The Animal Maze Game is designed to teach students how to write a basic set of instructions similar to coding a computer program. As a team, the students must help an animal get to its food and shelter. This game will prepare students for creating animations using ScratchJr.
1st Grade-Take Cover (Evaluate)
In this design problem, students designed a covering for a playground to protect students from UV exposure. They used UV-sensitive beads and a UV flashlight to determine the effectiveness of their design to protect students playing on the playground. During this cycle, the students evaluated their designs and looked for ways to improve them.
2nd Grade-Save the City (Evaluate)
The students worked individually to read a map of a city and identify homes that may be in the path of a landslide. Working in small groups, the students designed and tested a solution to prevent erosion of the hill and save the homes. Using the iPads, students recorded the investigation and spent this cycle reviewing the data and video to determine the strengths and weaknesses of their designs.
3rd Grade-Seed Solutions (Evaluate)
The students completed their Educreations (iPad app) presentation with photographs, text, and a voice-recorded explanation.
4th Grade-Reaction Test 1
Using the Tynker app, the students followed step-by-step directions to create a game that allowed the player to test their reaction time. The students chose a background and actors that would randomly move around the screen. Each time the player tapped the character, a score would be recorded with a reaction time (fast, medium, slow) displayed at the end of the game.
5th Grade-Disease Detectives (Present)
There is an illness spreading at our fictional school. Using the Patient Information Sheet, the students made correlations between the students in the class and the activities they participated in together. Using data from the sheet, we determined how long the fictional students had been sick and how they interacted with one another to pass along the illness. Using Educreations (an iPad app), the students created a diagram or flow chart to illustrate how the illness was spread and made conclusions about Patient Zero. The presentations were shared with the rest of the class as students defended their diagnoses.
Welcome to the STEAM Studio Blog for Jamestown Upper & Lower Elementary Schools in Hudsonville, MI. Here you will find the latest projects and concepts we've been working on in class.
comes to Hudsonville with 17 years of teaching information and technology skills to elementary students. After earning a BA in Elementary Education at the University of Northern Iowa and a Master’s degree from the University of Iowa in 2000, she drew a circle on the map and chose Southwest Michigan.


All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD), established in 2011 as a partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision and the Australian Government, advances EdTech innovation and research to improve reading outcomes for marginalized children in low-resource contexts. ACR GCD is an ongoing series of competitions that leverages science and technology to source, test, and disseminate scalable solutions to improve literacy skills of early grade learners in developing countries. The global initiative focuses on sourcing new solutions, testing new ideas, accelerating, and scaling what works.
STS will provide Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning services that ensure ACR GCD advances EdTech innovation and research by:
- Enhancing literacy learning for children with disabilities
- Driving the development and use of accessible books in underserved languages
- Strengthening foundations for literacy to improve early childhood learning
STS’s will include monitoring and capacity building support; designing and implementing project evaluations, as well as other studies and assessments; designing a framework for acceleration and providing scale-up support to innovators; developing, collaborating, learning, and adapting initiatives; and strengthening the partnership’s ability to demonstrate its unique impact. These efforts will facilitate informed management decisions, shape the potential for innovations’ appropriate replication and scaling, and inform the strategic direction of projects and decision-making.
Explore STS’s previous work with All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development.


Education and teaching degrees open up many career opportunities because of the diversity of subjects that are taught at every level, from primary school all the way through college. Someone with an education degree can serve as a private tutor, a teacher in a public school, or a professor at a private university. Education degrees are highly portable because of the number of non-profit organizations that send teachers abroad to work in the developing world.
A student pursuing a degree in education and teaching will need to choose an instruction level to work at. The educational requirements for elementary and high school teachers are different from those of college professors or trainers in a specific, technical field. College professors are typically expected to have a PhD or terminal degree in the field they teach, whereas teachers at lower grade levels usually need some sort of state certification or license. People pursuing degrees in education and teaching must:
The following 10 schools offer the best accredited online education and teaching degree programs. Subjects offered within education include teaching, special education, elementary education, secondary education, higher education, and more.
|With its online degrees specifically geared toward working professionals, University of Southern California’s Master’s programs with concentrations in Teaching, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and with Teaching Credentials can all be taken conveniently from home. USC is an accredited, reputable university dedicated to providing academic excellence.|
|Liberty University offers various MA in teaching and M.Ed degree programs as part of its online curriculum. The MA in teaching degree allows students to follow an elementary, secondary or special education option, while M.Ed students have 11 program focus options, including four program specialist opportunities and five teaching and learning tracks.|


Music is sometimes called the universal language. The elements of music are also key aspects of language, making it a very powerful tool for language and literacy development.
Language Learning and Musical Activities:
activities based on the innovative approach of isolating and highlighting key elements of music (e.g. rhythm, melody, tempo, volume) before building them back into real-life language use.
In Tune With You: discover an accessible and innovative method for teaching the piano to learners who need a different approach.
Matthew Evens Music runs workshops for people of all ages, talents and abilities. All students have the opportunity to offer verbal or musical ideas, and improvements from any starting point are guaranteed.


Many Different Ways To Play
Explore the different notes and sounds by letting the balls fall on the keys or slide out the xylophone and create your own melodies with the wooden mallet! With the hammering & pounding wooden toy, there are many ways to make music!
Grasping & Hand-Eye Coordination
Develops hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Strengthens arm muscles.
Early Music Education
Hammering & pounding wooden toy sounds and melodies are an ideal introduction to the exciting world of music.
Rounded Shape & Bright Colors
Well-polished surfaces, round edges, and sturdy materials ensure safe play and years of pounding and tapping.
Durable, Water Based Paint
Finished with child-safe paint and made using durable wooden materials.


As the 2020-2021 school year draws to a close, many of us feel burnout, exhausted, and suffering from a lack of inspiration when it comes to lesson planning. Coupled with the inability for many of us to have “normal” performances, it can feel daunting to find a way to keep kids engaging in music-making and music learning while providing some type of capstone experience for them.
In this blog post, I share four ideas for engaging end-of-year activities in music class AND provide some free resources to help you on your way!
1. Explore Cross-curricular Connections
If you are in a situation where students are not allowed to sing due to COVID restrictions, you might feel at a loss for creating a final performance. Could you have your young singers express the music they are singing in other ways? You might connect with a language arts teacher and have students create stories inspired by the songs you’ve explored this school year (or in school years past) and have them read their stories to the class with a backing soundtrack. Or, have them express a piece of music through artwork! Even better, what if you gave students choice in how they interpret the music they are studying and put all of their pieces together in a massive display (either virtually or in-person).
In Danielle Larrick’s Concert Gallery Project, she provides all of the materials you need to guide students through creating their own concert gallery that brings their music to life! You could even create an outdoor concert gallery that students and families could visit at the end of the school year. Scroll down to learn more about this resource (hint: it’s free during teacher appreciation week!).
2. Create a New Tradition
In one of my first years teaching orchestra, I was stuck at the end of the year. We had completed everything I had planned, and I wanted to find a way to get my students to compose and write songs with low pressure. I ALSO wanted to find a way to honor the seniors that were graduating. Just like that, Senior Serenades were born!
What are Senior Serenades? These are tribute pieces created for graduating seniors to honor their time in our ensemble. Students break into small groups, interview their assigned seniors, and create songs/tributes for them. Some groups create compositions and read a speech over it, other groups create original songs with slideshows, and some create remixes of popular songs by swapping out the lyrics. This has become such a mainstay of our program that the seniors start asking when the serenades will happen each spring! You can learn more about this project here and download it FOR FREE during teacher appreciation week. (My colleague and I have worked on this project with students in-person and virtually.)
3. Develop Content for your Program
What are the biggest struggles that students have when they come into your program? What baseline skills do they need to know? How can you connect with colleagues in your district to support each other in music education? My solution: YouTube Tutorials.
Another favorite end-of-year activity that I do with my students is creating YouTube tutorials for our elementary and middle schools. I reach out to the teachers at those schools, learn what type of tutorials would be most beneficial, and split my students into groups. The groups then work to create a tutorial about a specific topic. We brand each video with a consistent title slide and soundtrack (we use WeVideo and share all of our content through the cloud-based platform) and upload them to a YouTube playlist associated with our school account.
Students learn through teaching, work on their video production skills, and help other kids in the district! It is a win/win for everyone. The videos range from “how-tos” on playing a popular tune to specific skills such as playing with vibrato. Check out this blog post by Steve Selfridge on creating tutorial videos for students.
3. Connect through Collaborations
Last year, I had my students complete an “end of year” composition project during school closure. They could choose to work alone or in small groups, and their goal was to compose a 16 measure quartet for strings. We used Noteflight for our virtual collaborations, but Flat.io is another great collaborative composition tool. Instead of a traditional performance, we sent the compositions to college students via Music Service Learning, and they created virtual performance videos and sent them back to my students. They helped bring their compositions to life!
A project like this could be completed similarly, OR you could pull in alumni (who are home from college) or other students in the district to bring your students’ compositions to life. If you teach at the elementary or middle school level, consider sending your compositions to high school students! There is true magic in creating spaces that honor the creativity of our students.


