Speech pathology services have become very common and almost every family knows of or has a child receiving speech therapy. I sometimes even hear of teachers referring 10 or more children from just one class for various reasons! When we talk about speech pathology (aka speech therapy), most people think of pronunciation, stutters and lisps but the scope of practice of a speech pathologist is very wide and covers other skills such as vocabulary, comprehension, social skills, voice, swallowing, reading, spelling and conversation (and they work with adults too).
When should my kid see a Speech Pathologist?
It is difficult for mummies to make decisions about going to a speech pathologist because there are so many things to think about – cost, necessity, time etc. It is important for parents to be able to make a decision about whether they need to see a speech pathologist with the right information. To make this decision, I ask two questions:
- Do you have concerns about their speech or language that are significantly affecting their ability to participate in every day activities? (i.e. making friends, asking for help, playing with others, reading books)
- Are your child’s skills significantly delayed for their age and causing frustration, low self-esteem, errors in reading and writing?
If you are in doubt, it is recommended that you speak to your GP, child health nurse, pediatrician or school teacher to help you make this decision.
But I’m not concerned, they talk all the time at home!
Speech pathologists hear this all the time and it makes complete sense! Mummies spend the most time out of everyone with their kids and so they understand everything that they say and pick up on subtle differences in body language and behaviour without realising it. Suddenly when kids go to school or daycare, they are thrown into a different environment where they have to have adequate speech and language skills to be able to make friends and have fun.
If the teacher lets you know that they think your child needs speech pathology, the best advice (straight from the speechie’s mouth) is to ask for examples. This way you can begin to look for signs to help you understand why the teacher has made the referral.
I feel guilty, I should have been a better mummy
It is difficult to hear that your child’s skills are not the same as other kids their age, and automatically mummies blame themselves for this. You are probably thinking right back to their birth and what you could have done differently. In reality, your kids have probably read books, sang songs, spent time with family, and you’ve chatted with them every day – this means you have been a fantastic mummy! Generally speech pathologists don’t know the reasons why each speech and language concern occurs, and will not dwell in the past, but instead give you strategies and ideas that specifically work to help your child move forward.
What can I do while I am on the waiting list?
Many speech pathology services now have waiting lists and these can range anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 years in length. This is a stressful time for mummies, especially if you are eager to get it sorted! Two great tips for mummies with kids on speech pathology waiting lists include:
- Consider the expected skills required of your child at their age to identify any areas that could be improved (use the charts at http://www.thespeel.com).
- Knowing the areas for improvement, add language to every part of your child’s day.
Hi, I’m Alex and I’m an Australian Speech Pathologist. I have worked with kids of ages 1-17 and I love seeing the smile on their face when they achieve their goals. I recently wrote a book called “52 Fun Activities for Speech and Language” which will give you ideas for activities you can do on the school holidays, whilst on a waiting list, or just generally to develop your child’s skills. 52 fun activities for speech and language
Do you have concerns about your child’s speech and language skills? Ask me anything
Writer at www.thespeel.com
Alex Trichilo is an Australian Speech Pathologist with a passion for giving all children the communication skills to be able to successfully live their life. She blogs to spread her messages to a wider audience and to empower parents to give their children the foundational skills of speech and language. She also loves eating amazing food, travelling with her husband, and spending time with her family.


Looking for a fun Valentine Day music game to practice or review music theory? This ready to use WIN it to SPIN It Powerpoint music activity is perfect for your elementary music lesson and an awesome Valentine Party activity! Use as an assessment activity to collect data or a quick sub plan. Add it to your sub tub or set up as a music center. This product is perfect for small group work or large class engagement and will reinforce musical skills needed for singing, reading music, playing assignments or music worksheets.
Note: this product requires some prep ahead of time, but can be used year after year for Valentine fun!
♫ "WIN It to SPIN It" Powerpoint Game Valentines Day Activity
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I know you think you understand what you thought I said,
but I’m not sure that what you heard is what I actually meant!
Have you ever been on either end of this scenario? It is frustrating for both parties. Language comprehension is essential for one to communicate effectively with others. A person must be able to not only receptively understand language but to also be able to use his or her expressive vocabulary to effectively convey that information to others.
One can be highly intelligent and still have difficulty with language comprehension. At Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers, our experience in teaching reading over the last 25 years has been that students who are struggling are lacking the foundational skills necessary for good comprehension.
Research indicates that people with good comprehension utilize concept imagery to facilitate understanding. Simply put, they make mental movies in their mind’s eye when reading or listening.
Have you ever tried to put together a bookcase or a child’s bicycle? Did you find the diagrams that accompanied the directions to be of more help than the written directions? That’s because the diagrams helped your brain to see the relationships between the pieces and how they would work together as a whole. Concept imagery is very much like this.
The students who we tutor in comprehension at Langsford do systematic work to develop their imaging skills. This begins with a simple sentence and builds up to multi-page units of material. Once they have the information pictured in their minds, they practice recalling and verbalizing it in a clear and concise manner. Emphasis is also placed on determining the main idea and important details, as well as on developing higher order thinking skills (such as making inferences, drawing conclusions, or making evaluations of material).
Many people make mental movies in their minds naturally and without prompting. For those that don’t or those who do not do it efficiently, structured practice to develop their concept imagery and verbalizing skills can make both school and interaction with others easier and less frustrating.
I hope that what you read and what you think I said
matches what I actually said and what I meant to say!


As a school, we have set our curriculum intent with our children at the centre. All of our subject intents link to our main curriculum intent:
- To engage the children to learn key concepts and knowledge that will inspire ambition, lead to academic success and support them in their later employment.
- To broaden our children’s horizons, exploring concepts that provoke a personal response or opinion, thinking about their place in the world and encouraging them to develop as global citizens.
- To be aware of different points of view in order to develop a greater tolerance of others and to express their views appropriately.
- To look specifically at the key themes of democracy and equality in order to understand how societies have evolved.
Most of our topics are history led and are based around the key themes of settlement, democracy, monarchy, empire and wealth and poverty. These key themes run in a progressive way throughout the history curriculum so that the children build upon and revisit prior concepts and learning.
We have been working really hard over the last year to update and improve our curriculum provision to make the learning as inspirational and meaningful to our children as possible (whilst still covering the National Curriculum). We have used staff meeting time and INSET days to really focus on this – it is an exciting time and the teachers have been amazing at grasping this opportunity to think about what we are teaching and how to provide the most interesting and relevant learning opportunities possible for your children.
What we teach and when we teach is changing to ensure clarity in progression in skills and knowledge. Don’t presume that just because a certain topic or event has happened in the past it will happen this year! We are improving things for the better rather than just doing what we have historically done.
Our curriculum is designed to develop our children as self-assured and confident individuals who are fully prepared for their transition into secondary school and beyond, as well as fully equipped with the literacy and numeracy skills needed for a successful future.
Take a look at each year groups learning page, on there are full details of the curriculum for each term.
|Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2020-25 (1).pdf||Download|
|Art Intent and progression Oct 19.pdf||Download|
|Computing Intent and progression Oct 19.pdf||Download|
|Curriculum Intent poster Dec 2020.pdf||Download|
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Our Curriculum Programs
Right Start Academy utilizes age appropriate, education-based curricula designed to promote each child's intellectual, social, physical, and emotional development. During the school year, the curriculum emphasizes more structured academics, where more recreation and socialization activities are emphasized during the summer months. Monthly academic units are established and divided into specific weekly thematic classroom activities and projects.
As a kindergarten preparatory preschool, Right Start Academy is dedicated to providing students with the tools necessary for successful entrance into public or private grade school. To help assure this, Right Start Academy utilizes the Houghton Mifflin Curriculum for our academic program. The Houghton Mifflin curriculum is a hands-on, minds-on curriculum that is based on scientific research. Aligned with key Pre-K learning goals, it provides children with the foundational skills needed to succeed as lifelong learners.
Physical Education Curriculum
Like adults, children need exercise too. According the American Heart Association, children ages 2 and up, should participate in at least 30 minutes of enjoyable, moderate-intensity, physical activities every day. The SPARK Early Childhood Curriculum is utilized at Right Start Academy weekly during the school day. At least three (3) days per week, 20-30 minute physical activity classes are provided to help develop strength, flexibility, healthy minds, and healthy bodies. Providing group physical activity classes helps develop the "whole" child in hopes to put Right Start Academy students on the right track to a healthy lifestyle.
The Second Step early learning program teaches self-regulation and executive-function skills that help children learn skills to manage their feelings, make friends, and solve problems. Students of Right Start Academy are provided with monthly instruction on a variety of topics. These topics are then reinforced throughout the month by their classroom teachers. Parents are also included as home link information detailing the focused topic for the month are emailed to parents.


Today we continue our exploration of natural science experiments with kids. Do you have a lot of wind in your area? What makes the wind blow? How does wind power energy work? How can we use wind energy? Have you made any wind turbines or pinwheels? When it is not too cold, an interesting thing to do is to explore and learn about the wind with fun wind science experiments with kids.
Fun Wind Science Activities for Kids to Explore Wind Power Energy
As usual, we listed the activities based on kids’ age, those preschoolers can do are at the top of the list, and those for older kids are towards the bottom of the list.
Make a pinwheel to watch the wind power: this is a fun activity for young children. They can make the pinwheel themselves, and watch it spin in the wind or when they blow air to it. For old kids, you can explain how wind turbine work, which is essentially the same as this pinwheel.
A very fun way for kids to learn about wind is to fly a kite. This is a helpful instruction on how to make a kite by yourself. If you are busy, buying a kite kit and put it together with your kids. Not only you can save time, but you and kids can also learn from the pre-designed kit what takes to make a good kite.
Check out this pinwheel made from a balloon! It is fascinating to watch the power of air pressure.
This hovercraft is simply smart, and I am sure you want to try it.
Make an anemometer: anemometer is a tool used by meteorologists to measure wind speed. In this activity, you will use a power drill, so parents should stay involved in making it. After it is done, kids can be in charge of of taking data.
Make a wind vane to tell wind direction. Here is an explanation on why wind vane can tell you the wind direction.
Books about wind science for kids
Feel the Wind: for kids age 4 to 8. Have you ever felt the wind tickle your face or heard it whistle through your window? Did you know that some wind travels faster than a car? Read inside to find out more about what causes wind, and learn how to make your own weather vane!
Gusts and Gales: for kids age 4 to 9. Find out about the different types of winds, including global winds, trade winds, local winds, and breezes. Learn about extreme wind weather like hurricanes and tornadoes.
Can you see the wind: for kids age 6 and up. Part of the Rookie Read-About Science series. What is wind? What can we use it for?
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is an inspiring story for kids of all ages. When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba’s tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season’s crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, and came up with the idea that would change his family’s life forever. As you guessed, the idea uses the wind.
The Wind at Work: An Activity Guide to Windmills: for kids age 9 and up. The book explains how the wind works, what windmills have contributed to the past, and why they offer environmental promise today as a source of clean, renewable energy. It has 24 wind-related activities.
I hope you like these science experiments. Would you like to have fun Fact Sheet for Wind? It this sheet, kids will find how wind are formed, how is wind measured, and what we are using wind for? To download the sheet, simple enter your email below.
Like to have more natural science experiments with kids? Check out 100+ Natural Science Activities for Kids


Can You Grow Vegetables in Plastic Pots?
Container gardening condenses vegetable growing to a manageable scale for people who don't have room for a full-scale garden. When your in-ground dream garden isn't a possibility, plastic pots offer a functional, affordable way to grow fresh veggies at home. Plastic containers are safe for growing food, according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Compared to heavy terra cotta or clay pots, plastic is a lightweight option that makes moving your vegetable plants easier. The plastic used in the pots is durable, so you don't have to worry about cracking or breaking. Plastic also won't draw moisture from the soil like clay pots, according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, so your soil stays moist longer than it would in a clay pot. For growing vegetables, avoid plastic pots in dark colors like black that increase the heat of the soil more than lighter colors.
The size of the container depends on the type of vegetable you plant and the size of its roots. The University of California Cooperative Extension says the depth is more important than the width of the container because the roots need deep soil for moisture and cool temperatures. Choose a container that is at least 4 inches deeper than the vegetable plant's roots. The pot depth is particularly important for root vegetables like carrots or turnips to fully develop; choose a plastic pot at least 12 inches deep and 12 inches in diameter for best results.
Regular garden soil may contain pests and diseases that harm your container vegetables. Instead, use a potting soil mix that is lighter than garden soil and better able to absorb water. Soil polymers mixed in with the soil help retain moisture, according to the "Sunset Magazine" website. Since nutrients are limited in a plastic pot, you'll need to fertilize the vegetables. A controlled slow-release fertilizer designed for vegetables is an option. You can also use fish emulsion or liquid kelp for an organic fertilizer option.
Like vegetables planted directly in the ground, your plastic-potted veggies need continued care. Give your vegetable container garden plenty of sunshine. You'll need to water frequently since the small amount of soil in the plastic pots dries out quickly; keep the soil for your potted vegetables moist all the time. Continue fertilizing per your fertilizer's instructions or weekly with fish emulsion. Container gardening generally yields healthier plants, since you control the soil, but watch for pests that can destroy vegetables. Insecticidal soaps or horticultural oil work to get rid of the pests, according to "Sunset Magazine."
Based in the Midwest, Shelley Frost has been writing parenting and education articles since 2007. Her experience comes from teaching, tutoring and managing educational after school programs. Frost worked in insurance and software testing before becoming a writer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education with a reading endorsement.


Queering the classroom: a study of performativity and musical engagement in high school
Shane, Susan Lynn
MetadataShow full item record
Creating inclusive environments that are safe and respectful of all students in the spectrum is paramount to students’ success and well-being in music (Carter, 2011). When students feel safe and supported, they may express themselves more freely and participate in music more fully (Hill, 2019). Yet, freedom to express oneself is inhibited by heteronormative beliefs and practices that perpetuate gender stereotypes, suppress queer thinking, and form the origins of homophobia and transphobia (Butler, 2004; Sedgwick, 1990/2008; Warner, 1993). This study featured a narrative inquiry design which utilized the lens of queer theory and Butler’s (1990/1999) concept of gender performativity to examine high school musical engagement through the recollections and perceptions of three trans young adults. The purpose of this study was to explore ways that gender and music intersect in high school, as well as illuminate behaviors that constrained or enabled the participants’ abilities to participate fully in school music. Data was gathered through interviews with the participants during which they recounted past musical experiences in school, family, and community contexts. Findings from a comparative analysis revealed eight areas that were crucial to the participants’ affirmation of identity and musical engagement: supportive people, singing alone and with others, negotiating traditions, meaningful performing experiences, safe spaces and safe people, role of media, personal agency, and role of the music teacher. This study contributes to a growing body of music education research rooted in queer theory that dismantles the binary gender categories of “male” and “female” and, instead, considers the entire spectrum of gender. Results of this study may help educators remove barriers between gender identity and musical engagement by informing practice that opens channels for learning and builds stronger connections to music.


Over the years, we’ve thought a lot about reading comprehension problems, and what to do about them.*
One way to improve reading comprehension skills is to practice evidence-based oral and reading comprehension strategies together regularly using interesting texts, adult modelling and think alouds, reciprocal teaching, and scaffolded dialogues around summarising, clarifying, question generating and predicting (e.g. Clarke et al., 2010).
To help teachers and others working with students to model comprehension strategies, in this 19-page resource, we have prepared 10 short reading passages, each with 10 questions probing comprehension at different levels of abstraction.
Comprehension questions include simple “look back and find” facts in the text, as well as questions that require reorganisation of information, and abstract “why” and “how” questions requiring inferencing, prediction, retelling and other higher level language skills.
For students with good or advanced comprehension skills, we include an extension task to allow differentiation when working with groups. The passages are short and were selected to appeal to both young primary school students and older students with language or learning challenges. The theme of this volume is the months of the year and annual events.
For more reading passages, see our:
- Reading Comprehension Practice, Volume 1: short biographies and fables.
- Reading Comprehension Practice, Volume 2: explanations of familiar things.
*You can read some of our thoughts and strategies for improving oral language and reading comprehension in our articles:


