Book Review: Zero the Hero

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. It was zero hour for kinder math class recess. (Just wrapping up our math session!) The mail arrived with a copy of Zero the Hero. I called my kiddos back to gather around for a reading before they left. My mail boy, a 4th grader, sat nearby working on an iPad. I plunged in to read. One of my kinders started laughing at the story. An infectious laugh. This little guy regularly runs around, pretending to be a superhero saying, "I'm Super Sammy 2.0!" He LOVES a story with a superhero as a main character. Meanwhile, my 4th grader started smirking and began looking less interested in the iApp he was using. He chuckled. Then laughed. Then edged closer to enjoy the book. And no wonder...

Zero the Hero makes me want to leap from a tall building crying, "Super Cindy 2.0!" It's a tale of Zero, who truly feels like nothing. He doesn't get included in counting. When added or subtracted from another number, nothing happens. Numbers refuse to be divided by him. And when he multiplies a number, terrible things happen.

So Zero rolls away.

But when Roman Numerals come to town, the other numbers are in trouble. Zero must return and unleash his powers in order to save the counting numbers.

I feel like this book packed a lot of punch. In addition to the tale of Zero's redemption, there are many teachable math moments:

• what happens when you add zero to a number?
• what happens when you subtract zero from a number?
• divide zero?
• multiply zero?
• and what are Roman Numerals anyway...and why don't they know about Zero?

My kinders definitely didn't get all the mathematical content, but they laughed and laughed over the storyline. My 4th grader couldn't resist all the word play scattered throughout the book. ("You were ONEderful! 4 He's a jolly good fellow! High 5! 3 Cheers!") And personally? I was intrigued by the endless mathematical teaching possibilities.

Bottom line? There is ZERO chance that you won't enjoy this book. :)

Check back in for an upcoming giveaway of Zero the Hero from the author, Joan Holub! And visit her website for related Zero the Hero fun!

P.S. Just checked Amazon and noticed that this book is on a phenomenal sale at the moment.

Disclosure: I received a review copy with no promise of a positive review...or a promise of any review at all, for that matter! :) Any purchases made through the Amazon link will result in a small commission (at no cost to you) which will be given to Grace and Hope, providing foster care for children in China. Thanks!

The Daily 5...Let Go, Let Grow

This post is for teachers and homeschoolers.

But it's mostly for me. :)

If you're a teacher, you may have have read the book The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades. If not, I highly recommend it.

If you're unfamiliar with the book (whether teacher or homeschooler!), here's what I consider the essence...and the part that I want to remember:

Each day, children should have the opportunity to participate in 5 daily literacy activities:

1. Reading to themselves.
2. Reading to someone else.
3. Listening to reading.
4. Work on writing.
5. Spelling/word work.

Whether I'm in a public school classroom or working with homeschool students, I sometimes forget what's important. Kids need daily, uninterrupted time to improve their literacy skills. They need to:

1. Read to themselves by choosing the books and other meaningful texts that they find interesting. I'm not likely to be that interested--or learn nearly as much--from a book that someone else demands I read. Why should I expect more from children?

2. Reading to someone else. I've never made this a huge priority. Now we're doing something called "brother reading." My 9yo reads a picture book to his brother, using his best animated voice. My 6yo "reads" the pictures in one of his favorite, well-loved stories, to his older brother.

3. Listening to reading. This is huge for me. In public school I read to my students a lot. At home, it's not unusual for us to spend up to an hour on the couch, snuggling with a pile of books. I'm convinced that this is one of the main reasons that my children all love to read. I've understood that the #1 predictor of school success lies in how much a child was read aloud to. I believe it.

4. Work on writing. As in reading, kids are most likely to enjoy writing and want to write more, if they can write about what interests them. They need daily, uninterrupted time to do that. And they need exposure to a wide variety of writing so they have access to new ideas, models and incentive for putting pen to paper.

