4/13/2016
"On The Trail with Lewis and Clark" by Judy Lechner
Copyright 2004, 16 pages
Informational

Image taken from Goodreads

I found this book in the Maths section in the library. But as the title shows, this book helps children learn more than just Maths. I don't know if the sub-header is a little too small on the cover photo, but in case it is, it says: "learning to use line graphs". And that's what this book is technically all about. Every other page we convert a chunk of Lewis and Clark's story (the number of days they spent on a certain place, etc) into a line graph - with minimal data for easier reading. Under the ready-made line graph we see one or two short questions that invite children to learn decoding the line graph. Since this is about Lewis and Clark, there's no avoiding history in this book. We learn about Sacagawea, who exactly are these Lewis and Clark, what are they doing walking around Louisiana and why. What I did not expect, however, is the fact that some big words - non Math words like decision - were highlighted and listed on the back. So there's reason to argue that readers learn a little bit of Language-Arts as well. While this three-in-one approach is not at all bad, I do think it left the meat of the lesson (the line graphs) a little out of focus. I don't know if I'm expecting too much out of this book's intended audience, but if we're already talking about reading line graphs, shouldn't we talk about drawing one as well? The practice questions should get repetitive over time in the eyes of a nine-year old. After a while they'll just focus more on the story and skip the line graph pages altogether. What about - by page 5 or so - we leave them a blank line graph template and a set of data? And then by the last page, we leave them a completely blank page with a data set and a reminder to flip back if they forgot something. What about that? That's more "line graph"-y doesn't it? Even further: what about introducing them a little bit about what goes into the X axis and what goes into the Y axis? Which one is the X axis and which one is the Y axis? What about bringing these graphs a little closer to the Math world - by showing them the full-on Cartesian diagram? Students don't need to interact with the graph at all, of course, but at least they know what it looks like and what it's called. I found this book in the library of a K-3 school so I do assume this book is meant for that age group. But still, I feel like there's so much more we can do with line graphs than just showing a finished graph and asking them to find a point.