5 Great Workbooks for a Younger Struggling Student
Being a parent of a young and struggling student can be a bit tense. You need fun items to kick start their learning without putting them off. These 5 workbooks are inexpensive and are a wealth of information and ideas.
Daily Word Problems- Math Grade 3
ISBN 1-55799-815-9 2001
Sharman and Doug Wurst, Evan-Moor Educational Publishers
Variety, Variety, Variety! These are structured for planned assignments but work fabulous as a time killer handout. It is the first book I’ve seen from this publisher, and I’m impressed! This book’s assignments can be torn out or laid flat to reproduce.
I recommend this for its 36 weekly subdivisions, themed sections, and it is interesting and challenging.
My favorites are: Page 62 – Wk 20, Friday. “Money”- there are a variety of ways to add up to the same conclusion
Page 71 – Wk 23, Friday “Temperature” – Graphing and basic math skills. It teaches kids things that they can see on the news and relate to.
Page 59 – Wk 19 Friday “Logic Problems” – Yes a 3rd grade logic problem. It has great clues and gives them easily.
Big Book of Basic Skills Grade 3
ISBN 0-7647-0260-2
1997 Frank Schaffer Publications
This book has 12 pages of answers and a total of 320 pages and 9 chapters:
Cursive Handwriting, Phonics, Grammar, Mechanics, Spelling, Vocabulary Development, Reading Comprehension, Choral Reading, and Math.
This book is recommended for:
Adaptability, lots to do, variety that can be used for other grades, and it folds flat.
My favorites are: page 171-The Prize – Reading and Vocabulary Development. Gives kids an introduction to some animals they may not know.
Page 146- Planes, Buses, and Ferries – Spelling. Not only a good learning assignment but as a bonus they could color the objects.
Page 104- No Monkey Business – Mechanics. Good punctuation guide and another one they could color with afterwards.
Consonants Puzzles and Activities K-1
Kim Cernek 2004
Creative Teaching Press ISBN 1-59198-067-4
All 21 consonants are used, with 4-5 activities per consonant. They do provide an answer key. This book boosts phonics, its fun to do, and your kids will think that are just having fun.
Like most all Creative Teaching books they fold flat to easily be photocopied and passed out. Good for time fillers and to supplement an English or Reading assignment.
It is recommended for its ease of use, its adaptability, and its ease in specialized learning.
Sight Word Puzzles and Activities K-2
Sue Lewis and Suzanne Abrams 2004
Creative Teaching Press ISBN 1-59198-052-6
This book has 8 word lists in categories and three pages of answers. There are 7-8 in each word list, flash cards, word match, word search, codes, scrambled sentences, maze crazes, crossword puzzles, and other activities.
I’ve tried out these codes on a 3rd grade class and they still liked doing them. They are very fun to do.
My favorites include the flash cards, that are versatile and useable for many things, and the codes that keeps up interest and are brain boosting.
“Site words” are the words that make up 50-80% of what kids read every day. It is a fun way to use repetition to build knowledge base.
I recommend it for its easy of photocopying the pages, the fun factor, and the versatility of the exercises.
Power Practice: Reading Skills 1-2
Beth Barber 2004
Creative Teaching Press ISBN 1-59198-076-3
With 128 pages of over 100 reproducibles and an answer key, this is a great book. Power practice is a series that is always easy to understand, comprehensive to their subject matter, and filled with information.
My favorites are on page 67, Prediction Puzzlers: It is brain boosting and develops logic. For example: “Walter goes to bed at 8 every night. He attended his grandpa’s birthday party and went to bed at 10 on Thursday. Make a prediction about how Walter will feel on Friday morning” it gives a good discussion prompt for “why” and character exploration.
Another fave: page 40 Make it Make Sense: It has multiple meanings of words. Younger kids could get a giggle when you do “wrong sentences” and they’ll be proud to know that they know the sentence is wrong and why.
