The focus of this reading is to read the story and talk about new vocabulary. There will be opportunities in this reading to connect the information in the illustrations to the information in the text.

*Read the pages before you ask the questions.

Pages 1 – 5:

~On page 1, mathematician: an expert in math.

~On page 1, notice that Ms. Heiligman uses ellipses (. . .) frequently. Remember to make a long pause at an ellipsis to think, “What could the big problem be?”

~On page 3, infinity: without end. The mathematical symbol for infinity is in pink. Do you think that Paul’s mother being a math teacher helped him to be an expert in math? Discuss.

~On page 4, Fräulein: a title of respect for an unmarried German woman. What rules might Paul have hated?

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To allow the brain to focus on the information in the illustrations, this reading will look only at the illustrations and the information they provide to the reader. There are no right or wrong answers in this reading. The pages in the book are numbered.

There is so much math information in the illustrations that you won’t be able to cover it all. Whatever observations about the math that your child makes are wonderful. Each time you look at the pictures, you’ll notice more.

Since improbable is a vocabulary word in the title, we’ll cover it in this reading.

(improbable: unlikely to happen, not usual) We’ll be looking to see what made Paul’s life improbable.

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ABOUT THIS BOOK: THE BOY WHO LOVED MATH
by Deborah Heiligman

This month Practickle is reviewing a biography. Paul Erdös(AIR-dish), known as The Magician of Budapest, is one of history’s great mathematicians. At the age of four, Paul would ask someone the date of his/her birth. In his head he could calculate the number of seconds the person had been alive.

Even as a child, Paul was eccentric. (Great vocabulary word that you will be using during the Third Reading!) He grew up in Budapest, Hungary during World War I. At an early age, he loved numbers and people. However, he hated rules. So, with the help of a loving nanny, his mother home-schooled him. At a young age, Paul could accomplish great mathematical feats. Yet, as an adult, he couldn’t do simple tasks like cooking or driving because Paul was always thinking about math. “Paul thought about math whatever he was doing, wherever he was.”

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