Leaping Lizards

MathStart Level 1

by Stuart J. Murphy

Stuart J. Murphy travels all over the UnitedStates talking to thousands of kids. And you'll never believe what they talk MATH! Stuart shows kids that they use math every day -- to share a pizza, spend their allowance, even sort socks. Stuart writes funny stories about math -- and if you read his books, you'll start to see the fun in math, too.Leaping LizardsThe show's about to begin -- but where are all the lizards? Slowly they start to arrive in groups of 5 and 10. Will all 50 make it in time? An introduction to counting by 5s and 10s.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, 1st Grade, Counting, Nonfiction

Library Binding

First published August 11, 2005

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

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great book to teach students about skip counting by 5s and tens. Also, you can accommodate your students by asking them to count by 2s if 5s are to hard. The students will enjoy following along through this vibrant book. The illustrations are awesome and I'm sure the students will love this book.

[Isabella Marrier · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this story for young readers or beginning English readers, students will learn how to skip count. This book is also told in a rhyming format, so it flows very easily. The illustrations are funny with the lizard facial expressions which create an exciting environment once you open up the first page. This book shows examples of counting by 5's and 10's in order to get to 50.
I highly recommend this book for your shelves. If there is a book out there that can get your young readers excited about counting, this one is a great contestant.

[Jennilee Angeski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wasn't as explicit with skip counting, but offers a cute story with visuals that can support skip counting learning. I would probably use this after the child(ren) were already exposed to the general idea.

[JoAnna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a young girl named Buddy who has a younger sister with Down’s syndrome. She always feels taunted by that and then when her father loses his job, they have to leave their home and move to a farm that was inherited to them. When she thinks life could not get any worse, she finds out that one of her friends is becoming an alcoholic and her other close friend was abandoned by his father. It talks about many family conflicts and opens Buddy’s eyes about her life. At the end of the story, she is not the girl who once felt sorry for herself and moped around but wants to help others. This story could be used to talk about character and who the antagonist/protagonist is. Also, it could be used when talking about diversity and teaching your students that not all families are the same.

[Samantha Fate]

This is a great book for children who are just starting to learn to count by fives or tens. The snake in the book goes around looking for the show lizards and finds them in groups of fives or tens. Whenever a new group is found, there is an area on the page that counts the total number of lizards they have and they also in the story count to see how many lizards they have found. Once they get to fifty lizards, they can start the show. This book is great for kids to follow along to and count as they see the lizards. The pictures in the book are bright and catch the reader’s attention. It just seems like a very fast paced book and it makes you want to read aloud. Overall good book to ready to children or have them read it themselves

[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 is a fun, rhyming tale that helps children count by fives and tens. It has colorful illustrations with lots of interesting little lizards. The narrative is rhythmic and short, so it is simple for beginning readers. And it makes counting fun, too. We enjoyed reading this book together.

[Erica Garl]

This is a children's book with an underlying math concept to be learned. While trying to prepare for the show to the start, the snake soon realizes are the lizards are missing. They then begin to arrive in groups of five and then ten until all fifty of them are there and the show can start. This introduces the basic idea of counting and adding by grouping. I love the bright colors through out the book and idea that it is very child friendly. There are many ways that this book could also be used in the classroom along with activities that could go with the book also.

[Candice Mckinnon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leaping Lizards is a cute book for young children who are beginning to learn how to count and add. It works with numbers up to 50 using clear and understandable language. The pictures are big and colorful with objects that children can count. The concept of this book is counting by 5's and 10's, so if teachers are working on this in the classroom, Leaping Lizards would be a great book to read. It also includes games that you can play working with 5's and 10's in the index.

[Sebin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would use this book to teach students about counting by 5's and 10's. This book has an interesting storyline of a snake looking for the performers and then the lizards leap into groups of five (5) then ten (10) until all 50 are on stage. The colorful illustrations are appealing and you could accommodate for your higher level thinkers by raising the total to 100+.

[Nicole Holden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will be great for students who are learning to county by 5's and also counting by 10's. Counting by 5's and 10's will be helpful when learning to count money, tell time, or learn to multiply.

[Sa Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leaping Lizards is a math book for young children who are beginning to learn how to count and add. This book helps children learn counting by fives and tens. We also have more fun with the math concepts. Thank you author.

[Haley Sterritt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute book for kindergarten and first grade. It discusses lizards adventures and how they use counting in everyday experiences. It also introduces counting by 5s and 10s.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Counting by 5s and 10s. Fun math inspired book.