Tiger Math: Learning to Graph from a Baby Tiger

I used Tiger Math to teach a math lesson to sixth graders. They loved the pictures and the story. This story was a lead into making a line plot. Sixth graders may think they are too cool for picture books, but mine loved the book and activity.

I am a student teacher in a 3rd grade classroom, and I have been using this to teach graphing. The students love it! I have taught three lessons over several days on pictographs, line graphs, and bar graphs. I have introduced each lesson with a few pages from this book. I highly recommend it! The photographs are wonderful, and it is a great example of using math in everyday life.

If you have a little one, work with children, or just love tigers, this is a must!!!! So many math concepts are taught using nonfiction so children can understand the connection easier. The reader follows the tiger from infancy through adulthood using all sorts of graphic organizers to understand things like number of species alive to different types of species, etc. The photos enable the learner to understand the information in an easy manner. And the photos themselves are rich and beautiful.I learned quite a bit myself about tigers and so will you!

In a format that will surely please elementary school teachers struggling with curriculum frameworks, Tiger Math offers both story and instruction. The tragic tale of a motherless baby Siberian tiger named T.J. will capture reader's sympathy and interest as they read on to discover if will survive. The math part of the book is a natural extension of information. T.J.'s growth and progress is a concern, and is compared to his father's at the same age. Not only are concepts of graphing introduced, but interpreting data in is equally stressed. Nagda creates a neat transition from picture graphs to bar graphs, and also explains circle graphs and line graphs. Students will learn when to use which type of graph and how to read graphs. Those not interested in the math can simply read the narrative on the right, and ignore the graphs to the left. The best part of the book is the photos, showing T.J. in a variety of moods. The captions decorating the endpapers are very appropriate and often humorous. The cover photo alone will make the book leap off the shelves, and the tiger striping is very appealing. An additional page or two on endangered tigers and the habitat and lifestyle of these magnificent creatures would have extended a third use to the book: school reports on animals. The rarity of Siberian tigers is stressed, and a brief note from an environmental point of view could also have been included.