Little Red Bat and More

 I am really enjoying and appreciating Sylvan Dell children's books.  They take a math or science concept and turn it into a fabulous bit of children's literature.  Then they provide you-the parent or teacher-with a large number of educational activities to complete with every title!  Today I'll share a few more titles we've been enjoying.  Entire units can be built around these books with the teaching activities provided!

When it comes to animals, most children learn at an early age that many animals hibernate and others migrate, but did you know that red bats can may hibernate or migrate or even both?  It amazes me that God designed these creatures to be able to adapt and do what they desired for the winter.  Written by Carole Gerber, Little Red Bat must decide if she should stay or go as the days and nights turn cool and leaves fall to the ground.  She talks to her animal friends, and they all have different advice and warnings.  Eventually the little red bat realizes that she is not prepared for winter the way some of her friends are prepared, so she joins a flock of birds migrating south.  

I just love these illustrations!  They bring the vibrant colors of autumn to the book while maintaining a realistic look.  Though the red bat has little fangs, it is not scary.

How many bats do you see?

We made our own little red bats using a bat outline.  We colored it with red crayon and then painted it brown to give the look of a red and brown bat.  Next we used a pile of leaves in a basket to camouflage the bat and played.  Lots of fun!  Check out the Little Red Bat teaching activities (all 70 pages)!  

Newton and Me, by Lynne Mayer, has captivated the hearts of both my 4 and 2 year old and has been requested several times a day!  With bright and colorful illustrations that include a boy and his dog, Newton, it has a great start.  It gets even better as it explores the laws of force and motion in everyday activities like dropping a ball, pulling a wagon (empty and full), and the wind blowing.  Though the book's focus is on a serious science topic, even a toddler can understand pushing and pulling!  With all of the teaching activities available, you can decide what is best for your child or student! 

The other Sylvan Dell title we have been enjoying is introducing our oldest child to subtraction and endangered animals (though still enjoyed by our youngest).  What's the Difference?, written by Suzanne Slade uses rhyming verses to present a new subtraction problem to the reader for main portion of the book.  The reader also takes a closer look at each animal and learns why they are endangered and how they have been helped with little boxes filled with important animal information.  As with all titles, this has a "For Creative Minds" section in the back of the book.  This title features information on food chains, fact families, and endangered animals.

Sylvan Dell Publishing educates children in science and math through the means of literature.  They're doing a fantastic job, too, offering informative, educational books with realistic and beautiful illustrations.  The books alone are really great, but they help classroom teachers and homeschooling parents in huge ways.  Each book (and ebook) comes with great resources.  The books and activities are targeted for children 4-8 (and 9) years of age.

• 3-6 pages For Creative Minds which is an educational section in the back of each book.  It extends the story and gives additional information.  
• 40-60 pages of Teaching Activities online!  These activities are incredible!  They allow a teacher to customize a unit study to meet their students' interests.  The Teaching Activities go beyond math, science, and literature.   Just click Teaching Activities and choose a title to see for yourself the plethora of activities there are.  The table of contents gives an overview and makes it easy to find what you want. With so many choices, the teacher can choose what is right for the age group they are teaching.  (I love that!!  Unit studies really benefited my students, and I think it's very enjoyable to teach and learn from a unit study.)
• 3 Interactive Quizzes per title online.  A Reading Quiz evaluates reading comprehension from the book itself.  The For Creative Minds (FCM) Quiz is based on the 3-6 pages from the back of the book.  The third,  Math Quiz uses information and context appropriate to the book and creates word problems for the student to solve.  

I'm linking up with stART, ABC and 123's show and tell and Read. Explore. Learn today.  Check them out for additional book related activities!

These titles, and all of the Sylvan Dell titles I have read have been fabulous and I highly recommend them!  Thank you, Sylvan Dell, for providing us these fabulous books for review purposes.