Workbook | Language Arts (Spectrum)

With 60* students in Josh’s class, I don’t expect the teachers to be able to always give each child individual attention.  I am not complaining; I think his teachers are doing a fantastic job and they have my utmost respect for what do on a daily basis.

I supplement at home once in a while.   We borrow books from the library, I buy books.  I also buy workbooks.  No, I don’t make him do the workbooks every day.  Once in a while, I’ll ask that he does 2-3 pages.  Sometimes he would just do the number of pages that I asked him to;  other times, he would flip through after he’s finished the pages I wanted him to do and do a few more extra pages because he wants to.

This particular workbook, –(Spectrum) Language Arts Grade 1, – is one of Josh’s favorites.   It might or might not have something to do with the fact that the workbook uses Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter to make the exercises more fun.  This workbook covers fundamentals in grammar and structure –capitalization, punctuation marks, contractions, parts of a simple letter, nouns, verbs, homophones, antonyms, etc. 

What I like about this workbook:

• It introduces concepts in simple terms, in terms that children could relate to –e.g. Use a period to end a sentence that tells something.  A period is like a stop sign. 
• Practically every single page has colorful Little Critter illustrations to help put the lesson in context or even only to liven up the lesson.
• Proofreader’s Toolbox – Occasionally there are passages to proofread (capitalization, proper punctuation) and the Proofreader’s Toolbox introduces different proofreader’s marks  --e.g.

Set in CAPITALS      Insert a missing comma    Insert a missing period

Using these marks make Josh feel like he’s a teacher and I think he likes that.

• Handwriting Check and other checklists – There are certain exercises that require Josh to write a few statements.  At the bottom of some of these exercises, there is either a Handwriting Check (see questions below) or questions that help him review his work himself, instead of having to rely solely on me to check his answers for him.  These checklists encourage him to give his work another look-through to spot if there is anything that he might have missed:
• Did you take your time?
• Are your letters sitting on the line?
• Did you put spaces between your words? 
• Do your tall letters touch the top lone and your small letters fit between the dotted line and the lower line?
• How did you do? (I did great!       I did o.k.        I will do better next time.)
• Each workbook page is perforated so that it could be torn out easily in case you’d prefer to have your child work on single pages.

Spectrum has a range of other workbooks designed for different areas, different grade levels.  I will definitely be checking those out.

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*Two classes of around 30 students each have been “merged” and share one huge classroom.  There are two class teachers and three education assistants between the two classes, not counting the parents who help out in the classroom each day.

The Encyclopedia Brown Series by Donald Sobol

I remember loving the Encyclopedia Brown series when I was small.  I was impressed with how smart he was, how he could so easily pick out inconsistencies and solve the mysteries.  Why, he even helped his dad, the chief of police, solve some of his cases!  I remember dreaming of setting up my own detective agency, just like Encyclopedia Brown did.   I don’t remember why I suddenly remembered the Encylopedia Brown books, but I’d thought (and hoped) that Josh might probably enjoy them as much as I did.

So, for Christmas last year, I had ordered  the Encyclopedia Brown Box Set from The Book Depository.  It contains the first four books in the series.  I was thinking that I’ll see whether or not Josh would love them before I invest further in more Encyclopedia Brown books.  Each book has about 10 separate ‘mysteries’ that the boy detective would solve.  I figured that each story would be short enough for Josh to go through in one sitting.  Just right.



Because he got so many Christmas presents, –among which was a Star Wars Complete Visual Dictionary that he’d asked Santa for,—Josh didn’t really show any interest at all in the Encyclopedia Brown books.  About a month later, I oh-so-casually asked him if he’d read any of the books yet.  He started on the first story and I could tell he was not very into it.  I think it might have been a little out of his depth.  (I definitely was not 6 when I read the books –more like 8 or 9, I think.)   I didn’t want to push him, so I didn’t bring it up again.

Then one night, Chris decided that he would read one Encyclopedia Brown story together with Josh, because he wanted to check out for himself what I was raving about.  So together they read, with Chris helping to explain the bits that Josh didn’t quite understand.  They then tried to answer the question at the end of the story:  How did Encyclopedia Brown know? / How did he solve the case?  before turning to the back of the book to check out the answer/explanation.

Each story ends with a question and the answers are found at the back of the book.  The answers refer you back to sections within the story where the inconsistencies occurred and explain the why’s and the how’s.

