one grain of rice a mathematical folktale

* I found the math activities and GREAT worksheets at the NCTM Illuminations site. Through her wisdom, the raja is humbled and promises to live a fair life once again. A clever young girl devises a plan that starts with only one grain of rice which will double daily – quickly growing into a mountain of rice that easily feeds the people. When famine arrives, the raja becomes selfish and holds the rice for himself – leaving his people to starve. Have you ever read One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi? Not only is it great literature, there is a fantastic moral to the story – and a mathematical component that makes for a fun living math lesson! The story is set in India where a raja decides to store his people’s rice so they will have plenty in time of famine. The best part of reading this book aloud is always the “oohs and aahs” I get when I fold out page at the end of the book, showing the 256 elephants it takes to carry the millions of grains of rice the raja had to deliver.(This post contains affiliate links and links to my business website, Shining Dawn Books.) The Book

The raja then mended his ways and became a truly wise and fair raja. Asking Rani what she would do with the rice she received, Rani replied that she would feed the hungry. Little did the raja suspect that in thirty days, one grain of rice on day one would result in his giving more than one billion grains of rice by day thirty. The raja, clearly not clever at math, readily agreed, thinking Rani a fool. She asked him to give her one grain of rice and then double the grains of rice every day for thirty days. The girl, named Rani, cleverly told the raja that she was simply returning the rice to him. She was arrested for stealing and brought before the raja. One day, a young woman was gathering rice that had dropped from the raja’s baskets onto the road.

However, when the famine came, the raja kept all the peoples’ rice for himself. Once there was a greedy raja in India who asked all of his subjects to give him nearly all of their rice, so he could store the rice safely in case there came a famine. Even the most fidgety child is amazed and applauds at the end of the book. It also happens to be a great read aloud book, especially for third grade.

One grain of rice a mathematical folktale