New Kidspiration Lesson Plan Book Helps Teachers Use Visual Learning to Build Young Learners' Writing Skills

Limited Time Offer Includes Complimentary Lesson Plan Book Licenses, Atomic Learning Training Videos With Kidspiration Lab Pack Purchases

PORTLAND, OR – Sept. 9, 2008
Elementary teachers can help students start as early as kindergarten to learn the importance and process of writing well with today's launch of "Kidspiration^® in the Classroom: Writing Essentials" from Inspiration Software^®, Inc. As the most recent addition to the company's series of lesson plan books for using the visual learning tools in Kidspiration 3 to help students in grades K-5 build thinking skills, this book joins "Kidspiration in the Classroom: Math Made Visual" and "Kidspiration in the Classroom: Reading Essentials." Written by educators, all three books provide practical ideas and easy-to-follow directions that encourage student learning and thinking.

Created by Inspiration Software, Kidspiration 3 supports students in kindergarten through fifth grade as they build conceptual understanding in math, strengthen reading and writing skills and develop thinking skills across the curriculum. For a limited time, schools that purchase a Kidspiration computer-license lab pack will receive the complimentary Lesson Plans and Training Tutorials Bonus Pack. This special offer, available through Nov. 26, includes schoolwide licenses for all three “Kidspiration in the Classroom” lesson plan books and up to a six-month subscription to Atomic Learning’s more than 110 Kidspiration training videos with the purchase of a five-, 10- or 20-computer license for the visual learning software.

"Communication and critical thinking skills are identified as two of the most essential 21st century skills," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. "When teachers use visual learning to teach young learners the writing process, they are building strong written communication skills as well as the problem-solving and thinking skills that are so important in our ever-changing world."

"Kidspiration in the Classroom: Writing Essentials" is designed to teach students the complete writing process and includes standards-aligned chapters and lessons on prewriting, drafting and revising, editing and publishing, in addition to forms of writing. Lesson topics include: planning for writing, revising drafts, exploring different genres of writing and developing catchy titles. The book also includes references to suggested reading materials and other resources for teaching students the nuances of quality writing.

The new book's companion lesson plan book for building literacy skills, "Kidspiration in the Classroom: Reading Essentials," includes lessons for grades K-2 focusing on early literacy and the essential components of effective reading instruction, such as phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary and comprehension. Developed to support elementary teachers as they use the new math tools in Kidspiration 3, "Kidspiration in the Classroom: Math Made Visual" includes 30 lesson plans that focus on core content strands, including number and operations, algebra, measurement and geometry, in ways that promote the development of problem-solving, reasoning and communication skills. All lessons are aligned to National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards.

Single copies of the lesson plan books are $29.95. Volume licenses for individual schools, available in an easy-to-share, electronic format, are $199. Sample pages from the books can be downloaded at www.inspiration.com/kidsclassbook.

Inspiration Software is also helping teachers learn great strategies for using visual learning in the classroom with a series of free webcasts. On Sept. 25 at Noon PDT, Lucy Belgum, Inspiration Software's educational development manager for language arts, will introduce teachers to resources and activities for differentiating language arts instruction in the classroom and in literacy centers with the webcast, "Individualizing Early Literacy Instruction with Kidspiration." Activities will support students as they learn to hear, identify and manipulate spoken sounds; discover the relationships between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters/spellings that represent sounds); build and apply vocabulary skills including reading sight words from Dolch and Fry’s word lists; and learn how to understand, remember and communicate what is read. For more information or to register for this free webcast, go to https://inspiration.webex.com.

A 30-day free trial of Kidspiration 3 can be downloaded at www.inspiration.com/freetrial. For more information, call 800-877-4292 or visit http://www.inspiration.com/order to find a local education dealer.

About Inspiration Software, Inc.
Recognized as the leader in visual thinking and learning, Inspiration Software, Inc.'s award-winning software tools, Inspiration^®, Kidspiration and InspireData^®, are based on proven visual learning methodologies that help students think, learn and achieve. With the powerful combination of visual learning and technology, students in grades K-12 learn to clarify thoughts, organize and analyze information, integrate new knowledge and think critically. Founded 25 years ago by Donald Helfgott and Mona Westhaver, the company's visual learning software tools are used today by more than 25 million students and teachers worldwide.