Magazine Reviews
I was recently given copies of several magazines that are designed
for classroom use. Several of them are published by the Carus Publishing
Company, headquartered in Peterborough, New Hampshire.
I would like to share with you some of my findings and
perhaps suggest that you request review copies to see if they would fit into
your curriculum.
Cobblestone-
Cobblestone is an upbeat magazine that focuses on American history. In the
recent copy I reviewed, the topic of this issue was immigration. There were
excellent photos and political cartoons. The magazine tried to draw connections
between immigration to the US in the early part of the twentieth century with
the immigration issues of today. There are sidebars that provide students with definitions
of key vocabulary terms. Also in this issue, there was a timeline of immigration laws
and their impact on American society. There were even sample questions from the
US Citizenship test. Teachers will find topics for discussion and student based
activities to compliment classroom learning.
The magazine also seeks out student work for future issue such as poems
or drawings. The reading level appears to be for upper middle school or high
school.
Carus also publishes a magazine that focuses on World History.
The title of this magazine is Calliope. The
format is similar to that of Cobblestone. The issue that I reviewed focused on ancient
Greek history and mythology. There is even a short play for students to act
out. Several of the articles are written by college professors and professional
magazine writers. There is even an opportunity to “Like” the magazine on
Facebook.
The third magazine that I recommend focuses on science. It’s
called Odyssey, Adventures in Science.
You can take at look at the magazine website at www.odysseymagazine.com. A recent
issue delved into the topic of auto racing and understanding the aerodynamics
of fast cars. There are math problems to solve, diagrams to review and again
excellent photos.
A one year subscription to any of these magazines is about
$27 dollars. I encourage you to take a look and decide if these could help
engage your students in social studies and science.
Comments are welcome.
C.2013 J. Margolis
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