Mathematics: it's a word that creates fear, stirs anxiety, and builds stress in many students. Educators recognize the importance of learning more and more about the challenges facing students today in mathematics education. How do we respond to this call for action for developing proficiency in mathematics? Based upon a lifelong career in education that began in 1965, author Joseph Porzio offers a time-honored approach to students, parents, and educators called Poematics. This collection offers a variety of mathematical poems designed to complement mathematical concepts and to ease the path to learning for students everywhere. Teachers may use Poematics as a means to motivate students, integrate mathematical subject matter, and formulate daily lesson plans. Poematics supports key components of the mathematical practices found in the Common Core State Standards through its focus, not only on content strands, but on process strands. It also highlights communication, connections, and representation. Poematics provides parents and educators at the elementary level with unique means to have their students meet both the academic and emotional challenges related to high achievement in mathematics.
POEMATICS
Learn, Understand, and Enjoy Elementary School Mathematics Through PoetryBy Joseph A. PorzioiUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2011 Joseph A. Porzio
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4620-2987-7Contents
Numbers All Around Me................................1Tens and Ones........................................5Lost Numbers.........................................9The Class Pizza Party................................13A Bus Ride on a Hundreds Chart.......................17Skip Count to Multiplication.........................21How to Make Your Money Grow..........................25The Calendar Poem....................................27Think Metric.........................................31My Piggy Bank........................................33September Is That Time of Year.......................37Do You Know What I Mean?.............................39My Clock at Home.....................................43I Ride the Yellow School Bus.........................47Do You Have Change?..................................53Probability..........................................57What Did You Do in School Today?.....................61Circles..............................................65Geometry Is No Mystery...............................69Meet the Triangle Family.............................73My ABC's AND XYZ's...................................77Math Memories........................................81Mathematics: My Favorite Subject.....................85Polysyllabic Words...................................89Can I Count on You?..................................93Change Has Many Meanings.............................97Tools People Use.....................................101An Ode to Crazy English..............................105Rules About Homework.................................109
Chapter One
Numbers All Around Me I see numbers all around me,
Everywhere I go,
Numbers all around me,
All of which I know.
My parents have a license
On the family car they drive.
I know the numbers on the plate:
Four, one, two, three, six, five.
My telephone has numbers,
But there are letters too.
Can you guess my telephone number
From the letters I give you?
I see numbers all around me,
Everywhere I go—
My date of birth, my height and weight,
And at stores to which I go.
I see numbers all around me,
Everywhere I go—
Buses, trains, trucks, and planes
With the numbers they all show.
You'll see numbers all around you
On each street and avenue.
You'll find numbers on your building
And the house next door to you.
I see numbers all around me
When I sit and watch TV.
The remote control and channels
Are no mysteries to me.
But most of all, what I like best
Is the number that I see
On the birthday cake that always means
More toys and gifts for me!
Tens and Ones I practiced writing numbers.
There were dots I had to trace,
Not really understanding much
About a number's
place.
I write my numbers very well.
They're clear as they can be.
I use them in my daily work
For one and all to see.
I add 'em up, I take away
Arithmetic each day.
I use my numbers everywhere—
At home, at school, at play.
But now to show how numbers change,
I'll use the digit two (2)
To demonstrate how changing
place Will increase two (2) for you.
I write the numeral two (2) in
place And show it to my friends,
Then move it to the left of
ones To the column we call
tens.
The pennies that I have in hand
Are shown by writing two (2).
By writing zero (0) after it,
It's ten times more for you.
And as you grow, I'm sure you know
You'll always make new friends
Just like the numbers that we write
As they move from
ones to
tens.
You too can be a superstar,
A mathematics hero,
By making numbers grow for you
By simply adding zero (0).
So come on, try it; it's not hard.
It really is quite nifty.
What would you do with number five (5)
To make it number fifty (50)?
Lost Numbers Have you ever wondered if we could
Get by from day to day
If all the numbers in the world
Were lost—just gone away?
Just think about the people
Who use numbers in their lives—
Uncles, aunts, your friends at school,
Husbands and their wives.
And what about you—isn't it true
That the numbers which you know
Are used each day in a special way
At the places where you go?
There are numbers on our houses,
On our streets and avenues,
You'll even find a number tag
In caps and shirts and shoes.
You're right, you know—I must agree,
There are numbers all around me
On license plates and telephones
And at the public library,
So I'll get to know my numbers
At home, at school, and at play,
And how they're used to help me
In a very special way.
Numbers, numbers everywhere
What would we ever do
...
