Give your child a smart start with the revised and updated What Your First Grader Needs to Know What will your child be expected to learn in the first grade? How can you help him or her at home? How can teachers foster active, successful learning in the classroom? This book answers these all-important questions and more, offering the specific shared knowledge that hundreds of parents and teachers across the nation have agreed upon for American first graders. Featuring a new Introduction, filled with opportunities for reading aloud and fostering discussion, this first-grade volume of the acclaimed Core Knowledge Series presents the sort of knowledge and skills that should be at the core of a challenging first-grade education. Inside you’ll discover • Favorite poems—old and new, such as “The Owl and the Pussycat,” “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod,” and “Thirty Days Hath September” • Beloved stories—from many times and lands, including a selection of Aesop’s fables, “Hansel and Gretel,” “All Stories Are Anansi’s,” “The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” and more • Familiar sayings and phrases—such as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and “Practice makes perfect” • World and American history and geography—take a trip down the Nile with King Tut and learn about the early days of our country, including the story of Jamestown, the Pilgrims, and the American Revolution • Visual arts—fun activities plus reproductions of masterworks by Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Georgia O’Keeffe, and others • Music—engaging introductions to great composers and music, including classical music, opera, and jazz, as well as a selection of favorite children’s songs • Math—a variety of activities to help your child learn to count, add and subtract, solve problems, recognize geometrical shapes and patterns, and learn about telling time • Science—interesting discussions of living things and their habitats, the human body, the states of matter, electricity, our solar system, and what’s inside the earth, plus stories of famous scientists such as Thomas Edison and Louis Pasteur

Give your child a smart start with the revised and updated What Your Fourth Grader Needs to Know How can you help your child at home? This book answers that important question and more, offering the specific shared knowledge that thousands of parents and teachers across the nation have agreed upon for American fourth graders. Featuring full-color illustrations throughout, a bolder, easier-to-follow format, and a thoroughly updated curriculum, What Your Fourth Grader Needs to Know is designed for parents and teachers to enjoy with children. Hundreds of thousands of students have benefited from the Core Knowledge Series. This edition, featuring a new Introduction, gives today’s generation of fourth graders the advantage they need to make progress in school and establish an approach to learning that will last a lifetime. Inside you’ll discover • Favorite poems—old and new, from the familiar classic “Paul Revere’s Ride” to Langston Hughes’s “Dreams” • Literature—from around the world, including African and Chinese folktales, excerpts from beloved novels, and condensed versions of popular classics such as Gulliver’s Travels and “Rip Van Winkle” • Learning about language—the basics of written English, including grammar, punctuation, parts of speech, synonyms and antonyms, plus an introduction to common English sayings and phrases • World and American history and geography—explore world and American history, including creation of a constitutional government and early presidents and politics • Visual arts—a broad spectrum of art from around the world, including African masks, Islamic architecture, Chinese calligraphy, and great American painters—featuring full-color reproductions • Music—understanding and appreciating music, from the basics of musical notation to the orchestra, plus great composers and sing-along lyrics for such favorites as “Auld Lang Syne” and “Waltzing Matilda” • Math—challenging lessons ranging from fractions and decimals to understanding graphs, making change, square roots, and the metric system • Science—discover the wonders of the human body and its systems, learn about electricity, atoms, chemistry, geology, and meteorology, plus concise biographies of some of the great scientists of our time

Help your child exceed the Common Core standards with the revised and updated What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know Designed for use by parents and teachers, this groundbreaking first volume in the Core Knowledge Series provides kindergartners with the fundamentals they need to prepare them for a lifetime of learning. It sets out the elements a parent or educator should look for in a good kindergarten program and introduces activities that help a child take the first steps in learning to read and write. Featuring a new Introduction and filled with age-appropriate questions and suggestions that stimulate thinking and build vocabulary, this revised and updated edition of What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know also includes • Favorite poems—read and recite together from Mother Goose, A. A. Milne, Langston Hughes, and more, all beautifully illustrated • Beloved stories and fables—read aloud from “The Three Little Pigs,” “The Ugly Duckling,” “Cinderella,” Winnie-the-Pooh, “The Velveteen Rabbit,” and many more, including multicultural folktales from African, Japanese, and Native American traditions • Familiar sayings and phrases—impart traditional wisdom such as “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” and “Better safe than sorry” • History and geography—a friendly introduction to our world, complete with simple questions and fun activities • Visual arts—painting, drawing, cutting, and pasting go hand in hand with learning about color and helping a child look at and talk about great works of art • Music—many musical experiences for parents and children to participate in, along with dozens of songs to sing and dance to • Math—lively and interesting exposure to concepts and operations that provide a springboard to later mastery • Science—activities that let children observe, experience, and get their hands dirty while exploring the wonders of nature

The invaluable grade-by-grade guide (kindergarten—sixth) is designed to help parents and teachers select some of the best books for children. Books to Build On recommends: • for kindergartners, lively collections of poetry and stories, such as The Children’s Aesop, and imaginative alphabet books such as Bill Martin, Jr.’s Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Lucy Micklewait’s I Spy: An Alphabet in Art • for first graders, fine books on the fine arts, such as Ann Hayes’s Meet the Orchestra, the hands-on guide My First Music Book, and the thought-provoking Come Look with Me series of art books for children • for second graders, books that open doors to world cultures and history, such as Leonard Everett Fisher’s The Great Wall of China and Marcia Willaims’s humorous Greek Myths for Young Children • for third graders, books that bring to life the wonders of ancient Rome, such as Living in Ancient Rome, and fascinating books about astronomy, such as Seymour Simon’s Our Solar System • for fourth graders, engaging books on history, including Jean Fritz’s Shh! We're Writing the Constitution, and many books on Africa, including the stunningly illustrated story of Sundiata: Lion King of Mali • for fifth graders, a version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream that retains much of the original language but condenses the play for reading or performance by young students, and Michael McCurdy’s Escape from Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass • for sixth graders, an eloquent retelling of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and the well-written American history series, A History of US . . . and many, many more!

What should your child learn in the fifth grade? How can you help him or her at home? This book answers these important questions and more, offering the specific shared knowledge that thousands of parents and teachers across the nation have agreed upon for American fifth graders. Featuring sixteen pages of illustrations, a bolder, easier-to-follow format, and a thoroughly updated curriculum, What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know is designed for parents and teachers to enjoy with children. Hundreds of thousands of children have benefited from the Core Knowledge Series, and this edition gives a new generation of fifth graders the advantage they need to make progress in school today and to establish an approach to learning that will last a lifetime. Discover: • Favorite Poems—old and new, from Langston Hughes’s “I, Too” to Lewis Carroll’s famous nonsense poem “Jabberwocky” • Literature—from around the world, including Native American stories, Japanese tales, and condensed versions of classics, from Don Quixote to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass • Learning About Literature—the rules of written English, pats of speech, literal and figurative language, common sayings and phrases, and a brief introduction to researching and writing a report • World and American History and Geography—explore latitude and longitude; Aztec, Inca, and Maya civilizations; European history during the Age of Exploration, the Renaissance, and the Reformation; and American history topics, including the Civil War, westward expansion, and the struggle of Native Americans • Visual Arts—art from around the world, from Renaissance paintings to American landscapes to Japanese gardens, with discussions of Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and Botticelli—along with more than twenty reproductions. • Music—the basics of understanding, appreciating, and reading music, plus great composers from Beethoven to Mendelssohn and an introduction to African-American spirituals • Math—stimulating lessons, including percentages, number sense, long division, decimals, graphs, and geometry—as well as a quick introduction to pre-algebra • Science—fascinating discussions of taxonomy, atoms, the periodic table, human growth stages, plants, life cycles and reproduction—plus short biographies of famous scientists such as Galileo

Fourth grade is ground zero in the fierce debates about education reform in America. It's when kids (well, some of them) make the shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” and tomes have been written about the fourth-grade year by educators, administrators, philosophers, and pundits. Now, in a fascinating and groundbreaking book, Inda Schaenen adds the voices of actual fourth-grade kids to the conversation. Schaenen, a journalist turned educator, spent a year traveling across the state of Missouri, the geographical and spiritual center of the country, visiting fourth-grade classrooms of every description: public, private, urban, rural, religious, charter. Speaking of Fourth Grade looks at how our different approaches to education stack up against one another and chronicles what kids at the heart of our great, democratic education experiment have to say about “What Makes a Good Teacher” and “What Makes a Good Student,” as well as what they think about the Accelerated Reader programs that dominate public school classrooms, high-stakes testing, and the very purpose of school in the first place. A brilliant and original work at the intersection of oral history, sociology, and journalism, Speaking of Fourth Grade offers unique insight into the personal consequences of national education policy. The voices of the children in Speaking of Fourth Grade will stay with readers—parents, teachers, and others—for many years to come.

Living with his little brother, Fudge, makes Peter Hatcher feel like a fourth grade nothing. Whether Fudge is throwing a temper tantrum in a shoe store, smearing smashed potatoes on walls at Hamburger Heaven, or scribbling all over Peter's homework, he's never far from trouble. He's a two-year-old terror who gets away with everything—and Peter's had enough. When Fudge walks off with Dribble, Peter's pet turtle, it's the last straw. Peter has put up with Fudge too long. How can he get his parents to pay attention to him for a change?

The latest offering in the 100 Words series from the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries, this reference book helps students in the upper grades of elementary school learn the vocabulary words they need to know to understand the world around them.

One day, third-grade teacher Kyle Schwartz asked her students to fill-in-the-blank in this sentence: "I wish my teacher knew _____." The results astounded her. Some answers were humorous, others were heartbreaking-all were profoundly moving and enlightening. The results opened her eyes to the need for educators to understand the unique realities their students face in order to create an open, safe and supportive place in the classroom. When Schwartz shared her experience online, #IWishMyTeacherKnew became an immediate worldwide viral phenomenon. Schwartz's book tells the story of #IWishMyTeacherKnew, including many students' emotional and insightful responses, and ultimately provides an invaluable guide for teachers, parents, and communities.

Give your child a smart start with the revised and updated What Your Third Grader Needs to Know What should your child learn in the third grade? How can you help him or her at home? This book answers these important questions and more, offering the specific shared knowledge that thousands of parents and teachers across the nation have agreed upon for American third graders. Featuring sixteen pages of full-color illustrations, a bolder, easier-to-follow format, and a thoroughly updated curriculum, What Your Third Grader Needs to Know is designed for parents and teachers to enjoy with children. Hundreds of thousands of children have benefited from the Core Knowledge Series. This edition, featuring a new Introduction, gives today’s generation of third graders the advantage they need to make progress in school and to establish an approach to learning that will last a lifetime. In this book you’ll discover • Favorite poems—old and new, from the traditional rhyme “For Want of Nail” to Lewis Carroll’s whimsical poem “The Crocodile” • Literature—including Native American stories, African folktales, European fairy tales, classic myths from ancient Greece, stories from ancient Rome, and more • Learning about language—the basics of written English, including sentence structure, parts of speech, and a first look at writing a report or letter • World and American history and geography—journey down the great rivers of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, visit ancient Rome, and experience the earliest days of America with the Pilgrims and Native Americans • Visual arts—an introduction to masterworks by Rembrandt, Henri Matisse, Mary Cassatt, and others, with full-color reproductions and fun, do-it-yourself activities • Music—the fundamentals of appreciating, reading, and making music, plus great composers, instruments, and sing-along lyrics for songs such as “Bicycle Built for Two” and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” • Math—stimulating lessons ranging from counting money to solving division problems, numbers through 100,000, graphs, and the metric system • Science—fascinating discussions on the natural world, the cycles of life, the human body and its systems, and the environment, with accompanying activities and stories about famous scientists such as Copernicus and Alexander Graham Bell