Hands Down!~ – the Game. Changer. of books for upper elementary centers

You’re probably thinking One book could not possibly make a huge difference in my ELA centers for upper elementary?! Actually it’s not even a pedagogical book either. It’s one I saw and could immediately implement – when you have no time as a teacher THIS. IS. HUGE!

This book was hands down the best purchase I made to improve our centers for many reasons! I want share just how easy this would be to translate to your classroom! I saw best purchase….but best I made for my classroom were QR Listening Centers for Big Kids (love listening comprehension – because how do you fit that in for upper elementary?!)

The book I’m talking about is: Infographics, Grade 4 (Ready To Go). Keep reading (especially the last tip!) for all the reasons why I loved it so much! You would see more in action pictures of this book had my copy not gotten so much use – read on to see why!

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Nonfiction is NOT EASY!

I had trouble finding nonfiction that interested my students and although we had some sources. This book is off the charts with information on a huge number of subjects.

This helps greatly as our state testing in science involves pictures and graphs. This skill is so important! The science skills and learning translated right into what we were learning. It honestly doubles as test prep with nonfiction text features, science content, comprehension and more!

The reading of information was on their level. As these are leveled for each grade – you know the information is appropriate.

The students loved all the topics and the way they were put together!

You can see even from a short infographic about “biting plants.” The comprehension and digging deeper takes the information and ups the rigor.

Click here – to go “peek” inside the book and see the detail!

Everything in ONE!

When I say everything I mean – everything!

Let’s start with:

The pages tear out! Easy Peasy lemon squeezy! Tore out and put in tray you are good to go!
The pages are prelaminated and thick! they are durable and you can write and wipe off dry erase markers! You can reuse year after year!
They are self-checking! We did work with groups so partners checked one another!

All I had to do was tear out pages, model with students, and leave it as a center. This lasted well past half a year for students to cycle through all cards. You could put 2-3 out a week so you know the students were doing new ones.

It was no joke- the EASIEST (mindless almost) really Ready to Go center that added rigor to our Daily 5 and kept students engaged. Win-Win!

Here are some of the others grade levels to check out! Make sure to peek inside for some preview material to match if it will work for your students.