Are you looking for a fun way to introduce, extend, or reinforce number sense math concepts in your classroom? One way that hooks kids every time is by using read alouds. Literature that also teaches math can help show concepts in visual ways and also helps students build mnemonic references to different math concepts.
These fun titles can be a welcome break to the normal flow of your math routine. They can also be read during your normal read aloud time in your classroom. But, don’t just read a book and be done with it! Make sure you pick titles that align to concepts you are teaching. Then plan activities that reinforce the content the picture book teaches.
Education to the Core has hundreds of math hands-on activities, centers, and printables ready to go. As a Premium member everything on the site is downloadable. Making it simple to pick a math concept, plan a lesson, find a fun read aloud, and then have engaging materials that align perfectly. Even better, each of the books listed below already has activities planned and selected. All you have to do is read the book (or play the YouTube link) then print, prep, and do the activities with your class!
There are so many amazing read alouds that can be used in your math instruction. Here are 9 picture books that teach number sense. I’ve also suggested quick no prep activities you can do with each!
Book 1. Ten Black Dots
Ten Black Dots is a simple book that tells what you can do with black dots. On each page Donald Crews introduces the numbers one through ten and illustrates how each number of dots can be used. From one dot being a sun to three being a snowman’s smile each page is a chance to count the dots and learn about the numbers 1-10.
The simple illustrations really make the black dots pop on each page. It’s a perfect book to introduce subitizing to little learners. Subitizing teaches students to quickly recognize visual patterns in small sets of objects like dots. As you read Ten Black Dots, have students subitize on each page and tell you how many dots they see. Then explain how they know.
Keep practicing subitizing with your students. Use games such as Subitizing Dominoes and Subitizing Three in a Row. Both of these games reinforce subitizing and those essential quick counting skills that students need to grow into great mathematicians.
Book 2. Feast for 10
Keeping with the theme of counting to 10, Feast for 10 is a great math read aloud that reinforces counting skills. In this simple story a family is getting ready for a feast and is counting up to 10 and then back to 1. There’s lots of things to count, from food to people. It is sure to give your little learners plenty of practice on the skills of rote and one-to-one counting. Make sure to get your class counting along with the family in the story as the feast is prepared and then enjoyed.
Our young students often need more practice with oral counting than you might think. It’s important that students can count from one and from other numbers accurately every time. Morning meetings or calendar is a great time to get extra practice with counting skills. Use these Oral Counting Cards to practice starting and stopping at different numbers all between 0-100. Your students will soon be super star counters.
Book 3. 10 Gulab Jamuns
What could be better than learning to count? Learning to count with yummy food! In 10 Gulab Jamuns the sweet treats are lost and found providing lots of opportunity to count forwards and backwards as well as practice simple addition and subtraction.
Each page presents a great way to practice counting, subtracting and adding. Have your students use their white boards to draw their own 10 Gulab Jamuns. Then erase and count and add more and count each time the Gulab Jamuns are lost and found.
Another activity that reinforces counting and simple addition and subtraction is Counting Structures with Bears. This activity gives your students lots of chances to practice 1:1 counting. It also teaches basic subtraction as they solve how many bears go missing each time their partner hides some. It’s the perfect resource to pair with 10 Gulab Jamuns because your students will get lots of chances to hone those counting on and back skills!
Book 4. If You Were a Plus/Minus Sign
Do you have any students that don’t pay much attention to the plus and minus signs in math problems? It almost always happens when the two are mixed up on the same page of problems! I have a solution for you. If You Were a Plus Sign and If You Were a Minus Sign are great books that help teach what each of these special symbols does in math problems.
Read each one as you introduce the plus and minus symbols and then keep the titles handy and refer to the fun pictures and whimsical stories quickly whenever confusion between Mr. Plus and Mr. Minus becomes an issue.
Of course the most important way to make sure your students don’t confuse addition and subtraction is to practice lots with both symbols. Start with the amazing Decodable Word Problem Sets to build fluency and confidence with both addition and subtraction strategies.
Bonus: all the words in the problems are simple and easily read by even our most beginning readers. Keep up the fact fluency and repeated practice of mixed addition and subtraction with practice pages that include both symbols mixed together.
