Read-Alouds and Eureka Math

One way to draw students into learning a new math concept is to incorporate picture book read-alouds.

Read-alouds are picture books that use fun stories to also explain math concepts by using an engaging story line and vibrant illustrations. 

Students are drawn into the concept of the story and can understand what the math operation is by how it is used in the book. 

​After you read a story, the class can take part in a group discussion about what happened in the story.  You can also use students in the class to reenact the story with models to show how the characters used math in the story.
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There are MANY awesome math picture books written by many wonderful authors.  Here are a select few picture books I have used to help introduce new Eureka Math concepts to my students.  Once you begin to incorporate math picture books, you will begin to find there are many more out there for you to use to engage your students in math with.

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Chicka Chicka 123 by Bill Martin Jr

This book is a sequel to the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  That is an early learning motivating book to learn letters.  Students love the predictable pattern and taking a guess as to which letter comes next.  Once they love that book already, they are ready to automatically love Chicka Chicka 123.  

This book provides students with predictable excitement with numbers.  This book is good for students to participate in while you read.  A great time to use this book is early in the Eureka Math program when you are establishing counting and number sense.  After reading this book, it works well to introduce counting in order and creating a number line.

Ten Little Fish  by Audrey Wood

In this story, the narrator counts down the fish from ten in a way that is predictable using rhyming.  This is a great book to use with early Eureka Math lessons.  Students start off learning about ways to make ten.  Before students can be fluent with ways of making ten, they must have experience counting to ten and counting back from ten.  Early learners love the engaging illustrations and predictable rhyming patterns to make counting down from ten fun and exciting!

The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang

This book is filled with math rhymes and provides visuals for ways to count.  The illustrations use bunches of grapes to show counting in groups.  The book is full of counting riddles which are fun for students to play with words along with putting into use good number sense skills.
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The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins

This book introduces the concept of equal shares.  In this story, there are freshly made cookies.  Each time the doorbell rang, another person came in which the cookies had to be shared equally with.  This book is great to introduce the concept of division.  
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One way to bring this story to life is to make paper cookies for each student.  As you read the story, students redistribute their cookies to include the next person who has come in.  After the story is over, provide students groups to work in and take turns making up stories to invite friends over and share cookies equally.
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The Greedy Triangle by Catherina Chu

This book is about a triangle that wishes he had more and more angles.  Eventually he becomes round and rolls down a hill and wishes he could be a triangle again.  This book works great when introducing geometry.  Students tend to have a good background in what shapes are early on, however it is a good idea to tap into their prior knowledge before getting into the math concepts.  This book will help students review what they know already about shapes.
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Picture books are a great way to keep students engaged in learning. Why not add them to your math curriculum? When you involve students in math stories you bring math concepts to life and help students make strong connections.  This is also a great way to integrate literacy into your math block which is very important especially in younger grades.  Once you have discovered a selection of math picture books you love, you will be hooked into always finding more when you know you are about to introduce a new math concept.  Adding in supplemental materials such as picture books is always a great way to keep students motivated and looking forward to the fun they have during math!