After a couple more sessions of reading the stories with Chris, Josh started to take a renewed interest in the books. I think he really benefited from Chris guiding him along with the first few stories that he got the hang of how the stories work.  Josh started devouring them the way he did with the My Weird School series.  No, he didn’t laugh out loud or giggle or roll over with laughter when reading Encyclopedia Brown, but rather he’d be very quiet and serious in his little corner, with a look of concentration on his face.   Occasionally, he would flip back pages to reread passages.  Sometimes he would ask me what certain words meant.

Josh has gone through all the four books in the box set plus another one that I’d borrowed from the library.  He managed to ‘solve’ at least one case and I remember that he was quite proud that he did so, without checking the answer first.  I might have to go order some more online, as the local library doesn’t carry the complete set.  {I didn’t realize that the Encyclopedia Brown series were started by Donald Sobol in the early 60’s (!) and that it was an HBO TV series in 1989.}

My Weird School Series by Dan Gutman

With kooky titles like Miss Daisy Is Crazy!  and Mr. Klutz Is Nuts!, how could Josh resist?
I chanced upon this series at the library and decided that Josh might enjoy reading them over the holidays.  From a stack of books that I’d picked up, he just zoomed in on Miss Daisy Is Crazy! and started reading it on the drive home, chuckling and laughing out loud at certain parts.  I had to ask him to put down the book during the drive.  He’d pick it up again as soon as we stop for a light and I’d had to remind him to put it down again.  In the end, I gave up.  He finished the book shortly after we got home.

Then he started on the next one, Mrs. Roopy Is Loopy!, and finished it that night.  To say that he loves the books would be an understatement.  He just devours them and I’d see and hear him laughing out loud, exclaiming, “This is so funny!”

I read through one (Miss Daisy Is Crazy!) just to see what it is that he finds so funny in them and I’ll have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it, too.  The story is told from A.J.’s point of view.  A.J. is a boy who hates school.  A.J.’s voice rings true and you could almost picture A.J. as you read through his accounts of events.  I guess it’s easy for Josh to relate to another little boy who’s telling about stuff that go on at his school. 

The My Weird School series by Dan Gutman are chapter books (about 100 pages per book) set at Ella Mentry School. (You just gotta love the names!)  Weird things seem to happen at that school.  All the grown-ups are, well, weird.  Check out some of the titles above. Weird = Funny in Josh’s world.

I think part of what Josh loves about this series, too, is that the main characters (A.J. and know-it-all Andrea and their friends) are featured throughout the series and the setting is the same, so there is some sort of continuity to it.  I asked him why he loves the each of the My Weird School books that he’s read and every time he’d say, “Because it’s funny!”  I guess if you’re 5 and you read chapter titles like “Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too” (Mr. Louie Is Screwy!), “Indoor Recess Is No Fun” (Ms. Todd Is Odd!), and “The Amazing World of Poop” (Ms. Krup Cracks Me Up!), you’d be totally drawn in, too!
Here is the complete My Weird School series:

1. Miss Daisy Is Crazy!
2. Mr. Klutz Is Nuts!
3. Mrs. Roopy Is Loopy!
4. Ms. Hannah Is Bananas!
5. Miss Small Is Off the Wall!
6. Mr. Hynde Is Out of His Mind!
7. Mrs. Cooney Is Loony!
8. Ms. LaGrange Is Strange!
9. Miss Lazar Is Bizarre!
10. Mr. Docker Is Off His Rocker!
11. Mrs. Kormel Is Not Normal!
12. Ms. Todd Is Odd!
13. Mrs. Patty Is Batty!
14. Miss Holly Is Too Jolly!
15. Mr. Macky Is Wacky!
16. Ms. Coco Is Loco!
17. Miss Suki Is Kooky!
18. Mrs. Yonkers Is Bonkers!
19. Dr. Carbles Is Losing His Marbles!
20. Mr. Louie Is Screwy!
21. Ms. Krup Cracks Me Up!