5. Spelling/word work. I think #5 is highly overrated. (My thoughts. Not the authors'!) It's not unusual for it to get the most focus, whether at home or at school. Reality is that if children are abundantly exposed to #1-4, this largely takes care of itself; and it's easy to fill-in the few places where it doesn't.

Another big thing I got out of the book? If you expect a child to do something independently, you need to give the child a lot of time to practice, building up with incremental steps. I cannot expect my 6yo to sit down and read independently for 30 minutes. But he can certainly build up to that, by starting with 3 minutes and adding on a minute a day.

The funny thing about this book? It describes what a lot of kids will do naturally, if given the time. But the irony is that kids' time is so often filled with things that we (adults!) put on them that they don't have time to grow these abilities.

Let go, let grow.

My new mantra. :)

Whispering Books...at Home...and in Other Subjects, Like MATH

Have you read Donalyn Miller's book, The Book Whisperer? I finished it a week ago in preparation for the read along; I promised to write an entry talking about the book as it applies to homeschoolers. My thoughts are still percolating. The more I reflect on the reading, the more I think it applies to much, much more than my intended assignment and includes both homeschoolers and classroom teachers.

Whispering Books at Home or School
First, the book strongly resonates with me because I began teaching in middle school language arts. If I were to boil down Miller's book to its essence, I'd say that she is challenging teachers to make reading more real for kids, moving away from the artificiality of book projects and reports where students read novels in small groups or as an entire class study, focussing instead on kids choosing their own titles and reading, reading, reading. She attests to growth in both student interest in reading and their subsequent rise in test scores as they make their own choices and read...a lot! This paragraph (p. 51) especially speaks to me:

In The Power of Reading, his meta-analysis of research investigating independent reading over the past forty years, Stephen Krashen reveals that no single literacy activity has a more positive effect on students' comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, spelling, writing ability, and overall academic achievement than free voluntary reading. By loading the instructional day with traditional drill-and-kill activities such as weekly spelling and vocabulary lists and tests, grammar workbook exercises, and low-level comprehension assignments, all of which have a minimal or, in many cases, negative impact on student achievement, Krashen asserts that we are denying students access to the one activity that has been proven over and over again to increase their language acquisition and competence as communicators: again, free, voluntary reading.

In the homeschool setting, opportunities for "free, voluntary reading" are abundant. Or at least they can be. But so much depends on the teacher, just as it does in the classroom. Some classroom teachers leave students little reading choices; it's no different in the homeschool setting. Some homeschoolers choose curriculum that prescribes what a child is to do from early morning til late in the afternoon. Others give children complete freedom to choose. Even with reading freedom I think Miller's plan hinges on the teacher (whether in the classroom or at home) knowing a wide variety of literature in order to continually recommend new options to the child. I suppose homeschool parents wouldn't need to have this personal knowledge as long as they were aware of the necessity and could find others (such as librarians) to help expose the child to a variety of books that would pique interest.

Whispering Other Subjects...like Math
The more I consider Miller's message, the more I wonder to what extent it should apply to other content areas. She talks about how in-school reading should look more like real-life reading. When you and I read, we select books that interest us. When we're excited about content, we share it with our friends in informal ways. We don't do projects. We're not forced to sit through slow, boring studies with 30 of our closest friends, analyzing for character, setting, plot, etc. as we go.

So how does this thinking apply to other subjects? Why should we complete dozens of math problems when there are real-life math opportunities--dozens of them--encountered by students on a daily basis? Why should we read science texts if we can experience science in the real world? How do we authenticate "school" whether the location is at home or in a public building? What if we take the following sentences from Miller's book and replace the bold (mine) with other subjects/content (in parentheses) such as math?

