Animals on Board (MathStart 2)

After reading the reviews, I went back to look at our copy. Although in theory I agree that, for young children, the group of animals should be on the same side as the corresponding number, I really don't think it matters because the animals are in the main picture, whereas the numbers are in a box, (cleverly drawn as a billboard/streetsign), with a tiny group of animals over each number. In other words, it says 3+2+5 and over the three is a picture of three animals and over the two is a picture of two animals. It is separate. In a way, I like it better this way, because it lets the child see it and understand it better. It makes it stand out somehow. I kind of wonder why there was not a group of animals over the answer number, but it really just didn't seem confusing to me. Somehow, the way the page is laid out and the illustrations done, it makes sense. I am reading this to a four year old and we focus on the main picture, where she'll count, but I also point out the groups at the bottom and later I will get into the symbols, the actual numerals. Maybe she'll sort of absorb that without us really focusing on it now. I am not trying to teach math with 3+2=5 at this point. I see this sort of book to have the possibility of levels of teaching. For now, we just look at the groups of animals and she can count three animals and two more and see that they equal five. I found the illustrations very engaging and the book to be well done and not at all confusing, even for a beginning counter. It is a cute book and I'd buy it again.

Interesting comments (below) about this book, BUT I have to say that we didn't even notice the fact that the equations and the sequence of the numbers didn't match until I read the reviews here. In any case, let me give you our viewpoints on the book. First the equations covered: 3 + 2 = 5 6 + 1 = 7 4 + 4 = 8 7 + 3 = 10 9 + 0 = 9 Now, with only 5 equations you won't be producing a math whiz, but what you can do is introduce the idea of equations and addition to children. Personally I am using this book with my preschooler (boy-4 yo). [It is too limited in scope for my 6 yo Kindergarten age daughter.] We count the animals and I ask him to read the equation, and he IS grasping the basic idea of addition and formulas. The way that the equation is shown with pictures of the animals right above the animals helps a lot in getting this across. Four Stars. Colorful bright book that addresses simple equations in a manner that (some) preschoolers and most older children can readily understand. The concept is interesting to children and done in a way that makes sense to them.

I disagree with the last reviewer. As a first grade teacher, I liked that the number sentences demonstrated the commutative property (could that be why the author had the animals commuting? LOL) Our class could discuss how the sentence 5+2 is the same as 2+5 for example - regardles of which group on what truck was counted first the total animals is the same. We could make trucks and put our own little animal on them, and write our own # sentences in our own little books - changing the order of the trucks and getting the same result. (Part-part-whole concept.) A child shouldn't be taught that adding two quantities works only one direction and it's either right or wrong based on the direction you write the # sentence. 5+2 =7 is the same as 2+5=7. Even 7=5+2 or 7=2+5 is correct! I appreciate that that the numbers are commutable in this text! CG

In this book delightful rhyming prose is used to tell a story about some very special animals being transported on trucks. Children add the animals as they pass, while number sentences are shown to reinforce the concept. In the process of reading the story, children try to guess where these tigers, swans and panda bears might be headed. When the animals finally reach their destination, the illustration encourages children to find all the animals they encountered on their journey and to make sure they arrived safely. I use the Mathstarts books frequently in teaching Kindergarten, it helps show children, that math is part of everyday life, and encourages them to tell their own "math" stories.