One Hundred Hungry Ants

Title: One Hundred Hungry Ants

Author: Elinor J. Pincczes

Illustrator: Bonnie Mackain

Recommended Grade Level: 2-3

NCTM Content Standards: Number and Operations, algebra, and problem solving

Summary of the Book: One Hundred Hungry Ants is a rhyming story about 100 hungry ants marching to a picnic. At first they are marching in a single file line to a picnic, when the smallest ant suggests that if they reconfigure the line they could travel faster. Thus on their journey to the picnic the ants form two lines of 50, four lines of 25, five lines of 20, ten lines of 10. However, by the time that they get to the picnic they realize that they have gone too slow and thus ninety-nine hungry ants chase away the smallest ant “a hey and a hi dee ho!”

Suggestions for Use: This story could be used to help students learn how to find math combinations that lead into early multiplication and division lessons. Students can find factors of a given number, say 150 (since 100 was used in the book), and see how many equal rows can be made with a tangible object such as pennies, beans, erasers, etc. For a more extensive activity, each student could write their own story, like One Hundred Hungry Ants, using a different number, object marching, destination, and whatever else one can think of!