Mat Man A-Z

Description

Mat Man® is the cute and clever mascot that shows up repeatedly in the elementary material from Handwriting Without Tears. Built from the program's letter strokes with its "mat" for a body, Mat Man's limbs and head look unsurprisingly like the Capital Wood Pieces®. His happily whimsical facial expressions communicate over-and-over again that learning – particularly learning to read and write – is FUN! These Mat Man® and Me literacy materials from HWOT are just the latest example.

Components include Mat Man® and the Great Alphabet Parade (a brightly colorful, read-aloud alphabet book), the Individual Reader Set (26 beginning readers with Family Guide), a Teacher Guide, and two practice workbooks which are coordinated with the HWOT kindergarten and first grade levels – Practice for Emerging Readers and Practice for Developing Readers. These practice workbooks provide pages that correlate to each Reader. In addition, there are packages that include combinations of these components.

Completely interconnected with the HWOT program, Readers incorporate the handwriting style in terms of letter presentation and the Practice Workbooks provide letter stroke instruction and HWOT's distinctive writing lines. The Emerging Readers workbook sports the orange color associated with the kindergarten program, while Developing Readers has the first-grade color of yellow. The two workbooks are similar to each other with letter, word, and/or sentence copywork plus an Understanding the Story segment for each book. These segments cover events, setting, and characters from the story. The Teacher Guide provides lesson plans that weave the components together emphasizing letter learning and comprehension (meaning making).

This series is an engaging introduction to letters and letter sounds. Although coordinated with both the Kindergarten and First Grade level of HWOT, you would most likely use it with one OR the other level. Unless your student needed the content repetition, you would not use them sequentially. ~ Janice

Teaching Method
Traditional
Teacher-centered curriculum commonly used in classrooms that may include a text, teacher manual, tests, etc.
Charlotte Mason
A methodology based on the work of a 19th century educator who maintained that children learn best from literature (Living Books), not textbooks.
Classical
A methodology based on the Latin Trivium (three stages of learning), including the grammar stage (memorization and facts), logic stage (critical thinking), and rhetoric stage (developing/defending ideas).
Unit Study
A thematic or topical approach centered around one topic that integrates multiple subject areas.
Montessori (Discovery)
A methodology based on the work of a 20th century educator that emphasizes student and sensory-driven discovery learning and real-life applications.
Religious Content
Christian/Religious
Faith-based or including instructional religious content.
Neutral
Avoids religious or theoretical topics or presents multiple viewpoints without preference.
Secular
Contains content contrary to common Christian beliefs (i.e. evolution).
Learning Modality
Auditory
Learns through listening, talking out loud or reading out loud.
Visual
Learns through seeing, prefers written instructions and visual materials.
Kinesthetic/Tactile (Hands-On)
Learns through moving, doing and touching.
Multi-Sensory
Curriculum that employ a variety of activities/components.
Presentation
Sequential
Curriculum progresses through well-defined learning objectives. Emphasizes mastery before moving to the next topic.
Spiral
Topics and concepts are repeated from level to level, adding more depth at each pass and connecting with review.
Conceptual/Topical
Focus is on the “why,” often with a unifying concept as well as specific skills; coverage may be broader.
Teacher Involvement
Low Teacher Involvement
Student-led materials; parent acts as a facilitator.
Medium Teacher Involvement
A mix of teacher-led time and independent student work.
High Teacher Involvement
Teacher-led lessons; may utilize discussions, hands-on activities and working together.
Additional Materials Required
No other materials needed
Everything you need is included.
Other Materials Required
There are additional required resources that are a separate purchase.
Other Materials Optional
There are additional resources mentioned or recommended but are not absolutely necessary.
Consumable
Consumable
Designed to be written in; not reusable.
Non-Consumable
Not designed to be written in; reusable.