MathStart Books

Hello! It's Jen from An Adventure in Literacy. I'm here today to share a series of books from my favorite math author, Stuart J. Murphy.

Stuart J. Murphy has 63 books in the MathStart series. If you are unfamiliar with his books you MUST visit his MathStart website to check them out. The MathStart books cover a variety of math topics in three different levels (ages 3+, 6+, 7+).  All of Stuart J. Murphy's books are amazing because they provide eye catching visuals to help students better understand math concepts. He also gets story ideas from kids to help relate math to real life situations. There is a great "Meet the Author" video about him on TeachingBooks.net.

Each of the MathStart books has two pages at the end with activity suggestions. These activities are meant to reinforce the featured math skills from the stories. You can also download his ideas and activities from the MathStart site.

If you're teaching a certain math skill you can find the appropriate books listed by skills and standards under the "Books" tab. There is also a math bibliography that includes additional math books by other authors for each skill.

On Family Math Night a few years ago I did a Stuart J. Murphy session. I briefly shared his website highlighting some of the family resources. The majority of the time families could read his books together. Everyone seemed to enjoy the session and the children were super excited to share some of the books they had read in class. Plus, it was super easy to prepare for the session. The MathStart website has some great resources, articles, and handouts for parents if you are planning a math night.

Stuart J. Murphy says it best with his motto "Math=Fun!". I totally agree and am so glad to have his great books to add to my math lessons. Do you have a favorite math book or math author? Let us know in the comments so we can check it out!