A couple of weeks ago, I observed one of my student teachers read The Very Hungry Caterpillar aloud to a group of 18 three-year-olds.  She did  a great job reading; using all of the skills and techniques of dialogic reading that we teach our growing teachers. While watching her, I realized that there are so many great math concepts in that book.  There is sequencing, number sense, number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and predictability.  Using an engaging book to explore these concepts is so much more interesting than so many more typical didactic exercises that tend to be less developmentally appropriate and definitely more boring to young children.

I found this cool website that is filled with ideas about how to use The Very Hungry Caterpillar in a variety of ways,  Check it out here.

One mom reported that she had heard that children were supposed to identify a pair of “trousers” in a picture.  She felt that the word “trousers” is no longer used and her child was at a disadvantage because their family does not use that word at home.  Perhaps this is true.  I might argue that most of us no longer use the word trousers to describe pants.  We say “pants” or “jeans” or “corduroys.”  However, children who read a lot, are read to a lot and who are exposed to the world of books, will have a vocabulary that will eventually include words like “trousers.”  Books are important for language learning.

That brings me to books for math.  If approached with intention, children’s books are rich with mathematical concepts.  Some are obvious (Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed) and others have mathematical concepts embedded in the stories, through the use of patterns, rhythm, and predictability.

Nowhere is this more true than in Eric Carle books.

Take a look at this video and let us know what you think.  Watch how Ana reads “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and capitalizes on the mathematical concepts.  What do you think?

(The password for the video is Ana)