The Amazing Book of Mammal Records {Math Must Read Mentor Text Linky}

Hi y'all!  Happy Sunday!

I am so excited to be linking up a fun Math book for our Must Read Mentor Text Linky!

The book I have chosen is The Amazing Book of Mammal Records.

This book has so many cool facts!!!  The kids will love it I'm sure. :)

Amazon.com Summary: "Did you know a cheetah is the fastest mammal on Earth and can go from 0 to 60 in about 3 seconds? Did you know the world's laziest mammal is the koala, which needs to sleep 22 hours each day? These and many more incredible facts are revealed in Amazing Book of Mammal Records. "Notepad" entries on each record holder add background and natural science information while humorous cartoons provide extra fun."

I chose this book because it is so interesting and engaging for the students. It definitely gives a lot of great science facts, but there are so many opportunities for math too! So often, I feel like I am just giving students numbers from out of thin air. I just make up problems to practice the skill we are working on. But, this book takes math into the real word! We will work with numbers that are part of animal facts. Students often connect more with their learning when they are seeing it in action. This book helps bring numbers to life!

As I read through certain pages, I am going to have my students work with some of the numbers in the facts. For example, on the page with the sloth the author explains that on land a sloth will crawl at about 0.07 miles per hour. This would be a great time to discuss decimals and place value. I will ask the kids how to read that decimal and how it would look as a fraction. 

On the koalas page, I am going to throw in some multiplication. The author explains that koalas sleep 22 hours a day. Wow!  I will ask the kids how many hours the sloth will sleep in a week to practice multiplying and repeated addition. 

There are also TONS of opportunities to introduce or review measurement. Students learn that the smallest mammal, the bat, is only 1 inch in length and weighs about as much as a dime. I would pull out the ruler and show them 1 inch. Then, I can compare and contrast with the gorilla who weighs up to 600 lbs and stands more than 6 feet tall. I will ask the kids to convert feet to inches to see how much taller the gorilla is than the bat. 

Since this book has so many facts I may use it as a problem of the day. I could pick a page to share with my students and we could do a couple problems on whiteboards to review. Not only would the kids be practicing math, they would be learning some science too!

Please let me know if you have other ideas for this book. I would love to hear about them!

I can't wait to see what math books you link up!  Thanks for stopping by!
-Stacia  :)

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Next week's linky- Science