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CM . . .
. Volume X Number 19 . . . . May 21, 2004
Dot-To-Dot Stories, Money, More Numbers and More Phonics are the four latest titles in the "Kids Can Learn With Franklin" workbook series. These workbooks are geared toward kindergarten and first grade learners and are meant to provide opportunities to expand upon basic literacy and numeracy skills. All of these workbooks feature the well-known characters from the popular Franklin book series created by Bourgeois and Clark, and all the books are arranged in a similar fashion. An overview appears on the inside cover, instructions for each activity are found at the top of the page and specific learning outcomes are listed at the bottom of the page. Each workbook provides a brief review of a basic concept before focusing on several new ideas, with the most challenging concepts appearing on the final few pages. Detailed illustrations, collector cards, certificates and cut and paste manipulatives are included to increase motivation and enjoyment for the young learner. Dot-To-Dot
Stories.
As the title suggests, this workbook uses the ever-popular dot-to-dot puzzles to reinforce number recognition from 1-100. What is noteworthy about this workbook, however, is that other literacy skills are reviewed along the way. The book is divided into five story themes, and each section begins with an illustration and rhyme to which the dot-to dots are linked. The puzzles start with random numbers (eg. 19-44) and also emphasize counting by 2's, 5's and 10's and alphabet sequencing using both upper and lower case letters. A riddle appears beneath each puzzle along with a fill-in-the-blank answer which identifies the picture. Each section concludes with a story-writing activity using the dot-to-dot pictures as suggested vocabulary. The great variety in the puzzles and the fill-in-the-blank riddles will hold a young child's attention. The story-writing activity will require adult oral prompting and guidance for most children. Money.
This workbook provides an opportunity for children to improve their understanding of and confidence in dealing with money. All the coins shown in the workbook (penny, nickel, dime and quarter) are Canadian and have been duplicated to show actual size and appearance of the real currency. The activities range from identifying coins by name and value, matching a given amount, counting by 5's and 10's and modeling pricing and shopping situations. Some of the final activities involve using authentic looking cut-out-coins (complete with the queen's picture on the back) as manipulatives. Children will most likely require adult assistance with the problem-solving "Challenge" cards which appear at the end of the workbook, although it is helpful that they have self-correcting backs. It would be a good idea to have some actual coins on the table in front of the child when using the workbook to emphasize the proper colour of the coins which the black and white illustrations do not emphasize. More Numbers.
This workbook is designed for children who are confident in counting to 10 and are ready to work with larger numbers and more challenging concepts and patterns. The activities encourage oral counting from 1-100 and are broken into increments of ten. Students are asked to trace and print the numbers and to fill in blank number sequence lines. Other opportunities include recognizing what number comes before and after, counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's to 100, skip-counting using a hundred chart and grouping objects into tens and ones. Each page has a title to which the illustrations are connected, and all pictures are in keeping with the Franklin characters (for example, fly pies, bug stew, soccer jerseys and lily pads). Cut-out fly and lady bug counters are also included. Kindergarten and first graders will be suitably challenged by this math workbook, particularly with the concept of place value. More Phonics.
The goal of this activity book is to help children move beyond recognition of letters and initial consonant sounds. Learning topics include: final and medial sounds, rhyming words, short vowels, long vowels and letter blends. Most of the pages are fairly typical of phonics books (identifying illustrated objects) but some fill-in-the-blanks and mini-crosswords are included as well. This workbook will require the most adult involvement as children will need reminders for some pages (eg. circle the pictures that end with the same sound) and for the activities that ask learners to differentiate between short and long vowel sounds. The vowel "rules" listed at the top of the page may be helpful for some learners. Overall, the "Kids Can Learn With Franklin" workbooks are attractive and age-appropriate and target specific learning outcomes which complement school curricula. They offer children the chance to reinforce emerging literacy and numeracy skills in an entertaining way. The collector cards, however, will probably hold more appeal for the preschool/kindergarten crowd than for first-graders. Their individual costs are reasonable, and the workbooks would make good review activities over the summer holidays or just for extra after-school practice. Recommended to Highly Recommended. Lisa Sykes, who has worked as an early-years teacher and teacher-librarian, presently resides in Anten Mills, ON, with her young family. .
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