CONTEST! Timberdoodle & Critical Thinking Press, part 4 of 4

 Contest, Homeschool, Reviews  13 Responses »
Feb 122011
 

All right! Thanks for bearing with me for a day while I did another review. Now, back to the story.

I expected Timberdoodle to ask me to forward the books on to their intended destination. Instead, the email I got informed me that they’d already re-shipped books out to that person, that they wouldn’t need those back, and hopefully I could find a good use for them?

You bet! So then I had my fourth-choice book to review… that was the first cool thing, which you’ll get to read about today.

And the second neat thing, since I received two copies of Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural, I’d love to share the extra copy with one of you!(No way you’d be getting mine – as you can tell if you read earlier this week, I really, REALLY like this series from Critical Thinking Press. There are two other books in the series, as I’ve mentioned, and I haven’t had my hands on them – but given the high quality of the three books we’ve been using, I think it’s safe to assume they’re pretty darn good, too.

So. Contest today. Rules are at the end of the post. Lots of ways to get extra entries – see below for details.

And now: Word Roots Beginning:

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not the biggest fan of vocabulary just for the sake of memorizing vocabulary. I just don’t see it as all that effective when it isn’t directly related to other materials being used. It can feel frustrating and thankless to drill defintions and spelling when there isn’t anything to USE them for.

That’s where Word Roots is just a wee bit different. Sure, it’s learning for the sake of learning – but what you’re learning are parts of words that are going to be in every single book you read, and while you might not use them on a daily basis, they’re still going to be a constant part of life. By learning the roots of words, one can bring a deeper understanding of the conversations they heard, the words they speak and write, and everything they read. These meanings are so firmly entrenched in our language that a misunderstanding of just one of them can reduce comprehension of three, ten, or even dozens of words.

Word Roots Beginning is aimed at 3rd-4th grade students. Reproducable, with approximately 100 black & white pages, Word Roots Beginning provides 24 lessons and 14 review sections – enough to last the entire school year if done 2-3 days per week. Each concept is clearly explained at the start of the lesson, and is followed by worksheets for practice and reinforcement. For teacher and student, it’s pretty much pick up and go, other then the initial photocopying.

We’re creating index cards as we go, with roots, suffixes, or prefixes on one side, and the meaning on the other, for practice. We can later use the cards as a refresher, or add them on to a trivia-style game.

If you have a struggling reader, I’d recommend reading through each worksheet with them, to ensure that they understand the material. On the other hand, if you have a confident reader that likes worksheets, they might work through the book at a faster pace then you anticipate. The index card method is a great tool for bringing the knowledge out of the worksheet and into the student’s hands in a portable, active way.

The answer key is clear, and large enough to read, perfect for quick correction. I wish all answer keys were as nicely done.

The Princess has been enjoying the worksheets – the fill-in-the-blank stories make the material more interesting, because she’s curious to learn what comes next. (Though she and I were slightly puzzled at a picture of what appeared to be a man in a white coat using a DRILL on another person’s ear – until I realized that it was a doctor testing someone’s hearing!)

All-in-all, Word Roots Beginning is a great start to the study of the parts of words, and I look forward to using later books in the series.

Word Roots Beginning, from Critical Thinking Press, is available at Timberdoodle. Or, request a free homeschool catalog!

Other books in the Word Roots series:

Contest Details:

  1. Contest starts when this is posted, and will end at 11:59 pm Pacific time on Sunday, February 20, 2011.
  2. Winner will be randomly drawn from all valid entries, and my decision is final.
  3. Make sure your email is on your entry! That’s how I will contact you for shipping information.
  4. The winner will have exactly a week to reply with shipping details. If I haven’t heard from them by then, a second name will be drawn and contacted.
  5. The winner will receive my extra copy of Building Thinking Skills, Book 3, Figural, published by Critical Thinking Press. ($30 value)
  6. Contest open to those in the United States.
  7. If I screwed up anything about the contest details and don’t realize it until later, I reserve the right to fix it.

WAYS TO ENTER

  1. Comment on this post with your experience with any of the four books from Timberdoodle I’ve reviewed this week. (1 entry)
  2. Comment on this post with your favorite Timberdoodle product. (1 entry)
  3. Follow me on Google Friend Connect and comment on this post to tell me. (1 entry)
  4. Follow me on Networked Blogs and comment on this post to tell me. (1 entry)
  5. Follow me on Twitter and comment on this post to tell me. (1 entry)
  6. Friend me on Facebook and comment here to let me know. (1 entry)
  7. Subscribe to my Feed and comment on this post to let me know. (1 entry)
  8. Tell your blog readers about my contest and comment on this post to let me know. (1 entry)
  9. Tell your Twitter followers about my contest and comment on this post to let me know. (1 entry)
  10. Share it on Facebook and comment here to let me know. (1 entry)
  11. Make relevant comments on up to five other posts on my blog, and comment back here on this post to let me know. (up to 5 entries)

*** Don’t freak out if your comment isn’t posted right away – I’m not always right in front of the computer, and I moderate new commentors the first time they post to decrease the spam. ***

So. That’s up to 15 entries per person. You’re welcome to use any or all of them. Just pretty please make sure and put your email on your comment(s). Let your friends and readers know. And good luck!

**Legal Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of these books in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.**

Timberdoodle & Critical Thinking Press, part 3 of 4

 Homeschool, Reviews  No Responses »
Feb 102011
 

The lighter box created more questions then it answered. Inside was Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural… and Word Roots Beginning. That was my FOURTH book on the list of choices. Not one I should have gotten. Maybe not enough people had requested it, and they decided to sent it out to me, too? Nothing wrong with hoping, right?

So I opened the heavier box. There were the three titles on my list. OK… there’s a duplicate. So I examined the packing slips. Aha! The city, state and zip code are mine, but the name and street are different. Didn’t realize that before I opened it. Don’t recognize that street. Pretty sure there isn’t one in my town. Off to Google Maps. Hmm… that address comes up in another city an hour and half away. And the zip code is almost the same, a couple numbers are transposed. Not sure what made the post office decide they were for me, instead of returning them.

The additional books weren’t for me.

Emailed Timberdoodle. Told them what I thought might have happened and offered to drop the books back in the mail.

Check back Saturday for the very cool resolution to the story, plus a contest!

And on to Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural:

Given the increase in size between book 1 and book 2, I was a bit underwhelmed when I saw book 3. It’s smaller then either of the other two books, which surprised me, until I realized why. This is only HALF of book 3, the figural portion. The other half is in the Verbal book. The book was too massive to include in just one binding, so it was, quite logically, split into two. (The two books would title nearly 600 pages together.)

Like the others, there are black & white, reproducible pages. Again, like the others, the greatest part of prep time is going to be spent on the photocopying.

There are just four chapters here: figural similarities, sequences, classifications, and analogies. Another difference is that this book recommends classroom discussion and manipulatives in addition to the worksheets. While “classroom discussion” is often not a realistic expectation in a homeschool atmosphere, for many, it would be possible to encourage occasional conversation over “why” the answers are the correct responses, and what ways might the problem be different, or what other methods might achieve the solution.

Though I don’t yet have one here to compare, I expect that the Verbal book 3 is similar in style to the other titles, and would also be a very helpful resource for those in high school with achievement tests in their near future.

This series is definitely a resource I’ll be using with each of my children now and in the future.

Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural, from Critical Thinking Press, is available at Timberdoodle. Or, request a free homeschool catalog!

Other books in the Building Thinking Skills series:

**Legal Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of these books in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.**

Timberdoodle & Critical Thinking Press, part 2 of 4

 Homeschool, Reviews  No Responses »
Feb 092011
 

In the email asking if we were interested in reviewing some Critical Thinking Press books, we were told that the books were available due to slight shipping damage. Nothing severe enough to make them unusable, but just enough that they weren’t comfortable selling the titles in *new* condition.

When they arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I couldn’t even find anything I’d call damage. I buy a lot of used books, and anything short of water damage or totally falling apart, I consider in good enough shape. So, file that bit of info: Timberdoodle has high standards, making sure that products are in the best condition possible.

I also had another little mystery. We had not one, but TWO boxes from Timberdoodle show on the same day. In my usual style, I puzzled over the boxes for a little while. Sure seemed to me that all three books should have fit in one box. I rattled the boxes a bit, hefted them, judged their relative weights… and finally gave in and opened them.

