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MathStart Level 2
A Fair Bear Share: A Fun Math Story About Counting and Regrouping for Kids (Ages 6-10)
“Kids, young and old, fall in love with math when they see how real-life and effortless it becomes thanks to these books.” —Kimberly D. Mueller, Ed.D., First Grade Teacher, Ashbrook School, Lumberton NJ A Fair Bear Share teaches children regrouping, which is a key skill in mastering more advanced addition. Will Mama Bear have enough nuts, berries, and seeds to make her famous pie? Kids will learn to arrange the nuts, berries, and seeds into groups of ten to find out. Kids will love the story and the funny illustrations. Parents and educators will love how the story and pictures make understanding comparisons a breeze—as well as the concrete examples of how math works. The book contains activities for adults to do with kids to extend math into their own lives. Math skills are life skills, and the MathStart series supports success! MathStart's unique combination of stories, illustrations, and visual models helps teachers and parents in the teaching of math and provides all children with the opportunity to succeed. The math concepts taught in MathStart books conform to state and national standards. Level 1 is Pre-K–Kindergarten; Level 2 is Grades 1–3; Level 3 is Grades 2–4. The series follows math topics across grades so there is a foundational path to learning that runs through the levels. Help kids with their math skills plus their reading skills with the engaging and fun MathStart series!
40 pages, Paperback
First published December 17, 1997
4 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Stuart J. Murphy
163 books60 followersPICTURES & 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
August 20, 2008
We all really enjoyed this book. It teaches sorting by groups of 10 and 1 and then regrouping as well. It ALSO teaches the importance of working together and doing your 'fair share' of the work. Sort of like the Little Red Hen.
The story was fun, the pictures were excellent in illustrating the math concepts and I loved the moral. My kids asked if they could practice grouping things around the house after reading it. Um, okay. Love the math books that inspire!
Best used when you're learning place value (10s and 1s) as well as addition with groups of 10s.
The story was fun, the pictures were excellent in illustrating the math concepts and I loved the moral. My kids asked if they could practice grouping things around the house after reading it. Um, okay. Love the math books that inspire!
Best used when you're learning place value (10s and 1s) as well as addition with groups of 10s.
June 24, 2011
This book is great for 1st and 2nd grade concepts of regrouping in addition. It would also be useful in 3rd grade as a hands-on review of how to regroup. I would use the book as a ReadAloud and then students would work in groups or partners to count out items in bags at their tables. Then the students would practice regrouping as described in the book (putting items into groups of 10 and then creating more groups of 10 with the left-overs). This book could also serve well as a remedial center for students who struggle with place value and operations.
February 11, 2011
Great book to use when discussing the reality of regrouping when adding numbers. Helps reinforce ideas of place value. Also hits upon community building and teamwork as everybody needs to do their "fair share"...great way to add literacy to math.
June 4, 2020
I really enjoyed reading this book, I believe this book would be great for Kindergartens and 1st graders. The book is about four bear cubs going out and gathering different ingredients to make the blueberry pie with Mama Bear. When gathering the ingredients the Mama Bear groups them by tens and ones. To be able to add them all together. This book can be used for a lesson about adding/grouping numbers together and teaching place values. Students would really enjoy this book they will find it fun/exciting.
May 4, 2021
I love picture books that teach math. This book is no exception. Counting, grouping and addition with the concept of fairness slipped in, since one bear doesn't help out and there isn't enough nuts, berries and seeds to make Mom's famed pie. Guilted into helping out, she brings her collection back and we have to count the totals again - there is happily enough for pie.
April 21, 2022
The story is okay but it’s educational so it gets another star.
I like that it helps to teach kids the skill of regrouping so they can make groups of 10’s and 1’s to do their math in the common core way.
Illustrations are not amazing but they are cute.
I like that it helps to teach kids the skill of regrouping so they can make groups of 10’s and 1’s to do their math in the common core way.
Illustrations are not amazing but they are cute.
