To obtain a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at a university, college or art school, it typically takes four years of full-time study, taking four classes each semester. Different states and institutions have their own graduation requirements for Fine Arts degrees. Even within a university, college or art school, the requirements might vary from year to year. There are several factors that can lengthen or shorten the process. For instance, transfer students might find that not all their credits will transfer to the new school, requiring additional time to graduate.
To graduate from a university or college with a Fine Arts major requires a student to take a core group of classes like their peers in other disciplines. These classes are designed to give students a well-rounded education. From the school's point of view, these courses help establish academic standards. College algebra, American government, history and rhetoric are a few examples of courses that might be required. To take college algebra, a student is tested and placed in the appropriate class. If he or she is not proficient in math, a series of preparatory classes must be taken. This lengthens the time needed to obtain the required math class. If students have taken college algebra in high school and take and pass an Advanced Placement exam, they will not need to take it at the university level, thus reducing the time in school.
Studio art classes give students hands-on experience in creating works of art. In the first two years of school, students will take basic art classes like drawing, design, painting and three-dimensional art. As they progress through school, they will have the chance to specialize in a specific medium or two. Other forms of art a student can explore and concentrate on besides the basic four are mixed media, silkscreen, sculpture, photography, installation art, computer art and video.
Another area of concentration for Fine Arts majors is art history. All Fine Arts majors are required to take various art history classes, but those who pursue art history will take additional classes in place of additional studio art classes.
Continuing in a Master's Program
Students who plan to continue their education and receive a Master's degree will need to meet language requirements by taking two years of a foreign language. These courses may be counted as elective hours, so no additional time is required.
Students who want to teach art will need to obtain a teaching certificate. They will need to contact the school for the details, but, in general, some schools have programs that are geared toward art education. The art education degree has all the course work required for teaching within the requirements to graduate. Other schools require that you obtain a Fine Arts degree with a minor in education. If you are required to obtain a minor in education, additional course work will be required, approximately one additional semester. Part of the additional course work includes two semesters of student teaching.
Studying art at the university level allows students to explore new mediums and become proficient in at least one. The most important achievement, however, is for students to find a direction in their art. This includes not only obtaining the technical skills needed to create excellent art, but also learning how to critique their art work and other students' art work. Critical thinking helps aspiring artists defend their art and the direction it is moving in.
At the end of the senior year, students should have a body of work completed. Some schools have senior art shows where their work is showcased. These shows may be one-man shows or group shows.


This week we’ll look at Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians, a book by Jeffrey Agrell, Associate Professor of Horn at the University of Iowa (cover image linked from Amazon.com). I’ve known Professor Agrell for several years, and I’m always amazed by his creativity and sheer productivity. In addition to his teaching and performing duties at the University of Iowa, he has created two blogs, (Horn Insights and Improv Insights), regularly updates the massive UI Horn Studio site, and publishes books and articles prodigiously. (When do you sleep, Jeff?) Though it may not be the first of its kind, Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians is certainly among the most comprehensive (over 35o pages) and well written. Professor Agrell’s writing is clear and entertaining to read, and his “think outside the box” approach to teaching is very evident in these pages. Since I don’t have the room or the time here to consider every detail of this wonderful publication, let me just say that Agrell leaves no stone unturned when it comes to the art of improvisation. He provides copious evidence of the importance of improvisation in music education, and gives the following as one of his main goals with this book.
My fondest wish is that this book introduces a wide variety of musicians to the joys of creating music. I hope that professional and amateur musicians alike discover new musical worlds through this book, as well as music educators of every age, conductors, composers, music therapists-and even jazz players, who, although this book does not use the jazz style, just might benefit from this book as much as or more than classical musicians, since they have always had the attitude and ability to learn from all sources. [p. xvii]
In keeping with the comprehensive scope of this book, Chapter 1 is titled “Introduction: Why Improvise?”, and by the time you’re finished reading it you’ll wonder why you or your students haven’t been improvising. Subsequent chapters fill in more details to help you get started, even if you’ve never improvised. As a graduate student I took an introductory jazz improvisation class, and one of the main concepts I took away from that experience is that when you start learning to improvise you have to forget about all the value judgements you put on yourself and your playing. I remember leaving several classes feeling like a 6th grade band student – it was really like learning a new language. Over time I got more proficient, though nowhere near what you would call competent as a jazz improviser. More importantly, I developed an appreciation for the art and skill of improvisation, and a much wider view of what musicianship is. Jeff’s book will help you to do the same, and you’ll have a great time doing it! These games are well-designed, fun to play, and will stretch your ears and mind. If you want proof, just head on over to Improv Insights and check out a few of the games listed there. Convince a few friends to join you in this endeavor, and then go for it. You’ll be glad you did. One of our horn studio class assignments this semester was to choose one improvisation game from the website and teach it to the class. It’s a great way to get started, but if you want the whole story buy the book.
I’ve just scratched the surface here, but I hope you get the idea. Jeff has also written a companion book, Improv Games for One Player, which is also well worth checking out.


21st Century Skills:
The "Raising Readers through Programs and Outreach" initiative illustrates the Pueblo of Pojoaque Public Library’s commitment to a critical community need: basic literacy.
The program came about as a result of the library’s facilitation of meetings, surveys, and interviews, all of which pointed to the need for pre-literacy and reading incentive programs that involve parents and caregivers in the early childhood learning process. The project develops and presents library and outreach programs emphasizing pre-literacy for pre-school children and their families, develops and implements reading incentive programs for school age children, and expands the library collection with materials that address pre-reading skills and promote pre-literacy.
Through this program, the Pueblo of Pojoaque Public Library has established itself as a leader in strengthening relationships within the native cultural community by bringing entire families—children, parents, and caregivers—together for storytelling and reading activities with staff. Although initial attendance was quite low, the addition of a Youth Services Librarian (made possible by a grant from IMLS) has dramatically increased attendance and interest in reading and storytelling workshops. In just seven months, the Youth Services Librarian conducted 103 storytelling sessions with 1,132 attendees. The librarian expanded the storytelling activities beyond the library through visits to schools and early childhood centers. Now, when he arrives at a preschool, the children enthusiastically declare "The LIBRARY is here!" and quickly take their places on the reading rug.
At each session, the librarian provides a list of recommended titles for parents to read outside of the library with their families, along with take-home handouts that emphasize the pre-reading skills covered by that day’s session. The books, songs and activities in the program are all based on recommended titles from the "Every Child Ready to Read" (ECRR) program, which also integrates participant evaluations, the results of which help staff measure the impact of the lessons and provide recommendations for future workshops.
The impact of the program on the local community has been dramatic, as circulation rates of the library’s books, particularly children’s books, have increased significantly. Such evidence that Pueblos are reading more books outside of the library is particularly energizing to library staff and the overall community as well.


As teachers, we’ve all heard of really great ideas we’d like to incorporate into our lessons. Sometimes our excitement is met with success, while other times we try it and vow never to do it again. Using a blog with a classroom of kids has the potential to go either way. It’s all in the planning – and it’s worth it.
There’s a learning curve involved with blogging that we need to address so our students can be successful. It doesn’t always work when we unleash a class full of creative wonders and keep our fingers crossed that students will stay on task and be respectful. With my classes, I try to focus on feedback before we do anything else. It’s something they receive on a regular basis, but it’s not always something that they have practice giving. Being able to collaborate and discuss ideas is an essential skill. Before any authentic blogging occurs, we work on sharing ideas and giving each other feedback in a way that will further everyone’s learning. This is an important skill.
The Importance of Commenting
Students love blogging for the authenticity of audiences and format. They are willing to put themselves and their writing out there, and they don’t want to read a bunch of comments that are irrelevant or only serve as false flattery. They want to know what their audience really thinks, and even discuss their ideas with them. So the best thing you can do as a teacher is teach kids how to comment on peers’ work, in such a way as to improve the original piece, or further the understanding of the one who is commenting. Sounds easy right?
Involve the kids, and practice with writing that is low risk, or does not belong to them. Use examples which are not blog posts, but other formats; or have students create paper blogs (a practice I adopted from @pernilleripp). It calms students’ nerves, and allows for honesty in comments. Honesty is a great teaching tool because in encouraging honesty we ensure authentic feedback, but we need to teach them how to be honest in a productive and friendly fashion. So, practice and set some ground rules from the discussions you have with your class around their commenting. Discussing how a comment might make someone feel is important, as is a discussion around the purpose of posting a comment. Does it further anyone’s understanding? Does it enhance the discussion?
How to Leave Effective Comments
Have students take notice of interesting ideas in the post and make connections to what they already know, ask questions, and notice what’s going on in their heads while they’re reading – reading comprehension strategies at their best. When they’re ready to comment, encourage them to give an honest opinion – but not a critique of the writing. Focus on the content.
- Ask questions about difficult concepts
- Share what the writing made them think about
- Challenge the thinking of other people. Sometimes learning happens when people are forced to rethink their ideas.
- Always be polite. Rude people are rarely influential. In fact, their opinion is usually ignored.
- Encourage them to finish with a question which other bloggers and commenters can respond. This encourages conversations and purposeful comments.
Be polite, Be specific, and Be positive
In the end, our class motto ends up looking something like: Be polite, Be specific, and Be positive. However, we work really hard on separating a comment which disagrees with ideas made in a post, with a personal attack on the writer. If their thinking gets challenged, we don’t want them to be offended. Instead, encourage them to listen to their peers, consider their positions, and decide whether or not they agree. Give them the right to accept or reject ideas, and have them respond to the comment to let the audience know how their ideas have influenced them.
Ideally, working together to enhance our communication and solidify our ideas will serve us all well in the future. Starting a blog where kids can safely learn how to interact and provide kind, quality feedback to each other, will make them more aware of themselves as writers and thinkers.
Photo Credit: Alan Levine via flickr cc


10 Weeks of Shakespeare ~ Introductory Course for 7th-12th Grades
Learn about Shakespeare, watch one of his plays, and even perform some scenes yourself!
The MIOH+ Membership now closed for enrollment until summer 2020.
And, check out this course, which is available now:
What is 10 Weeks of Shakespeare online course all about?
Fun lessons perfect for upper-grade students to do independently or for a teacher to use to lead a class through a study of Shakespeare at a homeschool co-op or school. Learn about how to pronounce Shakespeare, iambic pentameter, biography of William Shakespeare, the Globe Theater, Elizabethan theater, and memorization and performance tips. Memorize speeches, read through and watch monologues, watch A Midsummer Night's Dream, and perform an act from William Shakespeare's Star Wars.
Gena Mayo is a homeschooling mom of 8 who has been teaching music in various forms for over 25 years. She has a Bachelors degree in Music Education and a Masters degree in Vocal Pedagogy (teaching voice lessons). It is her desire to help all homeschoolers include music in their homeschools.
"Big confession: I took this course for me! I've been wanting to teach my kids about Shakespeare for a long time but I felt completely unequipped to do it until I started Gena's new course: 10 Weeks of Shakespeare ~ Introductory Course for 7th-12th Grades. Although she called it an introductory course I was just blown away by the vast content, awesome videos, and tons of links to get deeper into every module. I always thought a course about Shakespeare could be boring but it is exactly the opposite! This course is very thorough and fascinating. I absolutely recommend it."
~Ana Willis, homeschool mom of 3 and blogger at TheyCallMeBlessed.org.
Frequently Asked Questions
"Gena's online course 10 weeks of Shakespeare- Introductory Course for 7th-12th Grades is fantastic! It covers so much in just 10 weeks. It is perfectly laid out and easy to follow. This course provides great content, awesome videos and informative links that make learning about Shakespeare enjoyable rather than complicated. I also LOVE that it can be adjusted to teach grades K-6. I definitely recommend this course!"
~Jessica Anderson, homeschool mom of 2 and blogger at Intentional in Life.


The Foundational Skill standards are directed toward fostering students' understanding and working knowledge of:
Phonics and Word Study: The relationship between letters and sounds in language. Students will learn to recognize high-frequency words automatically. Students will also practice recognizing words with irregular spellings (sometimes referred to as sight words).
Fluency: The ability to read smoothly and expressively. A fluent reader is one who reads and understands what he or she is reading. Fluency skills should increase as learners progress from beginning to advanced.
The foundational skills standards are not meant to be taught as isolated skills. These standards are necessary and important components of an effective, comprehensive reading program designed to develop proficient readers with the ability to comprehend what is read across a range of text types and content areas (social studies, science).
How to help your child at home with the foundational skill strand:
Help your child to decode (take apart) common words so that he/she becomes familiar with how to read an unknown word
Assist your child in seeing how vowel combinations are spelled
Point out the difference between long/short vowels in regularly used words
Read aloud higher levels of text to your child so that he/she can hear you read with accuracy, appropriate speed, and expression
Help your child identify and understand common prefixes (beginnings, re-, -in, sub-) and suffixes (endings -ment, -tion)
Practice reading words that are spelled differently but can sound the same (read/red, threw/through)
Help your child recognize common irregularly spelled words (said, laugh)
Encourage your child to read to you often, and allow them to re-read the same books, to help improve reading with accuracy, appropriate rate and expression
Strands are larger groups of related standards. The Strand Grade is a calculation of all the related standards. Click on the standard name below each strand to access the learning targets and proficiency scales for each strand's related standards.


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Turn Them on to Learning with Two Whole Language Strategies: Guam's Experience--An Overview of Guam's Classroom Realities.
Foley, Christy L. – Reading Improvement, 1991
Discusses Guam's unique multicultural student and teacher population. Describes two classroom language arts activities (the method of taped repeated reading and "write around") that have met with success and continue to gain momentum in Guam's classrooms. (RS)
Descriptors: Class Activities, Elementary Education, Instructional Effectiveness, Language Arts
Comparison of Southern Guam Fifth Grade and Eighth Grade Students' Perception of Academic Expectations.
Milligan, Kevin R.; And Others – Reading Improvement, 1994
Examines students' perceptions of self, family, peers, and teachers in three construct areas: study skills, attitudes toward school, and future academic expectations. Finds that a decline occurs in students' self-perceptions between fifth and eighth grades and that female students were notably more positive in their perceptions of education than…
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Comparative Analysis, Grade 5, Grade 8


Our free e-book of our top ten science experiments that won't let you down! just had to include silly putty.
You'll see that our silly putty is similar to our homeschool recipe for how to make slime. The biggest difference to the recipe is that you can make our silly putty without borax.
However, since the yuck! factor is identical, I can guarantee your kids will enjoy themselves!
I'm going to show you a few homeschool science variations on the silly putty recipe ingredients I've seen suggested.
The great thing you'll discover about learning how to make silly putty is that you'll be enjoying easy science experiments at their best - because your kids will actually have to do some experimenting to get the proportions exactly right!
Sounds easy doesn't it? But when my kids William and Catherine came to learn how to make our silly putty recipe for home school science we ended up with a gollopy mess and a few slithery bits in the middle!
So you may need some experiments to see what proportions work best. Tip in a bit more glue into your recipe - more lumpy - and then carry on from there!
You'll need to let your silly putty dry out a bit before it's workable.
I'm afraid most easy home school science experiments - including the ever popular how to make a volcano have a common denominator which goes with kids - mess.
Home school science silly putty has the same nasty characteristics of commercial Silly Putty - so watch out for clothes and carpets.
I've seen a few home school variations on how to make silly putty, including using spray starch.
Just to prove this is about home school experiments, the way I saw it made was simply a puddle of spray starch with a random amount of Elmer's glue, but I would stick to the proportions in our homeschool recipe.
The biggest extra ingredients I would add to your recipe are homeschool glitter and food dyes.
Experiments with home school silly putty are much more fun when your putty looks like a pink glitter monster!
Check out our patent homeschool recipes for:
There are lots of easy science experiments your kids can do with your home school silly putty recipe to test its properties.
Here are some fun and easy homeschool science ideas:
* This is one of those easy home school science experiments which may need Mom or Dad to help!
By this time I think you can see home school science for kids is always a lot of fun!
You can get our free printable sheet with the recipe and list of silly putty experiments here.
See how to get a free e-book of our top ten experiments below.
Wikipedia can often be a help when it comes to finding the answers to easy science experiments. Wikipedia will tell you that, by learning how to make silly putty, you have created a non-Newtonian fluid which sometimes acts as a solid and sometimes as a liquid.
Either way, making home school silly putty is a great way to enjoy weird science for kids!
Now we've whetted your appetite:
Once you know how to make your silly putty recipe I have a feeling your kids will be inviting their friends over to have a go too!


Degrees and Certifications:
Bachelor's of Science in Elementary Education Grades 1-8
Mrs. Sarra Harville
Here is a link to the seveth grade Online Virtual Teaching Lessons schedule.7th Grade Online Teaching Session Schedule
Here is a link to resources from Central Office.http://bit.ly/SCPPS-HLO
Also, if you need to contact me you can email me at firstname.lastname@example.org or you can call me on my Google Voice number (985) 240 5285
Welcome to my seventh grade ELA class. This is my eighteenth year teaching and my eighth year at Harry Hurst Middle School. I am looking forward to growing our minds this year.
This year, I will incorporate Google Classroom with our district provided Chromebooks. Google Classroom is a tool that allows me to post announcements and reminders for students. It also allows for class assignments and submissions to be posted to and collected digitally.
To access Google Classroom, please use the following link https://classroom.google.com/ and have your child log into their Google account. You can locate their Google username and password in the front cover of their planner. Once logged in, you can review class announcements, assignments and course information. You can also view Google Docs from the "Google Classroom" link on the left side of the menu.
For quarter 1, our main text, and most of quarter 3 texts we are using in class are being attached to the Documents tab each week as we use them. Please feel free to re-read these documents at home with your child(ren).
"A" Days "B" Day
Period 1: ELA Block 1 Period 1: ELA Block 1
Period 2: ELA Block 2 Period 2: ELA Block 2
Period 3: ELA Block 1 Period 3:Team Meeting
Period 4: Planning Period 4: ELA Block 1
Period 5: Planning Period 5: Planning
Period 6: ELA Block 2 Period 6: ELA Block 2


