Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Natureby Sarah C. Campbell
photographs by Sarah C. Campbell and Richard P. Campbell
Boyds Mills Press, 2010
Here's another great pick for your mathematics library -- a book about Fibonacci Numbers that is easy to understand! Campbell's photos of single garden flowers whose petals follow the Fibonacci sequence, along with clearly stated text make this a book that can be shared with even very young children. (I'm thinking of Jone's Kindergartners who wrote Fibonacci poems.)
You can feel Campbell scaffolding your understanding as she moves you from flower petals to the spirals in the bracts of a pinecone, the disc flowers in a sunflower, and the sections on the outside of a pineapple. (Who knew these spirals all go both ways?? -- obviously, not me!)
This is a fascinating book that will have you looking closely at the world around you to find patterns and counting to see if you can find another example of a Fibonocci number in nature.
Author interview by Elizabeth O. Dulemba (and links to other blogs on Sarah's Feb/Mar Blog Tour.)
Franki's review of Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator by Sarah C. Campbell.
Really nice!
ReplyDeleteHow awesome. I love the picture books that simplify the mathematical concepts. We so often forget how much kids can absorb, comprehend and recall if presented early. Topics that in high school will make them go hmmm.....
ReplyDeleteThank you for reviewing our book. In the run-up to publication, whenever someone said "but the Fibonacci sequence isn't taught until middle school" I held on to the results of my field tests. Very young students who are learning to read are also learning patterns, counting, and easy addition. My pre-publication audiences were interested, engaged, and they got it. All the post-publication visits keep confirming this, too.
ReplyDeleteThank you for including a link to Check It Out and the kindergarten Fibonacci poem project. We are all in debt to Gregory Pincus for his Fib Poem; what a wonderful innovation of form. Kids (and adults) love it.
Again, thanks.
Thank you! Will be checking out this book from our library!
ReplyDeleteThis is just what we needed last year when we looked at our sunflower heads! This year we're growing sunflowers again and now I know where to turn - thanks
ReplyDeleteThere is also a somewhat new fibonacci poetic form, which would be fun to do with kids after reading this book.
ReplyDelete