While I usually blog about my life in the paper crafting world, many of you know that my "real" job is as an educator. I taught high school social studies and language arts and have cycled through three different of out-of-the-classroom jobs since then, working in positions that combine instructional coaching, curriculum development, and professional development.
It's been interesting to combine my parenting with my background in education. With the current heavy nationwide testing emphasis on reading, writing, and math, I am hugely bothered by how that impacts the amount of time spent in elementary schools on social studies and science. I'm also bothered by how much of the math instruction ignores the fun aspect of math. On a positive note, I am encouraged by what is likely to be the impact of the new Common Core State Standards, which call for a shift in the amount of time spent reading narrative vs. informational text. I think the shift towards a more balanced ratio of narrative to informational text is a good thing (a very good thing), but we're still in the early stages of the rollout of these new standards and the shift to more informational text is likely to be slow in coming.
Given all of what I've described above, I've tried hard as a parent to seek out good social studies, science, and math books that are fun and informative/interesting. I'm going to be looking for some new books for the kids for the holidays this year, but thought I'd share five of our "greatest hits" - the books my kids turn to again and again that have helped them to develop a love of learning and a curiosity about the world around them.
1. The Math Curse by Jon Scieszka + Lane Smith
Whether you read this to your kids or they read it themselves, math becomes fun, funny, and a natural part of the world that surrounds us every minute of every day. My kids stop to laugh, stop to try to figure out some of the problems posed in the book, and start to see and work through math problems they encounter in their everyday life.
2. How to Build Your Own Country by Valerie Wyatt and illustrated by Fred Rix
This book is one my kids turn to again and again, and is a great resource for me to point them to when they claim to be bored. This book educates kids about all of the different components that are important to the functioning of a country and invites kids to create their own fictional country along the way. Kids learn about writing a national anthem, setting up a government, declaring holidays, creating foreign policy, and much, much more. The text is peppered with real-world and fictional examples and has great illustrations. As a result of owning this book, I am now a citizen of the United States, Masketstan, and Halloweenia of Awesomeness, and have three passports to prove it. I was also elected as the first president of Masketstan.
3. Encyclopedia of Science (multiple authors)
One word best describes this book: comprehensive. It starts with a "How to Read this Book" section that unpacks the structure of each page and provides some pre-reading assistance. After a couple of timelines and information on how scientists work, the book delves into just about every sub-field within science, including human biology, astronomy, geology, meteorology, etc. Within each sub-field, there are single- or double-page spreads on sub-topics, so if a kid has five to ten minutes he or she can open the book and learn about industrial pollution, sound, climates, etc. The end of the book features a "Fact Finder" section that provides some key overviews in graphic format. The illustrations are fantastic. There's a great mix of photographs and diagrams as well as illustrated sidebars that address the history of science or further explain a concept addressed in the main text. I need to read this book myself!
4. Geography of the World (multiple authors)
This book is to geography what the book above is to science. As someone who is passionate about geography (don't laugh!) this book is one of my favorites. So many people think that geography is just about maps, but the reality is that geography is a complex field that addresses all kinds of topics that can be addressed spatially (i.e. anything that can be mapped), including conflict and cooperation, land use, culture, etc. Similar to the Encyclopedia of Science, this book begins with a section on "How to Use This Book." Following that are some overview pages with thematic maps on larger topics, such as climate and population. From there, the book delves into a continent by continent look at geography. Each section begins with a "Peoples of.." section, followed by country profiles. These profiles are rich with interesting and varied topics, from agriculture in Canada to Islamic cities in Uzebekistan to land reclamation in the Netherlands. There's also a sidebar for each country filled with interesting statistics. The book ends with more overview pages, including political systems, world religions, and rich and poor. As with the Encyclopedia of Science, there are amazing visuals that support and enhance the text.
5. Two books in one here: National Geographic's World Atlas for Young Explorers and United States Atlas for Young Explorers
These two atlases come with a fun bonus: companion web sites where kids can go for more information. These books both start with "How To" pages that describe how to use both the atlas and the web site. What follows are thematic maps, country by country or state by state detail, and additional statistics.
So...if you've gotten to the bottom here, thank you for reading! I have lots more books I could share and review here, but this is a start. If anyone out there finds this useful, please let me know in the comments and I'll plan to do another post with more books and perhaps a third post with the books I'm planning to buy for my kiddos this holiday season.
Happy reading!
Stephanie from Bella Blvd has designed a FREE fun printable Thanksgiving album that coordinates with the Finally Fall collection.
