Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
Prepare your child for a lifetime of learning and wonder.
Designed for parents to enjoy with children, filled with opportunities for reading aloud and fostering curiosity, this beautifully illustrated read-aloud anthology offers preschoolers the fundamentals they need to prepare for a happy, productive time in school—and for the rest of their lives. Millions of children have benefited from the acclaimed Core Knowledge Series, developed in consultation with parents, educators, and the most distinguished developmental psychologists. In addition to valuable advice to parents, including what it means for a child to be ready for kindergarten, special sidebars throughout the book help parents make reading aloud fun and interactive, suggesting questions to ask, connections to make, and games to play to enrich their preschooler’s learning experience.
Discover:
Favorite Poems and Rhymes—all beautifully illustrated. Read and recite together— from Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “At the Seaside” to limericks by Edward Lear and tongue twisters by Jack Prelutsky, plus fun “clap along!” and “fingerplay” verses that parents and children can act out together.
Beloved Stories and Fables—read aloud from stories like “The Three Little Pigs” and the African folktale “Why Flies Buzz” —and open whole new worlds of learning and discovery.
Visual Arts—help your child appreciate and talk about art. Beautiful full-color reproductions of great works of art will foster early appreciation of art history while igniting discussions about shapes, colors, and different styles and media.
Music—dozens of songs to sing and dance to, including “move around” songs like “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and “The Wheels on the Bus”
History—a delightful introduction to American history—from the first Thanksgiving to Martin Luther King, Jr., —with activities and stories parents and children can enjoy together
Science—from the wonder of animals to exploring physical properties of light, air, and water—fun activities that will let children observe, experience, and enjoy the natural world
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Wonderful introduction for little ones
Customer Rating:
I've been using this book, along with the workbooks for a couple of months. My 4 year old enjoys the work book activities, and loves the stories. It's not too much too soon.
Great Supplement for preschoolers & their parents!
Customer Rating:
I bought this book in the spring, and my son entered preschool this fall. Since I'm a working parent, he has been in daycare since infancy, but I wanted to help him learn more at home. Also, many daycares do not teach curriculum over the summer so this was a good way to keep him engaged at home during those months.
The book is great - he loves every section. The pictures are colorful, vibrant, and interesting, and as a parent, I really appreciate the variety and level of information included. The stories are written at a pretty high literacy level, so you might find it hard to read the whole story in one sitting. I do this at bedtime when my son is calmer and more likely to listen. I also have to explain a lot of the words, but I have read that hearing a wide range of new words is good for kids at this age, so don't let that intimidate you.
There are lots of fun nursery rhymes, poems, and songs. The history section is excellent - my son now understands all about George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Betsy Ross, and Martin Luther King, Jr. We also have fun with the science section, where there is an explanation of how plants grow, the different forms of water (liquid, solid, gas), information about our bodies and about people in general. The art section doesn't hold his attention as well, but it's one of the smallest sections in the book so that doesn't really detract from the overall quality of the book.
There's also an appendix at the end of the book that recommends bedtime stories, songs, and activities to do with your child, as well as a checklist for kindergarten readiness. This book is an outstanding supplement for parents of children who are attending preschool, or even for 3 year olds just getting ready, and I highly recommend it.
Great resource
Customer Rating:
The kids love this book. I actually use is as a bed time "story". We cover a little bit each night. It is educational enough to please me, and is very simple to understand with nice pictures for the kids. They don't realize that it's part of our home schooling.
Great buy!
Customer Rating:
We've only had it for a few weeks, but its well worth the money. My son loves listening to the stories.
Very well done
Customer Rating:
I'm not a fan of E.D. Hirsch, but it's hard to find good collections, particularly of poetry, for preschoolers. My 3-year-old daughter loves the poems, stories, and songs, though she's not yet interested in the history, art history, or science sections. The illustrations are nicely contemporary and there are enough of them to keep a small child's attention, and the notes for parents are helpful. I wouldn't sweat the question of what your kid "needs" to know in terms of the facts covered in the last three sections; I would just say that exposure to history, art history, and science are probably a good thing.
Long ago, I had the Childcraft series of books like this for children -- this is a good, compact substitute.
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