Over the past year, I have found that when we incorporate study guides into our reading that my boys seem to listen and interact more while discussing the book. Recently we were introduced to the Interactive Study Guides from Progeny Press, and for the past month have been using the Mr. Popper’s Penguins Study E-Guide. While the e-guide for Mr. Poppers Penguins is recommended for grades 4-6, the entire family enjoyed the book as a read aloud.
Mr. Popper’s Penguins Study E-Guide
As I mentioned, this is our first time using Progeny Press and we have been very impressed with them. They offer a wide variety of interactive study guides that are divided by grade level:
• Lower Elementary (k-3)
• Upper Elementary (4-6)
• Middle School (6-8)
• High School (9-12)
One thing you’ll notice about the study guides is that they aren’t all written by the same authors, but that isn’t a bad thing at all. The authors of the study guides include college instructors, home educators, pastors, etc. In the end, they all have one goal when it comes to their study guides and that’s to help children have more fun with their reading.
What We Received:
We receive a 56 page interactive study guide for Mr. Popper’s Penguins. The awesome thing about the interactive study guide is that you have two options. You can choose to print it off, or your student can type in the answers on the pdf file and save it. The second option is such a wonderful time and money saver, and it’s great for students (like mine) that seem to complain about having to write a lot.
Progeny Press recommends spending around 8-12 weeks on a single guide, but this can vary depending on the grade level. So basically it’s broken down to the child doing one page a day, which is what we found worked best for us. There were some days that he did a little more, but for the most part their recommendations were spot on.
Inside the Interactive Study Guide
• Synopsis & About the Author
• How to Use the Guide
• Pre-reading Activities
• Chapter Studies
• Overview
• Ideas for post-reading activities
• Answer Key
Along with all this, you’ll also find fun projects and an optional section titled: Money Matters. The Money Matters section covers opportunity cost and credit. I have to say that I’m very impressed with this option inclusion.
Using the Program
While we already had the book on hand when our E-guide arrived, I couldn’t resist but to do some of the pre-reading activities. One of the activities that we enjoyed was to research penguins, their habitat and diet. I did this activity with my oldest daughter many, many years ago and we had a blast, and it was just as fun doing it again. As also included a video on the Arctic and Antarctic.
In my opinion, the chapter studies are broken down nicely. There are several chapters (4-5) included in a study section. We would cover the recommended chapters and then go back and do the chapter study.
In the chapter study, your student will cover: vocabulary, chapter questions, think about the story, dig deeper, and optional projects. While the projects are optional, we really enjoyed doing these along with our reading.
Chapters Will Vary
Also, I want to mention that each chapter study varies. For example, in one section your vocabulary may be reading a sentence and writing your own definition and then the one from the dictionary. One a different section it might be multiple choice. I think the variety of review sheets really helps keep the student’s interest. Not one time did I hear he was bored. From multiple choice, word search and so much more!
While we haven’t completed this E-guide in it’s entirety, I can honestly say that we have very much enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to adding a few more Progeny Press E-Guides for our upcoming school year.
We hope you enjoyed our review for Mr. Popper’s Penguins E-Guide for grades 4-6, but if this title doesn’t appeal to you, Progeny Press also has many different guides for Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, & Middle School so be sure to to read the other reviews to learn the differences between these levels.
