Educational Books

As a special education teacher, I have found this manual to be an invaluable tool for both classroom use, and at IEP meetings.

The goals are measurable and observable, covering every possible contingent a teacher, or counselor would face when dealing with a student in or out of the classroom environment. This work can be used as a "cook-
book" type of resource; you will not need another book besides this one.

This book is an excellent resource for teachers, counselors, and the entire school community. PRIM helps teachers identify both behavioral and academic difficulties by breaking each subject and behavior into categories. In addition, there are a wide variety of interventions that are practical for the classroom. This book is also a great to help with documentation of behaviors.

I bought this book two years ago when I was just six months into my four-year teacher training. I am now in my third year and the poor book needs a new cover. This book has not only helped me with my prac experiences but also given me an insight to the classroom and its operations. The book is an absolute God sent. I have referred at least 3 people that have bought it from Amazon and I am sure they have referred it even further. This book has also been a blessing to my parents who have used it to develop strategies for my youngest brother who has learning difficulties. Every teacher, atudent teacher and parent needs this one. The way I have been taught to find the value in a book is to give it one dollar for every good idea... well this book is worth a couple of hundred dollars! My only complaint is that they haven't released it in hard back. It gets used so much that there needs to be a hard cover version!

This is my first year as a Guidance Counselor, and this book has been a tremendous help. Using this book, I have been able to help teachers by giving them suggestions in working with students who were experiencing behavior and academic problems. I have also seen the suggestions in this book help students!

I have found it very helpful as a substitute teacher. It has a common sense approach to dealing with behavior idiosynchrosies common in children from varied backgrounds, and has enough suggestions to fit several cultures and teacher confort levels. As a substitute I find a different bunch daily. This is the perfect reference to eliminate almost every situation I've seen.
I've even used it at home to help my son to better control his temper. I've shared it with several teachers so they are able to help my son at school and church as well. The principal at his school has a copy now as a reference for the teachers. He feels it will drastically cut the number of special ed referals next school year.
I feel this is useful for anyone who works with children. It is worth so much more than the [$$'s]. My master's advisor was correct in stating that this is the equivalent to the Bible's prophets for a good teacher.

It can be difficult to find a fairy tale collection that manages to hit on a wider spectrum of stories, rather than the hish-hash collections of everything that everyone has memorized or the collections that go out of the way to find the most unknown and unusual. This has both, from the familiar to the distinctly different, and told in a classic Victorian voice. There is a story for everyone here, romantic, macabre, and even funny, and from a variety of countries and cultures. It's a good, basic show of different types of stories, and each one is memorable! Defintely a must-have for the fairy tale collector!

I originally heard about the Red Fairy Book in the Annotated Hobbit, it was listed as one of J.R.R. Tolkiens influance's.
Anyways I found it and started to read it, and I must say it is the best fairy tale book I own. It's much more lush and interesting than Grimms, though Grimm is great, this book is so far my favorite.
Quite possibly the best fairy tale book ever written.

I bought Lang's Red Fairy book on a lark, expecting it to be just another re-collection of Grimms' tales and various English and French fairy tales that I had already been exposed to. I expected it would be nice, light bedtime reading and little else. When I saw that the first tale was the Twelve Dancing Princesses, I settled in for a rehash of a tale I've know since childhood.

Was I ever surprised! The Twelve Dancing Princesses was related in a manner I had never read before, the end result being a much more engaging storyline. The hero and his bride were given names, personalities, and a depth that is missing from practically every other fairy tale collection I own. The result is a story that is short enough to be read to a child at bedtime, but lush, engaging, and interesting enough to grip even the most jaded folktale enthusiast. Just a small list of the differences in the Twelve Dancing Princesses story from the "traditional" versions I already owned:

1. The hero seeking the elusive answer is not an old, jaded soldier, but a young, thoughtful peasant boy.

2. The princes who fail to find the answer do not have their heads cut off by the murderous king (a plot device which made no sense, because it discouraged questors who might gain the answer, not to mention that the kingly fathers would likely object to this treatment of their sons), but rather "disappear" completely - a development that is carefully explained in the story.

