For children under school age, toddler pedagogy is offered in municipal day care centers aimed at children between one and six years. By toddler pedagogy does not mean daycare that is similar to school, but care that is educationally planned and that includes music, play, crafts and excursions. However, toddler pedagogy is voluntary and fee-based. For private day care, the National Pensions Institution can grant support provided that the producer has the municipality’s approval.
Primary school education in Finland caters for pupils aged 7 to 12. Swedish-speaking primary schools (lågstadieskola) tend, not surprisingly, to be concentrated in those parts of the country where Swedish-speakers form a large minority or a majority of the local population. Swedish is studied as a mother tongue in these schools, and teachers who have a language other than Swedish as their mother tongue must pass a language test in order to work there.
Students who come from bilingual homes often have Swedish as their primary language in education, as it is often thought wise to ensure that the Swedish language, which after all is not spoken as widely in Finland as Finnish, is learnt formally. All Swedish-speaking students take compulsory Finnish courses. Only in Åland is Finnish a voluntary subject.
Secondary education in Finland is divided into lower and upper parts. For the last three years of compulsory basic education, grades 7 to 9, students attend lower-secondary schools (högstadieskola). There were 247 Swedish-language primary and lower-secondary schools in this country in 2017, providing 34,000 pupils with nine years of basic compulsory education. Instruction material in Swedish is produced by Swedish-language publishers in Finland or imported from Sweden.
Upper-secondary education takes place either at upper secondary schools (gymnasiet) or vocational institutes (yrkesskola). These build on the knowledge imparted in lower-secondary schools. This level of education is not compulsory, and students are allowed to abandon their studies at this point.
Upper-secondary education normally takes three years, between the ages of 16 and 19. Students may pass at their own pace through the gymnasium in anything from 2–4 years. At the end of their period here, students take their general education certificate examination (also known as the matriculation exam), or studentexamen.
On passing this examination they are allowed to wear the traditional white student cap, which is ubiquitous in Finland on the first of May. There are 35 (2019) Swedish-language gymnasier in Finland with 6 732 pupils (2015 figures), as well as 28 (2019) yrkesskolor and one specialyrkesskola which provides vocational education for children with special needs.
Higher education in Finland is given at both universities and polytechnic-type institutions (yrkeshögskola). The major Swedish-language university is Åbo Akademi. Other universities are often either bilingual or have Swedish-language groups. Academic degrees may be taken in Swedish at Åbo Akademi in Åbo, Vasa and Jakobstad, at the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration (Hanken) and the Swedish School of Social Work and Local Adminstration, part of the University of Helsinki. The important Swedish-language polytechnic is Arcada.
Mercator has noted that Åbo Akademi University has a “special task” in taking care of the needs of education and research among and for the Finland Swedes. For example, it conducts demographical research into the Swedish-speaking population in Finland.
Yrkeshögskola programmes include less academia-orientated subjects such as technical and vocational training, health care, arts, youth work, business and hotel and restaurant management. All Swedish-language vocational schools teach Swedish as a subject.
Concerning Swedish-language institutions there are five music schools, two sports education centres and one summer university in Finland.
Adult education is provided at special centres providing a large number of different courses, many of which teach leisure-time interests such as art education or language courses. Most towns in Finland have some kind of adult-education centre or medborgarinstitut (kansalaisopisto in Finnish), of which a total of fifteen are Swedish-language.
Of special interest for Swedish-speaking Finns are the folkhögsskolor (or ‘folk higher-education colleges’) where young people usually study for a year or two in order to get a deeper understanding of a special interest field such as tourism, photography or music. There are twelve such schools in Finland.


Testimony: an open acknowledgment of truth, a formal written or spoken statement or declaration in support of a belief.
When I taught preservice classes at the University of North Texas, I required my students to each write and present a mission statement, a kind of testimony of their philosophy of art and art teaching. This was to be presented through a digital format of their choosing, such as animation, film, or other media arts. One purpose of this assignment was to provide meaningful and useful content for their digital portfolios they would present when applying for teaching positions.
One of the best ways to share your testimony to the value of art education is to get published. Here SchoolArts authors Ted Edinger, Jim Dodson, and Melody Weintraub pose with Nancy and their published articles at the Tennessee Art Education Association conference.
It was also a good exercise for organizing and solidifying their beliefs about the value of art and art education. Writing a mission statement also seems useful as an advocacy tool for currently teaching art educators.
SchoolArts Magazine has a mission statement you can find on our masthead: SchoolArts is a worldwide national magazine committed to promoting excellence, advocacy, and professional support for the community of educators in the visual arts.
To provide some examples, I asked our contributing editors (also listed in the masthead) to share some testimonies of their beliefs about the value of art education:
In terms of why art education is important, I feel that art education is important in order to teach students about being comfortable with ambiguity. When we work in the spaces in between, that’s when we get some real work done. Art education is also important in order to teach that multiple answers and multiple perspectives are somethings that are valued and necessary. —Joe Fusaro
Art Education involves all learners in the creative process. It is truly one of the best disciplines designed to assess student strengths and areas for improvement. By creating authentic art experiences with the 21st century learner in mind, it is able to contribute to college and career readiness. The key to success is to involve others, to build a community of support, to be passionate about what we do inside and outside of the classroom, and to bring others into our world of originally, creativity, and innovative arts programming. —Frank Juarez
In an era when imagery is becoming our most prominent means of disseminating information, and thinking and learning have received international recognition as “bridges to the future," the arts can be envisioned as central to the life-learning process, allowing individuals to develop as thinking, contributing members of the 21st century. Craig Roland Twenty-first-century learning requires a mindset that embraces cultural diversity, global engagement, and sustainability. The visual and performing arts provide opportunities for students to consider opinions and beliefs of others, to maneuver through an increasingly complex world, and to act upon preserving the planet for today and tomorrow. The arts define what it means to be an effective global citizen. —Pam Stephens
What’s your mission statement? If you have or write one, share it with your administrators, parents, other teachers, and students, and post it in your art room and online. It is an effective advocacy tool you will find useful in multiple ways. If you will send it to me, I will post it in the SchoolArtsRoom blog. email@example.com


Another brief piece on literacy development: if you foster a very young child, it is important to understand that before they can read and write, they have to become familiar with word sounds and picture books. As a foster carer you have a vital role to play in helping your child develop literacy skills. This is crucially important because it is the foundation for a child to make progress at school – as well as being able to socialise with friends and other family members. There are stages that need to be followed to enable a child to become a confident reader. But before learning to read and write, a child needs to develop important building blocks: the ability to watch, listen, speak and understand – before starting school, where they will begin to learn about the more formal aspects of literacy.
Reading to a very young child is the best way to spark their imagination. The aim is to make reading from the earliest age a pleasurable and positive experience. Below are just a few points to consider when thinking how best to approach the activity of reading if you foster.
Good stories also carry information that is interesting woven into the plot which means they can teach about a whole range of things. It is this that can really instil a thirst for knowledge in a foster child. This is especially the case if they have come from a situation where they have not been stimulated or ever been read to.
A very good story will capture the imagination of the foster child as well as their carer. This makes all the more rewarding as it becomes a shared experience for both the listener and the reader if the child is very young.
And appropriately enough, a story with a great ending is going to want to make a foster child want more so finding out what other stories that writer has written is a very good idea.
The internet is a great way to look for books that you might want to consider. You can involve foster child in this – it is another great way to create participation. You will also find sites that will review books and provide the outlines of the stories which is very helpful in helping make a choice.
Finally, with a slightly older child, encourage them to create their own ‘top ten’ list of favourite authors and stories. This can feel quite empowering for a child – they are in charge of making a selection. Remind them they need to keep reading as then they can keep adding to their list of favourite stories – as well as refresh their ‘top ten’ list.
Interested in fostering children? Then explore ‘Rainbow Rewards’
Rainbow pay a bonus of £500 if you are in a position to refer someone to be a foster carer: you’ll receive the money once your referral has been approved – and the first placement is in place. Foster carers transferring to the Rainbow can also benefit from a bonus once approved to foster with us, this will be a payment made for foster carers who already look after youngsters on a long-term basis.
And the good news at the end of this particular rainbow…another of our foster children has a birthday to celebrate this week. So best birthday wishes from everyone at Rainbow.
More Foster News – to keep you informed and up to date
Always remember to check out our own Rainbow news site providing stories of interest to everyone in fostering. We like to enable our carers to keep up with all the latest news stories around fostering children: visit: http://bit.ly/2e8PrIK


Involving families and communities in the classroom learning will improve both student engagement and outcomes. One of the ways that families and communities can be involved in students’ learning is to inform them of the importance of various texts that support literacy development and how they can support learning at home.
Create a digital brochure to be introduced at curriculum night to promote literacy in the home as well as a resource for families and the community to inform them of the various texts that will be implemented in the classroom to promote literacy.
Your tri-fold digital brochure should present the process of examining texts, as well as at-home technology tools and digital resources to advance student literacy development.
Your digital brochure should include the following:
Engaging front cover that identifies the grade level and content area
The importance of multiple texts to meet the specific needs and abilities of all students
Two examples of fiction and two examples of non-fiction texts with brief rationales describing the complexity and purpose for each, and how they will be implemented in the content area
Explanation of how texts are selected through quantitative and qualitative measures
One example of media and one example of technology, examining how each will creatively support literacy development
Two resources for families to support literacy development at home, and directions for how families can utilize them.
The brochure should be visually appealing with color, graphic elements, and variations in text.
Support your findings with a minimum of three resources.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
The post Examining Texts Digital Brochure .
Assignment status: Solved by our experts


Primary Years Program
The elementary classrooms at Princeton Junior School are vibrant and caring learning environments. Our students actively participate in their classrooms and are encouraged to pose questions, share their interests, and act upon their beliefs. They are engaged in inquiry, exploration and reflection while building foundational skills in all subject areas. Our learners feel a sense of agency in their classrooms, leading to joyful learning and excitement to come to PJS each day.
The K-5 Elementary Curriculum is based on the philosophy of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program, a globally-recognized education that challenges students to grow both academically and personally. With a focus on the development of the whole child, our elementary curriculum provides students with the knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes and actions to become empowered learners.
PJS students study globally significant issues throughout the school year, deepening their understanding of key concepts across a variety of subjects. Each unit is 6-weeks long and integrates language, math, science, social studies, the arts and technology around a central idea. In addition to their units of study, students have concentrated blocks of time devoted to mathematics and language arts every day and attend special subject classes throughout the week.
THE GRADE 5 EXHIBITION
The Exhibition is a culminating event of the Primary Years Program and a personal rite of passage for our Grade 5 students. This in-depth presentation provides an opportunity for our graduating students to select and explore an issue of global significance which they present to our school community. Throughout the inquiry process, students demonstrate their understanding of the IB learner profile and the essential elements of the PYP as they document their learning. Mentors and experts from the school and larger community support students as they plan and conduct interviews, surveys, field visits, or science investigations, collect artifacts, and search for relevant information. Students actively reflect on their learning process by keeping a journal or portfolio of work in progress and participating in self-assessment. Students take part in all phases of the planning and staging of the exhibition. They determine how they will share the story of their learning and action taken (or future plans for action) with the school community. In addition to a research paper and oral component, students choose other presentation methods that may include artwork, poetry, song, dance, film, digital presentations, or use of other technology.


Except for very rare situations, I am against the non-promotion of students because such an approach is apt to be unsuccessful. The reason for this is that these students often lack strong foundational skills in the subject(s) they are struggling with. Therefore, being exposed to the same curriculum and basically the same teaching approach tends to do little to develop inadequate skills. For instance, if a Grade 3 student is only reading at the Grade 1 level, repeating the Grade 3 curriculum is unlikely to help him/her obtain the foundational skills that he/she requires.
There are two additional reasons I don’t support holding back. One is that such an action is likely to detrimentally affect a student’s self-confidence. Once this happens, one’s ability to learn is further reduced because in order to learn one must experience success – an outcome which in turn builds confidence. And, it is this powerful combination of progress and faith in one’s ability that fosters further growth. The other reason is that not only does a drop in confidence affect one’s academic ability but it can also affect one’s social and emotional development.
In conclusion, I recommend that struggling students be advanced to the next year and that they be provided with one-on-one or small group instruction so that their needs could be directly addressed. This might appear as an expensive plan but it is actually more cost effective to remediate problems sooner than later.
I am a Special Education Teacher (retired) who is also dyslexic. Being dyslexic is significant because it was through my own struggles that I was able to acquire the insight that opened the door to a wealth of information on this neurological condition. For further details on reading difficulties and how to remediate them, visit www.abcofreading.com .


Employment opportunities in the music industry are numerous and diverse. Prerequisites for entry level jobs are likewise varied, running the gamut from absolutely no formal experience all the way to a Ph.D. Few individuals are able to support themselves solely as full-time musicians; rather, they leverage their skills in a wide variety of music related occupations.
Teaching music is a common way for musicians to earn income. Teaching can take place in private schools and studios, community music schools, elementary and secondary schools, and universities and colleges. Entry level jobs in the private sector usually require little formal music education. They allow individuals to discover whether they're suited for teaching careers. This situation contrasts starkly with jobs in universities, where even an entry level teaching assistant requires at least a master's degree.
Music composition is a diverse area offering a number of entry-level opportunities. Classical composers of all levels can apply for grant and competition money to support themselves while composing. Individuals seeking a commercial career can gain experience composing for independent films, low-budget video games, jingles and musicals. These jobs provide the chance to build a portfolio and gain important industry contacts, which can lead to more lucrative opportunities.
Musical performance covers all types of music. Individuals starting their careers usually find volunteer or low-paying gigs in order to gain experience, make contacts and build a following. Musical talent is only part of the success equation. Performers also need good organizational abilities, business acumen and promotional finesse. Musicians need to establish themselves locally, generating significant “buzz,” in order to attract the attention of artist management and record industry representatives.
Musicians who perform live often use their talents in the recording studio. Versatility and the ability to read music are critical to finding success in this field. Entry-level opportunities abound in smaller studios that work on low budget films, video games and jingles. These opportunities normally don't pay well, but provide important experience and industry contacts.
Musical therapists use music to enhance, sustain and restore mental and physical health. Music therapists can find employment at hospitals, mental health clinics, nursing homes, prisons and rehabilitation centers. Entry into this field does require formal education, usually in the form of a combined degree in music and psychology.
Establishments with large compilations of music books, periodicals, recordings or scores employ music librarians to keep their collections organized. Though financially rewarding, this career requires significant post-secondary education in library science and music. Individuals interested in pursuing this career should first seek employment in a music library on a voluntary basis. First-hand experience gained from this opportunity is invaluable before making a decision to invest in further education.
- George Doyle/Stockbyte/Getty Images


At Blackfriars, we aim to instill in boys the confidence to be so many things but, more importantly, to first be themselves.
When I grow up, I’m going to be a scientist, sports star, teacher, astronaut, fireman, doctor, dinosaur; I want to be a superhero who will help people.
The Primary School at Blackfriars provides a nurturing, student-centred learning environment for the critical years of a boy’s educational, social, emotional, spiritual and physical development. It offers a diverse, challenging and creative curriculum to develop boys’ capabilities to live and participate in a digital and global society.
Primary School boys undertake specialist subjects including STEM, Japanese, Art, Music and Physical Education with additional teacher support available in areas including Literacy, Numeracy, Learning Enrichment and English as an Additional Language (EAL).
Assessment at the beginning and end of the year allows us to track the educational needs of the boys and measure the improvements gained in a calendar year.
Our staff pride themselves on getting to know each boy’s interests through our Pastoral Care program. This program includes the opportunity to mix with boys and teachers from the Middle and Senior Schools through our integrated House system. Teachers are involved in the boys’ co-curricular activities including school camps starting in Year 4. Regular communication with families about their boys and upcoming events provides a crucial link to home and supports the partnership between family and school.
The Blackfriars Primary School buildings provide indoor and outdoor learning areas for active boys who need space to move, think and do. The classrooms have an abundance of natural light, contemporary teaching equipment, secure access to the latest information and communication technologies and to a safe and sun-sheltered play area.
- History and Geography
- Visual Art
- Drama (integrated across curriculum)
- Information and Communication Technologies (integrated across curriculum)
Learn more about the full curriculum offered at Blackfriars, including individual subject detail, learning area pathways from Reception to Year 12, learning support and enrichment programs, in the latest edition of our Curriculum Handbook.
Specialist Teaching and Support
- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics)
- Physical Education
- Visual Art
- Teacher Librarian
- Learning Enrichment
- Literacy and Numeracy
- English as a Second Language
The Blackfriars Primary School curriculum comprises the key learning areas of Religious Education, English, Mathematics, Science, HaSS (Humanities and Social Sciences), Technology (Digital and Design), Health, Physical Education, Languages, Visual Art, Music, Dance and Drama. The Religious Education program is central to the curriculum and is informed by the Crossways and Made In The Image of God programs. The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum is interwoven through all learning areas. All other learning areas are informed by the Australian Curriculum.
Innovation of Languages
Blackfriars has adopted an innovative approach to the learning and teaching of languages.
In each Primary School classroom, there is a high level of support for students to engage in their learning. Teachers set high expectations for every boy’s progress and individual targets for improving classroom performances. They implement a variety of teaching methods that have been shown to be effective in promoting successful learning for boys. These include:
- Providing clear learning objectives
- Creating a positive classroom environment
- Providing opportunities for collaborative work
- Making links to areas outside the specific lesson
- Supporting and promoting discussion for deeper understanding
- Providing sufficient opportunities for boys to reflect on their learning
- Providing opportunities for project-based work with teachers facilitating kinasthetic (hands-on) learning
Teachers link boys’ learning to prior knowledge and build effective connections by combining their own knowledge of specific subject matter and their knowledge of the cognitive, social and cultural backgrounds of the students.
Active participation in class activities is expected both individually and as a member of a group. We assess in real time using SeeSaw for Reception to Year 3 and SEQTA for Years 4 to 6. These platforms allow boys and parents to engage with assessment at the time of completion and keep up-to date with their progress.
Assessment of student learning and growth may include the following:
- Diagnostic testing
- Oral presentations
- Classroom observation
- Performance tasks
- Exhibitions and demonstrations
- Teacher-created tests
- Self- and peer-evaluation


Except for a short stint as a graphic artist, my life has been structured around the school calendar. Even though few leaves here in Texas ever change color and it doesn’t cool off until October, the start of school always seems like a fresh, new beginning. New clothes and new crayons go hand and hand.
A significant effort that is taking place right now that will be a major benefit to you are the revisions of the 1994 National Standards for Arts Education by the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS). NCCAS includes representatives from the National Art Education Association, the National Association for Music Education, the National Dance Education Organization, the State Education Agency for Directors of Arts Education, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, the Educational Theatre Association, and The College Board.
The current National Standards have been adopted or adapted by 49 state departments of education, and have become the benchmark by which K-12 arts learning is measured in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. NCCAS plans to release their new, national voluntary arts education standards this fall and SchoolArts is eagerly looking forward to their inception.
The revised standards will describe what students should know and be able to do now as a result of a quality curricular arts education program. They are slated to incorporate 21st century skills and assert the necessary and rightful place of arts education in the core curriculum. Plans call for a common body of skills/content, grade by grade, for PreK–8 in each arts area, and the inclusion of Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings.
These concepts were developed by educators Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, and published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) as Understanding by Design. (According to Wiggins, think of “big” as “powerful” and a “big idea” as a “a way of seeing better and working smarter.”)
In recognition of our digital age, media arts will be embedded within each of the arts forms and the new standards will be made available in a web-based format. This will provide a place where lesson plans, student work, and new research can be posted to support standards-based teaching and learning.
Why is this important to you? The new standards will be based on current research and explain clearly what we teach in art and that our content is significant and meaningful. It will be to your advantage to use and share the standards. Unless you share and explain your objectives and standards, your administrators, fellow teachers, and parents may not realize the extent and depth of what you are teaching.
The standards will be available to everyone online. Post them in your art room. Include them in your lessons and lesson rubrics. Share them on your school web pages. Send them home in a newsletter. Use them to your advantage. I can think of no better way to start the school year.
Photo: Looking forward to a new school year at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.


As far as my kids were concerned, this activity was just another one of our Christmas activities for kids. As far as I was concerned, this was a wonderful opportunity to teach some vocabulary combined with some science for kids. The idea for this activity focused on the concepts shiny and dull came straight from a post at Science Sparks, and it made for a perfect Christmas science and vocabulary lesson.
I gathered up a number of Christmas-y items and put them on a tray.
Then I handed the kids a flashlight and let them select objects, one-by-one, to examine.
We talked about the fact that shiny objects reflect lots of light back to us, while dull objects do not reflect much light at all.
(If you are wondering about my kids’ clothing choices,
QBoy was wearing a tiger costume and XGirl was wearing a bumble bee costume.
And no, it wasn’t Halloween. They just really enjoy dressing up. )
The kids carefully examined their objects. Getting to use the flashlight was definitely the highlight of this activity, in their opinion!
After looking at each object, the kids sorted them into a shiny pile and a dull pile.
Two items got put in between the two piles, as the kids decided that the star ornament and the Santa doll had both shiny and dull parts to them.
This was a fun way to learn a little science and a little vocabulary with a Christmas twist!
More Christmas resources
More Christmas posts from Gift of Curiosity:
- Grow a Christmas tree sponge
- Christmas Montessori activities
- Q-tip painted Christmas tree
- Paper plate reindeer craft
- Christmas sensory bin
- Cinnamon Christmas ornaments
- Candy cane experiment
- Christmas game: What’s in the bag?
- Christmas Printables Pack
- Christmas Bingo
- Christmas do-a-dot printables
- Christmas gingerbread man templates


Text-message based parenting programs have proven successful in improving parental engagement and preschoolers’ literacy development. The tested programs have provided a combination of (a) general information about important literacy skills, (b) actionable advice (i.e., specific examples of such activities), and (c) encouragement. The regularity of the texts – each week throughout the school year – also provided nudges to focus parents’ attention on their children. This study seeks to identify mechanisms of the overall effect of such programs. It investigates whether the actionable advice alone drives previous study’s results and whether additional texts of actionable advice improve program effectiveness. The findings provide evidence that text messaging programs can supply too little or too much information. A single text per week is not as effective at improving parenting practices as a set of three texts that also include information and encouragement, but a set of five texts with additional actionable advice is also not as effective as the three-text approach. The results on children’s literacy development depend strongly on the child’s pre-intervention literacy skills. For children in the lowest quarter of the pre-treatment literacy assessments, only providing one example of an activity decreases literacy scores by 0.15 standard deviations relative to the original intervention. Literacy scores of children in higher quarters are marginally higher with only one tip per week. We find no positive effects of increasing to five texts per week.
Document Object Identifier (DOI)


Mathematics for Elementary Education 1
MATH& 131 is the first of two courses that is designed to fulfill the requirements for entry into a bachelors program in elementary education at a four year university. The major objective of this course is to prepare the prospective K-8 teacher to understand elementary school mathematical concepts taught from kindergarten through eighth grade. MATH& 131 focuses on problem solving techniques, place value, numeration and computation, fractions, decimals, percent, ratios and proportional reasoning, and number theory. In conjunction with studying these topics, students will improve their abilities to recognize patterns and make connections to the mathematical ideas explored. Each student will be expected to justify his or her reasoning and communicate the results through such means as group activities, written discussions, oral presentations and/ or other methods. Students who complete both MATH& 131 and MATH& 132 will satisfy the quantitative skills requirement (MATH& 131) and be granted 5 credits of specified elective. Counts as a specified elective. Students who complete both MATH&131 and MATH&132 will satisfy the quantitative skills requirement (MATH&131) and be granted 5 credits of specified elective.
Recommended Preparation: ENGL 095 or placement in ENGL& 101. Prerequisites: A grade of "C" or better in MATH 097 or appropriate placement score.
- Use quantities and their relationships to other problems to solve problems
- Determine place value in terms of base ten
- Change from one base to another base
- Use base ten blocks to represent, add and subtract numbers.
- Identify and distinguish between different addition and subtraction methods
- Identify and distinguish between different multiplication methods.
- Use pictorial arrays to illustrate the commutative and distributive properties
- Identify and distinguish between the repeated subtraction, partitive and missing addend conceptual models for division.
- Identify the unit for a fraction
- Identify the denominator in a fraction as the way of partitioning a unit
- Identify the numerator of a fraction as the number of pieces of the unit under consideration
- Determine when two fractions are equal
- Change fractions into decimals and percents
- Change decimals into fractions
- Change percents into decimals and fractions.
- Add and subtract fractions given fractions with common denominators.
- Add and subtract fractions by creating common denominators when they aren’t originally
- Multiply and simplify fractions.
- Multiply fractions by drawing areas and by algorithm.
- Divide fractions by drawing and by algorithm
- Write a ratio
- Set up and solve a proportion
- Write percents as numbers divided by 100
- Solve simple percent problems
- Translate percent increases and decreases into “percent of” statements and use them to solve application problems
- Find factors and multiples of whole numbers.
- Find prime numbers using the sieve of Eratosthenes
- Find least common multiples and greatest common factors for whole numbers


Nowadays it seems that music education is being neglected by schools and academies, this may be in part due to the common misconception that these days music is not as important as science or mathematics. However, music has amazing benefits for learning and academics so it definitely shouldn’t be ignored.
For instance, there is strong evidence suggesting that with the help of music, students can concentrate better. Music also stimulates many areas of the brain, improving cognitive skills and reduces stress. Academics are the most stressed upon an aspect of school, which may be greatly assisted by learning music. In the article below we’ll unravel just how music can benefit academic performance!
Better Focus Leads to Better Exam Performance
Research indicates that students that are a part of some music related course perform better in exams than students who are not enrolled in any such course. The explanation for this can be attributed to a student’s ability to focus better as a result of learning to play music. It is often said that when using a musical instrument, you are using more of your brain than on other tasks of a similar effort. When you are learning a new instrument, your continuous training causes your focus on the task at hand to improve.
This improves your overall focusing abilities and translates to a better understanding of your course material, which leads to better exam performances. Recent discoveries in neurosciences suggest that music learning challenges your brand. Learning complex instruments, such as the piano can improve your focus immensely.
Our daily activities can be quite stressful on us, which is the last thing we need when studying. Unfortunately, often the cause of stress can be studying itself. Classical piano music can be soothing to the ears and help relax the brain. If listening to music can reduce stress, imagine how helpful learning to play it can be as well!
When you’ve soothed stressors it allows your mind to tackle difficult assignments, projects and other responsibilities in the most effective way. While listening to your favourite music can reduce stress, creating music can help release yourself and allow one to immerse themselves in a sea of calm.
Heightened Memory and Cognitive Functions
Learning to create all sorts of new music can lead to improvements in a student’s memory processing. A brain, like any part of the body, can be trained through vigorous exercises to improve its performance.
With music, the combinations of notes, sheet music, and muscle memory can help the brain learn to memorise all sorts of things better. This translates to academics where a better recall of the concepts that are taught gives music students a significant edge over their peers who have not been in music classes.
A great way to get started with learning music is with local piano tutors near me. Piano tutors can design a custom plan that compliments a music course or stands alone. Either way you’ll be learning music and reaping all the academic benefits of it as well!


