With a focus on biology, a guide to using leveled texts to differentiate instruction in life sciences offers fifteen different topics with high-interest text written at four different reading levels, accompanied by matching visuals and comprehension questions.

Catch the Wind takes readers on a journey that will teach them about wind energy and the importance of making environmentally responsible choices. It was developed with input from educators and experts from within the wind industry. Children can follow Nels, an inquisitive boy, as he visits a wind farm with his father to discover the power of the wind. Diagrams of wind turbines and their components as well as key terms, defined in a glossary, make up the educational content of Catch the Wind. While exploring topics such as renewable energy, the history of wind power, and the steps to building a wind farm, Catch the Wind also raises awareness of wind power as a viable source of clean, renewable energy.

Looks at partnerships between local small farms and nearby consumers, who become members or subscribers in support of the farm, offering advice on acquiring land, organizing, handling the harvest, and money and legal matters.

On a windswept beach in North Carolina in 1903, American aviation finally took wing. The Wright Brothers Fly tells the soaring tale of how Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved the first controlled human flight in history. What was their inspiration? What was the drive behind their childhood dream? What were the solutions that the brothers found to the endless aerodynamic challeges they encountered? This absorbing and beautifully illustrated book follows the story of how the Wright Brothers' obsession with flight led to one of the greatest achievements of modern man.

Some sports stars are born to break the records. Jackie Robinson broke the social and racial barriers of his sport and of his age. On April 15, 1947 Robinson became the first African-American to play Major League baseball, and his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers changed American sports forever. Discover how his childhood shaped his life, what led him on the path to baseball, and learn of his lasting legacy.

'Gilles focuses the majority of the book on the relationship in the classroom between the individual teacher and the students. She gives teachers ammunition to overcome resistance to cooperative learning by presenting well-substantiated research on virtually every page of her book showing the benefits of having students study together.' 

                                                                                                          -Ted Wohlfarth, PSYCCRITIQUES

“This text's greatest strengths are bringing together a range of powerful teaching strategies connected to students taking responsibility for their own learning and the learning of others. The focus on both teacher strategies to encourage effective group talk and student strategies to encourage effective discourse is helpful.”

-Nancy L. Markowitz, San Jose State University

Although cooperative learning is widely endorsed as a pedagogical practice that promotes learning and socialization among students, teachers still struggle with how to introduce it into their classrooms. This text highlights the strategies teachers can use to challenge student thinking and scaffold their learning as well as the strategies students can be taught to promote discourse, problem-solving, and learning during cooperative learning.

Key Features

• Presents cooperative learning in conjunction with national standards: The book situates cooperative learning within the context of No Child Left Behind and a climate of high stakes testing.
• Links theory with practice: Numerous case studies and small group exercises highlight how teachers can assess both the process and outcomes of cooperative learning.
• Emphasizes the key role teachers play in establishing cooperative learning: Guidelines are given on how teachers can establish cooperative learning in their classrooms to promote student engagement and learning across various levels and for students of diverse abilities.
• Incorporates the latest research on cooperative learning: An overview is provided of the major research and theoretical perspectives that underpin the development of cooperative learning pedagogy.

Intended Audience

This is an excellent supplementary text for several undergraduate and graduate level K-12 teacher preparation and certification courses regularly offered in schools of education. It can also be used as one of several texts in courses on cooperative learning and as a supplement in K-12 teaching methods courses.

Talk to the author! r.gillies@uq.edu.au  

Tom Hanks introduces the rousing story of two inseparable friends and soldiers portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.

William 'Wild Bill' Guarnere and Edward 'Babe' Heffron were among the first paratroopers of the U.S. Army-members of an elite unit of the 101st Airborne Division called Easy Company. Arguably the bravest, most efficient, physically fit, and tight-knit group of soldiers the Army has ever produced, the unit was called upon for every high-risk operation of the war, including D-Day, Operation Market Garden in Holland, the Battle of the Bulge, and the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden.

Both fought side-by-side-until Guarnere lost his leg in the Battle of the Bulge nd was sent home. Heffron went on to liberate concentration camps and rake Hitler's Eagle's Nest hideout. United by their experience, the two reconnected at the war's end and have been the best of friends ever since. Their story is a tribute to the lasting bond forged between comrades in arms-and to all those who fought for freedom.

Meet Whitney, Taylor, and Charisse, three women who have been best friends since high school. However, this devoted troika is about to discover a wave of unexpected troubles.

Whitney is a plus-size woman who just can't turn down a box of Krispy Kremes or find a man who will stay put.

Taylor is in a long-term relationship with a boyfriend who's allergic to commitment.

Charisse is married, with two adorable children, but somehow doesn't have what she really wants—or needs.

Then suddenly Charisse spins out of control. Her doormat husband manages to stand up to her and even threatens to go public with a very shady secret Charisse had hoped to keep hidden, especially from her interfering mother. Desperate, she decides that only a very risky scheme will save her.

One constant for these women has been the support they've offered one another. But this time, how far can friendship go?

In this witty, rollicking, deeply poignant story, Kimberla Lawson Roby demonstrates the storytelling magic that has won her legions of adoring fans and made her novels bestsellers.

Fun facts that kids want to know and love to share, including how many muscles, how much hair, the hourly breath count, and the heartbeats per day.

A profile of dogs with jobs: guide dogs, service dogs, customs dogs, herders, and search-and-rescue dogs. More Than Man's Best Friend examines clever canines and the work they do for us.

Simms Sylvanus is nine years old and enormously wise. He knows more about active volcanoes than his father knows about business, and more about electromagnetic fields than anyone in his class. His ideas to improve things are amazing! Yet nobody — not even his parents — will listen to him.

Cricket is living a lonely life beneath the floorboards in Simms' room. His bride-to-be has left him after a fight, and he doesn't know how to help the other creatures who live underground and fear for their lives.

Everything changes one winter's day when Simms and Cricket discover they can communicate with each other. Through Morse Code, the two tell of their troubles, listen to each other's ideas, and together learn that it's sometimes difficult to do the right thing.

Reissued with charming new illustrations, this beloved classic is sure to delight a new generation of readers.

For the child who loves dolls, for the adult who cherishes dolls, the most sumptious celebration ever in an exquisite, multidimensional presentation, featuring pop-up period dollhouses, secret letters, hidden pictures and more.

Meet Albert and Lucinda, Kristen, Oscar, Hattie and more, enchanted dolls who inhabit a magical series of homes, from a Tudor mansion to a twentieth century villa, finding adventure and secrets to discover, dances to attend, and parties to give in each era. Can it be a surprise that over the many centuries a gentle romance has blossomed between Albert and Lucinda?

Pages are crammed with doll lore and historical detail. Lovingly rendered, highly detailed drawings of dolls, their clothing and furnishings, accessories and accoutrements grace each page and spread.
Each of the four dimensional dollhouses just begs for readers to peek through windows and doors or lift away the walls to find hidden details and characters.
Tactile treats are everywhere: journals to open, letters to pull out and read, jewelry boxes to explore, fabric to touch .and much, much more.
A Children's Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection as well as crossover selection of several BMOC adult clubs.

Teaching athletes to improve their performance is the essence of sports coaching. In response to new government-led initiatives to invest in and develop coaching, this book is the first introduction to pedagogical theory for coaching. Bringing helpful insights from educational theory to bear on coaching practice, The Sports Coach as Educator expands and enriches the role of the coach and allows professionals to approach their work in new and inventive ways. Exploring the nature of coaching, this text covers:

• educational concepts in coaching
• coaching, teaching and leadership
• athletes’ learning
• coaching communities and the social process
• reflective practice
• mentoring
• developing expert coaches.

Powrie (film and media, U. of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) and Stilwell (art, music and theater, Georgetown U.) bring together 12 articles on the use of classical music, opera, and popular music in film scores. Scholars in music and cultural studies from the US and the UK analyze the role of pre-existing music, aspects of high and low culture, meaning, ambiguity, leitmotivs, music by Grieg and Mozart, and films including Eyes Wide Shut, Amadeus, The Godfather Part III, Young Frankenstein, French cinema, those by Almodóvar, those using Carmen, and films about girls' rites of passage. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

At the request of her readers, Kim Roby is giving another airing to one of her most popular characters, Curtis Black, who was introduced in Casting the First Stone and who continued his escapades in Too Much of a Good Thing.

Kim Roby's readers can't get enough of the Reverend Curtis Black, that self–justifying, greedy, womanizing flimflam man who is one of the biggest rascals ever to step into a church. In this outing, Curtis is starting over. He has a new job and a new wife, and of course he's convinced himself that this time he'll be good.

But Curtis hasn't ever made a promise he could keep, and before long, he's up to his old tricks. The difference now is his third wife. She's unlike any woman Curtis has met before. And for the first time in his life, Curtis just might have met his match. Watch the sparks fly!

Kimberla Lawson Roby is the winner of the prestigious Blackboard Fiction Book of the Year Award.

Praise for The Best Kept Secret:

'Will leave readers . . . eagerly awaiting the next scandalous installment.' – Publishers Weekly

In questo libro per giovani lettori, la storia dei modi di vivere nelle diverse epoche, dal Medioevo al XX secolo, è vista da una prospettiva originale, cioè dall'interno di una casa delle bambole, una di quelle che generazioni di bambine hanno sognato di possedere. I principali avvenimenti storici, ma anche i mutamenti nei modi di vestire, di giocare, di alimentarsi, di arredare gli ambienti vengono illustrati da disegni dettagliati, inserti cartacei tridimensionali, testi esplicativi e giochi. Un modo creativo per insegnare che la storia non è solo fatta di guerre e di battaglie, ma è anche quella delle idee, della cultura e della vita quotidiana. Età di lettura: da 8 anni.

‘Home’ is a significant geographical and social concept. It is not only a three-dimensional structure, a shelter, but it is also a matrix of social relations and has wide symbolic and ideological meanings; home can be feelings of belonging or of alienation; feelings of home can be stretched across the world, connected to a nation or attached to a house; the spaces and imaginaries of home are central to the construction of people’s identities.

An essential guide to studying home and domesticity, this book locates ‘home’ within wider traditions of thought. It analyzes different sources, methods and examples in both historical and contemporary contexts; ranging from homes on the American frontier and imperial domesticity in British India, to Australian suburbs, multicultural London, and South Asian diasporic homes. The core argument of the book has three main parts that cut across each of its chapters:

• home-making
• identity and belonging
• homely and unhomely spaces.

Each chapter includes text boxes and exercises and is well illustrated with cartoons, line drawings, and photographs. Outlining the social relations shaping, (and being influenced by) the geographies of home; and the imaginative as well as material importance of home, this book will be a valuable reference for students of geography, sociology, gender studies, and those interested in the home and domesticity.

Mental illness is often much more subtle than we imagine . . . and much more prevalent. This book is a deeply personal, yet practical, book for Christians who are clinically depressed or have been diagnosed with a mental illness.

EcoNest identifies homes designed and built respectfully, in appreciation of the harmony and beauty of nature and in a way that uses nature's resources so as to consume less energy, create less waste, nurture our health, and enrich our senses. < BR>A bird builds its nest using the materials at hand to create a perfect shelter for its bioregion. It doesn't fly to the next state for twigs nor does it build a home that is bigger than it needs. Instinctively it creates an environment that is nurturing, nontoxic, and free of synthetic chemicals. Like the bird, humans desire shelter that is cozy and nurturing, that satisfies the soul, mind, and body. This is the econest.< BR>

Countering the current view of many environmental activists that sovereign nations cannot provide effective environmental governance, The State and the Global Ecological Crisis offers analyses and case studies that explore the prospects for 'reinstating the state' as a facilitator of progressive environmental change rather than a contributor to environmental destruction. The authors recognize that, despite the new pressures of global economic competition and rapid technological change, the state remains the preeminent institution with the capacity and authority to secure environmental protection. The book explores the possibilities for the 'greening' of the state, domestically and internationally, looking at states both as individual governments and in multilateral or regional regimes. It examines cases in North America, Europe, Australia, and the Philippines and analyzes the broader theoretical implications.The first part of the book focuses on domestic environmental governance, with both single and comparative case studies that range from the potential emergence of an 'ecological state' paralleling the development of the welfare state to the theory and practice of environmental justice in the United States. The book's second part addresses the role of the state in transnational environmental governance and looks at topics including environmental rights in the European Union, hybrid forms of governance involving both state and nonstate actors, and an alternative foundation for global environmental governance. Each chapter not only offers a critical analysis of current developments but also identifies new initiatives and opportunities that may accelerate environmental progress.

The scenic town of New Albany lies along the banks of the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. Founded in 1813 and incorporated in 1839, New Albany grew to be the largest city in Indiana by the mid-1800s. Its location below the falls of the Ohio River boosted shipping and boat-building and promoted the building of some of the city's most notable residences, many of which still stand along Main Street. Through more than 200 vintage postcards, authors David C. Barksdale and Robyn Davis Sekula guide the reader on a tour of New Albany's past. The images highlight the city's early schools and churches and its first library. Others juxtapose flooding disaster and centennial celebration.

Sharing their experiences with the integrated framework for practice, several professors and social workers from New Zealand and Australia present four different perspectives on social work: ecosystems, community work, strengths-based approaches, and attachment theories. The 14 contributions discuss critical reflection, the experience of colonization, and the need for contextual grounding. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)