The Science Department provides students with a rich, challenging, and diverse understanding of science and its role in contemporary issues. Science allows individuals to understand the natural world and acquire important inquiry and analysis skills (course descriptions follow).
The program empowers students to participate directly in the process of science by learning to frame scientific questions, analyze data, and discuss and interpret results. Structured to encourage growth, the courses meet students where they are, providing the space and structure to mature academically and find meaning in scientific discovery. Experiences as emerging scientists challenge students to become responsible, active, and positive voices. The program provides students with the tools to creatively and intelligently shape a healthier and more sustainable world.
The Middle School program provides hands-on experiences in life science, environmental science, and physical science each year. These encounters include, but are not limited to:
- The nature of science—the scientific process, science as a community, habits of good science, and the strengths and limitations of science.
- Inquiry and lab skills—making valuable observations, fostering intellectual curiosity, setting up controlled experiments, and developing the ability to critically evaluate their own results and those of others.
- Analysis—recording and organizing data, creating visual and conceptual models of data; generating mathematical models from inquiry results; and using basic statistics to interpret this data.
- Application—recognizing the role that science plays in creating and solving problems, designing, prototyping, and testing technologies to solve problems.
This introductory year of science builds the foundation of the Middle School program. Through the process of inquiry, students explore the basic concepts of human growth and development, weather and climate, as well as the study of matter and its interactions. To set the stage for personal wellness, the course begins with a neuroscience-based unit that examines students’ preconceived notions of intelligence and ability. Students also develop their understanding of each individual’s role in the broader community of science. Through the use of a science notebook, students will focus on observations, data collection, and reflection. Students also learn foundational skills in data organization and analysis through the use of data tables, charts and plots.
The seventh grade science class extends the exploration of topics in the physical and Earth sciences from the sixth grade experience. Through inquiry-driven lessons, students interact with concepts in force and motion as well as plate tectonics, Earth’s interior, volcanism, and basic geology. In the context of the grade level theme, serve, students explore servant leadership opportunities and civic responsibilities within a scientific community. Students practice important skills related to science literacy, laboratory and computer-based research, and 21st century communication of information. This course is designed to pique the curiosity of students about the scientific world around them and show them ways that they can contribute meaningfully to their communities.
The eighth grade science class explores topics in the physical and life sciences. Through inquiry-driven experiences, students learn about ecosystems, biodiversity, and climate change as well as basic principles of chemistry, the periodic table and atomic structure, electric circuitry, the transfer and transformation of energy, and information transfer through waves. In the context of the grade level theme, appreciate, students investigate the world around them from different vantage points. Students practice important skills related to science literacy, laboratory and computer-based research, and 21st century communication of information. This course is designed to pique the curiosity of students and show them ways that they can contribute meaningfully to their communities through a scientific lens.


PDF pending restoration
ERIC Number: ED390794
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1994
Reference Count: N/A
Land & Landscape: Views of America's History and Culture. From the Series America Past and Present. Study Guide.
This study guide examines the history of American landscape painting and photography from the early 19th century to the present. It is designed to be used as a student supplement for U. S. history curriculum. Included are color reproductions of 15 works of art from the permanent collections of the National Museum of American Art. These art works are discussed and used as a focus for the lessons which are organized into four units. The units are: (1) "The Early Years"; (2) "Federalism to Jacksonian Democracy"; (3) "Artist-Explorers"; and (4) "Nature Versus 'Progress.'" An "Epilogue" discusses "Today's American Landscape." The document concludes with a glossary, selected bibliography, biographies of artists, and a list of illustrations. (NP)
Descriptors: Art Criticism, Art Education, Art History, Elementary Secondary Education, Federalism, Painting (Visual Arts), Photography, United States History, Visual Arts
MRC 210, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560 (gopher://nmaa-ryder.si.edu:70/11s/deptsdir/edudir/learningmatdir).
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Learner; Guides - Non-Classroom
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Researchers; Teachers; Students; Practitioners
Authoring Institution: National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.


Commonly referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only continuing, national measure of the academic achievement of America’s public and private schools. For 40 years student performance has been measured in the following subjects: reading, math, writing, science and geography. The 2008 NAEP Arts Assessment, or the 2008 Nation’s Arts Report Card, is the fifth NAEP assessment in the arts. The next NAEP arts assessment is scheduled to take place in 2016.
How was the information collected?
The 2008 NAEP Arts Assessment was given to a nationally representative sample of 7,900 eighth-grade students from 260 public and private schools. The 2008 NAEP Arts Assessment was conducted in music and the visual arts. Approximately one-half of these students were assessed in music, and the other half were assessed in visual arts.
The NAEP Arts Framework serves as the blueprint for the assessment, describing the specific knowledge and skills that should be assessed in the four arts disciplines: music, visual arts, theater and dance. Additionally, three arts processes – responding, creating, and performing – are central to students’ experiences in these disciplines.
In 2008, due to budget constraints, only the responding process in music and both the responding and creating processes in visual arts were assessed. Theater and dance were not assessed. The responding process in music and visual arts was assessed with multiple-choice questions and constructed response questions that required students to produce answers of a few words or sentences. Creating questions required students to create works of art and design of their own.
Although the questions in the 2008 assessment were taken from those administered in the previous arts assessment in 1997, not all of the results can be compared between the two years. Only the percentages of students’ correct responses to the multiple-choice questions in 2008 can be compared to those in 1997.
NAEP 2008 Toolkit
The following national service organizations have collaborated on the NAEP Arts Assessment Toolkit: Americans for the Arts, Arts Education Partnership, Educational Theatre Association, The League of American Orchestras, MENC: The National Association for Music Education, National Art Education Association, and the Performing Arts Alliance.


Critical Thinking Research... A Collection of Webinars, Articles and the Missouri Art Ed Conferences. I chose to delve deeper in to critical thinking and what it means in the art room. Through my research I have discovered that one of the most basic ways to get students to think critically is to give them CHOICE! Choices about what and how to create, choices to explain and defend their reasoning for making them, choices about where to sit and how hard to work at something. I have known about Choice Based Art Education for some time now and never really bought into the idea until now. I plan to continue my choice research as I begin implementing TAB (Teaching for Artistic behavior) and Choice into my room. I created this CHOICE moral/collage to hang in my room as a daily reminder of how important it is to let the students choose.
Traci Pierson, Art Teacher, Westview Elementary
This is a resource build by the ESSD40 staff for to aid in transforming teaching and learning.
Inspire. Empower. Challenge.
Learning Out loud


Educating a girl is one of the best investments her
family, community, and country can make. We know
that a good quality education can be life-changing for
girls, boys, young women, and men, helping them develop
to their full potential and putting them on a path
for success in their life. We also know that educating
a girl in particular can kick-start a virtuous circle of
development. More educated girls, for example, marry
later, have healthier children, earn more money that
they invest back into their families and communities,
and play more active roles in leading their communities
Over the last 25 years, there have been large gains
in girls’ education, and we as a global community can
congratulate ourselves for the real progress that has
been made. This demonstrates that with shared goals
and collective action—among governments, international
organizations, civil society, media, and the private
sector—we can change the educational prospects
for girls around the world.
Despite this progress, our research shows that there
are hotspots in the world where girls are not getting
a quality education. While there certainly are places
where boys are behind, we have focused on understanding
how and where across the world girls are behind.
The message is that many countries have work
to do to improve girls’ education, whether related to
the gender gap in primary or secondary enrollment
There are about 80 countries where progress on girls’
education has stalled. These countries are not meeting
the education Millennium Development Goals.
They are stuck in an education bog—still struggling to
enroll all girls and boys in primary school and close
the gender gaps between boys and girls at both the
primary and secondary levels.
Quality learning is important for the future lives of girls and boys, but it is also an especially important ingredient in the virtuous circle of development that comes from girls’ education.
There are an additional
30 countries that have successfully enrolled girls and
boys in primary and secondary education but are
trapped in low-quality learning. They are struggling to
ensure that girls and boys master foundational skills
such as basic literacy, numeracy, and science concepts.
Quality learning is important for the future lives
of girls and boys, but it is also an especially important
ingredient in the virtuous circle of development that
comes from girls’ education. Finally, there are another
30 countries where children are successfully enrolled
and learning. However, girls are behind boys in math.
In some ways, we can think of girls in these countries
bumping up against an educational glass ceiling.
In this report, we review in detail the progress in girls’
education, the work that remains to be done, and strategies
for success. Governments, international development
agencies, and civil society organizations have
supported a variety of programs that have made a
difference in both large and small ways. There are valuable
lessons to learn from them—but more progress is
needed, especially in the poorest countries and among
the disadvantaged populations in most countries.
Ultimately we recommend renewed collective action
for advancing girls’ education in hotspots around the
world, especially in the 80 countries where progress on
girls’ education has stalled. We recognize the powerful
contribution that girls and women themselves can
make to achieve this. Our first recommendation is to lean in with girls’ and women’s leadership by investing
in two initiatives that could go to scale in a short
time frame and rally support from a range of actors,
especially civil society and the private sector. The first
initiative aims to build strong girl and women leaders
by cultivating their skills and capacities to be agents
of their own lives. The second initiative aims to put
girls and women at the center of a data revolution
on gender, one that would fill the critical information
gaps about their status, what support they need to
succeed, and which interventions have been the most
and the least effective. Throughout the world today, it
is possible to put mobile technology to work catalyzing
a major girl-generated big data initiative.


When Moms ask what I would have used to teach my 4 to 8 year old, I have to say my favorite unit study is still Five in a Row. A literature based unit studyFive in a Row has now being enjoyed by over 100,000 children around the world!.
When a group of home school moms get together and the talk turns to Five in a Row, you will hear comments such as I love Five in a Row!! and My kids love Five in a Row!
If you are new to Five in a Row, let me tell you a little bit about the program. It was developed by Jane Claire Lambert, a home school veteran of 12 years. Each week you read to your child one of the fifty five stories that have won various awards such as Newberry Awards for excellence in literature and Caldecott Awards for excellence in illustrations.
Good literature is a wonderful way to introduce our children to the world around us. Jane Lambert has taken these classic children's stories and successfully developed unit studies which include art, history, vocabulary, geography, science, character qualities, math, language arts, literature studies, health, and writing. All of the favorite classics used in FIAR are available through our catalogue service or the library. Some have gone out of print, some have come back into print!
Also included in FIAR are a suggested schedule, weekly planner, maps, and appendix full of helps for each week. The three volumes of FIAR could be completed in a year if you include the summer weeks, or you could go for a year and a half if you take summer, Christmas and other breaks. You will need to add math and phonics instruction to complete your program.
CHER carries any of the in print stories used in Five in a Row.
Five in a Row Volume 1 Starter Bundle
Five in a Row Volume 1 Story Book Bundle
Five in a Row Volume 1 Story Book Bundle with FIAR1
Before Five in a Row Starter Bundle
Before Five in a Row Story Book Bundle with Before FIAR


ERIC Number: ED445323
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1999-Jun
Reference Count: N/A
Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able To Do.
Moats, Louisa C.
This position paper of the American Federation of Teachers contends that the most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. The paper states that the type of literacy instruction that includes a range of research-based components and practices has not made its way into every classroom, and that, indeed, a chasm exists between classroom instructional practices and the research knowledge base on literacy development. It finds that well-designed, controlled comparisons of instructional approaches have consistently supported these components and practices in reading instruction: (1) direct teaching of decoding, comprehension, and literature appreciation; (2) phoneme awareness instruction; (3) systematic and explicit instruction in the code system of written English; (4) daily exposure to a variety of texts, as well as incentives for children to read independently; (5) vocabulary instruction that includes a variety of complementary methods designed to explore the relationships among words and the relationships among word structure, origin, and meaning; (6) comprehension strategies that include prediction of outcomes, summarizing, clarification, questioning, and visualization; and (7) frequent writing of prose to enable deeper understanding of what is read. The paper also discusses an effective curriculum for teacher preparation and inservice development. Contains 47 notes and 49 references. Appended is a suggested core curriculum for teacher candidates. (NKA)
Descriptors: Educational Responsibility, Elementary Secondary Education, Instructional Effectiveness, Knowledge Base for Teaching, Literacy, Phonemic Awareness, Professional Development, Reading Instruction, Reading Research, Student Needs, Teacher Education, Teacher Role
American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, 555 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20001-2079 (Item No. 372). Web site: http://www.aft.org.
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Sponsor: National Inst. of Child Health and Human Development (NIH), Bethesda, MD.
Authoring Institution: American Federation of Teachers, Washington, DC.


Taylor Stampfer is the band teacher. She can be contacted at email@example.com.
Band is a class available for 6th, 7th and 8th grade students that offers an opportunity for students to learn the skill of playing an instrument. Research shows that playing an instrument raises reading levels, improves self esteem, teaches team skills, lowers risk of drug use, raises chances of attending college and raises attendance rates for each student. Instruments offered are: flute, clarinet, oboe, alto sax, tenor sax, bari sax, french horn, trumpet, trombone, baritone, tuba and percussion. In band students learn music education through performance and study several types of music. Students will also hear performances, go on field trips, and have additional performance opportunities outside of school. Learning a lifetime skill such as playing a musical instrument is a great way for students to connect with our culture and other cultures and have an artistic experience everyday during school. The SCMS Band is an award winning group always looking for great students: are you interested?
Jazz Band is an extracurricular opportunity open to band students in 7th and 8th grade. Jazz Band is dedicated to the study of Jazz Music only. Primary instruments in a jazz band are: trumpets, saxophones, trombones, and rhythm section including: bass guitar, acoustic guitar, piano and drum set. If a student plays another instrument and excels at band, we can create a spot for that student in jazz band. Jazz Band currently meets Tuesdays and Thursdays after school until 4:00. Jazz Band is a great way to expand a student's musical knowledge and talent. We will perform at band concerts and may have other performances outside of school as well.


Matching Pictures to Words Beginning With N
In this matching pictures to words beginning with N worksheet, students circle one word in each of five rows that matches the picture.
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By Luisa Gerasimo; Sally M Walke
From the editors of The Teacher's Calendar and Chase's Calendar of occasions comes an essential lecture room source for educators of grades K-8. listed below are a hundred and eighty lesson plan supplements--one for every day of the varsity year--that will provide lecturers prepared entry to an abundance of functional, do-able actions and listings of very worthwhile assets to complement classes and inspire scholar participation. rules are awarded chronologically by means of month, yet also are keyed via topic region (math, technology, language arts, etc.) for optimum ease of use.
Read or Download 180 Creative Ideas for Getting Students Involved, Engaged, and Excited PDF
Best elementary education books
* The language syllabus follows the communicative skills of the scholars * appropriate to be used with any path * Teacher's notes enable you play every one online game * Photocopiable principles sheets consultant the scholars
A hundred rules for instructing actual improvement is the winner of a 2009 sensible Pre-School Gold Award! The booklet is choked with a hundred inspirational principles on educating actual improvement within the Early Years, starting from how you can supply child-initiated studying possibilities to enriching actual improvement with ICT.
Preface; record of Figures; record of Tables; Acknowledgements; 1. kid's Literature and Literacy within the digital Age; 2. Describing how photographs and textual content Make Meanings in E-literature; three. studying via www Context of Book-based Literary Narratives; four. vintage and modern kid's Literature in digital codecs; five.
Extra resources for 180 Creative Ideas for Getting Students Involved, Engaged, and Excited
Place names are an obvious starting point, but we also enjoy 34 Ideas for September many foods from Hispanic cultures in general and from Latin America in particular. You and your students can also observe this month by learning some Spanish. , and Spanish names for colors and common objects used in the classroom are good choices. Hispanic students in your class could lead the lessons. Check your local radio stations for a Spanish station you can turn on periodically. A food fair is a tasty way to explore Hispanic heritage.
Students will learn which plants larvae feed on and which plants adult butterflies turn to for nectar. Once the garden has been planted, keep track of caterpillars and butterflies with The First Guide to Caterpillars, by Amy Wright (Houghton, 0-395-91194-2, ages eight to twelve), and The First Guide to Butterflies and Moths, by Paul Opler (Houghton, 0-395-90665-2, ages eight to twelve). Both are in the Peterson’s guide series mentioned above. Several other books have information about butterflies and the kinds of gardens that attract them.
Art Tatum, Bill Evans, and Dave Brubeck have recorded many pieces. Or choose the works of James P. Johnson, who invented stride piano. Boogie-woogie, another form of jazz piano, has an infectious beat that leaves fingers snapping and toes tapping. 25 180 Creative Ideas for Getting Students Involved, Engaged, and Excited 17 Henry David Thoreau Ends Two-Year Stay at Walden, September 6, 1847 Henry David Thoreau, born in Concord, Massachusetts, July 12, 1817, is perhaps best remembered for his book Walden.


The mark of an educated person, wrote Plato in The Republic, is the willingness to use one’s knowledge and skills to solve the problems of society. Chirag School aims to equip its students with skills, values and knowledge so that they can think critically, act responsibly and live peacefully to make the world a better place.
Pre-school: In younger classes we believe that children learn best when the content is connected to their day to day life outside of school. The focus is to provide a safe space to children where they can develop their sensory, cognitive, language and motor skills along with growing emotionally, mentally and socially. Children learn through structured and unstructured play, storytelling, nature walks, school care, art, music, circle time activities and Montessori-inspired activities.
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A fun, enjoyable and effective method of studying with the aid of musical rhythm!
Hong En’s "Orff Music for Children" designed by Orff music education systems, combining rhythm with reading, percussion tapping, musical games, singing, dancing, small musicals, playing Orff instruments and so on, creating an environment where children can easily experience and have fun with the Orff music classes on the iPad!
Scenario story – With a variety of interesting experiences about Teddy, the musical Teddy Bear will lead the children to the musical valley where they can play and be happy in world of learning!
Musical instruments – A variety of different instruments on the iPad that children can play using the touch screen of the iPad. These through playing instruments, they can grow familiar with the sound texture and timbre of the different instruments and increase their knowledge of musical instruments.
Courses teaching – With learning objectives, music appreciation sections, different musical instruments and the e books guidance, children can learn actively, just like being in a real Orff music class.
Music theory tips - Note, staves, rhythm-based music theory and other tips from Teddy and his friends and using chants and songs in the form of interactive games, children can develop a basic understanding of music theory with ease.
Little hands enjoy touching - "Hands on" is the natural behavioral characteristic of young children. Anywhere the children touch there will be something to find. This encourages the children to look through the pictures and discover as much as they can.
Interesting – Children can find different sounds when tap different pictures.
Standard pronunciation - With recordings done by professional recording artists, children will be hearing these words in their most natural and native form, giving them an early sense of tone, rhythm and stress, and our wonderfully illustrated characters make these books all the more fun and enjoyable. What better way is there to start learning!
Hong En Character:
Scientific rigor - This is the result of much careful planning and organization by Hong En’s educational specialists.
After many tests - All content is taken and refined from the children’s books which have been under constant market research and teaching experiment in kindergartens. This refinement has ensured the production of the best most effective learning tool for your children.
A fine production - This is not just your average point and read application. Lots of interactive games and activities combined with the useful test function to gauge your child’s progress, makes this a first class learning product designed with your child always in mind.
Excellent quality and reasonable price - With all content coming from the books and the price being much lower than similar products on the market, there can be no question that what you are purchasing is a quality product at a decent price that will provide an invaluable learning tool for your child’s early learning!


- Curriculum: Art, Art Criticism
- Age/Grade: Above 14, Middle School
- Subject: Analysis and Theory, Sculpture
- Materials: Pencils
- Institution: School of Visual Arts
- Location: New York, New York
- Duration: 1 Class
An introductory lesson to Relationship Sculptures, that explores personal relationships and how these dynamics can be communicated through art.
Students will become familiar with how artists have portrayed different relationships.
Students will examine relationships in their life.
Students will collaborate to demonstrate a particular relationship.
Keith Haring - Valentine's Day picture (p. 235 of KH Journals)
Monica Sjoo - Lovers
Students will begin by examine the art historical references and by making observations of the works.
How do these artists depict relationships in their work? How does that differ from the way the media portrays relationships? How do these ideas support or contradict the way you would portray a relationship?
Have all the students take out a piece of paper. Have them think about someone that they have a relationship. It could be a boyfriend, girlfriend, a parent, a good friend or their boss. It could be anyone that they have formed a relationship with, regardless of how that relationship is defined. Have the students write down a brief story about that person. It could be a funny story. It could be about when this person got you really mad. Anything, just write a short story that sticks out in your mind about that person.
Have the students break up into small group of about four and have them quick tell each other their stories. They have to decide on one story to present to the class using themselves arranged most convincingly to express the story of the relationship without words or movement. While they present the pose, the rest of the class tries to determine the story. The students are to explain their interpretation of what they see by citing specific details from the group's pose.
The students will reflect about the specific details that they emphasized in their scene that help to capture that particular moment or convent their intended story.
It will be hard for some students to get involved in the action of this project, so that why it is good to have at least four in the group so that some can be center stage while other students can add to the background details. Their ability to really focus on the convincing details is how the assessment will be based. In their final reflection, they will focus their attention on how certain details carry the whole story of action for their work.
In the next project, have the students think about the relationship story that they wrote down and shared with their group. Ask them to create a sculpture that depicts that story where the students pay particular attention to those details that convincingly carry the message of their story.
For a follow up lesson see the Relationship Sculpture lesson.
The author of this lesson, Deidre Kenna, a Masters in Art Education student of the School of Visual Arts in NYC, is the 2003-2004 scholarship recipient of the Keith Haring Scholarship award. This project is a collaboration with The School of Visual Arts & a local NYC public high school.
To find out more about The Keith Haring Foundation Scholarship offered through the School of Visual Arts, please contact: Director, School of Visual Arts/Visual Arts Foundation, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC 10003 or SVA's web site.


