It's About Time!: A MathStart Level 1 Story on Hours and Daily Activities for Kids

MathStart Level 1

by Stuart J. Murphy, John Speirs (Illustrator)

“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 It's About Time! is perfect for teaching the concept of hours and time telling to pre-K through kindergarteners. A twenty-four-hour day is full of great things to do! And things kids do every day are depicted in this book to make this an easy introduction to the skill of telling time. Kids will love the story and the funny illustrations by John Speirs. Parents and other 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!

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens, Kids

40 pages, 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

[Tiffany]

This book goes through a little boys day from 7 am and follows him through 24 hours. It goes through analog and digital clocks.
The math activites are great with this book. Children can be taught the hours of day and is a great starter in teaching the concept. AM and PM is another activity to discuss with this book.

[Vanessa Peavy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Students in grades K-2 can make text-to-self connections using this book. As a writing lesson, you can ask the students to make a timeline of the things they do throughout the day. As a math lesson you can use this book to teach the students about A.M and P.M, and the difference between a digital clock and analog.

[Ashley Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to read to students in grades 1-2. I would read this book before a lesson on time. It would be great to introde am and pm to the students and the different types of clocks. I would also have the students look at a comic strip of pictures and put the pics in order based on the time of day that the event happened.

[Carissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this until the very end. There are some "scary shadows" creeping during the characters bedtime. This is unecessary for the learning process and for the kiddos that already suffer with night terrors.

[Private Account · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like the idea of introducing my two-year-old to a story about time ... but the boy in this book has nightmares and monsters as friends. My son has never had a nightmare or worried about monsters. I am not about to read him a book that introduces those ideas!

[Charmaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title (italicize): It’s About Time!
Author: Stuart J. Murphy
Illustrator (if separate from author): John Speirs
Genre: Children’s book,
Theme(s): Time, Math, teaching
Opening line/sentence (type directly from text): “Wake up time- a great big stretch.”
Brief Book Summary (2-3 sentences in your own words):
Response to Two Professional Reviews (3-4 sentences in your own words): Both Alexis Bustamante and Lynn state that this book helps students on telling time. While Lynn believes this book is basic she still would read this book to her first graders. I believe this book is age appropriate for preschoolers to teach them how to tell time with pictures that show each time of the day from am to pm. Alexis states how this book is fun and will keep students interested. I agree because this book is simple and has illustrations that will be helpful for the students to tell the time.
Tell Me Framework (4 sentences in your own words):
Like(s): Each page is a picture of a clock with the time set with a bit of a description of what the little boy day consist of , each page of the book is short, illistractios
Dislike(s): the child went to bed and you noticed the monsters coming out. This can be a bit scary for students and take away the whole point of the book which should be about time.
Patterns(s): Each page is a picture with a clock, repetition of the word “time”.
Puzzle(s): What was the point of including the monsters in the book?
Consideration of Instructional Application (3-4 sentences in your own words): I would use this book in a preschool setting by allowing the students to teach me what they learned about time by having them do an activity where I give all my students a worksheet with multiple problems that relates to time. There will be a mix of problems. Some problems will consist of being provided with a clock and the students will have to write what is the time by looking at the clocks for each problem. Other problems will be giving a time and the students have to draw a representation of it.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful book on telling time. This one seems too basic but I still might use it for my first graders.

[Mary Teske]

This book incorporates time telling throughout the story! I think it would be really fun to use in a kindergarten classroom since that is when they start to tell time.

[☼Bookish in Virginia☼ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time Machine
It's About Time.... a timely book, April 14, 2005

This book by Stuart Murphy is part of his MathStart series. It covers time by relating the hours of the day to a little boy's activities: waking up, meals, going to school, playing, going home, story time, nap time, bath time, going to bed, etc. [If you are wondering about the early morning hours, they are spent frolicking with some friendly dream-monsters that dance and caper about.]

The book focuses only on the `hour' but I think for a start that is perfect. After a child can read the hours reliably they can move on to the half-hour, quarter hours, etc.

Each hour in this book is given a page which demonstrates not only how that hour is spent but both a digital and conventional (analog) representations of the time. The artwork is colorful and sweet and my only real complaint is that I wish they had separated the pictures of the analog clock from that of the digital clock because it makes it hard to `test' whether a child can read the traditional clock. (Digital seems so much easier for some reason.)

As with all of Mr. Murphy's books there are suggestions for how to teach time at the end of the book as well as various practice/exercise ideas. In addition, in this book, the author has a recommended reading list of three other books about time: Clocks and More Clocks by Pat Hutchins; My First Book of Time by Claire Llewllyn; and Train Leaves the Station by Eve Merriam.

You might also try a video called Rock N' Learn: Telling Time that has been useful in reinforcing the concept of reading clocks around our house.

NOTE: As for the age recommendation, I think this book would also be good for a younger child. With my just turned 3 year old we discuss just how time passes and how we have certain activities that we do at the same time each day.

