Let’s Get Ready For… : Here’s What They’re Saying So Far
After you get over the shock of your child being old enough to get on the bus all on his/her own, you realize that you might not have prepared them as best as you could.
Ah the pressures of parenting. Do they ever end?
It seems as though there are a plethora of educational toys — blocks with French words, and bath toys that prepare kids for the SATs. And that’s all great, but when it comes down to it, it’s nice to know what they actually need to know for Kindergarten and First Grade. And as you might have already figured out, it’s not just their name and their address; the skills of a 5 year old entering school are much more involved.
So mom and educator Stacey Kannenberg created two books
Our Kindergarten mamas had much praise for the books
Also, the K-mamas were presently surprised that their kids were well-prepared. Always nice to feel the proverbial back-pat which we mothers very often do not get. “What surprised me is how much of this my son already knows. “ ”I’m glad to have the peace of mind now knowing that my son won’t be the child that is “behind” in kindergarten because he never went to daycare.” And it was nice for the kids to feel good about their knowledge as well. “Also, although she knows most of the stuff covered in the book, she likes flipping through it and affirming that to herself.”
It’s important to note that a lot of the moms were surprised at the challenging skills required for Kindergarten. All the more reason to grab these books! “Kids today are doing in Kindergarten what kids ten or fifteen years ago were doing in first grade.” ”Many of the concepts covered in Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten weren’t introduced till 1st grade when we were in school. This generational gap in education certainly must leave some parents bewildered when their children first enter kindergarten and they find out their children are behind the expected learning curve.”
The first grade mamas had similar reactions to the book. ”I feel as though I can use this book well, rather than being bogged down by larger workbooks filled with busy-work.” And many commented on its easy-to-use format as well as appealing colors and characters. “The book has a friendly looking teacher character, Mrs. Best, who along with Yodie the coyote and six of her students guide you through the book.” ”The book easily held his attention, with bright colors and fun pictures (his favorite is the 3 cats singing…).”
One mom noted the variety of subjects addressed in the First Grade book. “What did surprise me was the information on science and social studies that the book covered, like the food pyramid (the new one, not the one we learned as kids), the major organs in the body, the concept of day/night caused by the earth’s rotation, the planets in the solar system, and the names of the three branches of government. Thus far none of those concepts has been covered by our school curriculum, and it was nice for Trout to be able to work on them.” Also, our moms felt the teaching techniques were exceptional.
My favorite teaching tool in this book is color. For example, the two page spread about vowels and consonants colors each vowel green and each consonant blue. This is particularly useful for explaining how “y” can be a vowel or a consonant. “why” and “happy” color “y” green, but for “yes,” the “y” is blue. Similarly, in a different section of the book, “even” and “odd” numbers are colored differently to visually drive home the difference.
And like the K-moms, the First Grade moms felt a sigh of relief. “Spending time with my daughter and the Let’s Get Ready for First Grade! book has made me calm down a bit about her readiness—obviously she soaks up a lot of information during the day and can tell me all about it, especially when presented in a fun format that doesn’t feel like “work.”
So far, our bloggers are loving these books and would buy the sequel for their Kindergarteners or the prequel for their younger kids. “I can’t wait to order the “Let’s Get Ready for First Grade” sequel to this book.”
Stay tuned this coming week for the rest of the reviews!
And win your own copies of both books
4/19 K: Get in the Car!, 1st Grade: Mommy Needs Coffee
4/20 K: Ginga Joy, 1st Grade: Radioactive Girl
4/23 K: Midwestern Mommy, 1st Grade: Pundit Mom
4/24 K: Plain Jane Mom, 1st Grade: Ruthless in the Suburbs
4/25 K: Sarah’s Dandelions, 1st Grade: Three Kid Circus
4/26: Final Round Up
I wuld lik dem so I could teech my chiild how too reed and rite gooder then me.
Just kidding! I have a 5 year old who will be entering kindergarten in the fall and I’d love to have these for him, especially since they come so highly recommended by the reviewers.
Sounds like a great book!
My son is speech delayed and any help we can get to get him up to speed for kindergarten would be wonderful. I would love the chance to win these books!
These sound like great books and I love the fact that they have dry-erase. My daughter is constantly trying to write in books, at least this way I can erase everything before she reads it again.
[...] don’t be discouraged - we’ve got plenty of other giveaways in progress, and we’ve got a big one that we’ll announce later this week. [...]
Would this apply to Canadian Kindergartens? I mean, does it have the word Donut, Timmies and EH?
I would love a set of these books. My son will only sit still long enough to listen to me read a Spongebob Squarepants book. Lord help me if I have to rely on Spongebob to educate my child.
I would LOVE these two books. My friend Sarah does reviews for you and she highly recommended them. I have a 4 year old and 6 year old and could really benefit from these two books!! Thanks!
Angie
I could really use these books. My oldest is in kindergarten now. I don’t feel like he has gotten much out of it. He ended up with a new teacher who I just don’t feel has enough experience. I’m worried that he is going to be even further behind after 1st grade.
Since my Princess is going to be a pre-school teacher, these boks would be a wonderful addition to the collection she is trying to build.
Sounds like these books really work! I would like to try them out on my kids!
[...] The parents who tried out these books during the first half of the campaign were raving about the wide range of skills addressed, the wipe off pages — perfect for making mistakes and erasing, and the fun friendly characters. So, let’s see how our final group of bloggers felt about these books. [...]
My daughter is starting kindergarten in the fall and I think this book will help tremendously. She writes on anything and everything so the dry erase aspect is wonderful!
[...] The parents who tried out these books during the first half of the campaign were raving about the wide range of skills addressed, the wipe off pages — perfect for making mistakes and erasing, and the fun friendly characters. So, let’s see how our final group of bloggers felt about these books. [...]
[...] don’t be discouraged - we’ve got plenty of other giveaways in progress, plus a big one that we’ll announce later this week. Keep [...]