1 x 1 = FUN

Bats on Parade

by: Kathi Appelt

             This poetry book emphasis multiplication sentences page by page, while the marching bats are on parade. First there is one drum majorette leading the parade and this showed 1 x 1= 1. Next came piccolos “piping in twos” which showed the two sets and number sentence 2 x 2= 4.

“Next came the flute players all in a line.

They marched three by three- which comes out to 9.”

After came the clarinets, four by four, and then the saxophones five by five. Later came a drum corps collection in rows six by six followed by forty nine trumpets which represented 7 x 7= 49. Sixty four French horns were lined up eight by eight, while eighty one trombones following behind.

“The crowd was bedazzled at what they saw

then- 100 sousaphones marched ten by ten.”

All together they marched with 385 members. At the end of the book the product of each multiplication sentence is added together to get the sum, which is 385.

                The Common Core Georgia Performance Standard that corresponds with Bats on Parade is:

MCC3.OA.3 Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.1

This standard is first modeled in the book by having the students use the words to figure out the number sentence to match the riddle given on each page. For example the students would be given this quote from the book and would have to find the product and write the number sentence to match.

“Up marched the saxophones,

All _____-

Sopranos and altos,

They came five by five”

Next students could match the equal groups or arrays with the multiplication sentence given. With the example from above, the students would need to model five rows with five different things in each row. This book works great with multiplication and could also work well division through working backwards from the product.

“This is a great book to integrate multiplication concepts and the elements of poetry!” - Dianne

“I really like how the book incorporated music, math, and poetry! As a teacher you can use this book to cover all three subjects with integrated curriculum.” - Mallory