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This one’s for the teachers.
Within the last few years, we’ve been stretched quite thin when it comes to budgetary matters, and very few sectors of our economy have witnessed as dramatic a cut in services as our schools. With this in mind, I’ve made the decision to put my greediness aside, and offer some help instead.
In 2004, I wrote and illustrated WordPlay Café (Williamson Publishing, an Ideals company). It’s a fun, educational romp through the more common aspects of linguistics for kids, and was driven by my desire to not only present the humor in wordplay, but also explain how it works, so that kids may begin to build their own unique brand of phonetic fun.
Here’s the deal.
Below you will find links to the book as chapter-by-chapter PDF files. Some chapters are as large as 5MB, so allow some time to download (right click or control click), especially if the site is busy. (Front Matter & Chapter 1, and Chapters 5 & 6 are combined into one file.) Viewing will require the use of the Adobe Reader, which is available at their website for no charge. Be sure to have your students read through the front matter first, as it explains how the book works.
All I ask in return is that the files remain in the classroom and be treated in a scholarly manner. In addition, I would appreciate any feedback on the book and would ask that any purchase or review of the book go through amazon.com. Should you assemble classroom activities around a particular page or idea, I’d love to share it on the website with other teachers. Be sure to pass this link to other educators as well. A Parent’s Choice® award winner. Join me on Facebook or Pinterest! And if you have extra moment, check out my blogs on the Kids Discover website for more unusual insights for parents and teachers.
Teach. Learn. Enjoy!
-Michael Kline
If patience (or hard disk space) isn’t your virtue, the entire book can be viewed online at FiledBy. Be sure to tell them “Thanks!”
WOW!
WOW, WOW, WOW! This book not only satisfies a major curriculum requirement (whose materials were sorely lacking in my classroom,) but also my own word-geek tendencies! AND it’s written in a way that my students will understand what the heck I’m saying! YAY FOR YOU, and now for me and my students! Thank you for sitting down and writing this book!
Hi Neita, Thanks for the nice comments. I loved writing the book (and illustrating it). If you will forward a physical address to mikey@dogfoose.com, I’ll send a live version of the book to you and your students (if you don’t have one already).
Thanks again! Be sure to Pin it on Pinterest (along with your comments if possible) as well.
-mike
Thank you! Just what I was looking for! You did a great job, such a fun way of presenting the material!
Thank you so much! What a wonderful resource for our classroom – and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the free download! I am looking forward to developing some lessons for my classroom!
Wow, nice! Thank you so much. Would you mind me translating some of it into Dutch so I could try some stuff out in my classroom? Is the book for sale?
The book is for sale at amazon.com. Translating it might be a problem (I’ve actually thought about it already). There are many Americanisms and puns that play off the English language, so a lot of the humor and lessons might be lost. You are welcome to try though. Thanks for the note.
Wow! Thank you SO much!! This is really fun and will be a fantastic resource for us!!
Thank you for the great resource!
I look forward to using it with my students!
I am a Mentor teacher in Maryland. I am doing a professional development that centers around Word Work and your book. Thank you! Your book is simply amazing. I cannot wait to share all of your wonderful ideas with the teachers!
Thanks Deb. I’d love to know what your teachers think of the book as well.
-mike