And then there’s the My Weird School Daze series, when A.J. and Andrea move on to third grade and get a new teacher…

1. Mrs. Dole Is Out of Control!
2. Mr. Sunny Is Funny!
3. Mr. Granite Is from Another Planet!
4. Coach Hyatt Is a Riot!
5. Officer Spence Makes No Sense!
6. Mrs. Jafee Is Daffy!
7. Dr. Brad Has Gone Mad!
8. Miss Laney Is Zany!
9. Mrs. Lizzy Is Dizzy!
10. Miss Mary Is Scary!
11. Mr. Tony Is Full of Baloney!

The Book Depository

Why haven’t I heard of The Book Depository until just recently?  This surely has to be one of the best-kept secrets.  Free shipping on books –to practically all countries worldwide!

The Book Depository was recommended to me by Josh’s school librarian when I asked where I could order certain sets of books that I’d been told were not available on Amazon.  She mentioned that that’s from where they get most of the school library books and that delivery time is usually around one week, certainly no more than two.

I decided to check it out and now that I’d received all the books from my first order with them, I know that I will be using them again and again.  They definitely do come out cheaper compared to Amazon (unless you live in the US and can avail of Amazon’s free shipping on certain products) and even to Paddyfield.  Here’s a quick comparison I did on a couple of books:

	Book Depository	Amazon.com	Paddyfield.com
Encyclopedia Brown 4-Volume Boxed Set	GBP 10.51 (HKD 127.22)*	USD 9.98 + 9.98 (shipping) (HKD 160.95)	HKD 160 + 15 (shipping) (HKD 175.00)
The Giving Tree	GBP 10.18 (HKD 123.22)*	USD 9.93 +  9.98 (shipping) (HKD 160.55)	HKD 169 + 15 (shipping) (HKD 194.00)

*Conversion done with help from xe.com

The above table was put together under the assumption that all books are to be delivered to a Hong Kong address.  Paddyfield.com does offer free shipping for orders over HKD 180, but even taking only the price of each item alone, it is still more expensive compared to The Book Depository.

I had ordered a total of 13 books from The Book Depository and I had received all 13 within two weeks of my ordering;  some I had received in just one week’s time.  The only beef I have is that each one of the books was packed and mailed separately.  It doesn’t matter to me that each was mailed separately as shipping was free, but the books were individually packed either in a bubble envelope or in corrugated cartons, --which, to me, was a bit of a waste.   I don’t understand why they could not have packed the books together to save on packing materials.

That said, they are the most cost-efficient in terms of ordering books online that I’ve come across so far.

Aussie Nibbles and Aussie Bites | Age-Appropriate Content for Proficient Early Readers

What do you do when you have a child who has learned to read early and who has gone beyond the “Look at Timmy. See Timmy. See Timmy run.” books?  Josh loves Star Wars and would devour any material related to Star Wars.  I am okay with that, even though I find the material a tad violent. Josh assures me that “It’s all just pretend, Mommy!”  My problem with the Star Wars books is that they are meant for older readers, readers with more understanding and with more life experiences from which they could draw to be able to put what they read in context.

One time, Josh asked me what an assassin was.  I told him.  He then followed up by asking if there are assassins in Hong Kong.  Umm, I don’t want to be talking about assassins with my 5-year old.

At a recent parent-teacher conference, his teacher suggested Aussie Nibbles and Aussie Bites.  She voiced out exactly what I was concerned about –i.e., that there’s a dearth of materials that are age-appropriate and suitable for very young proficient readers out there.  She then recommended Aussie Nibbles and Aussie Bites.

The series of short chapter books are written by different Australian authors.  Aussie Nibbles books are for readers just beginning and Aussie Bites cater to the 7-10 age group.  The books have “bites” on them –a smaller bite for Nibbles and a slightly bigger bite for Bites.  And then you progress on to Chomps for more advanced readers.  There is larger print on the Nibbles and the print gets smaller on the Bites.

The Aussie Nibbles were quick reads for Josh.  He really loves them and could finish two in one afternoon (yes, reading through dinner!).  Once he starts on one, he’s deaf to the world.  The house could be on fire 

and he wouldn’t even notice.

  

I plan to get Josh to read as many of the Aussie Nibbles as I could get from the library before introducing Aussie Bites to him.

As far as I could tell, the books are not available in the local bookstores, but I was able to borrow quite a number of them from the public library.  The Hong Kong Central Library (in Causeway Bay) has a very good collection.  If you want to order online, you’d find a better collection through Puffin Books Australia.

 

Image: Stephen Michael King, Illustrator.