Plot of the Story.
Mr. and Mrs. Comfort decide that they haven't seen their family in an extremely long time so they invite their children, parents, nieces, nephews and even their next door neighbors for a meal of spaghetti and meatballs with complimentary dishes such as garlic bread and salad and olives and celery. Mrs. Comfort had all the logistics figured out. She had food and menus prepared, seating and tables rented and even made a seating chart. On the day of the banquet the guests show up in groups of 4-6 and decide to start messing with the carefully planned seating chart. The table and seating situation turns to mayhem and people keep moving tables and chairs until they more and more people start showing up and then they have to readjust little by little until they reach Mrs. Comforts original seating chart.
Ways in which it relates to Math.
Area
This story is aimed at teaching students the concept of area which is the space that the shape's surface covers, in this case, the table and chairs. Mrs. Comfort planned the tables for 32 guests by forming 8 small square tables with four places each which would fit in the allotted space of the living room. When the tables were rearranged, they failed to notice that putting tables together decreased the seating by 2 chairs so when they reached their breakeven point, that is, when Mrs. Comforts mother and father showed up in their yellow convertible, they were forced to start dividing the tables back up to allow for the proper amount of seats.
Why is literature an effective way to teach/learn a mathematical concept?
Mathematical concepts are often abstract for children so using literature to demonstrate how math, such as area, is applicable to the real world in something as common as a dinner party, is important in making the concepts learned seem more relevant and understandable. In this story, not only was that made clear as well as it helped children recognize that shapes with the same area can have different perimeters.
Emma Wall
enjoyed reading the summary of this book. why did the guests mess up the seating chart?
ReplyDeleteThe concept of how many of some kind of shape that fits in another shape is something I think we've all done when we were younger, but it can be hard and complex! This seems like a fun story that would get the thinking process started for these types of math problems!
ReplyDeleteI agree that making math less abstract is important when teaching concepts to children!
ReplyDeleteI like the approach that this book took to explaining this concept to children. It is something that can get lost, but the author made it easier to understand area was neat. It is cool to see the amount of different ways a math concept can be explained, and seeing that through literature makes it a different perspective to think about.
ReplyDeletethis is a really good observation, jess. the ability to explain mathematical concepts in multiple ways is key to learning! =0]
Deleteemma,
ReplyDeletereally nice job on this post. i loved your book selection, it's one of my favorites! you did a good job explaining the mathematical concept that this book focused on. i also really like your comment about how literature can make some math concepts more relevant and understandable.
professor little