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MathStart Level 1
3 Little Firefighters: An Award-Winning MathStart Story About Sorting for Kids
“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 3 Little Firefighters is perfect for teaching sorting to pre-K through kindergartners. Three firefighters scramble to find 3 sets of matching buttons before the big parade starts. Kids will love the story and the illustrations by Bernice Lum. Parents and educators will love how the story and pictures make understanding the math concepts 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 August 14, 2003
3 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Stuart J. Murphy
160 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 6, 2009
Great way to introduce math to young readers. The story of three little firefighters who must find buttons to complete their costumes. You get a chance to sort through buttons based on shape, color and size. Great for math and reading!
October 16, 2020
the date you completed reading the book:10-14-20
a star rating (1 to 5):4
the date:10-16-20
the genre: fiction
appropriate grade range:k-1
a written book review: A fun way to illustrate the concept of patterns. Kids also like firefighters which helps hold their attention.
a star rating (1 to 5):4
the date:10-16-20
the genre: fiction
appropriate grade range:k-1
a written book review: A fun way to illustrate the concept of patterns. Kids also like firefighters which helps hold their attention.
July 7, 2021
Grouping, sorting and problem-solving in an adorable little book for preschoolers. We finished the book and my 4 year old told me that she likes it and doesn't want to take it back to the library yet. Math for the win!
November 1, 2018
Simple book about firefighters trying to find matching buttons. Lots of math application. Ideas in the back for math activities.
September 29, 2021
Will be great for a sorting lesson followed by graphing lesson.
June 13, 2025
Reedsburg in WI
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 is a fun book for younger children, but I must admit I was a little disappointed that the book was almost entirely about sorting shapes, sizes and colors and not really about firefighters. It was on the display for Fire Prevention Week and I was more or less hoping to get a fun picture book about fire safety. Oh well.
This is a fun book for younger children, but I must admit I was a little disappointed that the book was almost entirely about sorting shapes, sizes and colors and not really about firefighters. It was on the display for Fire Prevention Week and I was more or less hoping to get a fun picture book about fire safety. Oh well.
April 16, 2012
This book is great for teaching about sorting based on colors, shapes, etc. Teachers can use this book as introduction into any mathematical lesson. You can ask kids to look a different items and ask them how these objects can be sorted. They can be sorted by angle measures, size, or even by how many symmetry lines a shapes has. This book can be used for any elementary grade level.
November 21, 2012
This book teaches the concept of sorting. I will write down the names of the students on notecards. Students will then help me sort the names. They will then tell me what rule they used to sort the names such as by the number of letters, or by the gender. They can also sort other objects such as sea shells, rocks, or marbles.
May 31, 2008
This and other Stuart Murphy books really bring math to life. This one involves 3 little kids dressing in firefighter costumes for a parade. Oh no! Their buttons are missing! they must be sorted for the parade so that their belly buttons don't show! ;)
August 7, 2008
I want to find a preschooler to read this book with - and practice the additional activities at the end!
April 29, 2010
Three young firefighters must find matching sets of buttons to complete their costumes for a parade, but should they sort them by shape, color, or size? www.hcpl.net
Focus: Sorting
Focus: Sorting
April 11, 2013
- In this book, the math concept is sorting objects.
- This book can be great for sorting and classifying objects by certain attributes such as color, shape or size.
- Grades K-2
- This book can be great for sorting and classifying objects by certain attributes such as color, shape or size.
- Grades K-2
Read
December 27, 2017Great book for working with attributes. Used with EM4 Unit 4
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews