Beep Beep, Vroom Vroom! (Mathstart: Level 1

MathStart Level 1

by Stuart J. Murphy, Chris L. Demarest (Illustrator)

The yellow cars beep! The red cars vroom! As Molly plays with her big brother’s toy cars, readers will see and recognize patterns, an essential first step in learning to reason from the specific to the general. But can Molly put the cars back in the right order before her brother returns? About the AuthorStuart J. Murphy is a visual learning specialist. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, he has a strong background in design and art direction. He also has extensive experience in the world of educational publishing. Drawing on all these talents, Stuart J. Murphy brings a unique perspective to the MathStart series. In MathStart books, pictures do more than tell stories; they teach math. Stuart J. Murphy and his wife, Nancy, live in Boston.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, Transport, Storytime, Family

33 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

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

[Maria Salgado · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book could be used in the classroom to talk about patterns or counting, the overall theme of this book makes it so I would not chose to read it to children. The girl continues taking her brother's cars after being told repeatedly not to touch them and then is rewarded with cars of her own. Although the illustrations are good, there is a lesson of even if you don't do what you are asked you can be rewarded.

[Noah Subramanian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the book was in ways funny and cute. It gave me a lot of flashbacks, playing with my little sister and my toy cars I used to have. I got a “kick” out of as soon as her older brother who said not to touch his toy cars left the room.Of course, that’s exactly what his little sister did. I wasn’t very surprised there, my sister did the exact same thing when we were younger, so I was expecting it. Overall it was very cute and humorous.

[Danielle Quintero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not really a fan of this book because it almost promotes lying and getting rewarded for doing something you are not suppose to do. The little sister was told not to play with her brother's cars and she did it anyways, so it kind of angered me a bit and I probably would not read this book to my class or children. I suppose if you liked it, you could use it for learning colors or for math lessons.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a great book about pattern and colors for young toddlers. The illustrations are colorful and the book has a repeating pattern. It can also teach children about sharing and also to be patient. I think this book is suitable for toddlers 2+.

[Dzana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would be great for a math lesson about patterns. Beep Beep, Vroom Vroom is about a boy who illustrates different ways he can line up his toy cars in a pattern. This book is great for beginner readers and a good way to engage them into learning more about patterns.

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite read aloud's. This book can introduce onomatopoeia's to children and help them understand organization. I also, love how this book can show children the relationship between a brother and sister.

[Jemeecia Trice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a little boy who has OCD about his cars he keeps them in a certain order, but his little sister likes them too but he thinks she is too young, so when he leaves out his room she starts to mess with them she hears him coming she has to figure out how to put them back in order.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A more interesting variety of patterns than a lot of pattern books, though that's all in the illustrations.
There are:
*Two different varieties of ABC ABC, and a quick AB AB at the end
*One version of AABBCC AABBCC
*One version of AABCCB AABCCB

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute story of a boy and his toy cars that he arranges in a special pattern on his shelves. Subtly shows different patterns of the cars, without being obvious about the different patterns.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book for little toy car lovers

[Haylieboyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great for young children! it teaches sounds and colors for younger children. this book also teaches different types of patterns for older children,

[Christine Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Countdown to Kindergarten: Patterns

Fun book about patterns using the placement of cars to demonstrate the concept. I will use this again.

[Adriana Palencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a short and simple book. The illustrations had vibrant colors. This would be an excellent book to teach children about patterns.

[Monica L · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book teaches about patterns.
It also teaches about colors.
You could use it to talk about siblings and sharing as well as respecting each other's space.

[Sami Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is adorable for any child to read. With its yellow cars that go beep and the red cars that go vroom, this story is engaging to all. This was a great book to teach a child about different kinds of patterns that can be made, through a fun and simple way. There is a brother and a sister that are completely different. The brother always places his toy cars a certain way, by doing so he would know if his sister came into his room and played with them. Even though she knew that was the case, she still sneaks in and plays with them. When the parents and sister try to place the cars back how they were left, they realize that new patterns are made each time. This shows how anything can be turned into educational fun. Even though it might not have made the brother too happy, this incident ended up having a positive outcome for the entire family. Tis is a very useful book to have in my classroom, to teach my students just what was said above. No matter what the situation, there can always be an educational outcome.

[Heather Lincoln · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so cute! It is appropriate for children of all ages to read. It has yellow cars that go beep and red cars that go vroom, and is fun for everyone to read. This was a great book for teachers to teach their students about different kinds of patterns that can be made in a fun and creative way! The main characters are a brother and a sister that are anything but alike. The brother is very precise about placing his toy cars a certain way, so that he would know if his sister came into his room and played with them. Although the sister knows her brother does this, she sneaks in to play with them regardless. When the parents and sister try to place the cars back how they were left, they realize that new patterns are made each time. This is a very good book to have in the classroom, to teach students important math skills in a fun and creative way. This is a fun and educational book and I recommend it to all!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books deals with patterns. The little sister plays with her brother's cars (when she's not supposed to) and her dad and mom each help her put them away, but not in the right pattern the brother keeps them in. So the little girl has to figure out the pattern before the brother comes back and kicks her butt.