Emotional well-being is just as important as physical well-being. When our mind is not balanced, our body also suffers the consequences. Let’s see how to improve mental health through a few simple habits.
Migraine, back pain, insomnia and intestinal disorders often indicate a problem of mental origin. Do not be afraid to recognize that you need to improve your mental health. It is not synonymous with insanity or serious ailments, but with something much more important than you imagine.
If you are too stressed, if you find it hard to concentrate or sleep, read on and you will find some tips to improve mental health and prevent these situations.
Avoid Being Overweight
Overweight and obesity result in an excess of fat that the body does not need. Leaving aside the question of aesthetics, this condition has a significant impact on our brain.
The functioning of this organ is compromised, so there is an alteration in cognitive development and in the ability to manage feelings and ideas.
In this sense, remember that it is not about being thin, but about eliminating fat. To achieve this goal, simply follow a balanced diet, accompanied by physical activity.
Reading, Especially Fiction Novels
Reading is a fundamental activity to care for and improve mental health. It forces us to be attentive, to remember and relate concrete facts to abstract ideas.
It also helps us to get in touch with situations we have not experienced, so it prepares us to deal with them if one day they should happen to us or to people who are part of our reality.
Fictitious texts, in particular, introduce unusual associations. These are useful to improve one’s mental health, because they favor the creation of new brain models. A country doctor by Franz Kafka is an excellent choice.
Performing various activities at the same time is a perfect exercise for our mind. Its therapeutic value is to train the speed in processing information. The faster you can do this, the greater the benefits.
As if that weren’t enough, it increases your ability to concentrate. Although you are engaged in a number of activities, to be efficient, you will need to use all your attention in each of them. For developing multitasking you can play hidden object games.
Turn Off the Television
You usually spend at least an hour in front of the TV before going to bed. This causes a phenomenon called debt or sleep deficit. It consists of the appearance of excessive tiredness, because you don’t get enough sleep.
Television causes such exhaustion because, finding it a pleasant activity, we lengthen our viewing time and go to sleep later.
Meditation helps to empty our minds of everything that concerns us.
Stress and negative emotions give rise to neuronal connections that prevent us from thinking clearly, and which sometimes come to block us. When this happens for a long time, the brain begins to shrink and our health suffers.
Joining a Group Activity
Even if you like being alone, don’t forget that man is by nature a social animal. We need to share our experiences and projects with others. When we do this, our self-esteem improves and, therefore, we build our identity.
Identity goes far beyond ego. Being aware of who we are and what we want is good for setting ourselves goals, but also for finding our place in the world. Teamwork is necessary for these reasons.
Not enough importance is attached to art education. Many people give up this skill because they can’t draw. However, you don’t have to be Frida Kahlo or Leonardo Da Vinci to be able to enjoy the benefits it offers.
Taking a sheet of paper and scribbling is enough to relax, stimulate concentration and increase memory.
As you have seen, it is easy to improve mental health. The only requirement is to organize your agenda to make time for yourself.
We recommend that you take this seriously. No matter how much you want something or how hard you work for it, if you are not well, you will not achieve your goal.


Flourishing in the First Five Years
Connecting Implications from Mind, Brain, and Education Research to the Development of Young Children
By Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers
This book for early childhood educators, caregivers, and parents of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers explores how exciting and practical findings from mind, brain, and education research can be applied to help every child flourish in his or her early years and be ready to thrive on the first day of school—and every day thereafter. It offers answers to many questions parents and caregivers may have:
- How can we best guide young children to become “the boss of their brains” by developing self-control and problem-solving abilities?
- How does learning affect the brain, and what does that mean for every child to be able to achieve his or her unique potential?
- What do we need to know about recent discoveries regarding learning through imitation and mirror neurons?
- How can we foster a love of learning among toddlers and preschoolers that will serve them throughout their lives?
- Why is an optimistic outlook important for young children and the adults with whom they interact?
- How do healthy eating, proper hydration, and adequate sleep enhance learning?
- How can we support the development of young children’s early literacy and creativity?
Within these pages, you’ll discover hands-on strategies to support young children’s natural curiosity and fascination with new ideas; perspectives from practicing early childhood educators about the implications of mind, brain, and education research; engaging stories with animal characters to illustrate the use of learning strategies for young children; and a five-step learning process to help toddlers and preschoolers apply and build on their developing skills, knowledge, and abilities.
Praise for Flourishing in the First Five Years:
“This book crosses the research, theory, and practice divide because it supplies seminal and current research from neuroscience at an understandable level and links this to everyday strategies that teachers, parents, and caregivers can use to make a difference in children’s lives. Key are the authors’ use of cognitive assists, the recurring AEIOU model based on the learning cycle, and the simple animal stories that help children learn to be the boss of their brains. . . . Once I started reading the book, I could not put it down.” —Debby Zambo, Division of Leadership and Innovation, Arizona State University; coauthor of Early Childhood and Neuroscience: Links to Development and Learning
“This is an encouraging and optimistic book that offers hope for future generations of learners. Knowledge of the critical importance of the first five years for optimal development has been acknowledged for decades, but Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers take this salient fact to another level with their explanations of the malleability of the brain during this time and with specific ideas of how to maximize and unlock the potential within each child. The authors provide creative and practical strategies that can easily be implemented by parents, teachers, and other caregivers.”
—Marcia Stewart, professor of education with expertise in early childhood education,
“Wilson and Conyers put all the pertinent research together with high-quality early childhood practices to create a guide for parents, teachers, and educators everywhere. The storytelling lessons on ‘hard-to-teach’ topics become real and relevant to children. This book is an excellent summary of what a young teacher needs to get started as well as an excellent guide for the veteran teacher who is always learning.”
—Sarah Sprinkel, director of elementary education/Florida services for Florida virtual school and city commissioner, Winter Park, Florida
“Flourishing in the First Five Years is an enjoyable book to read, and I think it would be a valuable tool for any parent or educator who is interested in exploring the connection between current brain research and child development. The authors’ writing style and use of real scenarios for applying strategies help make these concepts understandable.”
—Karen Sinclair, director, First Congregational Church weekday preschool and kindergarten,
Winter Park, Florida
“The first five years are the most sensitive and impressionable years, and Flourishing the First Five Years can help parents and educators make a head start. It is a must-read!”
—Regina Cabadaidis, preschool/kindergarten teacher at S. D. Spady Elementary School,
Delray Beach, Florida
Published by Rowman & Littlefield Education, November 2013
Available in hardcover or paperback, 190 pages


Anacondas – The World’s Largest Snakes
Here’s an animal you wouldn’t want to meet: the anaconda, which is the world’s largest snake. It can grow up to 30 feet long – or about as long as your school bus! A full-grown anaconda can weigh up to 550 pounds.
As intimidating as they are, you’re not likely to see an anaconda soon, except maybe in the zoo. Anacondas live only in South America, where they hang out in rainforests near the Amazon River. They can’t move very fast on land, but they’re expert swimmers. They laze about in rivers and swamps waiting for prey to pass by. Then they pounce!
Fun Facts about Anacondas for Kids
- Anacondas are constrictors. They kill their prey by squeezing it to death.
- The green anaconda is the largest species. Other species include the Bolivian, yellow and dark-spotted anacondas.
- Anacondas have hinged jaws that can open very wide. They eat their prey whole, swallowing large animals all at once.
- Anacondas can go for weeks or even months without eating.
- Intimidate: to threaten or make afraid
- Laze: to be lazy
- Prey: animals hunted by other animals
- Hinged: jointed
Learn More All About Anacondas
Watch this cool documentary video of an anaconda:
A video of an anaconda devouring the world’s largest rodent.
Question: Do anacondas lay eggs?
Answer: Mother anacondas incubate eggs in their bodies. The babies are born live.
Question: What do anacondas eat?
Answer: Anacondas eat anything they can catch – deer, wild pigs and even farm animals.
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Anaconda Fun Fact for Kids ." Easy Science for Kids, May 2020. Web. 26 May 2020. < https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-anacondas/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2020). Anaconda Fun Fact for Kids. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-anacondas/
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Head out to your nearest slide and explore gravity and friction! This playground science activity is a great way for young children to explore physics using a variety of materials right in their own backyard or at the neighborhood or school playground!
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When doing Science experiments and science activities with young children, my main goal is to inspire them to make predictions and critically think about the world around them. You can encourage hands-on science exploration right in your neighborhood or own backyard. In this easy science activity for kids, children use a playground slide as a ramp (or inclined plane) and explore the speed of various objects sliding down it. Such a simple and fun way for young children to explore physics!
Exploring Ramps and Friction with a Playground Slide
Materials for Playground Science Activity
- Slide (Find a slide at your local playground or use one in your backyard like this.)
- Various objects (You can use natural materials like pinecones, sticks, and rocks, or things from your home.)
- Optional: Stopwatch or timer on your phone (Here’s a set of 6 timers for kids if you’re doing this with a class.)
Procedure for Exploring Friction and Ramps on a Slide
1. Gather materials to roll down the slide. We walked around the park and found things like a pinecone, various rocks, and a stick. You could also use things from home or that you wore to the playground- maybe a baseball cap, sunglasses, a toy car or a shoe.
2. Climb up the slide with your items. Have a partner near the bottom of the slide with a stopwatch or timer. Make sure you are to the side of the slide and a safe distance away and that no other people are nearby. (Do not stand directly in front of the slide. Items can launch off the bottom and hit you- especially heavy items like rocks.)
3. Time how long it takes the first item to get from the top of the slide to the bottom. Do this with the other items. Why do you think the amount of time is different for each item? How long do you think it will take you yourself to get down the slide? What about your friend or parent?
What’s Going On?
Gravity is pulling the items down the slide, but there’s another element of physics in play- friction (or resistance). The force of friction results from two things rubbing against each other- like a pinecone and the slide. Friction works against gravity to slow items as they go down the slide. Each item going down the slide creates a different amount of friction (depending on many variables) to affect its speed.
Want to go even further?
Even more related activities to inspire creativity and critical thinking for various ages.
- Try this activity using different types of balls: like a tennis ball, ping pong ball, and a golf ball. Which do you think will travel the longest distance past the edge of the slide? Why do you think this? Test it out! Measure the distance each ball traveled.
- Invite children to create a chart to record their findings. This is a great way for kids to learn to organize their results and be able to analyze them later on.
- Try to find items that will not roll down the slide. Why do you think they won’t roll down the slide while other items do?
- Brainstorm why understanding friction is important in everyday life. For instant, what would happen if our shoes were smooth with no traction?
- Try climbing up the slide in different types of shoes. Which were easier? Which which harder? Why do you think the different shoes affected how easily or difficult it was to climb the slide?
- Take this experiment home by creating ramps with different textures and see how they affect the speed of toy cars rolling down them. Find the directions here.
- Make your own wooden ramps for toy cars. Explore how the incline of the ramps affect the speed of the cars through play. (These wooden ramps are perfect for outdoor play at home and at school!)
- Use foam core to build your own simple ramp at home. Kids will learn all kinds of physics through play!
Be sure to check out STEAM Kids book and ebook for even more creative STEM and STEAM ideas!


