Book Description

Practice and gain confidence by working with actual test questions and answer sheets.

This workbook offers students:

• Skill lessons with test-taking clues and sample questions to help students become familiar with test formats and content
• Preliminary sample tests with guided instructions, followed by comprehensive practice tests.
• Confidence-building practice in reading, language arts, writing, basic skills, science, social studies, and math.
• An answer sheet that simulates the actual testing experience.

This workbook offers teachers:

• Correlations to state standards and standardized tests including TerraNova CAT™ and CTBS®.
• A comprehensive practice test for each subtopic.
• Skill lessons to use as independent work in centers, for homework, or as seatwork.

Book Description

Lessons focus on creative and expository writing using clearly stated objectives and pre-writing exercises. Essential reading skills are applied. Activities include main idea, sequence, comparison, detail, fact and opinion, cause and effect and making a point. 130 pages. Answer key included. ... Read more

Book Description

Provides everything children need to build multiple skills in language. Focusing on phonics, structural analysis and dictionary skills, this workbook also offers creative ideas for using phonics and word study skills in other language arts. Over 200 pages. Answer key included. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

J'utilise ce livre dans ma classe de francais!
I love this book! It's a great to accompany any AP or intermediate French course. We use it in my class. The title explains it: French like they speak it. The chapters are arranged according to theme. There are great idioms in here, which are wonderful for the AP test compositions. Or if you just want to learn French and can understand grammatical structure, this book is wonderful. There are also exercises in the chapters which ask the student to translate sentences or match the phrases with sentences. Crosswords and word finds also make it fun. In the back of the book, there is an "appendice" with good grammer points and expressions. Directions and explanations in French are also another plus. ... Read more

Book Description

Foreword by Susannah Batko-Yovino, 1990 National Champion.

Here is a wonderful new resource for sharpening kids’ geography skills and for sparking fresh interest in our world’s fascinating people and places. Some five million students now compete in the annual National Geographic Bee, a cornerstone of the Society’s ongoing efforts to foster geography education. Created in response to growing interest in the event, this official paperback study guide will help prepare students to compete more successfully in the contest. But its value goes far beyond that—this unique teaching tool makes geography fun for ALL young people! Featuring maps, photos, graphs, a variety of questions actually used in past Bees, plus an extensive resource section, the lively guide not only reviews geographic facts but also helps kids recognize themes, identify relationships, and understand how geographers think and view their world.

Reviews (4)

Excellent!
This study guide is a great choice for students who are trying to prepare for the bee. Not only does it have sample questions and maps actually used in the geography bee, it gives tips about how to look at the clues in the questions to help you find the right answer. It also has advice from students who have done well in previous bees and goes through all the rules and formats of the different levels of the competition. I highly recommend this book!

Tricked
If you would like to buy a book that will help you with the Geography Bee--don't buy this! So far, I have learned nothing from it.

My title is Tricked because of the fact that the book doesn't even have that many questions to study. The questions it does have, are easy things that I knew in 3rd grade. It's price is outrageous! Ten dollars for this! I enjoy paperbacks that are five dollars more than this book.

I am in 7th grade and am hoping to get far in the National Geography Bee, but this book isn't going to help me at all. I would recommend the 1,001 Questions and Answers Geo Bee Prep that you probably saw when you searched for this book.

The only reason I gave it a 2-star rating was because it had questions (even though they were far from helpful) and also because it had tips given by actual contestants that were somewhat helpful.

I think people are being mislead...
A lot of people might think that this book is probably just questions and answers and some stuff on how to be prepared. But what it really is is just what it says: A study guide. A study guide, meaning tips on how to prepare, links to different geography resources, how the geography bee works, things like that, interviews with past school, state, and national champs, with one chapter featuring sample questions.

This one chapter has about 70 questions from a typical school preliminary round, I think like 10 from a typical school final round, something like 5 analogy and 5 map questions from the state qualification exam, around 25 questions from the state prelim round, about 10 from the state final round, 10 from the national preliminary, and some more from the national final round. As it explained at the beginning of that chapter, the questions were only given to show the reader what kinds of questions you'd encounter at the school, state, and national levels.

I'd recommend this book if you are truly a novice to the geography bee, or if you've never been pass the school level and want to see what further levels are like, or if you just want the satisfaction of having the OFFICIAL study guide from National Geographic.

