In a previous study, researchers from the University of Southern Denmark Faculty of Health Sciences found that taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy reduced the risk that a child would develop ADHD by the time they reached 2 ½ years old.
While the study did not prove that low vitamin D levels were a cause of ADHD, the team noted that “there is a link that we cannot explain in any other way,” and that more research was necessary. While the jury is still out when it comes to ADHD, researchers from the University of Surrey and University of Bristol have now linked insufficient levels of vitamin D in pregnancy to other detriments in child development.
"The importance of vitamin D sufficiency should not be underestimated. It is well-known to be good for our musculoskeletal systems, but our research shows that if levels are low in expectant mothers, it can affect the development of their children in their early years of life,” said lead author Andrea Darling.
Social and motor development
After examining data on over 7,000 mother-child pairs, the researchers found that pregnant women who were deficient in vitamin D (less than 50 nmol per liter in blood) were more likely to bear children who later scored in the bottom 25% in pre-school development tests for gross and fine motor skills at 2 ½ years old.
The researchers say that assessments for motor skill development included tests for coordination -- such as kicking a ball, balancing, and jumping -- and the usage of fine muscles, like the ability to hold a pencil or build a tower with bricks.
Additionally, these same children scored poorly when assessed for social development skills at 3 ½ years old when compared to children born to mothers with sufficient vitamin D intake. Vitamin D deficiency was not linked to IQ or reading ability at older ages, though.
Minority groups at risk
The researchers point out that certain minority groups are especially at risk when it comes to vitamin D deficiency. However, they note that it is important for expectant mothers to walk a fine line when it comes to taking supplements because too much can also be harmful.
"Many pregnant women, especially those from minority groups with darker skin (e.g. African, African-Caribbean or South Asian), will still need to take a 10 micrograms vitamin D supplement daily, particularly in the autumn and winter when vitamin D cannot be made from the sun in the UK," said Darling. “However, it is important to remember that 'more is not necessarily better' and it is important not to take too much vitamin D from supplements as it can be toxic in very high doses."
If taking vitamin D supplements is not for you, the researchers say that there are a number of dietary options that contain healthy levels of vitamin D that can promote child development. These include oily fish like salmon, sardines, mackerel, and fresh tuna; small amounts of red meat, eggs, and fortified fat spreads; and certain breakfast cereals.
Consumers are reminded to always check with a primary care physician or specialist before taking any supplement or changing their diet.


At the heart of Guided Pathways reform is re-defining pathways for students. Not surprisingly, community colleges have responded to this call for action by engaging in reform efforts that have initially focused on getting students on a path more quickly and re-imagining developmental education. Research has shown that many students who start in developmental coursework never make it to credit-bearing courses. Innovative practices in this space have been gaining national attention and colleges have been making swift and significant changes in how they assist students with developing the college readiness skills in a timelier manner.
Although these initiatives are clearly important, community colleges also need to tackle the college-level curriculum in order to improve student success outcomes. The success rates in general education courses leave much to be desired. This is particularly problematic because general education can often comprise 75 percent or more of an entire transfer program. Community college faculty and administrators need to ask themselves: What is the value and purpose of general education courses? What foundational skills and knowledge do all students need regardless of their selected career path?
The world is forever changing, and the general education component of the curriculum has the potential to help students develop essential skills and knowledge that will serve them well personally and professionally no matter their career path. Employers in varied fields have consistently identified essential skills they desire in employees. General education coursework can align with NACE competencies to help students develop these skills. It is time for institutions that want to implement Guided Pathways to take a fresh look at general education.
Starting on the right foot
Because of the wide array of general education choices, it is likely that students will have different educational experiences. In many cases, the only shared experience for many community college graduates may be the number of courses or credits completed. This choice-based approach to general education can make it quite challenging for colleges to ensure that students are graduating with a core set of skills and a shared knowledge. From the student perspective, the general education curriculum simply looks like a long, confusing list of boxes that need to be checked off in order to get to the finish line. The value of general education courses is not explicitly shared with or understood by students.
One course that typically has general education status at four-year colleges and universities but is less likely to have this designation at community colleges is the first-year seminar. Given the Guided Pathways call to help students choose and stay on a path, the first-year seminar course, if designed well, should be a required course. A Guided Pathways-informed first-year seminar assists students with determining a career path and helps them develop the essential general education skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and teamwork and communication.
External or legislative actions can serve as a motivator for these important conversations. In Connecticut, consolidation efforts have led to state-wide conversations and a proposal currently under consideration to include the first-year seminar in the general education core. Several states, such as New Jersey, are faced with legislation that requires a reduction in the total number of credits require for graduation. Unfortunately, many colleges take a reductionist approach to this task, identifying a course or courses that can be eliminated as a curriculum requirement. The better approach would be to use this as an opportunity to ask the following questions: (1) What knowledge and skills do our graduates in each program need? and (2) Which courses should be required to ensure that these program outcomes are achieved? During these conversations, colleges can also consider reducing the number of general education requirements so that students can begin taking courses in their chosen career path earlier. This would also create room in the curriculum for other key learning experiences such as internships or other experiential learning opportunities.
These are not easy conversations to have; change is difficult. However, change is necessary in order to implement Guided Pathways and increase student success outcomes. It is time for community colleges to evaluate whether their current approach to general education is leading to the desired outcomes and to engage in reform efforts as needed.
For Pathways resources, check out AACC’s Pathways Project website.


Pre-K & Little Cats
Students who turn four on or before September 1, 2021 are eligible for pre-kindergarten classes. Pre-kindergarten classes have been shown to increase language and literacy skills, boost confidence in students and increase test scores. Pre-kindergarten classes follow the same schedule as elementary school classes. Students learn how to behave in a classroom setting, work with their peers and adjust to a school schedule. By the time a student graduates from pre-kindergarten, they are fully prepared and ready for kindergarten.
Our Little Cats program serves children in between the ages of three and four years old that are not currently attending a GA Pre-K program. Little Cats is a bilingual, two-generation program to educate parents with their children in educational strategies of playing, reading and talking with their 3 and 4-year-old children through basic literacy and numeracy skills, fine and large motor skills in preparation to be ready for Pre-K or Kindergarten.


Education: Grade 1
Education - Grade 1
Maths anxiety can have a debilitating effect on children's self-confidence and learning potential, and may eventually even limit their choice of career. Instilling basic numeracy skills at an early age and teaching Maths in a way that engages young learners can go a long way to prevent a life-long fear of numbers.
To be successful in Maths later on, children must develop a ready grasp of number concepts and thoroughly master basics such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division at a young age. Best Books' Maths Made Fun series for the Foundation Phase helps to lay a solid foundation with a practise-makes-perfect approach, using innovative activities designed to stimulate young minds.
Based on the CAPS curriculum, the New All-In-One Maths Made Fun in Grade 2 Workbook provide parents and educators with a step-by-step maths resource for the whole school year. Practice pages instil the basics that children need to be able to recall readily, worksheets enhance creative thinking and problem solving, and full-colour games serve to further inculcate skills.
All the required content areas are covered: patterns, functions and algebra; numbers, operations and relationships; space and shapes; data handling; and measuring.
These workbooks are a must-have resource for both the classroom and at home.


Practice in reading aloud is very important for literacy development. Reading with a parent or carer is a great opportunity to do this, but parents often do not get good advice about how to help their child. The Pause, Prompt, Praise method is research-based and effective.
When your child is a Beginning Reader and has difficulty with a word the following has been shown to be the best way to help them:
1. PAUSE for around 3-5 seconds—this is important because children can often self-correct if given the time. They read more slowly than we do and need the time to work it out. If we jump in too quickly, not only do we make them reliant on us to help them, but we undermine their self-confidence.
2. PROMPT—if the child cannot self-correct, we can offer them a phonic prompt.
a. The first prompt should be a phonic prompt. “What’s the first sound in that word?”
b.If they still can’t get it, sound the word for them with a slight pause between each sound e.g: f..r…o…g. Encourage your child to sound out and then blend all through the word.
c. You could also identify the first sound and encourage them to sound out the rest or break the word into its syllables. It may be useful to cover the word and reveal it slowly, looking at the sounds or the sections of the word.
d.If they still have difficulty, tell them the word—and move on.
3. PRAISE is an important part of reading and you should give specific praise when they have corrected an error or read the word correctly after a prompt. Praise should be specific, e.g: “You figured that out by yourself” or “You worked that out with only a little bit of help. ”
For Older Students who might misread a word and continue, wait until they get to the end of the sentence before stopping them. Sometimes the reader will realise their mistake because it doesn’t make sense—and then self-correct—but they often need to get to the end of the sentence to realise this. We want readers to be able to read for meaning, and it’s an important skill for them to develop. If we immediately stop and correct them again we undermine the development of this process.
1. If they read on into the next sentence you may then want to ask them: “did that make sense?”
2. If they think it made sense, then ask them to read the sentence again. Sometimes they get it correct because they read more carefully this time.
3. If they have misread a word for the second time, go back to the word and ask them to have a close look at it. If they recognise their mistake, read the sentence again with the correct word.
4. If they cannot read the word, help them to break it up using the strategies above.
5. If they still have trouble, provide the word and move on—but make a note of the word and have a look at it later on. Talk about the meaning of the word, perhaps it’s a new word for them, there’s an unfamiliar part of the word, or they don’t know how to pronounce it.


