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Counting on Fall
As young readers journey into the natural world, they will discover that numbers, patterns, shapes — and much more! — can be found by observing everyday plants and animals.
What if animals and plants knew math, just like you? Would leaves fall in patterns? Would whales enter a race? In Counting on Fall, the first title in the Math in Nature series by award–winning author Lizann Flatt, nature comes to life to help children grasp concepts of number sense and numeration. The engaging “What if?” format of this informational picture book is sure to delight five– to seven– year– olds.
Each of the four books in the Math in Nature series will cover one season of the year and one area of the math curriculum. Colorful, cut– paper collage art uniquely evokes the natural world, while two levels of text — one a lyrical story, the other asking children to problem– solve — bring the reader to a full understanding of the math concept being covered.
What if animals and plants knew math, just like you? Would leaves fall in patterns? Would whales enter a race? In Counting on Fall, the first title in the Math in Nature series by award–winning author Lizann Flatt, nature comes to life to help children grasp concepts of number sense and numeration. The engaging “What if?” format of this informational picture book is sure to delight five– to seven– year– olds.
Each of the four books in the Math in Nature series will cover one season of the year and one area of the math curriculum. Colorful, cut– paper collage art uniquely evokes the natural world, while two levels of text — one a lyrical story, the other asking children to problem– solve — bring the reader to a full understanding of the math concept being covered.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 16, 2012
5 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Lizann Flatt
33 books13 followersLizann Flatt has written many nonfiction books and numerous short stories and poems for kids. Her latest picture book series includes COUNTING ON FALL, SORTING THROUGH SPRING, SIZING UP WINTER, SHAPING UP SUMMER. What if animals knew math? The series invites kids to practice primary math skills and learn a bit about nature. Her LET'S GO! THE STORY OF GETTING FROM THERE TO HERE is the history of transportation in North America. It was selected as the Canadian Children's Book Centre's TD Grade One Giveaway book in 2009 and given to over 400,000 grade one kids in Canada. Lizann's work has also appeared in LADYBUG, BABYBUG, and HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN magazines. She was formerly the editor of Canadian children’s magazine CHICKADEE. Today she lives in rural Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 1, 2012
I tend not to like books that have clearly been written with some educational standard in mind. This book screams "I'm trying to teach children about counting". Sigh. This is apparently the first in a series, Math in Nature, in which each book will focus on a different season and a different math concept. This one is about fall, so it features leaves turning colors, squirrels gathering nuts, bears eating berries, whale and goose migration, etc. The book begins with a promising, if uninspired, stanza: "Who'd count the leaves falling from the trees, stirred and disturbed by the passing breeze?" But it quickly descends into "I'm trying to teach you something" territory. For example: "What number of nuts would a squirrel stash away? Would they keep count? Would they keep score? Imagine them comparing the size of their stores." And then there's a little box on the page: "Can you count each squirrel's nuts?" Almost every page has a little box with a math prompt (Without counting, do you know how many seeds or fruit are in each group? Can you see several ways to make up ten? Which bear has 2 more berries than 5?), and it is these boxes that completely ruin the book. The rest of the text is solidly mediocre, but the boxes are just painful. The questions belong in a teacher's guide to using this book in a classroom, not in the book itself.
The truly sad thing is that the illustrations are gorgeous -- collages with vibrant colors, interesting texture, and adorable animals. There is also a very good section at the end with more information about each animal featured.
Note: I received a free advance reading copy of this book from the publisher at an American Library Association Annual Conference. Obviously, I was not required to write a positive review. Thank you, publisher!)
The truly sad thing is that the illustrations are gorgeous -- collages with vibrant colors, interesting texture, and adorable animals. There is also a very good section at the end with more information about each animal featured.
Note: I received a free advance reading copy of this book from the publisher at an American Library Association Annual Conference. Obviously, I was not required to write a positive review. Thank you, publisher!)
October 6, 2024
As a preservice teacher, I feel that Counting on Fall is an engaging book to use with kids to help promote counting and addition skills. This fall themed picture book ventures through different autumnal scenes. In each scene, various animals, plants, or objects are arranged in different ways. Each page additionally poses a question regarding if the reader can identify how many of the given objects reside on each page. The way the objects are arranged lend themselves to counting them in different ways, to solve the posed question of how many there are. Finally, the book ends containing “Nature Notes.” These give facts about the nature items and animals that were featured throughout the entirety of the book.
