Jordan

>>>>Mara (a mathaholic) wrote:

Do you have any younger children? If so, you could read some basic
picture books that cover math concepts...I could give you some ideas
for those if you like.<<<<<<

I'd like to hear about these books! I'm a math-o-phobe myself, and anything
that connects my love of books with my fear of math has to be good for me
and my kids! Suggest away!

Tami, who always though "story problems" would make more sense without the
"problem" part!

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Pam Sorooshian

On May 9, 2005, at 3:37 PM, Jordan wrote:

> I'd like to hear about these books! I'm a math-o-phobe myself, and
> anything
> that connects my love of books with my fear of math has to be good for
> me
> and my kids! Suggest away!

Aimed at kids maybe around 10 and under (good books are good for all
ages, though) - these are all books my kids and I really liked:

Counting on Frank By Rod Clement
The Greedy Triangle By Marilyn Burns
Inchworm and a Half By Elinor J. Pinczes
Millions of Cats By Wanda GA'G
A Remainder of One ...
Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar
The Doorbell Rang Hutchins, Pat
GrandFather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert
Math Fables, Greg Tang
Math Talk, Pappas, Theoni
One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi
Pigs Will Be Pigs: Fun With Math and Money  Axelrod, Amy
Pigs On A Blanket   Axelrod, Amy
Pigs In The Corner : Fun with Math and Dance  Axelrod, Amy
Seven Blind Mice Young, Ed  
The Seven Chinese Brothers Mahy, Margaret
Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland Cindy Neuschwander
Spaghetti and Meatballs for All: A Mathematical Story Marilyn Burns
2 X2 = BOO
The Fly on the Ceiling
Math Curse


Archimedes and the Door of Science Bendick, Jeanne
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth Kevin Hawkes
Mathematicians Are People, Too V1 Reimer, Luetta
Mathematicians Are People, Too V2 Reimer, Luetta

Mara Winders

Julie Brennan at Livingmath.net has a great compilation ....

http://www.livingmath.net/Library.html

There are really too many there to choose from :-) We have by no means
tried all of the books on her site, and just because I don't say it's
one of our favorites, doesn't mean it isn't good (we may not have read
it yet). Sometimes I'm really surprised by my kids....they didn't like
the Greg Tang books *at all*, but Math Talk, a book of poems, was a big hit.

Just to illustrate how these books can get into your head....We read The
Number Devil as a read aloud and finished it recently. There was a lot
of cool math in there, some of it left me scratching my head (not out of
lack of understanding, but of wonderment). If math had been presented
to me as a child the way it was in that book, I would have found it a
lot more interesting. There are mysteries to solve that I had no idea
existed before this book! It left me with an understanding of how
mathematicians can dedicate their lives to solving one of these
mysteries. The book was fun even for my 5 year old, even though the
majority of the math was over her head. Yesterday, a good week after we
finished the book, my 9yo came to me in bed first thing in the morning
and told me that 128 was a "hopping number" (a term used in the book for
powers of 2; 128 = 2^7). Then he said, "mom all the hopping numbers
will be even." Then he told me the next few hopping numbers. :-)

A big plug for Cyberchase too....today my 10 and 9yo's were discussing
the fraction 3/5. The 10 told the 9yo, that's the same as 6/10, and
60/100 and the same as 60%. The 9yo said "oh yeah" and then proceded to
determine decimal and percentages for 1/3, 1/5 and 3/4. I asked them
where they learned all of that, and they said "Cyberchase". In all
seriousness, I've had college students that couldn't do this, so I'm
impressed that my kids could pick it up in ONE episode! They must have
explained it well.

Some of our favorites:

How Math Works - Reader's Digest (not a story book, but a great resource)
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator - multiples, negative numbers
(Short chapter book)

Shape Up!

A Remainder of One
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0395694558/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> z Pinczes,
Elinor J./MacKain, Bonnie 1995 Division, Factors Very clever early intro
Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0698117530/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> z Anno,
Masaichiro & Mitsumasa 1983 Size, perspective, counting, nesting,
factorials. Beautifully illustrated, surprising in simplicity and
complexity, a classic for a wide audience (other Anno books are awesome too)
Bunny Money
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/014056750X/ref=nosim/livingmath-20>, Y
Rosemary Wells, very cute, but my little ones had a bit of trouble
keeping count w/$15
The Case of the Shrunken Allowance
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0590120069/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> Rocklin,
Joanne/Van Wright 1998 Money equivalents, volume
GrandFather Tang's Story
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0517885581/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> by Ann
Tompert, Tangrams in a story (wonderful wonderful)
Math Talk <http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0933174748/ref=nosim/livingmath-20>
z, Pappas, Theoni Mathematical Poetry in Two Voices, Amazon readers
just don't appreciate this, but we love it
Sea Squares
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1562825208/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> zzY Hulme,
Joy - Beautiful intro to squaring w/marine animals, not busy like many
others, could appeal to older kids with artwork
The Silly Story of Goldie Locks & the Three Squares
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0785789219/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> Y
Maccarone, Grace/Kennedy 1996 Hello Math L. 2
Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/157091169X/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> Cindy
Neuschwander, Story with geometry concepts, lots of plays on geo terms
(also SC and the Dragon of Pi, SC and the first round table, one more I
can't remember....)

