Some children, for all manner of reasons, struggle to make friends and fit in socially. What’s the Buzz? is a unique sixteen-lesson social skills enrichment programme designed to explicitly teach children how to think and relate to others in social situations. This lively, highly practical role-play and play-based programme targets everyday themes: how to greet, make and keep friends, fit in, read one’s own emotions, read the feelings of others, deal with competition and cope with worry, frustration and disappointment more constructively. Based on an extensive body of research believed to stimulate social thinking and accomplish powerful outcomes, What’s the Buzz? is: Sequenced – it follows a logical breakdown of each skill Active – it uses role-plays and rehearsal with feedback Focused – it dedicates time solely towards teaching a specific skill Explicit – it teaches a specific social/emotional skill each session. The programme has proven wide appeal to teachers, counsellors, psychologists, teacher assistants, support staff and parent volunteers in schools. While tailored for small specific groups of children, it also has a broader multi-purpose scope with larger mainstream classes. Each lesson also includes extensive notes offering parents and teachers handy ideas to reinforce the themes presented. This book is complemented by the website www.whatsthebuzz.net.au which offers online training modules and wealth of other resources..

For many, social thinking is hard-wired at birth and strengthens, quite naturally, through progressive experiences and encounters with others. However, for a variety of reasons, some children find it harder to think socially, develop socially and use their social tools suitably when it really counts. ‘What’s the Buzz?’ is the original social skills programme and became an instant best-seller, used by practitioners around the globe with children and young people, helping them to successfully transfer these skills into their everyday lives. What’s the Buzz? For Early Learners : is a simple, structured programmes to teach students in early learning and early primary school settings, within the 4 to 7 year age range. is designed to bring children together, including those who may be on the autistic spectrum explicitly demonstrates methods of how children can get along with one another and nurture friendship groups. Uses a developmental model to ensure its relevance throughout By drawing on the modelling of targeted social skills, role play, explicit guidance, feedback and games, this resource is imaginative, very practical and is enhanced with visual materials and worksheets to accompany each lesson. http://www.whatsthebuzz.net.au Also available from Routledge: Mark Le Messurier and Madhavi Nawana Parker (2011) What’s the Buzz: A Social Skills Enrichment Programme for Primary Students

Welcome to Archie's BIG BOOK of Friendship Adventures.All sixteen Archie stories are inside. Each will have the children spellbound as they plunge themselves into the social life of our much-loved character.In each story Archie faces a social dilemma; the very same social issues that occur in the everyday lives of all children. Archie, however, will need to relyon the children's 'smart thinking' to solve them! As the children lead Archie to be a more confident social thinker, they'll also learn how the social worldworks and the values of friendship.This book has been created to companion the social skills program, What's the Buzz? For Early Learners: A complete foundation course. (Routeledge Press London 2015)

Visit a bee farm, and follow the bees as they carry “kisses” from flower to flower and return to their hives with their tummies full of nectar. Learn how the honey is extracted from the combs and makes its way from the hive to the table, to be enjoyed with slices of apples for a Rosh Hashanah treat.

The author, who at 32 years old experienced early menopause, chronicles her tireless efforts to adopt a Guatemalan child, including uprooting her life and moving to Antigua in order to navigate the thorny adoption process and finally bring her daughter home. Original.

Pre-teens and teenagers are faced with a continually changing and complex social world that not only involves face-to-face action, but also online and social media interaction. What’s the Buzz with Teenagers? offers a highly practical programme designed to explicitly teach young people to get along and maintain healthy relationships with their friends, family and the broader community. Embracing current thinking on ‘self-awareness and behaviour transformation’ in adolescents, it uses highly interactive role plays, film-making, thinking exercises, quizzes, group discussions and confidence-building games to improve social skills and promote inclusion in a fun, effective and appealing way. Easy to implement in upper primary and middle schools, in healthcare settings and beyond, What’s the Buzz with Teenagers?: is a deeply structured resource to teach young people in the 12- to 15-year-old developmental range; offers a connecting approach to bring young people together to learn without the pressure of ‘getting social interaction right’ all the time; aims to normalise the anxieties, sensitivities and loneliness that many young people experience during adolescence by sharing thoughts and exploring this common ground; explicitly teaches how to ‘read’ the emotional needs of others, show empathy and build relationships; and uses a developmental model that ensures relevance and inclusion to young people with a broad range of backgrounds, abilities and challenges. The programme provides lessons that educators and health professionals can adapt to suit their individual circumstances and time frames, and creates a framework for a warm, engaging and interactive space in which learning is optimised. The book is complemented by the website www.whatsthebuzz.net.au, which offers online downloadable resources and a further six lessons. Also available are What’s the Buzz?: A Social Skills Enrichment Programme for Primary Students and What’s the Buzz? For Early Learners: A Complete Social Skills Foundation Course.

This simple retelling of the new CGI-animated feature film from DreamWorks, in theaters on November 2, is ideal for young readers who are too old for beginning readers but not quite ready for the longer junior novel.