Guest blogger - Coding, Ed Tech and Making: Some new reads

Today's blog is written by my colleague, Paula Hollohan, the Doucette Library's Instructional Technologies and Information Specialist.  She's just refreshed herself by browsing through some of the Doucette Library's recent additions. Her focus is on books with a strong connection to STEM topics.

By Paula Hollohan

Even though I work full time in a library, it seems the minutes I get to spend with new books must be intentional and sometimes a bit rushed.  I would love to curl up in a chair with a cart of books beside me to savour new samplings for the collection.

As things are unusually quiet on the desk today, I can take a moment to look at what is new and cool in the areas that I spend the most time with.

My favourite book of the new batch is The Girl with a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague, written by Julia Finley Mosca and illustrated by Daniel Rieley.  

The subject of this nonfiction picture book is Raye Montague, one of the many hidden figures whose innovation changed the way navy ships are built.  She overcame exceptional odds being a black woman in the 1950s to design, in 1971, the FFG-7 Frigate.  Using her own computer programs, she completed the design of the frigate in 18 hours and 26 minutes.  The accompanying notes, bibliography and time line, all contribute to the wealth of information in this book.  The big problem I have with it is that it is written in verse.  What a shame.  The story would stand better is some well-written prose to showcase the power of her accomplishments.  This book can be included in classrooms up to grade 6 as students learn how to write biographical information, consider time lines of famous people, and collect biographic research about historical figures and just for students to ponder the strength and tenaciousness of this intelligent woman.

Doll-E 1.0 by Shanda McCloskey would be a great book to have in your classroom.

From grades K-3, girls will recognize the pressure (sometimes from parents) to play with dolls but our main character, Charlotte, incorporates her “making” into traditional play.  Charlotte is a maker and a tinkerer.  Although her house seems full of opportunities for her to indulge her maker imagination, Charlotte’s mother gives her a doll.  Just a doll.  It says “mama.”  As Charlotte puts her mind to it, knowing that a doll who talks must also have a power supply, she unleashes her “making” and inventions and innovations ensue.

Two books have recently come in that would be great “browsers” to have in your classroom to spur students on to learn about innovative ideas.

Engineered!Engineering Design at Work: A fun exploration of nine amazing feats by Shannon Hunt and James Gulliver Hancock looks at 9 different amazing feats of engineering from the following fields: aerospace, biomedical, chemical, mechanical, electrical, civil, geomatics, computer and environmental engineering.  Examples like the Millau Viaduct, a traffic problem solving bridge that was built on time and on budget and solved a major traffic issue in France.  The innovative design is an engineering feat and a work of art. 

InnovationNation: How Canadian innovators made the world …smarter, smaller, kinder,safer, healthier, wealthier, happier by David Johnston and Tom Jenkins, illustrated by Josh Holinaty would also provide a great browsing experience in any classroom.  Pages 124-125 give a two page spread on “How you can be an innovator,”  listing ways to inquire, ideate, incubate and implement ideas and what steps to take within each action to be the best innovator ever.  I also loved reading about the invention and pick up of JAVA script and the plastic garbage bad and something known as the “shrouded tuyere,” a way to stir steel invented by Robert Lee who came up with the idea after tooting in the bathtub.  Innovation is everywhere.  Both these books would be valuable in middle grades.

And now about that edict to have your students coding from k-12.  There are some easy ways to get students coding in your classroom but what if one of the ways was to read a picture book.  How to Code a Sandcastle by Josh Funk, illustrated by Sara Palacios is not an excellent picture book but does present the ideas and vocabulary that are foundational in coding and anchors it to a familiar activity, building a sandcastle.  Look for working definitions of sequence, loops, and “if-then-else” statements.  Having one of these books in your collection is plenty and this one does the job.  Keep this one to the early grades.

Get Coding! LearnHTML, CSS, and JAVAscript and build a website, app and game by Young Rewired State is an attractive sort of book of challenges where you work through various coding recipes to make a website, app and a game.  This book would be great in a classroom where every year now you will be able to reach some of your students through these coding challenges.  Now, keep in mind, that coding books like this are awesome usually for a short time so buy it now and use it.  In September Get Coding2 is coming out and will be full of new challenges. I would say to start kids in grade 3 with these tasks and use this book through grade 9 or 10.

