Learning Palette ® [K-5]

Learning Palette comes from the same folks who produce the Learning Wrap-ups. The Palette system looks and operates quite differently than Wrap-ups but it shares a number of features and strategies.

Like Wrap-ups, the Learning Palettes are designed primarily for drill and practice in a visual/hands-on format. Older students can work completely independently, and the system has a visual self-checking feature so students can immediately tell if they are correct or not.

The Learning Palette has a single base unit that is used with interchangeable cards. Students use the colored disks and rings to mark their answers--no writing! (See bottom right illustration.) Once they have placed all 12 disks and rings, they flip the card to see if the disks and rings match up correctly as in the illustration at the top right.

Cards for the Learning Palette address math and reading and are sold either in sets or in larger kits. Each set has 12 different cards, with 12 items per card. There are a number of sets for each grade level covering K through 5 for math and K through 3 for reading. For example, for kindergarten reading there are five sets: Alphabet, Beginning Consonant Sounds, Rhyming Words, Beginning Vocabulary, and Vowels. For fifth grade math there are six sets: Advanced Whole Numbers, Advanced Fractions, Advanced Decimals and Percents, Algebra Concepts, Geometry and Measurement, and Probability and Statistics.

You can purchase the base unit plus whichever individual sets you want or you can purchase kits that have two or more base units plus a group of sets depending upon which subject and grade level you choose.

A heavy, clear plastic cover encloses the base unit when not in use. It is kept in place by the same screw top that is used to hold cards in place while students work. This means that it takes a minute to open and set it up for use. The base unit will hold one set of cards at a time.

There are certainly a number of computer programs and electronic devices that drill children in a similar fashion, but I think many families might appreciate having colorful and interesting tools that don't require electricity, batteries, or screens.

Review posted July 2009.