The Reading Teacher Vol. 65 Issue 1 pp. 58–70 DOI:10.1598/RT.65.1.8 © 2011 International Reading Association

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William P. Bintz is a professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies at Kent State University, Ohio, USA; e-mail wpbintz@gmail.com.

Sara D. Moore is Director of Mathematics and Science at ETA/Cuisinaire, Vernon Hills, Illinois, USA; e-mail sdm1146@gmail.com.

Pam Wright is the District Title I Coordinator for Paducah Independent Schools, Kentucky, USA; e-mail pam.wright@paducah.kyschools.us.

Lyndsie Dempsey is an elementary teacher for Paducah Independent Schools; e-mail lyndsie.dempsey@paducah.kyschools.us.

William P. Bintz Sara D. Moore Pam Wright Lyndsie Dempsey

USINGLITER AT URE

TO TEACHMEASUREMENT

If teachers address isolated content areas, a school day will never have enough hours for them to teach both literacy and mathematics adequately and thoroughly. However, by creating connections between the two, teachers can help ensure that students have ample opportunity to develop both areas. (Altieri, 2009, p. 346)

Lyndsie (fourth author) is the fourth-grade mathematics teacher at a departmentalized elementary school. For several

years now, she has taught mathemat-ics with textbooks and worksheets. Each year, she struggles to teach all of the con-tent in her mathematics curriculum, and her students struggle to learn all of it. In particular, her students struggle with measurement concepts, especially frac-tional measurement. She stated,

I spend lots of time on measurement because it is important and it always appears on the state test. Each year, my students have a difficult time grasping it, par-ticularly understanding increments within each inch. I relate the increments to number lines and fractions, but [the students] still become confused when using a ruler.

I show them how to measure an object with a ruler and review increments within each inch. I also have them measure the object starting at the edge of the ruler and record results. And yet, after analyzing their work, I’m

always disappointed with the results. [The students] are still confused and don’t feel con-fident about measuring objects. This year, I want to try something different. I want to use literature to integrate literacy and math. I hope literature will help my students get better at mathematics, especially measurement. I need your help.

Like many teachers, Lyndsie under-stands that measurement is a difficult concept for many children to learn. Over

Interdisciplinary teaching and learning is often messy but also exciting. This article shares one lesson that integrates literacy and mathematics, and the results are encouraging for both students and teachers.

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1992; D.J. Whitin & P.E. Whitin, 1996; D.J. Whitin & Wilde, 1995). This prolif-eration clearly indicates that literature is important for integrating mathematics and literacy. From a literacy perspective, literature provides “wondrous tales” (Malinsky & McJunkin, 2008, p. 410), and from a mathematical perspective, it allows children to enjoy reading and learning mathematics at the same time.

More specifically, literature pro-vides a human perspective by showing students how people use mathemat-ics to solve problems (D.J. Whitin & Wilde, 1995), helps students connect the abstract language of mathemat-ics to real-world contexts (D.J. Whitin & P.E. Whitin, 1996; P. Whitin & D.J. Whitin, 1997), captures children’s imag-ination, stimulates their mathematical thinking and reasoning (Burns, 1992), and reinforces new concepts. Literature also enhances and further explains con-cepts and skills being studied in math textbooks (Olness, 2007), provides visu-alizations of mathematical concepts through vivid illustrations (Guiett, 1999; Murphy, 1999), and engages learners in meaningful conversations and inves-tigations in mathematics (Hunsader, 2004). In short, good things happen

Integrating Literacy and MathematicsLiteracy is important to mathemat-ics learning (Draper, 2002), particularly to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). In Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, NCTM (2000) recommends that students should do more reading, writing, and discussing ideas in the math classroom and learn mathematical ideas in real-world contexts. In response, increasing numbers of teachers are integrating lit-eracy and mathematics for several reasons, two of which are particularly noteworthy.

First, there is growing recognition that literature, especially trade books, is a powerful tool for integrating lit-eracy and mathematics (Burns, 2004; Shatzer, 2008) and that reading, writ-ing, and even drawing are important in mathematics learning (Adams, 2003). According to Crespo and Kyriakides (2007), “drawing can be a powerful way of engaging many students, especially young ones, in representing and com-municating their mathematical ideas” (p. 118). It also helps students support, solidify, and extend mathematical ideas (Carter, 2009).

