Introduction from Rachael Moody
Email Rachael Moody
We aim to provide and inspire personal expression, cultural understanding, creative and practical responses, promoting imaginative risk taking to provide solutions to our material, emotional, social and virtual worlds. An art education will engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to participate in, experiment with, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.
Students will investigate a wide range of creative outcomes from the past and present to develop rigorous understanding of the many disciplines within art, craft and design and how they shape our history and future.
This will enable students to contribute as confident citizens and future professionals to the culture, creativity, economic success and emotional well being of our society within both national and global contexts.
Overview of our Art Curriculum
- Finian Cullen
- Claire Elmer (p/t)
- Rebecca McCarthy-Carter
- Kelvin Rogers
- Katrina Shillaker (2nd in Art / i/c Photography)
- Susie Smith (p/t)


Published on April 10th, 2017 | by Bob G0
Teaching Tech: Principles For Use Of Technology With Early Learners
Today, technology permeates everything people do in their daily lives, including the lives of young children. The three-year-olds we see today sitting in a restaurant with a tablet will someday work with technology we cannot even begin to imagine. So, it is no longer a question of whether or not we should use technology with the toddlers and preschoolers we teach, but it is now a matter of how that technology can be best used to meet their cognitive and social needs. But what exactly are those best practices? What should we as teachers look for when integrating technology into a classroom of young children?
Here are some ideas you can use in your classroom to make sure you are getting the most out of the technology.
Introduce all new technology in small groups or one on one. This individual attention will assure the children can use it independently. As they use the programs, they will gain confidence and feel comfortable enough to experiment with them.
Allow the kids to use the technology with a partner. Children often prefer to work with their peers. Working together encourages conversation, collaboration, and compromise. If one of the children is more proficient on the program, it can also develop into peer tutoring.
Sit with them as they use the technology. Discuss the activity with the child. Ask them why they made certain choices, or sing songs from the program together. These informal assessments can help you gain insight into the child’s thought processes, strengths, and weaknesses.
Use the reports. Most educational programs have the ability to assess the math and language skills of the child. These reports identify mastered skills, and where the child may need extra help. Share these with parents as another way to keep them informed of their child’s progress.
Choose developmentally appropriate materials. Evaluate and select instructional programs for your classroom using a similar process as you use to choose books. Ask yourself, “Does this technology meet the goals and objectives of my program?” or “Does this promote the social values important to my classroom?”
Ensure equal access to the technology. Create a system where each child in your class has the same opportunities to use it each day. One exception may be with a special needs child in your class. They may require more time to make similar gains to their peers.
Use interactive technology. Passive technology, like television, only asks the user to sit and watch. Interactive technologies use active engagement which requires the child to be involved in the learning process.
Set limits. While technology has its place in your classroom, make sure to balance the time with other activities. Technology should not replace the other good things you have going on in your room. Instead, they should complement each other.
Encourage them to solve problems on their own. Don’t jump in to help immediately. Give them space to repeat operations as necessary and experiment with different actions.
Why should you use it?
When used correctly, technology encourages exploration of foundational skills for reading, writing, and math. However, it shouldn’t be used just for the sake of using technology. It’s a tool to integrate into young children’s daily experiences as you can read about in this blog post from Central College Online website.
Technology allows for higher achievement because humans are visual creatures. Images on a screen are concrete and easier to process, so engagement increases. Combining technology with more traditional learning opportunities (like conducting experiments, playing with blocks, imaginative play, and manipulating art materials) increases opportunities for cognitive and social development in young children.
Do you use technology with your preschoolers or kindergarteners? How effectively? Is there something here you can implement in your classroom?


Tonga Worksheet – FREE Online Seek and Find Word Games – Earth Science for Kids
Tonga Worksheet – Download our interesting FREE Online Seek and Find Word Games – Earth Science for Kids.
The FREE worksheet on Tonga is actually a fun hidden words puzzle with a fun seek and find game for your kid.
This fun printable science worksheet all about Tonga is totally FREE to print and use cost free and you may use the activity sheet as often as you need to further your kids!
Our FREE online word game about Tonga is such a fun way to maintain kids interest while participating in a science enrichment class, homeschooling, distant learning lessons, regular school science classes or while the child is doing early learning activities.
Our FREE Tonga word find worksheet is appropriate for kids in Grammar school in First Grade to Fifth Grade. However, kids in Kindergarten as well as kids in Pre-K will also enjoy this free Tonga science worksheet for kids.
Your kids can enjoy while learning fun facts on Tonga through this Tonga worksheet while playing the FREE word find game.
Your children will enjoy to learn fun facts all about Tonga while playing the word games for kids.
Junior school kids from 1st Grade to 5th Grade can use the Tonga worksheet as a reading comprehension exercise.
Kids will learn well and enhance their reading comprehension skills as your children will end up needing to read and re-read the facts about Tonga to find what the missing words are. This free kids science worksheet is not only a great way to improve your children’s science knowledge, but also increases the memory and also enhances their reading skills.
Younger kids in Pre-K and Kindergarten who did not yet learn to read can use our free fun facts Tonga worksheet as an exciting listening comprehension activity.
Teachers or Educators can read the fun facts about Tonga. Next, they assist the kids to recognize what they think are the missing words. Finally, your kid will learn to identify words and find them in the Tonga online word search.
Parents doing homeschooling activities with their kids can use the Tonga worksheet to spend quality time teaching their kids about Tonga.
Teachers and private tutors can use our FREE Tonga worksheet to add to the regular science classes at school and interest children in learning all about Tonga. Particularly advantageous is to make use of our free earth science worksheet for children on Tonga along with the free interactive online quiz with score on Tonga.
Our Free Science Website offers lots more FREE printable fun earth science worksheets for children and find the word games online. Download and use our fun science word puzzles to make learning science fun for your children!
What do you know about Tonga? How do people dress in Tonga? Who did the Tongans believe the be the son of the Polynesian God and a Tongan maiden? What did the Tongans do when the European explorers and missionaries arrive in Tonga? Who settled in Tonga at around 500 B.C.?
Learn more fun facts about Tonga by downloading our free fun facts about Tonga worksheet for children!
Fun FREE Geography Tonga Worksheet for Kids
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Some key components that a reading tutorial program focuses on are developing phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, building a vocabulary and establishing reading comprehension strategies. Other components may include enhancing a student's motivation to read and using technology to enhance reading practice and pleasure.Continue Reading
Phonemic awareness involves the memorization of sounds in words and learning how to manipulate such sounds as they appear in different words. The phonics aspect of the reading tutorial develops familiarity with connections between written and spoken words and sounds. Working on oral reading skills gives students the confidence to be able to read with accuracy at increasing rates.
The more vocabulary words that a reader can learn, the fewer times the fluid reading practice is interrupted by something that wtrips up the student. It also helps students more easily place common words in their proper context to enhance meaning. Any reading comprehension strategies used are for the purpose of helping the student gain a fuller understanding of the text. Such strategies must have some basis on research and provide the tools for continuous assessment of the student's progress. The strategies should also be varied enough that they cover all the essential skills needed for reading.Learn more about Homework Help


The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy. (corestandards.org/)
Scott Foresman Reading Street and Pearson Envision Math Chosen as Reading and Math Series for NES and SES
Pendleton County Board of Education purchased Scott Foresman Reading Street and Envision Math for both Northern Elementary and Southern Elementary. Teachers felt these materials woud help them meet the rigor of the Common Core State Standards.
SpringBoard English Language Arts Program Purchased for SMS and PHS
SpringBoard has thematic units that integrate all four strands of the Common Core State Standards. This program provides a strong connection between reading and writing allows vocabulary and grammar instruction to be presented in context. The result is a balanced and vertically aligned system of literacy development that engages students and prepares them for success in meeting the CCSS standards.


Journal of Aesthetic Education 45 (3):15-21 (2011)
Meaningful interactions with works of art are often absent from education. Across the country, art museums are intent on changing this situation. But to incorporate art viewing1 into an educational milieu that does not value art, art museum educators are constantly forced to justify the educational value of their programs. One common argument to substantiate the worth of art viewing is that it promotes critical thinking. In fact, several museums across the United States assert that the goal of their education programs is precisely to foster critical thinking in students.2 These assertions are aligned with a growing body of research that proves that encounters with works of art can help develop skills ..
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Sugar cube Science - good idea for explaining diffusion, saturation, solvent/solute during chemistry unit on matter for elementary science class.
Fun Science Experiment: Pour whole milk + red bull - let sit 5 minutes. The acid in the red bull will cause the protein in the milk to separate - liquid changing to solid! New Science Experiment to try!
Naked egg experiment- Dissolve egg shell off with vinegar and it will become a "naked egg" that can bounce.- Off to start it now. A great experiment for spring break!- We did this and K loved it! I would suggest naked egg investigation be done outside.
Gummy Worm Chromosomes
Chromosomes made out of gummy worms? What is there not to like about that :) LOVE Art, Science, Food: Kevin Van Aelst
Make Hot Ice from Vinegar and Baking Soda
Sodium acetate, also known as 'hot ice' is an amazing chemical you can easily prepare yourself using baking soda and vinegar. The crystallization is an exothermic process, so the resulting ice is hot.
5 Simple Handmade Toys for Kids - Petit & Small. Love the floating ball game.
Science for kids - Wear an old sock over your shoe. Go for a nature walk. Remove sock, spritz with water & put into a ziploc bag. Hang the bag in a window for 2 weeks.watch what GROWS!
A new twist on classic baking soda & vinegar. Magic Potions and Fizzing Formulas - one of the best kids' science experiments EVER! Added bonus - you can use the same combo to get them to clean the bathtub!
Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas: The Snowman Experiment--- Awesome experiment. Fill Balloons with water and freeze them. Peel off the balloons and stack to create a snowman
What better STEM/STEAM activities, than those that combine arts and sciences? 20 colorful activities that combine art and science for kids.
Science Fair Project Ideas
12 science fair project ideas encourage children to test, tinker with, experiment, hypothesize, and evaluate various properties and phenomena.
Funny pictures about This is what happens to an egg submerged in vinegar. Oh, and cool pics about This is what happens to an egg submerged in vinegar. Also, This is what happens to an egg submerged in vinegar.
Cheap and Easy DIY Projects for Homeschoolers
Eggshell Geode DIY for Kids! Find out how crystals grow inside a geode in this fun science experiment
Water Cycle Demo - I was surprised how excited my kids got over this simple activity. Already had everything at hand! Science for kids website
Incredible Weather Craft for Making Own Clouds! (pinned by Super Simple Songs) great weather activity site! We will complete this experiment, but it's so MUCH fun! Try it and some of the other fun ideas at home!
Science make an edible DNA model. This could be use in science class when learning about DNA. Student would love this because its a ton of candy and its creative and hands on. Teachers would love this because its an effective teaching method.


Music Education has a whimsical side to it. Music teachers and student musicians get to see the funny in class and rehearsals. Cello There takes all of this and puts it in one place where we can see a new set of Music Education Funnies every weekday by Gregory Pavliv and MusicTeachingGuru.com
Sure, students in social studies and history classes learn about politics. The same classes may even delve into parliamentary procedure, political science or the art of debating. But did you know that high school students that are active in music education are more likely to participate in politics, ten years later?
While a history or social studies class could focus on a the impact of a people or a culture, only the most experienced of educators can parlay this into a cooperative learning moment where students can explore cultures other than their own. And even in those circumstances, it would require a lot of planning and coordination with resources that may not be available (though I truly hope it is being done).
There is no smoking gun that will immediately fix this. It has to first be acknowledged as being a real problem. Then it has to be addressed using the amazingly appropriate vehicle of music education. And then, one classroom and one student at a time, we can begin to remove stereotypes. Here is one of my favorite Buddhist proverbs that better explains the process, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The music classroom can be utilized as a school strategy to empower cross-cultural understanding.
There are indelible cultural links that run deeply in urban communities that transcend faith, geography, and circumstance which are all explicitly linked to music. When I was teaching inner-city schools in New Jersey, every class had students with several different races and nationalities. I decided to create an informal case study, tracking the progress of my classes as they guide me through the cultures of the school. Over the period of about one month I asked students, parents, aides and teachers, what type of music they listened to on a regular basis. I was humbled.
There is a deeply creative side to science and mathematics that is often overlooked and we often misconstrue them as subjects based only on fact and therefor require only memorization to be successful. While memorization and long term retention are just as key in science and math as they are in other subjects, the mere facts of either are good only for iteration. It’s in the creative application of the facts and the ability to creatively think when solving problems which makes the difference.
For many years, school districts have been cutting music and/or physical education programs in order to make budgeting room and additional time within the school day for extra periods of math, science and language arts in an effort to increase standardized test scores. This practice continues to this day, however, it was proven to NOT work in 2003 (Wilkins, 2003).


November 11, 2015 (GSN) - As Nelson Mandela says, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
” Education is the key to eliminating gender inequality, to reducing poverty, to creating a sustainable planet, to preventing needless deaths and illness, and to fostering peace. And in a knowledge economy, education is the new currency by which nations maintain economic competitiveness and global prosperity.
Education is an investment, and one of the most critical investments we can make. This is true not only for the United States, but for countries around the world
The UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of providing universal primary education to all and eliminating gender inequities, has propelled many nations and multi-governmental organizations to boost educational spending. But the work is not easy, and many countries are falling short of achieving these goals, particularly the 2015 target date that was set when the goals were adopted in 2000.
Today, around the globe, an estimated 61 million primary-aged children are out of school, almost half of them in conflict-affected poor countries. Too often, even those students who do go to school finish without basic literacy and numeracy skills: it is estimated that 250 million children cannot read, write or count well.
Expanding educational access for girls is not just an urgent economic and social need. In many cases, it is literally a matter of life and death. A mother who can read can better protect her children from chronic illnesses, from AIDS, and from dying young. A child born to a mother who can read is 50 percent more likely to survive past age five. And in Africa’s poorest states, UNESCO projects that the lives of 1.8 million children could have been saved if their mothers had at least a secondary education.
In announcing his Global Education First initiative, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reminded us that, “We cannot afford to waste the talents of a generation.” He related this to his own experience growing up in the Republic of Korea as it recovered from war. “People today often ask about my country’s transformation from poverty to prosperity. Without hesitation, I answer that education was the key.”
The Global Education First initiative, along with the Learning for All Ministerial event in Washington, D.C. last week with the UN, World Bank, the Global Partnership for Education, USAID and others, are building momentum around the global movement for education: to put every child in school, to improve the quality of learning, and to foster global citizenship. With roughly 1,000 days to the 2015 MDG deadline, the pressure is on to accelerate progress to expand access, improve equity and boost student achievement.
Education is the foundation of peace and prosperity. I can’t imagine a better world without a global commitment to providing better education for women and youth and I urge all of us to reinvigorate our efforts to accelerate progress in improving access, quality and student achievement worldwide.


“Ideology in the Art Room: Identifying the Values Ingrained in the Curriculum.” Art Education Association of Indiana, State Conference. Indianapolis, IN (2011). Presentation/Lecture.
Ideology in the Art Room: Identifying the Values Ingrained the Curriculum
What is your purpose for providing children with art education? What social and economic roles are you preparing children to fulfill in society? Who will your students become: Fiercely independent creative intellectuals, Collaborative team-players, Strategic problem-solvers, Spiritual and emotionally sensitive community leaders? Learn how to use curriculum analysis tools to acutely understand your curriculum, identify unspoken values and goals being promoted, and how to align your teaching philosophy with curriculum you design and implement.
View the presentation in the slide show (below) or download it as a PDF file here: Ideology in the Art Room 2011 Presentation PDF


STRATEGIES, TECHNIQUES, AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
This three hour workshop is for all grade levels and directors of group ensembles. Elise Sobol, author of An Attitude and Approach for Teaching Music to Special Learners, 2001 lst edition, 2008, 2nd edition, will share her extensive experience and unique contributions to the field of music in special education. Ms. Sobol will demonstrate her facilitative style of teaching foundations of music education for students of varying challenges and learning styles. This multimodal technique ensures successful inclusion and performance of students with learning disabilities, speech/language impairments, those with sensory deficits, orthopedic and other health impairments, behavioral challenges, gifted and talented with specific disabilities (twice-exceptional) and English language learners. Teachers will receive practice in designing instructional adaptations and assessments for learning tailored to each specific need that will help their students reach optimal learning. Each adaptation will make the student feel safe, secure, and successful and will enrich the music program for all students.
Ms. Sobol will address task analysis, arts integration across the curriculum, strengthening literacy through music, newest special education legislation, classroom management techniques, sequential lesson planning, teaching special learners critical thinking skills with direct applications to grade level expectations. Threaded throughout the workshop will be enjoyable activities of consistent relevance, a display of reference materials, and hand-outs for immediate use in the classroom.
A light breakfast will be served from 8:30-9:00 AM. Pre-registration is required.


Academics – First & Second Grade
When children enter the first grade, they are eager to learn and create. The program at PBS is designed to use these natural tendencies to build skills in reading, writing, math, Bible, science and social studies. The language arts curriculum is a balanced literacy program which provides phonics instruction, small group reading instruction and writing experiences to meet the students’ needs. Math manipulatives are commonly used to help develop number concepts. Students in first and second grades are engaged daily in hands-on activities to develop knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
Academics -Third & Fourth Grade
Children in third and fourth grades are still easily motivated to learn new ideas. As a result, PBS teachers enrich the academic curriculum with art, music, experiments, technology and hands-on activities. Students are held to high expectations of self-discipline, respect and kindness. With this in mind, students have the opportunity to grow academically, spiritually, socially and physically through a curriculum designed to meet each students’ needs.


For this age group, the focus is often on building confidence in numeracy skills as well as general mathematics understanding. I plan for sessions to cover three to four smaller learning objectives, with short games and activities designed to make learning enjoyable. All sessions emphasise learning and recalling mental arithmetic facts which in turn supports future mathematical learning.
I provide and use a wide range of supporting materials and resources. We will often work using whiteboards as I find that helps children to be more confident and increase their learning potential. I make games for the children to keep at home to practise between sessions at any point they want to.
If appropriate, I can offer support for children taking KS2 SAT tests by revisiting mathematical concepts, practising test questions and techniques including the mental arithmetic test.
I offer the option of a shorter lesson lasting 45 minutes for this age group at a pro rata charge.


Music is a unique form of communication that can change the way pupils feel, think and act. Music forms part of an individual’s identity and positive interaction with music can develop pupils’ competence as learners and increase their self-esteem. Music brings together intellect and feeling and enables personal expression, reflection and emotional development. As an integral part of culture, past and present, music helps pupils understand themselves, relate to others and develop their cultural understanding, forging important links between home, school and the wider world.
Music education encourages active involvement in different forms of music-making, both individual and communal, helping to develop a sense of group identity and togetherness. Music can influence pupils’ development in and out of school by fostering personal development and maturity, creating a sense of achievement and self-worth, and increasing pupils’ ability to work with others in a group context.
Music learning develops pupils’ critical skills: their ability to listen, to appreciate a wide variety of music, and to make judgements about musical quality. It also increases self-discipline, creativity, aesthetic sensitivity and fulfilment.
At Key Stage 3 students will…..
- experience performance activities in a range of contexts within and beyond the classroom
- experience a range of live and recorded music from different times and cultures
- experience a range of classical and popular traditions and current trends in music that reflect cultural diversity and a global dimension
- learn to use staff notation and other relevant notations in a range of musical styles, genres and traditions
- learn to consider contextual influences that affect the way music is created, performed and heard
- experience the use of music technologies to create, manipulate and refine sounds
- learn about the role of music and musicians in society, of the music industry and of artistic and intellectual property rights.


CAROL’S SUMMARY: In the Washington Post article below, the “Nation’s Report Card” sees some encouraging gains in elementary schools scores, but no movement in high school scores. In fact, the average reading performance for seventeen year olds hasn’t changed since the early 1970’s. Our nation’s future depends on improving student achievement and while it is encouraging that gains have been in elementary education, it is sobering from a workforce standpoint that we still have so many underprepared and unprepared high school students.
Student success classes for elementary and middle school students can help this upward trend continue. Success classes which emphasize academic, emotional and social intelligence are a must for high schools in the U.S. where scores lag behind other developed nations. Once students understand how they learn, how they are motivated, how to manage themselves by themselves and with others they can master the basics of focus and solid attention which can foster deep learning. Without these core success habits and framework, students are likely to aimlessly go through high school and college until they get a wake-up call in the world of work. Giving them these tools early eliminates needless stress and sets clear expectations for high school, college and the global business world.
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Math and reading scores for 9- and 13-year-olds have risen since the 2002 enactment of No Child Left Behind, providing fuel to those who want to renew the federal law and strengthen its reach in high schools.
Performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which offers a long view of U.S. student achievement, shows several bright spots. Nine-year-olds posted the highest scores ever in reading and math in 2008. Black and Hispanic students of that age also reached record reading scores, though they continued to trail white peers.
But results released yesterday were disappointing for high school students. Seventeen-year-olds gained some ground in reading since 2004, but their average performance in math and reading has not budged since the early 1970s.
Visit www.washingtonpost.com to view the entire article


Improvising Early Music
Edited by Dirk Moelants
Studying improvised music is always a challenge, due to its volatility and unpredictability. But what about studying musical improvisation from before the age of sound recordings? In this book, three experts give their view on aspects of musical improvisation in the late medieval, renaissance, and early baroque periods. Historical sources show us how improvisation was an integral part of music education and how closely improvisation and composition were linked. This gives new insights into the way music was played in its original historical context and a new way to look at written scores from the past. Improvising Early Music will appeal to anyone interested in the historical background of our written musical heritage and to musicians who want to gain a deeper insight in the way this music was created.
Contributors: Johannes Menke (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Basel), Peter Schubert (Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal), Robert C. Wegman (Princeton University)


The descant recorder is the third smallest instrument of the recorder family. It is usually known as the soprano recorder. Its timbre is similar to the sound of the flue pipes of an organ, which is the reason some organ stops sound similar to a recorder. The finger spacing of this instrument is relatively small, which is why it is often used in music education for children who are first learning to play a musical instrument. The descant recorder is an octave above the level of the human soprano voice. Its lowest note is c2and the normal range is c2–d4. Over this range it is fully chromatic, but when a key is further away from C, intonation becomes an issue.
They are made from various woods such as pear, boxwood, maple, olive, rosewood, ebony or African blackwood. It is easy to play and has a pure soft tone. It provides an ideal amount of air resistance so it can be controlled more easily. The soprano recorder usually has ten holes, one is called the thumb hole and it is located on the reverse side, the other nine are fingerholes. The musician blows into the tip of the beak and then the airstream is directed against a sharp edge located in the side of the instrument. The playing technique requires coordination of tongued articulations and fingers.
Most of the descant recorders use the traditional fingering method (Baroque or English method). This technique was created in 1919 by Arnold Dolmetsch and it requires a cross fingering. There are also some descant recorders that use the ‘German’ fingering technique, which was introduced around 1926 by Peter Harlan. In this technique the ‘f’ is playable with a simple fingering.
At Varsity Music, here in Edinburgh, Scotland, we provide a great range of new and used descant recorders available to buy online. They are the best on the market and serviced by our trained musicians.
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"I imagine a true power of the publication is using the case experiences to flooring the issues made and to provide in-depth insights into practice."
Jackie Marsh, college of Sheffield, UK
This fascinating ebook considers the character of younger kid's lives and the way this may, and will, tell early formative years schooling in functional methods. It examines:
- What is it like for youngsters to benefit within the twenty first century?
- How will we hyperlink this to new and cutting edge methods of delivering proper and interesting studying contexts for little ones?
- What it capacity to be multiliterate within the twenty first century
The booklet explores how studying and engagement with principles might be prolonged by utilizing new applied sciences, describing how info and communications applied sciences permit teens to increase the limits in their studying and social interactions.
those stories have vital implications for formal studying environments and the character of the curriculum, together with daring new methods to instructing and studying which provide possibilities for kids to enquire in new methods. This publication offers examples of the ways that early adolescence academics have prolonged possibilities for brand spanking new forms of studying for kids by means of developing contexts within which they may be able to discover and signify their rules and considering in multimodal codecs utilizing new applied sciences.
This publication represents a research-based dialogue for rethinking studying within the twenty first century and comprises quite a few case reviews and situations to allow scholars and training lecturers to attempt out new rules. eventually, it considers new methods of wondering kid's studying through making a multiliteracies portrait, pedagogies and pathways profile that permits lecturers to construct on their strengths to devise for powerful studying outcomes.
Rethinking studying in Early early life Education is essential analyzing for college students on Early Years classes or basic schooling pre-service instructor schooling programmes.
Read Online or Download Rethinking Learning in Early Childhood Education PDF
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Extra resources for Rethinking Learning in Early Childhood Education


The Arts in the PYP
The PYP Arts Programme provides students from Years 1 to 6 with a range of fun and enriching creative learning opportunities. It enables students to develop an understanding of the elements of art and design, to explore the creative processes, and to understand and appreciate visual art in society. Students in the programme connect with the visual arts both by responding to works and creating their own. These processes and the opportunity for media exploration encourage inquiry, reflection, risk-taking, self-expression, creative growth, discovery and imagination. Both independently and collaboratively, students are encouraged to participate in creative processes through which they can communicate ideas and express feelings, making personal connections with the world in which they live. The PYP arts objective strands of responding and creating encourage students to become more mindful of their own artistic development and the role that arts play in the world. PYP arts provide students with the opportunity to explore their own personal interests, beliefs and values and to engage in a personal artistic journey Arts are built into the curriculum as essential areas of learning.
The aims of PYP arts are to encourage and enable students to:
- develop proficiency as dancers, actors, musicians and visual artists
- acquire audience skills such as listening and viewing responsively
- interpret and present their own or others’ works to a range of audiences
- evaluate the different roles of artists in society such as to entertain, provoke debate, or challenge views and perceptions
- create and critique choreographed performances, plays, compositions and artwork using a selection of tools and techniques
- express feelings, ideas, experiences and beliefs in a variety of ways
- improve coordination, flexibility, agility, strength and fine motor skills
- show an understanding that throughout different cultures, places and times, people have innovated and created new modes in arts
- analyze different art forms, and identify common or recurring themes or issues
- recognize that there are many ways to enjoy and interpret arts
- accept feedback from others
- understand that their own creative work in dance, drama, music and visual arts can be interpreted and appreciated in different ways.
- explore different media and begin to innovate in arts
- consider the feedback from others in improving their work
- recognize that creating in arts provides a sense of accomplishment not only in the process, but also in providing a way to understand the world
The Arts in the MYP
The arts in the MYP stimulate young imaginations, challenge perceptions and develop creative and analytic skills. Involvement in the arts encourages students to understand the arts in context and the cultural histories of artwork, thus supporting the development of an inquiring and empathetic world view. Arts challenge and enrich personal identity and build awareness of the aesthetic in a real-world context.
The aims of MYP arts are to encourage and enable students to:
- create and present art
- develop skills specific to the discipline
- engage in a process of creative exploration and (self-)discovery
- make purposeful connections between investigation and practice
- understand the relationship between art and its contexts
- respond to and reflect on art
- deepen their understanding of the world.
Students learn through music, drama and visual art in Years 7-9, and in Years 10-11 select one of these to study in greater depth.
The Arts in the DP
Continuing to study one of the arts is an option in Group 6 of the IB Diploma. Students can choose to study one art from a choice of music, visual art and theatre. Theatre teaches students the nature of theatre by practicing it, as well as studying it. They learn about forms of theatre from cultures other than their own and thus learn to understand themselves, their society and their world. Through the visual arts course we offer students the opportunity to develop and extend their awareness of art as a form of communication, expressing ideas with confidence and competence. Students will see the visual arts as a dynamic and constantly changing experience. The course offers a pathway for students who want to go on to study visual arts in higher education. In the DP music course students explore music from a variety of perspectives, and perform, analyze, listen and compose. The course requires the investigation of a variety of musical styles linked to world cultures and regions. Students should have previous experience of music education and through their studies will develop notational and descriptive musical terminology, and express opinions, ideas and values regarding music today.


The Learning and Teaching of Reading and Writing
The book provides practice-based examples of how teachers and schools might adapt their delivery for literacy as they move to greater creativity in their teaching of reading and writing. The analysis begins within the classrooms of three expert Key Stage 1 teachers and broadens out in to the wider setting of the schools and their senior management teams.
An important theme running throughout the book is how the three teachers were able to make exceptional provision for their pupils, who were largely second language speakers and from socio-economically disadvantaged groups. The teachers’ successful practice grew from their understanding of both early literacy development and planning for individual need. The information in this book will enable student teachers, recently qualified teachers, and teachers interested in enhancing their literacy teaching to develop their practice in a similarly successful way.
Part One: Learning and Teaching Reading and Writing.
1. How to Read this Book.
2. Teaching Reading and Writing in English Primary Schools: an Historical Perspective.
3. Writing Systems and the Development of Reading.
4. The Development of Writing.
5. Children for whom English is an Additional Language.
6. The Schools.
Part Two: Three Exceptional Teachers.
An Introduction to Part Two.
Rhona Stainthorp is Director of the Language and Literacy Research Centre, Institute of Education, University of London. She has been involved in the professional training of teachers and speech and language therapists for the last 30 years.
- Provides insight into how to develop pedagogy for literacy.
- A creative approach to literacy.
- Includes detailed, practice-based examples.
- Links practice to research-based models of how children learn to read and write.
- Helps plan for linguistic diversity in the classroom.


Inclusive Play Design Guide
Our Inclusive Play Design Guide has established universal design principals that are implemented by professionals all over the world. Our Inclusive Play Design Guide has been developed by a team of cross-cultural experts and has been through national and international peer review. It's a step-by-step guide that will educate you about how to incorporate inclusive play principles into an existing or new playground including design tips. It's widely used by professional playground designers, landscape architects and advocates as an integral part of playground planning.Download the Guide
Inclusive Play Design Guide Work Group
Our group of committed playground and child development experts, and parents are focused on the development and creation of universal outdoor play environments for everyone.
Mara Kaplan (Pennsylvania)
An educator, a seasoned advocate for inclusive play and a parent of a child with a disability. She has over 17 years’ experience reviewing toys and designing playgrounds. Mara Kaplan is an educator, an advocate for inclusive play and a parent of a child with a disability. Her firm, Let Kids Play!, designs accessible playgrounds, reviews and recommends toys for children with disabilities, and conducts universal design assessments. Mara has an elementary education degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN and an MBA, with a concentration in nonprofit management, from Boston University.Meet our Team of Experts in the Inclusive Play Design Guide
Communities are experiencing the benefits of inclusion:
"A good inclusive playground is one where you look around and can't tell that is is accessible. It is just a fun playground, where everyone can play. No one talks about coming to the "special" playground. They talk about coming to amazing community playground."
"My son, who uses a wheelchair, actually has things to play on and the other children can play too, so they can play together. Thing playground enables us to bring both kids to the same place instead of having to do it in shifts. "
- Richard K. Pennsylvania
"When I first started raising money, someone asked: "Why should I fund something for 10 percent of the community?" In reality, everyone else is connected to that 10 percent. When we make things better for the 10 percent, we make things better for everyone. By giving supports at either end of a beam, you're supporting everyone in the middle. Together, we're better."
- Amy A, Illinois
"My daughter can come here and make friends, which is really, really important. She is not isolated and left out on her own while the rest of the kids play."
- Millstone Creek Playground Parent
We certify our distributors.
Six online modules and a final exam. That’s what our distributors go through to be certified as an Inclusive Play Specialist. They can be a resource for you.


New Piano Technology Means Long-Distance Lessons in Kansas City
In Kansas City, Kansas, new technology means distance is not a barrier for students hoping to study piano in school, the Kansas City Star reports.
Using Skype and a piano with special technology, students at Eisenhower Middle School in the Kansas City school district take lessons with university faculty and students at the University of Kansas, 40 miles away.
The students use a piano that allows the instructor to "play" keys on the student's piano and the student to "play" the instructor's. The teacher and student move through the lesson using video chat, with the teacher modeling and student practicing remotely. (Check out the Star's video for a look at how it works.)
Just nine students are taking lessons so far. They were selected by their music teacher through an essay contest. The Star reports that time was the limiting factor, and that there was more demand from both middle school students and potential teachers.
The program allows students who might not have been able to afford lessons or locate a local piano teacher to study the instrument.
The piano is a Yamaha instrument called the Disklavier, a combination of disk (for floppy disk) and Klavier, the German word for keyboard. The Star reports that this use of the Yamaha piano to connect public school students with teachers remotely is, as far as Yamaha knows, unique.
While the Kansas City program is after school, other schools have taken steps to incorporate piano labs into school-day music classes. Pianist Lang Lang recently discussed a music education program his foundation is supporting in which students use digital keyboards (and headphones) to study the instrument together in the same classroom. And The Huffington Post featured a piece on a public school teacher who set up a similar piano lab in New York City.


