[More or Less (MathStart 2)] [By: Murphy, Stuart J.] [March, 2005]

MathStart Level 2

by Stuart J. Murphy

Is your age more than 5? Is it less than 10? Eddie's got to guess. And he doesn't want to be wrong! Eddie has a booth at the school fair, guessing people's ages. He hasn't guessed wrong yet, but if he does, he gets dunked. Can Eddie keep guessing right -- and keep from getting wet? Comparing whole numbers and understanding what's more and what's less are a big part of Eddie's strategy, and an important math skill for young readers to learn.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, 1st Grade, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

PICTURES & WORDS, STORIES & BOOKS
MathStart http://www.mathstart.net
I See I Learn http://www.iseeilearn.com

I was one of those kids who talked all the time in class. I loved telling stories. One day in the 4th Grade, my teacher said, “You tell such good stories, maybe you should try writing some of them down.” “Wow,” I thought. “She thinks my stories are good.” That’s when I started to really enjoy writing.

I was also the class artist. When I wasn’t talking,I was drawing. When I was older, I studied art at the Rhode Island School
of Design. That’s where I became interested in visual learning—how we decode and acquire information from graphs, charts, diagrams, models, illustrations and other images.

I became especially interested in educational publishing and have worked on the development of over a dozen major textbook programs, championing visual learning strategies from Pre-K through high school in every major curriculum area.

MATHSTART

The inspiration to write math stories for children was sparked by my work on a high school mathematics program. Visual learning strategies helped teens—who had been characterized as “reluctant learners’—understand difficult math concepts. Putting math in the context of stories based on their experiences made them feel more comfortable with abstract concepts. They actually became eager to apply math to real-life problems.
If this approach worked for older students, I began to wonder what might happen if younger children were introduced to math this way!

Even before children can read—or speak many words—they can interpret visual information with ease. The MathStart books use simple stories coupled with diagrams, graphs and other visual models to teach everything from probability and pattern recognition to area, capacity and negative numbers.

The Best Bug Parade, (comparing sizes) was my very first published book. It was absolutely thrilling to see my name in print! I never expected that one day there would 63 MathStart books, split over three levels for ages Pre-K to Grade 4.

Each book includes two pages of review and activities designed to help teachers and parents extend learning beyond the story, along with suggestions of related books by other authors. After all, if a child enjoys learning math through stories, then let’s have more stories!
(Pictures, Words & Math: An interview with Stuart J. Murphy )

THE MAIN STREET KIDS' CLUB: A MATHSTART MUSICAL

Now get out your dancing shoes—there is a musical based on six of the MathStart books! The Main Street Kids’ Club was workshopped at Northwestern University and adapted by Scott Ferguson, who also created the perennially popular production of Schoolhouse Rock Live!
The songs are terrific. The math is spot on. And the club motto makes my heart sing: “Math Skills are Life Skills!”

STUART J. MURPHY'S I SEE I LEARN

My latest series of books is focused on young children—Preschool and Kindergarten age.
I See I Learn books teach social, emotional, health and safety, and cognitive skills, such as how to make friends, build confidence, play safely, work together, manage emotions, and make plans. These skills are important for school readiness and for living happy, healthy, productive lives.

The stories “star” a wonderful bunch of friends who live in See-and-Learn City and attend Ready Set Pre-K. The cast includes Freda, Percy, Emma, Ajay, Camille, and Carlos. And, of course, Pickle, the green bull dog—who happens to have a soft-spot for butterflies—and Miss Cathy, their teacher.

I See I Learn stories are modeled on real-life situations and, just as in real-life, often involve more than one skill. For example, Freda Plans a Picnic is about sequencing, a cognitive skill, but the picnic itself is a social event. Percy Plays It Safe focuses on playground safety skills, but playing successfully in a group also requires self-regulation, an emotional skill.

Each book is reviewed by a tea

Reviews

[Enrique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved the play of this game and book throughout and how it seemed almost impossible to be able to trick the main player in the game about the age. Once tricked by using someone is much much older and confuse his thinking it made for a funny outcome. Loved the illustrations of the book they were very similar to the ones that books I would read back then when I was a kid in elementary school looked like. Good read for kids of 2nd and/or 3rd grade and up.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read during morning time..krb 9/18/17

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walking through some age-related guesses, using logic.