Hello Math Readers
The 512 Ants on Sullivan Street (Hello Math Reader, Level 4)
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590308769/ref%3Dnosim/livingmath-20/>
by Carol A. Losi
Even Steven and Odd Todd (Hello Math Reader, Level 3)
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590227157/ref%3Dnosim/livingmath-20/>
by Kathryn Cristaldi
How Much Is That Guinea Pig in the Window? (Hello Math Reader. Level 4
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590227165/ref%3Dnosim/livingmath-20/>)
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590227165/ref%3Dnosim/livingmath-20/>
by Joanne Rocklin
Three Pigs, One Wolf, and Seven Magic Shapes (Hello Math, Level 3, G
1-2)
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590308572/ref%3Dnosim/livingmath-20/>
Tangrams by Grace MacCarone
A Quarter From the Tooth Fairy (Hello Math Reader!, Level 3
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590265989/ref%3Dnosim/livingmath-20/>)
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590265989/ref%3Dnosim/livingmath-20/>
by Caren Holtzman
The Five Chinese Brothers
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0698113578/ref%3Dnosim/livingmath-20/>by
Clair Huchet Bishop
Alexander, Who Used To Be Rich Last Sunday
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0689711999/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> Viorst,
Judith/Cruz, Ray 1978 Money management
Fortunately
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0689716605/ref=nosim/livingmath-20>, Charlip,
Remy, Opposites, prediction. Fun story to readaloud
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060245867/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> z
Numeroff, Laura Joffe/Bond, Felicia 1985 Cause/effect/circular
reasoning looping to beginning. Wide appeal
The King's Chessboard
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0140548807/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> z Birch,
David/Grebu 1988 Doubling exponentially. Based on historical tale
That's Good, That's Bad z Lexau, Joan M./Aliki 1963 Opposites,
prediction. Fun story to readaloud
Tikki Tikki Tembo
<http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0805006621/ref=nosim/livingmath-20> z Mosel,
Arlene/Lent, Blair 1968 Time, comparison of size, classic tale, Reading
Rainbow, yes I consider this math

Mara


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/12/2005 7:25:32 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
mara@... writes:

A big plug for Cyberchase too....today my 10 and 9yo's were discussing
the fraction 3/5. The 10 told the 9yo, that's the same as 6/10, and
60/100 and the same as 60%. The 9yo said "oh yeah" and then proceded to
determine decimal and percentages for 1/3, 1/5 and 3/4. I asked them
where they learned all of that, and they said "Cyberchase".


---------------------------

Holly learned a TON from Cyberchase, and watched it religiously for a while,
yelling for me to come and see the good parts (because she'd seen all the
episodes and knew what was coming).

Now she's learning as much (but more subtly) from playing video games that
aren't overtly mathematical.

I wouldn't try to press a kid to watch cyberchase just to learn math, but if
you-the-mom (whichever reader, nobody in particular) would watch it you might
like math more, and your kids might come to see what you're watching, and
you might see it enough to be able to call them for the good parts. One thing
Holly's shown everyone in our family is when one of the real-life characters
complains that they put her on the outside track in a race, and that wasn't
fair, so she runs around the outer AND the inner uncomfortably bent over
pushing a measuring wheel to prove it's longer than the others, and ends up
showing the kids that it's not longer. <g>

Sandra


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Pam Sorooshian

On May 12, 2005, at 7:22 AM, SandraDodd@... wrote:

> One thing
> Holly's shown everyone in our family is when one of the real-life
> characters
> complains that they put her on the outside track in a race, and that
> wasn't
> fair, so she runs around the outer AND the inner uncomfortably bent
> over
> pushing a measuring wheel to prove it's longer than the others, and
> ends up
> showing the kids that it's not longer. <g>


It is longer, though, of course. And the person on the outer track
SHOULD complain. That's why races starts are staggered. For example, on
a typical track, it takes 4.00 laps to go one mile on the inside lane
and 3.6 laps to go one mile in lane 8.Think about it - the distance
around a dime versus the distance around the world? The bigger the
circle, the bigger the circumference, for sure. On a track, this gets
pretty complicated to calculate, because it isn't a "circle" and so you
have to take into account the "sharpness" of the turns being different
in the different lanes and how much of the race is straight. But there
are formulas to do this and people who are into racing are VERY well
aware of the differences in distance. They use these formulas for
figuring out how far apart the racers are when they start a race - how
staggered the starting points are in the different lanes will be
different depending on the length of the race.

-pam

[email protected]

But it is longer. The circumference of a larger oval (or circle) is greater than that of a smaller oval (or circle).

In races, like the Olympics, they stagger starting and ending points because of this.

Is this a TV show? I've never heard of it (we don't have cable, though) but I do like watching shows and finding the errors.... ;-)

Dar

-- SandraDodd@... wrote:
>>> One thing
Holly's shown everyone in our family is when one of the real-life characters
complains that they put her on the outside track in a race, and that wasn't
fair, so she runs around the outer AND the inner uncomfortably bent over
pushing a measuring wheel to prove it's longer than the others, and ends up
showing the kids that it's not longer. <g>>>>

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/12/2005 9:45:21 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
pamsoroosh@... writes:

It is longer, though, of course. And the person on the outer track
SHOULD complain. That's why races starts are staggered.


Right. She ran the marked courses from the staggered starting lines to show
they were the same distance.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]