Bedtime Math

Bedtime Math

By Laura Overdeck   Feiwel and Friends (2013) ISBN: 978125003585

Bedtime Math is a book that Laura Overdeck, along with her husband, created to encourage the regular practice of math at home. Just as bedtime reading is promoted for young children, Overdeck applied this research-based practice to math. Bedtime Math aims to facilitate a fun, yet structured approach to developing math skills at home.

Quantitative: Lexile Level--NA; ATOS--5.7

Qualitative:  Bedtime Math is structured in a non-narrative format. Each chapter offers word problems that correspond to the chapter’s title. For example, Chapter 1 focuses on “Exploding Food.” These problems present real-world situations that involve mathematical computations. Additionally, each problem is differentiated for the math abilities of the young child attempting to solve the problem. The differentiation is distinguished by “wee ones,” “little kids,” and “big kids.” Overdeck purposely omitted ages to give flexibility for answering according to ability. What makes this text complex is the language. Children, given the chapters, are exposed to new language that relate to the chapter’s focus. In Chapter 3, “Extreme Vehicles,” young “mathematicians” are introduced to terms that relate to helicopters, roller coasters, and fire trucks. In addition to building math skills, young children are also being introduced to new vocabulary while building background and cultural awareness.

Content Area: Math

Common Core Standards: Due to Bedtime Math’s differentiated nature, this book applies to Common Core Math standards that range from grades 1-6.

Curriculum Suggestions: Bedtime Math offers great opportunities for daily math activities. Even though the intent of the book is to be used in a home setting, teachers could work on a problem daily or weekly. Teachers could also have students complete the exercises with their parents at home. This may prove difficult due to book availability and/or a student’s home situation. Teachers could also use the problems presented in the book as a model for students to write their own math problems. Students could write word problems that relate to one or more of the themed chapters. This would be a great way to assess math skills while connecting the CCSS reading and writing standards.

Additional/Digital Content:

• Bedtime Math Home--http://bedtimemath.org/

Personal Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book. I wish there was a book like this that my parents could read with me when I was little. Although this is designed to be a means for parents to promote math with their young students, the format and structure of the book makes it easy to modify for the classroom.

*Meets the “Reading for Pleasure Picture Book” requirement