Posts Tagged ‘Weekly Reader’
Tuesday is Election Day. Schools will be closed, and young children will be asking “Why?” It’s a teachable moment, the perfect doorway to a civics lesson.
Weekly Reader has published an easy-to-understand book called “Why are Elections Important?” It’s leveled for Grade 2 and up and has an online quiz. It’s available at Big Universe, along with additional books with civics lessons for kids. (Grownups might benefit from a little brushup on social studies, too.)
While we adults may be jaded with the grimy side of politics and our country’s transgressions, our children are still privileged to live in a country where citizens have some say. They live in a country with an abundance of freedom and economic resources well above 95 percent of the rest of the world’s population.
We do not live amid the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge regime or the Idi Amin dictatorship. Our children are not prohibited from an education just because they are born the wrong gender or from the wrong caste. In this country we are not prevented from voting because our families have no money or power in a community.
Despite the cheesy campaign slogans and overabundance of rhetoric, we still get to elect our leadership in the United States, and we get to vote out officials who don’t do their jobs well. We get to help make decisions about all sorts of issues and laws.
Voting gives people a voice – just like the gift of literacy. It’s a right, a privilege…and yes, a blessing.
Big Universe offers grade-leveled math books for teachers and homeschooling parents, who are laying foundational math skills. The books present the subject in a positive light, which is half the battle.
Getting Started with Math, the series by Weekly Reader, uses age appropriate vocabulary and vibrant photographs to convey the relevance of math in daily life while reinforcing reading and interpretive skills for the K-Grade 1 crowd.
“The books in the Getting Started with Math series are designed to support young readers in the earliest stages of literacy,” says literacy coach Susan Nations of Weekly Reader. “Readers will love looking at full-color photographs and illustrations as they develop skills in early math concepts. This integration allows young children to maximize their learning as they see how thoughts and ideas connect across content area.”
Weekly Reader also has published the Math in Our World study aid for Grade 2 and up. Sylvan Dell Publishing offers math books, including “One Odd Day” and “My Even Day,” which won Learning Magazine’s Teachers’ Choice Award for Children’s Books in 2008. Charlesbridge Publishing introduces the Pythagorean Theorem and the idea of ratios in “What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras?” and “Pythagoras and the Ratios.”
Math Titles on Big Universe
My husband is a mathematics professor at Furman University. He teaches concepts that are at the other end of the spectrum, and yet he sees the value of these simple picture books for children.
“Stimulating material is essential, and a positive attitude toward math is paramount,” he says. “Somewhere between birth and college, kids are being labeled “good at math” or “bad at math.” So many people think they are born that way; however, the vast majority is simply exposed to dull, dry teaching. I see the evidence of that all the time. These college kids are bright, but somewhere they’ve gotten off track. Somewhere, someone has said, ‘Ew-w-w, math! I hate math,’ and the child starts equating mathematics with stewed beets and the smell of skunks. So, a good foundation is important. I love the positive approach these Big Universe books take. Math supports the whole world. It’s relevant!”
Amen.
NOTE: (Oct. 5, 2010) You might be interested in reading a paper by several Sydney scholars, titled “Mathematical Attitudes, Beliefs and Achievement in Primary Pre-service Mathematics Teacher Education” (Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 2005-2006). It has an expansive list of references at the end for those who would like to do further reading on this topic.
NOTE: (Feb. 2, 2011) Big Universe has added a mathematics reference volume to its virtual bookshelf. It looks like a good book to have on your desk if you teach elementary and middle school math. Check it out: “Rourke’s World of Science Encyclopedia, Volume 8: Mathematics.”
It can be hard to keep a child motivated about reading when vacation arrives. Many kids drop the books when school ends and don’t pick them up again until school begins again. That can be detrimental to the learning process! Vacation is a wonderful time to help children extend their reading experiences. There are numerous books that can be used in conjunction with your travels. This is a great way to help children make connections between their world and the print world. When a child learns to make connections between what they read and what is happening in their world they learn a very important strategy in reading. Making personal connections to text, connections between text and happenings in the world and connections between one text and another text a child has read are very important methods for a child to become better readers. Reading is not decoding of words. Reading is understanding the words that have been decoded and finding some meaning in them!
The book Using Math Outdoors by author Amy Rauen and book publisher Weekly Reader is a math counting book that is great to read and then follow-up with a fun day on the beach imitating the activities from the book. The children in the book write numbers in the sand, count sea shells and rocks, and do some math. For the older kids there are several wonderful books. Weekly Reader has a book called Deep Sea Fishing by William David Thomas. It’s a beautifully well written picture book that will be a big hit with the kids before they hit the beach. The book details the different types of fishing, fishermen and the different fish that are caught in various areas around the world. Seasquirt Publications gives us The One Sea, Voices from the Deep by David Pierce Hughes. Learn about the Albatross, Crab and Sea Urchin and read about the Coral Reef, Penguins, the Abyss and more. If staying home is your plan for summer vacation then Illumination Arts Publishing has the book. Just Imagine by Thompson and Schultz is a beautifully detailed picture book that takes children to space, sailing on the ocean, and to dinner with kings and queens, anywhere their own imagination can guide them. Each of these books and many more are available to be read online over and over again at Big Universe, or the books can be purchased or found at your library.
As the kids gather their own memories of summer have them write their own book. On Big Universe kids, teachers, anyone, can use some powerful authoring tools to create, print and even publish their own book. Pictures can be imported or you can use any of the almost 7000 clipart pictures that are already available on the site. When the teacher asks, “What did you do on your summer vacation?” why not hand her a copy of your book. That would be impressive!
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Tuesday is Election Day. Schools will be closed, and young children will be asking “Why?” It’s a teachable moment, the perfect doorway to a civics lesson.