Education is one of the major social areas, where people hold numerous opinions and are willing to share those with others. An education essay is basically a paper, which talks about various aspects of education. An education essay can come in form of a narrative about the experience of one individual or can be an essay describing one’s opinion about the subject of education. People might raise the question of current educational conditions or present possible changes in the educational set up in schools or universities.
There is an abundance of essay topics to choose from when getting down to writing your educational essay. You can speculate on the conditions of contemporary educational processes or choose an education essay topic, which talks about the current status of education. Another education essay topic to consider is the one that discusses the way people can make the best of the education opportunities that are presented to them. There are also a variety of educational essay topics that talk about the philosophy of education or different educational approaches. When choosing your own essay topic, be sure to go for something you are personally interested in and have enough sufficient evidence to back up your argumentation.
Among all the educational essays, elementary education essay is very popular. Elementary education essay talks about the child psychology and the various aspects of the education of young children. These essays can be very useful to the teachers as they are quiet useful in advancing elementary school teaching techniques and practices. There are many professional writers who can save you the trouble by writing good and informative educational articles. Be sure to use a credible one in order to get the most of your elementary education essay writing experience.
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Learning at Hebrew Day School is challenge-based, supportive, developmental and dynamic. Our curriculum is ever evolving; each student and each teacher breathes new life into it, as we believe that every individual contributes to the collective whole. Grounded in standards and grade-level expectations yet flexible enough to meet and teach all students where they are, our curriculum is continually evaluated, updated and refreshed. High expectations coupled with a supportive environment assist students in moving beyond their comfort zones and rise to the challenges before them. Our multiage classes naturally offer opportunities for students to collaborate, communicate, teach and learn from one another. Our emphasis is on process: the process of thinking, the process of developing skills, the process of understanding. This is the process of learning.
The social and emotional development of our students is nurtured through a strong commitment to educating the whole child and is supported by an intentional culture of collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity. Collaboration is explicitly taught yet naturally integrated, as students work together within and across grades. It requires flexibility and a willingness to assume shared responsibility. Communication is understood to be about articulating ones thoughts clearly in oral, written and nonverbal formats. Communication is also about listening effectively. At HDS, these communication skills are taught in both languages. Critical thinking is essential for students to analyze and evaluate problems from multiple perspectives. It is also about making connections between ideas. Our students think critically in both languages. Creativity leads to innovation and expression. Our students develop their creativity by taking risks, celebrating productive mistakes and sharing who they are with the rest of the world.
Hebrew Day School gives its students the inspiration, tools and competencies needed to be confident and engaged participants in Jewish life. Through a pluralistic lens, our students develop an understanding of Jewish texts and practices, a facility with the Hebrew language, and a connection to the State of Israel as we guide them to find their own place and voice within our tradition. Our dual curriculum ensures that the Hebrew language is taught as both the modern and biblical language of our people. An unmistakable sense of community and a collective sense of investment in the responsibility of raising the next generation of Jewish citizens is what you will find when you call HDS home.
Children learn math through rich, hands-on, real-world experiences designed to develop their skills as intuitive mathematicians. Great emphasis is placed on conceptual understanding alongside consistent practice to promote accuracy and automaticity. Together these promote a depth of understanding for the mathematical concepts explored. The Common Core State Standards and Michigan’s Grade Level Expectations guide and inspire a developmentally appropriate, focused and rigorous math curriculum. Students engage as active problem solvers by expressing multiple ways one can understand and attack problems. Their reasoning is explored and developed as their competence and confidence as mathematicians grow.
HDS students learn in a comprehensive, developmental, and language-rich environment. The foundational skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening are established in the Gan (kindergarten) and built upon throughout the years. The Common Core State Standards and Michigan’s Grade Level Expectations serve to guide and inspire a wide range of literacy experiences designed to equip our students with the skills to communicate. Our goals are to instill in students a lifelong love of reading, writing, speaking and listening, and an appreciation of the power and possibility of words.
Science is curiosity and exploration. Through discovery, students contemplate and investigate their ideas, curiosities and questions as they build a body of knowledge and experiences to draw upon and apply. Science is also about developing the skills to make predictions, collect and interpret data, pose hypotheses and document results. Using the scientific method and a cycle of inquiry, students at HDS build a strong knowledge base in earth, physical and life sciences.
Thoughtful, empowered and responsible citizenship begins in the elementary classroom. Seeing connections to the past and future help students understand their place in the world, their community and their families. At HDS, the social studies curriculum is carefully integrated with the language arts and Judaic studies curriculum to help students make these connections explicit. The curriculum comes alive through fiction and non-fiction texts, current events and primary source documents.


ERIC Number: ED338949
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1991
Positively Different. Creating a Bias-Free Environment for Young Children.
Matiella, Ana Consuelo
This guide was written to provide elementary school teachers, parents and other caregivers of children up to the age of 10 with practical suggestions for creating a supportive, bias-free learning environment in the classroom or at home. The main focus of the book is on ethnic differences. Chapter 1 discusses why it is important to help children recognize, understand, and accept differences in themselves and others. Chapter 2 includes suggestions for preparing to implement a bias-free environment and discusses getting to know the children one works with and their families, understanding one's community, and anticipating cultural issues that might arise when talking about specific subjects. Chapter 3 pays careful attention to creating a physical environment where children can feel safe and at home. Chapter 4 discusses the more abstract elements of establishing a bias-free learning environment, including how to ensure an atmosphere of caring and respect, increase children's self-esteem through pride in themselves and their ethnicity and culture, and help them develop and practice critical thinking skills. Chapter 5 discusses what to do when prevention efforts do not prevent prejudice and discrimination. (NB)
Descriptors: Child Caregivers, Children, Cultural Awareness, Cultural Differences, Elementary Education, Elementary School Teachers, Ethnicity, Parents
ETR Associates/Network Publications, P.O. Box 1830, Santa Cruz, CA 95061-1830 ($14.95).
Publication Type: Guides - General
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Parents; Practitioners
Authoring Institution: N/A


Research-Based (Not Reading-Based)
In our digital age, it’s tempting to see handwriting as optional. But handwriting is still a key foundational skill for literacy development. Explicit instruction in handwriting supplements what students may—or may not—be getting from a reading-based program. In fact, Zaner-Bloser programs are proven effective for developing all types of literacy skills, including reading!
Self-generated action, in the form of handwriting, is a crucial component in setting up brain systems for reading acquisition. (James, 2010)
Children with stronger fine-motor skills do better not only in literacy tasks such as letter writing, but also in kindergarten math; in addition, these skills are associated with ongoing reading and math achievement as late as fifth grade. (Dinehart, et al., 2014)
For developmentally typical students in grades 4–7, fluent cursive writing consistently predicted both higher level spelling and composing skills at each grade. (Alstad, et al., 2015)
Research results show that fluency in handwriting is strongly related to the quality and quantity of students’ complex written texts as late as grade 8. (Christensen and Jones, 2013)
People who take handwritten notes process information better than those who type notes on a laptop. (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) Students who type notes tend to record what they hear verbatim, whereas those who take handwritten notes are more apt to write more reflectively as they translate what they are learning into their own words.
See citations below.
Often overlooked in today’s busy classrooms, cursive handwriting is key for continued literacy development in grades 2–6. Did you know?
Cursive may activate parts of the brain that lead to increased language fluency.
Cursive reduces distractions by increasing focus, which also fosters creativity.
Cursive connects us to our past through primary source documents.
Fluent cursive consistently predicts more skillful composing and better spelling at grades 4–7.
Research supports teaching cursive in the middle and adolescent grades. Download this white paper to read more about the research cited here.
Alstad, Z., Sanders, E., Abbott, R., Barnett, A., Hendersen, S., Connelly, V., & Berninger, V. (2015). Modes of alphabet letter production during middle childhood and adolescence: Interrelationships with each other and other writing skills. Journal of Writing Research, 6(3), 199–231.
Christensen, C. & Jones, D. (2000). Handwriting: An underestimated skill in the development of written language. Handwriting Today, 2, 56–60.
Dinehart, L. (2014). Handwriting in early childhood education: Current research and future implications. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(1), 97–118.
James, K. H. (2010). Sensori-motor experience leads to changes in visual processing in the developing brain. Developmental Science. 13(2), 279–288.
Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is mightier than the laptop: Advantages of longhand over laptop note-taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168.


Common Core Curriculum
The "Core Knowledge" movement is an educational reform based on the premise that a grade-by-grade core of common learning is necessary to ensure a sound and fair elementary education. The movement was started by Professor E. D. Hirsch, Jr., author of Cultural Literacy and The Schools We Need, and is based on a large body of research in cognitive psychology, as well as a careful examination of several of the world's fairest and most effective school systems. Professor Hirsch has argued that, for the sake of academic excellence, greater fairness and higher literacy, early schooling should provide a solid, specific, shared core curriculum in order to help children establish strong foundations of knowledge. Currently, hundreds of schools and thousands of dedicated educators are participating in this school reform movement throughout the United States.
The Core Knowledge© Sequence represents the common ground upon which a faculty meets and collaborates to teach a sequenced, coherent curriculum. In this cumulative curriculum, the knowledge and skills learned each year become the students' foundation for learning in subsequent years. To learn more about the core knowledge curriculum, please visit the Core Knowledge website.


Enlighten Art Literacy Courses
Enlighten Art Center at The Cathay School is an international art standards certified art education program. The program includes these international standards and independently developed children’s art courses for the physical and psychological growth of children ages 3 to 12 years. Through creative instruction practices, nurturing guidance, and independent work experiences, children’s interest in and understanding of the arts and aesthetics will be stimulated and enhanced.
Enlight Art Teaching Methods
Enlighten Art Instructors are creative educational professionals who have adopted problem-solving project-based instructional methods. Instructors propose open questions to guide thinking and help foster problem solving from a variety of directions to shape four major artistic capabilities: observation, aesthetics, creativity, and independent thinking.
Art Literacy Integration – Grade 2/3
Expand your child’s mind and expression of skills. From a state of graffiti and casual painting to a professional stage of artistic learning, children will create freely and daringly like masters. Children’s ability to observe, understand and express ideas is fostered through training in graphic association, masterpiece analysis, project extensions, and access to a variety of materials. Projects are comprehensive and cover mastery of aesthetic law, understanding of attributes of color, identifying characteristics of color psychology, and basic ability to develop and model space.


Music Education is an integral part of core curriculum. Formal instruction in music provides students with unique experiences not taught in other core areas. Music, as a discrete discipline, offers powerful tools for expression. These tools make it possible to connect the intellect and emotion and bring meaning and beauty into our lives.
The study of music contributes to awareness and respect for the global community and the pluralistic society in which we live. The study of music in the context of historic and cultural perspectives provides a foundation for understanding the present as well as the future. Performing music enhances self-esteem, builds self-discipline, and reinforces societal values such as cooperation, commitment, and working towards a common goal. These are all fundamental qualities that serve as the basis of our education system.
Music Education in the Arlington Public Schools provides students with instruction in all aspects of music: singing, playing, moving, reading, listening, analyzing, creating, and performing.
In Arlington, music educators enhance instruction through various uses of technology, involvement in continuing education, and the pursuit of improved pedagogical methods. The rich and varied talents in our community are tapped through the visiting artists from the Humanities Project. Arlington Public Schools strives to educate all students to the highest level of musical skill and knowledge commensurate with talent and ability.
Additional opportunities for student involvement are available. The Spanish Chorus is open to any interested second or third grade singer. Applications are distributed to each elementary school in September. Elementary Honors Chorus for grade five and Middle School Honor Chorus for grades six, seven and eight accept students by audition in the Fall of the year. For more information please visit the Honors Band, Orchestra and Chorus section of the Arts Education website.


Traditional ensemble music education has historically been dominated by “the big three:” band, orchestra, and choir. Demographic shifts in student populations as well as long-time calls for expanded curricular offerings have led to the creation of alternative instrumental ensembles in schools. This review of literature will address the following questions: 1) What is an alternative instrumental ensemble? 2) What role(s) do alternative ensembles play in the larger school music program? and 3) What types of alternative ensembles exist currently? Alternative drum and percussion, guitar, marching band, mariachi, steel pan, string, and technology ensembles have been profiled in the literature. Further research is needed to determine how school demographic factors influence the inclusion of alternative ensembles, the role of teacher education, how the ensembles are formed, if regional trends exist, and what funding models are in place for the ensembles moving forward.


Investigation on the impact of traditional art forms, ideas and materials on coronation of Enijie in Esanland, Edo State, Nigeria
- Background to the Study
Esan people – that is Ebho Esan (Ogbenbe, 2012), are one of the major ethnic groups in south-southern part of Nigeria located in Edo Central Senatorial District of Edo State. They primarily live in Esanland and speak the Esan language. Esan people are traditionally farmers and hunters. Prior to the advent of slave trade and western civilization, they worshipped many gods represented by deities (divinities). Esan people tenaciously believe in the existence of God (Osenobula) or the Supreme Being. To them, God is the creator of all and the sustainer of everything. Hence, He must never be approached directly in supplication, being so supreme and indeed Almighty (Okojie, 1994). They considered themselves inferior before the Almighty God. Therefore, one must channel one’s worship to God through smaller divinities.
Esanland is made up of 34 kingdoms and each kingdom has an Onojie (king). According to Okoduwa and Ibhasebhor (2005), Esanland is located in the tropical zone of the northern part of the Nigerian forest region, situated on a plateau north-east of Benin City. Esan has boundaries on the north-west with Owan and on the north-east with Etsako, on the south-west with Orhionmwon and Ika, while on the south and south-east with Aniocha and Oshimili areas respectively. The River Niger terminates her eastern border. The distance from Esanland to Benin City, the capital of Edo State is about 100 kilometres (Okojie, 1994). Esanland comprises five local government areas (LGAs): Esan West, Ekpoma, Esan Central, Irrua, Esan North-East, Uromi, Esan South-East, Ubiaja and Igueben, Igueben. The most thickly populated kingdoms in Esanland are Ekpoma, Ewohimi, Irrua and Uromi. The origin of Esan is traceable to the ancient city of Benin. The founders of these Esan kingdoms were sons of the Oba of Benin. Their migration was as a result of the Oba Ewuare I’s obnoxious rule in about 1460 (Okojie, 1960; 1994).
According to Omo-Ojugo, in a (personal communication, February 18, 2009), Esan people are homogeneous and highly vibrant. The homogeneity of the people of Esan has contributed immensely in binding them together politically, socially, economically and culturally. The people are very sophisticated in artistic forms and art objects with diverse styles that have developed from creative manipulations of culture, time and practices. The artistic prowess and values of Esan people are transmitted through the process of informal type of education.
There are a number of festivals and ceremonies in Esan. The significance of festivals and ceremonies, as sources of material for reconstructing the past of traditional African societies cannot be underrated. In the absence of written records, festivals, art forms and ritual ceremonies formed a veritable medium through which non-literate Esan and African in general preserved their historical past. Among festivals and ceremonies in Esan, the coronation ceremony is given a pride of place. Coronation is known and practised in Esan as it is known and practiced in other parts of Nigeria and the world. It is synonymous to kingship as an elaborate ritual amongst Esan people. Coronation is usually an occasion for pageantry and celebration laced with solemn religious ceremonies. Coronation ceremonies in Esan form the most reliable, veritable medium of visual communication, art education and preservation of Esan cultural heritage through traditional art forms, art objects, ideas and materials.
Esan monarchical system is based on the primogeniture system where the right of succession is strictly hereditary (from father to first son) with the exception of Ukhun and Idoa Kingdoms (Okojie, 1960; 1994). Perhaps, this is occasioned by the influences of Islam and the geographical location of these kingdoms. It is a tradition and cultural legacy that the people still hold sacrosanct in the face of modern civilization. Coronation of an Onojie is not an annual celebration but an event organized by the people to install a new Onojie (king) when an old one transits. The Onojie himself witnesses this coronation ceremony once in a life time.


Today we are looking at a combination of fluids freezing and mixing of colours. This fun colour mixing ice experiment is great for kids of all ages and if you use fruit juice you’ll also end up with a lovely, cold, healthy drink.
Another easy icy experiment to try is using salt and ice to cool a drink quickly!
What you need for colour mixing ice
Different colour juices
Ice cube tray
Colour mixing ice instructions
Place different coloured fruit juices in an ice cube tray, and place in the freezer until frozen.
Once frozen remove the ice cube trays from the freezer and leave to melt a little bit until they are not longer sticky to touch.
Tip the juice cubes out of the tray and choose different coloured cubes to mix up.
We talked about what colours we thought we could create when the fruit juice cubes melted together.
How can you make ice melt faster?
We were a little impatient so decided to find a way to make the juice cubes melt faster.
We crushed them up and held the cubes to warm them with our hands, before long we had a slushy brown coloured juice drink!
If it had been a sunny day we could’ve also left the cubes in the sun to melt.
In an ideal world we’d have melted a yellow and blue drink to make green or a blue and red drink to make purple, but didn’t have all those colours to hand.
Why does water freeze?
Water can be a solid, liquid or gas. In liquid form the water particles can move around freely, so the water takes the shape of the container it is in. When you cool the water down the movement of the particles slow down and the particles become tightly packed together, which means its shape cannot change easily. We will come back to this later on and investigate in more detail.
Why is ice sticky?
Ice feels sticky because when you touch it, the ice immediately freezes the moisture in your skin, which makes the cube feel sticky.
Don’t forget to check out our other ice experiments too!
More easy science for kids
I’ve got 100s more easy science experiments perfect for home or school! Let me know if you try any.


Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, was born on March 22, 1929, in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan(10). According to Yayoi Kusama herself, she started painting at a very young age. She also started to have hallucinations of fields of dots, movement of light, and flowers that could communicate with her(11). This would later carry into her later artworks and distinct style which has self-named, “self-obliteration”(12). At the age of 19, Kusama went on to pursue a formal art education at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts where she studied Japanese style painting. Kusama was displeased with the education and she later began to gravitate towards more Western avant-garde styles. In her earlier works, Kusama primarily used gouache, watercolor, and oils on paper. But later moved to covering other surfaces such as walls and eventually the human body. After years of living in Tokyo, Japan, Kusama to move to and live in the United States in her late twenties. She settled in Seattle, Washington. However, after a year she moved to New York City. In the U.S., Kusama gained high status for her work and became a distinguished artist of the avant-garde world. During the 60’s, Kusama’s life became very interesting. This was around the time her more well-known mirror rooms started to gain popularity(25). The mirror rooms consisted of room-sized installations which included sound, light, and mirrors that created an illusion of an infinite space. With the nature of the 60’s, the Vietnam War was a hot topic with many protests against it; it was no surprise that Kusama herself did not stand for it. In fact, in one of many of her protest, she wrote a letter to President Nixon claiming that she would have ‘vigorous sex’ with him if he ended the war(16). In the latter of the 60’s, Yayoi Kusama’s work became more performance-based, with her polka dots transferring from the canvas to the skin. Frequently Kusama would fall ill health due to overworking herself. Finally, in 1973, Kusama returned home to Japan. During this time, she wrote poetry, short stories, and novels. She would later become an art dealer (29), but only after a few years business ended after she checked herself into the Seiwa Hospital for the Mentally Ill, where she still resides today, on her own terms of course. Although she does permanently reside at the hospital, Kusama still continues to produce art in her studio not far from the hospital (30). Even at the age of 88, Kusama continues to produce works.Throughout the years, Kusama art forms have included visual arts, performances, fashion, writing, and film. She has acquired various awards including Asahi Prize in 2001, Ango Award in 2014, and the Praemium Imperiale, in which she was the first Japanese women to receive it(65). Kusama’s style can be categorized as Minimalist and Pop Art. Elements which seem to be consistent throughout many of her pieces are various circle sizes, which she uses instead of value to create depth, two dominant colors, various line weights and shapes in her 2d work, and light in her 3d work and installations. Two of Yayoi Kusama’s well-known works include Pumpkin and Infinity Mirrored Room: The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away. Created in 1994, Pumpkin is an immense outdoor sculpture, currently residing in Japan at the Benesse Art Site. The structure is bright yellow with black polka dots varying in size. Instead of shading to create depth in her pieces, Kusama utilizes the different sizes of the polka dots to create an illusion of depth. This structure can be viewed from all sides. Media used for this piece include acrylic on ceramics. The artist describes this piece as her alter ego, being that it was a marriage of her two obsessions; polka dots and pumpkins.Another one of Kusama’s popular works is Infinity Mirrored Room: The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away, which is one of the twenty installments of the Infinity Room series. This series of rooms first began in 1963. These rooms generally have interactive lights, rooms lined top to bottom with mirrors, and generally are dark. In this room, in particular, there many small lights around the room which reflect off of the mirrors and give an illusion of an endless space and continuous lights. In these rooms, only one visitor is allowed at a time, providing the individual a peaceful and serene experience.


ERIC Number: ED355922
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1993-Mar
Critical Elements of Computer Literacy for Teachers.
Overbaugh, Richard C.
A definition of computer literacy is developed that is broad enough to apply to educators in general, but which leaves room for specificity for particular situations and content areas. The following general domains that comprise computer literacy for all educators are addressed: (1) general computer operations; (2) software, including computer managed instruction, computer assisted instruction, and programing languages; (3) software issues; and (4) hardware. Bearing these in mind, three models for developing teacher computer literacy programs are discussed. The two-stage model suggests that the path to computer literacy should begin with utilization of computer management skills and then proceed to learning applications that teach content. A second model offers four stages through which new users of innovation pass and suggests that 2 to 3 years are necessary for new users to pass through these stages. A seven-stage model of introduction to innovation expands the number of concern levels in gaining computer literacy. The four domains of computer literacy are explored for specificity by applying them to music education as an example of an educational computing knowledge base. It is noted that, unless higher education integrates computers across the curricula, tomorrow's teachers will not be adequately prepared to teach students in a technologically intensive work environment. (Contains 35 references.) (SLD)
Descriptors: Computer Assisted Instruction, Computer Literacy, Computer Managed Instruction, Computer Software, Definitions, Educational Innovation, Elementary School Teachers, Higher Education, Models, Music Education, Programing Languages, Secondary School Teachers, Skill Development, Teacher Education
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Reports - Evaluative; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Society of Educators and Scholars (Evansville, IN, March, 1993).


What TIMSS 2019 tells us about Australian students’ school preparednessACER news 16 Jun 2021 3 minute read
In a new video infographic based on data from the most recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), we delve deeper into the skills with which Australian students enter primary school, and a possible link with Year 4 maths performance.
TIMSS 2019 results published in December 2020 revealed Australia's poorer performance in Year 4 maths compared with other countries. A closer look at the context of those results was published in May 2021, and it pointed to a potential cause: Australian students are starting primary school with lower literacy and numeracy skills than their global peers.
This video explains more.
Find links to full reports, infographics, media releases and more about TIMSS – managed in Australia by ACER – at our website: www.acer.org/timss


The International Society for Education Through Art (InSEA) has just published their 2018 Manifesto
Obviously it lists a set of beliefs, e.g. ‘Education through art inspires knowledge, appreciation and creation of culture’ or ‘Visual art education develops an understanding of creative practice through knowledge, understanding and production of art in contexts’ and some that are couched as instructions ‘All learners, regardless of age, nationality or background, should have entitlement and access to visual art education’ and ‘Educational programmes and curriculum models should prepare citizens with confident flexible intelligences, and creative verbal and non-verbal communication skills’ for example. All are apparently laudable, if open to interpretation, and may be true for some, most or all people but equally they may not. How do you define citizen, or for that matter culture?
In one statement the manifesto defines the nature of visual art education, saying that ‘Visual art education should be systematic and be provided over a number of years, as it is a developmental process. Learners should engage with ‘making’ alongside learning about art’. This statement raises questions for me. Is art a developmental process? Should it be systematic? What’s the system? And what about ‘making’? isn’t ‘making’ learning about art rather than, as is implied, a separate activity?
Further the manifesto suggests that ‘Visual art education opens possibilities and opportunities for learners to discover themselves, their creativity, values, ethics, societies and cultures.’ Isn’t that what education does, if we’re doing it right? The danger is that we identify visual arts as the place where learners develop all the skills linked to creative thinking and by doing so exclude creativity in other subjects. A good read on this is the recent article on the RSA website by Julian Astle which contrasts Sir Ken Robinson’s well known view on schools and creativity with that of Tim Leunig who, when working as Chief Scientific Advisor for the DfE, argued that “True creativity is based on knowledge which in turn is based on literacy”. I don’t think schools necessarily kill creativity, I think Ken Robinson’s argument is that the way we are educated stifles creativity. Tim Leung’s argument seems to be too specific to carry any weight and highlights that experiment means different things to scientists and artists. What schools do increasingly, and along with society as a whole, is hammer the individuality out of children, and only the strongest survive.
The manifesto is listed under ADVOCACY on the InSEA website, and in the UK at the moment, or at least in England, the arts lobby is beginning to gel around objections to successive governments’ marginalisation of creative subjects. In a capitalist society everything has to translate to a financial return, there is therefore no intrinsic value to an activity there is only value in trade, and ‘art’ activities are generally high risk in financial terms. Society (or if you like ‘culture’) therefore struggles to ascribe value to these activities, it is not easy to see where the ability to visually critique the actions of your local council, or paint a forget me not, is going to help you pay for the NHS. What has happened over the course of my career in education is that Visual art, and the arts in general, have become more and more the leisure activities of the well off.
So what? Does art education start with a notion of pedagogy or just with a gathering?
Art ought to be subversive, so the political situation is almost ideal now, and people almost invariably have an urge to transgress. Art should disrupt the status quo to highlight society and culture to itself as art is a mirror. The beauty of art education is that art is about failure. Through learning about art you develop resilience and we could all do with a bit more of that.
I would like to see an approach that isn’t certificated or examined except by portfolio or individual creation. It should be for everyone and take place in a forum where experience is shared, where you bring your knowledge and share it with a peer group who bring theirs. Where you identify what you want to learn and find people who have the skills or knowledge to share. Where you are challenged and can respond to that challenge without rancour.


