Caught'ya! Grammar with a Giggle for Middle School - (Maupin House) by Jane Bell Kiester (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Jane Bell Kiester, author of the popular Caught'ya! Grammar with a Giggle series, has adapted her effective and fun approach to meet the specific learning needs of middle-school students. This resource improves writing and editing skills, raises test scores, engages students, and creates classrooms filled with giggles! Giggles in the Middle offers middle-school teachers all the benefits of the previous Caught'ya! books, plus some helpful "extras" created especially for the middle-school student. You'll find: One continuous story, "The Bizarre Mystery of Horribly Hard Middle School," divided into three parts, each with enough sentences for an entire school year; Classroom-tested writing assignment suggestions, mini-lessons, and teaching tips; "Almost-midterm" and final exam tests for each grade, with teacher keys; Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions; Complete vocabulary lists for words used in each story; and A CD with the Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Guide for easy reference and duplication; the complete, uninterrupted story in narrative form; and the Caught'ya! sentences. Giggles in the Middle gives middle-school teachers the perfect alternative to boring grammar books and dry lectures. With this flexible, proven approach to developing grammar, usage, and mechanics (GUM) skills, as well as vocabulary, everyone has fun while they learn!

Review Quotes

...teachers turn learning grammar into a challenge to which students will rise...As promised, the grade-specific stories are designed to teach 'grammar, usage, mechanics, vocabulary, paragraphing, varied sentence structure, spelling of homophones and commonly misspelled words, use of literary devices, and how to avoid fragments.' Will these methods work? Yes.-- "Professionally Speaking"

I was immediately intrigued by Giggles in the Middle: Caught'ya! Grammar with a Giggle for Middle School (Jane Bell Kiester). 'Grammar' and the word 'Giggles' in the same sentence? I was sold before I even looked in the book; I was certain this would be something Amber would like. I have been using Giggles in the Middle every day for the past couple of weeks with Amber, who is 13. For the most part she has liked it; it still is grammar and I can't hide that lol! The format of Giggles in the Middle is unique to any other book I have used so far. The whole curriculum revolves around the story of group of students and Horribly Hard Middle School. It is split up into three middle-school years, but instructions include how to implement it if you are starting in 7th or 8th grade. Each year includes 125 Caught'yas. The neat thing is the teacher can change them according to what they feel is appropriate for the level of the students...We have been doing 2-3 Caught'yas a day. Although Amber is 8th-grade age and doing a lot of high school work already, this is sufficiently challenging for her. That surprised her some and thrilled me. It has made her much more conscious on how a sentence is to be structured. Interspersed between the Caught'yas are writing ideas related to the story. These are fun and make the student think a bit. They encompass many different writing topics such as narratives and persuasive writing. There is also a great deal of rich vocabulary introduced. With most middle-school material, I tend to find both the activities and vocabulary weak for accelerated students. There is none of that in Giggles in the Middle...words like sagacious, odious and puerile are used, expanding the students' word choice for writing and preparing them for college entrance tests. I am planning to continue using this book until we are done with it, even if that extends into the next school year. This is a good choice for those with middle-school students who want a change from traditional workbooks with worksheets. Using it without modifications is appropriate for accelerated students also.-- "Three Different Directions, www.threedifferentdirections.com"

Yours is the only how-to teacher book that I've read cover to cover in the last 10 years. I love Hairy. I recently discovered Giggles in the Middle and have ordered it. I really like the companion CD idea since I use my SMART(TM) Board exclusively these days...In a desolate, lifeless, serious world of standards that my colleagues bemoan and administrators preach, you and your books are small green seedlings of hope.