Doing math with board books

Mathematicians solve problems. They love to do it, but it is one of the hardest parts of math. To solve a difficult problem, you have to try multiple strategies, talk to your peers, and be willing to persist even when it is hard.

We read two of Mr. MacLellan's son's board books, which happen to be about math! In Rooster's Off to See the World, Eric Carle uses a growing pattern of animals, and in Hippos Go Berserk!, Sandra Boynton uses the same pattern but goes from 1 to 10. In each of these books, we had to figure out how many animals there were in all. It sounds like a simple problem, but it was a great chance to practice keeping track of our work, developing a method to attack a tricky problem, and discussing and sharing strategies.