Evan-Moor: Vocabulary Fundamentals & more!

Evan-Moor just released 20 new ebook titles, all of which are available today.  Vocabulary Fundamentals is a mini-series, with separate editions for Grades 1-4.  Also, Read & Understand with Leveled Texts is set up the same way, reaching Grades K - 3 (links here take you to Grade 1 for both product lines).

For social studies, check out the new Beginning Geography!

Lastly, they now offer a new Daily Language Review for Grade 7.

All of these ebooks come in both regular and enhanced formats.

History Pockets: Ancient Greece (grades 4-6)

Evan-Moor History Pockets: Ancient Greece (Grades 4-6)

History Pockets: Ancient Greece (Grades 4-6) is just one book of an entire fabulous series of fun, hands-on social studies activities. The books are packed with projects, all of which are meant to be photocopied for each student. The series consists of several titles for Grades 1-3 and several for Grades 4-6.

The book is divided into themes, such as Daily Life, Government, Religion, etc. Each theme has several projects that will fit into a “pocket” made from folded construction paper. The pockets are then hole-punched and bound together with string or ribbon to create a Pocket Book. Since all of these projects will lay flat, I have had great sucess just adapting several favorite activities to add individaully to each student’s History Notebook without making p0ckets.

The History Pockets: Ancient Greece has decorated Facts pages, a Map activity, and a Timeline that is ready to cut out and assemble. The Timeline guides the student with illustrations and captions to add information as they progress. You will also find writing activities, creative booklets to put together and decorate, and plenty of low-fuss crafts. In this book, the crafts include making a Hoplite Shield, an Alexander the Great banner, Mosaic (paper) tiles, a booklet of Olympian gods, Greek coins, and more. The instructions for Knucklebones tells you first how to make the game, and then how to play it.

The book is 96 pages long, and most of those pages are meant to be photocopied for student use, giving you lots of ideas to choose from. It has instructions for 9 separate pockets, each offering several activities on a different theme of Ancient Greece, including Daily Life, Religion, Military Power, Art & Architecture, Government, Sports & Entertainment, and more. It is also offered in an enhanced eBook, which allows you to copy & paste text on the page and rearrange it to suit your needs.

Social Studies Fast Facts

Social Studies Fast Facts is perfect for classroom social studies games! The entire book is made up of pages of reproducible fact cards, each about 2″X4″, with a question on one side and the answer on the other. Topics are US States & Capitals, US Presidents, American History, Famous Americans, and US Geography. There are a total of 600 cards in the entire book.

A simple classroom game is to line up the students in two teams, placing them so that each student is opposite another student who is on a similar academic level. The 2 at the head of the line get the first question, and the student who answers it right gets to keep the card. Then they go to the end of the line. If you have a round where neither of the students know the answer, use a different card and save the unanswered card for later in the game. When you are out of cards, have the teams group up and count their cards. I like to give the winning team Smarties–smart candy for smart kids!!

Another favorite classroom game is Jeopardy, although this takes a little more pre-class preparation. Organize your cards into categories, and assign them dollar values. Draw a Jeopardy Board on the blackboard, with the categories at the top and the dollar values in the squares–just like the TV version of the game. Divide your classroom into 3 or 4 teams, and play the game just like TV. (The teams can work together, or team members can take turns competing for each question.) When a question is used up, simply mark off that square on the blackboard, keeping score on another part of the board. If you play more than one round, it’s not hard to quickly redraw a Jeopardy board for the new round.