Game Time! (Mathstart: Level 3

MathStart: Level 3 #9

by Stuart J. Murphy, Cynthia Jabar (Illustrator)

Calendars and clocks keep track of passing time as the Huskies prepare for and compete in the championship soccer game against the Falcons.

Genres: Mathematics, Childrens, Picture Books, 1st Grade, Nonfiction, 2nd Grade

33 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

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

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stuart J. Murphy's award-winning MathStart series teaches arithmetic via stories and visual representations. Charts and other visual representations assist students in understanding how mathematics works and foster deeper understanding. This one-of-a-kind blend of tales, drawings, and visual models aids teachers and parents in mathematical instruction and gives all children the opportunity to succeed. The book incorporates math vocabulary and exposes children to the notion of time, such as day, weeks, months, and years. In addition to the 24 hours in a day, it shows there are 60 minutes between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Definitely a book to have in your teacher toolbox when teaching students about the concept of time. I will be checking out the other books in her collection as well.

[Henry Claxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book is about a big game on Saturday, Murphy cleverly weaves math thought out the book. This book is perfect for the beginning of time units, when students first begin reading clocks. Later on, students working on fractions can use quarter and half hour fractions.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teaches time, counting, fractions and sports.

[Chappyfamily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping this would make it more clear how to understand a clock. It wasn’t that helpful.

[Shannon Stinnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a teacher of first graders I keep this book on my personal shelf to use when introducing the concept of time. This book tells about a big soccer game coming up this "Saturday". The author cleverly adds in math terms throughout the story. Examples include days of the week, months and days of the year, a day equals 24 hours, 60 minutes are between 9 o'clock and 10 o'clock, and so on. The story captures student interest and can remain on your bookshelf for reference during the entire unit on "time".

[Janice Redding · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to elaborate on the concept of time. I can use this book to create different math stories for problems of the day for second graders. The students will be able to use mini clocks to complete the problem.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this book to engage the students before a lesson on time and they were certainly engaged. I liked that it depicted girl soccer teams.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Supposed to be about time, but rather hard to follow.

[Siomara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because it is a fun and easy way to teach time and time management to kids in an early level.

[Esther]

Time, but no problem solving.

[Briana · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this was clever at integrating some time concepts, it left a lot to be desired for use with bigger kids.