Pediatric Rehabilitation Services
Children are born to run and play, jump and sing. Their ability to freely move and express themselves promotes independence, increases socialization through participation in group activities, enhances motor skill development, improves strength and endurance, enhances learning opportunities and allows them to assume greater responsibility in taking care of their own daily needs.
When your child’s movement, speech or hearing is restricted, life can be challenging. Our pediatric team specializes in physical and occupational therapy, speech and language pathology, early childhood education and audiology is here to help children with orthopaedic, neurological and developmental diagnoses, including:
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
- Brachial-plexus injury (to the nerves of the neck and shoulder).
- Cerebral palsy.
- Developmental delays in fine or gross motor skills.
- Developmental disabilities.
- Down syndrome.
- Feeding and swallowing disorders.
- Hearing loss.
- Receptive and expressive language delay.
- Sensory processing disorder.
- Torticollis (twisted neck).
Early intervention can profoundly impact a child’s skills and abilities and can help parents support their child’s improvement. We work with a variety of agencies to provide the earliest, most promising intervention.
We also understand that some children respond best to treatment in familiar surroundings, so our pediatric team will provide care in the home, daycare or school.


Enjoy this Easy Science for Kids New Zealand Quiz – you’ll get your quiz score after completing this FREE online interactive quiz on New Zealand. You need to answer all the questions to be able to get your score. You can do this fun quiz about New Zealand again, till you get the perfect score and become a quiz champion!
Tip: To get it right the first time, read the page with fun facts about New Zealand.
New Zealand Quiz – FREE Earth Science Quizzes
Our fun Geography quizzes are a free of charge online resource for teachers and educators of kids in elementary school, grammar school and preschool. This fun New Zealand Geography quiz helps your kids learn fun facts about New Zealand while enjoying this FREE interactive online quiz.
If your kid is enjoying home-schooling, or is doing after-school education, then this is a fun activity, with reading comprehension benefits for kids in 1st to 5th grades.
Kids will enjoy competing against their classmates and friends, to see who scores the best, doing this educational free quiz game online on New Zealand.
As a reading comprehension training for your kids, you can set a timer to encourage kids to do the reading comprehension faster and better, or you can simply limit the number of times the kids can read about the quiz topic, before they do the actual Geography quiz for kids.
Younger kids who cannot yet read or write, such as Pre-K kids, Kindergarten kids or Preschool kids, will benefit from doing this and our other fun online quizzes, as a listening comprehension activity; you read out to them about the topic and then read the New Zealand quiz question and answers.
You will select the New Zealand quiz answer they think is correct, and at the end you get the quiz score.
Your child can try again and again doing the New Zealand quiz, till gets the perfect score faster, as he or she learn to listen more carefully and develop a better memory and attention span!
Enjoyed doing this free online quiz about New Zealand? Check out all our other fun Easy Science Quizzes for Kids and other fun science facts for kids. Visit our Natural Science for Kids website all about New Zealand page. Get lengthy info here.


The Nile River that runs through Egypt has allowed this desert land to flourish and bloom for thousands of years. Because of the water provided by the Nile, Egypt was one of the first places in the world to be farmed and settled. Ancient Egyptians had a complex society. Their beliefs in the afterlife still fascinate people who visit the country to see the ancient tombs and pyramids.
Today, most people in Egypt still live along the Nile River. The Suez Canal, which runs from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea provides a passageway for ships traveling from Europe to Asia and India. This canal, which was completed in 1869 with French and British aid, is an important source of income for the Egyptian government.
Many people in Egypt are farmers. Egypt is one of the world’s leading producers of cotton, used for making clothing and home textiles. Egyptian farmers also grow sugar, rice, wheat, fruit and vegetables.
Most people in Egypt are Arab Muslims. Egypt has been one of the most tolerant Arab countries of women’s rights. Fundamentalism is taking root in the country, though, and women are worried that they will lose some of their rights.
Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is a very old and very crowded city. Its population could reach 100 million by 2025. Housing is in short supply here. Many people live in tiny houses on the edge of the city. Others live among the graves in the ancient cemeteries or even on the roofs of high-rise buildings.
Fun Facts about Egypt for Kids
- 99 million people live in Egypt (2018)
- Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is the president of Egypt (2018).
- The country has 386,662 square miles of land and is the 30th largest country in the world by land mass.
- Oil, Cotton and food products are the Egyptians largest exports.
- Over 12% of the workforce are employed within the tourist industry.
- At 2,629 m Mount Catherine is the tallest mountain in Egypt.
- The river Nile is the longest river.
- The largest pyramid in Egypt is the Pyramid of Khufu at Giza.
- Very little rain falls in Egypt, on average as little as one inch falls annually.
- The official language is Arabic.
- Most people are Muslim.
- The life expectancy in Egypt is 72 years.
- Over 75 percent of adults can read.
- Our 365 day calendar was invented in Egypt.
- Ancient Egyptians considered cats as sacred.
- Ancient Egyptians worshiped over 1400 different Gods.
- Flourish: prosper, grow
- Complex: detailed, complicated
- Tolerant: accepting of varied beliefs
- Fundamentalism: strict, conservative views and beliefs
Learn More All About Egypt
This is the best video we found for kids to learn about Egypt:
This is a video presentation about the geography of Egypt, the importance of the Nile river, and how the Egyptians identify their location.
Question: What kinds of animals live in Egypt?
Map of Egypt
Here’s a map of the country of Egypt and all its cities and villages. Zoom in to get into street level or zoom out to see other countries around Egypt! 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 of Egypt, as though you are actually there!
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Egypt Facts for Kids ." Easy Science for Kids, Feb 2020. Web. 29 Feb 2020. < https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-egypt/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2020). Egypt Facts for Kids. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-egypt/
Egypt Quiz / Question Paper
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Music and Arts curriculum in pre-primary, Primary and Secondary schools
To help a learner acquire and develop the cultural values by promoting music and subject in schools.
To use Music and Arts to improve memory skills, retention and reasoning as well as enhance advancement in math skills, memory, literacy and in general overall intelligence
Music education is included among the extra curriculum activities or compulsory non-examinable subjects. It is allocated at least one hour in the weekly timetable in government schools.
Music, dance and drama make a strong impact on families, on diversity, and on integration. Students will:
Express ideas and emotions and feelings that they cannot express through language alone
Communicate fluently and effectively in at least one artistic discipline
Explain how world cultures have been historically influenced and shaped by the arts and understand the ways in which the arts contribute to contemporary life
the Government budget


In a world full of instant gratification and overscheduled with activities, teaching and retaining students can be problematic. Based on my 22 years of teaching experience at San Diego Music Studio, here are a few strategies for success I have picked up along the way.
First and foremost, a good rapport between the student and teacher is essential. Like any other relationship, it must be nurtured. At the beginning, it is important to win them over. Once they trust you and you’ve got them hooked, they will listen and work hard for you.
Keep it positive! Try not to use the P-word (practice) in a nagging way. We all recognize the saying “Practice makes perfect.” It is common sense that to improve at something you must practice. Continually using the P-word in a negative way can turn students and parents away from attending lessons. A missed lesson is a wasted opportunity to concentrate on other valuable musical skills. Instead of saying “practice,” try using the word “play.” Both words encourage the same behavior, but “play” has a positive connotation.
Communication is key. This seems obvious, but it is too often overlooked. Communicate with students and parents every lesson, not just verbally but in writing. Write in the books! Have an organized system in place to clearly assign a piece of music and a way to show when it is complete. Put the date on the assigned pieces every time you listen along with a concise notation of what to work on. Notating in students’ books provides a written record of the lesson. This approach not only helps the student know what to work on, but it also protects the teacher. If a parent questions why their student has not passed off an assignment, you can pull the books out and show proof that you have been doing your job.
Plan Your Lessons.
Make sure to include time for sight reading and theory. This requires structure and time management. A common mistake teachers make is to focus the entire lesson on previously assigned repertoire and leave no time for sight reading and theory. These aspects are equally as important to creating a well-rounded musician. Try to start the lesson by grading and assigning new theory while the student is warming up on technique. Doing this at the beginning of the lesson will prevent you from running out of time for it at the end. By regularly integrating sight-reading and theory into each lesson, it encourages more practice at home and maintains continued forward progress.
One short-term and effective way to encourage students is to implement a reward system. At San Diego Music Studio, we offer a ticket for each piece that is completed. Students can exchange tickets for prizes such as popcorn (two tickets), candy (five tickets) and movie passes (300 tickets). For more long-term inspiration, set goals. Whether it is a recital, competition, audition, master class or other performance opportunity, having a goal to work toward is motivating. Find what works for you and your students and do it!
Books and Supplies.
It is your responsibility as a teacher to ensure your students have the proper tools to be successful at their instrument. This includes recommending new music books and supplies as needed. Exposing students to new music is vital to their growth and development as musicians! Encourage students to purchase music. Do not photocopy sheet music for students. It is relatively inexpensive, and it is something that will last a lifetime. Sheet music and songbooks are an investment in the students’ future. Not to mention, new music is always a great way to stimulate a student that is otherwise feeling uninspired.
Don’t forget to say “thank you.” Every month at San Diego Music Studio, we recognize a Student of the Month. The student’s picture and bio are posted on our Wall of Fame at the front of the store for a year, and they receive a $10 gift card. Additionally, our teachers regularly write thank-you cards and mail them to our students. For a special touch, we like to include a few extra tickets in the thank-you cards. Students love getting letters in the mail, and parents are appreciative of the gesture. When students feel valued, they are more likely to stick around!
It’s all about perspective. Every human being deserves the right to a music education. Teaching is not about creating a perfect musician; it’s about the process. It’s about inspiring people. It’s about developing a lifelong love and appreciation for music. It’s about the valuable life skills that are learned along the way. It’s about creating better humans. It’s about making a difference.


Indian Forest Services
Notification of Indian Forest Services
About Indian Forest Services
Indian Forest Service (IFoS) is one of the Civil Services of India, the other two being the Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
and the Indian Police Service (IPS). Created in 1966, the IFoS officers are recruited and trained by the Central government
but their services are placed under state cadres, and they have to serve both under the state and Central governments.
The chief purpose of IFS is the implementation of the National Forest Policy which aims to preserve the environment
by maintaining strict vigil to sustain ecological balance that are critical for survival of all forms of life.
IFS officers while in field postings in their state cadres work for conservation, protection and development of
forests and wildlife along with an aim to enhance livelihood opportunities of forest dependent communities of rural and
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests is the cadre controlling authority of Indian Forest Service.
IFS officers are recruited through the IFS examination conducted annually by the Union Public Service Commission.
The examination is open to graduates in any science or engineering discipline and has a three-stage selection process
spanning nearly seven months.
In 2015, 4.6 lakh aspirants appeared for the combined preliminary exam, out of which 85 were finally selected for IFS;
this selection percentage of less than 0.02 per cent makes it one of the toughest open competitive exams conducted in India.
The number of aspirants is also on the increase every year.
Exam and Selection Process
All the applicants will have to take an objective type exam called the Preliminary Examination that is
common to other Civil Services Examination. It consists of two papers, where they are tested on areas such as economics,
politics, history, geography, environment, awareness of current affairs, reading comprehension, logical reasoning, basic
numeracy skills, inter-personal skills and decision making. Generally the qualifying cut-off marks of Preliminary Exam
required to sit for IFS main examination is greater than that required to sit for Civil Services Main Examination.
The marks of Preliminary Exam is not counted in making final overall merit.
Around 1,400 candidates are selected for the Main Examination which consists of six descriptive papers.
Each candidate has to select two optional subjects (two papers each) from among the subjects allowed by the
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and has to take one General Studies paper and an English language paper.
Around 230 candidates securing highest marks in the Main Examination are called for the interview conducted by
UPSC board members.
Interview or personality assessment is followed by a medical check-up and a physical test which requires all male
candidates to complete a 25 km walk/run in less than 4 hours. For ladies the distance is reduced to 14 km.
The test is usually conducted at the National Zoological Park in Delhi.
After selection for the IFS, candidates are allocated state cadres.
There is one cadre for each Indian state, with the exception of three joint cadres: Assam-Meghalaya, Manipur-Tripura, and
Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT).
Two-thirds of the strength of every cadre (for a state) is filled directly by IFS officers and the remaining are promoted
from the respective states cadre officers.
Indian Forest Service -A combined Preliminary examination will be held for Indian Forest Service and Indian Civil Services.
Candidates who fulfil the criteria of Indian Forest Service can choose BOTH Civil Services and Indian Forest Service.
The Main examination of Indian Forest Service and Indian Civil Service will be held separately.


Who We Are
Powersports Jump 2 Learning Preschool is at the forefront of Learning Through Movement. Our unique environment lends itself to developing minds through the movement-learning relationship. Local educators remark on noticeable differences in students that have been exposed to the to the J2L methodology.
Studies show that 70% of children respond more positively and retain information more effectively when delivered through a more kinetic approach. J2L takes physical education to new heights as our teachers reinforce core concepts with movement and motion. J2L introduces traditional subject matter: including music, art, science, introductory math and reading, all while in a positive, safe and active environment.
We prepare our children for successful and healthy futures!
Regular physical movement improves attention span and helps the brain master new information. Children need to move! Movement benefits the whole child, not just the physical selves, but also social, emotional and cognitive development. Doctors encourage parents and educators to keep children moving, not only to enhance the overall learning experience, but to discourage obesity and other childhood illnesses.
“When we think of intellectual activity, we always imagine people sitting still, motionless. But mental development must be connected with movement and be dependent on it. It is vital that educational theory and practice should be informed by that idea.” -Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind
What We Do
- Gymnastics Classes
- Introduction to Spanish
- Music Classes
- Circle Time
- Introductory Math
- Story Time
- Structured & Free Play
- Better social and motor skill development
- Increased school readiness skills
- Faster developing muscles, bones, and joints
- Reduced fat and lowering blood pressure
- Reduced depression and anxiety
- Increased learning capacity
- Healthier social, cognitive, and emtional skills
- Build strength, self-confidence, concentration, and coordination from an early age


By Dario Gil, vice president of AI research and IBM Q
Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing steadily — but how can we measure those gains in human terms?
To gauge AI’s progress, we can point to a handful of milestones: In 1997, Deep Blue defeated grandmaster Garry Kasparov in a chess match. In 2011, IBM Watson challenged "Jeopardy!" champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter on the game show. In both of these examples, computers were programmed to learn from each defeat, refining their strategy until they could match the very best players.
Now, IBM Research has revealed another key moment in AI, a new project that we have been incubating since 2012— Project Debater. After Watson’s "Jeopardy!" victory, we built an entirely new business applying AI to enterprise needs. And we asked ourselves, “What’s next for AI?” The answer, first proposed by scientists in our research lab in Haifa, Israel, was itself a question, and an irresistible one at that: “Could a machine dialogue with us intelligently?” Or put another way, “Could we argue with a machine?”
Project Debater’s goal is to bring us closer to the next great boundary for AI: mastering language. Understanding language is easy for us, but it’s very difficult for a computer. Until now, natural language processing for speech recognition has primarily been used to listen to and understand commands in concise sentences like, “Set a timer for five minutes.” Project Debater set its sights on a different aim: to create the first AI that can engage meaningfully with humans in a full live debate.
A Discovery Channel documentary about the future of artificial intelligence, “This is AI,” offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of this nascent technology. Given only a one-line topic for debate — such as “Should we abolish income tax?” or “Should music education be subsidized?” — Project Debater scans hundreds of millions of articles from numerous well-known newspapers and magazines to generate a coherent four-minute opening speech, using well-structured arguments, factual evidence, and even humor when appropriate to persuade the audience. It then listens to its human opponent’s speech to quickly formulate a compelling rebuttal and, finally, a succinct closing argument.
You can imagine a number of applications for Project Debater in everyday life: weighing business decisions, building legal arguments, or assessing proposed financial investments. It has the potential to become a tool for nearly any decision requiring pro and con arguments.
It is still early days for Project Debater’s development, but the initial results are promising. In nine live debate sessions at IBM over the past two years, the AI system has demonstrated steady improvement arguing against human opponents on a wide range of topics. In fact, a recent test debate about the legalization of sports betting, televised for the first time in “This is AI,” ended in a virtual tie.
Although Project Debater is still a work in progress, its potential for broad AI that learns across domains and disciplines is significant. Countless decisions have to be made to construct an original, evidence-based argument — one that is responsive to an opponent’s real-time argument. The computer can process a massive corpus of information but it needs to be able to pinpoint exactly the relevant thousand or so words, originating from many sources, to make its best case. All of this, when you peel down the layers, pushes the envelope of what computers can do on many fronts.
“This is AI” provides a snapshot of where this new AI is now — and where it could be heading. Let’s face it: The world today is complex and messy. It’s not a game that is perfectly controlled by cut and dried rules. Next-generation AI like Project Debater could help us tackle the difficult questions facing all of us now and in the future — in the grey zone where they exist.
To learn more about Project Debater and watch the Discovery documentary "This is AI," visit discovery.com/ThisIsAI.
This post is sponsor content from IBM and was created by IBM and Insider Studios.


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About the author:
Richard Brown is the webmaster for http://www.science-news.info/
The Sweet Side Of Science
(NC)-Everybody's heard of aspartame. The list of products using it for sweetness is long, including breakfast cereals, soft drinks, desserts and yogurt. But what exactly is aspartame?
Aspartame is a tabletop sweetener that gives foods a ...
Harry Potter's Intriguing Science Lesson Plans
Science Lesson Plans are magical when learned in Harry Potter's Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts. Elementary education level students will use their imaginations to become wizard graduates as they perform the philosopher's easy science experiments....


Students are expected to allocate sufficient time at home to complete unfinished class work, to complete research for projects and to practise their literacy and numeracy skills.
Reading daily is considered to be one of the most important homework elements for all students.
Homework will not be set for weekends or over holiday periods.
Instructions for homework tasks can be typed into the students’ devices. Students are expected to demonstrate pride in their homework by completing the work to a high standard and returning it within the given time frame.
Students are encouraged to seek assistance from teachers and parents/guardians when difficulties arise, including the amount of time spent on homework. Homework setting takes into account the students’ home responsibilities, family arrangements and extra-curricular activities.


Click here to email how you a list of your. how Collecting data from a science project must be accurate make and factual. Note: how many science fairs require that you do a quantitative experiment, whereas the taste- test procedure suggested is qualitative. how you’ ll be building an ultra- cool science project how , taking data transforming your make great ideas. ( Note – there’ s a sample data sheet following this section). Contact Information: I can be. I sheet teach Earth Systems Physical Science at East science Jackson Comprehensive High School sheet in Commerce Georgia.
A strong take away resource sheet continuity. Collecting Data The first step when making a chart for sheet sheet your science data fair project is to collect and organize data. In Search of the Perfect Cookie. To access the web pages for any of these classes click on the orange hexagon in the top right corner choose your class. Resources for how an experiment to test how the power generated by a solar panel is affected by the angle of light hitting the panel. Create a four- column data sheet with columns for the date found in the newspaper , your barometric readings ( high , the weather, professional readings for your location, low) data online. When I met him in person he remarked, “ if only there was make a way to select. Kids need to know the concept of percentages – we think 7th to 9th might be a better target. In past years make I taught Honors Biology General make Chemistry.
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Stretch your balloon how across the mouth of the jar so that the balloon rubber is pulled as taut as possible. Would want to emphasize data explaining data sheet science vs. Some teachers/ judges require less but it should be organized something like sheet this: Title Page * Your project' s name ( it can be in the form of a question) Your name, school make , others more grade. Should be possible. How to make a data sheet for science project.
Let' s deal with charts first since they' re a little easier to do. Science Fair Paper * Using your notes you can make a first- class science fair project how by writing a good paper explaining what you did. make They are a great tool for keeping track of information while you are working on your project. Typically known as the variable, only one item should change during the experiment. For example when you make lift a box off the ground you are doing work.
You are using a force ( the pull of your arm muscles) to move an object ( the box). Data Set: Groups. Currently, we have 1 mentor for every 2 kids. You will be emailed a link to your saved graph project where you can make changes and print. Analyze the data and draw a conclusion. Check with your science teacher to see if you need make to do a quantitative sheet project. In science, work occurs when a force acts to move an object. How to Make a Chart. The Foundation does not make grants to projects in the creative performing arts except when those projects are related to educating the public about science, , technology economics.
Data science for kids! Two weeks back, we decided to experiment teaching data science to 6 th - 9 th graders! We think it is important to introduce students to thinking in a data- driven way early on in their lives; also kids are way more fun to work with than higher- ed students, so it was an easier choice for us to make! Data science projects offer you a promising way to kick- start your career in this field.
how to make a data sheet for science project
Not only do you get to learn data science by applying it, you also get projects to showcase on your CV! Nowadays, recruiters evaluate a candidate’ s potential by his/ her work and don’ t put a lot of emphasis.


Go on . . . get dirty!
Think that the dirt beneath your feet is boring? Wrong! There's more to dirt than, well, dirt. In fact, don't call it dirt to a scientist - it's soil! Soil can tell you a lot about where you live and what's going on behind, or beneath, the scenes. Learn how to make a Berlese funnel that brings out tiny unseen bugs in soil; learn the differences between various soils; even change a blue hydrangea to a pink one! Is it magic? Nope . . . it's science!
With the fun, easy experiments and lively illustrations that readers have come to expect from the team behind Scary Science: 25 Creepy Experiments and Snowy Science: 25 Cool Experiments, budding scientists will discover all the fun things you can do with dirt, all while learning about the ground beneath their feet!
SHAR LEVINE and LESLIE JOHNSTONE have been collaborating on books and activity kits for over 15 years. Most of their books, including Scary Science, Snowy Science, and Hockey Science, encourage hands-on science for kids. Together, they won the prestigious 2006 Eve Savory Award for Science Communication from the BC Innovation Council. The authors are best friends who live within walking distance from each other in Vancouver, British Columbia.
LORENZO DEL BIANCO is an illustrator who has worked as a special effects animator for over 20 years. He has done work for Disney, Warner Bros., and Nelvana, among other studios. Lorenzo has also illustrated for magazines such as Adventure Kayak, Canoe Roots and Family Camping. He lives in Burlington, Ontario.
Praise for Scary Science: 25 Creepy Experiments:
"[A] perfect example of how a love of reading can be fostered with non-fiction materials." -Resource Links
"'Dynamic duo' is a an expression that has commonly been associated with Batman and Robin, but, in the science literature for children and adolescents, it could just as well describe Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone who are the co-authors of more than 55 creative and engaging books promoting science." -CM Magazine
"It also helps girls and boys to see that science can be interesting, and that scientific experiments can answer questions and be exciting too." -CM: Canadian Review of Materials


This seminal text provides a scholarly overview of current evidence-based approaches to emergent literacy intervention as a necessary component of clinical practice in speech-language pathology. Numerous books are available on the topic of emergent literacy, yet few are developed specifically for the speech-language pathologist. This book fulfills this important need.
The scope of this book is comprehensive yet focused: it is tailored to identify state-of-the-art approaches on a range of topics in the area of emergent literacy, yet focuses its emphasis on children from toddlerhood to kindergarten. This period corresponds to the emergent literacy years, which precedes childrens transition to beginning reading.
Each chapter provides scientifically cited background information relevant to the content of the chapter before discussing the "How To" and the "Why." Figures, tables, and charts throughout the text are easily accessible to the busy practicing clinician. By providing a usable integration of theory and research, it encourages readers to think about building early foundations in literacy to promote healthy early development, and emphasizes the specific approaches speech-language pathologists need to employ when targeting literacy in childhood intervention.
Designed for speech-language pathologists at both pre-professional and post-graduate levels, the book will also be of value to reading specialists, literacy coaches, special educators, preschool and kindergarten teachers, and others.
Anita R. Kraft, PhD, CCC-SLP, Advance for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (July 2007):
"'''Clinical Approaches to Emergent Literacy Intervention''' edited by Laura M. Justice, PhD, is part of the Emergent & Early Literacy Series by Plural Publishing. The purpose of the series, according to Dr. Justice, "is to provide clinical and educational professionals with usable, practical and evidence-based resources for enhancing their ability to include literacy as an integral part of their services to toddlers, preschoolers and school-age children." The series is a response to the guidelines from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) that suggest speech-language pathologists work with students on reading and writing. As stated in this volume, speech-language pathologists' knowledge of developmental language and literacy milestones, as well as their expertise in facilitating attainment of these milestones through linguistically responsive interactions with children, equips them to provide appropriate support and consultation to early childhood educators.1 This is stated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 2004. This attractive paperback edition fulfills its objective of providing practical, evidence-based tools for making literacy an integral part of speech and language intervention. The book is divided into two sections: "Program Design Considerations" and "Clinical Approaches." Each chapter addresses a particular area or approach to emergent and early literacy development and discusses difficulties with direct linkages to everyday practices. There are suggestions on how to work with children who need augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, as well as students who are at risk for reading failure. The book includes programs that stress prevention rather than remediation, although it is accepted that some problems only can be lessened and not completely eliminated even with early appropriate intervention. Of particular interest are the chapters on phonemic awareness. Educators are now becoming cognizant of the need for this skill when treating reading disorders. However, there is no mention of Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), a set of measures being used in some schools for Response to Intervention to offer help to students at risk of failing. This should be added in updated versions of the series. Clinical Approaches to Emergent Literacy Intervention will be useful for speech-language pathologists and professionals who work with young children and teach reading. It effectively contributes to answering the question, "What can speech-language pathologists do to include literacy as a target in childhood intervention?""


St. Mary’s Preschool is centered on the Montessori method of education, which prioritizes the holistic development of each child. We believe that each student is naturally eager to learn, and aim to bolster this initiative by creating a supportive and thoughtfully prepared learning environment. Classroom activities are designed to encourage independence, autonomy, and a sense of order. Each child is given the freedom to choose from these activities based on his/her personal interests, and seeks out teachers’ guidance as needed.
In a Montessori classroom, students develop healthy peer relationships by interacting with peers of multiple ages. Younger students learn from their older classmates, and older students reinforce their understanding of concepts by helping and teaching their younger classmates. This fosters children’s collaboration and prepares them for future social interactions with people of all ages and personalities.
We believe that in early childhood, students learn best through direct experience with materials that develop their cognition through sight, sound, taste, smell, touch, and movement. Therefore, at St. Mary’s Preschool, we integrate early bilingual literacy and numeracy skills with sensory-motor activities that encourage exploration using all the senses.
Montessori preschool education is rooted in four main learning principles: Coordination, Concentration, Independence, and Order
One of the main accomplishments in early childhood is the mastery of physical control and coordination. Coordination is essential for children to be able to write and draw, balance while walking and running, and perform everyday tasks like tying shoes and zipping or buttoning up jackets. As our students hone their coordination skills, their senses of self-reliance and self-worth grow as well.
Concentration, or cognitive control, is another key component of Montessori learning principles. This type of mental focus is crucial for students’ successful transition to kindergarten and elementary school. Although people typically believe that young children have very short attention spans, we find that the opposite is true when we match students with activities that precisely meet their interests and developmental needs. At St. Mary’s Preschool, we create an environment that fosters the type of concentration and focused effort that will serve as the foundation for students’ future academic pursuits.
Fostering children’s independence and autonomy is a critical part of St. Mary’s Preschool philosophy. A healthy sense of self-reliance lays important groundwork for students’ self-care and future learning habits. Through choosing their own learning activities, taking responsibility for their belongings, and participating in mealtime set-up and clean-up routines, students strengthen their independence, initiative, and self-care skills.
Children have an instinctive need to make sense of the world around them; this is why they thrive on bedtime rituals and daily routines. At St. Mary’s Preschool, we fulfill and nurture this innate love of order by establishing a regular daily schedule and designing lessons that are carefully thought out and logically sequenced. This sense of order sets the stage for students to develop effective organizational skills.
Through these principles of Coordination, Concentration, Independence, and Order, we teach students to treat themselves and others with respect and dignity, and prepare them to enter society as responsible, caring, and confident lifelong learners.


This February, my students joined their peers across the country to celebrate Black History Month. They acknowledged the significant and varied contributions African Americans have made and studied the oppression and resilience of black people throughout history. As they learned about the struggle of the past, they begin to recognize it in their own present — when a cashier squints suspiciously when they walk into a store, when they turn on the news and see another person who looks like them lose his life to senseless violence. These lessons are anything but history.
I know this very personally. My father grew up in rural Mississippi, with an elementary education in the Jim Crow era. Because of him, I was cognizant of race from an early age, and he was adamant about education as the primary way to overcome the burdens of racism and discrimination. Ultimately, the stories of his childhood and the struggles he faced propelled me to earn my Doctorate. But even with all my academic achievements — points of pride for the both of us — I continue to worry about how I am viewed by society. I worry most about the perception of my young black students. And so, since becoming an educator, I’ve seized every chance to dialogue with them about how to overcome society’s low expectations.
The truth is that we have no time to waste. This school year marked the first in which the majority of public school students are minorities. Our generation has a responsibility to work to ensure that each and every one of them is moving through a system that affirms their identities, shows them they’re valued and allows them access to the opportunities they have been denied for far too long.
While the “whites only” signs of the ‘60s have come down, the reality of separate and unequal endures. Alongside glaring gaps in educational, employment and economic opportunity, people of color in this nation face a variety of subtler, no less damaging assumptions. A successful black lawyer hears whispers of affirmative action. A young black boy on a corner is seen as “lurking,” while his white peers “hang out.” A black college student is asked to give “the black perspective” to a seminar full of white students who are never asked to speak on behalf of their entire race.
Though it can be a struggle to help my students overcome the barriers they face, every day they prove what is possible. This past academic year, I had 25 eighth-graders test into High School Honors Biology. We were one of just two schools out of 16 in the district to have students earn high school credit in Biology. When I think about how my students are viewed based on their low-income backgrounds or the nature of their community, it fills with me pride when they are able to disprove the negative stereotypes and realize their potential.
We have a long way to go as a country before we truly achieve justice for all. To fix the systemic oppression that has created the gross inequality of the present will take the hard, dedicated work of countless leaders and change-makers — many who experience it first-hand, others who bear witness to it from further away. We must work toward these long term changes as well as the immediate, urgent opportunities to change the way our students view themselves and their futures.
As Loyola students and graduates, we can play a central role in this. We can get involved in the schools and communities just outside of campus. We can remind the next generation that their thoughts, ideas, identities and opinions are important. We can share our own stories so that kids see a little bit of themselves reflected back. We can remind them that they matter, that they always have and they always will.
Jonathan Moore is a 2007 Loyola Chicago and Teach For America-Phoenix alum. He is the principal of Dr. Bernard Black Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizona.


Music isn’t just important on its own: it will make a distinctive contribution to playful learning. Interactive music activities encourage infants to build up additional skills in language, motor abilities and cognitive skills.
Contacted correctly, music encourages us to consider risks making mistakes, promotes self-confidence, spontaneity, creativeness and originality.
German composer Carl Orff developed a means of making use of children’s natural feeling of rhythm and tune. Orff, who died in 1982, co-founded the Guenther School for gymnastics, music and dance in Munich, Germany and developed a great way training music to youngsters using percussion instruments. His approach begins in the premise that each child is innately musical not to mention likes to play, sing and dance.
He tuned percussive instruments towards the pentatonic scale, and encouraged children to experience them ensemble.
Children learn through doing, exploring and improvising. There is a natural instinct to produce their very own tunes and explore their imaginations. These instincts are directed into learning music by hearing and making music first, then studying and writing it later, in the same manner that people all learned our very own language. The special Orff tune instruments include pentatonic wooden xylophones and metal glockenspiels that provide good seem immediately.
The pentatonic scale is great for improvised ensembles you can easily experiment rather than hit anything inordinately dissonant. For individuals not really acquainted with the term pentatonic, the prefix ‘penta’ is really a Latin term for five:
i.e. pentagram, Government, pentagonal. Tonic within this situation isn’t talking about the fizzy drink, but towards the word ‘tone’, place them together and also you get five tones or notes. So a pentatonic scale is really a proportions of the fizziest five notes. Which means that music performed in pentatonic scale naturally sounds good as all of the notes go perfectly together.
These scales are developed with five notes and exist as two common types: minor and major pentatonic scales. The main pentatonic scale is generally used and it is denoted because the primary pentatonic scale.
With pentatonic tuned instruments, technique isn’t a problem, given the simplicity the instruments. Dissonance isn’t a problem, because of the pentatonic scale. When one encounters the simplicity making pleasing tunes and harmonies around the pentatonic scale, all of a sudden making music becomes achievable and exciting.
Music in early years supports children’s over-all development helping to shape their skills in concentration, memory and listening. To assist this physical and cognitive development and lay a powerful foundation in aural and rhythmic skills, every child should be because of the chance to uncover their musicality. After some imagination, music could be integrated into numerous settings during the day. Creating areas for music and seem exploration inside and outside can help integrate music in to the everyday experience with the kids.
For instance, the development of a musical garden or outside ‘soundscape’ will excite and encourage children musically while experiencing the apparent benefits that arise from spending some time within the natural atmosphere. Children can explore new sounds although enjoying the advantages of the outside elements – outdoors and sunshine (well, outdoors a minimum of!) A musical playground will give you youthful kids with possibilities for early interaction and positive encounters with music. A center where children can explore, create and develop their very own musical ideas and sounds – maximising the musical potential of a kid throughout their most rapid developmental period while finding the pleasure and empowerment of music making.
The standard emphasis in education on getting music right has brought generations of adults to assert they cannot sing or play a musical instrument and lack confidence within their musical abilities. I speak from experience, I hated music training in school but I really like music. Inside a free-play atmosphere, where you can find no wrong notes, the knowledge can result in a existence-lengthy passion for music and music making. Creativeness, imagination and discovery ought to be strongly facilitated and encouraged in music education. Through active learning: hands-on, participative and interactive, children’s musical self-expression, self-confidence and self-esteem will grow and also be.


