Leaping Lizards

Two friends practice their estimating skills on their way to a store that’s having a contest to figure out how many jellybeans are in the jar. 

After Josh receives a strange rock from his uncle, he consults a rock shop owner expert to learn about his unusual gift. Josh notices that the store’s display window features stones arranged by size, and as his knowledge of geology grows, he sees the classification schemes in the window becoming more and more complex. 

Four best friends start a lemonade business and make a bar graph to chart their growing sales. After three days the friends notice that their sales suddenly drop and investigate to find out why. After discovering that the competition is a new kid with a great juggling act just down the street, they ask him to perform beside the lemonade stand and then watch sales increase “over the top.”

The O’Malley family is off to the beach, but it’s a long, hot, boring drive. What can Eric, Bridget, and Nell do to keep busy? Play tally games, of course — counting up all the gray cars or green T-shirts they see. Whoever has the most marks at the end wins the game. This is a great picture book for teaching data collection and tallying. It also gives kids a head start in counting by fives and is a good basis for charts and graphs.