Career In Elementary Education
A Career in Elementary Education can be exciting and rewarding!
Are you ready to begin the steps to discover if an Elementary Education Career is right for you? Read on to learn more . . .
The Steps To Starting A Career In Elementary Education
If you want to learn how to become a teacher, here are some steps you can take . . .
Test the waters!
Teaching young children is not for everyone. To find out if it’s a good fit for you, think about getting some experience. Many schools have volunteer programs or tutoring programs that can give you a taste of what it might be like.
Other ways to try out working with kids could include babysitting, working at a community center, or participating in a mentoring program like Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America.
Do your homework!
Contact your state board of education to learn about the specific requirements to become an elementary school teacher. While most states have similar requirements, the requirements can vary. States can require anything from a specific degree to criminal background checks, to standardized tests. You want to make sure that you’re willing and able to meet the requirements before you move forward.
While the requirements can be different from state to state, most states do require that you have a bachelor’s degree. It is recommended that you complete an Elementary Teacher Education Program that has been accredited by National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education or the Teacher Education Accreditation Council.
Most elementary teachers are responsible for teaching multiple subjects. A teacher education program should prepare you with basic knowledge of everything from Math to Reading to Music and Arts. Most teacher education programs also require some form of student teaching experience. Student teaching is an unpaid, full-time classroom experience where you will be teaching and managing students under the supervision of a veteran teacher.
We can’t say this enough . . . check your state’s licensure requirements! While many states have similar requirements such as minimum education level, fingerprinting, and completion of proficiency exams, each state also has its own unique rules and processes. It could be very frustrating to think that you have taken the proper steps just to find out that your state won’t recognize your hard work.
It’s important to note that many states now offer alternative certification programs that allow people with non-education bachelor’s or master’s degrees to become licensed teachers. This grew from extreme teacher shortages especially in the areas of Math and Science. Typically, alternative certification programs require applicants to complete some teacher education courses along with other licensing requirements. Check with your state to see if this is an option for you.
Get a job!
can be important when looking for the right elementary teacher position. The student teaching experience is an excellent opportunity to start networking. Many school districts also offer job fairs to attract potential new teachers. Check with your local board of education to see what is available in your area.
If you’re not able to find anything in the public school system, you may want to contact local private schools for available positions. Substitute teaching can also be a good way to get your foot in the door. Lastly, make sure your have a portfolio showcasing your credentials and experience. Most hiring Principals will want a taste of what you can do.
In most areas of the country, more education equals a higher salary. Having a master’s or doctoral degree will also give you the opportunity to explore other education-related positions such as curriculum developer, reading specialist, or administrator.
Want to learn more about a Career In Elementary Education?
Click here to read more on the salaries and facts about a Career In Elementary Education
Not sure if a Career In Elementary Education is right for you?
Click here to learn more about free Career Interest Tests that can help you decide which career will be right for you.
If a Career In Elementary Education isn't a good fit, you may want to consider one of these other Education Careers . . .
Other Education Careers
Return from Elementary Education Page to the Career Search and More Home Page


Learning Language Arts Through Literature Red Book Kit 2nd Edition
This second grade reading program is perfect for the fluent reader and continued phonics instruction will bring confidence and fluency to the beginning reader. The fluent reader will enjoy the exciting stories in the readers and use them to learn grammar, creative writing, higher-order thinking skills, and much more. It includes a Teacher Book, a Student Activity Book, and 6 readers, each containing several stories all packaged in a convenient, attractive full-color box.
36 lessons divided into easy-to-use daily plans.
Includes phonics, reading, spelling, grammar, and higher order thinking skills right in the box!
Phonics: Includes a quick review of first grade phonics and instruction in advanced phonics.
Includes all the language arts skills: phonics, reading, spelling, grammar, even higher order thinking skills right in the box!
Enrichment Activities are included in The Red Book Program! They challenge your student with thinking, writing, and creative activities that are ideal for the fluent reader and easily adaptable for the nonreader.
Lessons require little or NO preparation!
Handwriting: Instructions and work pages included!
Teacher friendly, the Teacher Notes are right in the margin -- making lesson preparation easy.
Assessments help teachers to evaluate student's progress.
Phonics Facts, Grammar Guides, and Punctuation Pointers keep students on track.
Games, word-wheels, flip books, and MORE hands-on projects and activities are effective for ALL types of learners.
NOW, The Red Book contains all you need in one easy-to-use program!
Instructions and activities for phonics, reading skills, grammar, creative writing, and higher-order thinking skills taken from the six delightful readers! Read-aloud stories and"real books"** provide a basis for important reading, writing, and higher order thinking skills.
Spelling lessons include spelling lists, word puzzles, and spelling tips.
Handwriting instruction teaches upper and lower case letters, numbers, PLUS punctuation! Illustrated practice sheets encourage your student to do his best.
Assessments enable teachers to evaluate progress. Phonics Facts, Grammar Guides, Syllable Sense, and Punctuation Pointers aid students in remembering the tricks of the trade for reading, grammar, and spelling.
Essential to the program, additional consumable Student Activity Books may be purchased separately.
The Kit also includes the following readers:
- In, Out, and About Catfish Pond
- Up, Down, and Around the Rain Tree
- Forest Fables
- Underwater Friends
- All Around the Farm
- Famous People
Books Used in This Program:
- A Tree Is Nice
- Little Bear
- The Fire Cat
- Bravest Dog Ever
- Ox Cart Man
- Little Island
- Billy and Blaze
- Harry the Dirty Dog
- Abraham Lincoln


The fifth-grade boys and girls at school in Sultanpur — a village about 40 km from the Indian capital, New Delhi — are laboring over their lessons on a Friday morning. Eleven-year-old Kiran alternates between chewing her pencil and copying the English text that was the morning’s task. She writes down the sentences, arduously capitalizing the first letter of every word. The children have not yet grasped the basics of English grammar, the teacher explains. But they should have – at least three grades earlier.
“I cannot read English very well,” Kiran mumbles, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the ground. She adds as an afterthought, “I know my tables till 20 in Hindi though.”
As a new World Bank study has found, there’s a literacy problem in Indian schools, and not just in English. A third of all grade-three students can’t read at all in their native language. Roughly half of all grade-five students cannot manage a grade-two text, which is also too difficult for a quarter of all seventh-grade pupils.
This decline in standards, experts say, is paradoxically because of the rush to build schools and bring back children to the education fold. India managed to bring down the number of out-of-school children from 32 million in 2001 to 1.4 million in 2011 as part of a program to make elementary education universal. The landmark Right to Education Act of 2009 guarantees every child in India between the ages of 6 and 14 free education at a neighborhood school.
And yet, amid this headlong drive, little attention has been paid to what children are learning in classrooms or how well. Absenteeism (the World Bank study pegs average attendance to be at least 15% to 30% lower than enrollment rates) and misconduct (recently, about 20,000 teachers were found to have forged their degrees in the eastern Indian state of Bihar) are big contributors to poor standards of education. “India will have to invest more, starting with pre-service teacher education and professional development of teachers,” says Poonam Batra, a professor in the education department at the University of Delhi and a member of the Justice Verma commission, which has suggested sweeping reforms in the education sector.
All this is in stark contrast to India’s lofty goals of becoming a nation of call centers and technology parks, and to the image it enjoys overseas as a powerhouse of learning, turning out English-speaking engineering and science graduates by the tens of thousands. Despite the fact that private schools, promising world-class education in English, have been mushrooming in the country over the past few years, standards of English are also on the wane. “The average Indian adult cannot yet write business letters in English or speak spontaneously at a business meeting in English,” Minh N. Tran, director of research and academic partnerships at Education First, tells TIME.
Enrollment in private schools in rural India increased from 19% in 2006 to 29% in 2013. In urban India it was about 58% in 2005 and likely to be much higher now. But it is in the state sector that the real battle must be fought. “Countries that have done well economically have had robust state schools and teacher-education systems,” says Batra.
New Delhi has raised government spending on education from 3.3% of GDP in 2004–05 to 4% in 2011–12 (China spends about the same, but Brazil and Russia are well ahead). But facilities remain woeful. In Indian state schools, children have to sit on the floor until they reach grade six. “My feet goes off to sleep sometimes, and I lose track of the class,” says Kiran. “A desk and a chair would be very nice.” For most Indian children, the battles are that basic.


