100 Days of Cool (Mathstart: Level 2 (HarperCollins Paperback)) by Murphy, Stuart J. (2004) Paperback

MathStart Level 2

by Stuart J. Murphy

Four students arrive on the first day of school looking cool and their teacher challenges them to keep it up as they count down one hundred days to a cool celebration.

Genres: Mathematics, Childrens, Counting, Picture Books

Unknown Binding

First published December 1, 2003

About the author

PICTURES & WORDS, STORIES & BOOKS
MathStart http://www.mathstart.net
I See I Learn http://www.iseeilearn.com

I was one of those kids who talked all the time in class. I loved telling stories. One day in the 4th Grade, my teacher said, “You tell such good stories, maybe you should try writing some of them down.” “Wow,” I thought. “She thinks my stories are good.” That’s when I started to really enjoy writing.

I was also the class artist. When I wasn’t talking,I was drawing. When I was older, I studied art at the Rhode Island School
of Design. That’s where I became interested in visual learning—how we decode and acquire information from graphs, charts, diagrams, models, illustrations and other images.

I became especially interested in educational publishing and have worked on the development of over a dozen major textbook programs, championing visual learning strategies from Pre-K through high school in every major curriculum area.

MATHSTART

The inspiration to write math stories for children was sparked by my work on a high school mathematics program. Visual learning strategies helped teens—who had been characterized as “reluctant learners’—understand difficult math concepts. Putting math in the context of stories based on their experiences made them feel more comfortable with abstract concepts. They actually became eager to apply math to real-life problems.
If this approach worked for older students, I began to wonder what might happen if younger children were introduced to math this way!

Even before children can read—or speak many words—they can interpret visual information with ease. The MathStart books use simple stories coupled with diagrams, graphs and other visual models to teach everything from probability and pattern recognition to area, capacity and negative numbers.

The Best Bug Parade, (comparing sizes) was my very first published book. It was absolutely thrilling to see my name in print! I never expected that one day there would 63 MathStart books, split over three levels for ages Pre-K to Grade 4.

Each book includes two pages of review and activities designed to help teachers and parents extend learning beyond the story, along with suggestions of related books by other authors. After all, if a child enjoys learning math through stories, then let’s have more stories!
(Pictures, Words & Math: An interview with Stuart J. Murphy )

THE MAIN STREET KIDS' CLUB: A MATHSTART MUSICAL

Now get out your dancing shoes—there is a musical based on six of the MathStart books! The Main Street Kids’ Club was workshopped at Northwestern University and adapted by Scott Ferguson, who also created the perennially popular production of Schoolhouse Rock Live!
The songs are terrific. The math is spot on. And the club motto makes my heart sing: “Math Skills are Life Skills!”

STUART J. MURPHY'S I SEE I LEARN

My latest series of books is focused on young children—Preschool and Kindergarten age.
I See I Learn books teach social, emotional, health and safety, and cognitive skills, such as how to make friends, build confidence, play safely, work together, manage emotions, and make plans. These skills are important for school readiness and for living happy, healthy, productive lives.

The stories “star” a wonderful bunch of friends who live in See-and-Learn City and attend Ready Set Pre-K. The cast includes Freda, Percy, Emma, Ajay, Camille, and Carlos. And, of course, Pickle, the green bull dog—who happens to have a soft-spot for butterflies—and Miss Cathy, their teacher.

I See I Learn stories are modeled on real-life situations and, just as in real-life, often involve more than one skill. For example, Freda Plans a Picnic is about sequencing, a cognitive skill, but the picnic itself is a social event. Percy Plays It Safe focuses on playground safety skills, but playing successfully in a group also requires self-regulation, an emotional skill.

Each book is reviewed by a tea

Reviews

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

adds a little bit more to the regular 100 days of school books... like the timeline on the top, the extra zany days, and of course, the misunderstanding at the beginning. Adore the idea of day 41: reading books at the senior center!

[Aadi Chaitanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stuart J.Murphy is my all time favourite author . He teaches us Mats in story so easily and fun way. I have read most of his books.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another fun story in the MathStart series by Stuart J. Murphy. We like these books; they incorporate math principles into the story and show how math is fun and necessary for everyday life.

This book depicts a fun way to count to one hundred. Skip counting and fractions are natural off-shoots and I like how the number line at the top of each page helps to depict how the days progress.

The tale is entertaining and the illustrations are colorful; our girls loved the wild outfits and the creative ways the kids chose to display their 'cool.' It's a fun book to read to celebrate the 100th day of school. We enjoyed reading this book together.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a number line throughout the book to indicate the places in time where different days are highlighted on the way from days 1-100. No where in the book are there actual items to "count" and there is not an illustration of numbers 1-100 for children to point to and count. My kids enjoyed the zany things the children did to celebrate each day up to 100 (note- not all 100 days are depicted), but as a reinforcement for math it ranks poorly to me, the parent.

[Candace Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book to teach students about counting to 100. It's gives many ideas of how a couple of students did changed their clothing at school for the first 100 days of school. I would use this book in my first grade class to teach them how they can count to 100 and it can be interactive and fun for them. The students can figure out which numbers come next.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

100 days of cool is a great book to introduce addition as well as introducing students to the number line and where to place numbers on the number line. I would love to use this book with my students as wel create our own number line of the 100 cool days. I would recommend this book to all teachers.

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade Level(s): K-2
* Teaches numbers and counting; in meeting math standards, this book connects number words and numerals to the quantities that they represent.
* Can be used to teach fractions
* Demonstrates rounding to the next number (estimation)
* Teaches concepts of time and how time is measured

[Tywanna Robb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great story to teach students how to count from 1 to 100. I also really liked the fact that each page included a number line, so it will also be a great book to use to introduce the concept of number lines. I also like that it was to relate to being that most schools celebrate 100 days of school.

[Jodi Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fun book to use for practicing counting. A great way to look at the first 100 days of school. I would read this on the first day and tell the students that at every 20 days or so, we'll have a silly day. That'll keep them excited to count everyday.

[Latifah Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a great reader for the 100th day of school. In this book, they count to the 100th day of school while marking days as they go along. For instance, at 50, they said things like were are half way there. This is great for a 2-4th grade classroom.

[Amanda Davenport · Rating 1 out of 5]

i bought it from amazon for the 100th day of school and the kids and i agreed that it was really lame

[Michael D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book teaches young students to count from 1 to 100 which is an important benchmark for them. Also, the book can be used to introduce place value to some kindergarten and first graders.

[Kelly Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very good when students are starting to learn 3 digit numbers . I would use this book for the first 100 days of school and as an introductory to place value unit .

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Math Concepts. Original idea.

[Dana Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to read on the 100th day of school. It also teaches children how math is used in thier every day lives. The author makes learning math FUN!!!

[Jie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just a book on counting. It has a little bit of fraction, subtraction, estimation, rounding, etc. A little silly.

[Elanor]

All by herself!