Book #10 Caps for Sale

Book #10
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Solbodkina, E. (1996). Caps for sale. New York, NY: Harper Festival.

Summary:
The story follows the life of a cap salesman who wears his entire stock of caps on his head, seventeen in all, including his own cap. He strolls through towns and villages chanting, "Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!" One day, the peddler sits down under a tree to take a nap, with all his caps still on his head. When he awakens, all the caps but his own are gone. They were stolen by a troop of monkeys, who now sit in the tree wearing them. The peddler orders them to return his caps, scolds them, and yells at them, while the monkeys only imitate him. The peddler finally throws down his own cap in disgust, upon which the monkeys throw theirs down as well, right at his feet. He stacks the caps back on his head, sorting them by color, and strolls back to town calling out, "Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!"

Standards:
SC.2-6 The student will demonstrate through the mathematical processes an understanding of creating questions to collect data, organizing data, describing trends of a data set, and making predictions based on data.

2-6.2 Organize data in charts, pictographs, and tables.

Objectives:
The student will be able to describe and sort hats according to their color and represent data using bar graphs.

Materials:
Solbodkina, E. (1996). Caps for sale. New York, NY: Harper Festival.
Hat template for each student
Crayons, markers, or paint
Graphing sheets or graphing mat
Cap attribute cards (different sizes, colors, and patterns on each cap)

Procedures:
Read the book aloud. Have each student color/decorate a cap. Place them in groups and ask them to discuss what is different about each cap, then, how each cap is the same. Let them share their findings with the class. Then give each student a set of cap attribute cards and ask them to sort the cards based on color using a graphing sheet or mat. (First show them an example a finished product). As a class, review what characteristics students noticed about their hats (e.g. color, size, shape, etc.) and how the students represented their data.