Junior Books

This is a great book and goes right along with the Four Blocks Literacy Program. It really explains how to implement the program in a sequential manner. After teaching Four Blocks this year I am excited to read this book. It really makes sense and I know will be a big help next year.

What a great idea: to write the story of one imaginary class as it moves from grades K through 5 encountering different (but always reflective and hard working) teachers. It's a practical look at powerful literacy instruction in action. The teachers' "monthly logs" give the reader a peek inside their heads as they plan and evaluate their programs. This is a good read for brand new teachers (they will surely identify with "Miss Nouveau" in second grade!) and all those who strive to improve their instructional practice.

I was fortunate enough to find this book (in the public library of Kaohsiung, Taiwan of all places) just after being hired to teach English in a public elementary school. It gives solid principles of teaching English as a Second Language to Primary grade kids--which is different than teaching older students. The author also details numerous activities that can be altered, extended, and transformed--doubling or tripling the number such a book usually contains. In short, it saved me! I ordered 6 copies, kept one and gave the rest to other English teachers in the school. They appreciated it too. Many thanks to the author!!

This is a key book for all primary teachers for it helps them understand the importance of capitalising on the enthusiasm, the motivation, the willingness to learn and participate that children bring to class. It shows you that the special abilities children have are a spring of learning for you as well. Of course this book offers practical activities which are easy and enjoyable

This is THE book for improving spelling achievement that can be helpful to both teachers and parents. You will find it exceptionally well written and an ongoing resource.

This book is an excellent resource for teachers in the elementary grades. It gives a listing of many different spelling rules, generalizations, exceptions and more. I used it this year with my students...I introduced a different rule each week with words appropriate for their grade level. Take a look at this book. It's wonderful!

Researched and created by teachers Stephen Krulik and Jesse A. Rudnick, Teaching Middle School Mathematics: Activities, Materials, And Problems is an extensive, "classroom friendly" resource of sample problems, worksheets, exercises and more for teaching middle school students about everything from fractions and magic squares, to basic geometry and algebra, to networks with odd and even vertices, and a great deal more. Reproducible pages and carefully explained directions for the activities make Teaching Middle School Mathematics a truly first-rate curriculum supplement for tenured and substitute teachers, and would prove an invaluable resource for dedicated homeschool instruction as well.

Teaching is difficult enough and when I was reviewing books for a research paper I came to this one from the College library. I now have it full of post-it-notes saying I want to try this one, and this one, etc. So I figured I should buy the book myself since I want to try about half the activities, materials, or problems next year with my classes. I also want to share it with my co-workers, but it was close to midnight and I had to wait.

What a gift writing has been for capturing the events of our lives. The authors of Teaching Passionately share their stories and in turn allow us, encourage us, even give us space, to share ours. This book has been a journey, not just a reading. I have reflected upon my past and have made discoveries that were not yet uncovered. I took the process slowly, reading, highlighting, outlining the content, journaling my thoughts. It has been fun, has made me a better teacher and a better person. It is a rare book that can do all this.

What an inspirational, worthwhile book. Quite honestly, this is one of the best books I've ever read about methods of teaching. Wink and Wink, the mother-daughter author team of Teaching Passionately, draw from two generations of experience teaching globally, as well as within the current American educational system. They explain how effective learning can, and MUST, be measured through greater involvement with students, rather than underfunded, misleading -- and required -- standardized tests. Their methods will enrich the lives and experiences of not only the students, but also their parents. If parents in this country (and the rest of the world) want their children to love learning, and to seek education for the sheer joy of it, this book is a "must read." It should be a required text for every college student in the field of education.

This book is a must for any literacy professional. I think it is one of the best books ever written about reading comprehension. Irwin's theory is as applicable in the third edition as it when first published.

Clear description of the reading comprehension processes with useful examples of strategies and tasks to help stududents become aware of the ways in which they can work it out and become independent and effective readers. Self- reflection sections and suggestions in the form of tasks turn this book into a must.

Anyone involved in teaching vocabulary, especially to a group with a wide range of reading levels, will benefit from the techniques and exercises in this book.

This book is stuffed with terrific ideas for teaching vocabulary in an organic way using words students find in their own environment. Bravo! You'll be sorry if you sell this book.

School visits can range from abismal to inspiring. It all depends on planning and communication. This book is the perfect resource for librarians and PTO visit coordinators, but it's also a between the lines how-to and fair-warning guide to authors and illustrators. All that plus an entertaining read. Don't miss this one!

As an author of children's books, it is important to me to connect with my readers in as many ways as possible. Terrific Connections is the perfect guide to making the author/reader experience a postitive one. With this book you can learn how to make those first connections, learn what makes a good visit great, learn from others what works and doesn't work, and so much more. Whether connecting virtually or in real time and space, this book sets the standard by which all future visits will be measured.

Author visits are a lot of work for everyone involved. Using this resource, you can be assured of making many terrific connections of your own. Authors, illustrators, teachers, and libraraions should all have this book.

This series gives great assignments, which are great for para-professionals or parents to utilize between sessions. The age targeted activites are great, especially for the little ones. The categories of activities are helpful in determining what activites will be appropriate with goals the client is working on. I appreciate that there are mutliple activites for each target area. This allows me to work through a spectrum of approaches to the same issue. The kids seem able to relate to the stories in the exercises. I have found the activities helpful in beginning to get them to approach difficult subjects, without feeling like they are in the 'hot seat'.

This book is an exceptional tool for providing exercises when working with children. It provides hours of activities that counselors, new and experienced, can apply in the K-12 school system.

I read this book on my Best of Thomas DVD with and without narration, and I feel like getting this book. I also like to get Thomas tells a lie, and Hooray For Thomas. Percy had seen a dinosaur. He thinks it was a dragon. Thomas goes out. He tells Percy. He goes back to the forest. He doesn't know until the driver said it was a dinosaur model for the new dinosaur park. Harold comes and lifts the model on the flat truck. Men fasten it. Percy sees it. Thomas tells him "Don't worry Percy, this isn't a dragon. This is a dinosaur model for the new dinosaur park." He passes the school, and the children waved. He gets three cheers from Sir Topham Hatt and all the people who are desining the park and his driver, fireman, and conductor.

This is my son's favorite Thomas the Tank Engine story because it is written at his level. The Jellybean Books are written for younger children and this story is very engaging and involves a dinosaur, a subject close to the hearts of many youngsters. This is the perfect book for any young Thomas the Tank Engine fan.