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!
I am very excited about trying the Living Math Books. I currently use some math books in my classroom to introduce new skills or ideas. The use of technology is very important to me in my classroom, so I am always looking for new things to try.