Math Curse

Title:Math Curse
Author: Jon Scieszka
Illustrations: Lane Smith
Published: Scieszka, J. (2006). Math curse. New York: Scholastic.
Themes: math, days of the week, time, addition, subtraction, measurement, bar graphs, interpreting data, multiplication, fractions, conversion, skip counting, money, percentages 

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One of the worse thing a student can hear is "You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem." That's where it all began. As soon as the nameless student heard this from his teacher everything in his life became a math problem. Find out how you too, can break the "math curse".

I think just saying "Jon Scieszka" should sum up how zany this book really is. One of my favourite things about this book is the variety of math problems -- each page presents a new "math curse".

Classroom Ideas:

- Have a class discussion about how stress affects our lives.

- Assign groups of students a different math problem from the book. After each group is completed, have them present their answer to the "curse" to the class.

- Have students create their own word problem. Maybe even put together your own "Math Curse" book.

- Talk about the one line in the book "...you can think of almost everything as a math problem." Have students look for math in the newspaper. Have them share their newspaper clippings to the class. 

- Each page of this book can really be a mini-lesson of its own. Consider using this book year-long to introduce new math strands.