Help children learn to focus, listen, and follow directions with literacy-rich activities that build skills in phonemic awareness, oral language, vocabulary, counting, sequencing, classifiying, problem solving and more.

Essential reading for all Reception and Year One teachers, presenting a clear and practical map for effective transition to support children's emotional, social and academic development. Bestselling author Dr Alistair Bryce-Clegg presents a clear map to support children as they move from the Early Years into Key Stage 1. Helping children make the transition into Year One is a challenge. When done well it can have a significant impact on children's social, emotional and academic development, but when done badly it can set some children's development back by up to a year. Dr Bryce-Clegg is determined to help practitioners conquer this challenge. Having been involved in a number of transition projects that specifically focus on children's development throughout this period, Alistair draws upon his experience in this book. Packed full of practical ideas to help practitioners to plan for and create an effective learning environment that promotes high levels of attainment in Year One based on the effective principles of EYFS practice, this book should be in every Reception and Year One teacher's library.

"Every Minute Matters provides literacy-rich experiences to optimize classroom transition times and minimize lost instructional minutes"--

"This practical guide will help early childhood education staff make transitions fun and instructive by using them as "mini-teachings" for building language, literacy, math, creative thinking, and problem-solving skills"--Page 1.

Discover the extraordinary animals and plants found on the fantastical island of Neverbelieve in this exquisitely illustrated gift book by world-renowned artist, Norman Messenger.On setting foot on the island I was immediately spellbound. There could be nowhere else on Earth quite like this. Such trees, plants, creatures and intriguing people you would never believe. This was a place I had to explore and record... When Norman Messenger stumbled upon the Island of Neverbelieve, he couldn't quite believe his eyes: here was a world where chocolate grew on trees, mountains told stories, and fish flew in the sky at night. Here is your chance to explore the delights of the island from the Hamlet and the Flowering Meadow to the Magical Lake and the Spooky Dark Mountains.

Zach and his family go to the beach, but Zach is having a lousy day. First, he dropped his toothbrush in the toilet. Then his best friend went to someone else’s birthday party instead of joining him. But most frustrating of all, he can’t get his kite to fly! Zach kicks sand, yells angry words, and asks his dad if they can just go home. Instead, his dad teaches him a simple, three-step approach to dealing with frustration so he can find a way to enjoy himself even when things aren’t going his way: Name it (why are you frustrated?) Tame it (self-regulation exercises such as deep breathing or visualization) Reframe it (change your thoughts to change your feelings). Zach Gets Frustrated teaches children social skills they will easily understand and remember when dealing with frustration. The three-point strategy is presented as the three corners of a triangle and is illustrated using the corners of Zach’s kite. Zach Rules Series Zach struggles with social issues like getting along, handling frustrations, making mistakes, and other everyday problems typical of young kids. Each book in the Zach Rules series presents a single, simple storyline involving one such problem. As each story develops, Zach and readers learn straightforward tools for coping with their struggles and building stronger relationships now and in the future.

Incorporate writing instruction in your classroom as an essential element of literacy development while implementing best practices. Simplify the planning of writing instruction and become familiar with the Common Core State Standards of Writing.

Play is serious business. Whether it's reenacting a favorite book (comprehension and close reading), negotiating the rules for a game (speaking and listening), or collaborating over building blocks (college and career readiness and STEM), Kristi Mraz, Alison Porcelli, and Cheryl Tyler see every day how play helps students reach standards and goals in ways that in-their-seat instruction alone can't do. And not just during playtimes. "We believe there is play in work and work in play," they write. "It helps to have practical ways to carry that mindset into all aspects of the curriculum." In Purposeful Play, they share ways to: optimize and balance different types of play to deepen regular classroom learning teach into play to foster social-emotional skills and a growth mindset bring the impact of play into all your lessons across the day. "We believe that play is one type of environment where children can be rigorous in their learning," Kristi, Alison, and Cheryl write. So they provide a host of lessons, suggestions for classroom setups, helpful tools and charts, curriculum connections, teaching points, and teaching language to help you foster mature play that makes every moment in your classroom instructional. Play doesn't only happen when work is over. Children show us time and time again that play is the way they work. In Purposeful Play, you'll find research-driven methods for making play an engine for rigorous learning in your classroom.

Ever wonder what the rest of your class should be doing while you are working with a small reading group? Debbie Diller offers practical suggestions in Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work for over a dozen literacy work stations that link to classroom instruction and make preparation and management easy for teachers. Learn how to set up work stations, how to manage them, and how to keep them going throughout the year. Each chapter includes: How to introduce each station Which materials to include at which station What to model the station as How to solve problems and differentiate How to assess while keeping students accountable Reflection questions for professional development Materials in both English and Spanish are provided in the extensive resource section. Throughout the book the author has included photos of literacy workstations from a variety of classrooms in which she has worked to illustrate the methods discussed in the text. Literacy Work Stations is a go-to classroom resource that will help you keep all students engaged while you focus in on small groups.

Apply the "science" of reading to students with moderate-to-severe developmental disabilities, including autismThe Early Literacy Skills Builder program incorporates systematic instruction to teach both print and phonemic awareness. ELSB is a multi-year program with seven distinct levels and ongoing assessments so students progress at their own pace.Five years of solid research have been completed through the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, proving ELSB to be a highly effective literacy program and more effective than a sight-word only program. ELSB is based upon the principles of systematic and direct instruction. It incorporates scripted lessons, least-prompt strategies, teachable objectives, built-in lesson repetition, and ongoing assessments. The seven ELSB levels contain five structured lessons each. All students begin at Level 1. If a student struggles here, go back and administer Level A. Instruction is one-on-one or in small groups. Teach scripted lessons daily in two 30-minute sessions. On the completion of each level, formal assessments are given. ELSB includes everything you need to implement a multi-year literacy curriculum.