Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Mini-Books for Your child to Make---For School, Homeschoolers or At-Home Fun!




Want to make a simple book with your child? A book they can read, color, even stick in their book shelf? Yes? Well then, meet LION and MOUSE, two lovable (even adorable!) and humorous characters who will help win the hearts of your kids as they learn basic math concepts! Nancy Sanders and I had so much fun creating this book together.

In "15 Easy & Irresistible Math Mini-Books" students in grades K-2 read stories about Lion and Mouse---two best friends who find ways to use math in EVERYDAY situations, such as counting seashells at the beach, baking cookies, or going shopping. These scenarios reinforce the idea to young children that we are living in a math oriented world---but math does NOT need to be scary. It WAS scary for me as a young child. I can still remember my palms getting sweaty just thinking about having to write a problem on the chalk board! I only wish I'd had a book like this one. Understanding how math is incorporated into daily life is a KEY CONCEPT of developmental learning for primary-age children.

Predictable language and repetition will help young readers gain confidence practicing their reading skills, while strengthening their math skills as the eagerly join Lion and Mouse’s math-driven adventures!

Children will learn about fractions with Lion and mouse in "Camping Fractions". They'll watch the clock while cooking Tick-Tock Soup, and add the number of falling leaves. The last page of each mini-book is a related activity page that reinforces the story’s key math concept.

Here's more fun---an extension activity is included to further reinforce the concepts in each mini-book. Children learn a rhyme about disappearing crickets as they count backwards from 5. They learn about shapes while cutting out birdhouses for a bulletin board display. They count to 100 while sharing small surprises from home.

Nancy Sanders and I hope these funny math mini-books will make your students fall in love with Lion and Mouse, while sparking their interest in math!


These mini-books and their corresponding activities correlate with the NCTM Standards (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics).