The M&M's Counting Book By: Barbara Barbieri McGrath

Book Genre: Non-fiction, Counting book

Publishing Info: Charlesbridge Publishing (32 pages)

Awards and honors received: Teachers' Choice Award, 1994

Summary: This book is a simple counting book I would use with beginning kindergarten students. The M&M counting book encourages children to use M&M candy in specific color order to practice counting from one to twelve. Also, it has the children form the various sets of 12. (six groups of two, three groups of four, four sets of three, etc.) The book wraps up by having the chilren make shapes with their M&M’s and then moves on to simple subtraction of their M&M’s. (Which is the fun part for the children!)

Personal rating and reason for rating: ****Great! I really liked this book for the simple fact that it incorporates food (M&M’s) into teaching basic math skills. In my past experience any time you incorporate any type of food (manipulatives) the children get really excited and the majority of time remember that skill. Not only did this book teach about numbers, but it also had the children recognizing color words. For example, add a red M&M or add an orange M&M. The children are required to know what those colors are before they can participate in the activity. In addition, the author also made a connection between the number 9 and the word nine. (9/nine) I would recommend this book to any kindergarten teacher.

Reading level: 1.9 (first grade, 9th month)

Interest level: K-2

Possible uses of the text in integrated units of study:

Reading/Math: I probably would not read this book during my set reading time. I would incorporate this book into my math lesson. I would use this book the first few weeks of school when assessing students to see how well they know their numbers, colors and one-to-one correspondence. I would have crayons of all the different colors laminated on construction paper. As I read the story students will point to the correct crayon color or number. This will help the students who are lacking with these skills. (I would put the crayons and numbers in a blue chart for all students to see during the reading.) After reading the story and reviewing colors and numbers I would show the students bags of M&M’s and have them make a prediction about what they think we are going to do with the M&M’s. (This will get all the students excited and ready to participate.)

Math: I would give each student a yellow math work mat and a bag of M&M’s. I would then read the story again but this time they would complete the directions on each page of the story. I would conduct this lesson my interactice Mimio so I could model for the students. Be sure to monitor to make sure children understand and are kept on track. (Some students won’t know their colors at this time in the year.)

Potential problems or difficulties: There would be a lot of prep time with this lesson because the book tells the students specific colors to put down so each child’s bag would have to have the same colors and amount of M&M’s. You would also need to make sure students aren’t eating the M&M’s throughout the lesson. Set the rules early on in the lesson so that does not happen. With a little time preparation, this will be a fun and exciting math lesson for the students.

One Lonely Sea Horse by Saxton Freymann & Joost Elffers

Book Genre: Fiction, Counting, Rhyming

Publishing Info: Arthur A. Levine Books, Scholastic Press (28 pages)

Awards or Honors: IRA Children’s Choice 2001, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Medal

Summary: The story is a fabulous combination of a variety of vegetables and fruits disguised as sea animals. The tale begins with Bea. She is a sad lonely seahorse who is in search of friends. She finds many friends in the ocean. She meets 2 crabs, 3 puffer fish, 4 lobsters, 5 turtles, 6 dolphins, 7 eels, 8 octopus, 9 mackerel, and 10 angelfish. Bea eventually realizes that she is not alone because she is surrounded by many of her sea friends.

Personal Rating & Reasons: ****Great! This is book is just too cute! I love how the vegetables and fruits are manipulated into the sea creatures. My favorite are the banana dolphins and the pineapple turtles. Even the background corals are made of mushrooms, roots, kale, etc. As an adult I find it a fun book to just look at and try to name all the foods. For a child the book teaches counting in a colorful fun way. It also has a lesson that we are not all alone. We have friends where we least expect them.

Reading Level: K-2 (1.8 AR)

Interest Level: ages 4-8 years

Possible Uses: This book could be used across the curriculum in math, writing, art, and science.
Math: In math you could use the book to reinforce counting to 10. It has one to one ratios for each animal. You could also have the children play along with a some, some more game as you read the story. You could use teddy bear counters, m&m's, Skittles, linking cubes, carrot sticks, etc. Another math activity would be to create the children's own counting books. Have them illustrate the animals on each page from 1 to 10.
Writing: You could read the story and then talk to the children about the different types of animals Bea ran into. You and the children could create a Circle Map of the animals or you could create a Flow Map of the story. Later the children could draw and write from the thinking maps their own sentences.
Art: The children could create their own animals from fruit or vegetables. You could work in small groups and have the children create the animals with the foods and toothpicks. The children could draw an animal that the teacher has created from fruits or vegetables. You could even do some potato or lettuce art with paints.
Science: This book would be a great way to introduce sea creatures in science and how they interact with other animals and their environment. You could also use this book to introduce different types of fruits or vegetables to the children. Possilby holding a tasting party of the different food items (making sure no allergies of course).

Potential Problems & Difficulties: None at this time.

Fat Frogs on a Skinny Log by Sara Riches

Book Genre: Fiction, Counting Book

Publishing Info: Scholastic Inc. (28 pages)

Awards or Honors: WA Authors and Illustrators (2000)

Summary: This story begins with 10 fat frogs sitting on the bank of a pond and they all decide to jump into the water to cool off. Then each frog, one by one, jumps onto a log that is floating in the pond. With each fat frog landing on the log it becomes more and more unsteady until it finally flips. As the last fat frog jumps on it flips over and tosses all the frogs back into the water.

Personal Rating & Reason: ****Great! I really like this story for several reasons. First, I LOVE frogs. Next, it is an entertaining and colorful counting book that children would enjoy. The describing words are extremely vivid and really get your imagination going.

Reading Level: K-1 (1.5 AR)

Interest Level: ages 3-6 years

Possible Uses: Teachers could use this book across the curriculum in science, math, writing and art.
Science: This story could be used to introduce frogs and their life cycles. It could be tied to discussing animals and their interaction to other animals and surroundings. You could have them each create a poster of the life cycle of a frog.
Math: I think this would be an awesome use of one to one ratio and counting to ten. The story could be read and the children use teddy bear counters, linking cubes, etc. to act out a some, some more story.
Writing: The teacher could create a Circle or Bubble Map and have the students list items about ponds or frogs. They students could then write sentences using the Circle or Bubble Map. You could also do a lesson on the describing words. Explaining what each word means with other more common identifiable words.
Art: You could have the children make their own Fat Frogs on a Skinny Log books with construction paper. Have the words pre-printed on the pages and have them illustrate the pages themselves.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: None at this time.