Picture Book Power: Connecting Children's Literature and Mathematics

The author's experiences in using children's literature to engage her students in mathematics are described in this article. Using the book The Wolf's Chicken Stew, the author's class participated in an interactive read-aloud, graphed favorite foods from the story, and finally followed a recipe to bake chocolate chip cookies. Reasons for making the literature/math connection with students are explored. Additional pieces of children's literature, both those with and without specific math content, are presented and examples of possible mathematics learning experiences are described. Steps teachers might take in helping children make literature/math connections are offered. They include choosing appropriate pieces of children's literature for read-alouds, helping students actively make mathematics connections to those books, and providing authentic hands-on exploration of literature/math connections.

Shatzer, J. (2008, May). Picture Book Power: Connecting Children's Literature and Mathematics. The Reading Teacher, 61(8), 649–653. doi: 10.1598/RT.61.8.6