Math Curse

Math Curse

Author: John Scieszka                 

Illustrator: Lane Smith

Publisher: Penguin, 1995

Readability Lexile: 4-8 (Amazon's opinion- I would use it up to 5th Grade)

Children's Picture Book

Summary:  This enticing tale takes you on an adventure of math in everyday life.  A student is told by their teacher that math is everywhere and by the time they get home there are equations all around.  From simple algebra to probability this enlightening book goes through the day of a student consumed by the thought of math.  They look at the simple task of getting ready as a math problem in algebra of how to calculate the appropriate time spent doing all the tasks they need to get done before going to the bus in relation to when the bus will arrive.  By the end of the book even in the students sleep they are dreaming in numbers and finally receive some reprieve by "putting everything into a fraction."  This hilarious story then ends with another large statement by the teacher of, "Everything can be seen as a science experiment."  In my opinion students up to 5th Grade would enjoy this book.

Evaluation:  This is a great book and provides students with the opportunity to read and discuss concepts and bringing in a story on math and math problems would be a great way to group reading and math together.  It is an easy to read book with amazing illustrations and concept questions they can tie into their math class.  It is a time book as well and goes through one full day and is a good example for students who are starting to write their own stories.

*While I understand we as educators are not supposed to "hate" any particular subject, if I had to pick one that I strongly dislike it would be math.  I loved how the confusion set in after one simple statement by an authority figure which changed the students perspective in an instant.  I believe it is important to realize that our students can run with any idea that we may not even remember saying and to speak carefully in the classroom.  I also enjoyed that this student did not have a gender.  I found I immediately labeled the student as a him but there was no specific gender to the character.  I also like that it shows off how imaginative and smart our students are and how functional this subject of math is.  The functionality and above comments made it high quality literature in my opinion.

*I found a great sight with a lesson plan for Fifth Grade math:
http://alex.state.al.us/lesson_view.php?id=1711

Duck on a Bike

Duck on a Bike

Author & Illustrator: David Shannon
Publisher: Blue Sky Press, 2002

Summary:  This humorous story takes place on a farm and includes all the main animal families.  The duck takes on a task of learning to ride a bike all by himself and shows off to all of his friends.  The cat thinks its unnecessary for a duck to ride a bike, the cow thinks the duck is being silly and the rest of the animal families generate their own thoughts on this goofy picture of a duck riding a bike.  After the idea of animals riding a bike has been introduced and a group of kids leave their bikes outside after whizzing by duck, all the animals are able to enjoy a ride on their own bike.

*After reading this fun story I couldn't help but picture myself in a classroom and having the students help with all of the fun animal sounds.  This story would open up such a fun discussion about if the students ride bikes, if they could ever teach one of their animal friends to ride or if they believe this is a fiction book.  I would use this in the younger grades being K-1.  It helps to teach dialogue and introduce the idea of color and fun with the beautiful illustrations.  David Shannon continues the silliness and even keeps his animals themes throughout most if his books with the duck being the troublemaker.  My favorite part was at the very end where you see duck eying a tractor on the last page!

Testing Miss Malarkey

Testing Miss Malarkey

Author: Judy Finchler                                              Illustrator: Kevin O'Malley

Publisher: Walker Publishing Company, Inc.            Date of Publication: 2000

Summary:

This story is told from a child's perspective of the craziness and havoc that come with standardized testing in schools.  The young boy is in Miss Malarkey's class and notices the "grown-ups" in his life are acting quite strange.  THE TEST is coming and not only is his classroom teacher looking a little ragged but his mom is packing protein bars in his lunch, the lunch lady is serving a ridiculous amount of fish and his principle is literally about to lose the hair off his head.  In the end, the normalcy of the students life returns while the teachers celebrate the results of THE TEST.

*I truly enjoyed this book! With all of the testing that is happening this spring you can see the tenseness come into our classrooms with all of us older folks trying to get the students prepared.  This is a fun, light way to discuss this daunting TEST in the classroom.  The most relate-able sections of this book were all of the descriptions of what THE TEST does to the adults in this students life.  His teacher isn't getting enough sleep and is trying to incorporate test materials any way she can into her class while constantly reminding the students this test isn't graded but still to do their best.  The gym teacher is trying to get the students to relax and learn some yoga techniques to "release the mind" and the lunch lady believes everyone needs a truckload of fish to do well with the testing.  This story plays on what we generally define as the main roles in the schools we grew up in: teacher, student, parent, lunch lady, janitor, principal, etc.  I also found a fun, short lesson plan that may relieve some of the craziness associated with all of these big TESTS that have little to no meaning to the students and are truly more of an assessment for the district and school.

Link to lesson plan for Testing Miss Malarkey:
http://www.spokenartsmedia.com/StudyGuides/Testing%20Miss%20Malarkey.pdf