Sir Cumference and the first round table: A Mathematics Adventure
By:Cindy Neuschwander
Illustrated by: Wayne Geehan
Sir Cumference and the first round table is great book that teaches math with a fun story. The king gathers all his knights from Camelot because he believes that their neighbors, the circumscribers, are preparing to make war. After their first meeting at a rectangle shaped table , Sir Cumference, goes home to his wife Lady Di and his son Radius and complains about a throat ache because of all the screaming he had to so everyone could hear him. With the help of his family they think of different table shapes and try them out with the king and the knights. After several different failed attempts, they finally find a great type of table to hold their meeting in.
As an activity I would give the students a renctangle-shaped piece of cardboard which represents the first table. The students would have to go through the book, and cut their cardboard into shapes just like Sir Cumference did in order to go through the shapes and get the final table. They will have to take notes and make sketches of what they did to make the next shape as well as label them.
Sir Cumference and the First Round Table would be a great book to incorporate into a math lesson. I have yet to read it, but it sounds very interesting and a useful book to be used within a classroom. What grade level and teks do you think this book would be good to use with? I like the activity paired with the book. It would keep students focused and apply the story to their own activity as they read it. I look forward to reading the book! Thank you for introducing it to me!