These books cover elementary math concepts: place value, capacity (or volume), and numbers one through one hundred on a number line. The stories+about a club that recycles cans, birds searching for the right-size home, students doing ""cool"" things for the first hundred days of school+make the concepts palatable, while the cartoony color art adds energy. Suggested activities conclude each book. [Review covers these MathStart titles: Earth Day--Hooray!, A House for Birdie, and 100 Days of Cool.] (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Gr 1-3-Members of Maple Street School's Save-the-Planet Club decide to collect aluminum cans for recycling so they can purchase flowers for Gilroy Park. As they sort cans, they learn about math place value and share facts about recycling. Cheerful illustrations culminate in a panorama of the Earth Day celebration. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A level 3 in the much-loved-by-teachers MathStart series, Murphy's latest focus is on place value. The members of the Maple Street School Save-the-Planet Club are working to fix up the park for the Earth Day festivities. After the trash is picked up, though, the park could still use some beautifying. The club decides to recycle aluminum cans to make the money to buy flowers. The text follows their efforts at collecting the cans and bagging them in groups of 1,000, 100, and 10. As they post their totals in the school hallway, readers see the bags and the way the numbers add up to make a grand total. Flyers, posters, and even the teacher's blackboard feature facts about recycling and the beginnings of Earth Day. Excellent activity suggestions follow the text, allowing parents and children to spend time together while learning. A marvelous addition to the series . . . and to any primary teacher's bookshelf. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr. 1-3. In this latest addition to Murphy's growing MathStart series, the Maple Street School's Save the Planet Club decides to clean up Gilroy Park and plant some flowers to celebrate Earth Day. To raise the necessary funds to purchase plants, they hold an aluminum-can drive, with a goal of collecting 5,000 cans.eeping track of the daily totals is somewhat of a challenge until the kids begin to sort--using bags of 10, 100, and so forth--allowing Murphy to explain the concept and use of place value. Andriani's cheerful illustrations fairly teem with information about recycling and add humor and human interest to the story. Appended notes suggest extension activities for parents or teachers and also point children to related books. Funny anytime, this will also be a good choice for jazzing up a routine math lesson or as a springboard for Earth Day activities. --Kay Weisman Copyright 2004 Booklist