Blog Post #3

Curious George: Roller Coaster
H.A. Rey

In this book, George and the Man in the Yellow Hat go to a theme park. George's friends had already ridden the biggest roller coaster, the Python 3,000 before he got there! George went to go on the ride, but he wasn't tall enough, he was only 4 candy strings tall when he needed to be 5. Throughout the day, he does various things to make him grow, like eat leaves like a giraffe, sleep like a baby, and stretch. Throughout the day, he was nibbling on his candy string that he was using to measure himself with. By the end of the day he thinks that he has grown because it takes more candy strings to measure him, when in actuality he hasn't grown, the candy string is just smaller. After the Man in the Yellow Hat explains this, George is sad because he still can't ride the ride. But then the owner of the park comes up and says they have a special measurement for monkeys, and george can ride!

    This book demonstrates measurement and addition because George is trying to measure himself throughout the book. His main problem is that he is making his measurement tool smaller and smaller, so in actuality, he is really not growing at all. George has a hard time with this concept.

    Literature is an effective way to teach children about math because they are being taught without even realizing it. Children love books and love being read to, so if they are being taught math while doing something fun that they love, everyone wins!