Paul Autera
050979

Title: Hands Down (Counting by Fives)
Author: Michael Dahl
Illustrator: Todd Ouren
Recommended Grade Level: Kindergarten & 1st

Common Core Mathematics Standards Addressed:
Counting & Cardinality
  • Know number names and the count sequence
  • Count to tell the number of objects.
Compare numbers.
Operations & Algebraic Thinking
  • Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction.
  • Understand and apply properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction.

Summary: Counting by Fives walks the reader through illustrations of painted hand prints, composing various objects containing denominations of five. For example: Five fingers make a hand print, ten fingers make a crab (illustration of two hand prints, creating the image of a crab), and Fifteen fingers make leaves on an oak tree (illustration of an oak tree with three hand prints, creating the image of leaves on a tree). The counting ends at 45 and the final page show an accumulation of students' artwork, created by using hand prints and denominations of five.

Rating: 10

Classroom Ideas: Some ideas include, actually creating the art work in this story. Another idea is to Use the illustrations in this story to add and subtract in denominations of five.