Leedy, L. (1997). Mission: Addition. New York, NY: Holiday House.
Summary: Miss Prime is a teacher and she explores addition with her students (animals) using real classroom examples. The lessons covered include: defining and practicing sums, adding numbers in the tens and ones column, adding many numbers, adding money, inventing word addition problems based on pictures, checking your work by adding again.
Review: This a colorful book and the animals will appeal to small children. The problems are simple and easy to understand for the most part. Its comic book style might confuse young readers on a first read on their own. There is a lot of text on the page.
Suggestions for Teachers: This would be a good book for a teacher to read aloud with students. After a first reading, students could read on their own with a notebook in hand to do the problems along with the book. A good extension activity would have students and teacher together come up with addition problems from the classroom.
Reading Level:
- Quantitative: Lexile 410L, ATOS Book Level 2.5, Flesh-Kincaid 0.3 Readability Grade Level 1.5, RMM 0.5
- Qualitative: The text structure is moderately complex as connections between ideas are made clear through pictures and dialogue bubbles. The graphics are definitely necessary to access the text because there is little expository text except for at the end of each chapter. Students will need to know how to read dialogue bubbles and the order in which to read comics to follow this text. Otherwise the language conventions are simple and conversational. Content-specific vocabulary like sum and addend is explained. The purpose is clear; students will understand that the book is about addition from the title and the repeated examples. Background knowledge of simple addition problems will make this a strong review text. It isn't simplistic enough to be instructional for addition. It would be good to supplement math curriculum and embed Common Core literacy standards in Math.
Content Areas: Math, Literacy
Common Core State Standards:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.5
Count to answer "how many?" questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20, count out that many objects.
Compare numbers.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.C.6
Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.
1
Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.1
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.A.2
Solve word problems that call for addition of three whole numbers whose sum is less than or equal to 20, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.D.7
Understand the meaning of the equal sign, and determine if equations involving addition and subtraction are true or false. For example, which of the following equations are true and which are false? 6 = 6, 7 = 8 - 1, 5 + 2 = 2 + 5, 4 + 1 = 5 + 2.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.5
Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.6
Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text.
Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).7
Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
Subjects/Themes: math, addition, word problems, sums
Awards: N/A
Series Information: N/A
