Stuart J. Murphy

Well Put, Maurice Sykes!

8/25/2018

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I will never forget the first time I saw Maurice Sykes. I was at a NAEYC conference doing research. Stuart was just beginning sketch out what would become the I See I Learn series for Pre-K / Kindergarten. Already he had written 21 Level 1 MathStart books, creating what is probably the largest math series for Pre-K, yet it had never been specifically marketed to early childhood educators. 

Maurice sat on a panel at the very first, crack-of-dawn session I attended. I sat near the front bleary-eyed, coffee in hand. Then Maurice started talking and I didn't need the coffee anymore. He was riveting, full of spot-on insights delivered with a mix of wit and mission. I followed the crowd that followed him out the door at the end of the session and introduced myself and gave him some MathStart books. I didn't need to read Maurice's CV to know I'd found someone truly special. 

When he met Stuart, it was clear we'd met a kindred spirit. A few years later, Maurice became part of our expert panel of reviewers for the I See I Learn books. 

Maurice's brilliance is as teacher's teacher, which is why he was asked to contribute to a blog series produced by New America about Moving Beyond False Choices for Early Childhood Educators. The false choices arise from "the complexities, frictions, and mistrust embedded in the interplay among (1) preparation and education, (2) compensation and status, and (3) diversity and inclusivity."

​How do you balance the educational requirements needed to establish early childhood education as a well-respected field of practice against the reality of a low-paying profession? How do you maintain diversity when the cost of education can act as a filter against those of lesser means who are more likely to be of color? 

As Maurice notes in his essay, Let’s Be Honest: It’s About Sexism, Classism, and Racism, it can be done, but it is critical to face the "wicked mess" of underlying issues head on. 

"Project Headway," a program Maurice designed and ran for 15 years to help early childhood educators from economically-challenged background move from the CDA Credential® to Associate's and Bachelor's degrees, boasted an impressive 80% workforce retention and graduation rates. 

"...(W)e recognized that advancing these women’s formal education required attention not only to their academic lives but also to their work and personal lives. But here’s how we differed: We engaged with their plight as an issue of social justice. While we saw increasing their academic preparation as a way of improving their work and personal life circumstances, we, more importantly, saw it as improving their abilities to change the life trajectory of the children they taught."

Framed in that light, it is clear that we do well as a society to find ways to cover the costs of early childhood educators, an investment that would immediately begin pay dividends on dividends. 

Well put, Maurice!

 * Click here for links to all the posts in the New America series. 


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A Shout Out to Our MathStart Friends at Didax!

8/22/2018

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Everything has a story. You didn't think Unifix Cubes just happened did you? The colorful counting cubes that have become such a fixture in math classrooms all over the world  turned 65 this year. Imagine how many ways you could express that using Unifix!

In 1953 Charles Tacey, whose family had been in the school supply business since 1829, came up with the idea to replace counting beads with cubes. Beads had an annoying tendency to roll way, but cubes stayed put. Cubes could also be designed to snap together, making it easier for students to understand basic mathematical concepts such as addition and subtraction.

For many years the UK-based Taceys worked closely with pedagogical pioneer Maria Montessori to develop what became known as manipulatives. The Unifix Cube was such a success (they can also be used to teach language arts) that in 1976 Didax was incorporated in the US specifically to bring Unifix to America. More than a billion cubes later, Unifix has helped generations of students learn math.  

Didax has been a great friend to MathStart since our beginning over twenty years ago. From the publication of the first three books to the 63-book series of today, the wonderful staff at Didax have been among our staunchest champions. 

In addition to selling MathStart books by leveled sets, Didax also offers sets that come with manipulatives selected to be used with the stories. 

In addition, Didax published three Hands-On Math and Literature activity books, one for each MathStart level, written by veteran math educators Don Balka and Richard Callan. These activities have been thoroughly tested in the classroom!

Thank you for everything Didax!

Happy birthday Unifix!

