Literature Based Mathematics

I love to incorporate other subjects into my mathematics curriulum.  A really fun way for me to do that with my students is to find short stories to use as a basis for solving problems.  One of my favorite books from this year was The Tales of Beedle the Bard which is a collection of short stories based off of the wizarding world of Harry Potter.  I read these stories aloud to the students but stop at the climax or at obstacles the characters face so that we can help the characters solve their problems. Usually, I do this as a review activity so that my students can apply what they learned to the problems that they are presented with.  I give them whiteboard markers or manipulatives to resolve the problems.  Once the problems have been solved, we continue reading the story.  It is a great way to engage my students and make literature and math come alive for them. 

Below are some of the problems that we did during the reading a short story from The Tales of Beedle the Bard: The Wizard and the Hopping Pot.  There are two different levels of problems.  The first page is targeted towards my more advanced groups and the second one is targeted at my intermediate groups.