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In the history of human rights, the rights of children are the most ratified.
They are abandoned. They do not get a chance to step into school. They are left to fend for themselves on the streets. They suffer from various forms of violence. They do not have access to even primary healthcare. They are subjected to cruel and inhumane treatments every day. They are children – innocent, young and beautiful – who are deprived of their fundamental rights.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) defines Child Rights as the minimum entitlements and freedoms that should be afforded to every citizen below the age of 18 regardless of race, national origin, colour, gender, language, religion, opinions, origin, wealth, birth status, disability, or other characteristics.
According to the UNCRC – that India ratified in 1992 – all children are born with fundamental rights:
- Right to Survival – to life, health, nutrition, name, nationality
- Right to Development – to education, care, leisure, recreation, cultural activities
- Right to Protection – from exploitation, abuse, neglect
- Right to Participation – to expression, information, thought, religion
The Right to Education — The Right to Development
The father of modern education—John Amos Comenius proposed – “all persons should be educated, so we could have peace in the world”. Visionaries of the world understood that peace meant guaranteeing every person certain rights that are conditional for humanity—education being one of the most important.
The parliament of India enacted the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE) on August 2009. The same got enforced on April 1st 2010.
As per the act, education is a fundamental right of every child who is between 6 and 14 years old. The act also states that until the completion of elementary education, no child shall be held back, expelled or required to pass a board examination. There is also a provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them up to par with students of the same age.
As a charity for child rights, SUIT has been providing education to marginalized children in poor rural and urban communities in 5 states of the country. Its flagship programme- Sanskaarshala- has successfully taken in more than 700 children to educate them. With the motto- “Aao Padaiye, Sabko Badaiye”- SUIT has succeeded in linking more than 1,000 children to schools since its start in the year 2010.
Underprivileged kids lag at all stages of education. When earning a livelihood and taking care of the members of the family becomes a primary matter of concern in one’s life, education stands a little or, very often, no chance of pursuance. For the millions of underprivileged people in India, education is a high-priced luxury, and this negative outlook continues on with every new generation.
However, with its development interventions that are focused on the social welfare of children, SUIT has raised those expectations among the hardest-to-reach children.


We all know how important good education is – as the late Nelson Mandela noted, it is the most powerful weapon, which we can use to change the world.
Subjects such as English, math, and sciences are the backbone of every school’s curriculum. But a nationwide survey released last month shows – to our delight – that parents and teachers alike believe music education in public schools is vital. In fact, the majority of those who were surveyed stated that music should be a required class in middle school, and that students should have a chance to learn an instrument as early as elementary school.
The study in question, called “Striking a Chord, A Public’s Hopes and Beliefs for K-12 Music Education in the United States in 2015” also raised some very important points, one of which is that parents and teachers believe music is critical to a child’s social and emotional development. They are right, of course!
Clearly, parents and teachers know the value of music education. The study has shown what we have always known, both through the scientific evidence and our own experience: children benefit from music lessons in many different ways:
And there is even more: youngsters will carry all these skills and abilities into adulthood, which proves the saying that good education is never wasted!
By the way, these benefits apply to all the instruments: the guitar, piano, flute, or whatever else your child wants to play.
Given all the great advantages of playing an instrument, it is a great pity that music education program in this country’s public schools is not adequately funded.
Many of our students are children and we see first-hand how much they enjoy learning to play an instrument. That’s because kids are naturally curious, enthusiastic, and open to new experiences.
Our teachers love working with children and they are really good at it. They are very patient and know how to keep a child interested and motivated. But that’s not all: the teacher will also ensure that your child learns only the correct techniques, which is an important part of the overall music training.
And we believe is “homeschooling:” lessons take place in your Manhattan, Brooklyn or Riverdale home or office, so your child can feel comfortable in his or her own environment.
Let’s hear it for education!


Bangladesh’s female motorbike mechanics: overcoming educational disadvantages and gender stereotypes
September 15, 2015
Millions of children in Bangladesh are denied a proper education, meaning many lack the literacy and numeracy skills for high paying jobs. Girls are additionally excluded from some lines of work because of their gender, and often denied the opportunity for economic participation.
However, an innovative partnership between the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Bangladeshi Government, and the European Union is working to overcome these disadvantages, and producing a new generation of skilled young women. This program is training girls to become motorcycle mechanics – a line of work which was previously not an option.
“When we first joined, people used to doubt if girls like us can do this,” said Khadija, a trainee in the program. Yet, because of their determination to learn and provide a good service, people have stopped doubting them.


Math short for mathematics is the ability to reason with numbers and to apply numerical concepts to come to a solution of a problem. In numeracy it’s a step up from basic calculations like mental arithmetic. It is used basically everywhere so knowledge of mathematics is a criterium for almost all higher positions in companies. In many application processes an applicant’s mathematics skills are measured. But not only in application processes for jobs, also in admission tests for educations math is a common topic. This page gives an overview of several math tests so that you can prepare for taking an psychometric test.
Below follows an overview of several numeracy / math tests (free and premium) and several basic numeracy tests to practice your mathematical skills.
Premium tests by Jobtestprep (paid)
Additional Information about Math
The basic principle of all these tests is to improve your practical numeracy skills by mastering various arithmetical and mathematical concepts. This can be done by understanding and practicing the following types of arithmetic:
- Addition & Subtraction
- Multiplication & Division
- Decimal Numbers
Practicing for Math Tests
These mathematical acts can be practiced using the tests mentioned at the top of this page. In most cases, the use of a calculator is prohibited. So it is essential that you practice the questions without a calculator using only mental calculation. The more you practice, the better you will get since it becomes more naturally to you. So for whichever math test you need to practice, we would advise you to practice our mental arithmetic tests anyway.
You can also do several daily exercises to practice mathematical acts like addition and subtraction such as:
Common daily exercises:
- Making number puzzles in newspapers and magazines.
- Keep score when playing games like darts, card games, etc.
- Calculate how much your shopping will cost before you reach the till.
- Calculate the change you should receive when you pay for something.
Mathematics in everyday life
In the modern world of today, mathematics is embedded deeply in the way we live, work and enjoy our daily life. Without knowing, you are faced with math or deviations of it like statistics on a regular basis, therefore resulting in different types of numeracy:
- Practical numeracy: mathematic skills found in everyday life like inflation and loan calculations. They are thus beneficial for the individual when understanding this basic knowledge.
- Civic Numeracy: This type of numeracy is mostly involved in society benefits like health, environmental and public policy issues and is regarded as a specialty numeracy consequently.
- Professional numeracy: mostly comprises specialized jobs concerning knowledge about mathematics in e.g. biology, physics and chemistry.
Numeracy for Leisure: a lot of people enjoy mathematical challenges in forms of a puzzle, lottery or games, which all fall into this type of numeracy.
- Cultural numeracy: mathematics has always been seen as a part of the culture, like language, religion and music. Even today people embrace math and its ‘beauty’ and try to uncover its mysteries.
Practical numeracy is thus the math skill which everybody should master in order to deal with problems in daily life.
Math tests in jobs
Why are these tests so important? The answer has already been given. It provides an assessment of your math skills and it is therefore very popular with employers. With thousands of job applicants to choose from, it is common for employers to use standardized aptitude tests as part of their selection process.
These tests are used in a wide range of jobs and are a proven means of assessing potential employees’ qualities and can be especially important when the number of applicants to offers is high e.g. in difficult economic times. Familiarization with numeracy tests will help you to feel more composed in a real test situation and allow you to show your true ability when it matters.


Today LEGO® Education announces that schools around the world are taking advantage of hands-on LEGO learning solutions.
Below are a few of the US schools, from early learning to high school, that are building their students’ STEM, coding and 21 century skills by using LEGO Education STEAM Park, LEGO Education WeDo 2.0, LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 and LEGO Education Simple & Powered Machines.
Barrington 220 School District Amps Up STEM Program (Barrington, IL)
Becky Gill, Director of Elementary Education, and Becky McDowell, K-fifth grade STEM teacher, sought to complement their core science curriculum and considered two offerings with LEGO Education’s learning solutions coming out as the winner. McDowell says, “LEGO Education provided the flexibility to modify and add our own content to it. Because programs and standards and other things change and if there’s not as much flexibility, then over time it’s going to become outdated. We’re excited to iterate and improve upon what we’re teaching each year.”
Montour Elementary School Makerspace Inspires Student Makers (Pittsburg, PA)
Montour Elementary School created a Brick Makerspace powered by LEGO Education solutions. The use of LEGO bricks, digital lessons and hands-on robotics gave students opportunities to design, make and think creatively with standards-aligned lessons in science, technology, art, math, language arts, architecture and engineering.
In Laura Knapp’s K-fifth grade technology class she has limited time and resources. By connecting her students’ projects with their interest areas and engaging them with LEGO learning solutions including LEGO Education Build Me “Emotions,” LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 and LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3, it allows them to move past obstacles in their life as they enter class and ignite their excitement for learning.
For more information, visit LEGOeducation.com.


