Math Book Club - The Leaping Lizards

Book Title:  Leaping Lizards 

Posted By: Gayle Green-Williams

Author & Illustrator: Staurt J. Murphy    Illustrared by: JoAnn Adinolfi

Image:

Recommended Grade Level: First grade (1st grade)

CCSSM Standards 

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.OA.C.4

Use addition to find the total number of objects arranged in rectangular arrays with up to 5 rows and up to 5 columns; write an equation to express the total as a sum of equal addends.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.B.3

Tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.NBT.C.6

Subtract multiples of 10 in the range 10-90 from multiples of 10 in the range 10-90 (positive or zero differences), using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used

CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practice

CCSS Math Practice MP7

·       Look for and make use of structure

CCSS Math Practice MP8

·      Look for and express regularities in repeated reasoning

Summary

Leaping Lizard is a story about a circus needing fifty lizards for its performance but only five lizards are immediately available.  They need to get forty-five more and a frantic snakes searches high and low to find the other performers. Soon the lizards arrive in groups of five, but will snake have enough to start the show?  The text is intended to teach students number patterns ie. counting by five and ten. This text uses rhyme and beautiful, full-paged illustration, brightly colored to enhance the story.

Rating

This book very imaginative with the creative use of a circus of frogs to teach number patterns and it is beautifully illustrated with vibrant engaging images to excite young minds. It uses rhyme and and a fun story which is a great way to keep students attention.  As the story progresses the illustration shoes a tally of the the lizards that arrived so far.  I also like that the author does not allow students to get so lost in the story that the math is forgotten; halfway through he stops to recap how many lizards arrived by doing a recount.  I have one issue with it and that is the layout of the arrays.  The tables are close together with too much going on as far as color and pattern that it might not allow students to count easily at first glance. 

Classroom Ideas:

Idea 1
This text most importantly can teach students about number patterns ie. how to count by five and by ten.  This is a foundation to addition and multiplication.


Idea 2
With an understanding of fives, students can begin to learn how to read an analog clock. By explaining that each hand on a clock represents 5 minutes, the students can be asked how many minutes has passed between the 5 hand and 10 hand, etc.  An activity that might help is having students make clock and drawing in all the lines and numbering them by 5 on the outer edges of the clock, the cumulative totals going around the cock to 12 o' clock...which will total 60 minutes.