We read Zachary Zormer, Shape Transformer by Joanne Reisberg the other day and really liked it. It’s from the same imprint that does the much better known Sir Cumference books. This book dealt with mobius strips, as well as length, perimeter and area. Zach keeps forgetting his show and tell math homework, only to turn scraps of papers and a small penlight into fabulous tricks for his classmates, upstaging his rival each time.
Of course, we immediately had to make our own paper tricks like the ones in the book. This is one of the things I love about homeschooling. I saw the book in the library and, being a lover of math picture books, I took it out. We sat down to read it on the sofa for school and an impromptu lesson was born. No prep work. Just school fun.
Math picture books for kids are some of my favorite things. I was glad to discover that Charlesbridge Publishing has so many more that I haven’t even read. Of course, there are many other good “living” math books, such as MathStart books, Greg Tang’s books, Loreen Leedy’s math books, Mitsumasa Anno‘s math books and many more. I’m also especially fond of the old Young Math Books, which go into a pretty high level of depth. So here’s to real books instead of textbooks teaching about math. Not that there’s anything wrong with textbooks, we like those too, just that I love these gentler approaches for kids who like to learn by curling up to hear a story on the sofa.
I Capture the Rowhouse 