In our area, families are taking in the last bit of summer vacation or shopping the back-to-school sales. In other places, students have been in the classroom for a couple weeks. And elsewhere, students may be counting down the days to September break. But no matter where you are in the world, school means Reading and Writing and Arithmechicks. Wait! What?
theme: math, coding, humor
Arithmechicks Take a Calculation Vacation: A Math Story
by Ann Marie Stephens; illus. by Jia Liu
32 pages; ages 3-7
Astra Young Readers, 2022
10 chicks plus 1 mouse bounce to the beach. Mama leads the way.
It’s vacation time! And these chicks have lots of beach activities planned: sandcastle construction, volleyball, lounging in the sun, and some wave-riding. Even salty beaks and sandy feathers don’t stop them from having fun.
This is a great resource for teachers, homeschoolers, and parents who are looking for a fun way to introduce equations. Each page shows a different way to add – or subtract – the number of chicks, whether it’s climbing a tree for coconuts or falling off a surfboard. Back matter explains how to combine three numbers into math fact families: 2 addition facts + 2 subtraction facts = 4 facts in a family. There are more books in the Arithmechicks series; check out my review here.
What's Branching?: A Birthday Adventure!
by Kaitlyn Siu; illus. by Marcelo Badari
32 pages; ages 3+
Kane Miller Books / EDC Publishing, 2022
What’s branching? Let’s find out! We’ll help super robot Pixel plan a perfect party for Jet, and learn cool coding skills while we do.
Jet loves being outside, so a party in the park sounds perfect. But what if it rains? Pixel makes backup plans: if it rains, then we’ll ….. In coding, writing backup plans using if/then statements is called branching. We do this a lot in everyday life. Like planning a hike – and if it looks like rain, packing a poncho.
What I like about this book:
The graphics make it easy to understand the coding concepts introduced: branching, debugging a program. Back matter includes a simple matching game for if/then statements, a glossary, and a guide for teachers and parents. I also like that this book is part of a series (First Steps in CODING) and other books present algorithms, sequencing, loops, and more.
Beyond the Books:
Incorporate some math into your daily life. Use math language to talk about things like hanging the laundry: two socks on the line plus one more sock is ….. or stack blocks in a pyramid. 3 blocks on the bottom plus 2 plus 1 on top equals… And what happens when 2 block leave? Check out this post for more books that incorporate math literacy.
Create some simple coding games. With this one all you need is a deck of cards, some toys, tape…. or you can make a grid and ask your friend to code a path around the obstacles.
We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a weekly event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.
You find the best books! Very clever way to engage kids in math while having fun!
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