Capture the interest of eager learners and reluctant learners alike with these humor-filled workbooks guaranteed to put a grin on students' and teachers' faces. These skill-based activities revolve around a set of comical characters who get involved in silly and absurd situations. Zany illustrations with humorous captions keep kids smiling, while solid practice activities teach important basic skills. The amusing characters have been given wacky and unusual names that are repeated often in all four books, giving lots of practice with certain letter group sounds. Creative Writing: Clever story-starters and comical characters invite students to use their imaginations - and pencil - to add to the humor.

Improving handwriting! Students who have difficulty with cursive writing will find the alternative approach of this lesson unit especially helpful. By eliminating some of the loops found on capital letters, the activities here provide the simplification necessary to promote good handwriting. These extra loops are not necessary to letter recognition, they are simply pleasing to the eye. To further assist students, the practice exercises featured here are highly sequential. For example, students are not expected to write words containing letters they have not first practiced individually.

Retaining what is heard! Short, bright, read-aloud stories about subjects ranging from “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to “Helping Baby Birds” are at the core of the 30 lessons in this learning unit. After listening closely to each story, students are given independent activities that focus on drawing conclusions, finding the main idea, and remembering details. By getting youngsters involved in the stories, they will gradually learn more thoughtful listening techniques.

Each of the stories in this book emphasizes three to six words - all nouns found most commonly in beginning readers. Following each story are seven activities including: Questions relating to the content of the story. Complete-the-sentence exercises. Sequencing. "Yes/No" inquiries and a "Follow Directions" task. Once young students master basic sight words, reading becomes an enjoyable endeavor rather than a dutiful task. 40-page book includes an Answer Key.

Effective reading and comprehension building exercises.After reading about “blue jeans,” “peanuts,” “putting on shoes,” “flying saucers,” and more, students are challenged with a series of True/False statements.All 25 lessons in this illustrated book encourage young readers to absorb what they read so they have the information needed to determine if the follow-up statements ring true or false. 28-page book includes answer key. Reading Level 4 | Interest Level 4-8

The lions and tiger and bears in this book will help any youngster master special vowel sounds - ew, au-aw, oo-oo, ow-ou, oi-oy, and r-controlled vowels (ar, or, er, ir, ur). Specifically designed for students who have been introduced to special vowels but still need further practice, this 46-page book is packed with interactive exercises. There is a flower-eating ostrich ready to teach "ew" words such as "crew" and "few." The lion's cage is filled with "ow" words like "frown" and "cowboy" that need to be placed into sentences. There are even word-carrying monkeys perched in a tree that screech to be identified as "oy" friendly - oh "joy." Phonemic awareness is an essential component to reading success and this book gives students plenty of practice.

The circus theme of this book makes mastering short vowels a big top adventure filled with clowns juggling rhyming word balls, tightrope walkers boasting short-vowel words on their shirts, and flag-topped tents waiting to be filled with the short-voweled answers to riddles. There is even a lion tamer ready to teach students their short A, E, I, O, U's. Specifically designed for the student who has been introduced to short vowels but still needs further practice, this 46-page book is packed with interactive exercises. Phonemic awareness is an essential component to reading success and this book gives students plenty of practice.

The sports theme of this book makes learning long vowels a slam dunk, hole-in-one, and home run experience. Specifically designed for students who have been introduced to long vowels but still need further practice with their ai, ay, ea, ey, ie, oa, oe, ow and magic e's, this 53-page book is packed with interactive exercises. There are boxing gloves waiting to be filled with rhyming long-voweled words, skateboards needing picture/word association, and bowling pins and ice skates requiring long vowel word identification. Phonemic awareness is an essential component to reading success and this book gives students plenty of practice.

Making sense of the written word.After reading a story about “directing air traffic” or finishing a description about “horse saddles,” students are asked to use the information they have learned. What part is the girth anyway?Creative illustrations are a part of this learning process. For example, a list of mythical characters including a “centaur” are first defined. Then pupils are asked to identify the corresponding image. Can you figure out which creature is a “griffin?”Without a doubt, the 30 illustrated activities included in this book provide an intriguing way to boost comprehension skills.

Boost Reading Comprehension!Whether being asked to read a newspaper article about an “Ice Man,” a description of the different parts of a castle, or a letter written to Benjamin Franklin, the 30 illustrated activities included in this book provide an interesting way to boost comprehension skills.By answering questions about information presented on Iceland, John Glenn’s boyhood, the different parts of the human ear, and much more, students will fine tune their reading, writing, and spelling skills.

Applying information. “Application” is the use of information that is recalled and understood. When students use acquired facts and skills in a new situation, they are practicing the transfer of solutions from one problem to another. The 26 lessons in this unit provide plenty of practice in applying knowledge to practical situations. Students are asked to do alphabetical ordering, work with dictionary definitions, sequence time/size/money, compare shapes, finish sentences, and more using information provided or recalled.

Improve attention span! The 23 visual activities in this popular unit are designed to increase students’ concentration and attention to details. One exercise, for example, includes two versions of a picture – each depicting two boys fishing on a riverbank. Students are challenged to find 10 differences between the drawings. The game-like exercises found here range from hidden objects and memory graphics to word pyramids and categorizations. Children are sure to have loads of fun while stimulating their thinking skills.

Motivate reluctant writers! Five different formats are utilized in this 25-lesson unit to help stimulate creative writing:Story Starters:“I woke up in the morning and discovered I was 7 feet tall!”Topics with Corresponding Word Lists:“Use these words to write a story: beach, sand, buried…”Q&A:“Imagine you are the Statue of Liberty. What interesting things have you seen?”Visual Representation:“Write a story to tell what you think has happened in this picture.”News Story Completion:“Farmer Says Neighbors Are Aliens: Write a news story telling the who, what, where and when.”

Boost language skills to new heights with this step-by-step, practice-packed book! The sequential, easy-to-do activities will guide your students through important concepts, one-by-one, while the illustrations are sure to keep interest soaring. Part of the Skill Booster Series, this flexible book is superb as an introduction or review. Its specific focus allows repeated practice and is a terrific way to help students prepare for standardized tests. In addition, it can be incorporated into both skill-based and whole-language programs. You will find this book an effective teaching tool for many age and ability levels.

A springboard for comprehension! The 20 cloze procedure lessons in this book will help students not only gain a greater understanding of concepts, but will assist in expanding their vocabulary.Questions follow each cloze paragraph exercise - thus insuring that students have a broad understanding of the story by incorporating thinking skills as well as recall activities. The questions involve inference, prediction, and relationship.Of course, creative content choice keeps it all interesting with subjects ranging from “dolphins” to “lightening” and “magical mold” to “the Loch Ness monster.”

Help your students develop important life skills with these easy-to-use activities sure to strengthen their abilities in reading, comprehension, and math! Ads & Coupons is a great way to help students become more confident and independent as they work through activities involving "real-life" situations. Students will learn the value of money-saving coupons, of shopping wisely by reading sale ads, and how information about special offers and events can be found in promotional ads. Relevant word problems and follow-up activities focus on everyday applications of these helpful survival skills. 32-page book includes an answer key.Reading Level 3-4

The card game of facts! This fun game will increase knowledge of general information in the categories of: Math, Language, Science, Social Studies, Geography, & General Knowledge. The task cards may be adapted to other games or activities depending upon the particular needs of your students. Four different ways to play with the task cards is included. Contents Include: - 72 Task Cards (with three to four questions per card) - 1 Board for Game Play - 4 Suggestions for Game Play - Printing Instructions Four ways to play allow you to use the task cards with your whole class, in small groups, or as center activities. The games are easy to set up and implement and do not require additional materials.