Sorting through Spring

by Lizann Flatt, Ashley Barron (Illustrations)

As young readers journey into the natural world, they will discover that numbers, patterns, shapes — and much more! — can be found by observing everyday plants and animals.

What if animals and plants knew math, just like us? Would flowers bloom in patterns? Would raindrops fall in rhythm? Would birds balance evenly on branches? In Sorting through Spring , the second title in the Math in Nature series, nature comes to life to help children grasp concepts of patterning, sorting, data management, and probability.

This interactive, poetic, and artful picture book series is a non-intimidating and enticing way to introduce math to kids — they will laugh, use their imaginations, and learn through activities inspired by the books.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Nature, Nonfiction, Childrens, Animals, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 12, 2013

About the author

Lizann Flatt has written many nonfiction books and numerous short stories and poems for kids. Her latest picture book series includes COUNTING ON FALL, SORTING THROUGH SPRING, SIZING UP WINTER, SHAPING UP SUMMER. What if animals knew math? The series invites kids to practice primary math skills and learn a bit about nature. Her LET'S GO! THE STORY OF GETTING FROM THERE TO HERE is the history of transportation in North America. It was selected as the Canadian Children's Book Centre's TD Grade One Giveaway book in 2009 and given to over 400,000 grade one kids in Canada. Lizann's work has also appeared in LADYBUG, BABYBUG, and HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN magazines. She was formerly the editor of Canadian children’s magazine CHICKADEE. Today she lives in rural Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.

Reviews

[John Simet]

Curricular Ties: Science and Math

Explanation: The story takes place in nature, but it is really about math and patterns. Even though it mentions concepts like schools of fish, milk snakes, hummingbirds, caribou, etc, the real crux of the story is the math concepts it introduces like ratios, sorting, ABA patterns, and graphing. At the end of the story it does mention all the environments and animals it discussed throughout and gives a scientific background for each. I would use this book primarily for math as it gets students thinking about those math concepts related to environments children have seen or have some knowledge of.

Rationale: I would choose this book because it brings math concepts to a familiar environment. It takes the abstract and makes it concrete. I probably wouldn't use this book as a pure science text as its real value is illustrating math in the real world.

[Storytime Corner · Rating 3 out of 5]

“What if raindrops weren’t random dropping down from the sky? What if rain had a rhythm, or a beat to repeat?”
❤️ I liked the flow of the writing and it is a creative way of asking math questions
💫 I wish the artwork were a bit more captivating
📆 I’d use this for a math lesson in the spring time to mix things up
⭐️⭐️⭐️ It was well written but given the type of book (math problems), it really is a one time read

Check out StorytimeCorner.com to see our favorites grouped by time of year/theme we’d recommend reading them.

My Ranking System:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I absolutely love everything about the book and would buy it
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I love the book but there are enough “wishes” that I wouldn’t buy it but I’d definitely check it out again
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’m glad I read it once but it is a one time read and never again
⭐️⭐️ I was bored and wish I had the time back that I spent reading it
⭐️ I really didn’t like it and would advise people NOT to read it

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for patterns and sorting . . .
can you make up a clapping rhythm for rain?Includes movement and sound patterns as well as visual ones. Could use parts of this book with preschool and more for early elementary grades.

Beautiful paper collage illustrations.

From Canada (OwlKids) - Part of Math in Nature series.

[Aletheia Ubben · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collage-based illustrations in this book are really beautiful. Each page has a pattern or numbers activity. The activities seemed a little too educational (is that possible?) and definitely beyond the interest of a two-year-old, but I could see us coming back to this one when Aletheia is older.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patterns in nature? Could animals understand, maybe even hear patterns? Could flowers grow in patterns or fish swim in groups (schools)? Conclusion, yes! But they don't need to know numbers to understand it. Only we do.

[Smurf · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't what I thought the book was going to be. It's really not about sorting, it's mostly about patterns. They were a little complicated for younger kids to understand. Not to mention boring. I ended up skimming the rest of the book. This would not be a fun book to read to kids.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat paper art for illustrations. However, I would not use this for story time. The educational elements seemed a bit too complex for the story. Very neat idea, though!

[Audrey's Picture Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say I'm a little skeptical. The book is beautifully illustrated, but I'm not sure how much it would interest children. Must conduct a field test...

[Esther May · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the pictures in this book. The pictures alone made this book go from 3 stars to 4 stars.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever book. Some stuff was rather random though

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story 3.5
Illustrations 4

[Cassie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I had in mind. Would be perfect for learning about patterns.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patterns and numbers appear in nature.

[Dawn Grabs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good math for kindergarten or 1st