New Publishers
There are several publishers that I order teacher idea books from.
Fearon Teacher Aids - This company is an old standby that teachers have used for ages. Their stuff is very practical and is teacher/classroom friendly.
Teacher Ideas Press - This company is also an old standby. They are a division of Libraries Unlimited. Anything they put out is of a practical nature and very teacher/classroom friendly.
Human Kenetics - This publisher specializes in Physical Education materials, and does everything from heavy duty research tomes to practical lesson plans, activities, and ideas. This publisher has recently been picked up by Blackwell and so their materials should be easy to find.
Learning Resources - These guys do stuff for math manipulatives. Their materials are highly colored and glossy type books. I don't know about the quality of their materials, but materials from this company have a good circulation rate in my collection.
Scholastic - Yes, they are textbook publishers, but they also produce and sell lots of idea books. They have a section in their catalog called curriculum development materials that has lots of teacher idea books. They also have fairly descent prices for these materials.
Highsmith and Brodart are also publishing lots of teacher idea books. Their materials are very teacher/classroom friendly, and they are also fairly priced.
GEMS - This is a series of integrated Math and Science units produced and published by The Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkely. These units are great and they cost between $10 and $13 per unit. Teachers like these because they are loaded with hands-on activities.
There is a publisher that specializes in Drama and other Fine Arts materials. They titles that fall into the teacher idea category and they are carried by Blackwell's, but I can't remember the name of this publisher. If anybody else can remember it let me and the rest of this list know.
Every year I order lots of teacher idea books from Teacher's Discovery. (1- 800-832-2437) This company handles all kinds of curriculum materials except textbooks. The catalogs are divided by subject so when you call and ask for the catalog ask that catalogs for all subjects be sent to you. There are many many titles of teacher idea books in this companies catalogs covering topics that I get requests for all the time.
NASCO (1-800-558-9595) is another of the companies from which I order regularly. Again they have catalogs divided by subject so ask for all the subjects when you call.
Dale Seymour (1-800-321-3106) These guys have great stuff including books. They specialize in books for math and science manipulitves, but they have branched out into other areas. If you have math and science manipulitives you will need the books produced and distributed by this company.
Cuisenaire - (1-800-445-5985) this company has been doing math manipulitives for ages, and they also produce teacher idea books to go with the stuff. In general these books have been very well received by my student teachers and the faculty.
Lakeshore - (1-800-421-5354) This company also sells curriculum materials of all kinds. Their catalogs are divided by grade and by subject so ask for all the catalogs.
Submitted by:
Benita Strnad
Curriculum Materials/Reference Librarian
McLure Education Library
The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama