Customer Reviews

Theme Pockets - March

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

 

 

Although this product was developed with classroom teachers in mind, I have found it a great supplement to my daughter's homeschool studies. Every so often, we take a week out of our normal schedule and do one of the Evan-Moor Theme Pockets.

The November book contains the instructions to make three pocket books: Native Americans, the Food Pyramid and Thanksgiving. The instructions are very detailed and easy to follow. My daughter really enjoys doing the crafts. The finished product is impressive and students can really learn a lot, especially if you utilize the bibilography and add in supplementary books from the library.

I rated the November volume of Theme Pockets 4 stars out of five because I felt the projects in the Food Pyramid pocket book were a bit lacking in creativity. A worksheet, which is the sole component of the vegetable group's pocket, isn't very exciting. The Thanksgiving and Native American books, however, are outstanding.

The Evan-Moor Theme Pockets series can be a fun supplement for both homeschoolers and elementary classrooms. A theme pocket is basically a folder containing a collection of crafts and projects that revolve around a theme. The December book consists of three theme pockets - one is outstanding, one is OK, and the other is pure busy-work.

The outstanding theme pocket is "When It's Winter". This is an excellent introduction to the adaptations animals have to survive winter. Students will learn a lot of science, and there are also engaging language arts and math activities included.

The theme pocket that is only OK is "December Celebrations". Las Posadas, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa are included. I found this theme pocket to be very generic and PC. Granted, I am a homeschooler and the authors of this book are primarily targeting public school teachers as their audience. Depending on your point of view, you might find this theme pocket to be perfectly adequate.

The final theme pocket included is "Take It Home". This is designed to be taken home and completed by students over their winter break. It mainly consists of activities such as dot-to-dot and word searches, although students are also supposed to journal. As far as I am concerned, this theme pocket is pure busy work and we will not use it.

I have nearly all of the Evan-Moor Theme Pockets, and I find this to be one of the weakest of the series. Still, it is worth considering if you have animal-loving children for "When It's Winter".

As a new homeschooler, I have had to learn to teach multiple levels at once. Evan-Moor's products have been so helpful. The "Pockets" series have made mini units so much easier. Access to a printer is needed, but other than that these are cheap and easy. During some activities we stay close to the book (like Valentine's Day- we just added some book reviews), and some (like the Penguins Pockets from the January book) become a full blown endeavor and our books are overflowing by the time we're done.

We love the units in this book - The First Thanksgiving, Native Americans, The Food Pyramid. This can be adapted to use for multiple age ranges from Kindergarten thru at least 6th grade. I love the list of "Special Days" for the month listed in the front. November is Peanut Butter Lover's Month, so we'll add our own unit study about George Washington Carver. This book would be great to use for homeschool co-ops.

This excellent series of teacher resource books is one of my all-time favorites. The basic organizational system gives order and focus to any topic being studied. You can start with the fabulous projects given here, feeling free to use just what you wish, and also to include your own ideas. Areas included are science, social studies. literature, art, writing, math...you name it! I teach second grade and these books have been perfect for this age group...best investment I've made in recent years. I highly recommend these books for new teachers and veterans alike.

I have almost all of the the theme pocket books. My students love making them (1st grade) We just finished the pocket book on Penguins and the children have learned so much about Penguins. Using pocket books is a fun way to teach required topics. I highly recommend teachers have a copy of them in their reference library.

If you are not into "pocketbooks" these books can be easily made into "lapbooks." I particularly like November because it has a lot of information on the Mayflower. I have a personal interest in this due to the fact my great, great, great.....Grandfather came over on the Mayflower. This will be a nice addition to my lapbook for my kids to know part of their heritage. I also like the October book, since we love Halloween. It contains lots of fun Halloween items, healthy snacks, special days of the month, which is, I believe is in all their books. Highly recommend!!

The theme pockets are really neat - can be adapted for many age ranges - would be good for homeschool co-ops. We personally won't be using the Halloween section, but the other 2 major sections (Night Creatures, Happy and Healthy), and the little extras still are well worth the price. There is a "recommended book list" for each section.