I feel the book can help support student/child learning. It uses multiple representations by completely changing the way the items are presented on each page, as well as suggesting to students different ways to count the items- count backward from 10, count by 5’s, etc. Through these instances it also promotes problem solving as it never gives away the “answer.” It also asks cognitively demanding questions such as “can you think of other ways to make 10.” This book additionally scaffolds student learning through walking through the steps of estimating then counting to solve.
Overall, I think Counting on Fall is a fantastic book to use with children. I am excited to use it as a teacher one day, and hopefully pair it with a nature walk exploration activity. I recommend this book to anyone working with/teaching/parenting young children working on counting and addition.
I feel the book can help support student/child learning. It uses multiple representations by completely changing the way the items are presented on each page, as well as suggesting to students different ways to count the items- count backward from 10, count by 5’s, etc. Through these instances it also promotes problem solving as it never gives away the “answer.” It also asks cognitively demanding questions such as “can you think of other ways to make 10.” This book additionally scaffolds student learning through walking through the steps of estimating then counting to solve.
Overall, I think Counting on Fall is a fantastic book to use with children. I am excited to use it as a teacher one day, and hopefully pair it with a nature walk exploration activity. I recommend this book to anyone working with/teaching/parenting young children working on counting and addition.
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September 26, 2025201 will not be re reading this book. We are simply too good at skip counting!!!
December 19, 2016
Various animals associated with Fall are shown in groups and patterns to demonstrate math concepts in this Math in Nature book for young readers.
The pictures of fall foliage and various animals and insects in formation are very eye-catching. The illustrations appear to be assembled from tiny paper cut-outs and the contrast among the different colors and textures of the paper draws the reader into each image. The very first two-page spread showing the leaves as they fall from a tree to the ground below is the most evocative of Fall, but other images of animals like geese and bats also suggest the crisp air of the season. Each illustration is arranged in a particular way to promote the sort of counting the text wants the reader to perform. Butterflies and bats are shown in neat rows that make it easy to count them by tens. Other animals are pictured holding a certain number of items in their mouths to help kids learn how to multiply the number of animals by the number of items they hold. The antelopes are pictured in pairs to make it easier to count by twos.
This book does work as a read-aloud, but it might be a long story time if one tried to count every animal on every page. A way to handle this might be to read the nature information at the back of the book prior to sharing it with kids so that there are pages where you talk about the animals instead of the math. I have done math-themed story times before, and counting does engage the kids for part of the time, but a whole book of nothing but counting in various modes might become tedious, especially with a group used to more traditional literacy activities. In a Fall story time, though, this would pair well with Fall Is Not Easy for a visually appealing and entertaining session.
Counting on Fall is a great read-alike for the beginning math books created by Stuart J. Murphy. Parents and teachers who want to promote better math skills will be pleased to have a seasonal story that also accomplishes this goal. I can imagine this book supports a number of common core goals, and I can see it being a good fit in classrooms up to around grade three. Other books in the Math in Nature series include Sorting Through Spring, which focuses on patterns and probability, Sizing Up Winter, which is all about measurement, and Shaping Up Summer, which handles geometry. Another animal book with a math component that might also appeal to fans of this book is Birdsongs by Betsy Franco.
Disclosure
The pictures of fall foliage and various animals and insects in formation are very eye-catching. The illustrations appear to be assembled from tiny paper cut-outs and the contrast among the different colors and textures of the paper draws the reader into each image. The very first two-page spread showing the leaves as they fall from a tree to the ground below is the most evocative of Fall, but other images of animals like geese and bats also suggest the crisp air of the season. Each illustration is arranged in a particular way to promote the sort of counting the text wants the reader to perform. Butterflies and bats are shown in neat rows that make it easy to count them by tens. Other animals are pictured holding a certain number of items in their mouths to help kids learn how to multiply the number of animals by the number of items they hold. The antelopes are pictured in pairs to make it easier to count by twos.
This book does work as a read-aloud, but it might be a long story time if one tried to count every animal on every page. A way to handle this might be to read the nature information at the back of the book prior to sharing it with kids so that there are pages where you talk about the animals instead of the math. I have done math-themed story times before, and counting does engage the kids for part of the time, but a whole book of nothing but counting in various modes might become tedious, especially with a group used to more traditional literacy activities. In a Fall story time, though, this would pair well with Fall Is Not Easy for a visually appealing and entertaining session.
