Books for Learning Fractions
(continued)
Below is a continuation of our list of the best books for learning fractions:
7. Fraction Fun
by David Adler & Nancy Tobin
(Grade 2-4) This hands-on book is divided into two parts. The first section is "pizza math" and presents fraction scenarios in which a pizza is divided, compared, and then devoured. The second part focuses on the fractional value of a group of coins.
Publisher's Weekly called it a "delicious way to introduce fractions" and School Library Journal said "the cartoonlike illustrations are colorful, whimsical, and humorous; they also make concepts clear... parents and teachers will find limitless possibilities in this book." Agree! You could easily build several fun, interactive fraction lessons around it!
To learn more about this book, click the link below. Please note that
if you purchase an item from Amazon, they give us a small referral fee.
(This helps pay for site hosting costs.)
8. Working With Fractions
written by David Adler; illustrated by Edward Miller
(Grade 3-5) This fun math book shows
how fractions are
everywhere, even at a child's birthday party! Party
games, food, and the actions of a
performing clown and a magician help present different
scenarios involving fractions. Kids love birthday parties, so you'll have their interest from the start.
For example, in a spread depicting the game musical chairs, the text reads "If you play musical chairs at the party and 5 out of 7 children are sitting on chairs, a fraction of the children are sitting. 5/7 of the children are sitting on chairs."
Edward Miller's retro-style, bright illustrations are so much fun and really help clarify the math being presented! We LOVE Miller's books! Here is a sample page from inside the book. Our version of the page looks washed out (sorry) but the original in the book is quite vibrant. This sample page should give you an idea of the math involved and illustration style.
To learn more about this book, click the link below. Please note that
if you purchase an item from Amazon, they give us a small referral fee.
(This helps pay for site hosting costs.)
9. The Lion's Share by Matthew McElligott
(Kindergarten - 3rd grade) In this beautifully illustrated picture book, lion has baked a cake for his friends, but each of his greedy friends takes half the cake when it's passed to them, leaving Lion with only a crumb. Ant feels bad and offers to bake another cake. The others hear this, and not wanting to look bad, each offers to likewise bake cakes for the lion, but they each try to outdo each other, promising twice the cakes promised by the previous guest.
Soon, hundreds of cakes are being promised and the result is quite comical. This is one of our favorites for teaching fractions, plus it provide an early exposure to division and multiplication and also teaches about generosity verses selfishness.
In
a starred review, School Library Journal said "The captivating ink and watercolor
illustrations... reinforce
the mathematical theme with humor and detail. Many layouts effectively
present a graphic display of the simple fraction concepts. The results
are terrific." Below are sample
pages:
To learn more about this book, click the link below. Please note that
if you purchase an item from Amazon, they give us a small referral fee.
(This helps pay for site hosting costs.)
10. Full House: An Invitation to Fractions
by Dayle Ann Dodds; illustrated by Abby Carter
(Kindergarten - 3rd grade) At the end of a busy day of arriving guests, the Strawberry Inn is full to capacity, much to the delight of Miss Bloom, the hostess. Late that night, Miss Bloom is surprised to discover that all of her guests are downstairs, eating desert!
This is a great book for fraction
lessons, as readers can reason along with the inn-keeper and the guests as they divide up their tasty midnight treat. School Library Journal said, "Fresh, whimsical illustrations fairly
float off the pages... A fun choice for reinforcing the concept of
fractions."
To learn more about this book, click the link below. Please note that
if you purchase an item from Amazon, they give us a small referral fee.
(This helps pay for site hosting costs.)
11. Polar Bear Math
Learning About Fractions from Klondike and Snow by Ann Nagda; illustrated by Cindy Bickel
(3rd grade - 5th grade) Klondike and Snow are two polar bears that were born at the Denver Zoo and will need a lot of tender loving care from the zoo staff, as they have been abandoned by their mother. This title tells the story of the first year of their life and uses fractions to talk about their growth and about how the staff fed and care for the two little bears.
If you like this title, check out: Tiger Math (graphs), Chimp Math (time) Panda Math (subtraction), and Cheetah Math (division).
To learn more about this book, click the link below. Please note that
if you purchase an item from Amazon, they give us a small referral fee.
(This helps pay for site hosting costs.)
12. Jump, Kangaroo, Jump
by Stuart Murphy; illustrated by Kevin O'Malley
(Grade 2-4) It's school Field Day, so Kangaroo and friends divide into teams to play various games--3 teams of 4 for relay races, 2 teams of 6 for tug of war, 4 teams of 3 for a canoe race. Teachers will appreciate that the fractions involved in each scenario are shown in both the pictures and in numeral.
This is an "accessible and fun" (School Library Journal) title for children learning fractions, but it wouldn't be our top pick in this category because there actually aren't very many fraction problems incorporated into the story. Having said that, we do like that this title includes a section at the end (as with all Math Start books) with suggestions for enhancing student learning.
Here's
the first spread of the book, showing illustrator Kevin O'Malley's
illustration style. And
here is a page that shows how math is used to describe how teams
are divided up for different field day activities (in this case, a tug
of war). There isn't a lot of math in this story. In fact,
there are only three such pages in this book. It's still a
cute, fun story, but not very heavy on the math.
To learn more about this book, click the link below. Please note that
if you purchase an item from Amazon, they give us a small referral fee.
(This helps pay for site hosting costs.)
more books for learning fractions:
