The Young Mathematical Story Author (YMSA) Competition

Suggested Mathematical Story Picture Book Template

We hope you will have fun creating your mathematical story picture book, and we
very much look forward to reading your story!

The story structure found in this template is only one of many possible
structures. Stories that do not follow this suggested story structure could still
be considered.

Your Maths teacher should be able to help you use this template. Anything
highlighted in yellow should be deleted in your final draft.

Judging Criteria 
 Ability to clearly explain and embed a chosen mathematical concept in
a meaningful context;
 Ability to show how characters' knowledge of the chosen
mathematical topic can help them solve a problem(s); 
 Ability to represent mathematical topics contextually  (in words to
describe meaningful contexts in which a chosen mathematical topic
is embedded in), visually (via page illustrations), and symbolically (via
using correct mathematical symbols, notations and language);
 Accuracy of mathematical concepts presented in the story;
 Ability to come up with an engaging plot and story; 
 Gender and ethnicity balance in characters; and
 Overall presentation and standard of writing (e.g. the use of
punctuation, spelling, etc.) 

Please note that only 'individual' entries are currently possible (i.e. one
student/author per story). 'Team' entry is not possible at this stage.

For more details of the competition, visit

https://www.mathsthroughstories.org/competitions.html
 FRONT COVER

On this front cover, include your front cover illustration, your story’s title and
your name in the provided space below.
 SETTING THE SCENE AND INTRODUCING CHARACTER(S)

The focus of Page 1 should be on setting the scene and introducing your
character(s). Your story can be written in any sub-genre of fiction (e.g. fantasy,
detective, thrillers, action, mystery/adventure, ghost story, humour, science
fiction, fairy/magical tale, myths or legends, etc.). The choice is yours! Include
your illustration in the box below.

There was a little cute girl called Brinda. Her favourite subject is Maths and she
loves to read a lot of books. It was a Sunday when she fell from the stairs and
her leg was hurt. The next day in school they were going to learn about Data
handling in math. She was very eager to learn about the new topic, but her leg
was badly hurt. The next day in school they were going to learn about “Data
Handling” in Math. How could she miss that? but she has to, as her leg was badly
hurt. She had no other choice other than calling her best friend Rea.
Next day when Brinda tried calling Rea, there was a power cut. Brinda had no
idea on what to do next. It was already bed time, so she read a book and slept
off thinking about the Data Handling class that she missed.

While she was fast asleep, she got a magical dream. A pencil came in her dream
and started explaining her about Data Handling. The Pencil started to say “
There are 3 steps to do Data handling.
They are
– Collect the data
- Sort the data
- Represent it in a graphic organizer “
Brinda was puzzled as she did not know what is meant by data handling first of
all.
Looking at Brinda the Pencil said “I Know you will ask me – What is data
handling?”
“So, Data handling is nothing but collecting data and organising it to get some
useful outcomes. There are many different ways to represent data like –
Pictographs, Bar graphs”.
The dream ended there.

Next morning Brinda was very excited about her dream, took help of google to
read more about what the Pencil told her in the dream. With that she wanted to
try doing a simple data handling exercise at home. So, she decided to do it in her
mom’s kitchen. She went looking for all the cereals stored in the kitchen and
started weighing them out. She made a note of them in her writing pad. Then
she drew a two columned table and filled it with the collected data. She was
super happy to see her first data handling table that she made. From the table
she could find out which cereal was stored in large quantity and which ones in
less quantity.

Brinda’s dad was a baker and was soon planning to start a Pie shop. He didn’t
know which flavour will people like the most. Brinda’s family was little worried
and were discussing about it. Suddenly Brinda came up with the idea of doing
data handling to solve this problem for her father. She recollected for what she
learnt about data handling for a while.

First, she needed to collect data, so she went to each house in her
neighbourhood with her writing pad. “which flavoured Pie do you like the most”
asked Brinda to every person in each house in the neighbourhood and made a
note of it in her writing pad. The below table shows the data that Brinda
collected.

