Book Review - Star Wars 3rd Grade Math & 3rd Grade Reading & Writing

Reading Workbooks

In these workbooks of activities the children will use the Star Wars characters to practice reading comprehension, adjectives, verb tenses, writing a report, identifying sentences, and creative writing. The activities will challenge the child and stretch their minds to use their creative thinking and analysis skills.

Some of the pages require prior knowledge. For example the page in which the child must identify sentences according to simple, compound, and complex could be difficult if these terms have not been learned.

I thought that the two pages where the child must use a glossary page to answer questions was very well done.

The child would definitely need to read carefully and use the skills of knowing how to use a glossary to answer the questions.

The answers are located at the end of the workbook.

I view this workbook as one that could provide a child with some interesting ways to practice skills of reading and writing.

STAR WARS WORKBOOKS, 3RD & 4TH GRADE MATH

To make these workbooks fun, the authors have incorporated the Star Wars characters to practice various math skills. .The pages included math concepts using multiplication, division, problem solving, elapsed time, measuring perimeter and area, and reading graphs. The pages are colorful and easy to read and use.

I feel if the child has learned the various skills , the pages should be fun to work on independently. However, the child may need some assistance with the exact meaning of some of the directions.

All the answers at at the end of the books.

I believe an 8-9 year old child will find this book challenging, fun, and a good way to reinforce and apply learned skills.

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Book Review - Image & Imagination: Ideas and Inspiration for Teen Writers

About the Book
More than 150 compelling photos and provocative writing prompts work together in this hybrid photo book/journal to inspire young adults to think, dream, create. Writers looking for inspiration and ideas will find what they need here. Image and Imagination is a repository of story starters, a practice space for fun and informal writing, and a turnkey to unlock the writer within.


My Take on the Book
This was a well written book with so many great writing prompts held within the book itself. I was really impressed with the overall book and all of the beautiful images and small thoughts that will get your creative juices flowing. As a father of a daughter who loves this write this was a great book to get her thinking about the world around her in a new way. On top of this though it also gave her a ton of new topics that she now can write more about!


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SpellQuizzer Offers a New Way to Help Kids With Their Spelling

About SpellQuizzerSpellQuizzer is a product of TedCo Software which was founded by Daniel Hite. Dan started working as a corporate software developer in 1995 and formed the software business Auction Sentry Software in 2001 developing and marketing the popular eBay user utility called Auction Sentry. The software was highly successful and in 2007 was awarded the People's Choice Award at the Software Industry Conference. Dan sold the Auction Sentry Software business at the end of 2007 to focus on his newer educational products such as SpellQuizzer.

Some tips and things to consider about SpellQuizzer:

1. SpellQuizzer was not designed with any one spelling curriculum in mind.  In fact, it should compliment virtually any spelling curriculum since you create your own custom spelling lists.
2. There is a page on the site specifically directed toward homeschoolers: http://www.spellquizzer.com/Spelling-Software-For-Homeschoolers.htm.
3. SpellQuizzer's built-in spellchecker recognizes both US and UK English spellings.  The spellchecker warns the user when creating a spelling list if they enter a word that appears to be spelled incorrectly.  Because of this safeguard it's reasonably safe to let children create their own spelling lists guided by the curriculum they are working on.
4. It's always a good idea to try to make the sound recordings for word lists amusing for the child.  Funny phrases or voices make it more fun and help to children engaged.
5. There are several free downloadable spelling lists for SpellQuizzer on our web site at http://www.spellquizzer.com/Spelling-Lists.htm.   These lists include pre-made sound recordings.  They are in the process of adding new lists to the site.
6. Users can easily export and import SpellQuizzer spelling lists to share with other SpellQuizzer users.  This makes it easy for members of homeschool groups to share their lists rather than everyone having to record their lists individually.
7. There is a community area to their web site with discussion forums and an area where users can upload their own lists to share with others and download lists other SpellQuizzer users are sharing.  This makes it easier than ever to share your lists with other SpellQuizzer users and for them to share their lists with you.
8. If a user doesn't have a PC microphone (many computers come with them now free but they get lost or tossed in a drawer and forgotten) they can usually be purchased at any department store's electronics department for under $10.  There's no need to invest in an expensive microphone as the inexpensive models usually produce acceptable recordings.
9. On some Windows installations Microphone Boost isn't turned on by default.  This can result in audio recordings made using a PC microphone being unacceptably faint even with the sound level turned all the way up.  This affects all programs that work with a PC microphone and not just SpellQuizzer.  There are instructions in the SpellQuizzer help file and also on the web site (http://www.spellquizzer.com/MicrophoneBoost.htm) for turning Microphone Boost on if such a problem is encountered.

My Take on the SoftwareThis software was easy to use and understand and I found that it truly is as simple as they make it sound. While my daughter does not have a ton of spelling words yet in her curriculum, I was able to use some of the preloaded lists for earlier spellers and she had some fun with the program itself.

I can see that this program will be a great one in the future as she continues with her learning and is given spelling lists as this programs engages her and lets her have fun along the way.

If you have a child that is bringing home spelling lists, this program would be a great addition to your educational arsenal.

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions. 

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