My students' self-concept as readers (mathematicians) must extend beyond the classroom...(at home or at school)...or they have gained nothing lasting from me. If teachers (or homeschoolers) control reading (mathematics), we never give ownership of it to students. Students will not walk out of our classrooms (homes) with internal motivation to read (do math) if they see reading (math) as an act that takes place only in school under the control of their teachers. Reading (math, science, etc) ultimately belongs to readers (learners), not schools, and not schoolteachers (whether at home or at school.) p. 171

I have no answers, but I'm interested in the discussion. Have you read Miller's book? What are your thoughts? How does it apply to homeschooling? What about other content areas during the school day?

Outliers...a must-read book for teachers & parents!

On a forum I saw a recommendation for a book called Outliers: The Story of Success. Since reading about success isn't high on my interest list,  I was very surprised to find this book so readable, enjoyable, and most of all, fascinating.

In Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell explains how we need to look at what surrounds people if we really want to understand what makes them successful. Success hinges on things like a person's family, birthplace, and birth time/date...not just on innate ability.

He illustrates this with fascinating stories that will alternately encourage or frustrate a lot of parents and teachers. Take the case of a winning Canadian hockey team... Upon close examination of birthdates of the hockey players, one realizes that ability is much less a factor than the month in which you were born. Why?

The age cutoff for eligibility in hockey is Jan. 1. So a player born on Jan. 2 could be playing alongside a player born a year later at the end of December. As a young child, the January player has a much better chance of making a more advanced level team because he is physically more mature. On that advanced team, he gets more playing time, better coaches, and better teammates. Over the years, he is groomed to be a top player while a child born in the last several months of that year is simply given less opportunities, even though his natural talent may be the same or better. When data was collected, the birth month issue proved to be true as in "any elite group of hockey players--the very best of the best--40 percent of the players will have been born between January and March, 30 percent between April and June, 20 percent between July and September, and 10 percent between October and December." The author shows how this is also true of the cutoff date in American baseball and European soccer. The author writes that this "tells us that our notion that it is the best and the brightest who effortlessly rise to the top is much too simplistic. Yes, the hockey players who make it to the professional level are more talented than you or me. But they also got a big head start, an opportunity that they neither deserved nor earned. And that opportunity played a critical role in their success."

The author goes on to tell stories of why one genius succeeds and another fails. Why a certain airline had a horrific safety problem and the steps they took to turn tragedy to success by looking at cultural traditions and the role that they played in communication. (Who would have thought that the way people talked to each other could have such a direct link to airline crashes??) The perfect storm of circumstances leading to Bill Gates' success. And why 10,000 hours is the magic number when it comes to developing professional-level skills..."the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play."

So what do these fascinating stories mean for the average person? Especially if you're a parent or a teacher? A child does not have to be a genius or hugely talented to succeed. But he needs to be given opportunities. In this day and age, I would guess that the stakes are probably very high when it comes to an individual child's learning environment. Is it well suited to learning? Can she get individual attention when she needs it? Does she have an enthusiastic, curious educator nearby? Is someone giving him opportunities to practice, practice, practice the things in which he wants to succeed? And what's important...preparing for the test, or giving children opportunities to make mistakes as they explore the learning process?

You'll love this book. Put it on your summer reading list. ;)

Book Review: Simplicity Parenting

I've just returned from a 5-day hiatus to the beach. The kids and I cleared out so that dh could finish (with help!) some big--and not-so-big, but messy!--household projects. While I try to ignore the smell of paint in the air, I'd like to share a bit about a book I read this week...all while living an extremely simple (cold, rainy) beach life.

The subtitle of Simplicity Parenting immediate grabbed my attention: "Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids." I'm all for CALMER. HAPPIER. MORE SECURE. And, while I would have loved to have had the information with my first few stints in parenting (my kids range in age from 5 to almost 21!), this book is especially helpful for my youngest two children who have had more than their share of stress in their young lives. (The book really resonates with recommendations that Patty Cogen gives in her book, Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child.)

Because of our Mennonite heritage, we do live a relatively simple life; I was happily surprised to note how many of the suggestions are already part of our daily lives. So here are some of the things we do, some things we hope to implement, and some of the excerpts that wowed me. (The book contains much, much more!)


