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MathStart: Level 3 #3
Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do! (Mathstart: Level 3
“Kids, young and old, fall in love with math when they see how real-life and effortless it becomes thanks to these books.” —Kimberly D. Mueller, Ed.D., First Grade Teacher, Ashbrook School, Lumberton NJ Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do! is perfect for teaching multiplication to second, third, and fourth graders. It’s Kangaroo’s birthday, but no one will play with not the emu, the platypuses, the koalas, or even the dingos. They all have too many things to do. What exactly are they doing? They’re using multiplication to figure out just how many things they have to do to plan a big surprise for Kangaroo! Kids will love the story and the funny illustrations by Kevin O'Malley. Parents and other educators will love how the story and pictures make understanding comparisons a breeze—as well as the concrete examples of how math works! The book contains activities for adults to do with kids to extend math into their own lives! Math skills are life skills, and the MathStart series supports success! MathStart's unique combination of stories, illustrations, and visual models helps teachers and parents in the teaching of math and provides all children with the opportunity to succeed. The math concepts taught in MathStart books conform to state and national standards. Level 1 is Pre-K–Kindergarten; Level 2 is Grades 1–3; Level 3 is Grades 2–4. The series follows math topics across grades so there is a foundational path to learning that runs through the levels. Help kids with their math skills plus their reading skills with the engaging and fun MathStart series!
40 pages, Library Binding
First published July 19, 1996
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Stuart J. Murphy
158 books60 followersPICTURES & 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 3, 2018
I thought this book was really cute. It is about a kangaroo whose birthday is upon him, but none of his friends can play because they are too busy. I think this book would be great for discussing birthday parties, feelings, and multiplication.
August 10, 2020
I really wish our library had more of these MathStart books (unfortunately they don't due to the age of publication). Miss 6 picked up on the way the numbers were following a pattern as the animals planned a surprise birthday party. It's a very approachable way to introduce multiplication.
Miss 6 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors.
Miss 6 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors.
February 28, 2011
This is a "mathstart" story. However, for the purposes of a pre-school story time I ignored the "math" aspects and focused on introducing "outback" wildlife. It's kangaroo's birthday and he systematically invites his friends the emu, the platypus, the koala, and the dingo to play with him. They're all too busy baking and tasting and wrapping and decorating (all of which activities invite making motions with the children).
Acting out story elements with motions is key to keeping a group of young children focused and engaged. If there are two story performers, one reads or tells the story and the other leads the actions. Telling the story vs reading the story keeps the performer's energy focused on the group.
On the last page be sure to have the children cheer "Happy Birthday!" with you. If you're in the mood you can also lead them in singing "Happy Birthday, dear Kangaroo".
Acting out story elements with motions is key to keeping a group of young children focused and engaged. If there are two story performers, one reads or tells the story and the other leads the actions. Telling the story vs reading the story keeps the performer's energy focused on the group.
On the last page be sure to have the children cheer "Happy Birthday!" with you. If you're in the mood you can also lead them in singing "Happy Birthday, dear Kangaroo".
October 8, 2011
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 is a great way to introduce the concept of multiplication. The story is fairly predictable, but fun and the illustrations are terrific. Our girls insist that we must make the fruit punch soon! We really enjoyed reading this together and discussing the math concepts. Terrific!
This is a great way to introduce the concept of multiplication. The story is fairly predictable, but fun and the illustrations are terrific. Our girls insist that we must make the fruit punch soon! We really enjoyed reading this together and discussing the math concepts. Terrific!
June 20, 2009
This book teaches multiplication. The kangaroo goes to one animal and that animals tells what he has to do. The book shows the math problems: 1X1=1 1X2=2 1X3=3 1X4=4 Then the kangaroo goes to two animals and they tell what they have to do. 2X1=1 2X2=4 and so on. Everything is related to a party and it is revealed at the end all the animals had been preparing a surprise party for the kangaroo.
One nice thing is that all the animals are Australian animals, so I think it takes place in Australia.
One nice thing is that all the animals are Australian animals, so I think it takes place in Australia.
November 24, 2012
This book is very interactive for students to be read to during math time.
This book expresses a story using multiplication and I actually found it in the math tech support area in the book room at the elementary school.
Murphy shows great illustrations and ways for students to understand and physically see multiplication being used.
MULTIPLICATION
This type of book can be taught during a unit dealing with "fiction" stories/books. This book could be read to grades to allow them to see a creative story, where animals are the main characters within the book.
This book expresses a story using multiplication and I actually found it in the math tech support area in the book room at the elementary school.
Murphy shows great illustrations and ways for students to understand and physically see multiplication being used.
MULTIPLICATION
This type of book can be taught during a unit dealing with "fiction" stories/books. This book could be read to grades to allow them to see a creative story, where animals are the main characters within the book.
November 13, 2008
This was a great little book to introduce beginning multiplication (1-4, starting with 1x1 and ending with 4x4). Good illustrations to support - for example 2x2 has two groups of two items. It's a cute story too.
My 8-year-olds enjoyed it as did my 4-year-old. I heard the 4-yr-old walking around later "4 boys times 2 cars equals 8 things), totally making up his own problems.
We'll try to do some extension/hands-on problems with this book.
My 8-year-olds enjoyed it as did my 4-year-old. I heard the 4-yr-old walking around later "4 boys times 2 cars equals 8 things), totally making up his own problems.
We'll try to do some extension/hands-on problems with this book.
February 10, 2012
This is a Level 3 book emphasizing multiplication. However, I could put this book to good use in grades K - 2. It has a great story line with a plot and characters and settings for language arts studies. It shows multiplication as repeated addition. Sets,groups, and computations with money can be taught with this book. Multipliple possiblities of lesson plans can be made from the use of this book.
July 19, 2012
This is an excellent book for students that are just starting to learn multiplication. It provides a good story for their children to learn initial multiplication. I would use this for 2nd or 3rd graders that are starting to learn multiplication tables. I could use the story as word problems in class and ask my students to solve the problems.
August 31, 2011
Such a cute story that I would reccomend it for early ages. They won't get the math in it right away but it is good exposure to multiplication and addition and the story can be used in later years by students working on these concepts. Lesson plan ideas written in the back!
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November 21, 2011This book uses multiplication to figure out how many things Kangaroo's friends can plan for his birthday. It is another great book from the MathStart series. I would use this book to introduce beginning multiplication with small numbers.
July 16, 2008
Well-presented story about multiplication, and sweet to boot.
April 30, 2010
Used this book to introduce my math centers on multiplication. Sad kangaroo thinks everyone has forgotten his birthday, but they are actually working together to plan a great party.
July 28, 2012
Great book for teaching students how to multiply, count to 100 by tens.
April 4, 2013
This book has an interesting story line. It shows multiplication as repeated addition. Also sets and groups can be taught with this book.
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November 1, 2015multiplication
April 11, 2012
Colorful book to read. It can assist someone in teaching a young learner how to multiply.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews