Give Me Half!

Title: Give Me Half!

Author: Stuart J. Murphy

Illustrator: G. Brian Karas

Recommended Grade level: 2-3

Common Core Mathematic Standards:

Operations and Algebraic Thinking:

- Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division.

-Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication & division.

-Solve problems involving the four operations, and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic.

Summary: This is a great book to introduce the concept of halves using a simple rhyming story about a brother and a sister who do not want to share their food. This book creates a real life situation because most studetns and their siblings or even friends do not always want to share, but by doing so and cutting their food into "half" they are able to explore concepts in math outside of the classroom setting. This book gives students the opportunity to get creative and open the doors to a hands-on learning experience.

Rating: Fractions, multiplication, and division can all be hard concepts for second graders to grasp. This book creates a way towards learning math in a fun way and feel that it is completely age appropriate and even funny at times. This will also bring many connections towards the concept because all of the students have had to share their food with another person at least once in their lives. I recommend this book because I find it to be realistic to not only 2nd graders, but students of all ages. I feel it is a great way to start off a topic in math with difficult concepts and can help draw the students in.

Classroom Ideas: After the teacher has read this book to the students, the teacher will discuss how we are going to be sharing our snacks with a partner. The partners would already be prearranged, and the snacks would be safe for all of the students to eat (teacher will check for allergies). The students will break into groups of 2, since we were discussing halves in the story. They will divide their snacks into halves and see how you can do this equally. For example, if a student brought in some Goldfish for snack, they would count how many Goldfish there are in total, then divide it equally into two parts. After the students have divided their snacks up in a hands-on learning process into halves, they get the chance to eat their tasty treats! As the fractions, multiplication, and division get more in-depth, we can reuse this activity with more students in a group instead of just two.