Suppose that Alice had fallen into a wonderland where pasta was the only common denominator. In this clever parody of Lewis Carroll's classic tale, Alexandra Wright presents a mathematically aware Alice whose adventures are an appetizing combination of numbers, humor, and fun. With the Math Hatter dishing it up, the Adder using his noodle, and the Quantum Cat adding spice, arithmetic is full of pastabilities.
Enzo is the son of a great magician, however unlike his father, his spells create chaos instead of order. What really interests Enzo, more than books about magic, are books by and about the lives of famous physicists and astronomers like Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler. Enzo dreams not of becoming a magician, but a mathematician instead. When Tessel, the village shoemaker, is called upon to make twelve identical shoes out of only one piece of leather, Aida, the shoemaker’s sister, goes to Enzo’s father for some magic to help her brother. With Enzo’s father out of town at a magic convention, it’s up to Enzo to help Aida and Tessel out of their predicament. A spell snafu leads Enzo and Aida to a method of forming patterns without gaps or overlaps, and they discover that math, not magic, may be the answer to their problem. Sharon Morisette’s accessible text introduces readers to the concept of tessellations, while Philomena O’Neill’s illustrations offer a clear visual to what tiling is—children will enjoy finding the tessellations hidden throughout the images. Back matter includes a glossary and notes about tessellations, Galileo, and Kepler.
One little girl and one very big dollar set out on a great adventure at the store. However, what seems like a pleasant afternoon of shopping soon turns perplexing as the challenge of her buying options becomes overwhelming. She doesn't know what to do. There are so many choices, but she only has one buck. A fun and perfect example of how we use math in our daily lives.
Grounded in theory and best-practices research, this practical text provides teachers with 40 strategies for using fiction and non-fiction trade books to teach in five key content areas: language arts and reading, social studies, mathematics, science, and the arts. Each strategy provides everything a teacher needs to get started: a classroom example that models the strategy, a research-based rationale, relevant content standards, suggested books, reader-response questions and prompts, assessment ideas, examples of how to adapt the strategy for different grade levels (K–2, 3–5, and 6–8), and ideas for differentiating instruction for English language learners and struggling students. Throughout the book, student work samples and classroom vignettes bring the content to life.
