Customer Reviews

Teachers' Guide Molly (American Girl)

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The most redeemable part of the American Doll phenomenon for our family is the educational potential that they offer. Yes, my daughter loves the cute outfits and the fun furniture but for us, what really sets them apart from the knock-offs I can buy from Target is how they incorporate a perspective on life in America during that time period. This is why I feel that these books are so helpful. By taking the historical aspects of the dolls and kicking it up a notch, the true value of the dolls can be appreciated. While I agree that these books can be pricey, welcome to American Dolls! I feel my money is always way better spent on any AG book as opposed to another pair of shoes, pet dog, doll backpack, etc that gets played with for a week or two and then finds its way to the bottom of my daughter's closet. My daughter loves learning about WWII and since my grandmother and even my parents can vaguely remember what life was like in the 1940's, these books have been great in helping my daughter better understand what life was like for 9 year-old girls back then.

This review was written for the Samantha teacher's guide, but comments are equally valid for all American Girls teacher's guides.

This would make a perfect unit study for a homeschooling family or a co-op. I've been homeschooling my kids for four years and am a self-admitted curriculum junkie/snob. The American Girl teachers' guides are among the best, and one of my personal favorite parts is that it requires very little preparation on the teacher's part. We homeschooling parents are busy, especially when teaching multiple children at multiple levels, and having quality lesson plans clearly spelled out with no advance prep is a real godsend. It could be used for a broad age range of children from advanced second grade through 6th graders who still love American Girl. Since the questions are almost all open-ended, even the youngest can come up with something to answer, while the olders can get more detailed.

--The historical context is long enough to be informative but not too long for elementary students. Along with the written text, it includes a timeline for a nice visual, interesting side bars, as well as suggestions for using, and questions to answer about, the included picture map. Random questions include, "Do you think it was a good idea for the Larsons and Singing Bird's families to live so close to a stream? Why or why not?" and, "Make a list of three things in Maryville that you see in your own town. Make a list of three things that are in Maryville that you do not see in your town today."

--Includes a list of vocabulary words and suggested fun activities for helping to learn them

--Questions to answer before, during, and after reading. These are thought-provoking questions that are well-suited to paragraph responses or group discussion. For example, "Do you think it is smart of Kirsten to keep her friendship with Singing Bird a secret? Why or why not?" "What kind of activities might occupy pioneers during the winter?"

The book also discusses important literary concepts such as theme and plot, and introduces figures of speech such as idioms and metaphors. Hands-on activities include step-by-step directions and other suggestions for such activities as: Give a Tour of Kirsten's World, Make a Model of a Frontier Building, Create a Handbill, and more. An answer key and a list of suggested books about the given era round out the book.

If your kids love American Girl books, or you want an interesting, literature-based approach to history, or if you need to teach a co-op class and are at a loss as to what you could teach that would be fun, educational, and not time-consuming, these guides are well worth the price. Anyone who homeschools knows all too wellthat curriculum is pricey, and $30 for a unit study that covers six weeks or more is very reasonable. Since these books are out of print but American Girl remains wildly popular, if you treat the books with care, you can re-sell them and get most, if not all, of your money back. I myself made a nice little profit on the ones I bought used and sold when we were through.

My opinion on these guides- If you want these for educational purposes and pay more than $30 you have paid too much. There's NOT $30 of teaching material in one (some would even say there is less than that)
Not to bash the book completely, but I've seen used American Girl Teachers Guides go for $120; for just one guide!
If these were commonly priced under $30 used I would give it more stars.
Each contains (if mint):
An Overview section (8-10 pages, this section is too short!)- book summaries of the six main books for the subject, a short description of the history of the era. A few paragraphs about the author. a section about historical fiction, short directions on how to use the map, tips for introducing vocabulary, and blackline masters for the map.
Meet "insert girl's name" section- The longest section. Contains plot summaries and Themes for each main book, vocabulary words (only 8-10 per book), and only 4-5 pages of uninteresting worksheets for each book.
Then the last section contains project ideas (roughly 5 per guide). Only a few of which are really interesting and imaginative.
Am I missing something here? Unless your a collector there is no reason to pay over $30 for one of these books.
An inventive educator can come up with a more interesting set of projects and worksheets for far less than $120 per American Girl.