In 2010, the Common Core State Standards were released for English-Language Arts and Mathematics. The goal was to have all states abide by the same core standards. The mathematics content topics were listed for each grade level, with recommendations regarding which skills to emphasize at each grade.

In addition, eight mathematical practices were identified to guide instructional practice at all grade levels. The mathematical practices included things like reasoning, problem solving, communicating about mathematics, using mathematical tools. Teachers were advised to connect mathematics to everyday life, to relate mathematical topics to each other, connect mathematics to other subject areas, and to think about the progression of knowledge across grade levels.

Currently, forty-one states are still using Common Core; some states have preferred to use or modify their own state standards. Many admit that they have been unable to offer sufficient professional development to fully implement the recommended instructional practices. We believe that Let’s Read Math can help by advocating an approach that combines reading with mathematics, and connecting to real-life situations as portrayed in the story books.

To help with your lesson planning, we have identified the Common Core content topics related to the lessons in our Funbooks. Many of the books and lesson activities address more than one topic. The chart uses the following standards categories:

• C = Counting and Cardinality
• NumOp = Number Operations
• FD = Fractions & Decimals
• Geom = Geometry
• MD = Measurement & Data
• Gr678 = Topics for Upper Grades
• Misc = Other Topics of Interest
• ProbSolv = Problem Solving

In April 2020, during Covid, we were delighted to find out that many of the Let’s Read Math story books had become available on YouTube as “read-alouds.” YouTube availability will fluctuate, but in general the list of available books seems to be getting longer. Request read-alouds by going to www.youtube.com, then typing your request in the search window. For example, “How Big Is a Foot Read Aloud.”

Chart showing math standards and YouTube availability of read-alouds (in PDF)

Let's Read Math and Common Core's Standards for Mathematical Practice (a PDF)