Second, there has been, and contin-ues to be, a proliferation of high-quality and award-winning literature that teaches mathematical concepts (Griffiths & Clyne, 1988; Thiessen & Matthias,

the past 25 years, National Association of Educational Progress trend data have indicated that student achievement with measurement is at best disappointing given the amount of instructional time it receives in grades K–5 (Kamii, 2006; Thompson & Preston, 2004). Lyndsie also understands that measurement is a difficult concept to teach. Fortunately, she is an inquirer, a risk taker, and a teacher researcher. In this instance, she is interested in integrating literacy and mathematics, specifically investigating the use of literature to teach measure-ment. She invited us to help, and we gladly accepted.

This article reports on the lesson developed by the author team in response to Lyndsie’s request. We describe a lesson that integrates read-ing, writing, drawing, and literature to teach linear measurement to the inch, and fractional measurement. We begin with a rationale for integrating literacy and mathematics and share a collec-tion of literature that is based on major mathematical content strands. Then, we describe research that supports using lit-erature to teach measurement. Next, we identify literacy and mathematics stan-dards that are embedded in this lesson, describe materials and procedures used, and share samples of student work that resulted. We end with lessons learned from the experience.

Pause and Ponder! In what ways can teachers collaborate on

developing, implementing, and assessing interdisciplinary, classroom-based, action research projects?

! In what ways can administrators best support teachers who are interested in interdisciplinary teaching and learning?

! In what ways can teachers assess student learning in an interdisciplinary curriculum?

“Students should do more reading, writing, and discussing ideas in the math classroom

and learn mathematical ideas in real-world contexts.”

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! How great are the resources needed to help readers benefit from the book’s mathematics?

Table 1 illustrates a collection of trade books that meet these criteria. We share this collection not only because they meet the criteria but also because they are based on the five major content strands found in Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000). These strands include numbers and operations, geometry, algebra, data and probability, and measurement.

Measurement and LiteratureIn this lesson, we wanted to integrate literacy and mathematics with a partic-ular focus on measurement. Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000) defines measurement as “the assignment of a numerical value to an attribute of an object, such as the length of a pencil” (p. 44). High-quality literature is an important context for and springboard into learning a vari-ety of measurement concepts (Austin, Thompson, & Beckman, 2005). Table 2 illustrates a variety of literature that can be used to teach different measurement concepts.

Literature can help students under-stand and use measurement tools accurately in real-world contexts (Wickett, 1999), distinguish between standard and nonstandard units of mea-surement, and recognize different kinds of rulers and how to use them for differ-ent measurement purposes (Clarkson, Robelia, Chahine, Fleming, & Lawrenz, 2007). Literature can also help students understand linear relationships between measurement and data analysis (Joram, Hartman, & Trafton, 2004), explore algebraic patterns (Austin & Thompson, 1997), and understand fractional mea-surement (Moyer & Mailley, 2004).

never mentioned by those writing about linking mathematics and literature. (p. 14)

Only literature that is rigorously and systematically assessed for its quality and value for teaching mathematics will do (Schiro, 1997). Hunsader (2004) devel-oped a rubric that can be used to assess and establish the value of mathematics trade books. We used this rubric to assess the value of a variety of mathematics trade books and focused on the following criteria (Hunsader, 2004, p. 621):

! Is the book’s mathematics content correct and accurate?

! Is the book’s mathematics content visible and effectively presented?

! Is the book’s mathematics content intellectually and developmentally appropriate for its audience?

! Does the book facilitate the reader’s involvement in, and use and trans-fer of, its mathematics?

! Do the book’s mathematics and story complement each other?

when literacy and mathematics are inte-grated. One example is that math scores increase when standards-based math strategies are combined with high- quality literature (Jennings, 1992).

