Review:
Marvelous Math is an anthology of math related poems collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Karen Barbour. This book of selected poems would be most useful when teaching specific concepts in math such as fractions, multiplication, etc. The poems in the collection vary from free verse to rhyming poems. There are three poems that can be used at any time during the course of a school year, Marvelous Math by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, from Take a Number by Mary O'Neill, and To Build a House by Lillian Fisher. Dotlich's poem talks about the kinds of questions that can be answered with math. O'Neill's poem talks about life without math or numbers, "Wouldn't it be awful To live like that?". Fisher's poem shows the many ways math is used to build a house. The colorful illustrations help give life to the poems in a playful way from a giant dinosaur to a long division problem written on a confused boy's forehead. These poems reflect positive and negative ways people view math. A feeling many students may share about multiplication facts or problems is a negative one. The poem below can help struggling students not feel so alone in their effort to understand multiplication. I believe this book is a must for any math classroom.
Poem Introduction:
Use with a small group of students who are struggling with the concept of multiplication. Write the lines of the poem on sentence strips, hand each strip in order to students, and have them read the poem aloud. Then show them the poem and illustrations. Discuss their feeling about multiplication and if the can identify with any of the illustrations from the book.
from Near the Window Tree by Karla Kuskin (from Marvelous Math)
Is six times one a lot of fun?
Or eight times two?
Perhaps for you.
But five times three
Unhinges me,
While six and seven and eight times eight
Put me in an awful state
And four and six and nine times nine
Make me want to cry and whine
So when I get to twelve times ten
I begin to wonder when
I can take a vacation from multiplication
And go out
And start playing again.
Follow-up Activity
After reading the poem together and discussing how multiplication can be a difficult math concept, read the picture book, Multiplying Menace: The Revenge of Rumpelstiltskin by Pam Calvert. This book uses multiplication to help Rumpelstiltskin exact revenge on the queen for saying his name 10 years ago. The book and poem are a fun way to get students excited about multiplication. Have students create their own multiplication charts and practice multiplication problems with each other in pairs or small groups.
book cover image from http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
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