Connecting Literature and Mathematics

1. A Perfect Match Connecting Literature and Mathematics “Let’s travel by miles,” advised the Humbug. “It’s shorter.” “Let’s travel by half inches,” suggested Milo. “It’s quicker.” -The Phantom Tollbooth

2. Literature gives math meaning. • The combination of mathematics and literature allows children to discover mathematical concepts in a meaningful context. Math learning becomes more personal. • Stories present mathematical investigations which are interesting, exciting, and motivating to students.

3. Define order in the world Classify Solve problems Discover relationships Create patterns          

4. Myth Truth Math is something you do in a math book. Math is a way of thinking about the world.

5. Myth Truth Math is not a part of anything else. Math is an integral part of living.

6. Myth Truth Math is looking down at your paper. Math is a vehicle for looking up and looking out at our world.

7. Myth Truth Math always involves using your pencil. Math involves sharing stories and discussing ideas.

8. Myth Truth Math only involves numbers. Math involves reasoning, communicating, measuring, and thinking geometrically.

9. Myth Truth Math is answering questions very quickly. Math is mulling over ideas and making personal connections.

10. Myth Truth Math is the teacher standing at the board. Math is the teacher working as a collaborative learner.

11. Myth Truth Math is not something you should enjoy. Math is intrinsically rewarding.

12. Myth Truth Math is turning pages and completing a long list of problems Math is turning out our own stories and posing our own problems.

13. Myth Truth Math doesn’t involve any guessing; it is about getting the right answers. Math involves a lot of messing around; sometimes there are multiple solutions or no solution at all.

14. Could you have tea for two without the two – or three blind mice without the three? Would there be four corners of the earth if there weren’t four? And how could you sail the seven seas without a seven? -The Phantom Tollbooth

15. Time to read Time to talk Time to share Time to do

16. Suggestions for using literature • Read a story uninterrupted. • Read a story several times. • Ask broad questions about the story. • Respond to the stories through activities.

17. Marilyn Burns’ Reasons To Connect Children’s literature provides a meaningful context for mathematics. Children’s literature celebrates mathematics as a language. Children’s literature demonstrates that mathematics develops out of human experience. Children’s literature addresses humanistic, affective elements of mathematics. Children’s literature integrates mathematics into other curriculum areas. Children’s literature restores an aesthetic dimension to mathematical learning.

18. And Most Importantly…. Children’s literature fosters the development of number sense. Children’s literature supports the art of problem posing.

19. Sample Lesson Structure Read the story. Share ideas. Discuss problems. Read the story. Begin an activity. Process the activity. Read the story.

20. If a small car carrying three people at thirty miles an hour for ten minutes along a road five miles long at 11:35 in the morning starts at the same time as three people who have been traveling in a little automobile at twenty miles an hour for fifteen minutes on another road exactly twice as long as one half the distance of the other, while a dog, a bug, and a boy travel an equal distance in the same time or the same distance in an equal time along a third road in mid-October, then which one arrives first and which is the best way to go? -The Phantom Tollbooth

21. Myths and truths from It’s the Story That Counts, by Marilyn Burns.