From the data she calculated the total number of people who liked each flavour.
Then she started making the Pictograph for it.
The Pictograph had the different flavours as the LABELS and PICTURE
SYMBOLS to represent how many people liked those flavours. Brinda’s
Pictograph also had a SCALE. Scale describes “How many items does each
picture symbol represents” For example, in Brinda’s pictograph below, there
were 9 people who liked the mango flavour. Instead of drawing 9 Stick man
symbol she drew only 3 of them, since 1 Stick man Symbol = 3 People. Similarly,
she made for other flavours and her Pictograph was complete.

Brinda went running to her father to show her pictograph. Brinda’s dad was
totally surprised to see her effort. After seeing the pictograph, he could clearly
to see which flavour people liked the most. Also, he knew how many pies he needs
to make in each flavour.

The Pies sold very well and the shop became very popular. Brinda’s dad was very
proud of Brinda for helping him with her pictograph and making his shop popular.
The family ran the shop happily ever after.
Include your text in the space below the box here. (The text can be either
written up neatly or typed up.)

INTRODUCE A PROBLEM/CRISIS OR A MISSION

The focus of Page 2 should be on introducing a problem/crisis to be solved, or

a mission to be completed by your character(s). Include your illustration in the
box below.
Include your text in the space below the box here. (The text can be either
written up neatly or typed up.)

MATHEMATICAL CONTENT AND STORY DEVELOPMENT

The focus of Page 3 should be on showing to your readers how your

character(s) use their knowledge of your chosen mathematical concept to help
them solve the problem/crisis or to help them complete their mission. (Your
chosen mathematical concept should be what you study this academic year.)
Include your text in the space below the box here. (The text can be either
written up neatly or typed up.)

MATHEMATICAL CONTENT AND STORY DEVELOPMENT

(CONTINUED)

Continue your story on this page and the following pages in words, illustrations
and visual models through a variety of mathematical situations that support your
story. Your story should focus on one key mathematical concept throughout the
story.
Include your text in the space below the box here. (The text can be either
written up neatly or typed up.)

MATHEMATICAL CONTENT AND STORY DEVELOPMENT

(CONTINUED)

Continue your story on this page and the following pages in words, illustrations
and visual models through a variety of mathematical situations that support your
story. Your story should focus on one key mathematical concept throughout the
story.
Include your text in the space below the box here. (The text can be either
written up neatly or typed up.)

MATHEMATICAL CONTENT AND STORY DEVELOPMENT

(CONTINUED)

Continue your story on this page and the following pages in words, illustrations
and visual models through a variety of mathematical situations that support your
story. Your story should focus on one key mathematical concept throughout the
story.
Include your text in the space below the box here. (The text can be either
written up neatly or typed up.)

MATHEMATICAL CONTENT AND STORY DEVELOPMENT

(CONTINUED)

If needed, continue your story on this page and the following page in words,
illustrations and visual models through a variety of mathematical situations that
support your story. Your story should focus on one key mathematical concept
throughout the story.
Include your text in the space below the box here. (The text can be either
written up neatly or typed up.)

MATHEMATICAL CONTENT AND STORY DEVELOPMENT

(CONTINUED)

If needed, continue your story on this page in words, illustrations and visual
models through a variety of mathematical situations that support your story.
Your story should focus on one key mathematical concept throughout the story.
Include your text in the space below the box here. (The text can be either
written up neatly or typed up.)

ENDING

The focus of Page 9 should be on bringing your story to a close.

Include your text in the space below the box here. (The text can be either
written up neatly or typed up.)

ENDING (CONTINUED)

If needed, Page 10 could be a continuation of Page 9.

Include your text in the space below the box here. (The text can be either
written up neatly or typed up.)

BACK COVER

On this back cover, include a blurb of your story in the box below. If you want,
you can also decorate your back cover.

BLURB
In the box below, include your name, your age, your school’s name, the country it
is located in, and say a few words about where the inspiration for you to write
this mathematical story comes from. If you want, you can also include a drawing
of what you look like!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

[You can add a drawing of [Say a few words about yourself here]
yourself here]