Stations Books

Each year teachers are amazed at how little their students know about grammar, usage, and correctness. "Why don't you know this?" they ask their students. "Didn't your teacher TEACH you this last year?" Blank expressions on their faces, the kids shake their heads "no," but a visit to last year's teacher brings indignation. "I certainly DID teach them (fill in the blank with your favorite grammar term)!" she says testily -- or quizzically, depending on her mood.

Sound familiar? It does to me, which is why I bought GETTING IT RIGHT. After years of frustration with "Teflon Grammatical Memory Syndrome" and with correcting a gazillion errors on a gajillion student papers, I looked to two familiar names -- Michael Smith and Jeffrey Wilhelm -- for answers. I wasn't disappointed.

Smith and Wilhelm start with conclusive research that the teaching of grammar in isolation does not work. Then they roll up their sleeves to show us what DOES work. Essentially they argue that it is a depth vs. breadth issue when it comes to grammar. Rather than trying to teach everything, teachers should focus on what's important and most likely to benefit the students in the long run. Their two justifications for teaching a term? "1. The term is so commonly used that teachers, texts, and tests presume that students know it. 2. The term is essential to being able to explain an important issue of style or correctness."

Boiling the vast world of grammar minutiae down to 16 basic terms/concepts, Smith and Wilhelm demonstrate creative ways to teach them based on their own experiences as well as those of student teachers who have worked under their tutelage. The practical ideas will be invaluable to teachers looking for new methods of reaching their kids in this most challenging of tasks. Prompts and handout examples are provided, along with samples of typical student errors and ways to help students learn from them.

Teachers will especially appreciate the section called "A Model Sequence: Learning to Proofread." Here the authors have mercy by telling teachers to free themselves of their shackles. Circling every error on every paper is NOT productive (unless improving your own editing skills while your kids learn nothing counts as "productive"). Instead, teachers should model proofreading and provide practice on carefully selected concepts, then serve as mentors by teaching specific skills and having students serve as their own editors by focusing on errors related to those skills only. Also, peer proofreading ideas that work are spelled out -- one in particular that involves creative use of the TV series CSI. Here it means "Correct Sentence Investigators" -- and yes, the proofreaders are "agents" and the errors are the "crime" (meaning you're about to witness the unlikely marriage of "fun" and "editing").

Buy it. Read it. Use it. Most importantly, it will help your students become better writers and self-editors; less importantly (but still worthy of your consideration!) YOU will feel a little more sane and a lot more effective when you send your kids off to the next grade where they might just surprise their new teacher by saying, "Participles? Yeah, we actually DID learn how to use THEM last year!"

this book is excellent to describe a giant squid the mystery of the deep.with facts and info its excellent to describe it. i love evry thing about it you dont get better than this! WELL DONE JENNIFER DUSSLING!

This brand new author has showed that she can write a wonderful book. I like how she wrote about the Glenview Naval Air Station, because I don't think most people really know about it. It will teach you that even though it was a small town, it did big things.

This book (and others from the same author) are excellent, easy to implement strategies to teach children about data collection and anaylsis, problem solving, graphing, and so much more. The kids love doing them, they think it is FUN.

I used it with my 6th graders, and they even liked it. The materials in the workbook are copy machine ready, but you could also take ideas and modify them to suit your needs very easily.

ALL of Family Radio's publications (including, but not limited to: "Adam When"; "First Principles Of Bible Study"; etc., etc.) are available ***FREE OF CHARGE*** from Family Radio (a.k.a Family Stations, Inc). Persons attempting to sell this book (or any of Family Radio's materials) are in VIOLATION of INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW and are subject to PROSECUTION.

I use Tic Tac Math on Math Skills Day. I have the students work in pairs to compete in the game tic tac toe. The students who have three in row come to me to see if they are correct. If they are incorrect they have to continue the game. The students really like the game. They always try the easiest problems first. I like the lay out of the sheets because the last row of problems are word problems. I use this with 6th, 7th and 8th grade students.

This book was the perfect, short-attention-span type of book for preschoolers. It was not a story, just good information. It mentioned eating whole grains, where grain grows, MyPyramid, and serving sizes and amounts. Great whole-page real-people pictures. I bought the whole set of food group books.

Complete with brief, but detailed history and current uses for stations throughout the country, this tome is a must for any railfan to enjoys seeking out the train depots in cities along the path of his vacation route. Though by no means comprehensive (about 10 to 12 depots are listed for most states; Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio each have dozens, many of which are in excellent condition.), the book is nevertheless tremendously useful. In addition, one should consider Halberstadt & Halberstadt's "The American Train Depot & Roundhouse" and Ward's "Southern Railway Depots, Vol. 1 & 2. The out of print Alexander's "Down At The Depot" should be sought out as well

Don Byrd's poem is a rally cry for a new poetry, one that refigures our place in human history, and one that disrupts the unifying - totalizing - hierarchical demands of the powers that be. As an extension of the work of Charles Olson, The Great Dimestore Centennial shuffles a mosaic of information, some seemingly unrelated, together in order to build a method of "uncovering honey/ where maggots are."

Byrd pushes the use of computers and the internet as a way of "singing a millenial song" so that the general population can unplug themselves from the opressive formal system and plug into a realm of creative thought. A poetic realm of making, not mimicking.

Excellent book for presenting not just objects with color but the feelings colors give us.