Marketplace : Product Reviews :
Product Reviews April 2005
Each month Teaching Pre K-8 reviews outstanding products for the classroom.
This month's products are:
Dry Erase Materials
Poetry for the Classroom
50 Techniques to Improve Student Learning
The World Through Art
Organization par excellence
Harcourt
Wild Republic
Dry Erase Materials
Do you remember years ago when there was just a dry erase white board, and we all thought it was perfectly wonderful? Well, we still do. But have you seen the newest new dry erase products? They're far from those early gee-whiz products and even more "wonderfuller."
We received Big Practice Markerboards, one for Addition and Subtraction, and another for Multiplication. These boards are 15 3/4" x 11 1/2" and have basic number operations in an easy, workable format. The addition and subtraction board has a number line square near the top of the board to help students solve the problems. The reverse has an unlined dry erase surface.
The multiplication board has a hundred grid printed in the upper right-hand corner, above the number facts. All of the number combinations for multiplication are sequenced with increasing difficulty.
As dull as math practice may seem sometimes, these boards make it fun and when kids have that attitude, learning is a snap.
World Research Company is the pioneer in these individual white board "slates," and they've expanded their line to include early learning boards, graph skills boards, music boards, lined, unlined – you name it.
Do visit their website. Your kids will love the motivation of working on these boards individually. The boards are just $3.95 each (plus s/h), but there are real deals on classroom packs, markers, erasers, etc., so be sure to check.
World Research Company
www.DryEraseOnline.com
Poetry for the Classroom
Beyond Old MacDonald – Funny Poems from Down on the Farm is one of the new poetry releases from Wordsong, the poetry imprint of Boyds Mills Press. The author, Charley Hoce, is a 22-year teaching veteran in Ohio and he knows just what word-play will reach and delight children.
Naturally, this teacher has woven language skills into his poetry, so practice is fun, and skill-building is painless. As Charlie says, "Children love puns, homophones, idioms, and anything that turns convention upside down." His poems fill the bill. A sheep goes on the lam, a cow wears a dress that makes her calves look small...there's obviously fun for the teacher, too.
A Wordplay Guide is included with each poem, and it's correlative language skill listed. 18 poems, 32 pages, $16.95, hardbound, at Boyds Mills Press and your local bookstore.
This Lucky subscriber will receive an autographed copy of Beyond Old MacDonald. We're pretty sure you'll be hearing more from this author.
Boyds Mills Press
www.boydsmillspress.com
50 Techniques to Improve Student Learning
Who could ask for more than that? This new 226 page handbook, Summarization in Any Subject, is from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and is authored by the dynamic Rick Wormeli. With Rick's name on a book, one knows that the ideas and practices contained within are classroom-tested and solid.
In the introduction Rick makes his case, based on the newest brain research, on why summarization is important both for the teacher and for the kids. As he states it, the goal is not to produce "parrots-in-training," but to teach students a strategy that will open their minds and make content stick.
Rick takes the reader step-by-step through just how to implement summarization techniques using "chunking" of text and learning experiences.
There are 49 activities providing fun while building comprehension and achievement skills. These activities range from "Spelling Bee de Strange" to RAFT (an acronym for role, audience, form, time). Each of the activities has classification symbols which indicate whether the activity is for individual, oral/interactive, written, artistic/performance, short or extended use. The work is really done for us. Paperbound, 226 pages, $29.95 plus s/h.
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
www.ascd.org
The World Through Art
This wonderful breakthrough series, How Artists See, published by Abbeville Publishing Group, is composed of interactive, inquiry-based books designed to "teach children about the world by looking at art and about art by looking at the world."
We really loved the sample book we received, How Artists See America. This book, like the other books in the series, is by Colleen Carroll and contains 16 works of art, four representing each section of the country; east, south, midwest and west. The author introduces the area, and comments on how certain elements of the area complement or explain the corresponding selected painting. Ms. Carroll begins with Niagara Falls, linking it to the Thomas Cole painting of Niagara Falls, painted long before the area became a tourist attraction. She calls attention to the two small figures of Native Americans in the painting and asks the reader to put his or her finger over the figures and reassess the grandeur of the scene depicted. We never would have thought of doing that, but it changes one's perspective radically.
There's frosting on this cake, too in the form of a great: Series Teachers' Guide. It's in a loose-leaf format, and there are three components for every painting: an objective, preparation and an activity plan. Information re the content skills, time requirements, materials and subject area are also included. The Teacher's Guide is $9.95, (168 pages). Individual kids' books have 48 pages and are $9.95 each. If you order from Abbeville, there's s/h.
As of this date there are 12 books available in the series: How Artists See America, Animals, Artists, Cities, The Elements, Families, Feelings, Heroes, People, Play, The Weather and Work.
Contact the publisher for more information. This product is really worth your time.
www.abbeville.com
Organization par excellence
Help is here for those kids who always seem out of step when projects are due, keeping information in one place, etc. Essential Learning Products has a series of journals: My Current Events Journal, My Weekly Health Journal, My Book Report Journal and My Science Journal that are really outstanding! A plus is that there are two versions: one is for K - three and another for grades four to six. The content of each book is tailored to that book. For instance, the health journal provides for a detailed recording of food intake, exercise, sleep and a space to summarize what the child could have, perhaps, done to make the week healthier.
My Book Report Journal provides space for the details of the book: title, author, genre, characters, as well as space to retell the plot and to list what the child liked/didn't like about the book. Space is provided for recording the titles the student wants to read.
These books are very neat in format and presentation and will gently impose structure on any child, but particularly those with organization problems. The books are 8 1/2" x 11," 64 pages paperbound, $2.95 each plus s/h at ELP, or from your local school supply dealer.
Essential Learning Products
800-357-3570
Harcourt
Remember how much fun origami used to be? We were reminded about this art form by the book, Fold Me A Poem, by Kristine O'Connell George.
This is not a how-to book for origami, but poetry that takes a child through much of the alphabet with origami creations of animals, imaginary animals and objects.
The author got the idea for the book when she saw a young boy making origami figures, deftly and quickly. She was struck by the similarities between origami and poetry, how poetry uses a few spare words to bring a scene to life and how a few small folds can bring a sheet of paper to life.
The short free verse is accessible for emergent readers as well as fluent readers because of the detail in the art. A lovely book. 48 pages, $16 at your local bookstore.
Harcourt, Inc.
www.HarcourtBooks.com
Wild Republic
This company has a line of stuffed birds – Audubon Birds – with authentic calls. The card that accompanies each bird gives the name of the bird and a small map of its migration patterns. There is also a short history of the particular species, where it can be found, what is eats and how it nests.
We saw the Great Blue Heron from the Wetland Series. There are five additional birds available in this series. The stuffed version is about six inches long and is crafted from various kinds and colors of plush. The birds are "Audubon authentic." (www.audubon.org). The calls are authenticated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (www.birds.cornell.edu).
There are several series available such as Backyard Birds, Birds of Prey, Game Birds, Open Spaces Birds, Tropical Birds and on and on. For ages three and up. These educational toys can spark of lifetime of birding.
Wild Republic
www.wildrepublic.com
