Monday Math Literature Volume 23

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Last week, I wrote about several of my favorite measurement books and this week I want to tell you about a few more.

Sunflowers Measure Up!

 

This is a Hello Math Reader level 4.  It is an engaging story about a third grade class that decided they will plant a class garden and each grow a sunflower.  They are trying to see whose sunflower will be the tallest by the end.  There are some great ideas around planting and measuring in inches, spacing plants in garden and ways to keep track of height.  It also touches on perimeter when they measure the garden for a fence.  In the back of the book, there are 6 pages of activities related to the book and the math concepts contained within that are written by Marilyn Burns who has some impressive math credentials to her name.

  Chickens on the Move

 

This story is from the Math Matters series and focuses heavily on perimeter and area.  Grandpa gets his grandchildren some chickens and they have to construct a chicken coop for them.  They have 24 feet of fencing.  They use it to build a 9 foot by 3 foot coop next to the house.  They realize that the location doesn't work when the chickens wake them up early the next morning.  They move the coop and try other rectangles in other locations always using the same 24 feet of fencing.  They realize that the area changes even though the fencing stays the same.  It is a nice, gentle introduction in a real world context to get kids exposed to the idea of constant perimeter and changing area.

  Room for Ripley

This book is from the Math Start series.  It is all about the US customary system for measuring capacity.  It includes gallons, half-gallons, quarts, pints and cups.  The story is about a boy named Carlos who wants to get a fish.  His sister helps him set up a fish tank and he slowly adds water.  There are many pages that use visual images to show how cups, quarts, pints and gallons are related.  I think this is a concept kids (and adults!) don't always understand.  Adding this book to your literature collection gives kids one more exposure to this big measurement idea!

What measurement books are your favorites?

Head over to volume 24 to read more about some great books about estimation!