Counting in Dog Years Review

Counting in Dog Years and Other Sassy Poems

Written by Betsy Franco

Illustrated by Priscilla Tey

Bibliography

Franco, B. (2022). Counting in dog years and other sassy math poems (P. Tey, Illus.). Candlewick Press.

ISBN 9781536201161

Summary

Betsy Franco writes 20 fun math poems divided among four sections: Hanging out at Home; Math Musings; School Daze; and Last Bell. School's Out!. She includes some answers in the back for one logic puzzle. These math poems explore general math concepts like shapes, definitions, basic functions (multiplication, division, etc...) in an engaging way that will help students remember them. Illustrator Priscilla Tey creates friendly, engagingly chaotic pictures that match the (sometimes) frenetic energy of the math poems.

Analysis

These math poems are great introductory poems to get students excited about an upcoming math lesson or about math in general. Franco uses humor along with strong rhythm and rhyming to make the math concepts engaging for students. The first poem, Multiplying Mice, deftly explains the definitions of multiply, divide, subtraction, and addition in four rollicking stanzas (3). Tey's happily jumbled illustrations bolster the reader's comprehension. The wordplay in the poem Just Wondering strengthens the reader's understanding of fractions, graphs, and number concepts (12). Franco doesn't just discuss math operations. Her poems explore the philosophy of math and how it helps us. I also learned that math has palindromes (21)! 

11 x 11 = 121

111 x 111 = 12321

1111 x 1111 = 1234321

Highlighted Poem

I chose this poem because it skillfully teaches time concepts (seconds, minutes, etc...) while engaging in a concept that all children can relate to.

Mom Time

I'll ask a question of my mom—

a when or why or who.

She'll say, "Hold on a minute, hon."

That minute turns to two.

I'll wait around and wait some more.

I'll get my timer set.

Two minutes stretch to . . . five . . . or ten

. . . and still no answer yet!

Today, when she said, "Just a sec,"

I timed my mom . . . and then

one hundred seconds tick-tocked by—

she'd pulled her trick again.

The next time Mom says, "Clean your room.

Right now! Your floor's a wreck!"

I'll answer, "Sure. No problem, Mom.

I'll do it in a sec."

We've all experienced and been exasperated by this! It will make the students laugh and maybe work through some multiplying of seconds the next time it happens to them.

Use

In the poem Excavating the Lost and Found, students look through the school's lost and found, sorting through all the stuff so they can create a bar graph what's there. This is such a practical application of graphing. We will do the same thing with our lost and found. It sounds almost fun.