Created by the editors of America's #1 educational bestseller, Brain Quest, the Big Fat Notebook study guide series is like getting to borrow the notebook of the best student in class! Concepts are presented in an easily digestible way with color-coded highlights for critical ideas, mnemonics for memorable shortcuts, doodles that illuminate tricky concepts and quizzes to recap it all.

Now introducing Everything You Need to Ace Computer Science and Coding, the next critical STEM companion to help middle schoolers ace computer science. Available on Amazon, this Big Fat Notebook is for every student who is either taking computer science in school, interested in the subject or is a passionate code warrior. It's the perfect aid for students, parents, and teachers.

Readers will explore the key concepts of coding and computer science, including:

• How websites are designed and created
• Software engineering
• How to read, write, and use Scratch, Python, HTML, and CSS
• And so much more!

I have many students in my classes who are interested in coding and computer science. I have been buying fictional novels for my classroom library for years, and new titles like Girls Who Code and Girl Code: Gaming, Going Viral, and Getting It Done are titles that are making their way for females in the engineering space. This nonfiction workbook, Everything You Need to Ace Computer Science and Coding in One Big Fat Notebook, is going to be so helpful to students who are interested in learning how to code and improve on their current knowledge. With 8 full units, students can learn about computing systems, data and analysis, software engineering, algorithms and programming, universal programming principles, programming with Scratch, programming in Python, and web development. This is a book I wish I had back in my MySpace days, when I would learn to code using HTML to play music (before that was normal) and add pictures. I didn't even realize I knew how to code until I learned more about computer science in high school! There is such a demand for computer science and coding in the workplace, and this notebook would be beneficial for any student who would like to learn more.

After purchasing and using the Big Fat Notebook for my ELA classes, I was interested to learn more about the other subjects. I like to work with my colleagues in cross-curricular and integration activities, and I could always brush up on my middle grade skills to help my students if needed. Just this week, I am working with my colleague who teaches Science to do a cross-curricular project in 7th grade. Students are working to create their own post-apocalyptic world with realistic energy source, loosely based off the novel The City of Ember which we are currently studying. Unit 4 in the Science notebook is all about energy, which is helpful to me, as I am on the literature side of the project.

These workbooks are helpful for students, but also for educators, to use in the classroom, and home for distance learning. When I was packing belongings to bring to work from home, one of the first books I put in my teacher bag was my English Language Arts notebook. This book is broken into 5 units, including grammar, language, reading fiction, reading nonfiction, and writing. Since we use all of these skills in ELA, it is helpful to remind myself of the important pieces of each unit when creating new activities for my students to complete.

This post has been sponsored by Workman Publishing, but all opinions are mine alone.