Sometimes when I am looking for a new approach to educational technology I fall back on an old library habit.  See what the new books look like and how can they be used to engage students in new ed tech challenges.  This list has a little something for everyone.  They will be included in the Doucette collection later this week for your use.  And I do feel a sense of renewal now that I have touched a few new books.

PBA: Pinterest board ALERT!

Just a quick reminder to everyone out there about the Doucette Library’s Pinterest page.

This page includes numerous boards that support the Alberta Education curriculum but can support any kind of teaching depending on the topic.

Here’s the link for all the boards: https://www.pinterest.ca/tflander/boards/

If you’re teaching about plant and growth and in Alberta then you’re teaching grade 4 science and you can consult this board (https://www.pinterest.ca/tflander/science-gr-4e-plant-growth-and-changes/) to see what resources the Doucette Library has to support it.  If you’re not in Alberta, I think there is enough here that would useful for others to consult, as well.

What I’ve worked on so far:

**Social studies grades 1-9;

**Science grades 1-8 (9 is coming soon);

**Math grades 1-6 organized according to board mathematical concept;

 and many topical boards based on requests from the education program’s students such as LGBTQ resources, picture books for older readers, resources for STEM, activists and activism, funny books, fractured fairy tales,  and indigenous education.

I’m sending out the reminder because I’ve just added to new boards for English language arts (ELA).  These two boards compile titles of books with strong leads or good beginnings and literary devices.  These came about because students had asked for recommendations for both of these kinds of books and as a reference librarian it’s a time consuming request. This time I decided to record the work as Pinterest boards. I’ve also asked Paula Hollohan, coworker and guest blogger, to contribute to the boards to have a couple of different points of view.

Literary devices in picture books: https://www.pinterest.ca/tflander/ela-literary-devices-in-picture-books/

Good beginnings/strong leads in juvenile literature: https://www.pinterest.ca/tflander/ela-good-beginningsleads-in-juvenile-literature/

Take a look and let me know if you have some suggestions of books to add. I’m always open to suggestions.

Today’s recommendation is Which One Doesn’t Belong? : a Shapes Book by Christopher Danielson.

It would be an interesting resource to bring into a math classroom especially when doing geometry but not necessarily only limited to mathematics. This book presents four varying shapes on a page and asks the viewer to select which one doesn’t belong.

There is no wrong answer.

Each shape has some feature that makes it distinct from the others. This promotes critical, analytical thinking and rationalizing skills as students look to justify their answers.

There is a teacher’s guide that I haven’t seen yet but the publisher’s information suggests that it will promote mathematical thinking across many grades going beyond the obvious geometry connections.

I do think the student book is quite clever in the way it gets the viewer to work through the reasoning behind their selections but then also to see how the other shapes are different in their own ways. I see this as good (and fun) practice for developing logic thinking skills.

I’m recommending this for elementary and middle grades. I have hopes that the teacher’s guide will have suggestions to use with high school students.

Perfectly illustrated information

Animals by the Numbers: a book of animal infographics by Steve Jenkins is well worth picking up for teaching both science and math for grades 2-7.

As is Steve Jenkins’ typical MO (and stated in the title) this book is all about the animal world that he finds fascinating, giving us tons of statistical information as infographics. I keep waiting to have that ‘been there, done that’ feeling when Jenkins comes out with a new book but it's yet to come. He continues to find fresh ways to introduce us to the endlessly fascinating natural world.

And what’s not to be enthralled by?

Whether he’s looking at the big picture (invertebrates vs vertebrates or the number of species such as 5,500 mammals vs 1 million species of insects) or the finer details (size, speed, life spans, heartbeats, tongue size, amount of sleep) he presents the numbers in captivating graphs and charts.  And when you’re a math-a-phob like me, that says a lot.

Steve Jenkins has an amazing ability to capture and hold the interest of his readers by looking at ranges of animals, comparing and contrasting characteristics and behaviours that illustrate just how nuanced, varied and adaptive the animal kingdom is. Comparing humans in some cases certainly may put us in our place. Compare the biomass of all the humans in the world, 350 million tons to that of all insects, 100 billion tons and you can see what I mean.