Design Thinking in the Classroom
By Ann Talbott Brown, Director of Arts Education
This article originally appeared in the May 2018 issue of Nashville Arts Magazine.
The 2018 Tennessee Arts & Arts Education Conference will be held on June 19–21 at Austin Peay State University (APSU) in partnership with the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA). This gathering is geared toward arts administrators and teachers interested in learning best practices, lesson plan ideas, and the nuts and bolts of work in arts management and education. This year’s theme is Design Thinking: A Pathway to Innovation in the Arts, and all attendees will explore a process used by designers to develop a new product or come up with an innovative solution to a problem
Most versions of the Design Thinking process encompass the following steps.
Design Thinking involves building empathy to understand the need or issue clearly; defining the problem or driving question; brainstorming ideas to address the problem or question; improving or coming up with new ideas based on feedback about initial ideas; designing a prototype that is tangible, digital, or actionable; testing the prototype to determine what works and what needs to be fixed; and repeating steps of the process until a final product or idea is ready to implement.
This process is valuable for educators because it develops 21st-century learning skills such as creativity, collaboration, communication, and problem solving and soft skills such as interpersonal (empathetic), flexibility, and teamwork. Design Thinking encourages students to embrace a maker-mindset, consider unlikely solutions, and persevere until a final solution is determined. What’s fascinating is Design Thinking challenges a fixed mindset and builds a growth mindset—a mindset both students and teachers alike should embrace.
In addition to tailored training in Design Thinking, select sessions offered for general classroom teachers and arts teachers include:
• Laying a Foundation: Defining Arts Integration and Experience an Arts Integrated Learning Unit, Parts I-II by Dr. Janice Crews, Director of CECA
• Train the Trainer. Think Like a Designer: A Session for Educators presented by Mary Kim, Director of Bridge Innovate’s Bright Spark, which is a social impact initiative to ignite creative confidence within students and educators
• Unpacking the New Tennessee Fine Arts Standards by Dr. Brad Foust and Amanda Galbraith, members of the Standards Writing and Review Committee
• Visual Arts in Elementary Music by Dr. Eric Branscome, Department Chair and Coordinator of Music Education at APSU
Most conference sessions will take place at APSU’s new Art + Design Building, a space conducive to exploration and inspiration. The conference offers in-service hours and is approved to award Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for teachers through APSU’s Continuing Education Program.
For more information or to register, visitwww.tnartscommission.org/2018-statewide-arts-conference/.
See you there!


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Modern Foreign Languages
At Howe Green House children make early contact with modern foreign languages and with cultures other than their own. We aim to encourage every child to see the value of this and to engage positively and willingly in the process. At Howe Green House we believe there is also an intrinsic beauty to languages, and we hope to inspire this understanding in the children.
Early Years Department
In the Early Years (Reception- Year 2) a language carousel of French and Spanish takes place. The children learn basic vocabulary and phrases through songs, stories and games, as well as through enjoying tasty regional delicacies whilst acquiring the relevant descriptive language! The subconscious awareness of how a language operates, the pronunciation, idioms, rhythm and music, intonation and structure of the language can constitute a solid base for later.
In the Juniors French is the sole focus of the language curriculum and it is led by a Specialist teacher. We want our pupils to have fun and at the same time to understand the need to engage and work hard. The task of acquiring a solid, grammatical basis that will eventually lead to independent speech is vital. Learning French helps develop literacy and numeracy skills and is a necessity when seen in context of rapid globalisation. Creativity, independent learning and risk taking are at the heart of French lessons, which we believe, prepares students well for their future.
We begin our language teaching with songs, games and outside learning. We use a wide variety of strategies and materials, among them the internet; CDs; DVD extracts; iPads, drama and role-play; posters; brochures; games and puzzles, as well as basic writing exercises.
In Years 3 & 4, the focus is on nouns and the use of number and gender, and the inclusion of some verb phrases to begin creating sentences. Verb learning begins in Year 5, with an introduction to the four main irregular verbs and the regular –er verbs in the present tense and this is developed and expanded throughout Year 6. Moving up through the Juniors, equal emphasis is placed on speaking, listening, reading and writing. With four skill areas to develop, pupils are challenged and encouraged to reach their language potential.
Year 5 and 6 go on a French residential to Chateau Beaumont in the village of Chailland, in the département of Mayenne (53). The idea is to have the opportunity to use the language outside the classroom environment. We also have French days where the whole school dress up and everyone is French for a day.
Latin is also taught in years 3-6 to support children’s growing understanding of the English language and to reinforce all the taught grammar skills. The children follow the ‘Minimus’ books.


Common Core CurriculumResources
for English Language Arts
CJUHSD CCSS/RCD Units:
Our ELA Curriculum can now be accessed on Google Drive! Every unit has a one-page curriculum resource that has links to everything you need:
If you are not ready for Google Drive yet, don't worry! All CC units can still be accessed in School Loop under Groups, Common Core Resources - ELA, and by grade level.
Our workshops have provided the opportunity to collaborate upon and share develop resources district-wide. Click the Google Folder to see shared resources. You will need to be logged in to your Google Drive with permission to access the folder:
English I - Honors Folder
English II - Honors Folder
AP English Language/English III - Honors Folder
AP English Literature Folder
What's the difference between CAASPP and SBAC? The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) system is the new student testing system that replaced the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) system. All state tests will now be under CAASPP. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) is the group that designed the Smarter Balanced Assessment System. The Summative Assessment that 11th graders take and the Interim Assessments that all students can take are part of that system along with the Digital Library.
The California Department of Education (CDE) has housed all pertinent state-related assessment information for CAASPP and SBAC on one page.
The Oregon Dept. of Education has disseminated all the released sample questions for SBAC into an easily decipherable list.
Where can teachers go to access what they need? CAASPP.org is the best place to start. It contains all things Smarter Balanced.
The CJUHSD Instructional team has also created a folder of Interim Assessment resources for teachers in the district. The video below provides teachers with an introduction to some of the resources available.
Strong ELA Sites:
The Master Teacher Project: A Comprehensive Site of Teacher Lessons and Units
Tim Shanahan, noted reading specialist and former president of the International Reading Association, provides a myriad of articles and presentations on adolescent literacy and how to engage students in literacy development.
Jim Burke's site provides "links that seem most useful to us in our work to understand, implement, and teach the Common Core State Standards in the year[s] ahead."
Brian Jeffrey compiled his site well before CC implementation, but his strategies are strong and still effective in the classroom.
OnFiction "has the aim of developing the psychology of fiction. Using theoretical and empirical perspectives, we endeavour to understand how fiction is created, and how readers and audience members engage in it."
For Achievement Teams, Steve Ventura's site is where you can download all of the resources and information you need.
Sites for ELA and Technology Inspiration:
English Teachers who use technology and innovation to implement the CCSS in their classrooms:
"Educator Nadia Kalman suggests a few 'anti-social skills,' like eavesdropping and muttering to yourself, that can help you write an effective dialogue for your next story."
Evaluate Sources worksheet for Students. Use with sites & articles.
Some intriguing ways to begin and end each class! The 8 Minutes That Matter Most | Edutopia
5 Things You Did Not Know About Google Forms
"Future jobs will look more and more like science fiction." What work will be like in the future.
What Students Can Learn from Giving TEDx Talks
Teaching Kids to Write Super Sentences
How do you collect instant feedback from students? Digital Exit Tickets.
Not Just Group Work -- Productive Group Work! Succinct summary with links to strong resources!
3 Strategies for Building an Authentic Audience for Your Student’s Work
"Reading Resuscitation: Reaching Struggling Adolescent Readers -- A Workshop for Teachers"
Skills Practice | Socratic Seminars Using Informational Text
"The first way to meet a metaphor is to see the world through it's eyes" -- a lovely lesson in metaphors, TEDEd
A Guide to Using Webb's DOK with CCSS by Karen Hess and published by the Common Core Institute
We know we should include visual rhetorical analysis, but what does that look like? Purdue Owl has created a strong resource for teachers.
"Five Keys to Rigorous Project-Based Learning"
"8 Strategies for Teaching Academic Language"


