Letters

Reading can promote math skills

It is so nice to read an article that confirms I'm doing the right thing. The article by Dan Fleming, ('Let Me Count the Ways,' August 2004, pp.42-44) was about teaching math in the library. I never really gave it much thought, but I do it all the time. I have a dry erase board in my story-time area that I use with my primary grades. When the students wanted to know how long ago the first Thanksgiving was, I used different color markers and with the students help, we figured it out. Of course they wanted to know if I was there and how old I was, and that led into another discussion which continued to involve math. While teaching my older students how to use the World Almanac, I had them look up the Top 50 Amusement/Theme Parks and find out how many visited Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va. Then I had them find out which park had the highest attendance and calculate how many more people visited Magic Kingdom. Not only did the students become excited, they discovered how 'cool' the World Almanac was. Everyone wanted to check the book out to see what other good stuff was in there. The lesson also taught my students that Newport News, Va. has a greater population than Hampton, Va; how much it rained in a particular area; and how much tuition costs in different area colleges—all done using math!

Gina Powell
Library Media Specialist
Hidenwood Elementary School
Newport News, VA