August 9, 2018
Four bear cubs collect ingredients for a blueberry pie, counting and recounting them as their supply grows — but one bear has to be prodded to do his work.
February 23, 2012
Four bear cubs collect ingredients for a blueberry pie, counting and recounting them as their supply grows.
This book reminds me of baking muffins with me children. Instead of picking them we'll go to the farmers market where they can choose their fruit and then we'll go home and bake blueberry muffins, banana muffins, and cranberry muffins.
To use this book as an activity, I would:
I would have the students retell the story and as a class keep track of how many nuts, berries, and seeds the cubs have collected.
For a homework activity I would have students count how many cans, boxes and bottles they have in their kitchens. Same thing in class. I would have them count how many dictionaries, how many chairs, desk, sight words, etc,. then have them group the objects and make groups of ten.
To be fun and playing off the book I would create a recipe in the class for muffins and send each student home with a list or ingredients to make muffins.
This book reminds me of baking muffins with me children. Instead of picking them we'll go to the farmers market where they can choose their fruit and then we'll go home and bake blueberry muffins, banana muffins, and cranberry muffins.
To use this book as an activity, I would:
I would have the students retell the story and as a class keep track of how many nuts, berries, and seeds the cubs have collected.
For a homework activity I would have students count how many cans, boxes and bottles they have in their kitchens. Same thing in class. I would have them count how many dictionaries, how many chairs, desk, sight words, etc,. then have them group the objects and make groups of ten.
To be fun and playing off the book I would create a recipe in the class for muffins and send each student home with a list or ingredients to make muffins.
April 10, 2013
This story involves four bear cubs going out and gathering diffrent ingredients to make Mama Bear's blueberry pie. As they gather the ingredietns they begin placing them into groups and counting the items by using tens and ones. This book can be used to introduce a lesson on grouping and place value. The book shows grouping diagrams to where the students can visually see how the bears equally grouped their items and counted them and showed their place values. An extension activity that I could do from this book would be to re-tell the story using tally marks and how to accurately write tallies and group them. I can show the students that after I get 10 tally marks I can put a cirlce around them to show that it is a group of 10. Another extension would be to have the students group different materials in the classroom into tens and ones to determine the total number of that specific material.
October 8, 2011
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 book depicts a fun way to practice adding larger numbers. The tale is entertaining and the illustrations are colorful The math is simple, and the story provides enough repetition and practice to allow children to master the concept. Our oldest read this book aloud to me today during reading time in her third grade class. We really enjoyed reading this book together.
This book depicts a fun way to practice adding larger numbers. The tale is entertaining and the illustrations are colorful The math is simple, and the story provides enough repetition and practice to allow children to master the concept. Our oldest read this book aloud to me today during reading time in her third grade class. We really enjoyed reading this book together.
April 14, 2013
This was a cute story about four cubs whose mother needed them to go out and gather the ingredients necessary for her to make her delicious blueberry pie. The bears gather the ingredients and place them in piles of tens and ones as they count. When they add their totals together, the bears realize there are times when they can make additional groups of tens. This story is a nice way to help children practice with regrouping as well as place value. As you read the story, children can add the berries, nuts, seeds, and other ingredients on their own, perhaps using counters or other objects to represent the ingredients. I would use this book with second grade students, and possibly to help third grade students review this math content.
July 8, 2012
This was cool book. I love the was the literature connected Witt the strategies we want our students to receive in understanding place value. It focused on creating sets of 10 and recognizing remainders as ones. It asks connected with the teaching of addition. As the bears collected the berries, nuts, and seed they would then add their total to get a grand total. This book did an awesome job with demonstrating the meaning of place value. I would use this book to really show what place value means, and how determine what tens means and what ones mean.
April 14, 2012
The bears are making a pie. To make the pie they are using a recipe. They have collected berries and group them in groups of 10. This book will be useful for regrouping and place value. Students may also be encouraged to create a recipe (as a group, individually, with their parents, etc.) and present it to the class. As a class, the students can create a recipe and actually use it to make delicious snacks for the class.
