Super Sand Castle Saturday (MathStart)
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Overview
One Saturday at the beach, Laura, Juan, and Sarah decide to have a sand castle contest. As the tide rises, the walls get longer, the towers get taller, and the moats get deeper. The friends measure their sand castles with spoons, shovels, and bare feet until Larry the lifeguard and his tape measure surprise them all.
Introduces the concept of nonstandard measurement as three friends compete in a sand castle building contest.
Synopsis
One Saturday at the beach, Laura, Juan, and Sarah decide to have a sand castle contest. As the tide rises, the walls get longer, the towers get taller, and the moats get deeper. The friends measure their sand castles with spoons, shovels, and bare feet until Larry the lifeguard and his tape measure surprise them all.
Children's Literature
Larry the lifeguard is having a contest to see who can build the sandcastle with the tallest towers, deepest moat and longest wall, all before the tide comes in. Sarah wants to build the tallest tower, but sees that Juan's tower is getting tall also. They decide to use their shovels to measure which tower is higher. Juan and Laura use spoons to measure which moat is deepest. The kids use their feet to measure who has the longest wall. When the contest is over, Larry uses a measuring tape to repeat the measurements. The results differ from the kids' initial findings, because they were not using a standard measure. A brief parent's guide also suggests other books that might be of interest. Beautiful stylized illustrations are clean and colorful but elaborate enough to be visually interesting. The simplicity of this artwork makes it easier to follow the measuring concepts discussed.