Get Ready for School: First Grade (Revised and Updated)


Book Description

Newly revised and updated, this fun and lively fill-in workbook--packed with more than 400 teacher-approved, common core-aligned activities--is a must-have to help your rising first grader get ready for school. Help the young student in your life prepare for first grade with this friendly, colorful activity book that introduces and reinforces basic skills through entertaining puzzles, quizzes, mazes, and more. Time-tested and teacher-approved, Get Ready for School: First Grade will help your child develop a love for learning while enhancing their essential motor and problem-solving skills. Get Ready for School: First Grade offers a wide variety of curriculum-based topics that will help your child: Spell more difficult words by teaching familiarity with vowels, consonants, word families, and suffixes Recognize different types of words like nouns, proper nouns, and action words Master addition and subtraction Understand scientific concepts such as weather, life cycles, and the senses Learn to tell time and to recognize and count money Colorful workbook pages combine a sense of fun with a feeling of accomplishment, and parents will love that this binder reflects current academic standards and aligns with the Common Core. Whether it's used during summer break, for extra practice during the school year, or for at home schooling, Get Ready for School: First Grade is the perfect study aid for every young learner.




Fox


Book Description

Dog and Magpie are friends, but when Fox comes into the bush, everything changes. This breathtaking story has won acclaim around the world: CBCA Picture Book of the Year; two Premiers' literary awards; honours in Germany, Brazil, Japan; a shortlisting for the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in the UK, and more. 'A publishing landmark.' Magpies 'Magnificent.' Reading Time 'a stunning book' Australian Bookseller and Publisher 'The images from this unsettling, provocative story will resonate long after the book has been closed.' Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) 'A strongly atmospheric psycho-fable--visually striking--an open-ended discussion starter.' Kirkus Reviews 'Fox is an archetypal drama about friendship, loyalty, risk and betrayal - a story that is as rich for adults as for older children.' Los Angeles Times




Teach Smarter


Book Description

Discover new, practical methods for teaching literacy skills in your early childhood classroom. Has teaching early literacy skills become a stumbling block to getting your preschool students kindergarten ready? Break out of the tired “letter of the week” routine and learn how to transform your lessons with fun and effective techniques. Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers will equip teachers to infuse every aspect of their teaching with exciting hands-on literacy teaching methods that engage students and help them build authentic connections with books, so that 100% of their students will have a strong literacy foundation and will be fully prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond. Respected author Vanessa Levin, veteran early childhood educator and author of the “Pre-K Pages” blog, breaks down the research and translates it into realistic, actionable steps you can take to improve your teaching. Features specific examples of teaching techniques and activities that engage students in hands-on, experiential learning during circle time, centers, and small groups. Offers a simple, four-step system for teaching literacy skills, based on the foundational principles of early literacy teaching Demonstrates how to build your confidence in your ability to get 100% of your students ready for kindergarten, long before the end of the school year Understand the problems with traditional literacy teaching and identify gaps in your current teaching practice with this valuable resource.




Write No Matter What


Book Description

Writing in academe. Letting go of the dream ; Demystifying academic writing ; Craftsman attitude -- Using tools that work. Three taming techniques ; Securing time ; Securing space ; Securing energy -- Challenging writing myths. Draining the drama ; Demons in for tea ; The magnum opus myth ; The impostor syndrome ; The cleared-deck fantasy ; The hostile reader fear ; Compared with X ; The perfect first sentence ; One more source -- Maintaining momentum. Follow the lilt ; Beginnings and endings ; Finding the lost trail ; Effective feedback ; Handling revisions and rejections ; Working with stalls ; Relinquishing toxic projects ; Back-burner projects ; Breaks, summers, and sabbaticals -- Building writing support. Overcoming isolation ; Creating faculty writing groups ; Building campus writing support.




No Plot? No Problem!


Book Description

Chris Baty, motivator extraordinaire and instigator of a wildly successful writing revolution, spells out the secrets of writing—and finishing—a novel. Every fall, thousands of people sign up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which Baty founded, determined to (a) write that novel or (b) finish that novel in—kid you not—30 days. Now Baty puts pen to paper himself to share the secrets of success. With week-specific overviews, pep "talks," and essential survival tips for today's word warriors, this results-oriented, quick-fix strategy is perfect for people who want to nurture their inner artist and then hit print! Anecdotes and success stories from NaNoWriMo winners will inspire writers from the heralding you-can-do-it trumpet blasts of day one to the champagne toasts of day thirty. Whether it's a resource for those taking part in the official NaNo WriMo event, or a stand-alone handbook for writing to come, No Plot? No Problem! is the ultimate guide for would-be writers (or those with writer's block) to cultivate their creative selves.




Writing Irresistible Kidlit


Book Description

Captivate the hearts and minds of young adult readers! Writing for young adult (YA) and middle grade (MG) audiences isn't just "kid's stuff" anymore--it's kidlit! The YA and MG book markets are healthier and more robust than ever, and that means the competition is fiercer, too. In Writing Irresistible Kidlit, literary agent Mary Kole shares her expertise on writing novels for young adult and middle grade readers and teaches you how to: • Recognize the differences between middle grade and young adult audiences and how it impacts your writing. • Tailor your manuscript's tone, length, and content to your readership. • Avoid common mistakes and cliches that are prevalent in YA and MG fiction, in respect to characters, story ideas, plot structure and more. • Develop themes and ideas in your novel that will strike emotional chords. Mary Kole's candid commentary and insightful observations, as well as a collection of book excerpts and personal insights from bestselling authors and editors who specialize in the children's book market, are invaluable tools for your kidlit career. If you want the skills, techniques, and know-how you need to craft memorable stories for teens and tweens, Writing Irresistible Kidlit can give them to you.




The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children


Book Description

Create Unforgettable Stories for Kids! You dream of writing stories that children respond to–the kind they come back to again and again. Nancy Lamb can help you achieve that dream. She mixes insightful advice for mastering storytelling with dozens of examples that illustrate a variety of plot-building techniques. Nancy's instruction covers everything from format and content to setting and characterization. She also draws from a range of children's classics, including Where the Wild Things Are, Charlotte's Web and Bridge to Tarabithia to explore and illuminate the unique nature of children's literature. Nancy also shares writing tips and tricks accumulated through years of successful storytelling–invaluable advice for crafting fiction that resonates with children of all ages, from 4 to 14 and beyond.




How Not to Write a Novel


Book Description

"What do you think of my fiction book writing?" the aspiring novelist extorted. "Darn," the editor hectored, in turn. "I can not publish your novel! It is full of what we in the business call 'really awful writing.'" "But how shall I absolve this dilemma? I have already read every tome available on how to write well and get published!" The writer tossed his head about, wildly. "It might help," opined the blonde editor, helpfully, "to ponder how NOT to write a novel, so you might avoid the very thing!" Many writing books offer sound advice on how to write well. This is not one of those books. On the contrary, this is a collection of terrible, awkward, and laughably unreadable excerpts that will teach you what to avoid—at all costs—if you ever want your novel published. In How Not to Write a Novel, authors Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman distill their 30 years combined experience in teaching, editing, writing, and reviewing fiction to bring you real advice from the other side of the query letter. Rather than telling you how or what to write, they identify the 200 most common mistakes unconsciously made by writers and teach you to recognize, avoid, and amend them. With hilarious "mis-examples" to demonstrate each manuscript-mangling error, they'll help you troubleshoot your beginnings and endings, bad guys, love interests, style, jokes, perspective, voice, and more. As funny as it is useful, this essential how-NOT-to guide will help you get your manuscript out of the slush pile and into the bookstore.




The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults


Book Description

This master class in writing children’s and young adult novels will teach you everything you need to know to write and publish a great book. The best children’s and young adult novels take readers on wonderful outward adventures and stirring inward journeys. In The Magic Words, editor Cheryl B. Klein guides writers on an enjoyable and practical-minded voyage of their own, from developing a saleable premise for a novel to finding a dream agent. She delves deep into the major elements of fiction—intention, character, plot, and voice—while addressing important topics like diversity, world-building, and the differences between middle-grade and YA novels. In addition, the book’s exercises, questions, and straightforward rules of thumb help writers apply these insights to their own creative works. With its generous tone and useful tools for story analysis and revision, The Magic Words is an essential handbook for writers of children’s and young adult fiction.