Integrating Mathematics and Literature

Teachers and parents have begun to realize that mathematics truly is everywhere. As, more and more, we consciously include critical thinking, problem solving, and communication as important goals within the mathematics curriculum, so we have become aware that children’s literature holds countless creative opportunities for working towards these goals. Many stories involve making deductions, pulling together ideas, and solving problems. These processes are beautifully illustrated, across cultures and family configurations, around many problem issues for school-aged children. And, more recently, authors have begun creating picture books with the express purpose of sparking mathematical investigations.

From the teacher’s point of view, integrating literature and mathematics offers a chance to settle more deeply into a project, secure that a broad range of teaching goals are being met concurrently. This permits the teacher to spend twice as long on an integrated project, decreasing the number of transitions, while encouraging reluctant mathematicians and/or readers. Integrating math and literature offers an opportunity to blend in subtle but meaningful connections as children learn that the problem solving tools they are developing will serve social as well as computational purposes. Teachers can use the writing generated from integrated studies to assess children’s strengths from a new angle. Children communicate with each other and so share, develop, justify, and expand their thinking.

There are a number of books and Web sites to help teachers and parents integrate math and literature. These sources usually include detailed lesson plans for specific titles. But here’s a general plan to help you create your own integrated lessons.

Begin by reading the picture book to yourself a few times. Then remind yourself of the NCTM Curriculum Standards, thinking about what thinking processes are emphasized. Return to the book and pick out a facet to explore with children. You could have children create alternate solutions to the problem solved by the protagonist. You might have children write their own version of the story, with details from their own lives or imaginations. If you’re very brave, you could read the story aloud and ask the children, “What does this story make you wonder about?” Based on their replies, you could create an investigation for the next day, following a second reading of the story. Whatever investigation or extension you create, it’s very satisfying to include a piece of writing at the conclusion. Children can summarize what they did, what they thought, what ideas they had, or what they continue to wonder about.

Children’s literature can offer a real-life application for children who are practicing solving the problems they encounter in life. And that’s one of the primary goals of the mathematics curriculum, too.

About the Author

Christina Wright, Ph.D., is a math consultant living in Seattle, Washington. She is an adjunct faculty member at Pacific Oaks College Northwest and a frequent facilitator for the online-line Bank Street Forum.