top of page

Back to Children's Literature

The Doorbell Rang

The Button Box.png

The Button Box
by Margarette S. Reid

Find many ways to sort and count buttons in Grandma’s button box. Discover the different materials buttons are made of and their many uses. The boy in this story describes a variety of buttons that he sorts, counts, and compares.

Resources for The Button Box:
Full Book Review (English)
Brief Book Review (English)
 

**Spanish versions coming soon!

How can you sort Grandma’s button box?

Math Connections: classification, comparison, counting

Activities to Do Together:

  • Create a special collection of objects: baseball cards, coins, or seashells, for example

  • Talk with your child about collections. Talk about collections in kitchens, for example, silverware in a drawer, food on a shelf, or pots and pans in a cupboard.

  • Sort a group of objects by a common characteristic.

  • Take a nature walk and collect pebbles, rocks or leaves to make a nature collection. Find different ways to sort your collection.

Extension Questions:

  1. What types of buttons does the boy describe?

  2. How did he sort the buttons?

  3. Which buttons look alike? Which buttons are different?

  4. How do you know two buttons are alike?

  5. What are some words you could use to describe the buttons that you have seen?

  6. If a person has six buttons and each button has two holes, how many holes do the six buttons have all together

Vocabulary for Building Math Concepts:

alike, big, first, flat, four, little, new, next, old, pattern, round, sort, ten, thick, thin, two

Please check out the Book Guide for The Button Box for more!

Online External Resources for The Button Box:

  • Coming Soon!

bottom of page