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MathStart Level 2
The Sundae Scoop (Mathstart: Level 2
How many different ice-cream sundaes can you make? With 6 ingredients to choose from, there are so many combinations. Read all about the sundaes they're making at the school picnic. Math has never been so delicious!
40 pages, Library Binding
First published December 24, 2002
3 people are currently reading
68 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 17, 2011
Great text to use when teaching combinations in math. Involves problem solving and pre-algebra skills. Great for younger students to read (plus, it's about ice cream!!). A nice book to use when teaching kids combinations with hands on materials and relating the use of combinations to real life situations. (Look for other Murphy books.)
October 7, 2024
The book I have chosen is called The Sundae Scoop by Stuart J. Murphy.
This book is teaching students about different combinations. In this book there is going to be a picnic. During this picnic characters Winnie , Lauren, and James think of all the different types of ice cream that they want at the picnic. They make a chart on the chalkboard of all the different combinations including chocolate, vanilla and various toppings. Then the book asks the question: how many combinations of ice cream do they have? Then as the book goes on they drop certain toppings and run out of other things so the combinations change. This continues until there is one ice cream flavor left, and it is perfect because it is Winnies favorite flavor!
In this book one of the most important things that I recognize about this text is the model of mathematics. This is showing students a real life example that they could experience and really breaking it down for them to understand. This could even be referred to as strategic competence. So as the teacher is reading through this book, the book asks “How many combinations are there?”. Before the teacher reveals the answer she could give her students a moment to figure out the answer and it could promote proficiency in their combinations. This book also has great scaffolding. This includes diagrams of the different ice cream combinations, and pictures. That way students who need help visualizing it in different ways can. That way students can learn visually, mathematically, and visually. Also it asks provoking questions to keep the students engaged and keep their thinking in the right direction.
I would use this book in my classroom when teaching a lesson on addition. When teaching the lesson I would first read the book. As a class on the white board I would have a felt version of the ice cream combinations to put on a felt board. Then I would recreate the diagram in the book with pictures of felt ice cream. As a class we would count how many combinations of ice cream there were for each flavor. We would add the numbers on the felt board and give students turns on coming up and adding the numbers together. This is a very simple example of what could be done on the board (shared in google slides). As the book continues the problems get harder and harder. After solving all the combinations in the book I would then create a fun real world example! I would have a bunch of toppings and ice cream flavors and we would solve how many combinations that we have. Then we would eat the ice cream!
This book is teaching students about different combinations. In this book there is going to be a picnic. During this picnic characters Winnie , Lauren, and James think of all the different types of ice cream that they want at the picnic. They make a chart on the chalkboard of all the different combinations including chocolate, vanilla and various toppings. Then the book asks the question: how many combinations of ice cream do they have? Then as the book goes on they drop certain toppings and run out of other things so the combinations change. This continues until there is one ice cream flavor left, and it is perfect because it is Winnies favorite flavor!
In this book one of the most important things that I recognize about this text is the model of mathematics. This is showing students a real life example that they could experience and really breaking it down for them to understand. This could even be referred to as strategic competence. So as the teacher is reading through this book, the book asks “How many combinations are there?”. Before the teacher reveals the answer she could give her students a moment to figure out the answer and it could promote proficiency in their combinations. This book also has great scaffolding. This includes diagrams of the different ice cream combinations, and pictures. That way students who need help visualizing it in different ways can. That way students can learn visually, mathematically, and visually. Also it asks provoking questions to keep the students engaged and keep their thinking in the right direction.
I would use this book in my classroom when teaching a lesson on addition. When teaching the lesson I would first read the book. As a class on the white board I would have a felt version of the ice cream combinations to put on a felt board. Then I would recreate the diagram in the book with pictures of felt ice cream. As a class we would count how many combinations of ice cream there were for each flavor. We would add the numbers on the felt board and give students turns on coming up and adding the numbers together. This is a very simple example of what could be done on the board (shared in google slides). As the book continues the problems get harder and harder. After solving all the combinations in the book I would then create a fun real world example! I would have a bunch of toppings and ice cream flavors and we would solve how many combinations that we have. Then we would eat the ice cream!
