Author Archive: Kathy Maximov

Welcome, Wheeler the Whale!

We are excited to welcome Wheeler the Whale to our Mega Mouth 2 Decoder series in Level 2. The Mega Mouth Decoders teach English phonics, and Wheeler is our new character for the “wh” digraph. As always, we dug into the research to determine the best way to pronounce Wheeler’s phoneme.

 

While English speakers often pronounce “wh” the same as “w” (listen for your own pronunciation of which and witch), speech pathologists and reading specialists recommend associating the “wh” digraph with the /hw/ sound.

The /hw/ sound is unvoiced like /h/, but the lips are pursed to direct air forward in the shape of /w/.  You might have children explore their mouth position by pretending they are blowing out a candle. To emphasize the position of the mouth, have the children try to “blow out a candle” by making the /h/ sound or the /w/ sound alone. Neither sound is effective for directing air to the candle. Then have children combine the sounds to make /hw/.

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Even More Support for Spanish Literacy Development

The English-Spanish toggle button has always been a highlight of the Footsteps2Brilliance experience. Parents and teachers often praise this unique feature that allows children to seamlessly toggle between identical learning in both languages. For these learners and anyone in a bilingual classroom, we are thrilled to announce even more support for Spanish literacy development.

Hundreds of Spanish Phonics Games in Footsteps2Brilliance

It's a Spanish Phonics Fiesta!

In the last few weeks, you may have noticed update buttons on games in the Footsteps2Brilliance School App. These updates are offering even more Spanish phonics practice, including:

  • Interactive syllable tiles that help children hear and manipulate Spanish syllables
  • Interactive phoneme tiles that help children hear and build words from Spanish sounds
  • New letter and digraph games that help children associate Spanish letters with sounds

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Exciting new resources right at your fingertips!

We are thrilled to announce a wealth of new resources based on input and requests from our brilliant educators! And the best news? We have plans to continue to expand these tools for you!

New Toolkits in Footsteps2Brilliance

Find Ready-to-Use Resources for Everyone in Toolkits

Whether you’re a teacher, administrator, family liaison or a technology director, there’s something for you in the new Toolkits section of the Footsteps2Brilliance App. After you log in, click 1) Resources and then 2) Toolkits to find a wealth of ready-to-use resources that can amp up your implementation.

  • Track progress toward goals
  • Print certificates to recognize success
  • Explore graphic organizers and writing rubrics
  • Find readability levels and standards alignments
  • Review device recommendations
  • ... and much more

There are dozens of new resources to explore. Here are just a few of the highlights:

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Calling all Writers! Version 7 Is Finally Here!

Footsteps2Brilliance has always emphasized the connection between reading and writing. Now, our newest version of Footsteps2Brilliance presents a new and improved writing experience. We’ve enhanced every aspect of Create-a-Book and My Journal, including:

Create Masterpieces Quickly and Easily

From the moment students launch the new Create a Book or My Journal, they will benefit from the simplified design. Based on extensive feedback from students, teachers, and parents, we’ve maximized the workspace and tools to unlock student creativity and critical thinking.

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New Games for the New Year!

The Footsteps2Brilliance elves have been busy working on an update with eight new games and a few new features to enjoy over your holiday break!

Games to Practice Letter Writing

Early learners can practice tracing each capital and lowercase letter in the Better Big Letters and Better Little Letters Games. In addition to preparing children to write, forming letters provides a powerful multisensory approach for teaching letter recognition.

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We’ve Been Amping Up the App Again!

We just released the 6.2 update and we think you’re going to love the enhanced navigation!

New Resources Button for Parents, Teachers, and Administrators

New Resources Button for Grown Ups

With all of the resources that we provide for teachers and parents – and new tools coming soon for administrators – our left menu bar was getting crowded. To keep things simple, we are introducing a new Resources Button for educators that will open to Reports, Class Management, Lesson Plans, Flashcard Maker, User Guides, and more. To return to the App, simply click the new Curriculum button to find our extensive collection of books, songs, games, and writing activities that make learning fun!

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A Little Update with a Big Wow

We just released an update (version 6.1.1) with a few enhancements that you will not want to miss! Here are the highlights:

New Game Mastery on My Library Screen

Easily track students' mastery of skills.

Students can now see game mastery and completion directly from the My Library screen. In addition, the login will automatically return to the level you were working on most recently.

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Something for Everyone: Announcing the Version 6 Update!

We are thrilled to announce our latest update to the Footsteps2Brilliance Enterprise App that includes a wealth of new books, games, and features organized so that it’s easy to find delightful new content that is just right for you!

Footsteps2Brilliance new levels

Find what you need in Level Red, Yellow, or Blue.

New levels for beginning, intermediate, and advanced readers and writers give children and teachers a quick way to find books and games at just the right level of challenge. To make it even easier on mobile devices, users can download an entire level of books, games, and activities to their device with a single click.

 

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Teaching Perseverance in the Early Learning Classroom

Do you teach perseverance in your early learning classroom? While perseverance is not the emphasis of our standards, we all know that children aren't likely to get far in school (or life) without it. One way we can foster perseverance in our classroom is to set longterm goals, monitor our progress, and then reflect on and celebrate our success. Footsteps2Brilliance creates a wonderful opportunity to do just that.

Ms. Kathy Jacoby and Ms. Teri Spampinato in California were new to Footsteps2Brilliance this year. They wanted to make sure that their students got the most out of the program, and they understood that using it consistently would produce the best learning results. 

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Making Learning Even Easier: Announcing the Version 5 Update!

We are delighted to announce an update to the Foosteps2Brilliance Enterprise App that makes learning even easier. With the new version, we have introduced features and enhancements based on requests from teachers, parents, and even kids.

studentID

Students can now log in using their Student ID.

These days, students often use their Student ID to do anything from checking out library books to ordering lunch. Now, they can use their Student ID to log into Footsteps2Brilliance, too. On the login screen, children can choose to log in using either their Student ID or their Super Secret Code.

Image of popup when parent or teacher logs in to Footsteps2Brilliance.

Teachers and parents can use their login to get students started.

As an adult, if you do not have your child’s Super Secret Code handy, you can use your own login to get your child started. After you log in, a new popup screen allows you to continue to log in as a teacher/parent or to select a child who will play. Children should always play under their own name, so that reports reflect their unique progress and understanding.

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