Division

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

Learning to solve math problems is made easier by using examples that children can easily understand. In this explanation of division, Charlie and his stepfather are off to the school carnival. They use the grouping method based on looking at items as an array. The book also introduces the fact family which shows all the related multiplication and division facts for a set of numbers—a family is usually made up of two multiplication questions and two division questions. The examples are simple—dividing by 2 and then 5 with a little note at the bottom of the page stating that you can divide any number ending in 0 or 5 by 5. Division is simply repeated subtraction and examples are given using a number line. There is also a recap of a few basic rules and the three components of a division problem, the divisor, dividend and quotient. Bolded words are defined in the glossary and an added bonus is a division chart. The illustrations, unlike others in most of the series, look computer generated rather than pictures of people. Part of the "My Path to Math" series. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot