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FREE & LOAN MATERIALS

Recent Acquisitions
A-J    K-Z

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American Individualisms: Child Rearing and Social Class in Three Neighborhoods
Kusserow, Adrie S. (2004).
New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
From the publisher: What are hard and soft individualisms? In this detailed ethnography of three communities in Manhattan and Queens, Kusserow interviews parents and teachers (from wealthy to those on welfare) on the types of hard and soft individualisms they encourage in their children and students. American Individualisms explores the important issue of class differences in the socialization of individualism in America. It presents American individualism not as one single homogeneous, stereotypic life-pattern as often claimed to be, but as variable, class-differentiated models of individualism instilled in young children by their parents and preschool teachers in Manhattan and Queens. By providing rich descriptions of the situational, class-based individualisms that take root in communities with vastly different visions of the future, Kusserow brings social inequality back into previously bland and generic discussions of American individualism.
Book (207 pages): Loan Item for Texas Educators ONLY (649.1 Kus).

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Aprender y Crecer Juntos: Como Comprender y Fomentar el Desarrollo de sus Hijos
Lerner, Claire and Dombro, Amy Laura (2001).

Washington, DC: Zero to Three.
Spanish version of the English title, Learning & Growing Together: Understanding and Supporting Your Child's Development, this is Zero to Three's first parenting book. It is different from other books on parenting--it is a tool that empowers parents and caregivers to become their own best resource by helping them think in new ways. Personal vignettes, reflective questions, and discussion points engage parents and caregivers at a new level and help them think through situations they may encounter with their own young child. By giving the child's point of view as well as the parent and caregiver's, this guide provides a new lens to view and understand a child's development. The format works with fathers as well as mothers and provides a resource for group settings to stimulate discussion.
Book (52 pages): Loan Item (649.1 Lern S).

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Building Academic Success on Social and Emotional Learning: What Does the Research Say?
Zins, Joseph E. and Weissberg, Roger P. and Wang, Margaret C. and Walberg, Herbert J., Editors (2004).
New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
In this book, nationally recognized interdisciplinary leaders examine the relationships between social-emotional education and school success - specifically focusing on interventions that enhance student learning. Offering scientific evidence and practical examples, this volume points out the many benefits of SEL programs.
Book (244 pages): Loan Item (649.1 Zin).

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Building School and Community Partnerships Through Parent Involvement , Second Edition
Wright, Kay and Stegelin, Dolores A. (2003).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
The second edition of this book profiles today's American families and examines the special relationships among them, their children's schools, and their communities. Through an ecological, systems approach, the authors explore the family as a child's “first teacher.” The book provides strategies for involving parents and other family members in a child's education, and address the increasing diversity of the American family in regard to structure, culture, and lifestyle. Additionally, coverage addresses advocacy, assessment of family strengths and weaknesses, and the unique challenges of working with families of children with special needs. This book is for parents who want to become more actively involved in the education and development of their children.
Book (320 pages): Loan Item for Texas Educators ONLY (649.1 Wri).

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Civics Flash Cards for the New Naturalization Test
Office of Citizenship (March 2009).
Washington, DC: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
These colorfully illustrated flash cards are intended to help new immigrants increase their knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and government. Immigrants applying for naturalization can use the 100 questions and answers on these flash cards as a study tool to prepare for the naturalization exam, and teachers and volunteers can use these flash cards in the classroom. These questions are for the new citizenship test.
Set of 102 Cards: Loan Item for Texas Educators ONLY (323 OOC CFC).

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Coaching Families and Colleagues in Early Childhood
Hanft, Barbara E. and Rush, Dathan D. and Shelden, M'Lisa L. (2004).
Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
This guidebook gives early interventionists a way to support other professionals and families in natural settings. It uses five steps of coaching: initiation, observation, action, reflection, and evaluation. Intended for professionals, administrators, and practitioners in early childhood programs.
Book (207 pages): Loan Item (305.231 Han).

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Complete GED Preparation , Large Print
Steck-Vaughn (2002).
Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn Company.
The Complete GED Preparation is a comprehensive guide covering all GED testing areas, with step-by-step instructions, practice tests and answers, test-taking strategies, and more. This large print version is a copy of the original with the same page formatting and pagination. The calendar format allows for extra large type 18 point font while keeping the closed book size near to that of the original. The durable lay-open-flat binding can be folded back on itself.
Book (7 volume set): Loan Item for Preferred Borrowers ONLY (373.1262 CGP LP).

