Stay in touch with all the Powerful Learning stories here.
Excited, empowered and eager to learn. Golden Hills aims to foster confident, creative and compassionate learners who make a difference in the world. This is what inspires teachers to create the best possible learning experiences for their students
What is Powerful Learning?
the design and implementation of learning experiences that foster Deep Understanding while developing core competencies designed to prepare students for future challenges. It incorporates lesson design, implementation, and assessment using strategic instruction.
leads students towards a deep understanding when they are inspired with a sense of “awe and wonder,” inspired to see and hear others’ perspectives, insights and questions, and make new connections. It occurs when learners are immersed in a culture of thinking and when the development of understanding is the primary goal of learning. This requires a growth mindset and habits of mind such as open-mindedness and persistence, as well as a thinking disposition, including critical and creative thinking.
encompasses the core competencies of creativity, communication, citizenship, critical thinking, and connecting and collaborating. Extracting information and solving complex problems is no longer enough. We need our students, the future leaders of tomorrow, to be able to raise questions, hold multiple ideas in their mind and be flexible. We need adaptive thinkers who see situations from multiple perspectives. To do this, our classrooms need to intentionally design learning and encourage students to be creative, critical thinkers and collaborative, compassionate learners. Powerful Learning incorporates the meaningful use of technology as a learning tool to access information, innovate and communicate.
incorporates the design and implementation of authentic, rigorous units of study based upon the curriculum, the integration of strategic instruction, as well as a focus on creating engaging learning environments and learning connections. It is the integration of all of these dimensions that supports deep understanding of curricular objectives and enables students to acquire a disposition for all learning, now and in their future.
What is the goal of Powerful Learning?
The ultimate goal of Powerful Learning is to design learning experiences that will enable our students to develop a Deep Understanding and for our students to grow, discover and change –change their thinking, change themselves, and help change the world.
Key Components of Powerful Learning
Powerful Learning is the design of learning experiences that facilitate deep student understanding. This design is clustered around three drivers: Strategic Instruction, Authentic Engagement and Connecting and Contributing. In order to ensure the development of deep understanding of the curriculum essentials, elements of Powerful Learning are woven throughout each driver. These essentials are foundational to the planning of lessons and instruction in Golden Hills, and are necessary to achieve Deep Understanding.
Strategic Instruction: The first driver, Strategic Instruction, incorporates high yield, evidence based strategies and practices designed to improve student learning. This component includes Assessment for Learning strategies, as well as strategies designed to foster thinking.
Authentic Engagement: The second driver, Authentic Engagement, defines how to set up the culture and environment to foster Powerful Learning. It includes how to create a sense of belonging and well-being, the role of a growth mindset and how to build a culture of thinking in our classrooms.
Connecting and Contributing: The third driver, Connecting and Contributing, describes the connections with oneself between students and teachers, students and students, students and their parents, and local and global communities. Relationships are the foundation of these connections as students extend their learning beyond the classroom.
Foundational Frameworks: Powerful Learning is dependent on foundational skills developed through a thinking approach that ensures deep understanding and an ability to transfer to new contexts (literacy, numeracy and technology).
Want to learn how to design Powerful Learning in your classroom? Check out the Designing Learning page.


Paula Rico is the Program Manager of Aprende Leyendo, a literacy initiative to enhance the reading and writing skills of children in disadvantaged communities in Colombia. She is responsible for the development and implementation of Dingo App- a digital learning tool preloaded with eBooks and literacy activities.
Paula has also been working at the World Literacy Foundation for the last two years as the Marketing and Communications Coordinator, contributing to the advocacy work of the organization to promote literacy as a human right around the globe.
Literacy, the pathway to sustainable peace in Colombia
The internal conflict in Colombia has impacted negatively children’s education. Affected children lack basic literacy and social skills needed to thrive in life. To reconstruct the country and achieve long-lasting peace, it is crucial to focus on literacy which is the foundation of learning and education.
The World Literacy Foundation is helping by merging technology and education to support vulnerable children. Dingo App is a digital learning tool that aims to develop their literacy skills and teaches English as a second language.
The internal conflict in Colombia has impacted negatively the child’s right to education and the school system. Some children were recruited into armed groups, teachers were displaced or killed, schools suffered damage to physical infrastructure. As a consequence, children lack basic literacy and social skills needed to thrive in life.
To reconstruct the country and achieve long-lasting peace, Colombia needs to close the education gap between urban and rural areas, the country is required to develop a secure education system. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on literacy which is the foundation of learning and education.
Low literacy rates and poor education affects health, welfare, gender equality, social cohesion, and work opportunities, which can lead to increased rates of poverty and violence.
Where to start?
Literacy development commences from an early age. Reading with children helps them to develop a solid literacy foundation which is essential to excel in school and life.
Unfortunately, many kids from disadvantaged backgrounds are not receiving the educational support they require. Children who grow up in low-income families enter school with substantially fewer words than their wealthier peers.
We can contribute to the solution!
The World Literacy Foundation is helping by merging technology and education to support vulnerable children in Colombia. Dingo App is a digital learning tool that aims to develop their literacy skills and teaches English as a second language.
The app has pre-loaded local tailored content that can be accessed for free and without the Internet to avoid connectivity issues in rural areas. The content created in collaboration with volunteers, partners and the children themselves, includes digital learning activities, videos, and e-books in both languages, Spanish and English. Additionally, the content has social messages to reinforce the importance of the sustainable development goals and prepare them to become global citizens.


Your digestive system – kidshealth – the web’s most, The digestive system breaks down the food you eat. learn how in this article for kids..
Digestive system – kidshealth – the web’s most visited, Digestive system problems. nearly everyone has a digestive problem at one time or another. some conditions, like indigestion or mild diarrhea, are common; they result.
Human digestive system – wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, In the human digestive system, the process of digestion has many stages, the first of which starts in the mouth (oral cavity). digestion involves the breakdown of.
Science for kids: the digestive system – ducksters, Kids learn more about the science of the human digestive system. how we turn food into energy for our bodies..
The digestive system diagram, organs, function, and more, Just how do we digest our food? webmd explains the digestive system, from the top to bottom..
Stomach and intestines – diseases of the digestive system, There are times when the gastrointestinal tract fails to carry out its normal digestive function. the resulting indigestion, or dyspepsia.
Digestive system -human body for kids-how body works, Visit http://www.makemegenius.com or http://www.mysciencevideos.com,best science education websites. human digestive system starts working even before you.
Anatomy of the digestive system: click for pictures, Anatomy involved in crohn disease the digestive system is made up of the digestive tract, which is a long series of organs, including the esophagus, the stomach, the.
Smoking and the digestive system – national institute of, What is the digestive system? does smoking increase the risk of cancers of the digestive system? what are the other harmful effects of smoking on the.


Our Grades 2-4 Primary Program is a vital part of your child’s education. In order to help your child blossom and grow, Pear Tree is an independent elementary school that balances teaching new skills with strengthening the foundations established in our Early Years program.
Grades 2-4 Primary Program
Your child will develop student and life skills, including organization, effort, determination and resilience. By improving upon these social and emotional skills, Pear Tree Elementary is able to transition your child from small projects to more sophisticated ones which require increased collaborative work and commitment.
Beside this, we introduce our Outdoor Education program in which your child will experience learning in a new environment for a prolonged period of time with their classmates. We also begin our French language program. The Grades 2-4 Primary Program will continue using traditional learning methods, but will also experience an increased use of technology, including iPads.
Through Pear Tree’s Primary Program, your child will become increasingly aware of who they are, of the world around them, and of the connection between the two. As a result, it is an exciting time for students, teachers and parents alike!
Primary goals are to develop:
- Numeracy skills through problem solving and application
- Multiple literacies skills: written, visual, aural, and physical
- Public speaking and presentation skills
- Basic teamwork skills
- Age-appropriate leadership abilities
- Introductory French language skills
- Greater technological fluency using iPads
- Experiential learning through outdoor education
Math at Pear Tree
Math is a skills-based subject (in contrast to science and social studies, which are more knowledge-based). Math skills are to be used, not simply memorized. As such, at Pear Tree Elementary, math skills embedded within themes; they are tied to social studies (quantities, statistics), science (weights, speeds, measurements), and business (financial literacy).
As such, students at Pear Tree learn math in context. Math at our school is connected to real life and is truly meaningful. At the same time, working with real-life numbers means that it is challenging!
Consequently, math at Pear Tree is more engaging and more challenging than traditional math classes.
Literacy at Pear Tree
Like math, language arts is a skills-based subject. Traditional approaches to reading and writing involve practicing such skills with no real purpose beyond mastering those skills. Reading and writing are skills to be applied, and that’s exactly what we do at Pear Tree Elementary!
At Pear Tree, reading and writing skills are interwoven into every part of our themes. We don’t use textbooks. Instead, students constantly read both fiction and non-fiction books related to the themes. Each term, students study a novel connected to one of the themes. This repeated practice throughout the year enables Pear Tree’s students to develop stronger analytical skills.
Pear Tree students quickly develop truly amazing reading and writing skills for their ages from becoming familiar with these words over a semester and having constant opportunities to practice!
Join us for an Open House or Book a Private Tour


Our Curriculum is meaningful and relevant for the learners of our school.
Our Curriculum has been developed to ensure that we will have full coverage of the new National Curriculum 2014. It follows the programmes of study for each year group very carefully and provides the right balance between using History, Geography and Science as the main drivers. It also ensures that creative and expressive arts are also embedded throughout the curriculum. We take every opportunity to help children apply literacy and numeracy skills where it is possible to do so, providing meaningful links.
For each topic, there are a set of Learning Challenges that links directly to the History or Geography knowledge, skills and understanding to ensure that learning is progressive and continuous. We also link either creative or expressive arts into each topic so that there is breadth and balance in the coverage as a whole. The challenges require deep thinking and encourages learners to work using a question as the starting point. We have ensured that all content fits in with the context of our school and locality, ensuring the children receive a broad and balanced curriculum.
We aim to provide a variety of different learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom. Each topic begins with a ‘super starter’, which engages the children into the topic using a stimulus, visit or visitor etc. During the term, there will be a ‘marvellous middle’ which again could be a further stimulus or trip. At the end of a topic there will be a ‘fabulous finish’, where learners present their learning back to the rest of the class or another appropriate audience making the most of their oracy and ICT skills to do so. This often involves sharing the success’ with parents and the local community, through a performance or class assembly. This ensures that the children see the purpose to their learning. Each topic will also involve a ‘wow’ factor.
Please look at the information below for information on the curriculum we are following this academic year.


“From Crawling to Walking,” a report published by the think-tank New America, delves into the efforts made by states to promote literacy policies that support our country’s earliest learners. The ability to read is considered one of the most critical skills for a student to acquire, yet only one-third of all children in the United States are proficient readers by the time they finish fourth grade. This statistic is even more dire for children from low-income and minority families. Studies show that students who struggle to read in the early years are more likely to repeat a grade, drop out of school, struggle with employment, and potentially face incarceration. In order to close this achievement gap, it is critical that policymakers and stakeholders encourage and promote early literacy interventions.
New America’s report revealed that Colorado is merely taking baby steps in its attempt to improve literacy rates for children ranging from birth through third grade. “From Crawling to Walking,” which used a framework of seven essential policy areas for supporting literacy development, ranked each state and classified them as either Crawling, Toddling, or Walking. 34 states (including Colorado) and Washington, D.C., were placed in the “Toddling” category. While Colorado placed 33rd overall, the state’s rankings on each of the seven early literacy indicators are as follows:
- Educators: Teachers and Leaders: 17
- Standards, Assessment & Data: 18
- Equitable Funding: 23
- Pre-K Access & Quality: 29
- Full-Day Kindergarten: Access and Quality: 45
- Dual Language Learner Supports: 27
- Third Grade Reading Laws: 2
Colorado’s high ranking for third grade reading laws comes primarily from the Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act. This 2012 legislation pushed for rigorous interventions and greater levels of state funding to help students in grades K-3 who struggle with reading. “From Crawling to Walking” makes it clear that Colorado still has work to do, and Stand for Children is committed to forwarding policies that advance literacy rates for all students.
To read the full report, click here.


Common Core State Standards
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading
- Reading 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
- Reading 2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
- Craft and Structure 4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
- Craft and Structure 6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language
- Language 1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening
- Comprehension & Collaboration 1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
- Comprehension & Collaboration 2: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
- Comprehension & Collaboration 3: Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies – National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
- Theme 1: Culture
- Theme 3: People, Place, and Environments
- Theme 4: Individual Development and Identity
- Theme 5: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
National Standards for Music Education – National Association for Music Education (NAfME)
Core Music Standard: Creating
- Plan and Make: Select and develop musical ideas for defined purposes and contexts.
- Evaluate and Refine: Evaluate and refine selected musical ideas to create musical work(s) that meet appropriate criteria.
- Present: Share creative musical work that conveys intent, demonstrates craftsmanship, and exhibits originality.
Core Music Standard: Responding
- Interpret: Support interpretations of musical works that reflect creators’ and/or performers’ expressive intent.
- Evaluate: Support evaluations of musical works and performances based on analysis, interpretation, and established criteria.
Core Music Standard: Connecting
- Connecting 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make music.
- Connecting 11: Relate musical ideas and works to varied contexts and daily life to deepen understanding.


This paper examines the impact of dual enrollment on college degree attainment for low socioeconomic status (SES) students. The author examined data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, and data from a follow up study completed in 2000 resulting in a sample size of 8,800. The author found dual enrollment increases the probability of attaining a degree within 12-years of completing the 8th grade, and that dual enrollment did not hinder students from low SES backgrounds from attaining a degree.
This report describes the impact that various reform models - such as guided pathways, stackable credentials, and competency-based credentials - have on students' postsecondary outcomes as well as examples of how some states have been implementing these reform models. The report also discusses how technology and human systems in higher education inhibit transformative change while also presenting alternatives and solutions for addressing these barriers to change. Finally, the author presents policy recommendations that could accelerate the acceptance of the various reform models.
This report presents the main findings from the Survey of Adult Skills (PIACC). PIACC was developed by OECD to measure proficiency in several skills, such as literacy, numeracy, and problem solving.
This report explores the results from OECD's international Survey of Adult Skills and focuses primarily on performance in the United States. The Survey of Adult Skills is an international survey that measures the basic skills, such as numeracy and literacy, of adults and compares the results to social and economic outcomes. According to the survey results, more adults have low literacy and numeracy skills in the U.S. compared to adults in other countries. This report provides recommendations for how the U.S. can take action to improve the basic skills of adults.


What goes up must come down, but have you ever wondered why? The answer is gravity. Gravity is an invisible force that pulls one object toward another. Anything that has mass – including humans – has gravity. The more mass an object has, the stronger its gravitational pull. We can’t feel gravity, but we know it’s there. When we jump, we come down.
- Even though the idea of gravity is pretty obvious, scientists didn’t have a word for it or a real understanding of it until 1687, when Sir Isaac Newton published his theories on the Three Laws of Motion.
- Mass determines how much gravity something has, but proximity (closeness) plays a part too. The Earth’s and the Moon’s gravity affect each other more than say, Earth and Jupiter because the Earth and Moon are closer to each other.
- Mass is different than weight. Mass is measured in grams. Basically, mass is how much of something there is. Weight is caused by gravity’s pull. If you visited another planet, you might weigh less or more, depending on the force of gravity on the planet. Your mass never changes.
- Gravity pulls falling objects down at the same speed, no matter what their weight is. So a ball weighing 5 pounds would fall just as fast as a ball weighing 10 pounds. Air resistance slows some objects down.
- Gravity: a magnetic force that any object with mass has. This force pulls two objects together.
- Proximity: distance and location something is in relation to something else
Q and A
Question: What causes tides?
Answer: Tides are caused by the Moon’s gravitational force on oceans, seas, and even lakes and rivers to a lesser degree. As the Moon rotates around the Earth, its gravitational force pulls the water inland. As the Moon continues its path around the Earth, the water recedes. Tides occur about every 12 hours.
Visit Idaho Public Radio to learn more about the force of gravity.
Cite This Page
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Declan, Tobin. " Fun Gravity Facts for Kids ." Easy Science for Kids, May 2020. Web. 30 May 2020. < https://easyscienceforkids.com/kids-gravity/ >.
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Tobin, Declan. (2020). Fun Gravity Facts for Kids. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/kids-gravity/
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A Person Learns
to Read Once
Why Native Language
The Estrellita Accelerated Beginning Spanish Reading Program supports native language instruction by providing early education bilingual teachers with a methodology and concrete strategies for teaching beginning Spanish reading to young children. This foundation in the primary language assists English Language Learners in achieving a successful and smooth transition to English.
Research has repeatedly shown that a child who learns to read in his primary language (L1) first has a greater degree of success in an English curriculum than does the child who does not. A person learns to read only once. The process of acquiring the necessary decoding skills to “break the code” is a learned process. These acquired skills transfer to the second language (L2) and do not have to be “relearned.”
The Estrellita Program is Not a Translation from English
Some Spanish literacy programs are a direct translation of the English version, which is a recipe for disaster. Contrary to what people think, teaching Spanish literacy is different than teaching English literacy because the linguistic nature of the two languages is different. Some educational companies have attempted to teach Spanish phonics the same way they teach English phonics. This is based on an incorrect premise that literacy development in English and Spanish are the same or very similar.
The Importance of Blending in the Estrellita Program
Estrellita utilizes a syllabic approach to blending and segmentation which systematically builds upon itself.
One of the key differences between Spanish and English literacy development is the onset-rime structure in English versus the syllable unit in Spanish. Beginning reading material in English is dominated by one-syllable words made of three letters (CVC), such as cap, hat, sun, tip, etc. Beginning English literacy instruction is built around the onset-rime structure in these one-syllable words (c-ap).
The situation is very different in Spanish, however. Research has indicated that the syllable is a more important unit of phonological awareness in Spanish than it is in English (Carreiras, Alvarez, and De Vega, 1993). Spanish is an alphabetic language with a regular and well-defined syllabic structure. Beginning literacy programs in Spanish must be built around the syllable unit.
Research on phonemic awareness in English indicates that it should be taught in the pre-reading stage, and in fact, is a precursor to learning to read (Adams, 1990). Research done in Mexico yields very different results (Vernon & Ferreiro, 1999, 2000). For Spanish-speaking students, phonemic and phonological awareness are not precursors to reading in Spanish, but are integral to the reading process and should be taught concurrently with reading and writing.
From the Known to the Unknown
With very few exceptions, there is a direct sound to symbol correspondence in Spanish. English does not have this direct correspondence. This makes the decoding process much easier to master in Spanish than in English.
Decoding the Research
Why No More "MA, ME, MI, MO, MU"?
Research has demonstrated that vowels are best taught before consonants in early Spanish reading instruction (Escamilla, 1999; Ferreiro, Pellicer, Rodríguez, Silva & Vernon, 1994). This is the direct opposite in English reading programs in which consonants are taught first. In Spanish, there are only five vowel sounds. General American English has about sixteen different vowel sounds, represented graphically by a myriad of numerous spellings. This presents one of the biggest obstacles for children learning to read in English, regardless of their language dominance. Children who learn to read in Spanish can more easily “break the code” because of this one-to-one letter correspondence.
The Estrellita Program Bridges the Gap to Literacy
Estrellita serves as a bridge to English, by laying a strong foundation in Spanish literacy that later leads to a more successful transition to English. Test results from many schools and districts using bilingual instruction indicate that children who have been through the Estrellita program in the primary grades are surpassing their English-only peers in English reading scores in later grades. Estrellita provides programs for K-1, PreK, Newcomers, and Games and Activities for differentiated instruction. Additionally, Estrellita strongly encourages a systematic implementation process that includes Professional Development and Site Implementation to ensure a solid foundation and fidelity to the program.