The illustrations are composed of paper cut outs and paired with various types of pie, flow and bar charts, histograms, pictograms and graphs. These representations are clear and easy to understand.  He finds ways to make each topic relatable to basic knowledge levels. For instance when comparing the loudness level between species he includes noises produced by humans too such as those from lawn mowers, chainsaws, firetrucks or jet planes. Did you know that a cicada  produces the same level as noise as a firetruck? Or, that a bulldog bat makes a sound that falls in the same range as a jet plane?

I highly recommend this addition to Steve Jenkins' body of work for any classroom.  Those interested in animals and nature will be captivated

Terrific math concept book

I’m loving How Much Does a Ladybug Weigh?by Alison Limentani.

This is a picture book for the primary grades best used in math lessons about measurement, size, counting and even patterns, to some extent.

Based on the weight of an average healthy animal, each set of pages leads us from a small animal to a slightly larger one, comparing how many of the smaller animals it takes to weigh the same as the larger animal.  For example 10 ants weigh the same as 1 ladybug. Nine ladybugs weigh the same as 1 grasshopper. Eight grasshoppers weigh the same as 1 stickleback fish. And so on until the author circles back to comparing the weight of 1 swan to 362,880 ladybugs.

The countdown has been cleverly executed and I imagine it took some research to find the animals to fit within this pattern. The end pages tell us the weights of each creature so that we too can do our own calculations. The one down side is the weights are only in imperial units and not metric.

The illustrations are attractive with bold colours and lino cut prints.

I recommend checking it out.

Pinterest : Making life a little easier

Over the last few months, I started using Pinterest quite extensively as a way to curate titles of mostly juvenile literature to correspond with the Alberta Education curriculum.

     Visit Doucette Library's profile on Pinterest.   

Just this week I worked my way through the elementary program of studies for mathematics. This was not something I had been looking forward to (some of you may remember I'm somewhat of a math-a-phobe) and rate this right up there with going to the dentist.

Anyways, trying to use the learning objectives set out in broad categories by Alberta Education (numbers, patterns & relations, shape & space, statistics & probability) was a good starting point for organizing titles but quickly became too unwieldy. I created 13 boards to avoid lists with 100s of titles.

Take a look to see how I did that : Pinterest - Doucette Library (Tammy Flanders). 

I included only books found in the Doucette Library and linked the boards to the library's catalogue.  I've included a few titles for DVDs but focused primarily on fiction and nonfiction books appropriate for students in grades 1 to 6.

**You may notice the board, Variables & Equations (Patterns and Relations), has very few titles. If you know of any resources that would fit with algebraic thinking, I would be really, really grateful if you'd let me know.  It may be that there aren't that many kids books with algebra written into the story line especially at the elementary level. Please drop me a line with your recommendations.

If you get to the Doucette Library's Pinterest page you will notice many other boards that also correspond to the Alberta Education curriculum for elementary science and social studies down to the level of every topic for every grade. 

So, if you're teaching a science unit for one of the primary grades about colour this board might have titles that would interest you as a springboard, a provocation or a resource for scaffolding this topic.

Or, maybe you're teaching social studies and looking for resources about quality of life, or the history of Alberta or democracy; there are Pinterest boards for each of these topics. 

There are a few boards that are not tied to the Alberta Education program of studies but still relevant.  These include boards for First Nations, Metis and Inuit resources that are to be included across all content areas.  You will also find boards for fiction that might make tie-ins with STEM or STEAM curriculum.  Both of these groupings are organized by grade ranges of primary (grades K-3), middle school (grades 4-8) and secondary (grades 9-12).

One last board I'd like to highlight is specific to picture books for older readers. This is a topic of interest for those student-teachers (and sometimes teachers) teaching grades 6 to 12 that often don't think about using picture books. Many of the books listed here are some of my all-time favorites because they can be used across the grades to enrich many content areas.  Interest? Click here to see what I've included.

These boards are proving useful for student-teachers when incorporating juvenile literature into their lesson plans. I invite you to check them out and let me know what you think.

Answers the question “When would I ever use this in real life?”

In this week’s blog I’d like to draw your attention to a series of books called You Do the Math.

There are four books that embed mathematics into real life situations such as designing a skyscraper or heading out into space or solving a crime or flying a jet fighter.

I think the books will initially appeal to many kids because of the topics and the graphic novel approach in telling the ‘story’. The ‘stories’ are not the best part of these books but I don’t think that was their intent.  I think the best thing about them is taking interesting situations and showing how mathematics is used in real world applications.  Each book is illustrated with a consistent narrator who accompanies the reader and poses them math questions in every two-page spread.

The questions are supposed to be answered by the reader and if they have some understanding of the concepts involved then it’s likely they will be able to answer them.  (Answers are available for each question at the back of the book.  There are no explanations as to how answers were derived.) Working with many facets of geometry, algebra, basic computation, ratios, decimals, etc. is required to solve the problems posed by our narrators.  The books don’t focus on any single mathematical topic but use whatever skill is required to answer the problem for that particular situation.

For example, when designing and building a skyscraper it’s important to know how its shape and height (number of floors) is best understood using geometry. Selecting a suitable building site requires assessing and interpreting data related to physical features of the site and coordinates. The actual building stage requires digging a foundation and determining appropriate building materials that necessitates basic computational skills.  Within the skyscraper there will be offices, apartments, restaurants, hotels and stores all having unique needs for electricity and plumbing again determined using basic computations. And so on.

Data is displayed as various charts, tables, timelines and maps requiring the skill to understand how the information is organized and then interpreting it.

All four books are written by Hilary Koll and Steve Mills and include these titles:

Design a skyscraper

Fly a jet fighter

Launch a rocket into space

Solve a crime

Bringing these volumes into a math class, grades 5-8 perhaps, would offer a different approach to teaching some of these concepts by showing a real world application. Some of the math concepts may not be familiar with students and will have to be taught.  But bringing these titles into science and STEM classrooms would also be beneficial as a way to engage students using math and in real life situations. 

It’s all relative (sizing)

If…

How big is Earth or the Solar System or the Milky Way galaxy?

How old is our planet and when did the first animals and people appear on it?

Some things are so huge or so old that it’s hard to wrap your mind around them. But what if we took these big, hard-to-imagine objects and events and compared them to things we can see, feel and touch? Instantly, we’d see our world in a whole new way.

This is the start of the introduction to If…a mind-bending new way oflooking at big ideas and numbers written by David J. Smith.  (Just a note: David J. Smith wrote If the world were a village which I adore for a lot of the same reasons I love If.)

And Smith has been stunningly clever in presenting objects and events in a highly engaging way, holding our attention and allowing us to make new connections to the natural and human world.  All those concepts that can seem too big to really get a grasp on (example: the whole 4.5 billion year history of our planet condensed into a 2 hour DVD, humans only show up for the last two seconds.  Whoa, Nelly! That puts us in our place, I’d say) become much more comprehensible.

As he did in If the world was a village, he reduces really big numbers in ways that we understand more easily.  We know exactly how long a two hour DVD is.  We know what a year feels like or an hour.  Or what 12 inches looks like or an average sized drinking glass. An on it goes.

Part of what is fascinating are the subjects that the author has focused on such as the vastness of the universe, evolution and physical attributes of the planet such as land mass and quantity of water.

Also, the appearance of humans, our activities and things that impact our quality of life are well represented here.  For example, significant events are compressed into one calendar month (31 days) and include happenings such as when Buddha, Muhammad and Jesus were born, when paper is invented in China and when enslaved Africans first come to the Americas.  On the last day of this month he includes the discovery of water on Mars in 2013.

Another example that really speaks to a current social issue is the distribution of wealth around the world.  This is illustrated with just 100 coins stacked into piles.  Here are a few of the facts: the richest 1% have 40 coins; 9% would have 45 coins; 40% would have 14 coins; and finally, 50% of the world’s population would have one coin among them to share.  Talk about keeping it real.

The last example, I’ll share is the one about our everyday lives and what we do with our time.  Based on the size of a jumbo pizza cut into 12 pieces 4 slices represents the time we spend at school or work; 4 slices represent time getting ready for bed and sleeping; 1 slice denotes time spent traveling between places including holidays; 1 slice shows how much time we spend shopping, doing household chores including caring for others; 1 slice relates to eating and preparing our food and lastly, 1 slice represents time spent on the fun stuff.

The illustrations by Steve Adams are bright, bold and clear at representing time, space, and quantities.

I would highly recommend this book for math, science and social studies classes for grades 3 to 7 and even higher.  The universe, the earth and our lives all become much more coherent when looked at through the lens of relative size.

.--. .- - - . .-. -. ...

I See a Pattern Here by Bruce Goldstone is terrific!