To shop for MathStart at Didax, click here!
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MathStart in Australia!

8/17/2018

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Lately we have received several letters from Australian teachers and school administrators asking about purchasing sets of MathStart books. We couldn't be more thrilled, even if we are not entirely sure what sparked this recent burst of interest! Perhaps the series was featured in a conference presentation? Or maybe it was mentioned on a math teacher social media string? If you know the answer, please send us a note!

There are three ways to buy MathStart books Down Under: 

1) HarperCollins Australia: Write to Hayley New at the Australia office of our publisher. For organizing orders, we have created special worksheets with ISBN numbers for each title in the  Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 sets. 

2) Amazon Australia: We have created a special linked list of titles by level for the Amazon Australia website. Not all the books may be in stock, but our publisher, HarperCollins, is working on that! Please note that Amazon does not sell sets so each title must be ordered individually. 

3) Nasco, a US-based educational book distributor that sells sets and will ship overseas. Contact Lori Jacoby for more information. 

If you know of an Australia-based educational book distributor that would be interested in carrying MathStart, please let us know! 

In the meantime, we have free pdf activity sheets for all 63 books on our website.

Math = Fun!

* more videos!
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Cognitive Skills! Stuart J. Murphy's I See I Learn

7/25/2018

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FREE PDF POSTERS
Basic literacy, mathematics, science, social studies and creative arts all require good cognitive skills. Children who are actively engaged in learning show persistence, creativity and initiative and curiosity. 

There are four I See I Learn books that focus on cognitive skills: 
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• Freda Plans a Picnic and there's a lot to do! First she has to to invite her friend from Ready Set Pre-K. Then (with mom's help), she has to pack the picnic basket. There's lots to do at the picnic itself and then there's clean up! All the steps add up to a fun-filled time! The ability to recall events in proper order–what happens first, what comes next, and what occurs last is important for story comprehension, mathematics, following directions, planning, and other life skills. (en Espanõl) (related video) 

• Left, Right, Emma! is the story of Emma, who loves to march around the house with her wonderful Pickle. Now she's been asked to lead a march at Ready Set Pre-K. How will Emma know when to turn left and when to turn right? Understanding basic directions allows young children to follow instructions, give others directions, and develop strong spatial sense.

• Percy's Neighborhood is a story about how Percy and his daddy meet their neighbors while passing out flyer for the Neighborhood Fun Run. They meet a doctor, a firefighter, a police officer adn a librarian and other community helpers. As children learn more about their neighborhood, they will better understand how a society functions. 

• Write On, Carlos! is about how Carlos learned how to write his own name—just like his friends at Ready Set Pre-K can. He practices over and over again. See how proud Carlos is to show his friends what he can do. Learning how to write one’s own name helps a child learn how to recognize and form letters and leads to writing more words. (en Espanõl)

FOR TEACHERS

Cognitive Skills Observation Checklist
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  • Undertands and uses increasingly complex vocabulary
  • Retells key ideas from stories in the proper sequence
  • Shows an interest in books and takes part in group reading activities
  • Identifies the roles of community helpers
  • Distinguishes left and right
  • Writes name
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Social Skills! Stuart J. Murphy's I See I Learn Books

7/23/2018

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FREE PDF POSTERS!


Social skills make all the difference. As every teachers knows, a child who knows how to listen, work cooperatively, be polite and knows how to make new friends is easier to teach! It's the beginning of  "virtuous circle" that leads to success in school and in life, too. 

There are four I See I Learn books that focus on social skills: 

• Emma's Friendwich is a story about Emma who has just moved to See-and-Learn City. More than anything she wants to make new friends.  See what happens when she smiles, asks to play, offers to help, and shares her toys. Making friends is fun!
(en Espanõl) (related video) 


• Camille's Team sees the Ready Set Pre-K kids at the beach building sand forts. Camille, the youngest, has thinks that if they work together, they can make a bigger, better fort. See what happens when Camille and her friends make a plan, work together, and share the fun! (en Espanõl) 

• Freda Says Please Freda likes to play school. But when she pretends to be the teacher, she doesn’t always say “please” and “thank you.” See how her friends help Freda learn how to be polite. Thank you for reading my book!

