The Three Billy Goats Gruff - Literature Based Math Unit

The students worked in small groups to retell the Three Billy Goats using story maps and models of goats and trolls they created. To introduce this unit, we read several fairy tales. We then talked about the ones that included three characters that were the same. The children named several of them including, The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We did a Venn diagram to compare the Three Billy Goats and the Three Little Pigs. We talked about setting, characters, problem and solution in stories. We then got our scripts of the Three Billy Goats' readers' theater to practice reading with expression and fluency. During our math class, we used some of the skills we learned in our Every Day Mathematics program to build bridges, make goats and trolls. The mathematical skills the children practiced during this unit include sorting, weighing and comparing, estimating and verifying, calculating, handling money and measuring. Although the purpose of the project was to create props and characters so the children could dramatize the story, each of the unit's components involved problem solving, mathematical reasoning and communication. The result of this learning is shown in the videos below. Enjoy!

Check out some of the pictures of this unit as well.