Bat Writing Paper

  The bats march in parade formation and different sections of the band, being different sizes, march in different arrays: "In nine rows of nine those trombones reported, while there, right behind them, the tubas retorted."   The pictures and rhyme reinforce the mathematics of the patterns and teachers can easily ask students to predict how many bats will be in the next section or ask them to figure out how many bats are in the whole band before reading those pages.

  Students move through time, enjoy some rhyme and learn the names of some oldie-but-goodie dances along the way.

School Time: Provide copies of the School Time Template and have students choose a time in the school day, draw the hands on the clock, write a verse and draw an illustration that shows what the class does during that hour.

Students may continue rolling, in this Bat version of Pig, until they elect to stop, or until they roll a 1. If your bat is still eating (collecting points) when a one is tossed, you are a Fat Bat and lose all of your points for that round.

This game is designed to provide a fun experience in the experimental probability of a single die toss.

Analyze the differences between the graphs.b to see how much students know about bats.

Good Questions Critical Thinking - Bat Writing Paper

Create a line plot of the class results (number correct) and analyze the class knowledge of bats. After reading the book, investigate Batty Old Lady Probability, Students spin to collect all of the items the Batty Old Lady swallowed, and tally each spin on the recording sheet.Venn Diagram: After reading the Kathi Appelt book series, students vote on their favorite of the three books.Consider using an overlapping Venn diagram as a different option.The activity challenges students to identify patterns, fill in the missing numbers and write the next line in the pattern.Class discussion should encourage students to share all of the patterns they see in Pascal's Triangle and discuss how these patterns helped them discover the missing numbers.As an extension, ask students to predict how they think adults would fare on the bat quiz, then have them give parents the quiz, create a line plot of the class results and compare these results to student results. They then calculate the total spins it took them to get all 7 items, and add that figure to the class data.Teachers may help students analyze the class data and learn about probability in the process.Multiplication Arrays: The book is a great introduction to multiplication arrays.Use the book illustrations to show students how to use an array to model a multiplication problem then ask students to create arrays for different multiplication facts.Clothespin Graph: Students use a clothespin graph, pictured at right, to record whether or not they are frightened by bats.Follow this discussion with some facts about how bats are good for the environment.