JumpStart 2nd Grade Math Workshop

JumpStart 2nd Grade Math Workshop is a workbook published in 2000. It stars CJ and Edison is designed to teach math to 2nd Grade students. Its themes and story seem vaguely inspired by JumpStart Math for Second Graders, and it features the only appearances of the King, Princess, Jester, Cook, and Ratso other than that game, though much like CJ and Edison themselves, their designs are very different.

Though both are themed around medieval times, the two products' stoylines are quite different. CJ is not a royal flycatcher and he and Edison have only come to the medieval world by time travel. Also, Ratso does not seem to have any ambitions to take over the castle and never traps anyone in a magic mirror; rather, the workbook revolves around a royal tournament in which CJ and Ratso are both participants.

It is also included as a section in the JumpStart 2nd Grade Jumbo Workbook.

Characters

 * CJ (main)
 * Edison (main)
 * King
 * Princess
 * Jester
 * Cook
 * Ratso

Level 1
 
 * "CJ's Clues" explains the concept of odd and even numerals. To help the princess get ready for the tournament, readers must color the banners with even numerals on them. There are ten banners total.
 * Still helping the princess, readers must draw lines connecting medals with odd numerals to a gold chest and lines connecting even numerals to a silver chest. There are ten medals total.

Level 2

 * "CJ's Clues" explains the greater-than and less-than symbols, though uses the term "bigger". As part of the first tournament contest, a flower-picking contest, readers must determine in six instances who has picked more flowers, CJ or Ratso.
 * Edison and one of Ratso's henchmen (which here look like normal-sized mice while Ratso is human size) are collecting rocks for the catapult contest. Readers must determine in six instances who has collected more rocks.
 * The cook is making pies for the eating contest. There are four sets of two trees. Readers are instructed to draw apples on the trees and determine which tree in each set has more apples. The first one is already done as an example. As a bonus, readers can find which tree has the most and least apples.
 * To thank CJ and friends for their help, the princess throws them ten scarves. The scarves have mathematical inequalities on them. To collect the scarves, readers must answer with the correct symbol. This is the first activity about inequalities that uses numbers exclusively with no pictures.

Level 3

 * "CJ's Clues" explains the terms "greater than" and "less than". The catapult contest starts. To determine how far CJ's and Ratso's rocks fly, readers must answer their math riddles, eight in all. Each math riddle specifies whether the number is even or odd, one number it is greater than, and one number it is less than.
 * Ratso and CJ are in an eating contest, and the reader must determine who has eaten the most. There are five inequalities to solve, but in each problem, readers must first solve two math equations to find out what numbers they're comparing.

Review

 * CJ and Ratso must complete a moat-crossing contest. Readers must solve inequalities on the logs. There are twelve inequalities in all, and in three inequalities, two equations must be solved first to determine the numbers to be compared. In order to determine the winner, readers must circle the logs with odd numerals, which CJ can hop across, and put an X on the logs with even numerals, which Ratso can traverse. Whoever gets the most logs wins.

Level 1

 * "CJ's Clues" explains multiplication. CJ and Ratso are in a fishing contest. There are three multiplication problems to solve and one example problem. In each equation, the groups of fish are shown and presented as an addition problem, then translated to a multiplication problem. At the end, CJ declares he won by catching 16 fish at once, and readers are instructed to circle the equation that equals 16.
 * The next activity is similar to the first, but the premise is a scavenger hunt to find gems hidden by the princess. There are six problems to solve.

Level 2

 * Ratso and CJ are playing capture the flag. Six more problems are presented on flags atop the tops of towers. It is again shown that each equation is both an addition and multiplication problem, but there are no longer picture guides. There are again six problems.
 * "CJ's Clues" shows how multiplication problems can be written vertically. CJ is competing in a contest to race down the castle wall. Readers help him by solving the multiplication problems on the wall, eight in all, plus an example problem.
 * Ratso is lost in the royal forest. Readers must solve multiplication problems on trees; however, this time the problems are presented only as addition problems, and readers must "translate" them to multiplication problems themselves. There are four problems. At the end, readers can find the tree with the castle's secret passage by choosing the tree with the equation that equals 30.
 * CJ and Edison found the secret passage. To guide them, readers must solve all the equations on the stone path, then put an X on the stones in each row with the same answer. There are five rows and three equations per row. Some are multiplication problems and others are addition problems, and in every row one addition problem and one multiplication problem will have the same answer.

Level 3

 * The princess is behind one of six doors. The doors have multiplication problems on them with no addition problems. The door with the same answer as 3 x 6 is the one that conceals the princess.
 * CJ and Edison can open the door using a magic key, but must say the magic words. There are twelve problems to solve, and each one is associated with a letter. At the end, there is a key in which the twelve numbers that are answers to the equations are listed, and putting the letters in that order will reveal the magic words.

Review

 * CJ has found the princess. Readers must race through a maze while avoiding being caught by Ratso or one of his henchmen who is also human sized. There also are nineteen multiplication problems to solve.

Level 1

 * "CJ's Clues" explains the concept of fractions. CJ and friends help the cook finish six cakes for the tournament feast by frosting them. Each cake is divided into half, and readers must color one half of each cake. At the end, there are three cakes divided into quarters which are already partially frosted, and readers must determine what fractional amount of cake has been frosted.
 * Ratso's friends are stated to have eaten a lot of the cook's pizza. In order to determine how much is left for Ratso, readers must look at five different pizza pans on which quarters of pizza are left and write down the number of slices over the denominator of four. At the end, the term "quarter" is explained and an association with dollars is made.

Level 2

 * "CJ's Clues" explains that the more equal parts a thing is divided into, the smaller each part is. Ratso and CJ are slicing cakes. There is one cake cut into halves, one into thirds, and one into fourths. Readers must color a certain fractional segment of cake, then write how much they frosted fractionally.
 * The next contest is based around sharing items among the princess' friends. Readers must divide several items - a loaf of bread, a cupcake, a banana, a pie, and a four-leaf quarter - into different fractional segments, then write how much each person gets (which is always one segment). There is also a bar of gold as an example.
 * Edison is assisting the princess in making kites for a tournament event revolving around kite-flying. There are nine kites divided into different fractional sections, and readers must color in a certain fractional amount of each kite.
 * The jester has been practicing his juggling for the tournament. There are eight sets of balls, and the reader must color (or otherwise decorate) a certain fractional amount of balls. At the end, readers must find the fraction that is equal to one half.

Level 3

 * The last tournament contest is to carry water from the well. There are eight buckets of water divided into fractional segments. Readers must either color in a certain fractional amount of the bucket if it is empty, or determine how much water is already in the bucket. One is already done as an example.
 * CJ and friends are helping the princess clean and polish some treasure for the tournament rewards. There are four sets of treasure. Readers must color a certain fractional amount of treasure in each set, though the fractional amount is given in words and the reader must change it to numbers.

Review

 * CJ has won the tournament. Readers must solve a connect-the-dots puzzle of a medal using different fractional amounts. The King has also made a royal proclamation about CJ's victory. There are several blanks in the scroll, each with a circle with a certain fractional amount next to them. There is a Fraction Clue Box containing that shows which word each fraction symbolizes so that readers can fill in the blanks.

Educational concepts

 * Number Sense
 * Even and Odd Numbers
 * Concepts of "Greater Than" and "Less Than"
 * Addition and Subtraction
 * Multiplication
 * Fractions