Some WOW moments:

*they studied kids with ADD, devising a simplification regime "with a particular emphasis on simplifying environment (including dietary changes), screen media and schedules." Result? "68 percent of the children whose parents and teachers adhered to the protocol went from clinically dysfunctional to clinically functional in four months." Wow.
*I love this..."Before you say something, ask yourself these three questions: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?"

Currently part of our lives:

*we don't do a lot of outside activities with our youngest kiddos, ages 5 & 8. Currently, they have no outside sports, clubs, music lessons, etc.
*when our kids are overwhelmed, we try to slow life down and pull them closer.
*we try to only keep toys around that we really use. I rotate toys from storage areas rather than having everything out and available at once.
*predictability--we have a pretty regular schedule. Occasionally it gets high-jacked by the older kids' busy lives, but generally it's smooth for the little guys.
*we eat nourishing, homecooked, seasonal meals together as a family. Very little processed stuff. Virtually no eating out. (Except for date nights, which the little guys don't go on!)
*my little boys have lots of "unscheduled free time" each day to "daydream and play." That's one of the best things about homeschooling.

Wish List:

*despite rotating toys, we still have too many around than we really don't need. And I won't even TOUCH the book issue. It's definitely time to purge the shelves of outgrown or little read books. (Hello. My name is ____. I am a bookaholic.)
*I desperately need to decrease the amount of clothing accessible to my youngest two. The number of choices they have is overwhelming, overstimulating, and a source of constant stress for me and them. My problem actually stems from my Mennonite heritage. Most of what we have has been gifted to us. So getting rid of it means that I might later have to spend money. (What if I NEED a red t-shirt one time this year? What if the white button-down gets a stain? I might need that second--or third, or fourth--shirt.) Or something may end up in the landfill because no one will take away stained, holey clothing even for free at a garage sale. (I know. I'm pathetic.)
*An entire chapter is dedicated to "filtering out the adult world." It's something I need to work on. While I avoid having the news on when my little guys are in the room, they definitely overhear news as well as adult or bigger-kid conversations about things that they could find stressful.
*I have a new resolve to keep the television off during daytime hours. At night, they go to bed before evening shows are turned on. While my little guys watch very little television, zero would be best.

I loved this book and highly recommend reading it. Whether you already "simplicity parent" or not. :)

Are You Neurotic?

If so, it appears you're in good company. My 16yo daughter picked up the book, I Am Neurotic, upon a librarian's recommendation. When she kept giggling, I leaned over her shoulder to check it out...and quickly "borrowed" it.

[Note: this is a book for mature readers. Perhaps mature, neurotic readers? :) ]

The book comes from the author, Lianna Kong's, work on her website, iamneurotic.com, where folks come to privately tell of their neurosis. Each page contains a photo illustration and someone's anonymous contribution, describing their issue. We could relate to a few of them, laughed at more, and shook our heads at the remainder. As a math educator, I especially enjoyed a couple...

"When I eat colored sweets (Skittles, Smarties, etc.) I have to arrange them by color, then pull out enough of them to create a Fibonacci triangle before I can eat them (in ascending numerical order). Any excess sweets that do not fit the pattern have to be eaten in one go before I can start on the patterned sweets." (I'm sure you can picture the photo illustration!)

"When I buy dinner at a restaurant I always leave a tip so that the total is a palindrome." (like $34.43)

I read the book in about 30 minutes. And felt quite relieved that my neurosis are not nearly as bad as I might have thought. ;) If you want a fun, fast read--with lots of photos--look for this book.

365 Penguins...and Problem Solving

I first read 365 Penguins while preparing for my math and literature class. (*See note at bottom of post about the related Advent Calendar.)

I love it for it's problem solving possibilities. Since it also starts on New Year's Day, it's timely...

Summary: When a box containing a penguin arrives anonymously on New Year's Day, a family of four is puzzled, but as they continue to receive one penguin each day their problems--and food budget, and storage issues--are multiplied.

