Back to School: Top 10 Resources for 7-9 year olds

Posted on 27 August 2015

Here are the resources topping our list of back-to-school must-haves for 7 to 9 year olds. These colourful books are full of top tips, fun facts and activities that will make it easy for your child to master essential skills.

Best for English Skills

Oxford Children’s Colour Dictionary

Colour pics, homework help and writing tips from massive authors. So much more to love. Forget ordinary dictionaries. Get the one that gives you more. It’s packed with words to look up, obviously. But it also has far more. Like: specially created Top Writing Tips from authors like Charlie Higson, Andy Stanton, Jeremy Strong and Jacqueline Wilson. (If they can’t show you how to write, who can?) Plus colour pictures, homework help, and a whole section on grammar, punctuation and spelling. (Great if you’re sitting that test.)

Scholastic Spelling Cards

All the words you need to spell in Years 3 and 4. Plus fun and games. Spelling tests sorted. Listen up: spelling is one of the top things you need to know for the new school curriculum. It’s true. For the first time, you’re going to be tested on a set list of words. But don’t panic: here’s a great way to stay on top of things. These spelling games help you learn all the set words you need to know in Years 3 and 4. Test your skills against your friends and family. (You can even compete in rival teams.) Can you win each time?

Scholastic English Skills: Grammar and Punctuation Workbooks

Are you a wise owl? Then you’ll know grammar matters. Firstly, it helps you write well. But it’s also essential for school. Grammar and punctuation are back on the school curriculum in a big way. But don’t get in a flap. Our new workbooks tidy up your skills in a fuss-free way. No sweat. No mistakes. All the basics made easy in fun activities matched to the new school requirements. Get all those pesky rules straight. One for every age group.

Scholastic English Skills: Grammar and Punctuation Workbooks

Are you a wise owl? Then you’ll know handwriting matters. For a start, good handwriting looks great. Secondly, it’s much easier to read. Plus, it’s essential for the English curriculum at school. But don’t get in a flap. Our new workbooks help you perfect your handwriting in a fuss-free way. No sweat. No struggles. Quick writing practice in fun activities matched to the new school requirements.

Star Wars Workbooks: Writing Skills

What’s mightier than a lightsaber? The power of words. Put the Force into your writing. Did you know: if you can write well, you have the power to be a hero. ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’, the great writer Shakespeare said. Weapons fight wars, but words prevent or start them. Besides, you won’t get far in the Star Wars galaxy if you can’t spell ‘Tatooine’ or write a letter home from Jedi Academy. So sharpen up your skills with fun puzzles, writing activities and colour pictures of the Star Wars heroes. Choosing words, writing stories, picking endings, creating characters. Become a Jedi writing master.

Best non-fiction pack

Discover More Pack

Our flagship non-fiction series. Sensational facts, links and photos in an interactive layout: the power of the web, but in a book. Everyone loves to look stuff up online. So at Scholastic, we had the bright idea: what if we could make fact books as cool as the web? Discover More is what we came up with. Books you can browse through, surfing through pictures frame by frame, or checking out fun tidbits and extras. Dramatic colour graphics and expert facts, plus cool FREE digital companion books. And it works: you’re so into the idea that you’ve made it one of our top series!

Best for (horrible) history

Horrible Histories: Top 50 Kings and Queens

No more nice guys! Fifty rotten royals who’d make Her Majesty faint right off her throne. Think being a king or queen is all about swanky outfits and garden parties? Um – you think wrong. Very wrong. If these ruthless rulers are any guide, it’s about how many heads you can chop off! And who better to reveal their horrid deeds than the reigning king of yuck, Terry Deary? This colour hardback is basically a wall of shame for British monarchs from the past right up to the now. (Yep: horrible and homegrown.) Expect more foul facts, loathsome lists and cool cartoons than King Henry VIII had wives!

Horrible Histories Sticker Activity Book: Terrible Timeline

A three metre timeline, over 200 stickers and your chance to empty a Tudor toilet. Gross! But oh so interesting! What time is it? Time for yucky madness with Terry Deary and Martin Brown, the kings of historical bleuggh. What have they brought you this time? Well – only a seriously immense timeline packed with putrid pictures, sickening stickers and facts that’ll make you want to laugh/heave. It’s the longest ever guide to history’s rotten moments, from the savage Stone Age to the troubled today. Three metres of nasty knights, rotten Romans and savage stickers: enough to totally cover your bedroom floor!

Best for (horrible) science

Horrible Science Pack

An epic new look. A roomier layout with bigger pics. Tons of gross facts. Laugh yourself sick. Yucky bugs. Killer chemicals. Dire diseases. Horrible Science gives you all the gory bits. Brave kids love it. Squeamish kids hate it. And of course, we think it’s the best. Our chunky junior editions have all the yuck-factor in bigger pictures and shorter text. Easier to read. And easier to see the gruesome bits. Tee hee. Jokes, comic strips, daft bits: there’s nothing not to like. As long as you’ve got a strong stomach, of course.

Best for learning to code

Coding Unlocked: Scratch and Python – The Basics

Wrestling snakes? Ouch. Conquering Python and Scratch? Really easy and just as cool. Master the web and the world. Video games, tablets, smartphones. Computers dominate the now. But don’t let them rule your life. Learn to control what they do. This quick and easy guide teaches you simple digital code: the building blocks of email, Instagram and Minecraft alike. Why let adults decide what apps and sites are out there? Or surf the web when you could help create it? See what you can build with the cool projects in here. Your ideas turning real: it feels amazing.