Whilst not all of us mourn for the ‘good all days’ and all that entails, one thing many parents and teachers do miss is good old-fashioned manners. Many children are reaching school age without ever having learnt, it seems, how to say please, thank you or sorry. Many don’t know basic etiquette for visiting friends, eating politely or sharing. In her new series Good Manners great Kids, author Sonia Mitchell provides a tool for teaching and learning basic good manners.
This series of 21 levelled readers is suitable for home or classroom use. Each title has simple text which illustrates the manner being focussed on, accompanied by bright illustrations (by David Bone) showing children modelling the manner. So, for example, the first page of the level one text Thank You has a child waving good bye to his teacher, accompanied by the text: I say “Thank you” to my teacher. The following pages (there are eight in each book) have other situations where the child will say thank you, and with plenty of repetition in the text as well as the concept, will easily be read and/or remembered by beginning readers. The text in the level two books is a little more complex, for slightly older readers, and the concepts introduced in level one are reinforced in level two. So, for example, Thank You (level one) is reinforced and extended in level two’s Saying Thank You.
The books are sold individually or as a boxed set, direct from publisher AAA Publishing. The boxed set comes with a set of stickers to be used as rewards, and each title has a simple star chart printed on the inside back cover to use for a reward program for good manners.
Sales of Good Manners Great Kids books support the Leukaemia Foundation.
Good Manners great Kids, by Sonia Mitchell, illustrated by David Bone
AAA Publishing, 2006