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

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..

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)

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.

A new, interactive approach to storytime, The Whole Book Approach was developed in conjunction with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and expert author Megan Dowd Lambert's graduate work in children's literature at Simmons College, offering a practical guide for reshaping storytime and getting kids to think with their eyes. Traditional storytime often offers a passive experience for kids, but the Whole Book approach asks the youngest of readers to ponder all aspects of a picture book and to use their critical thinking skills. Using classic examples, Megan asks kids to think about why the trim size of Ludwig Bemelman's Madeline is so generous, or why the typeset in David Wiesner's Caldecott winner,The Three Pigs, appears to twist around the page, or why books like Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express and Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar are printed landscape instead of portrait. The dynamic discussions that result from this shared reading style range from the profound to the hilarious and will inspire adults to make children's responses to text, art, and design an essential part of storytime.

Buzz! Zip! Zoom! When the weather is warm, insects are everywhere. But what do they do in winter? Honeybees huddle in their hive. Monarch butterflies fly south. Woolly bear caterpillars hide under leaves and snow. This book shows what twelve different insects do to survive winter's chill.

The Highlights Book of Things to Do is the essential book of pure creativity and inspiration. Kids ages seven and up will find hundreds of ways to build, play, experiment, craft, cook, dream, think, and become outstanding citizens of the world. This highly visual, hands-on activity book shows kids some of the best ways to do great things--from practicing the lost arts of knot-tying, building campfires, connecting circuits, playing jump rope, drawing maps, and writing letters, to learning how to empower themselves socially, emotionally, and in their communities. The final chapter, Do Great Things, inspires kids become caring individuals, confident problem solvers, and thoughtful people who can change the world. Full List of Chapters: Things to Do Inside Things to Do Outside Science Experiments to Do Things to Build Things to Do with Your Brain Things to Do in the Kitchen Things to Draw Things to Write Things to Do with Color Things to Do with Paper More Things to Do with Recycled Materials Do Great Things National Parenting Seal of Approval Winner, National Parenting Product Award (NAPPA) Winner, Mom's Choice Award, Gold