• Percy Listens Up 
Percy loves to play. Sometimes he forgets to listen to his teachers or his mommy and ends up missing out on fun in school and at the pool. See what always makes Percy listen! Listen up, everyone!

FOR TEACHERS

Social Skills ​Observation Checklist


  • Develops friendships
  • Communicates with familiar adults
  • Cooperates with peers
  • Uses socially appropriate behavior such as helping and sharing
  • Resolves conflicts appropriately
  • Understands and follows rules, routines and directions
  • Recognizes how actions affect others​​
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#FamiliesBelongTogether

6/18/2018

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from the National Park Service website: https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/colossus.htm

Bullying takes a toll on everyone: those targeted for abuse, those who witness it and also those doing the bullying. It erodes our common sense of decency and fairness, makes us feel powerless and angry and all too often triggers a cycle of violence and hurt. Many times bullies themselves were damaged by bullying. 

We also know that children model behaviors. This is how they learn to navigate the world. They follow our lead. They play "teacher" and dress up like superheroes. They hop out to push their own strollers—so much more fun! They set up pretend stores, take care of their dolls and stuffed animals, and fly to the moon in imaginary spaceships. 

Parents, teachers and caregivers are constantly modeling good behaviors using theme and variation of the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Day in, day out, they teach their children critical social and emotional skills such as sharing, cooperation and taking turns. Not only are these so-called "soft" skills important for success in school, but also in life. 

Unfortunately, bad behaviors can be modeled, too.  

The policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the border harms all of us. The pain suffered by the parents is unfathomable. The damage done to the children may be irreversible.

From the Washington Post:  

"... The small shelter along the Texas border to Mexico held 60 beds and a little playground for children. Rooms were equipped with toys, books and crayons. To Colleen Kraft, this shelter looked, in many ways, like a friendly environment for children, a place where they could be happy.

But the first child who caught the prominent pediatrician’s attention during a recent visit was anything but happy. Inside a room dedicated to toddlers was a little girl no older than 2, screaming and pounding her fists on a mat. One woman tried to give her toys and books to calm her down, but even that shelter worker seemed frustrated, Kraft told The Washington Post, because as much as she wanted to console the little girl, she couldn’t touch, hold or pick her up to let her know everything would be all right. That was the rule, Kraft said she was told: They’re not allowed to touch the children.

'The really devastating thing was that we all knew what was going on with this child. We all knew what the problem was,' Kraft said. 'She didn’t have her mother, and none of us can fix that.'..."


Imagine that you are in a strange country and that you can't speak the language because you may be too young to speak any language all that well. Your mom is gone. And no one can scoop you up into their arms to comfort you as you cry in pain and confusion. It is hard enough to be a little kid, but to be turned into a negotiating tactic when your age is still measured in months is beyond unconscionable. 

Condemnation for this cruel practice has come from all quarters including the American Academy of Pediatrics and a broad cross-section of religious leaders. There have been protests all over the country. Dozens of organizations have mobilized to provide support to the asylum-seekers. 

One can only hope that the odious policy will be reversed soon and that families that have been torn apart will be reunited.  Yet already so much deep damage has been done, not only to the families but also to the rest of us—especially children—who have watched this horror unfold. Let us hope that rather than learning how to model cruelty, our children will learn how to stand up for those who are unable to stand up for themselves. 

RELATED: 

• Welcoming Refugee Children into Early Childhood Classrooms | NAEYC  
• AAP Statement on Protecting Immigrant Children | American Academy of Pediatrics
• Nazis separated me from my parents as a child. The trauma lasts a lifetime | Yoka Verdoner | The Guardian
• When Donald Trump was separated from his family | Michael D'Antonio | CNN
• Hundreds of children wait in Border Patrol facility in Texas | AP
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Storybooks & Context!

6/10/2018

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Context matters! Young children are adept visual learners. They naturally model behaviors. That's why teaching important skills using storybooks can be so effective. They can see the skill being used in context. 

In "Camille's Team," an I See I Learn story about cooperation, several of the children from Ready Set Pre-K are building sand forts at the beach. It quickly becomes clear that they could build a much better sand fort if they worked together. 

Once a child understands a skill in context, it is also important to decontextualize it: to show the skill by itself. Each I See I Learn story includes a special two-page section called "A Closer Look" to do just that. In addition to graphics highlighting the key elements of the skill being taught, there are also a series of questions designed to help teachers, parents and other caregivers extend the learning beyond the book. 
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These spreads are also available as FREE pdf posters on the I See I Learn website. 

Check out the video for a bonus activity idea!

RELATED: 

• Buy Books!
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The Maths Through Stories Interview!

6/7/2018

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A couple of years ago, tweets from @MathsStories about MathStart books began popping up on the  @vizlearning twitter feed. Stuart and I wondered who was behind @MathsStories, so I followed the links back to a then-brand new website: MathsThroughStories.org. Through email, I met Dr. Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai, a Primary Mathematics Education Lecturer​ at the University of Reading's Institute of Education in the UK and the driving force behind this remarkable website.

Vince, who quickly became a friend, spearheads an international research-based initiative focused on the use of children's literature and imaginative story-writing as tools to improve mathematics instruction. IN short, we found a kindred spirit!

Today Maths Through Stories works with dozens of math educators in 40 countries, which is simply extraordinary. 

A little over a year ago, Vince interviewed Stuart for the MTS website. It is a marvelous, wide-ranging discussion (there's a lot on the page, so scroll down for the interview). Then as long as you're on the site, explore!
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Kindercoders, Bee-Bots & The Bug Dance!

6/1/2018

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"What's an algorithm?" I asked my friend Tanya,  a computer science professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago. "It's a recipe," she said. That was several years ago and simplicity of her answer has stayed with me. When Facebook's algorithms do strange things to newsfeeds it's because somebody tweaked the recipe. I can get my brain around that! Of course, with Artificial Intelligence (AI), algorithms can now tweak algorithms, too, but we'll leave that dizzying thought for another day. 

It took the special brilliance of math specialist Charyl Hills at Goodnoe Elementary in Newtown, Pennsylvania to see the dance steps in the MathStart story Bug Dance (Level 1, Directions) as a recipe—an algorithm—that could be used to teach kindergarteners coding. The kids learned to program Bee-Bots, adorable little robot bees, to zoom around the floor moving forward, backward, left and right.

"They're doing it, Mrs. McCusker!" exclaimed one little coder with the special mix of awe and delight that comes from seeing that a recipe actually works!

Calling all Bee-bots, Teachers, Kindercoders! Let's do the dance together! "Wiggle to your left! Wiggle to your right!


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Bilingual "I See I Learn" Stories!

5/29/2018

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Did someone say bilingual? How about trilingual! English, Spanish, and the third language is visual. It is very important for children to experience multiple representations of meanings. 

This edition is exclusively available from Books by the Bushel. The kids at Ready Set Pre-K are so excited, they've made founder and CEO Paula Darnell an honorary member of the class!

"Bilingual books encourage parents to continue using their home language, knowing that it will benefit, not detract from, their children’s school language learning," notes Paula. 

Books by the Bushel also carries all 16 I See I Learn stories in English. 

The first two bilingual books are:  
  • Write On, Carlos!  |  ¡Carlos escribe su nombre! 
  • Percy Gets Upset | Percy se enoja 
  • Read story descriptions! Watch slideshows! Download free pdf posters. Buy books!
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