100 Days! & 10 Years!

Time flies when you're having fun! And, of course, Math = Fun!

Now that fall is here, you can have fun counting your way toward that milestone of the academic year: the 100th day of school.

In my book, "100 Days of Cool", a group of very stylish and imaginative kids - Maggie, Nathan, Yoshi and Scott - find a way to dress up or do something "cool" every single school-day for 100 days. They wear kooky socks, decorate their bikes, make hats, paste sparkles on their faces, and even volunteer to read books at the Oak Hills Senior Center after school ("How cool is that?"). I hope your students are having fun and keeping track, too!

This year marks another milestone: MathStart is now in its second decade! And we're celebrating with an article in the November issue of Book Links magazine (American Library Association).

Back when the first three MathStart books came out, I had hoped that young kids could gain a better understanding of mathematical concepts if they were explained visually, and felt that they would be more motivated to learn if math was presented in the context of a story relevant to their lives. I never dreamed that there would eventually be 63 books in the series. Or that teachers all across the country would be using my books in their classrooms. Or that the books would be translated into foreign languages.

Thank you all for making this dream happen!

Best wishes,

Each Activity Page features 3 activities. Just download and print! Once you begin doing math with your kids, you'll see opportunities for math games everywhere. In fact, you'll probably start coming up with some great new ideas of your own. Please share! Send them to feedback@stuartjmurphy.com.

JACK THE BUILDER (Counting On), Level 1, ages 3 +:

Counting on is a strategy to help young children understand how to solve addition problems.

MALL MANIA (Addition Strategies), Level 2, ages 6 +)

Addition strategies are important skills for adding more than two numbers.

RODEO TIME Reading a Schedule), Level 3, ages 7 +

Reading a schedule involves time-telling skills, a sense of elapsed time, and an ability to anticipate and plan.

My kindergarten students love the Bug Dance story. I have used it in various ways to teach several different concepts. And since English Language Learners make up over half my class, the book not only helps teach math, it also helps build vocabulary.

I start by reading the book and then acting out the dance steps. My students asked to do the dance over and over again, so I decided to create a Bug Dance Learning Center Area.

Here are just a few ways that I use this book.

1: I made a mat with outlines of feet going in all four directions. The students could then follow the dance steps in the book.

2: I created word cards that said: "Hop," "Turn," "Left," "Right," "Forward," "Backward" and "Two Steps." I put several of each into the stack. The instructions for the kids were:
a. Pick 6 cards b. Read the cards and put them in some order to create your own dance. c. Enjoy the dance!

3: One day a little boy asked if we could add other dance moves to the story. So I brainstormed with the class for movement words. The activity is the same as #2, but this time included more words the students themselves had generated: "Shake," "Clap," "Jump," "Over," "Under," "Slide," "Stomp," "Three Steps," "Four Steps," and "Turn Around."

These activities were a big hit. We do them about once a month and they get the same reaction every time. I am happy to get those little bodies moving in a constructive way. I hope your class has as much fun as mine has -- year after year!

Soon after the start of the school year, I visited Oliver Ellsworth Elementary School in Windsor, Connecticut, which is close to where I grew up. One student from each class was invited, along with his or her parents, to have breakfast with me. What a nice way to begin a great day, during which I met with students from every grade, 1-5. My hosts, 3rd Grade Teacher Maxine Pincott and Language Arts Consultant Sharon Mooney, did a wonderful job in making sure that everything was perfect, and their efforts sure paid off. They sold (and I signed) over 600 books!