1. Bigger, Better, Best! By Stuart J. Murphy tells the story of three young siblings, Jenny Jeff and Jill who constantly argue over who has the nicest room, belongings etc. Shortly after their family moves into their new home, each child makes the claim that they have the best and biggest room out of the three. After much argument and dispute, no one can decide who's room is superior. Finally, with the introduction of the mathematical concept of "Area", the trio determines whose room is largest and consequently better.
2. In Bigger, Better, Best! the mathematical concept of area is used to determine which child has the largest and overall superior room. In the book, each child measures their room's floor space by placing sheets of paper along the perimeter of two adjacent walls then counting up the number of sheets along each wall. Since the children's rooms are square, they find the area of their rooms by multiplying the number of sheets on each wall to determine the area, and size of the room itself. After comparing room area's, the siblings thus learn who's room is larger and thus superior.
3. I believe that literature is an effect way of teaching mathematical concepts because remembering short and simple stories is often easier to remember than complicated math lessons. Also, using literature in math enhances math concepts understandability in that it provides students with easy to use and memorable examples. And everyone could agree that making math easier is a good thing!
You found a great book for this assignment and I think that you explanation about the relating the book to area is very well done. I can picture the children placing sheets of paper around theirs rooms to try and figure the size out. You made a good point about literature and how it is helpful when used to teach math, it really does help make it easier! :)
ReplyDeleteGood job with summarizing the book and keeping the summary brief. Your explanation of how area is calculate is very good as well, and I agree that explaining mathematics using literature does make the concepts easier to remember and understand.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a very interesting story and I enjoyed how they agreed who's room is better by using "area". Good Job choosing your story!
ReplyDeletejohn,
ReplyDeletenice book selection. this is a favorite among wee ones all over the country! your synopsis is very well explained and your explanation of the concept of area is good, as well. the only thing i would have added would have been to show a way to relate area to area in our class or find a way to relate it to some other concept from our class. other than that, nice job!
also, i like your paragraph on how literature is an effective teaching tool. i like the that you used the phrase "memorable experiences."
professor little