McMillian McGraw Hill

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2002 : February : 12

McMillian McGraw Hill
By Lynn

Yes, I am currently a 5th grade teacher who is using this series. My district adopted last year, so this is year two with it. . .I am not sure if they have made changes in the last two years, but I am not particularly happy
with the program. We also previewed the other series that your school did, and unfortuately, McGraw Hill was only chosen based on cost. The district went with the reading and spelling series, as well as the language arts (separate complete book--the "grammar" embedded within the reading program is minimal). To start with, I do not like the spelling program. . .yuck! They stress the

importance of keeping the units with the stories, and although I do so, many teachers do not. . .there is not a particular need to do so. The stories in the fifth grade book are not all that interesting to the students, and trade books are not included in the program. Some stories are okay, and some are very similar to each other. . ."The Wise Old Woman" and "The Paper Dragon" have the same storyline. I like the way that the series "spirals" and repeats the skills each unit, however, this then forces you to follow the units in order. The "themes" that are based around each unit are vague and hard for the kids to understand. In fact, I do not even present the units as a "theme" anymore. There is a TON of paper-pencil work. If your school does Accelerated Reader, the kids get to take a lot of tests. . .
The Leveled Books are only exciting to my students to earn more AR points in the computer lab. However, they do warrant themselves for a good opportunity for parent volunteers to come in on Fridays and read in small groups with the kids (they like that!). All in all, if I were to give it a grade, I would grade it as a C.