General Resource

This elegantly simple resource provides an introduction to nouns in six different languages in a way accessible to young children. (The point isn't necessarily to overwhelm them with all six languages at once - you pick your language of interest or let them play around and see what they like.) The front of each large glossy card has a simple, child-like illustration of the object or a symbol representing the noun. (For example, January is represented by a Snowman, December is represented by a Christmas tree.) The back of the card gives the word in English as well as six other languages - Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Latin. All the words chosen are child-appropriate, but the set is suitable for all ages.

The cards are intended to be an introduction or a study aid to students using the various Power Glide Courses. You choose which language you want to use the cards for. The audio CDs are arranged so that each language has its own segment on the CDs. This is less expensive to produce than an individual set for each language. But, it's also really neat because you can play around with languages with young children to see which ones they're interested in. They can learn to count in all six languages. Some of them may also be interested in seeing the relationships between the languages and where similarities lie (this is especially useful since Latin is one of the languages included).

The Audio CD is a very nice recording - very straightforward with the narrators alternating between English and the language of choice. Just skip to the segment of your language choice and the entire text for that language is all in one place.

Categories of Nouns:

• Months of the Year
• Seasons
• Days of the Week
• Numbers: 1-10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 1000
• Colors
• Shapes (Six Basic Ones)
• Body Parts
• Modes of Transportation
• Places (Post Office, Library, etc.)
• Family Members
• Clothing
• Animals
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Beverages
• Snacks
• Meals
• Things Outside
• Rooms
• Kitchen Items
• Bathroom Items
• Bedroom Items
• Family Room Items

A nice little feature for those studying Latin is that the Latin words include the genitive ending and the gender of the noun (very handy!).

Power-Glide has made available a page of games to use with these cards which can be viewed on their website http://www.power-glide.com/games You can also view sample cards by clicking here. A verb set is also available.

This is an interesting and helpful book of lists designed for parents and teachers interested in collecting Catholic stories (particularly saint stories) for their children and incorporating them into their school studies.

The first part of the book consists of listings of Catholic book series (both in and out of print), including titles with Catholic content that have been awarded the Caldecott Award and the Newbery Award, Catholic Readers, the Clarion Series, the Vision Series, American Background Books, Catholic Treasury Books and much more.

The main portion of the book (over 100 pages) includes historical and geographical charts of these books of interest (including separate listings for individual stories in the story collections). These charts provide information on where and when the story took place, what series it belongs to, whether it's in print or not and a general age recommendation.

Also included are extensive listings of Catholic authors and publishers of interest.

The appendix includes a helpful and detailed guide to collecting and caring for books.

I found this to be a very useful and well-organized book and I'm sure it's one I'll turn to again and again - particularly when doing school planning over the summer.

Saint Symbol Stickers could be used in a variety of ways from incentives or rewards on school workbook pages, or as fun accessories for a child’s stationary to liven up letters to a pen pal. They are great for boys or girls. A child could also make a mini saint book with a sticker per page and a short biography of the saint. The Saint Symbol Stickers could also be used for a history timeline. They could make saints days on a calendar. The possibilities are endless. What a great way to reinforce learning about the saints! Each package includes 80 ready-to-color saint symbol stickers representing 40 different saints. These are the same Saint symbols found in the games Litany and Bingo. Inexpensive and attractive, the Saint Symbol Stickers would make an ideal stocking stuffer.

The subtitle of this work is: A Catholic Activity Guide That Blends History, Geography and Composition for Grades 1-8. The book includes directions for a student to put together a book over the course of the school year, which really becomes a story of the study he made of history. This requirement "to produce" is one of the best ways for students to internalize their study.

The directions, written directly to the student, are broken down into three parts: Early American History for grades 1-3, American History - Discovery through Westward Expansion for Grades 4-6, and World History -Ancient Civilizations through Modern Times for Grades 7-8. The student is directed to compile a book which will include maps, illustrations and compositions that he creates while studying the particular time period. Extensive lists of maps and illustrations to be made are included. But the lists of suggested writing activities are the best parts of the book.

Here are a few samples from each section:

Grades 1-3 - Write a prayer to St. Isaac Jogues; pretend you are George Washington at Valley Forge, write a speech to give to your soldiers to encourage them not to give up; make a chart showing three parts of our government and what they do.

Grades 4-6 - Write a newspaper article about the Louisiana purchase; write a two page expository essay comparing the French and Indian War with the Revolutionary War; pretend you are a soldier in the Civil War and write a three page letter to family at home.

Grades 7-8 - Write an expository essay describing Greek government and how it functioned; write a diamante (poem) about the early Christians just after Jesus was buried and before He had risen.

The second best thing about this book are the definitions of literary terms in the appendix. Each kind of essay required in the book is explained, many different kinds of pattern poems are demonstrated, and common literary terms, such as metaphor and personification, are defined. Your child would learn a lot about writing techniques and constructions by using this guide. The bonus is that the types of writing learned by making the history book can be applied in other learning situations.

The author includes samples of student work from each of the grade level sections. These can be valuable especially if a student is "stuck," or doesn't understand the assignment.

The student keeps the maps, illustrations and compositions he creates in a safe place until it is time to put the book together. The student can choose from several suggested methods for binding the book.

Some of the writing activities for Grades 1-3 would be difficult for a 1st grader and some 2nd graders, but they could easily be adapted. A child could dictate his work, or be required to write shorter versions of the assignment. The program is flexible and designed so that you can pick and choose the activities that best fit the child.

This kind of activity is good on many levels. It gives the student practice in needed skills while doing something meaningful (e.g. learning about metaphor by writing it instead of filling in a workbook). It requires the student to extend his thoughts about the facts he learns, moving him to a higher level of thinking. Best of all, he has a record at the end of the year of all that was learned and accomplished. That is very satisfying for a student of any age.