If you are already a little more experienced, you might want to try "The Handy Geography Answer Book" or "The Geography Bee Complete Preparation Handbook: 1001 Questions & Answers to help you WIn Again and Again", both by the same author. Be careful with the latter, though, there are 3 questions that have the wrong answer.

Okay
I think this book is okay, there are books I would rather read. ... Read more

Book Description

Jonas, the protagonist in Lois Lowry's novel The Giver, lives in what appears to be a safe, predictable, familiar community. Members of this utopia, which is void of disease, hunger, poverty, war, or lasting pain, have given up all emotions and memories of experience to attain Sameness and the illusion of social order. In the end, Jonas recognizes the hypocrisy on which the community is based and crafts a way to "free" everyone from this Sameness. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

A little on the down side
I have always wondered what this book was about, and I finally found the time to read it for a LA project. The author used a lot of imagination and was very creative when she formed the perfect world that Jonas lived in. This book has some good morals behind it, but I think it is rather dull and could use more suspense. I was very disappointed with the shortness of the book and the ending. Even though I do enjoy making up endings on my own, Lois Lowry has stopped the book right at the climax. I believe that she should have elaborated and given more information that would help bring the story to a wonderful ending. Over all this book is a great book to read for pleasure.

The Ending
My teacher is having the class read "The Giver" for class. I understand that not many people like the ending, but I do. If you think about it, the whole reason, for the barely any information ending was made for you to think of the many possibilites. I mean, I could think that he ends up in a new community, but you could think differently. The point was to imagine the many ways to make the book end, and the end helps open you horizons. The singing helps you think that he has heard-beyond, and not only seen-beyond. For all the people out there who havenn't read this book, you should, it's a very thought out book. Also, If I could I would make everyone read it, because I think this book makes you smarter, by making you think.

AMM 7.3
I like the book it is different, because of the way she uses the different world how they can't make different choices. I thought that she used new words to express the feelings about Jonas and The Giver. I also thought that she used the advantage of them not having choices, because it made them realised that "Elswhere" really exixted.
I didn't like the ending it was making me hang of the edge of my seat. It made me think about the ending and how Jonas got to elsewhere. She needs more of the ending or the sequel to the book. I do agree about the way she described about not having a sequal though.

It makes you think
My teacher read this book to us in English class for a unit. I really liked this book because it makes you think or imagine what could have happened to Jonas and Gabe. I know in my class when we finished the book, my teacher asked us what we thought happened at the end, so we all gave our ideas. Some kids said that he got a job or got married or died. Anything could have happened to them. Thats why I liked this book.

I like the book
Iliked this book except the ending. It left everybody wondering about what would happen to jonas. He might die, but i'm not sure!! ... Read more

Book Description

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a favorite middle grade novel. This companion gives background on the author, including an interview, questions to guide reading, clues to themes, plot, characters, and setting of the book, a glossary, writing and other activities, and more. If you loved The Giver, you need this reading companion. ... Read more

Reviews (2207)

Excellent novel - Worth all the praise & adoration it gets!
After Lois Lowry produced the entrancing 'Number The Stars' it didn't seem possible that she could produce a work, for children, to top it. With 'The Giver' she easily met that goal.

'The Giver' appears to be a rather simple story of a young boy (12 years old to be exact) named Jonas who lives in a seamingly perfect society. He is given the task of becoming the 'Receiver of Knowledge'; an apprentice to the 'Giver of Knowledge'. But that is where the simpleness ends.

The 'knowledge' spoken of in Jonas' job title is all of the memories of pain and suffering that were collected to rid all citizens of uncomfort. The Giver telepathically has to give Jonas all of these memories so he can suffer the pain of famine, war, disease, and death - to spare the community.

The themes in this novel are profound. The thought of a 'utopia' is considered extensively, but it is clearly shown that a perfect world can not exist -- therefore, 'distopia'. The novel also deals with life, death, indivuality, and more; an amazing amount of thought-provoking subjects for a book with a grade 4.5 reading level.

This book, however, may not be suitable for younger readers. Death is a common theme and the murder of an infant is described. There are mild nods to sexuality, but many young readers will dismiss these as benign.

A must read for students as well as adults! Excellent job, Ms. Lowry. You gave America another profound and excellent novel - one that will be on schools' required reading lists for many years to come!

A children's version of 1984, only more entertaining
My own personal grudge against the book comes from the extent of the writing profession, and how it beared so scary and remarkable a resemblence to one of my unpublished ramblings into the SF genre. I had plans of doing a novel where all emotion is stripped away, set in a world much like THE GIVER. Then when I read it, I was somewhat concerned for my own work.

Anyway, this is often comparted to a children's 1984. Yes, while it does bear resemblance to 1984, this book is wonderful on its own terms. The story is the world has been taken down into a utopia, a place with no crime and no feeling, no true feeling. The family establishment is essentially nil with no sexuality at all (this resembles the dominant theme in my own work). Birth Mothers are the source of the population, though it does not give the identity of the fathers. Work and family comes about by selection. Jonas, the hero, has been selected to be the Reciever of Memory. It is here he realises how shockingly sterile and devoid of beauty his world truly is. The ending, somewhat vague, rewards the reader by not giving away to much detail.

For those readers who will be travelling on to Orwell after this, go to ANIMAL FARM, my own personal favorite, and then 1984 for when they're older.

Like all good children's literature, this book deserves to be read by both adults and children alike. Bravo Lowry!

Other significant works by Lowry: Number the Stars.

Mike London

A brilliant dystopian novel
This is a complex, beautiful book that offers a look into a futuristic dystopia in which there is no color, no aberation, no hot or cold, and no personal choices. Drugs are taken to repress sexual urges and even out temprament, and careers are chosen for children based on their aptitude. Children are raised in prearranged family units. There is no privacy and no personal choice, but is this really a bad thing if people have no concept of those things? There is no hunger, emotional pain, violence, crime, war, or sadness.

Growing up in this world is Jonas, a bright 12 year old who is about to receive his career assignment. He is given the important but extremely rare job of "Reciever": the keeper of "memories" of what life was like before the creation of his utopian world. Slowly, he begins to see color, to learn what love, hate, death, and heartbreak are like. He begins to understand that some of the "happy" things around him maybe aren't so happy.

The brilliance of this book is that the world unfolds gradually. Lowry does not hit us over the head with an up-front description: in fact, the place starts out sounding fairly normal if a bit Montesori. Slowly, though, the reader realizes quite how foreign this world is. Lowry is a deft writer with an excellent sense of subtlety.

Ultimately, this book is about the importance of cultural memory. The idea of cultural memory is probably a new one for kids, and some of the concepts of death and destruction might be a little disturbing, so I recomend that parents read this book too so that they can discuss it with their children. This in no way means that I think that it is innapropriate for kids: I just think that it is an amazing starting point for discussion about what makes us human. Please read my review of "A Wrinkle in Time" (also made today) for my thoughts on how these two books are related.

This is a moving, thought-provoking book that is a great read for adults as well as kids. Adults might find it interesting that the idea of a drugged-to-make-them-"normal" population where everyone is encouraged to analyze and discuss every aspect of their lives sounds eerily familiar...

A brilliant dystopian novel
This is a really brilliant book, which everyone should read.

The Giver
Kiddoes, I just finished rereading this book for about the eighth time, but I'll try to transport my mind back in time to when I first read it. I think you'll get a better perspective that way.

It's about a society that wants to be 'perfect'. Well, actually, 'perfect' wouldn't be the best word. I suppose that they want everything to be structured and uniform. They call it in the book 'Sameness'.

There are books and movies about futures that stink, but, let me tell you, this is an especially insane one.

The land is climate-controlled, and completely the same. Flat; no hills, no valleys. No colors, even. And it isn't just the outside that's controlled... The people don't love, aren't sad or guilty... basically, they don't feel human emotions. Only the Receiver is allowed to experience those things, and he is the keeper for the entire community... without him, the memories would be unleashed and the community would revert to chaos.

People have their jobs chosen for them, their mates chosen, even their children. You get to old? You're 'released'. (Releasing is killing, if you haven't figured that out.) A twin, and smaller than your brother or sister? You're released. Make a mistake, like flying in the wrong direction? Released. It's scary about what you can't do...

Jonas is chosen as the new Receiver, and (surprise) he's the character that the book centers around. We read about his life before he is selected, during, and afterwards, and I don't know about you, but it was a major shock to me that there wasn't color.