3. The princesses come to accept the loss of their nightly amusements and relish a chance to grow up, put away childish things, and become queens.

4. The princess who marries the questor marries him out of love and acceptance, and the marriage is a joyous one, not a form of humiliation and punishment of the 'proud' princess.

Each of the stories is this way - old, familiar, completely recognizable, and yet totally new and compelling. I cannot recommend this collection highly enough, and once I finish the Red book, I will happily move to the next colors in the rainbow.

As Tolkien's enthusiastic, I read The Red Fairy Book because I wanted to know about Tolkien's early influences.
Andrew Lang's books were the first books that Tolkien ever read, he owned The Red Fairy Book and even after long time he remembered it fondly.
If you are searching for Tolkien in this book you will not be disappointed. You will find there the source for the name of Pippin for instance, you will find in the stories grains of ideas and themes that later found themselves in LOTR.

But you will find there more than just LOTR references. You will find great stories, some of them a little naive for the cynical reader, but all of them interesting. Even if you are adult, this book will conquer you completely. This is a book for all the members of the family. You will love it and your children will love it. Some of the stories are suitable for very small children to read to them before bedtime.

If you are searching for so called "sophisticated" books, this book is not for you. It contained simple stories, some of them with moral and it is lacking complex motives and emotions, after all, it is fairy tales.

When I was in third grade, my school had the Red, Blue, and Yellow Faerie books, and as I was an avid reader I read all 3 of them. The one I continued to check-out and reread over and over again however was The Red Fairy Book. I have fond memories of many hours spent turning the pages of this book, and admittedly, it could be that I am looking back thru rose colored spectacles, it made such an impression on me that I am now collecting the whole fairy book series.

I have been working with children for a long time and this book really opened my eyes. I need good reason to change my way of thinking and Stan Davis has given me that. In addition to making some very good points, he has seen this method be successful at numerous schools. I would recommend the book to anyone that works with groups of children.

Stan Davis' book, Schools Where Everyone Belongs is an informative guide for teachers, administrators and parents. Mr. Davis clearly outlines the practical strategies to create a safe environment for students documented with solid reseached based data. This is a must read for ALL schools, (and Parents).
Deb Landry, children's author

Great tips and strategies for deveoping an anti-bully environment along with invaluable information on the issue of bullying...its causes and effects. Another outstanding book that details what schools,teachers, principals and parents need to do to design a bully-free environment is: Bully-Proofing Children: A Practical, Hands-On Guide to Stop BullyingIt actually also contains a whole curriculum on the topic that needs to be taught to our kids. Highly recommended.Buy them both.

Written by family and child therapist and school counselor Stan Davis, Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies for Reducing Bullying is a highly practical guide written especially for schoolteachers and other educational professionals, yet invaluable for anyone who oversees groups of children. Now in an updated second edition, Schools Where Everyone Belongs demystifies what bullying it is and common myths about its effects, what doesn't work to combat it, and most importantly of all, classroom-tested methods that do work to stop bullying and reverse its harmful effects. "When there are inconsistent consequences for bullying, young people are likely to continue. When we have to customize a consequence for each incident, the process of discipline becomes impossibly time-consuming. Planned, rubric-based consequences take much less time to administer and thus can be used more consistently. When consequences are predictable and based on a clear rubric, young people can learn from each other's misdeeds." An absolute "must-have" for grade school teachers and principals everywhere.

This is an excellent book with many practical strategies and tips to reduce bullying. However I found Bully-Proofing Children: A Practical, Hands-On Guide to Stop Bullyingto be even more helpful as a teacher. What I liked most here, is that it gives a whole chapter of lesson plans and activities as well as designs on how to create and build an environment in the school, class and at home that is bully-free. This too is an invaluable for a teacher and parent.

This was a very helpful book for my husband and me as we had just adopted a second-hand parrot and we had not idea what we were doing. This book was recommended by our Veterinarian and we really rely on it. Thank you so much for all the info.

If you're adopting an older parrot, much of the information in breed specific manuals will not be relevant for you, since it pertains to hand fed babies. This book contains information that is specific to parrots that have lost their home for one reason or another. Much of the information is recycled from Mattie Sue's previous books on parrot behavior, so if you've read them and commited them to memory, you might not need to add this one. If, however, you are not an expert on parrots, but simply want to open your heart and home to one of these wonderful creatures, this book will help make the transition smoother for both of you. It will also alert you to potential problems. There is also new information about integrating a new parrot into an existing flock. Personally, I think this book should go home with every bird adopted from a rescue organization.

Please don't let the title convince you this book is only for people with "re-homed" parrots! It also offers valuable information for AVOIDING losing your companion, and what to do if you find a lost companion parrot. Parrots are lost not just to "fly-aways", but to changing life circumstances in their human flock. This book provides practical tips to help keep the parrot in its home even during times of shifting family responsibilities. Then, of course, it also provides important advice for building trust in the "re-homed" parrot. I HAVE HAD A HARD TIME TRACKING THIS BOOK DOWN IN BOOKSTORES, so I am pleased to find it readily available on Amazon.

In THE SECOND-HAND PARROT, Mattie Sue Athan makes a good case for taking on a previously owned parrot as a feathered adoptee. While it is true some adoptees are less than civil, Athan has shown through her own experiences that there may be a diamond in the rough underneath those bristling feathers. (Mattie Sue Athan's experiences with her two adopted Grey Parrots, Bongo I and Bongo II are documented on her web site).

Many pet birds are passed on by owners who are dead, too old, too sick, or move to less accommodating quarters. Many of these older birds need only a short period of getting to know you and TLC to become your best buddy. I've become a believer. Having adopted two Cockatiels two years ago who had terrorized everyone at the animal shelter and had them become two big sweeties I know what a little TLC can do. The sweetest bird I own, however, is a "hand-me-down Conure" with two previous owners. My Conure is also the biggest bird I own and the least nippy. Every morning he says "Give me a kiss" which I happily do with a "Thank-you" as my reward. "Used" birds frequently can talk and have learned cute tricks.

Athan offers all sorts of tips on how to get your birds to comply with various challenges you might offer such as bathing, destroying toys instead of your books, and kissing not nipping when you offer your cheek or stick your hand in their cage. In her section on "The Corrective Environment" she shows how many of the tics the new-old bird learned were brought on by cramped, boring, and/or dirty quarters. It is amazing what a little space and a new toy will do to improve an outlook.

I run a second hand parrot rescue and I must say this book is really on the ball. So many times people don't really know WHY is my bird acting like that, Does this bird hate me etc. This book lends knowledge to the behavior and how to handle a rehomed bird. I recommend this book to anyone considering a pet bird, especially a rehomed one.

I really devoured this book. I found myself highlighting every paragraph and I even took notes. This is a wonderful look at teaching and how to utilize your skills to change lives, not just fill a young person's mind with information. Several of the quotes in the book have now become bold printed pages in my teaching notebook.

Este libro contiene los principios básicos de los diferentes elementos de la enseñanza. Me abrió la mente para mejorar mi manera de trabajar con mis alumnos y comenzar nuevos desarrollos y relaciones con ellos. Excelente libro.

This classic work first published in 1884 should be part of the curriculum for all schools training teachers. That it is still being reprinted (the 10th printing was in 2003) is a testimony to the timeless value of the author's wisdom contained within its pages. There are times when the old ways are the best ways and this book is one of those. Public schools, the failures that they are, would do well to scrap modern pedagogy and practice The Seven Laws of Teaching.

