Monday, July 8, 2024

Summer Math Bridge by MamTalk

 


Genre: Children’s workbook
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

 

For this review I am going to step into my teacher mode. I am currently teaching middle school English. However, my background is in elementary education. I started out teaching kindergarten. This would have been a wonderful book for that age.  I love the idea of using it to bridge the summer months when we see so many students slide backwards.

This book is geared towards children ages 5-7. It’s table of contents breaks it into  parts. Part one is learning numbers. The idea is that children learn their numbers or reinforce their learning by counting, tracing, and coloring.  Part two is all about counting. Kids count the shapes and circle the correct number, leading up to coloring, counting and writing the correct number. Part three is all about comparing things. They start out drawing lines from the same number to the same number shapes. They move on up from that to more, less, fewer, bigger and smaller.

Part four is about putting objects inside, outside, to the right, left, top or bottom of shapes. This section reinforces direction and shapes and of course there is plenty of coloring to make it interesting. Part five is all about recognizing patterns. I believe this is an area student  don’t get enough practice with. When asking middle school students to recognize patterns in different subjects, and especially math, many struggle. Maybe if they had a book like this when they were younger they wouldn’t struggle so much in middle school.

Part six is all about recognizing size, such as big, small, tall, short, long.  This not only asks the child to recognize  the difference, but is teaching the youngest child important vocabulary words they will need to be successful in school. Part seven introduces them to basic, simple addition. We start with simple shapes, fingers and finally writing and adding the numbers. Part eight is your basic subtraction. It is handled very similar to the basic addition. Part nine  is naming the basic shapes. Some of this is more of a reinforcement as they will have been introduced to many of the shapes throughout the workbook.  Connecting real life objects to the basic shapes help with that reinforcement, as does making them choose the shape that is different.

So, putting my teacher hat back on for a minute, only because my grandkids are in upper elementary or have graduated. This is a book I would recommend to parents of all young children who would like to keep the learning fresh over the summer. With this book it can be done in as little as ten to fifteen minutes.

Sunday, July 7, 2024

The Bully Book by Eric Kahn Gale


Genre: Elementary and Middle Grade Realistic Fiction

Source: I own a copy.

 

This book is loosely based on bullying the author faced when he was in elementary school. His main character represents so many kids today. Erick Haskins was looking forward to his last year in elementary school. He hasn’t seen his best friend Donovan all summer. When his best friend walks past him and sits with the bullies he doesn’t know what to think. When the Jason calls him the “grunt” he isn’t sure why. He has always tried to stay out of trouble. He has managed to stay out of the way of the school bullies. This year they have decided he is low man on the totem pole, the grunt. As we go through the year with Erick we see his journal of thoughts and learn that there is a “Bully Book”. The book is about his hunt for it. If he can just find it and read it then maybe he will know why he was chosen as the grunt, how to stop being the grunt, and maybe, just maybe prevent this from happening to someone else. If there is one thing he has learned this year is that leaving elementary school as a grunt, can carry over into the next year.

I think this was a eye opener for me. I am a teacher so not necessarily the target audience for this book. However, some of the subtle things I saw happening in the book are things that often happen in today. I had a couple of students who were the target of bullies. I tried my best to stop it in the classroom. Once they left my room I was often unable to protect them. As a teacher this is very disturbing. At one point one of my students stood up for the weak child. She called out the bullies on an issue I had not seen. They work under the radar I have learned. She then looked at this kid and said, “You have got to start standing up for yourself.” He chose to take whatever they gave out and just live with it. Talking to admin. Doesn’t always help.  I now know why my students passed this book around and when they finally put it on my desk, told me I needed to read it. It has characters and situations they can identify with, which makes them feel like they are not alone




 

Saturday, July 6, 2024

Student Saturday: What Waits in the Water by Kieran Scott

 


Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Horror
Student Reviewer: Alyssa O.

The story What Waits in the Water written by Kieran Scott is a scary and breath-taking book. This book makes you want to keep reading. The setting of this book takes place at an older lake house. The main character Hannah is spending a weekend at the lake house. The lake next to the house starts to seem creepy. I relate to this story by being scared to go somewhere. Although the places I had to go are not actually scary this story is scary. I would read this story many more times again. I recommend this to middle schoolers or older.