Children get chance to improve math with storybooks

Angela Soo

Friday, May 4, 2001 | 4:18 a.m.

Reading storybooks to children not only promotes literacy but also provides an early opportunity for children to learn about mathematics, a Clark County School District official said.

In an effort to help parents and children apply mathematical concepts to children's books, the Clark County Library District will hold its first "Go Figure!" exhibition at 1 p.m. today at Whitney Library, 5175 E. Tropicana Ave. The exhibition, for children ages 2 to 7, is free to the public and will end June 14.

Five children's books -- "Arthur's Pet Business" by Marc Brown, "The Doorbell Rang" by Pat Hutchins, "The Quilt" by Ann Jonas, "Frog and Toad Are Friends: A Lost Button" by Arnold Lobel, and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" illustrated by James Marshall -- will be enlarged into life-size displays. The displays will allow children to explore numbers through popular storybook characters.

"All of the book exhibits are manipulated toward math concepts," said Denise Gerdes, administrator of the Laughlin Library branch and coordinator for the math exhibition.

For example, "The Quilt" applies concepts of geometry, and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" uses measurements of height in the story, Gerdes said.

The lessons in numbers are often overlooked though, said Linda Greg, administrative specialist for the Clark County School District.

"Sometimes you think a book is only there to read for the storyline when actually there's a lot of mathematics in the storyline," Greg said.

By learning how to recognize and use math in the storybooks, children would be more apt to make similar connections in everyday experiences.

Once the children see the life-size displays set in a learning environment, it's a reinforcement of what they had previously read in the books, Gerdes said.

"You learn a lot more if you are doing something interactive," Gerdes said. "They learn by playing, touching and putting things in order."

Playing sports would provide a different approach to learning math concepts found in geometry.

"If students play sports like football, basketball or soccer, they kick the ball in certain angles or there's a certain arch when they're shooting a ball," Greg said.

Teaching math through such concepts is effective because "students experienced it and they can get greater meaning and relevance," Greg said.

"We frequently think that you're either good or not good in math. But math is something that is learned and can be improved through teaching."