[Anita]

This book is about time, being in second grade placement now I realize how much time is studied and taught. In this book time is shown digitally and on an analog clock. One of the reasons I really like this book is because of how it relates time to everyday events. For example, it's 6:30 am- time to wake up.

As a teacher, I would use this book to help my students relate time to not only Mathematics, but to real time happenings. I would maybe have them draw the time and label the events that happen in their lives at this time. I think students would enjoy this book a ton! And I appreciate the visual aspect of this book.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun book about telling time in the MathStart Level 1 series by Stuart J. Murphy. It has a simple narrative and both analog and digital clocks displays that describe the various activities that typically occur at certain times of the day. The nighttime scenes might be a bit alarming for young children, but they are somewhat humorous, too. Our girls are too old for this kind of book, but I thought it was charming.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does a great job of providing kids with the digital and analog clocks so that they get an understanding of how the time reads in both versions. We follow an hourly schedule of a little boy going through his daily activities.

This book is appropriate for ages 5+


I think this could definitely be used in a classroom for kids to learn how to tell time. I like that this book is a part of a series called "Mathstart" which provide a lot of other valuable skills for kids to learn and this is a great stepping stone.

[Maleigha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great to use for a Kindergarten or first grade lesson to introduce time. Students will follow a young boys day as they learn that a day consists of 24 hours. A clock is shown for each hour, as well as AM and PM. You may specifically use this book to teach things such as morning, noon, midnight, etc and also to teach students how to read different types of clocks (analog and digital).

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good book to read when starting to teach about time. It has great pictures of digital and analog clocks. This book is about a 24 hour day and what happens during that day from waking up in the morning to going to sleep at night. This is a good book to just have in the classroom because I was surprised how many of my 3rd graders couldn’t read an analog clock. This would be a good book to do a lesson involving digital and analog clock manipulatives.

[Lita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has clocks on every page to show students how to tell time. Each page has an analog clock and a digital clock so students can learn to read both. With each time mentioned in the book, there is an activity listed with the time, so that the students can see what activities occur at different times of the day.

[Hatka Kecalovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book It's About Time by Stuart J. Murphy introduces readers to the skill of telling time. The book uses various activites for each hour of the day. The book can also be used to teach students about time of the day and the difference between day and night. The book also focuses on the difference between digital and analog clocks. This book can be used in Pre-K to 2 grade classrooms.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's About Time! by Stuart J. Murphy is a great story that can be used to tell time. Students grades 1-2 will enjoy telling time with this story and looking at the different events that occur during different times of the day. This book also teaches students the concept of A.M. and P.M. It also helps students learn how to use both analog and digital clocks.

[Alexis Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's About Time is another great math book from Stuart J. Murphy's book series. This book would be excellent for children in grades k-2nd when teaching a math lesson about time! It teaches students how to tell time from both styles of clocks and distinguish the difference between pm and am on clocks.

[Tiffany]

It's never too early to start teaching our kids! This book is great for introducing the telling of time to our young readers. I would leave this book out, so my students can get very familiar with it. I would even turn it into a crafting time, and we'll make clocks. Perhaps we could make a class clock, identifying when it was rest time for my pre-k and kindergarten students.

[Megan Piero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book to read children when they are beginning a math unit on time. It explains to children why telling time is so important. Teachers could have students follow along with their own clock manipulatives. Teachers could also have students tell what time they do things mentioned in the story and then make it on the clocks.

[Abi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great beginning story to teach time. It shows the different hours of the day and what is normally done during those times, for example 12:00pm is lunch. It also has a picture of a clock on each page with the time under it, which allow kids to practice reading clocks.

[Irina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very short book that goes through the times of the day and what happens during each time. I like that the book is short and makes a clear point. Can easily be used with small children as an introduction to time.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very simple look at time to the hour (only) and some events that happen throughout the child's day. Not a fan of the scary monster that appears during the nighttime parts of the day, but at least it was saved with the appearance of a friendly monster.

[Linh Tong · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how this book show both analog and digital clocks. I can use this book to teach students about time, A.M and P.M. I will let students draw pictures of themselves doing various activities at different times of the day. They will also write the time next to each activities.

[Enasia Lee]

This is a great book that teaches about time. The book goes through the hours of the day and the students can manipulate their hand held clocks page by page. It also shows digital and analog time, and a.m./p.m.! It's great for students just learning about time.

[Shamilah Gillani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for teaching students about telling time. They can see importance of telling time and how important it is in our daily lives. I would have the students model the times in the book on their personal clocks for more hands-on practice.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story follows a boy hour by hour throughout his day. It can be used to begin talking about time and how each day has 24 hours. It also has pictures of all the clocks by hour so students can begin learning how to read clocks. This book can be used for kindergarten and first grade.

[Alexis Bustamante]

I would recommend this book to teacher who want to start teaching their students about time. It is a fun to teach them and keep them interested.

[Lorena · Rating 1 out of 5]

I liked this story until the child went to bed and all the monsters came out.

[Kelsey Vayens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great tool for teaching about time. The children can also follow along on their manipulative clocks.