Description: This level was rewritten in 2008. Activities begin using concrete materials, so you will need to use attribute blocks and interlocking cubes (mathlink or multilink); please see our Math section if you need information on these. About half the book uses these manipulatives to help the child understand the concepts of same and different, classifying, sorting and grouping. Once the child has mastered skills with these tangible objects, pages progress to pictorial representations of real-life people and things family members, foods, animals, occupations, vehicles, and buildings. These are shown by full-color photographs. Also at this point, printing (ball and stick method) becomes a part of the course; as you can do these exercises orally, it is optional whether or not the student prints the answers. The final chapter covers analogies, the acid test as to whether the child understands the classifying and grouping of previous chapters. Activities are designed for one-on-one instruction, and answers will likely be apparent to the instructor. The teacher CD-ROM offers enhancement for lessons and guidance for the teacher. The guide gives explanation of the content, suggests different types of instructional methods, and offers ideas for follow-up activities. A guide for using the lesson plans explains the components of each lesson. Lessons are scripted and list materials needed, page correlation to the student book, objectives, and answers. CD is Windows/Mac compatible. Generally at this level the teacher's manual on CD is not necessary, but it certainly will make teaching the program easier and more organized. s/c.