April 12, 2018
The Sundae Scoop, written by Stuart J. Murphy, is an addition/combinations math book that children can use to help learn addition. In the story, a group of friends and the lunch lady hold an ice cream booth at the school picnic where they have to decide how many combinations can be made from the different types of ice cream and toppings that they can choose from. The issue that takes place is that the number of ice cream flavors and toppings keep getting smaller and smaller due to different things happening, which changes the different kinds of combination that can be made with them. The student will have to be able to add up all of the different combinations to find out how many sundaes can be made.
This book is a great one to have available in a classroom. A child could choose to read this book to help themselves understand combination math better, or it could also be incorporated into a math lesson. Adding in illustrations and a story line makes this book much more appealing than a math textbook for children.
This book is a great one to have available in a classroom. A child could choose to read this book to help themselves understand combination math better, or it could also be incorporated into a math lesson. Adding in illustrations and a story line makes this book much more appealing than a math textbook for children.
August 31, 2019
Simple multiplying
April 25, 2012
We've been reading lots of different books in the various MathStart series by Stuart J. Murphy. This book is in the MathStart Level 2 series and introduces the concept of combinations to children. The stories in this series are fun and as a parent, I like to read the notes in the back, especially the book recommendations.
The story centers on an ice cream booth for a school picnic. Winnie, the lady in charge of the cafeteria has a couple of student helpers and together they come up with a variety of choices for making sundaes at the booth. The narrative is fairly simple and the book does a good job of explaining the concept. The illustrations are colorful and fun - our favorite is the cat. Our youngest read this book aloud to us and we enjoyed reading it together. We will certainly look for more books in this series at our local library.
The story centers on an ice cream booth for a school picnic. Winnie, the lady in charge of the cafeteria has a couple of student helpers and together they come up with a variety of choices for making sundaes at the booth. The narrative is fairly simple and the book does a good job of explaining the concept. The illustrations are colorful and fun - our favorite is the cat. Our youngest read this book aloud to us and we enjoyed reading it together. We will certainly look for more books in this series at our local library.
July 19, 2012
This book integrated something most people love, ice cream, with mathematics. In this story a group of kids want to help the woman who runs the school cafeteria with a ice cream booth for the school picnic. The kids use math to find combinations of sundaes they will serve with which ingredients. This book is s great lesson in what could be a real world math problem.
July 15, 2013
This book is about three students who were helping out the cafeteria lady serve sundaes. They found out how many combinations that were possible.
As I was reading this, I though this would be good to pair with graphing. The students could make a graph of their favorite ice cream flavor, toppings and sauces.
As I was reading this, I though this would be good to pair with graphing. The students could make a graph of their favorite ice cream flavor, toppings and sauces.
July 8, 2014
A lesson in combinations using ice cream sundae ingredients. The story works well for illustrating this concept and the visual diagramming is helpful for determining how many combinations are possible.
The extension activities included are top notch and 3 recommended reads round out the back matter.
Great for classroom use in grades 1-3+.
The extension activities included are top notch and 3 recommended reads round out the back matter.
Great for classroom use in grades 1-3+.
September 16, 2011
This book is a great book to teach about combinations. Determining the different combinations is also problem solving. As you are reading, you can ask the students what type of combinations would they make. Also the students can graph their combinations.
November 22, 2012
This book shows the different ways to make an ice cream sundae using different combinations. We will do a similar activity. During circle time, I will lay out 2 pairs of shoes, 4 shirts, and 2 different pairs of pants. The students will help me create the different outfits using those clothes.
April 2, 2014
A creative math read aloud that makes math seem delicious. With six ingredients to choose from, there are so many combinations of ice cream sundaes to make. Read all about the sundaes they're making at the school picnic.
June 19, 2010
Teaches in a very visual way how to do combinations. Diagrams out how many types of sunade's can be made with 6 ingredients.
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September 27, 2011Math book on combinations. Could use to review or introduce the concept. Could create a lesson incorporating combinations of clothing, food ect.
October 7, 2015
A great book to use for math in your classroom! Has a lot to do with grouping, and making combinations!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews