Elementary Education Books

I'm seeing stars...Wait, that's our new Astronomy program

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 by Dianne Lorento

Wow, you want to talk about inquiry based science? Then check out our new Astronomy program, Starry Night. It's available for the elementary, middle and high school levels, and is completely interactive and inquiry based. Kendall Hunt has just partnered with Starry Night Education to provide schools with greater access to this program in volume license format.

This isn't just any elementary education book or high school physics textbook. In fact, it's not a book at all. It's actually astronomy simulation software that includes more than 25 lessons at each level, extensive teacher resources, hands-on activities, computer exercises, worksheets and assessments, and a DVD with dramatic and realistic astronomical phenomena.

It's a great way for children as young as kindergarten to begin to understand space science, is flexible enough to use as talented and gifted lesson plans, and works as a full astronomy course besides. Our website has screen shots and sample lessons available, so check it out when you have a chance!

I'm going to be out for a couple weeks now, but others will be staying in touch, so happy holidays to all!

Learning Portals in PreK-12

Thursday, October 8, 2009 by Dianne Lorento

In response to my post To e-Book or Not To e-Book, one of our readers, Marixi, posted a comment (check out the comment here) wondering whether it's safe for students to be accessing primary school textbooks via the Internet. I explained that most e-books, whether elementary education books, middle school textbooks or other textbooks, are accessed via a secure portal which is often the only thing the child can login to on the school computer.

But I'm wondering, for those of you whose school districts use e-books, do they use them exclusively or is there, a printed version of, say, that high school chemistry textbook, and the e-book is just an option. And is it more common with high school textbooks, or primary school textbooks? And when they do use e-books, are they part of a learning portal? Is that portal proprietary to the school district, or do your school textbook publishers offer access to their portal upon adoption? Wow, lots of things I want to know!

To e-Book or Not to e-Book...That is The Question

Friday, September 4, 2009 by Dianne Lorento

Okay, so that’s pretty bad paraphrasing of The Bard, but my point is, what do you think of e-books anyway? Certainly the electronic book reader a certain online book vendor has taken off, but that’s more in the trade book market. I like the idea of going on vacation and taking one little rectangular, electronic thing instead of a stack of books. But what about when it comes to textbooks for elementary school, or high school science textbooks?

My son’s fourth grade math book is available online. They sent home the access instructions this week. Kind of a cool idea, especially with a fourth grader who forgets to close the freezer, feed the dog, and take his shoes upstairs (and that’s just the first five minutes after dinner!). He can forget his book at school, but still get his homework done.

I can see where having your high school chemistry textbook online would be a great option to lugging it home. Is there a certain level for which it works best? Maybe education textbook publishers should be making all elementary education books available in e-book format. Or perhaps it’s more appropriate for high school science textbooks, and middle school math. I don’t know. What do you think?

Got Gifted Education Books? We Do!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009 by Dianne Lorento

Center for Gifted Education at The College of William & Mary

Have you checked out our gifted and accelerated learning resources lately? Whether it's elementary education books for gifted students or high school science textbooks for accelerated learners, we have something that will meet your needs. One of our partners is the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William & Mary with whom we publish a curriculum for high ability learners that spans the subjects of Language Arts, Science and Social Studies and grades 1-11. Additionally, the program offers teacher resources and lesson plans for gifted and talented. You can find the program here.

Project M3: Mentoring Mathematical Minds Elementary Education Books for Gifted Learners

To complete our talented and gifted resources, is Project M3: Mentoring Mathematical Minds, a research-based mathematics program for gifted and talented students in grades 3, 4, and 5. Project M3 gets students involved by offering interesting subjects they find relevant, and gets them learning by doing. You can check out this great program here.