Fun with Roller Coasters... Our Download N'Go Review

This week, we have spent our time learning about “ROLLER COASTERS” with help from Download  N’ Go unit studies, a product from Amanda Bennett. This was not our first time using a Download N’ Go product, but I can’t say enough about them. We LOVE them!!

First , I must say the Download N’ Go studies are an “easy to use” product with lots of information that is prepared  so that it is easily researched by the child.  I spent  about an hour one evening looking over it (my personal preference, so I can hold books online) prior to the actual start of the unit and that’s it, so easy to use that you can actually just open up the laptop and go…

In the plan, you get a “5 DAY” study of a particular subject with daily objectives included. The objectives of “ROLLERCOASTERS” being:

Day 1: What is a Roller Coaster

Day 2: The History of Roller Coasters

Day 3: People and Places of Roller Coasters

Day 4: Science and Secrets of Roller Coasters and Rides

Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Roller Coasters

The lesson plan is complete. All the activities, go-alongs, and projects are there, done for you.

Each day is then broken down even further with added topics and information being compounded on each day.  A book list is also given for EACH day with books that can be found at your local library. With this unit on “ROLLER COASTERS”, I had trouble locating some of the books that were recommended for use on particular days. However, I was able to obtain enough of them and some others using  the search engine at my library. But in the unit itself there are enough links to great information that even without the recommended reading, there was more than enough information to complete this unit. One book that I got from my library that my kids loved was a tabletop book of roller coaster pictures called, " Roller Coasters: A Thrill Seekers Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines" ...

Two movies that I just happened to be able to get through my library, that were not on the recommendation list, which my kidlets loved were “Roller Coasters” and Popular Mechanics “Rip-Roaring Roller Coasters” which gave you the idea of being on a roller coaster while being comfortable on your couch.



Talking about videos leads me to another extra that is included: links to video clips.  All the research done, so you don’t have to. Your kids will love seeing different pictures of various roller coasters around the world, or “riding” in a bobsled coaster on YouTube.

I love the lapbook aspect of these units. Included in each unit is not only “worksheet” type questions, but also lapbook mini-book pieces and notebooking pages. Our family doesn’t do lapbooks with file folders anymore, we use regular tabbed pocket folders and make what we call “Lap-a-notes”  and these units are so adaptable they are perfect for our use in this way.

My kidlets found it easier to complete the mini-books as we went studied all the information for that day and then to compile them and the notebook /worksheets at the end of the week in their folders while we reviewed some of the fun things we learned.

“Roller Coasters” also has beautiful clipart and photos of various roller coasters which make a wonderful visual addition to a lapbook.  To save money on ink, (yes, it’s way too expensive these days) I printed off only the mini-books and let the kids just write on notebook paper any other information. And this worked great for us.

Another important thing to me is the content. The age range of the “Download N’ Go” units are K-4th grade. I used this with a 2nd grader and a 5th grader, but I found the information was great for both of those ages, and the internet links found throughout the lessons made it easy for my son to help my daughter find information without any difficulty.

They just clicked on the link found in the unit. No worries that they would go somewhere inappropriate. And this was a great help with my DS and his independent study.

Science, history, and geography were also here with my kidlets learning about Europe and Asia, physics, discussing American Inventors and playing with a Slinky (which I picked-up as a go-along at Walmart). And don’t worry, spelling and vocabulary  are in there too.

DS and DD loved building their own versions of roller coasters with K’Nex (which can still be found in the living room floor being played with)…

My kids loved the “County Fair” atmosphere in our schoolroom and that enhanced the learning fun about, not only roller coasters, but other incredible thrill rides.  So needless to say, corn dogs, homemade

funnel cakes, lemonade, and popcorn were foods of choice throughout the week.

This was the first unit of our new school year and it was a really fun way to get things “ROLLING”...To see more reviews of this unit and others check out the Blog Tour at the Download N'Go Blog...  You can find this and more DNG titles at "The Old Schoolhouse Store"...

Have a great week!!