It is important to note, however, that not all literature will work well in classrooms. Simply because a piece of literature is published, and promoted by publishers and recommended by teachers as a good resource to inte-grate literacy and mathematics, these are not guarantees that the piece is good literature for teaching important math-ematical concepts accurately, correctly, and effectively. Schiro (1997) stated,

Advocates of the mathematics and chil-dren’s literature connection write as though children’s literature is a collec-tion of marvelous books that grip the imagination of students and teachers so strongly that merely using those books will guarantee children wonderful learn-ing experiences—because of the power of the literature itself. Unfortunately, not all children’s trade books are superb liter-ature, a fact readily acknowledged in the field of children’s literature, but almost

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Math concept LiteratureAlgebraic thinking and algebra readiness

Campbell, S.C. (2010). Growing patterns. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills.Murphy, S.J. (1997). Elevator magic. New York: HarperCollins.Murphy, S.J. (2003). Less than zero. New York: HarperCollins.Neuschwander, C. (2007). Patterns in Peru: An adventure in patterning. New York: Henry Holt.

Area and perimeter Burns, M. (2008). Spaghetti and meatballs for all! A mathematical story. New York: Scholastic.Murphy, S.J. (2002). Bigger, better, best! New York: HarperCollins.Murphy, S.J. (2002). Racing around. New York: HarperCollins.Neuschwander, C. (2006). Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.Pollack, P., & Belviso, M. (2002). Chickens on the move. New York: Kane.

Data and probability Einhorn, E. (2008). A very improbable story. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.Herman, G. (2002). Bad luck Brad. New York: Kane.Leedy, L. (2007). It’s probably Penny. New York: Henry Holt.Murphy, S.J. (2001). Probably pistachio. New York: HarperCollins.Van Allsburg, C. (1981). Jumanji. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Division Harris, T. (2008). Splitting the herd: A corral of odds and evens. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook.McElligott, M. (2007). Bean thirteen. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.Murphy, S.J. (1997). Divide and ride. New York: HarperCollins.Pinczes, E.J. (1993). One hundred hungry ants. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Pinczes, E.J. (1995). A remainder of one. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Turner, P. (1999). Among the odds and evens: A tale of adventure. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.

Geometry Adler, D.A. (1998). Shape up! New York: Holiday House.Burns, M. (1994). The greedy triangle. New York: Scholastic.Ellis, J. (2004). What’s your angle, Pythagoras? A math adventure. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.Friedman, A. (1994). A cloak for the dreamer. New York: Scholastic.Friedman, M., & Weiss, E. (2001). Kitten castle. New York: Kane.Murphy, S.J. (2001). Captain Invincible and the space shapes. New York: HarperCollins.Neuschwander, C. (1997). Sir Cumference and the first round table: A math adventure. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.Neuschwander, C. (1999). Sir Cumference and the dragon of pi: A math adventure. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.Neuschwander, C. (2001). Sir Cumference and the great knight of Angleland: A math adventure. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.Neuschwander, C. (2005). Mummy math: An adventure in geometry. New York: Henry Holt.Pilegard, V.W. (2000). The warlord’s puzzle. Gretna, LA: Pelican.Rocklin, J. (1998). Not enough room! New York: Scholastic.Rocklin, J. (2000). The incredibly awesome box: A story about 3-D shapes. New York: Scholastic.

Graphing Bader, B. (2003). Graphs. New York: Grosset & Dunlap.Dussling, J. (2003). Fair is fair! New York: Kane.Glass, J. (1998). The fly on the ceiling: A math myth. New York: Random House.Leedy, L. (2005). The great graph contest. New York: Holiday House.Nagda, A.W., & Bickel, C. (2000). Tiger math: Learning to graph from a baby tiger. New York: Henry Holt.Ochiltree, D. (1999). Bart’s amazing charts. New York: Scholastic.Penner, L.R. (2002). X marks the spot! New York: Kane.

Measurement Adler, D.A. (1999). How tall, how short, how far away. New York: Holiday House.Herman, G. (2003). Keep your distance! New York: Kane.Kellogg, S. (2004). The mysterious tadpole. New York: Puffin.Leedy, L. (2000). Measuring Penny. New York: Henry Holt.McCallum, A. (2006). Beanstalk: The measure of a giant: A math adventure. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.Sweeney, J. (2002). Me and the measure of things. New York: Dragonfly.

Multiplication Birch, D. (1988). The king’s chessboard. New York: Dial.Calvert, P. (2006). Multiplying menace: The revenge of Rumpelstiltskin. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.Demi. (1997). One grain of rice: A mathematical folktale. New York: Scholastic.Leedy, L. (1995). 2 ! 2 = boo! A set of spooky multiplication stories. New York: Holiday House.Losi, C.A. (1997). The 512 ants on Sullivan Street. New York: Scholastic.Neuschwander, C. (1998). Amanda Bean’s amazing dream: A mathematical story. New York: Scholastic.

Table 1 Suggested Children’s Literature for Integrating Literacy and Math

(continued )

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Specifically, the lesson was based on mathematics expectations for grades 3–5, as described in Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000):

! Students understand such attributes as length, area, weight, volume, and the size of an angle and select the appropriate type of unit for measur-ing each attribute.

! Students understand the need for measuring with standard units and become familiar with standard units in the customary and metric systems.

! Students understand that measure-ments are approximations and how differences in units affect precision.

For example, the lesson focused on the attribute of length, and inches as the unit for measuring length. The lesson focused on the inch as a stan-dard unit in the customary system and for illustrating problems with nonstan-dard measurements. Finally, the lesson focused on fractional measurements and how they increase accuracy and precision.

The lesson was also based on national literacy standards delineated

these standards is important because they complement each other in powerful ways, as well as offer a means for math-ematics and language skills to develop simultaneously as learners listen, read, write, and talk about mathematics (Hellwig, Monroe, & Jacobs, 2000).

Mathematics and Literacy StandardsThe lesson was intentionally developed as a standards-based lesson. It focused on using literature to teach measure-ment and integrated both literacy and mathematics standards. Integrating

Math concept LiteratureNumber sense and place value

Driscoll, L. (2003). The blast off kid. New York: Kane.Fisher, V. (2006). How high can a dinosaur count? And other math mysteries. New York: Schwartz & Wade.Friedman, A. (1994). The king’s commissioners. New York: Scholastic.LoPresti, A.S. (2003). A place for zero: A math adventure. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.Love, D.A. (2006). Of numbers and stars: The story of Hypatia. New York: Holiday House.Pilegard, V.W. (2001). The warlord’s beads. Gretna, LA: Pelican.Schmandt-Besserat, D. (1999). The history of counting. New York: Morrow.Thompson, L. (2001). One riddle, one answer. New York: Scholastic.

Ratio and proportion Clement, R. (1995). Counting on Frank. New York: Houghton Mifflin.McCallum, A. (2006). Beanstalk: The measure of a giant: A math adventure. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.Pilegard, V.W. (2003). The warlord’s puppeteers. Gretna, LA: Pelican.Schwartz, D.M. (1999). If you hopped like a frog. New York: Scholastic.

Table 1 Suggested Children’s Literature for Integrating Literacy and Math (continued)

Aber, L.W. (2001). Carrie measures up. New York: Kane.Allen, P. (1980). Mr. Archimedes’ bath. New York: Puffin.Anno, M. (1976). The king’s flower. New York: Collins.Axelrod, A. (1999). Pigs in the pantry: Fun with math and cooking. New York: Aladdin.Briggs, R. (1970). Jim and the beanstalk. New York: Coward-McCann.Hightower, S. (1997). Twelve snails to one lizard: A tale of mischief and measurement. New York:

Simon & Schuster.Hoban, T. (1985). Is it larger? Is it smaller? New York: Greenwillow.Howard, E. (1993). The big seed. New York: Simon & Schuster.Hutchins, P. (1991). Happy birthday, Sam. New York: Greenwillow.Johnston, T. (1986). Farmer Mack measures his pig. New York: Harper & Row.Keenan, S. (1996). The biggest fish. New York: Scholastic.Kellogg, S. (1976). Much bigger than Martin. New York: Dial.Lasky, K. (1994). The librarian who measured the Earth. Boston: Little, Brown.Leedy, L. (2003). Mapping Penny’s world. New York: Henry Holt.Ling, B. (1997). The fattest, tallest, biggest snowman ever. New York: Scholastic.McCarthy, R.F. (2001). The inch-high samurai. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha International.Morimoto, J. (1988). The inch boy. New York: Puffin.Murphy, S.J. (1996). The best bug parade. New York: HarperCollins.Murphy, S.J. (1999). Super sand castle Saturday. New York: HarperCollins.Myller, R. (1991). How big is a foot? New York: Dell.Pluckrose, H. (1995). Length. Danbury, CT: Children’s.Puharich, T. (1998). How do you measure a dinosaur? Walton-on-Thames, UK: Nelson Thornes.Russo, M. (1986). The line up book. New York: Greenwillow.Walpole, B. (1995). Distance. Milwaukee, WI: Gareth Stevens.Wells, R.E. (1993). Is a blue whale the biggest thing there is? Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman.Wells, R.E. (1995). What’s smaller than a pygmy shrew? Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman.

Table 2 Suggested Children’s Literature for Teaching Measurement

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began by inviting students to respond to the following prompt: “Please tell me how you would measure the length of something—a carrot, a pencil, etcetera. I want you to tell me by using writing, drawing, and numbers. Tell me as much as you can.” Two student samples caught our attention.

James (all student names are pseud-onyms) wrote that he would measure a pencil by laying a ruler next to the pencil. His illustration (see Figure 1) depicts a ruler marked in whole

materials; clarifying and elaborating on lesson instructions; working with stu-dents in small groups, particularly with those who were struggling with instruc-tions and applications; and recording field notes in our research journals. The lesson involved the following seven stages.

Stage 1: Getting StartedTo get started, we felt that it was impor-tant to assess what students already knew about measurement. Lyndsie

within Standards for the English Language Arts (International Reading Association & National Council of Teachers of English, 1996):

! Students read a wide range of liter-ature from many genres.

! Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use dif-ferent writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

! Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., learning, enjoy-ment, persuasion, exchange of information).

The lesson used a range of literature, including poetry and realistic fiction. This literature was read aloud, and stu-dents were invited to respond verbally to the readings. The lesson engaged students in oral retellings, making con-nections between texts, and exploring measurement through writing, drawing, and sharing their work with others.

Instructional LessonEach day, Lyndsie teaches three classes of fourth-grade mathematics, with each class period lasting two hours. For this lesson, she was able to work with her colleagues and principal to schedule one of her math classes for a three-hour block of time. The lesson was collabora-tively planned, designed to teach linear measurement to the inch and fractional measurement, and conducted in a 180-minute class period, with a 15-minute break in the middle of the lesson. A total of 20 students participated.

As the regular classroom teacher, Lyndsie took the lead on teaching the lesson. We assisted her by organiz-ing, distributing, and collecting lesson

Figure 1 A Fourth Grader’s Record of What He Already Knew About Measurement Prior to the Lesson

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and an efficient use of time; and we enjoy poetry ourselves.

One of our favorite poets is J. Patrick Lewis because he writes both enjoyable and informative poems across con-tent areas. Arithme-Tickle (Lewis, 2002) is a good example. The book includes poems with rhyming text and appeal-ing illustrations based on a variety of math problems. Lyndsie read aloud two poems from this book that deal with different ways to measure: “Pardon My Yardstick” and “How to Hand-le a Horse.” Afterward, she asked students how these poems showed the difference between standard and nonstandard measurement. One student stated,

In the first poem, the whole poem was based on a yardstick. It didn’t say how long a yardstick was, but I know it is exactly 36 inches long. It also asked how much is one half a yardstick, and I know that is exactly 18 inches long. A yardstick is an example of standard mea-surement. The inches stay the same no matter who is using it to measure stuff. The second poem is different. It’s about a man who is a horse trainer, and he is tell-ing a little boy how to measure a horse by hands. The man says one hand is four inches, but if the man measures the horse with his hands and the boy mea-sures the same horse with his hands, they aren’t going to get the same mea-surement because the man’s hands are bigger than the boy’s. Hand is an exam-ple of nonstandard measurement. That’s the difference.

Next, Lyndsie read two more poems that deal with measurement from the book Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (1974): “One Inch Tall” and “The Longest Nose in the World.” After reading, Lyndsie invited students to talk about measurement concepts, tools, and words in the poems. Students iden-tified and discussed words like longest (length), tall (height), yardstick (standard measurement), hand (nonstandard mea-

Stage 2: Creating InterestNext, we wanted to create student inter-est in measurement. We used poetry for several reasons: Children enjoy hearing poetry read aloud, especially poems that rhyme; poetry is a powerful tool to teach content area material; reading and dis-cussing math poems is an effective way to integrate literacy and mathematics

numbers and measures the pencil to be “about 8 inch tall.” His measurement of the carrot is also in a whole number.

Jenny would use her thumb to mea-sure a short object like a dime, but a ruler for a larger object like a pencil or table. Like James’s, her illustration (see Figure 2) depicts rulers marked in whole numbers.

Figure 2 A Fourth Grader’s Record of What She Already Knew About Measurement Prior to the Lesson

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15-minute break. Afterward, let’s use him to measure things from the story.”

Stage 4: Applying the Concept of an InchLyndsie extended the concept of an inch by having students apply it to a char-acter in the story. To do this, we made a photocopy ahead of time of the page in the book that illustrates the legs of the heron and gave each student one copy. Then, Lyndsie gave the students a handful of different colored, rubber inchworms. She showed that each of the rubber inchworms were one-inch long and invited students to use them to measure the length of the straight leg of the heron.

She told the students to measure the distance of the leg from the bottom of the heron’s ankle to the bottom of its knee. She selected this distance because in this illustration, the heron’s leg is vertical, reasonably straight, and approximately five inches long—a whole number instead of one with a fraction. To set boundaries for the measure-ment, Lyndsie instructed the students to make a line at the ankle and at the knee on their sheet and then use individ-ual inchworms to measure the distance. Afterward, all of the students agreed that the distance was five inchworms, or five inches.

To confirm our measurement, Lyndsie gave each student an inch-worm ruler. She used this ruler because it complements Inch by Inch and con-tinued the focus of the lesson. Students placed the ruler next to the heron’s leg to confirm their measurements. Some kept the ruler in place but experimented with different sizes and combinations of inchworms by placing them on top of the ruler. Once again, the students con-cluded that the length of the heron’s leg is five inches.

about a clever inchworm who measures parts of different predators (e.g., a fla-mingo’s neck, a toucan’s beak, a heron’s leg) to escape from being eaten. After the reading, students orally retold and discussed the story with a partner.

From the discussion, we noticed that they clearly understood the story, enjoyed finding the inchworm on each page, and recognized how clever it was to keep from being eaten. One stu-dent noted that “the inch worm was useful because it could measure things.” Lyndsie quickly stated, “That’s right. He was useful. I think we can really learn some things from him about mea-surement, but first, let’s take a quick

surement), counted (addition), and inch (measurement).

Stage 3: Exploring the Concept of an InchNow, Lyndsie wanted to use a read-aloud to focus student attention on the concept of an inch. First, she asked, “How long is an inch?” The students’ answers varied. To show the length of an inch, Lyndsie introduced her “human inch.” Students seemed puzzled at first. She showed them one of her thumbs and measured it with a ruler. She mea-sured the length of her thumb from its tip to the first knuckle. It measured approximately an inch. She explained that she called it her human inch because it always goes with her, so she always has a way to measure something in inches with her thumb whenever she does not have a ruler available. Students spent time measuring small objects with Lyndsie’s thumb and later with one of their own thumbs.

Next, Lyndsie read aloud Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni (1960), which is a story

“To show the length of an inch, Lyndsie

introduced her ‘human inch.’”

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measured in whole inches, and the second ruler measured in whole inches and fractions, specifically one fourth, one half, and three fourths.

Then, she gave students a data collec-tion sheet to record their measurements of objects. She invited them to browse around the classroom and find objects to measure with the ruler. The students were encouraged to select objects that they predicted or suspected would not have a measurement in whole inches. Lyndsie reminded the students that they were learning how to measure more exactly and required objects whose mea-surement was in fractions. The students went right to work.

Figure 3 is one student’s data collec-tion sheet. This student estimated the length of a variety of objects (human and nonhuman) in whole numbers, and the actual measurements in inch-worms are also recorded in whole numbers. When using a ruler, the student recorded the actual measure-ments in whole numbers and fractional measurements.

Afterward, she asked, “How are our two books different?” One student responded, “In this book, not every-thing the inchworms measured was an inch.” Another stated, “The first inch-worm only had to hop once to measure the celery, the second inchworm had to hop twice, the third inchworm had to hop three times, and the last inchworm had to hop four times.” Lyndsie noted that the word fraction was used in the story and that the second inchworm was one half, the third inchworm was one third, and the fourth inchworm was one fourth the size of the first inchworm, which was one inch. She stated, “Now, we have to find a way to be more exact with our measurements.”

Stage 6: Introducing and Applying Fractional MeasurementLyndsie gave each student a ruler to use for fractional measurement and drew the students’ attention to the difference between the two rulers. The students quickly recognized that the first ruler

Stage 5: Exploring the Concept of an Inch and a HalfLyndsie wanted to make a transition from whole numbers to fractional mea-surements, specifically from an inch to an inch and a half. To this end, we planned to read Inchworm and a Half by Elinor Pinczes (2001). Before read-ing, Lyndsie asked students, “What happens when we measure some-thing, and it’s not in an exact number of inches? For example, what happens when we measure the leg of a heron, and it is not exactly five inches?” One student answered, “Well, we would just have a different number of inchworms.” Another said, “We would just have a little less or a little more than five inch-worms.” Lyndsie then stated, “Well, let’s see how this book helps us with this question.”

Inchworm and a Half is a story that takes place in a garden, is told in rhyme, and is designed to introduce fractional measurement. One day, an inchworm measures a bean. The bean is not an inch in length, so the inchworm has a little bit left over. Then, a worm half her size measures it and, as a result, intro-duces readers to the concept of fractions. The story continues with the worms get-ting smaller and smaller (e.g., one half, one third, one fourth). Each illustra-tion reinforces the concept of fractions by showing the relationship between the different worms’ lengths and what they are measuring.

After reading this story, Lyndsie asked the class, “Let’s think about how our two books are similar. What is sim-ilar about Inch by Inch and Inchworm and a Half?” One student responded, “Both books have inchworms in them.” Another stated, “The inchworms in each story used themselves to measure things.” Lyndsie then read the rest of the story.

Figure 3 A Fourth Grader’s Data Collection Sheet of Objects Measured in the Classroom

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importance of good literature for teach-ing mathematics. The trade books used had important similarities and differ-ences and invited students to make intertextual connections. In terms of similarity, each book provided an understandable context that made mea-surement real and relevant and made the tools for measurement, like thumbs and rulers, practical and useful.

In terms of difference, the inch-worm in Inch by Inch is illustrated as

discussed how connecting mathemat-ics and literature helps children learn mathematics, but has “hardly men-tioned how connecting mathematics and literature can help children develop literary concepts and skills” (Schiro, 1997, p. 10). As a result, we begin with lessons learned from integrating literacy and mathematics, then from mathemat-ics, and finally from literacy.

From integrating literacy and math-ematics, we learned once again the

Stage 7: Recording What Students LearnedLyndsie ended the lesson by inviting the students to record what they had learned about measurement. Basically, she used the same prompt at the beginning of the lesson, so we could make some before-and-after comparisons. We looked at the work of James and Jenny once again.

James illustrated a move from whole to fractional measurement (see Figure 4). Specifically, he shifted from using an approximate measurement (“this pencil is about 8 inch tall”) to increasing his precision. He used a ruler to measure a paintbrush because then he could “mea-sure something more exacly.” He also included increments on the ruler so that he could “look at the next half” to mea-sure the paintbrush.

Similarly, Jenny moves from whole to fractional measurement (see Figure 5). Her first ruler was marked only in whole numbers, but her new ruler included fractional divisions. She recognized that this kind of ruler allows her to be “more accurate and exact.”

Lessons LearnedWe learned several lessons from this experience and share them here in two ways: from an interdisciplinary perspec-tive and from a disciplinary perspective. We discuss literacy and mathematics separately with some hesitation. On the one hand, we described an interdisci-plinary lesson designed to integrate, not separate, literacy and mathematics. By sharing lessons learned in literacy and mathematics separately, we do not want to perpetuate a “disciplinary divide” (Donahue, 2003, p. 24) between these two disciplines or any others.

On the other hand, we share les-sons learned from each discipline because much professional literature has

Figure 4 A Fourth Grader’s Record of What He Learned About Measurement During the Lesson

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drawings did not show the relative sizes of the objects measured. Next time, we want to help students draw different objects according to scale.

