Hip, funny, unique--and a perfect curriculum tie-in--here's a picture book with mega kid-appeal about the challenges a student faces when she is given an assignment to make a chart of her own home! Uma's been making charts since she was a little kid. But when her teacher gives the class Uma's dream assignment--to make a chart of their own homes--she is thrown for a loop. Oh, the possibilities! Oh, the pressure! What makes a house housey? she wonders. In order to figure it out, she asks each member of her family--Mom, Dad, and brothers Rex, Bram, and Lukey. But it's not until she has a meltdown and Lukey comforts her that Uma figures out the secret to her chart--and her family. It's the love that is shared inside a house's walls. Told in first-person and featuring engaging graphic artwork, this fun and lively picture book--perfect for classroom use--is a reminder that someone's true home is not a place, but rather the people with whom you surround yourself.

Discover all kinds of graphs and charts and how to use them in this entertaining activity book. The activities encourage children to collect and analyse data, from tallying the number of animals spotted on safari, to displaying types of weather on a bar chart and sorting animals into a Venn diagram. Quizzes after each section let children test what they've learned.

Ann Hulbert’s in-depth exploration of the lives of sixteen extraordinary children over the course of the past century casts new light on America’s current obsession with early achievement. The figures she profiles include math genius Norbert Wiener, founder of cybernetics; two girls whose fiction and poetry stirred debate in the 1920s; the movie superstar Shirley Temple; the African-American pianist and composer Philippa Schuyler; the chess champion Bobby Fischer; computer pioneers and “prodigious savants” with autism; and musical prodigies, present and past. Hulbert probes the changing roles of parents and teachers as well as of psychologists and a curious press. Above all, she delves into the feelings of the prodigies themselves, whose stories so intriguingly raise hopes about untapped human potential and questions about how best to nurture it.

"This book is a place to start creating the classroom of your dreams from the very first minute of school, a classroom that is research based, child centered, and in step with the world today." - Christine Hertz and Kristine Mraz The classroom of your dreams starts with one big idea. From the first days of school to the last, Kids First from Day One shares teaching that puts your deepest teaching belief into action: that children are the most important people in the room. Christine Hertz and Kristi Mraz show how to take that single, heartfelt value and create a cohesive, highly effective approach to teaching that addresses today's connected, collaborative world. With infectious enthusiasm, hard-won experience, and a generous dose of humor, Kids First from Day One shows exactly how Christine and Kristi build and maintain a positive, cooperative, responsive classroom where students engage deeply with their learning and one another. Kids First from Day One strengthens and deepens the connections between your love of working with kids, your desire to impact their lives, and your teaching practice. It shares: plans for designing beautiful classroom spaces that burst with the fun of learning positive language and classroom routines that reduce disruptive behavior-without rewards and consequences suggestions for matching students' needs to high-impact teaching structures a treasury of the Christine and Kristi's favorite "teacher stuff" such as quick guides for challenging behavior, small-group planning grids, and parent letters links to videos that model the moves of Christine's and Kristi's own teaching. Just starting out and want to know what really works in classrooms? Curious about how to make your room hum with learning? Or always on the lookout for amazing teaching ideas? Read Kids First from Day One. You'll discover that the classroom of your dreams is well within your reach.

"Your charts don't need to be perfect, just thoughtful. You don't even have to be able to draw. Just put the child before the chart." Marjorie Martinelli and Kristine Mraz Listen to an interview with Marjorie and Kristi, the Chartchums, on Education Talk Radio. Commercially available charts leave you hanging? Want the secret to jump-off-the-wall charts that stick with kids? Trust Smarter Charts. Did you ever want to know: What do great charts look like? How many is too many? Where are the best places for them in my classroom? How long do I keep them? How do I know if they are working? Then you'll want to meet Marjorie Martinelli and Kristine Mraz, the Chartchums. They struggled with the same questions, and Smarter Charts shares not only the answers, but the best practices they've discovered as well. Amp up the power of your charts with tips on design and language, instructional use, and self-assessment. Even better, discover surprising strategies that deepen engagement, strengthen retention, and heighten independence-all by involving students in chart making. Packed with full-color sample charts from real classrooms, Smarter Charts shares simple, brain-based strategies proven to make your classroom an even more active, effective space for literacy instruction and classroom management.

A compilation of interactive charts for use in developing beginning reading behaviors.