5+5=.....

by: Todd Ouren

5, 10, 15, 20! Counting by fives comes easy to adults; we do it almost every day! From counting money to making sure all the kids are present in our classroom, counting by fives comes naturally to almost all adults. Though, for young children this can be a daunting task. Hands Down: Counting by Fives is an easy way to teach kids this math strategy. Each page in the book is wonderfully illustrated with hand prints counting from 5 to 50. On each page a hand is added to demonstrate five more being added. Each page also has a theme. The author writes "30 fingers make kissing turkeys", and the illustrator shows 6 hands colored into turkeys. On another page, the hands become ghosts. The author makes the book enjoyable for all ages to read and enjoy, as well as teaches a valuable skill!

This book would be perfect for a classroom library in a Kindergarten class. The text is very easy to read, and this is a skill learned at that age. This would also be appropriate for children who completely can't count by fives to be able to count the fingers on each hand to bridge the gap into counting by fives. This book also could be used in a 3rd grade class that is learning the multiplication tables. The fives multiplication table is one of the easiest to learn, and by learning it first, the others can be learned easily. Because the book breaks the numbers into groups of five for the reader, all the reader would need to do is multiply the number of hands by five to get the answer. I think this book would help a lot in a classroom setting, especially for students that are better in reading than in math. This could help close the gap between the subjects. This is definitely a book I will be adding to my classroom library!