Have you heard of the Big Fat Notebook series? I’m excited to introduce this fun, engaging, and informative resource for middle school students in partnership with @WorkmanPub. All thoughts are my own and my kids’; affiliate links are used to link to the books on Amazon.
Be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of the post to take home your own set of Big Fat Notebooks!
School starts up again at the end of the month. I have always been grateful that my kids look forward to the start of a new school year. As much as we love summer break, we all thrive on the school year schedule and routine. This is the first year since my oldest daughter started school (15 years ago!?) that we will not have a child in elementary school. We have loved our neighborhood elementary school and will miss it, but we’re excited for all the learning and the opportunities that lie ahead for us in middle school, high school, and college this year.
My youngest son is starting his first year of middle school next week, and though we know he’ll excel, it’s nice to start off a new year and a new school with some extra resources. He has been loving the new Big Fat Notebook series that we received recently from Workman Publishing. He immediately grabbed the American History book and started reading it. I was curious and opened up the English Language Arts book and was instantly engrossed in the information.
The Big Fat Notebooks are NOT textbooks. They are books that tweens and teens will want to pick up and browse through….or pick up when they run into a problem they can’t answer during homework. The Big Fat Notebooks are not read-through-once-and-you’re-done types of books. They’re the kind of resource that will feel comfortable and familiar to middle school kids so that they will not think twice about reaching for them to learn something new, learn something better, or learn something again.
From the parent’s and teacher’s perspective, the Big Fat Notebooks…
- meet Common Core State Standards
- meet Next Generation Science Standards
- meet state history standards
- are vetted by National and State Teacher of the Year Award–winning teachers
The Big Fat Notebook series is built on a unique concept – borrowing the class notes from the smartest kid in class. Inside each book, you’ll find key concepts from each of the main subjects middle school students study – Math, Science, American History, English Language Arts, and World History. Each chapter is full of information that is easy to digest and presented in a style that will not only catch middle school students’ eyes, but keep them reading and discovering. Critical ideas are highlighted in neon colors. Definitions are explained clearly. Tricky concepts are explained using doodles and illustrations. Mnemonics are used to help memorize shortcuts. And each chapter ends with a quiz to recap everything they’ve learned.
Believe it or not, my 6th grade son WANTS to take those end-of-chapter quizzes! I’ve been learning a ton, too, as I’ve given him the quizzes.
My favorite thing about having the Big Fat Notebooks in our home is knowing that we have a resource to use when our kids come to us with a question that we don’t know how to answer (how many of my fellow parents are scared of having to recall all of the middle school and high school math we learned ages ago??). I love that we can look up concepts, read through examples, and then have the tools to help our kids succeed.
About the Books in the Big Fat Notebooks Series for #MiddleSchool Students
Everything You Need to Ace Math . . . covers everything to get you over any math hump: fractions, decimals, and how to multiply and divide them; ratios, proportions, and percentages; geometry; statistics and probability; expressions and equations; and the coordinate plane and functions.
Everything You Need to Ace Science . . . takes readers from scientific investigation and the engineering design process to the Periodic Table; forces and motion; forms of energy; outer space and the solar system; to earth sciences, biology, body systems, ecology, and more.
Everything You Need to Ace American History . . . covers Native Americans to the war in Iraq. There are units on Colonial America; the Revolutionary War and the founding of a new nation; Jefferson and the expansion west; the Civil War and Reconstruction; and all of the notable events of the 20th century—World Wars, the Depression, the Civil Rights movement, and much more.
Everything You Need to Ace World History . . . kicks off with the Paleolithic Era and transports the reader to ancient civilizations—in Egypt, Greece, India, China, Africa, Rome; the middle ages across the world; the Renaissance; the age of exploration and colonialization, revolution and imperialism, and the modern world and the wars and movements that shaped it.
Everything You Need to Ace English Language Arts . . . covers everything to get you your best marks: grammar, including parts of speech, active and passive verbs, Greek and Latin roots and affixes; nuances in word meanings; textual analysis, authorship, structure, and other skills for reading fiction and nonfiction; and writing arguments, informative texts, and narratives.
FOLLOW @WORKMANPUB & Big Fat Notebooks
- Visit the Official Site
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Where to Find #BigFatNotebooks
You can purchase #BigFatNotebooks at the following retailers:
Big Fat Notebooks giveaway
I am thrilled to give away an amazing Big Fat Notebooks prize! Open to US addresses only; prizing provided by Workman Publishing. This giveaway will end at 11:59 pm ET September 12, 2016. Once the giveaway has ended, the winner will be chosen at random and notified via email. Please note, I reserve the right to draw an alternate winner should the first winner not respond within 2 days.
One (1) winner from Food Fun Family will receive:
- Copies of all 5 titles in the Big Fat Notebooks series;
- Branded school supplies including highlighter/pen combos, a notepad, and jigsaw sticky notes.
Enter on the widget below. Good luck!
© 2016, Food Fun Family. All rights reserved.
Study and review nightly so that you won’t feel overwhelmed during testing time
Keep organized with a planner
I have found that different techniques work for different students. One thing that we’ve found effective is a website called studyblue.com. It allows students to create flashcards and quizzes.
Using highlighters and post in notes help in studying.
Let kids follow their interests!
Have a nice clean, quiet and organized work space for your child to sit down and do their homework!
Our best study tip is to read about it, then write about it! After you are done reading for your lesson – whether it’s from a textbook or a novel, take the time to write a summary of what you’ve read. I works great for locking facts into memory!
Take careful notes.
Use index cards to jot down notes as you read. The index cards can then be used as flashcards that you can study from.
Stay organized and if you need help ask for it
These would be my best study tips: Work without distractions, double check your work, allow yourself time to complete your work in a timely manner, give your work an honest effort, and remember that practice makes perfect so if at first you don’t succeed, try again.
My best middle school study tip is to take a lot of notes. Also, pay attention in Live Lessons (or class if you do not do online school), and ask the teacher questions if you do not understand what is going on.
I commented on https://foodfunfamily.com/summer-games-scavenger-hunt-activities-for-kids/#respond august 22/16
Have a set time for completing homework and school projects
Get rid of distractions…no tablet use until work is done.