E. D. Hirsch Books

With thirty-two pages of full-color illustrations, a bolder, easier-to-follow format, and a thoroughly updated curriculum, What Your Third Grader Needs to Know," Revised Edition," reflects the Core Knowledge Foundation's ongoing commitment to providing a solid educational foundation for today's elementary school students. " What Your Third Grader Needs to Know, Revised Edition," covers the basics of math, language arts, science, geography, art, and technology. A collection of American speeches, tales from around the world, math problems, and more, add to the book's usefulness and enhance the pleasure of both adult and child as they work together. Hundred of thousands of children have benefited from the Core Knowledge Series. This revised edition gives a new generation of third graders the advantage they need to make progress in school today, and to establish an approach to learning that will last a lifetime.

Fundamentals of a Good Second Grade Education.

"In this fast-paced information age, how can Americans know what's really important and what's just a passing fashion? Now more than ever, we need a source that concisely sums up the knowledge that matters to Americans - the people, places, ideas, and events that shape our cultural conversation. With more than six thousand entries, The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy is that invaluable source. Wireless technology. Gene therapy, NAFTA. In addition to the thousands of terms described in the original Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, here are more than five hundred new entries to bring Americans' essential knowledge bank up to date. Are you familiar with the digital divide, European Union, Kwanzaa, pheromones, Type A and Type B personalities, spam? Or, test your knowledge on cultural icons that have stood the test of time: Odysseus, Leaves of Grass, Cleopatra, Winston Churchill, the Taj Mahal, and many, many more. Numerous original entries have been revised to reflect the many recent changes in world history and politics, American literature, and, especially, science and technology."--Jacket

A must-read for parents and teachers, this major bestseller reveals how cultural literacy is the hidden key to effective education and presents 5000 facts that every literate American should know. In this forceful manifesto Professor E. D. Hirsch, Jr., argues that children in the United States are being deprived of the basic knowledge that would enable them to function in contemporary society. They lack cultural a grasp of background information that writers and speakers assume their audience already has. Even if a student has a basic competence in the English language, he or she has little chance of entering the American mainstream without knowing what a silicon chip is, or when the Civil War was fought. An important work that has engendered a nationwide debate on our educational standards, Cultural Literacy is a required reading for anyone concerned with our future as a literate nation.