A team of researchers at Stanford University recently studied the careers of America’s best and brightest innovators and inventors and concluded that children who come from the top 1% of household wealth are 10X more likely to file for and receive a patent than those coming from lower income households. The children from the lesser affluent areas showed equal aptitude and ability but consistently achieved at a lower level.
What were the difference makers between those who succeeded and those who didn’t? The answer: the access and opportunity that comes with affluence.
The study went on to conclude that, year after year, America loses thousands of potential Einsteins to poverty. These children are capable and willing, but lack the opportunities afforded to their more affluent counterparts.
Yes, we are losing Einsteins, but what about Bernsteins?
A 2013 data study of public school students involved in music education showed that while the disparities of wealth were not as prevalent, there were inequities and trends were worth noting, including:
- Participation in music among 8th grade students has trended down from 55% in 2004 to 46% in 2013.
- White students showed higher participation rates than their non-white counterparts.
- Females are much more likely to participate in the arts than males
- Teens whose parents were more educated had a higher rate of participation than those whose parents were less educated.
- Students who plan on attending a university showed significantly higher participation rates than students who did not plan on attending college.
The disparities only grow larger once students leave school. According to Data USA , among music professionals:
- On average, men earn significantly more money than women. On average both earned below the adjusted federal poverty limit for a family of four, $35,785
- Men make up 60% of the workforce with women making up 40%.
- 76% of the professional world is white, with the remaining 14% being other ethnicities.
- Most professionals have college degrees, with the greatest concentration being in music (40%), education (20%), and business (10%).
I know that we as music educators work hard each and every day to cross the ethic and economic divides. I also know that music represents a great equalizer for many young people as it provides positive life experiences that can provide a pathway out of poverty. But, we can still do more.
Regardless of our shortcomings, America’s music education system (music instruction contained within the school day) is the largest and most successful system in the world. The data shows that our singular and comprehensive approach exposes young people or all backgrounds to music in ways that places us at the top of the educational mountain top. We are able to achieve all of this because of YOU! YOU are the best of the best and the standard bearers for this incredible activity throughout the world.
But as we stand at the mountaintop, we all know that we have some room too grow in ensuring that ALL students, regardless of gender, race, and socio-economic status can make the climb with us.
After all, what good is making it to the top if we left behind a generation of Bernsteins Or Einsteins.
Have a great week.


Literacy Around the World
September 8, 2017 is International Literacy Day. Founded to actively mobilize the international community and to promote literacy as an instrument to empower individuals, communities, and societies, it is now celebrated around the world. Learn more about the projects, people, research, and in-country technical assistance that are contributing to the effort.
Despite a twofold increase in primary school enrollment in Mozambique over the past 15 years, educational outcomes remain largely inadequate. Vamos Ler! aims to ensure that Grades 1 to 3 students in Nampula and Zambézia provinces can achieve grade-level fluency and comprehension in local languages.
Students entering primary school in developing countries often struggle when learning to read for various reasons: formal education systems lack resources, teachers are not well prepared, classes are overflowing, children enter school with very little exposure to print, and the language differs from the child’s home language. In partnership with Catholic Relief Services, AIR is creating, implementing, and evaluating a Child Literacy Development program for Grade 1 and 2 children in Laos and for Grade 1 in Guatemala.
Many students around the world grow up and go to school in multilingual environments, yet there isn’t enough evidence about how to effectively promote reading acquisition in linguistically diverse contexts. The Facilitating Reading Acquisition in Multilingual Environments (FRAME) study addresses this gap by examining the predictors of biliteracy acquisition in South India. Read the final report and related commentary by Pooja Reddy Nakamura, Language in Learning and Literacy: Native Tongues First.
Literacy is a fundamental skill that serves as the foundation for an individual’s future learning and, collectively, for a country’s social and economic development. The LAC Reads Capacity Program (LAC) aims to increase the impact, scale, and sustainability of early grade reading interventions in the LAC region through the development of state-of-the-art knowledge resources.
The purpose of this study on early grade reading and English language learning in primary education in Ethiopia was to explore current policies and practice and make evidence-based recommendations to improve early grade reading and English language learning in Ethiopia.
In the United States
Recent research suggests that dual language education programs, a type of bilingual education program in which students are taught literacy and academic content in English and a partner language, provide more opportunities for English learners (ELs) to reach higher levels of academic achievement. Read our blog post, Five Ways States Can Support Dual Language Programs, and watch our video, Making Research Relevant: Dual Language Programs Explained for more on this subject.
In 2013, 4.4 million U.S. public school students were classified as English language learners. These students come to school with the benefit of speaking a language other than English. The Center supports states, districts, and schools as they work with ELLs to achieve English proficiency and meet content standards.
According to the Program for Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), the latest international survey of adult literacy, one in six Americans struggle with basic literacy. In this video, students share their struggles and triumphs, including those of a grandmother taking classes because she couldn’t understand her young grandchildren’s homework, an immigrant who is learning English to get ahead financially, and a laid-off worker convinced that a GED is crucial to getting a job.
Tapping the Potential: Infographics Illustrate Need for Further Skills Training Among American Adults
This series of infographics illustrates the need for further literacy, numeracy and skills training among adults in America. PIAAC findings show adults in the U.S. lagged behind other countries in the industrialized world in each of the three skill areas. The infographics highlight findings for each state and the U.S. overall


Be School Ready
The children who settle into school easily are the ones who have attended some kind of quality preschool or kindy say new entrant teachers.
BestStart, New Zealand’s largest early childhood education provider, has developed a unique Be School Ready initiative to ensure that every child attending one of its centres is fully prepared for the next stage of their learning journey.
Children who are confident and capable when they enter the school setting have a head start on children who have not previously experienced a more structured environment.
Everyone learns at different speeds and while adults think counting and spelling is a sign a child is ready for school, not all children are ready to learn this before they begin school. Often the children have simply memorised letters and numbers. Experienced teachers at a BestStart centre know how to encourage and support each child’s learning.
Being familiar with routines, like mat time and knowing how to relate to others, negotiate and take turns so they can manage group work are other important skills pre-schoolers learn.
Qualified and dedicated teachers support children in creative and critical thought processes all day. Teachers provide purposeful experiences that introduce children to early concepts of maths, science, art, reading and other curriculum areas.
When children are interested in something, they engross themselves in it. A skilled early childhood teacher will take that fascination and build on it. Have a look at Facebook or Roundabout in the back of the Bright Start magazine for some wonderful learning opportunities.
Children who have learned how to think clearly and solve problems take these skills into the next phase of their education. They will have the courage and confidence to ask questions and expand their knowledge.
The Be School Ready initiative officially begins when a child turns 4. They receive a small gift to signal the beginning of their journey to school. Upon completion of the initiative, on their fifth birthday, they receive a certificate and gift as a signifier of their readiness for school.
- Literacy skills
- Numeracy skills
- Understanding the world
- Creativity, arts and music
- Sharing and relating to others
- Physical and gross motor skills
Check out this video for tips on making the transition from home to school a happy one.


Beautifully illustrated rhymes to aid children’s literacy and numeracy skills.
Contains a number of illustrations in black and white for young readers to colour in.
Will appeal to children aged 5-7.
Natalie Axander brings us her second book about a little daydreamer Kevin.
Counting Family engages a child’s numeracy skills by taking them through Kevin’s amusing family circle, introducing them to his two grandfathers, three sisters, four brothers and many more.
This charming book will appeal to readers ages 5-7, as well as to parents and teachers looking to develop children’s vocabulary and numeracy skills.


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Developing good writing skills can also strengthen vocabulary, comprehension, and spelling skills. Reading comprehension is the to solidify one’s understanding of passages of texts readers inquire and develop their own opinion of the author’s writing. English writing skills for a variety of purposes, including essays, formal and informal letter writing, resumes, business documents, plus lesson plans for teachers to. Educational methods for developing metacognitive strategies received increased attention in the last decades, especially in the field of fostering reading comprehension.
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This is a test to see how well you comprehend the english language but it’s an easy test, consisting of only 10 questions all you have to do is follow the. Whether you have a learning disability in reading or just need skills reinforcement, learn how to improve reading comprehension with these five tips. Examples of comprehension skills that can be taught and applied to all reading situations include: summarizing sequencing inferencing reading, and writing. The reading comprehension unit has educational movies for k-3 students about main idea and making inferences.
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Finland and Scandinavia
At the very top of Northern Europe sits Scandinavia. Scandinavia is comprised of Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Along with Finland, these countries represent an ancient way of life. Much of Scandinavia sits in the Arctic Circle which makes winters here cold and snowy.
During the summer, the sun shines both day and night. It would be hard to go to sleep when the sun never sets! During the winter, though, the sun never shines, even during the day. At the most northern part of Scandinavia, it is dark for two months!
Fun Facts about Finland and Scandinavia for Kids
- Norway, Sweden and Finland seem wild. They are covered with forests and swift rivers.
- Norway and Sweden have many mountains while Finland and Denmark are low-lying. Denmark is known to have many farms.
- Most people in these countries live near the sea or near lakes.
- The people of Scandinavia have a high quality of life. They pay very high taxes, but this way the wealth is better shared; the Scandinavian people thus get good education, health and social benefits, great infrastructure and a safer, cleaner public transport system. Therefore, most of the population enjoy a good standard of living.
- The northern part of Scandinavia is called Lapland.
- The Lapland region is inhabited by Sami people. These people have their own language. The five Sami languages spoken in Lapland are North, South, Skolt, Inari and Lule.
- They herd reindeer for meat and milk in Lapland.
- The other languages spoken in Scandinavia includes Danish, Swedish and Norwegian.
Finland and Scandinavia Vocabulary
- Comprise: made up of; includes
- Represent: symbolize
- Arctic Circle: the northern most part of the Earth
- Swift: fast
- Resource: the tools or products needed for life; includes food, shelter, healthcare, employment and education
- Infrastructure: the basic facilities needed by the country
All about Finland and Scandinavia Video for Kids
Here’s the best kids Finland and Scandinavia video you can watch right now to learn more all about Finland and Scandinavia:
Finland and Scandinavia Q&A
Question: How large is Scandinavia?
Answer: Scandinavia is approximately 1,850 kilometers, which is 1,150 miles long or 340,000 square miles. The peninsula has a width varying from 370-805 kilometers or 230-500 miles. This makes Scandinavia the largest peninsula in Europe.
Map of Finland and Scandinavia
Here’s a map of Finland and Scandinavia, and all its cities and villages. Zoom in to get into street level or zoom out to see other countries around Finland and Scandinavia! You can see the terrain, but also see the roads, images of the buildings and even take a 3D tour through the streets of the cities in Finland and Scandinavia, as though you are actually there!
Enjoyed the Free Geography Kids online resources all about Finland and Scandinavia info? Take the FREE & fun all about Finland and Scandinavia quiz and download FREE Finland and Scandinavia worksheet for kids. For lengthy info click here.
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Parents can start the building blocks of learning for infants and toddlers through reading, learning-based play and engaging conversations.
The human brain develops most rapidly in the first five years of life and research has established the impact reading to toddlers and infants has on their later academic achievements, conveying a literacy-rich environment from an early age enables children to build their literacy skills more readily.
New research from New York University has further established strong links between engaging, quality play, talking with infants and toddlers and academic achievement in primary school years.
The team found infants and toddlers who were provided with appropriate learning opportunities, through books, educational toys, learning activities and meaningful conversations were more likely to develop early cognitive skills.
Researchers from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development published results of their study of more than 2200 children from birth to Year 5 in the Applied Developmental Science Journal last month.
They cited three key features of home learning which were found to support language development and pre-academic skills; participation in learning activities, quality parent/child interactions and the availability of learning materials such as books and toys.
NYU Applied Psychology Professor and lead study author Catherine Tamis-LeMonda said there was growing evidence of the power of early learning environments on later academic success.
“Our study confirms that strong home learning environments arm children with foundational skills that are springboards to long-term academic achievement,” Dr Tamis-LeMonda said.
Researchers tracked children from infancy through to primary schooling, looking at literacy activities used in the home environment (such as story-telling and reading), learning materials available (i.e. books, appropriate toys or games to facilitate learning) and the quality of parental interactions with the children, such as labelling objects and responding to children’s cues.
The team found positive early learning environments supported the development of pre-academic skills which persisted into early adolescence (Year 5). Study results were also found to be similar for children of different racial and social backgrounds.
The 10-year research project also revealed parents tended to maintain initial learning and engagement opportunities throughout their child’s childhood.
Researchers found the learning environments of the children studied were likely to remain stable from infancy through childhood, suggesting early learning and engagement patterns set by parents either continued to support or negatively impact the development of academic skill in childhood.


The general capabilities play a significant role in the Australian Curriculum in equipping young Australians to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century.
In the Australian Curriculum, capability encompasses knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions. Students develop capability when they apply knowledge and skills confidently, effectively and appropriately in complex and changing circumstances, in their learning at school and in their lives outside school.
General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum
In the Australian Curriculum, the general capabilities are addressed through the content of the learning areas. General capabilities are identified where they are developed or applied in the content descriptions. They are also identified where they offer opportunities to add depth and richness to student learning via the content elaborations, which are provided to give teachers ideas about how they might teach the content. Icons are used to indicate where general capabilities have been identified in learning area content descriptions and elaborations.
Teachers are expected to teach and assess general capabilities to the extent that they are incorporated within learning area content. State and territory education authorities will determine if and how student learning of the general capabilities is to be further assessed or reported.
General capabilities materials are presented to help teachers develop a shared understanding of the nature, scope and sequence of the general capabilities in the Australian Curriculum and to help teachers plan for students’ development of the general capabilities in school and classroom learning programs.
The materials for each general capability include:
- an introduction that describes the nature and scope of the capability, its place in the learning areas and its evidence base
- organising elements and sub-elements that underpin a learning continuum
- a learning continuum.
Learning continua have been developed for each capability to describe the relevant knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions at particular points of schooling. Within each of the capabilities, specific behaviours and dispositions have been identified and incorporated into each learning continuum as appropriate.
Using the learning continua
Students need opportunities to develop capabilities over time and across learning areas. What is learnt in the early years supports all subsequent learning. The learning continua map common paths for general capability development while recognising that each student’s pace of development may be influenced by factors such as their prior experience, sense of self in the world and cognitive capacity.
Learning continua typically, but not exclusively, align with years of schooling. Stages in each learning continuum are labelled from Levels 1 to 6 to emphasise that the continuum presents a sequence of learning independent of student age.
For Literacy, Level 1 is divided into five sub-levels: 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d and 1e. Levels 1a–1d represent the development of early literacy skills with a particular emphasis on communication. For Numeracy, Level 1 is divided into two sub-levels: 1a and 1b; to represent the progression from early numeracy to numeracy skills. For Personal and Social capability, Level 1 is divided into two sub-levels: 1a and 1b. Level 1a describes the development of awareness of self and others and Level 1b describes the skills or actions to accompany those understandings about self and others.
For more information on using the general capabilities continua to personalise learning for students for whom English is an additional language or dialect, students with disability and gifted and talented students see Student Diversity.
Viewing on the website
Each general capability learning continuum is available online in two views:
- expected learning across the levels in a table format
- expected learning for each level in turn, in text format .
Users can also see which general capability elements and sub-elements are addressed in the content description by selecting the capability icon.
In the learning areas of the Australian Curriculum, general capabilities are identified, using icons, where they are developed or applied in the content descriptions.
The General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum documents explain how each learning area addresses all the general capabilities.
The Australian Curriculum includes seven general capabilities, as shown in the figure below.
Resources and support materials for the Australian Curriculum General Capabilities learning continuum are available as PDF documents.