The accident of birth is the greatest source of inequality. –James Heckman, Nobel Laureate in Economics, University of Chicago
We Change Children’s Lives
As part of a national network of Educare schools, Educare Arizona dramatically changes the life trajectories of thousands of children growing up in families facing the greatest obstacles to success. By significantly improving thousands of disadvantaged children’s lives, we also dramatically shift the way America thinks about early education for all children.
Educare Arizona’s mission is to ensure vulnerable young children and their families achieve success in school and in life by providing quality early childhood learning, family support, and health care. We also act as an unequivocal voice for early childhood policy and practice for all children.
Educare’s Core Features
The core features of Educare reflect the best available, evidence-based strategies for effectively preparing vulnerable young children and their families for success in school and in life. The power of the Educare model derives from the following core features working together in a comprehensive, intentional, and sustained way to achieve our high-quality early childhood program:
School Structure and Services
- Provide full-day, full-year services.
- Start early from birth to age three.
- Maintain low staff-child ratios and small class sizes.
- Offer on-site family support services.
- Emphasize social-emotional development to promote school readiness.
- Implement an interdisciplinary approach.
- Provide enhanced focus on language and literacy.
- Provide enhanced focus on problem-solving and numeracy.
- Integrate the arts.
Teacher and Staff Qualifications and Expectations
- Maintain high staff qualifications and intensive staff development.
- Use research-based strategies.
- Provide continuity of care.
- Implement reflective practice and supervision.


More than 10,000 worksheets in Math & English Language Arts for 6th, 7th and 8th grades.
With more than 10,000 exercises, iTooch Middle School is, by far, the largest collection of educational activities based on the US National Common Core Standards on the App Store. It covers Math, Language Arts for 6th Grade, 7th Grade and 8th Grade and Health for 6th Grade only.
The application contains:
Loaded with thousands of questions, apps cover official educational curricula & comply with Common Core State Standards.
This app creates great game dynamics and incentives, so that the user always wants to progress further in the application.
Apps embed a blackboard and a calculator for students to write and calculate directly on the screen without having to leave the app.
A lesson summary is attached to each chapter, to underline the core concepts students should know to answer questions.
Move instantly from one screen to the next. Stop waiting for information to load from a server: bandwidth is no longer an issue.
Apps automatically sync in the background in order to load new activities whenever an Internet connection is available.
Ryan Miller, has a BS in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside and a MA in Elementary Education from Claremont University. He served 5 years as math tutor. 6th Grade Math, 7th Grade Math.
Nina Berler, has taught middle-school English and math and worked one-on-one with numerous middle and high school students. 6th Grade ELA, 6th Grade Math, 7th Grade ELA, 8th Grade Math, 8th Grade ELA.
Nikita Ganatra received her BA in Liberal Studies and MS in Education from California State University Fullerton. She holds a Clear Single Subject Teaching Credential in English for California. 6th Grade ELA, 7th Grade ELA, 8th Grade ELA.
Millicent B. Fauntleroy, earned a B.S.J. and a M.S.J. at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She is also an alumna of Duke University, where she earned a master of arts degree in liberal studies. 7th Grade ELA.
William Scott Stone, has a BS in computer science from Franciscan University of Steubenville and also has a bachelor’s degree in teacher education from Stockton College of Ponoma. 8th Grade Math.
Kymberli Barney, is an 8th grade English/Language Arts teacher in Georgia. With more than 12 years of experience, she has gained considerable experience in the areas of Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction. 8th Grade ELA.
Naomi Hall, has a B.S. in composite science education and an M.Ed. in math and technology education. She has taught a variety of science, math, and technology courses over the past nine years. 7th Grade Math.
Eileen Heyes, has a BA in journalism from California State University, Long Beach. She wrote at newspapers for 30 years. She is the author of three nonfiction books for teens. 6th Grade ELA, 8th Grade Math, 8th Grade ELA.
iTooch Middle School is not eligible for the Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP) since it only embeds in-app titles. However since our products are intended for schools and districts, you can take advantage of this program by buying one of the pre-paid apps below. All these apps have the same content as iTooch Middle School. We will offer you special pricing for purchases of 20 apps or more:


The education system
Currently there are four levels of education: preschool, basic general education (EGB), and Multipurpose Unified Baccalaureate (BUP) and university education. Training of first and second degree (FP FP-I and-II) is, together with the Bachelor, which is called Secondary Education. Also part of the education system Special Education, Adult Education and other specialized courses such as Applied Arts Schools, Language, Art Education, etc.
Early Childhood Education is divided in kindergarten (2 and 3 years) and kindergarten (4 and 5). Early childhood education is voluntary and free in public schools only. Kindergartens are very different and depend on businesses, foundations and the private sector.
The Basic general education comprises eight courses, six to fourteen. Teaching at this age is compulsory, free and universal. During the first five years (Primary Education) students have one teacher. In primary school children learn language arts, mathematics, knowledge of the environment, art, music and drama. One of the main innovations of the curriculum is the early introduction (eight years) of a foreign language. In the upper cycle (Secondary Education) teachers are different for languages, humanities, science and physical education.
The Private education has traditionally been very important in the primary and middle levels and has been closely linked to the Catholic Church, although neither teaching nor religious practice may be mandatory.
The school year lasts from 1 September to 30 June, with holidays at Christmas and Easter. Assessment is continuous, and if negative two courses may be repeated until the maximum age of 16 years. Students who pass the advanced cycle (over 75 percent) are awarded the Graduate School and may enter upper secondary and vocational training. Those who do not, receive a Certiñcado Schooling and can only enter vocational training.
The Bachelor and the Unified Multipurpose consists of three courses, after which students can perform Second Grade Vocational Training (FP-II). Not being mandatory, BUP is free only in public schools. In the third year about 60 percent of the students choose the option of Sciences and the rest of Letters (Latin and Greek instead of Physics, Chemistry and Natural Sciences). Before there was also the Pre-University Course (COU), which was only one more year of high school. Today this course is abolished.
The Vocational Training Although not mandatory, it's free. The first degree (FP-I) consists of two courses, with a third of direct vocational subjects and practical training, belonging to 21 branches and more than fifty professions. The most frequented are Administration, Electricity, Automation, Health and Metal.


University of Rochester reading program showing promise in RCSD
Nora Ephron said, “Reading is bliss” and Frederick Douglass told us, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” But for the approximately 32 million illiterate adults in America, simple tasks like grocery shopping, reading bus schedules, menus, street signs and prescriptions, filling out forms, and finding employment are a constant challenge.
Locally, many RCSD students have struggled with literacy learning. Recent state reading assessments show growth; however, only 11.4 percent of students scored proficient. Research suggests that students who are not reading at grade level by 3rd grade, are less likely to graduate and meet future academic success. Up to 3rd grade you are learning to read, after 3rd grade you are reading to learn since reading comprehension is important for all of the content areas.
With feelings of urgency to improve literacy learning, Project READ, an intervention program partnering the U of R’s Warner School of Education and RCSD was started at School #36. When School #36 closed, the program moved to School #33 and recently expanded to East High’s Lower School.
Generously supported by the William and Sheila Konar Foundation, Warner graduate students working toward certification in literacy and supervised by a literacy expert, work directly with at-risk 1st and 6th graders in the schools. The project’s goal is to help children approach any literacy task with confidence and ability so that they are able to read and write better and ultimately improve their school success. Preparing outstanding future literacy specialists is another goal of Project READ.
Results have been encouraging. Data shows significantly improved reading levels of participating first grade students enabling them to catch up to their peers and successfully complete first grade on par and often exceeding their classmates. Also observed is increased engagement in school, more enthusiasm towards reading, better attendance and more confidence in themselves as learners. Many participating Warner literacy graduates are now employed as reading specialists, most in the RCSD. We plan to continue the program next year.
The children demonstrate great promise and are eager to learn to read. Through our work, we’ve learned that for success, it’s essential to develop close trusting relationships in order to build their confidence and self-esteem, thereby supporting their attempts to take learning risks leading to their literacy development. Students’ physical and emotional needs have to be met first and foremost. Effects of poverty—hunger, trauma, worry, fear and anxiety—impede learning. Literacy is life changing and can serve as an antidote to poverty. Good literacy instruction is a social justice issue and matter of equity.
Carol St. George, Ed.D. is an associate professor and director of the Reading and Literacies program at the University of Rochester's Warner School of Education.