Making a Model with Solid Figures

This series covers the range of math concepts and skills that students are expected to master during second grade. The series moves sequentially through the math curriculum, using practical examples to show how people use math every day in the real world. Each book is leveled to match students' reading skills as they progress through second grade.

Children's Literature

The children love to go to the park to play. When they are at the park, they love to play in the tunnels, on the climbing bars, and with the balls. Unfortunately, it starts to rain and the children have nothing to do. One of the little girls decides it would be fun to build their own park out of things that they have around the house, so the children decide to go home and find objects that represent things at the park. They find toilet paper rolls for cylinders, pyramids for the playhouse, table tennis balls, Kleenex boxes for the building, a party hat for the snack stand, and a shoe box to be the park bench. Each object has its own mathematical shape name which is explained in the book. The children come back together and share what they have found at their houses. They then build their mini-park out of all the objects they have found. The author does a wonderful job explaining what each object is and how it relates to the park. The mathematical vocabulary words are bolded, so the reader knows which words are important. At the end, there is a glossary. The glossary has the words and a picture next to each vocabulary word. I would highly recommend this book for a math class who is just learning about solid shapes. This is part of the "Math in our World" series. Reviewer: Rachel Miller