Phonics Games Online
The internet abounds with literacy activities for kids, with a wide variety of phonics games online. These games offer a great resource for parents and teachers to supplement the reading instruction that kids are already receiving at school. Playing phonics games online can help your child learn how words are made up of individual sounds, known as phonemes. This will help develop their phonemic awareness – a fundamental skill for all reading beginners.
It’s important that skills gained from phonics games online are also developed within a wider learning framework where they can be applied, reinforced, and understood in a myriad of contexts. It is therefore a very effective learning strategy to couple phonics games with the reading of actual books, so that your child can apply their phonics skills to practical reading, as well as discover new words – words that they can learn to read by identifying its constituent letters and sounds – a key skill learnt from phonics games online.
Phonics games online are therefore a fantastic resource to build the most basic skills of an early reader. Not only do they develop a child’s phonemic awareness, but they are fun and easy to play. Kids learn most effectively when having fun, so playing phonics games online that feature colourful animations, characters, sounds and songs, are a great way to keep them interested and keen to learn more.
Things to keep in mind when choosing online phonics activities
While phonics instruction is essential for kids learning to read, it is only one of the five interrelated core literacy areas that contribute to early reading development, the others being phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Any emphasis placed over and above one of these areas will detract from the whole. So while phonics games online may capture the interest of your child, it’s important that they don’t monopolise their complete focus, and that they learn phonics interdependently with the other aforementioned literacy areas.
ABC Reading Eggs offers a complete reading program that uses a wide variety of effective, research-based learning activities within a framework of lessons and rewards that keep young readers motivated and enthusiastic about learning how to read. Reading Eggs teaches all five of the key literacy skill to young readers, and helps kids excel at reading. Reading Eggs offers a synthetic phonics approach for young readers, framed within a larger literacy program that builds all the fundamental literacy necessary for your child to become a fluent reader.
This program is Brilliant!!! It keeps my students motivated (hard to do with special needs students) and allows them to achieve success immediately. I would thoroughly recommend this program to all Primary School teachers. Andrew Johnson, South Bunbury Education Support Centre
My daughter loves Reading Eggs! She is so excited by the progress she has made through the site. She enjoys the games and is learning so much. I highly recommend it. It is great for learning phonics and letter sounds. The games are fun and educational. We will continue to use Reading Eggs until she is reading on her own! Alycia A


In an Australian-first, all Victorian primary school children will have to be able to swim 50 metres, by the time they finish grade six. Schools are set to create their own water safety programs as part of next year’s curriculum.
According to the Herald Sun, primary pupils will have to gain their Victorian Water Safety Certificate – which teaches them water safety and rescue skills, which could potentially be life-saving.
“That’s why students will learn about water safety, how to float and swim as part of their physical education classes under the new Victorian curriculum from term one next year,” Mr Merlino said.
Drownings are on the rise
With this week marking Water Safety Week, the latest drowning statistics have been released, revealing:
- 43 people lost their lives in Victorian waters – five more than the 10 year average.
- There was a total of 113 non-fatal and fatal drowning incidents in 2015-16.
- The drowning rate of females increased by 33 per cent compared to the 10 year average, but males still account for 72 per cent of all drowning victims this year.
- Six out of the eight people who died while boating were not wearing life jackets. In the past decade, 80 per cent of people who drowned in boating incidents were not wearing a life jacket.
More focus on toddlers
The Victorian government says it will launch a second water safety campaign early next year, that will focus on the drowning risk of children under four.
In 2015 Coroner Caitlin English recommended that swimming lessons become part of the primary school curriculum, saying that “swimming and water safety education should be a compulsory skill taught within the primary school curriculum to all Victorian children.” It followed the drowning of Bailey Patman at Victoria’s Seaford Beach.
Kids Alive says drowning is the greatest cause of accidental death in children younger than five in Australia, while the Royal Lifesaving Society believes it’s the right of every child to access a quality swimming and water safety education.


On tablets students have the opportunity to create their own worlds. With the 3D Builder App for iPads and Android devices, students can play with an endless supply of blocks and tools. This app from Imagination Playground was designed to help students increase their play time and support child-directed play. Students can work freely and use their creativity as they explore this app.
3D Builder App
The 3D Builder App supports purposeful play while encouraging students to be creative. Just like foam blocks students can stack, connect, and channel to make their own buildings within the app. In addition to problem solving, students can strengthen their motor skill development and work towards the accomplishment of finishing their creation. The folks at Imagination Playground also have foam blocks that mirror the ones in this app.
Looking for more coding resources, take a look at this post!


RHS Level 2 Practical Certificate in Horticulture
This course gives a general introduction to horticulture, which is suitable for anyone wanting to prepare for more advanced study or a career in horticulture, with a combination of practical and theoretical elements.
Studying this course, you will learn the foundational skills for a career in horticulture – the care and use of plants for gardens and parks.
You will learn how to work safely in a horticulture workplace. You will learn to identify plants, how to ensure they grow and thrive outdoors, and the science that explains why a plant will do well or badly. You’ll learn the practical techniques that establish and maintain a garden, park or allotment
Modules include health and safety, plant identification, establishment and maintenance of plants outdoors, and horticultural science.
The course includes lectures and classroom-based work mixed with practical sessions, giving students' relevant practical experience and industry skills. Students' work is assessed and observed throughout with some paperwork completion required as submission of proof of learning.
Why study with Askham Bryan College?
- Learn about Horticulture in Askham Bryan’s unique grounds and facilities, including an arboretum, woodland, glasshouses, vegetable gardens, hard landscaping area and extensive planted gardens.
- A self-employed gardener
- In commercial fruit and vegetable production.
- In a hard-landscaping business
- In a garden centre, caring for and selling plants to the public
- In a plant nursery, propagating plants for the trade.
- Working for the national trust, a stately home, or a council parks department, as part of a large organisation maintaining planted gardens.
If you continue to higher study, you could join similar businesses in a more senior role, or move towards garden design, business management, or study towards a technical scientific role in the businesses that support horticulture.
Some horticultural experience, preferably completion of RHS Level 1, or a suitable Level 1 vocational qualification with English and Maths at Level 1.
Upon successful completion of this course students may progress to a Level 3 course which builds upon their skills, or into the horticultural and landscape industries at a trainee or apprentice level.


According to the Maryland Kindergarten Readiness Assessment, 47% of the county’s children entered Kindergarten classrooms demonstrating the knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to fully participate in the Kindergarten curriculum. This is just above the statewide average of 45%. Our kindergartners shouldn't be beginning school just above average, but should have the foundational skills needed for success. High quality universal pre-K for three and four-year-olds could help ensure that children are prepared for kindergarten
According to the National Institute for Early Education Research’s (NIEER) most recent data, last year only 41 percent of four-year-olds and 16 percent of three-year-olds were served in some type of publicly funded pre-K program. The federal government has been providing pre-K to low-income three-and four-year-olds through the means-tested Head Start program for over 50 years. However, Head Start reaches approximately one million children, but, due to limited funding, does not even serve half of those who are eligible. Many states, Maryland included, provide additional funding for pre-K, however the funding is limited and only provides pre-K at certain schools and only for low-income and some disabled students.
Wicomico County should plan and implement a universal pre-K program for all three and four-year olds.
Attracting and Retaining Teachers
There is a critical shortage of teachers in many subjects across the state. Additionally, there is a shortage of male and minority teachers and in certain non-classroom professional positions.
We must continue to develop incentives to attract new teachers to the area, which involves partnerships with city and county governments. We are lucky to have Salisbury University in our county, which produces many new teachers each year. However, we need to continue working to attempt to keep many of them in the county.
Additionally, we must continue to ensure our teachers and non-classroom professionals are compensated adequately, to retain their experience in the schools. We must work with the Wicomico County Education Association on developing contracts that provide benefits necessary for retention.
The safety of both students and employees is top of mind. We must take every step possible to ensure students are safe from the moment they step on the bus to the moment they return home. We must examine all options for school security, while ensuring schools do not become prison-like, and implement best practices where necessary.
Graduation - College & Career Readiness
The graduation rate in Wicomico County is around 84% for 2017 with state averages being slightly higher at 88%. We must continue to strive to improve the graduation rate to above state average.
Those who graduate must be college or career ready. The Parkside Career & Technology Education program is a key piece of the career ready model, for courses that require hand-on education.


What makes cohort studies so important? CLS Director, Professor Alissa Goodman and Principal Investigator of the 1970 British Cohort Study, Professor Alice Sullivan explain in an IOE London blogpost.
Recent political events have focussed minds on society’s deeply rooted inequalities and their long-reaching consequences. The gap between the rich and poor is growing as is the gap between generations – a recent IFS report found that people born in the 1980s had only half the wealth by their early 30s that the generation born ten years earlier had had at the same age. Social mobility is stagnant at best, causing concern across the political spectrum. Problems such as depression and obesity grow apace. How can we best understand and solve these social challenges?
The answer lies in Britain’s unique tradition of longitudinal and cohort studies. At the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and based at the UCL Institute of Education, we run studies based on samples of the population (cohorts) born in 1958, 1970, 1989, and 2000. Like a mass version of the television documentary series 7-up our studies follow participants from cradle to grave. Through them we understand the stories of generations as they grow, become adults and move into middle and older age.
These studies allow us to understand the far-reaching consequences of childhood conditions for almost all facets of adult life, and how patterns of inequality and disadvantage are passed from one generation to the next. They’ve been pivotal in informing policies relating to life stages such as in childhood (on pregnancy, parenting, schooling), in adolescence (on risky behaviours, mental health, educational choices and attainment), in adulthood (on labour markets, lifelong learning, partnerships, and health), and in older age (work and health).
Our findings often speak to the everyday, and personal: for example, showing the wider benefits of reading for pleasure in childhood, the origins of religious belief, and the benefits of physical activity in middle age. They also inform on some of the major policies of today, for example on grammar schools; obesity; and on mental health.
The major funder of these studies, the ESRC, is undertaking a wide-ranging review of the longitudinal studies it invests in: the first stage of this is a public consultation, open until 4th November. Much has happened since the last ESRC review ten years ago, not least the burgeoning availability of new forms of data, for example from social media and administrative records collected by government departments and other organisations.
It’s a good time to point out what makes cohort studies special. They are nationally representative samples. This means findings apply to society as a whole, but also allow us to assess the particular problems faced by certain groups, such as the poor and those who struggle with basic literacy and numeracy skills.
They contain incredibly rich data on each cohort member. For each individual in our birth cohorts for example, we know about their family at birth and in early life. Did the mother smoke during pregnancy; what were her and the father’s qualifications; what was the family income; what sort of housing did they live in; was the child read to; did the child have any social, behavioural and medical problems? This allows us not just to link events to outcomes, but also to control for background factors when assessing whether these links might be causal, which is vital for making robust policy recommendations.
By following the same people over time we can assess what may have led to problems in their lives. We know that childhood poverty can cast a long shadow across life, but also that parenting and school can make a big difference. By recording when people form partnerships and when they dissolve and re-form, we can show that having a partner is linked with better health.
The information collected in the cohorts crosses multiple domains in people’s lives, and the teams studying them come from different disciplines, allowing us to make important connections, for example in our understanding of how cognitive development and emotional well-being in childhood are interlinked, or in the economic consequences of mental health problems. Our studies are increasingly collecting biological and social data side by side – enabling us to understand how social circumstances affect our biology, and vice-versa.
We are eagerly awaiting new data on people in their mid-20s, from Next Steps, our cohort born in 1989: it could be that structural changes to the economy and housing market, in part stemming from the last recession, will have had dramatic effects on their lives.
So, continued investment is vital. The value of the cohorts increases as we follow people into adulthood. Ahead exciting opportunities are opening up, to link a wider range of administrative records to the cohort surveys, and to invest in new forms of data collection alongside more traditional approaches.
Now more than ever we need good data and evidence to illuminate the extent to which inequalities have riven our society and the policy measures needed to remedy them. Cohort and longitudinal studies are central to this challenge.


Kindergarten-Push & Pull Online (cont.)
Learning to log in to the computers can be a tedious process, but once the students have it down, logging in will be a snap. We spent another week working toward this important goal, but once in, students had the opportunity to explore push & pull through online games.
1st Grade-Hiding in Plain Site
We continued our unit on animal adaptation by learning about camouflage. The students were the birds (predators) and searched for worms (prey). After catching the worms (colored craft sticks), students filled in a graph that showed the number of worms caught and their color. We also looked at web images of camouflaged animals and searched for them in their habitats.
2nd Grade-Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk
The students followed a Mystery Science exploration about materials that insulate and conduct. They tested different materials to determine which material would be the best for lifting a hot pan.
3rd Grade-Rosie Revere (cont.)
We continued work on our Flying Machine designs and Google Doc. The students learned how to format the document and type a paragraph explaining the design.
4th Grade-Crayons Rock (cont.)
Igneous-crayons-rocks were exposed after we peeled back the aluminum foil to see how our rocks formed after being subjected to their hot water "lava" exposure. The students continued working on their presentations in Educreations on the iPads.
5th Grade-Catch Up
The students worked toward completing any unfinished assignments in Google Classroom. When finished, they continued their progress on Code.org and were able to play coding games with Minecraft, Frozen, and Star Wars.
Welcome to the STEAM Studio Blog for Jamestown Upper & Lower Elementary Schools in Hudsonville, MI. Here you will find the latest projects and concepts we've been working on in class.
comes to Hudsonville with 17 years of teaching information and technology skills to elementary students. After earning a BA in Elementary Education at the University of Northern Iowa and a Master’s degree from the University of Iowa in 2000, she drew a circle on the map and chose Southwest Michigan.


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In this essay, Deleuze and Guattari’s ideas as discussed in their book, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, are critically examined with a view to determining the merits of their ideas as a basis for a philosophy of music education. Three principal questions are at the heart of this analysis: What are Deleuze and Guattari asking us to believe? What is our assessment of their contributions and detractions? What are the implications of our analysis for music education? Our approach is dialogical in juxtaposing an analysis of their ideas construed more broadly with an examination of selected metaphors that they use, and thereby combining literal and figurative thought. While their thinking constitutes a limited and flawed basis for a philosophy of music education, they prompt insights that are valuable for music education thought and practice.


Clicking on a red link will open the designated website in a new tab of your browser.
National Association for Music Education
The National Association for Music Education is to advance music education by encouraging the study and making of music by all.
A Citizen’s Guide to Participation in the Wisconsin State Legislature
A guide to typical procedures in the Wisconsin State Legislature and is designed to help you, a citizen, participate in the Wisconsin State Legislature. It has been prepared by the Wisconsin Legislative Council Staff.
The NAMM Foundation promotes and supports music education and music making for people of all ages and abilities.
National Arts Education Public Awareness Campaign
The nation’s leading arts information clearinghouse. Dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts.
GRAMMY Music Education Coalition
GRAMMY Music Education Coalition is a non-profit collective dedicated to building universal music education participation in elementary and secondary schools nationwide.
ArtsEdSearch is an online clearinghouse of research focused on the outcomes of music and arts education for students and educators and is a project of the Arts Education Partnership (AEP).
Suggestions on how parents can support their local music programs and statistics on the benefits of studying music.
The American Music Therapy Association
Learn about the benefits of music therapy.
National Assessment of Educational Progress- The Nation’s Report Card
Continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas.
Your source to discover Wisconsin’s culture, arts, humanities and history.
Save the Music Foundation
A non-profit initiative with two missions: to restore music education programs in America’s public schools, and to raise awareness of the positive impact music participation has on students.
Arts Wisconsin is Wisconsin’s community cultural development organization, the only independent statewide organization speaking up and working for the arts, arts education, creative economy, and creative placemaking in every corner of our state.
Wisconsin Arts Board
Wisconsin Arts Board is the state agency which nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic development and serves as a resource for people of every culture and heritage.


Baltimore materials are designed to provide the student with solid and relevant learning. To do that, Baltimore offers the teacher a range of resources that allow the customization of teaching according to the preference of his student. Baltimore collections include activities with CLIL approach, project development based on STEAM methodology and the most current and modern education concepts in the world.
Magic Tree is a collection developed for the Bilingual Program in Early Childhood Education that offers extraordinary resources to create an environment with a wide variety of activities involving children, with different skills and preferences, in a successful and fun second language learning journey. Games, music, videos, stories, and activities that make language learning as fun and easy as possible. Ideal and adaptable for Preschool Bilingual Programs from 2 to 10 hours a week.
Educational series developed for a Bilingual Program in English in Elementary Schools that promotes this motivating experience in the process of developing communication skills that are so important to the world of the 21st century. Modern and interactive resources address topics that are interesting and relevant to the student. They allow the teacher to create and maintain an environment with a wide variety of activities involving students with different skills and preferences. A successful and fun second language learning journey, just like life is supposed to be. Games, music, videos, stories, and activities make language learning as fun and easy as possible. Ideal and adaptable for Bilingual Programs in Elementary Education from 2 to 10 hours a week
For more information about book collections or online platform contact us.For more information about book collections or online platform contact us.
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The team comprises of nine enthusiastic and highly skilled teachers of Science with a wide range of scientific backgrounds. As a Faculty we encourage our pupils to become independent learners with the skills and knowledge to investigate scientific ideas both in school and out. Science offers an engaging, stimulating and practical curriculum, designed to broaden knowledge and develop curiosity, interest and enjoyment of the subject. The Science team believe that everyone will achieve, and having high expectations within the faculty area for both pupils and staff, working together to secure excellent outcomes. We are proud of our pupils’ results across the Key Stages, often outperforming expectations and other Science Departments within RCT. These excellent foundations have allowed our learners to achieve goals and further their scientific studies.
OUR FACULTY AIMS
- To provide pupils with a broad and balanced Science Curriculum
- To allow pupils to develop thinking skills
- To develop investigative, enquiry and practical skills
- To stimulate curiosity, interest and enjoyment in the study of Science
- To help pupils develop numeracy, literacy and ICT skills
We offer a broad curriculum where all pupils will succeed and reach their potential and our learners tell us that they are made to think hard in class. Extra curricula activities include Crest Awards, TrioCymru activities, Salter’s Chemistry competitions and others.
SCIENCE AT KEY STAGE 3
At Key Stage 3, pupils receive six hours per fortnight of Science in Year 7 and 8, following National Curriculum guidelines where opportunities are provided to develop investigative, practical, literacy and numeracy skills. Pupils explore the Interdependence of Organisms in Biology units, How Things Work in Physics units, and the Sustainable Earth in Chemistry units. Moving in to Year 9, pupils can opt to follow the Double Award Science GCSE course (receive two GCSE grades by studying all sciences) or the Separate Science course as three grades awarded from the Biology, Chemistry and Physics GCSE courses.
SCIENCE AT KEY STAGE 4
Pupils are given the opportunity to study Double Award Science GCSE course or the Separate Science course; Biology, Chemistry and Physics GCSE courses. The Double Award Science allows students to gain 2 GCSE grades, while the Separate Science allows students to achieve 3 GCSE grades. Both qualifications are awarded after the students sit 6 examinations (3 in Year 10 and 3 in Year 11) and there is a controlled assessment element.
The Science specifications provide a broad, coherent, satisfying and worthwhile course of study. They encourage learners to develop confidence in, and a positive attitude towards, Science and to recognise its importance in their own lives and to society. Scientific understanding is changing our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all learners are taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of the subject.
SCIENCE AT KEY STAGE 5
At Key Stage 5 we offer GCE (AS/A Level) Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Criminology all following the WJEC specifications. A brief overview of topics is listed below:
- Basic Biochemistry and Cell Organisation
- Biodiversity and Physiology of Body Systems
- Homeostasis and the Environment
- Variation and Inheritance
- Language of Chemistry
- The Structure of Matter and Simple Reactions
- Energy and Rate
- The Chemistry of Carbon Compounds
- Motion, Energy and Matter
- Electricity and Light
- Oscillations and Nuclei
- Changing Awareness of Crime
- Criminological Theories


