Bibliography
There are a variety of books that I will use to help prepare me to teach this curriculum unit.
Student Resources
Anno, Mitsumasa. (1995). Anno's Magic Seeds. New York: Philomel Books.
A wizard gives Jack two golden seeds and directs him to eat one and bury the other. He promises it will grow and give 2 more magic seeds in the fall. Jack does as he is told, and the cycle repeats for a number of years, until Jack decides to bury both seeds. The tale of exponential growth is discovered as Jack buries more and more seeds. The math tale becomes even more rigorous as Jack marries, has a child, begins to store some seeds and sell others... until a hurricane wipes out the crops and Jack must begin all over again.
Axelrod. Amy. (1994). Pigs will be Pigs: Fun with Math and Money. New York: Simon
and Schuster Books for Young Readers.
After gobbling up all the groceries, Mr. Pig, Mrs. Pig and their two piglets are hungry again, but the Piggy bank is empty. The Pigs turn their house upside down looking for spare change so that they can go out to dinner. Readers are meant to keep a tally of the dimes and nickels the Pigs locate. Finally, after finding a grand total of $34.67, the Pigs spend almost all of it at a Mexican restaurant and readers can calculate the tab by reading a menu.
Burns, Marilyn. (1997). Spaghetti and Meatballs for All: A Mathematical Story. New
York: Scholastic.
Mrs. and Mr. Comfort are throwing a dinner party for their family. They find out there will be 32 people. They arrange 8 tables with 4 chairs each. The problem arises when the families begin to arrive and want to sit together. They begin pushing the tables together to make one big table. As more and more guests arrive, the families continue to rearrange the tables so everyone can sit together. Of course throughout this time Mrs. Comfort is getting very distraught because she knows that if the tables are pushed together there will not be a seat for everyone. The story continues with more arrangements of the tables until eventually the tables start being pulled apart as the rest of the family arrives. In the end the tables again end up as 8 tables with 4 chairs each, just as Mrs. Comfort had originally set.
Demi. (1997). One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale. New York: Scholastic.
It's the story of Rani, a clever girl who outsmarts a very selfish raja and saves her village. When offered a reward for a good deed, she asks only for one grain of rice, doubled each day for 30 days. That's lots of rice: enough to feed a village for a good long time—and to teach a greedy raja a lesson.
Lewis, J. Patrick. (2002). Arithmetickle: An Even Number of Odd Riddle-Rhymes. San
Diego: Harcourt.
This book offers a variety of clever math riddles with titles like "Finger Play" (which teaches a nifty trick for multiplying by nine) and "Your Average Cow," which asks kids to compare bovine and human life expectancies. Answers appear (upside-down) below each entry.
Neuschwander, Cindy. (1999). Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi. Watertown,
MA: Charlesbridge.
Covers the number pi through a story in which Sir Cumference drinks a magic potion that turns him into a dragon and only the magic number pi can transform him back.
_____(1997). Sir Cumference and the First Round Table. Watertown,
MA: Charlesbridge.
Explores the topic of taking a rectangular table, which is too long and difficult for everyone seated to see and hear each other, and forming it into various shapes to find the ideal shape for the knights to sit and meet.
_____(2001). Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland. Watertown,
MA: Charlesbridge.
Radius uses a circular family medallion to discover angles and ultimately the use of a protractor.
_____(2006). Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter. Watertown,
MA: Charlesbridge.
Covers the topics of area and perimeter.
_____(2003). Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone. Watertown,
MA: Charlesbridge.
Simulates the story of King Arthur and implements elements of geometry to solve the riddle.
Teacher Resources
Burns, Marilyn. (2000). About Teaching Mathematics. 2nd ed. Sausalito, CA: Math
Solutions Publications. A good K-8 book that has good lessons and strategies.
Carpenter, Thomas P., Fennema, Elizabeth, Franke, Megan Loef, Levi, Linda, &
Empson, Susan B. (1999). Children's Mathematics: Cognitively Guided
Instruction. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. An excellent book that provides a wonderful structure as to what encompasses addition and subtraction problems.
Hyde, Arthur. (2006). Comprehending Math. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. An excellent book that uses reading strategies to teach math.
Lampert, Magdalene. (2001). Teaching Problems and the Problems of Teaching. New
Haven: Yale University Press. This book provides a wonderful insight into the problems of teaching word problems and ways to solve those problems.
Ma, Liping. (1999) Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. A very good insight into how the Chinese teach math and why their students score higher on math tests than other countries.
National Research Council. (2005). Helping Children Learn Mathematics. Washington
DC: National Academy Press. A well written short booklet that is an easy read that has good strategies to help children learn math.
Russell, Susan Jo and Economopoulos, Karen (1998) Investigations: Mathematical
Thinking at Grade 3.Glenview, IL Scott Foresman. A terrific teachers guide that promotes cooperative learning and fun math games that help with number sense.
Vandewalle, John A. (1994). Elementary School Mathematics: Teaching
Developmentally. 2nd ed. New York: Longman. An excellent book that is primarily used as a college text book. It has wonderful strategies and lessons.
(2005) Singapore Math Series: Workbook and Textbook Primary Mathematics 3A and
Primary Mathematics 6A. Singapore. Times Media Private Limited. Chinese textbooks that are reprinted for the U.S. that scaffolds mathematical concepts.
http://facultyweb.cortland.edu/ andersmd/metacog.html A website that deals with the reading strategy of metacognition.
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