Isn't it cute? Did I mention that it's FREE?! All you have to do is download the pages, print out on cardstock (or heck, even regular paper!), distribute at Thanksgiving for people to fill out, and then assemble the pages into an album. Of course, if you want, you can embellish the cover and pages. (Did I mention that the album coordinates with the Finally Fall collection?)
So...what are you waiting for? Head on over to the Bella Blvd blog, download the FREE album, print, and you're ready to go!
First the bad, then the good...read on...
Today didn't go exactly as planned. Let's start with the "Welcome to Life in Denver" image my husband posted on Facebook earlier this week. This is not a joke folks, this is actually this week's weather here, which did indeed proceed according to the forecast.
Now that you have the context, I will get on with my story. Today was a rare school-based-appointment-free workday, so I had planned to take the kids to school, get ahead with some scrapbooking assignments, participate in a work phone call, and get some other things done around the house. I dropped the kids off at school, came home, put coffee on, answered one quick phone call and made another quick call, and then went downstairs to answer emails. I heard a very loud crash and ran upstairs. I peeked outside and out the window and then had to go outside to photograph what I saw:
That's my driveway. You can't see it, but behind the tree is my car. Oy. The neighbors have called their tree guy to deal with this, but it's now two hours after they were supposed to show and they still aren't here. I had to have Seth leave work early to pick up the kids and Eli's friend who is coming over for a playdate as I am still trapped, well, trapped if I want to use my car, that is!
The whole city looks like this. It is crazy! The snow is so wet and heavy and trees, tree branches, and power lines are down all over the place. Getting on Facebook this morning I saw that three friends in Denver and beyond had posted similar stories, two involving neighbors' trees in their yards.
Okay, now that you've seen the bad, here's the good in my day:
1. First the REALLY good: the tree didn't fall 15 minutes earlier when I was walking through that exact same spot.
2. Great things happening at work. I'm excited to be using some expertise that's been dormant for a couple of years.
3. I have a layout up on the Bella Blvd blog today as part of this week's inspiration using the mid-release lines. My layout features the new Spring Flings and Easter Things line:
(I might have to use the Winter Wonder line with the photo I posted above!)
Please keep your fingers crossed for me that I will be able to get out of the driveway soon! Sending safe thoughts to everyone in Colorado affected by today's storm!
For those of you who have been waiting, Bella Blvd's mid-release begins shipping to stores today!
Be sure to check out the Bella Blvd blog all week long to see projects from the team using the new lines.
Bella Blvd has been introducing a few design team members each day, and I'm among those featured today on the Bella Blvd blog! Be sure to click on over there to read more (including some random facts about me!) and to see the other talented ladies being introduced today.
I've already shared one of the four layouts I created for the design team call - I'll share the other three here.
First up is a layout using one of my favorite photos and the Finally Fall line. I love the mix of colors and patterns in this line, and, as you can see, went a little crazy with my apple punch. :)
This next layout combines products from the Finally Fall and Christmas Wishes lines.
Last is a layout I created using the Too Cute to Spook line.
If you missed yesterday's posts over at the Bella Blvd blog, please go check out the two new mid-release lines (Winter Wonder, Spring Flings and Easter Things) as well as the additions to the Sophisticates line. There is a giveaway associated with each post, so be sure to check each one out and follow the directions/leave a comment to be entered to win!
That's right, there's a brand-new mid-release from Bella Blvd! The release includes two new lines and two additions to the Sophisticates collection. As always, Stephanie does a great job of mixing themed patterns and embellishments with more basic/generic patterns and embellishments so there's something for everyone in each line.
Without further ado, here are the papers and embellishments from the Spring Flings and Easter Things Line:
Egg Hunt:
A Tisket A Tasket:
Mom's Bouquet:
Sunny Sunday:
Borders :
Cute Cuts:
Alpha Bits Stickers:
Just Write Stickers:
Miniatures Stickers:
I love all the cute animals and bugs in this line and the colors and patterns make me happy.
Now, let's take a look at the Winter Wonder line. Being from Colorado and having two snowman-makers, three skiers, and four hot-chocolate-drinkers in my family I am certain I will be using this line a lot! I could also see bits and pieces being used for Valentine's Day, summer/beach, or camping/nature projects.
Blizzard:
Toasty:
Ski Slopes:
Icy:
Borders:
Cute Cuts:
Alpha Bits Stickers:
Just Write Stickers:
Miniatures Stickers:
Last, but not least, here are the additions to the Sophisticates line.
Miniatures Card Sentiments Stickers:
Miniatures Family Stickers:
So, what do you think? Are you as excited about these new products as I am? :)
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