Welcome to the piano TRACKS project website!
We provide a programme of music education resources and tools to help piano teachers formally but flexibly assess student learning and support their progress at the piano.
Take a look at what we offer:
A piano curriculum which can help piano students develop their pianistic skills and music theory knowledge, from beginner to intermediate level (approx. grade 5). This curriculum has been specially designed to introduce and build on concepts in a sequential, bite-sized way, breaking down learning into manageable chunks.
We have made some tracker documents which you can download for free. Use our goal tracking form and weekly practice diary sheets with your music students to set medium and short term aims, and keep an eye on their piano practice. In fact, these can be used with students of any instrument!
Signposts to external music education material that can help develop specific areas of piano technique and music theory knowledge as detailed in the piano TRACKS curriculum.From time to time we also review piano repertoire albums to see how they fit into our curriculum. We put the results on our blog.
You can use as much or as little from the piano TRACKS project as you like, and as flexibly as you need to with each piano student. If you have any questions about this music education project, please get in touch with us.


What options are available, realistic, and financially sound?
Parents of musically talented children often panic when faced with college decisions. They question whether to support their child's passion, attempt to steer her off-course, or even firmly refuse to pay for a music education. Landing a self-supporting job in music performance is an unknown, and many parents worry about their adult child's future livelihood.
Information about how to pursue a music career is hard to find. Your child's high school guidance counselor often has little understanding about possible options other than performance or music education. Most information is usually obtained through music teachers or band/choir/orchestra directors, and beyond that, you and your child are left to flounder on your own.
What can a parent do?
1. Try to relax
Not so easy to do, of course. But your child's entire future does not rest on her college or conservatory decision. College opens up a world of advanced music study, but much happens later in your child's development. You may hear that finding the "best" teacher or most prestigious conservatory is critical. But if circumstances do not work out, your child can change schools, directions, or even careers. Once she starts college or conservatory, she will get a clearer picture of what fits or is not working for her. Give it time.
2. Get informed
Ask questions wherever you go - from fellow parents at recitals to college admissions officers. Read as much as you can. Scour the internet. Learn the difference between free-standing conservatories, college music departments, and conservatories within universities, along with how a BM and BA degree differ. Be honest with yourself about what you can afford, since financial aid may be limited at choice schools. Some programs provide a good perspective on college and conservatory choices, and books, online forums, and even a series about conservatory auditions can offer helpful tips.
3. Visit different programs
Compare, evaluate, and pay attention to details. These questions are just a few to consider:
- If your child plays a popular instrument (such as flute or violin), will he be able to select the teacher he would like, or have to wait several years into his college career?
- If she wants to double major in music and science, will orchestra practice conflict with lab schedules?
- If he wants to pursue jazz, will the school also expect participation in marching band?
- If the program lacks a performance track, are performance opportunities and individual lessons still available?
- Is it possible to transfer in or out of a particular major?
4. Be realistic
Stand back and realistically assess your child's chances for success. You adore your child, of course, but the music world can be cut-throat. If your child is not already top-notch compared to his peers, it is unlikely he will be accepted into a conservatory, or flourish in a demanding university music program. If you can't be objective, ask her teacher or band/choir/orchestra director for a truthful assessment of her chances. And while achievements aren't everything, if your child has not demonstrated some accomplishments (e.g., participation in district, regional or state music festivals, acceptance into a prestigious jazz band or regional choir, assignment to first stand in band or orchestra), he may not be competitive with those who have mastered this level of achievement. Finally, ask yourself and your child if she is willing to practice...a lot. Endurance and discipline is sometimes the breaking point for young musicians.
5. Consider the possibilities
We all know that music performance is not the only option. Your child needs to eventually decide if he must pursue a performance career - and cannot imagine any other choice. Otherwise, options to consider include teaching, composition, music therapy, sound engineering, an academic career in music history and theory, film scoring, music production and management, and a traditional music education program.
Once your child arrives at music school, the excitement begins. Of course, the questions and challenges continue, and your child will need to follow through on practice, performing, and focusing on career directions. Even though there may be rough patches ahead, you can feel some relief that your child has made a decision and is pursuing a meaningful and challenging career path.


A government report in Ireland may recommend all primary and secondary students be taught about LGBTI sexual health and relationships, “without distinction as to their heterosexual counterparts”.
The primary school curriculum would only be taught in an “age and developmentally appropriate manner”.
Per the Irish Independent, the draft report from the Oireachtas Education Committee includes a recommendation that legislation be changed to ensure schools owned by the Catholic Church are required to teach the updated sex education curriculum.
The Department of Education would provide direction as to how the new program would be implemented by schools under religious patronage.
The committee said the new program should be “fully inclusive of LGBT relationships and experiences, including sexual orientation, gender identity and the spectrums thereof”, calling for the curriculum to reflect significant changes in Irish society.
Back in 2015 Ireland became the first country to legalise marriage equality through a popular vote during a national referendum to amend their constitution, which is said to have seen a spike in young people coming out. And in 2017 the country elected its first openly gay Prime Minister.
Other recommendations in the report include classes on consent, a curriculum tailored to people with intellectual disabilities, and a system to record incidences of homophobic and transphobic bullying.
These recommendations come on the heels of Scotland becoming the first country in the world to embed a LGBTI inclusive curriculum across all subjects, without exemptions.
The proposal that religious schools be required to provide a LGBTI inclusive sex education in Ireland is in stark contrast to the current debate on religious freedoms happening here in Australia.
Former Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, who headed up the government’s review into religious freedoms, said the review “didn’t find a lot of evidence” of discrimination, and recommended that religious schools be allowed to discriminate if it’s founded on religious precepts.
Former Prime Minister John Howard also stated that “nobody wants to expel gay kids and to my knowledge it’s not happening”, in reference to the debate. Despite these claims the full review included a number of hearings from people who experienced exactly that.
Earlier this month Prime Minister Scott Morrison failed to deliver on his promise to remove religious discrimination exemptions for LGBTI students in schools by the end of 2018.


