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K - 2 Geometric Thinking - Children's Literature

  • The greedy triangle (ENC-009717) This book, part of the Marilyn BURNS BRAINY DAY BOOK SERIES, invites children in grades K to 5 to wonder about what happens to shapes as they get more sides and more angles. This book introduces children to the names and shapes of the polygons. From a dissatisfied triangle to a dissatisfied pentagon, the book traces various places where each shape appears in real life. Dissatisfaction leads the shapes to develop additional sides and angles; however, after the triangle has become a many-sided shape, it discovers the liabilities associated with having many sides. In a section at the end of each book are explanations of the mathematics underlying the story, suggestions for ways to involve children with math, and questions to engage children in talking about their ideas.

  • How big is a foot? (ENC-009855) This children's book tells how and why the exact length of a foot was established to introduce young children to the concept of standard measurement. The story tells of a king who orders an apprentice carpenter to make a bed six feet by three feet. The apprentice uses his own small feet to measure the length and width while constructing the bed, and it turns out to be far too small. Soon after, the apprentice realizes that he needs to know the length of one of the king's feet to make the bed the correct size, and this length becomes the accepted measure of one foot.

  • Shape up! (ENC-014715) This oversize picture book for students preK to grade 3 presents activities with cheese slices, pretzel sticks, a slice of bread, graph paper, a pencil and more to introduce polygons, 2-D shapes with varying numbers of straight sides. The pages of this book show how to carry out the activities with illustrations in bright primary colors. In a sample activity, students are directed to draw triangles on a sheet of paper and then shown how to use the paper right angle measure (made by folding in a previous activity) to find any right angles in the drawn triangles. The activity continues with the introduction of the terms obtuse and acute and further explorations of angles. The last page of the book is a glossary of all the mathematical terms found in the book.

  • Ten beads tall (ENC-014374) This book, part of the BEAD FRAME BOOK series, is written to introduce young children 3 to 6 years to the mathematical concept of measurement. Children use ten cube beads to measure how tall, how wide, and how long the objects pictured on each page are. On the final page they are invited to use what they have learned about measuring to solve the problem of which vehicles can pass through the tunnel.

  • Twelve snails to one lizard : a tale of mischief and measurement (ENC-016339) This illustrated book, for young readers in preK to grade 2, tells the story of Bubba Bullfrog as he helps Milo the beaver build a dam by explaining to him the concepts of inches, feet, and yards. Bubba explains to Milo that an inch is about as long as a snail and a foot is about as long as a lizard. Using these ideas Bubba and Milo proceed to patch the hole in the dam so that all the rainwater does not run off and leave the pond dry for the summer. The last page of this book offers measurement facts about the animals in the book, including the fact that, in Montana, there is a beaver dam that is 2,140 feet long.

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Last modified January 23, 2001(glc)