Book 5. Even Steven and Odd Todd
Even Steven and Odd Todd is a silly book about two cousins that do everything opposite of each other. When Odd Todd comes to stay with Even Steven nothing makes Even Steven more frustrated than the fact that Odd Todd never does things in even numbers. Which of course is the only way Even Steven does anything. The story is silly and models the concept that even numbers are ones that can be divided into two even groups and odd numbers are those that get left with an odd one out.
As you read Even Steven and Odd Todd with your class, stop and discuss each quantity in the book and have students explain if the number is even or odd and how they know. Use counters, bears or other manipulatives and give each student a handful. As Even Steven and Odd Todd argue over quantities in the book students can model each number. Then have them use the “make pairs” strategy to decide who is right – Even Steven or Odd Todd.
Give extra practice using even and odd numbers with skip counting by twos during morning meetings. Try starting at different numbers and then identifying if the numbers skip counted were even or odd. Use even and odd mazes to have students see the skip counting even and odd relationship visually represented.
Book 6. Zero the Hero
Who’s the ultimate underdog in math? Why it’s Zero the Hero of course! This book is a bit more complex but it teaches all the superpowers of zero – place value, addition and subtraction, and how the zero is used to make a digit ten times larger.
This book is great to use when you are teaching concepts like place value and expanded form. Knowing what zero does to numbers in different place values is foundational math knowledge and the teachings in Zero the Hero align perfectly with this tricky concept.
Pair Zero the Hero with lessons about expanded form when you are covering place value. These Expanded Form Clip Cards make a great center or activity to do in a small group and they give plenty of practice with what Zero the Hero does to a digit to increase its value in each place.
Book 7. Gavin the Gator
Lurking in the number swamp lives Gavin the Gator, and he of course is a hungry gator who is looking for numbers that are greater. Students can chomp along with him as he hunts down his tasty greater than number dinner.
This book for number sense is a no-brainer when it comes time to teach greater than/less than because the gator analogy of chomping the bigger numbers is a concrete simple way to help students understand the concept. Make sure students use their own hands and chomp the big numbers and before you know it you’ll be seeing your whole class correctly identifying numbers using the greater and less than symbols.
Use the game boards in these Greater Than and Less Than Races to create a fun center that keeps with the Gavin the Gator theme and uses the greater than and less than symbols as the way students race to the finish.
Book 8. Tally O’Malley
Keeping track of quantities quickly and efficiently is not only an important math skill but a life skill too. Tallies get the job done for this! A great book that introduces the power of the simple tally for counting is Tally O’Malley. On her way to the beach Nell and her siblings count and keep track of all the things they see with tallies and it seems like Nell will never win, but she ends up having some luck on her side!
As you read this number sense book with your class make sure they keep track using tallies too. You can even split your class into three groups, one representing Nell, one Eric, and one Bridget. See how close the three siblings are in their race to count the most objects on the way to the beach.
Keep the tally fun going in your math stations and activities using a Count and Tally Game. This fun station aligns perfectly with Tally O’Malley. Your students will get additional practice with counting and tallying different objects just like Nell and her siblings did in the book.
Book 9. 100 Hungry Ants
At first glance you might think 100 Hungry Ants is simply a book about counting to 100. But it’s so much more than that! This book is all about 100 marching ants. It illustrates the ways that 100 can be divided into groups as the ants change formation from lines of fifty, twenty-five, and then ten. It’s a great picture book to introduce students to both simple division concepts and the patterns we see on a hundreds chart.
Students can practice circling the groups of ants illustrated in the number sense book by using a white board marker on a laminated hundreds chart. This can lead to great class discussions about how and why our numbers are organized in the base ten system.
Keep the hundred chart connection going and introduce Hundred Chart Puzzles. These will challenge your students to rely on the groups of ten idea taught in 100 Hungry Ants and rebuild hundreds charts correctly using their knowledge of base ten.
Literature and reading aloud has a place in every aspect of our days as teachers. A classroom filled with books and stories is one that is buzzing with the happy hum of students learning. These books are just a starting spot for how read alouds can be incorporated into math. Here’s a whole list of other books that teach all sorts of math concepts from time to geometry to money to measurement and more. You can check also our counting and cardinality worksheets that can help you teach number sense effectively by providing engaging activities that build a strong foundation in understanding numbers and their relationships. Happy Reading!
Written by: Andrea Gudmundson
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