Summary: In this story Mr. Tiffin's class is to make predictions about which pumpkin has the most seeds. They practice counting by twos, fives and tens. The children are amused by their findings.
Summary of Professional Review: The Horn Book guide gives this story a rating of 3. They really appreciate the illustrations because they "add personality to this story of math, science, and self-discovery". According to the CCBC review this is a "pleasing story" which "integrates math and science".
Review by Ivette Thompson: I enjoyed reading this book. It had an unpredictable ending and I think a lot of children and adults can relate to what happened in this story. In this story, the classroom was to make predictions about how many seeds each pumpkin had. This story helps children learn the concepts of small, medium and large. It also teaches problem solving and how to count by two's, five's and ten's. I enjoyed the illustrations in because they show and demonstrate to children how they can group items by 2's, 5's and 10's to then add them. This book also teaches children how they can make better predictions in the future about which pumpkin has the most seeds. I also enjoyed that one of the main characters of the story felt better about himself at the end of the story. He learned that being the smallest in the class is not always bad. I feel tat this is an emotion that a lot of children can relate to. This is a good lesson for young students to learn.
This book would be useful when teaching...
Summary of Professional Review: The Horn Book guide gives this story a rating of 3. They really appreciate the illustrations because they "add personality to this story of math, science, and self-discovery". According to the CCBC review this is a "pleasing story" which "integrates math and science".
Review by Ivette Thompson: I enjoyed reading this book. It had an unpredictable ending and I think a lot of children and adults can relate to what happened in this story. In this story, the classroom was to make predictions about how many seeds each pumpkin had. This story helps children learn the concepts of small, medium and large. It also teaches problem solving and how to count by two's, five's and ten's. I enjoyed the illustrations in because they show and demonstrate to children how they can group items by 2's, 5's and 10's to then add them. This book also teaches children how they can make better predictions in the future about which pumpkin has the most seeds. I also enjoyed that one of the main characters of the story felt better about himself at the end of the story. He learned that being the smallest in the class is not always bad. I feel tat this is an emotion that a lot of children can relate to. This is a good lesson for young students to learn.
This book would be useful when teaching...
- Teachers can use this book when teaching children about counting by twos, fives or tens. Teachers can also try this activity in their classroom.
- This book can also be used to explain the word "predictions"
- It can also be use to teach acceptance. Because in the beginning Charlie was not happy to be the smallest boy in the classroom, but at the end of the story Charlie learned that size is not the most important thing.