The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns

The Greedy Triangle

Author: Marilyn Burns 

Illustrator: Gordon Silveria

Reviewed By: Sharmillha Rajkumar

Recommended Grade Levels: 2^nd, 3^rd, 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th Grade

 

Common Core Content Standards Addressed:

Reason with shapes and their attributes.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.G.A.1

Recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes, such as a given number of angles or a given number of equal faces. Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.G.A.2

Partition a rectangle into rows and columns of same-size squares and count to find the total number of them.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.G.A.3

Partition circles and rectangles into two, three, or four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, thirds, half of, a third of, etc., and describe the whole as two halves, three thirds, four fourths. Recognize that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape.

Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice:

CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP1

Make sense of problems & persevere in solving them.

CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP4

Model with mathematics.

Summary:

The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns is about a triangle who at first enjoys being a triangle. He is delighted to be of use by holding up roofs, supported bridges, being the sail on sailboat, and anything else that involves the use of a triangle. His favorite thing of all is fitting into place when people put their hands on their wastes there he would listen to what they were saying so he could tell his friends when they got together. However, the triangle became dissatisfied and wanted to be much more than a triangle. The triangle believes that with one more side and one more angle he will be even more interesting, so he seeks the help of a shapeshifter to change him. The triangle enjoys his new-found shape, a quadrilateral. However, it doesn’t last long, the quadrilateral becomes sad and dishearten once again, so the shapeshifter changes him again and again and again until finally he couldn’t handle it anymore. The shape had so many sides and so many angles that he couldn’t keep track of them, he couldn’t keep his balance, and his friends began to avoid him.  Sad, lonely, and disheartened the shape gets the shapeshifter to change him back to a triangle. The triangle once again contended with being a triangle and was able to spend time with his friends again.

Ratings:

I give this book a five-star rating. It is a terrific book to teach children about different shapes, their angles, and other distinguishing features. It can be used for different grade levels and it also makes learning about shapes and angles much more fun and interesting. Rather than just identifying with math, this book also teaches students about being themselves and being appreciative with what they have.  

Classroom Ideas:

** The teacher can use this book to introduce shapes to the students, ask them the name of the shapes and how many sides they have.

** During a read aloud the teacher would stop and ask students to make predictions of what they think the shapes next shape will be once he adds one more side and one more angle.

** As the teacher reads the book he/she can stop and ask students to think of objects in real life that have the same shapes as the shape. For example: As a triangle the shape can be a pyramid, a piece of pie, or a slice of pizza.

** The teacher can use this book to help students recognize and draw the shapes and their specified attributes.

**The book can be used to teach students about the distinct types of angles; acute angle, right angle, and obtuse angle. How to identify them in a shape?

** After reading the book, Students can be placed into groups and use manipulatives to construct the different shapes that they read about. Identify and familiarizing themselves with triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, heptagon, octagon, nonagon, and decagon.