As I am creating resources and consistently finding AMAZING books that are like little hidden treasures, I thought I should share some of these great finds with you!
First, I’m assuming by you being here that you are an awesome teacher, intervention coach, mathematician parent, or any other math education-related being. I have to stop for a second and say YOU are amazing! Math is, arguably, one of the most difficult subjects to master and teach, so for that, hats off to you!
Secondly, if you are preparing to guide your students into the world of fractions soon, buckle up and hitch a ride to the best fraction books for your class! Catering to ALL learning styles is so important in the elementary classroom, and bringing in books or stories that walk out a written explanation could very well be the reason that switch is flipped, and another light bulb begins to shine!
Fractions have the tendency to trick students. You need multiple tools and alleyways to get through to each one. These books are great ways to get the ball rolling on how fractions work and how they play into everyday life without us even recognizing. Sharing a pizza with friends, shopping at stores, cooking with family are all situations where we experience working with fractions. Those examples are a great way to expose students to the world of fractions without overwhelming them and this is exactly the tale many of these stories tell.
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This book shows a whimsical look into the Strawberry Inn and its guests who all sneak their share at a piece of cake. This is a great book to show simple and complex fractions for beginners!
If You Were a Fraction dives into the basics of fractions and how they are exemplified in everyday life. From pizza to apples, cakes, and pies your students will see many forms of fractions in halves, thirds, fourths, and eighths.
I love this book because it is interactive and fun. It is based on one cow and how many colors it is painted throughout the story. While reading the book, students are asked what fractions are illustrated by the cow with variants from halves all the way to tenths. This is a great way to get them thinking about transitioning illustrated problems to written solutions!
This is the ultimate action-packed fractions book out there. With the mission to solve a puzzle, the main character goes against a villain to find a missing valuable fraction. For the higher level, this book entertainingly shows how to simplify, or reduce, fractions to their lowest common denominator. This is a class favorite for many and will surely make your top ten as well!
This book has been around for years and never seems to fail to be a great resource for beginners or even higher-level students. One differentiation this book has from several others is how it uses money as an example for common “cents” fractions.
It’s all in how you slice it in this story about Peg and Cat who begin selling pizza only to find out they don’t know the best way to divide the slices. This is where fractions step in. If your students love watching Peg + Cat at home or even at school, this is a great way to bring what they know to a new concept!
This is a basic educational book geared towards the lower elementary grades. It is a good place to start for introductory exercises to help students step into the world of fractions.
A big part of learning fractions is also learning terminology. This book seamlessly introduces the terms numerator and denominator while giving examples of items and groups that can be divided into fractions. There are some whimsical and intriguing characters that help to link the story to the math as well. I also love the fact that this book includes 10 pie charts to visually show students while verbally and numerically simplifying each model! It is an all-in-one book and a class favorite, for sure!
This adventure story features visual and literal puns, wordplay, and problem-solving. There are many examples of denominators, numerators, and equivalents throughout the story when Sir Cumference and Lady Di are searching for stolen merchandise from the Fracton Faire. This fun, punny book is great for a morning warm-up or end-of-class filler. It dives into reinforcing basic understanding and complex fractions as well for a catch-all story.
A great lesson for the benefits of sharing shown in this book may spark some better sharing skills, but it will also introduce real-world examples of halves. This is a fun, entertaining book your students will surely enjoy.
Now that you’ve seen them, go grab them for your class! Each book is unique and different from the last with the same great outcome of exemplifying various characteristics of fractions in multiple ways. As I said in the beginning, teaching in different learning styles gives students the opportunities to grasp each concept deeper. I hope you find these books as interesting and beneficial as I did!
