Beck and Nick get ready for their big soccer game. Will they win? This book focuses on the final consonant digraph -ck.

Tom and his dad are kicking the ball in the yard when it goes over the fence.

This book is part of the Sunshine Phonics program and is a decodable text. The program teaches children phonics skills in a sequential and systematic way so that they can learn the sounds (phonemes) and the letters that represent them (Graphemes) and then practice and apply this knowledge through reading a text that makes sense. This ensures that every beginning reader will experience success in their reading from their very first book!. Before reading each book, children should practice saying the sounds that they will use and practice blending the sounds to say the words they will meet in the book. These words are mostly CVC words but also include some decodable high-frequency words (VC, CV and VCC words). At the end of the story children should re-visit these words to see how quickly they can read them. Some high-frequency words that are not easy to decode at this level are included and are called tricky words. These words will need to be learnt by sight at this stage.

When the Mighty Giants soccer team needs a last-minute substitute player, they ask a very large bear named Biggie, but they soon learn that being big and being good at soccer are not the same thing.

The author of more than twenty books and a revered contributor to numerous national publications, Charles Bowden (1945–2014) used his keen storyteller’s eye to reveal both the dark underbelly and the glorious determination of humanity, particularly in the borderlands between the United States and Mexico. In America’s Most Alarming Writer, key figures in his life—including his editors, collaborators, and other writers—deliver a literary wake for the man who inspired them throughout his forty-year career. Part revelation, part critical assessment, the fifty essays in this collection span the decades from Bowden’s rise as an investigative journalist through his years as a singular voice of unflinching honesty about natural history, climate change, globalization, drugs, and violence. As the Chicago Tribune noted, “Bowden wrote with the intensity of Joan Didion, the voracious hunger of Henry Miller, the feral intelligence and irony of Hunter Thompson, and the wit and outrage of Edward Abbey.” An evocative complement to The Charles Bowden Reader, the essays and photographs in this homage brilliantly capture the spirit of a great writer with a quintessentially American vision. Bowden is the best writer you’ve (n)ever read.

Bobo cannot have all the fun he wants by himself. Read how Bobo spends his afternoon playing with his friends next door. And learn how they team up to solve a little problem.

Do people ask you, 'What did you do at school today?' What do you say? The boy in this story told his mother about how he kicked his new ball. It was an amazing kick! Where do you think the ball went when he kicked it hard? Reading Level 16/F&P Level J

Is there too much emphasis on guided reading in primary classrooms? It's a question that many educators, like kindergarten teacher and literacy coach Cathy Mere, are starting to ask. Guided reading provides opportunities to teach students the strategies they need to learn how to read increasingly challenging texts, but Cathy found that she needed to find other ways to help students gain independence. While maintaining guided reading as an important piece of their reading program, teachers need to offer students opportunities during the day to develop as readers, to learn to choose books, to find favorite genres and authors, and to talk about their reading. In More Than Guided Reading, Cathy shares her journey as she moved from focusing on guided reading as the center of her reading program to placing children at the heart of literacy learning--not only providing more time for students to discover their reading lives, but also shaping instruction to meet the needs of the diverse learners in her classroom. By changing the structure of the day, Cathy found she was better able to adjust the support she was providing students, allowing time for whole-class focus lessons, conferences, and opportunities to share ideas, as well as reading from self-selected texts using the strategies, skills, and understandings acquired in reader's workshop. The focus lesson is the centerpiece of the workshop. It is often tied to a read-aloud and connected to learning from the previous day, helping to build skills, extend thinking, and develop independence over time. This thoroughly practical text offers numerous sample lessons, questions for conferences, and ideas for revamping guided reading groups. It will help teachers tweak the mix of instructional components in their reading workshops, and provoke school-wide conversations about the place of guided reading in a complete literacy curriculum.

"THIS IS WHERE WE BELONG - IN THE BIG TIME!" Andrew and Chris Weston have both been invited to attend a special summer coaching course at one of the country's top football clubs. The brothers are determined to give it their best shot, hoping to impress United's scouts. Another bonus is the chance to be ball boys at a World Cup qualifying match between England and Holland. But the big event turns out to be even more explosive than anyone could ever have guessed...!

The PM Teacher's Guides offer invaluable support and guidance to help you gain the maximum benefit from each of the Story Books, Non-fiction Books and Traditional Tales and Plays.