Treasure Map

MathStart: Level 3 #16

by Stuart J. Murphy, Tricia Tusa (Illustrator)

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. An old map leads the members of the Elm Street Kids' Club to a buried time capsule. A MathStart Level 3 book.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, Geography, Pirates, Maps

40 pages, Library Binding

First published September 1, 2004

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

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murphy and Tusa teamed up to create an adventure story with intriguing illustrations about a group of children that find a treasure map and use mapping skills to locate the treasure. The treasure turns out to be a time capsule and the bunch decides to add to the loot and hide the map for others to find.

A note to parents and educators is included in the back to offer tips for teaching the concept of mapping and additional resources/activities for children to explore.

[Indie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to introduce the idea of maps to students. It had great illustrations and had a story that explained the basics of reading a map. Students learn how to read maps and interpret the symbols.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost worth rounding up to four stars, but there was really no actual story. I do like how the kids had to think about how the area would have looked a little different fifty years ago. But since when is mapping a math skill? I thought it was social studies?

[Suebee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why did the illustrator choose to include a "giant" lady nowhere detailed in the story?

This is meant to be a straightforward map book but the illustrations make it confusing.

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geography and math are a breeze when you have a treasure to find.

[Mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

For kids to learn to use different maps using the legend, compass rose etc. Features different maps, like a weather map, and has questions to solve

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another fun story in the MathStart series by Stuart J. Murphy. We like these books; they incorporate math principles into the story and show how math is fun and necessary for everyday life.

This is a engaging tale about map reading and searching for a hidden treasure. The narrative is entertaining, although the illustrations are somewhat surreal, almost creepy. Still, the story is fun and we enjoyed reading it together.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stuart Murphy's series is really good. The book works for the 2nd grade level easy reading and doubling as geography concept plus some measurements.