Teddy Bear Math

While I was away for the summer break a new book found it's way to my desk Teddy Bear Math by Barbara Barbiere McGrath. This book can engage children in a delightful exploration of counting, estimation, sorting, addition and graphing. The rhyming verse encourages readers to grab handfuls of Teddy Bear Counters for a variety of activities. Even if you do not have a set of Teddy Bear Counters for children to use along with reading the book I think it is a great addition to your classroom library.



An earlier book by McGrath, Teddy Bear Counting is a perfect companion to the new title. Together children will build Number Sense and develop counting skills.

Teaching Tip
Substitute beans as an inexpensive substitute for the teddy bear manipulative. I suggest dried white beans that can easily be spray painted red, yellow, purple, blue, orange and green then used for all of the counting and sorting activities.

Lemonade for Sale

Yesterday we talked about class projects to raise funds for a class field trip. Stuart Murphy's Lemonade for Sale is a perfect follow-up. The children in the story want to raise money to repair their clubhouse and keep track of sales from their lemonade stands

Teaching Tip
Students can also use bar graphs to analyze data collected in their own fundraising efforts.