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Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale , Revised Edition
Harms, Thelma and Clifford, Richard M. and Cryer, Debby (2005).
New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
This text is a resource featuring the evaluation rating scale for early childhood development. There are 43 items; including staff-child interactions; curriculum items, such as nature/science; health and safety items; and more items focusing on staff needs.
Book (74 pages): Loan Item (649.1 Har).

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English Grammar: Step by Step
Weal, Elizabeth (2008).
Palo Alto, CA: Tenaya Press.
English Grammar: Step-by-Step a simple, step-by-step grammar and writing book for Spanish speakers who are literate in Spanish but have had minimal schooling and know very little about grammar in Spanish or English. Each lesson is followed by exercises that provide practice. Answers to the exercises are in an appendix; a dictionary of all the words used in the book is included in the back of the book. The set consists of one book only in English. The other book is written in English and in Spanish.
2 Book (120 pages each): Loan Item (428.24 Wea).

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English Language Learning: Diverse Federal and State Efforts to Support Adult English Language Learning Could Benefit from More Coordination
GAO (July 2009).
Washington, DC: U. S. Government Accountability Office.
The GAO reports that the number of adults who speak English less than very well grew by 21.8% between 2000 and 2007. While there has been some collaboration among federal offices on behalf of English Language learning, there is no ongoing mechanism to share information of resources or strategies to expand and capitalize on the agencies’ individual efforts. GAO is recommending that Education work with HHS, Labor, and other agencies as appropriate to develop coordinated approaches for sharing information and planning and conducting research. The agencies concurred with the recommendations and cited intentions to work together toward their implementation.
Online availability: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09575.pdf
Printed Materials (69 pages): FREE copies available to Texas Educators ONLY (370.72 ELL).

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Every Child Ready to Read: Literacy Tips for Parents
Pesky, Alan and Pesky, Wendy (2004).
New York, NY: Random House Publishing Group.
This is a book for parents and parents-to-be. The suggestions are easy to follow and the book has a lot of hands-on activities that can be done with the child. It can help parents prepare, support, guide, and enjoy reading with their children.
Book (74 pages): Loan Item (649.58 Pes).

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Excellent English 1: Language Skills for Success
MacKay, Susannah and Sherman, Kristin D. and Forstrom, Jan and Pitt, Marta and Velasco, Shirley (2008).
DeSoto,TX: McGraw Hill.
Excellent English equips students with the grammar and skills they need to access community resources, while developing the foundation for long-term career and academic success. Excellent English is a four-level, standards-based series for English learners featuring a Grammar Picture Dictionary approach to vocabulary building and grammar acquisition. Unit lessons systematically build language and math skills around life-skill topics in an accessible and predictable sequence.
Level 1 is the beginning level. The set includes: the teacher’s book, teacher’s CD with unit tests, teacher’s workbook, the student workbook and CD with audio highlights, transparencies, interactive multimedia program, instructor’s testing CD-ROM, and 3 CDs that go with the units.
Set of 8 CDs, 3 Books, & 26 Transparencies: Loan Item for Texas Educators ONLY (428.24 EE-1).

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Excellent English 2: Language Skills for Success
Forstrom, Jan and Vargo, Mari and Pitt, Marta and Velasco, Shirley (2008).
DeSoto,TX: McGraw Hill.
Excellent English equips students with the grammar and skills they need to access community resources, while developing the foundation for long-term career and academic success. Excellent English is a four-level, standards-based series for English learners featuring a Grammar Picture Dictionary approach to vocabulary building and grammar acquisition. Unit lessons systematically build language and math skills around life-skill topics in an accessible and predictable sequence.
Level 2 is high beginning level. The set includes: the teacher’s book, teacher’s CD with unit tests, teacher’s workbook, the student workbook and CD with audio highlights, transparencies, interactive multimedia program, instructor’s testing CD-ROM, and 4 CDs that go with the units.
Set of 9 CDs, 3 Books, & 25 Transparencies: Loan Item for Texas Educators ONLY (428.24 EE-2).

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Excellent English 3: Language Skills for Success
Maynard, Mary Ann and Wisniewska, Ingrid and Forstrom, Jan and Pitt, Marta and Velasco, Shirley (2008).
DeSoto,TX: McGraw Hill.
Excellent English equips students with the grammar and skills they need to access community resources, while developing the foundation for long-term career and academic success. Excellent English is a four-level, standards-based series for English learners featuring a Grammar Picture Dictionary approach to vocabulary building and grammar acquisition. Unit lessons systematically build language and math skills around life-skill topics in an accessible and predictable sequence.
Level 3 is low intermediaate level. The set includes: the teacher’s book, teacher’s CD with unit tests, teacher’s workbook, the student workbook and CD with audio highlights, transparencies, instructor’s testing CD-ROM, and 4 CDs that go with the units.
Set of 7 CDs, 3 Books, & 32 Transparencies: Loan Item for Texas Educators ONLY (428.24 EE-3).

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Excellent English 4: Language Skills for Success
Maynard, Mary Ann and Wisniewska, Ingrid and Forstrom, Jan and Pitt, Marta and Velasco, Shirley (2008).
DeSoto,TX: McGraw Hill.
Excellent English equips students with the grammar and skills they need to access community resources, while developing the foundation for long-term career and academic success. Excellent English is a four-level, standards-based series for English learners featuring a Grammar Picture Dictionary approach to vocabulary building and grammar acquisition. Unit lessons systematically build language and math skills around life-skill topics in an accessible and predictable sequence.
Level 4 is high intermediate level. The set includes: the teacher’s book, teacher’s CD with unit tests, teacher’s workbook, the student workbook and CD with audio highlights, transparencies, instructor’s testing CD-ROM, and 4 CDs that go with the units.
Set of 8 CDs, 3 Books, & 30 Transparencies: Loan Item for Texas Educators ONLY (428.24 EE-4).

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Exploring Water with Young Children
Chalufour, Ingrid and Worth, Karen (2005).
St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.
This book focuses children's explorations to help deepen their understanding of water and its properties-including concepts related to water's flow, appearance and effect on objects. The third unit in the Young Scientist Series, this field-tested curriculum supports the early development of important science inquiry skills such as questioning, investigating, discussing and formulating ideas and theories.
Book (129 pages): Loan Item (649.1 Cha).

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Family Literacy: Young Children Learning to Read and Write
Denny Taylor (1983).
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Family Literacy presents the stories of six families, each having a child considered by the parents to be successfully learning to read and write. Taylor offers a story of the often complex interaction within each family and how that interaction contributed to the children’s literacy development.
Book (132 pages): Loan Item (649.58 Tay FL).

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Help Your Child Become a Reader: A Guide for Reading Conversations, Activities and Games
Oldford-Matchim, Joan (1994).
Alberta, Canada: Grass Roots Press.
The book offers ideas on how parents, grandparents, relatives and friends can help children with reading. Ideas are provided for conversations about books, reading games and book-sharing activities. Throughout the book, key questions such as "Do we do something other than just read the story?" are addressed in a simple, straightforward manner.
Book (114 pages): Loan Item (649.1 Old).

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How the Brain Learns Mathematics
Sousa, David A. (2008).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
The author explains the latest neuroscientific findings and discusses the impact this information has for teaching mathematics at all grade levels. How the Brain Learns Mathematics covers the cognitive mechanisms for learning mathematics, the environmental and developmental factors that contribute to mathematics difficulties, and ways to differentiate mathematics instruction. The text offers a four-step model for teaching mathematics to PreK–12 students that helps teachers consistently relate what learners experience in the classroom to concrete, real-world applications. The facilitator's guide gives staff developers and workshop leaders the materials needed to present the neuroscientific findings and demonstrate how this information impacts mathematics instruction at all grade levels. Written for K-12 teachers and parents, much of the research has application in teaching adult new readers as well.
Set of 2 books (244 and 42 pages): Loan Item for Texas Educators ONLY (510.71 Sou).

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Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale , Revised Edition
Harms, Thelma and Clifford, Richard M. and Cryer, Debby (2003).
New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
The ITERS-R is a thorough revision of the widely used program quality assessment instrument, The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale. Designed for use in center-based child care programs for infants and toddlers up to 30 months of age, the ITERS-R can be used by program directors for supervision and program improvement, by teaching staff for self-assessment, by agency staff for monitoring, and in teacher training programs.
Book (56 pages): Loan Item (649.1 Harm).

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