Why Not?

With the time crunch felt in many classrooms, using quality literature and integrating subjects will allow for more exploration time in content areas. The students will focus on and explore literature from a different perspective. As teachers, we know how easy it is to interest children in a good story. There is no better steppingstone to gaining students’ interest as well as leaving them with something concrete to refer back to. The Language Arts Curriculum requires that students listen, speak, read and write daily. Through the integration of subject areas, students will have more opportunity to practice all these skills.

You will easily be able to differentiate between concept books and good storybooks that can be used to explore mathematical concepts. Concept books such as 1,2,3, and shape books all have their place in beginning reading as well as to introduce simple math concepts, but students need good stories as well in order to learn how to predict and anticipate.

As well as using quality literature as an introduction to manipulatives, you can also use math journals to respond to literature. Math journals can be used to:

1. stimulate dialogue between students and teachers
2. be a part of a portfolio assessment tool
3. allow students to clarify their thoughts about a topic
4. formulate problems for others
5. develop pattern writing based on a mathematical topic
6. allow teachers to informally assess a student’s understanding of a topic
7. allow teachers to assess their teaching of a particular topic.

The book Something From Nothing by Phoebe Gilman can be used with students from years one to five by changing the expectations you hope to develop from the provincial mathematics curriculum. The following objectives are taken directly from the Saskatchewan curriculum document.

Each of the following books are enjoyable as stories on their own. Each contains at least one strand from the mathematics curriculum that you could explore with a class after reading the book. A list of books to use with a math class can now be found in the new teacher’s manuals that have been developed for a hands-on integrated approach to mathematics such as those by Ginn, Gage, and Addison-Wesley.
 

I have designated one main strand that each book could be associated with, but once you read a book many more ideas will be apparent to you that you could use to explore math concepts and to use manipulatives with the students in your class. As well as mathematics ideas, you will also see the possibilities for integration of arts education strands, science, writing, and social studies.

Have fun with these books. The possibilities are limitless.