1 2 3 Ultimate Preschool Math by MamTalk Publishing

 

Genre: Children's Workbook

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

As a former kindergarten teacher I learned that small kids are like sponges. If you give them the opportunity and guidance they can learn much more than people think they can. By the end of the year my kindergarteners could read an analogue clock. They could read and write small stories. Why? The curriculum we used pushed them. Some of them needed more encouragement or needed to be retaught like everyone does in something. But they all succeeded

That is what this book does. The very first page does this. It shows a blank hedgehog ( one with zero needles) The student draws the needles on it, trace the zeros then trace the word zero, then they practice writing it on their own. Then of course they get to color the animal associated with it. After they have finished tracing, writing and coloring they can count the number of each animal.

Next they are asked to count objects up to ten. A certain number of shapes are placed in boxes and the child must count them and then color the correct number choice. Then they count and write the number under each picture like a graph.  Then there are pictures with different objects. Children color the count scattered objects and write the number in a box that corresponds to the pictures.  They learn to count one more or one less, then match the number to the objects. They learn the concept of before, between and after, inside and outside, right and left.  This is all followed by simple addition and subtraction. Once again they get to practice on basic shapes.  As always upon completion there is a certificate.

These are fun, engaging math concepts that are sure to keep the youngest child busy and actively learning

Large ABC and 123 Learning My First Big Tracing Workbook for Kids by Kidsup Publishing

 

Genre: Children's Workbook

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

One hundred and eleven pages of tracing fun for the young child. The very first page shows each letter and the numbered directions for writing each letter. Like your typical preschool/kindergarten letter tracing book they use cute animals for each letter. What I loved about this page was they used animals such as an alpaca, a narwhale, a sloth, a vulture and a yak. These are not the same ordinary animals we usually teach  them first. I know with my own grandchildren, if I showed them something they had never hear of before then it was a teaching moment for me.

Kids start off tracing single lines that are horizontal, vertical, slanted, the V-shaped before they ever start tracing letters.  In the beginning each letter takes up one full page.  Then you move onto the next section where you have one animal for the capital letter and one for the lower case letter.  The letters are followed by numbers then shapes that have positive statements attached to them. They even get into a rhombus, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon and octagon.  As always, when your child finishes this book they get a certificate that you can print out and they can color.

Escape to the Everglades by Edwina Raffa and Annelle Rigsby

 

Genre:  Middle Grades, Upper Elementary, Historical Fiction

Source:  I own a copy.

I have owned this book for a long time. As we neared the end of the school year and I had packed away my books for the year, I found this book. It had been left on one of my bookcases.  I decided to take it home then give it to my grandson to read. I am so glad it was left behind. I loved this book.

Running Boy receives his adult name at the naming ceremony and hopes that will end the bullying by Tiger. He is also eager to join Osceola's group to fight against the injustice being done on the Seminoles and other Native Americans. Tiger doesn't consider him a true Seminole because his mother was Seminole and his father was white. That is why he was given his father's name, Will Cypress.  His uncle agrees he is a man now and can decide on his own to join Osceola. He reminds him to remember who he is. He isn't just a Seminole he is also white. His uncle tells him that things are not always as black and white as we think. 

Will understand these words when he meets a woman and her three sons who help him hide out and point him in the direction of Osceola's camp. The few days he stays with them he learn what it means to be both white and Native American. He learns what his uncle means when he says he belongs to both worlds and he learns to accept who he is as a man and what it means to "do the right thing."