Being the music nerds we self-admittedly are, as part of our nightly study routine, Joy and I thought it would be beneficial to take turns reading out loud every term in the glossary of our text Learning Sequences in Music. We wanted to be sure we understood the meaning of all the new words thrown at us. You may be laughing, but it was quite helpful, especially for this first video you’re about to see!
A 16-hour car ride at some point in time requires a car game. Thus, on our way back from Boston, was born the Alphabet Game MLT Style. (I realize for many of you some of the terms will be meaningless, but I thought you would still get a kick out of it.) 🙂
If you want a bit more substance than our alphabet game, a few days after we returned, we recorded a video summary video for you!
- 3:00 Who was Edwin Gordon.
- 9:45 Who is Marilyn Lowe.
- 13:25 What is audiation and how is it developed.
22:00 How we each plan to start incorporating elements of MLT into our lessons.
- 25:45 What resources are available for teachers who want to learn more about MLT.
My end was a bit delayed at times so I apologize for occasionally having words drop. When I list the modes, it sounds like I miss one but I didn’t, it was just the connection. 🙂
Books mentioned in the video:
- Learning Sequences in Music, by Edwin E. Gordon.
- Study Guide for Learning Sequences in Music, by Edwin E. Gordon
- Quick and Easy Introductions, by Edwin E. Gordon. *An excellent “footnotes” version.
- The Ways Children Learn Music, by Eric Bluestine (Read Joy’s review here.)
- Intelligent Music Teaching, by Robert Duke. (We both feel it’s the #1 book on piano teaching. Read Joy’s review here.)
MLT Around the Internet
If you want to continue learning more about Dr. Gordon’s research here are some more resources around the web:
:: Just this past June (2016), the late Dr. Gordon was named one of five 2016 Lowell Mason Fellows from the National Association for Music Education (NAfME).
:: Dr. Gordon’s Keynote address to the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP) July 2014.
:: Public school teacher Eric Bluestine, the author of The Ways Children Learn Music mentioned above, has a blog also titled The Ways Children Learn Music.
:: Music Learning Theory early childhood teacher, Heather Kirby shares about her experience in this “Meet the Teacher” video. Ms. Kirby is also an officer on the board of the Gordon Institute for Musical Learning. She was gracious enough to host an evening gathering at her home as well as a pizza dinner one night after class during the training.
:: We spent a lot of time learning about modes, singing chants, and tonal patterns, learning their characteristic tones and primary chords (I self-admittedly have a long way to go!) An Introduction to Modes is a great article to help you understand modes a little better. Also, Forest Kinney has an excellent article in the Sept/Oct 2015 issue of Clavier Companion titled Beyond Major and minor: A composer’s understanding of chords and scales.
From Tim Topham’s Music Learning Theory month in July
:: One of our classmates, Emma Barson, an MLT teacher from Adelaide Australia shares some thoughts in Tim’s opening post-Music Learning Theory.
:: One of our GIML teachers, as well as another classmate, shared their experiences as MLT teachers in Music Learning Theory Wrap-Up.


Common Core Isn’t about ‘Guesstimating’ or ‘Abstract Concepts’
“Everyone hates Common Core.” That’s Jennifer Kabbany’s claim in an article for the College Fix. “It’s not math. It’s guesstimating and abstract concepts. Remember, under Common Core, the answer to a math problem doesn’t have to be exactly right – as long as the student shows he or she understands generally how to solve the problem. That adds up to insanity.”
Such claims may resonate with parents unfamiliar with changes to instruction under the Common Core, but that doesn’t make them true.
Common Core State Standards encourage students to use multiple problems-solving approaches. As we explained before, that exposure helps students to build fluency with numbers and math functions, and to develop the foundational skills necessary to succeed at high-level content.
But students are still required to know and use traditional math procedures, including multiplication tables and standard algorithms. “Students are expected to know their sums and products from memory and to be fluent with standard algorithm for each of the four basic operations (the traditional ‘carry’ method, in the case of addition),” Jason Zimba, a lead writer of the math standards, explains.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, which supports Common Core’s approach to math instruction, explains: “[The Common Core offers] a foundation for the development of more rigorous, focused, and coherent mathematics curricula, instruction, and assessments that promote conceptual understanding and reasoning as well as skill fluency.”
Some parents who grew up under old models of education may share in Kabbany’s frustrations. But to return to previous methods of “drill and kill” memorization would put students at a disadvantage and continue to leave many underprepared for high-level learning.
Kabbany suggests Common Core State Standards are the work of federal authorities, which should give parents even more reason to dislike the standards. But that’s just not the case. The Common Core was developed by educators and experts from across the country. They were thoroughly vetted and put through a public input period. And states voluntarily adopted the standards.
By setting high expectations for classrooms and giving educators full control over how best to help students over that bar, the Common Core empowers teachers to employ creative lesson plans and adjust instruction to meet their students’ needs.
“The Common Core is not a federal takeover of our schools, nor does it force teachers into a rigid model for classroom instruction,” 21 State Teachers of the Year wrote in 2015. “In fact, under the Common Core, teachers have greater flexibility to design their classroom lessons—and can, for the first time, take advantage of the best practices from great teachers in other states.”
Instead of instinctively opposing the changes happening in schools, as is easy to do, parents should partner with teachers support their children’s learning. “As we shift to these new approaches in math, we’re going to need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable – of embracing a type of learning that is wholly unfamiliar,” Jim Cowen wrote last year. “Let’s focus on helping parents help their children not just understand math, but learn to love it.”


. . . I had arrived in London but was not posting. Too much to do to set up CAGSE LLC UK (and US).
Happily, I can announce that after two and a half months, we have a full Latin program in place in at least three boroughs -- in primary schools, years 5 and 6, every week -- and a Storytelling program ready to launch.
Classic Approaches to Learning Along with the Classical
Latin is a bit more straightforward than storytelling as a course within the primary school curriculum. Furthermore, CAGSE's unique approach to Latin has already been discussed, so it's time to give the other program a go.
Storytelling and interpreting stories are no less rigorous activities than learning Latin. They sound like fun, and are. They also provide serious skills that run across the curriculum.
Tell a Story, Make a Choice
Every story, every situation within a story, every character is the result of a series of choices. Every choice works with the others to persuade the listener (or viewer) of a series of values and attitudes.
Sometimes the choices have explicit implications (eg Martin Luther King marched on Washington to protest racism) and sometimes implicit (eg Cinderella's sisters are ugly and bad while she is lovely and good -- ergo, sue me if you don't agree -- or at least the writer of the tale).
Hear a Story, Make a Choice
All stories situate characters in and hold them to ethical standards. For example, if the wolf eats a nice girl in red, he dies. He is punished for choosing to eat someone the listener likes.
The story simultaneiously situates the listener within the same ethical standards by attempting to persuade the listener that the standards are absolute to which the characters are held.
Who could like a wolf who eats someone with whom the listener has empathy when that same wolf seems to have no redeeming characteristics at all?
The wolf SEEMS to have no redeeming characteristics because the storyteller CHOSE to deny him any. That way, it's hard to side with him and easy to think him deserving when killed by a local hunter.
If the Wolf Had a Family . . . .
What happens if you tell the same basic story but make other choices?
Say a storyteller gives Red Riding Hood's wolf a name (Peter) and a family -- Mrs. Loop de Loup, little Romulus, and his baby sister who they affectionately call Pup.
The listener hears that the Loups have been hungry for weeks. We hear of Rommy's and Pup's weakness and see them fading from lack of nourishment. Deforestation and propagation of human suburbs will soon completely destroy their homes, and the homeless, particularly of the canine variety, are rounded up and put in pounds where they await execution.
Say Red Riding Hood's family historically has been active in the National Rifle Association and the Loup Klux Klan, believes that killing is fun, and, in particular, that killing baby wolves is a real hoot because a hunter can watch them die slowly.
Now whose side are you on?
More in the next post.


Anthony Arceri stood in front of Zeno, a friendly, child-size robot that was ready to play. "What is your favorite food?" Zeno asked Anthony, a 7-year-old decked out in a black outfit covered with sensors. "Chocolate milk and french fries," Anthony responded. "I love chocolate milk," Zeno said. When Zeno raised his arm, so did Anthony. When Zeno rubbed his stomach, so did Anthony. While the interaction between Anthony and the robot — which stands about 2 feet tall, can move its arms and has lifelike facial expressions — may seem like just high-tech fun, researchers hope it holds the key to early diagnosis and treatment of autism.
Researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, the Dallas Autism Treatment Center, Texas Instruments and Hanson Robotics are collaborating on a one-year project that is funded in part by a $100,000 grant from the Texas Medical Research Collaborative.
Nicoleta Bugnariu, associate professor at the health science center and a physical therapist/neuroscientist, said it is important to diagnose autism during motor skill development, which precedes language development.
Autism spectrum disorders are not often diagnosed until a child is speaking.
"If we can look at a marker prior to language development, then we can diagnose children earlier and intervene earlier," Bugnariu said.


**Don't have a Smartboard? Don't worry!! This same product is now available for use with PowerPoint!**
Questioning Lessons and Activities is a fun way to teach this important reading comprehension skill using the Smartboard! Lessons are interactive and engaging and will keep students excited about learning! This product contains a weeks worth of mini-lessons and activities. Check out the thumbnails and preview to see if this product is right for you!
Need an independent center activity for questioning? Check out my Questioning Choice Board and Activities product!
This choice board is perfect for center activities the week after you finish teaching this reading comprehension skill!
Need more lessons and activities for comprehension strategies? Check out my Reading Comprehension Skills Bundle!
By buying the bundle you save over 40%!!!!!
The bundle includes lessons and activities for the following reading comprehension strategies:
~ Making Connections
This download includes:
~ 1 Title page
~ 1 Teacher's guide page
~ 18 Lesson and Activity pages (includes interactive slides and graphic organizers!)
~ 1 Closing page
*Updated 2/19/16 to include a questioning song.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Mrs. Pirate Teacher


Handbook of Exercises for Language Processing
Thousands of SLPs use these books to help their clients develop the language skills needed for independence. Ready-to-use lessons target a variety of language processes that build language complexity and flexibility.
- Develop language processing and auditory processing
- Improve language flexibility
- Increase participation in social exchanges
- Improve critical thinking
The HELP books are widely-recognized for their:
- high quality, timeless content
- appeal to a broad age-range
- application to a wide scope of developmental and acquired language disorders
- goal-driven activities
- gradual increase in complexity within and between activities
Each book targets four areas of language processing. The books may be purchased as a 5-book set or individually. Save $10 when you buy the HELP 1-5 Book Set, which consists of:
- discriminate auditory differences at sound, word, and sentence levels
- process and comprehend a variety of verbal information
- manipulate language and apply language-based concepts to new situations
- recall progressively longer units of auditory information
- Copyright © 1987
- use associations and categories to recall words
- discriminate question types
- answer questions
- use correct grammar
- Copyright © 1987
- use concepts to describe, compare, and reason
- paraphrase sentences, common sayings, and paragraphs
- use language to identify and solve problems
- match expressive language to the social situation
- Copyright © 1988
- define and describe objects in a variety of ways
- manipulate written sentences and write short paragraphs
- talk about elements of language
- understand humor, idioms, exaggerations, and other word plays
- Copyright © 1989
- receive, organize, and relay information
- compare and contrast to develop conceptual frameworks
- use the language of measurements, quantity concepts, and time
- identify and express needs, opinions, and feelings
- Copyright © 1991
The HELP books are all superior products that go the extra mile to help children with special needs. Thank you!
Mary Fratianni, Special Needs Coordinator
Port Jefferson Station, NY
- Explicit teaching of listening skills is vital in both elementary and middle school given that a majority of academic skills are delivered verbally. Listening skills are necessary for both literacy development and overall academic achievement (Beall, Gill-Rosier, Tate, & Matten, 2008).
- Asking wh- questions is a common method of teaching. Difficulty answering wh- questions affects a child academically, linguistically, and socially (Parnell, Amerman, & Hartin, 1986).
- A study by Feng and Powers (2005) found that grammatical mini-lessons targeting students' error patterns resulted in improved short- and long-term accuracy.
- Explicitly teaching and reinforcing inference skills, including understanding idioms, yields better overall text comprehension, text engagement, and metacognitive thinking. Students should cite evidence they used to draw conclusions in order to make the implicit process of making inferences more explicit (McMackin & Lawrence, 2001).
- When information shares a semantic relationship and is associated, meaningful information is first extracted from the association between items (Rhodes & Donaldson, 2008).
HELP 1-5 Book Set incorporates these principles and is also based on expert professional practice that is functionally based.
Beall, M.L., Gill-Rosier, J., Tate, J., & Matten, A. (2008). State of the context: Listening in education. The International Journal of Listening, 22, 123-132.
Feng, S., & Powers, K. (2005). The short- and long-term effect of explicit grammar instruction on fifth graders' writing. Reading Improvement, 42(2), 67-72.
McMackin, M.C., & Lawrence, S. (2001). Investing inferences: Constructing meaning from expository texts. Reading Horizons, 42, 117-137.
Parnell, M.M., Amerman, J.D., & Hartin, R.D. (1986). Responses of language-disordered children to wh- questions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 17, 95-106.
Rhodes, S.M., & Donaldson, D.I. (2008). Association and not semantic relationships elicit the N400 effect: Electrophysiological evidence from an explicit language comprehension task. Psychophysiology, 45, 50-59.


NAEP Plan for Testing Special Groups Gets Public Airing
The National Assessment of Educational Progress should be as inclusive as possible of English-language learners and students with disabilities, representatives of education organizations testified last week at a hearing here on proposals to bring more uniformity and coherence to testing those populations. But the testimony yielded some disagreement about how NAEP policymakers plan to do that.
The National Assessment Governing Board has been grappling with the issue for a decade. It is concerned that testing accommodations and exclusion rates for those two groups vary widely among states and districts, possibly jeopardizing the fairness and validity of comparisons with NAEP data. The board plans to vote on policies addressing the issue at its March meeting.
Particularly controversial at the hearing was the board’s proposal to permit students with disabilities to receive only NAGB-approved accommodations and not all those that may be in their individual education programs, or IEPs.
“We are concerned,” said Kim Hymes, the director of policy and advocacy at the Arlington, Va.-based Council for Exceptional Children, “that preventing an accommodation which is approved by a student’s IEP team may produce NAEP test results which don’t reflect that student’s knowledge and skills.” Students and parents are confused, she said, if students can’t use the same accommodations for NAEP they are accustomed to using.
For example, she said, some students with disabilities are permitted to take a test over a period of days, an accommodation prohibited for NAEP.
Lawrence Feinberg, a NAGB staff member, said the prohibition is mostly for practical reasons, given that it is costly to hire staff to visit schools to administer the tests on more than one day. He noted that students with disabilities are, however, permitted to take twice the time within a single day as others to complete the test.
Representatives of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education and the National Education Association also addressed the frustration students might experience with different sets of accommodations.
To help address the problem, Patricia K. Ralabate, a senior policy analyst for the NEA, said the board should consider creating test items based on universal-design principles, such as using very straightforward language, called “plain English,” in test items.
Agreement on ELLs
Those who testified were largely in favor of the board’s proposals concerning inclusion of English-learners in testing.
Currently, NAEP provides Spanish translations and bilingual dictionaries for its tests of math and science, but not for reading and writing. The governing board proposes that reading and writing tests continue to be administered only in English, but for the native-language support, such as Spanish translations, to be extended to all other subjects.
The proposal also calls for a “plain English” version to be created for each test, although authentic passages used in the assessments would not be altered.
NAGB also proposes that all English-learners who have been in U.S. schools for at least a year be eligible to participate and that the reporting of their test scores be matched with students’ levels of English proficiency. English proficiency would be determined by the same tests that states use to measure annual progress in English for accountability purposes under the No Child Left Behind Act, even though those tests vary from state to state.
For the long term, the board wants to create “a brief, easily administered” test of English-language proficiency that would identify test-takers as having “beginning,” “intermediate,” or “advanced” levels of proficiency.
Kathleen Leos, a former director of the U.S. Department of Education’s office of English-language acquisition, testified that she favored the proposed policy changes for ELLs. She further recommends that the federal government set up a “national language panel” to study language development and acquisition and to produce a set of guiding principles for educators and NAEP.
Ms. Leos is now the president of the Global Institute for Language and Literacy Development, a Washington-based policy institute she formed after resigning from the Education Department in September 2008.
Luis Martinez, a senior policy analyst specializing in English-learners at the NEA, supported the accommodations for ELLs proposed by the board, such as side-by-side Spanish-English test booklets and test directions that are written in plain English. He said the union supports the disaggregation of data about ELLs on NAEP, but urges the board to continue to ensure that “data obtained from ELL students should be used strictly for research and analysis purposes only and to refine classroom instruction.”
Vol. 29, Issue 12, Page 10Published in Print: November 18, 2009, as NAEP Plan for Testing Special Groups Gets Public Airing


Understanding educational disparities is inherently challenging. While individual components can be studied and understood, understanding educational disparities as a whole has proven much more challenging. These disparities accumulate over time, involve many interactions including circular causality and feedback mechanisms, and extend from early childhood and elementary education to college completion. Often, the connections between causes and effects are obscured.
However, there is reason to be optimistic. Unlike most disparities involving complex systems (e.g., environment and climate change, health care) that have physical momentum, educational disparities are much more likely to be socially constructed through patterns of human behavior, political institutions, and conceptual definitions of what constitutes education and what defines merit. In short, it is possible to imagine radical changes in educational systems if the politics and people’s mental models can be overcome. Achieving this goal can be facilitated by tools that help people to visualize the elements and connections of this system and to identify the system’s major feedback loops and potential intervention points.
Although the work presented here is a causal map and not a formal simulation model, the diagram was developed with the principles of system dynamics in mind and the potential for translating the diagram into an actual simulation model in future work.
by Peter Hovmand


Your child may surprise you with her ability to recall information during story-time, or a memory of an event that happened when she was a toddler. This type of recall isn't unusual for many children living in homes where parents encourage learning memory skills. Research reported by Penn State Extension shows children have the ability to remember events from the time the child developed a sense of self, which begins between the ages of 18 months and 2 years. Long- and short-term memory depends on your child's ability to use the stored information, not the size of the memory itself.
Children need both long- and short-term memory to succeed in school, personal pursuits, play, social lives and personal lives. Short-term memory, according to Indiana University, allows children to remember things that happen in the recent past such as details from a story read aloud. Long-term memory skills include remembering how to read and the names of friends and family members. Kids also use long-term memory to recall how to do basic movements and processes such as riding a bike and solving a puzzle.
Pennsylvania State University Extension notes that both long- and short-term memory skills help children learn to think, plan, reflect, follow directions, solve problems, imagine and learn basic literacy skills. The service identifies key childhood memory developments as processes that happen between the ages of birth and age 8. Memory problems delay language and motor skill development, but parents can help children learn short-term memory skills, according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, which recommends dividing new content into small segments and using the child's preferred type of memory skills, whether visual, auditory or tactile.
Learning language uses both long- and short-term memory abilities. The working short-term memory helps children collect information while they are listening and helps them quickly determine where to store the material according to the other items in the long-term memory, according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Children develop language using two types of working memory. The verbal type uses sounds to help recall information. Repeating the alphabet while drawing letters is an example of this short-term recall. The second-type of short-term memory uses visual and spatial clues to assist kids in remembering shapes, patterns, images and the sequencing of events. This recall helps children remember sentence construction and word-order to learn language.
Combining Memory and the Senses
Children learn the important skill of sorting long-term memory faster by linking senses and emotions with the information. Using the senses helps kids associate short-term memory with stored knowledge, according to researchers Marillia Conte Daros and David W. Gurney of the University of Florida. Children sort long-term memory to select an appropriate memory file to combine with the new information. The sensory match helps the child quickly combine prior knowledge with new information to process the message and determine what action, if any, is needed. The content in the long-term memory might also include clues about how to act on the new message.


Rubber bands, tape, plastic spoons and Popsicle sticks: the materials for any potential future engineer, scientist and computer programmer. The objective? Build a machine to launch marshmallows.
The task might seem straightforward but the main goal behind it all certainly isn’t — bring more women into STEM fields. Western’s Youth Programs’ GEMS (girls in engineering, math and science) Night Out sought to do just that by starting them off early, teaching them that being an engineer or mathematician isn’t all-boys club.
On Friday, Nov. 20, elementary and middle school girls went running in through the double doors of Western’s Science, Math, and Technology Education building, eager to see what the GEMS Night Out had in store.
Western’s Youth Program coordinator Juliet Holzknecht and program support assistant Olivia Shawen stood ready to greet them with the same excitement and wide eyes as the young girls themselves.
GEMS Night Out is a feminine empowering evening that takes place every three months. The event explores science, technology, education and math, also known as STEM, in hopes of motivating girls to pursue a job in these fields, according to the GEMS website.
The event is one of many GEMS Programs, which were created in the hopes of providing opportunities for girls to learn, find role models and meet others with similar interests, Holzknecht said.
Expanding the STEM workforce — and the amount of women in it — is crucial to increasing economic creativity and competitiveness, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
In the U.S. workforce, women make up 47 percent of the total but are much less represented in science and engineering, according to the national girls collaborative project and the U.S. Department of Labor.
“Opening up these type of workshops and options for these girls gives them that first little push into finding out what they really are interested in,” Shawen said.
The third to eighth grade girls were split into groups. Each group was given the same assignment: to build a machine that could throw a marshmallow toward a marked target.
Once the job was received, the girls were on their own to see what they could come up with, simulating the reality of an actual engineering challenge.
Marshmallow launch models of different designs quickly filled the tables as the girls worked hard together to build a machine before the time ran out, occasionally getting distracted by the tasty treats.
“It was really hard for the kids to not eat [the marshmallows],” said group leader and elementary education major, Morgan Estep.
Holzknecht, Shawen and others decided the lack of women in STEM fields was an issue they wanted to help address, so they set out to find a solution.
The event encourages a sense of empowerment and aspires to give strength to young girls to not be defined by the gender stereotypes of certain jobs, Shawen said.
Events like GEMS Night Out also provide an excellent opportunity for children like Maddy Drake, a home-schooled seventh grader, to socialize and work with other girls her age.
Drake said she aspires to be a doctor one day. Building the marshmallow launcher and completing other experiments allows her to feel capable of doing something on her own, Drake said.
“I like that in science you get to figure out things for yourself, instead of just knowing it,” Drake said.
The group starts accepting students who are in their third year of education due to the fact this is near the time when girls start to focus in on certain interests, Shawen said.
When girls go through the middle school years, they start to question if it’s feminine enough or the right topics for them, Holzknecht said.
A selection of Western women who are studying education were assigned to lead the girls in the marshmallow launching activity, and to also serve as positive roles for women who pursue a higher education, Holzknecht said.
“We have some awesome female instructors tonight, who are helping to model that science is a great space,” she said.
GEMS Night Out was crafted after the huge success of the GEMS Fair last May. The free event was open to anyone interested and ended up drawing in over 400 people, Shawen said.
On Feb. 26, the next GEMS Night Out, Ms will be held with astronomy as the theme, titled Ms. Mars. The night will have a lesson and activity geared toward studying the stars and planets, a time to snack and an hour of swimming at the Wade King Recreation Center, according to the GEMS website.


Cultivating a love of reading at Seneca Central PS
Caption: A parent volunteer works with a student to sound out words
Seneca Central Public School is on a mission to instill its students with a love of books and reading. It’s doing so by working with technology and other resources, and building a community of support to turn beginner readers into lifelong bibliophiles.
From enhancing levelled reading libraries to supporting struggling readers with individualized support to creating an atmosphere where reading is shared and celebrated, the school’s administration, staff, and volunteers have been working tirelessly to bring a variety of opportunities to the school.
“Staff and students participate in guided reading groups to share understanding and develop reading comprehension strategies, and levelled resources allow teachers and students to select just the right books,” said Seneca Central PS Principal Caitlin McVean. “This helps set students up for success.”
In an age where technology is everywhere, Seneca Central’s teachers know how important it is for students to be able to access electronic resources. All classes at Seneca Central are using Kurzweil, an assistive technology program, to help students access online and print reading materials that might otherwise be above their reading levels. Staff and students are also accessing eBooks and educational websites to further promote reading and enhance classroom learning.
“During Black History Month, students were able to listen to eBooks as part of their research,” said McVean. “That allows students with different learning styles to still find that love of reading.”
In addition to regular classroom reading programs, Seneca Central PS is fortunate to have a wonderful network of parent and grandparent volunteers who work with students to develop early reading strategies as well, creating a whole-community of support.
By providing variety in how students access the printed word, Seneca Central PS is embracing Grand Erie’s motto of Success for Every Student, and unlocking potential by diversifying its strategies for reaching younger readers.


Inspection & Maintenance Certification for Stormwater Control Measures in Ohio
As development occurs, communities across Ohio require stormwater control measures (SCMs) to be installed to remove pollutants from stormwater runoff and mitigate flooding. These facilities are often installed and forgotten. Due to the lack of maintenance, SCMs will not provide their intended benefits, potentially flood urban areas, contribute to stream bank erosion and loss of real estate and allow pollutants to enter our waterways without treatment.
More importantly, these failures cost landowners more to repair then if they had performed consistent inspections and maintenance. Most communities rely heavily on the private sector to maintain these stormwater control measures. This course will provide an overview about how SCMs function and the maintenance required to ensure safety and functionality over the long-term.
Recently, there is a push to educate and certify landscapers, property managers and other service providers to build a knowledgeable workforce that can confidently inspect and perform maintenance on stormwater facilities. Additionally, municipal employees from service and park departments are expected by the regulators to inspect and maintain their own SCMs. These staff typically has the foundational skills and equipment necessary to transition to providing SCM inspection and maintenance services.
The Ohio State University Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Summit Soil and Water Conservation District have developed a curriculum based on Ohio maintenance standards and design specifications for Storm water Control Measures. This course was developed to educate and train a workforce to fill this growing niche. This certifying course will give your employees the required knowledge to confidently identify the SCM, inspect the facility, develop reports, make recommendations to solve common maintenance issues, and carry out the maintenance.
This 2 day course involves classroom modules on each SCM approved for use in Ohio, conducting realistic inspections of SCMs in a field-learning portion, and an exam to get certified. Participants will receive resources to assist with the classroom modules, and learn the basics about Ohio SCM specifications and their inspections.
Course Objectives: Attendees will be able to...
- identify different SCMs and how they function
- identify common deficiencies or issues and make corrective measures
- document issues and maintenance activities performed
- monitor vegetation and manage undesirable vegetation
- identify appropriate maintenance frequency
- communicate with the local agency and provide proficient reports
- identify ways to lessen maintenance cost
Upon completion of the course and successfully passing the exam, the attendee will be awarded a certification and a personal certification number from The Ohio State University. The certification will be good for 3 years, expiring on December 31st of the third year. To maintain certification, a certified individual is required to attend a sponsored refresher course offered by Summit Soil and Water Conservation District and Ohio State University. This refresher course will provide updates to the on changes to Ohio standards and new developments in maintenance techniques. The cost of this certifying course is $200.00. There are no annual fees or membership dues. The course registration forms and list of certified companies are available below.


Viewpoint: A New Equation
My intent in so brashly taking on one of the lingering pillars of basic elementary education is neither to be unduly confrontational nor impishly irresponsible. I am not seeking to wrap myself in the banner of radical reformers nor to stir up the fundamentalists. Rather, my purpose is to raise an issue that is not going to disappear. It's an issue that must be discussed openly and honestly and then resolved swiftly and clearly if we are to realize our aspirations for truly worldclass schools.
First, let's clarify exactly what is being proposed. This is not about reducing emphasis on one-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. These facts and the self-confidence that comes with their mastery are more important than ever. Nor is this about abandoning computation, which remains an indispensable part of the mathematics program, so long as it is done mentally, with a calculator, or via estimates. It is about the formal, paper-and-pencil computational algorithms that constitute the core grade school mathematical experiences of most American youngsters. It's about mindless procedures such as "carrying threes into the tens column,'' "six times seven is 42, put down two and carry the four,'' and "eight from two, can't do, cross out the five, make it a four, and borrow 10.'' It's also about memorized rules-- such as "yours is not to reason why, just invert and multiply''--that, for most students, meaninglessly enter one ear and leave the other.


James Scales is Head of Education at the Centre for Social Justice.
The skills shortage in our labour market is one of the gravest threats to our country’s prosperity. Supercharged by technological innovation, the world economy is redefining the contours of economic success and we must find a secure place in this new terrain – both to enable social mobility and to thrive more generally.
Invariably, our most disadvantaged pupils have the most to gain from addressing our skills deficit. These individuals perform significantly worse in GCSE English and Mathematics than their better–off peers and, all too often, they later find themselves trapped in low-skill, low-wage jobs. And poor access to careers advice harms this cohort of individuals the most because they have far less social capital to cushion them. We know that education is one of the most effective routes out of poverty, but to catalyse meaningful change it must prepare children for the world of work.
The Government recently announced that it would spend £16 million over two years to boost the quality of post-16 maths teaching and prompt higher uptake of the subject.
This should be warmly welcomed. In a more technological labour market, employees need a firmer grasp on numbers and the ability to understand data. This does not mean we all need to be maths experts, but it does mean we need to be more numerate. In most other advanced economies, it is normal for pupils to study maths until they are 18.
But our skills headache does not end there. Basic skills are necessary to do most jobs well – and to gain entry onto good academic and technical courses. Yet more than a quarter (around nine million) of all working aged adults in England have low literacy and/or numeracy skills. England lags the OECD average for numeracy by some margin. In 2016, under two thirds of pupils achieved A*-C in GCSE English, while the figure for maths dropped by 2.3 percentage points. And employers routinely highlight problems with basic skills among school leavers.
There should also be a more seamless interface between the specific skills we possess and those that employers need. In 2015, nearly a third of workers did not hold suitable qualifications for the jobs they were doing. The UK is particularly short on digital skills and the health, software development and cyber security sectors, among others, report problems hiring suitable candidates.
Sound technical education could help plug our skills gap, but it is a pale shadow of its prestigious, more coherent and better nourished academic cousin. There are too many low-level technical qualifications that have little currency in the labour market. There is not enough cross-pollination between the education sector and employers. And careers advice must be dramatically improved so that pupils know what their options are and how to realise their goals – the number of young people who received careers advice or work experience halved between 1997 and 2007, and continued to fall in the last ten years.
By introducing T-levels, prioritising apprenticeships and allowing specialist free schools such as the Kings College London Mathematics School to thrive, the Government has indicated that it is serious about weaving more robust skills into our education system. In the years ahead, it must build on this to ensure that our education system is fit for purpose.


Third through twelfth grades
Bob Raczka has studied art and worked at an advertising agency. He decided to pursue a more creative career and became a children’s author. He has written several art books for children. His introduction in this book gives defining information on the characteristics of portraits.
2007 ALA Notable Children’s Book Award
This book gives biographical information and shows self-portraits of sixteen different artists. Some of the portraits are humorous, and include elements that are playful. In the self-portrait of Norman Rockwell, there are seven self-portraits plus those of four other artists. This painting is of Norman Rockwell painting himself looking into a mirror so he can paint himself.
National Art Education Standards:
Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes
Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas
Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others
The illustrations in this book consist of photographs of different self-portraits done by various artists. Each two page spread contains a full page photograph of the portrait with biographical information on the artist on the opposing page.
Important access features of this book include an introduction and photo credits.
Raczka uses an informal and conversational tone when writing. The biographical information also includes points to notice about each portrait, which draws the reader to study each portrait more closely.
Use in My Classroom:
I would use this book as a part of different artists studies. Another use would be incorporate writing and art, by having students create their own self-portrait and write a short biography to go with it.
My Response to the Book:
I loved this book. Raczka approaches the self-portrait as a way to look into the artist’s mind to see how they viewed themselves. By comparing different artists’ self-portraits, each painting evokes different emotions. Reading the biographical information also gave insight as to events that impacted the artist and their self-image.
Other art books by Bob Raczka:
No One Saw: Ordinary Things through the Eyes of an Artist
More Than Meets the Eye: Seeing Art with All Five Senses
Unlikely Pairs: Fun with Famous Works of Art
Art Is …
3-D ABC: A Sculptural Alphabet
Fourteen Works of Art


There are two main approaches to teaching children to read. Phonics, involves teaching children to recognise combinations of characters and establish the meanings of words based on combining them. The other involves children working out the meaning of the whole words in context.
Studies consistently show that phonics works far better than whole word recognition, but it hasn’t stopped fifty years of controversy about the method.
The written word is a visual code for the spoken word. Teaching children to make use of the alphabetic structure of words is now considered a necessary step for them to become skilled in reading.
When children are beginning to learn to read, they know the meanings of many more words that they hear and say than of the words they can pronounce on a page.
The strong advantage of knowing how phonics works is that it enables the reading of words not before seen. The meaning is understood once it has been pronounced, if it is a word in the child’s vocabulary, and is amenable to such translation.
This strategy relieves children of the daunting task of trying to remember every new word as a new shape, or of trying to second-guess the author based upon the meaning of the sentence surrounding the difficult word.
Once firm on this primary decoding strategy, children can be challenged with words more opaque to phonic analysis. However, about 80% of English words have sufficient regularity to be decoded in this sound/symbol manner.
Phonics teaching needs to be systematic to ensure an impact on all children.
Some children grasp phonics principles readily, and can then self-teach many of the associated skills when engaged in large amounts of reading.
Others need far more assistance, both in intensity and duration.
Synthetic phonics involves first teaching the letter sounds, and how to blend them together to make words.
The alphabet is introduced systematically, though not necessarily in the traditional order, and includes sufficient practice to ensure the vital sound/symbol associations are firmly established.
These activities are scheduled separately to other language activities such as listening to a teacher read a story.
The alternative, sometimes promoted as phonics within a “balanced” literacy program, has been shown to be hit and miss. When the cues to phonics principles are only presented informally while reading stories, too many children fail to establish and maintain the connections that systematic teaching achieves.
Apart from the findings of the US 2000 National Reading Panel, there are countless studies supportive of the synthetic phonics approach.
One famous study was conducted in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. Children were taught reading using synthetic phonics and in the national reading testing at age 11, the Clackmannanshire students were three years ahead of the national average.
This method of teaching is now mandated for students across Britain under its 2006 Primary National Strategy , though many teachers remain resistant to its implementation.
Phonics is only one necessary element, and other components such an awareness of the sounds in a word, comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary also need to be addressed if beginning readers are to progress to skilled levels. This was made clear in the US National Reading Panel report.
Unfortunately, the many empirical studies that have begun to influence policy in Great Britain and the US are yet to have an impact on Australia’s education systems.
Our 2005 National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy was quite unambiguous in its support for systematic, synthetic phonics instruction for beginning readers.
However, an intransigent education industry including education bureaucracies, teacher education faculties, teacher unions, and literacy educator groups has fought successfully to ensure that few of the recommendations of the reviews mentioned are evident in classrooms throughout Australia.
Further, teacher training has not equipped teachers with the knowledge and skills required to teach literacy effectively to all children.
There is an unacceptably high rate of poor literacy in our community. According to the ABS in 2007, almost 50% of Australians aged from 15-74 years are unable to participate fully in our society because of literacy difficulties.
If we are to have an impact on this figure we need to draw upon the findings of empirical research, and to overcome a tendency to be guided by gurus, zealots, social movements, and fads.
When evidence-based practice becomes the norm in education, early phonics instruction will play an important part in ensuring that all children have a better opportunity to develop strong literacy skills. It is literacy that underpins the complex higher order skills needed to flourish in our modern society.


Members of the U.S. Senate will work toward revamping the education law known as No Child Left Behind.
It’s a reauthorization of the landmark Elementary and Secondary Elementary Education Act of 1965 passed by Lyn- don Johnson.
According to Johnson, “full educational opportunity should be our first national goal.”
The ESEA offered new grants to districts serving low-income students, Federal grants for text and library books.
It also created special education centers and created scholarships for low-in- come college students.
The law provided Federal grants to state education agencies to improve the quality of elementary and secondary education.
The revision of President George W. Bush’s signature 2001 education law passed and allowed states to evaluate teachers and fix educational problems in struggling schools.
Teachers will no longer be measured on student’s test scores and schools will no longer be penalized if yearly progress isn’t made.
Congress has been unable to find common ground since 2007 when NCLB expired.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan called ‘NCLB’ “tired and prescriptive.” He declared the law’s central require- ment should stand.
The act focused on improving teacher and principal effectiveness, providing in- formation to help families evaluate their children’s schools, and implementing college and carrer ready standards.
For more information visit to ed.gov or nochildleftbehind.com.


An Iowa woman’s experience with gardening growing up and a desire to help her sister has led to research in producing cancer drugs from common plants. Jackie Shanks, a native of Granger, was a graduate student in California in the late 1980s when she learned her sister had the disease. Shanks says she went to the library to find out about chemotherapy drugs. She says she learned about vinblastine and vincristine which is used for lymphomas and comes from the leaves of plants. She says the plants produce a very low yield of the drugs, making them very expensive. Shanks, who is now a professor of chemical engineering at Iowa State University, decided to work with plants even though she had not plant background.She says she grew up helping her mother Anna Vanni in their three-acre garden and so even though she had no formal training in plant biology, she went ahead with the research. Shanks’ work with root cultures of periwinkle plants studying the 30 step process used to produce the vital drugs. She says they’re making progress. She says they’ve been able to produce in a tissue culture system a compound that’s six steps away from the two cancer drugs. She says they’ve made a lot of progress, but are still a long ways away from their research goal. Shanks says it could still be years before they are able to make the drugs in larger quantities. One goal has been achieved as her sister who was the original inspiration for the research is fully recovered. She says her sister is cancer free and now has two children and is an accomplished elementary education teacher. Shanks says she has some molecular biology tools available now that weren’t available when she started, and that should help her research.
You are here: / / ISU uses love of plants to research cancer drugs


Designed to be a starting point for schools when they have new arrivals before personalisation can happen using the talking tools the resource vault is an invaluable resource. This month we have uploaded to the Education resource vault.
Continents Poster for Geography in Bengali, Chinese Cantonese, Chinese Mandarin, Dutch, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hebrew, Italian, Kurdish, Latvian, Nepali, Romanian, Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Turkish and Urdu
Food Chains producers to consumers – a poster showing the different types of producers and consumers for learning in science arenas. These can now be found in the resource vault choose by subject, then choose Science and look for the languages you need or alternatively choose one of the languages below and find it under Food chains producers to consumers. The languages are; Bengali, Chinese Cantonese, Chinese Mandarin, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Nepali, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Turkish and Urdu.
Human Body Workbook – A workbook for teachers to choose the pages that are relevant to them spanning various levels and depth. Ideal for Science and PE with posters and activities to complete. The first languages available are Latvian, Polish, Urdu.
Maths resource sheets – a small booklet showing maths basics shapes and number in the following languages; Bengali, Cornish, Estonian, Finnish, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene and Welsh.
Welcome Booklet – great for new arrivals for teachers to personalise by using the pages suitable for their school. Starting with the school details and times, information about the staff and a timetable, School uniform with a choice of colours red, blue, green and yellow. It moves onto the PE Kit, Food in school and eating healthily and safety information. New languages uploaded are; Chinese Cantonese, Chinese Mandarin, Hungarian, Kurdish, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Turkish and Urdu. They can be found under PSHE
Storyboards for literacy – a mix of rhymes to support children’s literacy development in two more additional languages German and Latvian can now be found in the PSHE part of the resource vault.
And finally Environment types for Geography in Gujarati to complement the other languages already available.
Get all these and more for £129.00 per year. No additional payments for monthly updates.
Contact us at email@example.com or 0845 009 4939 for more details or current offers.


Top 10 Resources on Early Literacy Development
- How Does Your Child Hear and Talk?
Every child is unique and has an individual rate of development. This chart represents, on average, the age by which most children will accomplish skills in hearing, understanding, and talking.
- Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association offers these age-appropriate ways that parents can engage their young children to help develop speech and language abilities.
- Literacy Milestones: Birth to Age 3
Identifying a reading problem is a challenge without a sense for what typical literacy development looks like. Find out what language accomplishments are typical for most children from birth to age three.
- The Roots of Reading
Hosted by Fred Rogers, The Roots of Reading looks at the earliest stages of literacy in such locations as a baby speech lab and a Head Start center. The show examines how parents, childcare providers, and kindergarten teachers can get children started on the road to literacy. This program is part of our PBS Launching Young Readers series about how children learn to read, why so many struggle, and what we can do to help.
- Parent Reading Tips
A child's success as a reader begins much earlier than the first day of school. Reading, and a love for reading, begins at home. Our one-page Parent Tips offer easy ways for parents of babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergartners to help their kids become successful readers. (in English and 10 other languages).
- Environmental Print
Letters are all around us! Here are some ideas to use print found in your everyday environment to help develop your child's reading skills.
- Get Ready to Read: Screening Tool
"Get Ready to Read" is a free, research-based, and easy-to-use screening tool. It consists of 20 questions that parents and caregivers can ask a four-year-old to see if he or she is on track for learning how to read.
- Advocating for Your Preschool Child
It's never too early to start looking for ways to help your child succeed in learning. This article covers children who are under 2 and who are in pre-school. They have rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Find out the first steps to take if you suspect your child has difficulty learning.
- From Babbling to Books
In this one-hour professional development webcast, Todd R. Risley, Sharon Landesman Ramey, and Julie Washington discussing research-based strategies for developing language and pre-reading skills in young children.
- Research on Early Literacy and Preschool
Browse our library of selected research studies that investigate issues important to early literacy and preschool, including evidence of the effect of quality preschool on school readiness and characteristics of quality pre-K programs.


The public art for the South Regional Library consists of a single, large, stacked form reminiscent of familiar log-built agricultural structures. At roughly 17 feet out of the ground and 8 feet by 9 feet, the sculpture is composed of stacked earthcast “slabs” that taper at the outside edges to create deep shadow lines and visually lighten the mass of the piece. The horizontal elements are individually cast of steel reinforced concrete in dug North Carolina “red” clay molds and thereby are visually connected to the land of Durham County — the Lowe’s Grove community, in particular, and its long agricultural history.
Titled “Stephen’s Bent,” the sculpture intentionally makes overt the connection to Stephen Lowe, the 18th Century patriarch of the Lowe family for whom the area (Lowe’s Grove) is named. A mason by trade, the piece refers specifically to an early structure built on what is now County land where the library stands. This early structure was a one-room school which speaks loudly of the Lowe’s Grove community’s commitment to education and which established on the land the first of many educational buildings of which South Regional Library is most recent. The word “Bent” refers to tobacco barn parlance in which a bent is a “room,” or subdivision of a tobacco barn containing a certain number of tobacco “sticks” holding tobacco leaves for drying.
The location of the piece on the site connects to both the vehicular audience traveling north and south on Alston Avenue as well as the visitors of the library who primarily come and go via the parking lot to the south. The sculpture is designed to be part of the overall library landscape composition, but also appear to have its own space and its own geometry similar to tobacco barns in large agricultural fields.
South Regional Library replaces the Parkwood Library that closed in June 2010. To unite the old community with the new, the concrete slabs were cast in earth containing soil from both Parkwood and the new Lowe’s Grove site.
Stephen’s Bent was installed on July 14, 2010.
About the Artist
Thomas Sayre has designed and built public art projects all over the world and has been part of the design team for civic, educational, and museum buildings. He, along with architect Steve Schuster, is a founding principal of the Raleigh-based design firm, Clearscapes. He has collaborated to produce lighting, furniture, terrazzo floors and specialty surfaces.
Growing up in the shadow of Washington National Cathedral, Thomas’ early art education, and his love and respect of natural materials, came from the stonecutters and the Cathedral. His education continued at St. Albans School, University of North Carolina, University of Michigan and Cranbrook Academy of Art.
While occasionally producing “studio” pieces, most of his efforts are focused in the public arena. It is here where the idea of producing art intersects with the realities of life. The art will work only when disparate opinions come together through collaboration to form a coherent vision.
Mr. Sayre continues to work actively as a sculptor with commissioned work in various collections spanning between Boston; Sacramento; San Francisco; Colorado; Tucson; Perth, Australia; Istanbul, Turkey; and Hong Kong. He has exhibited his work in a number of private galleries, as well as the North Carolina Museum of Art, the St. John’s Museum, the Waterworks Gallery, and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.
Stephen’s Bent was made possible by a generous donation from the C. M. Herndon Foundation to Durham Library Foundation.
The artwork is in memory and honor of Mary D. Herndon.


Presentation on theme: "Lets think…! Discuss… How can a business make money? = 5mins."— Presentation transcript:
Lets think…! Discuss… How can a business make money? = 5mins
TOPIC TITLE:Topic 5: Operations Management LESSON TITLE:Revenue COMPETENCY FOCUS: Key Skills (L5): you will be able to develop your numeracy skills to calculate financial transactions of a business and to interpret financial data. Learning Objectives By the end of the lesson, you should be able to… LO1) To identify the different sources of revenue for a business (Gui-Reg) LO2) To calculate total revenue using the correct formulae (Reg-Str) LO3) To analyse the importance of revenue for a business (Adv)
Revenue Revenue can come from more than one source. The table below shows the revenue received by Manchester Utd year ended 30 June 2008. Source£ (000) Gate receipts (Premier League)55,274 Gate receipts (cup matches)27,000 Sponsorship/corporate hospitality60,000 Media/broadcasting40,329 Merchandising18,080 Other8,235 TOTAL ?
Revenue Revenue = the total amount of money received from selling goods/services. Sometimes known as turnover or sales revenue.
Sources of Revenue Revenue is the money coming in to the business. It is also referred to as income. A business revenue can come from: Sales of goods and services Leasing a part of the building to another person who pays you rent Interest from savings in a bank account
Calculating Revenue Revenue is calculated by multiplying the amount of goods sold by the price it is sold for. Revenue = quantity x price
Calculating Revenue Revenue = quantity x price For example: if West Bromwich Albion sold 100 season tickets for their South Stand at £798 each; that would be Revenue = 100 x £798 Revenue = £79,800
Task 1 Calculate the revenue for the following businesses: 1)Sofa.com sells 640 sofas at an average price of £740 each. 2)Sandra, a mobile hairdresser, styles 35 peoples hair, charging them £30 each. 3)Hull city FC sells 100 adult season tickets for £450 each, 20 family season tickets for its west stand at £410 each, 2,500 adult south end tickets at £400 each and 50 child season tickets at £410 each.
Task 3 Frankie Gerard wants to set up his own salon. In anticipation of a meeting with his bank manager, Frankie arranges a meeting with you (his Financial Consultant) as he is unsure about the different types of revenue he can expect to receive through the new salon. Your task is to prepare some meeting notes in preparation for your meeting with Frankie. Your notes should include: -A definition of revenue -The different ways Frankie will generate most of his revenue -The formula for calculating revenue


Small Group Instruction How to give small group instruction within the larger framework of the urban art classroom.
â€˘ How do I divide instruction to create a class within a class?
Plan Of Action
• Room Layout • Project Division • Small Group Set Up
â€˘ Research took place on teacher websites, interviews with educators, and books on the subject of Middle School art education.
Themes that surfaced through the process of designing my idea: process of designing my idea: process of designing my idea: process of designing my idea: 1.Separate stations within the classroom. 2.Using multiple learning strategies within the different stations.
3.Student based learning and student based assessment.
4.Physical classroom organization.
Brainstorming and reflection can happen anywhere! ( In the car while waiting outside my daughterâ€™s gymnastics studio :)
How might I design my room to facilitate small group instruction within the larger class size? I created a prototype of the room set-up so I could work hands-on with the physical aspect of my idea.
Prototype of division of instruction:
I conducted an informal interview with my VicePrincipal Mr.Swinton. He gave me the â€œthumbs upâ€? on attempting smaller group instruction. He gave me some helpful tips and let me know he would offer any support necessary.
Assessing Success • Increased Student Engagement • Decreased Classroom Disturbances
• Increased Project Quality • Increased Learning • Improved Student/Teacher Relationship
Moving Forward • I will continue to integrate new learning techniques into my stations.
• I will initiate more student choice within the stations.
• I will collaborate with other teachers for cooperative learning between our classrooms.
• I will incorporate more technology into the learning.


Level: K-2 Art Education Lesson Plan
Art Elements: Texture
Art Skills: Fine motor, Tearing, Gluing
Art History: Van Gogh
* Get more free lessons like this, on our Lessons Page
This lesson is one of my favorites for many reasons. Each piece of artwork turns out very different, even with the same directions. Students have so much fun adding real textures like sunflower seeds and tissue paper to the artwork. This lesson also addresses so many important fine motor skills such as cutting, gluing, tearing, and writing. You won’t be disappointed trying this lesson! There are so many versions of Van Gogh Sunflower lessons out there, but with this unique take, you will feel like it’s the first time you’ve seen or done this lesson or one like it.
This great Art Ed lesson plan is 100% FREE to download! Use it in your classroom and share with your colleagues. For more free lessons like this one, visit our Lessons Page and download them all!


Creative curriculum topics 2015-2016
Literacy and Numeracy lessons are taught in the mornings in all classes. The school uses letters and sounds to help children aquire their phonic skills and a range of levelled reading books from different schemes are used.
We aim to inspire children through our Creative curriculum, using a fresh topic each half term to enable pupils to develop and apply their core literacy and numeracy skills through engaging theme-based lessons, activities and trips. As well as subject specific skills we focus on broader personal development and skills: initiative, reflection, resilience, relationships, resourcefulness and risk taking. We encourage our children to become independent thinkers and learners, giving them the opportunity to explore and discover knowledge and information for themselves, using self selected resources and their preferred learning style. Each class will have it's own topic plan. Click below to see our curriculum overview:


Our children are all so different and interesting! Involuntarily start thinking, "What did he become ... What profession choose? "Maybe you grow future artist who dreams of a scene?
In the studio, "Bravo" all the dreams come true!
Musical-theater training played a huge role in the upbringing and development of children. Music education develops imagination, imagination, an ear for music and self-expression. These and other qualities with patience and love develops in children reveals the musical director of the studio - Nona Zeks.
On music lessons children develop a voice and an ear for music, learn to sing a variety of songs.
Program in children's music studio is aimed at:
- Fostering a sense of rhythm, music and rhythmic memory
- Music lessons take place in the following sequence:
- Music in the warm-up game form (breathing exercises).
- Children receive skill proper singing breath, recite sounds to develop his speech.
- Singing. Children learn not pronounce, and sung sounds and syllables and rebuilt by a speech-language song.
- Study of songs (listen, then sung melody rattle rhythm).
- Songs with movements (gross motor development).
- Playing musical instruments (bells, sticks, maracas, tambourines


Metamorphosis and movement are imbedded in this strange painting by Willem de Kooning.
What are these things in the painting? They move with agility like sharks swimming through the gold background.
Uncomfortably constructed from human parts they seem to stretch, break apart and reform on the golden surface.
Black charcoal lines incised over the oil paint separate the forms and define the space around them.
The title of the work is ‘Pink Angels’ however, the painting is almost certainly inspired by Titian’s painting ‘Diana and Actaeon’ (National Gallery). Where Actaeon discovers the stunning, naked, Goddess Diana at her ‘toilette’.
Actaeon, a young prince, has finished a successful hunt in the forest when he wanders alone through the trees. He catches the sound of female laughter mingled with the tinkling of falling water. Drawn by an overwhelming sense of curiosity he struggles through the undergrowth. Pushing through ferns Actaeon catches sight of Diana’s immortal beauty, instantly insuring his hideous demise.
All the efforts of Diana’s nymphs to cover her nakedness are just too late. It’s done, he”s seen her!
In the next moment the goddess scoops up a handful of water from the stream that she’s bathing in and throws it over Acteon’s head.
”Tell, if you can, how you saw me naked!”
As the water seeps through his hair, panic flashes through to his body. Instantly a rack of antlers cracks from of Actaeon’s skull. His arms stretch and legs elongate into the long slender legs of a dear. Actaeon rushes from the cave not sure where to go. With a mind that is still human he’s unsure what to do! Should he hide in the forest or rush back to the palace? As he dashes in terror through the forest, his dogs catch his animal scent. They descend upon him (not knowing it’s their master) and they tear him apart.
Willem de Kooning had had a formal art education in Holland before he famously stowed away on a ship bound for America. He was certainly aware of Titian’s painting. Pink Angels uses the left hand part of Titians work as a starting point. If you look closely at the de Kooning’s piece you can find two eyes in the bottom righthand corner, surely indicating Actaeon’s presence. This work hovers at the edges of abstraction, a metamorphosis that will gradually engulf Willem de Kooning along with the other Abstract Expressionists.
Pink Angels is at “Abstract Expressionism” at the Royal Academy till 2nd January 2017


