- 92% of teachers surveyed said that participation in Number Partners improved pupils’ chance of reaching their individual numeracy targets.
- 96% of teachers surveyed said that participation in Number Partners improved pupils’ confidence and motivation.
- Teachers perceived that attainment progress is linked to an increase in confidence and enthusiasm for maths amongst pupils, and greater perseverance in the face of challenges.
- Teachers reported a host of benefits beyond enhanced numeracy skills and attainment including improved concentration, listening skills, verbal expression, motivation and aspirations after 6-9 sessions with a Number Partner.
- Teachers tend to target Number Partners at low and middle achievers to help improve their progress and attainment in maths, with a particular focus on children who are low in confidence or who do not have a supportive home environment.
- 85% of teachers said that Number Partners positively impacted pupils’ aspirations, offering an insight into a world beyond the one the children are familiar with.
- 82% of teachers said Number Partners positively impacted pupils’ understanding of the world of work.
From the 2014 Education and Employers Taskforce survey of 28 teachers, teaching assistants, head teachers and maths coordinators at schools that currently participate in Number Partners. See the full report here.


Great educators, therapists and parents know it takes a foundation of varied sensory activities to build strong fine motor skills. Here are a few of our favorite suggestions:
Encourage Crawling Activities!
Crawling activities help build strong proximal control (through head neck and shoulders) to provide stability as a base of support. Building stability in the trunk and shoulder girdle area allows for good mobility in the hands, wrist and fingers which in turn equals strong fine motor skills including handwriting. Try the Fun Tube Tunnel and have kids take turns pushing a weighted ball through the tube for extra heavy work input.
Add Visual Tracking Activities:
Students spend so much time these days on technology devices from smart phones and tablets to e-readers and portable gaming devices. These require complex integration of a number of vision skills including visual acuity and fixation, binocular fusion and convergence. For some children this type of visual sensory processing is challenging especially if there is not a strong foundation of eye coordination. Games like I Spy, flashlight activities, keeping a balloon or beach ball up in the air, tracking and popping bubbles are not new, but still provide a good workout to build up eye coordination skills which likewise help support fine motor skill development. These Fingerlight Balls have good “hang” time to allow easier/slower visual tracking than standard beach balls or balloons.
Build Strong Hand/Finger Muscles:
Although standard early childhood modeling clay is a good staple, consider using theraputty to really give hands a workout. Hide coins or chips in the putty and have children fish them out using pinch and push skills which help build intrinsic hand muscles needed for fine motor skills like using scissors and squeezing a glue bottle. With the Theraputty Sample Pack you get all six grades of resistance from extra soft to extra firm.
Vary the Use of Media:
Crayons, pencils, pens and dry erase markers are all good basic tools, but add some variety to increase sensory input. Add dry gelatin to finger-paint so that when the paint dries on the paper your budding artists have a masterpiece that also has a scratch n sniff olfactory component. Or try Ice cube painting to add a chilly sensation to standard painting. For those reluctant pencil or crayon holders, try using a Squiggle Wiggle pen as a warm up tool as the gentle vibration may help with deep touch pressure input to the writing muscles of the hand.
Allow Movement Activities First!
Our vestibular or movement sense helps give input to certain parts of the brain that help regulate posture, balance, coordination as well as attention and maintaining focus. Consider switching up routines to allow recess, after school play, or quick classroom movement breaks first before moving on to fine motor activities like writing, homework, STEAM labs and/or center time. Set a timer if transitions are a problem. Play first then work!


In Maryland, 63 percent of 4th grade students are below proficient in reading. Scientific research has provided us the "vaccination" to prevent illiteracy, but we are not using this research because some people do not believe in "immunology."
It is fiscally beneficial to prepare our elementary teachers with the research based, foundational skills necessary to teach reading. Many of the students we teach become "special needs" students because they are victims of ineffective reading instruction in the general classroom. It is a fact that cost-per-pupil in the general education classroom is significantly lower than special education.
Op-ed writer Buzzy Hettleman refers to the work of the Kirwan Commission, which is looking for innovations to make our schools better and has the goal of Maryland having the best schools for our children (“A long overdue civil right to literacy,” June 12). Marc Tucker of the National Center on Education and Economy made clear to the commission that more funding is not the solution without fundamental changes in structure.
We have the knowledge to improve teacher preparation in Maryland by setting standards for the delivery of evidence-based reading instruction for pre-service teachers as well as by requiring the assessment of this knowledge for certification. We are losing generations of students by not providing the adequate instruction they deserve.
The writer is a member of Right to Read-Maryland.
Send letters to the editor to firstname.lastname@example.org. Please include your name and contact information.


Fogarty Learning Centre, Edith Cowan University.
Place of Publication
Joondalup, Western Australia
Fogarty learning Centre
Department for Education and Child Development, Yorke and Mid North Region, Aboriginal Literacy Strategy
This project aimed to develop the capacity of primary teachers and School Support Officers (SSOs) to deliver a synthetic phonics program to beginning and struggling readers in 12 primary schools in the Yorke and Mid North region of South Australia. It was designed to ‘value-add’ to the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) project which had been implemented in the region over the previous three years, and to build a critical mass of skilled teachers in a region that usually scored below average in reading on NAPLAN assessments.
A synthetic phonics program refers to one that teaches the alphabetic code or phonics - the lettersound relationships that underpin the English language – explicitly and systematically, and in an order that promotes blending, as recommended by all major reports into literacy development over the past 15 years (DEST, 2005; Johnson & Watson, 2003; Johnson & Watson, 2005; NICHHD, 2000; Rose, 2006). While most primary schools now teach phonics as part of their reading program, many do it in an embedded or analytic manner. In a synthetic phonics approach, the letter-sounds are systematically and explicitly taught in an order that promotes blending or synthesising, and there is a very early emphasis on this important component of the reading process...


This post kicks off a three part series where we will explore the history of Delaware State University. Each post will include a different era of DSU’s history: part 1 will focus on the State College for Colored Students (1891-1947), part 2 will cover Delaware State College (1947-1993), and part 3 will cover the most recent history of Delaware State University (1993-present).
|Delaware State University by Dr. Bradley Skelcher.|
Established on May 15, 1891 by the Delaware General Assembly, the State College for Colored Students (SCCS) was created as a result of the second Morrill Act of 1890. This act required that existing land-grant institutions either open their doors to students of all races or create a new separate institution for black students. (The original land-grant institution in Delaware was the University of Delaware.)
Upon its official opening on February 2, 1892, five courses of study leading to a baccalaureate degree were available: Agricultural, Chemical, Classical, Engineering, and Scientific. A Preparatory Department was established in 1893 for students who were not yet qualified to pursue a baccalaureate degree upon entrance. In 1897, SCCS began offering a three-year normal course leading to a teacher's certificate.
The first graduates received their diplomas in May 1898. The teacher education program was expanded to four years in 1911 and students who successfully completed the program were awarded a Bachelor of Pedagogy degree. In 1912, the available areas of study changed to Academic, Agricultural, Mechanic Arts and Domestic Science, all leading to a Bachelor of Pedagogy. The Preparatory Department was phased out during the 1916-1917 school year and a Model Grade School was established that awarded a high school diploma upon successful completion of four years of study.
Academic programs continued to evolve and expand. In 1923, a Junior College Division was added. Four-year curricula in the Arts and Sciences, Elementary Education, Home Economics, Agriculture, and Industrial Arts were established in 1932. In June 1934, the College graduated its first class of bachelor-degree candidates completing one of these four-year courses of study.
All of this academic growth culminated the College receiving its first provisional accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in 1944.
Throughout this period, the State College for Colored Students had four presidents. The first president of the college was Wesley P. Webb, whose tenure lasted from 1891-1895. He was followed by William C. Jason, whose tenure from 1895-1923 remains the longest of any president. Richard S. Grossley was president from 1923-1942, succeeded by Dr. Howard D. Gregg from 1942-1949.
|From left to right, State College for Colored Students presidents: Wesley P. Webb, William C. Jason, Richard S. Grossley, and Dr. Howard D. Gregg.|
For more information about the history of Delaware State, including a large number of wonderful pictures, come to the library and check out a copy of Delaware State University by Dr. Bradley Skelcher.
Come back next week for post 2 and learn about the institution after our name was changed to Delaware State College.
"History." Delaware State University. http://www.desu.edu/history (accessed January 10, 2014).
Skelcher, Bradley. Delaware State University. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishers, 2000. (accessed January 10, 2014).


