Are you a teacher or a parent:
- trying to engage the kids in learning Math?
- frustrated from finding ways to help them understand the Mathematics concepts?
- actively steering kids out of the ‘SO BORING’ pit with Math activities (a stage right before the kids declare they hate Math)?
If so, we’re glad you’re here! You’ve come to the right place. Here, we curate and collate books that can make Mathematics learning better in all ways!
A quick distinguishing between books and stories:
Most books we talk about on these site are also stories, because they come with a storyline. But because we also have books that are otherwise, we will use the term books as a general reference instead. (Don’t worry, we are not going to talk about textbooks.)
Some books are also primarily written and illustrated with Math in mind. But we also create ideas from using the other children’s literature books. That way, you might find some use for the existing books on your shelves!
Why use books to teach Math?
So what are some compelling reasons to use books (or stories) in teaching Math?
- Books naturally bring in a context, whether it is a story context or a problem solving context. Either ways, that provides a very convenient starting ground for more discussion and exploration! (As compared to: “Let’s talk about adding fractions today.” Do you hear the kids groaning already?)
- Whether you are reading the book aloud, or using read-aloud videos, it changes up the monotony of your voice dominating the teaching.
- Books allow an anchor point for memory. You can think of it like how coming up with a storyline is often a memory tool. Here, you have a ready book that you could align to teach Math. Later, when your kids struggle to recall the concept, simply jolt their memory with some significant character or event in the book!
- Books allow an opportunity to apply the Math concepts – real-world or imaginary. Let’s be real: some Math concepts have real-life applications, but they are either too far from the kids’ daily lives (engineering?) or just too layered in that they wouldn’t be able to see the connection to their current elementary level of the concept. But with a good book and accompanying lesson, we are spared from that agony.
- If your kids love books, then it is time to open their eyes to Math books (or, the Math in the books they read)! They’ll soon be asking you for more!
- As a bonus, some books weave mathematical terms into the sentences, so when we are explaining the terms, the kids would actually have some idea of what they are about. Compare this to simply throwing out a term out-of-context and making them remember, digest and use the term!
How do we use books to teach Math?
Of course, we don’t mean any book can create the above benefits for any Math lesson. There should be a good match of learners’ age and grade level, their interest, the Math concept we want to cover and the amount of time we have for the course of learning. At this point, you might be thinking – Sure, these sound great, but realistically I’m not having the luxury of time to scour the book inventories each time I want to teach a new Math concept.
That’s exactly why we set up this website! Here, you will find books suggested for various Math topics and content, accompanied with activities that align learning with the books! Depending on your preparation time available, take your pick with the activities! We constantly seek out more books to review and with each book, the possible activities (pre, during, post) are listed. That list of activities, is a growing list too!
Read more about how to maximize the value of books in Math lessons.
Remember that you don’t always have a own a physical book to use it in your classroom. If you don’t have time or money to get that ready, other options include:
- Checking out your public/school library
- Read-aloud videos of the book (make sure you do a quick screening through of the video beforehand though)
- Accessing a digital copy of the book online (some libraries offer that option. On this note, I strongly recommend you to check Epic! out)
So go ahead and search on the site for what you need, grab ideas suited for your bunch of kids, and apply them!
How can I show some support?
- Any purchases through our Amazon links would earn us some commission to keep the site running! So if you found a book recommendation useful and keen enough to purchase a copy, you can click on the Amazon links there. You don’t have to, but it would mean a lot to us! Shop children’s Math books here (Amazon.com) (Amazon.sg).
- Tell us how your experience went with using books in your Math class! We’d love to know if the activity ideas worked well, or if you have further book title/activity to suggest or Math topic to request.
We hope you will find this site a handy resource to visit each time you need more ideas for teaching Math.