Living Math Book List: Fiction for (almost) every math concept

Happy New Year!!  You may have noticed…I took a tech break for the holidays!  There may not have been an abundance of posts and sharing happening, but I was still collecting away and have more resources than ever to share in 2012.  Thank you all for making my 2011 such a wonderful year to be a part of!

What it is:  You know what I love?  Reading and books. Particularly fiction.  Living Math Book List is a fantastic site that introduces books (mostly fiction) for every math concept (okay, almost every math concept!).  The site is SO easy to use, just click on the “Search categories” tab and choose the math topic your students are working on.  A list of books with links to Amazon is at the ready.  The site is being updated regularly so new books pop into the different categories on occasion.  Isn’t it great to stumble on a new jem-of-a-book that you can use in your classroom? I love teaching through story, and Living Math Book List makes it easy to bring stories into your math class.  Including books in math gives students who struggle with math concepts a new vantage point and understanding.  It makes math meaningful by showing students why they learn the math concepts they do and how math really is all around us.  You have to love that!  Topics include: addition, angles, area, calendars, capacity, combinations, comparisons, counting, skip counting, data collection, division, doubling numbers, equal sets, equations, estimation, even/odd, fractions, graphing, making predictions, matching, measurement, metrics, money, multiplication, negative numbers, opposites, ordinal numbers, patterns, percentages, perimeter, place value, positional words, probability, problem solving, proportions, ratio, reading a schedule, regrouping, rounding, sequences, shapes, sizes, sorting, subtraction, symmetry, time, and weight.  So yeah, something for everyone!
How to integrate Living Math Book List into the classroom:  As I said, I am a big fan of reading and books.  Any time you can tie learning back to story is a win in my book.  Use the books you find on Living Math Book List to introduce new concepts, to enrich students interaction with a concept, as a launching point for writing their own math-related fiction, or just to expose students to a new way of thinking about the math they are learning.  The books make a great classroom read-aloud or can be used as a math center during a unit.
At Anastasis Academy, we made sure to have plenty of these types of math books available to students during silent reading.  They really enjoy reading them with a partner and pointing out the math concepts they recognize along the way.

Tips: Embed the link to Living Math Book List on your class website or blog, this will make it easy for you, and your students, to find math-related books any time.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Living Book List in  your classroom!

Math Snacks


math snacks logo

What it is: Math Snacks is my new favorite teaching resource for math!  Math Snacks are animated videos and games that help students understand math concepts.  Each “snack” offers a math concept that students can learn, review, and practice.  The snacks are available online or can be accessed for free on a mobile device like the iPhone or iPod.  The snacks focus on math concepts that are appropriate for 5th-8th grade.  Print materials are available that can be used to help students in applying their conceptual understanding to math problems.  Concepts on Math Snacks include ratios, proportions, scale, number line properties, equality and order on the number line, tables, graphs, measurement, and equations.


How to integrate Math Snacks into the classroom: Math Snacks is a fun way for students to visualize difficult to understand math concepts.  There are short humorous videos that demonstrate the math concept in action.  These videos can be viewed as an introduction to a new concept or as practice and review of learning.  The videos can be paused for class discussion about the concept and for solving of problems.  All videos are available for viewing online and can be downloaded to an iPod.  Some of the iPod downloads also include subtitles.  Each video also comes with a learner and teacher guide.  Print these guides to direct you in discussion throughout the video and activities.


Tips: A huge THANK YOU to @summersj who introduced me to Math Snacks via Twitter!


Leave a comment and share how you are using Math Snacks in your classroom.