Mall Mania (MathStart) Book

Shopping, counting, and a birthday present all add up to a surprise ending on Mall Mania Day! A lighthearted look at addition strategies

Children's Literature

This lighthearted and cleverly educational book is part of the "MathStart" series, level 2. Packaged within the confines of a humorous mall project is a look at various addition strategies. On Mall Mania Day, the chess club from Wilson Elementary is counting mall visitors and looking for visitor number 100, who will win a passel of prizes. All the while, in a secondary story, the sister of one grumpy Chess Club participant is shopping for their mother's birthday present. Throughout the counting process, four kids are stationed at various mall entrances, communicating to each other with walkie-talkies. Periodically the chess club captain requests a count of mall patrons from each of the four entries and asks them to total all four numbers. The kids approach the addition project in different ways. For example, one adds the numbers one by one, starting from the top of the list. Another rearranges the numbers to make the adding easier. Yet another moves the numbers so that the same numbers, or doubles, are together. A fourth child reasons that if 7 plus 7 is 14, 8 plus 7 is one more. The counting continues until the 100th mall visitor is announced. Following the conclusion of the story, activity pages suggest games and exercises the youngsters can try to practice the counting strategies firsthand.