Reading Together

Storybook Guide Based on Ellen Stoll Walsh’s “Mouse Shapes”

Explore math while reading and talking about this storybook.

Topic:

Activity Summary

Use this storybook guide with the book “Mouse Shapes.” Many public libraries have this book.

Reading guide

About the Story

When the mice run and hide from the cat, they find themselves in a sea of triangles, squares, ovals, and other shapes. Soon they start putting shapes together to make a house, a tree, and many more things. When the cat threatens to come back, they turn the shapes into three big, scary mice to keep the cat away! Then they settle down to a lunch of Swiss cheese, also made of their shapes.

Words to Learn

MATH WORDS
shapes, circle, square, triangle, rectangle, diamond (rhombus), sides, big, bigger

OTHER WORDS
pounced, sneaky, clever

About the Math

This is a book about shapes. In this book, children can learn: 

  • The names and essential features of basic shapes, including the circle, triangle, square, rectangle, oval, and rhombus—often called a diamond.
  • That shapes can take many different forms. They can be different colors and sizes, and can be turned in different ways than we usually see them. And some shapes, such as triangles, come in many different types.
  • That you can put simple shapes together to make many different things.

Math Talk During Reading

  • TALK ABOUT THE ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF SHAPES
    How many sides does a square have? What about a triangle?
  • NOTICE HOW SHAPES COME IN DIFFERENT COLORS, SIZES, AND ORIENTATIONS
    This shape is turned on its side. Is it still a triangle?
  • PRACTICE IDENTIFYING THE DIFFERENT SHAPES
    What other shapes do you see on this page?
  • TALK ABOUT HOW SHAPES CAN BE USED TO MAKE OTHER THINGS
    What shapes does the story use to make the cat?”

Try to come up with some of your own questions and comments, too!

Activity After Reading

  • Make your own things out of shapes: “Let’s cut out some triangles, squares, ovals, and circles. What can we make if we put them together?”