Star Wars fans (and even non-fans) are going to be facing an onslaught of May the 4th posts today. It’s inevitable. But Star Wars has become such a significant part of our culture that May-the-4th-overload is easy to forgive. While I’m looking forward to reading numerous new debates as well as rehashes of old ones, I’m also planning on sitting down with my two sons and enjoying a few hours together watching Episode IV. I saw the movie at age 8, and it had a profound impact on me. I read everything I could get my hands on about Star Wars, and I began building with LEGO and Erector Set pieces to construct my own R2-D2. It’s safe to say that Star Wars had a significant effect on studies and my growing interests.
My grades were always fairly decent, but I can only imagine how strong my reading and math skills might have been if I’d had access to the new Star Wars workbooks from Workman Publishing. Covering Pre-K all the way up to 4th grade, there are over a dozen workbooks available for kids to learn new skills and subjects… or keep existing ones fresh in their minds over the summer.
My youngest (age 7, almost 8) loves Star Wars, and he’s quite smart. His math and reading skills are exceptional, and it’s all I can do to try and find ways to encourage him to read more and maybe dive deeper into new subjects. I really wasn’t surprised to see his positive reaction when I pulled out two of the Star Wars workbooks for him to examine and try out—mix Star Wars and any school topic and I imagine it would be a hit with this kid. (And many other kids!)
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From the workbooks’ website, for those of you wonder about Common Core:
Covering Pre-K through 4th grade, these interactive workbooks dig deep into core subjects, including numbers, ABCs, phonics, and reading readiness for younger grades, and math, reading, and writing for the older ones. The material aligns with national Common Core State Standards and is designed to reinforce essential concepts and lessons taught in schools.
The workbooks contain worksheets with colorful imagery of so many of the popular characters from the numerous films (all three trilogies minus Episode IX, of course), and the assignments given in the workbook integrate Star Wars locales, vehicles, enemies, droids, and much more in the exercises. 
For example, in the 3rd Grade Math book, one multiplication example uses X-Wing squadrons—a 4×9 formation can be broken down into two smaller groups of 4×4 and 4×5—the page demonstrates how to break a larger multiplication problem into smaller ones. It’s well done!
The 4th Grade Reading and Writing book is filled with Star Wars-themed paragraphs and essays that are joined by Q&A pages on a mix of subjects such as similes, compound sentences, roots and suffixes, diagrams, commas, and much more. (To be honest, a LOT of adults could benefit from working through this book!)
Each workbook features a different Star Wars hero or villain on the cover, a nameplate inside for the student to write their name, and then 80+ pages of worksheets. In the back are the answers displayed on full-color images of their respective pages.
You can find more information on all sixteen current titles on the workbooks’ webpage here.
Click on a workbook’s cover to get more details about age, grade, page count, and more info.
Note: I’d like to thank Workman Publishing for providing review copies for my son. He’s going into 3rd grade and has already requested the 3rd Grade Reading and Writing book. That made my day. May the 4th be with you!
