Jane Kiester is the author of the popular Caught'ya books: Caught'ya! Grammar with a Giggle; Caught'ya Again! More Grammar with a Giggle; The Chortling Bard! Grammar with a Giggle for High School; Giggles in the Middle: Caught'ya! Grammar with a Giggle for Middle School; Eggbert, the Ball, Bounces by Himself: Caught'ya! Grammar with a Giggle for First Grade; Putrescent Petra Finds Friends: Caught'ya! Grammar with a Giggle for Second Grade; and Juan and Marie Join the Class: Caught'ya! Grammar with a Giggle for Third Grade (these last three were formerly Elementary, My Dear! Caught'ya! Grammar with a Giggle for Grades 1, 2, and 3), all published by Maupin House. Teachers all over the country also use the new edition of her third book, Blowing Away the State Writing Assessment Test, to help improve their students' scores on state writing assessment tests. Jane's most recent book is Teach Spelling So It Sticks. She is currently writing three new books. In addition to writing books, Jane has given hundreds of workshops to fellow teachers around the country for the past ten years. Her subject? The same as in her classroom, where she happily taught elementary or middle school for more than 30 years -- teaching students to write well. In her three decades as a classroom teacher, Jane has served many years as various department chairpersons and grade-level chairperson. She is also a past president of the Alachua County Teachers of English. Jane has been recognized three times by "Who's Who Among America's Teachers." In 2002 she won Teacher of the Year for her school and Middle School Teacher of the Year for her county. Problem-solving Workshops for Teachers Jane's energy is contagious! Her workshops, seminars and invited presentations delight and rejuvenate teachers at all grade levels. Jane delivers practical, classroom-proven ideas to solve those yucky "must-do" situations all teachers face. Each presentation sparkles with Jane's insightful humor. Her seminars and symposium speaking topics are shaped to fit the specific needs of schools and districts.
...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.
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