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Books in Barron's Painless Series series

  • Painless Math Word Problems

    Marcie Abramson Ed.M.

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, March 1, 2010)
    This revised title helps middle school and high school students see patterns in math word problems, and then make the correct computations to solve them. In the process, they work with decimals and fractions, compare rates, and work with proportions and percents. The author presents everyday real-world examples which use problem-solving strategies that align with those of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The examples are presented in easy to understand language and formats that help guide students through problems in statistics, probability, and even a few fundamentals of algebra. Problems are presented in short-answer and open-response form to match those in many state assessment tests. Titles in Barron's Painless Series are textbook supplements especially designed to remove the painful aspects of classroom instruction and transform learning into fun.
  • Painless English for Speakers of Other Languages

    Jeffrey Strausser, Jose Paniza

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, Feb. 1, 2007)
    This book will be of special value to middle school students and high school students growing up in families where English is not the first language. Like other titles in Barron's Painless series, the approach to learning is informal and user-friendly. The authors take students step by step through all parts of speech--nouns, pronouns, verbs, modifiers, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Next they offer advice for improving vocabulary, spelling, and American English pronunciation, emphasizing the importance of active listening, and learning vowel sounds and R sounds, and recognizing silent letters and homophones. The book's final three chapters concentrate on written English, advancing from correct punctuation and sentence structure to writing essays and stories. The book's gradual, step-by-step approach makes the mastery of English a truly painless process for students whose first language is other than English.
  • Painless Grammar

    Rebecca Elliott Ph.D.

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, Aug. 1, 2006)
    This very approachable text combines instruction in parts of speech and sentence structure with down-to-earth examples, funny illustrations, and examination of some of the more amusing and peculiar words in the English language. A chapter on clear e-mail communication and etiquette is brand new in this edition, as are many of the author's challenging "Brain Ticklers." Her helpful chapter on how to edit a school paper has also been heavily revised and updated. Barron's popular Painless Series of study guides for middle school and high school students offer a lighthearted, often humorous approach to their subjects, transforming details that might once have seemed boring or difficult into a series of interesting and mentally challenging ideas. Most titles in the series feature many fun-to-solve "Brain Tickler" problems with answers at the end of each chapter.
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  • Painless American History

    Curt Lader

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, Oct. 1, 1999)
    Author, Curt Lader, has transformed the facts, figures and dates of American History into a lively and fascinating narrative. The full span of American history is covered, starting with Columbus's landing, then proceeding to colonization, the Revolutionary War against England, the formation of a new government, American growth and expansion during the nineteenth century, and emergence as a major world power in the present century.
  • Painless Fractions

    Alyece Cummings

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, Aug. 1, 2006)
    Taking a light-hearted approach to numbers and their parts, the author, shows how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions, demonstrates how to convert them into decimals and percentages, and presents puzzles and "brain ticklers" that students will enjoy solving. Barron's popular Painless Series of study guides for middle school and high school students offer a lighthearted, often humorous approach to their subjects, transforming details that might once have seemed boring or difficult into a series of interesting and mentally challenging ideas. Most titles in the series feature many fun-to-solve "Brain Tickler" problems with answers at the end of each chapter.
  • Painless Spelling

    Mary Elizabeth M.Ed.

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, Aug. 1, 2006)
    The author points out ways in which recognizing sound and letter patterns makes spelling easier. Also important are recognition of diphthongs, silent letters, compound and abbreviated words, contractions, homophones, homographs, prefixes, suffixes, and base words. "Brain tickler" problems challenge students' imaginations and test their learning progress. Barron's popular Painless Series of study guides for middle school and high school students offer a lighthearted, often humorous approach to their subjects, transforming details that might once have seemed boring or difficult into a series of interesting and mentally challenging ideas. Most titles in the series feature many fun-to-solve "Brain Tickler" problems with answers at the end of each chapter.
  • Painless Geometry

    Lynette Long

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, July 1, 2001)
    Titles in Barron's Painless Series are textbook supplements designed especially for classroom use by middle school and high school students. The approach of each title is an appeal to students who think that the subject is boring, or too difficult, or both. The authors, all experienced educators, take a light approach, showing kids what is most interesting about each subject, and how seemingly difficult problems can be transformed into fun quizzes, brain-ticklers, and challenging puzzles with rational solutions. Geometry becomes painless--and even fun--once students learn the subject's basic components and see how solving any geometric problem is fitting parts together to solve an intriguing puzzle. They learn the meaning of postulates and theorems, discover angles of all kinds, find the relationships that exist between parallel and perpendicular lines, and discover the characteristics of shapes such as triangles, quadrilaterals, and circles. The author introduces real-world geometry experiments to make concepts less abstract, offers study strategies, and demonstrates how mini-proofs are the first step toward understanding formal geometry proofs.
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  • Painless Spelling

    Mary Elizabeth

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, Aug. 1, 2011)
    Titles in Barron's extensive Painless Series cover a wide range of subjects as they are taught on middle school and high school levels. These books are written for students who find the subjects unusually difficult and confusing--or in many cases, just plain boring. Barron's Painless Series authors' main goal is to clear up students' confusion and perk up their interest by emphasizing the intriguing and often exciting ways in which they can put each subject to practical use. Most of these books take a light-hearted approach to their subjects, often employing humor, and always presenting fun-learning exercises that include puzzles, games, and challenging "Brain Tickler" problems to solve. American English sound and letter patterns, homophones, prefixes and suffixes, and more are all presented with fun-to-solve "Brain Ticklers" to self-test students' learning progress. ATTENTION STUDENTS: You get a special FREE bonus when you purchase your copy of Barron's Painless Spelling Barron's is taking Painless to the next level: FUN! Sealed inside your copy of Painless Spelling, you'll find a code that gives you access to a FREE app. Simply key in that code on your iPhone, iTouch, iPad or Android device, and you download a fun-to-play improve-your-spelling arcade game challenge that will reinforce your skill in mastering correct spelling!
  • Painless French

    Carol Chaitkin M.S., Lynn Gore M.A.

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, May 1, 2012)
    The authors transform learning French vocabulary and grammar into an excursion into the rich culture of France and the French-speaking world, with special sections on history, literature, and shared expressions in English. Titles in Barron's extensive Painless Series cover most subjects taught on middle school and high school levels, and are written for students who find the subjects unusually difficult and confusing--or in some cases, just plain boring. Painless Series authors, all of them experienced educators, are experts at clearing up aspects of their subjects that students are likely to find confusing. These books also perk up students' interest by emphasizing the attention-catching ways in which the subjects can be put to practical use. Most Painless Series titles take a light-hearted approach to their subjects, and all of them present fun-to-solve challenges with puzzles, games, and "Brain Tickler" problems. Although Painless Series titles are written primarily for middle school and high school students, older students and adults who need to refresh their skills will also find these books extremely helpful. NEW BONUS FEATUREPrinted inside every copy of Painless French is a code that gives kids FREE access to a subject-related app. This book's app is an arcade game themed to help students improve their command of French. It can be downloaded on any iPhone, iTouch, iPad, or Android device.
  • Painless American Government

    Jeffrey Strausser

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, Feb. 1, 2004)
    Titles in Barron's Painless series are designed for middle school and high school students, helping them excel in subjects they might expect to be either hopelessly boring or excruciatingly difficult. The authors are all experienced teachers, adept at winning the hearts and minds of adolescents, and skillful in adding a light, humorous touch to even the heaviest and grimmest topics. This book opens with a general description of government and a comparison of democracy as practiced by the founding fathers and how it operates in today's America. The author goes on to discuss the Constitution as our basis of government, civil liberties and civil rights, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government, elections and political parties, how public policy is created and shaped, and how each citizen can become involved in the process of self-government. The book includes quizzes with answer keys.
  • Painless Math Word Problems

    Marcie Abramson B.S. Ed.M.

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, Sept. 1, 2001)
    Titles in Barron's Painless Series are textbook supplements designed especially for classroom use by middle school and high school students. The approach of each title is an appeal to students who think that the subject is boring, or too difficult, or both. The authors, all experienced educators, take a light approach, showing kids what is most interesting about each subject, and how seemingly difficult problems can be transformed into fun quizzes, brain-ticklers, and challenging puzzles with rational solutions. In this volume, students learn to see patterns in math word problems, then compute with decimals, fractions, compare rates, and solve proportions. Then using everyday, real-world examples, they explore statistics and probabilities, and learn how math can actually predict future outcomes and events. Other areas of practical math are examined, with a final chapter that searches out problems and activities that can be found on the World Wide Web.
  • Painless Speaking

    Mary Elizabeth

    Paperback (Barron's Educational Series, Jan. 1, 2003)
    Designed for use in middle school and high school classrooms, as well as at home, books in this series transform subjects that are normally dreaded by many students. Painless books take light-hearted approaches to their subjects, while addressing topics that classroom texts never get to. Painless Speaking explores the uniquely human act of oral communication, including elements in our culture that shape the way we speak. It explores finding one's voice, understanding the basic unit of speech communication (an utterance), learning the art of conversation, reading aloud from fiction and nonfiction texts, and instruction in public speaking, which entails composing, practicing, and delivering a speech. Students will find guidelines for self-evaluation of a public speech.