Customer Reviews

Teaching With Favorite Magic Tree House Books

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have found this book to be a valuable addition to my classroom. I have used and/or adapted a number of the ideas and plan to use almost every idea in my classroom this year. I teach second and third grade and find the ideas acceptable for all my students.

My child and I are great fans of the Magic Tree House series written by Mary Pope Osborne. They are written at a level where my oldest can read them to us, yet I can also use them as a read aloud. The book are engaging, entertaining and educational. Add in the corresponding resource guides and you have an excellent resource for history and science.

I am not, however, quite as enchanted with Teaching With.... This book covers books 1-28 of the series, categorized into "clusters" of 4 books. Each book has three activities that I found very weak and most appropriate for classroom "busywork". Several of the lessons include a reproducible worksheet for vocabulary reinforcement. A reproducible generic passport is provided for students to record notes about each book.

Perhaps the greatest strength of this book is that it encouraged me to provide cooperative opportunities for my support group based on the books. I do not, however, use this book for the most part. I have gleaned the idea of the passport, but I do not use the one provided in the book. The activities I provide for each book are normally not based on the ideas in the book, but the book is a good starting point when I am really at odds with myself over what type of activity to provide.

This teaching guide was instrumental in the success of the "Literature Circle" provided by the public elementary school where I live. As the teacher and I read the various Magic Tree House books to the children we were able to compliment the reading with wonderful activities provided by this book. The activities allowed for excitement to build in each child which motivated and engaged them during each lesson. Truly a wonderful tool to have while working with the Magic Tree House series.

With the success of this endeavor, I researched more and found that Scholastic offers teaching guides for other classic or chapter books as well. What an opportunity to make learning more enjoyable!

Exploring variuos historical influences, language and nonverbal customs. traveling to many countries and creating a new world of imagination for young readers.