Have you discovered Peg + Cat? Hazel loves the television show and I love that it makes math fun for kids. So many this make math seem like it is a horrible or boring subject. Peg + Cat seems to at least take that image away for younger kids. I was very excited to see this book by Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson called Peg + Cat: The Race Car Problem.
Now we have seen the Race Car Problem episode on television, so we were familiar with the story, and the drawings in the book are very similar to the cartoon. However it is always different when they are on paper in front of you instead of the ever changing television screen. Hazel LOVES having a Peg + Cat book (as well as the DVD and this one we reviewed awhile back). I love that the stories whether on television or in the book take every day life and create/show math problems. I also like that this story has an overall message of perserverance and not giving up. Even though Peg and Cat's car made from junk does not look as nice or as fast as the other cars they decide not to give up and end up winning.
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| Sheets Available at Candlewick |
Math lessons in this book include shapes: circles, triangles and cylinders as well as number sense and greater than. You can download the pdf file of sheets pictured above as well. The numbers go up to twenty since the racers do twenty laps around the race track. There is also a discussion of when numbers are in the teens to be had. There are many other applications you can add to this but this is the main ideas right from reading the story. A wonderful craft to go with it would be to give a child various shapes (circles, triangles and rectangles) and have them create a picure of a race car.
So that is our math lesson with Peg + Cat. I hope you enjoyed it and will check out the great book!!
