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Materials for Parents and Others
A number of you who
are not affiliated with schools in any way (for example, parents, library
and museum program coordinators and home educators) have had difficulty
obtaining certain supplies because most supply houses require school purchase
orders or orders on school letterhead. Educational Innovations,
Inc welcomes purchase orders from organizations and schools but also
ships to individuals with payment by check, money order, or credit card.
You cannot obtain some chemicals from Educational Innovations that can
be obtained by schools from other companies, but you can obtain most supplies,
and from our experience, at reasonable prices. It would be worth
the time for many of you to obtain a free catalog from Educational Innovations,
Inc, 326 Main Ave, Norwalk, CT 06851; 203-229-0730; FAX 203-229-0740; email:
info@teachersource.com.
(Note that the address, phone, and FAX numbers are new ones for those of
you who have dealt with this company before.) They also offer an
on-line store at www.teachersource.com.
Just like all catalogs, this one is also an excellent source for new hands-on
activities that you can develop for yourself after receiving a spark from
a catalog idea.
THE BEST OF WONDERSCIENCE, vol 2 We have keynoted volume 1 of this book in our earlier newsletters and we have been giving workshop participants and schools a copy of volume 1 because we think that it is the best book of elementary-level hands-on activities for the price. Recently The Best of WonderScience, Over 200 Hands-on Elementary Science Activities, volume 2, has been published. This second volume has been put together by James H. Kessler and Andrea T. Bennett, the writers for the first volume. It incorporates activities from editions of the WonderScience magazine since volume 1 along with some additional activities. This about 430-page volume is equally well
written, safety tested, in full color, and appropriate for a variety of
content areas. The main sections include Science through your Senses,
Chemical Tests, Materials, Measuring, Math Skills, Physics, States of Matter,
and Earth and Space Science. Children learn the importance of establishing
an experimental control, changing and controlling variables, observing,
measuring, recording data, and drawing reasonable conclusions. Moreover,
there is an excellent APPENDIX describing prudent safety practices for
the elementary school (K-6) science classroom, teacher information pages
suggesting introductions and modifications to activities as well as expected
results and activity extensions, links to National Science Education Standards,
and student activity sheets for recording observations and answering questions.
Finally, this volume contains a detailed keyword and activities index for
both volumes. The cost is $29.95 from the American Chemical Society,
PO Box 57136, Washington, DC 20037-0136; 800-227-5558; FAX 202-872-6067.
The cost may be somewhat higher in local bookstores or from the publisher,
The Wadsworth Education Resource Center, at http://education.wadsworth.com.
We don't say this very frequently, but this is a book that elementary teachers
must have available! It is also a perfect gift for an elementary
school child or grandchild who is excited about science.
LAUGHING LESSONS A card-carrying member of the World Clown
Association, who also holds a Master's degree in education, has written
Laughing
Lessons: Ways To Make Teaching and Learning Fun. This book is
very humor-impaired-friendly and provides more than 100 classroom-tested
examples of how to help students become better learners through the use
of laughter. It costs $21.95. To order a copy, write to Free
Spirit Publishing, 217 Fifth Ave North, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55401-1299;
phone 612-338-2068; FAX 612-337-5050; e-mail help4kids@freespirit.com,
or check out the website at www.freespirit.com.
FORCE AND MOTION NSTA Press is releasing in March, 2002 a 125-page
paperback book by William Robertson entitled Stop Faking It! Finally
Understanding Science So you Can Teach It: Force and Motion. This book
is at a level appropriate for elementary and middle school teachers as
well as parents and homeschoolers who are teaching students in grades 3-8.
Besides simple explanations of scientific concepts relating to Force and
Motion, the book also provides a number of activities that use equipment
already available in the home. For more information, call 800-277-5300;
fax 888-433-0526; or log onto www.nsta.org/pubs/nstapress.
BACKBREAKING BACKPACKS The Science Spiders have published
Backbreaking
Backpacks - Lighten the Load, which provides a set of science experiments
that can teach students why heavy packbacks are not healthy for them.
The experiments use common household materials, do not require a science
background, and only take about 30 minutes."10 Tips To Lighten the Load"
tell students how to decrease the weight carried in their backpacks.
To obtain this material, send a business-sized self-addressed and stamped
envelope to Lighten the Load, The Science Spiders, PO Box 23565, Columbia,
SC 29224, or order through the website www.sciencespiders.com.
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