This book isn't just for the teaching profession: it is also an excellent training manual for pastors, Bible teachers and Sunday School teachers.

This author not only spoke from the perspective of an educator, but from the experience of a learner. Without that vital connection between the teacher and student, there indeed is little learning taking place. John Milton Gregory gave a wonderful description of the dynamics, the give and take, that must exist between the teacher and learner to ensure a real education. He explored the necessary efforts of both the learner and the educator and laid on them both the responsibility to engage. Wonderful book.

I have been teaching in the public schools for 19 years. I train other teachers. I am a mentor to new teachers. And yet, I learned so much from this book. I can't express how much I loved it other than to say, from this point forward, every teacher I meet will hear about this book. Every teacher in every institution should be required to read this before placing one foot in the classroom. My favorite quote from the book: It is only the unskilled teacher who prefers to hear his own voice in endless talk rather than watch and direct the course of the thoughts of his pupils. If you teach, read it!

This by far, was an amazing SIDS book. It's been almost a year since we lost Jacob to SIDS, and I still go back and re-read the book. It's so hard to find people that could relate to your SIDS loss, and this book is full of them. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this book.

I've been through this loss. Chances are, if you're searching for this book, you have just experienced your own loss. READ this book.

If you have lost a child to sids then you must get this. It was recommended to me and it has been a valuable tool. It is fully of case studies, answers to questions you wont have thought of and usefull information on how to try and get through this.

Horchler and Rice give comfort, encouragement, and insight to the issues that surround Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Infant Death. Families who have suffered the devastating loss of a baby will find many questions they may have answered among the pages. The topics covered bring a sense of normalcy and healing to the bereaved as the authors guide the reader down the path of surviving their loss and again finding joy in living.

The SIDS Survival Guide was my beacon of light during the darkest part of my life. My son, Dominic, passed away from SIDS on April 10, 2001, at only 4 1/2 months young. I began to reach out and search for all the information I could find on SIDS, drinking it all in by the bucket. A few months after he died, I found "The SIDS Survival Guide", and am so incredibly thankful. There was so much information, so many stories so like my own. I shed many tears while reading it for the first time, and even now, when I go back to read sections, I still cry. I am now expecting our second child in June 2002, and am scared to death. But knowing that I am informed about SIDS is somewhat of a comfort to me; in a way, I am as prepared as I can ever be. I would recommend this book to anyone expecting a child, who has a young baby, or knows someone who is or does.

My husband and I lost our son to SIDS in September of 2000. Our souls have been torn. The grieving process over his death has been draining. I recall little over the past 4+ months since his death. The one thing I do recall is thinking I was going crazy. I had wished their was another SIDS survivor I could speak with. Someone who could possibly relate to what my husband and I were going through. Someone who could understand our emotions. I searched under the keyword SIDS and found this book. I have not read the book in its entirety. I have read the sections I have needed at the particular times in my grieving. This book has helped me confirm that I am not going crazy. What I am feeling, though very personal, is normal. I feel this book is a neccesity for any parent who has to suffer this terrible tragedy. I have placed an order of these books in my babies memory to send to my state SIDS Coordinator in hopes that other parents may find comfort in its contents. Thank you Joani and Robin.

This book makes a teacher out of every one who reads it. Whether you are a parent, guardian, relative, teacher of a child with special needs, this book will give you the tools to teach essential skills and enable you to use them effectively.
This book was recommended to me and I recommend it to every else.

This book is a must have for parents struggling with training there children independence skills. It ofter so many easy to do exercise to get your little or big one independence. My 3 year old is finally bushing his teeth, because this book showed easy to do steps to get him going. I highly recommend this book to any parent struggling with training there children independence. It offers easy steps by step solutions in teaching your child what you have been trying to teach them for months . Try it, its a great training tool for independence.