The Flag of the United States of America features thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white. The blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bears fifty white stars representing the 50 states which make up the United States of America. The stripes represent the 13 original colonies which gained independence from Britain.
The design and colors of the US flag are similar to a number of other flags, including those of Liberia, Malaysia, Puerto Rico and Chile.
The first American flag came into being thanks to the need of having a national symbol as a result of the independence of the thirteen colonies from Britain.
The flag of the United States is variously known as the Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, and the Star-Spangled Banner. The most famous of the nicknames is Old Glory.
Who made the first US flag and when?
That who made the first US flag is in the realm of debate. However legend has it that Betsy Ross, a seamstress of Philadelphia, was the first to create the flag. According to another school of thought, New Jersey Congressman Francis Hopkinson was responsible for designing the flag.
History of the Flag
Since its first inception, the national flag of the USA has undergone several changes.
On June 14 (now celebrated as “Flag Day”), 1777, the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act, which resulted in the establishment of a new flag for America. The act stated said that the flag would be made up of thirteen white stars on a blue box on a background in which thirteen red and white stripes alternate. In 1949 June 14 was officially declared Flag Day by the then American President Harry S. Truman.
With the entry of new states into the union, the US Congress decided that there should have one star for each state. Between 1777 and 1960 the US Congress passed several acts that changed the design of the flag and allowed stars to be added to represent the entry of each new state. The design has been modified to reflect these changes and the current flag comprising 50 stars 50 stars and 13 stripes has been in use since 1960 when Hawaii joined the union.
Significance of the colours
The colors of the US flag are also symbolic. Red symbolizes bravery, valour and zeal; white purity and innocence; blue loyalty, devotion, vigilance, perseverance and justice.
Respect for the flag
Display of the US flag is generally from sunrise to sunset. It should be pulled to the top briskly and lowered ceremoniously.When two or more flags are flown from the same pole, the US flag must be on top.
The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be raised to the peak for a moment and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again pulled to the top before it is lowered for the day.
The flag of the United States of America should be displayed daily on or near the main administration buildings of all public institutions and in or near every schoolhouse during school days.
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Are you looking for data, research, quotes or other arts education advocacy materials? Check out the options listed below. Listed are 10 spectacular resources for almost anything you would need to advocate for your arts education program. Bookmark them, print them, Pin them. Get inspired!
1. Iowa Alliance for Arts Education – This organization is made up of many groups working together to increase, “awareness, recognition and support of policies, practices, and partnerships that ensure quality sequential arts education programs for all Iowa students.”
2. NAEA’s Advocacy Resources for Challenging Times – Founded in 1947, the National Art Education Association has been an organization devoted to the quality and advancement of arts education. It provides membership, resources, and support to art educators and those in arts related careers. The NAEA’s advocacy page appeals to many different types of advocates. Not only does this page have information and plans for advocating, but materials, research, flyers, and bookmarks for print and distribution.
3. Arts Education Partnership – The result of a unique partnership between state-level organizations and federal-level organizations, AEP was established in 1995, and is, “dedicated to securing a high-quality arts education for every young person in America.” Just read their welcome and mission statements! There are also fabulous links to research, resources, the latest news, and ideas for how you can get involved.
4. Art Advocado: “Art Advocacy for Educators” – This blog, run by Alison Wade, a founding member of the Advocates for Cultural Engagement, has a wealth of information about arts advocacy including inspiring stories, the latest art education news and more!
5. California Alliance for Arts Education – This site has a useful video about how to give a compelling presentation to your school board. It also has a great list of other advocacy materials.
6. National Performing Arts Convention – In addition to other materials, here you will find a great article titled “Useful Quotes for Arts Advocates”.
7. Americans for the Arts – With easy to navigate tabs to see the latest legislative issues, facts and figures, and access to an advocacy toolkit, this is a spectacular research-based advocacy start-up plan.
8.“Arts Education and Advocacy: An Investment in Every Child’s Future,” This thought-provoking article is on The Official Blog of the U.S. Department of Education.
9. Incredible Art Department’s Art Advocacy and Resources Page – The resources listed here are truly spectacular. This is one of the largest and most exhaustive lists of advocacy resources and tools out there.
10. ArtsEdSearch – A project of the AEP (#3), ArtsEdSearch is an ever-evolving resource of research and data that currently lists summaries of over 200 high-quality research studies that analyze and interpret the outcomes and benefits of an arts education.
How do you advocate for your program?
What other advocacy resources have you used?
What’s your best advocacy advice?


Susan Lee, teacher at Te Kura o Kutarere shares how using Storybird , a free digital story writing tool, in her classroom has made a significant impact on the literacy development of her students. She describes how students have become self motivated and proud of their work. Using Storybird has meant reluctant writers are now, "constantly reading their own work and reading other students stories and the writing is just flowing because it's not pen to paper it's keyboard, choose a picture and tap away."
The word that springs to mind is, it gives them mana. It makes them feel proud of themselves what they’ve achieved and it gives them a sense of, I can do that. I think it’s helped in those literacy areas because when they’re writing they want to know how to spell words all the time and they’re having to break them down and do some of that independently or asking peers to check, is this right? They are constantly reading their own work and reading other students stories and the writing is just flowing because it's not pen to paper it's keyboard, choose a picture and tap away and that’s what they like.
Boss, he’s got a cool story, I like reading it. It’s cool ‘cos it's about Māori people and dragons and stuff and yeah, it's Maui. He put on a meeting for all the people of Opotiki and he had to, he made a plan to stop the dragons from taking over the world and then he killed the king dragon and he became chief of Opotiki.
This is the first time that we’ve covered narrative as a genre. It's one that I avoided at the beginning of the year because I thought that the kids didn’t have the skills to do that and I can now see that they do and they’re loving it.
As the students have progressed I’ve noticed that of their own accord they are borrowing ideas from stories that they’ve read and heard from other people and adding them to their own ideas and linking them together. Also the way that the kids have learned by the modelling, watching and then doing and the way that it's progressed them in all areas of literacy. Their reading, writing and spelling and we’ve seen huge success in those.
Through this journey most of the children I would say at the commencement would be lucky if they were level 1-1 as far as their literacy skills were and from that, through introduction of Storybird and the writing of stories on the laptops that we purchased, the level of achievement has gone from the very bottom up to just under level 3 at the end of Term 3.
It’s not me as a teacher having to motivate them all the time they’re self-motivating now. Most of the boys in the class weren’t keen on writing but they did it because they had to. Now that they’re using the Storybird they love the writing. They’re asking when are we doing Storybird, they want to be a part of it. There’s no, doesn’t seem to be any barrier for the boys like there used to be and I see equal improvements in boys and girls. The way that the kids felt being able to share their knowledge and skills, that was awesome to watch and that they were proud to share what they had and we hadn’t seen that in them before.


CELEBRATE! profile: Amber Adams-Kuebler
An elementary education major explores the potential barriers to integrating environmental education into the curriculum at an Educating Children Outdoors campus.
CELEBRATE! Week offers an annual opportunity to highlight the academic and artisitic achievements of Elon students and faculty. Each day this week, we'll be putting the spotlight on a student scholar's research — what they are seeking to find out, and how they became interested in their project.
Name: Amber K. Adams-Kuebler
Major: Elementary education
Faculty mentor: Scott Morrison, assistant professor of education
Title of research: The Bridges & Barriers to Environmental Education on an ECO Campus
Previous research has shown that meaningful outdoor experiences can be incredibly beneficial for children — academically, socially, mentally and emotionally. While environmental education has been shown to have numerous benefits, there are few teachers who are integrating it into their curriculum.
In this intrinsic case study, based at an elementary school with an ECO (Educating Children Outdoors) campus, I investigated the bridges and barriers faced by teachers who have access to numerous environmental education resources, including a nature trail, outdoor classroom, bird sanctuary, butterfly garden, frog habitat and air quality monitoring station, as well as administrative support to utilize them. Data collection included surveys, interviews, and observations.
The participants indicated that time is a prominent obstacle, including time for transitions, planning, preparing for end-of-grade tests, and fitting things in the schedule. They also discussed feeling unprepared, undertrained and uncomfortable taking students outdoors for academic purposes. Lastly, they mentioned believing that going outside was not relevant to their curriculum, that it was not something they could easily integrate into what they were already teaching.
Findings reveal the importance of professional development opportunities that provide teachers with the opportunities to apply environmental education to the resources available to them and make connections to the standards they are required to cover.
In other words:
The purpose of my research was to investigate the opportunities and challenges that teachers face incorporating environmental education into their curriculum and classrooms, even when the resources and outdoor learning environments are provided for them.
Explanation of study:
There were four main steps in my study. First, I conducted a survey including questions about their use of the outdoor resources and general beliefs regarding environmental education as well as questions from the Nature Relatedness Scale (Nisbet, Zelenski, & Murphy, 2009) in order to ascertain their connection to nature. Next, I interviewed each of the participants three times.
The first interview was meant to gain information regarding the participants’ general background and their experiences with nature. The second interview was meant to gain perspective on their views of environmental education and the resources available to them. The third interview had an average was meant to delve further into the participants’ answers in an attempt to discover deeper themes.
Throughout the interview process I was also conducting classroom observations in order to gain a better understanding of how participants interacted with students, what they emphasized inside and outside the classroom, and the culture of the school. Lastly, I analyzed the data for overarching themes.
What made this research interesting to you? How did you get started?
This research has served as the perfect combination of my passions. When I first came to college, I was torn between pursuing a career in environmental science and elementary education. While I have always been passionate about the environment and spending time outside, I ultimately decided that I was meant to make a difference at the front of the classroom working with kids.
As an honors fellow, we are expected to participate in a two-year honors thesis. I first met Scott Morrison, assistant professor of education and my research mentor, my sophomore year. He is incredibly passionate about environmental education and working with teachers and when he mentioned a local elementary school with all of these outdoor resources, I knew it would be the perfect project.
I have been able to combine my love of teaching and my love of the outdoors. Since I have started this project, I not only have had the opportunity to work with teachers of all experiences and grade levels, but I also have started the process to become environmental educator certified and have done numerous workshops to become better educated on the subject.


“Where words fail, music speaks,” wrote Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson and he was so right. Music is the universe’s official language where old and young share its beauty and complexity.
Alzheimer’s patients have been known to respond with joy and excitement when played their favorite music after being non-responsive to other stimulus.
Children jump in rhythm and clap their hands when they hear the sounds of instruments playing. Hundreds of YouTube videos show how quickly tears can turn to smiles and giggles as the first notes of Disney’s “Let It Go” spring forth.
Is there really anyone who isn’t deeply affected by music?
Research has shown that particpating in music benefits children when learning other subjects and offers kids a variety of skills they can use throughout their life.
“A music-rich experience for children of singing, listening and moving is really bringing a very serious benefit to children as they progress into more formal learning,” says Mary Luehrisen, executive director of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation, a not-for-profit association that promotes the benefits of making music.
Can particpation in music make a child smarter? There’s a difference of opinion about that. However, it’s safe to say that it takes an assortment of specific skills to sing or play an instrument or do both simultaneously.
For instance, people use their ears and eyes, as well as large and small muscles, says Kenneth Guilmartin, cofounder of Music Together, an early childhood music development program for infants through kindergarteners that involves parents or caregivers in the classes.
“Music learning supports all learning. Not that Mozart makes you smarter, but it’s a very integrating, stimulating pastime or activity,” Guilmartin says.
Children have learned how to sing and speak in other languages by listening to cross-culture songs. I even picked up a little French from the Beatles’ “Michelle” when I was a child. “Michelle, ma belle, Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble,Tres bien ensemble.”(These are words which go together well, together well.)
According to the Children’s Music Workshop, the effect of music education on language development can be seen in the brain. “Recent studies have clearly indicated that musical training physically develops the part of the left side of the brain known to be involved with processing language, and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. Linking familiar songs to new information can also help imprint information on young minds,” the group claims.
Research indicates the brain of a musician, even a young one, works differently than that of a non-musician. “There’s some good neuroscience research that children involved in music have larger growth of neural activity than people not in music training. When you’re a musician and you’re playing an instrument, you have to be using more of your brain,” says Dr. Eric Rasmussen, chair of the Early Childhood Music Department at the Peabody Preparatory of The Johns Hopkins University, where he teaches a specialized music curriculum for children aged two months to nine years.
Playing music makes your brain work harder, but what about just listening to music? While some studies have noted that learning to play music can enhance your brain, listening to music just makes you feel good. But really, isn’t that wonderful too?
Music enriches your life. It’s captivating and has the power to make you smile or cry. Most of all, it’s universal.
Introducing children to music at a young age opens the door to new adventures. Whether it’s classical or hip-hop, country or rock, bluegrass or blues, jazz or Dixieland, African rhythms or Mongolian throat-singing; borders and politics may separate people, but nations and communities will share their music.
“There is a massive benefit from being musical that we don’t understand, but it’s individual. Music is for music’s sake,” Rasmussen says. “The benefit of music education for me is about being musical. It gives you have a better understanding of yourself. The horizons are higher when you are involved in music,” he adds. “Your understanding of art and the world, and how you can think and express yourself, are enhanced.”
Yes, music is the official language of the universe and a beautiful gift to share with our children.
Source: Laura Lewis Brown, http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-benefits-of-music-education


Struggle with math?
Does this sound familiar – the information taught last year or even last month didn’t seem to stick, and math homework ends up with frustrations and tears?
Sometimes a student may have trouble learning a new concept, understanding a new unit in math, or have missed too much instruction to easily catch up. In these instances, getting math tutoring can help boost a student’s confidence and fill in the gaps in missing information so math can make more sense. If a student’s difficulty with math is persistent over time and through different math concepts from year to year, then it may be time to take a closer look.
When one of the foundational skills needed to be successful in math is weak or missing, a student will always struggle. Often these students develop anxiety over math. If severe enough, a student may even qualify as having a math disability called dyscalculia.
Signs it’s more than a little problem:
- ✔ Difficulty counting quickly
- ✔ Trouble remembering phone numbers
- ✔ Difficulty telling time on an analog clock
- ✔ Confusing left and right often
- ✔ Slow development of math problem-solving skills
- ✔ Difficulty counting money
- ✔Gets confused easily with more than/less than
- ✔Hard time understanding the one-to-one correspondence between number symbols and objects
- ✔Has to count the dots on dice or fingers on the hand every time
- ✔Dislikes and avoids activities and games that involve counting and math strategies
- ✔Learning and remembering basic math facts, math vocabulary, multiplication tables, rules, or procedures is difficult
- ✔Challenges with measuring things
- ✔Unable to organize objects in a logical way
- ✔Struggles to learn to count or recognize printed numbers
- ✔Trouble understanding charts and maps
Dyscalculia is not a single type of math challenge, but a wide range of lifelong difficulty involving math.
Learning strategies for students who struggle with math depend in large part on the type of difficulty the student is experiencing. Whether the child has reading difficulties should also be taken into account. Many math programs for students with math challenges will include attention to basic skills, explicit instruction, and lots of opportunities for practice and mastery, and yet the student continues to need assistance. This is because the cause of the math challenge was never addressed.
Too often the missing underlying skills for students struggling in math is a lack of conceptualization, which supports number concepts and functions. We use programs that help the student integrate and apply imagery to the process of computation and mathematical concepts. A successful program should make sure that students revisit and master earlier concepts and skills before moving forward.
Sometimes struggling in math is not the only issue, and if this is the case, the other weaknesses may be contributing to the math struggles, such as attention issues or memory problems. This is why if your student has been challenged with math over time you need to get an appropriate evaluation of their underlying learning skills in order to reveal the cause. Once you know what the contributing factors are you can then make plans to improve the situation.
The Learning Skills Pyramid is the foundation of successful remediation. If you focus on just parts of the problem, therapy will not always bring about the desired results. You’ll be left with missing pieces in your program. And that’s where HOLS comes in. In order to identify the contributing factors, a Functional Academic and Learning Skills Evaluation must be administered to determine the source of the missing pieces. Only then can a comprehensive program be designed that will address your child’s weaknesses in developmental order.


Which season do you like the best – spring, summer, fall or winter? Most of us have a favorite season. But what causes seasons? Seasons are caused by the Earth’s tilt in relation to the Sun.
When winter arrives in the North, that part of the Earth is tilted slightly away from the Sun, while the Southern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. When it’s summer in the North, that part of the Earth is tilted towards the Sun.
Fun Facts About the Four Seasons for Kids
- The seasons in the Northern Hemisphere are opposite those in the Southern Hemisphere. This means that when it’s winter in the United States, it’s summer in Argentina. Imagine going to the beach for Christmas!
- Winter officially begins in the North on December 21 or 22. This is the shortest day of the year. Summer begins on June 21 or 22, the longest day of the year. Spring and fall equinoxes have days and night that are equal in length. Spring equinox occurs on March 21 or 22. Fall equinox occurs on September 21 or 22.
- When the seasons change, temperatures change and the length of day changes too. Winter brings short days and long dark nights. Temperatures are cold. Summer brings long, warm, sunny days and short nights.
- Areas near the equator don’t experience much seasonal change. It’s warm and sunny year-round here.
- Areas further north experience more drastic changes. In Scandinavia and Alaska, the sun might not shine at all during the winter. During the summer, the sun might not set at night.
The Four Seasons Vocabulary
- Tilt: angle, movement
- Hemisphere: upper or lower portion of the Earth
- Drastic: extreme
All About the Four Seasons Video for Kids
Watch this awesome video for kids about the Four Seasons:
The Four Seasons Q&A
Question: Are seasonal changes the same as climate change?
Answer: Seasonal changes are not the same as climate change. Seasonal changes are predictable changes – like falling autumn leaves – that happen every year. However, climate change can alter seasonal changes, causing shorter winters or drier, hotter summers.
Enjoyed the Easy Earth Science for Kids all about the Four Seasons info? Take the FREE & fun all about the Four Seasons quiz and download FREE all about the Four Seasons worksheet for kids. For lengthy info click here.
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In recent discussions about this generation’s use of technology there has been an emphasis on the ideas of digital immigrants, who are the people that were not raised with the technology from now, and digital natives, who are this generation that have lived with all the technology from now. The arguments that come with these concepts are that teachers should adapt to these new type of students because the way the lessons plans were designed are jut not connecting with this generation; therefore, using technology in terms to augment education is the logical strategy to keep students interested in school. This is something that is increasingly becoming the main issue in schools throughout. On the other hand, many teachers and professors have argued that using technology to the level that is wanted for this new generation will take away from the learning itself; “old school” is the way to go. This argument has validity but there is enough proof to realize that this just does not work anymore and students need schools to jump to their level of technology literacy or it will be left behind.
My own view on this issue, in terms of elementary education, is that teachers have to adapt to the technology-driven student mind. In elementary school, the students take in more than in the later years due to their age; this means that students will be taken over by anything they see on the internet and this will carry over into school time and will connect with the other students. A community is formed in the classes based on something on the internet, this is accessed through phones and computers. School faculty needs to find a way to implement technology into school so the curiosity that students get can come back to education. Although some object to this, it is inevitable that this generation will keep advancing in terms of technology and if schools do not work towards catching up then the gap between education and students will widen even more.


Washington: Practice makes perfect! Singing accurately is not so much a talent as a learned skill that can decline over time if not used, scientists have found.
The ability to sing on key may have more in common with the kind of practice that goes into playing an instrument than people realise, said lead researcher Steven Demorest, a professor of music education at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music.
"No one expects a beginner on violin to sound good right away, it takes practice, but everyone is supposed to be able to sing," Demorest said.
"When people are unsuccessful they take it very personally, but we think if you sing more, you'll get better," he said.
The study, published in the journal Music Perception, compared the singing accuracy of three groups: kindergarteners, sixth graders and college-aged adults.
One test asked the volunteers to listen to four repetitions of a single pitch and then sing back the sequence. Another asked them to sing back at intervals.
The three groups were scored using similar procedures for measuring singing accuracy.
The study showed considerable improvement in accuracy from kindergarten to late elementary school, when most children are receiving regular music instruction.
But in the adult group, the gains were reversed - to the point that college students performed at the level of the kindergarteners on two of the three tasks, suggesting the "use it or lose it" effect.
Singing on key is likely easier for some people than others, researchers said.
"But it's also a skill that can be taught and developed, and much of it has to do with using the voice regularly," Demorest said.
"Our study suggests that adults who may have performed better as children lost the ability when they stopped singing," he said.
Children who have been told they can't sing well are even less likely to engage with music in the future and often vividly remember the negative experience well into adulthood.
Being called "tone deaf" can have devastating effects on a child's self-image, researchers said.


Asia leads world in child-labor products: report
India, Bangladesh and the Philippines lead the world in the number of products made by child workers, a US government stock-taking of the global scale of underaged labor revealed.
Some 130 types of goods — from building bricks and soccer balls to pornography and rare ores used in cellphones — involve child labor in 71 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the Department of Labor said.
“We believe that we all have God-given potential … and every child should be given the right to fulfil their dreams,” said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis at the release of the 10th annual “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.”
Focusing this year on hazardous work performed by children, and relying in good part on International Labour Organization data, the report examines efforts by more than 140 countries to address the worst forms of child labor.
The International Labor Organization estimates that more than 215 million children are involved in child labor.
One-third of countries have yet to define hazardous kinds of work prohibited to children, it said. Some nations have no minimum age for such work, and still more lack the means to monitor and enforce bans on dangerous child labor.
A rundown of goods produced by child labor, issued alongside the report, underlined the degree to which youngsters in developing nations are forced to work, rather than go to school, for little if any wages.
India topped the list, with its children being used to make no fewer than 20 products, including bidis, bricks, fireworks, footwear, glass bangles, incense, locks, matches, rice, silk fabric and thread, and soccer balls.
India also led a separate list of products made by forced or indentured child labor — seven types of goods in all, including carpets, embroidered textiles and garments.
In Bangladesh, children produced 14 kinds of goods, many of them of an industrial nature, such as bricks, footwear, steel furniture, leather, matches, and textiles including jute.
In the Philippines, children took part in the production of bananas, coconuts, corn, fashion accessories, gold, hogs, pornography, pyrotechnics, rice, rubber, sugar cane and tobacco.
The Department of Labor announced Monday a $15 million grant to the World Vision charity “to address the worst forms of child labor in sugar cane production” in the Philippines.
Sandra Polaski, deputy undersecretary for international affairs at the Department of Labor, told AFP that India’s place atop the child-labor table reflected its billion-plus population, and not neglect of the issue.
“India is one of the two largest countries in the world, and so the larger the country, if there is significant poverty, you would expect to see more” child labor, she told AFP.
“The Indian government is the first to say they have to find more ambitious ways” of tackling the problem, she said, adding that New Delhi took a big step in 2010 when elementary education was made compulsory across the country.
Worldwide, Polaski said, the United States expects to see an uptick in the use of child labor as a consequence of the economic slump of 2008 from which the world has yet to re-emerge.
“We expect that some more children have fallen back into child labor,” she said. “As households have been pushed in some countries below the poverty line, they’ve made up the difference (in income) with child labor.”
Child labor remains in much of Latin America, but Polaski welcomed signs of progress — particularly in Brazil where child labor persists in agriculture, but poverty-fighting policies are showing results.
In Africa, children are working at mines in Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly at those producing cassiterite and coltan — both used in the assembly of mobile phones — and wolframite, used for tungsten steel.


Maths Stories Literacy in Maths
This blog post is the first in a series of articles about how I've developed literacy within Maths lessons and incorporated fun strategies to motivate the students.
For my first post I'm writing about a recent and developing idea, that I got from seeing the wonderful work of www.lendmeyourliteracy.com, (@LendingLiteracy). They have a great set up and have given creative writing a purpose. Students from across the country are able to become published international authors. Teachers and students can also comment and like other student’s stories from across the world.
After seeing LMYL presented at #TMOxford I instantly knew this was something I wanted to develop and bring back to my maths classroom up North. Yes, I said exactly that I want to bring story writing into the maths classroom.
The cynical person may ask, what does this have to do with Maths?
With maths exams becoming increasingly functional and word counts forever increasing; now more than ever students need to understand the story behind the maths. So my idea is the students are going to create their own stories behind the maths, this then will hopefully help them as they move from KS3 to KS4 to understand what the functional questions are asking of them and to be able to apply their maths knowledge.
Maths Stories the Beginning
I’m at the very start of developing this and have many ideas to take it forward. However I am feeling so proud of my students work over Christmas I wanted to share how I have started.
At the start of the Christmas Holidays I put an optional homework on Show My Homework as a competition. I deliberately gave very minimal guidance to the students as I wanted to see where they would take the idea first. The criteria I gave was as follows;
“Over the holidays, I would like you to attempt to write a story. The story needs to be related to maths a topic, problem or puzzle, etc... There will be marks awarded for maths content. However it also needs to be a humorous, imaginative and creative. Think about your use of language techniques such as imagery and onamaterpier. Watch your spelling, grammar and punctuation. Think of childhood stories, create pictures and images for the stories. I will publish the top 10 stories on the web. I would love to see handwritten stories and pictures.”
The students took to this task and have come back excited and motivated. They couldn't wait to tell me about their stories, I had three students come see me before school on Monday to tell me excitedly about their stories. There is room for improvement and some may need more maths content and focus on basic literacy skills, however the students are excited and motivated to learn. I have managed to capture and hook in students who wouldn't normally engage with mathematics. I’m very excited for taking this project forward and seeing the students’ confidence grow in both their literacy and numeracy skills.


- Written by Super User
Kenyan infants have a chance to learn how to swim thanks to Baby Swimming Nairobi, a class taught to children as young as four months that could in the long run see them reach developmental milestones earlier than their counterparts who do not swim.
Baby Swimming Nairobi was launched early last year in a bid to fill a much needed gap.
“When I came to Kenya I noticed that there were not many opportunities for babies to learn how to swim. Coming from The Netherlands where children start swimming even as young as three months, I just decided to introduce it,” said Rinske Van Erp.
According to research done by the Griffith University in 2012, infants who start swimming from an early age are able to achieve a wide range of skills earlier than most other children.
“Many of these skills are those that help young children into the transition into formal learning contexts such as pre-school or school,” said lead researcher Professor Robyn Jorgensen.
The study found out that the children were able to achieve physical milestones at an earlier age and also performed notable better in visual-motor skills such as cutting paper and many mathematically-related tasks. Their oral-expression, literacy and numeracy skills were also better off.
Herself a trained swimming instructor, Rinske says that it is easier to teach infants how to swim because they have not yet forgotten the feeling of being in 'water' and how to float due to the pregnancy.
The baby swimming classes take place on a weekly basis whereby children are involved in various games and exercises.
“We start and finish the classes with a song so that the children are able to register the beginning and end. We also do games such as jumping in the pool, swimming under water or even letting them free swim sometimes,” said Rinske.
The babies, who are always accompanied by an adult swim for only 30 minutes due to their short attention span. Rinske even encourages those with twins to bring them along as she can help out depending on how well the baby can cope with new faces.
Baby Swimming Nairobi occurs in a temperature controlled pool which despite being slightly colder than what most adults might be used to, is alright for the baby.
“The slight cold is good for the baby because it keeps them alert and awake,” said Rinske.
Catering strictly to babies and toddlers, the swimming classes take place every Sunday morning from 10.30am to noon.
“Babies aged four to eighteen months swim in the first session while those aged eighteen months to four years are in the second session,” said Rinske.
Normally costing Sh7000 for ten classes per child, Rinske will on Sunday January 10, 2015 hold a trial class which will cost Sh300 per child. The classes take place at Heri Heights Serviced Apartments on Kolobot Drive which is off Arboretum Road. Those with older children are still encouraged to bring them along as there is a play area.


Reading resources Top Trumps Playing games has many benefits. It is relaxed and fun, making it easier for you to engage with a child and build a relationship, impacting positively on their (eventual) willingness to read. Playing helps develops the characteristics of effective learning: exploring, creating and thinking critically, and active learning. It also supports learning in areas directly related to improving confidence and self-esteem. Playing games allows children to: Succeed Be motivated to develop important skills Understand rules Engage in conversation with ease Develop literacy skills and confidence Many games are designed to support literacy development, but many others are hidden opportunities for reading practice. With a few tweaks Top Trumps is a great game for developing literacy skills and confidence. Adjusting how you play ‘Classic’ Top Trumps is played by shuffling and dealing out all of the cards face down. The first player then selects a category on their top card and reads out their score, followed by the second player. The player with the best value wins and takes both cards, it is then their turn to choose a category from the next card. The aim of the game is to win all the cards. The following tips can help speed up the game: Agree a time limit and the winner is the person with the most cards when the time is up. Agree to only have a set number of cards each dealt out. Collect ‘pairs’ of cards (i.e. put the pair to one side and not to the bottom of the pack); the winner is the one with most pairs. Remember nothing is guaranteed to work with every child and you should always try to match the game with the child’s interests, as you would for a book. It is also good practice to ensure that both reading helper and child understand the rules! How to support literacy development Read and discuss the title, category and value for each card. Discuss the ‘file’ information on the card together. This section is often in small print so ask for their help to read it! Children often like to think they can do something better than you and that they are helping! Make sure the child understands what the different categories mean… ask them to give a synonym or explain the meaning of the word; ask the child to describe what e.g. an “Ice Age” character does/might do to earn a particularly high (or low) ‘mischief’ score; ask them to relate the category to their own life experiences Sort’ the cards by a ‘category’ that is not one on the cards as a means of developing understanding e.g. “Creatures of the Deep” – which five would you be most scared of and why? Make it a ‘rule’ that to win the card the child must make up a sentence containing the category word… or find it in a dictionary and read out the definition. Use the theme of the Top Trumps game to make links to other reading material e.g. “Footballers” to a football programme Make it a ‘rule’ that to win the card you have to answer a question based on the ‘file’ information. Spread (some of) the cards out on the table and then use the titles as your source for a game of hangman [helps with recognising letter symbols and spelling]. ‘Just’ look at the cards together – e.g. for “Footballers” talk about what teams the players used to be in, where they are now, how many goals they've scored. If you know any more great tips for Top Trumps or how it develops literacy skills and confidence, contact us. Want to read this elsewhere? You can download this in PDF format. If you have any more great tips on how to engage reluctant and struggling readers, then speak to us as we'd love to hear them. Or why not put your tips into action by becoming a Beanstalk trained reading helper?


Created in September 2015, the Prelude Program seeks to bring our brand of music education to younger students, in a format tailored toward early-childhood learning. Currently, the program serves all 40 Kindergarten and First Grade students at the Chester Addison Community Center in Stamford, CT. Students participate in three 20-minute classes per week, designed to build the fundamentals of good musicianship in a fun and engaging learning environment.
SINGING & MOVEMENT
The Prelude Singing & Movement class focuses on developing the building blocks of musicianship. The curriculum includes a variety of activities that get the kids singing and moving to music in fun and engaging ways. Songs, dances, and games teach the students how to use their voices, sing with others, feel an internal sense of pulse, and be expressive in their music.
“BUCKET BAND” DRUMMING
The Bucket Band drumming class builds fundamentals of rhythm and coordination, while providing a platform for students to explore structured creativity and gain experience in ensemble playing. Following “sound-before-sight” principles of music education, the students develop their rhythmic vocabulary through call-and-response games and memorized songs before they are exposed to standard musical notation. Every class session also includes opportunities for the students to improvise rhythmic patterns within their ensemble pieces, allowing them to engage in the creative process and build confidence.
We believe that children can begin learning to play instruments at a young age, given a supportive environment and developmentally appropriate instruction. In this class, students as young as 5 begin exploring the experience of playing a musical instrument. This is not a performance-based class, so the children are free to develop their skills and knowledge at their own pace, without the pressure of concert preparation. We have taken advantage of newly developed, child-friendly instruments to allow students to comfortably experience the basics of woodwind and brass playing while they are still too small to handle traditional band instruments.


Art education allows students the opportunity to explore their creativity and visual expression while they develop artistic self-confidence and self esteem. Each lesson includes an art history component and most units are designed to extend or connect to the core curriculum. The integration of subjects helps students make connections and see the interrelatedness of disciplines. Although the artists chosen for study connect to the core curriculum, there is an attempt to feature a variety of different points of view that include: women artists, artists of color, folk art, indigenous art, living artists as well as the more well known artists. There is a wide array of materials exploration to help students identify areas of affinity. We use the elements and principles of design as a means to develop the language needed to discuss, understand and analyze works of art. We focus on skill building and technique in a variety of modes of expression. Units focus on observational drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, assemblage, sculpting, site-specific installation, recycled art and earth art. Presenting young artists with a plethora of modalities creates a broad foundation from which they can make artistic choices.
Student work is exhibited in the hallway of our main building and changes monthly. Exhibiting and appreciating art is as important to the visual arts as the making of art. The exhibitions give a sense of completion to the units and gives students a sense of pride and appreciation for each other’s work. We also have an annual art night exhibit that is of a larger scale and invites families to an “opening” exhibit and art-making night. This is designed to create community and a sense of accomplishment for our students.
The guiding questions and areas of understanding include the following:
Pequenos and Grandes students have art every other week for 30 minutes.
Students in Kindergarten through 3rd grade have art twice a week for 45 minutes.
Grades 4-6th have art once a week for 60 minutes.


There are lots of fun activities you can do with your children to encourage the development of healthy social skills. But how do you know that these lessons will stick? Oftentimes, a child may be great at doing a particular activity in a particular setting, but as soon as you move to the playground or the classroom these skills seem to disappear. How do you encourage the internalization of important social skills? Here at The Connections Therapy Center, we emphasize community-based learning, also known as natural environment teaching. This is a method of therapy that focuses on teaching children the skills they need in several different natural environments, rather than just in the therapy setting. This helps children to learn how to apply the skills they learn in several different environments, which is also known as carryover. Here are a few activities you can try with your child in different natural environments that will encourage the carryover of important social skills.
Social Skills Activities That Encourage Carryover
These activities can help reinforce foundational skills that promote healthy social interactions. Try these activities with your child and their peers to see what works best.
- Listening skills: In this scenario, your child is the teacher! Give your child a rubric to judge their peers’ answers to prompts. Your child can ask the prompts and judge their peers’ responses based on the rubric. Your child can help their peers with answers by pointing to visual cues. Students can take turns asking questions and providing answers. This means they’ll get to practice being patient, listening to responses, practicing eye contact, and asking relevant questions. This game can be played at home, at school, in the car, etc.
- Teamwork: Play games that encourage children to work together to accomplish a task. Whatever the task, encourage them to work together. There should be different roles–such as reader, writer, and speaker–that you can assign or children can decide amongst themselves who is best for each role. This means that each child will have to work together, listen to each other, and take turns sharing ideas for solutions.
- Role playing: Have kids act out a text that you read. Children will have to listen to the text and think about how the character feels, what expressions they would have, and how they would act. This helps children to analyze a text as well as practice social skills.
The Connections Therapy Center
The Connections Therapy Center serves families of children and adolescents with disabilities and special needs. We are a team of experts in the fields of pediatric speech, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and behavioral sciences. As a team, we offer intensive hands-on therapy for children and adolescents, as well as informative and useful resources for families. If you are interested in learning more about what we can do to help your family, visit us online or give us a call at (202) 561-1110 (Washington, D.C. office) or (301) 577-4333 (Lanham office). Want to get more information on how to help your child thrive? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest.


The online magazine Prevention Action has published a report on Incredible Years. This evidence-based parent training programme has previously been proven to achieve considerable success in improving outcomes for children aged three to eight years old with challenging behaviours.
New research has shown it also produces positive results with older children and their families. Studies of Incredible Years in Ireland, and also of the programme’s therapeutic dinosaur, for small groups of children at high risk of developing conduct disorder, are also underway.
Source: Incredible results for the Incredible Years (2011), Prevention Action
The latest issue of Better: Evidence-based Education, has just been published by the Institute for Effective Education, and provides advice on what to do to help struggling readers.
We know a lot about how to solve reading failure, and this issue presents articles on proven solutions in primary and secondary schools. The solutions vary in many ways, but together they show that virtually all children can succeed in reading.
Source: Better Evidence-based Education
A new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that, relative to children born in September, children born in August, on average:
- score substantially lower in national achievement tests and other measures of cognitive skills;
- are more likely to study for vocational qualifications if they stay on in post-compulsory education;
- are less likely to attend a Russell Group (high-status) university at age 19;
- have lower confidence in their academic ability and are less likely to believe that they control their own destiny as teenagers.
While a future study plans to identify the causes of these findings, schools may be keen to consider practical ways to address these issues. For example, they may consider reviewing the extent to which curriculum provision is developmentally appropriate for the youngest children in the first terms of schooling; how summer borns are supported in meaningfully interacting with their older peers, as equals, in classroom and playtime activities, and the role that social-emotional learning might play in enhancing achievement.
Source: Does when you are born matter? The impact of month of birth on children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills in England (2011), Institute for Fiscal Studies,
A new study by the Institute for Effective Education has shown that self-paced learning could produce significant gains in primary maths learning. In self-paced learning pupils answer, at their own pace, questions delivered directly to electronic handsets.
The technology instantly marks the responses and feeds back the results to both pupil and teacher. Teachers can use this formative assessment to help pupils and guide future teaching. Significant gains in pupils’ mathematical learning were made by those pupils using the self-paced learning technology.
Source: Self-paced learning: Effective technology-supported formative assessment report on achievement findings (2011), Institute for Effective Education
A new study has found that children living in poverty and whose mothers have no educational qualifications do less well in language, literacy and social development than their peers. Frequent home learning alone does not compensate for this disadvantage.
It suggests that family literacy programmes should have a wider remit in terms of supporting families (for example, encouraging parents to take part in educational activities themselves) rather than solely focusing on supporting parents to give specific literacy or numeracy skills to their children.
Source: Families’ social backgrounds matter: socio-economic factors, home learning and young children’s language, literacy and social outcomes (2011), British Educational Research Journal 37(6)
Further research into the effectiveness of social and emotional learning programmes can be found in the Education Endowment Foundation Toolkit.


Theater, art, and music are vital to developing skills in students. Beth Taylor and Jana Sosnowski both explain the important role in which theater, art, and music play in developing different skills in youngsters. Beth Taylor explains that theater develops students’ teamwork skills and helps instill discipline while art helps students to solve problems and understand other cultures, whereas music enhances mathematical ability and improves students’ memories. According to Jana Sosnowski, art education develops students’ critical thinking and creativity while music enhances math and language development skills.
According to Beth Taylor, theater helps students develop a variety of skills. By participating in a role, theater helps students gain self-confidence, poise, and learn patience. Additionally, theater encourages peers to cooperate and work together as a team.
Taylor claims that art helps students’ attention spans, observation, and planning skills. Students first plan in their minds the sketches of their drawing, and then, with close attention and observation, they draw the object. Additionally, art teaches peers to solve problems creatively. Furthermore, art exposure helps students understand other cultures and societies.
According to Jana Sosnowski, art helps to develop students’ critical thinking skills and creativity. She explains that art develops students’ motor skills via how they hold their pencils, pens, crayons, and/or paintbrushes. She further claims that art aids students in developing decision-making and visual learning skills because when students design their art projects, they use creativity and critical thinking skills. Moreover, art education encourages and helps students to solve problems in a creative manner.
Taylor asserts that music enriches students’ lives because via playing music they learn to express their emotions more fully and comprehensively. Moreover, music enhances students’ mathematical abilities. Additionally, there is research that indicates music improves students’ memories. Furthermore, scientific studies indicate there are more “extensive neural connections” in musicians than non-musicians.
Sosnowski contends that music education helps to develop spatial intelligence in students. Spatial intelligence helps students visualize “how elements fit together, which is required in solving math problems.” Additionally, music education enriches language development because music helps the development of the left side of the brain. A study performed at the University of Toronto revealed that nine months of weekly voice and piano lessons increased six-year-olds IQ scores by a significant margin.
Theater, art, and music play pivotal roles in developing many capabilities in children and teenagers. Theater education helps students gain self-confidence, poise, discipline, learn patience, and work together as a team. Meanwhile, art education helps develop students’ attention spans, creativity, observational and planning abilities, as well as their problem-solving capabilities. Moreover, art education helps students understand as well as appreciate other cultures and societies. On the other hand, music education helps students to express their emotions. Furthermore, music enhances mathematical abilities and develops spatial intelligence, as well as encourages language development. Thus, theater, art, and music should be incorporated into every school’s curriculum.
By Albana Ballabani
Edited by Leigh Haugh
Sosnowski, Jana: The Importance of Art, Music, & Phys Ed in Elementary School
Taylor, Beth: Music, Art, and Drama in the Classroom: An Essential Part of Learning
The Daily Herald: Donors, Community Support Arts Center at UVU
All Article Images Courtesy of WikiMedia Commons – Creative Commons License