The goal of Big Art Day is to raise awareness of art and art education as a creative force in Texas communities.
Sponsored by the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA), Big Art Day looks to engage all art educators, their students and communities in a single day art event, and to celebrate March as Youth Art Month.
Students in the CSISD Art programs will be creating fiber works in order to "yarn bomb" areas of each school. Yarn bombing is a form of graffiti art created by Houston artist Magda Sayeg that has gained international acclaim. The activity involves covering public areas with knitted or crocheted works of art.
The community is invited to participate in their school's yarn bombing event. Please contact any of the CSISD art teachers for more information.
More information about Big Art Day can be found on the TAEA Website: http://www.taea.org/BigArtDay/default.asp


A 45-year-old Hispanic immigrant undergoes a job-related health screening and is told that his blood pressure is very high. He goes to the local public hospital and is given a prescription for a beta-blocker and diuretic, each to be taken once a day. One week later, he goes to the hospital after experiencing dizziness. His blood pressure is very low, and he says he has been taking the medicine just like it says on the bottle. The case is discussed by multiple practitioners until one who speaks Spanish asks the patient how many pills he took each day. “Twenty-two,” he replies. The provider explains to his colleagues that “once” means “11” in Spanish.—Help Patients Understand, American Medical Association
Defining Health Literacy
- Health Literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.—Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Title V
- Health literacy includes reading and writing skills necessary to understand health and medication information. It is also an individual’s ability to complete complex forms, locate available health providers and services, share health history, and negotiate signage at health care facilities.
- Health literacy includes numeracy skills for such things as understanding cholesterol and blood sugar levels, measuring medications, and understanding nutrition labels.
- Health literacy includes effective communication between health care professionals and patients with low literacy skills and/or individuals with limited English.
Why is Health Literacy important?
- Nearly 9 out of 10 adults have difficulty using the everyday health information that is routinely available in our healthcare facilities, retail outlets, media and communities.—Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Current data indicates that more than a third of American adults—some 89 million people—lack sufficient health literacy to effectively undertake and execute needed medical treatments and preventative health care.—AMA Foundation
- Without clear understanding of health literacy information, individuals are more likely to skip necessary medical tests, forgo preventative health measures, and have higher rates of hospitalization and emergency services.—Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Persons with limited literacy skills are more likely to have chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or asthma, and are less likely to manage them effectively.—U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Poor health literacy is a stronger predictor of a person’s health than his age, socioeconomic status, education, or ethnicity.—AMA Foundation
- Forty-six percent of American adults cannot read and follow medical instructions.—AMA Foundation
- One study revealed the following problems experienced by persons with limited health literacy when they interacted with the health care system (AMA Foundation):
• 26% did not understand when their next appointment was scheduled
• 42% did not understand instructions to “take medication on an empty stomach”
• 78% misinterpret warnings on prescription labels
• 86% could not understand rights and responsibilities section of a Medicaid application.
- Every day, millions of adults must make decisions and take actions on issues that protect not only their own well-being, but also that of their family members and communities. These actions are not confined to traditional health-care settings such as doctors and dentists’ offices, hospitals, and clinics. They take place in homes, at work, in schools, and in community forums across the country. Health-related activities are part of the daily life of adults, whether they are sick or well.—AMA Foundation
- Over 300 studies have shown that health information cannot be understood by most of the people for whom it was intended, suggesting that the assumptions regarding the recipient’s level of health literacy made by the creators of this information are often incorrect.—AMA Foundation
- The combination of medical errors, excess hospitalizations, longer hospital stays, more use of emergency departments, and a generally higher level of illness—all attributed to limited health literacy—is estimated to result in excess costs for the US health care system of between $50 billion and $73 billion per year.—Center for Health Care Strategies
YouTube video (23 minutes)—American Medical Association Foundation, featuring Toni Cordell, former adult learner from Oklahoma
Health.gov/Communication/about.asp— Health.gov from Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion


Here is the list of strategies that can help teachers to promote or cultivate creativity in the classroom. Creative teachers are many-sided people who have various interests and hobbies for example, a person who enjoys playing the guitar can effectively use his or her hobby in the classroom: singing songs is one of the best ways to improve pronunciation hobbies and different occupations can assist. In design and technology, creativity is central to developing the learner, so it is crucial that teachers of the subject recognise how to foster creativity nichol, points out that teachers have an important responsibility to increase 'creativity in the d&t classroom' (2004, p1) therefore, teachers have the. In the midst of a cultural shift toward greater creativity, here are 30 things you can do to promote creativity in your classroom. The book creativity in the classroom: case studies in using the arts in teaching and learning in higher education, edited by paul mcintosh and digby warren is published by intellect ltd alternatives to the essay: creative ways of presenting work for assessment emma bond and jessica clark 17 creativity- mediated.
This education article reveals why creativity in the classroom is essential and how teachers can achieve it. Education expert sir ken robinson notes that in the factories of the 20th century, creativity was not valued yet in the startups of the 21st century, it's critical for success what can teachers do — right now — to prepare students for the world of the future below, 10 ways to teach creativity in the classroom. Here are 19 ideas to add more color, creativity and passion in your classroom creative classrooms don't just look different, they feel different rather than taking the typical approach of writing an essay, provide students with a range of formats they can use to explore the concept of racism and social acceptance, such. Read this full essay on a creative classroom a creative classroom art education is an essential part of a child's development through life, and much.
The term creativity, as it relates to the classroom, goes beyond art class and school projects at its best, creativity in the classroom is about how a teacher captivates students and inspires them to learn teachers who are practised in the art of developing creativity are generally focused on creating a classroom culture that. Creativity should be regarded the same as literacy creativity allows for the pursuit of knowledge and the innovation of the world those who think outside the box change the world although creativity cannot be taught and can be placed in an environment where it may grow and flourish creativity needs to have a chance.
Art education arts artistic argumentative essays - a creative classroom. This essay explores creativity in education through a critical and reflective perspective my work is in a community classroom reflective practitioners are essential towards providing an environment which fosters creativity (schön 1987) however conditioning is powerful and from a young age many students are. Heavily standardised curriculum at second level is failing students and teachers. Creativity is the art of hearing a song that has never been written or seeing a work of art on empty canvas its essence is in its freshness and the ability to make dreams come to life imagine this: a normal classroom with cheerful faces students' excitement to start school ignites the classroom the teacher.
How to teach creativity a collection of art education essays and art lessons please scroll down to see many topics and lessons art education home page to find topics, try the search box at the top right classrooms to teach thinking and emotional intelligence creativity killers in the classroom 2012 update reasons. Faculty were asked how they encourage creativity and innovation in the classroom here are some of the key themes that arose from the conversations.


Based on current research, debates and concerns, this Reader adopts a cross disciplinary approach to understanding and working with those who experience difficulties with literacy. It provides a broad view of difficulties in literacy and related educational and curriculum learning issues across a range of ages, phases and settings. The Reader first considers questions of literacy, before going on to look at literacy development in relation to: Issues and concepts in public reading debates. " Literacy curriculum policy contexts. " Community, family, society and individual identity. " Social justice and equity issues and learning disabilities. This Reader is relevant to all postgraduate students of Literacy, as well as educators, professionals and policy makers."