This flexible program supports writing by hand and at the computer.

Stationery Studio is 3 tools in one! Use this award-winning program as an introductory word processor with all of the basics and none of the confusion! Or create customized stationery with appropriate writing line styles, layouts and fonts (including dotted fonts) for students’ handwritten activities. Use the program as a teacher tool to create activity sheets, awards, invitations, letters to parents, and more.

Customize over 226 curriculum-based borders and shapes to encourage students to write stories, reports, letters and countless other writing projects!

Stationery Studio’s easy to use tools and colorful graphics will inspire even the most reluctant writer of any age! Featuring motivating art by award-winning children’s book author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds (illustrator of Judy Moody series, author/illustrator of The Dot, Ish, SugarLoaf).

Now in Universal Binary format, for Intel Macintosh computers!

Chosen by Apple for inclusion in Apple Digital Learning Series Elementary Tools solution, designed to introduce and reinforce technology skills and elicit creative and critical thinking for students in the elementary grades.

Student Benefits

• Strengthens writing and literacy skills
• Promotes Handwriting
• Easy-to-use word processor

• 226 curriculum-based borders and shapes
• Easy, flexible tools for customizing writing line style, line width, layout, color, and text to suit students’ needs
• Dozens of ready made files and lessons that address standards across the curriculum
• Eight special fonts including dotted fonts for handwriting practice – or use any system fonts
• Create your own activities and save as templates
• Multiple print formats including full page, mini-book, postcard, note card and more
• “Let’s Get Writing” Activity Book by Dr. Peggy Healy Stearns included as a free PDF

• Strengthens writing and literacy skills
• Promotes Handwriting
• Easy-to-use word processor

Dr Lynn Meltzer, Dr Bethany Roditi, Susan Taber M.Ed. and the RILD staff teamed up with FableVision to bring the research-based creative BrainCogs Cognitive Strategy System to a perennial academic challenge: the essay.

Essay Express!™ is a powerful combination of interactive strategy-based exercises which use engaging stories, humor, and music to teach students how to structure a successful short essay.

Developed with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the ESSAY EXPRESS software provides about four to six hours of self-paced learning and practice. The software also spotlights the on-going saga of The Rotten Green Peppers, a dysfunctional rock band who are hired to write rock videos that teach kids about essay writing strategies.

With step-by-step, narrated introductions to nine cognitive strategies that support the essay writing process, ESSAY EXPRESS also offers an interactive notebook, student performance tracking system, and option for completely customizable teacher essay questions. Additional features include many lesson plan extension activities, reproducibles and additional bonus multimedia materials that provide even more learner support for both short and longer essay writing.

Benefits for Student

• Students can write clear and effective essays
• Provides a foundation of life-long writing skills
• Students are confident in taking essay tests

• Customize specific assignments
• Identify students’ areas of strength and weakness
• Track student progress
• Numerous lesson plans and templates
• Appropriate for mainstream and learning-challenged students

• Assist schools in achieving improved Adequate Yearly Progress
• Shows school commitment to research-based and instructionally sound learning solutions.

This powerful, yet easy to use software program allows individual students to progress through the many activities at their own pace. Assessment tools include a Progress Report in the Teacher Administrator Tools, as well as a Certificate of Completion for students which tracks their success on all learning strategies presented.

This media-rich, animated, musical program will engage all types of learners. It can be used in a variety of ways: one-on-one teaching, individualized study or as a whole class. Flexible, fun and full of learning and teaching strategies that can be expanded upon in every facet of the learning experience.

While each software program can accommodate up to 99 student records, it is recommended that you buy one program for each computer in your classroom. A four-computer learning station model works best, so that students get ample time on the computer.

Emmy award winning FableVision Studios teamed with the Institute for Learning and Development to create this stellar coaching program.

Generous support from Mass Interaction and DOE made this project possible.

Welcome!

We want to hear from you! Visit our BrainCogs Community Bulletin Board to send in your ideas and feedback about how you use BrainCogs, and well put them on our website for others to share!

In the coming months, this section of the web site will grow according to the feedback sent in from all the wonderful teachers using BrainCogs™. In the meantime, we offer a few tips and suggestions below.

Teacher Tips For Using BrainCogs

BrainCogs™ isn’t just test-prep software. The learning strategies introduced will help your students all year, so get started early!

Keep in mind that the Remembering and Organizing cogs contain strategies to help before students take a test, the Prioritizing and Shifting cogs contain strategies to help students during a test, and the Checking cog contains strategies to help students after, or upon completion, of a test.

Think of this experience as similar to when your class reads a novel. Everyone reads the same words, yet everyone interprets the material differently. Perhaps you’ll want to view part of the software, such as the intro movies to each cog, as a whole class, and follow up each section with an extension activity to tie everything together. Check back to this site for more ideas and inspiration!

Think of yourself as a coach. If you’ve made up an elaborate game plan and want to refer to it later, you don’t want to have to go through all the details just to get your players to understand what you’re talking about. If you say "Triple Note Tote", you won’t have to explain each time that you mean a 3 column chart to help you remember details. Just like a football coach practices plays with his team, review the cog strategies from time to time, to make sure you students do understand what you’re referring to.

We have intentionally divided up the content into sections that are short enough to complete in one sitting. Don’t worry about booking the computer lab for a full day. Spread out the BrainCogs experience over several weeks. Compare using BrainCogs™ as going to the gym and exercising. If you work out your brain for one hour, 3 times a week, for 3 weeks, you’ll reap more long-term benefits than you would if you put in one long nine hour workout!

Encourage your students to reflect on their use of the BrainCogs strategies after that first big test of the year. This can be achieved through a class discussion or individual journal entries. Lead them with questions. "What strategies did you use?" "Did it work?" "Will you use the same strategies again?" Have the students identify areas of the test that were difficult for them, and have them brainstorm ways that they can better prepare next time.

How do students learn? Why is learning so different for everyone? And how do educators create and provide a learning environment that will reach every child? Learn proven, research-based teaching techniques that help your students develop and use effective learning, studying, and test-taking strategies. Meet FableVision's BrainCogs®, a software-based cognitive coaching program, developed in collaboration with The Reseach Institute for Learning and Development.