As experts at the Concordia University in Montreal say, it shows that at the age of 6-8 music education interacts with the growth rate of motor skills in children, causing long-term changes in the brain.
“Learning a musical instrument requires synchronization between the movements of the hands and the received audiovisual stimuli,” explains the lead researcher of the study and professor of psychology Virginia Penhune. “The earlier a child starts music lessons, the better the connection between motor skills and sensory areas of the brain will be”.
With the help of imaging techniques, the researchers studied the brain of 36 musicians during the execution of (non-musical) motor skills exercises. The musicians were
divided into two groups: those who had started to learn music before the age of seven and those who had started later. The study included another group of volunteers who had never learned music.
The results showed that volunteers who had begun to learn music early showed greater accuracy in synchronizing their movements than the others. The brain scans revealed white matter accumulated in corpus, a bundle of nerve fibers which connect the motor regions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain.
In contrast, tests of the volunteers who started learning music later and those who had never learned music did not show any difference in the development of specific areas of the brain. This, as the researchers say, could mean that these changes can take place either at an early age or never.
Of course, the scientists emphasize that it does not mean that if a small child begins to learn music, he will necessarily become a great composer of classical music.
“These findings suggest that those who early start learning music gain some skills and changes in certain brain regions that last for a lifetime,” explains Dr. Penhune. “That does not necessarily mean that they will become better musicians than others. Musical performances require skills, as well as communication, enthusiasm, personal style, and many other non-estimable qualities. Learning a musical instrument at an early age could help the expression of genius, but it does not automatically make us music geniuses.”
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Hey! Welcome back to the Getting Started With Homeschooling series! If you are just joining us for the first time, you might want to check out How to homeschool and where to start. Last time we talked about What You Need to Know About Creating Your Homeschooling Schedule. Today we’re going to continue on with that topic by looking at how to figure out exactly what you need to teach in a year.
This can be a pretty complex question to answer as a broad and general question. However, for your individual needs, you can have a pretty simple answer. You need to find out what the legal requirements are for the area that you live in.
Depending on your country, there can be several ways to go about doing this. You can contact your local school board and ask them about the requirements for your area. However, if they aren’t very informed (or very supportive) the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has a fantastic website where you can find online resources to find out what the requirements are in your particular area.
Some places have very strict regulations about what subjects (and what topics within those subjects) need to be taught in a particular year. And other areas, have few to no regulations at all. The most important thing in determining what to teach it to know what your legal requirements are.Do you know what your homeschooler is supposed to be learning? Click To Tweet
Again, what you need to teach will guide your planning. Your choices can be pretty easy if you live in a highly controlled area where every topic and subtopic are predetermined for you. You just need to pick how you are going to cover those areas.
If your district is less restrictive, trying to figure out what you are supposed to be teaching can be a bit more confusing. Something that I have found very helpful over the years is to look at the table of contents for curriculum that are at the right age or grade level for my child.
You can also refer to the requirement of more controlled districts. This will help you get an overall view of the learning as laid out by grade and age. It is important to connect with other homeschoolers in your area. This is a great way to learn what others have been doing and what the ins and outs are for where you live.
Furthermore, if you’re an American, Heather, from Special Needs Homeschooling has a great post covering all the State Law Requirements for Special Needs Homeschoolers.
Choosing how you are going to cover your mandated or chosen subjects and sub topics for the year is fun. It may be something that seems overwhelming when you first start homeschooling (or even later into your journey if you just don’t enjoy this kind of thing) but I personally LOVE this part.
Usually around April I start to begin dreaming about the next school year. It’s fun to dig through curriculum and see what is new, or what is popular. Usually by this time of year I have a good sense for what really worked well for the year, and what didn’t. Furthermore, I have ideas circling about what the next year could look like to make the days run more smoothly.
So, the next big decision is to choose what you are going to use for teaching (or not use depending on how you want to school).
If you haven’t done so already, check out the post about the importance of knowing about homeschooling styles. (You can read it here, Do you know what the best homeschooling style is?)
So, now it’s time to start dreaming! The sky is the limit. Think big and then we’ll narrow in from there. Take your major subjects and look at what is out there. Find resources or curriculum that speaks to you and excites you. Finding something that feels like the right fit for your child is also important.
If you need some ideas of inspiration, check out my Pinterest boards. I even have boards for each of the major school areas for elementary education. Don’t forget to follow me to stay up to date with all the new finds I come across!
I also have some sheets to help you organize your thoughts and research! Just enter your email address in the box below. Shortly after, you will the receive your password to access my free resource library.
Happy planning and I hope this helps you to enjoy this part of the journey. It’s certainly one of my favourite parts of the year. Stay tuned for our next post where we look at homeschooling books that every homeschooling parent should read! (Recommended by many of our fabulous followers!!!)


The Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, has awarded the Steinhardt School more than $1 million to study educational videos that aim to help young children with vocabulary development.
Research shows that children’s vocabulary knowledge is directly related to their reading achievement and literacy skills. In fact, the size of a child’s vocabulary at the end of first grade is a significant predictor of high school literacy skills.
While some children begin school with sizable vocabularies, others have much more limited knowledge. Differences in vocabulary are particularly profound among children from different socioeconomic groups.
“These differences in vocabulary persist throughout schooling, are linked to later reading skills, and may contribute to the ever-widening achievement gap,” said Susan B. Neuman, chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning at NYU Steinhardt and the study’s principal investigator.
Educational videos may help low-income preschoolers learn new vocabulary, but researchers stress that media must be evaluated to ensure that programs actually foster literacy development in children. In a pilot study, Neuman and her colleagues analyzed popular educational DVDs for preschoolers that included both educational and entertaining content. They found that the prevalence of vocabulary teaching moments varied considerably across the DVDs, suggesting that educational videos could vary in their ability to teach vocabulary.
“Despite their potential, not all educational media are created equal,” Neuman said.
The three-year IES grant, which begins Sept. 1, 2015, will fund several studies exploring how preschoolers’ vocabulary development and language comprehension are influenced by educational videos. The studies will take place in preschools in low-income Brooklyn neighborhoods.
The researchers will use a variety of methods, including eye-tracking technology to examine children’s visual attention and viewing behaviors when exposed to educational videos. The studies will define the features of educational media that support vocabulary development and language comprehension, establish how these features influence children’s engagement with educational media, and determine the extent to which manipulating these features supports vocabulary development and comprehension skills.
“By identifying the factors associated with educational media and determining the influence of these factors on children’s vocabulary and learning outcomes, our research will serve as an important step for interventions aimed at closing the achievement gap,” said Neuman.
Peter Halpin, assistant professor of applied statistics at NYU Steinhardt, will serve as co-investigator, along with collaborators from West Texas A&M University.
Image: © Fuse/thinkstock


Mrs. Anna Bents
Algebra Course Description
Algebra 1 is a full year course that will introduce students to algebraic concepts. This course is intended to build a foundation for all higher math classes. Students will study algebraic expressions, integers, variables, graphing, mathematical properties, quadratic equations, polynomials, and systems of equations. These topics will be covered in-depth through teacher instruction, group work, independent practice, projects, and technology.
You may access your textbook on-line. You will find a complete student edition, tutorial videos for each lesson full of examples, interactive practice with feedback, homework help, interventions and enrichment exercises, State test practice, calculator, etc. There are also resources for parents such as an Algebra refresher!!
Each student has been supplied with a password and username to access the textbook on line. If you do not have access to the internet I have a textbook which your child can check out.
DAILY LESSONS, ASSIGNMENTS, AND COURSE MATERIALS
Click on the link to my Google page. Students have access to all materials on Google Classroom.
Skyward is updated at least once a week. I email updates home every 2 weeks.
B.S. - Education, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Areas of Licensure: Mathematics (5-8)
Elementary Education (K-6)
Minor Athletic Coaching
Reading Specialist (K-12)
I have 12 years of teaching experience in both reading and math. I have taught many levels, elementary, middle school, and high school. This will be my third year at Fairmont Area Schools.


The problem with a one-size-fits-all curriculum is that it rarely does. Some students are bored because the work is too easy or repetitive; others are lost or lack foundational skills required for success. Some students need minimal practice to perfect a skill; others need more time than is usually available. (We seem content to give those students low grades and move along.)
One of the great promises of mobile learning is the potential to allow students to learn when and where they want, at a pace that is both comfortable and challenging. There is also the potential to allow students to take responsibility for their own learning. This involves much more than finding the time and place to work--it means understanding your strengths and your needs and challenging yourself to perform in order to improve your skills.
Wouldn't it be extraordinary if each student could find that sweet spot between comfortable and challenging and progress accordingly?
After observing just six weeks of fifth grade, I'm seeing that situation develop in Mr. Mitchell's classroom when it comes to math instruction. The students have a variety of tools at their disposal to supplement and extend the regular math curriculum (which is implemented largely through a district-wide adoption of Everyday Math). These tools include Khan Academy, IXL.com, Fast Facts, and recently Moby Math, all accessible through their class iPads and, significantly, through computers and mobile devices outside of the classroom.
There are two videos associated with this post. Together they give a compelling picture of math as it should be taught, from both the students' and the teacher's perspective.
In the first video, you'll see a remarkable conversation with three students who have been working at an accelerated pace in math. (There are others in that group, but only these three were available for an impromptu interview.) This is the first wave of such students--Mr. Mitchell made it clear to his students on the first day of class that his goal is to move everyone ahead as quickly as possible by paying careful attention to their needs and strengths and crafting programs that will get them there.
As in most cases, the fact that this program is working is a combination of technology and good pedagogy. It wouldn't be possible without technology, but the technology itself would do no good at all were it not for the thoughtful planning and prescriptive lessons and opportunities.
First, you'll hear from three students who have taken responsibility for their work and have developed an expert facility with the tools for learning. At 14 minutes it's a bit long, but it's worth listening to their comments about what works and what doesn't--and about the freedom to learn.
In the next video, Mr. Mitchell discusses the recent addition of Moby Math to his classroom tool chest. If you teach math, it's worth your time for his insights into how math can be taught to 28 students, all of whom are on different levels.


