 | May, 2011 |
Hello, Boy, has it been busy around here! I am so thrilled to introduce our new website for Stuart J. Murphy's I See I Learn, my new Pre-K series. There are now 6 books! We have also made a few tweaks to the MathStart website. Now, each of the 63 books in the series includes an activity page pdf. We are so excited about this, we created a "MathStart Book of the Day" feature on our Facebook page and Twitter feed. And we have a new home page site, StuartJMurphy.com with graphic links to all our sites, including: I hope you have to explore our new and newly spiffed up websites. Best wishes,  p.s. Teachers: please share this newsletter with your colleagues. Parents: please tell you your friends. Thanks! ...And watch for I See I Learn books in Spanish this fall!
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The Latest "I See I Learn" Books
stories about a little girl with executive potential and a talent for teamwork and a little boy who figures out that life is a lot more fun when you have
the tools to deal with frustration
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Camille's Team: the social skill of cooperation The story opens with Camille and her mommy arriving at the beach (the legendary "Friendly Waves Beach," which can be spotted on the See-and-Learn City map printed on the inside front cover of all the books). Trading in her trademark overalls for a sporty red swimsuit, matching beach clogs and signature pink bow, Camille is having a great time. She jumps in the water, combs the sand for shells and, armed with pail and shovel, sets out to build a fort.
Soon her friend Carlos, who lives just two doors away on Long Lane (see map!), comes by, carrying his own pail and shovel. He sets about building a big fort, too. Percy and Freda, who think fort-building sounds like a lot of fun, join them. "Mine's going to be the biggest fort of all," says Percy with typical bravado. Alas, things don't go well for any of children and a big wave sends them back to square one. This is when Camille shows us what she's made of, her natural leadership abilities rising to the glum occasion. "What if we all work together? That way we could build one really BIG fort," she says. The newly formed Big Fort Team gets to work. (read more!) ·························· Percy Gets Upset: the emotional skill of dealing with frustration Who hasn't been there? Percy is hurrying to get dressed. He wants to go have fun! And everything is going perfectly until a shoe goes missing. Sure, he finds a toy truck parked under a blanket, but it just isn't fair! "Where is is my shoe? I can't find it! I can't find it!" Percy, an otherwise sweet little boy who loves to go to Ready Set Pre-K and play with his friends, is having a rough day. First he can't find his shoe. Then his mommy wants him to come home for dinner-right when he's in the middle of playing a game of hide-and-seek with his very best friend, Freda. Then his daddy wants him to eat the dinner. Then both his parents want him to go to bed! Grmph! Percy is beside himself. Stamping his feet. Scowling. Feeling cranky. It's no fun to feel this bad. In fact, it's just awful. Throughout the story, his ever-patient mommy and daddy try to help Percy by suggesting things he can do to calm down (read more!) Recently, a mom wrote to us about her young son, who strongly identifies with Percy! For the past two nights, Rook has been reading Percy Gets Upset before going to bed. This morning, he told me, "Mama, I want to be Percy! Can I be Percy in Percy Gets Upset?" Tickled, I said, "Sure!" He then proceeded to make faces and yell, "I don't want to go to sleep! I don't want to go to sleep! I won't! I won't!" Of course, he never got around to the calming-down part. Well, I had really done it now. I panicked a little, then said, "I'll be Percy's mommy. 'Percy, you sound upset. Try taking a deep breath and counting to ten." And what do you know? He actually started counting! And smiling! Yet another I See I Learn success story . . . Wow! Good job, Rook and Rook's mom! Do you have an I See I Learn story you'd like to share? We would love to hear from you! Write to us at feedback@stuartjmurphy.com
·························· Each book includes a special two-page section called "A Closer Look," designed to help parents, teachers and care-givers review key points of the story together with their children.
For happier, healthier, more confident children: I See I Learn!
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We Love Librarians!
(and Teachers & Parents, too!)
 | | click to read the article! |
As Pickle the green bulldog would say, "Woof!" This is so exciting! The I See I Learn children-Camille, Carlos, Emma, Freda, Ajay and Percy-are featured in the March issue of the American Library Association's Book Links magazine.
The article, which I was asked to write, begins with the tale of three year-old Grace, whose older brother, Robbie is in first grade and oh so eager to talk about school. "I go to school, too!" says Grace. Indeed, most three year-olds today have had at least some experience with formal learning-a sea change from 20 years ago:
Sometimes it is a mix of preschool a few days a week and home-based activities and play time at early childhood centers on other days. More and more, young children are "going to school" at an earlier age. To be successful in school, three-to-five-year-olds must master critical social and emotional skills, just as they are becoming developmentally mature enough to learn them. They are in a sense, "learning on the job, " figuring out how to make a friend and be a friend, and how to play and work in groups... ...It was these considerations-earlier school experiences, pre-reader visual learners, the need to learn basic life skills-that inspired my new series of books, Stuart J. Murphy's I See I Learn. The series is organized around four domains: - social skills
- emotional skills
- health and safety skills
- cognitive skills
Simple stories, designed to be relevant to the lives of young children, focus on behaviors that help build specific skills in each domain.
In January, my colleague, Janet Ginsburg ("J.A. Ginsburg" to regular readers of our vizlearning blog...), was asked to present the series to a Preschool Discussion Group Roundtable at ALA's Midwinter meeting in San Diego.
Early literacy specialist and consultant, Sue McCleaf Nespeca, saw the I See I Learn books as a natural fit for the Roundtable's theme this year: school readiness. There were about two dozen children's librarians, which made for rather large round table. In fact, we actually pushed two round tables together! The response to I See I Learn was terrific. I also shared some of Stuart's 21 (!) level 1 MathStart books, which are written for Pre-K. I am always so impressed by librarians-and not just because I am a librarian's daughter! There was a lot of sharing of very creative, inspiring ideas for outreach. Early literacy and school readiness can make all the difference in a young child's life. For these librarians, the work goes far beyond a job. It's a real mission. In these budget-cutting times, we all need to do everything we can to help support public libraries. They are an absolute treasure in our communities.
Hear, hear, J.A.!
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Free "Closer Look" Posters!
While developing the website, we thought it would be fun to reversion the double pages spreads at the end of every I See I Learn book, turning them into pdf posters.
Each Closer Look spread is designed to reinforce the skill featured in a story and extend learning beyond the covers of the book.
Key points are presented in a series of visuals that children can understand, even if they can't read the words yet.
A series of higher order questions are provided (no simple"yes" or "no" answers!) to help teachers, parents and caregivers talk about the story with their class or child.
We are thrilled to hear that teachers and librarians have started to use them!
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Travels with Stuart: Qatar & India Edition
 | | At The Open Window Book and Toy Library and Learning Centre in Mumbai. That's founder and director Alifya Loharchalwala to my right, holding up "Good Job, Ajay!" |
My wife, Nancy, and I love to travel! This past January, we flew first to Qatar to visit our good friend, Roger Mandle, the Director of the Museums Authority for Qatar,, and his wife Gayle. If there is enough time, I always like to visit schools when I travel overseas. Roger arranged for me to present at the Al Maha Academy for Girls in Doha.
Then we traveled onto India, where we spent several weeks-including trips to the cities of New Delhi and Mumbai. I visited several schools, which was so much fun.
In New Delhi, I spent a morning at the Elsabeth Gauba School,where I gave five presentations: Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Grades 1 - 3. This gave me a chance to to read stories form both my new I See I Learn books and the MathStart series.
I also visited schools in Mumbai, organized by The Open Window Book and Toy Library and Learning Centre. Imagine: a book and toy library-all my favorite things in one place!
I also had the opportunity to visit Open Window. Right in the middle of the bustling Crawford Market section of Mumbai, it's a wonderful resource for families who may not be able to afford to purchase educational toys, games and books. I'm proud that my books are on display and available here.
It was my best trip yet!
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It's a Map to a Hidden Treasure!
Facebook, Maps & a Challenge!
So...just how good are your mapping skills? Jason Gossard, who teaches at http://www.thecircleschool.org/, posted an interesting question on my Facebook "wall" about Tricia Tusa's illustrations for the MathStart book, Treasure Map. (see Jason's question and my answer here) It got me thinking how much fun it would be to see and share maps made by kids of their classrooms, cafeterias and playgrounds! If your class has some fantastic maps they would like to share, please send photos to feedback@stuartjmurphy.com. Be sure to include contact information. And please join us on Facebook. We are still pretty new at this, but we love to be "liked"! | 
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The Main Street Kids' Club
A MathStart Musical
Did you know that Treasure Map is one of six MathStart stories featured in a new musical called The Main Street Kids' Club?
The play was adapted by the talented Scott ("Schoolhouse Rock Live!") Ferguson through a special workshop class at Northwestern University.
The music is great and the math is spot on!
If you know a regional theatre that would be interested in performing the show or would like to find out about school tours, email Scott at theatrebam@mac.com. The original cast album, with songs by Scott and Michael Mahler, is now available on iTunes. You'll be tapping your toes in no time! It's the Main Street Kids' Club / Where the laughs are loud in the the fun is free / We're in the Main Street Kids' Club / That's the MSKC to you and me! (read more on the making of MathStart musical here)
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Education Posts from the Blog
At vizlearning, we believe that taking a broad view provides the best perspective. So our beat covers education, early childhood development, communication and media, as well, of course, as all things MathStart and I See I Learn!
TEDxNYED: Innovation & the Future in an Era of Cutbacks is an overview of a day-long event that brought together a riveting roster of speakers, including Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Alan November, Dennis Littky and Gary Stager.
...Many of the speakers delivered theme and variation on tha same core message: - To succeed, indeed survive, in the 21st century, students must learn how to collaborate and network, and to sift through, sort and connect-the-dots from gushers of information.
- It is no longer about teaching children how to be taught, but teaching them how to be learners
- Technology is not a gee-whiz add-on-digital frosting to the analog cake of basic learning-but part and parcel of daily life for nearly all 7 billion people on the planet, rich and poor, urban and rural. It is how we function, almost as basic as breathing.
The Third Teacher: On School, Memories, Low-Hanging Fruit, Lessons from the Past & Better Ideas for the Future is a review of a book developed through a series of workshops in the United States, Canada, Germany and England, covering "79 Ways You Can Use Design to Transform Teaching & Learning." It begins at the beginning with Maslow's basic needs and a two-page spread of gobsmacking statistics:
- Students with limited classroom daylight were outperformed by those with the most natural light by 20% in math and 26% on reading tests
- Asthma is the most common chronic disorder in childhood, currently affecting an estimated 6.2 million children under 18 years of age
- Many classrooms feature a speech intelligibility rating of 75% or less. That means listeners understand only 75% of the words read from a list
- American school children missed 12 million days of school due to the asthma
Clean air. Good light. Good acoustics. It doesn't seem like too much to ask, yet nearly a quarter of US schools are in serious need of repair. Even the most inspired educators are stymied when forced to do battle with their classrooms. It is a waste not only of precious time and effort, but also of precious money. This is classic "low-hanging fruit": Green schools aren't just better for learning, they are also cheaper to run:
- The financial benefits of greening school are about $70 per square foot, more than 20 times as high as the cost of going green
- Schools in the US spend $7.8 billion on energy each year-more than the cost of computers and textbooks combined
- On average, green schools saved $100,000 per year-enough to hire two new teachers, buy 200 new computers, or purchase 5,000 new textbooks
This is not a standard book with page after page of identically laid-out text, with a few illustrations sprinkled in. This is a design extravaganza that manages to mix an astounding amount of information onto every page (hence the plentiful post-its on my well-thumbed copy pictured above...) The Third Teacher is a reference designed to engage, culminating, of course, with idea #79: "Add to this list." So let's get to it. The future is coming fast and there's no time to waste.
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 - a note from Stuart
- New "I See I Learn" Books!
- We Love Librarians!
- Free "Closer Look" pdf posters
- Travel with Stuart: Qatar & India
- Treasure Map Challenge
- The Main Street Kids' Club: A MathStart Musical
- vizlearning: TEDxNYED & "The Third Teacher"
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