s Series Extension Lessons & Games and the Sir Cumference Lesson Bundle will give you print-and-go lessons to use after reading several books from either series.

And to get you started…

Warlord’s Series Giveaway

I am SO excited that Pelican Publishing has partnered with me to give away FIVE books from their Warlord’s series authored by Virginia Pilegard. The Warlord’s Series is appropriate for ages 6-10 and will help you teach all sorts of mathematical concepts to your children through adventurous stories set in Ancient China.

The Warlord's Series: Math literature for 6-10 year olds. #livingmath #math #livingbooks

One person will win a set of (5) hardcover books from the series: The Warlord’s Puzzle, The Warlord’s Beads, The Warlord’s Alarm, The Emperor’s Army, and The Warlord’s Messengers. These retail for $84.95! You won’t want to miss your chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Other posts you might enjoy:

 100+ Living Math Activities Independent Math Explorations Candy Math Lessons

Comments

  3. Oh, wow! We just finished reading Young Fu aloud and my kids would LOVE these books. We are also just starting our Middle Ages Morning Basket plans that include Sir Cumference so I’m excited about those, as well.

  4. I am just starting to homeschool my son for Kindergarten. These books look so interesting. I like the sound of this approach. I will be looking into them further.

  11. I do CM for other subjects but have always wondered about living books for Math… These books look so interesting! I can see my kids enjoying them immensely

  13. We enjoyed doing some simple math utilizing the Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday book. I can’t wait to be ready for the Sir Cumference books, but those seem to be for a little bit older children.

  15. One of our favorite living Math books is Grandfather Tang’s Story by Ann Tompert, so we are extremely excited around here to learn about the Warlord series!

  17. This giveaway is perfect timing! I’m starting to add more math books to our home library!

  20. We don’t have a favorite living math book yet, but enjoy some of the books by Anno at the library.

  22. We dont have any living mathbooks yet for our first grader and three year old. This series sounds like a great option to get started with!

  24. I hadn’t seen most of these, we use the original Life of Fred series that has a narrative focus that my kids love.

  25. We don’t have any math stories, yet. But they read the ant one at a relative’s house and loved it!

  30. My kids have loved, Ten Apples Up on Top! This year I have been trying to incorporate more math living books.

  32. We don’t have any living math books. It would be great to win this set so we could get some!

  34. So far we just have a wishlist. We do enjoy a book that we already have called Ten Little Ladybugs.

  39. I love the Sir Cumference books and “math curse”, but some of these have been on my wish list! Thank you so much for the opportunity to win!

  40. We love “The Doorbell Rang”, which you have pictured. A new favorite is “One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab”. My oldest is 6yo so this giveaway would be awesome as all of my kiddos would get to enjoy them as they come up “through the ranks” 🙂

  41. Just recently found and fell in love with the sir Cumference series. My boys took to it as soon as I opened the package. I’d love to try this new set. Never heard of it!

  42. Yeah I don’t remember these books when I was younger but they all sound very wonderful and very interesting I do hope I get the chance to explore them all
    @tisonlyme143

  43. We have a few of the Sir Cumference books, and as my youngest heads into K next year these would be fabulous additions.

  46. We really enjoyed the book Infinity and Me, by Kate Hosford. It did a great job at depicting the concept of infinity for my 6 year old.

  49. I am still new to this journey so haven’t got any favorites yet, which is why you list is such an amazing resource – thank you!

  50. I’ve never tried any living math books. I am on the email list but I hit enter before entering my entire email address. It is the same as the email for this comment.

  51. I have a few living math books. I need to pull them out and use them with my girls! There are some new ones that I need to check out as well.

  55. One Grain of Rice is my fave. My son just loves it.
    And, although it’s not primarily about Math, I do love Vote Duck for teaching kids how to say larger numbers.

  56. We just recently started incorporating living math books and loved Sir Cumference and All the King’s Tens.

  58. We like Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday. It is a great book to teach children to save their money.

  67. Honestlg, living math books is a new concept to me, so I don’t yet have a favorite. But being that all our kids are in the target age for this book series, I’m interested in checking it out. 🙂

  69. My book wish list just keeps growing and growing. My 7 year old would enjoy these books. Thank you for sharing.

  71. I love One Grain of Rice. Thank you so much for all of these suggestions! I had no idea there were so many living math books

  72. Right now we are enjoying How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? But, we also love the Sir Cumference series.

  73. We have “and the doorbell rang” which has been a favorite for years. I haven’t seen this series but it looks awesome. I really liked this post, my 2nd grader really loves living books and I am never sure how and what to use for math in this area.
    Thanks!

  75. We love the Sir Cumference series. I am excited to read about these other living math books. The Warlord series is new to me. It looks great! Thanks for this list.

  78. We love, love, love Count Worm. Maybe it’s because we always use gummy worms to make the numbers along with Count Worm. 🙂

  79. We love the Greg Tang series, and Life of Fred is a fun one for us as well. But as math is one of our most difficult subjects we definitely need to look into more of these 🙂

  81. Our very first living Math, was the Sir Cumference series. Can’t wait to check some of these other ones out!

  85. I have never heard of the Warlord books. My kids like the Sir Cumference series and One Grain of Rice.

  89. We have the Hershey book & a Sir Cumference book & love them. I haven’t been able to increase our number of math living books yet. This is a great giveaway. Thank you!

  90. We have always wanted to try this series! Unfortunately they don’t have any of these books at our library. Thanks for the chance to win!

  94. We own many of the Sir Cumference and Annos books, I don’t know if we could pick a favorite. We just discovered the Warlord series and my son really wants them, he is into everything connected to Asia. Thanks for the chance to win!

  97. I am new to living math books, but I’m very interested in adding them to our library! Both the Warlord series and the Sir Cumference series look terrific!

  101. We really enjoy the Sir Cumference books! It’s great to see that there are more good math stories out there.

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