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

good questioning skills to figure out a number, if it is more or less than the targeted number. Too hard for readers younger than 2nd or 3rd grade.

[Sadie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This math read is about a boy who has a booth at a fair where he guesses the ages of people. After reading it my son and I played guess my number several times

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kids really liked the building suspense up to the climax.

[Sidney Carnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super awesome story. Great for teachers to read when giving a lesson about comparing numbers.

[Shani Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this story, a young boy works at a booth at his school fair guessing the ages of the guests. The story introduces the concepts more, less, equal, and educated guesses to the reader. A teacher in a classroom could incorporate this book into a lesson by using two volunteer students as data for the class. The student could give a clue or description to the rest of the class. The class must guess which student has more or less or if the students are equal. After the students reveal their responses, the class can create an equation that corresponds with the responses. An example could be 'which student has more brothers and sisters?' Number provided by student 1 is < than the number provided by student 2.

[Katie Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to talk about more or less and odd and even. There is a fair in honor of Mr. Shaw who is retiring. One booth is a guess your age booth. If Eddie could guess your age in 3 or less guesses he won. If it took 4 or more guesses, you got a prize and if it took 6 or more, Eddie got dunked. When people would come to his booth Eddie would start by asking if they were younger or older than a certain number. He would then ask if it was odd or even and try figuring it out that way. This is such a cute book for beginners.

[Linh Tong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book teaches the concept of comparing numbers. Eddie tried to guess people's ages in this book. We will do a similar activity in class. I will have a secret number. The students will guess the secret number using the clues that I give them. For example, I will say, this number is more than 40, but less than 55. It is an odd number. Students will then write the different possible answers. I will then read another clue, and they will cross out the number from their answers that doesn't apply until they find the secret number.

[Megan Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

More or Less can be used to get students to predict Eddie's next question before it happens. Students can then be constantly be making predictions.

This book does an excellent job of displaying to students the relationship between more and less numbers. The back of the book even includes possible lesson ideas that could be done with the students. This book in an excellent resource to have in any Kindergarten or 1st grade library.

[Ashley Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would use this book with students grade 1-5. This book can be used with sucha large range of grades becuase I could focus on different types of numbers. For instance, for first graders, I would focus on more and less relationships of whole numbers. For second and third grade I would probably focus on fractions and decimals being more or less that the other. I know i would have a lot of fun looking at whether fractions like 2/3 is more or less than 1/4.

[Alexis Levine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book for comparing number for number operations. Stuart J. Murphy books are wonderful to use because they are categorized into levels and they have activities you can do using the book online. This particular one would be a great introduction to number comparison as Eddie makes educated guesses about peoples ages at his school fair! I would recommend this book for children 6 or 7.

[Nicole Holden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. In the book the school has a picnic and has booths with games for students to play. A smart little boy name Eddied was at a booth call "Let Eddie Guess Your Age". This book shows how Eddie uses logical guessing to guess different peoples age.This book clearly shows the basic concept of greater than and less than.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

More or Less by Stuart J. Murphy is a great book to use when comparing numbers and number operations. This book allows students to make a guess in regards to people's ages at his school. The main character, Eddie uses number comparisons to make his educated guesses. I would use this book for students in K-2nd grade.

[Janice Redding · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to introduce greater than or less than to students. In other words, the students can discuss items that has more or less; therefore the students are introduced to terms. I like this book because it can be used for a quick activity in the classroom. The teacher can read this book in first grade.

[Abi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun story about a picnic at school where Eddie guesses different peoples ages. This teaches children the basic concepts of greater than and less than, and the skills of making logical guesses.

[Irina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a boy who guesses people's ages. It is great for introducing the concept of "greater than" and "less than." This book does a good job of having a story line with an embedded math concept.

[Thao · Rating 5 out of 5]

- Can be used for lessons on comparing numbers and number operations.
- Literacy integration – making predictions
- Grades 1-3

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for greater than, less than. Has lesson plan ideas at end

[aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

good math supplement.

[Theresa]

My kids loved this book and wanted to play the game More or Less many times over.