Covid-19 Polasaithe Covid-19 Policy
Screen Free Activities
History, Science, Geography
Corp Oid. P.E
Sláinte agus Folláine-Wellbeing
Tacaíocht Foghlama Learning Support
Just for Fun!
The content available includes radio shows, sing-alongs, video lessons, games and activities linked to the primary school curriculum.
If your children use it in school they’ll be able to show you how it works.
Mrs. Brown Art on Instagram has reminded people that she has hundreds of free power points available online. She wrote: “I want to share my resources to parents and teachers who may be home-schooling for a while during the #COVID19 quarantine period. We’re all in this together.”
She also explains that her lessons include examples, step by step directions, objectives, and more. You can find her resources at www.mrsbrown.art/drive
Arty Arts Dublin have started the #windowconnections campaign, challenging kids to create a positive message to hang in your window for passers by to see in these unsettling times. Get creative and use materials that are already in your house. We love this idea!
Songs in Irish A collection of songs with audio and lyrics to learn and sing along to
Learn a musical instrument
Do you have a musical instrument at home? If not, it’s not too expensive to get yourself a tin whistle, recorder or even a ukulele. It’s never been easier to learn with loads of apps and websites to bring you along the way.
Tin Whistle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdUH1QZvEm8
Making a puppet show can be a fun way to spend some time and there’s lots of different ways to do it now.


Benefits and challenges
Although at academic settings, creative, arts-based teaching methods are not common, they have a long tradition in the practice of applied social sciences.
Arts-based teaching methods are an alternative way to explore issues and acquire knowledge alongside classical teaching methods. Thy have a special potential for the treatment of complex and/or abstract issues such as migration, social heterogeneity and questions about the design of social coexistence in connection with diversity. When dealing with these and similar themes, one's own experiences, feelings and views often also play a role and stereotypes and prejudices are involved. Therefore, the confrontation with such social phenomena requires the creation of spaces in which experiences and emotions can be expressed and discussed. Creativity and art promote self-expression and self-reflection and are an important path for learning and teaching multidimensional and complex issues.
The special significance of creative and arts-based methods was pointed out in the UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education. It was emphasizes there that creative-aesthetic education is the basis of social development and learning processes (UNESCO, 2012). Creativity is not only a motor for innovation, but also represents a special access to cultural diversity and related collective and individual migration experiences. Socio-cultural identities and migration histories can be represented and preserved through various forms of artistic expression. At the same time, bridges can be created between different cultures and the lives of migrants. Creativity and art therefore enable a special form of dialogue and interculturality. Creative arts-based methods are an opportunity to promote social togetherness, mutual respect and appreciation of diversity. They make it possible to deal with social heterogeneity and are a key to cultural and social participation and integration. Creative and arts-based methods make it possible to deal with personal and social issues and to shape creatively a common future. Creativity and art enable access to people with a migration history and provide them to with a path to their own migration history.
In the classroom, creative methods can create space for new potentials that might not be available with other classical methods of teaching.
Through creativity and artistic forms of expression, things can be expressed that cannot be expressed in words. For students with a migration background, they represent an opportunity to make their experiences and needs visible and known. In addition, creative methods are an opportunity to create a sense of togetherness through joint creative group projects.
It should be noted that many arts-based projects are aimed at more privileged social groups while less privileged social groups may have limited access to cultural and artistic offerings. In some ways, creative arts-based methods hold the danger of re-producing dominant cultural patterns. Therefore, a reflexive attitude is as necessary as the acceptance and appreciation of diversity. Moreover, it is very important to try and give all groups access to art in general and creative methods in particular. At the same time, resources are limited when it comes to implementing creative methods in institutional contexts. There is often a lack of time, personnel and financial resources. Therefore, creative and arts-based methods often face the question of their measurable output. In principle, creative processes are difficult to control from the outside and the artistic product cannot be calculated in advance.
Creativity and arts can touch sore points in the biography of people. It is important to take into account that people may feel overwhelmed by emotions that come up during the creative process or follow it. It is therefore crucial to plan how to handle such personal crises and to collaborate with professionals who can offer support.
UNESCO (2012). Seoul Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education. Online available at: [23.09. 2019].
Suggestions for further reading:
Beghetto, R. A., Kaufman, J. C., & Baer, J. (Eds.) (2015). Teaching for Creativity in the Common Core Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.
Marshall, J. (2015). Transdisciplinarity and Art Integration: Toward a New Understanding of Arts-based Learning across the Curriculum. In: Studies in Art Education, (55/2), 104-127.
Sawyer, K. R. (Ed.) (2011). Structure and Improvisation in Creative Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press.


All of the answers represent men that have had substantial influence in the state. They all represent the names origin of local high schools. But the only one that is buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery is Jim Hill.
James “Jim” Hill was born a slave on the J. Hill Salem Road Plantation about two miles from Holly Springs, Mississippi. Growing up, Hill received an elementary education of reading and writing from his master’s two daughters. He continued his education while working as a youth in the railroad shops of Holly Springs.
In the early 1870’s, Hill joined the Republican Party and his career in Mississippi politics took off. He was elected to the House of Representatives, where he was chosen sergeant at arms and speaker of the house. In 1871, he was given a seat in the Mississippi Legislature. Two years later, he was elected and served as Secretary of State of Mississippi from 1874 to 1878. After his term ended as Secretary of State he served as Collector of Internal Revenue in Mississippi as well as the registrar for the Land Office in Jackson.
Hill’s political career ended with the Land Office in Jackson and as a sponsor of projects directed toward the advancement of the black race.
In 1885, Jim Hill with the help of J.J. Spelman, organized the Colored Fair Association. The fair lasted four days with the cooperation from state officials and white merchants of Jackson who subscribed over a thousand dollars in premiums. A wide variety of stock, agricultural products, and needle work were displayed.
James “Jim” Hill never married and died in 1901. He was buried in Mount Olive Cemetery on Lynch Street in Jackson, Mississippi.
In 1912, Jim Hill began as an elementary school on Lynch Street for the purpose of educating the youth in West Jackson. It was later relocated to a new building located at West Pearl and Dalton Street (now Blackburn Middle School). The current location of Jim Hill High School was erected in 1966 on Fortune Street.
Mississippi Black History Makers By: George A, Sewell and Margaret L. Dwight
Thank you for playing WESTerday Trivia!


⭐ Music educator Gordon says that the process that develops as listening, understanding, speaking, reading/writing and learning grammar rules in the language learning process works similarly in music. We don’t speak the first few years of our lives right away. First, we listen, then we make sounds, then we gradually transform these sounds into words and sentences. Then, when we go to school, where we learn to read and write these sounds. We can consider music education in this order. When learning a language, reading-writing is almost the last part of the whole process. But when we speak of music … Continue reading Music and Language Learning Processes / Müzik ve Dil Öğrenme Süreçleri
⭐ When I learned English as my first foreign language, I made great use of music. As a result my interest in the relationship between music and language grew and I wrote my master’s and doctoral theses on this subject. So what is the relationship between music and language? Both have rhythm and melody. Both have connections to cultures. Both have their own rules. Babies both develop at the same time. According to Nettl, every culture in the world has language and music (or a similar structure). The anthropologist Livingstone thinks that perhaps the first people sang before they began … Continue reading Music and Language Relationship / Müzik ve Dil İlişkisi
⭐ Since I know myself, I have been interested in music. I have over 10 years of teaching experience. Three years ago I finished my doctoral thesis about music education and multilingualism at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich. I would like to pass on what I have learned from both my academic research and my pedagogical experience in order to raise awareness, especially for early childhood music education and language acquisition. If you are ready, we will start today with the first topic 🙂 The most common question I am asked by parents or caregivers is how … Continue reading How should children start making music? / Çocuklar müziğe nasıl başlamalı?
Neurocognitive studies point to the similarities between music and language processing. Also, research indicates that parents play an essential role in their children’s musical and language development. So, do you think parents could support their bilingual children’s language skills through … Continue reading 15 minutes about Bilingualism and Music (Video)
Göçmenin Müziği Müziğin Göçü’nde Sezgin İnceel’le Almanya’daki Türkiyeli ailelerle yürüttüğü araştırma çerçevesinde çift dilli eğitimde müziğin rolünü konuştuğumuz 28 Ağustos 2018 tarihli programın podcast’ine linkten ulaşılabilir. http://acikradyo.com.tr/podcast/209106 Continue reading İki dilli eğitimde müziğin rolu (Podcast)


Teacher Shares Knowledge of Navajo LanguageDecember 8, 2016 |
by Associated Press
CLEARFIELD, Utah — Classes at a community college teach some Davis School District students the Navajo language.
Teacher Patricia Benally decided to get involved in the extra-curricular enrichment class after enrolling her daughter in the district, reported the Standard-Examiner.
Benally says she initially didn’t realize how special it was growing up in Arizona and attending a reservation school and getting lessons in Navajo, as well as English.
“Now I see there is a demand (from) parents that do live off the reservation that are Navajo; they actually are yearning for that culture, classes and awareness,” she said.
She said only one girl in her Navajo language class is not Native American.vThe Title VI program is funded by the Office of Indian Education. Students learn the language and hear about cultural issues as well.
“Really I’m trying to instill their culture,” she said. “That’s their identity as a Navajo person.”
One recent class included a video on Navajo health professionals and the cultural belief against touching the dead.
Benally, who is also studying elementary education at Weber State University, said the class exposes its students to the language and culture earlier.
“I feel me being here as a Navajo student coming from the Southwest, I’m bringing diversity and cultural awareness and as a student ambassador that’s my goal,” she said.


TAB teachers design studio structures that best serve their particular students and communities, while always trusting and valuing their students’ artistic thinking and choices. The curriculum in learner-directed classrooms is emergent: students’ questions, observations, interests, and needs enrich and expand what the teacher decides to teach, discuss, and assess. TAB teachers understand their students’ unique developmental capacities and help them succeed as artists from the youngest age. While there is no one “right” way to have a TAB studio, in what follows, we describe some common characteristics of choice-based studios, beginning from the youngest children and continuing through a student’s visual art education.
The youngest children begin school full of curiosity about the world. This is a natural fit with the TAB studio, as students experience art materials and techniques through play and discovery. Even from these early years, students have the agency and capability to make informed choices about media, content, and pacing of their work. Evidence of learning can be found throughout this process which often (but not always) results in a finished artwork. As they work, children talk with their peers about their ideas and techniques in informal and prompted conversations.
As young children grow older, many begin to identify with preferred media or subject matter. With new confidence to specialize in their areas of interest, students apply their skills to work that is meaningful to them, often with a focus on function rather than aesthetic. Children work on their own and in flexible groupings by choice, which allows teachers to observe what they are able to do independent of directives. Self-challenge motivates older children to go deeper with transdisciplinary inquiry.
Young adolescents seek independence and acceptance as they develop the ability to communicate their individual ideas. A safe community, built on trust and relationships, is central to their development at this age. In TAB studios, students are encouraged to question and explore, fail and rebuild upon their ideas. Teachers encourage frequent peer and group critiques to deepen artistic reflection and build the studio community. Students become reflective thinkers, making connections beyond the classroom, expanding into their local, national, and global communities.
TAB high school students display independent thinking as they take ownership of their artistic process. They are empowered to make unique, expressive art in response to ideas that they care about. Students are self-sufficient in their process: identifying skills they need, outlining steps towards their goals, and monitoring their own progress. Teachers continue to emphasize that motivation does not come from external rewards, such as a grade, and instead stress the importance of creating, making, or doing for personal enjoyment, to solve a problem, or to improve the world. They are able to experiment, revise, and refine ideas independently and with input from others. TAB students practice the What, Why, and How of being artists.


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Let's talk writing practice for kids. This is one of my most frequently asked questions……how to help your child with writing practice. These? Five fun and easy options for your child to practice their writing skills!
Thank you to Licefreee for partnering with us for this conversation.
Writing. It's a battle, right? I get it. I get messages about writing practice and frustration with writing everyday and frankly…..it was something that kids also struggled with in the classroom when I taught first grade AND fourth grade. In terms of literacy development, writing is the final step. First children learn to LISTEN to stories and pieces of literature, then then learn to read words (this is when they'll be working primarily on phonics and practicing sight words), then they learn to read and comprehend stories and pieces of nonfiction, THEN then start to learn to really write. Now as a teacher? We're working on these skills on a parallel timeline. Meaning, of course most kindergartners aren't able to read a story on their own…..but they are starting to write sentences and phrases.
Before we talk about ways to practice writing, I think it's important to set appropriate expectations. Writing and learning to write is a developmental process. Younger children? Their writing may not look like you expect (this is a great piece on the stages of writing and what to expect around certain ages). A few thing to keep in mind: there is a difference between practicing writing conventions (grammar and spelling) and the writing process (the process of creating a piece of ideas that flow and excite the reader). Primarily? We are talking about writing practice for the PROCESS. Conventions are a very small part of writing (and frankly are a very small part of most writing grades) yet as adults we tend to fixate on them.
Writing Practice For Kids: 5 Easy and Fun Options
With any of these…….this is supposed to be FUN. Focus on the process, the structure and the FUNCTION (why are we writing this? What's the real life reason we write this way). No need to fixate on spelling or perfection.
Letter Writing and Pen Pals: There's something so fun about snail mail. Kids love getting mail with their own names on it, and sending off their own items. From joining a pen pal club to writing to authors…..there are really fun ways to make letter writing a regular thing. Lydia sends postcards to her grandma and she loves it!
Grocery Lists and Menu Planning: Who doesn't love to be in charge of a meal? Especially over the holidays. Let your child plan a fancy meal with all their favs and then have them be responsible for the grocery list (attention to details and sequencing are super important writing skills so this is a great way to practice those)
Make Your Own Graphic Novel: Graphic Novels are having a moment in children's literature. Challenge your child to make their own…..trust me, it's a process and they'll love it!
Tutorial Script: We live in a time of…..video tutorials. For anything from sandwiches and recipes to how to build with blocks. Have your child write a script and then…..film their tutorial.
Messaging with Family: In a time where we use texts and messaging more than ever…..USE that instead of fighting it. Let your child text or message with a family member, they'll LOVE IT!
Bonus Teacher Tip: Ok guys, this is a bonus and very important tip and also one of the tips I gave at Back to School night every year. I’m teaming up with Licefreee for this series on teacher tips and I wanted to be sure to tell y’all WHY. Here’s the deal, no one knows more about lice than teachers. And guess what? At SOME point, your child will probably get lice. It’s inevitable. It’s part of the elementary school experience and nothing is worse as a parent than discovering it in the middle of the week late at night. The last thing you want is to be unprepared. So at Back to School night? I told parents to get a lice treatment and to keep it on hand. Trust me, this is a pro tip that you’ll thank me for later when you’re not running to the store at 9 pm.
Are you planning some fun writing practice for kids in your family? Which of these will you try first?


Tags: Essays In ChemistrySocial Topics For Research PapersSpeech On Conservation Of Wildlife EssaysLimo Business PlanJack And The Beanstalk Book ReportWhat Is Abstract In Research Paper
The content areas covered are as follows: development and characteristics of learners (17%); IFSP, IEP development and delivery of services, and assessment and eligibility (25%); planning and managing the learning environment (37%); and family, community and professional relationships (21%).
Questions are taken from these topics: development and characteristics of students with learning disabilities (17%); planning and managing the learning environment (26%); instruction (28%); identification, eligibility and placement (12%); and foundations and professional responsibilities (17%).
5322: Praxis Special Education: Teaching Students with Intellectual Disabilities Special Education: Teaching Students with Intellectual Disabilities assessment is a selected-response exam that tests a prospective teacher’s knowledge of students with intellectual disabilities, preschool through grade 12.
These are the areas tested: (12% each) emergent literacy (oral language and concepts of print); phonological awareness; alphabetic principle/phonics and word analysis; (14%) vocabulary; (25%) comprehension and fluency; and (25%) for the constructed responses on instructional processes (one question each on instructional practices; curriculum materials; and assessment).
5203: Praxis Teaching Reading: Elementary Education The Teaching Reading: Elementary Education test given by ETS assesses the skills and knowledge of a beginning teacher who will support reading at that level.
The test is a two-hour test of 120 multiple-choice questions.
The five categories of questions are as follows: development and characteristics of learners (16%); planning and the learning environment (23%); instruction (23%); assessment (18%); and foundations and professional responsibilities (20%).
The three areas and their sub content areas are as follows: assessment and diagnostic teaching of reading (27%); reading development: including phonemic awareness and oral language development; phonics and alphabetic principle; word analysis skills and vocabulary development; development of reading fluency and reading comprehension; reading comprehension strategies across text types (46%); and writing in support of reading, which includes interdependence of reading and writing and reading and writing as tools for inquiry (27%). However, there are “historical thinking” questions within each category which will account for 25% of the total score.
5051: Praxis Technology Education The Technology Education exam measures the knowledge and skills of a teacher who will support the technology curriculum. Go to: This Bizarre Epiphany Helped A Low IQ Praxis Test Taker Pass And Start Teaching Young People Who Needed Her…
5543: Praxis Special Education: Core Knowledge and Mild to Moderate Applications The test for Special Education: Core Knowledge and Mild to Moderate Applications is designed to assess the knowledge of principles and practices related to teaching students with mild to moderate disabilities in any grade, preschool-grade 12.
The test is a two-hour test of 90 multiple-choice questions with 3 integrated constructed response questions.


What is whole-child assessment?
Simply assessing a child’s pre-literacy or pre-numeracy skills is not enough to determine whether or not the child is developing the skills they need to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. Effective and pedagogically-sound assessment for young children requires considering the full range of developmental skills.
Whole-child assessment, as this type of assessment is commonly called, is a balanced way to measure and track a child’s progress in all developmental domains, including social-emotional, physical, cognitive, and literacy development. Unlike traditional subject-based assessments, whole-child assessments allow teachers to understand the complete picture of a child, including, for example, how children collaborate with peers or how they solve problems.
Why is whole-child assessment important?
Research has repeatedly shown the relationship between non-cognitive skills and school success. Comprehensive, whole-child assessments allow educators to reflect on a broad view of the child they work with. Viewing the child as a complete learner allows educators to reflect on how to best support the child in developing a strong holistic foundation for success in school and beyond.
Non-cognitive skills begin to develop at an early age. Early childhood educators plan activities to help children develop and practice a wide variety of skills, and often multiple skills at one time.
Consider the following example:
A teacher reads the story of the Three Little Pigs aloud to her students. As she reads, she stops to provide opportunities for her students to act out the story and discuss each character’s role in the story. At the end of the story, she asks children what materials they would use to build their own houses if they were a part of the story.
This teacher intends to focus on helping her children develop listening comprehension skills. However, the activity allows her children a chance to develop their gross-motor skills, build peer-relationship skills, reflect on community roles, and consider natural materials in their environment. Early childhood educators are best served by an assessment tool that equips them with the ability to consider connected areas of development for their students and to see a complete picture of how the child is progressing.
Traditional tests often focus on just one skill or one area of learning at a time. By contrast, whole-child assessment tools allow teachers to look at many skills at once, and how skills in different domains are connected to each other. Through using a whole-child assessment tool, teachers focus on supporting each child holistically rather than preparing them for a test in one singular area.
Are arts a part of whole-child assessment?
Within the context of whole-child assessment, music, dance, and visual arts provide excellent opportunities for monitoring and supporting a child’s development. Through arts activities, children grow and develop a wide range of skills. For example, a visual art project could require a child to use the following skills:
- Fine motor skills
- Using tools to support their play
- Geometry and spatial awareness
- Recognizing or creating patterns
When educators use a whole-child assessment tool, they can better understand how a child is progressing on a connected set of developmental skills that children exhibit every day.
About the Author
Anna Marrs is a former early literacy curriculum developer and a former certified 1st grade teacher in North Carolina. She holds a Master's in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and now works on the School Partnerships team at Kaymbu.


A full activity programme is carefully planned to help children explore the world around them and gain independence. Through play children learn to co-operate with each other by sharing and turn taking with their friends.
We teach children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life. Children are taught fine and gross motor skills through mark making and ICT. Letters and sounds and phonics are taught through a multisensory approach.
All areas are delivered through planned purposeful play with a balance of adult led and child initiated activities. Children leaving the Nursery will be prepared with the social and learning skills necessary to ensure an easy transition to school life.
Children are taken through the Early Years Foundation Stages. This sets the standards to ensure children to learn and develop well, and are kept healthy and safe.
Language and numeracy skills are developed through everyday activities and children will gain a knowledge and understanding of the world around them by celebrating a variety of festivals.


Music and Art online lessons
Zoom online music lessons
Guitar / Ukulele
ONLINE ART & DESIGN LESSONS
Online course during COVID-19
We understand students are passionate about learning musical instruments and sharpening artistic skills and need continuous musical and arts training. But we also do not want to see our students exposed to danger having face-to-face classes or commuting during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. In light of the issue, Bumblebee Arts Center is now offering online classes through Zoom.
Let your children learn a new skill when they are at home
Here at Bumblebees Arts Centre, there are no obstacles that could stop children from achieving their dreams of music and arts at home. By joining a Zoom meeting on a computer or a mobile device, they will have access to an online music and arts course of their choice. Since we provide a variety of online courses in the music and arts field, it is a great idea to speak with our teachers in advance to understand what kind of music lessons are suitable for your children.
Features of online music courses:
- Our online piano lessons encourage creativity and boost self-esteem while online singing lessons improve cognition and memory.
- Some students may want to try guitar & ukulele lessons online as many of them are affected by teenagers who uploaded their music works on their YouTube channels and used guitar and ukulele as an accompaniment instrument.
- Our one of the best online drum lessons for beginners will take your kids from literally nothing to playing in their first music group as a drummer.
- If you want kids to learn how to take care of the body, then you would not miss online flute learning lessons that promote good posture, proper and healthy breathing and require a high degree of patience and discipline.
- Being part of an orchestra is a pretty good experience as it adds value to your musical career, and that’s why violin online lessons will be a good try for kids.
Features of online arts & design courses:
- Our online kid’s craft lesson teaches flexibility to our students, meaning that most crafts work can be completed in more than one way but obtaining the same result through a different method. We provide different craft ideas for kids, helping them to develop fine motor skills and encourage them to face the situation with multiple possibilities in real life.
- We know some parents like to buy animated drawings for kids. But why not let your children try on drawing animation by themselves? Our online animation lesson requires keen hand-brain coordination; the more your kids’ practice, the better their hand-brain coordination. It is also a great opportunity to cultivate logical thinking while they are making a plan of how to draw a successful animation.
- When it comes to art lessons for kids, online drawing and painting lessons are always popular options among parents as not only do they improve creativity and memory but also enhance communication and problem-solving skills that are essential for kids when they grow up and merge into society.
Quality of online course
We understand your worry about the quality of online courses. But we have spent to great lengths in ensuring the same level of quality music education that we had offline. Our students will have the same premium online learning experience and services as they had at Bumblebee Arts Centre.


By Lisa Reichelt, M.Ed., Parent Coach Champion Your Parenting
Nothing can make the pain of a trauma disappear, but you can help your child learn and grow in the face of sorrow. Trauma-Informed Parenting skills help you teach your children coping skills.
Your children may be impacted by stressful, confusing or frightening situations in life. Whether it’s dealing with the death of a loved one, a prolonged sickness, divorce, the pandemic, or the death of a pet, family tragedy seeps into everyone’s life. Traumatic events are emotionally painful.
It’s normal to want to fix things for our kids when they’re hurting. We all remember when we could “kiss the ouchie,” and our toddler would stop crying. So, it’s normal to hyper-focus on fixing emotional pain as well. A Trauma-Informed approach begins by focusing on emotions, attachment and resiliency.
The strong emotions caused by trauma are unfamiliar to most children. You can help your child learn to regulate all their emotions.
- Identify emotions. Teach your child to identify their emotions during happy times and sad times. Have open conversations about your emotions and theirs. Make conversations about emotions a part of your everyday life. That way, when their emotions go haywire, they’ll be able to identify and discuss emotions with you.
- Strategies to regulate emotions. Brain breaks, breathing exercises, yoga, and mindfulness are all tools for regulating emotions. You and your child can discover which of these tools works best for regulating their emotions. You can model the skills for them and assist them in discovering the best tool for their age level.
Trauma can cause children to develop issues with attachment. The issue can be an over-exaggerated need to be with someone or a breaking away from close relationships.
- Foster predictability. Children find great comfort in ritual and routine. Build this into your family life if it doesn’t exist right now. Do you have a regular family meal time? A family game night?
- Create a “special” time with just one child. Set up a daily time (10-15 min) where one child and one parent have exclusive time together. Do something the child wants to do. Make it casual, fun and consistent. The key is consistency.
- Foster other caring adult relationships. Children flourish when they have many caring adults in their lives. Deliberately spend time with friends and close family members who can relate to your child. Watch for relationships that your child naturally makes and encourage them.
Resiliency is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. While some people seem to be naturally resilient, it’s a skill you and your kids can develop.
- Nurture growth mindset. Having a “growth mindset” means that you see failure as a learning experience. You embrace challenges and learn from your mistakes. Whole families can learn to have a growth mindset. Use children’s books as a tool to learn about growth mindset, and then set goals for your family to develop those skills.
- Praise versus encouragement. Parents can make a big impact on their child’s resiliency by replacing words of praise with words of encouragement. Encouragement recognizes a child’s effort. Praise often focuses just on accomplishments.
- Discipline as a resiliency lesson. Instead of handing down a punishment, have a conversation with your child. Lead them on a problem-solving discussion. How could this have worked out differently? What do you think the consequence for your behavior should be? Allow them to choose an appropriate consequence. Resiliency will develop as they take ownership for their decisions.
This is just the “tip of the iceberg” for Trauma-Informed Parenting. As with all parenting issues, knowledge is the first step. If your child is reacting to a trauma, you can make a difference in their ability to cope. Start today. You won’t be sorry.
Lisa Reichelt, M. Ed., is a parent coach with Champion Your Parenting. She has spent her career as an educator supporting kids and parents, assisting them in developing tight family bonds. Lisa has a Master’s degree in elementary education and 40 years of experience. Her background includes work as a teacher and principal in both public and private schools. As a Parent Coach, Lisa helps families work through problems and move toward solutions. Contact her at LisaR@championyourparenting.com.


A choice of educational workshops is included in the programme for all pupils aged 11 - 17 at Port Regis, enabling them to focus more intensively on their English or choose more broadly educational content as follows:
Grammar and pronunciation workshop
Formal study and practice through games and songs for pupils who have reached a plateau with their English or wish to focus on particular areas of weakness. Includes an introduction to the phonetic alphabet, a useful tool to help pupils with their pronunciation.
Course journal workshop
Pupils work as editors, journalists, writers, etc. to produce a weekly journal that is circulated in the school and published on the internet. This encourages attention to content, style and accuracy as well as enabling friends and relatives to see their work when they get home.
Digital photography workshop
Pupils learn the principles of photography and how to avoid common errors in order to take better pictures of people, landscapes and actions. They become more sensitive to the world around them and their photos provide a good basis for discussion and writing.
Pupils create, rehearse and perform short plays. This provides authentic English practice while developing pupils’ intonation and voice projection. They have fun and develop personal and linguistic confidence.
Pupils learn the basics of cookery including kitchen hygiene and safety. They share and follow simple recipes, have a fun competition, learn new language and develop independent living skills.
Pupils choose a different elective each week. Other workshops may include art education workshops, music education workshops, local history, film making, English literature. The precise workshops that we run each summer depend on the skills, interests and experience that our teachers bring to the school.
Pupils who wish to prove their attainment in general English speaking skills can prepare and sit this internationally recognised qualification during their stay. Please see our GESE page for further information.


There are four major swimming strokes, including freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Swimming increases flexibility, strength and cardiovascular fitness with reduced impact and added support, which makes a kinder workout for individuals with joint pain. Water aerobics also works major muscle groups, but most exercises employ equipment such as water waist-belts, water dumbbells, kickboards, or aerobic steps.
Swimming involves moving horizontally through the water, usually in one of the four major styles; however, individuals may also use sidestroke, double-arm backstroke with a breaststroke kick and other similar drills to improve stamina and technique before moving on to swimming consecutive laps. Each of these strokes requires regular breathing in through your mouth when the face is out of the water and breathing out through the nose when the face is in the water.
Many aerobic exercises do not require you to put your face in the water; you can target specific muscle groups like weight training by using the water as resistance. Water jogging in the shallow end, for example, adds additional resistance against your leg and stomach muscles. Unlike swimming, water aerobic exercisers can work at a slower pace instead of relying on a consistent pace to keep the body afloat.
Swimming laps burns more calories per hour and requires stronger cardiovascular fitness than water aerobics. According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, a 130 pound person doing water aerobics burns 236 calories per hour; general, leisurely swimming burns approximately 354 calories an hour. A 130 pound person swimming light- to moderate- freestyle burns 472 calories per hour; swimming vigorous freestyle burns approximately 590 calories hourly. Freestyle is the most common lap-swimming stroke.
Swimmers may incorporate pull buoys, water paddles and kickboards into their routine to increase water resistance and target muscles in the legs or arms. Water aerobic exercises typically use floatation devices secured around the waist to help keep them afloat during exercise. Water dumbbells are also commonly used for various exercises including arm presses and water crunches. Aerobic exercises may also use water aerobic steps for various step-up exercises.
Madison Hawthorne holds a bachelor's degree in creative writing, a master's degree in social work and a master's degree in elementary education. She also holds a reading endorsement and two years experience working with ELD students. She has been a writer for more than five years, served as a magazine submission reviewer and secured funding for a federal grant for a nonprofit organization. Hawthorne also swam competitively for 10 years and taught for two years.


We are forever and a day asking teachers and school leaders to implement curricula/programs of study with “fidelity.” But all curricula are not created equally and are not deserving of being utilized with blind fidelity.
How does one know whether a curriculum or program of study is worthy of being implemented with “fidelity?” And furthermore what is “fidelity?
Let’s have an epiphany!
One can be certain that a curriculum or program of study is worthy of being implemented with fidelity when:
(1) the structure and function of the content and of the formative assessments are aligned to a finite set of correlate student outcomes as well as the nuanced expectations of the standards that we know will be assessed;
(2) the content and structure are responsive to the developmental needs and knowledge deficits (foundational skills and grade-appropriate concepts) of the student population being served by the implementation;
(3) the content and structure are designed to develop not only student capacity, but also support the development of teachers conceptual understanding of the content and concepts;
(4) the content and structure are paired in a manner that promotes reading (over lecture); speaking opportunities for students (over teacher-directed instruction); independent, critical thinking, and problem solving; and writing for the expressed purpose of demonstrating mastery and transfer; and
(5) the content and pedagogy are supported by a longitudinal examination of its impact on student outcomes in schools/districts with populations similar to the proposed treatment population (i.e., below grade level readers, students who read and process information multiple grades below expectations).
Fidelity and pacing are not synonymous.
Teachers across America are told to implement with “fidelity,” but what they actually hear from administrators is this, “Teachers, you should be on or near the same page as your same grade-level, same content-area peers…You need to cover every standard in the curriculum prior to the close of the marking period, semester, or school year.”
There are several issues with this interpretation of “fidelity.”
(1) In many cases, it’s almost impossible to consistently be on or near the same page in the curriculum as ones’ same grade-level, same content peer. Why? Pacing is constantly impacted by at least two factors: (a) individual teachers’ content knowledge (which can expedite or slow student acquisition of new knowledge and ability); and (b) the rate at which individual students and groups of students acquire new knowledge and skills — both of which are often unable to be anticipated before teachers deliver initial instruction.
(2) Coverage of the curriculum should never be the bar for the standard of service. Rather, the standard of service or what I like to call “instructional due care” is not about getting to the end of the curriculum guide by the close of a given marking period. Have you ever seen someone speed up to a red light at an intersection? You are not thinking genius are you? It doesn’t make sense to hurry up and teach, so that you can hurry up and assess, only to find out that students needed more time with the teacher teaching;
(3) I must lift this important caveat. I do not intend to blow a dog whistle here for those who are content with teaching one objective or one standard for 5 weeks. Such behavior is tantamount to instructional malpractice. There ought to be some sense of urgency relative to pacing. There has to be a middle ground when it comes to fidelity and pacing.
America, I know that we can work together to find a compromise and free our effective teachers from the pressure associated with “fidelity” of implementation and the faulty coverage-driven approach to pacing.


