| Summary: | This study investigated one teacher's use of children's literature in her
mathematics program during the first term of Grade Two. The study was guided
by two questions: What is it about the shared reading situation that creates a
fertile context that helps individual children make mathematical connections?
How does quality children's literature capture their imaginations in a way that
enhances the possibility for them to think mathematically in deeper, more
reflective ways?
A qualitative research methodology was employed in this investigation. The
collected data consisted of videotapes and a handwritten, personal journal. The
videotapes documented classroom literature sessions and the journal recorded the
teacher's observations, thought, and conjectures. Field notes and photographs
were also kept to accurately document and describe students' work on
chalkboards.
The teacher videotaped the reading and discussion of many different books
with her Grade To class, but this thesis focuses on a detailed analysis of just one
book, Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt by Barbara Smucker, within the context of
the previous readings. The shared reading context and the book provoked he
students to engage in mathematical discussion as well as stimulating deep,
reflective mathematical thinking.
Using an interpretive inquiry approach, initiated by one student's
mathematical comment on an illustration in this book, the thesis seeks to uncover
the ways in which children's literature promotes the growth of mathematical
thinking and conceptual understanding in young children. The power, of wellwritten
and illustrated literature for children, to enhance mathematical
understanding, has been a long-held personal conviction of this teacher.
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