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North Dakota State PIRC is a Parent Information and Resource Center; Funded by US Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement

Education Books

101 Fresh & Fun Critical-Thinking Activities
by Laurie Rozakis 

Help students of all learning styles and strengths begin to think critically. Includes 101 cross-curricular activities to reinforce specific skills such as recognizing and recalling or inferring, and drawing conclusions. Complete with reproducibles and suggestions for integrating the activities into your curriculum.

101 Kindergarten Tips: A Parent's Guide For Academic Success
by Nick Macri 

101 tips for parents of kindergarten-aged children in a variety of topics.

81 Fresh & Fun Critical-Thinking Activities
by Laurie Rozakis 

81 creative cross-curricular activities designed to help students of all learning styles think critically. Each activity reinforces a specific critical thinking skill such as recognizing and recalling, evaluating and analyzing. Comes complete with student reproducibles and suggestions for integrating the activities into your curriculum with ease. Grades 4-6

Around the Year with The Cat at the Door - Leaders Guide
by Louise Weldon & Anne Mather 

These activities encourage children to see, hear, and do - and promote creativity while building self-esteem, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. This guide is also great for helping children explore values such as gratitude, honesty, and forgiveness. Reproducible hand-outs make lessons easy for teachers and leaders to use.

Baby and Toddler Learning Fun
by Sally Goldberg, Ph.D. 

It's never too early to share the joy of learning with a child! Here are more than fifty entertaining activities to enjoy with very young children, with instructions for making the toys needed for play. Baby and Toddler Learning Fun also provides smart tips for enriching the home environment in other ways for baby's learning. As children grow, the activities can be easily adapted so they remain as much fun for a toddler as for an infant.

Beginning to Read - Thinking And Learning About Print
by Marilyn Jager Adams 

This book reconciles the debate that has divided theorists for decades over what is the "right" way to help children learn to read. Drawing on a rich array of research on the nature and development of reading proficiency, Marilyn Adams shows educators that they need not remain trapped in the phonics versus teaching-for-meaning dilemma and offers instructional alternatives.

Betcha!
by Stuart J. Murphy 

Betcha you'll learn to estimate as two friends guess how many people are riding their bus, how much a bunch of toys costs, and how many jelly beans fill a jar. Betcha you'll have fun, too! Children�s Library

Better Math in 5 Minutes a Day
by Fran Gibson 

Fun math activities for kids and parents on the go. In the car or wherever you are, teach your child: how to have number sense, shortcuts for multiplication and division, and decimal and fraction skills.

Better Phonics and Beyond in 5 Minutes a Day
by Lisa Deters 

Phonics fun for kids and parents on the go. In the car or wherever you are, teach your child: Easy-to-follow phonics rules and exercises, how to develop silent vowel and consonant sense, and shortcuts for creating a confident reader. Grade level: K-3

Better Spelling in 5 Minutes a Day
by Mark Pennington 

Fun spelling activities for kids and parents on the go. In the car or wherever you are, teach your child: tips and tricks for even the most difficult words, how to break the learning-forgetting cycle, and how to create a super spelling study plan.

Bob Books Level A Set 1
by Bobby Lynn Maslen 

For very beginning readers, 12 books, 12 pages each, 3 letter words, with consistent sounds, all letters except Q gradually introduced in this set.

Bob Books Level A Set 2
by Bobby Lynn Maslen 

set of 12 books with 16 pages each, primarily 3 letter words, consistent sounds and sight words, longer stories

Bob Books Level B Set 1
by Bobby Lynn Maslen 

Kids advance to longer words and stories. Blends and endings added with a few sight words, 10 books, 16 pgs. Each, 8 stories plus 2 activity books, short vowels, adding blends and compound words.

Bob Books Level B Set 2
by Bobby Lynn Maslen 

Kids advance to longer words and stories, blends and endings added with a few sight words, 4 books of 16 pages, plus 4 books of 24 pages, new blends, more sight words, and longer compound words.

Bob Books Level C Set 1
by Bobby Lynn Maslen 

For kids ready for long vowels plus compound words, new sight words and longer stories, 4 books, 16 pgs each, 4 books of 24 pgs each, with a strong emphasis on long vowels.

Building Fluency: Lessons and Strategies for Reading Success
by Wiley Blevins 

Students who can decode words effortlessly can focus their attention on comprehending - and enjoying - what they read. This book provides lessons and techniques for helping students read smoothly and easily, free of the frustrations imposed by weak decoding and word-recognition skills.

Children of the Circle
by Adolf & Star Hungry Wolf 

An intimate photo history of Native American children from the 1870s to 1920 that includes over 20 tribes of the American West. Over 90 photos, many very rare, are accompanied by descriptions of daily life as well as ceremonial and other special occasions. (all ages, parents & professionals)

Computers Don't Byte!
by Linda Pereira 

Kids and adults can learn together with easy-to-do activities. What can we do with a computer, and how do computers work? Have fun finding out together! This book has been awarded the National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval.

Counting Caterpillars and Other Math Poems
by Betsy Franco 

In this book, you will find 25 rhyming poems with instant activities that build early math skills. Poems are about addition, subtraction, patterning, shapes, simple fractions, and more! Grade level: K-2

Creating Readers
by Pam Schiller 

Learn the basic building blocks of reading with Creating Readers, an incredibly comprehensive resource that develops a strong foundation for pre-readers. This book gives teachers and parents the tools to teach beginning reading skills and phonemic awareness with over 1000 activities, games, fingerplays, songs, tongue twisters, poems and stories for each letter of the alphabet. This invaluable resource will start children ages 3 to 8 on a future rich with reading.

Dinosaur Hill
by Diana Loski 

In the town of Maysville, Kentucky, a young girl named Sarah dreams of exploring the giant wooded hill she views daily from her bay window---where she sits in a wheelchair. When she finally gets the chance to climb it on horseback, she discovers a mystery in the form of a deserted mansion. An intriguing and heartwarming story. (age 5 & up)

Dollars & Sense For College Students
by Ellen Braitman 

This book will help you develop the smart habits and make the savvy decisions that will keep you out of financial trouble whether you are heading off to school or counting down the days to graduation.

Easy Reading
by Laura Rose 

You can significantly improve your students' comprehension, enjoyment, and personal involvement in reading at any grade level by using the simple activities provided in this book.

Enriching Early Mathematical Learning
by Grace Cook, Lesley Jones, C Murphy, G Thumpston 

The focus of this book is to help teachers plan open-ended math experiences that give children opportunities to make decisions, formulate and explore problems, and express their ideas. Each activity includes an introductory page, which details prior necessary experiences, vocabulary, materials needed, and curriculum connections. Grade level: PreK-K

Family Math - The Middle School Years
by Virginia Thompson and Karen Mayfield-Ingram 

This book provides a better understanding of algebra and number sense, which helps prepare children for advanced high school and college mathematics.

Family Math for Young Children
by Grace Davila Coates & Jean Kerr Stenmark 

This book is for parents and children working together, doing activities that make math fun. Ages: 4-8

Funny Fairy Tale Math
by Betsy Franco 

Each of these math-filled stories ends happily ever after - with kids laughing out loud and building essential skills, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, measurement, fractions, money, and more! Includes companion word problems and a complete answer key. A great way to connect reading and math - and meet the new NCTM Standards!

Games for Learning
by Peggy Kaye 

This book gives parents more than seventy original, entertaining, and slyly educational ways to help their children master crucial learning skills - in just ten minutes a day. The games cover all the important areas of the school curriculum. Grade level: K-3

Getting Your Child Ready for School
by Grace Jasmine 

Find out what is expected of children when they begin school, and use checklists to help you measure your child's readiness. Stories and activities help you prepare your child for positive experiences when school begins. This book has been awarded the National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval.

Give Me Half!
by Stuart J. Murphy 

How do you share a pizza? You split it in half. Read along as a brother and sister share a yummy lunch, and learn about the simplest fraction: 1/2. Using fractions can be messier than you'd think! Children�s Library

How Big is a Foot?
by Rolf Myller 

The King wants to give the Queen something special for her birthday. The Queen has everything, everything except a bed. The trouble is that no one in the Kingdom knows the answer to a very important questions: How big is a bed? Because beds at the time had not yet been invented. The Queen's birthday is only a few days away. How can they figure out what size the bed should be? Children�s Library

How to Help your Child with Homework
by Marguerite C. Radencich, Ph.D. and Jeanne Shay 

Avoid homework hassles and promote school success with our popular handbook for parents. Written by teachers, it includes the latest information on helping children with phonics, word patterns, and sight word training; the changing world of math curriculum; what's new in science and social studies instruction; ways to promote critical thinking and problem solving; helping kids prepare for standardized tests; using technology wisely; and much more. You'll teach your child study skills that will last a lifetime - and instill responsibility and independence. Includes reproducible masters.

How to Maximize Your Child's Learning Ability
by Dr. Lauren Bradway & Barbara Albers Hill 

A complete guide that offers parents hundreds of practical things they can do to help influence, encourage and most of all, maximize their child's learning ability. The text spans the period from infancy to eighth grade.

In Their Own Way
by Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. 

Does your child have a favorite subject, activity, or hobby? Children learn in multiple ways, and educator Thomas Armstrong has shown hundreds of thousands of parents and teachers how to locate those unique areas in each of our children where learning and creativity seem to flow with special vigor.

Internet for Kids
by Tim Haag 

What is the Internet, and how do we start surfing it? Kids and adults have fun finding out together! This book has been awarded the National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval.

Keeping a Head in School
by Mel Levine 

Written with humor and "reader-friendly" language, the handbook explains the complexity of learning disorders in terms all readers can understand. Parents, teachers, counselors, as well as students, will better understand learning and how to maximize their potential after reading this book. The reader will recognize his/her own learning disorders and how to overcome them--whether or not diagnosed as a problem learner.

Keeping School Cool
by Michaelene Mundy 

From the end of August until the first part of June, children spend more hours at school than their waking hours at home. This charmingly illustrated book speaks about issues schoolkids deal with every day: learning, teachers, homework, getting along with others, feeling safe. In language young children can understand, author Michaelene Mundy offers empathy and reassurance, along with practical problem-solving tips.

Kids & Computers - A Parent's Handbook
by Judy Salpeter 

Informed advice on selecting hardware & software and getting the most from both. Helps you create the best children's software library for the money. Ideal for both IBM & Apple platforms.

Kids, Computers, and Homework
by James G. Lengel and Diane S. Kendall 

This book is for all involved parents with children in the third through eighth grades. The authors show how to use standard software programs to complete a wide variety of school assignments in new and engaging ways.

Learning to Read and Write
by Susan B. Neuman, Carol Copple, and Sue Bredekam 

Developmentally appropriate ways of teaching children to read and write come to life in this essential resource. It offers ways to arrange language-rich settings, provide literacy-related experiences, work with speech sounds and rhyme, and promote print awareness.

Listen and Learn
by Cheri J. Meiners, M. Ed. 

This gentle, encouraging book introduces and explains what listening means, why it's important, and how to listen well. Realistic examples and full-color illustrations bring the concepts to life. The focus throughout is on the positive results of being a good listener. Ages: 4-8 Children's Library

MI Strategies for Kids - Brilliant Brain Banishes Boredom
by Ellen Arnold 

Sometimes Brilliant gets so bored in class that his mind wanders, and he's off into another world. But that's not good when he needs to learn about what the teacher is saying. Brill heads for Intelligence Avenue for some new strategies to help him keep his mind on what he's supposed to be learning.

MI Strategies for Kids - Brilliant Brain Battles Bad Guys
by Ellen Arnold 

Do "Bad guys" bother you like they bother Brilliant Brain? Then join Brill on his journey down Intelligence Avenue, where he learns how the Smart Parts overcome battles with bullies. Their strategies will help you deal with the "bad guys" in your life too!

MI Strategies for Kids - Brilliant Brain Selects Spelling Strategies
by Ellen Arnold 

Brilliant Brain can play soccer, and he's good at math. But spelling really gives him trouble. If spelling is hard for you too, travel along Intelligence Avenue with Brill as he asks the Smart Parts for tips and tricks that will help spelling make sense to him. These strategies can work for you too - soon you'll find spelling fun, just like Brill!

MI Strategies for Kids - Magnificent Mind Listens Mindfully
by Ellen Arnold 

Listening is not always easy for Magnificent Mind - There are just too many other things to think about! Do you ever feel this way? Join Maggie as she shares her listening problem with the Smart Parts, who live along Intelligence Avenue. Soon you will find some strategies for listening that will work for you.

MI Strategies for Kids - Magnificent Mind Magnifies Meaning when Reading
by Ellen Arnold 

Magnificent Mind can read the words, but she has trouble understanding what the words mean. Do you have this problem too? Travel with her down Intelligence Avenue as she collects strategies from the Smart Parts for understanding what she's read. Soon, you'll be able to find meaning in what you're reading, just like Maggie!

MI Strategies for Kids - Magnificent Mind Masters Multiplication
by Ellen Arnold 

Maggie just can't seem to memorize her multiplication facts - the sevens are the hardest. So she heads down Intelligence Avenue to gather strategies from her friends, the Smart Parts. Their tips, techniques, and tricks trigger Maggie's mastery of multiplication - and they can help you learn the times tables too!

MI Strategies for Kids - Teacher/Parent Guide
by Ellen Arnold 

This guide for parents and teachers includes comprehensive lesson plans for the accompanying set of children's books. MI Strategies for Kids shows you how to help each child become a persistent and successful learner.

No More Homework Headaches
by Sharon Hernes Silverman 

This guide will help you understand your child�s personal learning style, help your child develop proper homework habits and attitudes, develop your child�s time management skills, and much more.

Parenting a Struggling Reader
by Susan L. Hall Louisa C. Moats, Ed.D. 

Don't lose valuable years waiting for a school system to test for your child's reading disability. This practical guide offers a four-step plan for identifying and resolving any childhood reading difficulty. This is a detailed, realistic program for getting parents actively involved in their children's reading lives.

Parents' Guide to Surviving the College Admissions Process, The
by Ellen Fitzpatrick Pinkman and Barbara Trecker 

Applying to college can often be confusing and overwhelming for both kids and parents. This informative guide demystifies the entire process, helping you turn frustration into excitement.

Perfect Poems for Teaching Phonics
by Deborah Ellermeyer and Judi Hecht 

Teaching phonics is pure poetry with these kid-pleasing, rhyming poems on popular primary topics like weather, colors, and friendship. Ready-to-use activities teach alphabet recognition, rhyme, beginning constants, digraphs and blends, long and short vowels, and more. Grades K-2

Phonemic Awareness
by Jo Fitzpatrick 

Help your students learn to read by teaching them how to "listen to language." Before children can understand printed words, they need to hear and manipulate letter sounds. This complete resource book includes over 90 interactive activities, reproducible manipulatives, picture cards, and word lists to help children connect oral language to written text.

Phonics Games Kids Can't Resist
by Michelle K. Ramsey 

Alphabet Soup, Cereal Box Consonant Search, Clown Slide Blends, Flip the Vowel Flapjacks . . . . Kids will clamor for these irresistible games and activities that teach the alphabet, consonants, blends, vowels, and more. All the activities chosen for this book have been classroom tested!

Phonics Pathways
by Delores G. Hiskes 

A book to help parents teach children letter sounds and blending skills.

Probably Pistachio
by Stuart J. Murphy 

Will anything ever go right for Jack? Probably not! Tuna fish, soccer practice, and pistachio ice cream all help readers learn to tell when something is certain, more likely, less likely or impossible. Children�s Library

Psychology For Kids
 

If you like to learn about yourself, PSYCHOLOGY FOR KIDS is for you. In 40 different self-tests, you'll explore your interests and abilities, find out why you act the way you do, and discover what makes you unique.

Quick Tricks for Math
Quick Tricks for Math 

Children who have the opportunity to explore and play with math concepts grow into adults who enjoy math. These easy, low-cost activities use hands-on experiences and everyday materials to relate math to children's interests. Includes explorations in sorting and classifying, making patterns, numeral recognition, one-to-one-correspondence, fractions, and lots more. Chapters include a letter telling parents about what children are learning and supporting ways parents can reinforce that learning. Grade level: PreK-K

Reading for Understanding
by R Schoenbach, C Greenleaf, C Cziko, L Hurwitz 

Many middle and high school students have difficulty reading and understanding academic texts, which limits their ability to meet today's high learning standards. This book addresses this quiet but growing crisis and describes a successful approach to helping students improve their literacy across all subject areas.

Reading Right from the Start
by Toni S. Bickart and Diane Trister Dodge 

Are you looking for concrete ways to help your children become readers and writers? This easy-to-read, richly illustrated booklet uses the everyday routines that you do with your children - bathing and dressing, eating, shopping, household chores, etc. - to demonstrate how to build vocabulary, learn about conversations, and discover meaning from the written word.

Reclaiming Youth At Risk - Our Hope for the Future
by L. K. Brendtro, M. Brokenleg and S. VanBockern 

This very well written and researched book provides wonderful support for alternative approaches to discipline. It offers different perceptions on how we look at difficult students and offers teachers hope for developing interventions with them.

