Blog 3 Lian Joerss

Once Upon a Dime: A Math Adventure by Nancy Kelley Allen is about a farmer, Truman Worth, who is always happy to do his work and chores and be around his farm animals. He grows crops such as apples and beans, but he only uses natural fertilizer from his animals. One year Farmer Worth decides to use fertilizer from chicken droppings to which he finds that pennies have grown. The following year he uses Pig Squish as his fertilizer and in the following spring nickels grow from the tree. Next fall Farmer Worth uses sheep biscuits as his fertilizer and then dimes blossom from the tree in the spring. He continues using fertilizes from different animals, such as cow manure that then produces quarters and then bull chips that produced dollar bills. Farmer worth then uses panda patties and Yuan, Chinese money, is grown.

This book demonstrates the concept of input and output. Every year Farmer Worth uses different fertilizers from different animals, and every different fertilizer produces different values of money. This represents input and output because of the unique money value that is grown from different fertilizers. For every animal dropping, x in this case, that he uses results in a specific monetary value, y.

Literature is an effective way to learn or teach mathematical concepts because in a sense it gives a “real life” example of a concept in which children or adults can easily understand and connect the two. Illustrations and words can be very beneficial when learning math since you are not necessarily focusing only on the math concept and can relate with the example or story given.