First, Learn to Practice is a book about how to practice a musical instrument - any musical instrument. It's suitable for all musicians - professional, amateur, student or beginner. Whether you play in a concert hall or your own basement, First, Learn to Practice can show you how to get the most pleasure, and the most progress, out of your practice time.

Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of prac­ticing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct com­plex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By complet­ing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the meth­ods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard key­board, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the sim­ple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Fig­ure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcompo­nents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accu­rate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chain­saws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.

Learn sign language alongside your baby with this adorable storybook for ages 0 to 3 Story time is the perfect time to practice sign language with your child. My First Book of Baby Signs is part storybook and part sign language guide, designed to encourage you and your baby to learn new words and signs as you read together. Practice communicating with important, everyday signs for everything from basics like "eat," "milk," and "mommy" to more advanced ideas like "help," "potty," and "I love you." This book makes it fun and easy to learn helpful baby signs with: Storybook style--Each sign is presented with picture book illustrations that depict the word as well as both written and visual instructions for how to sign it properly. Interactive learning--Model each sign for your baby as you come to the word in the story, allowing you to learn and practice together. 40 Real ASL signs--These signs are the accurate and up-to-date versions from American Sign Language, and you'll even find a guide to the full alphabet and basic numbers. This book of baby signs is the perfect way to start communicating with your baby before they learn to speak.

Kids love that they can draw all over these books, and parents love that they can wipe away the scribbles! Highlights knows the best way to get kids to practice writing is to make it fun, and Highlights(TM) My First ABC does just that! Features thick board-book pages and comes with a marker and a place to store it. In between tracing upper- and lower-case letters, kids can write their way through age-appropriate puzzles.

Build language skills with the ultimate reading workbook for kids ages 3 to 5 Set kids up to succeed in school with a reading guide that teaches them the alphabet, letter sounds, and sight words―and makes it fun. My First Learn-to-Read Preschool Workbook introduces early readers to word families, sight words, simple stories, and more, with dozens of reading exercises that engage their minds and boost their reading and writing skills. Get more than other preschool workbooks with: 75+ practice pages―Tons of engaging pencil-on-paper activities like fill-in-the-blanks and matching exercises offer enough repetition for real learning and enough variety to keep kids interested. Comprehensive skill-building―As they explore these exercises, kids will build a strong foundation of reading comprehension, language fluency, and critical thinking skills. Colorful fun―This preschool activity book is full of helpful (and silly) pictures and illustrations that will spark kids' imaginations and get them excited to keep practicing. Put your little one on the path to success with an interactive pre-K workbook that helps them master early learning skills.

Anne Meyer and David Rose, who first laid out the principles of UDL, provide an ambitious, engaging discussion of new research and best practices. This book gives the UDL field an essential and authoritative learning resource for the coming years. In the 1990s, Anne Meyer, David Rose, and their colleagues at CAST introduced Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a framework to improve teaching and learning in the digital age, sparking an international reform movement. Now Meyer and Rose return with Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice, an up-to-date multimedia online book (with print and e-book options) that leverages more than a decade of research and implementation. This is the first significant new statement on UDL since 2002, an ambitious, engaging exploration of ideas and best practices that provides the growing UDL field with an essential and authoritative learning resource for the coming years. This new work includes contributions from CAST's research and implementation teams as well as from many of CAST's collaborators in schools, universities, and research settings. Readers are invited to contribute ideas, perspectives, and examples from their own practice in an online community of practice. --

Everything little learners ages 3 to 5 need to start writing--in English and Spanish! When kids are first learning to write it's the perfect time to introduce them to a new language! This bilingual workbook makes it easy and fun for kids to practice core writing skills. Each page features words and directions in both English and Spanish, allowing kids to immerse themselves and build foundational language and writing abilities. This introduction to English and Spanish for kids includes: Guidance for new writers--Start kids off with lines and shapes before moving on to letters and numbers. Plenty of space--Multiple lines per exercise offer plenty of chances to practice each letter and number. Bilingual learning--This workbook introduces lots of new words, ranging from apple/la manzana to la zarzamora/blackberry. Jump-start early language skills with this English and Spanish workbook for kids. Todo lo que los niños pequeños necesitan de 3 a 5 para empezar a escribir--en inglés y español! Cuando los niños empiezan a aprender a escribir, es el tiempo perfecto para introducirles a un nuevo idioma. Este cuaderno bilingüe les permite de una manera fácil y divertida practicar los conocimientos fundamentales de escritura. En cada página encontrarás palabras e instrucciones en ambos idiomas, lo cual permitirá a los niños sumergirse en el idioma y formar una base que le permitirá desarrollar las habilidades de lenguaje y escritura. Este introduccion a ingles y español para niños incluye: Guia para nuevos escritores--Los niños empiezan con líneas y formas antes de seguir con letras y números. Espacio amplio--Múltiples líneas para cada ejercicio para ofrecer muchas oportunidades para practicar cada letra y número. Aprendizaje bilingüe--Este cuaderno introduce muchas palabras nuevas, desde la manzana hasta la zarzamora. Empiezan temprano a aprender un nuevo idioma con este cuaderno bilingüe para niños.