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High Hat is back

The following excerpts come from the first issue of Hats Off!, a new newsletter for professionals who work with young children in reading programs. For more information about Hats Off! or to subscribe, please email the Webmaster, webmaster@agsnet.com.

Welcome to the introductory edition of the Hats Off! newsletter. As most of you know, we are in the process of bringing back High Hat. The revision will be called The Sounds and Symbols Early Reading Program. We plan to publish this new/old program in August of 2001. That's where you come in. This newsletter is intended to be the primary vehicle for keeping you up-to-date on the project and getting your input. If you have questions about the program, call us at 1-800-328-2560! Others may be asking the same question, and this newsletter can provide the answers.

High Hat 2001

Our plan is to keep and improve the best parts of the program. There will be a manual with 40 lessons, one to introduce High Hat and one for each character or sound. All the characters have been redrawn for a fresh, modern look.

However, three of the symbols are being changed due to comments from kindergarten teachers and speech pathologists using High Hat. Our changes concern the A symbol. We feel we should be using the symbol most familiar to children just learning to read and write. The A@ symbol will represent the long a sound in Ada Ape. The A symbol will represent the short a sound in Apple Annie. The AW symbol will represent the aw sound in Awful Auto. More about the manual lessons will appear in future editions of this newsletter.

2 - 2 - 2 Stories for Each Character!

All of the Sounds and Symbols Early Reading Program stories have been reviewed and edited to remove inappropriate or dated content.

Where possible, the stories have been made more positive as well. One example comes from the High Hat story of Willie Watch, the boy who made people angry because he couldn't tell time. The story's main character is now Wendy Watch, changed to help balance character gender ratios. Wendy is just 4 years old, too young to tell time. We've taken the focus off of the negative with this example.

You Make the Call!

To heck with "paper or plastic!" What we need to decide is stamp or stickers and box or bag!! Would you like to have a rubber stamp or sheets of stickers in the Sounds & Symbols kits to use as rewards for your students? Would you rather have the kit come in a suitcase-shaped box with a handle, or a carry bag?