Interactive Read Aloud in Math Class

I recently took on a challenge to do an interactive read aloud in one of my math intervention classes.  As a math teacher, I was initially skeptical about doing an interactive read aloud with one of my classes.  I have read books to my students before during class, but have not taken the approach of doing an interactive reading.  The math intervention classes I have are between 20 – 30 minutes long.  My classes usually have about 5 minutes for fact fluency, 10 – 15 minutes of guided instruction, followed by 10 minutes of small groups.  Heading into this task, I was concerned that I would lose valuable time with my students.  In hindsight, looking at reading time as “non-valuable” time was foolish.

I decided to try the project out of my Kindergarten class. This is generally a 25 minute class. I felt that I could have the students do their fluency task by practicing writing their numbers.  I specifically had them focus on 0-4 this day, as these numbers would come into play with the reading.  With Kinders, the writing task generally takes 10 minutes. I felt that the remaining 15 minutes would work for our read aloud.

Book

In my Kindergarten math intervention class, we’ve been working on what number comes before and after a specific number.  For example, what number comes before 5?  I chose “Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons.” by James Dean, as I felt it reinforced the content that we had been working on during the week.  One of the advantages of this specific title is the repetition that takes place throughout the book.  Pete sings a song about his buttons, one of the buttons falls off, a math problem takes place, and then Pete sings again.  I have read this book to a few of my classes, and all my students really enjoy the book.  Even my 3rd graders who spyed it one day and asked me to read it.

Plan for interaction.

As I planned for this interactive read aloud, I wanted the students to be engaged in the book separate from just singing along.  I chose two strategies.  The first was to give each student a stack of cards with the numbers 0 – 4 written on it.  Student could then hold up the cards that represented how many buttons Pete had left. The second strategy was to introduce some arm gestures to represent a couple of the math words.  For minus/take away, I introduced the motion of pulling something back.  I also had the students act like they were weighing two objects when we discussed the term balance.  The goal was for the students to do both hand signals when they heard the word in the story.

What went well?

As always, the story itself went very well.  One of the keys to a successful read aloud, is asking questions that prompt the listener to think about what was happening in the story. The author of the book was very deliberate in how he wrote this book.  Anytime Pete would lose a button, the author would ask the reader “How many buttons are left?”  The reader then guesses before turning the page.  The students also loved singing along to the story.  As we walked them back to class, many of the students were still singing “My buttons, my buttons”.

The cards also worked well.  When the book asked how many buttons were left, the students would hold up the corresponding number.  I found the students to be engaged with their numbers, looking for the number that went with the right number of buttons.  Each number was printed on a different color card.  This actually give me a chance to do a quick formative assessment as students held up their cards.  I noticed that two students continually did a different colored card than was expected.  I know that I need to do some additional work with those students.

What didn’t go well?

The hand gestures.  Looking back at the read aloud, I would have refrained from having the students focus on two activities.  For the age group I was working with, I think this overwhelmed them. They enjoyed the cards, but they were so engaged with them, that they didn’t respond to the hand gestures.  If this were my second grade group, or possibly my first graders, they would have been able to handle the multiple activities. I feel that it was cognitive overload for Kindergarten.

Will I use this strategy again?

Yes.  A significant percentage of my math intervention students are English Language Learners (ELLs).  Read alouds are a great way to not only teach the language of Math, but also to build on their English language skills.  My goal right now is to do one interactive read aloud per grade per month.

What other books would I consider?

There have been a few books that I have read to my groups this year, and I am looking to expand on them by adding an interactive element. The books that I would recommend for read alouds during math class would be:

Ten Magic Butterflies – Danica McKellar.  This is a book that works well for K-1.  In it, 10 flowers wish to become butterfiles.  The artwork reinforces the idea of a ten frame. Wheen I read this before to my groups, we would change the color of the markers on the ten frame that was posted on the white board to represent butterflies and flowers.

Sir Cumference and the Fraction Faire – Cindy Neuschwander. This book works well for grades 3-5. It does a nice job introducing students to the concepts and vocabulary of fractions.

Counting on Katherine – Helaine Becker.  I read this story to my students from grades 2 – 5 this year.  It is a wonderful story about Katherine Johnson and her work as a mathematician for NASA during the Apollo years.  It teaches students about the importance of math, but also about perseverance and overcoming obstacles.