It’s terrific because it’s easy on the eyes, interactive and inviting, approachable, interesting and fun, giving us lots of insights into patterns.

It starts out with the basics of what makes a pattern.  Sharp, bright photographs of patterns found in nature, on fabrics, household objects, architecture, and art convey that patterns can be found anywhere.

The variations to be found between patterns are broken down and, when appropriate, translated into ‘Mathspeak’.  These are the terms used by mathematicians to describe patterns.  For example, moving or sliding a shape in a direction (left, right, up or down) from the original is called a translation. When the same shape is used over and over by changes sizes that’s called scaling.

I loved the pages that included a classic quilt pattern called the Sawtooth Star and demonstrated how colour plays a role in how elements of the pattern can pop out and become much more noticeable.  Combining colours and shapes provides almost endless arrangements.

Bruce Goldstone has done a wonderful job (like most of his books) laying out the basics and the variations to be found in pattern. This will be a very useful book in elementary math classrooms when studying patterns, symmetry and geometry. I recommend it for grades 2-6.

Oh. The dots and dashes in the title line is Morse code for the word ‘patterns’.

Reflection

Lest We Forget.

Today is November 11^th. 

It is Remembrance Day. 

Please take a moment to think of those who have served and are serving in the Armed Forces.

Today’s Recommendation.

Just a quick post about the importance of understanding the real cost of stuff and knowing where your money goes after it leaves your hot little hands.

Follow Your Money by Kevin Sylvester and Michael Hlinka explain what is money, its history and several examples of breaking down the cost of consumer goods that would be of interest to kids.

For example: Breakfast consists of bacon (estimated cost $3), eggs ($3), bread ($2) and a glass of orange juice (.50).  The breakdown includes the amount of money the producer gets with their item is purchased.  But when we the cost of what it takes to produce the item is accounted for we get to see what their actual profit is.  Take the bacon.  A consumer pays $3 for the bacon.  The farmer gets $1.  But factor in the cost of buying and feeding the pig and the cost of running the farm, the farmer only makes about 10 cents.

Other examples that break down the real cost good included items used in school, clothes and shoes, jewellery, gas/fuel, transportation (car vs. bus), food, entertainment and various pieces of technology.  As you can see a real range of items and activities.

I like that they included many aspects that are hidden or that we just don't know about when in comes to producing, distributing and consuming goods.  Who knew that the ink in computer printing cartridges works out to be "more expensive - by weight- than the same amount of gold" . (p.29)  What I didn't see were costs related to transportation or waste.

A few additional online resources are listed to follow up.

The information isn't too dense and very accessible for students in middle school.

Nonfiction Monday and …

Today’s Nonfiction Monday event is being hosted here.  Please stop by the other blogs listed below that feature reviews about nonfiction children’s literature.

 Bloggers, please  leave a message in the comments.  I'll add each posting as the day progresses. Thank you for participating in today's event.

Nature + Numbers = 1 Fascinating Book

 It would be easy to see Lifetime: the amazing numbers in animals lives by Lola M. Schafer as another science/nature/animal book.

But it’s even better to think of it as a science/math book that uses facts about particular characteristics (behaviours or features) of animals and how many times something will occur for that animal within an average lifespan.

Here are a few of my favourites:

*Mountain caribou will grow a new set of antlers 10 times over the course of its life.

*A male seahorse will be responsible for producing 1,000 baby seahorses over its lifetime.

*And, over the lifetime of a giant swallowtail butterfly, it will sip the nectar of about 900 flowers.

Each animal is featured on a 2-page spread that also shows the 10 sets of antlers, 1,000 baby seahorses and 900 flowers.  (I didn't count these last ones and I'm OK with trusting the illustrator on these points.)

The mathematical aspect of the book is marked in a few ways.  The book starts with the number one.  “In one lifetime this spider will spin 1 papery egg sac.”  It moves onto the 10 sets of antlers grown by caribou.  Next, we learn that alpacas grow 10 different fleeces over their lifetimes.  And, on it goes with each animal featured with a progressively larger number of occurrences, characteristics or behaviours over its lifetime.

