April E-Newsletter for Playbooks Reader's Theater

Earth Day!

There are actually two Earth Days! The first is celebrated on the Vernal Equinox in March (either the 20th or 21st) and is recognized annually by the United Nations. The second and more widely known, is celebrated by 175 countries on April 22nd. Since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has become a time to celebrate gains we have made and create new visions to accelerate environmental progress. Earth Day and every day is a time to act to protect our planet.

Bugs for Earth Day

Classroom Ideas
for Earth Day

Earth Day 2007 falls on Sunday,
April 22. It’s a great opportunity to create a fun lesson that includes Science and Character Development.

1) For a writing prompt, ask the students to write about something they can do to help the Earth. The best essays can be shared during morning announcements.

2) Collect used printer cartridges from home and school and recycle them. Funds can be used to plant trees around the school.

3) Conserve paper by using both sides of a page in student notebooks. Buy recycled paper and recycle used paper in the classroom.

Featured Story for Earth Day

This Month's Special

Free Mini-Costume Kit
with purchase of a
School Set of Bug Off!
a $20.00 Value
Use Coupon Code: BugOff-101-16

Win a FREE Grade Level Kit by visiting our newly designed website!
A $269.00 Value

Our web site has a new look and we’d love you to visit and browse around! Sign up for the drawing with just your name and email address and you could be the lucky winner! Drawing to be held on April 27, 2007.

An Original
Playbook® Story

Content for Grades K-3
Includes Reading Stages: 1-3

Matt didn't like bugs! In fact, he wished they would all just bug off! One day, while Matt was trying to eat lunch in his backyard, four bugs came to visit him. They bugged him, of course, and worse than that, they wouldn't leave! Matt had no choice but to listen to what they had to say and was quite surprised with what he learned. Bugs are important to the earth!

Bug Characters

Click here to view summary and image of each character.

Includes Cross-curricular Activities

Dulcinea Farms Licenses Playbook® Story for Families
Dulcinea Farms, the leading producer of premium melons, has worked out a licensing agreement with Playbooks, Inc. to offer the story, Mini, the Super Watermelon, to families! Watch for more details about Dulcinea Farms and teaching children about nutrition with fun take-home activities featuring "Mini" and all of her friends!

Mini Picture
Dulcinea Farms

Playbooks® RT
For the Students

Playbooks® RT
For the Teacher

Fluency and Comprehension Skills

Character Development

Entertaining Content

Guided Reading Prompts for expression

Opportunities for Repeated Reading

Modeling

Song and Rhyme

Costume Kits and Award Certificates

The Lure of Performance Readaing (Star Performer)

Kids Reading Picture

Detailed Teacher’s Guides

Recommended Reader Assignment Charts for Easy Grouping

Cross Curricular Activities

Bilingual Texts

Professional Telephone Support

Effective Teaching Strategies

Effective Motivational Techniques

Creative Applications

Set Picture

Order Free Samples!
Here is what educators are saying about the free Playbook® samples they received:

“I just had the opportunity to look through your sample download for K-3. It was fabulous! Do you have any samples available for K and 1st grade? I'm really interested in working with a particular first grade teacher on fluency and these materials would be perfect!”
Sue, Reading Specialist, Ohio

“This looks wonderful! I am exploring the website and downloading some
of the books. Thanks for the info!”
Susan, Title1/Reading Recovery, Virginia

To get your free samples,
just email us at info@playbooks.com
or call 1-800-375-2926 and let us know which grade level(s) you work with. Our library covers grades K–12.

Read to Achieve Foundation Donates Playbooks® Reader's Theater to Classrooms Needing a Fluency Boost!

Five third grade classrooms at San Juan Elementary in San Juan Capistrano, CA, received a 90-minute Reader's Theater session along with free books for the classroom and for students to take home. Making the school-to-home connection to get parents involved in reading with their children is important to student success. Read to Achieve, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children build reading confidence.

Reading Specialist Picture

Playbooks® Reader's Theater is Different
The unique Playbook® format is multi-leveled, allowing teachers to group higher level readers together with lower level readers. Research has shown that children have a higher “listening comprehension” than “reading comprehension.” Therefore, when struggling readers are grouped with more advanced readers, they benefit from being exposed to higher level vocabulary and sentence structure while the higher level readers are still being challenged.

Character dialogue presented in different colors throughout the story makes it easy for students to follow along and take ownership of their roles. Playbooks® Reader's Theater promotes cooperative interaction with peers and makes the reading task enjoyable for all students.

New 2007 Catalogs
Available Now!

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