While I do not think problem solving should be exploited every time you see a number in a book (an inherent danger with linking lit and math) the scenarios in this book are too good to pass up. Here are just a few of the possibilities. Quotes are from the book. The ensuing problems are mine.

• “At the end of January, there were thirty-one penguins in the house.”

Problem Solve: If penguins continue arriving at this rate, how many penguins will there be in another week? Two weeks? At the end of February?

• The family organizes the penguins in triangular stacks to discover that “Four times fifteen equals sixty!”

Problem Solve: What other equal groups could you put the penguins in? (Exploring factors of 60.)

• On the following page, yet another penguin arrives, making it sixty “Plus one!"

Problem Solve: Can you put the 61 penguins into equal groups? Why or why not? (Exploring prime and odd/even numbers)

• The penguins must be fed. "Each penguin ate 2.5 pounds of fish per day. A pound costs 3 dollars..."

Problem Solve: By this time, there are 100 penguins. How much does it cost to feed them? How much more will it cost in a month if they continue arriving at this rate? How much will food cost for a year? 

• Penguins must be organized. Again! The family makes space for 12 boxes of 12 penguins. 

Problem Solve: How many total penguins will fit?

• Penguins are organized into a cube of 6 x 6 x 6 penguins for storage.

Problem Solve: Now how many penguins?

On December 31st, the 365 guests gather. Uncle Victor arrives to take them away. Life begins to return to normal. Until the doorbell rings with ANOTHER DELIVERY! (I'll let you read the book to find out what happens! It's funny.)

This would make a great living book for math workboxes! It's also going to solve one of my Christmas problems...what to give my 8yo? Shhhhh...he's getting one for Christmas. ;)

*Also consider the 24 Penguins Before Christmas: A 365 Penguins Advent Calendar.

Math Workbox: Twenty-One Elephants

 

In 1883, workers completed the Brooklyn Bridge, an incredible feat of 19th century engineering. Problem was, folks were scared to cross it. How did they know if the bridge would hold?

In 1884, circus legend P.T. Barnum crossed the bridge with 21 elephants to prove the span could withstand anything...even the likes of Jumbo. The story is told (and fictionalized to varying degrees) in two books, Twenty-One Elephants and Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing.

I wrote up three Math Box Card activities for children to do after reading the books. Lessons include comparing/contrasting literature, problem solving/measurement, and history. You can download them, free! Enjoy and please leave me a note if you do the activity.

Book Review: Patterns in Peru

LilDude (8) received Patterns in Peru for his birthday. It was a perfect fit in so many ways.

We'd recently done a series of lessons on patterns in math. We had a lot of fun reading Pattern Bugs, searching for patterns in the book, and making our own patterns. Patterns in Peru became the perfect follow-up.

In the story, two children, Matt and Bibi, accompany their parents to Peru to "study an ancient woven tunic that is connected to the mysterious Lost City of Quwi." Through a series of mishaps, the children end up lost and must follow the patterns on the tunic in order to find the ancient city. They discuss what they know about patterns, explore a variety, and eventually make a T-chart to record a final growing pattern. For us, it was a great review of what we'd recently been learning about patterns.

The book's setting clinched it for us. In Sonlight Core 3, we've been studying Ancient Incans. (See our Core 3 activities.) In one illustration the children have to cross a rope bridge. Immediately, LilDude says, "That's like the bridge in Secret of the Andes!" (a Core 3 read aloud) The curriculum integration could not have been more perfect.

Thanks, Cindy Neuschwander, for another fabulous math tale!

