School Library Journal
PreS-K-Counting, hidden numbers to find, and fun facts are included in these two books. The first one presents 11 vegetables, from 1 tomato to 11 peppers, resulting in 12 plates of salad for a family. Each page records the harvesting with sentences featuring 11 different verbs and alliteration of adjectives and nouns, which will encourage vocabulary expansion. The second title describes construction from the ground up, with "One big plan for making a big building" to a handy enumeration of the machines needed to complete it, culminating with "Twelve stories tall, the new building gleams in the sun." "Fun Facts" includes information about the world's tallest structure (the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario) and a listing of occupations connected with construction. In both books, bright, bold illustrations on full spreads make the items easy to count. Multiple uses and learning opportunities make these titles useful purchases.-Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
NCTM Teaching Children Mathematics
Know Your Numbers is a delightful series for young children that can be used to introduce kindergarten students to skip counting. The books can also be used in a shared reading or a read-aloud for first graders, or for independent reading or guided reading groups. The books can be used as independent readers at the beginning of second grade as well. I used these books with kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders, and all the children enjoyed them. This series lends itself nicely for integrating mathematics with reading. The text is large enough that each book can be used as if it were a big book. The books are great as a read-aloud to start a mathematics lesson. Teachers should allow time for the children to discuss the book, the children will be eager to share the connections that they have with the story and to relate the mathematics concepts that they see. The format for the series includes predictable text and a growing pattern. The amount on each page is shown in dots and numbers, and the number is hidden in the illustrations. When reading the books in a small-group setting, some children did have difficulty reading the number words in all capital letters. After the second reading, however, they better understood the pattern and could read the capitalized number words with ease. The illustrations are done in collage. They are bright and appealing, and they nicely support the text. The font appears to be handwriting; children will point this out. Children will want to read these books over and over again. They can make their own versions of the books to help them with skip counting by fives. At the end of each book are some fun facts, a Web site, an explanation of where to find the missing numbers hidden in the illustrations, and a list of other books in the series. I would recommend this series of books for any primary-grade teacher.
Science Books & Films
Pie for Piglet and Lots of Ladybugs, by Michael Dahl, are brightly colored books filled with counting activities. The main activity in the lady bug book is counting by fives, displayed through five spots on the back of each ladybug. As each page is turned, an additional ladybug with five black spots is found doing a variety of daily activities. IN the book on piglets, it is counting by twos. In the piglet book, a male and female piglet are shown making a pie. The number of each ingredient on each page matches the multiple of two presented. For example, four sticks of butter are shown on the second page, since four is a multiple of two. Each book enables children to count up to the tenth multiple by eacher two or five. Each page gives the number written in words and the number and the corresponding number of dots in a rectangle. An additional benefit on each page turned is a picture of the previous rectangle with numbers and dots and the current rectangle with numbers and added dots. This apporach allows the children to count from the beginning to the number on the current page, creating repetition. In each book, on page 24 (the final page), the author lists five fun facts regarding the animal of the book's title. IN the ladybug book, an example is "Ladybugs are usually red or orange. But they can also be red, yellow, gray black , blue or pink." An example in the piglet book is "Pigs and hippopotamuses are cousins." An additional activity on each of the pages is called "Find the Numbers." In each picture shown, children can find hidden a multiple of two or five, depending on the book chosen. On page 24, Dahl lists where the hidden numbers can be found on each page. Finally, children are given the address of a Web site on the last page: www.facthound.com. By going to this site, children can find additional Web sites related to each book. Also, there is a printable lesson plan, and "whisper counting" and "musical multiplication" are introduced. These two books are part of the author's Know Your Numbers series. I recommend them highly for preschoolers and for teachers or parents of children in the lower elementary school grades who are interested in giving students an early start in the basic principles of multiplication. The books are educational and have good sentence structure. Each page has vivid cut-out style picture that will intrigue any youngster.
Book Links
This counting book from the Know Your Numbers series takes the reader through 12 steps in constructing a building, but the number fun doesn't stop there. Each page has a dominolike box with a corresponding numeral and dots. Children are challenged to find the hidden numeral on each page.