I'm not sure if I can say that I LOVED this book. Loving would imply that I loved the concepts, and also would imply that I wasn't horrified while I was reading it. Happy little kiddoes in America aren't really exposed to this kind of stuff... not even CLOSE to it.

But I really respect it, and totally understand why it's a classic. Lois Lowry got a fan with this book; Number the Stars didn't quite do it for me.

And another thing I think people need to understand about this book is that even though the text is simple and that youngsters can READ it, the concepts are meant for older kids. ... Read more

Book Description

Lessons focus on creative and expository writing using clearly stated objectives and pre-writing exercises. Essential reading skills are applied. Activities include main idea, sequence, comparison, detail, fact and opinion, cause and effect and making a point. 130 pages. Answer key included. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A good, organized introduction to writing
I am using this book with my eight year old in a homeschool setting. It is paced just right - not too challenging up front so she is not being "turned off" to writing, but on the contrary appears to enjoy the segments. Each lesson emphasizes a point about the writing craft, with exercises and a writing assignment at the end (so far usually a paragraph, which we write in a "writer's notebook"). She can complete a lesson, with writing assignment, in roughly thirty to forty minutes and there are just about enough lessons to cover a semester's worth of work. ... Read more

Book Description

Practice and gain confidence by working with actual test questions and answer sheets.

This workbook offers students:

• Skill lessons with test-taking clues and sample questions to help students become familiar with test formats and content
• Preliminary sample tests with guided instructions, followed by comprehensive practice tests.
• Confidence-building practice in reading, language arts, writing, basic skills, science, social studies, and math.
• An answer sheet that simulates the actual testing experience.

This workbook offers teachers:

• Correlations to state standards and standardized tests including TerraNova CAT™ and CTBS®.
• A comprehensive practice test for each subtopic.
• Skill lessons to use as independent work in centers, for homework, or as seatwork.

Book Description

Students learn how to significantly, and positively, impact their education and their future. They learn how to develop an "I'll Make It Happen" attitude and how to take ownership of their education. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An ideal motivational tool for any student
Goal Setting For Students is an effective educational tool for teaching young people how to focus on specific goals in order to increase their chances of academic success. Ideal for any school curriculum, as well as home-school instructors and/or self-study, this consumable workbook is filled from cover to cover with diverse activities to reinforce its message of working for whatever needs to be achieved. From learning how to set realistic goals; to measuring academic progress; to walk-through examples, and more, Goal Setting For Students is an ideal motivational tool for any student regardless of academic subject matter. ... Read more

Book Description

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell is a favorite middle grade novel.This companion gives background on the author, questions to guide reading, clues to themes, plot, characters, and setting of the book, a glossary, writing and other activities, and more. If you loved Island of the Blue Dolphins, you need this reading companion. ... Read more

Book Description

Practice and gain confidence by working with actual test questions and answer sheets.

This workbook offers students:

• Skill lessons with test-taking clues and sample questions to help students become familiar with test formats and content
• Preliminary sample tests with guided instructions, followed by comprehensive practice tests.
• Confidence-building practice in reading, language arts, writing, basic skills, science, social studies, and math.
• An answer sheet that simulates the actual testing experience.

This workbook offers teachers:

• Correlations to state standards and standardized tests including TerraNova CAT™ and CTBS®.
• A comprehensive practice test for each subtopic.
• Skill lessons to use as independent work in centers, for homework, or as seatwork.

Book Description

Colorful lessons help to strengthen geographical knowledge and map reading skills. Lessons focus on five geographical themes including location, place, human/environmental interaction, movement and regions. Glossary of geographical terms included. ... Read more

Book Description

This brand new version of the popular Spectrum Test Prep series offers children the preparation they need to achieve success on standardized tests. With content developed by educators experienced in standardized tests such as The Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Terra Nova/CTBS, and Statewide Assessments, this series of workbooks offers students a comprehensive and sequential way to practice the content areas offered on state tests. In addition, the Test Prep series familiarizes students with test-taking strategies – how to approach multiple choice, true/false, and analogy questions, for example. The books also include instruction on how to manage time, eliminate answers, and skim passages for main ideas, plus tips for parents.

Features:

• Up-to-date content reflecting state and national standards
• Tips on test preparation
• Homework log
• Skills checklist
• Strategies and techniques for answering different kinds of questions
• Full-length practice tests