More of the story tomorrow…

Time to talk about Building Thinking Skills Book 2:

Ok. So I mentioned I was surprised at the size of Book 1 in the Building Thinking Skills series, but when Book 2 came out of the box, I was even more amazed. It’s larger by at least 50 workbook pages. Impressive. There are enough activities here that it could easily be spread out over 4th-6th grade.

Very similar in style to book 1, the chapter titles are the same. Worksheets have a few more problems, and the difficulty and language has been adjusted for older students. Yet – it still looks like fun. My son Doodle didn’t react to this like schoolwork – no, this was playtime! Puzzles to figure out. I was hard pressed to get him back on his regular schoolwork, and resorted to hiding this a couple of times, just so he’d get his regular work done first.

Sub-titled “Higher Order Thinking Activities”, topics covered include logical thinking. similarities & differences, sequences, classifications, analogies, antonyms & synonyms, spatial awareness, vocabulary development, following & writing directions, descriptive writing, geometry concepts, map reading, graphic organizers, “and much more”. More is right. I’m not sure there’s room for anything else!

This book is definitely a hit in our house, and The Princess is extremely pleased that there is a *next* book for her to move into.

Building Thinking Skills Book 2, from Critical Thinking Press, is available at Timberdoodle. Or, request a free homeschool catalog!

Other books in the Building Thinking Skills series:

**Legal Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of these books in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.**

Timberdoodle & Critical Thinking Press, part 1 of 4

 Homeschool, Reviews  No Responses »
Feb 092011
 

Quite a while back, I signed up for Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team. Didn’t hear anything, and I mostly forgot about it.

Then, in early December, I received an email asking if I’d be interested in reviewing some Critical Thinking Press books. Would I ever! I drool over their stuff pretty much like I do the Timberdoodle catalog.

If you want some ideas for great homeschool curriculum without having to wade through mediocre stuff, request one of Timberdoodle‘s free homeschool catalogs. Then you can drool along with me. :)

There was a list of titles to choose from, and I rearranged the titles into my preferred order, in case they’d run out of my top choices. Lucky me, I was notified that I’d be receiving the first three picks. Since they were all from the Building Thinking Skills series, and lined up just perfectly with the ages of my kids, all four could be involved and no one would feel left out.

The Princess, my 3rd grade daughter, would try out Building Thinking Skills Book 1.
Doodle, my 5th grade son, would delve into Building Thinking Skills Book 2.
And my older two sons, Tiger, in 7th, and my Chef, in 9th, would explore Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural.

Today, I’m going to talk about Building Thinking Skills Book 1:

My first impression of Book 1 in the Building Thinking Skills series is that it is HUGE.

When I delve inside, I find that there are over 300 worksheets in this black & white, reproducable book. That’s nearly enough to do one page per day for two entire years of school. Wow.

There are ten chapters. The order that the worksheets should be used in is somewhat flexible, and a flow-chart showing recommended paths is included at the front of the book. The book is roughly 50% figural (think math-like) and 50% verbal (language-related), though I’d definitely recommend that if you’re planning on having the student self-pace and work alone, that they be reading reasonably fluently for their grade level before starting this book. Otherwise, expect to spend some time reading and explaining directions.

The most time-consuming part of preparation is definitely going to be your photocopying time. This is a LOT of pages. If you intend to have multiple children working through the book over the next few years, consider doing twice the copies now and saving yourself the time later.

Many of the pages seem like games and puzzles, and if approached in this manner, for most kids this will seem like a “fun break” from their regular schoolwork. None of the pages take very long to complete – definitely not your typical drill-like pages. That might well be why it has such a *fun* feel, even though it is worksheets.

Building Thinking Skills Book 1 would only take up minutes of your school day, but it’s an easy way to encourage mental problem-solving and recognition of patterns. Since most core curriculums don’t include a logical thinking component, there’s nothing to replace, and it would be simple and quick to add this in.

The answer key is complete and seems accurate – my only wish is that the print were just a slight bit larger. But then again, I understand why they chose the size they did – increasing the size could have easily added another 40-50 pages to the book!

Building Thinking Skills Book 1, from Critical Thinking Press, is available at Timberdoodle. Or, request a free homeschool catalog!

Other books in the Building Thinking Skills series:

**Legal Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of these books in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.**