That's the same series, by the same author, but I learned on a much older version that I am positive has been pulled from shelves because it used a very literacy- and logic-intensive approach.
It included long written vignettes with beautiful illustrations (about a page and a half each) with recurring characters such as Mr Strange and things like magical islands, counting change, and logic puzzles such as arithmatic problems with inkblots covering some of the numbers (forcing the student to work backwards and thus develop a holistic understanding of the concepts).
If you can, try to hunt down an older version. It looks like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Real-Math-Stephen ... 0812605055Other grade levels have yellow, green, blue or red stripes along the cover.
The way the elementary school I attended taught math was to pair this textbook with review through the Kumon system. This offered an excellent balance of teaching in the abstract and testing in the concrete.
..........
One day, a Kumon executive came from Japan to hand out commendations to those who achieved a certain level of skill. I stood next to the other students, but was not given a commendation, despite meeting the skill criteria. (I was sat in the fourth-grade classroom, two grades above my age group, and studied alone). I am still not sure whether the Japanese guy made a mistake, believed I was too young to properly be there, didn't like me for some reason, or was testing my restraint (as Japanese like to do).
In any event, I said nothing and just stood next to the other students and waited. After the event, I inquired of a teacher why I did not get a prize. A few weeks later, a box for me arrived from Japan, containing a beautiful gold, red and blue lapel pin in the shape of the United States, with a US flag motif and a dotted "K" in place of the stars. I kept it for many years, but I think my parents threw it away with the rest of my collection of things.
Shortly thereafter, my father became so blind he couldn't work as a doctor anymore. He loved practicing medicine as an infectious disease specialist in general practice, and this broke his heart. He became extremely inward looking and I became like the overgrown puppy. He lost interest in my life. I still feel very strongly I lost a lot of potential. This causes me deep sorrow and regret. I wish my parents had done more with my potential.