This article is sponsored by Growing IQ.
For many parents of preschoolers, sports and reading often take priority. But Growing IQ, a local math-centric enrichment program that relies on discovery-based programming to instill math concepts at young ages, reminds Frisco parents that music education is another vital and often overlooked aspect of a young child’s learning landscape.
Music education for preschoolers comes with benefits in at least five major areas.
Music education – whether that’s singing, marching, drumming, pounding on keys, or ringing bells wildly – supports the development of a child’s sense of hearing (obviously), but touch, sight, movement sensations, and the sensation of body positioning are all supported as well through song and dance.
Music education helps little ones develop hand/eye coordination as well as supporting the development of neurons between what the body does and what the brain perceives. The support of the development of the brain’s neural pathways in early years is vital to later achievement – who knew that support of this development could start as simply as ringing bells and pounding drums?
Singing helps children develop a sense of repetition, diction, and word choice, just as nursery rhymes do. Additionally, the process of repeating (and ultimately memorizing) the same lines over and over develops important neural connections. On the flip side, children (and humans in general) are wired to remember words set to music more easily (think “A-B-C’s”), so lots of important concepts can be reinforced, digested, and cemented through song and dance.
Music reinforces for children counting, rhythm, and number sense. Learning about meter, beats, and rhythm helps lay the foundation for greater math achievement in children later on as children gain a sense of whole, part, fractions, and even addition and subtraction through counting beats and marching.
Music helps regulate the moods of all listeners, but especially children. We all know that music’s soothing power can help children sleep. Music can also help energize children to engage in the kind of boisterous big-body play that they desperately need. Gregorian chants can lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and help develop neural pathways.
Not Sure Where to Start?
Math, Music, and Motion is a revolutionary new approach to help toddlers and preschoolers learn math fundamentals through music, song, and play.
Growing IQ was founded to address a concern for STEAM learning among the youngest learners, but owners began to notice that the music education deficit among preschoolers was related, and just as deeply concerning. To combat the deficiency, the company developed Math, Music, Motion, a unique set of programming designed to partner with parents and preschools to help children develop early math concepts through musicality, song, and dance. Uma Mohan, the owner of Growing IQ in Frisco comments,
Young children are naturally responsive to and learn through music. So we use music to reinforce concepts about numbers and counting.
The framework behind the Math, Music, Motion, like the rest of Growing IQ’s programming, relies on experience and sensory-based learning to reinforce STEAM concepts. Math, Music, Motion, however, is uniquely designed for the littlest learners, using their characteristic enjoyment of play and song to create an environment rich in learning. Mohan describes a sample lesson.
We might sing ‘5 Little Monkeys’ and march around, drawing attention to the numbers in the song with our movements. Or as children march to beats, we might assign different counts to quarter notes and half notes. Not all of the play is entirely musical. Children work on fine motor skills, colors, and all sorts of other things as well. But it’s all focused on reinforcing counting and number concepts.
Math, Music, Motion has scheduled programming at several local preschools in McKinney and Frisco. Additionally, Growing IQ hosts the program on Saturdays.
Instructors are available for week-day programming as well on a by-request basis. Classes are kept small so that the instructors can focus on each child’s individual needs.
There isn’t a better time to brighten your little one’s week with music and to encourage them to start learning important math concepts. Head to Math, Music, Motion’s website to sign up for a class today!


STEM and Innovation
I help teachers understand the interdisciplinary nature of STEM, and how STEM-foundational thinking belongs in every classroom. A classroom that promotes and facilitates STEM-foundational thinking and instructional activities is one that promotes innovation, creativity, positive classroom behavior, and a shared determination to achieve. True STEM equity is achieved in the classroom learning experiences. I believe that with appropriate, scaffolded support, teachers will be able to increase the amount of STEM-foundational thinking occurring in their classrooms, thereby deepening the learning of all students, and using technology to make the world a better place. This is exactly what STEM-foundational thinking is all about: incorporating project-based, interdisciplinary curriculum supported through teacher, student, and parent collaboration and technology; fostering creativity, invention, and critical thinking.
Large-scale Learning Experiences
Innovative teaching requires teachers to create large-scale learning experiences for students and encourage them to fulfill their own moonshot idea. I design and promote large-scale learning experiences that require deep learning because “learning is optimized when students are involved in activities that require complex thinking and the application of knowledge” (Hess, Carlock, Jones, & Walkup, 2009). STEM is more than an acronym; it is foundational thinking required for every student (and their teachers) to be successful in the real world. My main priority with every student and teacher is to create a learning experience that goes beyond textbook and worksheet learning. To change the world through engineering and designing ideas.
Elementary Education Pedagogy
Learning matters. Perhaps I have become too close to my profession, too close to my students’ lives. Perhaps the stakes have become so high (whether with standardized testing, which results in school funding, or high school graduation rates based solely on race) that I can no longer afford to treat teaching as just something I enjoy doing. I revel when a student makes a meaningful connection to a difficult concept for the first time. I rejuvenate from creative thinking. More importantly, however, I am satisfied knowing that I am a positive agent of change: an absolutely necessary change towards excellence and equity in education.
Culturally Responsive Education
I have a civic and moral responsibility to educate. Teaching is difficult, but when have moral responsibilities ever been easy? Teaching is no longer just a job that I enjoy and do well. There is just too much at stake for it to just be a job. Teaching represents my duty to encourage and elevate the thinking of today’s youth, especially my minority students. And while I continue to create communities within my classroom and make meaningful connections to my students, I take the racial achievement gap very seriously. Through classroom communities and meaningful connections, I hope to encourage my students of color to be critical thinkers, an essential skill in today’s world. My students will be equipped with the skills to embrace life-long learning and succeed outside of the classroom.


Rousseau was influential in both Europe and America in the mid to late sass’s. Rousseau emphasized out of the home schooling and viewed children as innately good. Rousseau reduced the importance of learning by reading and emphasized learning by experience. An example of his work is seen today as children learn through play. Pestilential He was a Swiss educator in early 1 ass’s who focused on the welfare of the poor children and believed all children are capable of learning with parents (esp.
. Mothers) as their first teachers.
Pestilential emphasized learning through ands on manipulation of objects and believed mothers or mother figures were best suitable to teach. An example of this is the use of blocks and puzzles in preschools today, as well as the Parents as First Teacher Programs. Before Before was known as the Father of Kindergarten. His focus was on play based learning where teachers were to guide and observe and not interfere with the children’s natural learning process.
He believed that learning facilities outside the home were best for children’s learning.
Before used direct play to keep children’s interests and would give them hands on learning materials and activities. Kindergartens today still use Probe’s method of learning through play. Peabody Peabody adapted on Probe’s ideal of Kindergarten in the sass’s to include the individualized instruction to suit each child’s abilities. Peabody emphasized the need children had for careful direction in order to develop fully. An example of this would be the individualized learning environments such as in Kindergarten 1896-1980 Pigged studied the cognitive development of children by observing he child’s answers to problem solving tasks.
He developed a stage theory in which he says children seek a balance in learning. Pigged valued the roles of experience and internal process equally. He believed that nature and nurture has key roles in a child’s development. Even from birth the doctors and Wick offices will tell you nurture and physical touch helps the development of the infant on up. Viscosity In the late 180(Yes and early 190(Yes Viscosity had a main emphasis on language learning. He believed that language is the primary means in which children Egan to organize their thinking.
He showed how children notice how adults use words to share ideas and think out loud which then silent thinking becomes. He also believed that the environment in which the child lived had an impact on which language the child used/learned. Even today babies learn new words by hearing their parents and those around them using them. Sell Gel’s emphasis was placed on the importance of development. He defined the roles of parents and teachers as researchers. (1880-1961) Sell defined the stages of infant’s development as a guide.
He also supported the connections between school and home. Today you have to have your child screened, where they make sure they are meeting the stages in development as defined. Dewey Dews theory emphasized three key factors of education; experience with authentic materials, meaningful to the individual student and based on problem solving activities. He believed that learning occurred through those types of situations. (1859-1952) Defined the key role of the teacher was to uncover the child’s thoughts, interests and feelings. Also to develop a lifelong love of learning.
Cite this Theorists Who Influenced Early Childhood Learning Essay
Theorists Who Influenced Early Childhood Learning Essay. (2018, Jun 29). Retrieved from https://graduateway.com/theorists-who-influenced-early-childhood-learning/


Teaching: A World View
Finnish Line: Teaching in Finland
The country known for having the best teachers doesn’t pay them at premium levels but makes sure it hires the right people, focuses them on subject-area competency rather than pedagogy and doesn’t micromanage them.
On Monday mornings in March, with the temperature below freezing in Oulu, a seaside city in Finland equidistant between Helsinki and the Artic Circle, Milla Lehtinen starts the school day leading her students 325 yards from school for two hours of P.E. The students ice skate or ski, depending on the Monday. “It was minus-19 this morning,” Lehtinen says in an interview via Skype. “We enjoy the winter.” After P.E., the 10-year-olds return to school for their school-provided hot lunch and one period of Finnish language studies and a math lesson. Then the day is done.
Among developed countries, Finland ranks low for instruction hours, according to Finland’s National Agency for Education. U.S. elementary school students spend 331 more hours in class a year than their Finnish counterparts. Most days, only half of Lehtinen’s 20 students even have to come to the day’s first 45-minute period. A 15-minute recess follows. Then comes another 45-minute period, this time with the whole class in attendance, followed by lunch and recess. After one more 45-minute lesson with all there and another recess, the early arrivers go home. The late arrivers have one final period before they are dismissed.
After-school programs, focused on play and fun but not academics, are provided for the youngest children. Older children usually get home between 12 and 2 p.m. They are alone or with friends until their parents get home. Homework is negligible by American standards, especially in lower grades, as is testing.
Knowing their limits
The appeal for the children is obvious. But the light hours and frequent recesses serve an educational purpose. The human brain, whether student or teacher, can handle only just so much work before it needs a break. “Children like to behave,” Lehtinen says, but “it’s almost impossible to sit the whole day. I have thought I could never, ever get them to sit the whole day in their places.” In math, when it’s time to do problems, one student goes behind a barrel, some take to the floor under their desks and others lie on beanbag chairs in the school lobby. “Their legs are going like this,” Lehtinen says, flopping her hands up and down rapidly, “but they are doing it.”
It all squares with the country’s ranking in March by a UN agency as the happiest on earth. But as nations worried about global competitiveness race to see who can keep children’s noses closest to the grindstone, it’s striking how well Finland does with a different approach. Student achievement is above average for the developed world. Finland devotes less of its GDP to elementary education than the U.S. does, though it devotes more for secondary education — a function of the country’s heavy emphasis on vocational education.
Finland draws educators and media from Malaysia to France looking for the keys to Finland’s educational success.
One of the reasons most cited: Finland has — as a government brochure boasts and exhorts — the “world’s most competent teachers.” In the 1970s, Finland moved teacher education from teacher colleges to universities. The Finnish approach: Find the right people and train them well. Aside from instructors in pre-schools — compulsory education doesn’t start until age 7 — essentially all teachers must hold master’s degrees.


The youngest children at our school delight in exploring the world around them. Even routine activities such as feeding and diapering provide opportunities for our teachers to sing, talk, and interact with your child.
Toddlers learn best in the context of relationships within small groups. In our program, the approach focuses on the recognition that a curriculum must be based on both care and education, those being one and the same for toddlers. Promoting children’s secure attachment relationships with caregivers and families through primary care-giving with a consistent adult is given the highest priority. Our curriculum centers on connections and relationships where adults respect and respond to children’s cues and interests. The caregiver/teacher will get to know the children and families well so that experiences enhance and blend with home life. The small group size of 8 toddlers with two primary caregivers/teachers and a part-time Afternoon Teacher to cover breaks and planning allows this to happen. Link to our 8.18.17 ToddlerLearningStory
Toddlers are curious and examines all that is seen as the infant works to understand the world. Caregivers create an individualized curriculum in a safe and interesting environment to enhance the infant’s natural curiosity, allowing the infant or toddler to discover, investigate and learn about the world. Engaging your infant in language play, responding to non-verbal cues and encouraging socialization with other infants and adults helps your infant learn to communicate.
Promoting growth in all areas of your toddler’s development is incorporated into the day. Creative experiences with art materials, playing in the classroom area to learn about daily life, participating in music and dance, playing with toys that can be built with, exercising and developing large muscles, and listening to stories are among the many experiences your child will enjoy. Since language is developing rapidly at this age, learning to communicate and hearing language is an integral part of their day.
Toddlers are also learning self-regulation, that is, how to manage their strong impulses and emotions in ways that will help them successfully negotiate their world. Adults provide a positive supportive environment as toddlers struggle to learn these skills.Toddlers are developing their independence and many opportunities are provided for them to do this. The caregivers/teachers work with the families to introduce, encourage and practice new skills. Learning to dress and feed themselves and use the toilet are important milestones for toddlers.
Building Blocks Preschool realizes the importance of outdoor experiences and has an area outdoors for infants and toddlers to enjoy and explore nature. We go outdoors daily, weather permitting.
Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the programs in Reggio Emilia, has taught us that children express their thoughts and feelings through 100 Languages, the spoken word certainly, but also through gesture, music, constructing, dramatic play, dance, paint, clay, and drawing to name a few. Exploring these languages prepares children for their future journeys during the preschool years.
Hands-on and authentic experiences guide the curriculum for children to discover. Children are encouraged to use their senses as they explore the world around them. Through early literacy experiences, children learn to appreciate language, gain new vocabulary, and learn to use new words and concepts. Simple participatory songs and finger plays are important introductions to speech patterns, motor skill development, and math concepts.
Project work often steers their curriculum. Our teaching staff observes the children’s interests through their play. Activities are developed and items are added to the environment to encourage further exploration, questioning, and discovery. It is proven that children learn more when the subject stimulates them; therefore colors, numbers, and emergent literacy are all strengthened through the Project Approach.


Pictures cards are simply a picture on a square card. They are one of the most versatile templates, able to be utilized for so many purposes. Whether you are creating communication cards, literacy activities, behavior strategies, or any other material, LessonPix provides unique features to create your custom materials easily.
To design your custom material, follow the basic LessonPix steps:
- Drag your pictures on to the tray from our clip art library or you own uploaded photos
- Click the "Create Materials" yellow button.
- Choose "Picture Cards" and follow the materials wizard.
It's that easy! Within the wizard, you can choose options that customize your material for your needs.
Dynamic and Classic.....
On the last page of the wizard for picture cards, you will see 2 tabs: "Dynamic" and "Classic". Classic is the original menu that many experienced users are familiar. "Classic" will provide simple options such as how many pictures per page - 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, etc. The newer "Dynamic" uses more logic to create specific designs such as: fit all on one page, custom sizes for certain uses, or create a table.
Both of these options determine how many pictures you would like on one sheet of paper. For example, if you need a large picture, you may choose only one picture per page. This versatility allows for custom sizes, and yet the vector images will always remain clear.
Grid layout button is found on the gray right side of the wizard. It allows you to move pictures to specific locations, change titles, and add color backgrounds.
The title space places a title at the top of the page. Leave it blank if you do not need a title. By default the title will read, "Picture Cards", unless you change it.
The style is where the material can be truly customized. This includes selecting landscape or portrait, text style, border size and position, and border color. Change the border color to "white" to make it disappear, and only the images and text will show.
Once you have followed the wizard and created your custom picture cards, it is time to print them. You may print the pictures and laminate them or print the picture cards on cardstock paper.
In very little time, you can have the exact picture cards you need.
Here are samples in the Sharing Center of materials made with the Picture Cards Templates.....
More Great Ideas.....
- Memory games
- Story sequence cards
- Scavenger Hunts
- Picture schedules
- Visuals for special education
- Visuals for ESL
- Literacy Development
- Picture Instructions with steps
- Job chart
- Behavior management
- Sorting Activities
- Choice Cards
- Picture Communication Systems.... etc.


All students have art education within the classroom. Starting in kindergarten, students go to the art studio for at least one hour per week. Art concepts are taught through activities based on the elements of design: line, shape, form, texture, space, color and value. Art instruction lends itself to integrating with other subject areas. The purposes of these activities are to help students develop awareness of, and appreciation for, the skills in communicating through art, and a feeling of pride and satisfaction in their work. Multicultural art activities are infused into the curriculum. Art Education gives students the opportunity to develop an interest in art appreciation and to develop critical and creative thinking skills.
There is an optional band program for students in grades five through eight. Students receive small group lessons on instruments and as they progress are also involved in ensembles and performances.
All students participate in a music program designed to help children perceive sounds and rhythms, distinguish the structure of the music through listening, composing and performing; produce compositions; move or dance to music; reflect and evaluate performance; and reflect upon music’s heritage. The younger children prepare for and the elementary children play Orff instruments and recorders as well as dance and sing to music. Students share their work periodically through Informance music programs for their loved ones. Parents are also welcome to attend music classes with their students occasionally to enjoy the development of the children.
All ages participate in programs designed to develop physical skills and large and small motor control. Toddler and Early Childhood students spend time daily in large motor activity. Elementary students have physical education with an instructor and participate in units of study involving jogging, hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer, and other games designed to develop physical skills, cooperation and sportsmanship. Students need a pair of athletic shoes for gym.
Our students in Early Childhood through Middle School receive weekly Spanish instruction with a focus on the fundamentals, vocabulary, grammar, and culture of Spanish. Our Toddler students experience Spanish language and culture within their classroom setting throughout the day. We partner with Viva! Spanish Language Programs for our foreign language curriculum and instruction in our upper and middle programs.


Making small changes to practice helps people learn skills twice as fast, recent research finds.
Small adjustments to practice work much better than practicing in the same way over-and-over again.
For example, those learning the piano can play slightly louder and softer or slightly faster and slower.
Those learning a sport can make small changes to equipment or rules to create variation.
Learning is enhanced by forcing the mind to adapt to changes.
Professor Pablo A. Celnik, study co-author, said:
“What we found is if you practice a slightly modified version of a task you want to master, you actually learn more and faster than if you just keep practicing the exact same thing multiple times in a row.”
For the study, 86 people learned to use a pinching movement to move a cursor across a computer screen.
Some simply practiced in exactly the same way again and again, while others had the task modified slightly.
The modification was that people needed to apply slightly different forces, so that they were constantly adapting.
Small modifications to practice almost doubled people’s speed and accuracy, the results revealed.
Professor Celnik said:
“Our results are important because little was known before about how reconsolidation works in relation to motor skill development.
This shows how simple manipulations during training can lead to more rapid and larger motor skill gains because of reconsolidation.
The goal is to develop novel behavioral interventions and training schedules that give people more improvement for the same amount of practice time.”
Other studies suggest only small tweaks to practice will work, Professor Celnik said:
“If you make the altered task too different, people do not get the gain we observed during reconsolidation.
The modification between sessions needs to be subtle.”
About the author
Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology.
He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004. He is also the author of the book “Making Habits, Breaking Habits” (Da Capo, 2003) and several ebooks:
- Accept Yourself: How to feel a profound sense of warmth and self-compassion
- The Anxiety Plan: 42 Strategies For Worry, Phobias, OCD and Panic
- Spark: 17 Steps That Will Boost Your Motivation For Anything
- Activate: How To Find Joy Again By Changing What You Do
The study was published in the journal Current Biology (Wymbs et al., 2016).


