Numeracy 

Books to help your child develop mathematical skills

Picture books in mathematics examine big ideas through imaginative story-telling. They can motivate your child by:

• stimulating curiosity and interest in mathematical concepts
• providing a platform for mathematical discussion 
• provide opportunities to explore ‘real-life’ mathematical conundrums.

UNO’s GARDEN BY GRAEME BASE

The story begins with Uno deciding to move into the forest, but it isn’t long before others follow suit. As more people move into the area, plants and animals are gradually replaced with buildings and roads. It isn’t belong before the city is nothing but concrete and steel, with not a hint of nature in sight.

Uno tries to repair the damage by planting and tending to his own garden, but he grows old and dies. Luckily, others within the community take responsibility for the garden, and the plants and animals slowly return to the area.

When you read Uno’s Garden with your child you can count the animals, plants, buildings, and the Snortlepig on each page with some doubling and some adding and subtracting. You can find the hidden Snortlepig on each page, using location-specific language such as: Is he under the tree? To the left or right of the house?

ONE ODD DAY BY DORIS FISHER

The book tells the story of a young boy who wakes up to discover everything in his world is ‘odd’, everywhere he looks he continues to find ‘odd’ things. This includes finding his shirt has three sleeves, a dog who has five legs and his teacher who has five arms.

The book is extremely engaging and reading it aloud to your child using the rhythmic nature of the words ensures that your child will really enjoy the story. This story really helps children to understand the concept of odd by identifying the odd numbers on the clock.  They will enjoy looking for the hidden numbers and odd creatures in the illustrations. This book is a very enjoyable way to help your child grasp the concept of odd and even and look for things in everyday life that they notice are odd or even.

A Place For Zero by Angeline Lopresti 

This story is set in Digitaria and follows Zero’s quest to find value and a way to be included in the game of Addemup. This is a great book to help children understand the concept of number. Whilst reading your child is introduced to numbers from 1 to 10 and you can talk about what happens when you add zero or multiply by zero.

ONE IS A SNAIL TEN IS A CRAB

One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab explores numbers up to 20. A great way to share this book with your child is to read the book aloud and talk about the numbers as you go along. Encourage your child to predict the numbers or characters that might come next. Your child can represent numbers using the number of legs on animals in the book and look at how one number can be represented in lots of ways

Kind Regards

Jennifer O’Connor

Assistant Principal