Math Stories Help Students Remember Concepts

If students are having a hard time remembering math concepts, try putting it in a story to help students remember.  If we add actions  and/or choral responses we will connect with many different modalities.  Each story can also be made into a book.  
Write the text on a chart so children can copy the text and illustrate.

Example:  This story can be used to help students learn measurement conversions. The following story can be read to students with a discussion at the end so students get the connection.

There's an old, old man who lives down the road near the creek. I'm not sure what his real name is, but I have always heard of him as "Mr. Three Feet".

Mr. Three Feet is the strangest looking fellow I've ever seen. He's not like you and me. Instead of having two feet, he has three feet!

Mr. Three Feet lives in a neat little house with a fenced-in back yard. He can be seen standing in his backyard late some afternoons all by himself.

Last Spring I was out walking and saw Mr. Three Feet standing in his backyard. All of the sudden, 12 mosquitoes flew up to him and bit him on his right foot. Boy, did he start scratching! Then 12 more mosquitoes buzzed up and bit his left foot. After that, 12 more mosquitoes bit his middle foot.

The poor fellow itched and scratched, itched and scratched. Just think, 12 itches on one foot, 12 itches on another, and 12 itches on the third foot.

Follow up with these questions:

Where was Mr. Three Feet standing?

How many feet does he have in that yard? How many itches does he have on each foot? Can you figure out how many itches were in the yard all together?

What does itches sound a lot like? (Inches).

Source:

Wilson, S. E. (1993). Mr. Three Feet. Teacher to Teacher: Strategies for the Elementary Classroom, 114-115. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association.