Thanksgiving Math Read-A-Loud

Counting books are a quick fun way to bring reading and math together.  This month's Math Read-A-Loud is a quick read and can be done when you have a few spare minutes before your next activity.  Five Silly Turkeys counts down from five as the turkeys do silly things that make them disappear from the scene.  You can have the students count down along a Number Path as each turkey leaves the scene.  Or as you read the book, have the kids show the number of turkeys using the fingers on one hand.  The book tells the kids how many turkeys are left, as will the number of fingers they still have up on their hand, but have conversations as you go through the book about how many turkeys are gone from the original group.  If they have their fingers up on one hand, the fingers that are "down" on that hand show how many turkeys are gone.

Additional Activities:

• Build paper turkeys...have each child roll three dice, the sum of which determines how many paper feathers to add to their turkeys.
• Use these Turkey Subitizing Cards and have the kids find a card that shows how many turkeys are left in each scene.
• Build math into snack time!  Have the kids build these cute Cupcake Turkeys by having them count out the number of feathers, eyes, nose, and feet candies they will need for their cupcake (pre-ice them for the kiddos). 
• Create paper turkeys and write a number on the breast of the turkey.  Then each feather is a fact that equals that amount.  For example, the 7 turkey would have feathers with 0+7, 1+6, 2+5, and 3+4 written on them.  For younger kiddos, have them stamp or attach dot stickers in different arrangements on each feather that total the number on the turkey.  Here is an example from Crazy for First Grade:

October Math Read-A-Loud

I have always loved children's literature and compiled quite a collection of books during my pre-service years.  But then when I got my first teaching job as a middle school math teacher I didn't use them much.  As I've become a more well-rounded math teacher I have come to see all the great ways mathematics can be brought into a classroom through books.  So every month I will share a favorite children's book and talk about ways to use it in your classroom.

This month I choose a pumpkin themed book.  How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara and G. Brian Karas, leads you through an activity done in little Charlie's classroom.  The kids make guesses about how many seeds are in a pumpkin.  Most kids think the bigger pumpkin will have the most seeds but, as the kids in Charlie's class discover, the small pumpkins actually have the most.

Ways to use this book:

• Use it as a lead into doing the seed counting activity in your own classroom - but watch out it is messy!!!  Young kids can count the seeds one-by-one while older kids can organize their seeds into piles of 10.
• Label each pumpkin with a number and have groups of 2-3 kids pick up each pumpkin.  Have them list the pumpkins from Heaviest to Lightest.  Then after each group has made their list, weigh each pumpkin and line them up from Heaviest to Lightest.
• Different types of pumpkins have different numbers of "lines" on the outside.  Have children count the lines on the outside and then compare to other pumpkins in the room.  Or add up all the lines from all the pumpkins in the classroom.
• Pumpkins take 4 months to grow, what fraction of a year is that?
• One-half cup of cooked pumpkin seeds provides you with a day's supply of Vitamin A.  If I have 4 cups of cooked pumpkin seeds, how many days worth of Vitamin A can I get?
• When planting pumpkins you should plan to give each vine at least a 3-foot diameter mound.  If my garden has a 4ft x 5ft area that I want to plant pumpkins in, how many vines could I fit in my garden?
• Pumpkin vines typically grow 3 or 4 pumpkins each.  If I have 5 vines what are all the possible amounts of pumpkins those vines can produce? 

Check out this other wonderful post, Quick and Easy Pumpkin Math Activities, by Playdough to Plato.

What are some of your favorite books to use in October?  Any of them have an underlying math theme?