Are you looking to combine literacy and Halloween into your math block? I’m sharing two cute Halloween Math books that you can read to your class this holiday season.
2 x 2 = BOO: A Set of Multiplication Stories
Written by Loreen Leedy, this cute little paperback takes kids through multiplication facts 0-5. Each of the 6 facts incorporates a witty story to teach the rules, such as “The Disappearing Zero”. Two black cats discuss how their respective witch owners saved them from various villains by multiplying them by zero and making them disappear.
In “Foursight”, a clever little bat realizes that his bat friend has a wingspan that is four times greater than his, resulting in the bigger bat getting 4 cookies compared to his one. He flips the script on the bigger bat and says, “Then if I get two rotten apples, you get eight?” and so on.
This is definitely a fun way to introduce basic multiplication facts for students in 2nd and 3rd grades.
Mystery Math: A First Book of Algebra
Written by David A. Adler, this book introduces balancing equations and using variables to represent numbers.
Simple algebraic expressions are used to explain how to solve for a variable.
- Example: 4 + x = 5 so x = 1
There is also an example provided to show how to use addition, subtracting, multiplication, and division to get a variable by itself in order to find its value.
- Example: Igor’s cat had kittens. He wouldn’t tell how many there were but gave the hint that they had a total of 28 legs. If 4k = 28, you have to divide each side of the equation by 4 to get k by itself, so k=7.
Want the Books?
Find them here:
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Looking for Halloween Math Ideas?
Check out my Halloween Math Resources and Halloween Decimal Activities.
