Sylvan Learning Supplemental Products Review and Giveaway

"Reading is the gateway skill that makes all other learning possible, from complex word problems and the meaning of our history to scientific discovery and technological proficiency." - President Barack Obama

I fondly remember my own early reading journey. In first grade I was placed in the “bluebird” reading group and my introduction to the Dick and Jane stories began. Every evening my mom helped me with the marked pages. Without too many problems I eventually became proficient. Unfortunately, not all kids learn as easily. Parental involvement is key to early learning success, but where can parents turn if their kids need a little help?

I imagine you have heard of Sylvan Learning Centers from their television commercials. Now Sylvan has released a line of home-use supplemental products available for purchase online and at major book sellers.

The new Sylvan Learning products include a number of workbooks and kits intended for use at home. The products focus on reading and language skills. Only 3rd-5th grade level products are currently available for purchase but additional grade levels will be available later this year. The curriculum-based workbooks and kits have all been teacher-reviewed to help children get ahead and sharpen their reading, spelling and vocabulary skills. Best of all, the workbooks are based on Sylvan’s proven techniques for success.

Thanks to Sylvan Learning and Random House, I recently had the opportunity to review the entire 3rd grade level Sylvan Learning supplemental reading line.

The workbooks form the core of the Sylvan Learning Products. The 3rd Grade Level offers the following three workbooks for purchase: Spelling Success Workbook, Vocabulary Success Workbook and Reading Comprehension Success Workbook.

Affordable (only $12.99 each), and easy to use, each soft cover workbook includes fun exercises, games and activities. Each book measures 8-1/2” inches by 11” and has 120 fill-in pages. The colorful, well-laid out sections engage children as they learn the basic building blocks to strong reading skills at their own pace. Students and parents can easily check answers using the handy Check-it strips. The Reading Comprehension Success workbook even offers individualized learning – kids can pick out books of their own choosing to complete some of the exercises! All in all, the workbooks offer parents a great way to become involved in their child’s reading success.

The Super Workbook includes all 3 above books (Spelling, Vocabulary and Reading) and is a great value at only $18.99.

If you are looking for an all-encompassing supplement, The Reading Success Complete Learning Kit contains all the workbooks plus additional materials to jumpstart your child’s reading skills. The kits retail for $79.99 and come jam-packed with many useful materials:
Parent Guide • Three workbooks • Two Chapter Books • One Flash Card Set • CD-Rom • Audio CD • Dry-erase Spelling Study Card • Reward stickers • Colored pencils • Certificate of success • Sylvan Learning Center Skills Assessment Discount Coupon

Just reading through the workbooks brought back many memories of childhood reading lessons. It also reminded me just how much I've forgotten! The only thing seemingly missing from the supplemental product line are optional online activities. Perhaps Sylvan Learning will add those to their broad line in the future? In the meantime, the workbooks and kits will challenge your child, help them learn to think and reason for themselves, and beef up those ever-important reading and language skills.


Sylvan Learning and Random House has kindly offered to give away (5) copies of Third Grade Reading Comprehension Success to five different Brimful Curiosities readers.

To enter, visit Sylvan Learning Bookstore and leave a comment here telling me which Sylvan Learning Product interests you most.

• For contact purposes, if you are a non-blogger or your email is not accessible in your blog profile, please leave a valid email address within the comment section.
• Contest is open to US only
• Contest ends on Monday, February 2nd, 2008 at 11:59 PM CST.
• Winner will be chosen at random

Three ways to gain extra entries (Maximum total entries is 4):
1st extra entry: Follow Me! or subscribe by email or RSS reader
2nd extra entry: Blog about this contest then post your link in the comment section.
3rd extra entry: Follow me on twitter (iambrimful) and tweet about the contest.

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Welcome to Brimful Curiosities! This review/giveaway is my contribution to the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival, (January 26-30, 2009). Head over there for all the great giveaways this week! And don't forget to enter my other giveaways!

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