Food Archives | Erikson Institute

A Holiday with Too Many Tamales

Orbit Media — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 01:03:11 +0000

How is it possible to have too many tamales? Well, Maria finds out in the book Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto. In this holiday storybook, what starts out as a fun experience helping mama make tamales becomes a frantic search for mama’s wedding ring. But it’s in the search that Maria and her cousins are faced with the math concept of too many.

How much is too many? This question is mathematical, making us think of quantity. What makes it too many turns our thoughts to the context of the problem. Twenty-four tamales was not too many for the family members that Maria and her parents were having over to celebrate Christmas, but when Maria and her 3 cousins had to eat the tamales to search for mama’s missing wedding ring, suddenly there were too many. Why – because the tummies of 4 children were not big enough to hold all those tamales.

Lots of questions come to mind as you can picture Maria, Delores, Teresa, and Danny eating their way through the mountain of tamales, hoping to find the ring with each bite. Was it a fair share? Did they all eat the same amount, or did someone eat more? What are the possible combinations of cousins and tamales that would get them to the total of 24 tamales? It sounds like a lot of number story possibilities could allow for a variety of solution strategies. Kindergartners might work with a smaller number of tamales, like 12, to focus on quantities connected to “ten and some more.” Older students might use the constraints of the story to help frame the problem. We know that “the first one was good, the second one pretty good, but by the third tamale, they were tired of the taste.

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5 Children’s Books About Food for the Holiday Season

Orbit Media — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 01:00:11 +0000

The holiday season usually brings with it any number of family dinners and communal feasts. For young children, this is a great time to engage in holiday activities for kids that have math learning centered around food! There are numerous great children’s books about food; we have compiled some with particularly strong mathematical ideas.

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson

In this adaptation of the classic children’s song, a relative with an abnormally large appetite comes over for Thanksgiving dinner. (Bookshop.org link here) The reiteration of the foods she eats not only adds to the excitement and suspense of the story but also lends itself to the idea of growing patterns (quite literally, in this case!). As she eats her way through course after course, you can encourage young readers to take note of the emerging pattern.
Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

After her mother loses her wedding ring while making tamales for a large Christmas dinner, Maria and her cousins determine that the quickest way to find it is to eat their way through all of the tamales. In this book, inevitably this leads to questions of quantity and “fair sharing” as Maria and her cousins set forth to tackle the mountain of tamales in front of them. Donna Johnson has expanded on some more math ideas with this holiday favorite.
So Many Circles, So Many Squares by Tana Hoban

Tana Hoban created a number of picture books that, even without words, exhibit mathematical ideas in the real world. Several of the pictures in this book deal with food and can open up discussions about what shapes children can point out on their own dinner table. For children with a firm grasp on the basics of shape attributes, your discussions can become increasingly precise—a piece of pie looks like a triangle, but can triangles have a curved edge?
Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell

This book follows a family as they buy ingredients and cook for a large family gathering. (Bookshop.org link here) Different numbers are associated with each part of the process—one shopping cart is filled with two pumpkins for pie, and three chickens to fry. Young children can be encouraged to connect the numeral to the number of items depicted on each page. After reading, they might try to create a similar story at home involving their own experiences and ingredients.
Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss

In this silly story, three animals try to one-up each other by stacking apples on their heads. (Bookshop.org link here) In this act of showmanship, they incorporate a number of important math ideas. The animals add one apple at a time, giving children the opportunity to practice counting and one-to-one correspondence by connecting each number to a specific apple. Their boastful nature also leads the animals to point out who has more, and who has less. Adults can also bring out math ideas such as counting on by having young children determine how many apples there will be if one more is added to the growing pile.

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Count on Feasting: Delectable Holiday Math Activities

Orbit Media — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 01:01:39 +0000

The holidays are coming up, and usually that involves a lot of eating. This can provide plenty of opportunities to find math all around us. Problems surrounding the questions of “how many do we have,” “how many do we need,” “how much is enough,” and “what might be too much” can lead to any number of fruitful holiday math activities. Several books support this line of thinking and will make these holiday math activities especially fun for children.

Preschoolers and kindergarteners will enjoy counting up the foods and guests in Feast for Ten by Cathryn Falwell. To create a home-school connection project, invite families to create their own “Feast for…” book. Each family will count up how many of their relatives they want to invite to a feast and then will pick favorite foods to buy, following the model of the book. Students can bring in their individualized books to share during group time.

Another possibility for all ages is the delightful Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto. You can use the story to involve children in thinking about how many of the 24 tamales Maria and her cousins might have to eat each if there were 3 of them, 4 of them, or 6 of them, using a “fair share” problem approach. The class might have fun discussing how many eaters would turn the number of tamales each consumes from being “too many” to “just right.” This discussion could deepen children’s thinking about personal tastes and needs.

