Celebrating Reading & Mathing Across America and Women’s History Month

March invites us into a joyful intersection of literacy, numeracy, and history. As we kick off the month celebrating Read Across America Week, it is time to consider ways to bring Mathing into the equation! 

Read Across America Week encourages students to explore diverse stories, and math has a rich place in that celebration. Books can help students see math as part of everyday life, spark mathematical conversations, and introduce them to mathematicians whose contributions shape the world.

A Few Ways to Blend Reading and Math This Month:

Reading and math pair naturally. Stories introduce patterns, problem‑solving, measurement, and curiosity. Mathing is about making math visible, joyful, and communal. Here are ways to bring it to life:

Math-Themed Read-Alouds — Choose books that highlight patterns, shapes, counting, measurement, data, or problem-solving. Titles like The Boy Who Loved Math, One Grain of Rice, or The Girl With a Mind for Math open doors to mathematical thinking.

Daily Math Talks — Use images, puzzles, or quick prompts to spark reasoning and discussion.

Story Problems Inspired by Literature — After reading a story, invite students to create math questions based on characters, settings, or events.

Mathematician of the Week — Highlight diverse mathematicians whose work connects to students’ identities and interests.

Math Journals — Encourage students to write about their thinking, strategies, and discoveries.

To celebrate Read Across America Day, children came to school in pajamas and time was set aside to D.E.A.R.--Drop Everything And Read. So what if we start a new tradition and D.R.E.A.M.--DRop Everything And Math together sometimes? Reading and Mathing go together, so let’s find ways to celebrate them both and then write about it all. 

Honoring Women’s History Month Through Mathematics

Women’s History Month is an opportunity to celebrate the brilliance, resilience, and impact of women mathematicians. Sharing their stories helps students see that mathematics is a human endeavor shaped by people from all backgrounds.

Euphemia Lofton Haynes was the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, Haynes was a teacher, professor, and advocate for educational equity. She worked tirelessly to improve math instruction and fought against discriminatory tracking systems in schools.

Maryam Mirzakhani was the first woman ever to win the Fields Medal, awarded in 2014 for her groundbreaking work in geometry and dynamical systems. 

Marjorie Lee Browne was a trailblazing mathematician specializing in algebraic topology. She dedicated her career to expanding opportunities for underrepresented students in advanced mathematics and helped establish early computer science programs.

Bringing Their Stories Into Classrooms

• Read biographies or picture books about these mathematicians.

• Invite students to reflect on how these women used math to solve real problems

• Connect their work to current math lessons—geometry, data, patterns, or problem-solving.

Celebrating Reading and Mathing Across America and Women’s History Month together helps students see that reading, writing, and mathematics are powerful tools for understanding the world—and that the world of mathematics includes people who look like them.