Saturn is an interesting planet that catches the attention of young children due to its unique ring system. These projects will teach kids about the planet Saturn, its rings and what the planet’s atmosphere is like. With basic materials, these projects can be done in the classroom or at home with individual children or a group of kids. The projects do need adult supervision, so make sure to have a grown up help.
Demonstrate how Saturn’s rings are spinning around the planet alongside the planets rotation. Have kids sit on the ground and try to feel the Earth spinning. It takes 24 hours for the Earth to fully rotate, creating day and night. On Saturn, it only takes about 10 hours.
The rings of Saturn are located around the equator of the planet and are made of small bits of space matter such as rocks and ice. The rings are moving around the planet as it rotates.
Use a long length of twine and tie it around a small object that can be tied securely, such as a large wooden bead. The bead represents space matter that is part of Saturn's rings. Have a child hold the end of the twine in one hand and begin spinning in a circle. What happens with the bead? Let each child have a turn.
Saturn’s density, or measure of mass, is different than on Earth. Saturn has a lower density than Earth, meaning things would weigh more on Saturn than they do on Earth.
Experiment with density by doing a demonstration that requires adult help.
Boil 1/4 cup of water and have it ready to use. Cut off the top of a small balloon. Use an empty aluminum beverage can for the demonstration. Take the pop top off the aluminum can. Pour the water into the can and cover with the balloon. Secure the balloon with a rubber band, being careful not to get burned.
Observe the changes to the aluminum can. The can changes its outward shape due to the changes in pressure and density within the can, which makes it pull into itself. Would aluminum make a good material for a space ship or space suit when traveling to Saturn?
Saturn Art and Science
Create a model of Saturn using colorful construction paper, scissors, crayons, sand, glitter and glue. Use a black sheet of construction paper as the background and have kids cut a circle out of construction paper to represent Saturn. Saturn doesn't have a surface and is made up of gasses. Use crayons to color areas of gasses on Saturn.
Use glue, sand and glitter to create the rings around Saturn. Create lines around the equator of Saturn with glue and then sprinkle with sand and glitter to create the rings around Saturn.
About the Author
Sarah Lipoff has been writing since 2008. She has been published through BabyZone, Parents, Funderstanding and Education.com. Lipoff has worked as a K-12 art teacher, museum educator and preschool teacher. She holds a Bachelor of Science in K-12 art education from St. Cloud State University.
John Foxx/Stockbyte/Getty Images


By Claudia Costin, Senior Director for Education at the World Bank, and Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics
This post was originally published on the World Education Blog
We have just launched the ‘go to’ initiative on the monitoring of learning worldwide: The Global Alliance to Monitor Learning. What and how children, youth and adults learn is at the top of the global education agenda, with Sustainable Development Goal 4 demanding inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning for all by 2030. No fewer than five of its ten targets zoom in on learning outcomes, including target 4.1, which covers children and adolescents, and target 4.6, which covers those aged 15 and above.
But right now, there is a chronic lack of the comparable data we need to measure even the most basic reading and numeracy skills across countries. As a result, we don’t have global information on these to monitor the basic building blocks of children’s learning, let alone their progress in later years.
The new Global Alliance to Monitor Learning aims to tackle this problem head on, supporting efforts by countries worldwide to effectively measure learning outcomes and – very importantly – to put that information to good use in their pursuit of the SDG targets. It will forge stronger links between assessment experts, decision-makers, donors and civil society organizations representing many groups including teachers – links that are essential if we are to generate globally valid and comparable data that contribute to improved learning environments. And when it comes to forging links, nothing works better than bringing real people together to discuss real challenges and share real solutions.
In recent years hundreds of learning assessments have been conducted. The question is whether they are robust, whether they have any meaning beyond their specific context, and whether they hold lessons for other countries. Only one thing is certain: they cannot be compared internationally because they use very different approaches. The Alliance will bring the key players to the table to create joined-up thinking around the assessment approaches that are underway by working with – rather than against – the grain of what is already happening.
The Alliance will support the development and implementation of improved and comparable reporting metrics for every SDG 4 target related to learning outcomes, starting with targets 4.1 and 4.6. It has five core objectives:
- support for country implementation: it will support activities to help countries that want to align their learning assessments to global and regional metrics
- building capacity to deliver quality data: it will support governments to build capacity across relevant actors and foster interaction among them (i.e., assessment organization, ministry of education, and national statistical agency)
- strengthening national data and evidence: it will support national data platforms to track and monitor results for various targets; feedback data for programme and policy improvement; and build capacity in data use
- ensuring adequate finance: it will develop an operational model for each target that leverages government, stakeholders, partners, civil society in fund raising and innovative finance
- building inter-country support: it will provide a platform to highlight partners’ expertise, amplify their successes and, in turn, offer support to countries that want to develop or improve their learning assessment systems.
As the lead UN agency on data – and as a neutral body – the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) will host the secretariat for the Alliance. The UIS is not only working with 200 countries already, it also has the knowledge and mandate to develop international guidelines, methodologies and frameworks that everyone can use.
We are kick-starting the Alliance with the launch of a new data tool – the Learning Assessment Capacity Index (LACI) – that aims to answer one key question: to what extent are countries ready to produce the data on learning? The tool draws on a clever mix of their experience in national and cross-national assessments to gauge national readiness. Its maps reveal a mixed picture, with gaps in both geographic coverage of assessments and in the type of information gathered. The tool also provides a vivid illustration of the sheer complexity of trying to develop one single methodological framework that links very different assessments, to produce coherent and internationally comparable data.


This study aims to refocus the field of Hip Hop based education on youth identities and epistemologies rather than on the tangible artifacts of Hip Hop culture. It argues that centering classroom pedagogy and curriculum on youth self-actualization best supports the critical literacy development of students grappling with social and structural inequities within an ever-evolving youth and media culture.
Building upon previous literature on critical literacy, Hip Hop pedagogy and adolescent identity formation, this paper shares data from a semester-long teacher–researcher case study of a high school Hip Hop literature and culture class to explore how young people develop critical literacies and self-actualizing practices through a critical study of youth culture.
For youth engaged in Hip Hop culture, co-constructing spaces to discuss their consumption of popular media and culture in class allows them to openly grapple with questions of identity, provide support for each other in dealing with these questions and reflect more critically upon their self-constructed, performed and perceived identities.
This form of English education challenges traditional notions of teaching and learning as it positions students as co-creators of curriculum and as part of the curriculum itself. Building on research that frames Hip Hop pedagogy as a culturally relevant tool for engaging urban youth, this paper argues that educators should approach critical Hip Hop literacy development as a means by which young people across diverse educational and social backgrounds come to know themselves and others as part of the process of self-actualization and critical resistance.
Kelly, L.L. (2020), "Listening differently: youth self-actualization through critical Hip Hop literacies", English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 269-285. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-08-2019-0106
Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited


Darwinizing the philosophy of music education.
Educational philosophy generally and the Philosophy of Music Education in particular have been slow to consider in any real depth the findings of those sciences most concerned with explaining human nature, that is, the attributes (capacities, aptitudes, predilections, appetites) we have in common because we share the same genome, much of which we also share with other species. There are several such sciences which may collectively be called Darwinian Science in that they all take as axiomatic Darwin‘s explanation for how life evolves according to the law of natural selection – a simple, mindless and purposeless algorithm that has played out for over four billion years and which continues to do so, driving not only biological evolution but, as this study argues, cultural evolution as well. Evolutionary Psychology (including Biomusicology and Evolutionary Aesthetics), Cognitive Neuroscience and Gene- Culture Coevolution Theory are the overlapping fields that this study draws from in developing an understanding of the adapted mind useful for engaging with questions germane to the Philosophy of Music Education, principally those concerning the nature and value of music and how best it should feature in general education. These are questions that have not hitherto been addressed from a Darwinian perspective. This study develops such a perspective and applies it not only to questions around music‘s educational values and possibilities, but to more encompassing philosophical questions, wherein the goals of music education are made accountable in relation both to Dewey‘s ideal of society as a function of education, and to an ecozoic vision of a sustainable planetary habitat of interdependent and interconnected life forms.


