Math

Math texts try to make math more appealing and fun for students as they learn math facts. When I searched for math textbooks I focused on this criterion. I selected books that seem appealing for students, these books are either colorful, they contain many illustrations, the have different font styles and sizes. When texts are appealing it makes it more interesting for students which makes the students want to read the book for fun. Having appealing and interesting math books in my classroom library can help students who struggle with math or the ones who have a negative attitude towards math get more involved and interesting in the subject. Also, as I selected my books, I looked for the ones that are appropriate for the reading and math level my students are at. Since we want our students to have a positive experience towards reading and math it's important to select texts that are at their level otherwise they will find the text too hard to read and will become frustrating for them. In my classroom I plan to use these books for read-aloud and shared readings.

David M. Schwartz. (1985) How Much Is A Million? New York : Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books

 Grade level in which text is considered complex:

• Third & Fourth

Grade level for class read-aloud:

• First & Second

 The main theme discussed in this book is to get students to build a sense of how much is a thousand, how much is a million, how much is a billion, and how much is a trillion. This book uses real life examples to help students build a sense of how big these numbers are. It contains lots of illustrations which are very colorful and appealing. This book helps students conceptualize and most importantly visualize how much is a million. At the end of the book, all the calculations have been made showing step-by-step and explaining how they were able to calculate how big /much is a thousand, how much is a million, how much is a billion, and how much is a trillion. The book is guided by a wizard named Marvelosissimo which makes it interesting for kids to read about the wizard explain these concepts.

Stephen R Swinburne, (2000). What’s a Pair? What’s a Dozen? Honesdale, Pa. : Boyds Mill Press.

 Grade level in which text is considered complex:

• Second & Third

Grade level for read aloud:

• Kindergarten & First

This is a well-designed picture book, it contains photographs of children jumping over a ball, riding a bicycle, eating ice-cream cones or playing in a group illustrating a specific number or word. This book contains terms such as, single, double, triple, couple, several, few, many, and a dozen.  Also, it contains prefixes such as, uni, bi, and tri. This is a book I will use in my classroom during a read-aloud since it contains questions throughout the book which I can discuss with my students as I read the book to them.