The term 'busy bees' is particularly appropriate when describing young children. Children from ages 2-5 are on the go much of the time. Their interest in exploring and learning new things is exciting to watch. However, reports about the skill and activity levels of older children are very disturbing and, as educators, demand our attention. The classroom teacher needs to instruct and monitor the child's motor skills. This book has been designed to help the classroom teacher with this prospect. The entire purpose of this book is to provide practical and easy ways teachers can help pupils develop gross motor skills while increasing their activity level. Provided in the introductory pages of Gross motor skills is background information on motor planning, body awareness, bilateral integration and tactile awareness. An understanding of the basics of each of these areas will help teachers in monitoring and instructing pupils in motor skills. Included is information on each topic, characteristics of children having difficulty within each area, and suggestions for helping these pupils. Included at the end of the introduction are developmental checklists of gross motor skills of children from ages 3-5. Following the introductory pages, the book is divided into seven major sections. 'Spatial and body awareness' contains activities that help each pupil understand his or her own body's potential for movement. Through action songs and poems, as well as creative movement activities such as using streamers, the pupil will develop a better understanding of his or her own personal space and the space around him or her. Activities devoted to walking, running, jumping, and more are included in the section, 'Locomotor skills'. Developing these skills is crucial to helping pupils gain further success in any other movement experience. The 'Ball skills' section provides ideas for learning to throw, catch and play with balls.

Both teachers and parents appreciate how effectively this series helps students master skills in mathematics, penmanship, reading, writing, and grammar. Each book provides activities that are great for independent work in class, homework assignments, or extra practice to get ahead. Text practice pages are included!

Both teachers and parents appreciate how effectively this series helps students master skills in mathematics, penmanship, reading, writing, and grammar. Each book provides activities that are great for independent work in class, homework assignments, or extra practice to get ahead. Text practice pages are included!

Both teachers and parents appreciate how effectively this series helps students master skills in mathematics, penmanship, reading, writing, and grammar. Each book provides activities that are great for independent work in class, homework assignments, or extra practice to get ahead. Text practice pages are included!

Reading for success is a series of four books designed to support teacher-directed lessons and independent pupil activities in the five key elements of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Titles in this series are: Reading for success (Book 1) Reading for success (Book 2) Reading for success (Book 3) Reading for success (Book 4)Reading and the teaching of reading have always been at the forefront of discussions in education and recent discussions are no different. Some, such as the media, criticise schools for not knowing how to effectively teach reading, and yet we know more today than ever about effective reading instruction. Research has identified five key elements of reading instruction: Sound and letter knowledge Phonemic awareness (sounds of language) Sounds and alphabet knowledge Interpreting, analysing and evaluating Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension strategies The terminology below is commonly used when discussing reading instruction and will be helpful in understanding and discussing the five elements of reading. Phonemic awareness phonemic awareness-an individual's ability to attend to the sounds of spoken words phonological awareness-ability to recognise phonemes, graphemes, rhymes, syllables etc. phonemes-sounds in spoken language graphemes-the smallest parts of written language phonics-relationship between the sounds and symbols of spoken and written language syllable-part of a word that contains a vowel or vowel sound onset-the initial consonant in a syllable rime-the syllable part that contains a vowel (Example: In dog, the onset is d and the rime is og.) Phonics synthetic phonics-the ability to convert letters into sounds and blend them together analytic phonics-the ability to analyse the letters and sounds in words analogy-based phonics-using knowledge of word families to read unfamiliar words phonics through spelling-the ability to break words into sounds for writing embedded phonics-the instruction of letters and sounds within text onset-rime phonics-instruction that involves the identification of the initial sound in a word part (onset) and the remaining part of the word (rime) Fluency fluency-reading quickly and accurately automaticity-the quick recognition of words Vocabulary specific word instruction-the teaching of individual words word-learning strategies-the instruction of strategies that help pupils determine word meaning word parts-using parts of words (prefixes, suffixes, base words) to determine meanings of words context clues-surrounding phrases, sentences and words that provide hints that lead to a word's meaning Comprehension metacognition-thinking about one's thinking or the ability to identify what is known and not known when reading semantic organisers-maps or webs used to illustrate the connection between concepts or ideas direct explanation-a teacher's explanation of the use of comprehension strategies modelling-teacher demonstration of the use of strategies guided practice-guidance by the teacher as a pupil applies strategies application-reading strategies used by pupils General terminology explicit instruction-direct instruction of strategies by the teacher implicit instruction-indirect instruction, often embedded in context Book format This book is divided into five sections featuring each of the elements of reading. Within each section there are activities for teacher-directed instruction, as well as small-group and individual practice of reading skills. Many of the activities include follow-up games and copymasters intended to provide additional practice of skills. The use of these activities, games and practice sheets, in addition to a comprehensive reading programme, will give pupils the skills necessary for reading success.

After reading brief nonfiction passages about science, geography, or history topics, students answer multiple-choice and short-answer questions to build seven essential comprehension skills.

After reading brief nonfiction passages about science, geography, or history topics, students answer multiple-choice and short-answer questions to build seven essential comprehension skills.