Tuesday, September 27, 2016


Full House (An Invitation to Fractions)
Image result for full house by dayle ann doddsPosted by Florangel Reynoso

 Title:  Full House (An Invitation to Fractions)
Author:  Dayle Ann Dodds
Illustrated by Abby Carter
Recommended Grade Level:  Grades K-3
 
Common Core Standards Addressed:
CCSS.Math. Content.1. G.3 Partition circles and rectangles into two and four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, fourths, and quarters, and use the phrases half of, fourth of, and quarter of.  Describe the whole as two of, or four of the shares.  Understand for these examples that decomposing into more equal shares creates smaller shares.
Summary:  This book is about Miss Bloom who runs the Strawberry Inn, there are six rooms one for herself and five for the guests, and she absolutely loves visitors.  Throughout the day, she welcomes a cast of hilarious characters until all the rooms are taken.  It’s a full house!  But in the middle of the night, Miss Bloom realizes that something is just not right at her inn---downstairs, the guests are eating her cake!  One delicious cake divided by five hungry guests and one hospitable hostess equals a perfect midnight snack at the Strawberry Inn.

Rating:  ***** This book is Five Stars.  The Full House’s book has a beautiful illustration with engaging rhymes which it will capture children’s attention.  This book illustrates in an easy and understandable way to learn fractions for young kids.
Classroom Ideas:  This book is excellent to read as a warm-up to introduce fractions in elementary school.  Teaching fractions by incorporating manipulative such as Pattern Blocks could be used to explore the Full House fractions. For example, a whole, 1/6, 2/6, 3/6, 4/6, 5/5, 6/6.  This book might be used as a connection to student home.  Asking questions such as “How many people fill up your home?” or “How full would your house be if two people were not home?”  The students may answer these questions by drawing or using pattern blocks to represent their responses.  Another cute idea, bringing to class a strawberry cake and have the children decide and explore with “how to cut and divide it”, to teach fractions using the Full House book.

3 comments:

  1. I am NOT a fan of fractions. Never have been and that is due to my lack of understanding. When you presented the book to us within the group I was amazed at how simple fractions can be. This book presented fractions in a way that was fun and easy to understand! I love the classroom ideas you have about using fractions as well as getting the students involved by having them think about their homes! Great job!

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  2. I really like that they were able to introduce fractions in a way that is easy and also fun. This was a great book to choose because it allows children to relate to their own lives and to relate math, as well. Children also sometimes find it difficult to grasp the concept of a "fraction of" something, but doing it with people filling up rooms is a really clever idea and makes for an excellent story, as well. I'm not sure if they go into this, but the book could go farther to discuss the fractions in the cake, and that would be fractions even more in depth. This was a wonderful selection, and it was a book that I hadn't heard of before, so it immediately caught my eye. The illustrations on the cover alone are stunning, and I'm sure that they enhance the book throughout. Thank you for introducing this book to our class, it will make a great lesson plan!

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