There are thousands of NGOs and Organizations that provide support in India in various areas of support includes healthcare, poverty, population control, unemployment, Individuals, Education & Training, Shelter, Employment, Health, Child Abuse Prevention, Awareness programs, etc. We believes that whether we can work for above, but we initiated and always do favor for Elementary Education Programs & Woman Empowerment.
Our most significant projects are skill development of Street / Slum Children Woman Empowerment, where we have already working. We continuously strive to empower the backward and underprivileged, youth for employment by providing them various vocational trainings. Our initiatives like Spread awareness about academic and skill Education, enhance knowledge and information, Support in effective functioning of schools, Provide financial support to the needy students, etc.
Vocational Training: Vocational training is training for a specific career or trade, excluding the professions. Vocational training focuses on practical applications of skills learned, and is generally unconcerned with theory or traditional academic skills. Vocational education is education that prepares people to work in a trade, a craft, as a technician, or in professional vocations.
The main target group of the vocational training is poor and out-of-school children from rural and urban communities.
- Skill Development, Training and employment.
- Women Empowerment.
- Self-Employment Program.
- Food and Clothes.
- Orphanage & old Age Home
- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan


Living in the community (Down's Syndrome): social competence and social self-esteem with particular reference to clothes
thesisposted on 10.10.2017, 08:52 by Miriam Rothschild
"First impressions count. Very few people give the disabled person a second chance". People react in different ways to those who look or seem different - different in respect of appearance, size, shape, dress, etc. Children with special needs are often different in terms of appearance, manner or odour, and some people are led to think of them negatively or to form adverse attitudes towards them. The aim of this Thesis is to shed some light on one skill from among many in "everyday living skills", namely, the taste in clothing and fashion of children with Down's Syndrome. The background of Down's Syndrome including physical characteristics, motor skill development and sensory discrimination is described in Chapter 1. The influence the appearance of children with Down's Syndrome has on their social skills and functioning is examined in Chapter 2, while the effect of reconstructive surgery and its possible advantages is examined in Chapter 3. Issues relating to clothing, human behaviour and clothing for the mentally retarded are discussed in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 outlines the methodology including population profile, data collection tools, and Chapter 6 states the hypothesis and assumptions. Fourteen Case Studies are discussed in Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 looks at home and school development for normal children aged 8 to 16 with partial cross reference to Down's Syndrome case studies. Chapter 9 includes the presentation and analysis of results, followed by the Discussion and Conclusions in Chapter 10.
- Social Sciences
- Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies


An academic study based in Windsor is now published in the longest-running journal in elementary education.
Dr. Erin Washburn from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Candace Mulcahy from Binghamton University, and Palmer Elementary teacher Sheri Abdullah collaborated on a study to improve reading comprehension among students. The results are now published in The Elementary School Journal.
The study focused on the TRAP strategy (Think about what you are about to read, Read a portion of the text, Ask yourself what that portion of the text was mostly about, Paraphrase that portion of the text.) Dr. Washburn had experience working with the Windsor Central School District in her previous position at Binghamton University.
“I was noticing that I had a group of students who could decode text, but who could not recall or discuss what they had read. I had taken a class with Dr. Washburn and as part of that class we learned about Self-Regulated Strategy Development. TRAP was one of those self-regulated strategies,” said Abdullah.
Three pairs of 4th grade students participated, receiving 30 minutes of instruction every other day for six weeks.
“Learning the TRAP strategy had an immediate effect on student ability to recall main ideas and details from a nonfiction text. All participants’ retell levels improved immediately following instruction,” wrote Dr. Washburn.
“This strategy helped my students in recalling what they read independently. It also helped them to be able to answer questions about the text,” said Abdulah. “At Palmer I continued to use this strategy with 4th and 5th graders who could decode, but could not recall what they had read. I used this strategy in intervention groups and I shared the strategy with other 4th and 5th grade teachers who also used it with striving readers and also experienced success with it.”
Abdullah credits the district’s Professional Learning Community (PLC) model for allowing her to allow other members of her teacher team to meet the needs of her other students while she participated with those in the study.
“As a New York State Master Teacher, I have the opportunity to meet and work with teachers all across New York state. I can tell you from those experiences, that teachers in most other districts would not have the structures in place to allow them to be part of research like this. In addition, the district fully supported this project, which is also something that is not a given in other districts within the state. It is an example of Windsor’s forward thinking and commitment to getting it right for kids, no matter what it takes,” said Abdullah.


Play is Learning Launch Video
Getting the balance right in early childhood learning Play-based learning and child-initiated play are widely recognised as central to healthy development and learning for children in Kindergarten, Pre-Primary, Year 1 and 2 classrooms and the school yard.
SHARE AND INSPIRE - FORUMS
This term early childhood teachers, primary school principals and upper primary school teachers took up the opportunity to share their experiences and inspire each others on play-based learning.
We conducted seven forums and each of their reports are listed below.
These reports can be used to help other schools to develop their play statement or policy.
THE PLAY IS LEARNING CAMPAIGN
Getting the balance right in early childhood learning
Play-based learning and child-initiated play are widely recognised as central to healthy development and learning for children in Kindergarten, Pre-Primary, Year 1 and 2 classrooms and the school yard.
So, it is essential we continue to advocate for the rights of young children to learn through play.
Many people have influenced early childhood education (ECE) recently which has led to differing, and at times, opposing philosophical views of what early childhood education – Kindergarten, Pre-Primary, Year 1 and Year 2 – programs should look like.
- Despite the introduction of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and National Quality Standard (NQS), in some instances pedagogical decisions have been made with little knowledge or experience in ECE, and with little consultation with trained early childhood education staff.
- Universities report pre-service teachers observe widely varying practices when completing their school practicums.
- Health professionals advise that we are raising a generation of anxious and at-risk kids who are buckling under the pressure to perform and compete from the age of three.
- Our teachers confirm that they observe negative impacts on children’s social skills, emotional regulation and problem-solving capacity with the push-down of developmentally inappropriate practices.
Many school staff, parents and community members have raised concerns about practices in some early childhood education classrooms.
Questionable practices include direct instruction models, removal of play-based learning and applying similar teaching strategies across K-6 classrooms.
When teachers plan and implement the Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines and WA Curriculum in a child-friendly environment, through a balance of child-led and educator supported learning experiences, they see their young students engaged in learning.
We support schools making pedagogical decisions that consider the different learning and developmental needs of each individual student. In terms of early childhood education – Kindergarten to Year 2 – decisions should be based on a deep understanding of the EYLF and NQS.
- Develop and promote a play-based learning curriculum in every WA school in line with the mandated Early Years Learning Framework.
- Provide adequate time and resourcing for the implementation of play-based learning in both indoor and outdoor school environments.
- Establish a ministerial advisory committee to provide independent advice, information and expertise on matters pertaining to play-based learning and early childhood pedagogy;
- Reinstate the Office of Early Childhood Development and Learning as a stand-alone body;
- Appoint qualified early childhood education advisers including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island early childhood officers to regional offices throughout WA;
- Develop a WA Play Strategy with other stakeholders in Early Childhood (0-8 year olds).
The State of Play-Based Learning in Western Australian Schools study was initiated by the SSTUWA to investigate the perceptions of teachers on matters related to the provision of play-based learning in WA schools.
The findings derived from the study will inform the SSTUWA and the WA Department of Education (DoE) about training and resourcing needs for promoting play-based learning at school.


Was written to enhance social and literacy development in young children, ages two to five. Growth occurs at different rates for each child in this very important period of development that occurs rapidly , as they learn to become independent. The book encourages young children to feel secure as they develop, and experience their first encounters of making friends, while they explore the world and continue to become individuals. It is ideal for teachers, parents, and caregivers who wish to discuss how to share and play cooperatively. In addition to the topic of building friendships, this book helps develop recognition of words that are opposites and introduces adverbs (here, there, and everywhere). It can motivate children to inquire about friendships, relate to them, and suggests places to find friends, while strengthening reading and writing skills.