Counting on Fall is a great read-alike for the beginning math books created by Stuart J. Murphy. Parents and teachers who want to promote better math skills will be pleased to have a seasonal story that also accomplishes this goal. I can imagine this book supports a number of common core goals, and I can see it being a good fit in classrooms up to around grade three. Other books in the Math in Nature series include Sorting Through Spring, which focuses on patterns and probability, Sizing Up Winter, which is all about measurement, and Shaping Up Summer, which handles geometry. Another animal book with a math component that might also appeal to fans of this book is Birdsongs by Betsy Franco.
Disclosure
March 5, 2024
I really loved this book. There are so many different directions you could go with this book. As for math skills it introduces number concepts, patterns and shapes, simple addition, number sense, and numeration. It uses real life occurrences to show these math skills. You could put together several different math activities with this book and even incorporate the season Fall. I will be adding this one to my personal collection.
June 2, 2017
A beautiful book. I love the illustrations and its interactivity. It's a perfect blend of nature and numbers.
September 21, 2017
Fantastic math series for early learners!
September 5, 2018
I am such a sucker for pictures made of cut collage! This gorgeous book made counting so much fun.
All the animals are well-illustrated. I particuarly liked the raccoons.
All the animals are well-illustrated. I particuarly liked the raccoons.
September 21, 2018
Can I just say that I love the pictures in this book. They are all cut pieces of paper put together to make a scene. This was a fun way to introduce different kinds of counting.
October 27, 2022
The phrasing could be smoother, but I like the storyline here--following nature's transition to Fall using mathematic reasoning. I gave an extra star for the amazing paper cut artwork!
October 1, 2024
I am a future educator and this book is a great choice for teachers looking to include mathematics into their reading time!
When choosing a book that focuses on mathematical concepts for elementary students, a great choice is “Counting on Fall” by Lizann Flatt. This book focuses on the fall and how nature can interpret mathematical concepts. First this book compares where the most leaves are compared to the least amount of leaves. The book then has students count the eggcorns the squirrels stash away. The book moves on to adding the fallen raspberries that land on the ground. Then, this book pairs geese that are migrating, butterflies lined in rows, and bats in a cave in groups of ten. Overall, this book focuses on how nature can demonstrate addition and, in some ways, multiplication. This book teaches students to add, skip count, and use groups of fives and tens to determine a solution.
When choosing a book that focuses on mathematical concepts for elementary students, a great choice is “Counting on Fall” by Lizann Flatt. This book focuses on the fall and how nature can interpret mathematical concepts. First this book compares where the most leaves are compared to the least amount of leaves. The book then has students count the eggcorns the squirrels stash away. The book moves on to adding the fallen raspberries that land on the ground. Then, this book pairs geese that are migrating, butterflies lined in rows, and bats in a cave in groups of ten. Overall, this book focuses on how nature can demonstrate addition and, in some ways, multiplication. This book teaches students to add, skip count, and use groups of fives and tens to determine a solution.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2024
Nu știam ce e butternut, printre altele
October 15, 2013
Counting on Fall is the first in Lizann Flatt's four-part Math in Nature series of children's books for Owl Kids. The book aims to use "poetic prose" and question prompts to engage young readers with math concepts (in this case, counting).
Overall, I wasn't blown away by the writing in this book. I understand that Ms. Flatt was writing for an educational publisher and as such was operating under a very specific mandate, but I found the presentation of the question prompts a little heavy-handed. Any parent or teacher who'd ever read a book to a child would have been able to come up with these questions on their own. Thus, I found their inclusion as part of the illustration (in a coloured paper text box) both jarring and unnecessary.
I do have to give Ms. Flatt kudos for choosing to feature flora and fauna native to Canada in this series and for the research that went into the "Nature Notes" at the end of the book. Honestly, I think that if the whole book had been written in this straight forward prose, I would have enjoyed it more.
The highlight of this book for me was definitely the illustrations. Barron's cut-paper collage technique and hand-painted textures were lovely and whimsical. The page spread with the whales was my favourite image, but the one with the mischievous raccoons came in a close second. Barron is amazingly talented and has a distinct knack for creating colourful and engaging illustrations. If you're a fan of her work, she has a fabulous website (www.ashleybarron.com) and blog (www.ashleybarron.wordpress.com) that features her current projects (ranging from magazine covers to stop animation films).
Verdict: Worth collecting for the illustrations alone.
Overall, I wasn't blown away by the writing in this book. I understand that Ms. Flatt was writing for an educational publisher and as such was operating under a very specific mandate, but I found the presentation of the question prompts a little heavy-handed. Any parent or teacher who'd ever read a book to a child would have been able to come up with these questions on their own. Thus, I found their inclusion as part of the illustration (in a coloured paper text box) both jarring and unnecessary.
I do have to give Ms. Flatt kudos for choosing to feature flora and fauna native to Canada in this series and for the research that went into the "Nature Notes" at the end of the book. Honestly, I think that if the whole book had been written in this straight forward prose, I would have enjoyed it more.
The highlight of this book for me was definitely the illustrations. Barron's cut-paper collage technique and hand-painted textures were lovely and whimsical. The page spread with the whales was my favourite image, but the one with the mischievous raccoons came in a close second. Barron is amazingly talented and has a distinct knack for creating colourful and engaging illustrations. If you're a fan of her work, she has a fabulous website (www.ashleybarron.com) and blog (www.ashleybarron.wordpress.com) that features her current projects (ranging from magazine covers to stop animation films).
Verdict: Worth collecting for the illustrations alone.
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January 23, 2013Well, I have mixed feelings about this. I know it's didactic and not a great picture book for picture book's sake, but I guess don't mind having some options for parents who are starting from zero and don't really know how to prompt this type of activity on their own (maybe because their parents never did it for them). But I wish the text and the prompts were even more differentiated on the page than they are...maybe if the prompts were all in a bar along the bottom of the page, so that you could jsut read the text sometimes and then sometimes go back and just read the prompts (and do the activities). Right now it feels like you have to do both on every page.
And I'd rather that the backmatter talked more about the math concepts in the book than about the animals! Wouldn't it be great to have a couple sentences on ordinal numbers or a suggestion about how to explain subtraction to a young child? Or even a paragraph for grownups about what math and pre-math skills are appropriate for preschoolers?
And I'd rather that the backmatter talked more about the math concepts in the book than about the animals! Wouldn't it be great to have a couple sentences on ordinal numbers or a suggestion about how to explain subtraction to a young child? Or even a paragraph for grownups about what math and pre-math skills are appropriate for preschoolers?
December 14, 2012
This book is part of the Math in Nature series, and it deals with math concepts that one might encounter in nature. It primarily deals with groups of ten, adding and subtracting from ten, etc. The illustrations are done in a great cut-paper technique that gives real dimension to the pages. This book could be used to showcase the art technique, as well.
October 9, 2012
Saw this book at a Toronto book fair and was VERY impressed, particularly with the illustrations. I think the illustrator, Ashley Barron, is headed for big things. She's truly talented . And excllent book for toddler's, kindergartners, and thereabouts.
October 6, 2013
Nice cut-out illustrations show nature changing colors in the autumn and animals adapting to the change. Each page has one or more math/counting questions about what's going on in the illustration. This is a nonfiction book that is well done and works as a picture book, too.
October 24, 2015
I got this book for my preschooler, but it's really more appropriate for a 6-7 year old. While it is pretty didactic, it helps me to figure out how to have a conversation about numbers and advanced counting in a fun way. I think I'll pick it up again in about a year.
October 25, 2016
This book would be perfect for a kindergarten classroom - maybe even late preschool. It was a little over the heads of my littles. The illustrations were nice and it is a good way to combine seasons and counting.
January 23, 2017
The cutout illustrations are visually exciting and the colors and shapes pop on each page. The text is fun to read out loud and the additional text in boxes engages the reader the look and study the animals on each page.
July 19, 2013
I chose this book as a twin fiction book for Are You Ready for Fall?
audience: K-2
genre: math in nature-fiction
audience: K-2
genre: math in nature-fiction
November 4, 2014
The illustration style bumps this book up to a 3.5. This would be a great classroom read aloud to support math fluency and number sense.
March 13, 2016
Early skills of counting (by different units), shapes, sizes and numbers.
August 3, 2015
For me, Barron's collage work was lovely, but Flatt's text left something to be desired.
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November 29, 2018This book can be used to talk about different science content like the seasons.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews