Pre-K | Content Areas and Competencies
Many of these competencies will begin to emerge in the Pre Kindergarten year and continue to develop in Kindergarten. We will work on these, using our emergent approach, through playful and meaningful activities, small group times, projects, transitions, and outdoor time. Remember: development is not a race!
Language and Literacy view
- Enjoy being read to and follow a story in words and pictures
- Can retell basic elements of a simple story
- Pretend read to classmates
- Invent and tell own story
Preparation for Reading view
- Recognize, and write the letters in their own name
- Recognize some letter / sound correspondences
- Recognize some familiar words in the classroom
- Recognize and experiment with rhyming words in songs and poems
- Recognize phonemes and syllables through language games and songs
- Count to ten
- Use one to one correspondence to determine if small quantities are the same or different.
- Use an invented unit of measurement to measure
- Recognize shapes and patterns
- Sort by more than one criteria (ie color and shape)
- Order objects by size
- Understand spatial words such as, under, over, above, below
- Understand ordinal concepts such as before and after
- Participate in creation of graphs and charts
- Disposition to be curious
- Can observe and describe objects and phenomena in their immediate experience
- Can make predictions based on experience
- Can engage in experiments to test predictions
- Can generate questions they would like to answer.
- Begin to develop concept of cause and effect.
- Use paint, markers, collage materials, dough, clay, etc to create
- Use drawing and modeling to represent objects or ideas
- Appreciate the importance of works of art – their own and those of others
- Participate in performance as a participant and as member of the audience
Music Education view
- Respond rhythmically to music through creative movement and instrumental expression
- Can march or step to a steady beat
- Sing along with others
- Play simple instruments that do not require fine motor skills
- Develop attentive listening habits
Physical Development view
- We know that children’s physical and motor development influences, and is influenced by, all other aspects of development: cognitive, language, social and emotional.
Fine Motor Skills view
- Show increasing eye-hand coordination, strength and control
- Manipulate two small objects at the same time (e.g., stringing beads)
- Use tools with growing precision (e.g. scissors, hammer, hole punch, pencil)
- Zip zippers
- Fasten buttons
Gross Motor Skills view
- Show greater balance and control
- Able to speed up and slow down
- Able to run and stop quickly
- Can jump, skip and dance
- Able to avoid obstacles
- Can climb stairs without holding onto railing
- Can pedal a tricycle
- Kick a ball
Pre-K Daily Schedule view
- Children experience several special periods during their day (and evening), no matter what
- Circle Time, the children come together in a small group to hear what is planned for the day, sing songs, create music or dance.
- Small Group Time, when teachers invite a small group of children to work together on a project or teacher-planned activity in the morning and afternoon. (See Emergent Curriculum and Project)
- Work Time, when the various learning centers around the classroom are available to the children to work alone or in small groups. Teachers station themselves around the room to help children find the materials they need to accomplish their goals, to help them negotiate with other children during play and to surprise the children with ideas they may not have considered. The learning centers include the library, dramatic play, art and construction, computer, blocks, manipulatives and puzzles, science and natural history, language and music.
- Outside Play several times during the day for really active play.
- Enrichment Classes, one in music and another in movement education, are offered every week in addition to the classroom daily activities.


Third Elementary Education Project
The Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP) is a project of the Department of Education (DepEd) in response to the Social Reform Agenda (SRA) initiatives of the government. Its purpose is to improve the quality of and access to elementary education, with the particular objectives of strengthening the capacity of DepEd to deliver elementary education more effectively; improving pupil participation, learning achievement and reducing dropout rate; and actively involving the community and local government units.
The project's aim is to provide technical and financial assistance to LGUs in the construction and rehabilitation of school buildings in 22 depressed provinces in the country. These are the provinces that are in urgent need of educational investments. Five were chosen by the Presidential Commission to Fight Poverty while the other seventeen were chosen by the SRA. In Luzon, Kalinga, Apayao, Abra, Batanes, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Benguet, Aurora, and Masbate. In Visayas, the following provinces were included, Antique, Negros Oriental, Romblon, Capiz, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran, and Guimaras. In Mindanao, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, North Cotabato, and Zamboanga del Sur were included.
TEEP intends to raise the participation of school age children, improve the 6-year completion in elementary schools and increase their academic achievement. It finances two major components:
- Component 1 - enhances the capability of technical assistance, training, equipment, supplies and material and operating cost;
- Component 2 - enhances the Division/District Offices and schools in the areas of educational planning and management, instructional supervision, administrative information and financial management, improving LGU and community participation, and instructional effectiveness.
- Decentralization and school empowerment
- Local educational planning and management
- School improvement and innovation facility
- Adequate textbooks and instructional materials
- Needs-based training for teachers, principals and supervisors
- Local school construction and equipment
- Multigrade program
- Partnership with stakeholders
- Philippine LGU Assistance Portal (accessed on July 06, 2009)


OLPCorps Mass Kenya
This project will provide the community with new models and methods of teaching, learning, and cultural preservation. Resources limit Bura schools, which rely primarily on rote memorization; students are considered “receptacles” to be filled with information. Providing each child with a computer can change this: children will learn by doing, and by teaching one another and their community. In this way they will become active collaborators in the construction of knowledge.
The project emphasizes youth as the facilitators of discussion and the creators of valuable communal media. It expands learning beyond the classroom and develops students’ literacy skills. By recording oral histories and creating dictionaries, children will provide a valued resource for their community while learning to use life-changing technology. XO laptops become tools that encourage inter-generational dialogue for linguistic and cultural preservation and learning of valuable skills.
The culture is also changing rapidly. Ten years ago, running water, electricity and telephones were rare; now electricity has reached a growing number of homes. Family and social structures are transforming as men migrate to Mombasa for employment. Still the people of Taita are proud of their heritage and actively try to preserve it through song, dance, and oral history.
1: Set up server. Develop relationships with local leaders: meet with school administration, county council, district education officer, chief. Present the project to the community. Listen, learn and adapt.
2: Meet with teachers and education stakeholders. Hold workshops to familiarize teachers with laptops.
3 – 6: Familiarize students with and support teachers in using the computers. Implement project activities - interviewing, recording, photographing, writing - focused on cultural change. With the help of older siblings or students, the children will utilize the laptops to record the interviews and write up their stories in Kidawida, using phonetic transcriptions.
7 – 9: School break; run the project in the community. Help students prepare the dictionaries and work with teachers on integrating the computers into the curriculum.
Our TeamGreater Newburyport/ Bura Alliance (GNBA) to deliver 100 computers to Bura Primary School, Taita District, Kenya. Collectively, our Bura team has many years of experience in elementary education, print and film media, language acquisition, and IT. One team member is familiar with the Linux operating system and Fedora. We are studying international development and have been trained in project management, strategic planning, and impact assessment. Each of us has worked in the developing world.
GNBA, which has a seventeen-year relationship with Bura, will support the team. GNBA has the capacity to support our efforts and assist the community after the project is completed.
Teachers and most young people speak English. Older students, siblings, and students at the nearby teacher-training college will interpret between Kidawida and English; this will help saturate the technology into the community.
For sustainability, we will train local teachers and stakeholders to maintain the network and integrate the laptops into classroom activities. We will also use the computers to create IT training materials.
We will nurture the collaboration between GNBA, Bura, and Clark University. Clark hosts a well-respected program in International Development and Social Change, and this partnership will provide future interns to continue this collaboration. GNBA will provide financial and volunteer support, linking project participants with Kenyan and international resources.
Finally, we will develop monitoring and evaluation methods with local community members and teachers-in-training to examine how laptops empower children and support a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. This research will inform the sustainability of the project, which may serve as a pilot for other schools in Taita and Kenya.
- Read about our team
- Check out our budget
Back to OLPCorps Africa


When Liz Hembling's daughter, Mia, was in second grade she could look at a blank map of the United States and tell you exactly where each state belonged, but she could barely read.
"She would read a page and her head would hurt," Liz says. "To get her to read? You might as well pull her hair out. It would have been a better experience."
Mia's teachers insisted everything was fine. But Liz knew something wasn't right. Finally, when Mia was in fourth grade, Liz paid to have her daughter tested and discovered she has dyslexia.
The common perception is that dyslexia is about confusing letters and reading them backward. But neuroscience has shown that's not quite right. All beginning readers tend to mix up letters and read them backward. The problem for dyslexics is they get stuck at that beginning reader stage. Their brain does not easily pick up on the ways that letters and sounds correspond. They need to be explicitly taught the rules of how language works.
But kids don't get that kind of reading instruction in most public schools. The focus is more on the meaning of words, not the mechanics of how words are made. There may be some phonics instruction mixed in, but the assumption is that if kids are exposed to lots of text, they will learn to read. That didn't work for Mia, now 14.
"I felt like I was kind of disconnected from the rest of my class because the teachers knew how to teach them but they didn't know how to teach me," she says.
On this episode of the Educate podcast, senior correspondent Emily Hanford brings us a preview of the documentary she's working on about why so many kids with dyslexia are not getting what they need from American public schools, and how fixing things for dyslexics could improve reading instruction for all kids.


Building Hearts: A Valentine's Day Activity allows students to practice their literacy and numeracy skills. It is an easy prep activity where differentiation is simple to do! It includes literacy and math practice for the primary classroom!
This activity can be used for a craft, center activity, early finisher work, or as an alternative to morning work.
The students may choose their choice of a topper for their hearts.
Option 1: allows the student to spell their name or spell sight words.
Option 2: allows students to put the numbers 1-20 in order, or put numbers in order by 10s from 10 – 100/120.
Option 3: allows students to match pictures that share the same medial sounds.
Option 4: has a few different versions. There is a version for single digit numbers as well as teen numbers. It allows students to work with numbers, and show what they know. The hearts can be differentiated for each student, according to their ability. There are options for sketch, ten frame, even/odd, one more, one less, ten more and ten less.
Students can all work on the same activity, or if there are different skills that students need practice with, that can be done as well for differentiation.
This pack lends itself to a range of skills and grades, from Pre-K all the way to early 2nd grade.


Go Green with a St. Patrick’s Day Garden
from Wildlife Promise
Guest post by Elizabeth Scholl
In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is the traditional day to plant peas and potatoes. The timing works for most climates in the United States, so why not celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a really “green” activity: planting a garden!
Depending on where you live, you may find your garden bed is still covered with snow or the soil too frozen to work. Or your home may not have a backyard. Luckily, peas and potatoes can be planted in containers, and you can enjoy the harvest on a deck, balcony, or sunny windowsill. Then you can decorate it with a shamrock plant marker!
What You Need:
- good quality potting soil
- large flower pot with saucer (Note: Make sure the pot has drainage holes in the bottom and is at least 15 inches in diameter at the top.)
- pea seeds and seed potatoes (Note: Don’t plant potatoes from the supermarket. They may be sprayed with chemicals and won’t grow well. You can buy them at a local gardening store.)
- thin branches to use as support for vines
What You Do:
1. Fill your container two-thirds full with potting soil.
2. Press your pea seeds or seed potatoes into the dirt. Cover with an inch or two of soil.
3. Stick long, thin branches upright in the soil. As the vines grow, they will wrap themselves around the branches.
4. Put containers in a sunny indoor spot or outdoors in full or partial sunlight. If frost is forecast, bring containers indoors.
5. Water every two to three days, keeping moist. Be careful not to over-water.
6. For potato plants:
- As your potato plant grows, add more soil around the base of the plant, making a little hill. In fact, this is called hilling. Hilling should be done every time your plant grows about four inches.
- Continue to water the plant regularly as leaves and then flowers grow. When the leaves of the potato plants begin to turn yellow and die, stop watering.
- After two or three weeks, baby potatoes will be ready to harvest, or you can wait another four to six weeks to harvest larger potatoes.
7. For pea plants: Peas are ready to pick when the pods are full and heavy. Use scissors to cut the pods from the plant. Pulling them off by hand can result in pulling the entire plant up and damaging the roots.
- In areas of the United States that are too warm in March to plant cool-weather peas and potatoes, you can plant sweet potatoes, beans, and leafy greens such as spinach or swiss chard.
- Some gardeners sprout seed potatoes before planting, so they begin growing more quickly—a practice known as chitting. Put your seed potatoes on a shallow dish or tray, or in an open egg carton. Keep them in a warm place with a lot of sunlight or under a fluorescent light. When the potatoes have one-inch sprouts, they are ready to plant.
- When watering the pea plants, be careful not to get water on the leaves of the plant. Water can cause mildew to grow on the leaves.
Make a Shamrock Plant Marker
Make a festive shamrock plant marker to decorate your containers and to remind you what you have planted.
What You Need:
- popsicle stick, chopstick, or pencil
- green paper, or white paper and a green marker or crayon
- tape or glue
- black permanent marker
What You Do:
1. Trace and cut three small hearts from paper. If your paper is white, color your hearts green.
2. Tape or glue the three hearts together to form a shamrock.
3. Write “Peas” or “Potatoes” on your shamrock, depending on the container it will go into.
4. Tape or glue your shamrock to your stick or pencil.
5. Put the marker into the soil of the container.
Did you know? In just a few easy steps, you can turn your backyard, balcony or patch of grass into a habitat for wildlife. Create a Wildlife Garden!
Elizabeth Scholl is a New Jersey-based writer of children’s books and magazine articles, with a background in elementary education. Specializing in nature and environmental topics, her books includeOrganic Gardening for Kids, Grasshopper, Praying Mantis and Animals Attack: Wolves. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth enjoys working in her garden, bicycling and and exploring nature in her neighborhood.


I was checking out my favorite site No Time for Flashcards last week and came across this idea. Allie and her little man were having a great time, but she ran into some problems.
Seeing that post, reminded me of something I had up in the attic that I thought might work well for us. I had a set of 5 of these chalk markers, but I used two of them until they were gone and the yellow was dried up. The green and white had never been opened, so that's what we had!
See the videos below to find out how you can help your child practice writing on the windows with a quicky clean up.
***If you are wondering why you SHOULD let your child write on a window, read this:
How Vertical Surfaces Support Fine Motor Skill Development
When preschoolers hold a marker, paint brush or other instrument against a vertical surface, extra muscles in the wrist and hand are strengthened - muscles that don't get exercise when preschoolers write on a table or other horizontal surface. The tiny hand and wrist muscles work against gravity in a different way on vertical surfaces then they do when preschoolers write or draw on horizontal surfaces.


Making the Most of Opportunities:
Close-Up Views of a SAGE Program
A Report of the Collaborative Action Research Project of the
SAGE Program at Webster Stanley Elementary School 1999-2000
The Webster Stanley SAGE Action Research Project
In January, 1999, six teachers and a UW Oshkosh professor began a journey to study and document the SAGE (Student
Achievement Guarantee in Education) Program in action at Webster Stanley Elementary School in Oshkosh, Wisconsin
through collaborative action research. The following executive summaries give a glimpse of our year-long efforts to provide
close-up views of several SAGE classrooms, with teachers telling their own stories of different aspects of their teaching they
chose to investigate.
Teacher-Researchers (for details, click on each teacher-researcher's name)
Ava McCall, the UW Oshkosh professor, focused on providing an in-depth portrayal of the program, especially how the kindergarten, first-grade, second-grade and other support teachers used the opportunities provided by the SAGE Program to meet students' needs and enhance their learning.
Suzanne Doemel, the Reading Resource teacher, focused on: What factors facilitate metacognition of word attack strategies by beginning readers? In other words, after students learn different word attack strategies, what helps them consciously select these strategies when they encounter a word they do not know?
Lisa Bucholtz, a first-grade teacher chose: How can I promote literacy development in my students when they are not in direct instruction with me? What kinds of activities can students do independently or at home to encourage them to become good readers?
Michelle Klett, another first-grade teacher in a team-taught classroom selected: How can I promote children's growth in writing? What kinds of activities and structures are most beneficial to assisting children become good writers?
Sharon Wagner, one of the second-grade teachers who also team taught focused on: What does it take to team teach successfully? What factors are most important in the development of team teaching?
Lisa Weiss, another second-grade teacher chose: How can I foster the development of a caring classroom community so all students can learn?
Lauren Flanagan, one of the kindergarten teachers selected: How do half-day and full-day kindergarten programs limit and benefit children's learning?
The Webster Stanley SAGE Action Research Team from left to right: Lisa Weiss, Lisa Bucholtz, Ava McCall, Michelle Klett, Sharon Wagner, Lauren Flanagan, and Suzanne Doemel.
For more information about the SAGE program at Webster Stanley Elementary School, contact Patti Vickman, Webster Stanley principal, at email@example.com or 920-424-0460.
For more information about the Webster Stanley Action Research Project contact Ava McCall, UW Oshkosh professor, at
firstname.lastname@example.org or 920-424-2477.


Biology | Biological Sci for Elem Teachers
Q201 | 0604-0610 | Hanratty, P
Course Format: Lecture: 9:30A-10:45A, TR, JH A100. Laboratory: one
session/week (3 hours).
Prerequisites: Enrolled in Elementary Education program; Q200.
Course Description: This course is designed to give students
sufficient background in basic biology to provide a starting point –
ways of thinking, vocabulary, overview of various fields of biology –
from which they can operate in elementary school classes. Lecture, lab
and discussion are integrated to give unified but varying learning
Required Text: "Biology: Concepts and Connections", fourth edition by
Campbell, Mitchell and Reece. “Biological Science for Elementary
Teachers” (lab manual), by Bronwyn H. Bleakley and Pamela L. Hanratty.
Weekly Assignments: Readings from the text, some website work, pre-lab
readings and written assignments, weekly lab data sheets, and a
three-hour laboratory experience.
Exams/Papers: Three hourly exams covering lecture and lab material,
one lab report, one independent project, several quizzes in lecture
and in lab, portfolio of experiments for kids, and a comprehensive


Young English Language Learners
Resources to Support Teachers of Young English Language Learners
Colorín Colorado – a bilingual site for parents and teachers of English-language learners, produced by WETA, includes teaching strategies, instructional activities and additional online resources
English as a Second Language – includes information on standards and assessments, instruction, professional organizations and parent resources
Handbook for Educators of Students Who are English Language Learners with Suspected Disabilities (PDF) – developed by VDOE to provide additional support for educators of ELLs with suspected disabilities.
WIDA Early English Language Development (E-ELD) Standards – available for use by early childhood practitioners (working with children ages 2-1/2 to 5-1/2), such as child care, Head Start, preschool/prekindergarten educators and caregivers. Complements Virginia’s Foundation Blocks for Early Learning and aligns with WIDA's ELD Standards framework for K-12 and Head Start's Early Learning and Child Outcomes program
Reports and Studies
Dual Language Learners: Effective Instruction in Early Childhood – article, by Claude Goldenberg, Judy Hicks and Ira Lit that appeared in the American Federation of Teachers’ journal, summarizing research on effective early education for DLLs including the use of the children's primary language where possible, the adoption of effective practices for building English language skills and the involvement of families in supporting children's learning
Dual Language Learners: Research Informing Policy – report, from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Center for Early Care and Education Research-Dual Language Learners, providing foundational information about to children under the age of six who are DLLs, suggestions for how to better coordinate policies and practices to bridge support to K12 settings and research findings related to effective early childhood programs for those children.
Education for English Language Learners: Promoting School Readiness and Early School Success – report, from the Migration Policy Institute profiles the population of young DLLs, who represent nearly one-third of all U.S. children under age 6, outlines their school readiness and patterns of achievement. The report evaluates the research on early care and education approaches that have been shown to support higher levels of language and literacy development and achievement for this child population, most but not all of whom are children of immigrants.
Impact: Feature Issue on Educating K-12 English Language Learners with Disabilities (PDF) – publication, from the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration and Research & Training Center on Community Living, includes articles on DLL and ESL students with disabilities
Multilingual Children: Beyond Myths and Toward Best Practices (PDF) – report, considers issues that range from the strengths of multilingual children (and the practices early childhood professionals can use to develop those strengths) to who is multilingual with thoughtful attention to supporting young children who may speak different dialects.
PreK-3rd: Challenging Common Myths About Young Dual Language Learners:An Update to the Seminal 2008 Report – brief, by Linda Espinosa from the Foundation for Child Development (FCD), discussing commonly held beliefs about the development and learning of young ESL children and provides recommendations to guide policies and practices
Same Different and Diverse: Understanding Children Who Are Dual Language Learners (PDF) – research article (prepared by the National Center on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness for the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start) identifying important similarities between all children, key differences between DLLs and monolingual children and DLLs as a highly diverse group
Understanding Influences of Play on Second Language Learning – study, by Ruth Piker of California State University-Long Beach, analyzing how non-native English speakers develop skills in English through structured play with both native speakers and other dual-language learners.
Assessment & Standards Resources, State & Federal Resources
Title III: Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient & Immigrant Students includes Title III toolkit, teacher resources and Title III state data as well as information on assessing ELLs, equitable services to private school students, parental outreach and other education programs
US Department of Education English Language Learner Resources – resources and information on the civil rights of ELLs and tools for evaluating services to ELLs.
Virginia ELL Data – Virginia ELL enrollment and language data
Young ELs – website, from the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, with links to reports, data sources, webinars, technical assistance centers and more
Professional Groups and Organizations
ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)


from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- transitive v. To declare (a deceased person) to be a saint and entitled to be fully honored as such.
- transitive v. To include in the biblical canon.
- transitive v. To include in a literary canon.
- transitive v. To approve as being within canon law.
- transitive v. To treat as sacred; glorify.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- v. To establish as a formal, standard rule.
- v. To declare (a person) as a saint.
- v. To glorify; to exalt to the highest honour.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- transitive v. To declare (a deceased person) a saint; to put in the catalogue of saints.
- transitive v. To glorify; to exalt to the highest honor.
- transitive v. To rate as inspired; to include in the canon.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To enroll officially in the canon or catalogue of the saints; declare to be a saint; regard as a saint. See canonization.
- To admit into the canon, as of Scripture.
- To embody in canons.
- Also spelled canonise.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- v. treat as a sacred person
- v. declare (a dead person) to be a saint
One technique could be described as "canonize and control."
What is it about Purim that compelled the rabbis to "canonize" this drama, requiring every Jewish community to read the Megila twice each year - accompanied by rituals such as mishloach manot, gifts to the poor, and an elaborate banquet?
(supposing it to be a fact,) is but the correlative of the old one; and since it was Eusebius who was the voucher for that, what additional probability do we establish that the inspired autograph of S. Mark ended abruptly at ver. 8, by discovering that Eusebius is consistent with himself, and omits to "canonize" (or even to "sectionize") what he had already hypothetically hinted might as well be left out altogether?
Could be – but lets wait a few years before we canonize him.
The pope will canonize Australia 's first saint Sunday, the co-founder of an order that works among the poorest.
When the Vatican decided to canonize him, their investigation reportedly revealed that the humble Indian lad had actually been a prince, the son of a king of Texcoco, who helped Cortes defeat the Aztecs.
Likewise, the quick rush to canonize the great Pope John Paul II is another example of a beautiful human life declared not sufficiently inspiring unless it is coated in veneration and sainthood.
Angus: Does the BOA still canonize Schafly and Gingrich and beatify the Heritage Foundation?
Does the BOA still canonize Schafly and Gingrich and beatify the Heritage Foundation?
For months, the once-fabulous musical has stumbled like a mouthwash-swilling transient, wandering far, far away from what it has claimed to be about music education in schools to preach about bullying, canonize Kurt, demonize Rachel and pretty much bum us out.


Developing early literacy skills can prepare your child for a lifetime of reading -- both in school and for pleasure. Your little one looks to you as an example of what to do, making you a powerful role model in his literacy development. Knowing how to model reading skills makes it easier to create a literacy-rich home to support your child's development as a reader.
Predictions and Retelling
Predicting what will happen is a literacy skill that helps with comprehension of the story. As you read, discuss what you think will happen next and what clues you used to figure it out. You might say, "I think the little girl will get lost because she's not staying with her mom. The picture on the next page shows the girl alone and crying." Retelling the story after you read is another way to improve understanding of the story. Give a recap of the major events in the story. Acting out stories is another way to retell what happened.
Literacy isn't only about reading. The process of writing strengthens the understanding of words and their meanings. Writing also shows the connection between the written and spoken word. Instead of always reaching for the computer or your smart phone, grab a pen and piece of paper. Scholastic.com suggests writing lists and thank-you notes with your kids to show how writing is useful in daily life. A white board in the kitchen serves as a communication center and gives you another authentic writing opportunity. You can encourage writing in your child by keeping writing materials available.
After reading his favorite book 100 times, you probably don't make too many mistakes, but stumbling over words offers a learning experience for your child. Seeing an adult make mistakes while reading shows your child that he doesn't have to read perfectly the first time. Model sounding out difficult words to help your child figure it out. When you come across a difficult word, talk through the context to guess the meaning, or reach for a dictionary. These skills demonstrate how to become a better reader with a better understanding of the text.
When your child reaches school, he reads many books and passages because his teacher requires it. Some kids look at reading as a chore instead of an enjoyable activity. By reading on your own just for fun, you show your child that reading isn't always boring. Check out a few of your own books the next time you take a family trip to the library. Browse through your favorite magazines or the newspaper. Showing that you value reading can encourage your child to read more on his own.
- Digital Vision/Photodisc/Getty Images


- Inducted in 1991
- Design, Education
- Born September 24, 1936
- Died May 16, 1990
Jim Henson brought a fresh new approach to the world of art direction and design, film and television with Sesame Street and the Muppets, and was one of the most important communicators in the last hundred years.
Henson began his television career in 1954 as a puppeteer on a local television show in Washington, DC. The following year, he went on to create Sam and Friends, a nightly five-minute show that won a local Emmy in 1959 and introduced Kermit the Frog.
During the 1960s, Henson and the Muppets made regular guest appearances on The Jimmy Dean Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Steve Allen Show, The Hollywood Palace, and other variety programs. In 1969, Children’s Television Workshop’s new show, Sesame Street, introduced a new cast of Henson’s characters to the nation’s children. Twenty-plus years and many awards later, Sesame Street is now seen in more than 80 countries.
In 1976, Henson introduced The Muppet Show. The show was a phenomenal success, reaching an estimated 235 million viewers each week in more than 100 countries including the Soviet Union. During its five-year run, the show earned three Emmys, a Peabody, a Writers Guild of America award, and numerous other awards and honors. The Muppet Show is now seen domestically on TNT.
Three years later, Henson brought the Muppets to the big screen in the feature film, The Muppet Movie, followed in 1981 by The Great Muppet Caper (Henson’s directorial debut) and in 1984 by The Muppets Take Manhattan. The fantasy films, The Dark Crystal (1982), co-directed with Frank Oz, and Labyrinth (1986) directed by Henson, introduced a host of new characters to the screen. The Witches, a feature film based on the Roald Dahl children’s classic, with Henson as executive producer and Nicholas Roeg directing, was released in 1990 to wide critical acclaim.
That same year, Henson directed a short 3-D film attraction, Jim Henson Presents Muppet Vision 3-D. It is shown 24 times daily in its custom theater at Walt Disney World’s Disney/MGM Studios and has been hailed by many as the finest example of 3-D moviemaking ever produced.
During these years, Henson continued his innovative work in television. His first animated series, Muppet Babies, which won four consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Animated Program 1984-88), will soon begin its eighth season on CBS Television.Muppet Babies is also in domestic syndication and airs internationally in more than 50 countries.
Henson’s award-winning live-action puppet series, Fraggle Rock, HBO’s first original children’s program, is now shown on cable network TNT and broadcast internationally in more than 40 countries including the Soviet Union and Japan. An animated version of Fraggle Rock was telecast on NBC in 1987.
The Storyteller, an Emmy Award-winning contemporary anthology of traditional folktales, starring John Hurt in the title role, premiered on NBC in 1987. The Jim Henson Hour, an innovative family entertainment series, aired on NBC in 1989 to critical acclaim, winning Henson an Emmy for Outstanding Directing.
In 1989, The Ghost of Faffner Hall, a children’s show focusing on music education, was created for HBO. Jim Henson’s Mother Goose Stories brought L. Frank Baum’s Mother Goose in Prose to life for The Disney Channel in 1990. Dinosaurs, a television series originally conceived by Henson, premiered on ABC in 1991.
Henson received a second Peabody Award in 1986 in honor of “30 years of good, clean fun and outstanding family entertainment” and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. His positive view of life is seen in every aspect of his work. His creativity and imagination enabled him to reach audiences of every age around the globe with entertainment that also conveys inspirational values.
Jim Henson died on May 16, 1990. The worldwide outpouring of love and expressions of the importance of his work since then is a tribute to his magnificent and continuing legacy.Please note: Content of biography is presented here as it was published in 1991.


This section of the OST Hub provides information and materials that will help to introduce new reading/writing activities in your program or help to further develop and enhance your current program. For researchers and policymakers, it provides information that will help to understand the larger issues and help to contextualize language and literacy practices and programs in the OST setting.
This section, Reading & Writing: Articles & Research, is divided into the following areas:
- General Articles on Reading and Writing in the OST provides background on the historical roots of providing literacy in OST, and the multiple roles that OST staff and programs can play to support literacy development.
- Integrating Literacy into Other Activities is a section that provides articles on how to integrate literacy into traditional OST offerings, such as the arts and other enrichment activities.
- Teaching Writing in the OST is a section that provides help for one of the most difficult tasks -- engaging children and youth in and providing support for writing. Some of the articles focus on gender, such as boys, who are often the most difficult to engage.
Explore & Download These Resources
General Articles on Reading & Writing
Reading instruction does not need to stop with the bell rings. Using out-of-school time can be an effective way to boost academic skills while engaging students outside of the classroom. In this publication, education research lab McREL reviews effective afterschool and summer programs that focus on reading, and identifies the components that make them successful.
A Practitioner’s Guidebook. Final Report from Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy.
Drawing on data from a yearlong ethnographic project documenting a media arts program housed in an urban comprehensive high school, this article provides youth perspectives on their experience in an afterschool program, addressing in particular the ways in which this arts-based program functioned as a hybrid space between work and school.
This article is an excerpt from the groundbreaking book, Expanding Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of Afterschool and Summer Learning for Student Success.
This policy brief by the Afterschool Alliance spotlights the role of reading in effective out-of-school time programs, and describes how reading in OST is a way to promote students’ academic success and bolster their self-confidence and sense of well-being.
One of the first national studies of afterschool programs which provide literacy activities for children and youth. Includes a section on challenges of implementing literacy in OST, and a description of exemplary practices.
Integrating Literacy into Other Activities
The paper investigates how comic book clubs can support children and youth's leadership, civic engagement, and positive youth development.
This paper examines out-of-school time urban debate leagues, specifically the New York Urban Debate League, and the connection between debate, democracy skill building and civic engagement.
School personnel typically ignore the issues of LGBT youth in the academic curriculum and in extracurricular activities. This article explores how OST can provide a safe space for LGBT youth.
"Doing Hair" and Literacy in an Afterschool Reading and Writing Workshop for African-American Adolescent Girls
In the culture of adolescent African-American girls, doing hair is a social practice that represents power, creativity, and sometimes popularity. This article describes a three-month afterschool reading and writing workshop that focused on doing hair.
Many Versions of Masculine: An Exploration of Boys’ Identity Formation through Digital Storytelling in an Afterschool Program
At a time when afterschool programs are under pressure to become extensions of the school day, this research argues for recognition of and support for the different functions such programs can serve when structured as alternative spaces for learning and identity formation.
Teaching Writing in the OST
This articles describes an approach that engages boys in writing during the out-of-school time by allowing them to determine their own topics and by being sensitive to their gendered approaches to writing.
The evidence is clear: writing can be a vehicle for improving reading. In particular, having students write about a text they are reading enhances how well they comprehend it.


High school students have many extracurricular activities to choose from, such as sports, music, clubs and student council. Nearly 40 percent of high school students enroll in music programs, according to data compiled by the University of Michigan's "Monitoring the Future" study. Participation in music programs has a direct impact on test scores and language learning, according to the College Board, administrators of the SAT tests, and it also teaches students a variety of life skills.
Music Program Participation
The popularity of music programs increases the longer a student is in high school. Child Trends DataBank used over a decade's worth of research compiled by the University of Michigan to determine that 38 percent of tenth graders participate in music programs and that number grows to 41 percent for 12th graders. Females are more likely to enroll in music programs than males and the majority of students who drop out of music programs before the end of high school are males.
According to a 2011 study by Kenneth Elpus and Carlos R. Abril of Northwestern University, there are significant associations between participation in high school music programs and race, socioeconomic status, native language and parents' education. The most commonly enrolled students in music programs are native English speakers, from a higher socioeconomic quartile, maintain a GPA of 3.01 or higher, or have parents who hold postsecondary degrees. The least likely student to participate in music programs is Hispanic or an English language learner, comes from the lowest socioeconomic quartile or has parents who hold a high school diploma or less.
Music programs provide greater benefits than just learning to play an instrument. Studying and practicing music enhances students' ability to learn. Music programs have direct impacts on standardized test scores and language skills. High school students who enroll in four years of music class average nearly 150 points higher on SAT tests than students who enroll for half a year or less, according to College Board records. Learning how to discern pitch and timing also helps musicians pick up languages faster, according to the editors of “Scientific American."
The benefits for participating in a music program are greater than just test scores and grades. Lisa Phillips, author of "The Artistic Edge," wrote in an article for ARTSblog that students who enroll in music programs develop more confidence, focus and perseverance. Additional real world benefits gained from music programs include enhanced problem solving, dedication, accountability, collaboration and non-verbal skills.
- Child Trends Data Bank: Participation in School Music or Other Performing Arts
- Bright Hub Education: Arts Integration in Our Schools: Why is Music Ed Important?
- Americans for the Arts: Arts Students Outperform Non-Arts Students on SAT
- ARTSblog: The Top 10 Skills Children Learn From the Arts
- Scientific American: Hearing the Music, Honing the Mind
- Journal of Research in Music Education: High School Music Ensemble Students in the United States
- College Board: Total Group Report 2009
- Thinkstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images


It is never too young to start learning, experiencing, making and understanding music!
Music Education is a very important part of Early Childhood Education. Various studies have shown that Music helps children learn more effectively. The GRC's aim is to provide high quality Early Childhood Music classes that are engaging, energetic and FUN!
From 2015 the GRC is offering group music classes at Family Day Care Centres, Pre-Schools and Child Care Centres.
Classes are about FUN and exploring music through songs, games and instruments.
- Duration: 45 minutes
- Cost: $10.00 per lesson ($100 per 10 week term / payable in advance)
- Class Minimum 15 / Class Maximum 25
- Separate Classes for babies (parents must attend) / toddlers / preschoolers
FUNTASTIC CLASSES AT YOUR CENTRE!
* * * * *
At the GRC, we deliver a comprehensive and highly interactive Early Childhood Music Program. Children as young as 18 months old can access our program and parental involvement is a crucial ingredient in the success of the program. It is a wonderful experience to watch and help your child come alive to the joys of music, to discover sounds and experiences they have never had before and learn to explore and experiment musically in a safe and nurturing environment.
The Early Childhood Music Program at the GRC is extremely popular, successful and accessible and is delivered on site two mornings a week, and also at regional Early Childhood Centres and selected schools, provided there are sufficient number are enrolled.
Studies have shown that exposure to music at an early age has a significant impact on the development of children in the following areas:
- Cognitive development
- Emotional development
- Aural perception
- Gross Motor skill development (posture, balance), and
- Fine motor skill development (finger manipulation and dexterity).
You can enrol in Early Childhood Music and gain access to a world of musical beauty, wonder and fun at the GRC!


Why Teach Music?
Most present day artists, architects, and musicians acquired their interests during public school Fine Arts classes. Only by continuing to allow students to explore these ways of learning will this portion of the economy continue to grow. Education without the Fine Arts is fundamentally impoverished and subsequently leads to an impoverished society.
What about the claimed benefits of music education on other portions of the academic curriculum?
The most rigorous review of all studies (Reviewing Education and the Arts Project Report (REAP)) shows there are significant, reliable causal relationships between the systematic, formal study of music and gains in mathematics and in spatial-temporal relationships. Brain studies show the development of more extensive neural connections in musicians.
Should Music and the Arts be used to teach other academic subjects?
While studies show positive influences in other academic areas, music and the Fine Arts are an academic discipline that are, as the other academics, an independent way of learning and knowing. Reading, writing, and mathematics are important and all students should be successful in those areas, however none of those academic areas justify their existence on the basis of what is accomplished for another area. Each academic discipline is important for a well-rounded curriculum. Music and Fine Arts are an academic area of study equal to reading, writing, mathematics and science.
Should the study of Music and the Fine Arts be available to all students?
Where music and Fine Arts programs have been eliminated because of funding difficulties, students have been deprived of a significant opportunity of learning and knowing about the world around them. All students should be able to “elect” to study music and the Fine Arts in depth at the secondary level. All students should have the opportunity to study music at the elementary level in a systematic, meaningful way.
If music and the Fine Arts are reserved for only wealthy schools or communities, a cultural “elite” will be created, which also creates a significant distinction of social class. Music and the Fine Arts should not only be available to those children of wealthy parents who can purchase private tutors or subsidize public schools with donations to sustain public school programs, but also to students of average or low socio-economic areas.
Should Music and the Fine Arts should be reserved only for those students who have demonstrated their “talent?”
Magnet schools and magnet programs are wonderful for students exhibiting their skill at an early age, but many students do not realize their talent at early ages. Without opportunities in elementary, middle or high schools many students will miss developing their creative and/or artistic abilities. Districts or communities relying on solely on magnet programs and exclude or reduce Fine Arts in other district schools deny many students the chance to develop this way of knowing and learning.
How should Music and the Fine Arts fit into the educational curriculum?
The school curriculum should be designed to deliver more than a minimal education to students. Music and Art should be taught at every elementary school in a regular and systematic way. Music and all Fine Arts should be considered “academic electives” in secondary schools and available to all students on a multi-year basis to allow adequate time for skills to develop sufficiently for informed decisions about college programs and career choices. All academic electives, including Music and Fine Arts, should count towards entrance requirements in colleges and universities. All students graduating from public schools should have received at least one credit in Fine Arts. All colleges and universities should require one Fine Arts credit for admission.
• Make certain your advocacy network in your county is strong and that communication systems are in place for rapid use.
• Network with all Fine Arts educators and advocates on your campus.
• Network with all levels of Fine Arts educators in your school system (elementary – middle – high school – college).
• Use these talking points to communicate with your state legislators and let them know how important Music and the Fine Arts are to you. Ask for their support for legislation that will ensure the Fine Arts’ place in the K-12 curriculum, and the funds to support those programs.


Information literacy is a fluid concept, shaped by our experiences, and changes in our information rich society. Guidelines articulating information literacy need modification to reflect the current form of this evolving concept. This report highlights the work of four groups in the United Kingdom to create innovative guidelines to assist practitioners in the promotion and teaching of information literacy.
The findings outline prevalent concepts from newly revised, or recently created, British information literacy models. Each model provides some level of guidance for higher education. This report is not a definitive examination of British information literacy for higher education. The depth of British information literacy research and expertise is too expansive. Instead this report highlights the work of four groups in the United Kingdom to develop new guidelines to advance information literacy development and learning.1 This study outlines prevalent or innovative concepts and learning outcomes for information literacy guidelines, while reiterating important ideas found in other models such as ACRL’s Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education.
source: Information Literacy Weblog


Your article “Reading Recovery Program Shows Results in Berkeley Schools” (October 5–8) violates several basic journalistic principles.
It includes no mention of opposing points of view. A reader would not guess that there is profound controversy about this program both within the Berkeley Unified School District and in the broader ranks of U.S. education. One would not guess that last year the district apparently came close to abolishing this expensive and ineffective program.
The headline is not backed up by the content of the article. Only three paragraphs address the results of Reading Recovery in Berkeley. One paragraph claims that “the program . . . has helped 75 percent of [children in it to] catch up to the classroom average.” No source is cited for this controversial and unlikely claim. One paragraph cites Greg John, the principal of John Muir Elementary School. Mr. John has never taught basic literacy (his teaching experience was at the middle-school level) and has completed no serious training in this area. The principal of one school in the district, he lacks any expertise to evaluate Reading Recovery. The final paragraph quotes Tom Prince, the Reading Recovery teacher-leader. As well-intentioned as he may be, Mr. Prince has a conflict of interest evaluating the program that he leads. This paragraph also states: “Research has shown that Reading Recovery reduces the achievement gap.” In fact, the research on Reading Recovery in the U.S. is mixed at best. Those researchers who are not already affiliated with the program have raised probing doubts about its effectiveness. Reading Recovery as pioneered by Marie Clay in relatively homogeneous communities in New Zealand and Australia may be a successful program, but Berkeley’s program is quite different and violates many of her basic principles.
The article is filled with incorrect information and misleading claims.
It refers to “an eight-year hiatus of the program from the district.” The program has been active throughout the last eight years.
“‘All the children in the reading recovery program have been identified by their kindergarten teachers as being far below basic.’” “Offered to children at [sic] the bottom 20 percent of their kindergarten class.” From the article one might not realize that in fact the program works not with kindergartners but with first-graders. The Reading Recovery teachers cherry-pick which students to take and reject many of the lowest performers because they don’t want to muck up the program’s statistics by working with children who may not succeed. When they have run out of other candidates, they often take students who are doing fine in their first-grade classrooms. They pick children from poor and less educated families, whose parents they believe are unlikely to resist being placed in the program. Mr. John instituted disciplinary action against a classroom teacher for informing the parents of one student that the student was doing well in reading and did not need Reading Recovery.
“We only train really experienced classroom teachers who have already had successful literacy training.” This claim is false. One Reading Recovery teacher had her classroom career in a private school, working only with children from highly educated literate families, where only minimal instruction in reading was necessary. In 2006 Reading Recovery was used as a transitional job for easing out an incompetent administrator who hadn’t been in the classroom for decades. Berkeley Reading Recovery teachers tend to be quite unaware of other aspects of literacy education and of recent research in literacy techniques.
“John said that the program had helped kids perform well in reading in the district’s Developmental Reading Assessment.” The DRA is not the district’s assessment, but was written by Joetta Beaver and published by Celebration Press, and is used throughout the nation. Unfortunately, most district teachers, including Reading Recovery teachers, have had limited training in administering the DRA, and the results they report have little uniformity. In addition, Reading Recovery teachers have a conflict of interest. They as individuals, and the program as a whole, must produce good DRA scores to justify their continuation. Classroom teachers often report that children undergoing Reading Recovery experience setbacks, not progress.
Unfortunately, the Planet regularly prints boosteristic articles about elementary education that make no mention of the controversies and defects of the programs they describe. Berkeley’s elementary schools have serious problems, and the Planet could do good service to the community by investigating them thoroughly and shedding light on possible improvements.
Your puff piece on Reading Recovery, however, covers up the important issues.
Donald Forman is Berkeley resident.


In this video clip
teacher Ronelle Wright develops writing and vocabulary skills in her students
through the engaging task of making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Wright skillfully interweaves hands-on activities, rich language development
dialogue, and writing practice to help her students learn. To view the
clip, click below. See additional perspectives on this lesson below the
See the lesson.
This clip is taken
from the CD-ROM Teaching Alive for the 21st Century, one of many in the
Five Standards for Effective Pedagogy CD-ROM series.
1: Stephanie Dalton, Educational Researcher
In the lesson, the interaction appears to be a playful and informal conversation,
but look a little more closely. Students are participating in a complicated
format which includes rapid co-narration, overlapping, and simultaneous
speaking. The teacher listens very carefully, you will see, and she does
so to capture the students' comments. She is listening to those comments
to find out what students bring into this lesson and how she can best
assist them to understand what is the objective of the lesson.
And in the conversation you will listen for her use of clarification checks
when she asks questions like, "Is that clear?" And she uses
confirmation checks where she asks students, "Do we all agree about
this?" And validation requests, then, are the questions she asks
like, "Why is that?" And she does all of this to encourage the
students to participate--and to respond to their comments. She also tries
to include all of the students in the conversation, and in this situation
she has them all participating in an instructional conversation.
Annela Teemant - Educational Linguist
Creating a safe environment and instructional setting where students,
especially second language students, feel energetic and eager and willing
to participate orally, is very important in the students' oral language
development and then subsequent literacy development. This activity of
"How do we make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?" leads to
the students then engaging with the teacher in a language experience activity.
They make a connection between the experience that they are having of
making the sandwich with the teacher and then making it more abstract
in writing their reactions on the board and then later identifying key
words like jelly in the writing. Structuring participation in this way
allows every student's voice to be heard, to be valued, to be written
on the board. Carefully sequenced to move from listening and speaking
to then writing and reading about their own experience. The structure
of the activity is a continual spiraling of competence in recognizing
oral language playing out in written language text. This type of contextualization,
this move from the concrete to the abstract, these kinds of elaborative
modifications in the teacher talk, all support the student's second language
"Our position on the matter of curriculum emphasis is that neither
the academic nor the traditional socialization/play approach is adequate
for the education of young children because both fail to engage the child's
mind sufficiently. The opportunity for spontaneous play and the cognitive
growth and socialization that it provides can benefit all children during
the early years and certainly many children as young as five years of
age can profit from some kinds of academic work. But in our view, an appropriate
curriculum for young children is one that puts a high priority on intellectual
goals. By this we mean that children's minds are engaged in ways that
deepen their understanding of their own experiences and environment and
thereby strengthen their confidence in their own intellectual powers,
that is, their dispositions to observe and investigate.
Many adults tend to overestimate young children academically but underestimate
them intellectually" (pp. 6-7).
Katz, L. G. and Chard, S. C. (2000). Engaging children's minds: The project
approach. Norwod, NJ: Ablex.
All video clips are presented in Quicktime streaming format. Note:
If you have difficulty viewing the video clips confirm that the Quicktime
Plug-in connection speed setting is correct.


Louis Béroud (French, 1852–1930)
The Earnest Pupil in the Rubens Room, Louvre, Paris, 1902
Oil on Canvas, 21 1/4 x 25 1/2 in.
Signed lower left: Louis Béroud 1902
A painter best known for his contemporary museum and theater scenes, Béroud’s oeuvre reflects the spirit of Belle Époque Paris. Although Béroud received formal training from decorators Jean-Baptiste Lavastre and Pierre Eugène Gourdet as well as the prominent academic painter Léon Bonnat, his lifelong interest in museums—in particular, the Musée du Louvre— most clearly influenced his later work. Béroud avidly copied from the Louvre’s collection and was particularly fond of the Old Masters. His interest in studying exemplary works of the Italian Renaissance and Northern Baroque led him to uncover the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911. Béroud arrived at the Louvre on the morning of August 22, 1911, to continue work on his painting Mona Lisa at the Louvre (location unknown), only to discover that the famed painting was not hanging in its usual place. Annoyed by the painting’s absence, and assuming that it had been moved by the staff, Béroud inquired when the painting would be returned, thus unknowingly sounding the alarm of the Mona Lisa’s disappearance (it would take two years for the Louvre to recover the stolen work of art).
The Earnest Pupil in the Rubens Room, Louvre, Paris is an excellent example of depicting the experiences of artists and museum visitors at the Louvre that delighted Béroud. He debuted the Salon in 1873 with The Apollo Gallery, Louvre, Paris (location unknown), later winning a third-class medal for his Au Salon Carré du Louvre (Musée Fabre, Montpellier) at the Salon of 1883 as well as a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle in 1900. In The Earnest Pupil in the Rubens Room, Louvre, Paris, a female artist paints before The Coronation in St. Denis from Peter Paul Rubens’s Marie de Medici cycle (1622–1624). Somewhat more practically dressed than the two female museum visitors admiring the painting behind her, Béroud’s pupil wears a sober black skirt and light pink shirtwaist, teetering on her stool as she reaches to apply paint to canvas. Rubens’s work presents Marie de Medici being crowned Queen of France and, according to the American writer Mary Knight Potter in 1904, was “universally regarded as being not only the best of the series, but one of the really fine compositions of Rubens’s life.” That Béroud depicts this female artist—the earnest pupil—sitting before such a great work of art, learning from it, may reflect politics around women’s art education at the turn of the century. Opinions about the impropriety of women studying from nude models were hotly contested in debates that led to women’s admittance to the École des Beaux-Arts in 1897. In lieu of drawing live models, copying Old Masters was seen as a viable alternative for female artists.


This site is designed to help you use classical music as part of your daily classroom activities. Classical music not only has the power to stimulate the mind, enrich the heart and soothe the soul; it can also help you meet the educational objectives of your students.
Help us to serve you better
Register with us to receive updated information about Classics for Kids and send us your feedback and suggestions. Once you register, you will be sent a Classics for Kids activity book which can be printed in quantity and used in a variety of ways.
The following Classics for Kids® lesson plans provide practical, effective activities for grades K-5 to help you teach the basics of music to your students. Portions of the lessons can also be used by classroom teachers. They are based on national and state standards, Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Critical Thinking skills based on Bloom's Taxonomy. Each set of three lesson plans focuses on an individual classical music composer and a selected piece of music.
The lesson plans were written by Dr. Kay Edwards, Professor and Chair of Music Education at Miami University in Oxford, OH. Dr. Edwards earned both a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in general music from Arizona State University, and a Bachelor of Music from Ohio University. She has been an active clinician and author in the areas of elementary general music, guided listening, and multicultural music education for more than 15 years at the university level and has 10 years experience as an elementary general music teacher. In addition to Orff Level III certification, she has special training in Kodály and Dalcroze pedagogies.
Additional resources for teachers and parents, as well as the Classics for Kids Activity Pages, were provided by Music Educator and former Classics for Kids® Consultant Jennifer Morris and former Cincinnati Public Radio Educational Outreach Manager, Carolyn Phillips.
Help your student Be a Musical Explorer
with fun musical trips through the Classics for Kids® website.
Here's what you'll find on the site:
Our lesson plans feature music by Kodály, Rossini, Haydn, Mozart and Grieg for grades K-2 and 3-5. Each set focuses on a selected piece of music from the composer. This framework provides a springboard for exploring a wide variety of musical and general classroom concepts.
Get acquainted with music education methodologies and musical terms.
A complete archive of Classics for Kids programs, as well as a selection of classical music pieces.
Keep up to date on the National Standards for the Arts, plus state education standards, learning outcomes and more.
Get the Classics for Kids Volume 1 & 2 CD set for your classroom
Classics for Kids
Composers of the Month
for the 2014-2015 School Year


Primary Technology Projects
TechnoKids Primary Computer Curriculum is a collection of technology projects. Each project includes a teacher guide, workbook and customizable resource files. Computer lessons are designed for Preschool or Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3 students.
Earn a Computer Operator License. Teach essential computer skills for beginners using Paint.
A set of projects for Preschool to Grade 3. Integrate technology. Lessons teach computer fundamentals.
Paint artwork using digital tools to receive an Awesome Artist award. Learn computer basics and be creative.
Integrate technology with computer based activities. Create timelines, maps, brochures, poetry, and more!
Research an animal and design PowerPoint slides about habitat, appearance, food, young, and threats.
Introduce computer basics with fun activities using KID PIX 3D. Bundle includes 5 projects and an Activity Book.
Become a Computer Whiz. Teach computer fundamentals to develop essential skills using KID PIX 3D.
Write and illustrate simple stories! Making books in Microsoft Word is fun and easy with these lesson plans.
Create a multimedia report. Use a Microsoft PowerPoint template to describe facts about your community.
Promote essential literacy skills. Use KID PIX 3D to develop letter recognition and phonetic awareness.
Explore traditions and celebrations from around the world using a simple Microsoft Access database.
Solve silly crimes such as Case of the Cookie Crook and Blank Screen Bandit. Make a badge and wanted poster.
Spark the imagination. Explore shapes as an element of design by creating geometric artwork using KID PIX 3D.
Write, edit and illustrate fairy tales using simple Microsoft Word templates. Use a planner to organize ideas.
Inspire creativity. Explore color as an element of design. Use the digital tools in KID PIX 3D to produce artwork.
Participate in the Be Fit Challenge. Raise public awareness about health and nutrition using Microsoft Publisher.
Develop early numeracy skills. Explore the fun tools in KID PIX 3D to sequence, count, and sort numbers.
Discover the benefits of using the primary school and kindergarten computer curriculum with your students.
I am impressed with the variety of topics and projects, the completeness of the skills covered and the quality and thoroughness of your prep materials. Students enjoy the activities which encourage independence and exploration. Your support is outstanding. It is not often that a vendor contacts a customer to follow up on how a product is working for them.
Fields Memorial School, CT, USA


- Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
- Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
- Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
More information on the right to education


Today is Day 15 of our 31 Days of Outdoor Activities for Toddlers series. The last couple of days have involved fun and unstructured outdoor play (both in the backyard and then at the park), so today we decided to incorporate some learning! This Outdoor Alphabet Match for Toddlers was a big hit with Little Sister and I was thrilled that she was actually enjoying learning letter names!
One thing that I love about the toddler and preschool ages is that you can make anything a game. Kiddos don’t even realize that they are learning because they are having so much fun in the process. This is how early childhood learning should be: play-based and engaging while seamlessly woven into the tapestry of a regular day!
Here is what you’ll need:
Foam Letters (can be found with the bath toys at most stores)
Baby Swimming Pool or large plastic tub
1. Use the chalk to write the letters A-Z on your sidewalk or driveway (if your child is already familiar with capital letters, change it up and write lowercase letters on the sidewalk).
2. Fill your baby pool with water and dump in the bath letters!
3. Give your child the net and let him/her go fishing for letters!
She caught one!
Then have your child match the letter in the net to the letter on the sidewalk. Be sure to talk about letters sounds too!
She was excited because she “caught” the letter that her name starts with! :)
Keep going until all the foam letters have been matched to the letters on the sidewalk.
Find more fun outdoor activities for toddlers here:


As you settle back into your post-Thanksgiving, pre-holiday classroom routine with your ELLs, you may be looking for some strategies you can use right now with your ELLs to help support their access to the CCSS.
I came across an article written by Kate Kinsella for Language Magazine in November 2012 called Cutting to the Core: Disrupting Discourse. The article details how teachers can make immediate changes in their use of academic language in the classroom that will help their ELLs become accustomed to the academic language they need to succeed with the CCSS.
Sending Mixed Messages?
In the article, Kinsella describes the need for teachers to use rich oral language to support students’ academic literacy development, stating that language minority students “understandably struggle to read and write what they cannot articulate verbally.” With the new demands of the CCSS, students must “articulate their text comprehension, summarize, make inferences, and justify claims using complex sentences, precise vocabulary, and grammatical accuracy.” Yet, we, as teachers, may not consistently model academic language using a formal register when we interact with ELLs. We may be inadvertently sending mixed messages by shifting from social English (OK guys, let’s get out our stuff and start working) to academic English (Could you cite the evidence that supports that prediction?).
Practical Ways to Launch an Academic English Register Campaign in Your Classroom
As teachers of ELLs – and of all students who need some support with their academic language – we should turn our attention to consistently modeling the kind of academic English language we would like our students to use. Kinsella suggests that we be “academic language mentors” for our ELLs and offers practical examples of how teachers can incorporate the very kind of academic discourse the CCSS demand from all students, including ELLs. As you may suspect, I am all about practical examples teachers can use that will help their ELLs succeed with the CCSS.
She suggests teachers:
- Use complete sentences
- Model precise vocabulary
- Introduce the term register to K-12 students with accessible examples
- Employ a more formal register during lessons
- Clarify for students the essentials of constructing an appropriate academic response
- Visibly display questions and appropriate complete responses
- Monitor the ways in which they refer to students throughout a lesson (e.g., if guiding them in writing a brief constructed response, addressing them as “co-authors”; if analyzing data or evidence-based text, referring to them as “investigators” or “scientists”)
- Teach students how to properly address teachers, administrators, and other district employees they encounter
- Make mindful, meaningful word choices when assigning verbal directions or eliciting verbal contributions throughout a lesson
- Use focused questions interlaced with precise terminology (“Where did you identify the data that led you to draw this conclusion?”)
- Coach students to listen attentively as the teacher poses a question, tune in to the target vocabulary (e.g., example, experience, prediction), and respond beginning with the key term
Academic Language Reflection
So, as you and your students spend these last four weeks before the holiday break together, I encourage you to take a minute and think about the kind of academic language mentor you are for your ELLs.
Ask yourself these questions:
- To what degree do I consistently model academic language use when interacting with my ELLs?
- Can my ELLs explain and give examples of what the terms formal and informal register mean?
- Am I giving my ELLs enough support to gain more practice using the formal register and academic language?
Then, try and incorporate some of Kinsella’s suggestions if applicable. Please let our Colorín Colorado community know about any effects these changes have in your classroom by posting a comment to this blog.


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This text presents a Vygotskian perspective on children's and adults' symbolic engagement in play, multi-modal meaning making, and the arts. Psychologists, artists, and educators present research and practice in a variety of learning environments through the lens of Vygotsky's cultural historical theory. The connections between creative expression, learning, teaching, and development are situated in a theoretical framework that emphasizes the social origins of individual development and the arts. The authors share a view of learning as an imaginative process rooted in our common need to communicate and transform individual experience through the cultural lifelines of the arts.
This book is suitable for readers or courses in the following areas: art and aesthetics; art education; art therapy; cultural historical activity theory; communication; creativity studies; early childhood education; education; educational perspectives; educational psychology; emotional development; cultural and societal foundations; language, literacy, and sociocultural studies; learning and development; mental health and catharsis; multiliteracies; multimodal meaning making; play; play therapy; psychology; semiotics; social construction of meaning; trauma, resilience, and therapeutic processes and practices; and Vygotskian approaches to psychology.


Today, students of the government schools across Tamil Nadu are happier than their counterparts in other states. All credit goes to the activity-based learning (ABL) , an initiative that has transformed elementary education (classes I to IV) in Tamil Nadu.
(This is an excerpt from an article in Business Today.)
ABL, based on the pedagogical principle of learning through activity, was launched across Tamil Nadu’s 37,486 government and government-aided schools in 2007/08. It has catapulted the state to the top of the elementary education charts, going by surveys conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
Ever since its launch, the performance of students at the elementary level has drastically improved. The success is not restricted to just academic outcomes. Surveys have found that the children have greater self confidence, higher levels of motivation and less fear of exams.They have a better understanding of basic mathematical skills and can read and write fluently in their first language.
M.P. Vijayakumar, an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) who was serving as Commissioner of Chennai Corporation at the time, had designed and implemented ABL to good effect in the 264 schools that the local body administered. He spearheaded its adoption and implementation in state-run and aided schools across Tamil Nadu. He is currently a member of the National Resource Group of the Ministry of Human Resources and Development’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme.
The state-wide implementation involved 37,486 schools, 140,000 teachers and three million students. A massive training programme for teachers was started.
Over 40,000 teachers were brought to Chennai to train, and to watch ABL at work in the Corporation schools. And teachers from the Corporation schools were sent across the state to train other teachers. But implementing the system across thousands of schools came with its share of problems. There was resistance from some teachers, with a few complaining that they could not sit on the floor. A few parents too were unhappy with the new system, which was multi-grade, had no exams and no homework. But the students enjoyed it. “Despite facing these issues, we persevered”, says Vijayakumar. Slowly the attitude of people changed and the resistance gave way.
ABL has sparked another transformation, one that was hard to imagine until recently. It has altered the student profile in government and aided schools, where students by and large hail from poor families. A lot of students are from the middle class today. Even students from convents are joining such school.
But challenges remain. A recent NCERT study that looked into the efficacy of ABL pointed out shortcomings in teacher training and learning material. It has also raised safety concerns over the plastic beads used in mathematics kits. For now ABL has become a showcase project. The Department of International Development, UK, recently held a retreat for its education officers (from 70 countries) in Chennai to enable them to see ABL at work. Even China sent a team to study the system. In India, it is being piloted across17 states.
Courtesy : http://businesstoday.intoday.in/


Middle School English
- App Store Info
DescriptionInspired by a 7th grade teacher, this App augments your language arts curriculum. Students can explore the building blocks of vocabulary and deepen their foundational skills for studying literature and informational texts. The content is influenced by both the Common Core Standards and Texas' ELAR standards for middle school students.
Middle School English challenges students through interactive play on their iPads. It makes it easy to email you or a parent directly from the App with an image of their work. In playful, interactive sessions, with two levels of difficulty, students will be challenged to practice and learn:
-- core vocabulary
-- terms used in literary analysis
-- essential prefixes, suffixes and roots
-- identifying parts of speech
-- identifying central ideas in a text
-- the meanings of words and phrases in context including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings
-- clear and coherent writing appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
This App is part of a suite of Panafold Language Arts products. You may also like to try Varsity Vocabulary (Ninth grade vocabulary), Power of Words SAT (SAT and Critical Reading vocabulary), or Power of Words (fundamentals for advanced English vocabulary). Also, an instructor's iBook guide is coming soon to accompany you as you roll out this app to your students. Visit Panafold to learn how to order a custom app with your own humanities or STEM curriculum. Feedback is always welcome!


1895 - Paul Hindemith Composer, born on the 16th of November in Hanau, WC Germany. He was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.
1915 - 1923 - He studied at Frankfurt, then played violin in the Rebner Quartet and the Opera Orchestra, which he often conducted. His works include operas, concertos, and a wide range of instrumental pieces.
1922 - His pieces were heard in the International Society for Contemporary Music festival at Salzburg, which first brought him to the attention of an international audience.
1927 - He taught composition at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik in Berlin.
1937 - 1970 - Wrote a theoretical book The Craft of Musical Composition, in which, amongst many other things, he ranks all musical intervals from the most consonant to the most dissonant.
1934 - His music was banned by the Nazis, and he moved to Turkey, the UK, and the USA.
1935 - He was commissioned by the Turkish government to reorganize that country's musical education, and, more specifically, was given the task of preparing material for the “Universal and Turkish Polyphonic Music Education Programme” for all music-related institutions in Turkey, a feat which he accomplished to universal acclaim.
1941 - He was appointed professor at Yale.
1943 - His most popular work, both on record and in the concert hall, is probably the Symphonic Metamorphoses of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.
1953 - Appointed professor in Zürich.
1963 - Died on the 28th of December in Frankfurt, Germany.
Page last updated: 2:16am, 20


This video from Britain is called Ellen Wilkinson Quotes.
By Bernadette Hyland in Britain:
A class fighter of vision and principle
Saturday 1st February 2014
Bernadette Hyland talks to Paula Bartley about her new biography of Ellen Wilkinson
Wilkinson attacked the capitalist system and its responsibility for declining wages since 1900, while the wealth in the hands of the few had grown.
She said that taxes for the rich were being reduced while the poor were the “victims of the profiteer” and finished by saying: “This is not a fight for party but a crusade for the freedom of the human race.”
Paula Bartley’s new book Ellen Wilkinson: From Red Suffragist to Government Minister is a reminder of the amazing life of this working-class woman whose rhetoric in the 1920s is not out of place in the austerity Britain of 2104.
Bartley, a feminist historian, says that “in her day, ‘Red Ellen’ as she became known was arguably the most famous, certainly the most outspoken, British politician.
“She was a fierce left-wing feminist who championed the poor and the vulnerable.”
Wilkinson was born into a working-class family in Ardwick in Manchester on October 18 1891.
It was one of the poorest areas of the city at that time and little has changed in 2014.
She was one of the luckier children born in that area as, after she finished her elementary education, she won a scholarship to Ardwick Higher Grade School – which was later renamed Ellen Wilkinson High School.
Winning a bursary in 1906 she combined studying at Manchester Day Training College for half a week with teaching at Oswald Road School for the rest of the week.
In 1910 she won a scholarship to read history at the University of Manchester, one of the few working-class women to do so at this time. At the age of 16 she joined the Independent Labour Party and began a lifetime of radical activity.
In 1920 she helped set up the Communist Party.
Bartley feels that the role Wilkinson played in the Communist Party has not been recognised. “I knew that Ellen Wilkinson was one of the early members of the Communist Party but had not realised how influential she was in it.
“Indeed the Soviets gave her and Harry Pollitt money to travel first-class to the first Congress of the Red Trade Union International in Moscow. When she returned Ellen helped found the British section of the Red International of Labour Unions, Profintern.”
Wilkinson left the Communist Party in 1924 but maintained a close relationship with her former comrades. Her parliamentary career started a few months later when she was elected as Labour MP for Middlesborough East.
Wilkinson played a significant role in the Labour Party which, as Bartley points out, is reflected in their 1945 manifesto which she co-authored. “Let us Face the Future was a passionate, expressive, radical manifesto which had Ellen’s hand, and principles, written all over it.”
The Labour government of 1945 had a radical agenda based on socialist principles of providing free health care and education as well as nationalising major industries.
Wilkinson was appointed as education minister with the job of implementing the 1944 Education Act.
At the Labour conference in 1946 she said: “When I went to the Ministry of Education I had two guiding aims, and they come largely out of my own experience.
“I was born into a working-class home, and I had to fight my own way through to the university. The first of those guiding principles was to see that no boy or girl is debarred by lack of means … the second one was that we should remove from education those class distinctions which are the negation of democracy.”
Sadly she died on February 6 1947 and did not see the major changes brought in by her Labour government.
Whatever Happened to the Welfare State? The first meeting of the Mary Quaile Club will be on Saturday February 15, at 2pm, at the Cornerstones Community Centre, 451 Liverpool Street, Langworthy, Salford M6 5QQ. For further details see MaryQuaileclub.wordpress.com.


Copyright law and its implications affect musicians and educators every day, yet most of us have little to no understanding of it. Whether majoring in performance or education, undergraduate courses of study rarely present an introduction to the subject, let alone offer any courses that study it in detail. It is challenging to know what is permissible under the law, and what exactly is allowed under the doctrine of ‘fair use.’ Violations of copyright occur frequently in our schools mostly due to the lack of education on the subject, and, like it or not, use in an educational setting alone does not necessarily constitute compliance with the ‘fair use’ provision of the law. With increased scrutiny and debate over copyright infringement on the internet, the staff at Stanton’s would like to recommend the following resources to shed light on the subject for musicians and educators alike. They are presented in order of increasing detail, and we highly recommend The Teacher’s Guide to Music, Media, and Copyright Law for music educators. In addition, YouTube in Music Education is a great resource for those looking to use this technology to enhance their programs, but have concerns about how to do so appropriately.
Music Copyright Basics – Joel Leach
What is copyright? This seemingly simple question often causes confusion with its complex answers. In Music Copyright Basics, professor and expert copyright witness Joel Leach answers frequent questions in a straightforward, easy-to-use format. Whether you are searching for a simple answer to a common question or want a general knowledge of the copyright procedure, this book will quickly provide you with the information you want. Music Copyright Basics features: a convenient question-and-answer format; easy-to-understand answers to all your copyright questions; coverage of copyright basics, copyright submission process, copyright ownership, copyright and earnings potential, and international copyright; and a compact, portable design that keeps information easily at hand. (2003)
The Teacher’s Guide to Music, Media, and Copyright Law – James Frankel
The easy-to-understand guide for teachers using copyrighted music and media in the classroom. In this era of unprecedented access to information, teachers have a wealth of readily available resources for lesson planning, but determining what you can and can’t use legally in the classroom is a difficult task. Written by a 15-year veteran of the New Jerseypublic schools, The Teacher’s Guide to Music, Media, and Copyright Law helps explain just how information, images, video, and music can be incorporated into any kind of lesson plan without running afoul of copyright laws. This resource includes: what resources you can use without obtaining permission, how to obtain and license the works you need permission to use, how to check the copyright status of any media item, and how to apply copyright legality examples to real classroom situations. (2009)
Music Copyright Law – Moser & Slay
Music Copyright Law will help you gain an in-depth understanding of a topic that is vital to the success of anyone in or entering the music industry. From songwriters and performers to managers, producers, and agents, everyone is affected by the issues covered in this book. Avoiding the technical jargon and “legalese” that bogs down other books on the subject, this book explores the world of copyright law and homes in on how it applies to music. It begins by building a foundational knowledge of the fundamentals of copyright law – what it protects, the benefits of registering a copyright, and what to do when copyright has been infringed. Once the fundamentals are established, coverage expands to include controversies involving copyright and music in the digital age and the debates over online music. Packed with practical examples that bring complex concepts to life, this book is a must-have for any professional in or entering the music business. (2012)


Use: Provides references especially helpful in teaching music to physically or mentally handicapped.
Coverage: Covers material published between 1975-1996. Not comprehensive. Includes books, videos, dissertations, and articles from journals.
Organization: Six categories: Articles, Books, Recordings, Videos, Other Resources, and Organizations. Each entry includes bibliographic information, a few are annotated.
Pros: Fulfills a very specific need, fairly extensive listing.
Brenan, Jeffrey S. Music Education Launch Site.http://www.talentz.com/MusicEducation/index.mv Accessed 29 September 1999.
Use: Geared to public school music teachers, but the Allegro search is very useful for private teachers in finding other useful sites.
Coverage: Lesson Plans, Mr. Note, Web Interactive Games, Links to sites dealing with many different aspects of music. Begun around 1994.
Organization: Home page has three categories: About Us, Resources, and Services. The home page and each branch-off page has a search box for Allegro.
Pros: Offers access to a wide variety of different music sites.
Cons: No explanations about how Allegro, the search engine of other related music sites, is organized or used except that you need to type a word.
Kantorski, Vincent J. A Bibliography of Source Readings in Music Education. Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography, ed. J. Bunker and Marilyn S. Clark, No. 78. Warren, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 1997. Mus Ref ML 128 .I64 K36 1997
Uses: A single volume of selected source material for music education and related fields. Useful for student as well as professional research.
Coverage: Includes topics on music education as well as psychology of music, philosophical foundations, research practices, as well as curriculum and instruction. Contains titles of books, journals, and standardized tests in music; reviews of journals and chapters of edited books. Does not contain dissertations titles, theses or journal article titles.
Organization: Eight categories: arts; bibliographic resources; curriculum and instruction; foundations, philosophy, and aesthetics; journals; psychology; research; reports, symposia, and conferences. Each reference is followed by abbreviations that list the different categories to which the item relates. Includes an Author Index and a Title Index.
Pros: Author tries to discriminate in selection of entries to include the most pertinent references for graduate students. Items appear under more than one category so they can be easily located under any heading to which they apply.
Cons: Not annotated – only gives the bibliographic information for each entry.


You requested it - here it is!
After many requests for dedicated word problem programs designed in the MathMedia style, we are pleased to offer this interactive basic math problem solving program for math students who have mastered the mechanics of the operations on fractions, decimals, percents, pre-algebra, and intro-geometry. With over 200 menu-driven practice problems, students will be able to focus on reading the words, deciphering the meaning, and applying what they know about basic math problem solving. Students will learn math problem-solving strategies and practice the types of math word problems, which typically appear on standardized tests. Hints are available to help and coach the student along. Score reports are generated at the end of each section.
This math problem solving program is divided into topic sections, so that a student who has mastered fractions but not yet pre-algebra can still work on the fraction section before tackling the pre-algebra section. These math word problems are geared toward teaching and learning problem solving techniques on the types of questions encountered on standardized tests given to 5th grade math through 8th grade math students as well as typical everyday life math problems.
There is much talk in Washington about providing our students with 21st-century skills, such as problem solving and critical thinking - this program is part of that learning process for elementary school and middle school students learning to think while using their math skills.