By Teachers, For Teachers
Many states have even lessened the requirements of social studies in their curriculums, until now. States across the nation are now working hard to instill social studies requirements into the common core learning standards. Studying social studies helps our students understand the world, opens their minds to the many people and places that are on our planet, and is another way for teachers to learn how to motivate students. As students learn about our history, they begin to understand their role in the world. By studying the past, they gain a better understanding of who they are today.
You can bring social studies to life for your students by focusing on extraordinary people and places that make up our history. Here are a few different ways you can explore the world without leaving the classroom.
Fun Ways to Explore the World
Take a Virtual Field Tip
A great alternative to a real-life class field trip is a virtual journey online. Virtual tours can enhance students’ learning experiences by giving them a glimpse inside history. Students can explore the American Museum of Natural History and learn about Theodore Roosevelt. They can explore the American Red Cross Virtual Museum and learn about Clara Barton or take a guided tour through the cultural history of the American Red Cross. They go on a virtual tour of the Vanderbilt Museum and get to know one of America’s wealthiest families in U.S history. Here are a few more popular virtual field trips students can explore. They can:
Once students have explored history through a virtual field trip, now it’s time to see what they learned and develop their critical thinking skills. Here are some activity ideas to extend learning and expand your knowledge of how to motivate students.
Google Geo Products
Google for education is an easy way for your students to access the world’s information visually. The possibilities are endless, students can use Google maps and Google earth to see and learn about virtually anything, anywhere. Students can use Google maps to understand how geography affects their daily life. They can take an interactive tour of Mars, search for landmarks, and travel back in time to see how their hometown has changed. They can visit the online Google Cultural Institute and view artifacts in a virtual museum. Students will become virtual explorers right from their chair.
Video conferencing is quickly becoming a staple in classrooms across the globe. According to research there are almost 30,000 video conferencing systems in United States school systems as of 2009. These systems allow students to connect with experts and fellow students all over the world. Video “chatting” allows students to connect with their peers around the world and learn about their culture and traditions, as well as be able to work together about relevant issues. Here are a few sites that connect around classrooms around the world.
In today’s world, educational technology is at its very best. You don’t need a textbook for students to discover history when you have options like virtual tours, and video conferencing. You can easily bring social studies to life each day without a textbook and without leaving your classroom.
How do you bring social studies to life in your classroom? What extraordinary people and places do you study? Share with us in the comment section below.
Janelle Cox is an education writer who uses her experience and knowledge to provide creative and original writing in the field of education. Janelle holds a Master's of Science in Education from the State University of New York College at Buffalo. She is also the Elementary Education Expert for About.com, as well as a contributing writer to TeachHUB.com and TeachHUB Magazine. You can follow her at Twitter @Empoweringk6ed, or on Facebook at Empowering K6 Educators.


Enjoy World-Class Dance Performances Each Week From Your Home. Sign Up! more
May 15, 2020, 1:30pm
Join us on DANCECleveland's Facebook Page at 1:30 pm, Friday May 15 as DANCECleveland's Read To Learn...Dance To Move Instructor, Desmond Davis, guides your child through our literacy and movement program designed for children ages 3-6.
Read To Learn...Dance to Move is a curriculum-based program that promotes language, literacy, and movement by engaging students through tactile learning, creative thinking, and imagination! Children will learn about a form of dance while promoting language and literacy development in young children through movement.
In this 30-minute class, our instructor will introduce movement and incorporate the children's book Drumbeat in Our Feet by Patricia A. Keeler and Júlio Leitão. The book leads to an exploration of the story and the dance form through virtual open-ended questions from the instructor. Next, the children experiment with movement. Finally, the instructor teaches a dance that retells the story and everyone will perform the new dance together at home.
Read to Learn... Dance To Move is a copyrighted program of DANCECleveland. Thank you to our generous program funders including The Ohio Arts Council, The Reinberger Foundation, The Bruening Foundation, & Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation.
Thanks to those of you who participated in our Read to Learn…Dance to Move class today! If you participated, please take this short survey to help us design further online events.
This program was designed as an 8-week program for the public school systems. To learn more about the program and getting it in your schools, visit: https://www.dancecleveland.org/educat...
Looking for more movement? We encourage parents to watch these other videos.
Online West African Dance with Maguette Camara: https://youtu.be/AeJlb-n89LA
Five (ish) Minute Dance Lesson - African Dance: https://youtu.be/Ewqq-3xJFd
Learn African Dance Moves for Beginners: https://youtu.be/QGPWSFeITEAAbout
Your Instructor: DESMOND L. DAVIS, Dance and Movement Independent Teaching Artist and Educator
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Desmond began his career as a dancer trainee with Footpath Dance Ensemble under Alice Rubenstein, then continued training and performing with CSU Summerdance before becoming one of six original founding members of Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT) from 1999-2007 performing works by Executive/Artistic Director, Michael Medcalf, Kris World, Dianne McIntyre, Gary Abbott, Shapiro & Smith, Peter Kalivas (PGK Project), Antonio Sisk and David Rousseve. He performed as a regular company member of Tremont-based company, Antaeus Dance under Founder and the Executive and Artistic direction of CWRU graduate, Joan Meggitt from 2007-2017. His diverse career path has allowed him to teach modern, social/ballroom, creative movement musical theater and wellness movement to many different levels and abilities, from pre-school to adult in studios, public and private school, colleges and universities like Hiram College and John Carroll University, theater and recreation center areas and integrate curriculum and movement through organizations like DanceCleveland, Playhouse Square and Kulture Kids. Now working as an Independent Dance and Movement Teaching Artist and Education and Outreach Coordinator for Shaker Heights-based contemporary ballet company, Verb Ballets, Desmond continues to focus on sharing lively, creative, accessible and educational movement to dancers of all ages. Desmond holds a B.A. in Drama with an emphasis in Dance from Kenyon College.
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Explore our many opportunities to learn, perform and revel in music.
Carnegie Hall, Spring 2017
Seventh and eighth-grade students begin exploring music in the Middle School Arts Program, where they are grouped according to their musical interests and experience. Both Middle and Upper School students who choose to continue with music can study in a Jazz/Rock Ensemble, Vocal Ensemble, or Orchestra elective in which they can hone their skills as singers and musicians.
Digital Music Production is open to everyone. No prior experience creating music is required. This class is appropriate for those with interest in music other than or in addition to performing in a traditional band, orchestra, or choir. Conversely, those with musical training and experience will find this class an ideal outlet for personal musical expression. Experienced and novice musicians alike will gain an increased understanding of various musical styles, genres, traditions, and cultures; music theory; the psychology of music; and the art of recording and mixing.
This multifaceted, entry-level class offers something for all students, regardless of musical experience. The year starts with creating your music using GarageBand, Soundtrap, and Logic and culminates in the recording, editing, producing, and "selling" of an album, video, or film featuring Pacific Ridge students. Students will develop their musical knowledge as they learn practical, foundational skills that provide insight into careers in music performance, composition, entertainment business, recording business, live sound reinforcement, and audio engineering.
Jazz/Rock Ensemble is a UC-accredited course that teaches the history of jazz and rock music along with the general music theory necessary to understand the fundamentals of improvisation. Students learn how to play correctly and expressively both alone and in groups, with emphasis on composition, improvisation, blending and understanding musical notation. At the same time, students gain a context for music they enjoy: the history of jazz/rock, the influence of jazz/rock on society, and the connection of jazz/rock music to other scholastic disciplines. Finally, students are asked to respond critically to new music, both recorded and live.
Orchestra is a UC-accredited performing ensemble that focuses primarily on “classical” music (from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras). The group also performs some contemporary music (e.g., pop, film music) and strives to make inventive use of the musicians and instruments available to the ensemble. The orchestra performs on campus at least twice during the school year, and takes part in the annual Pacific Ridge Arts Festival in the spring.
Vocal Ensemble is a UC-accredited course open to students who enjoy singing; no previous experience is required. In this class students learn the technical aspects of good singing, including breath support, creating good tone, expanding range, and singing in various languages. Students study repertoire from a variety of genres including classical, pop, Broadway, Renaissance, gospel, folk, and jazz. The Upper School Vocal Ensemble performs at school concerts, coffee houses, and community outreach events. A small group of students from the Vocal Ensemble performs each year at an adjudicated, national music festival. Past performances at the Heritage Music Festival have taken place in New York City, San Francisco and Anaheim.