March 15, 2013
Four little bears need to help momma collect ingredients for her blueberry pie, but one of the bears is not doing their fair share.
This book can be used to talk about regrouping. After each item is collected, it shows how the bears group ten together and count the remaining ones to get their totals. While reading this story, the teacher can give the students their own items to count and follow along with the story.
This book can be used to talk about regrouping. After each item is collected, it shows how the bears group ten together and count the remaining ones to get their totals. While reading this story, the teacher can give the students their own items to count and follow along with the story.
July 16, 2012
I would use place value mats with this book. We would pick a color of unifix cubes to represent an item in the book (brown unifix cubes to represent nuts, red unifix cubes to represent berries,) and stack number of unifix cubes according to number of food items in book. Once a grouping reached 10, the stack of unifix cubes would move to the tens side of the place value mat.
November 12, 2012
This book is a great read that discusses place value. The running theme is mathematical grouping with a family of bears. I love that there is also a moral to this story. I would use this book to explain the regrouping process in addition of 2 & 3 digit numbers because I've notice that student really struggle with this concept. It can also be helpful in explaining division.
Read
November 30, 2012Great little story. The book can be used to help students learn to group objects together into groups of 10 some they can count fast and accurately. The lesson learned in the story is about counting objects, and not just numbers or tic marks. I would use this book along side of teaching grouping and regrouping.
September 6, 2015
I read this to children who were learning about regrouping and felt that it was a little more than they could comprehend, however, I could see this as an excellent book to reinforce the concept once it has been mastered or pretty close to being mastered. I liked that the book also incorporated doing your fair share.
January 20, 2012
This is a great storybook that teaches the importance of doing your share and the ease of counting by tens. I love the illustrations that show how the bears group the different nuts and berries by tens and what to do with what's leftover. I would definitely use this in the classroom.
February 8, 2012
Everyday activities such as sharing a meal, sorting socks and getting ready for school can be part of learning math. This book has it all as the bears pick berries, and nuts for their pies. Grades PK-3 Fractions, addition
April 23, 2012
I used this book to address addition with multiple addends with a second grade class. They were engaged and this book helped to clarify any misunderstanding they had about addition with multiple addends.
April 24, 2012
This is an excellent book on regrouping. I just read it for the first time, but plan on using it with my 2nd graders soon. It even gives you activities to work on in class and things the kids can do at home!
July 5, 2012
This book is a great read. The theme is mathematical grouping with a family of bears. I love that there is also a moral to this story. I would use this book to explain the grouping process in addition of 2 & 3 digit numbers. It can also be helpful in explaining division.
Read
July 17, 2012This is a book made for students struggling with the concept of place value. The illustrations are great and the concept is taught well. I would definitely use this in the classroom as way to assist students who are really not grasping place value or as a way to introduce place value.
October 4, 2012
This is a great book for a first grade lesson. It is about regrouping. It is good for first grade because they are learning about grouping tens and ones and about counting by tens. This is also a good book because it shows that hard work pays off.
December 3, 2012
This book helps with learning place value, division, and regrouping. I really like this book because of the story. I would use this book with first and second grade and follow up with engaging activities on sharing.
February 22, 2013
This narrative tells about Four bear cubs who go out to collect ingredients for a blueberry pie. As they collect ingredients they recount and regroup the ingredients. This book can help my students better understand how to regroup and place values.
March 19, 2013
~Great for division work. Mama Bear combines all ingredients and then divides the portions so that each bear gets the same amount
~Understanding that you must do the work to reap the benefits
~Community building read aloud, everyone must do their part!
~K-2
~Understanding that you must do the work to reap the benefits
~Community building read aloud, everyone must do their part!
~K-2
April 24, 2013
Great for sharing. And for the older grades for division practice and such. This can be used as a read-aloud in a classroom, or even as a group activity. The performance task in the back of the book support students with their learning even further into details.
April 20, 2010
This is a great book that connects literacy to math. This help books helps students with the concept of regrouping.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews