We’ve come to the end of our Numeracy Lessons; the last response page has been stapled into our Math books.  It’s been a really busy time.  We’ve focused on exploring numbers from 1-10 by counting sets, creating ways to show a specific number, looking for smaller numbers in the larger number, subitizing, matching sets to numerals and printing numerals correctly.  You can read more about what we do to explore number here. 

We’ve used the teaching of number as another opportunity to integrate more children’s literature into our units of instruction.  We’re definitely of the “so many books, so little time” way of thinking, and we want to provide as many oral language experiences through stories, rhymes and songs as we can, in every subject area.  For our students, a good picture book is an amazing provocation: it’s a chance to connect our thinking and build common language around what we’re learningand it’s an experience we can all share and relate to no matter what our home language and cultural background may be.

There are so many wonderful books available today and the children are really the ones who benefit.  As their teachers, we try to read aloud only the best of what we can find.  It’s our habit to read the entire book before purchasing if we can.  We’re huge fans of Scholastic Books so of course it’s not always possible (we might have to buy sight unseen) unless we’re acquiring a book we’ve already read from the library.

Today’s Counting Picture Books booklist includes classics new and old.  It is the tiniest of booklists compared to what is available for our children today.  How lucky is that?!

What Comes in 2’s, 3’s, & 4’s?(Suzanne Aker and Bernie Karlin)

Gray Rabbit’s 1, 2, 3(Alan Baker)

1-2-3- peas(Keith Baker)

Canada 123(Kim Bellefontaine and Per-Henrik Gurth)

One Grey Mouse(Katherine Burton and Kim Fernandes)

Ten Black Dots(Donald Crews)

Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On(Lois Ehlert)

Zero is the Leaves on the Tree(Betsy Franco and Shino Arihara)

How Many Snails? A counting book(Paul Giganti, Jr. and Donald Crews)

Four Black Puppies(Sally Grindley and Clive Scruton)

Hello Kitty Hello Numbers(illustrated by Higashi Glaser)

The Gummy Candy Counting Book(Amy and Richard Hutchings; photographs by Richard Hutchings)

Pete the Cat and His four Groovy Buttons(Eric Litwin and James Dean)

One Watermelon Seed(Celia Barker Lottridge and Karen Patkau)

A Pod of Orcas:  A Seaside Counting Book(Sheryl McFarlane and Kirsti Anne Wakelin

The M&M Counting Book(Barbara Barbieri McGrath)

Chicka Chicka 1-2-3(Bill Martin Jr., Michael Sampson and Lois Ehlert)

PJ Bear’s New Year’s Party(Paul Owen Lewis)

One is a Snail Ten is a Crab:  A Counting by Feet Book(April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre; illustrated by Randy Cecil)

1 is One(Tasha Tudor)

Over in the Meadow: A Counting-Out Rhyme(Olive A. Wadsworth; pictures by Mary Maki Rae)

Mouse Count(Ellen Stoll Walsh)

Bunny Party(Rosemary Wells)

Max Counts His Chickens 1 2 3(Rosemary Wells)

Bear Counts(Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman)