Activities! Leaping Lizards! Tally O'Malley! The Ready, Set, Hop Froggies! And Percy Listens Up...and has MORE fun!
The Stuart J. Murphy Activities Newsletter comes out every other Wednesday, filled with selections from a vast and wonderful archive of Early Math & Early Childhood Ed activities.
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Hello, Everybody!
This week I read an article in the New York Times about how “the youngest pandemic children” struggling to catch up in school. It isn’t only academic skills (math, in particular) that are lagging, but also also critical social, emotional, health & safety skills, too.
…Perhaps the biggest difference Lissa O’Rourke has noticed among her preschoolers in St. Augustine, Fla., has been their inability to regulate their emotions: “It was knocking over chairs, it was throwing things, it was hitting their peers, hitting their teachers.”
Data from schools underscores what early childhood professionals have noticed.
Children who just finished second grade, who were as young as 3 or 4 when the pandemic began, remain behind children the same age pre-pandemic, particularly in math, according to the new Curriculum Associates data. Of particular concern, the students who are the furthest behind are making the least progress catching up…
We can do something about this! We have to do something about this!
My MathStart and I See I Learn books were written to help young children learn the kinds of skills critical to success not only in school, but also in life.
They are physical books because, well, you don’t have plug them in. They don’t have batteries that need to be recharged. They are portable. You can take them out of the library for free (I love libraries!) You can take your time looking at illustrations and go back to reread sections with your children.
All my books use a combination of visual learning strategies and storytelling. Long before children can read, or even speak very many words, they are accomplished visual learners. Visual leaerning is a universal language, so why not build on this innate talent? And everybody loves stories!
Many of my books have been translated into several languages, including Chinese and Korean. (I would very much like to see more Spanish translations, especially here in the US, but my publishers tell me it is hard to sell Spanish books in the US market. If you know a company that would like to license the rights, I would be happy to put them in touch with the right people!)
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Each of the MathStart and I See I Learn books includes activities to extend the learning. Every other week, activities from three MathStart stories and a “Closer Look” poster from an I See I Learn book are featured. It is a FREE-to-subsribe newslettter with FREE downloads. Please spread the word!
This week’s featured MathStart books are:
Leaping Lizards (counting by 5s and 10s)
Tally O’Malley (tallying)
Ready, Set, Hop! (building equations)
Our featured I See I Learn story this week is Percy Listens Up (listening). I am just like Percy: I love to play! Do you love to play, too? Unfortunately, like Percy, I don’t always listen and miss out on some of the fun. But after reading about how Percy learns to listen better and has more fun, I am always inspired to do the same!
Your friend,
Stuart
Mathstart is a series of 63 storybooks organized into three levels for Pre-K through Grade 4. Each story teaches a different mathematical skill.
You can buy individual books, sets by level, or a complete library. Here is list of where to find MathStart books!
• Level 1, Pre-K/ Kindergarten:
Leaping Lizards (counting by 5s and 10s)
To put on “The Fifty Leaping Lizards Show!,” you need fifty star-struck leaping lizards. Where will they all come from? The first five are found lounging in bunk beds, but the next five arrive in theatrical style, riding unicycles and juggling. The next five are speed-demons in race-cars, followed by five more in a hot-air balloon. Colorful graphics keeps track of the count, first by showing how counting by 5s works, and then showing how counting by 10s is related: Kids can easily see how each group of 10 lizards divides into two groups of 5. Will there be enough lizards by show time?
Counting by 5s and 10s is an important skill that helps children master multiplication facts, tell time, and count money.
• Level 2, Kindergarten / Grade 1:
Tally O’Malley (tallying)
The O'Malleys are driving to the beach for vacation. Eric, Bridget, and little Nell are getting bored in the back seat, so Mom suggests a Tally game. They decide to count cars on the highway. Each of the kids picks a color—silver for Eric, blue for Bridget, and red, as always, for Nell—while Mom sets the timer. Eric trounces the competition and gets to wear the Shamrock medal. And his sister dubs him "Tally O'Malley!" But will he be able to hang on to the title when they tally t-shirt colors while waiting in line for ice cream, or tally train cars? Tally marks are a useful tool for children to keep track as they count, and for data collection.
Grouping tally marks also reinforces counting by fives.
• Level 3, Grades 2 - 4:
Ready, Set, Hop! (building equations)
Who's the better hopper? Matty, the tall frog? Or Moe, who's just plain big? Only a hopping contest can settle the matter. It takes Moe only five hops to make it to the big rock. Matty needs two more hops. So how many hops did Matty take? (5 hops + 2 hops = ?). The happy hoppers keep going until—splash!—they're in the pond.
Knowing how equations are built is central to children's learning how to interpret and write number sentences.
I See I Learn is a series of 16 stories that follow the adventures of the children in Miss Cathy’s class at Ready, Set Pre-K in See-and-Learn City (see map).
Each story focuses on a different social, emotional, health & safety and cognitive skill important for success in school and in life. For Pre-K / Kindergarten.
20% off on book sets on the I See I Learn store!
Percy Listens Up (listening)
Percy loves to play. Sometimes this means that he forgets to listen to his teachers or his mommy. He misses out on fun in school and at the pool. But see what always makes Percy listen!
Listening shows respect for what other people have to say. Careful listening helps children understand directions, learn new things, be safe, and have more fun.
Listen up, everyone!
FREE PDF POSTER
Do you have a story or a question? Please send me an email!