Math Literature Connections

Featured Book: Two of Everything

Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong recounts a Chinese folk tale.   The farmer finds a magic pot which doubles everything that is put into it.   This humorous story is a great introduction to function machines and input/output tables as teachers make the transition to the "doubling pot" and recording information in an input/output table.

Next, teachers change the rule for the magic pot and keep it secret.   Students supply input numbers and the teacher records the output numbers for each.   Students try to guess the magic pot's current rule.   This could then be extended to a growing pattern by simply using the last output as the next input, applying the rule and repeating the process.

Download the Magic Pot Workmat for students to use in sheet protectors.

See 5 Coins and the Magic Doubling Pot or 1000 Coins for another take on this growing pattern problem that challenges students to figure out which is the best deal.


Math Literature Topics