Sir Cumference & The First Round Table

Sir Cumference & The First Round Table

By: Cindy Neuschwanger & Wayne Gehen

Reader's Response: Sir Cumference is a math adventure book that deals with the concept of circumference and distance around a circle. The book title is a play on words with "Sir Cumference", with characters through out the book had similar "circle vocabulary" names. This book truly gives a humorous story that goes through an actual situation many students may experience themselves with deciding where to sit around a square table. Students will be engaged with the mid-evil theme and illustrations that carefully show the steps the show the connection between the circumference of a circle and the length times width of a rectangle. The language used is humorous and engaging. 

Evaluator's Response: The strengths of “Sir Cumference” out weigh the negative aspects when evaluating this text. The authors really hook students into the story. This comes from the illustrations and concepts of circumference within the text  This story is geared towards 6^th and 7^th graders who are exploring the concepts of a circle. Deriving formulas for geometric figures can be challenging, but this book truly captures the essences of why it is important to know where the formula for circumference and area come from. A negative aspect of this text is it’s influence on ELL students. The book is written in a humorous, old English structure that can be confusing for students who are learning the English language.

Teacher’s Response: This book would serve excellent as a hook and strategy to have students understand a real world problem where the circumference of a circle is derived from. It is a way for teachers to start a unit when beginning the basic skills involving circles. For students who enjoyed this book, the authors have created other adventures such as Sir Cumference and The Dragon of Pi and Sir Cumference And The Great Knight of Angleland. This is a great way for teachers to engage students and have a resource for students to use as a tool to remember formulas.

Literacy Coach’s Response: As a math teacher, I recommend this book as a strategy to introduce new concepts. The storyline in the book is described in a way that students are able to perform the same activity as they do in the book. There are easy steps that can be followed, describing the vocabulary words appropriately and effectively.