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In 1982 three California public school educators founded Bellwork. The
daily practice concept was first conceived by one of the founders in 1949. All
three began their careers as elementary school classroom teachers. Each founder
was a career educator with more than 30 years of public service. Their positions
spanned all levels: teacher, principal, curriculum director, assistant superintendent
of curriculum, and superintendent.
Bellwork Enterprises was incorporated in the state of California in 1983. The corporate office, product development staff, and warehouse are located in Brea, California.
The Bellwork concept originated as a classroom management technique to
get students "on task" immediately. The name, Bellwork, comes from reminding students that "...each day immediately
after the bell, we do our practice work."
From this initial use, Bellwork has evolved into a successful, daily, systematic, and structured program of distributed skills practice. It is widely used as a quick and effective monitoring/assessment tool for teachers.
For more than 25 years, both new and veteran teachers have experienced tremendous
results while using the Bellwork program. Students improve their understanding
and mastery of important content standards, and this is reflected in increased
test scores year-after-year.
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OBJECTIVES
- Most importantly, to help every student master and retain the key skills outlined in the State Content Standards and Frameworks;
- To improve student academic achievement year-after-year;
- To utilize students’ higher level thinking skills through daily “extension” questions (grades 1-6);
- To increase retention of previously taught skills;
- To familiarize students with the format and language of multiple-choice questions;
- To give teachers the means to monitor student progress on a regular basis, with no additional paperwork;
- To provide teachers with a successful and proven informal assessment tool;
- To be easily adapted to and complement current instruction;
- To help students build confidence and self-esteem.
If you have any suggestions or comments about the program, please let us know...we
would enjoy hearing from you. Feedback
ABOUT THE PROGRAM – STUDENT BOOKS
Each subject and grade level is written specifically for the appropriate skills practice necessary to meet the expectations set forth in State Content Standards. Each grade level of Bellwork provides enough practice for a full school year.
Each Bellwork Mathematics, Reading/Language Arts, and Science editions contain more than 200 pages of systematic practice, sufficient for a full-year (180 days) of distributed standards reinforcement. Each page generally has four questions; however, a page may have fewer questions when a chart, graph, or picture is needed. Student book questions are presented in a multiple-choice format. Grade level and subject area editions review upwards of 200 individual skills and provide more than 900 practice opportunities.
New skills in each grade level are added systematically throughout the year, while consistent review of previously introduced skills is maintained. The concepts covered in each edition could be taught at the same time or earlier. However, new concepts may be introduced through mini lessons or as an opportunity to practice test-taking strategies.
If your students need additional practice with the “bubbling in” technique and transferring answers, have them use a separate answer key for a few weeks prior to testing (facsimile answer pages are provided for your students in the back of each student book in grade levels 3 through 8).
The daily practice pages in the student books are perforated. As these pages are completed they can be easily removed and sent home for the parent(s) review, collected by the teacher for periodic assessment and record keeping, or simply placed in the student’s portfolio.
The Bellwork series is cost effective and teacher-friendly. All of the materials are ready to use; no teacher preparation is necessary. The daily review and monitoring of important skills is done without additional grading or paperwork. Both teachers and students love Bellwork because it is quick, fun, and easy to use!
*Note: Our Write On Target!TM program is a unique writing practice of daily writing skills. You will find its distinct description in the products section of our website.
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ABOUT THE TEACHER’S GUIDE
The Bellwork teacher’s guide was designed to provide teachers with a comprehensive answer key presented in a simple and concise format. Each teacher’s guide page displays three student pages for a quick and easy reference. The student page shows the correct bubbled-in-answers.
The Bellwork skills that are covered within each question are displayed along the side of each student page. There may be more than one skill for any single problem.
In addition to the daily standards practice student book questions, Bellwork now provides teachers with an additional “extension” question/activity (grade levels 1-6) to further your students’ knowledge of the grade level standards and skills. Next to each sample student page is the additional question/activity that does one of three things: (1) takes a question from that day’s Bellwork and asks your students to explain their process or reasoning, (2) asks your students to solve something related to a particular question, or (3) covers a skill your students need to learn that is difficult to review in a multiple-choice format. By using the additional questions from the teacher’s guide, your students will be able to learn even more skills, and teachers will be able to cover and teach more standards.
A comprehensive list of the skills presented in the student book is included in each teacher’s guide. In addition, at the back of each guide is a skills list index that includes the page and problem numbers (T=Teacher’s Guide Additional Question/Activity) where each skill is located.
At the back of the teacher’s guide you will find a “Teacher Resources” section. The Mathematics resources contain a glossary, divisibility rules, measurement system conversions, and prefixes. The Reading/Language Arts resources contain spelling generalizations, prefixes and suffixes, Greek and Latin roots, compound words, homographs, contractions, and other useful teaching hints, and the Science resources include a glossary of terms. Each of these resources was developed as a useful tool to use with Bellwork.
The word “Bellwork” is a trademarked name owned by the company and registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
"Helping educators educate children since 1982"
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