Let’s Get Ready..Go Go GO!
Every morning, I’d find my 2nd kid, staring at the TV (my fault), watching all the pre-school programs, learning from the dumb tube, instead of the dumb mom. Sigh…
Like I mentioned earlier, my 1st kid was privileged, he had me, all to himself. My 2nd kid? Poor lil guy..he has to share amongst his 2 other brothers now. That means, I’m really time poor and I find I don’t have the time to sit with him, teaching every thing I taught the 1st one.
A couple of days ago, these two books arrived, and both my boys were happy to see that there were one book for each. The timing couldn’t have been better.
As a whole, I found these books, published by Cedar Valley Publishing, very colourful, engaging and applicable not only to kids, but to teachers and parents. The pages are made of good quality material, which allows the child to write on it, with a non-permanent marker pen. This allows the book to be re-used over and over again. Quite handy, when you have more than one kid or when your kid likes a particular page and wants you to go over it, again and again!
There are Cedar Valley Kids™ of appropriate ages in each book, and this helped my kids in remembering their names (in a social aspect) and learning in a fun way what each Cedar Valley Kid™ was doing. Both books start off by highlighting the skill sets the child is supposed to achieve, according to their ages/levels. Furthermore, each book introduces a teacher as a focal point for the parent on what the child should be understanding from each page.
I’ll be reviewing through each book individually, as it is for different age groups.
Review : Let’s get ready for Kindergarten (Ages : 2-6)
My soon-to-be 3 year old has indicated on many occasions, his interests in learning. From his constant requests to read and his attempts in copying everyday activities like cooking, folding the laundry, counting money, doing his work (typing into a keyboard), etc. However, this lazy mama hasn’t been doing much, as I find myself glazing over story books that I have read countless of times to the first kid.
With “Let’s get ready for Kindergarten”, Mrs.Good (the Kinder teacher) and the Cedar Valley Kids™, had valuable tips in helping the parent learn/teach with the child. I like the fact that it covered a very broad range from alphabets to numbers, seasons to writing. But in each page, a parent can expand further with everyday examples…and even for a lazy mum like me, it’s not that hard!
Not only does this book engages a child to use his mental abilities, it encourages the child to refine his fine motor skills like having a proper pencil grip when practicing writing the alphabets, or using a pair of scissors.
As you can see, he was really interested in the ‘money’ section. He kept asking how much is this/that? 
I found that I didn’t have to complete the book in one session, it was easier to break each page up into 15 minute sessions, concentrating and expanding on each topic. Of course, that being said, I couldn’t move further on to the next page, as my very determined 3 year old wanted me to repeat the same page until he was satisfied with it. Plus, we didn’t exactly go page by page. We jumped from different pages, depending on his mood. Which was fine with me, as long as he was having fun.
Review : Let’s get ready for First Grade (Ages: 5-8)
Over here, in Australia, this level would be equivalent to Primary One. My eldest kid who is in Prep Year (a year just before Primary One), found the book rather interesting. While he seemed to glean through a number of familiar topics, there were some that intrigued him. Particularly, the pages about the solar system, the internal organs and about the government. Interestingly, I hadn’t realize that kids that young could already learn about such big things already. He likes to read the book on his own and only would come to me if he needed help in understanding some of the instructions.
I hope this means he’ll like maths…hee hee hee…
I found that he really enjoys the book very much, because of its illustrations and interesting learning facts. With Ms.Best’s help (the First Grade teacher), I managed to stay in focus with the subject. Till today, he’s still looking through the book as there is always something he misses.
In a nutshell, both books are valuable learning materials that every parent should have. Why not? These books have won numerous awards such as the “2008 Best You Can Be Award for Book” and the “Adding Wisdom Award” from Parent-to-Parent. Over 366 school districts in America, are using these books as well as many Start Head Programs. In fact, 10% of their profits will be donated to charitable organizations. These “Let’s Get Ready” books was created by Über-mom, Stacy Kannenberg. She is also a blogger and has posted several invaluable tips for parents and teachers on other “Let’s Get Ready” topics. I’d urge all moms to check it out..as it just might make your life easier.
Like how it did for me, in preparing No.1 and No.2 for Year 1 and Kinder, respectively.
I’d like to thank Cedar Valley Publishing and Parent Reviewers for giving me this invaluable opportunity in reviewing these books.
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Glad to see that there’s no fighting over the books for No.1 & 2. Phew!
good that you found the best books for your boys. me also one lousy mum, qiqi plays by herself while mummy hooked on computer
Huh, your #2 can help u fold laundry ah? Bryan only helps me to UNFOLD laundry! *sigh*
The Grade 1 curriculum is so interesting, right? I’m impressed that they learn basic nutrition and workings of their government at such a young age already!