February’s Highlights
By Patricia Broderick and Allen Raymond

The Big Deal Book...
Is something every teacher will love hearing about. The Book is a resource listing sources of free materials and equipment, identification of professional development and technology training programs and annotated websites. There are also sources for digital curriculum and guidance on understanding the NCLB act.

Hard copies of the Book have been available for a few years, but it's now easily accessible online. New editions are published throughout the year. There are lots of purchase plans (individual or multiuser subscriptions) so contact the publisher for the correct pricing structure for you or your school.
The Big Deal Book
www.bigdealbook.com

Walter Dean Myers...
Has a wonderful new book available for the 14 and up crowd. Actually, it's great for any middle school kids. Walter has done what he does best: gets inside the head of a young man from Harlem.

Walter recounts the story of a young man from Harlem attending a prep school in Connecticut and how he comes to terms with his new world and his old neighborhood. Most specifically, his relationships with people from both of those worlds. The largest part of the story takes place in the 10 days of the Christmas break.

The Beast is a hauntingly beautiful story that will resonate with young teens. $16.95.
Scholastic, Inc.
At your local bookstore

The Mother of All...
Science Experiment compendiums is the newest contribution from Janice VanCleave, The Science Project Workbook, for grades three to six is outstanding. There are 225 experiments in five different fields of science: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science and Physics.

Each experiment states the purpose, lists materials needed, and gives step-by-step procedures. There is also an Answer Key that provides the expected results of each experiment, along with the reason those results are achieved. The worksheets for each experiment provide sufficient space for children to record their findings and list their conclusions. We highly recommend this book. It's an enormous value at $19.95.

We also saw Janice's A+ Science Fair Workbook and Project Journal for grades seven to 12. It, too, is a gem. This guide is invaluable for every middle school and high school teacher, although we rather feel it would be a good investment for intermediate teachers as well. The tips on how to use the book provide a blueprint for every child to use as an approach to deciding on what to do for a science fair project and how to go about the necessary planning. In 348 pages Ms. VanCleave provides wonderful pre-planning information along with 55 A+ projects. $19.95.

We wish these two books had been around years ago and many of you will feel the same way.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
wiley.com

Mead Delivers Again...
Teaming with Texas Instruments, Mead has produced two great math notebooks. Each of these notebooks has information included pertaining either to the TI-83 or the TI-30X IIS calculators.

The notebook that includes the TI-83 information has 10 pages of reference material for the calculator. There is a page entitled "Getting to Know Your TI-83 Plus", another page for "Getting Started Using Your TI-83 Plus;" a page on "TI-83 Plus Expressions, Menus, and Graphing;" "All About Apps for the TI-83 Plus;" and pages for "General Math with the TI-83 Plus, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Math References." Everything is at a student's fingertips. There's a movable plastic ruler/protractor. In addition to the above, there are 100 sheets of college-ruled paper and 50 sheets of graph paper. A terrific package.

The notebooks for the TI-30X IIS have the same ruler/protractor and paper as the above. The calculator information included is different. It's all about getting to know the TI-30X IIS, doing algebra, geometry and trigonometry with this calculator as well as a quick Key Guide. These books make it all so much easier.

We were also sent Mead's Five-Star/Texas Instruments Calculator Case. This sturdy fabric case includes small graph paper and has a pocket to protect the calculator. The case zips around three sides and is just as slick as can be. We received a blue case and a black case. Gray is also available.

The notebooks are $6.99 each and the computer cases are $7.60 at your local office/school supply store.
Mead/Westvaco
www.mead.com

February, 2004, Vol.34, No.5