Easy Grammar - Grade 1: An Easy Grammar Systems Review

Grammar is the kind of subject that a lot of people remember learning at some point, but that doesn't mean it stuck.  If you're like me, maybe you know what sounds right, but the details and rules of why are a little blurry.  The company behind today's review has designed their products for mastery learning - meaning you should expect it to stick!  Easy Grammar Systems, authored by Wanda C. Phillips, came from a teacher's experience in the classroom that just wasn't cutting it and prompted her to utilize a different way to teach grammar.  As a result we have Easy Grammar Systems and today we are getting to talk about Easy Grammar:  Grade 1.

 

What We Received:

We were given one soft-covered book, Easy Grammar Grade 1 - the Teacher Edition.  The book is divided into three sections.  The first section is Scope and Sequence that includes notes and suggestions for each day.  The second section is the student section with 180 pages of reproducible worksheets.  The last section is the Answer Key for all of the worksheets.

How It Works:

With 180 pages of worksheets, it is clearly designed for a complete school year.  Each daily lesson is 5-10 minutes of teacher led instruction and student practice.  However, within the Scope and Sequence it isolates different elements and indexes them for you as well.  For example, if you wanted to brush up on commas, all of the lessons and their various uses are listed for you.  Each lesson includes Capitalization, Punctuation, and Grammar principles and often revisits what was introduced the day before.  Since this is the Teacher's Edition, I do make a copy of the day's student worksheet.  If that is more time consuming than you would like, they do offer consumable student workbooks as well.

What We Thought:

While these lessons are very short and straight forward, if you are looking for something to teach itself, this might not be for you.  Sometimes I would print off a page and just tell my first grader to follow the instructions, but other times I would introduce each element before asking her to do anything.  Regardless of how I approached it, she usually had questions that required me to explain something.  So, it's not a hands-off program, but the book goes over and above to prepare the teacher  for all that will be required of them.

We really enjoyed the simplicity of this program.  As you have seen, the worksheets are nothing fancy, but the content is direct and short.  With every day reinforcing similar concepts in slightly altered ways, there was nothing burdensome about any of it.  My first grader felt confident and I was comforted that she was grasping some important concepts - especially as a foundation for the future.   Easy Grammar is an easy addition to any curriculum that ensures these important concepts are introduced and mastered.

Easy Grammar Systems on Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EasyGrammarSystems/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Easygrammar
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/easygrammarsystems/

The Review Crew looked at several products at various grade levels so make sure to check out the rest of the reviews if you are looking for something other than 1st grade.

StoryTime Treasures and More: A Memoria Press Review

It's nothing new around here how important reading a great book is and our latest review is a wonderful tool to utilize great books to your students' learning even more!  Since both of my big kids have taken off in the reading department, it is so easy to just give them books to read and leave it at that.  While independent reading is very important, not following up with questions or activities can cut the learning a little short.  For today's review we are looking at one of our favorite vendors again, Memoria Press!   Miss Z and I explored some great books with the help of  StoryTime Treasures Student Guide and Answer Key and More StoryTime Treasures Student Guide and Answer Key

What We Received:

We received StoryTime Treasures Student Study Guide with its Teacher Guide and More StoryTime Student Study Guide with its Teacher Guide totaling 4 books in all.  The target grade level for these books is 1st grade.

A few years ago, we reviewed part of this product with my oldest son and this time we're getting a chance to use the entire set with my daughter! Since that time they have release a 2nd edition of the set which includes a few changes to the book selections, converted to spiral-bound student books and separated the Teacher's Guides into two separate books rather than one combined.

How It Works:

Both StoryTime and More StoryTime are layed out the same way with a series of lessons that correspond with the reading selections.  The teacher and child are to read through selections together, allowing for the student to have ample time reading aloud. Each lesson highlights different types of language elements like vocabulary, capitalization, parts of speech, comprehension and includes different activities such as word scrambles, drawing/coloring, fill in the blank, and even some math equations!  Both Teacher Guides provide answers to questions and activities, but also a layout of procedures or activities that go along with that day and/or section of the book. The Teacher Guides recommend a possible 5 day schedule, but ultimately recommends the teacher/parent to use their best judgement for each circumstance.

How We Used It:

While it makes sense to work through the pieces of literature in the order they appear in the workbook, the Teacher's Guide never explicitly says that you must and little, if any, of the information taught really builds on the previous stories' activities.  Since we didn't have access to all of the books in order right away, we decided to skip around with what we had.  Miss Z is quite the reader and loves all things school so she had no problem jumping from Little Bear to Caps For Sale and then to Billy and Blaze. In all cases she had already read the book before we sat down to work through the Student Guide so our initial reading was always her secondary at least.  Caps for Sale is a book we have owned since she was a baby so in some of it she could even quote it.  Still, breaking down vocabulary words and testing for comprehension was useful and important in sharpening her skills. Not to mention it highlighted how much we need to work on her handwriting! ;)

What We Thought:

As to be expected, miss Z and I enjoyed our enhanced Story Time and it was perfectly suited for her grade level.  She didn't need a ton of help, but when she did we had really good conversations about aspects of the story or definitions of words. While a teacher could get by without the Teacher Guide because the Student Guide's directions are self-explanatory, the Teacher Guide really allows you to get the most out of the activities and maximize your student's learning. That is especially true if you are working with a struggling or new reader.  The focus on their phonics skills is extremely beneficial in the reading process.  If you have an early reader that you are wanting to begin literature activities with, I would even recommend getting this and stretching out stories and activities further to slowly but surely build momentum in the area.

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Memoria offers so much and the Review Crew got to review a variety of their Literature  Guides.  If you have different grade level needs, click the link below to read other product reviews from Memoria!