Teachers Can Handle It
By Patricia Broderick and Allen Raymond

Bridging School & Home
We don't know when we've seen ideas for family nights so right on target as the ones featured in Bridging School & Home Through Family Nights – Ready-To-Use Plans for Grades K-8. This 174-page must-have really has it all.

There are 13 chapters, each with a rationale, purpose, connections to national standards, the content of a specific night, grade-level appropriateness and organizing how-to information. There's a suggested agenda, a materials list and tips on how to handle families who can't participate in a specific event, plus a great glossary, resources and reproducibles. Very, very well done.

The ideas for family nights range from a Scrapbook night, a Books, Books, Books night, Meet Our Pets, Sharing Family Stories and Traditions, Meeting Famous People Through Biographies, Health and Wellness and lots more. Two classroom teachers were part of the team of writers on this project, and it shows. When they say these are ready-to-use plans, count on it. $32.95 (paperback).
Corwin Press
www.corwinpress.com

Toocool
If you haven't heard of this program, let us introduce you to it. The TooCool program basically consists of chapter books, written at a second grade level but with high interest (all the way up to middle school). Both fiction and informational text is included among the titles. We saw Set A: Meet TooCool.

The main character of these stories is TooCool, the star of many different sports adventures – most of which take place in his very active imagination. There is a strong reading/writing connection to support comprehension and higher-level thinking skills.

You'll find the program ideal to help you meet the five dimensions of literacy: comprehension, fluency, phonemic awareness, phonics and vocabulary. It also works well with reluctant or struggling readers. Because of the use of a larger font size and fewer lines of text per page, along with illustrative support and high-interest topics, you'll find these paperback books support scaffolding from guided reading to independent reading. There are also links to character education in each story.

Stories involve almost any sport you can think of from golf to surfboarding, fishing, BMX racing, basketball and on and on.

The 80-page Teacher's Guide is wire-bound and provides a skills and activities chart for each title as well as model lessons for each. The model lessons range from motivating readers through constructing meaning, activating prior knowledge, building comprehension and so on. Also in the guide are very neat blackline masters, which provide additional activities.

The complete package features 20 titles, with six copies of each title, and two teacher's guides. That package is $750 and a school purchase. However, you can buy a package that includes as few as 10 titles with one copy of each, so it's best to contact the nice folks at Pacific Learning to see what packages will work best for you. This is a very neat series.
Pacific Learning
www.pacificlearning.com

Building Fluency through Reader's Theater
There are three kits in this new offering from Teacher Created Materials: One each for Grades 1-2, Grades 3-4 and Grades 5-8. There are eight scripts at each grade level (two for Language Arts, two for Math, two for Social Studies and two for Science) with six packs of each title. Lesson plans with explicit instruction on content-area connections, suggestions for using popular children's literature to introduce the scripts and classroom management strategies are included. Implementation is easy. The frosting on the cake is the professionally recorded cd that includes original songs and poems, plus the scripts, allowing children to hear the rhythm and expression that define fluency. Among the bonus items you'll find overhead transparencies with song and poem lyrics, reproducibles and home-school connections.

As one would expect from Teacher Created Materials, the whole package is very professional. The "Tips for Performing Reader's Theater" can be used by any speaker, anytime, anywhere. We like these packages a lot.

You can buy complete kits for $299.99 plus s/h, or you can buy the scripts in six-packs for $24.99 plus s/h (for Grades 1-2), and $27.99 plus s/h (for Grades 3-4 and 5-8). Either go to the Teacher Created Materials website or call 800-858-7339 for pricing.
Teacher Created Materials
www.tcmpub.com

Jeff's Journey – from bully to buddy
This anti-bullying program is just the ticket if you're having problems… and what school doesn't now and again? The format is a radio play. There's a comprehensive teacher's guide which illustrates just how to use the cd and the worksheets.

The publisher, Didax, tells us this program is presented as a "soap opera," providing discussion opportunities for the 12 successive lessons. Topics such as empathy, peer pressure, responsibility, safety and bystander strategies are developed.

There is a 20" x 16" full-color poster for each of the episodes to start the class discussion going. The artwork is child-friendly and students will relate well to the situations depicted.

The role-playing element is well developed and pivotal for kids. There are preprinted role-play cards based on the episodes. In the final episodes we learn that the bully's story was the story of his dad. Chilling. Yet, this program can change so many lives.

Designed for middle and upper elementary students, the techniques taught are invaluable at any age from the youngest to those of us with white hair. Bravo, Didax! All packaged neatly in a three-ring binder, the price of this priceless program is a very affordable $79 plus s/h.
Didax Educational Resources
www.didax.com

The new Write Source
Isn't it nice when an old standby you love keeps all its good stuff and just streamlines and adds more good stuff? That's what Great Source Education Group did with their Write Source program.

They listened to teachers (always the best advice), and added a variety of new features to help students improve writing and learning skills across the curriculum. And they didn't forget teachers, either. They've added materials so you can help your students become better writers, thinkers and learners. For instance, the guidelines in the Teacher's Edition include ideas for differentiated instruction to help meet the needs of all kids from ESL and special needs to advanced. They've also integrated six-traits instruction in every writing unit and detailed coverage of all the key forms of writing (complete with student models).

The layout of the pages, as fans know, is very student-friendly. The new version retains all the best elements and adds student models, color-coded graphic organizers, a six-traits checklist and more. There are 10 books for K - 8 levels and four for 9-12 levels. Prices reflect hardbound and paperback choices as well as teachers' guides and other resources, so it's best to call 800-289-4490 or visit the Great Source website for customized pricing.

This has always been one of our favorite programs, but the newly revised program is really super. We know that to see it will be to love it.
Great Source Education Group
www.greatsource.com

The Inclusive Learning Center Book – For Preschool Children With Special Needs.
This book is for working with preschool children with special needs and it's a 336-page treasury. We couldn't believe that there are that many center possibilities! There's a very comprehensive introduction that covers why centers work with preschoolers, developmental issues, safety issues, evaluating the child in the center and so on.

The introduction also provides a list of the five types of centers: traditional, sociodramatic, unique, observation and evaluation and building and creating items for children with special needs. Each of these types of centers have several model centers included. There are suggested center layouts and webs of integrated learning as well as vocabulary enrichment.

The Essential Literacy Connection in each center provides great children's book suggestions.
A Nighttime Center is included and it's just the neatest thing. In a non-frightening environment the children explore materials that relate to night, deal with feelings about nighttime and develop language that is inspired by nighttime.

Suggested letters to parents or guardians are included. The authors traveled to classrooms in many states for photos, ideas, examples of best practices and so you know this book is as current and tested as can be.

It seems to us that $29.95 (plus s/h or at your local school-supply store) is a very small price to pay for this much help that will guide your classroom for years. Special needs or not, we think most children could benefit from The Inclusive Learning Center Book.
Gryphon House
www.gryphonhouse.com

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November/December 2005, Vol.36, No.3