No parent OR special education teacher should be without this book! Easy to read, and the content is excellent! Step-by-step approaches to teaching everyday skills to children with special needs, but would be just as valuable to ANY parent! After reading this book, I have found it easier to establish goals for my students and everyone is using the same approach to teaching everyday living skills (play, toileting, self-help, PLUS behavior management)! It is working fabulous! The students are learning more with less frustration! A must-have for your resource library!

The book is formatted very well. It has helped me approach my child in a new manner with excellent results. Some of the tasks we take for granted are broken into smaller steps that can be overlooked. This book helps you identify missing steps and provides multiple methods of application. It isn't a "one size fits all" approach. It gives good ideas for praise and correction if consistently followed.

The page layouts are easy to read and the cartoons are cute. Everything addressed in this book has samples to serve as a guide for you. The appendices has more ideas for aiding with independence. Overall, the application of this book, used in a routine, is great for any age and any skill level.

I've been looking for a book like this for quite some time. Here's what it covers:
Chapter 1: Setting Out
Chapter 2: Targeting a Skill
Chapter 3: Establishing Steps
Chapter 4: Picking Rewards
Chapter 5: Setting the Stage
Chapter 6: Teaching
Chapter 7: Observing Progress and Troubleshooting
Chapter 8: Get Ready Skills
Chapter 9: Self-Help Skills
Chapter 10: Toilet Training
Chapter 11: Play Skills
Chapter 12: Independent Living: Self-Care Skills
Chapter 13: Independent Living: Home-Care Skills
Chapter 14: Independent Living: Information Skills
Chapter 15: Plugging into the Personal Computer Revolution
Chapter 16: Behavior Problems
Chapter 17: Initiating a Behavior Management Program
Appendix A: Get Ready Skills
Appendix B: Self-Help Skills Inventory
Appendix C: Self-Help Skills Programs
Appendix D: Play Skills Programs
Appendix E: Information Skills Programs
Index

This book is very helpful for getting the child's imagination to come out. My daughter loves writing a lot more by doing these stories. She is also able to teach my younger son by reading to him and having him come up with the rest of the story. I highly recommend this book.

I am a homeschooling mom of a 6 year old girl and a 9 year old boy. We just received this wonderful book by Karen Andreola and have only tried it out once so far, but I have flipped through the book and read some of the stories. There are many different kinds of wonderful stories to chose from. I did one with my 6 year old daughter and I actually walked her through the writing process instead of just letting her write, as she is so young, but I think she learned a lot from it. She asked me the very next day if we could "do another one"...and the next day. Karen has a whole section in the front on how to use the book and writing tips that are very helpful. I think this is a wonderful book and look forward to using this with my children.

We're just getting started, but our children ages 9 & 11 love this! And this concept could lead them to other activities, too.

This book was carefully thought out and well written. So far, we are all very impressed and glad we made this purchase.

This book is wonderful! Even my reluctant writer is having fun and producing interesting stories. We get together with 2 other children to read the stories together.

We've been a homeschooling family from the beginning and my kids are 10 and 12 now. Teaching writing has always been a struggle for me, and the kids did not like writing at all. This book has the beginnings of very interesting stories, and the students' job is to write the ending. Each story starter also has guidelines (have the characters speak, describe the scene) suggestions for "vivid verbs", "artful adjectives" and more. My kids, who have NEVER liked writing, got so into it, I had to give them extra time to finish. The book has a section for educators that has a lot of useful information. Before I bought this book, I checked it out from the library to make sure I liked it. I ended up ordering it on Amazon before we started the second story!

I would give this book 6 stars if I could. The format is laid out so that it's easy to flip to and find a specific activity. I love the "you will need" and "other activities to try" tip boxes on the side, too. I would agree that if you only had one book on Montessori activities, this would be the one to buy.

I am very fond of this book. It is a great guide offering almost "duh!" like activities (things that you would never even think of going out of your way to teach your kids) to do with your toddler in order to help them gain a sense of independence and accomplishment. That said, almost all the activities can be done without going out and buying a whole bunch of materials. I particularly like this book as a mom interested in the Montessori method, but not being able to afford to put my children in the pricey Montessori schools in my area. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it's in colour and has plenty of photos. Also, if there is an activity your child really likes, it has suggestions for other activities similar in nature. I like that the book shows you many of the activities they do, but leaves it up to you how you would like to present them to your kids. The book does not specifically tell you what age range the child has to be in order to present an activity, but it does state in the beginning that it presents the activities in order of being the easier concepts to grasp to the more difficult (specifically chapters 1,2, & 5). The author tells you to use your judgement on what you think your child can handle (for instance if they seem to like counting and maths, they will more likely progress faster with the maths activities. I personally would've liked a generic age range per activity, but I understand the point the author is trying to make. I just like that the author gives us the activities the Montessori schools do, but doesn't require the reader to completely apply the Montessori method. I plan on using this as a reference since I would like to educate my children myself until they reach kindergarten.

I would recomend this book as it is really very handy!
It shows you how to teach your child to do practical things in life herself without all the hassel. It also gives you ideas of how you could do it, as all children are different. I think the templates are also great, this book saves you from spending extra money for material.

It is a fun book to have and do things with kids. Specially if they attend a Montessori school. Many of the activities shown are exactly what they do in school.

This is a wonderful book for parents wanting to do basic Montessori activities at home, and it also suggests inexpensive ways to make activities as well. I gave this book one less star because it doesn't tell you what activities are age appropriate. I know all children develop and excel in different ways and times, but a little more guidance would have been helpful.

I highly recommend Teaching with the Internet to the novice and experienced net user. It is a great sounce of "current" web sites spanning the educational needs for K-12 students. I have used lessons taken directly from the book with great success. I consider the text to be an invaluable resource in my personal journey in understanding the "net" as well as to open new areas of exploration for my young students. This book is also a wonderful tool for parents trying to assist their children with study projects, book reports, etc. The information in this book is updated regularly through its web site as changes take place on the www. This educational tool is a wise investment for anyone who uses the "net".

The is a very good resource. It gives great ideas on how to use the internet in the classroom. What I like particulary is the wealth of ideas it gives on how to incorporate the internet in the classroom.

Teaching With the Internet: Lessons From the Classroom is a practical, hands on guide well suited for layman use. It encompasses both Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers as well as the IBM and Macintosh systems. Each chapter is devoted to either a specific Internet strategy such as navigating and communicating or to specific subject areas and concerns within the public school curriculum K-12. This text should be included as an essential component in every school's technology reference library and utilized as an indispensable resource in effective Internet teaching. It is packed with countless creative teaching suggestions and noteworthy web sites as well as step by step instructions on how to implement it all.

This book proved to be very informative, giving step-by-step models to use to incorporate internet resources into classroom activities, computer workshops, research projects and student inquiries.It is organized by chapters that give curriculum based internet ideas, with excellent related educational web-sites. It is geared for all levels of teacher ability, so everyone can get their classroom started. Although some ideas and sites seemed repetitious, it allows you to refer to a specific chapter by subject area to find related sites and sample activities. This book is comprehensive enough to highlight features of various navigation tools, cover both MAC and PC platforms for grades K-12.

Don and Deborah Leu have created a great Interent reference/teaching guide for teachers of all computer skill levels, from beginners to old pros!

The book not only inlcudes explicit explanations of Internet terms and procedures, but includes plenty of figures and examples of what the screen would actually look like as you are working. The Email to You sections contain real teachers describing real projects that they have sucessfully done with their students. Leu and Leu also provide many, many links to resources and project ideas in the major academic disciplines for teachers to use as they begin to incorporate the Internet in to the classroom.

I would highly recommend this book to teachers and teacher educators alike. I consider my self to be an advanced user of the Internet and I learned several new things from reading this book!