More or Less by: Stuart Murphy -Pia

Title: More or Less

Author: Stuart J. Murhy

Illustrator: David T. Wenzel

Recommended Grade Level: First Grade-Third Grade

Common Core Mathematics Standards Addressed:

Number and Operations in Base Ten:

1.NBT.3 -Compare two two-digit numbers based on meanings of the tens and ones digits, recording the results of comparisons with the symbols >, =, and <.

Summary: This story was about a young boy named Eddie who attempts to figure out a “mystery person’s” age while he is sitting in a chair blindfolded. He uses the assistance of his peers to make educated and logical math guesses instead of taking random guess. They’re guess have to make sense! Each student proposed a different mathematical concept such as even or odd and focusing on greater and less than. Some examples of the questions that the characters asked were “ Is the number even or odd” “Are you older than 24? Is it less than 10? More than 7?

Rating: I really like this book and I would rate it 5 out of 5 stars. It’s very fun and even takes place at a carnival. If I myself enjoyed the story and setting, I am more than positive that young students will be really engaged. The illustrations are really bright, realistic, funny, and detailed. The students will be able to “take a picture walk and predict what is happening in illustrations. I plan on using this story for one of my math lessons sometime in November when we cover greater than, less than, and equal to.

Classroom Ideas:

If I use this story in my classroom, I plan on playing some kind of jeopardy style or guessing game during the mini lesson. I can have students work together with their partner. I will provide the students with a handout with questions as well as clues to help them answer the questions ( Can You Guess What Number I Am?) In turn, they will earn points for every right question that each person get. At the end, the teams which earn the most points will receive a small prize (carnival prize).The questions will begin simple and become more difficult.The question formats will be similar to the questions that are in story such as “Is the number larger than? Is it more than 5? etc.