SLEEPOVER SIMILARITIES
Author: The Purdue University Science and Stories Collaborative
Illustrator: Kristina Tartara
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Number of pages: 31
Publisher: David J. Purpura (USA) First published in: 2020 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? Yes (The Pattern Pals) Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, IND, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
Zoe the Parrot goes to Clara the Chameleon’s house for her first sleepover. They’re both excited for this new adventure, but Zoe misses her own home. Fortunately, through the power of patterns and imagination, Clara reveals how similar their houses really are! It a hopeful story about friendship and is designed to help young children learn early patterning skills. It shows that things using different colors or shapes can still have the same pattern. |
“Maybe your house is more like mine than you think," said Clara. "My curtains seem different," said Zoe. "They go star, star, heart, star, star, heart." "It's the same pattern, though," said Clara. "See? Mine go flower, flower, heart, flower, flower, heart. That's just like star, star, heart!”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
‘Sleepover Similarities’ (2020) is the second book in a series of mathematical story picture books, called the Pattern Pals. Written by the Purdue University Science and Stories Collaborative, the series describes itself as “researched-based picture books to build early pattern skills”. In this sequel, Zoe the Parrot has a sleepover at Clara the Chameleon’s house. Feeling somewhat homesick, Clara shows Zoe that her house might not be that different from Zoe’s house after all. Clara’s and Zoe’s curtains, blankets and flowers might have different colours and shapes but they share underlining patterns. Just like the first title in the series (‘Birthday Beeps and Boops’), ‘Sleepover Similarities’ does well in providing opportunities for young readers to begin to notice patterns all around us. Just like the other titles in the series, the book contains three suggested questions on each page for parents (and teachers) to ask their children. The questions in red colour are for the first reading; the questions in blue are for the second reading; and the ones in purple are for the third reading. These suggested questions can be really useful for parents who are new to the idea of reading their children a mathematical story and thus unsure what questions relating to the story they can ask to foster their children’s mathematical thinking (e.g., “How is the pattern of Zoe’s flowers the same as the pattern of Clare’s flowers?”). This book can help very young children to extend their knowledge beyond just recognising repeating patterns, and instead allow them to think more abstractly by identifying the underlying pattern of two apparent different patterns. The page illustrations by Kristina Tartara help young readers to visualise the different patterns found in the story. Overall, ‘Sleepover Similarities’ is a wonderful story picture book which can be used to either introduce or reinforce the concept of generalising patterns to children aged 4+ years old. (If you like this book, you might also be interested in the other titles from the same series: ‘Birthday Beeps and Boops’ and ‘Levels in the Library’.) (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author.)
Recommended age range:
4+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Patterns
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.
‘Sleepover Similarities’ (2020) is the second book in a series of mathematical story picture books, called the Pattern Pals. Written by the Purdue University Science and Stories Collaborative, the series describes itself as “researched-based picture books to build early pattern skills”. In this sequel, Zoe the Parrot has a sleepover at Clara the Chameleon’s house. Feeling somewhat homesick, Clara shows Zoe that her house might not be that different from Zoe’s house after all. Clara’s and Zoe’s curtains, blankets and flowers might have different colours and shapes but they share underlining patterns. Just like the first title in the series (‘Birthday Beeps and Boops’), ‘Sleepover Similarities’ does well in providing opportunities for young readers to begin to notice patterns all around us. Just like the other titles in the series, the book contains three suggested questions on each page for parents (and teachers) to ask their children. The questions in red colour are for the first reading; the questions in blue are for the second reading; and the ones in purple are for the third reading. These suggested questions can be really useful for parents who are new to the idea of reading their children a mathematical story and thus unsure what questions relating to the story they can ask to foster their children’s mathematical thinking (e.g., “How is the pattern of Zoe’s flowers the same as the pattern of Clare’s flowers?”). This book can help very young children to extend their knowledge beyond just recognising repeating patterns, and instead allow them to think more abstractly by identifying the underlying pattern of two apparent different patterns. The page illustrations by Kristina Tartara help young readers to visualise the different patterns found in the story. Overall, ‘Sleepover Similarities’ is a wonderful story picture book which can be used to either introduce or reinforce the concept of generalising patterns to children aged 4+ years old. (If you like this book, you might also be interested in the other titles from the same series: ‘Birthday Beeps and Boops’ and ‘Levels in the Library’.) (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author.)
Recommended age range:
4+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Patterns
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.
