Psyching Up for School

As the school year approaches, the level of anxiety among children and their parents climbs higher. While it’s hard to eliminate that nervousness altogether, there are ways to combat it. Preparation is one of them.

Getting children away from the TV and practicing spelling, math or reading isn’t a bad idea. So this week, in our continuing series of back-to-school columns, we contacted some stores specializing in educational materials.

Paula Hultman, owner of Bright Ideas for Learning, stocks her Camarillo school supplies shop based on firsthand experience.

After teaching for 20 years in the Los Angeles and Simi Valley school districts, and serving as a curriculum coordinator for the Pleasant Valley School District in Camarillo, Hultman has a sense of what parents and teachers want this time of year.

Among the more popular items, year in and year out, are books in McGraw-Hill’s Spectrum Series. The collection of texts serves as refresher material in math, spelling, reading, writing and other subjects. Individual books are priced at $6.95 and $7.95.

“Parents are coming in saying, ‘I need something to help my kids with . . . ,’ ” Hultman said. “If the children are in preschool, kindergarten, the early grades, parents are saying, ‘Let’s get something into the kids’ hands.’ ”

Other items in demand are books that ease children’s transition from the friendly confines of home to the unknown, often frightening, school environment.

Among the more popular books at Bright Ideas for Learning is “The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn. The story, designed to ease separation anxiety, is about a raccoon named Chester, who is going off to school for the first time. To calm him, Chester’s mother kisses the palm of his hand and reminds him she will always be with him. It’s priced at $16.95.

Another book with similar intent is “Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten” by Joseph Slate. The story is about children getting ready for the first day of school as a teacher frantically prepares the classroom. It’s priced at $15.99.

“Coming as a former teacher and as a retailer, if you’re trying to get kids ready for the first day of school, give them confidence going into a new grade that things are going to be OK, fun,” Hultman said. “Make sure they are doing a little bit of reading before they get back to school.”

Hultman said in the three years she has run the shop, she has been most surprised by the interest parents have in school supplies more commonly used to decorate a classroom. Many parents, she said, like to hang alphabets and multiplication tables on their children’s bedroom walls. These types of educational charts are priced at $1.75 to $3.95.

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As with Bright Ideas for Learning, the Adventures for Kids bookstore in Ventura is selling a lot of books designed to help children make the transition from home to school.

Store owner Jody Fickes Shapiro suggested “Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come” by Nancy Carlson. The story lets parents, just as much as children, know what to expect from kindergarten and how to prepare for it. The book sells for $15.99. That is the same price as “Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten” at Adventures for Kids.

Fickes Shapiro said reference books also are selling well. Tying into phonics instruction, rhyming dictionaries, which list rhyming words for each entry, are popular this year. “The Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary” by Sue Young, in paperback, is priced at $6.95.

The best-selling dictionary at the store is the more traditional hardcover “American Heritage Children’s Dictionary,” priced at $17.

“We’ll give parents choices and they come back to American Heritage,” Fickes Shapiro said. “It’s really nice--it’s illustrated and it has little world histories.”

Bennett’s Educational Materials store in Ventura has a large stock of family games to help children learn skills--such as math, reading and geography--in a fun way. The game “Set,” priced at $12.95, helps children visualize sets of items. Other games range from $6 to $14.

For children, the store has beginning reader books such as “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” for about $2.50. For parents, Bennett’s extensive stock includes a series of books on how to help children succeed in school and in specific subjects. They are priced at $15 to $20 each.