Talks Online – Summer 2006
By Patricia Broderick and Allen Raymond

August gets so busy, we thought you might appreciate hearing about some great new items before the hurly-burly of the opening of school.

CenterStage® Literacy (K-2)
Modeled after CenterStage Math and CenterStage Science, CenterStage Literacy is a winner.
We saw the Phonological Awareness Center (Kindergarten) and you're going to love it. The kit consists of a ton of stuff: there are 24 literacy center Activity Cards – a total of 120 activities per grade level, big books, little books, audiotapes and cds, games, posters, stuffed toys and puppets, word and phrase pocket-chart cards, game boards, card packs, sentence strips, Reading Rods ™ Skill Kits and Student Activity Books, Alphabet Letter Stamps, VersaTiles® Activity Books and Answer Cases, blackline masters, sequencing clips, counters, spinners, flannel pieces for retelling stories and other manipulatives. Of course, there are good Teacher's Notes that provide detailed support, including materials lists, advanced preparation, mini-lessons, teaching tips, extensions and the research base for all 120 activities.

If all this sounds overwhelming, know that you can rely on the Teacher's Notes for every activity. There are suggestions for the number of people who can participate, what materials you'll need (although most are provided in the module), what advance preparation you'll need and so on.

There are Action Icons on the activity cards to remind children what they are to do in each step of the activity as well as Materials Icons to remind them with what items they'll be working.

The CenterStage Literacy Storage Case has a built-in four-row Pocket Chart on the reverse of the cover flap. ETA/Cuisenaire has thought of everything.

We'll take you through one activity to give you a feel for this kit. Eeny Meeny Miney Mouse, an activity for two to four children, is structured to develop the concept of word awareness. The materials in the kit are the Eeny Meeny Miney Mouse Big Book and Little Books, the audiocassette, flannel pieces (mouse, shoe, hole, cookie crumbs, cheese – for lunch – phone, cat) and a mystery bag. The steps in the activity are explained and demonstrated both by the teacher and children.

Then, the suggested routine when introducing an activity is used. "I do it (explaining and modeling); we do it together (shared and guided); you do it (in a small group, with a partner, or independently)." Specific suggestions follow on the use of the various materials in the kit.

The Phonological Awareness Pocket Chart Picture Cards use the same cards as were prepared for Reading Rods and work beautifully with the Rods that are included in the kit. The books that accompany some of the VersaTiles "Beginning and Ending Sounds" and "Vowel Sounds and Rhyming Words" with its matching picture technique are part of the kit.

Our favorite item has to be the five flannel board stories called Story Roll-Ups ™; a teaching technique as old as the hills, but probably one of the most effective ones for early childhood. You'll find flannel cutouts for "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe," "Hickory, Dickory Dock," "Ben's Bath," "Fred Told Me" and "Eeny Meeny Miney Mouse." Hand puppets of the mouse and the lamb are also included.

The "Poems to Perform" Poetry cards present "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe," "The Alphabet Song," "The Bottom of the Sea," "Hickory, Dickory, Dock," "Fuzzy, Wuzzy" and "Pussycat, Pussycat."

We hope we've whetted your appetite for this kit. There are so many parts that we can't describe them all in detail but which will provide endless learning opportunities or, as the publisher phrases it, "'just right' learning opportunities to insure success for your students day after day."

The author of these kits is Miriam Trehearne, author of the Comprehensive Literacy programs. $275 plus s/h.
ETA Cuisenaire
www.etacuisenaire.com

Playing with language
Irene Smalls has a new book that's a companion to last year's My Nana and Me. The title is My Pop Pop and Me (both published by Little, Brown and Company), and it's just delightful. Irene plays with language throughout both books and they're great for kids' first formal exposure to the sounds of the alphabet.

Lovely memories are illustrated on every page and will provide many discussion-starters for your new class. Each book is $15.99 at your local bookstore.
Little, Brown and Company
www.lb-kids.com

For Gifted Middle Schoolers
At the International Reading Association Conference in May, we saw Forensic Science for High School at the Kendall/Hunt display. In talking with one of their editors, we learned that teachers of the gifted at middle school levels were interested in these titles.

