Tiger Math

Title: Tiger Math
Authors: Ann Whitehead Nagda and Cindy Bickel
Illustrator: Cindy Bickel
Recommended Grade Level: Second-Four
Common Core Mathematics Standards Addressed: Measurement and Data K.MD

Summary: This book is about how different graphs can be used to measure and compare things. They use these graphs to measure and compare a tiger cub’s growth. They compare the Siberian tiger cub with the father. The two tigers weighted the same amount when they were born, but as they use the graphs, we could see that the tiger cub was not growing at the same rate as the father. When the tiger cub was a few weeks old, the mother died of cancer, therefore, the baby tiger wasn’t eating appropriately. When the mother tiger died, the hospital staff got T.J. to be raised by them. As the veterinarian was checking on T.J she noticed that the baby tiger wasn’t gaining the appropriate weight for his age. The veterinarian compared T.J.’s father and the baby cub and she noticed that the father weight four extra pounds at the age of T.J. The vet used a bar graph, and a line graph to compare their weights.

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Classroom Ideas: students can be divided into four groups according to levels. Each group can be asked to use one of the four graphs to compare the tiger’s ages and weights. They can also use the graphs to add and subtract how much more the tiger father weighted when they were the same age. They can also learn which graph is easier to use to compare.