K-12 sentence example
- The K-12 Division - This division works closely with schools all over the country to assess students, and help intervene in order to optimize student performance.
- The course focuses on the continuing education of K-12 science teachers in order to enhance their knowledge of the biological sciences.
- With everything from early childhood learning programs to K-12 teaching background, Walden provides the edge that many students need.
- Most schools offer full curriculum programs for grades K-12 with a few offering programs for preschoolers.
- Casey Lake Summer Play Group - for those who reside in North St. Paul, this play group meets every summer and is open to K-12 grade students and their families.Advertisement
- Choose a program that spans K-12 if possible.
- K-12 free homeschool materials may be easily found on the Internet and locally if you know where to look.
- The Abeka curriculum is a K-12, accredited, faith-based homeschooling program that is also used by many Christian schools.
- Games and quizzes for various ages, K-12, quizzes require flash player.
- Preschool alphabet games have been used for years to prepare young children for the more disciplined learning environments of K-12 education.Advertisement
- K-12 Teacher's Site A very good source for educational shareware which is also categorized by subject.
- State Departmentducation departments are developing databases that track students throughout their K-12 school years.
- K-12 Teacher 's Site A very good source for educational shareware which is also categorized by subject.
- Third, state education departments are developing databases that track students throughout their K-12 school years.
- It serves as the main campus of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, which offers accredited undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture and provides K-12 outreach education programs.Advertisement
- There are two main aspects of the K-12 Initiatives department.


We have compiled these resources that may be used at home for students and families. We are committed to providing high-quality in-person and remote learning. We will continue to update these resources for our Catholic school families.
How to Talk to Children about the Coronavirus: This provides a number of resources for parents on considerations for addressing the Coronavirus with their children
Social Story about Coronavirus for Children: This is a social story designed by an educator to explain the Coronavirus to children.
Screen Time Considerations: Common Sense Media provides important information about screen time and children.
Family Readiness and Coping: Family Readiness for an Outbreak from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
7 Ways to Help Children: 7 Ways to Help Children Cope with Coronavirus related anxiety from Dr. Sabrina Strutz.
CDC Mental Health during Coronavirus: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mental health and coping information during COVID-19.
Deep Breathing Printables: Documents designed to guide deep breathing exercises.
Self-regulation Mind Breaks: Printable mind break samples.
10 Brain Breaks: These are physical activities that provide movement breaks for children from Playworks.org.
Free SEL Worksheets: Free printable worksheet for SEL Learning from Centerventions.
SEL Games to Play at Home: Games that parents/caregivers can play at home with younger children.
Parent Toolkit: This parent toolkit provides families with information and resources for children’s development.
Handouts for Parents: This handout is for schools and parents to build student’s social, emotional and academic skills.
Ways to Boost Empathy: This page provides information on how to boost empathy.
Pros and Cons of Social Media: This Family Orbit video provides the pros and cons of social media with teens today.
Yak Back Pack for speech: Yak Back Pack is a YouTube channel with a series of speech therapy videos aimed at articulation. Each video shows a mouth in the bottom corner to provide a visual to students on how to properly form sounds. No cost. This video has a young-child's feel to it. However, the videos do provide helpful practice and guidance for articulating sounds that any older children may continue to struggle with.
Carol Gray Social Stories for students with autism, developmental disorder or other health impairment: Carol Gray is an international expert on creating social stories. Social stories were originally designed for students with autism. However, any child at any age who is having a difficult time with interacting appropriately to the world around them can benefit from social stories. Carol Gray’s website provides samplers as well as guidance on how to create social stories to benefit children.
Dyscalculia.org for students with a specific disability in math (dyscalculia): This free resource provides research-based interventions and teaching techniques to support students who struggle with a specific learning disability in math.
Typing Club for students with a specific disability in writing (dysgraphia) and/or fine motor skills deficits: This free resource provides students with self-guided lessons on keyboarding. In addition, with the audio reinforcement, it is a good resource for reviewing phonemic awareness. This resource is appropriate for students in PK-8.
Jack Hartman Kids Music Channel for students with a specific learning disability in reading (dyslexia): Jack Hartman is a musician and educator who provides engaging songs to support learning in foundational skills in reading. The channel is geared toward younger children in grades kindergarten through fourth grade.
Slingshot to English for students with a specific learning disability in reading (dyslexia): Slingshot to English is a video channel that provides short videos to reinforce skills for improving comprehension. The videos are geared toward older students but is useful for younger students as well.
Intervention Central for intervention: Intervention Central provides teachers, schools and districts with free resources to help struggling learners and implement Response to Intervention.
PBIS World for intervention: This site is an excellent site for helping address various behaviors that will likely be seen during these uncertain times and e-learning/alternative-learning days.


The elementary education that your child receives can impact his or her education going forward. Children can develop a love for learning during elementary school and carry that love throughout life. The type of elementary education your child receives can also impact what he or she believes about learning. The Montessori Philosophy of education takes all of this into account by providing an education with a focus on mastery, flexibility in instruction, and a firm foundation for future learning.
Focus on mastery
Montessori programs put an emphasis on mastery over grades or test scores. Each student is provided with the time and space to develop true mastery on a topic before moving on to the next topic. This focus on mastery ensure that each student gets what he or she needs. Students who are advanced in a particular area can move on to the next topic without needing to wait for others to catch up. When a student needs more time with a topic to develop mastery, there is no rush to try and keep up with others. The focus on mastery in the Montessori classroom is a compelling reason to choose this type of elementary education for your child.
Flexibility in instruction
In the elementary Montessori classroom, there is not a one size fits all approach to instruction. Instead, teachers have the flexibility to tailor what they do in the classroom to the individual needs of students. The teacher does this by creating an individualized learning plan for each student based on the needs and interest of that student. A private Montessori school is not required to follow the standards set forth by the state. This means that teachers in the Montessori classroom can base instruction on what is best for the students. Montessori elementary education programs also have flexibility when it comes to enrichment programs. The red tape that makes it difficult to bring in new enrichment programs to a public school do not exist in Montessori school. This flexibility means that students in the Montessori classroom have access to a wide range of unique enrichment programs.
Firm foundation for future learning
Another reason to choose a Montessori school for your child’s elementary education is because it can provide a firm foundation for future learning. Students in the elementary Montessori classroom are provided daily with opportunities for independent learning. This design helps students become self-directed learners. When your child internalizes the fact that learning is, ultimately, in his or her hands, it allows your child to take responsibility for learning. This process can help your child develop into a life-long learner.
The benefits of choosing a Montessori school for your child’s elementary education are clear. Montessori school can benefit your child now and in the future. You can learn more about what Montessori has to offer and see some of these unique features in action by scheduling a time to observe a class.


We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures by International Amnesty
On December 10, 1948, in response to the Second World War, the United Nations General Assembly signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this child-friendly version of the original document, each of the 30 Rights is presented in clear, concise language and illustrations students can relate to (ex. “We all have the right to life and to live in freedom and safety”). It not only grounds students in human dignity but offers a set of rules that students are able to understand.
One Green Apple by Eve Bunting
A beautiful story of a young Muslim immigrant named Farah and her transition into the United States. Being the new kid is tough, and Farah is aware of every difference between her old school and new one. Unsure of her own belonging in this space, she feels the frustration of knowing just as much as the other students yet not being able to communicate with them. The author illuminates the insecurities of learning a new language that many native English speakers have never experienced.
Friends from the Other Side/ Amigos Del Otro Ladoby Gloria Anzaldua
This bilingual book tells a story of a young Mexican American girl, Prietita, who befriends Joaquín, a boy who illegally crossed the Texas-Mexico border with his mother to find work. When Joaquín is bullied and called names, she bravely defends him. Later when Joaquín and his mother are threatened by border patrol, Prietita grapples with how to help her friend. This book offers a great perspective and should inspire conversations about what it means to be considered “illegal.”
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
Unhei, an immigrant from Korea, is nervous that the American kids at her new school will not like her. Afraid to share her actual name, Unhei tries on various American names that her peers put into a name jar, but none seem to fit. When the name jar goes missing, her new friends encourage her to share her real name and she teaches them to pronounce it correctly. This book holds special meaning for me because both of my parents have non-American names. There is real sorrow in losing part of who you are in order to accommodate others. I hope this book encourages those who have lost their real names to reclaim them and for those who encounter a “foreign-sounding name” to have the patience to learn it.
Two White Rabbits by Jairo Buitrago & Rafael Yockteng
A picture book that beautifully illustrates the travels of a father and daughter as they cross Central America toward the north. The words tell an innocent story through the eyes of the young girl and the illustrations convey a much heavier reality. This work offers a look into the trail of a migrant family constantly on the move, working for money to keep going forward and avoiding detention from soldiers.
My Name is Jorge: On Both Sides of the River by Jane Medina
A bilingual book of interconnected poetry written from Jorge’s perspective about leaving Mexico and acclimating to America. Each poem addresses issues of losing and maintaining your identity and culture. I love how the poetry perfectly encapsulates the emotions of Jorge’s transition into America. You feel anger, annoyance, sadness, hope, and so much more while reading, which makes this book especially accessible to all readers. Where experiences may differ, the feelings of inadequacy are painfully familiar.
A Different Pond by Thi Bui
A story of a family who immigrated from Vietnam and struggles of poverty they face in Minnesota. You see a father working tirelessly at multiple jobs to financially support his family. While local families fish for recreation, this family relies on the fish that are caught each morning for food; a bad day fishing means empty tummies. This book’s narrative is beautiful and poignant. At the end of the book, there is an affecting About Me section where both the author and illustrator share photos of their families.
Additionally, I have added a book for educators as a resource for teaching immigration in the classroom.
The Line Between Us by Bill Bigelow
This book is designed for middle school educators, but what it offers can speak to educators at every level. Inside its pages, you will find space to learn about the history of Mexican immigration and discover ideas to facilitate student learning.
Contributor Samantha Saltz is a first-grade teacher in Lawrence, Kansas. Originally from San Fernando, California, she holds a degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Concordia University, Portland.
Did you find a great book in this list? Did Ms. Saltz just make your holiday gift-giving a little bit easier? Tell her “thank you” for her personal shopping services by making a donation to support her student’s learning.


