Extending Eric Carle into Mathematics

The purpose of this unit, Extending Eric Carle into Mathematics is to apply literature into mathematics study. Eric Carle was chosen as the author because his books are of high interest for the children and touch on many mathematics topics naturally. The unit is designed to involve families in the process and create bridges between home and school as well as literacy and mathematics. When teaching a theme, such as Eric Carle, the teacher and students should see more success and confidence in their efforts. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is also incorporated to ensure success for all learner types.

The unit is intended to be used over a three week period in both literacy and math blocks of the school day in a first grade classroom in Philadelphia. Using the strategies of read aloud, technology, discussion, and maniplulatives, children will be learning how to work with numbers up to ten, ordinal numbers, and days of the week, as well as measuring in both length and volume, and organizing a bar chart. By the end of the unit, students will be ready to show what they have learned about incorporating literacy into mathematics and will create their own “Eric Carle” book using many different types of media to share with classmates and parents.