Recommended Books

17 Kings and 42 Elephants

Margaret Mahy

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Subitise small collections of objects (ACMNA003)

Teaching ideas
Counting on with and without distractors in routine and non-routine environments

The King’s Chessboard

David Birch

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Introduce the concept of variables as a way of representing numbers using letters (ACMNA175)

Teaching ideas
Explore the concept if the wise man had asked for one gain on the first day, three on the second day, nine on the third day etc (x^3). How quickly would she have reached 1 billion grains?

Matherpieces: The Art of Problem-Solving

Greg Tang

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Subitise small collections of objects (ACMNA003); Represent and solve simple addition and subtraction problems using a range of strategies including counting on, partitioning and rearranging parts (ACMNA015); Describe, continue, and create number patterns resulting from performing addition or subtraction

Teaching ideas
Students investigate other situations involing subitising and counting on with and without distractors in routine and non-routine situations. Students could write the number sentences represented by art in this book (representational to abstract).

Inchworm and a Half

Elinor J Pinczes

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Use direct and indirect comparisons to decide which is longer, heavier or holds more, and explain reasoning in everyday language (ACMMG006); Measure and compare the lengths and capacities of pairs of objects using uniform informal units (ACMMG019)

Teaching ideas
Measuring other lengths using concrete materials, e.g. string. Explain the history of what sea speed is measured in knots (concrete idea for measuring an abstract concept)

A place for zero

Angeline Sparagna LoPresti

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Establish understanding of the language and processes of counting by naming numbers in sequences, initially to and from 20, moving from  any starting point (ACMNA001); Connect number names, numerals and quantities, including zero, initially up to 10 and then beyond (ACMNA002); Yr1-Recognise, model, read, write and order numbers to at least 100. Locate these numbers on a number line (ACMNA013); Yr2-Recognise, model, represent and order numbers to at least 1000 (ACMNA027); Yr3-Recall multiplication facts of two, three, five and ten and related division facts (ACMNA056)

Teaching ideas
Explore adding numbers up to 10 then beyond and up to 900. Explore adding and multiplying by 0. Conduct some experiments with 'numberator' and 'multi-tube'.

One Hundred Hungry Ants

Elinor J Pinczes

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Recognise and represent multiplication as repeated addition, groups and arrays

Teaching ideas
Explore other configurations they could have marched in. What if there had been 200 ants. What would their quickest configuration have been?

The Boy who Loved Math

Deborah Heiligman

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Investigate index notation and represent whole numbers as products of powers of prime numbers (ACMNA149)

Teaching ideas
Used as an introductory tool for prime numbers and also collaborative work.

Sold: A mothematics adventure

Nathan Zimelman

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Create simple financial plans (ACMNA106)

Teaching ideas
Create basic financial plans.

Caps for Sale

Esphyr Slobodkina

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Recognise, describe and order Australian coins according to their value (ACMNA017); Investigate and describe number patterns formed by skip-counting and patterns with objects (ACMNA018)

Teaching ideas
Explore a more reasonable price for a cap in todays times. Explore cap patterns

Window

Jeannie Baker

Australian Curriculum:  Description

Year 2 – Describe patterns with numbers and identify missing elements (ACMNA035); Investigate number sequences, initially those increasing and decreasing by twos, threes, fives and tens from any starting point, then moving to other sequences (ACMNA026)

Teaching ideas
Explore other mediums with patterns e.g. wrapping paper and fabric. Show students how patterns can help to predict --> expect --> plan.