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Kathryn
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| Posted: Oct 17 2009 at 3:54pm | IP Logged
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I've seen many of the books on the Serendipity website and am really intrigued by them. However, according to Amazon, most of them are for ages 4-8. I still believe many of these books would be of great value for my DS 9. Soo, I went on the Sleeping Bear Press website and was quite amazed at the volume of information and books they have. I looked at the teacher's guides and even the Curriculum Correlation page and entered his grade and our state and again, was amazed at the volume of information. Although the books (according to Amazon) say they're more rated for ages 4-8, the teacher's guide material seemed a bit more advanced than that. Not super advanced but def. fell in line with typical 2nd/3rd grade level work.
Soo, my question is whether anyone has used these guides? They seem to be inclusive and cover a lot of material and I *think* my son would enjoy these and be more willing to write and think and enjoy learning as opposed to his current textbook approach.
Also, has anyone found any of the books with questionable material? I'm referring mostly to science related type material and what view they present.
Thanks in advance for advice and opinions,
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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ekbell
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I only have a couple of the books so far but we like the ones we have.
*I* learned quite a bit from _Zoo is for Zookeeper_ and found nothing objectionable.
I would use it with a nine year old without thinking twice. (I don't think that the amazon level takes into count the two-tier format of the books - other sites give an age range of 4-10 which I think more accurate for the ones I've seen )
Looking at the guide for this book, I agree with the your grade level suggestions. There are a few activities my six year old could do but most of them would be better suited to my eight year old. A few of them could be adapted to younger or older children.
As with any teaching guide I would pick and choose from what I thought would work with each child.
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Cherishedheart
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| Posted: Oct 18 2009 at 11:41pm | IP Logged
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I have even our older children use them.
Even looking at the pics for younger ones can lead to discussion starters
I think thay are multi aged if that is a word.
God Bless
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Wife-Stephen
Mummy:Kynan Braedon Autumn Eden Saxon Vellvin Rogan Moran Myffwyn Corbyn Arwen
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AndieF
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| Posted: Oct 19 2009 at 4:00pm | IP Logged
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I have 4 children using them this year - we are the ones from Serendipity this year, but we have checked out others at the library. We are using R is for Rhyme, M is for Masterpiece, M is for Music (and not a Sleeping Bear Press, but an Alphabet book that is listed on Serendipity for the Alphabet Path - Museum ABC. We use this for Picture Study.) The children are 7 (girl), 8 (boy), 10 (girl), and 10 (boy). They all love these books, and I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. We use the Sleeping Bear Press books once a week (doing a letter a week) although you certainly could use them for longer. I generally read the description, and then we do an activity related to the word.
For example, in the M is for Music book, the letter B is for Brass. We read it, talked about each of the brass instruments, and what makes something a brass instrument, and then they sketched their own brass instrument and had to describe it and how it worked. They loved that.
In the P is for Poetry book, sometimes the kids take a little while to come up with an idea, but they have come up with some wonderful poems! The 10 year old boy, who generally has the hardest time getting started with the poetry assignment, but always ends up writing something, said last week "You know, I am a really good poet!" and he is! Certainly better than I was at that age!
We use the Museum ABC book 4 days a week, but like I said, we use it for Picture Study, so we use it about 10 minutes each day (for narrating, sketching with pencils, sketching with colored pencils, and then using a different medium.)
We are already doing quite a bit of art - just along side our regular subjects, but with our picture study, and I was afraid that the M is for Masterpiece would be too much, but it isn't. We learn about general things like brushes, the color wheel, etc. that we don't always discuss when we are creating art.
Next year, we will be using the Passport one, the Invention One, and something else. We love them!
Andie
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allegiance_mom
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| Posted: Oct 20 2009 at 4:00pm | IP Logged
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I have loved every one of their books I've seen. Our library has a bunch.
The two-tiered approach which ekbell mentioned above means that there is a simple poem or prose as the main text on the page. It is only a few lines long. Then in the sidebar for every letter there are paragraph(s) of additional information on that same topic. So, with my 5 year-old I just read the main text, but my 11 year-old and I always pore over the sidebar items.
Definitely check your library and take a peek at the format of a few of them.
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Mom to two boys, 14 and 8, and one pre-born babe in Heaven (Jan 2010)
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Serendipity: Sleeping Bear Press books
