"An essential purchase for elementary teachers and libraries looking for cross-curricular books."
K-Gr 2– In this story told in a singsong rhyme, Rose and Ed strive to learn about and catch butterflies. However, she is far behind him in numbers netted until she turns herself into a walking butterfly habitat. Ed starts out strong in catching and releasing with Rose cleverly overtaking him at the end of the competition. Various examples of counting are given by using combinations of 10, ordinal numbers, and tally marks. Brief facts are provided about butterflies, and Rose adds something to her outfit as each one is given. For example, “Black Swallowtails lay their eggs on plants like carrots, parsley, dill, fennel, and Queen Ann’s Lace.” Rose is then shown with a carrot in her pocket. Illustrations are large, colorful, and busy with a subplot of a caterpillar changing to a butterfly on Rose. Factual information from the girl’s Butterfly Field Guide for Young Explorers is provided in a corner and is designed to look realistic as are tally marks for the competition on a spiral notebook. Readers will enjoy searching the lively spreads for items added to Rose’s safari suit and spying the frog that hangs out near Ed. The style is reminiscent of Debra Lee Rose’s “Twelve Days of Kindergarten” series (Abrams) with bits of information revealed as readers turn each page. “For Creative Minds” provides extension activities on counting, patterns, and butterflies. The emphasis of this book is more on addition than butterflies and life cycles. Use or recommend Seymour Simon’s Butterflies (HarperCollins, 2011) for butterfly information for primary students.
– Nancy Baumann, University of Missouri-Columbia
"Ten For Me" is a colorfully illustrated, humorous math/nature educational book for children ages 5-10. Tantalizing rhymes and action pictures take readers on a butterfly catching odyssey with Rose and Ed, friends in a race to see who can add the most butterflies to their "catch.' Along the way are many opportunities to learn to count, add, identify butterfly body parts and learn the sequence of the butterfly life cycle, as well as butterfly identification skills. Using humane capture and release tactics, Rose and Ed have lots of fun learning how to add and identify butterflies, and so will young readers. For a fun way to learn addition and lots of fascinating butterfly facts, read "Ten For Me" with you elementary school-age child.
Ah, the world of mathematics. Yes, this is - again - not a world that is easily embraced in school by any child or parent. The creativity of mathematics does not shine through very easily, but with the lovely words of Barbara Mariconda and the incredibly bright, colorful, and funny illustrations done by Sherry Rogers, math may just make a come-back and move up the ladder with children as far as popularity is concerned.
The illustrations are lovely, as Ed and Rose battle it out to see who will become the butterfly catcher extraordinaire! And the laughs make a perfect combination with this truly artful way of teaching mathematics.
Quill Says: Fun, entertaining, and truly educational. Parents and children will both get an absolute kick out of it!
The cross-curricular content of this book, with author Barbara Mariconda’s rhyming text and illustrator Sherry Rogers’s colorful pictures, makes it a great learning tool that is also fun to read. Not only are students reminded of the x + y = 10 addition facts, but each opening contains a fascinating sidebar factoid about butterflies. Some of the different kinds of butterflies pictured and discussed include fiery skippers, monarchs, question marks, red-spotted purples, and black swallowtails. Ten For Me will be a great hit with all butterfly lovers.
Some of the most powerful moments in teaching small children occur when learning happens as a natural extension of having fun. For that reason, Barbara Mariconda’s Ten for Me is a wonderful find.
In this slim book, Rose and Ed have a friendly competition as they tally the number of butterflies they catch and release over ten days. As they record their results, Rose and Ed inadvertently discover all of the addition facts totaling ten. All of this is told in delightful rhyme with charming illustrations. (The depiction of Rose’s outfit is particularly humorous.)
To add a cross-curricular element, pages of Rose and Ed’s butterfly manual fall open to reveal interesting facts about butterflies throughout the story. Finally, the last four pages of the text contain activities to extend the learning opportunities, including numbers and patterns and butterfly body parts, life cycle, and identification. Additional activities and teaching resources can be found on the publisher’s Web site included in the book.
Ten for Me is a fun, little story that makes addition facts and nature study fun
This book was also a pleasure to read. It was a bit more difficult for her with some of the math, but she will grow into that and she still enjoyed the book. The illustrations are so vibrant that she had plenty to keep her going!
I liked how these skills were introduced within the context of a fun story, and my kids were so immersed in the butterfly catching adventure that the math seemed effortless.
There is so much more to this story, too. There is a fun surprise at the end which made my kids want to go back and study the previous pictures, and the end of the book includes a bonus section (that can be photocopied) full of activities on numbers, patterns, and butterflies. The illustrations of the different types of butterflies are field-guide quality, and this led us to a review of the butterfly body parts and life cycle. Once again, Sylvan-Dell has produced a valuable teaching tool disguised as a quality children's book, a must-have for the home or classroom library.
The story provides useful in more aspect than one! Children are introduced to simple additions (0-10), determining different ways to get a sum of 10, tallying totals and also learning useful information about butterflies! While the immediate educational aspects of the story will likely require some explanation to children, the information is all very easy to understand and will probably help them to catch on to the ideas rather quickly! This book could be used in so many wonderful ways!
This is a good learning book in disguise, because it teaches kids how to add different numbers together to make ten. I liked Ten for Me (from Arbordale Publishing) because the pictures as so bright and colourful. It's also full of butterflies and I love butterflies! There are a lot of facts about butterflies, not just adding numbers. That's what made it so interesting to me.
The kids in this book love nature -- just like me! This weekend, my brother and I did a huge bug and frog hunt in our own neighbourhood with our friends. It so was fun! We used a butterfly net just like the one in this book.
I think this would be a good classroom book for kids to read, because it explains adding in a new and different way.
This is a delightful and educational addition adventure for kids ages 5-10 years old. My son loved how it is written in rhyme as you follow the adventure of Rose and her friend Ed as they race to see who can catch the most butterflies. You will have to read the book to see who wins! Ten For Me makes addition fun, easy, and entertaining! One of my favorite things about the books from Arbordale Publishing is the For Creative Minds at the back of their books. Children will enjoy learning about Number patterns, Butterfly Body Parts and the Butterfly Life Cycle in Ten For Me.
Every pair of pages describe the butterfly hunt for one day, adding the results and coming up with ten. A short butterfly fact is included at the bottom of the page. The illustrations add humor to the hunt. At the end of the story, four additional pages are filled with math and butterfly activities. Arbordale also invites the reader to their website to take advantage of resources and support.
What a great way to teach simple math! My Wyatt and Miss Marrissa will love this fast paced book that has addends 1 through 10, not equalling more than 10. The four pages at the back of the book (each book I’ve seen from Arbordale Publishing has four pages of material for teaching at the back) are great tie-ins for this store. I can’t wait to read (or have one of the older girls) read this book to Wyatt and Marrissa.
I received Ten For Me as a hard copy. I like the colorful pictures throughout the book. Bubbie likes helping me say the addition problems and then scream 10 at the end. The repetition will be great for his memorization when it's time for him to learn his math! Sissy thought it was too easy but I reminded her that it's a picture book for little kids! She actually listened through the end. The kids did enjoy the book.