Other books in the Matt and Bibi series include Mummy Math: An Adventure in Geometry and Pastry School in Paris: An Adventure in Capacity. We love Mummy Math and Patterns in Peru. Upon receiving Patterns in Peru, my son asked if there were any more Matt/Bibi books. When he learned about Pastry School in Paris, he asked for it for Christmas! ;)

P.S. This is linked up at Joyful Learner. Awesome math posts over there to check out. ;)

Email from Author Bruce Goldstone (Great Estimations)

This week I wrote about Bruce Goldstone's books, Great Estimations and Greater Estimations. I received a very nice email from him. With his permission, I'm sharing some excerpts. I think his readers would enjoy knowing more about the author. From Bruce:

"I really had a great time putting together the Great Estimation books. People always look surprised when I tell them that they are my most personal books, because they tend to equate math with cold, hard computation, like memorizing the multiplication tables or dividing fractions. But for me, numbers have always been just as entertaining and creative as letters and words. I've been lucky to find a way to share my perspective with others.

And thanks for finding a connection between my work and Marilyn Burns. She's certainly been an inspiration to me (and thousands of others!).

I'm working on a website redesign which should be ready in a month or so. The Estimatron will still be there, but I should be able to update it a bit more easily.

My next book was just released—it's about the 100th Day of School celebrations that have become so popular. It's the first book for which I took the photos myself (for the estimations books, I did all of the photo set-up, but hired a photographer to take the actual pics.)

As for the setting up, yes, it definitely helps to be patient. I bring my bags of stuff into the studio with a general plan, but sometimes things go off in strange directions. For example, the spiders and flies in Greater Estimations. I had one plan in mind, but was not at all happy with it, so I tried another, and that didn't "fly" either. Finally, I came up with the flies-in-a-web pattern that made it into the book. I think my theater background comes into play when I'm setting up photos—there's definitely a good deal of improv involved in getting the right shot."

Thanks, Bruce, for such a fascinating email...and for such great books! :)

Book Review: Great Estimations (teaching estimation)

I am in love.

With a book.

Two, actually.

(It really did get to be a bit ridiculous...  Yesterday in my math/lit class, when I introduced a new book I frequently began with, "I LOVE this book!" They finally laughed. Cause they knew it was true!)

Anyway, I love the Bruce Goldstone books on estimating--
Great Estimations and Greater Estimations. They are sorta like the "I Spy" books on steroids. The illustrations are bright, vibrant, colorful and include photos of everything from jellybeans to penguins to ducks. (On his website, Goldstone apologizes for the prolific use of ducks, saying, "Sorry about all the ducks. I bought 96 dozen* of these guys for Greater Estimations, so now I feel like I have to use them.) *My bold...can you imagine 96 dozen plastic ducks????

In Great Estimations, Goldstone teaches the reader to estimate, first by training the eye to see groups of objects (10, 100, 1000.) Later, you see sets of 10, then 100 objects, and are asked to estimate how many of the objects are pictured on an adjacent page. It's really quite clever.  He then demonstrates how to count the items in a small portion of a photo (like 1/100th), using that knowledge to determine the amount on the entire picture.

Greater Estimations begins in the same way, but extends learning by teaching new estimation strategies such as clump counting and box and count. Toward the end of the book, Goldstone suggests ways to estimate length, height, weight, size, and capacity.

My students--both children and adults--enjoy trying their skills on The Estimatron. (Check back for the link--looks like his website is currently under construction.) Located on Goldstone's website, this game allows you to estimate computer-generated groups of shapes up to 100, 500, and 1000.

If you introduce the books or game to your children, reinforce the idea that estimation is about making a good guess. It is not about getting an exact answer. When using the estimatron, even adults sometimes insist that they want to know if they got the "right answer."

In Marilyn Burns' book, Math, Facing An American Phobia (excellent read!), she stresses the importance of both mental math and estimation, two subjects that are rarely taught in "math class." Thankfully, books like Goldstone's can bring a new, fun, awareness to an often neglected topic.

For your entertainment, here's a bit of estimation trivia that one of my (adult) students shared yesterday. She said, "Estimate: how many Starbucks are found in the Seattle City limits?" [Her answer is at the bottom of the post.**]

[For additional lesson ideas, Google "estimation lesson plans." I estimate you'll come up with about 15,000,000 hits!]





**Answer: 432