Digital Approach to Art Ed. Gains Momentum
Although digital media have become more common in art education, such forms of art are still new and many educators have yet to embrace them.
“I don't think that, in general, many schools have quite woken up to the revolution that is happening with video and other forms of digital art,” says David S. Gran, the art teacher at the Shanghai American School in China, a 2,600-student K-12 school for students from about 40 countries. “But I would say that they are mediums that are gaining momentum.”
Some educators may be hesitant to teach digital media simply because of a lack of familiarity with such approaches, says Melanie L. Buffington, an assistant professor of art education at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.
Because digital video as an art form is relatively new, it may not have been included in many art teachers’ training, she says.
“If it wasn't around when you were trained, you might not feel as knowledgeable as you are about paintings or sculptures,” Buffington says, and unless teachers seek out their own opportunities for professional development, they may not feel they have the skills to teach digital video.
Kristine Fontes, an art teacher at Union City High School in Pennsylvania, warns against the dampening effect such teachers can have on students.
“Many art teachers are stuck in the old-school curriculum of teaching the elements and principles of art via drawing, painting, and ceramics,” she says. “They unintentionally discourage many students who may not appear to be artistic—because they can only draw a stick figure—from taking art.”
Craig Roland, a professor of art education at the University of Florida and the creator of Art Education 2.0—a social-networking site for art educators—recognizes the tension between teachers who use more-traditional art materials in their classes and those who have welcomed new forms of expression.
“Artists have always been on the cutting edge of technology,” he says, citing tubes of paint, the pencil, and the camera as examples. “We’re using that technology to create meaning, to express ourselves, to communicate. We’re always looking for new ways to do that.”
‘Thinkers and Inventors’
But teaching traditional art is also very important, says Roland, and ultimately, he thinks the best approach is a combination of the new and the old.
“The more technologies and the more materials we can use in the classroom, the better the chances are that each child will find a medium to express themselves,” he says. And although digital media aren’t as widespread as other forms of art, Roland says he has noticed a steady increase in the number of teachers using digital animation and video.
While teachers such as David Gran and Kristine Fontes both agree that traditional and digital art complement each other and should be taught in tandem, they also think teaching students to make and critique digital media provides this generation of students with essential knowledge they will need whether or not they decide to pursue careers in art.
“Video certainly overshadows other art forms in the public arena,” says Gran. As a result, he argues, it’s important for his students “to develop critical-thinking skills about all the information that comes at [them] on a daily, if not hourly, basis from the mass media.”
Fontes agrees. “I am arming the students with the skills they will need to compete in a global workforce,” she says. “They are the thinkers and inventors of the future.”
Vol. 01, Issue 04
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Create successful practice, explore a composer's historical lifestyle, learn about modern composers, experience local performances - Musical Notes will enhance your music education and capture your imagination. Be Inspired!
At Jessica's Piano Studio, we love to combine music and learning. This is why we love Veritasium on Youtube. Veritasium is a science channel that uses experimentation to prove scientific points. Currently, they have over 1.2 million subscribers to their Youtube channel.
Occasionally, they use their platform for teaching purposes. This video explains the process and the outcome of atoms bonding. We thought some of our music students would enjoy this. You can also find several other
Jessica's Piano Studio
Teacher at Jessica's Piano Studio to many talented students! Here's some helpful tips and interesting information to create a wonderfully educational musical experience!


Samba: the sense of community in participatory music
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This ethnographic study examined the relationship between the sense of community and music education within the community of Santa Marta in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a public high school in New York City. Guided by Turino’s (2008) framework for participatory music making and McMillan and Chavis’s (1986) framework for the sense of community, the pedagogical and musical practices of Santa Marta were observed and analyzed to form a definition of a participatory music community. This definition was used to examine the impact of participatory practices on a samba ensemble within a New York City high school. The findings describe how participatory music education both influences and is influenced by the participants’ senses of community in both settings and explores applications of participatory music methods to school-based music, particularly within urban settings. Participatory characteristics were found to be imbedded in samba’s musical structure, including the repetition of rhythms, the simultaneous use of advanced and simplified patterns, and the flexibility of the size of the ensemble. Music events in Santa Marta often lacked artist-audience distinctions with situations of performance and learning occurring simultaneously. Decentralized group learning was found to be a pedagogical tool with information stored in the community’s memory. Inclusive pedagogies, which allowed players of various skill levels to perform together in the same ensembles, maximized participation in both sites. These characteristics created a pedagogical structure that addressed many of the identified challenges of urban school music and provided opportunities for active student engagement. This study presents a possible way forward for music education in urban settings, a path based on creating an inclusive educational environment. In schools where sequenced music programs, funding, and stabile student populations don’t exist, participatory music has the potential to create ways for students of varying skill levels to find a place in school music communities.


Talking, reading and writing about music is my straightforward way of thinking about the part music education can play in whole school literacy development. In my Aspects of Literacy blog (see https://jfin107.wordpress.com/2016/09/08/aspects-of-literacy-in-the-music-lesson/) I placed these activities outside of the medium of musical expression itself. They were presented as the means through which we can think about music. Talking about music, reading and writing about it as means of extending musical understanding. That was my line.
But of course talking and speaking, can become the music too, as can reading out loud, and are closely allied to what in music education we refer to as vocalisation, thought by many to be the most elemental source of musical cognition. Vocalisation is the term we use to encapsulate the myriad ways of using the voice musically.
Motherese, rhyming, chanting, rapping, singing, reciting and choral speaking, for example, are examples of culturally embedded modes of expressing the musical impulse and sources of making meaning.
At the close of my Aspects of Literacy blog I recommended talking to the English teacher. The english teacher will know a lot about language and literacy. My experience of such discussion highlights the complexity of finding common ground such are the differing perspectives of the English teacher and the Music teacher. However, I have found these discussions nearly always enriching.
I recently had the pleasure of adjudicating a primary school poetry speaking competition. Here was poetry coming alive involving movement and drama and learnt by heart. I was pleased to tell my English colleague, Gabrielle Cliff Hodges, about this leading to Gabrielle telling me about her trying the approach of choral reading within her subject.
The term choral reading is used to mean a reading in which multiple voices are ‘orchestrated’ in order to construct a reading of a poem. Gabrielle told me how English trainee teachers create poetry anthologies through a process of using their voices like musical instruments to create their readings of different poems. In coming to decide on how to read the poems, groups find themselves arguing about meanings and the range of vocal qualities that can be brought to bear. Human voices are used like musical instruments to create harmony or dissonance, rhythm or counterpoint, hence a choral reading.  Oh, and what about cadence?
All this reminds me of a way of working with vocal material in music lessons. We might call it orchestrating the song although that would imply the use of instruments. I have in mind song arrangement and not really the same as making a cover version.
The song/vocal material, as in the case of choral reading above, has meanings to be argued about alongside decisions to be made about the use of expressive devices in order to re-present it.
The song/vocal material is of course a form of poetry and we will have something to talk to our English colleagues about from the music teacher’s perspective. In turn listening to the English teacher will be instructive. And I know one school where time is allocated for perspectives to be shared and common understandings to evolve between music and English.
As is quite usual I am writing from a secondary music teacher’s perspective. How different must be the primary teacher’s perspective on all this. Or is it?
And do secondary school music teachers think of themselves as teachers of english? Ofsted expect music teachers to promote literacy in their lessons. But doesn’t this need to be handled with care even if ‘all teachers are teachers of english’.
I wonder, has my love of language come through my music? Anyway, wherever it came from I am grateful.
 Gabrielle describes the process in more detail in a forthcoming article due to be published later this year.


Kindergarten focuses on teaching children how to function in a school environment, helps children work on fine motor skills like their pencil grip -- which allows children to learn to write properly-- and works to ensure each child learns foundational skills in reading and math. By the time a child completes kindergarten, she will have spent significant time learning both social and academic skills that should enable her to advance successfully to first grade.
By the time a child completes kindergarten, she should know her street address, telephone number and parents' full names. The Scholastic website points out that this is a valuable safety precaution for times when she may be lost or need to contact you while she's away from you. A youngster should also be able to read, spell and write her own first and last name.
During the kindergarten year, students learn the correlation between the alphabet and sounds in words, according to the National Institute for Literacy. They should recognize that different letters blend together to make different words, each with different meanings. Graduating kindergarteners should be able to recognize at least 18 familiar words and they should understand that reading occurs by moving from left to right on a line, moving from top to bottom on a page.
Upon the completion of kindergarten, students should recognize and write numbers up to 20, according to the Great Schools website. The students should be able to count by both ones and tens up to 100 and should be able to complete addition and subtraction problems with sums up to 10. Students should also be able to identify basic shapes such as squares, circles and triangles by name.
Graduating kindergarteners should be able to listen, understand and follow both one- and two-step instructions, states the Michigan Department of Education. Students should be able to speak logically in fluent sentences, too. Students should also be able to follow rules, take turns, share willingly and focus on a lesson or a presentation for up to 20 minutes at a time. A child finishing kindergarten should also have the ability to formulate an opinion about a given subject and then state the opinion verbally or by drawing or writing a simple sentence (the sentence may have errors). These skills are important to learn in kindergarten because they enable them to spend more time on actual academics when they start first grade.
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