EDMA 514 - Teaching Math With Children’s Literature

Imagine a group of students gathered around their teacher as she reads a beautifully illustrated picture book. She pauses to ask questions about the story, inviting students to share their thinking with the group. After the read-aloud, the students talk excitedly about the book and then play a game based on the story. The teacher is relaxed and animated, and the students love the playful activity. Now imagine this is a math lesson!

In this course, you will explore the many reasons why it’s beneficial to incorporate children’s literature into elementary and middle school mathematics instruction. You will be equipped with several examples of picture books, children’s literature, lessons, activities, projects, and games that creatively extend read-alouds into open-ended opportunities to develop students’ mathematical thinking. In addition, you will learn how to develop combined math-literature learning experiences that are accessible to many types of learners, foster critical thinking, facilitate collaboration and math-based discussions, and generally encourage students and teachers to have FUN with math!

Say goodbye to math lessons that only focus on numbers, solutions, and computation, and say hello to bringing the best of children’s literature into math teaching and learning!