Media Contact: Dianna Cleveland
Telephone: 1-800-375-2926
Email: dcleveland@playbooks.com
Playbooks® Reader’s Theater Publishes New Basketball Story by World Famous Female Basketball Handler
Ladera Ranch, CA - (April 14, 2009) – Playbooks, Inc. announces its release of a new motivating and inspiring story, “How Sandy Got Her Spin,” based on and written by real-life, famous sports entertainer Sandy "Spin" Slade. For over 20 years, Sandy "Spin" Slade was considered one of the best basketball handlers in the world. She performed for thousands at schools, camps, and WNBA and NBA games. Sandy is now most known for being one of the premier session speakers/presenters at Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Dance and After-School conferences throughout the country. She also inspires students in school assemblies across America and encourages them to overcome their fears, learn from their mistakes, and never give up practicing!
“How Sandy Got Her Spin” is written and presented in the unique Playbook® multi-leveled and color-coded Reader’s Theater format which is designed for building reading fluency and confidence in students in small reading groups. Each student takes on a role and they all read the story together in the format of a play but without memorization, props, or a stage. The story explores the importance of overcoming your fears and conquering challenges, and how with hard work and determination you can achieve anything you set your mind to. It also examines the fun and excitement, as well the health benefits, associated with physical activity and participation in sports.
As an added fun element, the characters in this story make up a rapping basketball handling routine that readers actually get to perform in a group with a "mini-basketball" that comes with this story set. Also included in the story is a DVD with real footage of Sandy "Spin" Slade as she performs basketball tricks, answers questions from kids, and talks about what motivated her career. The DVD is hosted by a young, energetic narrator, Kyle Cleveland, who takes us along on his quest to find his spin through zany dialogue, fun basketball antics and clever one-liners! The trailer for this DVD can be seen at http://www.playbooks.com/sandyspinfeature.html.
Reader’s Theater is an approved form of “Repeated Guided Oral Reading,” a highly effective teaching method designed to improve reading fluency. The method works best when students read the same text several times, but keeping students’ attention for that long can be a difficult task! This is not the case with Reader’s Theater as it truly engages students as they bring a story to life by reading a character role aloud with different creative expression each time. With the Playbooks® patented format, students each read a role fitted to his or her own reading level, yet can read the same story together with higher or lower level readers. Higher level readers effectively model fluent reading for less fluent readers, while lower level readers, who often have a better aptitude for dramatic expression, help other students come out of their shells and into the spotlight! Supported by scientific research, Reader’s Theater has quickly grown in popularity in schools and After School programs as a valuable tool that effectively improves a child’s reading skills and confidence while also encouraging a life long love of reading.
About the Author
Sandy’s path to success began with the game of basketball; as a child and teen she loved playing. When she was 12, she saw a woman performing tricks with a basketball, and it was then she decided she wanted to spin basketballs as a career! Sandy attended Fresno State University, and after graduation began performing professionally, starting with her first NBA performance at a Chicago Bulls game. In addition to performing as a sports entertainer, Sandy has developed a line of standards and researched-based products that teach positive exercise habits and develop confidence and cooperation skills (www.skillastics.com).
About Playbooks, Inc.
Playbooks, Inc., headquartered in Ladera Ranch, CA, is a leading Reader’s Theater specialty children’s book publisher supplying the education and consumer markets. Playbooks, Inc. owns the patent for character dialogue printed in multiple colors and written at multiple reading levels. No other publisher can offer this advanced and effective format.
