Connecting Math and Literacy in the Classroom (Plus a FREEBIE!)

Why I Connect Math and Literacy in My Classroom

Do you connect math and literacy in your classroom? Did you know that there are HUGE benefits to doing this?! Connecting literacy in math allows students to see the real world perspective of why we need math. This allows students to see that all subjects really are intertwined and rely on one another in order to be successful.

• We need literature to be able to read the word problems in math.
  

• We need literature to be able to understand and explain the process of solving the word problems in math.
  

• Math literacy allows us to problem-solve and determine what real-world problem we are trying to solve.

One characteristic of children who do better than others in math is that they can explain and justify the mathematics they are doing. At the same time, one of the best predictors of later success in school mathematics is how well children understand and tell stories. Once students see that math can be expressed through both numbers and words, they have a clearer understanding of how to use those together. Since I have started connecting math and literacy in my classroom, I have seen it go so well that I want to let you all know what I am doing and share some ideas with you for how to connect math and literacy.

Read Alouds Aren't Just for Your Reading Block

Read-alouds have always been stressed during reading class-but what about math? Having a read-aloud during the math block allows us to make connections and have more opportunities for literacy. Students are very inquisitive, so integrating those literacy skills into math will only help strengthen their language skills while they are learning math concepts.

According to Scholastic, “Most people think of mathematics as separate from language and literacy. But, as the conversation between the two children illustrates, there is more overlap between language and mathematics than we might think. Seeing those connections, teachers can help children "double their learning" with math and literacy activities.”

Math and Literacy Overlap More Than You Think

We know that building children's vocabularies helps them understand the stories they hear, and, eventually, read. But think about how many mathematical words and ideas are important for understanding stories. Consider "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." There's a number-three-right away. But there is also ordering (small, medium, large and cold, warm, hot), correspondences between ordered sets (the smallest bed for the smallest bear, the next larger for the next larger bear), and patterning (the repeated phrase, too little, too big, just right). This is one example of why connecting math and literacy is so important for building students’ understanding of how they work together.

4 Simple Ways to Connect Math and Literacy in Early Elementary

If you teach younger students, here are some easy ways to incorporate math and literacy into your read-alouds:

• Talk about numbers, orderings, correspondences, and patterns as you read picture books.
  

• Read the book through first, and then reread it to discuss the mathematical ideas.
  

• Name groups of things children see on the pages with numbers and shape names, such as, "Look at those three beautiful flowers. What shape are those petals?"
  

• After sharing stories that invite children to compare sizes, such as chairs, bowls, and beds in "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," invite children to order sticks or blocks by lengths. Then give them further opportunities to classify by sorting buttons, bottle caps, and leaves.

  
  

How I Connect Math & Literacy in Upper Elementary

Are you intrigued yet?! Math read-alouds are not just for younger students! There are a wealth of read-alouds that work perfectly for students in Grades 3-6!

I like to use "A Place For Zero" with my students to help them understand place value and the importance of the zero in mathematics. It's a great book for the beginning of the year. Then, students create an Instagram post from that number’s point of view about what people typically think of when they hear that number. My students always had a lot of fun with it! They also get really creative-which I love to watch! You can grab this resource for free in my TPT Store! You can also hear more about this book and activity in my Instagram highlight reel for Literacy & Math

Give It a Try in Your Own Classroom

Are you ready to connect math and literacy in your classroom yet?! If you need more ideas for connecting math and literacy in your own classroom, check out my Instagram  highlight reel titled Literacy & Math, where I review different books such as "Two Ways to Count to Ten", "A Remainder of One" and "The Great Divide" to name a few! These books cover a range of topics including:

• Place value

• Angles

• Remainders

• Division

• Multiplication

• Circumference

• Cones

• Zero

• Millions

• So Much More!

And, if you are teaching Fractions this year, here is a full blog post about my FIVE favorite fraction read-aloud books!

What are you doing in your classroom to connect math and literacy?