Are you concerned about students in your class who can decode but have no understanding of what they have read? Current research indicates that we should be explicitly teaching reading comprehension strategies to students. This workshop takes this research and turns it into classroom practice. It is based on Sheena’s experience of teaching strategies in a real classroom. It answers questions such as, ‘Are the strategies hierarchical? How long should I spend teaching each strategy? and ‘Do I teach them to the whole class or in groups?
The workshop will also cover
- Current reading comprehension research
- Clarification of the strategies
- A model for how to introduce strategies
- Student activities that support strategy teaching
- Practical examples of recording on-going learning


ANIM2220 Animal Diversity
- 6 points
Availability Location Mode Semester 1 UWA (Perth) Face to face
- Details for undergraduate courses
- Level 2 core unit in the Zoology major sequence
- The area of knowledge for this unit is Life and Health Sciences
- Category B broadening unit for students
- This unit will focus on the spectrum of animal diversity, from single celled organisms through to vertebrates. This diversity will be categorised systematically into the 35 phyla, and classes of the major phyla, the organisation of which reflects their evolutionary history. The evolution of animals will be illustrated using the classic study of the change in body structure (‘bauplans'), from simple to complex tissues, organs, segmentation, limbs and other body parts. This will be compared with evolution discerned by modern molecular sequence methods, and how the differences between these methods can be understood. Factors influencing the evolution of animal diversity will be explored, within and between phyla, in the context of coincidental changes in climate, geology, and ecology throughout evolutionary history. Theoretical concepts developed during lectures will be explored in laboratory classes. Representative species from major phyla and classes will be examined to understand body structure, and to demonstrate the characters used to categorise animals into phyla and classes.
- Students are able to (1) identify all animal phyla using anatomical characters; (2) identify classes, and sometimes orders, within major phyla using anatomical characters; (3) describe the body structure (‘bauplans') of various animal phyla; (4) explain evolutionary relationships of the animal phyla, including changes in bauplans; (5) relate anatomy and bauplans to physiology and ecology; (6) relate co-evolutionary changes in anatomy and bauplan between phyla; and (7) demonstrate basic laboratory techniques associated with examining and handling zoological specimens.
- Indicative assessments in this unit are as follows: (1) final exam, with MCQ, short answer and short essay questions; (2) online tests of diagnostic characteristics; and (3) laboratory work, including handling and dissection of specimens, identifying anatomy and diagnostic characteristics. Further information is available in the unit outline.
Supplementary assessment is not available in this unit except in the case of a bachelor's pass degree student who has obtained a mark of 45 to 49 overall and is currently enrolled in this unit, and it is the only remaining unit that the student must pass in order to complete their course.
- Unit Coordinator(s)
- Professor Raphael Didham and Associate Professor Theodore Evans
- Unit rules
- BIOL1131 Plant and Animal Biology
- ANIM2203 Invertebrate Zoology
- Contact hours
- lectures: 2 per week
labs/practical classes: 3 hours per week
Hickman, R., Keen, E., Larson A. and L’Anson H. Integrated Principles of Zoology: McGrawHill (any edition from 15th onwards)
- The availability of units in Semester 1, 2, etc. was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change.
- All students are responsible for identifying when they need assistance to improve their academic learning, research, English language and numeracy skills; seeking out the services and resources available to help them; and applying what they learn. Students are encouraged to register for free online support through GETSmart; to help themselves to the extensive range of resources on UWA's STUDYSmarter website; and to participate in WRITESmart and (ma+hs)Smart drop-ins and workshops.
- Books and other material wherever listed may be subject to change. Book lists relating to 'Preliminary reading', 'Recommended reading' and 'Textbooks' are, in most cases, available via the Booktopia Textbook Finder, which has the functionality to search by course code, course, ISBN and title, and may also be posted or available at the appropriate school's administrative offices. Where texts are listed in the unit description above, an asterisk (*) indicates that the book is available in paperback.


In our 3-4 community, you will meet a historical figure at our Third Grade Wax Museum, learn more about our Wolverine State than you thought possible and kvell as you watch your students fully lead a Rosh Chodesh service in our Bet Knesset (chapel).
These are just a few examples of the rich learning that engages our students in third and fourth grade as they build upon concepts and strengthen skills introduced in earlier grades. Students, in possession of foundational skills in reading and writing, demonstrate their thinking as they hone their communication skills.
In Math, third and fourth grade students apply learned skills to different situations found in their everyday lives. In third grade, they will develop and understanding of multiplication and division strategies, fractions, and area. They learn how to round whole numbers and apply their estimating skills to multi-digit problems. In fourth grade, students will apply and extend their knowledge to solve multi-digit multiplication and division equations, create equivalent fractions, and order decimals. In both grades students will use writing and verbal communication to support their ideas and mathematical thinking.
In Judaic Studies, the class is exclusively taught in Hebrew so students build vocabulary and master grammar in the present tense. Students conduct model seders that introduce them to Sephardic, Yemenite and Moroccan customs, and they become independent readers of biblical Hebrew as they continue their study of Bereshit (Book of Genesis).
A highlight of social studies in fourth grade is the annual class trip to Lansing, where students meet legislators, including Hillel alumni, learn about the establishment of laws, and see democracy in action.
Our 3-4 students also begin to take advantage of many lunchtime clubs including Math and Parsha clubs, where they continue to learn and foster relationships with teachers in an informal setting.
Future scientists in third grade use the scientific method to investigate states of matter, the weather, and animal habitats, and learn basic coding using Lego WeDo, an introductory programming set that helps children build and control the movements of their Lego creations. In fourth grade, through the formation of hypotheses and the collection of data, students use critical thinking skills to draw conclusions on evidence gathered through inquiries into electricity, invasive species, plant life, and sound.


This will only take a moment.
Key Skills: data collection, data wrangling, data manipulation, data scrubbing, Excel, descriptive data analysis, data modeling, predictive analysis, data mining, Monte Carlo simulations, risk analysis, prescriptive analysis, “what-if” scenarios
Description: Business Analytics is designed to introduce you to ways in which business organizations use data and to teach you the foundational skills required to work effectively with data in a business environment. Data is the fundamental basis of reporting and decision-making for all firms, and an increasing number of tech-savvy organizations are turning to sophisticated data collection analysis methods as a competitive tool. This course takes a broad perspective on data analytics in a business context and provides you with both a wide understanding of data concepts and the ability to apply numerous contemporary analytical techniques.
In the Business Analytics course, students will learn the basics of working with data, including methods for collecting, wrangling, manipulating and “scrubbing” data into a usable set. They will then study three types of increasingly complex data analysis used in business settings. They will begin with descriptive data analysis, with a focus on modeling, sampling, estimation, statistical inference and recognizing familiar distributions. Students will advance to predictive analysis, including trend and systematic behavior recognition, regression, data mining, advanced visualization techniques, Monte Carlo simulations, and risk analysis. Finally, students will study prescriptive analysis methods, involving the interpretation of complex results, the use of “what-if” models to extend deterministic models into viable projections and the application of constrained optimism.


ARCT5530 The Single Family House as a Bourgeois Manifesto
- 6 points
|Not available in 2020||UWA (Perth)||Face to face|
- The nuclear family has been the basic unit of the bourgeois society and the foundation of the political and economic dynamics of industrial capitalism since the mid-nineteenth century. Since its emergence as a key cultural institution, the nuclear family has been under critical scrutiny and the basis for sweeping social critiques. Engels, for example, studied the role of family in establishing the concept of private property, and Freud claimed that it is central to the psychopathology of the modern psyche. At the same time, the single family house has traditionally afforded the modernist architect the opportunity to showcase radical ideas with an enthusiastic client and fairly limited resources, to the point that an iconic house designed at the beginning of an architect's career attained the status of an architectural manifesto which articulated the aesthetic and ethical program of the author. In this unit, students study how iconic designs for single-family houses articulated ideas about domesticity and family life, contributing to the theoretical and political debate of their time. This exploration is global in scope and is based on the analysis of 10 houses from 10 different cultural and geographical contexts and the way they reflected new ideas about the foundations of middle class life.
- Students are able to (1) understand how modern aesthetic and political ideas are articulated through architectural form; (2) analyse architecture in a global context, taking into account cultural specificity and the role of transcultural exchanges; and (3) clearly articulate findings in written form.
- Indicative assessments in this unit are as follows: (1) presentation and (2) final essay. Further information is available in the unit outline.
Supplementary assessment is not available in this unit.
- Unit Coordinator(s)
- Assistant Professor Tijana Vujosevic
- Contact hours
- seminars: 3 hours per week for up to 12 weeks
- The availability of units in Semester 1, 2, etc. was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change.
- All students are responsible for identifying when they need assistance to improve their academic learning, research, English language and numeracy skills; seeking out the services and resources available to help them; and applying what they learn. Students are encouraged to register for free online support through GETSmart; to help themselves to the extensive range of resources on UWA's STUDYSmarter website; and to participate in WRITESmart and (ma+hs)Smart drop-ins and workshops.
- Books and other material wherever listed may be subject to change. Book lists relating to 'Preliminary reading', 'Recommended reading' and 'Textbooks' are, in most cases, available via the Booktopia Textbook Finder, which has the functionality to search by course code, course, ISBN and title, and may also be posted or available at the appropriate school's administrative offices. Where texts are listed in the unit description above, an asterisk (*) indicates that the book is available in paperback.


The Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception is committed to providing a
safe environment for all persons involved
in any ministry, especially children. All adults participating in the Cathedral’s
Music Program are required to complete Virtus Safe Environment training, offered through the Diocese of Albany. For more information, visit:
The Training Choir K-2 (“Troubadours”)
The music education offered in the Training Choir (grades K-2) provides the foundation for a lifetime of music and prepares students for advanced music studies offered in the Boys’ and Girls’ Choirs. A variety of music education methods are utilized to help our youngest choristers develop healthy vocal production, natural singing voice, sense of steady beat, musical hearing (or “audiation”) and basic music theory knowledge.
What does this look like in rehearsals?
1. Lots of singing; singing games, making sounds/vocalizes, singing folk songs, singing sacred music of the Cathedral, singing tonal patterns (a few notes), singing solfege (do-re-mi, etc.).
2. Lots of movement: Movements to a steady beat, flowing movements, movements to singing games (i.e. walking in a circle), solfege hand signs (signs for do-re-mi, etc.), standing, sitting, walking.
In addition, we also practice choral and Cathedral etiquette (i.e. how to walk, stand, and sing while in the Cathedral during services) and share a brief snack.
The Boys’ and Girls’ Choir (Grades 3-6)
Children in the Boys’ and Girls’ Choirs (Grades 3–6) learn music in an intergenerational environment, prepare music for worship, and master their skills with the highly regarded secular workbook series A Young Singer’s Journey. The series is divided into graded workbooks, through which students may progress at their own pace. Each level represents successive individual achievements in vocal skills and musicianship (music theory and sightsinging). Color-coded ribbons are awarded to choristers in the Choir School upon successful completion of a workbook and the earning of points (described later). Ribbons are awarded at Mass and worn over the choir vestments.
Adults in the Cathedral Choir may participate in the A Young Singer’s Journey Chorister Training Program through independent study with the Cathedral Director of Music.
Cathedral affiliation with the Royal School of Church Music in America
Founded in England in 1927 by Sir Sydney Nicholson, the Royal School of Church Music remains dedicated to the highest standards of music in the church. It has grown to become an international and ecumenical organization with more than 11,000 affiliates in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and throughout Europe.
The RSCMA in America offers annual week-long summer training courses for choristers (age 10 and older) in various regional locations. Visit www.rscmamerica.org for more information.


One of the many functions of the Police Court magistrate in London was to deal with parents who refused to send their children to school. School boards had been created by the Elementary Education Act (1870) also termed Forster’s Act. In addition boards could seek to have bye laws passed that allowed for the fining of parents whose children played truant. By the late 1870s about 40% of the population lived in areas where school attendance (to the age of 10) was compulsory.
However, while the state and many parents recognised the importance of an elementary education for children aged 5 and over, not everybody agreed or was able to comply with the law. Children were useful around the home as helpmeets and carers, they could earn money in all sorts of ways, and so supplement the family purse.
Moreover sending children was not without complications and costs. The school boards made some exceptions for parents who lived a long way from the nearest school, but this was unlikely to have affected those living in London where schools were plentiful. Nevertheless parents who could not afford to provide shoes or even proper clothes for their offspring would choose to keep them at home, our of embarrassment as much as anything else.
Finally for all but the poorest school was not free; parents had to pay for it so this added a further disincentive. In 1880 schooling was made compulsory everywhere and in 1891 education became free in all board and church schools for children up to the age of 10.
Margaret Godfrey lived in Nine Elms, was widowed and therefore extremely vulnerable to poverty. She also had a son of school age, and another below the age of five. Margaret didn’t have the money to feed her children, let alone clothe them and buy shoes so she hadn’t sent the elder boy to school.
As a result she was summoned to attend Wandsworth Police court by the local school board and asked to explain herself in front of the magistrate. Her son, the court was told, was ‘nearly naked’ and she had approached the Charity Organisation Society for help. They had given her 5s ‘in kind, but no clothes for the children’.
Margaret said they had been living on dry bread for six weeks. She would be happy for the boy to attend school but she couldn’t send him without shoes. The superintendent asked the magistrate (Mr Bridge) to help with money from the poor box and he agreed.
Margaret would have enough money to buy clothes and the boy would attend Sleaford Street board school. No mention was made of helping provide the family with enough money to eat properly; if Mrs Godfrey wanted of course they could all enter the workhouse. That would have signalled the end of her family however, and having lost her husband I can imagine how desperately she wanted to avoid that outcome.
Now we have a free education system for all children that need it and a benefit system to help mothers like Margaret. Yet we still have children attending school without having had a proper breakfast or evening meal afterwards, and plenty of truancy and a state system that attempts to punish the parents for it – on occasion by sending them to prison. Plus ça change.
[from The Standard, Friday, February 21, 1879]


Science Center to get new child area
A little of the old and a lot of the new are being incorporated into the Kentucky Science Center's "Science in Play" children's area that is scheduled to open next July.
The new center will be a key part of the Main Street facility's agenda to improve early childhood learning by emphasizing developing such skills as curiosity, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, communication and collaboration.
The area will expand on the Science in Play attraction that is to close briefly this spring, before the expanded area opens.
The new area will be designed for children up to age 8 years old. Plans call for a build-your-own roller coaster, a 14-foot-high climbing structure, and updated versions of the Noodle Forest, the Shapes 'n' Stuff store, and magnet wall.
The former KidZone exhibit had not seen any major renovation since 1998, and the Science in Play project expands the space dedicated to early childhood education from around 5,000 square feet to 11,000 square feet.
Story continues below gallery.
The Science Center has raised about $3.2 million for the upgrades.
The new children's area will have a 14-foot climbing structure, an updated "Shapes & Stuff Store," an engaging new "Color & Light" room, a "Grow Zone" dedicated to toddlers with ample opportunities for sensory exploration, and a "Little Build" where children can put their engineering skills to work through direct manipulation of blocks and other loose parts.
Work began in September with demolition of the space previously known as KidZone. Construction is being done in phases to minimize disruption of the visitor experience, center official said.
The plans call for expanding the old KidZone space into a first-floor gallery on the east side of the property — into an area that has been used most recently to house traveling exhibits, including displays on the human body, Titanic and Star Trek.
"All new flooring, paint and a few structural changes are occurring now and during January, with exhibit installation in June and the big reveal in July 2015," center officials said. "Between now and then, visitors with young children can enjoy prototype learning lab experiences in the updated spaces and throughout the building, identified by a special icon on the visitor map."
Joanna Haas said the new space renderings illustrate an experience that is "visually exciting, very engaging, open-ended and rich in loose parts."
The goal, she said, is to set "children on the right path to succeed in school and life."
This new and permanent iteration of Science in Play represents the first major permanent gallery overhaul at the Science Center since the "Worlds" campaign completed in 2006 with the opening of the second floor World Around Us.
Science in Play is a beneficiary of the PNC Grow Up Great program, with other major gifts from the James Graham Brown Foundation, Sandra Frazier, the LG&E and KU Foundation, the Lift a Life Foundation, Louisville Metro Government, the Norton Foundation, the C.E. and S. Foundation, and the Gheens Foundation. Members of the Science Center board of directors also contributed.
The new Science in Play is a continued design collaboration between the Science Center and HandsOn! Inc., a Florida-based exhibit fabricator.
Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089. Follow him on Twitter at @sheldonshafer.


Physical Literacy: ABCs for Active Living
Physical literacy is just as important as the ability to read and write. The first step on the lifelong journey of physical literacy development is mastering fundamental movement skills – the ABC’s of movement. Individuals that develop a diverse movement vocabulary have the tools to choose to be active in a variety of settings, are less likely to be injured while active, and have the resiliency to recover from injury more quickly. Fewer than half of all Canadians are active enough – physical literacy is the vaccine for inactivity! Physical literacy skills may be developed by people of all ages and abilities. Learn more about what it means to be Active for Life.
Definition of Physical Literacy
Physical literacy is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life.
The Central East Physical Literacy Project
The KLSRC is a proud member of the Central East Physical Literacy Project (CEPLP). The CEPLP was created by a collaborative leadership team consisting of several agencies from the City and County of Peterborough, the City of Kawartha Lakes, and Northumberland County, with representation from the sport and recreation, education, health and community service sectors. CEPLP aims to provide education and training to leaders in these various sectors that will enable them to align their programs with the principles of physical literacy, thereby creating communities that are healthier and residents that are active for life. Thanks to a generous grant from the RBC Learn to Play Project, the Central East Physical Literacy Summit 2016, follow-up leader training and community education sessions will be provided for community stakeholders. Contact us to learn more about this project and check out the video and links below to learn more about physical literacy.
Resources: Physical Literacy Links for Parents and Families
Active for Life
Physical Literacy Enriched Environments - "Don't Walk in the Hallway"
Introduction to Physical Literacy (pdf)