One Monday Morning

Posted by: Katherine Otero

Author & Illustrator: Uri Shulevitz

Grade Level: Pre-K- 1^st grade

Common Core Content Standards Addressed:

CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.A.2

Know number names and the count sequence.
Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1).

CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.A.4

Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
b. Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is the same regardless of their arraignment or the order in which they were counted.
c. Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.

CCSS.Math.Content.1.OA.A.1
Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction.
Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart and comparing with unknowns in all positions, eg., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice:

CCSS.Math.Practice.MP1

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
*Students should make sense of the story line and understand the problem. The mathematics behind the story is: as each day goes by, another member of the Prince’s palace is added on; creating a larger group from when they first began on Monday.

CCSS.Math.Practice.MP6

Attend to precision
*Students should learn to use mathematical symbols correctly and can describe the meaning of the symbols they use. The mathematics behind this story is: each day of the week the Prince’s entourage is increasing itself by one more person. Students should understand that one more of something gives you a bigger number, which corresponds with the symbol (+) to mean addition.

Summary:

A young boy sits by his window inside his apartment on a rainy day. He begins telling a story about a time when a king, queen, and little prince came to visit him, but he was not home. As the story progresses, more characters are added on to the prince’s entourage, trying to visit the young boy throughout the week who seems to never be home. Until they reach Sunday, when the little boy is home to greet his company. As the story comes to an end, the reader notices that the sun is up and the little boy’s company is gone. What is left seen are a deck of cards spaced out on a table, by the window where the little boy is first seen telling his story. The reader will surprisingly realize that, the young boy’s imagination allowed him to invent his company as he waits for the rain to past.

Rating:

I have rated this a 5-star book. Its simplicity is a perfect read for young children whom are beginning to grasp an understanding of basic addition concepts. I enjoy the creativity and the imaginative twist that the reader will encounter towards the end of the book. Not only can you teach mathematical concepts of addition, however, it also teaches order sequencing between the characters from the beginning to the end of the story. While, also teaching social environment skills as children make connections between the young boy’s community and their own.

Classroom Ideas:

1.     You can use this books to as an introduction to addition. Through a picture what the students will see that the number of people visiting the young boy increases. As you read the story to the children, have some volunteers come up to play the characters visiting the young boy. As whole group count how many characters (children) are trying to visit the little boy out loud. Each addition character introduced holds a printed-out plus (+) sign. Together the children are creating a mathematical equation and making sense of the problem at hand. (creating equations, introduce math vocabulary, and symbols).

2.     You can have students retell this story by creating handmade puppets to represent the characters whom added on into the prince’s entourage throughout the week. Have students retell the story by what they remember from the beginning – end, and create their own twist to why the characters came to visit the little boy. At random have students create a math problem that demonstrates the number of characters that they have, to the number that is added into the group, and state how many they have altogether.