VAASL 2015
Library 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
Date
3/24
3/26
Title: The Giver
Last Page Read
56
130
Author: Lois Lowry
Percentage Complete
23%
54%
Pages 240
Student
Bob
Bobbette
Bobarino
Bobbo
Bobbi
Bobraelen
Bobby
Bobster
Bobetty
Bobbera
Thor
Title
Imposter
Not A Real Book
Made Up Inc.
Something Happened
Am I Done Yet?
Is This the First Book?
Sequel
Trilogy
Stand Alone
What's in a Name?
Done
Pages
251
189
323
128
146
367
589
1156
238
128
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
The same to add or subtract
Not to multiply (Me)
Multiplication
multiply to find product
factor times factor (Joey & Austin)
Haiku and a Haikiddle
Least to the greatest
Negative to positive
Larger to the right (Mary)
Commutative Rule
3 times 4 and 4 times 3
equal same amount
(Alyssa C, Ariana H, Elizabeth C)
Number of places
A number is from zero
Never negative (Me) this defines absolute value (sorry about the
typo in the handout)
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 much
Independence Day/we are now a new nation/thirteen colonies
What’s a molecule?/Two or more atoms combine/chemically joined
Haiku Summary of Crash by Jerry Spinelli
Chp.
Blue Class
Orange Class
Green Class
1
(Ashley & Emily)
I am John Coogan
I met someone named Penn Webb
But they call me Crash
(Emelin & Sejal)
Sunny summer day
Crash and Penn met each other
Not the best friendship
(Kyle)
Crash gets his nickname
He gets it from Uncle Herm
One day he meets Penn
2
(Bladimir & Michael)
Crash didn’t see Penn
So he went to go find Penn
And saw his turtle
(Ian & Scout)
Crash biked to Penn’s house
Penn came and said Mergatroid
Crash took the turtle
(Allie & Cole)
Penn’s gullible
He wears a big peace button
Grandfather is old
3
(Cecy, Lyba & Melissa)
Penn knows Crash’s name
Abby told Penn, Crash’s name
Penn is a Quaker
(Kendall & Safiya)
Let’s play water guns
I will be back with the guns
I am a Quaker
(Mrs. A)
Penn asked Crash over
To his house to have dinner
Only if you fight
4
(William & Abby)
Penn is a Quaker
Water guns aren’t for Quakers
Penn lost the big race
(Julie & Abdullah)
Penn is a Quaker
Crash doesn’t know what that is
They believe in peace
(Alexis & Sophia)
Crash and Penn compete
Racing to the mailboxes
Quicker than he thought
5
(Stephanie & Alex)
Crash meets Penn’s parents
They sit down to have dinner
Penn has no good toys
(Chris, Paige & Rachel)
At toyless Penn’s house
Penn has no toys, only mud
In his garage room
(Roshan, Prableen & Katelyn)
Crash went to Penn’s house
Penn did not have many toys
Crash was astonished
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 Message
1) 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!