Giggly Guide To Grammar

These materials offer a complete and comprehensive coverage of all three elements - grammar (i.e. parts of speech, complete sentences), usage (i.e. homophones, figures of speech, proper word choice to convey meaning), and mechanics (i.e. punctuation, capitalization).

You can tell by simply looking at the cover of this book that it isn't your ordinary grammar curriculum. As you look at a stick drawing of a young man with a mouthful of 'gum' balls, you know you're in for a real grammar treat. The publisher refers to this book as, "Shel Silverstein meets Strunk & White."

Cathy Campbell has a real knack for making grammar understandable but keeping it humorous. There were times I laughed out loud at her drawings and use of descriptive words. The book is divided into 3 sections - grammar, usage, and mechanics. This is no light coverage of the topics, yet students will enjoy reading the definitions and explanations which use terminology such as 'varmints' and 'blahjectives' (vague adjectives which offer an unclear mental picture). The wacky writing examples are packed with unusual names, strange animals, people with questionable hygiene, mythical creatures and generally off-the-wall situations (while we haven't noticed anything outright objectionable here, this book may not appeal to the very conservative household). Excerpts from books like Harry Potter, Winnie-the-Pooh and authors including Dickens, Faulkner and Hemingway add spice as well. Funny blackline doodles appear throughout the book to add humor, but also to give a visual to accompany concepts - a curly-headed pig, a child with a small dragon atop its head, or a bulgy-eyed something.

A CD-ROM is included in the deluxe teacher edition which has printouts of the exercises found in the book, lessons presented in 3 formats - PDF, jpeg, and PowerPoint, writing pointer posters which are also found throughout the book, posters of the rules and definitions with those same cute blackline drawings from the book, classroom stationary for use with the different chapters, and the answer key for all exercises. Exercises range from Mad-lib style fill-ins, to proofreading, underlining, labeling, listing, and more, but you won't find any diagramming in this program. The text and the teacher edition book are the same; the only difference is that the teacher edition includes the CD-ROM, which is a real plus for this program. However, we also offer the text individually, in case you need an extra for an additional student.

If you want a grammar and mechanics course that is solid but is written with a non-traditional flavor, take a gander at Giggly Guide to Grammar. s/c ~ Donna