picture books for math class

As I finish out the year with a plethora pf picture books, I thought I would point out some that would work well in other content areas. Here are two that are excellent for inclusion in math classes.



PERIMETER, AREA, AND VOLUME: A MONSTER BOOK OF DIFFERENCES by David Adler with illustrations by Edward Miller (Holiday House 2012) provides a terrific introduction to the concepts of dimensions and the mathematical terms that describe different dimensions. Making concepts more concrete with picture books allows readers who are still not able to think abstractly a scaffold by which they might begin to grasp these concepts. <670>





ZERO THE HERO by Joan Holub with illustrations by Tom Lichtenheld (Holt 2012) is a funny story about how zero feels outcast from the other numbers. They tease him until one day they discover that without him they cannot perform some of their mathematical functions. Zero comes to the rescue when the other numbers are captured by Roman Numerals. Lots of good humor here to make for a fun lesson or two in math class. <671>