Mary Ann Hoberman’s One of Each is another great book that considers the idea of “just right” while reinforcing the idea of sharing and one to one correspondence. In this book, the main character has one of everything — one chair, one plate, and so on. This works perfectly for him until a friend visits and he has to re-question “how much is enough.”

To extend the feasting fun math, distribute simple standard recipes for tamales or other favorite holiday fare — for more personalized learning, students’ families could even provide the recipes. Then have children work in small groups to double, triple, or halve the recipes for an extra large or small crowd.

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Rules of Counting with Fingerplays and Books

Orbit Media — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 23:35:24 +0000

In the real world we usually don’t count by ones, beginning with one. It takes too long. We find ways of getting to a number much faster. We may begin at a higher number we know and count on or count back. For example, you have groups of 10 stacks of plates, and you need 12, so you’ll just take a stack and add 11, 12 and now you have 12 plates. Or you take 3 plates from the stack and count down–10, 9, 8–to keep track of how many plates are left.

These faster ways of counting work because of a rule for rational counting, the stable order rule. This rule states that the order of numbers is a fixed pattern, with each number representing a quantity that is always one more than the number that precedes it and one less than the number that comes after it. So put in another way, 4 is one more than 3 and 3 is one less than 4.

Children need experiences and practice counting in different, flexible ways while learning these rules of counting. And what better way to do that than through the books they love to hear over and over.

Counting with fingerplays such as the classic Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed provides kids the opportunity to see, hear, and act out counting in different ways. From keeping track of the monkeys on the bed with fingers to the joy of pretending to jump on the bed and fall off, children can model the one-less pattern of counting down. And, you can extend their learning by asking all kinds of questions that touch on the rules of counting.

What if 2 more monkeys came over to play with the 5 little monkeys? Can we count down if they also started jumping on the bed?

What if 2 monkeys fell off at once?

Editor’s Note: This particular song may have a racist history, and it is racist to compare any group of humans with monkeys. However, given the ubiquity of this song and book in early childhood classrooms, we feel that it’s worth thinking about how to mathematize the inherent counting-down pattern. For other fingerplay ideas, please see our list of favorite nature-inspired fingerplays and songs below.

A favorite book, The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins, also provides an engaging context for counting. In this book, Ma’s cookies become irresistible to her family and friends. As guests come to partake, the cookies continually disappear into hungry bellies. It’s a relatable and well-told story for young children, and it introduces some ideas that can be explored along the way. Just change it to pizza!

Your family is sharing pizza. Into how many pieces should it be cut?

Decide on 2 different pizzas to share. How many would want a slice of one? How many would want a slice of the other? How many want a slice of both? How many pieces would that come to?

Grandma brings over enough pizza so everyone in your family can have two slices. How many slices is that?

With favorite fingerplays and books, along with some playful questions, children have many opportunities to become flexible with the rules of counting that exist in everyday life.

Math at Your Fingertips: Songs and Fingerplays for Preschoolers

Get more ideas for using fingerplays to bring out the math with children and their play.

Learn more

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It’s Picnic Time. Don’t Forget to Pack the Math!

Orbit Media — Tue, 02 May 2017 22:51:34 +0000

Many classrooms are planning year-end picnics, so it’s the perfect time to read We’re Going on a Picnic! by the beloved author Pat Hutchins. Like several of her other books, such as Rosie’s Walk, this tale is set in the farmyard and illustrated with big, bold pictures and simple text.

Hen, Goose, and Duck prepare for a picnic by packing a basket with berries, apples, and pears. Then they go in search of the perfect place to picnic. They go across the field, up the hill, down the hill, and around the lane. As they go, they share the load of the heavy picnic basket, only to find that it’s become much lighter when they finally settle on a place to eat!

This is a delightful story to act out, and there are many math questions to explore, such as:

How many berries, apples and pears should the three friends pack? How many of each do they get? How can they be sure to share fairly? Create simple number stories by giving students the number of berries, apples, and pears and asking them to find the total number of fruits. Older children can determine whether the three friends will get an equal share or not. Children may also want to determine the numbers of each fruit to bring—or decide to pack something else to eat.
What route should the friends take to the picnic spot? Could we draw them a map? Draw landmarks from the story on sticky notes and have students determine how to position them on a large map. Trace the route the friends take to the picnic spot.
Why does the picnic basket get lighter? Launch an investigation of weight by exploring how the same size containers can weigh differently depending on their contents. Baby food jars fit well on a pan balance scale for direct comparison. Fill them with materials of varying weights such as cotton balls and marbles.

Lastly, don’t forget the math that’s a part of your own picnic story. As you and your students plan for a picnic or other year-end celebration, involve them as much as possible. How many people are coming? Have the students count water bottles, napkins, and other supplies. How much food is needed? Who can draw a map to the picnic spot? Picnics are a yummy way for your students to use the math they’ve learned all year! Have fun!

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3 Magic Cauldron Books for Kids to Mathematize the Season

Orbit Media — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 21:05:54 +0000

One of the most classic images of the Halloween season is a witch’s magic pot or cauldron. Singing about witches’ brew and reading tales of magical pots can also be a great way to introduce math concepts… as long as you find the right book!

