Spectrum Science 4th Grade Workbooks, Focused Practice to Support Science literacy

This past school year, 2020-2021, I homeschooled my three grandkids. At first I tried out several companies, not knowing which type of workbooks would best fit our needs. I’m also old school when it comes to education. I believe in good old pencil, paper and textbook in front of the child. They need to know how to truly do the work. I need to know what they know and don’t know. I found that hard when they did things online. Because of online struggles, their parents and I decided it was in the best interests of the kids to do things the old fashioned way. Yes, the kids do some things online: Adventure Academy (highly recommend!), Kodable and YouTube when I’m struggling how to explain something. I wondered if these workbooks would be “enough”. And, yes they are. At the end of the first year of homeschooling the grandkids, they did great. Their parents were so pleased they asked if I would continue teaching them at home for as long as possible. Of course, I said yes!Spectrum workbooks are far above the other companies else when it came to content and they are priced fairly. These books are all we use (with the exception of the online sources listed above). If you want great learning resources, order these books. They are not just “supplemental” workbooks but are excellent homeschool textbooks. These will be our main resources for the years to come.

It’s March of 2020 and my kids have online only school for COVID-19. I’m so grateful that school is making this effort and continuing, but I also want to make sure my kids continue reading things that I can also see. As a former elementary school teacher, and now a consultant to schools, I wanted to share through reviews what I’m doing as a parent and why in case it’s helpful to others!Books and series are fun, but my kids’ prefer fiction. I bought this for my 4th grade son to practice nonfiction reading and learn 4th grade science concepts this spring.I like that the passages are interesting, even to me. I also like that the questions at the end require my son to read carefully (twice at least) and also think through his own take on things and answer written questions. I think the color pictures help in a workbook. He’s doing two of these a day for spring, and I feel great about it.Spectrum books are hard for the grade level. If you have a struggling reader, buy a grade or even two grades down and it will still be a challenge. On grade level may be too frustrating. Buy the actual grade level for kids who are on or above grade level, and it will challenge them.Parent hack: Tear out the answer key and keep it to make grading easy for you! Responding to your child’s work every day shows that you respect their effort and recognize their effort.

Aligns with school curriculum. Easy to supplement with hands on activities. Interesting content

We like the book overall. However we have run into some problems such as the Chapter 5 review has multiple questions regarding CFLs when the pages of reading are exclusively about LEDs. My guess is the pages on lightbulbs were changed and the accompanying review was not.

I love Spectrum products bc they make it very easy for a child to grasp the information and move on to the next topic. I'm using this for homeschooling and it is an excellent choice for home schoolers. After ea chapter there are review questions which I like. This book engages the brain cells and children like it bc they naturally like to learn intereating things. Leaves plenty of room for discussion as well. This is a must have to add to your child's learning experience.Some topics:A metal of many uses (Aluminium)A weighty matter (mass/weight).Don't hesitate..add to cartIf my review was helpful let me know.

good

The media could not be loaded. Gives little experiments you can do with some chapters, reviews at the end of the chapter, links you can look up to go further into that specific lesson.

This book seems intimidating at first. After doing 2pgs a day - my 9yr old likes it a lot. The topics are solid and well written with questions that tend to generate inquiry as well as checking back to the text for the right answer. My son now likes it because he feels he is learning about cool stuff - even when the cool stuff is electricity, fire, Newton's laws etc.