One bright and cheerful morning I opened my Sunday paper to be greeted by the headline "YOUR CHILD LEFT BEHIND," an in-depth article about how children in the United States, and in Florida in particular, are left behind the rest of the world in math education.
That's why I have a special little math corner in my library devoted to math picture books. There are a lot of count to ten books, but there are some really amazing ones that deal simply and beautifully with more complex concepts. I encourage you to check them out. For example:
Lion's Share by Matthew McElligott teaches fractions, factoring, AND good manners in a funny story! You can't beat this deal.
The Rabbit Problem by Emily Gravett takes place in Fibonacci Field. It starts with one lonely rabbit in January, who receives a love letter from another rabbit in February. By March there are 3 rabbits, by April 5, by May 8...and soon we're running out of carrots. This picture book teaches the months of the year, the Fibonacci sequence in math -- and has a book size pop-up in the end! What a package!
Cat Up a Tree by Ann Hassett is a simple, funny counting book. The pictures are funny and it counts up to 20.
Zero the Hero by Joan Holub is a supersized package: it deals with properties of zero in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, with the concept of placeholding, and with Roman numerals (who sweep in to battle the Arabic numerals until they're rescued by Zero the Hero. ("Hey, Zero, ya look like a donut!" tease the other numbers, and of course, he can't play counting games with them. The many corny jokes are wonderfully funny.)
And there are plenty more at this site: Children's Picture Books that Teach Math.
When you take home a stack of fire truck books, grab a math book as well. We can't wait for the State of Florida to educate our children!
And check out this cool website:
ixl.com It's interactive math and very complete.
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