Title: The Button Box

Posted By: Shelby Camardella

Author: Margaret S. Reid

Illustrator: Sarah Chamberlain

Recommended Grade Level: 3 Year Olds

Common Core Content Standards:

PK.MD.B.2 Sort objects into categories; count the objects in each category.

PK.G.B.3 Analyze, compare, and sort two- and three- dimensional objects using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, and other attributes.

Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice:

CCSS.Math.Practice.MP2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

CCSS.Math.Practice.MP8 Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Summary: A boy is going through his grandmother’s button box. He sorts them by their appearance. While he does this he imagines what the buttons may have been used for (jewels on king’s robes, buttons on cowboy’s shirts). He talks about what the buttons are made of (sea shells and antlers). Finally he and his grandmother put the box away and the boy wonders who first invented buttons.

Rating: ***** I would give this book five stars. It shows students how to sort objects by appearance with something they can make a real life connection with.

Classroom Ideas: A teacher could read this story then introduce a button box in their classrooms. A counting, sorting, or pattern making activity could be done or students could design their own buttons.