Enjoy this Easy Science for Kids Pythons Quiz – you’ll get your quiz score after completing this FREE online interactive quiz on Pythons. You need to answer all the questions to be able to get your score. You can do this fun quiz about Pythons again, till you get the perfect score and become a quiz champion!
Tip: To get it right the first time, read the page with fun facts about the Pythons.
The Pythons Quiz & our FREE Science Quizzes
Our easy science quizzes are a free online quiz resource for teachers and educators of kids in elementary school, grammar school and preschool. This fun Pythons quiz helps your kids learn fun facts about Pythons while enjoying this FREE easy quiz questions for kids.
If your kid is interested in science, or is in an after-school enrichment program, then this is a fun yet educational activity, with reading comprehension benefits for first graders all the way to fifth grade kids. Kids will enjoy competing against their classmates and friends, to see who gets the best score, doing this fun online quiz on Pythons.
As a reading comprehension training for kids, you can set a timer to encourage kids to do the reading comprehension activity faster, or set a limit on the number of times they can read about the quiz topic, before they do the actual online quiz game.
Younger kids who cannot yet read or write, such as Pre-K kids, Kindergarten kids or Preschool kids, will benefit from doing this and our other science quiz games, as a listening comprehension activity; you read out to them about the topic and then read the quiz question and answers. You will select the Pythons quiz answer they think is correct, and at the end you get the quiz score. Your child can try again and again doing the Pythons quiz, till gets the perfect score faster, as your kids learn to listen more carefully and develop a better memory and attention span!


Welcome to the Giving Garden
Prairie’s Giving Garden is a space on campus that serves to support our Primary School curriculum, as well as our community at large. Driven by the efforts of teacher Christine Henke Mueller, who models her science curriculum on the national Edible Schoolyard Project, the aim of maintaining the Giving Garden is to teach students about sustainability, as well as the benefits and processes of growing your own food.
Any student is welcome to contribute their time and energy to the Giving Garden. The Primary School classes (Pre-K through Grade 4) are most directly involved, using the garden spaces for classroom instruction and reading time whenever it benefits the lesson being taught; in the Spring, all Primary School students plant something in the garden and in the Fall, Early School and Kindergarten students help harvest. Art classes use garden spaces and all students have access to sit in the garden to read. Students and members of the Prairie community may also volunteer time to help maintain the garden throughout the year, including the summer months.
Students grow, tend, and harvest several varieties of plants in the Giving Garden, as well as Prairie’s on-campus greenhouse — including vegetables, fruit, herbs, even edible flowers.
Some of the food students grow is used for cooking demonstrations in Grades 3/4 science classes, some goes to our Dining Room to be utilized for our Lunch Program. and some is donated to the local food bank.
For Grades 3/4, science class focuses heavily on the importance of food. Students routinely grow and tend to crops — getting their hands dirty — in the Giving Garden. These trips are supplemented by lessons in the classroom about biology, nutritional science, and actual cooking sessions! Students plan and prepare dishes that represent the different items in their garden plots and greenhouse — everything from lasagna to donuts made from beets!
Glimpse Inside the Garden


SS Edmund Fitzgerald
SS Edmund Fitzgerald was a freight ship which sank on November 10, 1975. It was well known for being the biggest of its time weighing in at around 13,600 tons. It was the worst shipping disaster on the Great Lakes in 11 years.
This accident took the lives of total 29 men. This ship was on Lake Superior and carrying iron ore. It was one of the largest ‘iron boats’ working the Great Lakes. This bulk carrier spanned 729 feet, measuring 39 feet high with a width of 75 feet.
Quick Facts: –
- SS Edmund Fitzgerald was first christened on June 8, 1958, and made its first voyage on September 24, 1958.
- This ship was owned by Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company.
- It had many nicknames, including ‘The Queen of the Great Lakes’, ‘The Toledo Express’.
- This huge ship has got another nickname which is ‘Titanic of the Great Lakes’.
- The final voyage started on November 9, 1975 at the Burlington Northern Railroad Dock No.1, Superior, Wisconsin.
- It was carrying 26,116 tons of iron ore pellets at the time when it sank. This much iron ore is enough to build 7500 automobiles.
- The main job of the ship was to carry taconite from mines on the shores of Minnesota and transport the pellets to steel mills.
- The annual Edmund Fitzgerald memorial ceremony takes place on November 10 every year.
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Tobin, Declan. (2020). SS Edmund Fitzgerald Facts for Kids. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/ss-edmund-fitzgerald/
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With Common Core’s emphasis of reading nonfiction text, the comprehension strategy of determining importance is absolutely essential for readers. Determining importance means that the reader can distinguish the important information from text so they can decipher the main ideas and key details if reading expository (nonfiction) texts and the gist of the story when reading narrative (fiction) texts.
This strategy needs to be taught.
Teaching Determining Importance in Nonfiction Text
Show kids the strategy of determining importance on SHORT texts — and then have them practice. You’ll want to be guiding this process until you see evidence that they’ve mastered the strategy well enough to extend the reading to longer texts and more independent reading. I recommend reading short texts from Time for Kids, Highlights, or another well-written children’s magazine.
1. IMPORTANT or INTERESTING?
Brainstorm with kids HOW you can tell if information is important or just interesting.
Can you figure out the topic of the text using the title?
Does the information match the topic mentioned in the title?
Does the information correspond to the bolded words?
Does the information help you understand the topic of the text?
Do the text features give you a clue as to what’s important in the text? (They should.)
Give your kids short and obvious examples verbally you make up on the fly such as: “I got a new dog last week. She’s a lab / retriever mix and is 7 years old. Her collar is red and black but my favorite colors are pink and purple.” Ask what information is important and what is not important (interesting).
Read through the example texts together. Using a double entry journal, make one section for the information and one section for if it’s important or interesting. Write notes on what you read. Analyze if the information is important or interesting and mark on your notes.
Practice together. Then have children do this on their own. Be sure you regroup to share what they thought. Then, have children reflect on how well they did with this reading strategy of determining importance. After that, ask them to set a goal for what they could improve.
2. DETERMINE IMPORTANCE + RESPONSE
When you feel that your children are proficient at determining what’s important and what’s interesting, move on to the next layer of thinking — internalizing the information.
Write three columns: topic, details, response.
Children read and write down the topic of the text, the important details, and their response. Responses ask kids to take the information one step further — to really think deeply about it. In response, they can write down:
Connections with prior knowledge
Determining Importance with Younger Kids
With kindergarten and first graders, you can modify these lessons by reading nonfiction picture books and having children draw pictures instead of take notes.
Read more about ALL the reading comprehension strategies.


Want to improve your numeracy? Our Maths for beginners qualification will teach you all about numbers and measurements, shapes and data handling and will prepare you for GCSE Maths.
What will I learn?
This course is perfect if you are an adult student age 19+ who wants to improve your Maths skills, build your confidence and enhance your employability skills.
You do not need any qualifications to come on this course as we have classes for you, whether you are still struggling with numeracy skills (entry level) or need to improve your skills in preparation for GCSE (Levels 1 & 2)
You will improve your Mathematical Skills and develop your understanding of where and when to apply the relevant skills to work related scenarios, and also situations related to your life. The course covers a breadth of topics such as number, measure, shape and handling data.
You will also develop the application of these skills, which will involve:
– Representing: choosing Maths tools to solve a problem
– Analysing: using Maths tools to solve a problem
– Interpreting: being able to describe the Maths being used.
Our team is supportive, friendly and experienced and will work with you to help you reach your goals.


According to Americans for Arts, art education for children and youth includes many benefits. Learning about and participating in art throughout childhood can increase critical-thinking skills and enhance children’s ability to follow-through with goals throughout life. Since art is something that is enjoyed by people of all nations and backgrounds, exposure can help children move across socio-economic boundaries to develop diverse friendships throughout life.
A great teacher goes a long way to creating interest in art among elementary, middle and high school students, but quality art supplies can help keep students motivated to create their best projects. Here are five creative supplies that could enhance student learning in various environments.
For use at home or in school, a desk top easel of any type helps elementary-aged children feel like true artists. Easels from Melissa & Doug are especially colorful and are designed to catch the attention of young artists. Two ways to make art let children expand their imaginations and provides the youngest artists with multiple options when attention spans run short.
Light boxes are appropriate for use in upper elementary, middle grade, and high school art rooms. These tools make it easy for kids to transfer images onto fabric or other specialty projects, opening art education to kids of all craft skills. Many students lose interest in art because they find it difficult to perfect drawing skills, but light boxes allow everyone to move on to painting, wood work, stitching, or other forms of art.
The Kopykake Kobra K5000 art projector takes the idea behind a light box to a new level. With the projector, you can cast an image from almost any page or item onto the art surface you are working on.
Images from pages, books, and 3-dimensional objects can be projected onto an art canvas, sketchbook, or other surface on the work table. You can use the projector to teach students about sketching and drawing by providing them with templates to copy. Practice makes perfect, and the projector offers the same practice that early-elementary handwriting books do.
The project can also be used in middle and high school classrooms to boost student productivity on painting projects, murals, or drama sets.
When you think about art supplies, you probably don’t consider chairs and stools. Uncomfortable students are fidgety students, and they aren’t paying full attention to the lesson or project. Make sure your school art room is outfitted with stools, tables, or chairs that are ergonomically appropriate for the age and size of the children using the space.
As with any subject, all the learning can’t be accomplished at school. Parents or teachers that provide art learning kits for in-home use encourage students to bring the creativity and imagination of art class to the rest of their lives. Art kits usually include the basic tools and art supplies needed to create one or more projects in a specific niche, such as woodwork, painting, or sketching.
- Sara S.


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Laura Waring (r) Dr.-Nathan Mossell-and-Sadie Alexander
On this date we mark the birth of Laura Wheeler Waring in 1887. She was a Black artist.
Born in Hartford, CT., in 1887, Laura Wheeler Waring was the daughter of college-educated Rev. Robert Wheeler, who had for two years been pastor of the Talcott Street Congregational Church, home of Connecticut’s first Black congregation. Originally called the African Religious Society, the members built their church in 1826, and housed fugitive slaves before the end of the American Civil War. The church began operating a public school in 1829, the only place in the city where Black children could learn to read and write. They also learned their African history at a time when most Black children were not taught to read at all.
Flooded in that illustrious past, young Waring flourished in the exposure to her people’s culture and history. She graduated from Hartford High School in 1906, and spent the next six years at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1914 and getting a scholarship to study in Europe. In 1924, she studied Expressionism and the Romantics at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, a popular Paris workshop/studio.
In 1928, she was among the artists displayed in the country’s first all Black art exhibit held by the Harmon Foundation, which 16 years later selected Waring to paint portraits of outstanding Americans. She is best remembered for these portraits, many of them of notable Black people such as W.E.B. DuBois and James Weldon Johnson, as well as the lesser-known Anne Washington Derry portrait and one called “Frankie,” also known as “Portrait of a Child.” In a time when African American women were a silent force in American arts, Laura Wheeler Waring quietly set standards for dignity in portraiture. In an era when few Black women attended school, Waring finished high school and college.
In an era when the few women who escaped to Europe often stayed there, Waring returned to America to start an arts department in a traditionally Black college. She made several more trips to study in Europe, but her main focus on returning home in the late 1920s was to make art education available to Black students at the historically Black Cheyney State Teachers College in Pennsylvania, now Cheyney University. There, she organized and directed both music and art departments until her death in 1948.
The St. James Guide to Black Artists
Edited by Thomas Riggs
Copyright 1997, St. James Press, Detroit, MI


Atmosphere Worksheet – Free to Download Printable Find Hidden Words Game
Atmosphere Worksheet – Get this entertaining Free to Download Printable Find Hidden Words Game.
Our FREE worksheet for kids on the Atmosphere also has a fun word seek game along with a fun hidden words puzzle game for children.
This educational but fun printable Earth Science worksheet on the Atmosphere is absolutely FREE for parents and teachers to print and use gratis and you may use this activity sheet as often as you require to further your child!
The printable find hidden words game about the Atmosphere is an easy way to encourage the natural interest of kids while taking part in a science enrichment class, homeschooling, distant learning lessons, regular school science classes or while kids undergo early learning activities.
Our FREE Atmosphere find hidden words game is appropriate for kids in Elementary school who are in First Grade to Fifth Grade. However, younger kids in Kindergarten or even Preschoolers will also easily learn from this Atmosphere word search worksheet.
Children can have fun learning fun facts all about the Atmosphere through this worksheet while doing this engaging free find the hidden words puzzle game.
Your children will enjoy to learn fun facts all about the Atmosphere while playing the wordsearch activity.
Kids in Junior school from Grade 1 to 5 can enjoy the Atmosphere worksheet as a reading comprehension activity game.
Your kids shall learn very well about the Atmosphere because they will probably have to read a few times the facts about the Atmosphere to uncover all the missing words. This exercise isn’t merely a good way to improve children’s science knowledge, but also enhances the brain’s memory and also betters their reading comprehension skills.
Younger kids who don’t read and write can benefit from this free fun facts Atmosphere worksheet as an exciting listening comprehension tool.
Parents or Teachers can read out loud to the kids the Atmosphere fun facts. Next, they help the kids to recall what they reckon are the missing words. Additionally, your kids learn to identify words and find them in the Atmosphere hidden words puzzle.
Parents doing early learning activities with their kids can use our Atmosphere worksheet to arouse their children’s curiosity and interest in the Atmosphere and in Earth Science.
Teachers and private tutors are free to use our FREE Atmosphere worksheet to supplement regular science classes at school and interest children in learning all about the Atmosphere. Most beneficial is for you to utilize our free earth science worksheet for children on the Atmosphere in conjunction with the free interactive online quiz with score on the Atmosphere.
Our Kids science made easy offers countless more FREE printable fun Geography worksheets for children and hidden-missing-word search games. Download and use our fun science word puzzles to make learning science fun for your children!
What do you know about the Atmosphere? What are the layers of the atmosphere? How can the Earth’s atmosphere protect us? What makes up the Earth’s atmosphere?
Learn more easy science facts about the Atmosphere by downloading our free Atmosphere worksheet for children!
FREE All About Atmosphere Worksheet
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Declan, Tobin. " Atmosphere Worksheet - Free to Download Printable Find Hidden Words Game ." Easy Science for Kids, May 2020. Web. 30 May 2020. < https://easyscienceforkids.com/atmosphere-worksheet-free-to-download-printable-find-hidden-words-game/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2020). Atmosphere Worksheet - Free to Download Printable Find Hidden Words Game. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/atmosphere-worksheet-free-to-download-printable-find-hidden-words-game/
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The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous paintings in the world. It was created by world-famous Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. It was painted sometime between 1503 and 1519. The subject of this painting is Lisa Gherardini. Her husband Francesco Del Giocondo commissioned the work.
This oil-on-wood panel painting is 30 by 21 inches and weighs 18 pounds. More than 30 layers of paint have been used on the painting and some of them are thinner than a human hair. This painting is worth approximately $782 million.
Quick Facts: –
- The smallest copy of Mona Lisa is only 30 micrometres small.
- The painting was acquired by King Francis I of France and later became the property of the French Republic.
- In 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre in Paris. Pablo Picasso was one of the suspects but later he was proved innocent.
- Now it is encased securely in a bulletproof glass in the Louvre Museum of Paris. The painting has its own climate controlled room.
- The room was exclusively built for Mona Lisa and it cost approximately more than 7 million dollars.
- The painting has its own mailbox. Since 1815, it has received plenty of love letters from admirers.
- The subject of the painting has no clearly visible eyebrows or eyelashes. It is believed that they gradually disappeared over time or because of over cleaning.
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Declan, Tobin. " Fun Facts for Kids about Mona Lisa ." Easy Science for Kids, May 2020. Web. 29 May 2020. < https://easyscienceforkids.com/mona-lisa-facts/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2020). Fun Facts for Kids about Mona Lisa. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/mona-lisa-facts/
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- Power of Bleach
- Comparing Surface Tension of Liquids with Pennies
- Ice Cream Chemistry
- Using Distillation to Purify Water
- Filter Water with Dirt
- Build a Balloon Barometer
- Build Your Very Own Seismograph
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Singing lessons for ALL AGES
SINGING LESSONS FOR PRESCHOOLERS
SINGING LESSONS FOR KIDS
SINGING LESSONS FOR TEENS
SINGING LESSONS FOR ADULTS
The preschoolers program for our youngest singers discover their voice, and sets them on a path towards musical proficiency. Through playful exploration of rhythm, song structure, and melody, preschoolers are introduced to singing and other instruments.
Focus in this program is on the basics like staying on key, in time, breathing and diction techniques and teachers start to introduce advanced techniques like timbre and intonation. Private voice lessons and live performances help children learn how to sing in a comfortable atmosphere, no matter what skill level they're at vocally.
This program turns teenage singers into skilled & knowledgable singers & performers. They will learn how to sing effectively through private voice lessons and live performances. Singers improve through vocal training, effective and more advanced warm ups, microphone & projection techniques and begin education in anatomy and physiology of the voice and how to care and maintain their voice.
The adult program (18-years-old and up) pushes our singers to become 'artists'. In this program singers learn a range of advanced exercises, music theory, more in depth anatomy & physiology of the voice, how to keep tempo, and how to stay on-key as well as more advanced vocal techniques like voice sustainability.
MACKENZIE THERAPY is where young singers and aspiring vocalists go to learn the fundamentals of singing like breathing, posture and diction. These basic principles are key to strong vocal performances. Our expert voice coaches help guide beginner singers through the early stages of vocal progression, assisting with pitch training, developing timbre and keeping steady tempo. At MACKENZIE THERAPY our core philosophy is that the best way for students to gain musical proficiency is through performance-based music education. All of our lesson programs include a performance aspect.
MACKENZIE THERAPY'S intermediate to advanced vocal lessons offer professional voice training and singing lessons that will help practicing students reach their highest potential. Our expert voice coaches focus on advanced singing techniques to add to a student's existing vocal repertoire. Every program at MACKENZIE THERAPY includes private singing lessons paired with live performances, all designed to lift students to a higher vocal level.