Background information about each animal and the basic equation the author used to work out her statistics is provided here.  This is where I learned that mountain caribou travel as far south as Washington, Idaho and Montana from British Columbia, Canada.  I did not know that, and thought they stuck to northern latitudes.  Also, on average, a caribou lives 8 to 12 years and is 2 years old when it grows its first set of antlers.  Thus, 12 years for lifespan – 2 years for maturity = 10 years for antler production.  10 years for antler shedding x 1 set per year = 10 sets altogether.

The statistics for the seahorse are more involved but tell you that over the average lifespan of a seahorse in the wild, 1 ½ years, they birth a lot of babies every few months to average the 1,000 baby seahorses mentioned above.

The author includes an easy to understand explanation of what an average is and how she came up with her numbers for each animal.

The author’s fascination with numbers is apparent and applying them to the lives of the animals she wanted to learn more about is explained well. She takes us through the thrill of discovering that an American lobster will sheds its exoskeleton on average 80 times with most of this shedding occurring in the first year of its life.  She presents a couple of ‘word problems’ for kids to work through themselves to figure out how many times an armadillo will roll into a ball and how many scorplings will a Florida bark scorpion produce over their lifespan.

A terrific book with lots of interesting facts gathered and presented in a cross-disciplinary way that will work in elementary classrooms.

So, here's today's line for Nonfiction Monday:

Supratentorial
Three Cybil nominations are featured here today - When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill, Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America’s Heart by Julie Cummins , and Electrical Wizard: How Nikola Tesla Lit Up the World by Elizabeth Rusch.

Jean Little Library
A historical book entitled, The Port Chicago 50 by Steve Sheinkin is a tough story to read about but well worth reading for middle grades.

Stacking Books
Revisit fairy tales with fresh eyes with Grumbles from the Forest poems by Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich.

Perogies & Gyoza
Check out another book from the Scientists in the Field series, Dolphins of Shark Bay by Pamela Turner. 

Sally's Bookshelf
Another dolphin book is featured here, Eight Dolphins of Katrina: A True Tale of Survival by Janet Wyman Coleman

Booktalking
Army Special Forces: Elite Operations by Patricia Newman is today's featured book.

Prose and Kahn
For the Good of Mankind: the Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation by Vicki Oransky Wittenstein is being recommended for high school or advanced readers in middle school for this intense sounding look at doctors and scientists using humans as test subjects.

True Tales & a Cherry On Top
The Tree Lady: the True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopking looks like an fascinating biography. 

Gathering Books 
 Check out a 1800s classic, The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast by William Plomer, illustrated by Alan Aldridge with nature notes by Richard Fitter.

Picking out Patterns

Just a quick recommendation today for A-B-A-B-A- a Book of Pattern Play by Brian Cleary (516.15 ClA 2010 PIC BK).

A short book appropriate for primary grades that looks at what makes a pattern. It presents various situations with repeating letters, colours, or objects moving into number patterns.  Numbers are introduced with 1, 2, 3 and moves into skip counting by 2s and 3s.

The patterns are simple to follow with the help of the text. I found the rhyming text unnecessary but kids may think it fun.

Illustrations are brightly colourful with cartoony cats demonstrating with the patterns.

A great title to bring in for primary mathematics.

Stop by Wrapped in Foil for today's Nonfiction Monday event to find more great nonfiction children's literature.

Math resource

Here’s a quick recommendation for Seeing Symmetry by Loreen Leedy.

This picture book explains the basics about line and rotational symmetry providing just enough information to explain what these are without being overwhelming.

The illustrations are clear and easily illustrate whatever point she’s writing about.  There are lots of examples of symmetry taken from both the natural world as well as those items that are produced by humans.

Line symmetry is taught in grade 4 math in Alberta and I think this book will be very useful for this level.  Rotational symmetry is taught in grade 9 and this book will not likely appeal to this age group.

Good addition for classroom collections that use picture books in math.

Just two out of a million?

Okay, I know there’s likely not a million books about number size.  But here are a couple.

How Big is a Million? By Anna Milbourne and Serena Riglietti (513.211 MiH 2008 PIC BK) is a very sweet picture book about a baby penguin’s quest to ‘see’ how much a million is.   He learns that 10 fish is a lot but a million is much, much more.  Then he learns that even though a 100 or a 1000 are also big numbers, a million is much, much more.  But Mama Penguin has the answer to his question and when the reader opens up the larger poster at the back of the book, we too can see a million stars in the night sky.  I can’t imagine trying to count every single little speck on this poster, yet I’m sure there will be a few kids out there who will try.  Though the illustrations are very cute and the premise is clear, there really isn’t much of a narrative for this picture book.  Suggested for kindergarten to grade 2.