This is a textbook program with a teacher's edition; however the lab and testing approaches would work well as lifetime skills. Forensic science has gained great popularity because of media coverage of trials, books, movies and TV shows. Forensic science is multidisciplinary and includes, besides the sciences, mathematics and statistics, sociology, psychology, communications language arts and the law.

We were fascinated with the range of topics covered and the depth of learning available in this book.

When thinking about the new year you might want to think of forensic science for independent study for your gifted kids. The K-12 section of the Kendall/Hunt website provides much to think about.
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
www.kendallhunt.com

ADD or ADHD
Free Spirit Publishing has come out with a neat new book entitled The Survival Guide for Kids with ADD or ADHD.This book is about as plain-speaking as you can get.

The book is specific as to what a kid with this type disorder can do in the various situations which seem to cause problems. The author, Dr. John Taylor, takes a very positive approach, explaining the intricacies of the many ADD, ADHD problems to the reader. Then, Dr. Taylor talks about medication and diet, and provides ideas for getting along at home as well as at school. He even simplifies a version of Gardner's seven ways to be smart, so the reader begins to feel better about him or herself.

Reproducible pages let each reader take quizzes, learn from them, and chart progress. The layout of each page is user friendly, and the compact size of the book makes it all seem doable.

Free Spirit Publishing does ground-breaking work in the areas of affective development and specific disabilities and this book can take its place alongside the best. This is written for eight-to- 12-year-olds and is just $13.95 plus s/h.
free spirit Publishing
www.freespirit.com

Fiskars®
This company always provides just the best tools for the classroom. Their new Special Edition for Kids Softgrip® Scissors are terrific. They're just what they say: the Softgrip is great for little hands, there's a safety edge (various tips are available), and the ones we saw are for ages five and up.

The studente will love these – the handles are dual-colored and includeflame-inspired and surf-inspired color patterns. There's a bonus blade cap that features a handy eraser tip providing safe storage and smudge-free erasing.

The Total Control Scissors carry an extra loop, allowing small fingers to find proper finger placement on the handle. With fingers in position, kids have the stability and control to start cutting successfully right away. There's a handy guide on the back of the scissor package giving suggested handle sizes according to size (or grades, e.g. "S for Kids, M for Big Kids, L for Student"). These sizes are correlated with blade sharpness grading numerals as well.

Hurry, though; these scissors are available ONLY between May through August. Whether for your class, your own children, or those children we all "adopt," now's the time to start them with scissors you can trust.
Fiskars
www.fiskars.com

Quizmo™
This #1 educational bingsoseries has a new entry: B.E.E....on TIME QUIZMO™. This game develops skills in calculating beginning, ending and elapsed times. There are 40 double-sided game-boards at four levels of difficulty providing practice in reading and comparing analog and digital time notations.

The 70 double-sided calling cards feature 35 word problems at each level. The game can accommodate up to 20 players in grades two through five.
World Class Learning Materials, Inc.
www.wclm.com

Key Education
Sherrie Flora has done it again. This publisher has developed a super line for beginning (very beginning, like pre-mergent) readers. The products range from letter (upper and lower case) formation cards to photographic lacing cards that teach colors and shapes. There are also Listening Lotto games to develop listening skills with Sounds at Home, Sounds at the Farm and Outside Sounds.

The letter formation cards are textured with each letter having a slightly raised surface, which makes them ideal for tracing.. There are green and red dots at starting and stopping points and numbered directional arrows to guide little hands. Really well done. $14.99 plus s/h.

We received a preK-1 book, Learning ABC's Through Literature and Rhymes. This 160-pager includes games, activities, patterns, rhymes and stories to make learning the alphabet fun. The activities encompass over 40 children's books and 75 songs and rhymes. We can think of no better (self) gift than this book. Whether one is a new teacher or an experienced teacher facing a new year, this one can lighten your load considerably. $15.99 plus s/h.

There are other neat products from Key Education. Contact Sherrie at 952-358-3227 or at sherrie@keyeducationpubishing.com for a catalog.
Key Education
952-358-3227