The literacy program began out of a need for some of our students who could not read or write. The first part of 2015 we had several students who could not read or write and we wanted to help them to be able to do this so they could excel in their perspective vocational schools as well. So this is how the literacy program began. It has since expanded into a program as well for those who want to finish their elementary school. They can complete their elementary education in 3 years.
Health Education/Medical Program
This program both educates our students on health and hygiene issues as well as trains pregnant moms on how to take care of themselves and their babies during and after their pregnancies. Through this program, we have 2-3 medical teams that come down and serve pregnant moms and kids in the community and we have a staff nurse that does follow up on these patients.
This initiative addresses the malnutrition problem in Magdalena and surrounding areas. We feed 50 kids 2 times per week with a goal of expanding this.


Bentleigh West Primary School explicitly teaches Science one hour per week from Prep to Grade 6.
Students are exposed to basic concepts and skills and learn how to develop fair tests and experiments. This is a very popular subject and leads students to understand more complex issues linked to environmental science which the school also focuses on.
Science provides a wonderful platform for students to apply their literacy and numeracy skills and builds important background knowledge for the secondary school environment.
Our school has a very strong and long-standing commitment to the environment. As such, educating for sustainability is integrated into our science curriculum as the students move through the school. BWPS believes empowering our students with the confidence and ambition to know they can make a difference to our world is important to the work of the future generation.
We are a 5 star accredited school, and lead by example by having the latest technology and engineering on site. From environmentally friendly 'smart' buildings, solar panels on every learning house and a wind turbine, Bentleigh West and its students do all they can to reduce their global footprint.
We strongly encourage water saving by having 10 water tanks on site (potentially storing up to 500,000 litres), and spring loaded washers on all drinking taps. We've also installed Hydroshare software that notifies the Environment Monitors if there are any leaks at the school.
Watch our video about Global Water Cooperation, a joint initiative with schools in Balgo (WA), Bogor (Indonesia) and Dhaka (Bangladesh).


An exciting seven-level beginner−intermediate English course
Gateway Gold is a lively seven-level series for children. It has a clear functional and grammatical syllabus that provides students with a framework within which to learn real-world English. Its gradual progression enables students to build confidence in their language skills and fosters thinking and reflection.
Jeanette Greenwell and Stephen Lawrence are knowledgeable academics in the teaching of English as a second and foreign language. Both have extensive experience in this field and over 15 years’ experience as teachers. Jeanette and Stephen are also consultants for the British Council in Mexico. Sally Etherton has worked in ELT and mainstream primary education for over 30 years. She has worked in the UK, Italy, the Solomon Islands, Bhutan and Oman. She has taught all ages, written and delivered in-service teacher training programmes and authored materials for the mainstream primary and TESOL classrooms.
Jenny Watson is an English Language teacher, lexicographer and writer.
Starter level key features
- Lively student-centred activities
- A range of communicative speaking activities
- Core language is presented by friendly, visually appealing characters in familiar contexts
- Systematic phonics instruction through catchy, fun activities
- Lots of pre-writing and writing practice
Levels 1−6 key features
- American English throughout
- Balanced approach to the four language skills
- Lively and functional, with a balanced grammar approach
- Prepares students for the Cambridge KET exams and develops ESOL-orientated skills
- Enables thought, reflection and reaction in English
- Course material provides up to 120 hours of material per level
- Develops 21st Century skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, collaborative learning and team working
- Introduces academic skills such as conducting surveys and research at a very young age
- Teaches real-world English
- Gradual progression builds confidence
- Age-appropriate texts and fun characters
- Includes both familiar and fantastical settings
*Two Phonics books cover levels 1−3 and levels 4−6. Big Books are available for levels Starter−2. Readers are available for levels 3−6. Flashcards are available for levels 1−2.
Gateway Gold Level 4 is accompanied by a variety of Graded Readers. The selected levelled books are both engaging and informative: they introduce learners to English in a variety of contexts and support the systematic development of reading strategies and skills.
Publication date: 21 Oct 2014
Number of pages:


The Algae Academy is a unique K-12 module that teaches the fundamentals of algae and how algae can be applied as a solution for today’s global dilemmas. This FREE 5-day STEM kit includes everything needed for students to grow algae in their classroom: daily lesson plans; laboratory supplies, live algae and the additional consumables needed to complete the curriculum. The Algae Academy served over 36,000 students nationwide in the 2019/2020 academic year.
The goal of the Algae Academy is to utilize algae as a tool to effectively meet the four disciplines of STEM in an interdisciplinary and applied approach through real world applications. Students will grow algae, develop experiments, measure growth, analyze data, and make connections on how algae production has a positive impact on the global environment.
For additional information or to be added to the waitlist to be contacted about the 2020/2021 application, please contact:
Marissa Nalley, Director of Programs and Operations at
In 2015, The Algae Foundation launched the Algae Academy to educate and excite students on the power of algae as a sustainable solution for several of the dilemmas facing our global community.
The Foundation is committed to reaching teachers and students nationwide to provide this hands-on learning opportunity that will change the way they understand and interact with their environment on a daily basis. The Algae Academy committee is comprised of educators and algal industry professionals who are dedicated to providing adaptable curriculum that can easily be dropped into any K-12 classroom. The Algae Academy can be successful with small to large student bodies, general science to AP classes, homeschool collaboratives and beyond!
Alignment with NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDs (NGSS)
The Algae Academy curriculum fulfills the human impact education component in the Next Generation Science Standards that requires students be able to apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing human impact on the environment. Algae production is an ideal example of how we as a population can minimize human impacts on water usage, land utilization, and pollution.
New educational standards have increased the demand on educators to design innovative lessons and methods of teaching. The Algae Foundation is committed to partnering with teachers to provide STEM kits that meet these new education standards in an exciting and innovative way to inspire students and their families, as well as teachers and their teams.
Algae Academy 5-Day Curriculum
The Algae Academy curriculum is age specific with different objectives for elementary, middle, and high school classes.
- The goal for elementary education is to introduce students to algae as an organism and to excite them on the interesting ways they interact with algae on a daily basis.
- For middle and high school students, the goal is to utilize algae as a tool to effectively meet the four disciplines of STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – in an interdisciplinary and applied approach through real-world applications.
Students will develop experiments, measure growth, analyze data and make connections on how algae production has a positive impact on the global environment. Students will learn about the essential need for sustainable resources, current concerns about future protein shortages, and how algae can be a game-changing resource in developing countries.


Welcome to our Topic Page!
Here you'll find details of the various Topics that we'll use as a foundation for developing all the skills that we use in Year 1.
Our topic this half term is Houses and Homes. We'll be looking at the story of the Three Little Pigs and using this as a starting point to look at houses through history, the materials used to build houses and how to stay safe in our homes. Our Christmas work will be incorporated into our topic as we look at how we celebrate the season with our families in our homes - and of course the different ways Santa finds to enter homes if we don't have a chimney! The children will continue to develop their literacy and numeracy skills through the activities planned.
Our topic for the next five weeks will be Ourselves! We'll be looking at the story of Not Now Bernard and taking part in lots of different activites that arise out of the themes in the book. We'll look at our similarities and differences and investigate how our bodies work. It was wonderful to read all the comments on the Roald Dahl Padlet board - there's now a new Ourselves Padlet board on which the children can share some information about themselves. Just click on the link to the left!
During the first week we'll be focussing on routines and behaviour expectations, revision of number and letter formation, and assessment of current skills to inform the way forward.
Next week will be...Roald Dahl Week! We have lots of exciting activities planned, but as a starting point it would be great if everyone in 1M could share a fact, question or a viewpoint (perhaps their favourite book or character) with the class on our Padlet Wall which is accesible from the link on the left. Just double click on the wall, write your name, then comment beneath. I'm afraid I love Roald Dahl so much I got in there first!!


Actively participating in music is one of the best ways to support children’s brain development, as well as build their math, literacy and social skills. It also taps into children’s creativity and imagination, while bringing them joy and a sense of safety and well-being – things they always deserve, but that are priorities in this challenging time.
Charlottesville resident Mary Anderson – a proud graduate of both J.R. Tucker High School and Virginia Commonwealth University – has a master’s degree in music education from Boston University and has been a preschool and elementary school music teacher for 15 years. Since leaving the classroom, she’s done a lot of research on the effects of music on the developing brain, as well as observed over 100 preschool classrooms. The result is the creation with her husband Mike of the My Music Starts Here program specifically designed for children from 3 to 7 years old.
When the pandemic began limiting families to home, Anderson grew concerned.
“As schools started closing, there was a flurry of online learning resources starting to circulate as well as video chatting with teachers, but for the most part, our youngest learners were left out of those resources,” she says.
To help support both early childhood educators and parents newly at home with their youngsters, Anderson and her husband created a free spring music program, filled with developmentally appropriate video content for children ages 3 to 7 that she says is interactive, engaging and provides many options for screen-free learning. The program is completely free and was designed so a parent doesn’t need anything except a phone, tablet or computer for the child to watch on.
The couple designs all of its programs so that they can work with the parent sitting with the child or with the child on their own.
“As parents ourselves, we know that sometimes you just need your little one to be engaged with something so that you can be doing something else,” she explains. The content is designed to be developmentally appropriate for the young child, so parents can feel good about just hitting play. But Anderson readily acknowledges that young children learn best and are most engaged when the parents or caregivers are involved and they’re able to take their learning off-screen.
Anderson says that at this age, children’s brains are developing rapidly and also starting to prune what they don’t need based on the experiences the child is having. Studies have proven that when children are active participants in music-making, it makes their brains stronger and more flexible, creating pathways in the same areas of the brain that are needed for early literacy skills, listening skills, math skills, and social and emotional learning skills, all things that children need to be successful in school and in life. Just 20 minutes of music learning three times a week for six months is enough to dramatically increase a child’s language development and positively impact reading, math, emotional regulation and social skills.
The goal of My Music Starts Here is to give preschool teachers and parents something that’s easy to use, developmentally appropriate for young children and supportive of their growth and development. Anderson has created six playlists that model a child’s circle time in their classroom, with lists filled with songs, finger plays, steady beat activities and movement songs. Then there’s an active listening version that gives a curated list of pieces and engaging questions to guide children in deeper listening and creative ways to respond to music. A music for mindfulness list provides pieces that help to calm and soothe, while a favorite songs playlist is filled with some of Anderson’s favorite songs to sing for and with children.
Because young children love watching things over and over again – it’s how they learn – Anderson’s videos are short, maybe two to three minutes. She encourages families to watch videos multiple times until their little one can sing the song or speak the poem on their own.
Not only does music have the power to heal, but when a child and caregiver sing together, it bonds them together and comforts them.
“Music brings us joy and young children delight in making music,” Anderson says. “These things are always important, but in such stressful times as these, music can truly be one of the most positive ways we get through our days together as a family.”
The free program couldn’t be easier for parents to use. They can simply hit play on one of the playlists or refer to the parent guide for myriad ideas on different ways to use all of them.
“Best of all, it supports all of the skills preschoolers need to be ready for kindergarten.”
Learn more at mymusicstartshere.com.


By Lauren Ebben:
Along with the Toyota Prius in 1997, TiVO in 1999 and the iPhone in 2007, came a very new, very different kind of generation of people: Generation Z, also called iGen.
Although sometimes characterized as part of the millennial generation, Gen Z are younger. Anyone born after 1995 is considered to be a part of Generation Z. Basic characteristics of this generation include: a growing awareness of health issues, an almost jaded response to terrorism and war, a compassionate and open-minded nature and, of course, the massive use of technology.
“They have never known a life without the internet,” Dr. Elizabeth Rodriguez, psychology professor, said. “Social media is the primary outlet for this generation.”
Rebecca Cleeton, a well-organized elementary education major said she doesn’t feel like she has to shy away from the iGen standard.
“I have been able to get information faster and learn about different things just through a few key strokes,” she said.
But, just because it’s on the internet, doesn’t make it true. “I also am negatively subjected to fake news and made to believe it’s real,” Cleeton said.
Tammie Cleeton, Rebecca’s mom and a teacher’s aide, doesn’t think the constant connection always is a good thing.
“I think they are missing out on their childhood. We played outside, learned to use our imaginations. The computer does the imagine stuff for you,” she said.
Tammie said the iGen will not be able to experience life the way her generation did. “They don’t have to figure things out. They just look it up. They don’t have to think as much.”
She isn’t the only one think this. “I think technology can be amazing as long as you use it,” Rodriguez said.
“But by having that knowledge by searching ‘how do I do this?’ and it tells you step by step how to do it instead of trying to figure it out yourself. We miss the idea of critically thinking for yourself. Like, you come up with the solution. Don’t just look it up.”
However, Rebecca Cleeton remains hopeful and considers the use of technology as having a more positive than negative impact on the lives of others.
“It one hundred percent makes our lives easier,” she said.


T's Learning Center teachers make all the difference.
Teaching one child, let alone a whole classroom of young students is not an easy task. Being an early childhood education teacher requires a personal interest and passion for helping young children and closely observing while they grow, learn and achieve.
This is one of the most gratifying benefits of being a preschool teacher at T’s Learning Center. On most days, our teachers spend more time engaging them and teaching our children and influencing their behavior more than anyone – even their parents.
It takes a special kind of person to work with young children in their first five years of life. Our teachers are tasked with supporting basic cognitive, behavioral, social and physical developmental milestones. Patience, creativity, a love for early education are the important elements of being an effective early childhood teacher at T’s Learning Centers.
Here are important characteristics of our awesome preschool teachers:
Passion that Makes a Difference
Our teachers have a burning desire to make a real difference in the lives of young children – one of the most important qualities of a great preschool teacher. Their positive drive goes well beyond enjoying being will children. It means wanting to make a difference to every child. Our teachers are driven to open every child's opportunity to learning and helping to overcome any obstacle a child may have.
Successful preschool teachers need plenty of patience. Every class has students with different developmental skills. Working with young children all day takes huge measures of patience. By nature, their age makes young children high-spirited, with short attention spans and marginal self-control. Every child is different, too, making the job even more challenging. After a long, tiring day full of challenges, our teachers of young children come back and meet the same and new challenges the next day. A patient nature, blended with a sense of humor, helps our teachers take the ups and downs of every day in stride, while staying focused on the ultimate goals.
Flexibility and Creativity
Creativity in the classroom is more than making fun art projects. Our classes require creativity to teach children from different cultures or backgrounds. The teachers at T’s Learning Center are prepared for multicultural classrooms with many ethnic backgrounds, cultures, and traditions represented. In their classrooms, these differences are not merely tolerated but are welcomed and embraced creating an open and exciting learning atmosphere.
We plan lessons that will engage young children and educate them at the same time takes creativity. Additionally, adapting lessons to individual learning styles requires flexibility. Regardless of how organized teachers are and how well the day has been planned, they flexible to handle all the glitches that can throw off the day. We use creativity and flexibility to make every day a positive one for our classes.
Children are sponges at this early age, but they are also new to learning. Our teachers communicate with young learners on their level, including being able to break tasks and subjects into easily understandable pieces. They offer details about classroom progress to parents, so they are aware of their child’s performance and achievement level.
Great preschool teachers are dedicated to their students and their career. When you are determined to stand up for your beliefs on behalf of your educational values or your students’ needs, you will gain respect from your colleagues, parents, and students. At the preschool level, making the classroom a place where learning is fun can resonate with children for the rest of their lives. Most of all, truly successful teachers are dedicated to bringing out the best in their students.
Overall, our great preschool teachers at our Jacksonville and St. Augustine locations continue to work on their craft as well as their own personal development to become better every year. When you choose T’s Learning Center, the best preschool and for early childhood learning, you are providing a place to help your (and our) most precious resource grow into responsible, competent learners.


Research indicates that gross motor skills are a major predictor of a child’s school readiness. In essence they reflect “brain skills,” yet many parents and caregivers overlook their importance.
When infants and toddlers move their arms, legs, and other large body parts with large muscle groups, they are developing their gross motor skills. However, studies suggest that as children develop crawling, walking, running, and jumping, they are also developing their cognitive abilities.
How? Researchers believe it’s because many of the brain regions employed in motor skills development are also common to cognitive and perceptual skills. In effect, when infants and toddlers begin to work their large muscles, they are also exercising the neural networks needed for cognition and perception.
The correlation between the development of gross motor skills and cognition is born out by studies showing that preschoolers with poor motor skill development tend to struggle when they enter grade school.
Helping your child develop motor skills
Parents and caregivers can help children develop gross motor skills by making sure the infants and toddlers in their care are active every day in age-appropriate ways.
They can also consult a physical literacy checklist for ages 0-2 years for short descriptions of essential motor skills for these early years and tips for helping to develop them.
Related read: 49 fun physical activities to do with kids aged 2 to 4
Physical activity in the early years doesn’t need to be complicated, but it needs to happen. After all, children are born with the potential to move but not the skills. To develop their skills and capacities, parents and caregivers need to create and support daily movement opportunities for the infants and toddlers in their care.


E-Book or Paper Book − What’s Best for Young Children?
We are in a period of great technological progress and are surrounded by various forms of digital devices and gadgets. They have a large impact on our lives, and also influence the kinds of books our children read.
Now, there are two kinds of books to read: traditional paper books and electronic books. E-books might be read or watched on your PC via different applications on tablets or even on your phone. The narrator tells the story and kids enjoy the animated pictures, sound effects, and music, which can offer an interactive experience to the young reader.
Parents and educators have spent years discussing whether screen time harms or benefits young children, and whether or not kids really learn as much from e-books as they do from printed media and traditional books. These investigations show that there are plenty of costs and benefits to e-books.
Benefits of E-Books:
- The possibility to learn literacy and language skills with the help of a dictionary, highlighted words, and some pictures and games that can explain the plot.
- Kids have longer interaction with parents when viewing the e-books.
- Children who have delayed development show improvement in vocabulary and understanding of the words when they are broken up into small parts.
- Children can read such books many times, which improves their literacy skills.
- Kids can read e-books without parents and this way they read more frequently than with a usual paper book.
- Wide access and convenience of the e-book: you can download them to computer or any other device.
Limitations of E-Books:
- Kids and parents discuss buttons and games more when reading than the story itself.
- Kids who read the paper book often know more details and events from the story.
- All the pictures and interactive features might distract kids’ attention from the story, as they pay more attention to all those colorful pictures and buttons when reading.
Features of Good E-Books:
- The pictures help kids understand the plot of the story and do not distract them with too much extra information.
- Games and features start only after the page is read by the narrator.
- Words should be highlighted when narrator reads them.
- Dictionary and repeated reading options help children build their vocabulary.
- Back and forth buttons imitate turning pages and reading from left to right.
E-books can be quite useful for children’s literacy development but they shouldn’t replace traditional paper books. As with most things, it’s important to offer a healthy balance. Providing a wide variety of different types of books and printed media will help children develop a full range of literacy skills that will help them learn and grow in today’s highly technological society.


Assistance for Learning Keyboard Instruments in the Elementary School Teacher Training Program
learning of keyboard instruments
elementary school teacher training
The focus of this research is learning support for those students in elementary school teacher training programs learning to play the keyboard. In teacher training, the piano is regarded as an essential element in the curriculum for elementary education. Applicants for teaching positions are often required to sing while playing the piano or organ, or to play the accompaniment to songs that are compulsory content in elementary schools. However, there are various abilities required for instruction in music classes, and the skills required to play the keyboard in teaching are different from those for casual players. A report by the Central Council for Education (2015) suggests that the content of each subject should be acquired together with the teaching methods in the curriculum of teacher training courses. Therefore, we will examine the scenarios in which a teacher’s skill in playing the keyboard is required, discuss possible obstacles, and suggest some options to improve their learning processes. In addition, we delve into ICT and electronic devices for students who have difficulty practicing by themselves. These measures could allow students to utilize the keyboard as an instructional tool. In acquiring abilities for music instruction with various tools, students should also become conscious of their learning processes so that they can then independently improve their skill level.
広島大学大学院教育学研究科紀要. 第一部, 学習開発関連領域


Albers, Josef yō´zĕf äl´bĕrs [key]
, 1888–1976, German-American painter, printmaker, designer, and teacher, b. Bottrop, Germany. After working at the Bauhaus
(1920–33), Albers and his wife, the textile designer and weaver Anni Albers, emigrated to the United States when Hitler came to power. Albers taught throughout the Americas and Europe, headed the art department (1933–49) and was rector (1941–49) at Black Mountain College
, and was director of the Yale School of Art (1950–58), where he was responsible for major innovations in art education. An extremely versatile artist, he is best known for his Homage to the Square,
a series of paintings and prints begun in 1949. These serene works, quasiconcentric squares of subtly related colors, form an extensive examination of color properties.
See his Interaction of Color (1963); studies by E. Gomringer (1968) and W. Spies (1971).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: American and Canadian Art: Biographies


The Netball development program gives
students the opportunity to participate in a range of different competitions to
build individual and team skills and strengths. This program facilitates the growth of players, coaches and umpires.
Junior Netball Development Program
The Ipswich Netball Program offers Netball as an elective subject in Grades 7 and 8. This program exposes young women to more Physical and Theoretical elements of Netball. It incorporates an in-depth look at rules, tactics and encourages young women to have a clear understanding of health and wellbeing, body image and nutrition. This program integrates literacy and numeracy skills that align with the NAPLAN assessment elements- Language conventions, reading and numeracy.
"Our philosophy precedes from the belief that sport is an inalienable part of the educational process and a factor for promoting peace, friendship, cooperation and understanding among peoples." (Juan Antonio Samaranch. 1920)
Contact: To find out more about the
Netball Development Program, contact Ms Paige Buzza at firstname.lastname@example.org


VISUAL LEARNING TOOL
Special needs children are often visually oriented so engaging in art- and craft-based activities can be a great learning tool. However, some children find overly busy or complex designs overwhelming and distracting so our visually simple designs are perfect for them.
FINE MOTOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
The techniques required to complete the Shapeeze activity tasks allow children to improve their fine motor skills – a key building block for childhood development and future academic success – which some special needs children need extra help with. Fine motor skills involve using the small muscles which control the hand, fingers and thumb which enable the child to use pencils and scissors, do up buttons and zips, tie shoe laces and use building toys such as Duplo or Lego. Without being able to complete these basic tasks, a child’s self esteem can suffer and may result in a poor academic performance and a lack of interest in school.
Desensitization and staying calm
Feedback from special needs parents, educators and members of ABIA indicates that using the materials in Shapeeze kits can assist with a child learning to stay calm and problem-solve should the paper rip or a pencil tip break, as well as aid desensitizing through tearing pages and paper.
Developing finger strength
Shapeeze was designed with fine motor skill development at it’s core. Pushing out the brightly coloured pre-cut shapes, applying the glue and fixing the shapes in place encourages finger strength and dexterity. To be effective, special needs activities need to be fun and engaging so children do not see it as a chore – instead, something they look forward to and can have fun with. Children with severe fine motor weakness may need some assistance with the press outs and for these children the larger A3 version would be recommended.
Encouraging good pencil grip
Our specially designed triangular barreled pencils are an important part of our special needs offering. They encourage correct hand positioning and are less likely to roll out of an unsteady hand helping your child to develop vital writing skills.
IMPROVING CONCENTRATION AND INDEPENDENCE
For children who struggle to follow verbal instructions, Shapeeze is the ideal activity as it is designed to be used independently so they can work on their own and build their problem-solving skills and self-confidence. Poor attention span is also a common issue for special needs children, but it is a skill which can be developed. The self-directed nature of the Shapeeze activities can help them to improve their ability to stay on task whilst the fun and engaging designs mean they are more likely to enjoy the activity and less likely to get bored. Moreover, each design is a short activity with a definite end which will allow your child to complete a task relatively quickly – an important feature for special needs children.
LETTER, NUMBER & SHAPE RECOGNITION
Shapeeze also offers a gentle reinforcement of letter, number and shape recognition – important for special needs children who are often so busy trying to keep up with their peers they miss key learning opportunities in the classroom.