Fractions :: Book Sharing Monday - Eva Varga

Jerry Pallotta excites readers with icky bugs and chocolate math.  His curriculum-based books focus on reading, writing, math and science, with just the right dose of humor and the unexpected.

In Apple Fractions, author Jerry Pallotta and illustrator Rob Bolster use a variety of different apples to teach kids all about fractions in this innovative and enjoyable book. Playful elves demonstrate how to divide apples into halves, thirds, fourths, and more. Young readers will also learn about varieties of apples, including Golden and Red Delicious, Granny Smiths, Cortlands, and even Asian Pears.

In Hershey’s Fractions, Pallotta and Bolster capitalize on the 12 little rectangles of a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar, the perfect edible tool for teaching fractions! A bunch of comical cows, some cocoa pods, and stalks of sugar cane join the fraction fun.

Read these books aloud while studying fractions or alternatively, within a unit integrating apples and the many different varieties of apples. Discuss the fractions using the different varieties of apples to illustrate the fractions shown on each page. Remember to talk about the whole apple in terms of the fraction and talk about how the apples may vary in size but each apple’s fractions are equal sizes. Use real apples to show the fractions. Use the apples for a cooking activity or for snack.

Prepare construction paper apples showing the fractions shared in the book. Ask children to share what the denominator would be for the apple shown, then work with the children to show the different numerators as they would be named. On cards have different fractions listed, children would be able to use this activity independently to practice working with and identifying fractions.

Here is a link to a great lesson plan to use with your students that integrates these everybody books into your math curriculum.