Big Numbers and Pictures that Show Just How Big They Are! by Edward Packard (513.5 PaB 2000) though also about big numbers, extends the premise way beyond a mere million to a quadrillion.  I love how the size of the number is illustrated with peas – 1 pea on a dinner plate, 10 peas on a dinner plates, 1000 peas fills a dinner plate, 1 million peas covers the kitchen table, 1 billion peas fills a house, one trillion fills a neighbourhood, etc.  Lots of humour as you might expect with this one, plus little asides that compare aspects of a particular big number like 10 billion bacteria could fit in a drop of water or that a 100 million years ago there were dinosaurs.  I would use this one with kids in grades 3 to 6.

Two other quick recommendations are How Much is a Million? by David Schwartz (513.2 ScH 1985 PIC BK) and A Million Dots by Andrew Clements (513.2 ReeM 2006 PIC BK) both for a similar age group kindergarten to grade 3 or 4.

Today is Nonfiction Monday.  Go to Simply Science Blog to see this week's roundup.

Joining the bandwagon

Swirl by swirl: spirals in nature by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beth Krommes  (811 SiSp 2011 PIC BK) is getting a fair amount of attention from bloggers in the world of children’s literature.  It’s well deserved, too.  Both the author and illustrator are award winners for prior books (Dark Emperor and other poems and The house in the night, respectively).

This is a beautifully composed poem and a sumptuously illustrated book that invites the reader to look closely at the natural world.

Spirals are multipurpose forms that occur over and over again in nature, from animals that curl tightly while they hibernate, to expanding swirls of fern fronds or the shells of a nautilus, to the strong, protective spirals of rams’ horns, snail shells or a rolled up hedgehog, to powerfully moving currents of water and air.  The author’s fascination with spirals is further elucidated at the back of the book (she sees them  as both practical and beautiful) as is its classroom application.

Swirl by swirl is a lovely poetry book but it can be used in a lesson about patterns and shapes.
  Bring  in

 

Growing patterns: Fibonacci numbers in nature by Sarah Campbell (512.72 CAG 2010 PIC BK) or

A star in my orange: looking for nature’s shapes by Dana Meachen Rau (516.1 RAS 2002 PIC BK) for complementary pairings in math or science.  If you have access to the Doucette Library collection, look for the ammonite specimen (564.53 AM 2006 A/V) or the pine cone kit (512.72 Fi 2011 A/V) for real life examples of natural spirals.

I would recommend this book for all ages because it’s so beautiful but it will work very well with primary grade students.

Got numbers?

I totally underestimated City Numbers by Joanne Schwatz, pictures by Matt Beam (513.5 ScS 2011 PIC BK). Going in, I thought this was just another counting book with pictures from a cityscape. That’s okay, I just didn’t have high expectations. Then I kind of went “grrr…” when I found out that Library and Archives of Canada gave it a subject heading ‘Toronto (Ont.) Pictorial works’ because all the pictures were taken in Toronto. Strike two! (Maybe you have to be from Canada (and not Toronto) to understand my “grrr…”. Anyhow…)


I really, really liked this book.


Yes, it is a counting book starting with zero (or 000 to be more precise) going up to twenty. But there are some unexpected inclusions as well. We get fractions, decimals, percents, and ordinals of numbers, too. The last number in the book, 062336212021, was included because it “so much more fun” than 21.

The photographs are the prize here. There is a random feel in the selection of pictures chosen to illustrate each number. Many of them are not ‘pretty’ pictures but rather depict the wear and tear of everyday life in a big city. Paint peels from signs, metal rusts, and other numbers are slightly obscured because they are faded or snow-covered. The numbers come from packaging, advertisements, signs, addresses, sidewalk/ground markings, and many other locales that we city dwellers are most often oblivious to. This selection of pictures - these seemingly no-nothing photos - take on a whole different meaning when compiled together. Context is everything here.

This is not the book you’re going to bring to a kindergarten class to teach counting. There are math connections but for older kids.  Consider using this book at higher grade levels. Its real impact will be as an art book. This is the kind of book that will act as inspiration and model for students to look more closely at their surroundings and create for themselves, a book like City Numbers.