Picture books are a great way to combine literacy and math. Using math picture books can help you engage students and reinforce math content and skills. In today’s post, I’m sharing two of my favorite multiplication picture books. I also offer ways to use them to support your students’ understanding of multiplication.
If you’ve been a reader of this blog for any amount of time, you know that I love math picture books! They provide such a great venue for introducing and investigating the skills we teach. Want to know more about using math picture books? Click here! Today, I share ways to incorporate how to use multiplication picture books as a springboard into learning. These two books are cute and fun and they will engage your students right from the start.
Amanda Beans Amazing Dream
Book Synopsis:
In this story, we meet Amanda who likes to count anything and everything. In fact, she is so good at counting that she does not want to multiply. Over time though, and through a very vivid dream, she begins to see the power in multiplication. She also sees how multiplication can help her count faster. By the end of the book, she is so overwhelmed with trying to count everything that she wants to learn her multiplication facts.
Math Involved:
The format of the books builds the concept of looking at equal groups and using multiplication to find the total.
Questions to Ponder:
Activity Ideas:
One Hundred Hungry Ants
Book Synopsis:
The story begins with one hundred ants marching in a line toward a picnic spot when the smallest ant stops the line to say that they are moving way too slow. He suggests that a different arrangement is the way to go. Again and again, the littlest ant stops the line to change the arrangement, but by the time they arrive at the picnic spot, the food is all gone. All of the ants turn on the littlest ant and blame him for them moving way too slow and missing out on all of the yummies to fill their tummies.
Math Involved:
The format of the book illustrates the concept of arrays and allows students to determine all of the arrays that can be made with the factors for 100.
Questions to Ponder:
Activity Ideas:
See One Hundred Hungry Ants on Amazon!
Getting ready to teach multiplication? Consider using multiplication picture books to launch the learning and engage your students. Even if you work with upper elementary grades students who are learning about multiplying with larger numbers, you can use these books as a launch for exploring arrays with larger quantities. These multiplication picture books can also remind students about the purpose of multiplication and why it is a useful skill. Both books can be read in just a few minutes, so they are great ways to launch your lesson.
Click here or on the image above to grab a fun, problem-solving printable resource for each book!
Sound Off! What are your multiplication picture books? Respond in the comments below.
