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Even an Ostrich Needs a Nest


Elevator Magic
by Stuart J. Murphy
Ben meets his mom at work at the end of the day. On their way down to the first floor, he has to use his subtraction skills to help his mom run errands.
Resources for Elevator Magic:
Full Book Review (English)
Full Book Review (Spanish)
Brief Book Review (English)
Brief Book Review (Spanish)
Activities for Elevator Magic:
Elevator Subtraction (English)
Restar en el ascensor (Spanish)
What will Ben and his mom find on the next floor?
Math Connections:
Subtraction
Activities to Do Together:
- Talk about subtraction. Talk about a time each of you have used subtraction.
- While picking up toys, practice subtraction. Count how many toys there are to put away. Ask your child to figure out how many toys will be left when two toys are put back where they belong. As more and more toys are picked up, keep subtracting to see how many toys remain.
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Practice subtraction the next time you use an elevator together. Tell them how many floors you want to travel down and have them figure out which button they need to press.
Extension Questions:
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How many floors did Ben and his mom travel all together in Elevator Magic?
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If you are on the 9th floor of a building and travel 3 floors down, what floor will you be on?
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Where did you see examples of subtraction in Elevator Magic?
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What do you think is on the second floor of Ben’s mother’s building?
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If Ben is on the seventh floor, how many floors will he need to travel down to visit the second floor?
Vocabulary for Building Math Concepts:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, down, few, first, more, one
Please check out the Book Guide for Elevator Magic for more!
Online External Resources for Elevator Magic: