Sea Sums

by Joy N. Hulme, Carol Schwartz (Illustrator)

With an appealing abundance of plants and animals, the shallows of an ocean coral reef offer a natural background for an under-the-sea arithmetic party. Creatures from stingrays to clams, crabs to sea urchins, and more disappear and reappear to provide young mathematicians with a fascinating array of equations--and a mini ecology lesson about life on a coral reef. Full color.

Genres: Mathematics, School, Picture Books

31 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1900

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A combination of two important lessons for children

This book simultaneously presents two lessons. The first consists of a few addition/subtraction problems where what is being counted are the creatures found in the ocean in the vicinity of a coral reef. As a math exercise it is simply average and is dwarfed by the descriptions of the sea creatures in the warm waters by coral reefs.
The images and descriptions of the wildlife of the reef are both first rate and very educational. The text is generally in a rhyming form where the structure of the rhyme varies. Most of the time the text is presented in four line segments where the third and fourth lines rhyme. Other times there are longer segments where the even numbered line rhymes with the odd numbered line that precedes it.

This is one of the most educational books by Scholastic that I have ever read.

This review also appears on Amazon.

[Sharonta Johnson]

This is a great read aloud book where you can do informal assessments on addition with dry erase boards. You could call out problems in the book and have them write the answers on the boards.

[Sharon Schlup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Math word problems.