stack the deck series

[mom2agang]

Does anyone use this? Anyone have a review? I can't seem to find any reviews.

[beezus]

We used the 7th grade book from this series. My daughter has really liked it, because it splits the assignments up into small pieces, so that writing projects seem more manageable. I like that it has quite a bit of preparation leading up to the actual writing exercise, so the student gets a real feel for the planning and revising parts of the writing process. I bought mine from Rainbow Resource, and as I recall, there was a description and a review or two there. You can also view some sample pages from that site. I bought the teacher's handbook too, which wasn't really very expensive. I think the student book and teacher's book together were only around $20. You could probably get by without the teacher's guide, but I find it easier to just have the answers to the exercises handy, plus there are some rubrics at the end, and a few helpful hints along the way.

 

You can spend a whole lot on a writing program, and for the price, we really like this one. There's lots of variety in the writing projects, In the level we have, there is a

descriptive essay, a letter-writing section, a poetry section, explanatory and narrative essays, persuasive essay practice, and a research project. The student workbook is not real splashy, just black and white with some line drawings, but there is a little bit of humor and fun in the exercises- enough where my daughter finds that it holds her attention. There are a few parts of the book that assume it is being used in a classroom, but we were able to adapt those things to our needs pretty easily.

 

Kathleen

[Angel]

I have bought two books to use with my girls this coming year, so I have no experience with it yet. However, at the convention, I spoke with Herb Hrebic who is one of the authors. He was awesome and what he had to say about helping kids to see the problems in their writing and getting them to the point of writing made so much sense. The tips that they use to help the kids in their books were so practical and seem easy to implement. In fact, I was able to take notes before I even bought the books. My friend who was with me taught English before having kids and she was impressed as well. She also bought one of the books. The price is so great that it certainly was worth a try.

 

I would certainly love to hear if anyone has used this program. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works with my girls.