Resources for Creative Teaching in Early Childhood Education
by Bonnie Mack Flemming/Darlene Softley Hamilton 

This book was designed as a reliable and easy source of curriculum ideas that could be used by anyone working with young children. Sections of the book include games, dramatic play props, music and art accessories, and playground equipment that can be inexpensively made. Grade level: K-3

Rhymes & Reasons - Literature and Language Play
by Michael F. Opitz 

Choose a book and read it. Then use it to engage children in language exploration to promote phonological awareness.

School's Out - Now What?
by Joan M. Bergstrom, Ed.D. (Ages 6-12)

This book presents ways for parents and other adults to provide children practical help and guidance. It brings together resources, checklists, and hundreds of ideas that will help today's busy parents and their school age children.

Social Skills Lessons & Activities for Grades PreK - K
by Ruth Weltmann Begun 

A ready-to-use curriculum based on real-life situations to help you build children's self-esteem, self-control, respect for the rights of others, and a sense of responsibility for one's own actions.

Starting Out Right
by M. Susan Burns, Peg Griffin & Catherine E. Snow 

With literacy problems plaguing as many as four in ten children in America, this book discusses how best to help children succeed in reading. You'll find out how to help youngsters build word recognition, avoid comprehension problems, and more with checklists of specific accomplishments to be expected at different ages.

Teaching Our Children to Read
by Bill Honig 

Studies of effective teaching practices have continued to validate the need for explicit and systematic instruction in basic reading skills, and Bill Honig uses this research to shed new light on an old problem - how to help all students become fluent readers. This book is an essential resource for educators and parents concerned about how to successfully teach our children to read.

Teaching with the Brain in Mind
by Eric Jensen 

Teaching with the Brain in Mind balances the research and theory of the brain with successful tips and techniques for using that information in classrooms. From its primer on brain biology to in-depth discussions of emotion, memory and recall, this book is an invaluable tool for any educator looking to better reach students through truly brain-compatible teaching and learning.

Teaching Your Child the Language of Social Success
by M.P. Duke, Ph.D., Stephen Nowicki, Jr., 

A guide for parents and teachers to help children develop nonverbal skills so that they will be able to communicate more effectively and to interact with others more successfully.

Tell It Again 2!
by Shirley C. Raines and Rebecca Isbell 

The authors have once again drawn on the expertise of outstanding storytellers and teachers for this eagerly awaited new volume. Engage young children�s minds and capture their undivided attention with 16 new stories, complete with storytelling tips and activities. Grade level: K-3

Tell It Again!
by Shirley C. Raines and Rebecca Isbell 

Tell it Again! helps teachers and parents encourage listening, communication, imagination and problem-solving skills in young children through the power of the story. Grade level: K-3

The Penny Pot
by Stuart J. Murphy 

Life-size coins and a cat named Chester will soon have readers confidently counting coins along with Jessie and her friends at the face-painting booth. Children�s Library

The Reading Tutor's Handbook
by Jeanne Schrumm, Ph.D. & Gerald Schrumm Jr. 

A common sense guide to helping students read and write.

Why Do I Have to Learn This?
by Dale Parnell 

In this book, teachers are encouraged to take a closer look at how people really learn best. Parnell urges replacing a "cover-the-text-book" approach with teaching that stresses connected knowledge, understanding (over memorization) and problem solving and applications.

You Know Your Child is Gifted When. . .
by Judy Galbraith, M.A. 

With this book you�ll strengthen your parenting skills and get answers to other questions you�ve wondered about, discover what sets gifted kids apart and how you can support your child�s unique abilities.

You're A Genius and I Can Prove It
by Kimberly Kassner 

This refreshing book with wonderful cartoons shows us that our minds are limitless. Students will find new and easy ways to focus, memorize, retain information, solve problems, and achieve success in school and on the job.

Young Children in Action
by Mary Hohmann, Bernard Banet, David P. Weikart 

The educational approach presented here - the cognitively oriented preschool curriculum - is directed to early-childhood specialists and students seeking a framework for planning and evaluating preschool programs and to caregivers in whatever capacity whose concern is to improve the lives of children.

Your Home is a Learning Place
by Pamela Weinberg 

This book is full of ideas not only on how to help children learn to read and write, but it also shows parents how to help their children gain the skills that go into reading and writing, such as observing, remembering, listening, speaking, and using these skills together. Grade level: K-3

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