Children acquire language without instruction as long as they are regularly and meaningfully engaged with an accessible human language. Today, 80% of children born deaf in the developed world are implanted with cochlear devices that allow some of them access to sound in their early years, which helps them to develop speech.
However, through early childhood, brain plasticity changes and children who have not acquired a first language in the early years might never be completely fluent in any language. If they miss this critical period for exposure to a natural language, their subsequent development of the cognitive activities that rely on a solid first language might be underdeveloped, such as literacy, memory organization, and number manipulation.
An alternative to speech-exclusive approaches to language acquisition exists in the use of sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL), where acquiring a sign language is subject to the same time constraints of spoken language development. Unfortunately, so far, these alternatives are caught up in an "either-or" dilemma, leading to a highly polarized conflict about which system families should choose for their children, with little tolerance for alternatives by either side of the debate and widespread misinformation about the evidence and implications for or against either approach.
The success rate with cochlear implants is highly variable. This issue is still debated, and as far as we know, there are no reliable predictors for success with implants.
Yet families are often advised not to expose their child to sign language. Here absolute positions based on ideology create pressures for parents that might jeopardize the real developmental needs of deaf children.
What we do know is that cochlear implants do not offer accessible language to many deaf children. By the time it is clear that the deaf child is not acquiring spoken language with cochlear devices, it might already be past the critical period, and the child runs the risk of becoming linguistically deprived.
Linguistic deprivation constitutes multiple personal harms as well as harms to society (in terms of costs to our medical systems and in loss of potential productive societal participation).
Copyright by the authors: Tom Humphries, Poorna Kushalnagar, Gaurav Mathur, Donna Jo Napoli, Carol Padden, Christian Rathmann, Scott R Smith.Credits/Source: Harm Reduction Journal 2012, 9:16. Published: 2 April 2012. http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/9/1/16/abstract
Related posts: Language development milestones in sign language.
This documentation project follows a baby's language acquisition, literacy development, and phonological acquisition in sign language, specifically ASL, week by week from gazing at birth to manual babbling, to first words just before the first birthday in a natural native-ASL environment and visual culture.
The second-year and third-year documentation continues to follow the same child's language and phonological acquisition and literacy development in ASL on a weekly basis from the one-word stage to two-word and multiple utterances.
The documentary continues to follow the same child's ASL language and literacy development on a regular basis from age three to four. It surveys ASL phonological acquisition and more complex utterances.
These posts on ASL-English bilingualism, language acquisition, and bilingual education may be of an interest for parents who raise a bilingual-bimodal child in ASL (or another signed language) and English (or another written and/or spoken language of its respective) as well as informative and educational for ASL specialists, educators, and professionals.


Picture books help build literacy
Picture books are a fun, kid-friendly type of book, but don’t underestimate them! They can play a big role in a child’s literacy development.
Picture books are a big part of a young child’s foundation of literacy. Before children have figured out how to read, their understanding of words is mainly informed by what they see. For children, picture books are the link to literacy. When parents read picture books with their children they can connect what they’re seeing with the words on the page and the words that their parent is saying.
Reading together is a fun way for parents to bond with their children, and picture books are a great way to do that early on. Young children love to flip the pages, point to pictures they like and eventually tell parts of their favorite books! A book full of bright colors and interesting shapes is much more engaging than pure text or a digital book.
Picture books are also a great way to help children learn storytelling, which will help them develop memory, language and social skills. There’s a reason kids come up with outrageously inventive stories about their day! Picture books ignite children’s imaginations, inspiring their love for stories and reading.
Find out more about raising strong readers here.
Curious about our early literacy programs? Find out more at swhd.org/literacy.


As teachers in the Senior School, our role of empowering students with knowledge, skills and understanding of learning is paramount in the formation of independent thinking. Student agency and voice are encouraged as students become more independent and responsible for their own learning. With teacher support, students track their own data. This enables them to develop a growth mindset, drives personal goal setting and facilitates regular reflection on their achievement, engagement and wellbeing.
The learning environment in the Senior School is one in which each individual is valued, respected and encouraged to do their best at all times. We foster effective learning environments that are stimulating, collaborative, supportive and student centred.
In the Senior School we promote:
- Choice and ownership
- Independence, autonomy and self-regulation
- A strong sense of connectedness by planning meaningful and authentic activities
- Metacognition and higher order thinking
- Reflection and self-assessment
As an International Baccalaureate School, we aim to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
As an International Baccalaureate PYP school we have adopted a transdisciplinary approach to curriculum integration. This approach dissolves the boundaries between these conventional disciplines and organises teaching and learning around the construction of meaning in the context of real-world problems or themes.
We use the Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop model to develop literacy skills. During Workshops teachers model explicit skills, support students whilst they learn the skill, then allow for independent work. At this time, small groups will work with the teacher, or individual conferences will be held. A final group reflection time allows students to clarify their understanding, and teachers to gather information about progress.
The mathematics curriculum aims to develop useful mathematical and numeracy skills for everyday life, work and as an active members in a technological world. Students in the Senior School build their understanding of how to select and apply efficient mental and written strategies to solve problems and have access to concrete materials to support their learning when required. Again, the workshop model is used during maths lessons.
The mathematics curriculum comes under three strands – Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability.
Students continue to participate in MLCs (Maths Learning Communities) in which they engage in a series of scaffolded lessons targeted to their specific learning needs. Through regular pre and post testing, learning growth is measured and future learning goals established for each individual.


June 12, 2018
Contributed by Julie Strahan, MA, elementary school music teacher
**This is the second post in a series on essential building blocks of reading**
Children of all cultures and languages spontaneously participate in rhythm activities including dancing, jumping rope, and bouncing balls. Reading experts think these movements are essential for development and are strongly associated with literacy.
Children who are able to line up their movements with external sounds and movements show better pre-reading skills than students who can’t match beat patterns. Rap, games, songs, and rhyming books (especially those with even phrases and rhyme pairs) can help build a child’s rhythm awareness.
Breaking it Down
In music education, the beat is the underlying pulse of a song or poem. Rhythm is the way the words or instruments lay on top of the beat. Often, these words are used interchangeably, but they are indeed different. Rhyme is achieved by using phrases of equal length that end with the same phonemes, or word parts. For example, /at/ might come at the end of the second and fourth line of text.
Like many of the books from Cantata Learning, the Classic Fables in Rhythm and Rhyme series helps young children experience rhyme while singing and reading along. The familiar stories from Aesop, which have a teaching “moral” to the story, include new songs and rhyming to increase understanding, engagement, and retention of the song.
The rhythm can be found in the song itself, a catchy tune that makes placement of the words clear. This song, like rap or other poetry, helps children place the word parts into the song in a rhythmic way. I call this using the words in a “pointy” way.
In order to have the word parts fall into the right rhythm, I say they have edges that are pointy and you need to get those words parts out—the words are “sharp” like glass. This description often helps students better understand very specific articulation of words—a key component of rap or spoken word poetry!
Songs, rhymes, a steady beat, and intentional placement of words all help build necessary pre-reading skills for early readers and provide support to emerging and advanced reading.
The moral of the story? Rhythm and rhyme help grow readers!
About the author: Julie Strahan is a mother to 3 young adult children. She and her husband, Frank, live in Minneapolis, MN with their yellow lab, Scout. She now teaches K-5 music in a public school.RETURN TO MAIN BLOG