Pistes d'exploration

Discuss the book as you read along to ensure your understanding. Be sure that you know where all the noted body parts are on your own body.

Using the book as a model, make a similar (big) book about the class. Calculate how many of each body part are on each of the pages (this could be done with a partner).

Choose one of the facts and illustrate it with drawings or photos. Write an explanation underneath the picture and post it in the classroom.

Discuss the book as you read along to ensure your understanding. Be sure that you know where all the noted body parts (including bones, internal organs, etc.) are on your own body.

Compare facts with those of your own family. Make a poster using the same and different parts of the body.

Practise numbers by creating new texts on the same model.

The Human Body, A House Is a House for Me

Mots-clés

Picture book , addition , counting , families , family life , first-person narration , human anatomy , multiplication

Commentaire descriptif

An imaginative approach to teaching about counting, addition and multiplication, as well as a heartwarming story about family, told through facts and numbers: “At our house we have 6 heads, each one thinking its own unique thoughts . . . .” Using the theme “At our house,” the language expands on the bodies of those who live within, while offering snippets that build a rich picture of family life: “. . . we have 5 pairs of legs, 4 paws and 10 feet. That means . . . 10 socks to throw into a corner . . . and, sometimes, only 2 hands to pick up all the mess.” The illustrations are bright, flat forms reminiscent of paper cut-outs. Compositions offer countable objects such as fingers and shoes, and one remarkable spread is devoted to the family’s groceries. The treatment of type is equally artistic: coloured numbers pop from the page, and in the final spreads, the type dominates to become the image itself. When relatives visit for the holidays, numbers grow vast: “. . . 6,822 bones, more than four million hairs, 924 teeth and 32 tongues . . . chewing and talking nonstop.” This visual feast of a book provides an excellent way to address concepts of addition and multiplication—and facts about the human body—grounded in a context that’s guaranteed to engage children.