Wednesday, September 14, 2011

TOS CREW Review: Before Five in a Row

I was given the opportunity to review Before Five in a Row ("BFIAR")by Jane Claire Lambert over the last month and a half...and I have to say that I really like this book.... I thought I would like it going into the review and I was not disappointed...This book is a "treasury of creative ideas to inspire learning readiness"... for ages 2 thru 4... it is made up of 23 Five in a Row- style mini- units based on outstanding children's books as well as a large section of learning readiness activities for your every day life...

Over the summer I used BFIAR with 9 children... ranging in age from 14 months to 4 1/2 years... We read Jesse Bear, What will you wear?...after Reading through BFIAR ...it was not difficult to come up with fun activities that would keep the kids engaged....

Some of the kids listening to the story... we read it outside this particular day... and I think it added to the whimsy and fun of the book...
I cut shirt shapes out of poster board and had the kids decorate them....
Braeden and Ryleigh making patterns with pipe-cleaners and beads...
They enjoyed making potato prints with shapes etched inside...
I found that it was very easy to make supplements to go with the concepts of BFIAR.... Here I made a Clothes Matching sheet for the younger kids and a Pattern sheet for the children over the age of 4....

Before Five in a Row costs $35 and can be bought exclusively at www.rainbowresource.com.... I definitively recommend that you check this book out... I plan on incorporating a lot of the mini-lessons into our Tot School (2 &3 years old) Curriculum for the year...

To Download some supplements that I used for this Review- please visit my Printables page... or click below:



*As a member of the TOS Crew review program I was given a free copy of this product to review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. To see what other members of the Crew thought click below:
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2 comments:

Christina said...

I agree that BFIAR is easily supplemented. And, in my experience, for older children it almost has to be.

Modest Mama said...

I can't believe you were teaching NINE young children this summer. You are Super Woman! What a wonderful gift you gave these kids. I loved the photos!