Question: Do you have a list of the trade books needed to teach the different Investigations units? What about the books that are now out of print?
Answer: The use of children's literature as part of the Investigations curriculum was an intentional decision. We knew that teachers, especially primary teachers, like to find ways to integrate and support different topics. Therefore, in each unit there is a suggested list of children's literature, which includes books suggested for specific activities (and alternatives when possible), as well as other related books.
In the instances where a piece of children's literature is used to launch an activity or Investigation, the books selected focused on the mathematical idea(s) being worked on within the Investigation or unit. For example in Mathematical Thinking at Grade 1, students are doing a lot of work focused on counting and the number sequence, and they are beginning to explore the operation of addition. The book, Rooster's Off to See the World, is used to pose a problem to students -- first about predicting what might happen next (after 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, and then 5 animals join a group), and then about how many animals there were altogether at that point in the story. In this activity the students work to solve the mathematical problem which naturally stems from the story. In some situations, a book was chosen to introduce a topic. (i.e. How Many Teeth? or The Red Carpet) However, whenever a book is suggested, we tried not to make the activity totally dependent on a book, suggesting that the teacher make up a similar story or use one of several alternative books instead (i.e. The Very Hungry Caterpillar or P Bear's New Year's Party in this instance, which are both stories about a similar growing pattern).
The challenge of this philosophy is that children's literature goes in and out of print rather quickly. The Investigations website lists all the books required for an activity (even though they are always considered optional), as well as additional books on the same topics that might be used instead. The CESAME Support Site compiled lists of books suggested by practicing teachers, and book series and resoures about using children's literature for math can be found here.
Also see the archived CESAME discussions about children's literature at K-1.
Megan Murray, TERC
March 2004
This information was reprinted with permission of CESAME, Northeastern Univ., and the Educational Alliance, Brown University.
