Written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco

Recommended Grade Level: K-3

NCTM Content Standard: Numbers and Operations, Measurement, Connections

Summary: Patricia Polacco tells the story of a grandmother (Babushka) who helps her granddaughter to overcome her fear of thunderstorms. Together, grandmother and granddaughter bake a Thunder Cake. As the storm nears, they hurry to gather all of the ingredients and to get the cake into the oven before the storm hits. By the end of the story, the granddaughter has conquered her fear and the two feast on their Thunder Cake.

Uses for this book: For very young children, this book can be used as a way to learn and practice ordinal numbers (first, second, etc). Teachers can discuss the order in which Babushka and her granddaughter collected the ingredients for the Thunder Cake. For slightly older children, each student or a designated class scribe can record the ingredients being collected for the Thunder Cake as the teacher reads. Then, at the end of the story, the class can examine the recipe for Thunder Cake and go in and add amounts to the ingredients they recorded while reading. And of course, students will be thrilled if they are given the opportunity to actual bake (and eat!) a Thunder Cake. This activity will allow students to become familiar with using measurement in a real world context.