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It's a bit nit-picky of me, perhaps, but one of the most essential things a student should learn about pi is that it is a non-terminating decimal value which got a name because it couldn't be accurately quantified. As a fifth/sixth grade teacher, I find all of these "Sir Cumference" books to be interesting to students at every stage of learning about the math concepts they present. That said, any teacher (or interested parent) could clear up the fuzzy definition. This is the one mathematically-flawed book in the series, however, which accounts for the 3 star rating. The young boy, Radius, searches for a cure for his father's unexpected transformation into a dragon, and 3 and 1/7 works as the value for pi needed to restore him to human form. The books are funny, brief, written on a relatively easy level, and -- while most likely to be appreciated fully by students who have already learned the math -- could be enjoyed as stories by even the youngest listeners, as other parent/teacher reviewers have affirmed. This book, like the others, does a good job of using verbal jokes to help secure math vocabulary.
A great resource for homeschoolers or parents of high ability kids who need a different approach - My children (8 and 4 yr). love every story in this series.Bravo to Cindy Newschwander - Creative, engaging, problem solving, and Dragons. What more does a young math student need.We own the entire Sir Cumference series and revisit them regularly as the concepts take root in our daily lives.Great books, every one.
Each story connects math applications in ways children understand and can apply. The entire Sir Cumference Series are a wonderful way to entertain children while teaching math concepts. They don't even realize they are learnin while they enjoy the stories. What a wonderful gift. :)
I think this book was done really well. I really think that this would be a great book to introduce the concept to kids for them to get a concrete understanding. It has enough of a story to keep kids interested, and the math doesn't take over so much that it becomes like reading a text book. It has just enough math talk in to get the message about how we get pi across, and I really like that they use a familiar visual reference. I also thought it was cute how they explained how we got the word "pi".I purchased this at the same time as Sir Cumference and the First Round Table and SC & the Isle of Immeter, and now I am going to add all the rest of the books in the Charlesbridge Math Adventures series to my wish list. I think they're great.
Some of the other revues questioned the idea of using Pi in such a way, but as a teacher, isn't getting students to learn the material the point. I picked up this book since I was learning about Pi in a math class and I am really glad that I did. My daughter liked the dragon and I liked that it had math ideas for names of the characters. The best way to get students to learn is by making it interesting and enjoyable and I believe this book did just that. I will be getting the rest of the set - for myself just as much as my daughter.
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