Pigs Will Be Pigs

I love children’s books that teach math concepts!  One that I used today is called, Pigs will be Pigs by Amy Axelrod, pictures by Sharon McGinley-Nally.  I work with a couple 1st graders once a week and I found that using books like this provide a way for us to talk about vocabulary in addition to a math topic.  The topic in this book is money so I created a quick chart.  Here is a .pdf of the chart.

PwbPWe first wrote the name for each bill and coin.  Then, as I read the book, students kept track of the money the pigs found by making tally marks on the chart.  When I finished reading, the students counted their tally marks and we found the total.

There are several ways to extend this book.  Here are a few ideas…

  1. Talk about the presidents, monuments, and other items on each bill and coin.  Here’s a nice reference about coins in circulation.
  2. There is a nice interactive read-aloud on You Tube that poses questions throughout the book.
  3. The pigs go to a restaurant in the book and the menu is printed on two of the pages.  Have kids order a meal and calculate the total.  Or, give them a certain amount of money and have them order meals for their family.

What are some children’s books that you know of that teach math concepts?  Please share!

2 thoughts on “Pigs Will Be Pigs

  1. Love it, Lynn thanks for all you do! I may use this with some of my 2nd & 3rd graders in title math! Thanks for sharing!

  2. Thanks Lynn! I used those books when I taught 3rd grade and we would keep track of the total. Great idea! I have some other math materials that may be helpful for you or that I could possibly use with the girls.

Leave a Reply to Allison Dykhouse Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *