Author/ Illustrator: Jerry Pallotta
Jerry Pallotta was born in Boston, Massachusetts, he was from a very large family. When he was growing up he had 72 first cousins. He never wrote anything for school, no journals, or newspapers, it wasn't until he was married and had children of his own, when he began to read his children stories he thought he could write ABC and counting books.
Synopsis:
This is a story about fractions and using a Hershey chocolate bar to show the relationship to a whole bar and breaking it up into its small pieces. When you break a Hershey chocolate bar into 12 equal pieces, you can show what it looks like to have 1/12 of the chocolate bar or 1/4 or 1/2, etc.
Pre Reading Activity:
Questions:
Who has ever eaten a Hershey’s bar? How could you divide it up equally to share? Would it be easy to divide a Hershey’s bar into equal pieces?
Activity:
Questions:
Who has ever eaten a Hershey’s bar? How could you divide it up equally to share? Would it be easy to divide a Hershey’s bar into equal pieces?
Activity:
Have the class get in to groups with two students in each group. Give each group a Hershey bar, and ask them to divide it up so each person in the group gets the same amount of the chocolate bar. Continue using the chocolate bar having students show how many other ratios or fractions they can come up with between the students. Example: 1/2, 3/4, etc.
Post Reading Activity:
Questions:
Questions:
Did you know that when you divided up the chocolate bar you were using fractions? What other things can you think of that would be easy to make fractions with? How could you use a pizza to show fractions?
Activity:
After reading the story, use another hands on lesson by having a pizza party to show fractions by using the slices of pizza. Have students take a slice of pizza, record the fraction for each student as they take their slice of pizza.
Reflection:
I love how this story can be used in the classroom. Children learn best when teachers create has for them. This book allows teachers to incorporate Hershey bars into their classroom, something the students can relate to. When students can make connections to their lives, they will often gain a deeper understanding of the content being taught.
Dayna,
ReplyDeleteI am currently working on my master's thesis, which is about the importance of reading and writing in ALL subject areas. I enjoyed reading about these math themed books because I see there importance and use in elementary classrooms. Other books of the same nature could also be used in a high school classroom. Thank you for introducing me to these titles =)