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Abrams Learning Trends is the developer and distributor for Let’s Begin with the Letter People®. Address: P.O. Box 10025, Waterbury, CT 06725. Email: customerservice@abramslearningtrends.com. Web: www.abramslearningtrends.com. Telephone: (800) 227-9120.
According to the developer, approximately 750,000 children have used the full program since its initial publication in 1999. Several million more children have used parts of the curriculum to supplement other preschool curricula. Information is not available on the number of centers and classrooms using this program or on the demographics of children using this program.
Let’s Begin with the Letter People® includes 26 units arranged around five thematically organized Teacher Resource books: All About Me; Animals, Animals, Animals; Everyone Has Needs; Getting Along with Others; and Nature All Around Us. Each of the Teacher Resource books offers varied teaching strategies and suggested activities. The units in each book have a Classroom Floor Plan Model, which includes suggestions for Interest Centers (individual and small-group time) and Meeting Circle (whole-class time), providing teachers with a number of choices for teaching knowledge and skills in language and literacy, as well as in science, math, art, music, social development, and motor skills. Through the Interest Centers, children are able to explore, investigate, construct, and apply knowledge. Skills are integrated in the classroom’s daily events and are taught using a number of materials such as Letter People Huggables®, children’s literature, Big Books, Little Books and story tapes, songs and rhymes, Just Listen™ computer program, Ready to Read PREdecodable books, Me Bag™ (for sharing special items), Letter People Stickables™, Puppet Patterns, and Family Activity Pages. Teachers introduce concepts during Meeting Circle time that are then explored in the Interest Centers and other group activities. For instance, the Letter People Huggables® (for example, Mr. N) are used to introduce letters, sounds, stories, colors, shapes, and characteristics. Blueprint for Learning, the program guide for Let’s Begin with the Letter People®, provides an overview of the program and its components and includes information teachers can use for setting up their classrooms, as well as various instructional strategies. Teachers are trained during professional development activities and with other resources such as the Teacher Resource books.
Let’s Begin with the Letter People® products can be purchased separately or in various combinations. The introductory set is available for $1,930 and includes the Teacher Resource File ($695), Letter People Huggables® ($585), Meeting and Greeting Cards ($110), Let’s Sing with the Letter People CD ($30), Big and Little Books ($338), a read-along CD ($30), and a set of Letter People Virtual Books ($199). Packages that include additional components at extra cost are also available. Information about the cost of professional development is not available. Additional pricing information for separate products from the Let’s Begin with the Letter People® is available on the website: www.abramslearningtrends.com/lets_begin_with_ letter_people.aspx.
|Institute of Education Sciences
Early Childhood Education