SIR CUMFERENCE AND THE ROUNDABOUT BATTLE
Author: Cindy Neuschwander
Illustrator: Wayne Geehan
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Number of pages: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing (USA) First published in: 2015 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? Yes (Sir Cumference and Charlesbridge's Math Adventure) Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
When Steward Edmund Rounds and Sir Cumference notice that there are strangers camped nearby, Rounds II decides to investigate despite being involved with the task of learning how to make accurate counts of the castle's stores of food, supplies, and weaponry. When he reports back that an enemy is lying in wait, everyone moves quickly to defend the castle. But wait! Will Rounds II be able to figure out how many bows and arrows they have to create an appropriate battle plan? Using rounding techniques to figure out the totals more quickly, Rounds II is just in time to help stave off a potentially disastrous attack. |
“He thought back to the counts of the day before. "Why can't the numbers of bows and arrows be friendly tens like the butter, or approximate numbers like the bees, instead of hard-to-add numbers like the loaves?"”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Cindy Neuschwander’s (2015) ‘Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle’ is the ninth title in the Sir Cumference series. The story follows a castle steward’s son, nicknamed ‘Rounds 2’, who loves counting but dislikes adding up until his father teaches him how to round number to ‘friendly ten’ numbers. Most of the contexts in the story clearly demonstrate the useful application of the number rounding skill. One issue we pick up is when a more problematic number like 25 is used as an example, we feel that the current explanation for why 25 is rounded to 30 on p. 21 (“Well, the top line of the number five seems to point toward the next ten, so I’ll make it bigger. Thirty it is.”) could have been slightly clearer. All in all, ‘Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle’ is a useful story picture book to introduce the concept of rounding numbers to children aged 7+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)
Recommended age range:
7+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Rounding
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.
Cindy Neuschwander’s (2015) ‘Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle’ is the ninth title in the Sir Cumference series. The story follows a castle steward’s son, nicknamed ‘Rounds 2’, who loves counting but dislikes adding up until his father teaches him how to round number to ‘friendly ten’ numbers. Most of the contexts in the story clearly demonstrate the useful application of the number rounding skill. One issue we pick up is when a more problematic number like 25 is used as an example, we feel that the current explanation for why 25 is rounded to 30 on p. 21 (“Well, the top line of the number five seems to point toward the next ten, so I’ll make it bigger. Thirty it is.”) could have been slightly clearer. All in all, ‘Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle’ is a useful story picture book to introduce the concept of rounding numbers to children aged 7+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)
Recommended age range:
7+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Rounding
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.
