VAASL 2015Library in the Math

Classroom Toby Abrahamsen

Librarian, Seneca Ridge Middle School (Loudoun County)Sterling, VA 20164

Toby.Abrahamsen@lcps.org

Statistics

• Collaborate with math teachers by giving circulation data statistics (number of books circulated/month or/grade, etc.)

• Have students check out their favorite picture book and collect data to work with (words/page, words in title, etc.)

• Have student create reading log, and use that as a start for collecting data

Reading Log• Have students create a reading log to show the percentage of the

book they have read. • When the book is finished, the logs can be displayed on the wall

outside the library. • Teacher can also compile data from the logs for students to analyze.

Name: Bobby McBobbo Title: The Giver Author: Lois Lowry Pages 240

Date Last Page Read Percentage Complete3/24 56 23%3/26 130 54%

Student Title PagesBob Imposter 251Bobbette Not A Real Book 189Bobarino Made Up Inc. 323Bobbo Something Happened 128Bobbi Am I Done Yet? 146Bobraelen Is This the First Book? 367Bobby Sequel 589Bobster Trilogy 1156Bobetty Stand Alone 238Bobbera What's in a Name? 128Thor Done 452

Students can make predictions for totals, mean, median, mode and range

Total Pages Read : 3,967

• Mean 360.64• Median 251• Mode 128• Range 1028• Outlier 1156

• Students can calculate the percentage of pages they read compared to the class total

• Students can display individual pages read by students through various types of graphs.

• Students can display averages by box and whisker plot

Look What We’re Reading! Our class read an average of: 361 pages (mean) 251 pages (median) 128 pages (mode) 1,028 pages (range)

A Few More Ideas….

• Choose 4 stories from Squids Will be Squids: Fresh Morals, Beastly Fables by Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith and read them out loud to the students; tell them to listen carefully. • After they have been read, ask them to

predict which story has the highest percentage of 2 letter words. • Hand out copies of the stories to

students in small groups to calculate the percentages.

• Read Henry Hikes to Fitchburg by D.B. Johnson, again telling students to listen carefully

• Read the book a second time, asking students to write down inequalities they hear throughout the story.

• Have students write and illustrate the inequalities on an index card and display with the cover of the book.

Henry’s friend fun < Henry’s fun

Money earned to buy ticket > $0.95

Payment for chicken coop > payment for dusting

What is a Haiku, and Why Should I Use It?• Haiku are poems about animals or nature that originated in ancient

Japan. The structure of a haiku poem has remained unchanged since the poems were first written. A haiku poem consists of the following: • Three lines that rarely rhyme • The first and last lines of the poem have 5 syllables. • The middle line of the poem has 7 syllables. • When you write haiku on various topics, you are really thinking about

a word, idea or concept, and summarizing it into 17 syllables

Haiku• Can be done with any poetic form (but come on, haiku!)• Read examples of the poetry to the students.• Tell them they are going to write a poem to define mathematical

terms.

Examples:Denominators MultiplicationThe same to add or subtract multiply to find productNot to multiply (Me) factor times factor (Joey & Austin)

Haiku and a Haikiddle

Least to the greatestNegative to positiveLarger to the right (Mary)

Number of placesA number is from zeroNever negative (Me) this defines absolute value (sorry about the

typo in the handout)

Commutative Rule3 times 4 and 4 times 3equal same amount(Alyssa C, Ariana H, Elizabeth C)

Other Ways to Use Haiku (not in math….)• Summarize a chapter• Give an overview of a book• Give overview of a historical event or person• Give overview of a scientific fact/method

The boys were alone/At first it was lots of fun/Now, it’s not so muchIndependence Day/we are now a new nation/thirteen coloniesWhat’s a molecule?/Two or more atoms combine/chemically joined

Chp. Blue Class Orange Class Green Class

1

(Ashley & Emily)I am John CooganI met someone named Penn WebbBut they call me Crash

(Emelin & Sejal)Sunny summer dayCrash and Penn met each otherNot the best friendship

(Kyle)Crash gets his nicknameHe gets it from Uncle HermOne day he meets Penn

2 (Bladimir & Michael)Crash didn’t see PennSo he went to go find PennAnd saw his turtle

(Ian & Scout)Crash biked to Penn’s housePenn came and said MergatroidCrash took the turtle

(Allie & Cole)Penn’s gullibleHe wears a big peace buttonGrandfather is old

3 (Cecy, Lyba & Melissa)Penn knows Crash’s nameAbby told Penn, Crash’s namePenn is a Quaker

(Kendall & Safiya)Let’s play water gunsI will be back with the gunsI am a Quaker

(Mrs. A)Penn asked Crash overTo his house to have dinnerOnly if you fight

4 (William & Abby)Penn is a QuakerWater guns aren’t for QuakersPenn lost the big race

(Julie & Abdullah)Penn is a QuakerCrash doesn’t know what that isThey believe in peace

(Alexis & Sophia)Crash and Penn competeRacing to the mailboxesQuicker than he thought

5 (Stephanie & Alex)Crash meets Penn’s parentsThey sit down to have dinnerPenn has no good toys

(Chris, Paige & Rachel)At toyless Penn’s housePenn has no toys, only mudIn his garage room

(Roshan, Prableen & Katelyn)Crash went to Penn’s housePenn did not have many toysCrash was astonished

Haiku Summary of Crash by Jerry Spinelli

Fraction Messages

• Students use their knowledge of fractions to decode book titles, or first lines of books.

• Use as an introduction during book talks – show the book covers, leaving them on display, while students decode fraction messages of the first line and try to match that line with the title.

• Have students write a fraction message about their favorite book and display around the library

Fraction Message1) Last 1/3 ham + last ¼ lady _________________

2) First 2/5 month + last 2/5 month + last 2/3 her _________________

3) 4/4 of thin + last 1/3 skunks _________________

4) Middle 1/3 win + ‘ + last 1/3 hum _________________

5) First ¼ describe + last 2/3 dad _________________

___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________.

What book am I? ________________________________________________

Error Alert!

• Book 3 example, 4th line down says first 1/5 of yellow. Should be first 1/6….Darn you Sophie!