Sir Cumference and All the King’s Tens

Author: Cindy Neuschwander

​Illustrator: Wayne Geehan

Posted By: Su-Elene Cuevas

                                           

Recommended Grade Level: 4^th-5^th

CCSSM Standards:

4.NBT.1

Recognize that in a multi-digit whole number, a digit in one place represents ten times what it represents to its right.  For example, recognize that 700/70=10 by applying concepts of place value and division.

4.NBT.2

Read and write multi-digit whole numbers using base ten numerals, number names, and expanded form.  Compare two multi-digit numbers based on meanings of the digits in each place, using >,=,and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.

CCSS.Math.Practice.MP1

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

*Students should use what they already know about place value to figure out the easiest way to count all the guests arriving for the kings celebration.

CCSS.Math.Practice.MP4

Model with mathematics.

 

Summary: Sir Cumference and Lady Di planned a surprise birthday party for King Arthur, but they didn’t expect so many guests to show up. They need to figure out how many lunches they will need.  With more guests arriving by the minute, what about dinner? Sir Cumference and Lady Di have to figure out a quick way to count the guests to bring order to the party.  They race to count tens, hundreds and even thousands of guests as an introduction to place value.  In this story, the challenge is to find the fastest way to count all of the guests.  At first the guests are in groups of 10, but there are too many people-and counting groups of tens would take too long.  Next, they decide to group the tens into groups of 100’s, but still there are too many guests. Finally, they figure out that if they group the guests into thousands, it becomes much easier to count.

Rating:

This is a 5 star book because it introduces Place Value in a creative way and gets students to think of a solution for the problem of counting all the guests.  They are able to think of different ways of grouping the large number of people.

Classroom Ideas:

1.  This book can be used as an introduction to place value.  After reading the book, you can use base ten blocks to help students to sort out the various numbers. For example, they build a number with blocks and see if they can tell you what it is, then call out a number and see if they can make it using the manipulatives.

2. Students could go back through the story and record all the different groups that arrive to the party and then add up the totals. Or they can draw their own visual representation of the different place values and explain what that means in their own words.

3.  After writing each of the numbers, students are asked to find the total number of guests. There are a couple of ways to do that, so students can use a method they choose as long as they’re able to explain it.