Here are three of our favorite magic cauldron tales that could be introduced during the Halloween season (or any time) to spark discussion around important math ideas such as doubling, capacity, and measurement.

Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong

There aren’t any witches in this story, but there is certainly an interesting magic pot. This Chinese folktale tells the story of Mr. Haktak and the miraculous brass pot he finds in the ground. Mr. and Mrs. Haktak think they have found a goldmine when they discover that anything put into the pot comes out with a second, a double. For this couple it seems like a great way to get rich, but when Mr. Haktak falls into the pot himself, they quickly find that things can get messy when you double the wrong things.

The tale is whimsical and lighthearted and could easily be translated into describing two witches in a similar situation, adding to your list of good Halloween books for kids to ring in the season. And further discussing ways in which doubling can happen in the real world can become a fun and worthwhile exploration of math concepts. It isn’t always one object making two when you decide to throw a set of keys or a pair of shoes in the pot.
The Magic Porridge Pot by Paul Galdone

This amusing story starts off much like Jack and the Beanstalk, with a girl looking for food for her poor family when she is approached by an old woman. She is given a pot that can provide never-ending porridge. With the magic words, the girl thinks she has found the solution to her problems.

The real problem comes with keeping track of the magic words, which is what results in an overflow of porridge in her poor town. The math opportunity with this story comes with the concept of capacity, volume, and measurement. The pot never changes size, nor the amount of porridge that it can hold. It is the volume of porridge (and the limited capacity of the pot) that makes this a big problem for the girl. Having a clear problem and exploring the math involved with it makes this a fun and interesting book for kids.
Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

The timeless tale of Strega Nona is based on the same traditional folktale as The Magic Porridge Pot. But this one involves a real witch! This time it is “Big Anthony” who has some issues with a magical pot. And it isn’t porridge, it is pasta. This book offers the same possibilities in connecting the story to concepts of volume and measurement, but activities that include actual pasta noodles could give a tactile and real-world dimension to the story.

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Intentional Teaching Comes to Life with Big Shoulders Project

Orbit Media — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 01:53:17 +0000

Math can be intimidating for many students, because it appears to be abstract and detached from the real world. Ms. Sheila Houston is among a growing group of teachers who are attempting to individualize their lessons to connect with each students’ unique interests and abilities.

Ms. Houston is a first grade teacher at St. Margaret of Scotland School. She has been attending our workshops in partnership with the Big Shoulders Fund, which works with the Office of Catholic Schools.

In the first cycle of these after-school workshops, they spent one 3-hour session intensively planning how participants could tailor a lesson plan developed by the Early Math Collaborative to help their students understand growing patterns.

The lesson revolved around the book The Napping House by Audrey Wood.

The research lesson was designed with preK-K students in mind, but it is always important to be able to “scale up” such lessons for primary. While Ms. Houston’s first graders loved The Napping House and the activities in the research lesson, Ms. Houston realized that they were ready and capable of going further and digging deeper. She pondered on how to use ideas that came up in the planning session. She was particularly attracted by the idea of having children write their own books showing a growing pattern, as in The Napping House.

When Ms. Houston invited her students to write their own books, several didn’t want to create a “napping house” of their own, so she asked them what they might want to do instead. One little girl, who probably had fashion in mind, suggested shopping. However, the boys in the class were more interested in what might be tasty for a Super Bowl party.

Ms. Houston immediately saw an opportunity to reinforce another very important lesson she knows the children in her class need to think about: nutrition and the importance of healthy diets. So together the class developed a list of healthy foods—Google research gave them a long list of foods—complete with pictures so each child had plenty of individual choices.

Ms. Houston knew there was more differentiating to do as the children’s number sense covered a broad span. She gave each child a different number of items to start from and then asked them to create a shopping cart of healthy foods, with each subsequent child adding 10 pieces of another healthy food. In the end every child in her class at every level of ability will have their work “published” in a laminated and bound edition.

While the story Nilah wrote (available to download below as a PDF file [6.1 MB]) is surely a sign of a future award-winning author, let’s not forget that Ms. Houston’s intentional teaching and differentiation means every child is given the opportunity to learn and succeed.

Growing Pattern Example

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Food Archives | Erikson Institute

A Holiday with Too Many Tamales

5 Children’s Books About Food for the Holiday Season

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

So Many Circles, So Many Squares by Tana Hoban

Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell

Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss

Count on Feasting: Delectable Holiday Math Activities

Rules of Counting with Fingerplays and Books

Math at Your Fingertips: Songs and Fingerplays for Preschoolers

It’s Picnic Time. Don’t Forget to Pack the Math!

3 Magic Cauldron Books for Kids to Mathematize the Season

Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong

The Magic Porridge Pot by Paul Galdone

Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

Intentional Teaching Comes to Life with Big Shoulders Project