Division (Question of Math)

A group of children introduce division, using everyday examples and practice problems.

Grade 1-4-Clear introductions in which familiar situations are used effectively to reflect mathematics in everyday life. In Division, four friends on a picnic must share 12 muffins "...so that everyone gets the same number." One solution is to give each child a muffin until there are none left. Another way is to use an equation. After reading the explanation, youngsters are asked to solve a similar problem on their own: "If you had 8 muffins to share between 4 people, how many would each person get? Think of a way to share the muffins. Think of how you would write this as an equation." In Subtraction, two friends walk to school in 10 minutes, but a shortcut gets them there 3 minutes sooner. Readers are then asked to figure out how long the quick route takes. In all three books, the explanations of the problems are thorough and concise, and the equations get progressively harder, building on prior knowledge. Boxed areas provide further information and offer more practice equations. Colorful cartoons break up the text and illustrate the answers; while they are not particularly engaging, they do represent different ethnic groups and even depict two boys sewing. These books are more straightforward than the "Discovering Math" series (Benchmark), and provide more background explanations than Stuart Murphy's "MathStart" series (HarperCollins). The large, bold texts are user-friendly. Welcome additions to mathematics collections.
Maren Ostergard, Bellevue Regional Library, WA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.