Above and Beyond

Dianne Draze

Dandy Lion Publications

Students become think tank professionals in this action-packed simulation game. Problem solving and creative thinking combine as players work together to devise unique solutions to a variety of problems. As players select the best solution, they practice idea generation, criteria setting, evaluation, and cooperation. Kids will ask to play it again and again. Grades 5-9.

Think Tank - A Simulation Game to Promote Creative Thinking

Children's Books

Education & Reference

Dandy Lion Pubns

Calculation Capers: Multi-Step Math Problems

Prufrock Press

Whether you live in a city, town, or suburb, you can  use these activities to learn about your surroundings. Includes ideas  for group lessons and projects, individual projects, learning centers,  and worksheets. Students will get actively involved in learning about  the location, history, transportation, economy, buildings, communication,  recreation and government of their community. Grades 1-3.

Our Town: A Guide for Studying Any Community

Students' responses to literature will take on new dimensions with these motivating projects. Each exciting "hands-on" project includes complete, concise instructions, an illustration, and grading criteria. The motivating projects include character bag, poster, scrapbook, collage, project cube, shape book, peek-a-boo pictures, thought web, and many more. By combining the projects with thought-provoking guidelines, students are encouraged to respond thoughtfully to literature and present their ideas in an appealing format. Grades 4-8.

Literature Lab

Design is many things. More than a subject, it is a process. In the broadest sense, it is a way of thinking and solving problems. It is also a way of communicating, a process that uses both divergent and convergent thinking, and a way of selecting a solution that best fits the needs of the people involved. More than an art class, this book is also a course in thinking. Students learn how to create attractive designs using the techniques of unity, variety, repetition, movement, proportion, and more. Concise information is combined with unique projects that allow students to hone both their thinking and artistic skills. Design Studio presents information about several areas of design, with the main emphasis on graphic design. Graphic design is used as a vehicle for understanding all other areas of design and as an area for the application of the Creative Problem Solving process. While the largest part of the book is devoted to the principles of graphic design, an entire section presents the CPS process and provides practice using this process to solve design problems. Students are also given a glimpse of other areas of design (fashion, industrial, architectural, decorative, environmental, urban, computer, and interior) and are provided with projects for each area. Design Studio has a wide variety of hands-on projects, opportunities for thinking and doing, ways to combine art and thinking, and ways to teach art through real-life applications. With a creative attitude and basic art supplies, students can create great artwork. Grades 5–9

Design Studio: Integrating Art & Thinking, Grades 5-9

Education & Teaching

Annelise Palouda

Schools & Teaching

Go beyond the regular curriculum with these units to challenge your more able intermediate grade math students. With their ease of use, clear instructions, and motivating topics, these are the perfect enrichment activities for the regular math curriculum. This book contains four units that are structured so that students can easily develop an understanding of the topics on their own. The four topics are:
<ul>
<li>permutations and combinations, </li>
<li>tessellations, </li>
<li>line drawings, and </li>
<li>graphing.</li>
</ul> Each unit provides sequential activities that allow students to work through these motivating topics, whether they are working by themselves, in a small group, or in a whole-class setting. The units lend themselves easily to a math center arrangement with each student having an individual folder and checklist to record his or her progress. While they were designed to provide added challenge for students who have mastered the regular curriculum, some of the units can be used as supplements for whole-class instruction. The emphasis in these units is on promoting thinking, developing perseverance, expanding students' view of mathematics, enjoying a challenge, and keeping math students actively involved and enthused about math. This book will help you provide students with opportunities to explore mathematical ideas in ways that promote their intellectual growth and expand their views of mathematics.

Enrichment Units in Math (Book 2 - Grades 4-6)

Judy Leimbach

Routledge

Go beyond the regular curriculum with these units to challenge your more able intermediate grade math students. With their ease of use, clear instructions, and motivating topics, these are the perfect enrichment activities for the regular math curriculum. This book contains four units that are structured so that students can easily develop an understanding of the topics on their own. The four topics are:
<ul>
<li>probability, </li>
<li>topology, </li>
<li>magic squares, and </li>
<li>number characteristics.</li>
</ul> Each unit provides sequential activities that allow students to work through these motivating topics, whether they are working by themselves, in a small group, or in a whole-class setting. The units lend themselves easily to a math center arrangement with each student having an individual folder and checklist to record his or her progress. While they were designed to provide added challenge for students who have mastered the regular curriculum, some of the units can be used as supplements for whole-class instruction. The emphasis in these units is on promoting thinking, developing perseverance, expanding students' view of mathematics, enjoying a challenge, and keeping math students actively involved and enthused about math. This book will help you provide students with opportunities to explore mathematical ideas in ways that promote their intellectual growth and expand their views of mathematics.

Enrichment Units in Math, Book 3, Grades 5-7

The stock market is in the news every day, and even people who do not personally trade securities or intend to make a fortune by trading stocks have an interest in knowing something about the stock market. By giving students an understanding of the stock market, we are preparing them to deal knowledgeably with an area of our society that has a vast effect on their lives. Whether or not they choose later in life to trade stocks on an individual basis, they will have the knowledge that will enable them to understand this aspect of the economy and how their personal economic pictures are affected by the larger economic landscape. The Stock Market Game is a fun, informative simulation game that provides the information and framework for students to learn about the economics and psychology of the stock market. This easy-to-use guide includes:
<ul>
<li>information about all aspects of company ownership; </li>
<li>information on stocks, stock prices, the stock market, buying and selling stocks, and forces that affect stock prices; </li>
<li>a minisimulation that can be completed in one week; and </li>
<li>a longer simulation that follows the real stock market for several months.</li>
</ul> All information is presented on reproducible pages, illustrated with examples, and followed by exercises that let students apply their knowledge. This motivating unit will give students insights they will carry with them into their adult lives. This combination curriculum guide/simulation has it all. All you have to do is add current stock prices from your newspaper or the Internet.

Stock Market Game: A Simulation of Stock Market Trading, Grades 5-8

Business & Money

Investing

Are you looking for a motivating way to combine problem solving, visual discrimination, and language? Word Bogglers is just what you need. A word boggler is a puzzle, a brain teaser, and a lesson in language, all rolled into one. These clever visual puzzles use words and phrases to build flexible thinking and word literacy. Each word boggler is a word or phrase that has been written so that its meaning is conveyed via the position, number, or size of the words and letters. Some of the puzzles are words while some are familiar idioms and clichés. Thus, this book brings an opportunity to develop vocabulary and knowledge of often-used phrases in the form of motivating brainteasers. Each page features six of these visual puzzles. Students analyze the way the words are written (size, position, and direction) to solve each boggler and match it with its definition. A way to further reinforce the understanding of each phrase is to have students use the phrases in a written sentence. You can use these puzzles in a variety of ways, including: 
<ul>
<li>putting them on the overhead for a quick daily thinking challenge, </li>
<li>using them as starting points for daily writing exercises, </li>
<li>using an entire page for a weekly challenge, </li>
<li>forming groups to work together on solving the puzzles, </li>
<li>using them in a learning center, and </li>
<li>having students make up their own puzzles. </li>
</ul>Bring Words Bogglers into your classroom today. The result of using these word puzzles is lots of fun, lots of challenge, and increased knowledge of the meaning of common idioms and words. For more word puzzles, see The World's Greatest Brain Bogglers and Brain Twisters! Grades 3–6

Word Bogglers: Visual Words And Idioms, Grades 3-6

Humor & Entertainment

Puzzles & Games

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Books by Dianne Draze