Mathematical/Logical Bag!

Fraction Action by Loreen Leedy
An entertaining book that looks at the fractions through lively stories with animals doing various daily activities. Mrs. Prime and her students look at fractions in a fun and explorative way.
Fruit Split- Hand out a variety of fresh fruit and with butter or plastic knives have them try to divide the fruits into equal sections, half, quarters, thirds, etc…

Bug Dance by Stuart Murphy
All the insects are learning the bug dance in gym: "Two steps to the left. Two steps to the right. One hop forward. One hop backward. Turn right!" But Centipede has too many feet to dance gracefully. Illustrated with dynamic cartoon artwork, the story unobtrusively demonstrates directional concepts, while Centipede finally succeeds through practice. Related activities are appended.

Private I. Guana by Nina Laden
Finding Leon the missing chameleon isn't easy, even for ace detective Private I. Guana. Who knows what color the chameleon might have turned? Although Leon blends into his new surroundings, I. Guana's luck holds, and all ends well. The story, based on the hard-boiled detective novels of the 1940s, is told with tongue-in-cheek humor, supplemented by richly detailed pastel illustrations.

Grid Images
Select an image. One with a lot of light areas and dark areas, it could be of Albert Einstein, Ben Franklin or the Fibonacci sequence. Make a grid on the backside of image and number (1A, 2A, etc.). Each child gets one square and reproduces the image, shapes or lines in their section. White chalk on black construction paper works well. As a class arrange the sections according to grid number. Tape the backside and hang.

Walk the shape or angle
Give simple directions for students to follow. Such as move in a straight line, walk the outline of a triangle it has three sides, walk a square it has four sides, turn 90 degrees, 160 degrees, walk an obtuse angle, an acute angle, etc.

Build a Pizza
Make a large 22” butcher paper circle. Preferrably brown in color. Have a discussion about pizza and the many toppings you can add. Have each student choice a topping out of paper and place it on the pizza. Once everyone has their topping, pretend to “bake” the pie. With scissors cut the pizza into parts, first half, then quarters, thirds, fourths, etc. until everyone in the class has a slice.

Stories to Solve
Do a maze or brainteaser. Stories to Solve by George Shannon has a variety of levels of stories to solve as a class or individually.

Resource List
Bug Dance Stuart J. Murphy ISBN 0-06-446252-8
Animal Mazes Kim Bludell and Jenny Tyler ISBN 0-7460-1323-X
Count Denise Fleming ISBN 0-8050-1595-7
Hide and Seek Keith Baker ISBN 0440836549
What Comes in 2’s, 3’s, & 4’s Suzanne Aker ISBN 0-671-79247-4
The Best of Times Greg Tang ISBN 0-439-21044-5
Fraction Action Loreen Leedy ISBN 0-8234-1109-5
Math Detectives Lalie Harcourt and Ricki Wortzman ISBN 0-8069-7893-7
Logic Puzzles Mark Fowler and Radhi Parekh ISBN 0-88110-527-9
Private I. Guana Nina Laden ISBN 0-8118-0940-4