From the perspective of literacy, we learned that in addition to being enjoyable and entertaining, poetry effectively generated student interest in mathematics and, in this case, mea-surement, a math concept that many students do not find particularly inter-esting. In this instance, reading aloud entertaining and informative poems sparked student interest in posing and solving math problems. For example, while reading aloud, the students were actively involved and constantly com-mented about how the poems connected to mathematics, especially how they described and illustrated the difference between standard and nonstandard measurement. In this sense, these poems functioned as “way-in” (Keene & Zimmermann, 2007, p. 145) pieces of literature. That is, they functioned as an entertaining, understandable, and informative way into the topic of measurement.

Poetry also functioned as a way to support vocabulary growth and devel-opment. After reading aloud, students responded by providing short retellings, describing the mathematics, and evalu-ating the language (e.g., “I like the way the poem rhymes. It makes it easy to understand”). The class also responded by identifying specific words in the poems that connected to measurement concepts. The students recognized that the word longest connected to length, yardstick and inch indicated standard measurement, and hand indicated non-standard measurement.

In the end, however, Lyndsie perhaps best captured the important lessons learned:

“1⁄3,” and “!.” That said, we suspect that Inchworm and a Half is a better book for teaching fractions than for teaching fractional measurement.

From the perspective of mathematics, we learned once again that measure-ment is difficult for young students to learn. This lesson helped them focus on the mathematics and use measure-ment to move from estimation and approximation to precision and exact-ness. We also learned the importance of mathematics lessons that involve using language, numbers, and drawing. For example, we noticed on the students’ data collection sheets that the students’ drawings were not to scale. That is, the

a single object. Throughout the story, the inchworm is shown moving in a single, one-inch increment as it escapes from one predator after another. The inchworm is not shown making mul-tiple movements and moving multiple inches. In Inchworm and a Half, how-ever, there are multiple inchworms, and each is a different length. These inch-worms are shown to illustrate the length of different- sized objects by making multiple loops and measuring the dif-ferent sizes of the loops. We believe that both books worked nicely together to help students make a seamless transi-tion from whole-number measurement to fractional measurement.

At the same time, we offer a caveat. Inchworm and a Half includes inchworms and measurements that deal with simple fractions: one half, one third, and one fourth. We like moving from whole-number measurement to the fractional measurements of one half and one fourth. We worry, though, that students may develop a misconception about the measurement of one third, specifically by seeing increments on a ruler as “",”

Figure 5 A Fourth Grader’s Record of What She Learned About Measurement During the Lesson

“Reading aloud entertaining and informative poems

sparked student interest in posing and solving math

problems.”

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ers. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

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Before this experience, I always struggled to teach measurement. I’ve tried differ-ent ways to teach it but haven’t been very successful. This experience, however, has helped me in so many ways. It has given me a new set of eyes not only on how to teach measurement but also how to teach mathematics. This has helped me better understand the value of integrating liter-acy and mathematics. It has also helped me in that, instead of feeling frustrated, I now feel confident and competent, even empowered by the whole experience. I feel like I’m a better and more effective teacher. I also feel rejuvenated and even inspired and can’t wait to start using lit-erature to teach other concepts in my mathematics curriculum.

Like Lyndsie, we hope this expe-rience will help other teachers see literature as a tool to teach measurement as well as other math concepts that are difficult for students to understand. We also hope that it will inspire other teach-ers to start new conversations and ask new inquiry questions not only about how to integrate literacy and mathemat-ics but also to investigate and reflect on the power and potential of an interdisci-plinary curriculum.

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MOR E TO EX PLOR EReadWriteThink.org Lesson Plans! “Bridging Literature and Mathematics by

Visualizing Mathematical Concepts” by David Whitin and Phyllis Whitin

! “What If We Changed the Book? Problem-Posing With Sixteen Cows” by David Whitin and Phyllis Whitin

IRA Book! Literacy + Math = Creative Connections in the

Elementary Classroom by Jennifer L. Altieri

IRA Journal Article! “Picture Book Power: Connecting Children’s

Literature and Mathematics” by Joyce Shatzer, The Reading Teacher, May 2008