Customer Reviews

Third Grade Reading Comprehension Success (Sylvan Workbooks) (Language Arts Workbooks)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My son is an above average reader, but his reading comprehension is a bit of a struggle for him, so I was looking for a reading comprehension workbook to help him improve these skills. When I saw that the Sylvan workbook was available through the Vine program, I immediately ordered it. The Iowa tests were looming at his school, and I wanted him to build his confidence in this area. When we got the workbook, he went right to work. Within a matter of hours, he completed most of the book, and therein lies the problem. If you have a child who has average or better reading comprehension skills, the material in this book will not be a challenge for him or her. The material that was covered in the book were mostly things that were covered in his second grade class, and did not seem all that grade appropriate. I was surprised to see that children were asked to draw pictures for book titles. This is something that he covered in first and second grade, and no where in his third grade curriculum is it even addressed any more. The same goes for looking at pictures and choosing one of four multiple choice questions as the answer. It just seemed really basic. I would imagine that a child who struggles with reading might find the book helpful, but if you are looking to improve on a skill where your child is already better than average, I would look somewhere else.

As with some of the other reviewers, I did not like that the answer key is next to the questions on the page. I know it is used as a means for self check, but a child can just as easily flip to the back of the book to look up the answers. The answers cover multiple pages of questions, so you have to flip back and forth to see the correct answers once you are past the first two pages anyway. I did not have the heart to cut the answer keys off the page in case they got lost, so I just folded the keys over so they could not be seen on the page where he was working. Little eyes like to wander, so I am not sure the placement of the answer key was all that well thought out by the publisher.

The pictures are engaging and the stories are interesting enough that your child will not be bored with the material. It just lacks the challenge and age appropriate materials that I had hoped to find in this product.

Over the past forty years (Ouch!)I've seen and used more language arts workbooks than Paris Hilton has dresses. Personally I prefer books with a specific focus rather than the smorgasbord approach used in this Sylvan Learning activity book. Immediately I was tipped off to its ultimate mediocrity by the impossible glittering generalities and superlatives on its cover.
Since I work with teachers, I took the opportunity to share this book with other educators and elicit their epinions. The five teachers who previewed this book at my request unanimously found the book bland and lacking in visual enhancements.

My observations:
I don't like the placement of the activity answers, preferring to have them bunched at the end of the book. It puzzles me why a teacher or parent would even need an answer key for a third grade workbook anyway. My copy is randomly opened to page 41. The answers to the page 41 activities are printed on page 41.I'm guessing that parents are supposed to cut these out ahead of time.

The illustrations look like something out of a 50's or 60's schoolbook. Perhaps the cartoon theme will appeal to some third graders. The book's format is not aesthetically pleasing, but looks antiseptic and generic.

Be aware that some questions require the reader to determine part of speech. (noun, verb, adjective)
Readings include a good variety of topics and some make for interesting reading.

I don't like that this workbook is not self-contained. Students are asked to fill in formulaic worksheets based on outside reading. There are too many pages of this ilk for my liking.

Skills covered in this book are: predicting, facts, context clues, main idea, details, and sequence. In the sequence activities students are never advised to look for sequence clues like time words and transitions.

My favorite feature of "Reading Comprehension Success" is the inclusion of a $10 off coupon for a Sylvan reading assessment. For a program that may cost well into the thousands, the ten-dollar coupon is laughable.

Finally: I wouldn't recommend that a parent buy this workbook, and I wouldn't want to use it with any of my students. Parents looking for supplementary materials should optimally visit a teacher supply store to get a hands on view of materials.

As a fourth grade teacher I frequently use third grade materials to help those of my students that stuggle. While this wouldn't be something I used in the classroom, due to copyright issues, I could definitely see parents using it with their struggling children, or even those on par for extra practice.

Positives:
- The text looks appealing to students, who often use black and white workbooks all day at school. It is bright, colorful, and has fun illustrations.
- The stories are high interest, motivating students to keep working.
- The various reading comprehension skills that the text covers (predicting, context clues, main idea/details, etc...) match up to many language arts curriculums used in schools.
- Provides a cut-out "Check It" section that parents can use to correct pages.
- Divides skills into before, during, and after reading.

Negatives:
- This doesn't provide parents with much guidance as far as working with the students. In fact, the text prompts the students to do a lot of their own checking. While this is a nice idea, if a student is struggling, they probably need some adult supervision and assistance.
- I don't know if this necessarily would help bring a child up that much; there are only a few activities for each skill, and few chances to review.

I think this books would be great for the summer; it would provide students with a good review. It could also be sued with more advanced second graders, or students that are just slightly behind in third grade. For those that are truly struggling, I suggest talking to the child's teacher.

May be good for some kids but was worthless for mine. The activities in the book were not anything that he was remotely interested in doing at home. They are, without a doubt, work and not fun learning. I also found it perturbing that they put the answers on the same page as the activity instead of in the back of the book where they normally belong. I ended up passing it along to his teacher in hopes that she could find something in it that she could use for the class.

This workbook is suited for the child who struggles with basic comprehension. Using a multiple choice format the book begins with the child having to match a title to the picture. From the choices offered, it begins with an obvious choice (picture of a boy), choices: the old man and the sea, history of baseball, school stinks, a boy and his dog. There is some variety which is nice, i.e. the child can draw a picture to go with running text and create his own title. Answers are provided on the previous page which is a drawback since many children peek. It would have been better to put the answers in the back, where parents can detach in one group if desired. There are some short answer sections where the child can choose his own book and predict the outcome. It also addresses non-fiction self selected text, drawing from background knowledge. For the parent who needs a simple guide, this workbook may fit the need. However, deeper understanding can be better acquired by using high quality literature and appropriate questioning strategies and cannot be replaced by a workbook.

This is a great way to get my raising 3rd grade son ready for the next grade level during the summer. I usually make packets for the kids to work on during the week. It is the closest I can get to homeschooling. Right now my son is spending some parts of the summer months doing the activities. So far he fines this book easy to understand and FUN.

Towards the end of summer, I feel my son will be in a better position to be successful 3rd grader this upcoming school year.
I recommend this book to any parent/caregiver who cannot afford to put their child in the actual Sylvan learning centers.

Okay, I bought this for my third grader who likes math a lot but doesn't like reading. I thought it looked fun--drawing what you thought the book would be about etc, then later reading and answering questions about the stories in the book. Unfortunately, after I gave it to her she looked inside and decided it was too hard! She had no interest in doing any of the exercises. I will try again and update this review.

This workbook for lack of a better word, is just okay. I've never used a Sylvan product before but the Sylvan reputation comes with the expectation of a high quality product and with words like cutlass and listless being taught in context clues, that high rigor is suggested. Also, the fact that they blur the text below captions, to teach kids how to skim, is a nice approach for focusing their attention where you want it (though it can also be distracting to some children) However, to make the book engaging and successful with the students the reading passages have a conversational feel. This conversational feel can be useful for pulling in reluctant students but the passages sometimes get too informal for your average student. I know they want to excite struggling students and if your kid really struggles this might be the product for them to become excited about learning. But if your child just needs a bit of help or wants some extra work, you might want to preview the book in person before purchasing.

The 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension Success workbook has been fun for my child to use, as well as improved her reading comprehension. My daughter struggled with comprehending what she read. I tried different workbooks but she would not use them. After getting this workbook I used it immediately. To my surprise my daughter enjoyed it; she was attracted to the cartoon like pictures, so she did not associate this workbook with schoolwork. On her current reading test she got 100% in comprehension before she got 59%. This workbook is fun plus effective. When I purchased this book I hope it would be of help and it has proved to be.

Disclaimer: I am reviewing a free copy I received through the Vine program.

We tried this workbook with our 12-year old autistic daughter, but it was not very useful and was baffling, both to her and to her mom. They have returned to the previous reading comprehension workbooks they had previously been using.

The problem with this workbook, for them, was that it is extremely open-ended and vague. Also, there are nearly no instructions to help figure out what you are supposed to do.

Now to me personally, it looks like it would be more fun than a more rote-oriented workbook, because there are not simply "correct" answers here, in many cases.

But for my wife working with our daughter, it simply was getting them nowhere, so they abandoned it.