Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Resources to stretch and fill young minds, July 25, 2008
This is one in a series of workbooks, each of which offers an abundance of learning activities, exercises, and games that are presented with superb production values. Appropriate to the given age level, much of the material focuses on basic subjects such natural science, mathematics, history, and social studies while enabling children to strengthen their reading, reasoning, and writing skills. The editors of Brain Quest believe that:
"All kids are smart - though they learn at their own speed
All kids learn best when they're having fun
All kids deserve the chance to reach their potential - given the tools they need, there's no limit how far they can go!"
I agree, while presuming to add that children will learn more and have more fun meanwhile if, when completing various exercises, adults are involved. As a parent of four and a grandparent of ten, I can personally attest to the pleasure an adult will also have. Each volume in the series is a WORK book. Exercises are completed with crayolas or pencils on the page on which it appears. Correct answers are provided. One caveat: Resist the temptation to control the learning process as a child completes an exercise.
This volume, for Kindergartners, was written by Lisa Trumbauer, with Kimberly Oliver serving as consulting editor. It is worth noting that Oliver was 2006 National Teacher of the Year. The material consists of organized curriculum-based exercises that help children to gain an understanding of ABCs, phonics, spelling and vocabulary, 123s, shapes and colors, patterns, sorting and matching, time and money, community, science, and "Fun and Games." Also included are more than 150 stickers, an all-new Brain Quest Mini-Card Deck, and a fold-out "Ticktock Clock" poster.
Here is a representative selection of exercises:
Help the cat find her way to the castle. (Page 14)
P as in Pirate.
Pirate begins with the P sound.
Circle the things in the picture that begin with the P sound. (127)
And
Say the word and.
Trace and then write the word and. [in the space below]
The word and connects words.
Write and to connect these friends. (155)
Squares!
Trace the square and then draw your own. [in the space below]
Find all the squares in the room. [on opposite page]
Color the picture frames brown.
Color the jack-in-the-box purple.
Color the clock face tan.
Color the present gold and silver. (210-211)
Clean Up!
A clean community is good for everyone.
Help clean up this community.
Draw an X through each piece of trash. (278-279)
Hat Trick!
Help the monster find his hat!
Connect the dots from A to M. (307)
Each of the volumes in this series (pre-K through Grade 4) would be an excellent book for parents, grandparents, and others to purchase and then share with a child at an appropriate stage of her or his development. No doubt there are precocious children who will prefer more challenging material associated with later grades but I think it would be a mistake to rush the learning process. Worse yet, to indicate little interest in it.
Congratulations to the Workman Publishing Company and especially to the editors of Brain Quest. How pleased they must be to know that their materials have already helped to nourish so many young minds and to delight so many young hearts and, fortunately, will continue to do so for the development of other children in months and years to come.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a collection of activities!, November 25, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Brain Quest Workbook: Kindergarten is a large collection of activities geared toward the 5-6 year old set.
The workbook is in sections, with a table of contents at the beginning and each section is color coded, and each page is numbered.
The sections and subject matter cover ABCs, Phonics, Spelling and Vocabulary, 123s, Shapes and Colors, Patterns, Matching and Sorting, Time and Money, Community, Science, Fun and Games, and there are Brain Quest Extras- stickers, a mini-card deck (you cut it out), and a fold out "ticktock clock" poster.
The book is well made, much nicer than the "homework" phonics workbook my pre-k student was given at school. The difference is that the BrainQuest book covers more areas and is more engrossing and practical than the school provided workbooks which seem to base their whole method on repetition rather than learning by doing/practical experience...
The pages are colorful and friendly...No distracting brand name characters here...The illustrations are quite nice, not necessary, but they definitely bring a warm, happy spirit to the workbook and a happy mood when doing work can make the difference between success and a book like this becoming a door stop...
The pages are perforated. This is a great feature if you are on the go and just want to grab a few pages as kid busy work in waiting rooms, stuck in traffic, on an airplane, or at a restaurant.
The one downside I have found is that some workbook activities are not just one page, this means that you can't just rip out one page without taking 1/2 of another activity with you... I hope that Brain Quest prints many more of these but keeps all of the activities/lessons to one page or one page front and back...
This book offers over 300 pages of fun...There are plenty of trace and copy handwriting exercises but there are many more fun activities that use problem solving, coloring, riddles, matching, and many skills that are necessary for our kids to function in the real world...
I think this book would make a great and thoughtful gift for any kindergarten or pre-k kid... It's also the sort of book that would be great for grandma's house or even just to grab a few pages and bring them with you...
ps. the corners of the book are rounded on the opening side/edge... and the paper is a nice weight...The quality should keep this book in one piece (or however many pieces you tear out!) through all 300+ pages!)
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
fun and educational! , November 21, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Brainquest workbook for kindergarten is aimed at children who are just starting to become familiar with the alphabet and counting. The author is Lisa Trumbauer and the consulting editor is Kimberly Oliver- 2006 National Teacher of the Year.
Unlike some workbooks that don't seem to be organized in any particular order, this book has well defined sections. This is very helpful. They are color coded and arranged as follows:
ABCs, phonics, spelling and vocabulary, 123s, shapes and colors, patterns, sorting and matching, time and money, community, science, and fun and games.
The abc pages are by far the biggest section in the book. There are several pages for each letter of the alphabet, which contain letter mazes, tracing exercises, and simple color by letter designs. The phonics is very basic, with pages asking the student to circle words that begin with the "A" sound, etc. They do include short vowel sounds on phonics pages as well as the long vowels, which are presented first. Spelling is limited to words of three letters or less. The math portions of the book include recognition of numbers up to 12, but children are only asked to count objects up to ten. Science is mainly about the five senses. The fun and games at the back of the book are dot to dot pages and mazes.
This is a colorful workbook that should be appealing to many youngsters. The cover notes that it is appropriate for ages 5-6, but I'd say more for the average 4-5 year old.
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