Did you LOVE to sing as a child… but were told that you could not sing???
Alas, there’s hope!
New research is now proving that singing 'accurately' is not a talent, but a learned skill. Singing on key is easier for some people than others, but you CAN improve with a bit of practice. Also, practice is important because they are finding that if you don't use it, you’ll 'lose it.'
Steven Demorest, professor of music education at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, believes that you must practice in the same general way as when you are learning to play a musical instrument. Practice! Learn more HERE.


|A Rose From a New Perspective|
Can we, or should we, teach and nurture creativity?
"To create" simply means to bring something into being. To be “creative”, however, means to develop something original and not necessarily from a logical thought process but more of a joining of many concepts. “Something resulting from originality of thought, expression and imagination. The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships and the like and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods and interpretations.” (Random House Dictionary)
The creative process applies to not only art, but to all disciplines. Art education that enhances the creative process proves the importance of not only understanding the world that we live in, but creating solutions for that future world. Where would our world be without creative thinkers? There would be no electricity, no telephone, and certainly no airplanes. Steve Jobs would never have taken the Apple products to the lengths he has, and our numerous medical cures took people who thought “outside the box” for solutions. In fact, it is my bold theory that we owe our quality of life to creative thinkers.
Our society needs creative thinkers, and art is a place where creativity is born. It is unfortunate to me when I hear adults and students alike say they believe an artist qualifies as someone who can render an exact likeness of an image or object. While it is true, value can be found in learning to master art skills such as chiaroscuro through replication, there is however no originality in doing this. The artists’ voice is not being heard; and creative thinking is not happening. Is it possible then to teach someone to think creatively, like Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci? Can we help children grow to think like the great masters of the past; to develop an artistic voice?
I believe so.
Creativity happens when students are left to explore, experiment, and pass judgment. Often in art class students will learn a new skill or art concept and take time to explore with that medium, learning the basic skills needed through guided learning and imitating skills from a master artist. When students become comfortable with the medium, and they have basic skills, experimentation should be encouraged. Pushing boundaries will leave room for creative thinking; thereby students begin to see the world in a new way. Finally, students then will be able to confidentially pass judgment on how the materials can be used and will construct art that demonstrates their new way of thinking. Art students would be encouraged to discover a different vantage point, a unique way to handle an art medium, or thinking outside of the box with the subject they create. Originality stems from confidence with the basics. Yet, while teaching color, line, value, form, shape, and the rest of the elements and principals are import aspects of art, teaching creativity is essential to art.
Vincent van Gogh took ordinary subjects and made them extraordinary. He made an everyday poor man’s work boots have character, and fill with life. He took the sunflower and obsessively painted it with such powerful brushstrokes it appeared alive on canvas. Georgia O’Keefe painted seemingly overlooked and taken for granted flowers but enlarged them to greatness while exploring unique vantage points. I want our children to see the world from a new perspective; to think outside the box and transcend traditional thinking.
I want our students to become creative thinkers that will take this world to the places they dared to dream about.
After all, without creativity, what do we really have left?
*Artsylori; Elementary Art Educator
|A Tree from a New Perspective|


Mongooses – The Snakes Eaters
A mongoose moves very quickly to avoid a cobra’s bite. Scientist think mongooses might be immune to snake venom so it doesn’t hurt them. Mongooses also have thick skin and fur, which protects them from a cobra’s fangs.
Besides snakes, mongooses eat lizards, insects, beetles, eggs, fruit, birds and small mammals. But you won’t see any mongooses in your neighborhood. Mongooses live in Africa, Asia and parts of Europe. People have brought them to Costa Rica and Hawaii, but it’s against the law to bring them to the U.S.
Fun Facts about Mongooses for Kids
- Mongooses are small, no larger than a cat.
- Some mongooses have banded fur.
- Mongooses often live in packs. One member of the pack stands guard. It whistles or cries to alert the other mongooses of trouble. The pack hides underground until it’s safe to come out.
- Mongooses are good moms. The babies are born in a den and stay there for a few weeks. When the babies come out, all the mongooses help care for them. It’s like a big mongoose daycare!
- Immune: Protected from
- Venom: Snake poison
- Alert: Call or inform
- Den: Cave or hole in the ground
Learn More All About Mongooses
Watch a mongoose duke it out with a cobra:
A video documentary clip of an Indian Gray Mongoose preying on a Cobra Snake.
Question: Are mongooses nocturnal?
Answer: Mongooses are diurnal, which means they are awake during the day.
Question: Are mongooses social?
Answer: Sometimes mongooses live alone, but they also live in packs. They share their food and help each other.
Cite This Page
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|Originally Performed By||The Rolling Stones|
|Original Album||Exile on Main St (1972)|
|Historian||Martin Acaster (Doctor_Smarty)|
Conventional beliefs would suggest that black slavery in the United States was ended in 1865 with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The sad truth is that slavery was not abolished, it was transformed, through the Reconstruction Era practice of convict leasing, into "The Prison Industrial Complex" of today. Convict leasing was the means devised by farmers and businessmen of the South to replace the labor force they lost when their slaves were freed. It is no surprise that convict demographics also went through a drastic transformation about the same time. What was once a white dominated prison population rapidly moved toward the present day ratio of approximately 9.1 black prisoners for each non-Hispanic white prisoner. The factor most responsible for this modern day ratio appears to be the "War on Drugs." Hidden within this farcical legal crusade is the ugly truth that for far too many people in our society today, dealing drugs is the only viable source of income. To quote former Black Panther, political activist, Communist Party vice presidential candidate, and professor of social consciousness Angela Davis who coined "The Prison Industrial Complex" moniker for our penal system... "Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages." Slavery wasn't abolished following our nation's Civil War... it was franchised.
Professor Davis is no stranger to the cage herself. In August 1970 a botched attempt to free Soledad Brother George Jackson resulted in the kidnapping and murder of Judge Harold Haley. Haley was allegedly killed by a blast from a sawed-off shotgun that had been taped to his neck. The shotgun had been purchased in the name of Angela Davis. Accused of being an accomplice to conspiracy, kidnapping, and homicide, Professor Davis went into a self-imposed Exile, becoming a fugitive from the law and only the third woman to be on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 10 Most Wanted List. After two months of evasion, Davis was captured in New York City and was incarcerated for 18 months. By the time she was acquitted of her crime (June 4, 1972), the Rolling Stones had written and recorded a song of solidarity for her. A few weeks later, on June 24th 1972, during their first of two shows at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, the Stones performed "Sweet Black Angel" for the first and only time live. This debut performance is played on electric guitar and includes horns and bears only a passing resemblance to the Exile version.
"Sweet Black Angel" was originally recorded as an instrumental called "Bent Green Needles" in early 1971 on the lawn of Mick Jagger's English country home, Stargroves. The song was completed at Sunset Studios in Los Angeles between December 1971 and March 1972 and features Keith Richards and Mick Taylor on guitar, Bill Wyman on bass, Charlie Watts on the drums, Richard "Didymus" Washington (credited as "Amyl Nitrate") on marimbas and producer Jimmy Miller providing additional percussion.
Phish performed "Sweet Black Angel" as part of their Halloween Exile set at Festival 8. In contrast to the Stones only live version which featured electric guitar and horns; Phish performed it true to the style of the Exile album version with Trey on acoustic guitar and the guest horns that were featured throughout most of the rest of the set taking a breather. Considering the racially charged nature of the lyrics, "Sweet Black Angel" is unlikely to be played again.
If the story of Angela Davis, the inspiration for the song, was unknown to the listener, the lyrics of "Sweet Black Angel" coupled with the well-crafted country folk acoustic blues may suggest Mick Jagger was assuming the role of a lovestruck white farm boy lusting after one of his pappy's sweet black slave girls. Instead, knowing Professor Davis is the song's muse, it may well be the Rolling Stones only song that makes an actual political statement and thereby veers from their standard "Fight for your right to party!" mantra.
Phish.net is a non-commercial project run by Phish fans and for Phish fans under the auspices of the all-volunteer, non-profit Mockingbird Foundation.
This project serves to compile, preserve, and protect encyclopedic information about Phish and their music.
The Mockingbird Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Phish fans in 1996 to generate charitable proceeds from the Phish community.
And since we're entirely volunteer – with no office, salaries, or paid staff – administrative costs are less than 2% of revenues! So far, we've distributed over $1,000,000 to support music education for children – hundreds of grants in all 50 states, with more on the way.


When one thinks of the divisions in education or of the reasons educators bicker over pedagogical issues, we are hard pressed to come up with a more contentious topic than that of phonics instruction. No Child Left Behind placed explicit phonics instruction front and center. In contrast, the authors of the Common Core State Standards have treated instruction in the code as something of a stepchild. There is relatively limited discussion of how to teach how the written code works, presumably because this topic is so divisive. Say what you will about the Common Core authors, but for better or for worse, they were out to get things done, not get into debates, including the traditional debates over phonics.
We presume that Foundational Skills, the portion of the Common Core which addresses teaching how words work, are not included in the anchor standards because there are only four of them and they are not consistent through the grades. For the most part, the Common Core’s Foundational Skills’ anchor-ish standards seem to make room for the factions divided over how to teach the code, giving either extreme room to do what they want. That is, if systematic, explicit phonics instruction in the extreme, perhaps even that which is scripted, is your cup of tea, then nothing in the Common Core will stop you from teaching phonics this way. You will have to pay careful attention to meaning work, including read aloud and interactions with texts of substance, which tends to be neglected in such instruction, whether you want to admit it or not. What the Common Core doesn’t do, which seems to be making people angry, is say that everyone MUST teach this way.
If on the other hand, you prefer to teach word work in ways that are embedded in interactions with text that you feel are more authentic, or if you feel that children can learn the code in ways that are more holistic, then the Common Core won’t get in your way, either. You will have to work hard to get children to attend to the print and you will have to be systematic in your own right, as attention to the code is typically lacking in classrooms that take such an approach to an extreme. What the Common Core doesn’t do is say that children MUST learn to read in “authentic” texts, and this is making some other people angry.
As with the Common Core, you may notice that we are taking both sides of this issue. We don’t think there should be a fight. In both instructional philosophies, those teachers on either extreme, as well as those along the continuum between either extreme, will have to pay close attention to the truth of the criticisms lodged against them, instead of simply choosing to be angry. If you think there are no holes in your instructional philosophy, if you think you have the ONE right way to teach children to read, if you are angry because people don’t know everything you know, then take a deep breath, shut up, and listen for a change. Children can learn to read in either classroom setting, just as children can fail to read in either classroom setting. The success of the children has more to do with the quality of the teachers than with the philosophy of instruction, and we are all lucky if we have honest critics who can help us see what we are inclined to overlook.


Home language support is the foundation for developing English language skills. Today’s early childhood staff must be prepared to enhance experiences for a growing number of young children who are learning their home languages and English. We can promote positive experiences for these children by holding high expectations and emphasizing their strengths, including cultural and linguistic strengths. We also provide children and their families with the individualized learning supports necessary to succeed in school. All early childhood program staff want to understand what young dual language learners (DLLs) need in order to thrive in Head Start and beyond. These DLL Toolkit resources give teachers, caregivers, and family services staff support to foster the learning and development of young children.
The new framework is designed to show the continuum of learning of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. It is grounded in comprehensive research around what young children should know and be able to do during their early years.
Advancing School Readiness with the Office of Head Start's Multicultural Principles is a professional development tool designed to support programs in establishing culturally and linguistically competent systems and services. These resources guide staff in using culturally responsive practices when supporting children's progress toward school readiness.
Using Mariposa, Mariposa (Butterfly, Butterfly) to Promote Dialogic Reading: A Powerful Way to Encourage Language Development in One or More Languages
Dialogic reading strategies are among the most powerful techniques adults can use to promote children’s language and literacy development. Teaching teams will learn techniques for encouraging language development in one or more languages.
Emergency Preparedness Tip Sheets
Community partners work effectively with preschools to design after-school events that incorporate storytelling and other Native Indian customs. These family-focused events are foundational to enhancing learning and building family resources to support the achievement of Native American children. This article presents effective strategies and the benefits that result from focusing on building family, school, and community relationships.
Health Services that Impact School Readiness
Understanding and Choosing Assessments and Developmental Screeners for Young Children Ages 3-5: Profiles of Selected Measures
Use this document to understand and choose assessments and developmental screeners for 3-5-years old children.
Every Head Start and Early Head Start program is required to develop a plan of action to meet desired outcomes of school readiness, family engagement, professional development), curriculum, assessment, and teaching practice. A key part of this plan is to make sure teachers, home visitors, and family child care providers intentionally support children’s progress. For this to happen, systems and services must come together as early as possible.
Use these guides to help make informed decisions about choosing a preschool curriculum and assuring high-quality implementation of the curriculum.


By Whitney Foster
One of the best things about technology these days is that anyone can take advantage of it. The science classroom is one of the best subjects to use technology programs because the subject itself involves exploring in new ways.
Computer programs and applications (apps for short) allow for students to receive assistance and enhancements on their schoolwork. Teachers find them useful as well for keeping students interested.
Teachers and students now have the convenience of taking an entire lab class online, allowing for more flexibility. Prestigious colleges such as MIT and Harvard have made coursework available online for free, giving further resources to those who did not have them before.
Websites such as PBS.org, Science For Kids, and BBC News — Science and Environment are only a small sampling of the tools online. Students can participate in experience, take quizzes and read articles and watch videos.
By adding technology to classrooms, students are open to a wide array of activities in science topics.


This week’s collection of Education and Instructional Technology articles and resource Tweets.
(Originally posted on Twitter by @EmergingEdTech over this past week … collected here to share with our blog readers).
Technology – transforming the classroom of the future: http://www.thestar.com/life/parent/2013/09/06/technology_transforming_classroom_of_the_future.html
Is Technology the Next Frontier in Youth Art Education?
Eight trends driving the digital future of education (free PDF, just click Download PDF link):
Check out our new Flipped Class & Flipped Teaching Resource Page on Facebook:
My Turn: Technology is a means, not an end:
What’s it like to actually teach online?
Google meets MOOCs; Online education alliance targets tech work force training:
Digital Natives: A Defense of the Internet Community –
Classroom apps developed by teachers:
New Technology Affords New Levels Of Success For The Under-Educated:
Tech Savvy: Technology's place in education
Flip Web Content into Video Lessons with http://www.metta.io/
Education’s technology shift (Electronic tablets are changing how today’s students learn):
CONTEST! Win a free copy of the new Flipped Classroom Workshop in a Book!
Just email this article link: Announcing the Flipped Classroom Workshop in a Book! to a colleague and be sure to CC/copy ‘email@example.com' in the email! Enter as many times as you wish! I will randomly select a someone who helped to spread the word each Saturday for the next three weeks and send them a copy of this digital publication in PDF format. Anyone can enter!
(And I assure you that I will not do anything with your colleagues' email addresses – if fact, I'll delete these email copies each week after I award the prize! I'm just looking to spread the word about the book, and need something to validate that you helped do so).
Related Posts (if the above topic is of interest, you might want to check these out):
Announcing the Flipped Classroom Workshop in a Book!
Combining 1:1 and OER is an Educational Game Changer
Instructional Technologies CAN Improve Learning Outcomes and Help Address the Challenges Education Faces


Adapted Mind Math offers multiple ways to work on math concepts. And because there are a number of ways to practice your mathematics skills, Adapted Mind Math’s available resources can be used to explain difficult concepts from a different angle.
Some of the more common ways to practice math is through repetition and worksheets. These types of exercises give you the chance to practice concepts through a variety of different examples and are a mainstay of elementary education. However, until a concept has been fully grasped, practice sheets can end up being more of a frustration than a help for students. Another resource that can be used are dynamic practice sections on websites that adapt based on what questions you answer correctly. This type of resource gives you more practice with concepts that are unfamiliar or more difficult, and they allow you to move past sections that are more easily grasped, resulting in a more focused practice based on the individual needs of each student.


Reach Out and Read
Reach Out and Read is a national literacy program designed to encourage parents to read to children and promote literacy, which can help identify developmental delays and promote overall healthy growth. Under Ochsner's Reach Out and Read program, pediatricians encourage parents to participate in the program by giving infant, toddler and preschool pediatric patients a free, developmentally and culturally appropriate book and encouraging parents to read it to their children. Not only is this a tool for children in literacy development, it also allows physicians to further gauge the child's ability to remember stories, count and eventually to read. Reach Out and Read is available at all Ochsner Pediatric sites. Learn more about Reach Out and Read.
I Can Do It/On the Move
The I Can Do It! childhood obesity initiative began in 2001 at Ochsner Fitness Center as a program to help at-risk children due to obesity and inactivity adopt healthy lifestyles. In 2007, Ochsner launched its customized mobile fitness unit On the Move to travel the region encouraging healthy nutrition and active lifestyles for all children. On the Move includes strength and cardiovascular circuit workouts, nutrition lectures, and heart-healthy cooking classes and demonstrations by Ochsner's executive chef Marc Gilberti, and is designed to teach parents and kids how to incorporate healthier foods and behaviors into their lifestyle. On the Move engages more than 9,000 children per year at area schools during regularly scheduled visits.
To learn more about Childhood Health Initiatives, check out Change the Kids, Change the Future™


We're delighted that the Peep Learning Together Programme is part of the Education Endowment Foundation's (EEF) latest trial of five promising programmes that aim to increase children's educational attainment. The Peep Programme will do this by engaging parents in the early years, with their child's nursery setting. The following information is from EEF's description of this project, and why they're funding this Randomised Control Trial (RCT).
the learning together study
The programme aims to improve parenting skills and the quality of the home learning environment in the early years. This project consists of an initial home visit, and 20 one-hour sessions delivered over two terms, with groups of parents and children attending the sessions together in nursery settings. There are two days of training for nursery practitioners to help them work with parents, and resources cover five topics: 1) social and emotional development; 2) communication and language; 3) early literacy; 4) early maths; and 5) health and physical development. Each session focuses on a particular topic related to children’s development and includes discussion, songs and stories, as well as advice and approaches for parents to adopt at home. For this evaluation, the delivery will focus on social and emotional development, language and communication, and early literacy development, and additional mentoring support will be given to the practitioners to maintain quality.
why is the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) funding it?
The Peep parenting approach has been shown to impact on children’s educational attainment in two quasi-experimental design evaluations. The first of these found that children made progress in verbal comprehension, vocabulary, numeracy development and self-esteem. The second of these followed 600 families over six years and found similar positive effects on children’s vocabulary, phonological awareness and comprehension. These results suggest that the approach is promising, however they do not have the security of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) so this is the next logical step in building the programme’s evidence.
The broader evidence for this approach is also promising. Evidence from the Effective Provision of Pre-School Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE) study suggests that the home learning environment is a strong predictor of cognitive and social development. An RCT will provide an opportunity to test whether this programme can improve the home learning environment, and whether this in turn impacts on literacy and language development.
how is EEF evaluating it?
A team from Queens University Belfast has been appointed to conduct the evaluation. The trial will consist of a two-arm RCT, with 150 schools randomised to treatment or a business-as-usual control. The intervention will focus on children in nursery classes. Prior to randomisation, children will be pre-tested on language and early literacy, and parents will be invited to express interest in the programme. The comparison will be between the outcomes for children across treatment and control whose parents say that they would attend the programme if they were given the opportunity. The primary outcome will be language and early literacy. The secondary outcomes will include measures of parental skills and confidence, the home learning environment, and social and emotional development. The evaluation protocol provides more detailed information on the evaluation design.
how do we find out more or get involved?
If your nursery setting is interested in being involved or you have any other questions, then you can find out more here.
The evaluation report will be published in summer 2019.


Charlotte C Gill’s opinion piece in The Guardian says schools in England need to stop teaching music in such an academic way.
New research from the University of Sussex reveals that the controversial English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is having a negative impact music in schools, and researchers suggest that music could be facing extinction.
The findings of a recent study in England show that young people playing a musical instrument enjoy greater progress and better academic outcomes than those who do not, with the greatest impact for those playing the longest.
New music education research from the USA claims that children who have confidence in their own musical abilities are more likely to continue their music education than those with a poor ‘musical self-concept’.
Some of New York City’s highest-performing students spend much of their time studying music.
Music in Mind is Rhythmix’s innovative music making programme which aims to enhance the life chances of young people aged 11-to-18 years with mental health needs.


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People outside of the education profession look at Khan Academy and they see brilliance because Khan conforms closely to American cultural scripts of teaching. Teaching is telling and Khan tells in a friendly, seemingly competent way (which is actually incompetent in some important and non-obvious ways, but more on that in the coming weeks).
This is the drill: Tell students some stuff; ask them some questions to see whether they remember what you told them. See those first two headings on the Khan Academy landing page?
Watch and practice.
People outside of the education profession look at iPad apps and online schools and see efficiency because these-again-closely follow the script of teaching and learning in this country.
So powerful is this cultural script that minor tweaks are seen as revolutionary. (Rewind the video to hear the same explanation again! As many times as you like!) So powerful is this script that our roles as parents can be misconstrued as preparing our children to be this type of student. From the comments on this blog last month:
Around 6-7, I think it is important for children to first internalize basic arithmetic equations as memorized, right-brain pattern recall. Once they do this, their minds are free to think about other aspects of the math problem in front of them. Once basic one-digit equations have been internalized, the next pattern needed is the simple process of stepping through more complex problems.
This was in response to my description of something I had done that had gotten my five-year old daughter to think, rather to respond in a rote way.
A parent talking with his child about mathematics gets redirected to a fact-drilling app.
I’ll make the analogy to literacy again. The equivalent would be a parent writing about how turned on his kid was by a story, and how his kid applied the ideas of that story to thinking about her lived experience. And then got pushback about the importance of phonics instruction to prepare a child for reading in first grade.
But we know that a lifelong love of reading is fostered by reading aloud with parents. (Of course, there are exceptions, blah blah blah.) And if you love reading—barring disability—you’ll learn to read as long as you are provided competent reading instruction.
We need to similarly foster a lifelong love of numeracy. And that does not start with math-drilling apps (Of course, there are exceptions, blah blah blah.) It starts as all things do, through play, conversation and wonder.
Let’s keep the focus, shall we?
Alfie Kohn (of course) on summer learning loss.
Will Richardson on online learning and apps.


Feedback and assessment is very important in any learning process and are provided to enable the students to build on their performance.
CONTINUOUS COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT
Assessment is through the year on the basis of not only academics but also commitment, work ethics, understanding and will to learn. Formative and Summative assessments are carried out to assess the students learning and understanding. Internal assessments are based on cumulative record of students during the continuous assessment in the school.
For Classes Pre-school and Pre-Primary
The Evaluation Scheme is continuous and comprehensive as it focuses on the daily, consistent progress of the child. This is based on the daily interaction in class, levels of general awareness, quality of work and comprehension of concepts taught. The approach attaches equal importance to co-curricular activities along with academics.
Classes I – V
Grades are allotted in the Report Cards based on a 5-point scale.
Internal Assessment is based on the class assignments / projects / activities and other criteria as per the subject.
Grades are also awarded for Computers, Work experience, Art Education, Performing Arts and Physical and Health Education.
Classes VI – X
The academic year is divided into two semesters and assessments will be formative and summative as per the CBSE guidelines. Grades will be given on a nine-point scale for scholastic and four point scale for Co-scholastic areas.
Classes XI – XII
As per CBSE guidelines.
Parents – Partners in School Education
Regular Parent Teacher interactions are organized to help the school understand your child better and find ways to realize his potential to the maximum.
Individualized homework assigned to appropriate grade levels seems to help students develop the disciplined study habits that result in increased scholastic achievements.
Practice, preparation, and extension assignments are prepared for the students to be accomplished in the class or at home.
Parent – Teacher Meeting
The Parent-Teacher Interaction / Meeting is a time for the parents to share their knowledge of their child, including their hopes for the child’s future and is beyond grades or problems that the student may be experiencing. It is also an opportunity for the teacher to increase the parents’ awareness of their child’s classroom experience and how the child relates within the school environment.
Parent-teacher meetings, both formal and informal are a regular feature of school life. Parent-Teacher interaction is done on regular intervals.
This is a supplementary component of the school, where the pupils progress is evaluated, discussed and optimistic suggestions are made for right development of the student. We see parents as partners in their child’s education, and parents are involved in any strategy to address difficulties or challenges that a child might be experiencing. Teachers are in regular contact with parents.


Regional Program Manager- West Kootenay/Boundary
Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy
Early literacy development begins the moment a child is born. Every touch, word and image helps to build the skills needed for children to become lifelong learners. Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed in whatever endeavours they choose and it is every parent’s wish to have their child grow to become a confident and resilient adult. The Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy (CBAL) recognizes that parents are the first and most important teachers in a child’s life and demonstrates that commitment by investing resources into community programming across the Columbia Basin.
CBAL reaches across the region, delivering and supporting programs that focus on providing parents and caregivers with the tools and knowledge needed to support their children’s physical, cognitive and social & emotional development.
In Valemount, Play and Learn is offered to families with preschool children. Participants discover ways to support emerging literacy skills through songs, stories, rhymes, sign language, crafts and everyday teaching opportunities, while children engage in facilitated, creative play. The connection a parent has with a child is unmistakeable and programs such as Play and Learn build on that connection to enhance the development of early literacy skills.
By the time a child starts kindergarten, they may know the alphabet, be familiar with the letters in their own names and even have begun to recognize simple words. These skills are key milestones and family literacy programs, such as Parent-Child Mother Goose, Love 2 Learn and Alphabet Soup, aim to help further develop these skills.
Once a child enters school, parents want to be supportive as their children develop and acquire new knowledge and skills. CBAL offers a number of family literacy programs designed to support this specific age group.
In Revelstoke, and other communities across the Columbia Basin, Parents as Literacy Supporters (PALS) has been offered in partnership with school districts. “PALS gives families a chance to connect with their Kindergarten teacher, and provides information, ideas, strategies and activities that can be used at home. PALS is a wonderful opportunity to bring together parents, teachers, and community as partners to support young children’s learning,” says Tracy Spannier, Community Literacy Coordinator in Revelstoke.
Take time to attend a family literacy program in your community. Visit your local library, family centre or visit www.cbal.org to learn more about family literacy programs in your community.
On Wednesday, October 10th support literacy in your community by taking part in Black Press and CBAL’s Reach a Reader campaign. Buy your local newspaper from a volunteer who will be out on the town and all proceeds raised will go to support literacy programs in your community. By learning together we will grow strong together.


The Anson Big Curriculum (ABC) is an engaging and inspiring approach to the 2014 National Curriculum. Through a topic based approach the children are taught the key skills from the National Curriculum in a relevant and meaningful context to multicultural children living in London.
From investigating natural disasters and travelling in time machines to learning about the great books and exploring historical characters the children are immersed in geography, history, art, design and technology, music, computing and philosophy all underpinned by literacy skills and numeracy skills in a cross curricular approach.
The topics also take advantage of the city we live in with projects based at Wembley Stadium, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Cricklewood. We also use technology to explore the world, taking part in Mystery Skype sessions as well as exploring the world using the Internet alongside traditional materials.
The Big Curriculum is supported by our homework in Key Stage Two. The children learn more about the topic through a series of independent tasks and activities, that allow them to work on their own, with their friends and with their families. The results of the homework are outstanding and testament to the engagement the children have in the curriculum.


Music degrees take the same amount of time as other college degrees -- about four years in the U.S. for a bachelor's degree, another one or two years for a master's degree and at least three years beyond that for an advanced research degree. Over the years, undergraduate music degrees have spread beyond the arts into the sciences, preparing students to work in many facets of the music world.
For a degree in musical performance, students must not only perform at a high level themselves but recognize what makes a quality performance by observing and learning from others. A comprehensive program includes private lessons, labs and studies of performances. For undergraduates, the course of study culminates in a senior recital in front of judges and invited guests. At Berklee College of Music in Boston -- one of the top programs in the country -- students are also taught about all aspects of interacting with others in the musical performance world.
Programs in music composition generally have the same core requirements as performance degrees do. At the University of Chicago, for example, music majors must participate in performance ensembles and complete additional coursework for a concentration in composition. Courses include composition styles from various centuries, including modern computer-driven techniques. High-performing undergraduate students sometimes also submit a composition put together under the guidance of a faculty member to graduate with honors.
For those who are intrigued by music but who do not want to go into performance, a degree in the music industry or business is the way to go. While universities are more likely to accept an applicant who demonstrates an interest in music, auditions are not required and neither are performance classes. The music industry degree at Drexel University in Philadelphia, for instance, starts with a core of music theory and general music classes, and the program places students in internships at record labels and other players in the music business.
Music education degrees, out of necessity, cover a wide range of musical styles and include vocal and instrumental instruction, although in some programs, students choose a concentration. The degree at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania prepares future public-school music teachers for to teach in kindergarten through 12th grade. Through lab settings and student teaching, the program tries to strike a balance between the intensive training required of professional musicians and the experience needed to go into teaching.
For musical students with a technical bent, music engineering is a relatively new type of college degree, with programs popping up since the 1970s. The University of Miami Frost School of Music combines a Bachelor of Music degree, including a traditional foundation in performance and theory, with a Bachelor of Science that includes training in recording, mixing and producing sounds. The master's program allows students from computer science and electrical engineering backgrounds to acquire additional skills for music engineering.
- music book. manuscript. music score image by L. Shat from Fotolia.com


- Miss C Grubb (PT)
- Miss E. Noble (Business Studies)
- Computing vacancy
All pupils attend 2 x 50 minute periods in S2 and 2 x 50 minute periods in S3. Pupils will have the opportunity to develop their problem solving skills and experience a deeper understanding of how software, including games, are designed and created. Topics include computer systems, biometrics, legislation, games design and development in a variety of languages, App design for Android devices and Web Design. The course is also designed to give pupil an insight into what businesses do and how they are organised. It develops organisational and ICT skills and gives pupils a chance to show their entrepreneurial flair by taking part in group activities centred around creating and designing products.
S4-S6 Courses available
Computer Science is vital to everyday life – socially, technologically and economically; it shapes the world in which we live and its future. Computing is embedded in the world around us, from systems and devices in our homes and places of work, to how we access education, entertainment, transportation and communication. Understanding computational processes and thinking is also vital to many other fields including science, economics, business and industry. While many learners will want to become computing professionals, all will benefit from the development of these foundational skills and the underpinning knowledge necessary to meet the needs of society today and for the future.
The aims of the course are to enable learners to:
- develop computational thinking skills across a range of contemporary contexts
- develop knowledge and understanding of key concepts and processes in computing science
- apply skills and knowledge in analysis, design and implementation and evaluation to a range of digital solutions
- communicate computing concepts and explain computational behaviour clearly and concisely using appropriate terminology
- develop and understanding of the role and impact of computing science in changing and influencing our environment and society
Business plays an important role in society. We all rely on businesses and entrepreneurs to create wealth, prosperity and job choices. The purpose of this course is to highlight ways in which an organisation operates and the steps taken to achieve their goals. Skills developed throughout the course include enterprise, employability, numeracy, ICT and citizenship which all feature heavily in today’s society.


It just keeps getting better from an unschooling/interest-led point of view!
Children Can Perform Approximate Math Without Arithmetic InstructionThe news release from Harvard is here, too. (Via brokenhomeschool.com)
Science Daily — Children are able to solve approximate addition or subtraction problems involving large numbers even before they have been taught arithmetic, according to a study conducted at Harvard University, by researchers from the University of Nottingham and Harvard.
The study, published in the journal Nature, suggests that children do not need to master either the logic of place value or the addition table in order to perform approximate addition and subtraction. Children's difficulty with learning school arithmetic may stem from the need to produce an exact number when solving problems. Elementary education in mathematics might be improved -- and children's interest in the subject enhanced -- if children's talent for approximate calculation could be built upon in the classroom, the authors suggest.


Q-Tips and Straws Fine Motor Skills Activity - A great way to help little hands strengthen fine motor skills and work on colors at the same time.
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This is a fun activity in order to encourage the development of praxis skills. The child is required to think about/plan his or her movement patterns in order to get to the other side!
Walk the line activity helps with gross motor skill development
This is really cute. It reminds me a bit of the Tupperware shape toy that we played with as kids.
Actividades psicomotoras para los niños..
Sowdering About: Toddler Busy Boxes
Sensory Sunday - Pipe Cleaner Fine Motor Play. Be sure to supervise closely as with all sensory Play experiences!
Threading pasta onto straws for fine motor skill development
For math fun in our garden we us a ball abacus. Outdoor Maths Ideas - Twinkl Blog