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Book Title: Amanda Bean’s Amazing Dream

Your Name/Posted By: Irma Hoxha

Author & Illustrator: Author Cindy Neuschwander & IllustratorLiza Woodruff

Recommended Grade Level: 2 to 3 grade

CCSSM Standards: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.OA.C.4

Use addition to find the total number of objects arranged in rectangular arrays with up to 5 rows and up to 5 columns; write an equation to express the total as a sum of equal addends.

CCSSM Standards for Mathematical Practice 4: Model with mathematics

Students experiment with representing problem situations in multiple ways including numbers, words (mathematical language), drawing pictures, using objects, acting out, making a chart, list, or graph, creating equations, etc. Students need opportunities to connect the different representations and explain the connections. They should be able to use all of these representations as needed. Third graders should evaluate their results in the context of the situation and reflect on whether the results make sense.

Summary: Amanda Bean’s amazing dream is about a young girl that loves to count everything, because of her enthusiasm of counting her friend’s call her "Bean counter.” Amanda is having a silly dream where she has to count tons of sheep riding bikes, grandmas at a yarn party, and sheep juggling yarn and by the end of this dream she discovers that a faster way of counting is multiplying.  Amanda soon learns that multiplication is a much faster way to find the total amount of objects. During her journey of counting everything, she discovers a better and more practical way to count faster.

Rating: ‪*****

Classroom Ideas:

-We can revisit each illustration and talk with children about different ways to count the objects. For example, look at the building on the illustration at the beginning of the story. There are six large windows, each divided into smaller panes. The students may count the panes one by one, or figure some other way. We may offer alternative, we can say “there are six rows with three panes in each, so we can add 3 six times, one for each row “3, 6, 9, 12, 18” Or the window has three columns with six panes in each, so we can add “6, 12, 18”

-We can play “things that come in groups” for example ask children “What things come in 2s? Brainstorm ideas- wheels on the bicycles, shoes in a pair, people’s eyes. We can ask children to think about things that come in groups for other numbers. We can emphasize real word examples to figuring out how many there are when things are organized into groups. “How many eggs are there in in 2 cartons?

-Have students keep record of their answers to compare multiplication problems. We may ask children these kinds of problems. Which has more cookies -3 rows with 8 cookies in each row or 4 rows with 6 cookies in each?