Is it too soon for a Halloween craft? Not in our house! I love Holidays or Celebrations of any kind – and so do my wee ones. Our monster numbers activity we had been doing led us very nicely to this Halloween Craft. It is monster counting in a craft form.
This Halloween Craft is an excellent learning activity for toddlers and preschoolers. This craft teaches counting, writing numbers, fine motor skills, and following directions. All very important skills, and with this Halloween Craft – your wee one will be so absorbed with fun the learning will happen all on it’s own.
I have done two versions of this Halloween Craft before.
The first version is to give wee ones a sheet of visual instructions to follow, like this:
Then wee ones complete their Halloween Craft monster by following those instructions.
The second version I chose for my Sammy and it works better, perhaps, for wee learners who would rather give the directions then follow. Still a very important skill! For this version of the Halloween craft I provided Sammy with all of the materials so he could complete his monster however he would like. I provided:
Monster cut out
many construction paper mouths, noses, and legs
When he was finished his Monster, we wrote a description of that monster. I had glued all of the body parts we had used on to a sheet of paper. Sammy then counted how many mouths his monster had and wrote the number beside the picture of the mouth. He is just beginning to write, so he asked me to do dots for the numbers. We used black paper with chalk, just as something different.
He counted the body part, told me the number, I dotted the number while saying the rhyme, and finally he traced the number while saying the rhyme.
This activity could easily be completed time and time again by simply not gluing the body parts. Sammy loves gluing, so I knew that would make the activity much more engaging for him.
Halloween crafts provide a fun, different way for wee ones to practice foundational skills such as counting, writing, and following directions.
I think Sammy’s Halloween craft counting monster looks very cute. Once it is dry we will hang it up and it will officially be our first Halloween decoration.
What is your wee ones favourite Halloween Craft?


- These handouts accompany the 5th Grade Rain Garden Design Challenge Lesson Plan. The handouts give criteria for identifying areas of erosion and non-point source pollution entering waterways on school property, slope and soil suitability criteria for situating the rain garden, and data collection procedures for phosphate testing. The handouts also include guidelines and criteria for the final poster presentation design and Claim-Evidence-Reasoning, as well as rubrics for scoring and guidelines for peer feedback.
- Geology, Hydrology, Elementary Education, Reading Informational Text, Speaking and Listening, Environmental Literacy and Sustainability, Environmental Science, Measurement and Data, Physical Science
- Upper Primary, Middle School
- Grade 5
- Material Type:
- Activity/Lab, Formative Assessment, Interim/Summative Assessment, Learning Task, Lesson Plan, Reference Material, Rubric/Scoring Guide, Unit of Study
- Amy Workman
- Date Added:
- Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike
- Media Format:
- Graphics/Photos, Text/HTML
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The Australian Government Team of Education reported that 33% of 5 -year old students can’t meet the benchmark literacy skills, And in Europe, 42% of Canadians are thought semi-illiterate. However, the reason that produces these literacy data alarming is because in these nations English is the very first language. Worldwide, wherever British is spoken but isn’t the indigenous language, the results are generally more satisfying. “Many in-service teachers aren’t educated in the fundamental methods of the English language. They cannot know how to address the basic blocks of language and reading.” This can be a finding from a examine done at the Texas A&Michael University.
The Kids Understanding Studying program handles most of the foundational skills that’ll make your child right into a tremendous smooth reader. This simple, step-by-step plan is made to show you how to greatly help your child build extraordinary phonemic recognition abilities, and examining capabilities. Following a comprehensive review of over 1,960 medical studies, the National Examining Screen has gone as far as to say that “training phonics and phonemic consciousness creates greater examining results than full language (conventional) programs. Teaching phonemic attention increases a child’s examining, studying awareness, and punctuation abilities.”
An important shortcoming of the standard system is that kids develop a inclination to suppose, omit over, or replace phrases they do not know and that hampers their power to learn to read. Everything you should remember is that the child’s terminology and studying power in first grade clearly anticipates the following outcome in rank 11 and bad studying abilities are a risk to a Large College graduation. Study has shown that If a child’s studying difficulties are not addressed early, chances are that child won’t obtain sufficient examining skills.
In Point I, the Kids Learning Studying plan is designed to support your child develop exceptional phonemic consciousness and studying abilities and your youngster may have developed a dependable foundation. Because kids have really small interest spans, this program is designed to be small, simple, exciting, and extremely effective. Possibly parent will have to spare only 10 to a quarter-hour a day. Point 2 classes tend to be more advanced and you will undoubtedly be taken aback at your child’s reading capacity after finishing the entire program.
As a parent you will discover ways to properly sound out letters, read phrases and sentences when training your kids to read. And allow this method share with you important practices and techniques that are critical to training young kids to read, and find realistic methods on how to most useful change this program to meet your preferences to match your schedule www.kathietalbot.com.
It’s appreciated that there are numerous various strategies to teaching English. Some teachers choose the whole-language strategy, while others prefer to separate skills based on listening, talking, reading and writing. The object of this article is never to denigrate any process of teaching or to cast aspersions on the capability of any specific to teach properly.. The Children Learning Examining plan was made for certain requirements of the present- day children. Please proceed through that information for new ideas and suggestions, and use the process just If you learn it suitable for your young ones, and your method of teaching just how to read.


Friends, it has been a year. A year of remote or hybrid school and work, a year without live events, programming, and activities, and, for many, a year of hardship. It’s also been a tough year for educators and librarians, who have been working hard in an ever-shifting world to ensure kids and families still have access to the education and resources they need.
Rural and low-income kids in particular are at-risk of falling behind during the pandemic, with lack of access to high-speed internet, books, and other resources at home. One rural Vermont librarian said, “We do not have a lot of families who have connectivity at home nor do they have devices to read books online.” An elementary school teacher said, “Statistics from the district estimate 130 kids without internet.”
A report on “Literacy Loss in Kindergarten Children during COVID-19 School Closures” said, “we predicted that kindergarten children will have 67% less literacy ability gain during COVID-19 school closures than they would have had without the school closures.” A UN study found that “100 million more children will fail basic reading skills because of COVID.” In 2020, the number of children with reading difficulties worldwide jumped 20%.
The report on kindergarten literacy loss says, “previous studies have shown that the interruption of formal education has an unequal effect on children with or without disadvantages.” With lack of access to high-speed internet, consistent learning support at home due to parental employment schedules and other barriers, and high-quality books at home, low-income children are at an even greater risk of falling behind in literacy skills. This is a major problem, as literacy skills are one of the strongest indicators of a child’s future success in school and life. Kids today, particularly in those developmentally crucial birth-to-five years, are in serious danger of having low-literacy skills, which impacts academic success, employment, and even interpersonal relationships.
Fortunately, the study found that “reading daily to young children may help mitigate literacy loss during COVID-19 school closures.” Reading aloud to kids is one of the best ways to help encourage continued literacy development, which is especially important in this COVID world we’re all living in. With all the chaos around us these days, it may be hard to make time or have the energy to read together, but that’s one of the most important things you can do for your child’s education right now. It’s also a nice way to get away from screens for a little while and get lost in a story together. Plus, reading aloud even has benefits for adults, including increased vocabulary, comprehension, and focus. And books help us process and make sense of things, as well as relax and have fun.
So, cozy up with your young ones (or not-so-young ones) and read a book together. It’s the best thing you can do for both of you.


ABOUT THIS BOOK
- The first book to explore the cultural psychology of music education, providing unique and valuable insights for music educators and music psychologists
- A team of expert researchers demonstrate how this approach can be applied to a range of issues in music education
- Examines how culture plays a role in shaping musical thought and activity for students and teachers as they engage in music learning and teaching processes
Recent studies in music education have investigated the ways in which different
groups construe music and music education, and the ways in which these constructions
are culturally bound.
A Cultural Psychology of Music Education explores the ways in which the discipline of cultural psychology can contribute to our understanding of how music learning and development occurs in a range of cultural settings, and the subsequent implications of such understanding for the theory and practice of music education.
The book opens with an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of a cultural psychology of music education. Ten eminent music education scholars and researchers provide chapters that illustrate the application of this approach to key issues in music education; its theory and practice. These chapters provide opportunities to look more deeply into the practices of music education in order to understand the role culture plays in shaping children's musical learning and thinking, the learning and teaching of music teachers, the formal and informal institutions and structures within and through which learning and teaching occur, and, the intersection of these processes and structures in the development of musical thought and practice.
As the first major publication to explore a cultural psychology of music education, this volume signals new directions for the study of music educational theory and practice, and the continuing transformation of the discipline. It draws together a number of music education researchers working within a cultural psychology framework establishing a basic reference in this developing field. A fascinating subject, this volume will be of interest to music educators, students and researchers of music education, and music psychologists.
Readership: Music educators/music education researchers, and music psychologists
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1: Margaret S. Barrett: Towards a cultural psychology of music education
2: Peter Dunbar-Hall: Children's learning of music and dance in Bali: An ethnomusicological view of the cultural psychology of music
3: Kathryn Marsh: Meaning making through musical play: Cultural psychology of the playground
4: Patricia Shehan Campbell: Musical enculturation: Sociocultural influences and meanings of children's experiences in and through music
5: Jackie Wiggins: When the music is theirs: Scaffolding young songwriters
6: Cecilia Hultberg: Making music or playing instruments: Secondary students' use of cultural tools in aural and notation-based instrumental learning and teaching
7: Magne Espeland: A century of music listening in schools: Toward practices resonating with cultural psychology?
8: Susan O'Neill: Learning in and through music performance: Understanding cultural diversity via inquiry and dialogue
9: Susan Hallam: Culture, musicality and musical expertise
10: Graham Welch: Culture and gender in a cathedral music context: An activity theory exploration
11: Margaret S. Barrett: On being and becoming a cathedral chorister: A cultural psychology account of the acquisition of early musical expertise
Edited by Margaret S. Barrett, University of Queensland, Australia
Margaret S. Barrett is Professor and Head of the School of Music at The University of Queensland. Her research interests include the investigation of the role of music and the arts in human thought and activity, creativity and the pedagogy of creative thought and activity, aesthetic decision-making, young children's musical thinking and identity work in and through music, and, the meaning and value of the arts for young people. This research has been funded through grants from the Australian Research Council, the Australia Council for the Arts, and the British Academy, and has been published in the key journals and monographs of the discipline. Recent publications include Narrative inquiry in music education: troubling certainty (Springer 2009, with Sandra Stauffer).
Professor Margaret S. Barrett, University of Queensland, Australia
Professor Patricia Shehan Campbell, University of Washington, USA
Professor Peter Dunbar-Hall, University of Sydney, Australia
Professor Magne Espeland, Stord/Haugesund University College, Norway
Professor Susan Hallam, Institute of Education, University of London, UK
Professor Cecilia Hultberg, Music Education Research and Research Studies Royal College of Music, Stockholm
Professor Kathryn Marsh, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, Australia
Dr. Susan O'Neill, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Professor Graham Welch, Institute of Education, University of London, UK
Professor Jackie Wiggins, Oakland University, USA


The idea of universal education was first noted in 1955 when the universal Primary education scheme was inaugurated by the government of western Nigeria. The Eastern Nigeria government launched its own universal primary education in 1957. In Northern Nigeria education was provided free by government in a bid to make children attend school (Adeyemi, 2007). Thus, at its onset, the universal primary education scheme had been taken by regional government. There was no Federal government intervention until 1976 when the universal primary education (U.P.E) was launched to cover the whole country.
Education is one vital instructions in development. According to the National Policy on Education (1998) “Education in Nigeria is an instrument “per excellence” for effecting National development certainly. What Nigeria in needs in this 21st century to turn her economy around is not extended primary or elementary education but a basic education programme that will ensure that every Nigerian youth on graduation is sufficiently equipped with knowledge, skills and experiences required for vital entry into one occupation in the world of work, whether college bound or not (Ayabolu, 2000). The universal basic education (UBE) programme of the Federal republic of Nigeria was however launched by President Olusegun Obasanjo 30th September 1999. The UBE programme as spelt out in the implementation guidelines, aims at achieving the following specific objectives:
Developing in the entire citizenry a strong consciousness for education and a strong commitment to its vigorous promotion. The provision of free, universal basic education for every Nigerian child of school going age. Reducing drastically the incidence of drop out from the formal school system Universal Basic Education is the transmission of fundamental knowledge to all facets of Nigerian society from generation. It has three main components Universal Basic and Education. Universal connotes a programme that is meant for all facets of the society, the rich, the poor, the physically fit and the disabled, the brilliant fit, the dull, the regular students and the dropouts including every other individual that is ready to acquire knowledge. The term “Basic” relates to the base, take off point, fundamental essential spring board, bottom line, they are required and of course expected it therefore shows that basic education is the starting point in the acquisition of knowledge. Without basic education, higher education cannot be acquired. It therefore implies that the basic education is mandatory which is essential for life. Enoch and Okpede (2000) described it as the form of education which is essential for life. They also saw UBE as the form of education which must equip an individual with necessary skills to survive in his environment. It should be a practical and functional education. The idea of education connotes transmission of knowledge from generation to generation. In the UBE programme, it is expected that theoretical and practical work or knowledge transmitted to learners in its simplistic form. This involves starting from the scratch and being able to carry the learner along. This education is the aggregate of all the process by which a child or young adult develops the abilities, attitudes and other forms of behaviours, which are of positive value to the society in which he lives (Amuchic, Aotibe and Audu, 2015 in Fafunwa, 2015).
Ibraheem, A. (2020). Factors Affecting the Implementation of Universal Basic Education in Bauchi Local Government Area. Afribary. Retrieved from https://afribary.com/works/factors-affecting-the-implementation-of-universal-basic-education-in-bauchi-local-government-area
Ibraheem, Aminuddeen "Factors Affecting the Implementation of Universal Basic Education in Bauchi Local Government Area" Afribary. Afribary, 11 Nov. 2020, https://afribary.com/works/factors-affecting-the-implementation-of-universal-basic-education-in-bauchi-local-government-area. Accessed 27 Jul. 2021.
Ibraheem, Aminuddeen . "Factors Affecting the Implementation of Universal Basic Education in Bauchi Local Government Area". Afribary, Afribary, 11 Nov. 2020. Web. 27 Jul. 2021. < https://afribary.com/works/factors-affecting-the-implementation-of-universal-basic-education-in-bauchi-local-government-area >.
Ibraheem, Aminuddeen . "Factors Affecting the Implementation of Universal Basic Education in Bauchi Local Government Area" Afribary (2020). Accessed July 27, 2021. https://afribary.com/works/factors-affecting-the-implementation-of-universal-basic-education-in-bauchi-local-government-area


Music in Our Schools Month is celebrated to raise awareness of the importance of music education for all children – and to remind citizens that school is where all children should have access to music.
Why is music important?
Music is a brain builder for young children. Whether it’s listening to music, singing along, clapping, swaying or dancing to the beat, music matters. When a child is exposed to music it is an opportunity for them to build vocabulary, develop language, enhance literacy readiness skills, strengthen memory, celebrate and express their joy, and engage with others. To utilize the power of music, incorporate singing songs, rhymes, fingerplays, playing instruments and dance parties into your daily schedule.
Check out these resources below to learn more:


ERIC Number: ED365967
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1994
Essentials of Classroom Teaching: Elementary Reading Methods.
Graves, Michael F.; And Others
Designed to be informative, helpful, and manageable, as well as selective, this book describes reading instruction which has been found to be the most effective for all students. The book presents information shown by research, classroom experience, and common sense to be the most important for setting up and maintaining an effective reading program. Chapters in the book are: (1) Introduction, Overview, and How to Learn from This Book; (2) Learning to Read; (3) Developing a Classroom Reading Program; (4) Emergent Literacy and the Beginnings of Reading Instruction; (5) Strategies for Recognizing Words; (6) Developing Vocabulary; (7) Fostering Comprehension of Specific Selections; (8) Teaching Comprehension Strategies; (9) Classroom Assessment; and (10) A Day in the Fourth-Grade Classroom. (RS)
Descriptors: Beginning Reading, Elementary Education, Emergent Literacy, Instructional Effectiveness, Program Development, Reading Comprehension, Reading Instruction, Reading Programs, Student Evaluation, Teaching Methods, Vocabulary Development, Word Recognition
Allyn and Bacon, Order Processing, P.O. Box 11071, Des Moines, IA 50336-1071 ($18).
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Practitioners
Authoring Institution: N/A


Congress is empowered:
18.- To provide for the prosperity of the country, for the advance and welfare of all the provinces, and for the progress of education, drawing up general and university educational plans, and promoting industry, immigration, the construction of railways and navigable canals, the colonization of government-owned lands, the introduction and establishment of new industries, the imports of foreign capital, and the exploration of inland rivers, through laws protecting these aims and through temporary grants of privileges and stimulating rewards.
19.- To provide everything relevant to human development, economic progress with social justice, the growth of the national economy, the creation of jobs, the professional training of workers, the defense of the currency value, the scientific and technological research and development, their overall diffusion and beneficial use.
To enact laws protecting the cultural identity and plurality, the free creation and circulation of artistic works of authors, the artistic heritage and places devoted to cultural and audiovisual activities.
23.- To legislate and promote positive measures guaranteeing true equal opportunities and treatment, the full benefit and exercise of the rights recognized by this Constitution and by the international treaties on human rights in force, particularly referring to children, women, the aged, and disabled persons.
To issue a special and integral social security system to protect children from abandonment, since pregnancy up to the end of elementary education, and to protect the mother during pregnancy and the period of lactation.
... (Sec. 75)


Online Homeschool Curriculum
Benefits of Music Education
Seeking a online homeschool curriculum for music? When children learn to play musical instruments, they learn much more than just how to perform! Those parents who homeschool will especially appreciate these benefits. Check-out the
online homeschool curriculum
for acoustic guitar.
Parents find that music lessons for kids not only improve their children's memorization and small motor skills, but strongly contribute to the building of their child's self-confidence. This in turn helps children succeed not only in music, but in school and other outside activities. Both children and their parents find it truly rewarding when a child reaches a pre-set goal or milestone; whether that is learning a new song, performing in front of others or just finding enjoyment in music.
According to a
recent National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) report:
- More than half of U.S. households (52%) has at least one person, age 5 or older, who currently plays a musical instrument
- 85% of Americans believe that music is a very important part of their life
- 82% of Americans wish they had learned to play a musical instrument, and 67% expressed an interest in learning to play
- 94% of respondents believe music is part of a well-rounded education, and that schools should offer instrument music instruction as part of the regular curriculum
- 85% believe participation in school music corresponds with better grades and higher test scores
- Seniors are turning to music making as not just an enjoyable pastime, but also for the health and wellness benefits such as enhanced immune systems, stress reduction, and staving off depression and loneliness
Musicians Are Probably Smarter Than The Rest Of Us
According to a study cited by The Huffington Post in July 2011, "The experience of musicians play a role in how sharp their minds are. The younger the musicians begin to play their instruments, the better their minds perform at the mental tasks. Additionally, the total number of years musicians play instruments throughout their life corresponded with how strong their brains remain years later."
Music for Autistic and Dyslexic Children
According to research from Northwestern University, music training helps shape a child's sensory system. Playing an instrument may help children process speech in noisy classrooms and children recognize sound patterns in speech.
Homeschooling a child with special needs?
Music may help special needs children, such as autistic and dyslexic children, encode speech more accurately.
Seeking Homeschool Curriculum?
homeschool curriculum reviews,
including reviews of Abeka, Rod & Staff and several Spanish curriculum.
Learn the basics. You'll find homeschool curriculum guides, high school plans, testing tips, and other helpful resources.
Go to free children's tabs
Return from Online Homeschool Curriculum to Child Acoustic Guitar


Why is Montessori Parent Education a Critical Component to your Child’s Success?
Montessori Parent Education is an integral part of each child’s academic success. As we all journey down this virtual-hybrid-physical school path together, I have rediscovered a few important truths. For me, the most critical of these is what we call parent education. I believe this is more critical now than ever before!
The Montessori Method is a unique educational approach nurturing a child’s intrinsic desire to learn. Montessori focuses on the whole child—their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development.
Montessori children are taught similar content to their traditionally educated counterparts. However, the classroom environments and philosophical approaches look very different from one another. Therefore, Montessori schools and Montessori teachers have a lot of myths to set straight.
What makes a Montessori School Unique?
Parents should know what is meant by Montessori, what makes a Montessori school unique and how it meets the unique social and intellectual needs differently at each stage of development. Because what we offer your child is often times very different from what you (or I) experienced during our school years, we will help you learn how to support your child’s Montessori experience.
Ideally, if a school represents itself honestly and commits to Parent Education, then parents will continue to choose the Montessori approach because it is what they will naturally want for their children.
I will be posting Montessori discussion topics and tips to help parents better understand why we do what we do as Montessori Educators at Fernwood. These blog posts are not to appear arrogant, superior, or snobbish. Instead, they will hopefully provide a window for you to look into, to empower you to continue to ask more and more enlightened questions and to encourage you to participate in the Parent Education Program at your Child’s Montessori school.
What is Cosmic Education?
(or the interconnectedness of all things)..
Cosmic Education is the underlying difference to a traditional elementary education. It is during the elementary years children will begin to see the interrelatedness of all things having to do with the universe. This includes the dramatic creation of its furnishings such as the plants and animals, the arrival of human beings and their continuing story throughout time.
Our purpose – our goal – is for children to come to a full understanding of this. Cosmic Education – the interconnectedness of all things – tries not to teach subject matter within separate subjects as is done in traditional school settings. Instead subjects are interlinked as best as they can be. Moreover, children are broken down by their grade levels. Instead they are a part of a 6 to 9 class (lower elementary) or 9 to 12 class (upper elementary).
Syllabus? What’s a Syllabus?
At this level the Elementary Guide’s job is not to teach a syllabus. Instead they use presentations and stories to open up a new field of exploration to the children. It opens exploration carried out through the reasoning mind and the use of imagination.
It also means, under ideal circumstances, the assignment of worksheets, workbooks, or spelling lists to be memorized should be limited. Unrelated items are not of interest to children of this age. Montessori children do not receive a lesson and then immediately take a quiz or test. These ideas are not part of Cosmic Education.
The Elementary Guide might instead give a presentation and follow up with suggestions of where to get more materials or give ideas for further research. Children might do more work on this topic. They might not.
Why is Self-evaluation so Important?
Another key life skill Montessori children develop is learning to evaluate themselves; to become consciously aware of what they are good at and what they could improve on. This is a part of finding their place in society and the world. If they can learn to honestly and objectively critique themselves, they will know what their strengths are and will be able to share those strengths with others. They will also be able to ask for help when they need it.
Allow me to make one point very clear: This does not mean children receiving a Montessori education should or will feel a superiority over others. Along with key life skills comes the understanding of responsibility, care, and respect for all humanity. As Dr. Montessori put it –
A compassionate attitude of service.
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Read More: The Unschooling Movement
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Home > Info & Tools for College & University Administration > Admissions & Transfer > Common Assessment and Placement Testing
Students can make arrangements to take the accuplacer at any public institution. Dates and times for placement tests vary by college but can usually be found on the college's website.
Helpful hint #1: Use the search engine on your institution's website and type in keyword terms like “placement test,” “placement testing,” “placement,” and “accuplacer” to find more information.
Helpful hint #2: Visit the College Board website for tips on how to study for the Accuplacer.
In March 2019, the Board of Higher Education adopted the 2019 Common Assessment Policy. This policy brought pilot initiatives (AAC 14-12 and AAC 16-19) into the next phase; system-wide implementation. Additionally, the College Board has updated the Accuplacer with a Next-Generation Accuplacer. Included below and in the new assessment policy are new cut-off scores for students being placed using these assessment standards. While some institutions may choose to use Accuplacer in order to assess students for placement into college level courses, the new policy also indicates that students may be assessed using other criteria like GPA, SAT Scores, or institutional exams. The DHE expects to collect implementation guidelines from institutions and release a table outlining which standards are being used at each institutions in the Spring of 2020. Please contact the institution to which you are applying in order to find out more information regarding their assessment policies.
Depending on the institution, students will be placed into Composition I using one of two options:
Quantitative Reasoning and Statistics Mathematics Pathways
Elementary Education Pathways
Calculus Mathematics Pathways


Why does Plan International UK’s flagship campaign focus on girls?
Plan International UK's history has shown us that worldwide, no-one bears the brunt of poverty more than girls. Yet, in the right environment, girls can break the cycle of poverty. With education, protection and support, girls can transform their lives and their communities, becoming a powerful force for change. So investing in girls is one of the best interventions we can make to end poverty for all.
Why is it vital to support adolescent girls?
Reaching adolescence can bring new risks and increased threats for girls, including the denial of rights and choices. This means that they are often invisible in global and national processes. Protecting the rights of adolescent girls, keeping them safe from harm, giving them access to a quality education and delaying marriage or childbirth means they can break the cycle of poverty and look forward to a brighter future.
What is violence against girls in schools?
For millions of girls around the world, the right to a good quality education and to a life free from violence is being denied. Be it physical or sexual, verbal or psychological, girls across the globe are suffering from violence at school. Violence in education means fear of going to the toilet, of sexual abuse from teachers and fellow students, of verbal discrimination and of the journey to and from school.
What is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)?
What is Child Marriage?
Child marriage, including early and forced marriage, is a violation of human rights that puts girls at risk of isolation and violence. It also poses health risks and often results in girls being taken out of school. Child marriage robs millions of girls around the world of a childhood and the right to make their own choices. It is caused by a combination of poverty, gender inequality and a lack of protection for children's rights. Read more about our work to end child marriage >
What does Plan International UK mean by ‘quality education’?
In many countries the quality of education remains poor and as a result many children leave school lacking basic literacy and numeracy skills. A ‘quality education’ is one that takes place in a safe environment, that is girl-friendly and tailored to the relevant needs and rights of girls and boys. Teaching and schools need to be free from gender bias and should promote gender equality. Read more about our work on education >
What does Plan International UK mean by ‘participation’?
'Participation' means ensuring that girls' voices are heard and acknowledged in social, economic and political spheres. At the moment, girls in many societies have 'no voice that counts' in decision-making processes. We must empower them to speak, participate and challenge and to break the cycle of poverty through addressing the barriers that hold them back. This doesn't simply mean focusing on individual girls but on changing society as a whole.
What about boys and men?
Women, men, girls and boys are all part of the plan for girls. We can only challenge discrimination, including gender inequality, if boys and men are part of our work to ensure improved education, choices and opportunities for all. Our programmes do not only work with or target girls, because we recognise that to positively change the relations between girls and boys we need to work with both groups. We are not trying to make girls better off than boys. We will always seek to ensure that all children enjoy all their rights.


|Introducing Italia Opera||10|
|Italian Music Outside Italy: Italian Composers at the Courts of Europe||10|
|The “Grand Tour” as a cultural-musical reference: Italy’s Music Festivals||10|
|The Great Music Schools. Venice, Rome, Naples: the centres that have made the history of music.||10|
|Va Pensiero: Italian Opera Arias and Choirs||10|
|Famous Italian Composers||10|
Not only Italy was the cradle of worldwide renowned Italian artists who contributed to the Italian cultural heritage but also represented the favourite destination for artists such as Mozart, Mendelssohn, Goethe and Stendhal. The study course of Italian Musical Heritage originated under such a perspective.
The course offers modules aimed at acquiring adequate analytical skills and the cultural background, necessary for achieving a higher level in musicological research, provided by experienced lecturers in the sector.
The course aims to provide and deepen the skills as necessary for a professional growth. Once the course is completed, the graduates shall have the opportunities to work as experts in the field of music education and its cultural dissemination (for example as a teacher in schools or in Concert Institutions) or in music archives and libraries and in specialised publishing.
All those interested in becoming experts in the field of musical heritage and its cultural dissemination as well as students who wish to participate in current discussions of music.
This Postgraduate Master Course will be delivered online through our didactic platform available 24/7.
The distance learning system shall provide assisted learning along a predetermined educational path, with access to didactic materials specifically developed, with a wide range of interactive individual and group activities, supervised by tutors and experts in the field, able to interact with students and to answer their enquiries.
The study of the didactic materials, both digital (video lessons of the lecturers with graphic animations) and on paper support (lecture notes and/or texts), is conducted according to the time schedules and personal availability of the student.
Students may avail of video lessons for the study of theoretical knowledge, of bibliographies and sitographies, in addition to notes and documents necessary for the acquisition of practical skills.
The following access qualifications are required:
- Bachelor’s Degree qualification (EQF level 6).


Learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at our school. Reading is the 'window to the world' and everything else depends on it, so we are putting as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible. We value the importance of early reading and actively promote reading for pleasure. Children are heard reading on a regualr basis and they also have regular story times to further develop a love of reading. Children take home books matched to their phonic knowledge to support their reading at home and we value parental engagement with this. We also ensure we make good use of our local library (Rounds Green) and class visits are organised there reguarly as it is such a valuable resource!
The teaching of phonics is delivered from EYFS to Year 1 through a robust, systematic phonics programme. We teach reading through Read Write Inc which is a phonic scheme. In Reception and Year 1, phonics is taught through discrete daily lessons and in Year 2 the No Nonsense Spelling Scheme is introduced. This allows for phonic knowledge to be reinforced and embedded whilst the focus is now shifted to spelling patterns. For children who need further support with their phonic knowledge, interventions are in place.
We start by teaching phonics to the children as early as our Nursery class (if they are ready).
Children also practise reading and spelling what we call ‘red words’, such as ‘said’, ‘have’, ‘once’, and ‘where’.
Teachers read to the children too, so they get to know all sorts of stories, poetry and information books. They learn many more words this way which then helps their writing.
From Year 2 onwards, children take part in daily reading lessons where they are taught the wider skills of reading once they have secured their phonetical undertstanding. They are given the opportunity to look at texts in more depth and practise a range of reading skills to support their comprehension development. Children have access to a range of texts including non-fiction, fiction, poetry, magazies, newspapers etc to widen their reading experiences. We also ensure that reading is given high priority in other curriculum areas as we understand how important reading is in order to access learning in other subject disciplines.
We follow VIPERS which helps to ensure children are taught the essential skills needed to be successful readers:
Reading is at the centre of our curriculum and all learning in English lessons is derived from quality key texts. Reading is also priotitised in the wider curriculum so once children have learnt to read they can then read to learn.
We read aloud to the children throughout the school, on a daily basis, so that they learn the lasting enjoyment of books and want to read themselves. Reading a story aloud is one of the most important things carers and teachers can do with children. Books and stories stimulate a child's imagination and expand their understanding of the world. It builds many foundational skills, introduces vocabulary and provides a model of fluent and expressive reading. For this reason, we ensure children experience a daily story time session with their teacher.
The best way to help your child achieve well in reading, and indeed across the curriculum is to hear them read, share and discuss a variety of reading materials as often as you can. Children at St James are expected to read at least 3 times per week, but we urge them to read as much as they can. The children are provided with a book banded reading book, matched closely to their reading ability, but are also encouraged to read widely. This may include a range of non-fiction texts such as newspapers, restaurant menus or road signs.


The Shaak “method” first started to evolve in the 1950’s. Bernard and Carolyn Shaak met in New York City. They were attending Teachers College, Columbia University to work on their Masters of Music and Music Education Degree. Instantly they were smitten by the Group Teaching approach as expounded by Robert Pace. They observed how effective it was in stimulating healthy competition and real joy in the learning process.
After they were married in the 60’s and began to have their own children they saw how much the young child wants to make music long before he/she can read or write it. It seemed as natural to play songs “by ear” and drum a rhythm as it was to speak or sing. At this time three prominent early childhood teaching methods were being introduced in the United States that would have profound effect on school music programs as well as independent, instrumental teachers:
1. The Suzuki Method from Japan, which demonstrated how important the ear is and what phenomenal results can be achieved through listening to even very complex music.
2. The Carl Orff Method which showed how much children can expand their rhythmic and creative music making through improvisation and the use of quality of instruments, excluding the piano.
3. The Montessori Method which developed children’s sensorial awareness and sensitivity in many areas of knowledge, including music. Dr. Montessori was amazingly perceptive in grasping how the child’s mind absorbs knowledge and skills.
The Shaak’s saw a need in the contemporary piano literature for music that young children could play and feel satisfied harmonically, rhythmically, melodically and physically. Pieces from the Events Series were taught from mimeographed sheets before they were published. In fact, most of the students were surprised to find that their teacher, Bernard Shaak, was the composer of such favorites as Spanish Dance, Toccata and Ping Pong. He had never signed them or identified them in any way: the better to receive and impartial response. For that reason, the copyright dates are deceptive.
The choice of a name for the publisher and the logo was carefully selected. The dictionary, pads and pads of scratch paper and several family conferences were needed before the final decision was made. The name became Moonstone Music Press in 1977! And the logo has been embossed on all the music and stationery ever since.
In the early 70’s a feature article was done on the Shaak “brand” of piano teaching in the Contemporary Section of the Denver Post. Many pictures were included and the uniqueness of the method was highlighted. The phone didn’t stop ringing for weeks afterwards. We had to disconnect it so we could eat. From that day on there has always been a waiting list. Seminars, demonstrations and workshops about our teaching techniques were frequent events. Sandwiched in were two-piano concerts, studio musicales and ever-increasing performances by our daughters, who played a stringed instrument besides the piano. The competition scene did not begin until 1977. National and international contests and auditions took us to many cities outside of Colorado. Not only was it exciting but it provided a chance to see other teachers and hear a lot of impressive piano playing.


An engaging Winter music game activity for your elementary music lesson to reinforce dynamic names and definitions. Includes forte, piano, mezzo forte, mezzo piano, fortissimo, pianissimo, crescendo, and decrescendo. Students identify the correct answer to the dynamic symbols to build and dress the snowmen.
An excellent way to reinforce dynamic learning in your winter lesson, or for a quick and efficient review. The powerpoint game works well as an assessment activity or a quick sub plan. Add it to your sub lesson or set up as a music center. This product is perfect for independent study, small group work or large class team engagement and will reinforce musical skills needed for singing and performing music, as well as completing assignments or worksheets. A perfect seasonal activity to start the New Year off right!
· "Dynamic Snowman Names" Powerpoint
· "Dynamic Snowman Definitions" Powerpoint
· Teacher’s Guide
RECOMMENDED FOR USE BY:
♫ General Music Classes
♫ Band Classes
♫ Music Specialists
♫ Perfect for the Substitute/Supply Teacher
♫ Piano and Studio Teachers
♫ Teachers with Minimal Music Background
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BAG Recorder Fingering Boom Cards for Google Classroom TM
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Becoming a reader in 75 days
Learn the core strategies for supporting your child in becoming a reader. Our new course Becoming a Reader in 75 Days, is designed for parents and caregivers of children aged 4 to 6 who want to learn how to strengthen their child’s reading skills. As the child’s first teachers, they build the foundation for language and literacy skills from the moment a child is born.
The first stage of ‘becoming a reader’ usually begins in kindergarten or grade 1. This is when children begin to learn the relationships between letters and sounds, how sounds are put together to form words, and how words can be used to form sentences. The skills acquired during this period are the foundation for becoming a skilled reader. Parents and caregivers can enable their child to become a confident reader when they know the best sequence for teaching foundational skills and have a repertoire of fun and engaging activities they can use to teach their child.
Strengthen your childs’ skills
During this course you will learn:
Children learn to read at different rates. The rate at which a child becomes a skilled reader depends on many factors. Whilst we cannot guarantee your child will master the skills in 75 days, we can give you the core strategies you will need to support your child in becoming a reader. Your child will make the best progress if you spend an hour per day teaching these foundational skills.


Beamont Collegiate Academy’s Numeracy Belts
All students in Year’s 7-9 have access to the Numeracy Ninja program. This is regular recall of timetables and number facts. Students are awarded a belt depending on the number of questions they get correct. Misconceptions are then addressed. Repetition throughout the program ensures that these essential skills are revisited every day.
Students can be nominated by any member of staff in the school. Student success is celebrated on the numeracy bulletin and screens around the school. We feel that it is important for numeracy to be seen as a part of everyday life, not just mathematics.
The weekly bulletin promotes student and teacher success alike. Students may have demonstrated numeracy skills within a lesson, or it may be a member of staff using a numeracy technique within their lessons. The bulletin also provides tips on how to revise for exams, information about careers within numeracy, and an interesting fact or two. The bulletin becomes a focus within tutor time, but also may be referred to in lessons.
The BCA Numeracy toolkit, gives techniques for staff to use within their lessons that provides familiarity for the students. Students are keen to demonstrate their abilities in numeracy whole school, and a consistent approach allows numeracy to be carried through all subjects.
Students are challenged with frequent opportunities to apply their numeracy skills to problems in class. Creating more independent learners, time is given for students to explore, make mistakes and learn together in a safe learning environment.


What Is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy helps children develop the skills they need to live an active and fulfilling life. A child’s occupation include everything they do throughout the day. They play, learn, and develop new skills, ranging from the fine motor skills needed to write or draw with a pencil or crayon to motor coordination, balance, sensory perception, and social skills.
What Are The Signs That My Child Needs Occupational Therapy?
Some of the signs that your child may benefit from occupational therapy include:
- Delayed fine motor skill development
- Clumsy or awkward movements
- Poor handwriting
- Poor concentration and struggles to finish tasks or homework
- Easily frustrated when learning new skills
- Constantly on the move
- They may bump, crash, or fall often
- Poor behavior control
- Dislikes changes in routine
- Doesn’t like crowds and has trouble making friends
- They need constant help to complete daily routines
What Happens During Occupational Therapy Sessions?
Occupational therapy maximizes a child’s performance through sensory-motor play-based interventions, resulting in skill mastery and success in areas such as play, motor skills, coordination, behavioral control, feeding, handwriting, and independence in daily routines.
The Therapy World team guides your child through play-based exercises designed to help them develop and master new skills, while they feel like they’re playing. Depending on the child’s objectives, therapy session may involve cutting with scissors, completing puzzles, sharing with peers, finger painting, putting on/taking off shoes, and eating with utensils.


GLS1O Learning Strategies – Grade 9 (Open)
GRADE: 9 (Open)
AVAILABILITY: Blyth Academy Online
THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM: Guidance and Career Education
GLS1O online focuses on learning strategies to help students become better, more independent learners. Students will learn how to develop and apply literacy and numeracy skills, personal management skills, and interpersonal and teamwork skills to improve their learning and achievement in school, the workplace, and the community.The course helps students build confidence and motivation to pursue opportunities for success in secondary school and beyond.
UNIT ONEPersonal Knowledge
- In this unit, students will identify different learning styles and their own personal strengths and weaknesses. Students will explore various strategies they can use in order to enhance their current skill set for success in the future. This unit is designed to promote student self-awareness and encourage engagement with the wider community. Through the application of personal knowledge, students learn to self-advocate.
UNIT TWOPersonal Management Skills
- In this unit, students will focus on stress management, values, decision-making, and nutrition, students will come to understand the overarching concept of wellness and how maintaining a healthy lifestyle can enhance their academic performance. Through varied assessments that measure knowledge and understanding, thinking, application, and communication, students will explore their own wellness and develop strategies for a successful future.
UNIT THREELearning Skills
- In this unit, students will explore different learning skills and their individual strengths and weaknesses. Students will identify a variety of literacy skills and strategies to improve their reading, writing, and oral communication in everyday contexts. Additionally, students will identify different measurements of success and the community and school resources available that can help them in their personal learning needs.
UNIT FOURInterpersonal Knowledge and Skills
- In this unit, students will identify and describe the knowledge and skills necessary for successful interpersonal relations and teamwork; skills that are vital in school and the workplace. By gaining insight into their own skills and areas of strength and weakness, students will be able to explain how those skills can be further developed to enhance their learning and interpersonal relationships more generally. Students will be able to apply the appropriate teamwork skills needed in a variety of learning environments.
UNIT FIVEExploring Opportunities
- In this unit, students will apply their knowledge of school, work, and community involvement opportunities to develop their own personal learning plans. Students will reflect on the resources available to them that can be used to support their learning needs.
- In this unit, students will cultivate all of the learning that they have acquired in GLS1O online and will showcase their strengths through an assignment executed with high effort and high detail.


The Academy takes theory seriously - as seriously as one’s chosen instrument, in fact. Mandatory weekly theory classes cover both traditional theoretical aspects of music (such as notation, scales/chords, harmony, ear training etc) and the application of these principles- i.e. playing in a band. The Academy believes that theory taught in isolation of actual music making is the reason why many music students ofttimes do no engage with this vital topic.
The Academy’s approach enables the retention of valuable theoretical aspects of music by rendering the theoretical practical-thus students engage with theory as it will be needed in the following week’s ensemble class. This approach has been found to be enormously successful. The ratio of theory classes to ensemble is commensurate to the grade- thus students of higher grades do slightly more ensemble/band classes. The Academy has a series of bespoke publications that go hand-in-hand with graded theory syllabi. These books serve as both a reference text to accompany a class, a work book for in-class exercises and a method of revision prior to exams.
Ensemble classes (done in the same class groupings as theory) are where the theoretical becomes practical, if not vital. Students get to experience the thrill of playing in a live band setting with their peers- very often the reason for their interest in music to begin with. A variety of styles are covered over the grades, with songs being chosen in as democratic a fashion as possible- i.e. student input is welcome.
The pedagogical underpinnings of The Academy state very clearly that music that is culturally relevant and experienced by the student will be the greatest facilitator of student success. Every effort is made by theory instructors at the Academy to ensure that the music played is liked by the students involved. Thus, whilst the setlist played by each grade year on year is apt to change, the theoretical concepts, and more importantly standard and understanding achieved by the student, will not.
Of note here also is that songwriting is a topic that is flourishing at the Academy. “Joined-up thinking” between theory and songwriting tutors ensures that the students own compositions feature aspects of theory covered in class- and provide yet another reinforcement of this vital musical element.
Far-sighted parents might well be making the link between music education and career success. Music’s requirement for high-level abstract reasoning (theory) combined with interpersonal skills (ensemble) are unusual in today’s educational milieu. These normally mutually exclusive skill sets are in great demand by other disciplines (such as medicine or law), thus the high correlation of career success with prior music education.
Lastly, and of immense importance, are the bonds formed between peers whilst at theory/band class. The combination of youthful enthusiasm, a creative and nurturing environment and great teachers has led to immense social benefits for students that hitherto found group interaction difficult. The facilitation of this vital element is done with great care and subtly by dedicated Academy staff. Read more about what parents say about us here.


Dad’s play important role in a child’s life MidCoast LGA (overall news) by NOTA - July 30, 2015 Great Lakes Council’s Library Service is encouraging dads to reach out to their children through reading. Modelling reading, sharing stories, exploring the world together and engaging in meaningful conversations that build critical thinking skills is the crucial role dads play in their child’s literacy development from birth to adulthood. It is never too early to begin reading. We encourage you to start from birth when the brain continues to develop at an extraordinary rate until eight years of age, when it slows down a bit. It doesn’t matter what you read. Picture books are always fun and are available in fact books too. You could learn more about dolphins or gardening or trucks or anything else that interests you both. Your local library has some awesome books, available free of charge. But if you can’t get down to the library or don’t want to, a car manual will do! If you don’t see your child each day, try reading over the phone or talking about the books they have been reading or take an interest in the activities of their day. Studies show fathers who take an interest in their children’s day-to-day social activities and relationships are far more successful at school. Research shows that boys with involved fathers are less likely to get into trouble with police, have a healthy gender identity and are more aware of their feelings and emotions. Similar research also found that girls with involved fathers were less likely to experience mental health problems later in life. Genuine praise and admiration from a father can help his daughter grow up to be an independent, confident woman. Reading to your children is one of the most important things you can do for them.


STEAM Coordinator / General Manager @ Shaler Area School District / Dream Flight Adventurers
Presentation Title: Death, Destruction and Mayhem: Using Simulator Classrooms to Teach 21st Century Skills
Abstract: Have you ever moderated tense peace negotiations or discovered the cause of an epidemic? Have you created a new government or used science to stop a natural disaster? This is exactly what our students do! We transformed a classroom into an adventure simulator. The room looks like the bridge of a starship, and our students become its captain and crew. We send them on dangerous missions and use death, destruction, and mayhem to teach them the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century. During these missions, our students are all on their own. We watch them from behind the scenes, but there’s no one there to hold their hands. When the hatch door closes, the simulation becomes real. The students are no longer fifth graders, but leaders, scientists, and engineers. Through these missions we teach students 21st- century skills they will need in their lives and career like creativity and problem solving. For example, in one mission students save a world on the brink of civil war. They learn about each side’s point of view, evaluate them critically, and persuasively debate their merits. The mission ends with them working in groups to design a new government for the fictional world, complete with compromises, checks and balances, and all while dodging the nasty space pirates. The simulator also teaches teamwork and communication skills. In each mission, students are assigned crew roles: a doctor, engineer, biologist, physicist, etc. These roles are heavily interdependent, so communication is key. Students need to figure out—in the middle of the mayhem—what information is important, make decisions, and then live with the consequences. These are just a few examples of how we’re teaching 21st century skills through death, destruction and mayhem!
Biography: Michael Penn is a seasoned educator with broad experience using non-traditional hands-on projects to teach students 21st century skills. Previous presentations include: Carnegie Science Center, Dream Flight Adventure Community of Practice symposiums, Allegheny Intermediate Unit sessions, Remake Learning Symposium, Keystone Technology Innovator, and Northern Area Gifted Consortium. College Degrees, certificates, etc.: B.S. History, Ohio State University; M.S. Mental and Physical Handicaps, California University of Pennsylvania; certified to teach Elementary Education, Special Education, Secondary Social Studies, and Gifted. Other credentials indicating expertise in the material being presented: Gifted Department Chair, Shaler Area School District; STEM Coordinator, Shaler Area School District; “Champion of Change;” Pennsylvania, Keystone Star Technology Innovator; and Project Zero. Relevant work experience: Last 5 years with Dream Flight Adventures; lead of inaugural full-immersion simulator classroom; and General Manager of North American Operations.


18Appendix LRead To, Read With, Write With, Word Study, Talk With (RRWWT)Framework TemplateThe following framework represents the essential components of reading as an effectiveapproach to planning literacy instruction for the academically diverse classroom. As youplan your instructional activities below, you must incorporate at least one technology tool within one of the activities your literacy learner can use to support their literacy development. In your rationale, make sure to address the reasons for the use of this technology tool. Reading StageSpelling StageREAD TO READ WITHWRITE WITH WORD STUDYActivity (Include specific text title(s) or type(s) of text)I am identifying concepts of print using the book Snowball Soupby Mercer Mayer. Describe the activity here:I conducted a book preview with my early literacy learner. During the book preview, I was assessing her knowledge of concepts of print. Activity (Include specific text title(s) or type(s) of text)My early literacy learner Annalee and I read the book Snowball Soupby Mercer Mayer. Describe the activity here:While reading the bookSnowball Soup, I had my early literacy learner listen for rhyming words. ActivityDescribe the activity here:I had my emergent literacy learner write facts about Jackie Robinson. I also had her make predictions before reading the close reading passage. ActivityDescribe the activity here:I had my emergent literacy learner complete a graphic vocabulary organizer. The graphic organizer her identify the part of speech, apply the word in a sentence, and illustrate the meaning of the word with a picture. RationaleI quickly concluded that my early literacy learner spends a significant amount of time reading and knows how to read a book. She did a fantastic job identifying the parts of the book. RationaleWhile reading the book Snowball Soup by Mercer Mayer, myearly literacy learner asked what quotation marks were and their purpose. RationaleI wanted Zion to become familiar with critical facts about Jackie Robinson. I also felt with her writing down facts it would help her level of comprehension of crucial facts from the passage. RationaleThe results from the graphic vocabulary organizer indicated thatZion gained an understanding of the vocabulary words as well as mastered using them in the correct context.


Melanin ‘n’ Me is a children’s book by Beverly Dyson Crespo with illustrations by Chris Hall. In the form of an illustrated poem, it teaches young readers about melanin. Published in 1996 by A & B Publishers of Brooklyn, NY the book takes us on a journey of awareness of melanin in the course of a single day.
Crespo has a background in elementary education from Baltimore’s Coppin State University. She tells a tale of melanin that has been too long in the making, but everything happens in its time.
What this book has done exceeds the text and pictures within. It brought us into the area of children’s books for African-Americans. This is something which we thought would be more rewarding.
The disappointment comes in the form of books listed under African-American children’s books on Amazon.com. Numerous editions on the list have “color” and “skin” in their titles. They backhandedly lavish apparent contempt on the value of being our individual selves as melanin people. NEVER in any of the titles we reviewed was the word “melanin” mentioned.
Is that an oversight? Is it deliberate? Are certain subjects taboo as far as young people of African ancestry are concerned? Slavery is welcome. So, too, is the civil rights movement. However, the chemical which unites all these stories, melanin, seems to be missing from the conversation. We can tell our children they are “brown” but not why? Says who? Do the people who write these books know what melanin is? If they do and they leave out discussion of melanin even when writing about slavery or the civil rights movement are they stuck in a past that has yet to learn about why we are who we are?
Here we are nearly fifty years after Rudolfo Alessandro Nicolaus wrote his seminal 1968 text Melanins. He pieced together the research of melanin up to that time and combined them into one volume. His protegé Giuseppe Prota brought the work on melanin up to date with his Melanins and Melanogenesis in 2015. Prota put his over 30 years of activity in melaninology into giving us a picture of the frontiers of the field.
Crespo shows that producing such a book for children is really quite simple. The poetic angle actually makes the book more interesting than many of those which bask in their melanin denial. Here’s to hoping there will be more like it in the future.
I read a book the other day
About a chemical in our bodies
that colors the skin
The name of that chemical is melanin
And I’m so glad it put the brown in me.
It’s even in my eyes to help me see.
Without it, I could never play beneath the sun
Because harmful rays could burn my skin
And ruin all the fun.
Now, don’t get me wrong I like shade.
But I wouldn’t want to play, in it every day.
And my brothers and sisters are just like me.
They’d rather be in the sunshine,
not under a tree.
I asked my mother what else melanin could do,
and she said,
“Honey, it protects you from diseases too.”
The next day I raced to school
to tell my teacher all i knew.
She smiled at me and said,
“Everything you say is true.
And besides it enhances your reflection.
But more importantly
it gives you a strong connection
to all of your relatives here and across the sea”
Well, for the rest of the day I couldn’t do a thing.
I just waited and waited
for that school bell to ring.
And when I got home, I bent my knees to pray
And told God that I thank him every day
For having the wisdom and foresight to see
How important it was to put melanin in me.
Beverly Dyson Crespo is the author of a children’s book “Melanin ‘n’ Me” from which the above poem was transcribed. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland and received her degree in elementary education from Coppin State University.
She taught fourth and fifth grades for seven years and incorporated poetry into her curriculum to encourage her students to express creatively through their writings.
Beverly has been living in New York City for the past 17 years, where she has worked as an adult education teacher and counselor. She continued to use poetry as a vehicle to help older students to prepare for their high school equivalency exams.
She continues to write poetry and short stories for children and has been doing so since she was twelve years old.


ERIC Number: ED202698
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1981
How to Develop Problem Solving Using a Calculator.
This collection of activities shows how teachers can help pupils develop problem-solving techniques or strategies using a basic four-function calculator. The techniques "look for a pattern,""make a chart or organized list," and "guess and check" are used repeatedly in activities that range from discovery to application to strategy games. The activities are organized by standard mathematics content strands for easy correlation with classroom texts. While geared towards lower elementary levels, the material can be adapted for use throughout all elementary grades and in secondary school. They are dedicated to the proposition that calculators, in freeing children from burdensome paper-and-pencil calculating, also free them to think out problem solutions. Each worksheet is designed to be duplicated for student use. In addition to the teacher's notes corresponding with each activity, the document includes an introduction that discusses the fundamentals of teaching problem solving and how the calculator can be an invaluable aid in this process. (MP)
Descriptors: Calculators, Educational Technology, Elementary Education, Elementary School Mathematics, Experiential Learning, Instructional Materials, Mathematical Applications, Mathematics Education, Mathematics Instruction, Problem Solving, Student Motivation, Teaching Methods, Worksheets
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1906 Association Dr., Reston, VA 22091 ($4.00; Individual members, bookstores, or orders of 10 or more copies earn a discount of 20% off list price).
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Learner
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc., Reston, VA.