My 4-yr-old figured it out so I think it's right on as level 1. The baby liked it because it had cars. After reading this you could do several activities with patterns.

I didn't much care for this because the darn kid doesn't get in trouble for messing with her brother's stuff, in fact the parents try to cover it up and THEN give her cars of her own. Ugh.

I don't know that we'd use this again.

[Lauren Derosa]

“Beep Beep ,Vroom Vroom” by Stuart J. Murphy is a great way for children to read about math as well as learn their colors. I really enjoyed reading the book and I think that it is very visually appealing for young children because it has bright colors and big words. I also think that this book would really interest children because it integrates math into a story so most likely the child wouldn’t even know that they were learning math as they read. I thought the part of the book where the little girl had to put the cars back in order was clever because child could take the time to try to memorize the pattern if they wanted to. Overall this is a very interesting book and I think that it is definitely one that I would read to my students if I was a teacher right now.

[Staphany Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly had to pick a book that related to math, and this book was there, and I honestly picked it up due to the great colors on the front page. I truly did not regret reading it after I finished the small book. This book is a great book that uses cars by using cars in different types of colors. They uses the different colors of the cars to create a pattern. This book makes it fun for the students and at the same time, you are still learning while having fun which is always a plus. I'm not completely sure if I would use this book for my class since I see this book being for grades that are barley learning about patterns. I'd say first and second grade. Yes I would recommend this book, in particular to beginners in reading because of the bright colors being used.

[Nazia Rahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great way of introducing concepts of maths to children in EYFS. It is a great way to engage children in the concept of pattern and also asking them to count “how many blue/red/yellow cars can they see?” The illustrations are a great visual for young children. The story can relate to children's own experiences and there is a repetition in the writing which is in some form of rhyming and helps build children’s language and is easier for them to recognise what comes next. The vocabulary is a great audio for the children too, “beep, vroom, crash” allows children to participate and stay engaged throughout the story.

[Jasmine Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little sister Molly loves to play with her big brother's toy car collection. This is an AMAZING book on patterns...I would definitely teach a math lesson with this. But before I would teach a math lesson, I would use this book to teach my children about quotations. I would ask then who is talking in the story? How do you know that they are talking? What do you put around the words that someone is saying in a story or book. After I each my literature lesson on this book then I will use it's a an extension for other lessons!!

[Keidra Polite · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book about differnt kinds of patterns that can be made. The brother had a set of colorful cars that he always put a specific way so he would know when his sister bothered them. The sister sneaks and plays with them and the parents try to put the cars back the right way the brother left them. Each time they discover a new pattern that could be made. The parents saw how educational the cars were and bought the sister some. This teaches everyone that children can learn from toys.

[Julia B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a good way of introducing the concept of patterns to students. After reading the book, my students could use pattern blocks or colored counters to create their own pattern. Extensions could be created for higher students by having them create exponential patterns, whereas lower students could practice more basic patterns. This could also be turned into an extension or remedial center using pattern blocks or colored counters/buttons.

[Nivi Krishnakumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for beginner learners and ELL kids who need to visually see the different objects laid out. This book can be also used to teach patterns using different methods. You can then ask your students to make different patterns like using all red squares, small squares, big circles, etc. This will show them that you use patterns in everyday life.

[Rebecca Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to read when students are learning about patterns. I would do a lesson with this book by reading it twice. The first time I read the book I would have the students describe the patterns they see in the pictures. Then I would reread the book and have the students make the patterns using colored toy cars of unifix cubes.

[Christina Camp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute book about a brother and sister and some toy cars. The brother did not want his sister playing with his cars, but she couldn't help herself. She figured out the pattern he kept his cars in so that she could put them back like he left them before he came back. Her brother didn't even know that she was playing with them. At the end of the story, she got her own set of cars.

[Kelly Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be great students who live cars. It deals with addition . I like how the Character deals with the addition in a pattern form. This book is very engaging and it will help students in learning addition. I would have my students to come up with there own additional math problem.

[Landon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book supports learning about patterns. But it also repeats fun onomotopeia words with font manipulations, so it adds great energy to the topic for a read-aloud. I was slightly puzzled why the sister is only given two different colored cars when she has been playing with a set of three the whole time.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

My husband says I'm reading too much into this, but it really irritated me that the little girl was caught doing the wrong thing repeatedly, even after the mother and father told her to stop, and then in the end they buy her a gift. Moral of the story? Do whatever you want, break the rules, and you will be rewarded! Anyway, I did appreciate the different patterns.

[Nicole Holden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book becasue it used different color cars to make color patterns. This is a good math book to use for introducing patterns. This skill will be useful for developing logical thinking.