Mrs. Stacy Tingle
8th Grade Science
If my students remember one thing about me... I hope they remember that I loved them.
I walk in the door each day because I want your child to succeed!
If your child has concerns about my class, & I have not contacted you, email me/call the school & leave a message!
There are two things that I say to your children EVERYDAY in my classroom...
1. Everything. Is going. To be. OK!
2. Your success is my success, & your failure is my failure!
(It is important to me that my kids understand my job. My expectations are high, but I intend for every student to reach those expectations.
Please sign up for Remind Notifications. This allows you to receive text messages about important events!(All numbers remain private!)
1st Block: text the message @tingleb to 81010
2nd Block: text the message @tinglebi to 81010
4th Block: text the message @tinglebio to 81010
5th Block: text the message @advstem5 to 81010
6th Block: text the message @tinglesc to 81010
8th Block: text the message @tinglesci to 81010
We have a $20 Lab Fee to help offset the cost of the labs we conduct in 8th grade science & Biology. You can send cash or a check with your child or pay online. Thank you for all you do to make our school & science program exciting and successful!
Students will need 3 sections in their binder for my class. One labeled Mav Marks; one labeled Notes; and one labeled Reference. Notebooks should always be well organized because this will serve as their study guide for each unit. Students are required to take notes in Cornell Method. This skill is taught in class & reinforced all year. Notes are posted in the appropriate section to the left, and students are welcome to print them so that they may have access to pictures, charts, and graphs; however, they MUST take notes in class (in Cornell Method) when we go over them, and they will often be asked to take notes on a unit before we discuss it in class so that prior knowledge is built. Students should keep up with ALL notes. DO NOT allow them to throw away their notes when we are finished with a unit. They will see important concepts throughout the year to be sure that they are mastering the concepts. (Our goal is to build note-taking & study skills in your child that help form a foundation to build upon as needed in high school and/or college.)
We do our best to provide students with an inquiry based lab per unit. Most of these count as test grades; therefore, it is important that all labs & lab reports be completed seriously and on time.
Hints for a Great School Year:
Use your assignment pad--write down EVERYTHING, even if you think you can remember
Follow ALL classroom & school rules
Review notes NIGHTLY--do not wait until the night before a test
Ask for help if you need it
About the Teacher
I am happily married to my husband, Mingo, and we have 3 beautiful children, Isaac-13, Jude-11, & Melynne "Bit Bit"-9. I graduated from Mississippi State University in 2001, with a degree in Elementary Education, and I have Secondary certifications in English, General Sciences, Social Studies, & Biology. I taught for two years, then was blessed with the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom to my children for several years. I completed my Master's of Education at Belhaven University in 2010, and I am VERY excited to begin my ninth year at Germantown Middle School!


Not solely is the MM in Music Education inexpensive, we can provide you with Financial Aid to chop the prices down further! Consequently, House is a synthesis of various components of various kinds of music but with the aim of making a high power surroundings for motion and dance. Studies show that background music can enhance studying comprehension, study abilities, and cognitive development. The position of music and music instructing in elementary training; its goals, strategies, supplies, and procedures; innovative developments and exemplary practices; evaluative methods. All candidates for the Master of Music diploma should additionally move a comprehensive overview in their main space.
Modern approaches to instructing music (sustaining high educational standards while mixing in a superb dose of enjoyable and friendliness – with up to date music integrated), combined with a good instructor, will blow away the entire stereotypes presented within the summary above. Music is a big part of my family life and I actually have used the Orff Schulwerk approach as part of my kids’s personal music education. Music training majors are expected to perform at excessive ranges and participate in a variety of ensembles.
To personal endlessly an album of high quality music isi a privilege, one that folks ought to happily fork over $15 or $20 for. Your little one doesn’t need to be a musical prodigy, they just must enjoy music for their very own pleasure. They are sometimes requested to be organizers of rehearsals, or the secretary of the orchestra, or the librarian of the orchestra’s music. Consult the Teacher Education Handbook for a complete listing of specific courses which is able to fulfill both State Certification and Illinois Wesleyan necessities. Making a career in music work requires great faith in oneself, ingenuity and persistence.
This stimulation of the mind by music has led researchers to look additional into its results because it applies to increased brain features. This is unlucky as a result of while music college students do not earn sponsorship dollars from their actions, they bring calmness and civility to the varsity. In 1968, the Netherlands made music a mandatory topic in its secondary colleges and in 1976 music became a part of its regular testing subjects to measure their students’ schooling comprehension (Kelstrom 37).


||Slideshow on YouTube: What is TweedleWink?
TweedleWink Early Learning Right Brain Centers have touched the lives thousands of children (and their parents!) in the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia area.
This YouTube presentation video gives you the basic concepts of the Right Brain Education philosophy, as well as some sneak peeks into some actual TweedleWink classes.
Each live TweedleWink class lesson covers many foundational and educational development subjects, presented as exercises that target your child's receptive right brain. If fact, in a surprisingly quick class session of under an hour, over 25 quick right-brain exercises (yes, literally exercises, because we also promote physical movement!) and video flashcard presentations cover early phonics and letter recognition, early reading, vocabulary words and objects, culture and geography, and other learning areas.
What is TweedleWink?
TweedleWink is an early childhood learning program that takes advantage of the window of opportunity when your child is functioning primarily in the right brain state. Maria Montessori (Italian educator) termed this developmental state the "absorbent mind."
TweedleWink has its roots in the Montessori philosophy, and "follows the child." TweedleWink helps your child establish a subconscious knowledge foundation of quality subjects through lessons presented in a manner that is easily assimilated by your child's right brain.
What does TweedleWink do?
TweedleWink early education operates using an input flow from the right brain to the left brain.
As your child grows, the TweedleWink knowledge categories that your child was exposed to will be reintroduced during the normal course of your child's education. When this occurs, your child will have a feeling of familiarity with the subject matter even though he or she might not have conscious recollection.
Hence, the "new" subject matter will be readily accepted. With this confidence, learning other subjects will likewise be perceived as "easy."
The TweedleWink Learning Triangle
1.) A knowledgeable teacher: A specially trained teacher (or YOU as the parent teacher) is vitally important. Your love, patience and dedication builds the relationship that helps determine the results.
2.) Effective learning materials: TweedleWink lesson materials are designed to encompass a wide range of learning avenues that satisfy your child's intellectual and emotional needs, and are addressed to your child's right brain receptivity.
3.) An uplifting environment: A harmoniously prepared class environment -- organized, inviting and non-stressful -- sets the tone for giving TweedleWink class sessions the best chance for success.
Our early learning preschool and enrichment classes are presented in a cheerful and uplifting manner, because your child's right brain (the quality that Maria Montessori called the "absorbent mind") can assimilate vast quantities of information when not under stress or pressure to perform, especially competitively. That's why a knowledgeable teacher (Learning Triangle element #1) is essential to the process.
We invite you to contact our main Center if you would like more information or to find out available class times.


As a classroom teacher, I often focused on what my students did during a class period. If I wasn’t wondering about what they did, I wondered about what information I needed to give them. Less often, I wondered about their thinking and how I might help them to think about their thinking. Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison helps classroom teachers who want to cultivate classroom environments rich in thinking.
The book is broken into three parts:
- Part One – looks at kinds of thinking and how improved practices for uncovering student thinking can impact student achievement and classroom culture
- Part Two – provides detailed processes for implementing thinking routines into your classroom
- Part Three – showcases classroom practice and common difficulties in implementing thinking routines
While I read through Part One on the kinds of thinking, I was struck by the similarities between the thinking list and the comprehension strategies that have been listed in Harvey and Goudvis’ work. In the following list, the first item is the thinking types recommended in Making Thinking Visible and the second item is from Harvey and Goudvis’ Strategies that Work.
- Observe and Describe = Summarize
- Explain and Interpret = Infer
- Making Connections = Activate and Connect
- Capture the heart and from conclusions = Summarize or Determine Importance
- Wonder and Ask questions = Question
- Uncover complexity = Synthesize
Good thinking and good thinking about reading are the same process. I wonder if students know the thinking work they do when they read is something they can do with other learning as well. I wonder, if we talked about these ideas as ways of thinking instead of reading comprehension strategies, if we would see students transfer the skills to other areas or if they are already doing so.
In this brief video, March Church talks about the importance of cultivating good thinking in our classrooms.
Part Two has a wealth of interesting thinking routines for teachers to try. The section is divided into three parts: thinking routines for introducing or exploring new ideas; routines for organizing and synthesizing; and routines to dig deeply into ideas.
A few examples from the many routines in Part Two include: the traditional KWL (Know-Want to Know-Learned) structure re-worked as Think-Puzzle-Explore – a thinking routine for introducing new ideas. Concept Maps are structured into Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate – a thinking routine for organizing and synthesizing ideas. Sentence-Phrase-Word is a few familiar literature circle roles expanded and worked on collaboratively to allow students to dig deeply into ideas.
Part Three, Making Thinking Visible, allows teachers to be the “fly-on-the-wall” in a few teachers’ classrooms as they start to use and reflect on using some of the thinking routines. It is interesting to see the challenges faced by the teachers and the ways in which they used their own experiences and interactions with their colleagues to improve their practice.
Some of these thinking routines can make for very productive teacher learning group or collaborative inquiry group work within our division. Using a new routine to facilitate better thinking, and then talking with a group of colleagues about what worked and what didn’t, would support me when the new work I was trying didn’t go as well as I hoped. Whether you want to work on reading comprehension, writing, math, or art, Making Thinking Visible is a book full of great routines and tips for improving student understanding within our classrooms.


The strength of a hypothesis lies in the strength of the evidence used to support it. Therefore, useful, reliable and trustworthy sources can make or break an inquiry task. We can assist students to find good evidence by giving them the skills to evaluate the worth of their sources. These skills follow a developmental progression, and are set out in the National Curriculum for History under the skill category of analysis and use of sources:
|Years 7 and 8||Years 9 and 10|
|Identify the origin and purpose of primary and secondary sources.||Identify the origin, purpose and context of primary and secondary sources.|
I see the source evaluation skills for years 7 and 8 as foundational skills. The additional expectations on students of years 9 and 10 are in bold. I worked collaboratively with my KLA to create a framework for the evaluation of historical source material across years 7 to 10. The framework takes developmental progressions into account, and scaffolds the development of evaluation skills in two ways:
Firstly, we provide prompt questions for students to answer to encourage them to think about the reliability and usefulness of sources. The types and categories of questions increase in complexity as a progression of learning. In line with the curriculum, students of years 7 and 8 respond to issues of origin, type, purpose, perspective and usefulness of the source; in addition, students of years 9 and 10 also respond to issues of context, trustworthiness and corroboration.
Secondly, we provide the prompts in different ways, depending on the ability level of the students.
- Students of years 7 to 9 are provided with a source evaluation scaffold with specific questions to complete (with the questions and categories for their developmental stage).
- Students of year 10 are provided with a scaffold, but are encouraged to write their own detailed evaluation that takes all of the relevant issues into account. This establishes a good foundation for the requirements of senior history subjects.
An example of scaffolding provided to year 8 students:


This WordPress.com site is the bee's knees
Key ideas from the Jones reading
– schools need to embrace new technologies and use it as resource for further learning in literacy.
– digital texts boost student engagement, devices like IPADs allowed sustained interest and attention.
– literacy is learnt in social contexts
– devices like IPADs helped the teacher to scaffold literacy learning, used to make meaning, monitor and record student learning support assessing and ongoing planning.
– plays a role in shifting from teacher-centred learning to student centred learning.
Jones, M. (2012), ipads and kindergarten – students literacy development, SCAN, 31 (4), 31 – 40.
Review of ‘Art Maker’
As students learn to tell a story using ‘Art Maker’ I could firstly model what needs to be included in a story. I could inform that a story needs an orientation such as the setting, characters and context which could be done by selecting backgrounds and characters from the app. I could scaffold how to construct proper sentences in stories for students to apply to their story using the IWB.
Review of Toontastic
‘Toontastic’ was complex and had a lot of functions. It is more for students in higher stages and have more technological understanding. I liked the way it was structured in terms of it having step by step stages of a story, notably, set up, complication, climax and solution. It allows students to get a grasp how stories should progress and how it should be structured.


Raga, Ragas or Raag – In the Indian Classical Music, Raga is the basis of melody and Tala is the basis of rhythm. A raga may be described as a combination of Swaras or notes that conform to specific rules and expression of melodies, the ragas were identified from melodies that conveyed different moods and gave different vibrations to different energy centers. Ragas are a series of between 5 to 12 musical notes, in theory divided into three categories Audav, Shadav and Sampurna Jati. Carnatic raga elaborations are generally much faster in tempo and shorter than their equivalents in Hindustani music. Divya music offers vocal music education on regular basis and DM Live core – online vocal music classes. Divya Music presents details on a few Ragas –
That – Bhairav, Jati – Audav-Audav, Varjit swar – Gandhar, Aaroha – Sa komal Re Ma Pa, Dha komal Ni Sa,Avaroha – Sa komal Ni Dha Pa, Ma komal Re Sa, Pakad – Sa komal(Mandra)Ni(Mandra)Dha komal(Mandra)NiRe Sa Sa komalReMa MaPaMa Komal Re komal Re Sa, Vadi – Samvadi – Madhyam & Shadaj, Komal or Tivra Swar– komal Rishabh & Nishad , Time of singing – First part of the day (Early Morning), Nature of Rag – peaceful and Smooth, Rag Vishtar – All Saptak , Sam prkirti rag – Ahir Bhairav & Bairagi.
2. Gaud SarangThat – kalyan, Aaroha – Sa Ga Re Ma Ga, Pa Tivra Ma Dha Pa, Ni Dha, Tar Sa, Avaroha – Tar Sa, Dha, Ni Pa, Dha Tivra Ma Pa, Ga, Re Ma Ga, Pa Re Sa, Pakad – Sa, Ga, Re Ma Ga Pa Re Re Sa, Jati – Vakra Sampurna,Varjit swar – NA, Vadi – Samvadi – Gandhar and Dhaiwat, komal & Tivra – Madhyam Tivra , Time of singing– Third part of the day, Nature of Rag – Deep, Samprakirti rag – NA, Notation of Nyas – Pa, komal Dha and Sa.
Note : By name it’s a combination of two ragas Gaud and Sarang but feature shows combination of Raga Gaud and Kalyan. Somewhere it’s a complicated raga.


Thursday, July 14, 2011
Seven ways music boosts that brain
Recent research underscores how playing an instrument (sooner than later) bolsters kids' academic, social, and emotional lives.
When her son started kindergarten at a public school in Berkeley, Calif., Marion Atherton just assumed that music would be part of his education.
As the director of the Crowden School, a Bay Area non-profit that offers music education to children who don't have access to it, Atherton took it for granted that her own son's school would teach music. She soon learned differently: her son wouldn't be getting any music classes until third grade.
"I was sort of shocked," said Atherton. "Here I am director of the Crowden Center, and my own children don't have a music program?"
Her son's school was not alone: A 2008 study by the Center on Education Policy found a narrowing of school curricula had resulted in a significant shift away from arts and music programs nationwide: since 2001-2002, 16 percent of elementary school districts have reduced their instructional time in arts and music.
Such cuts to music education are particularly ironic given the growing body of research that underscores how music engages many of same areas of the brain involved in language processing, memory, and other critical thinking skills essential for academic success. Music also appeares to benefit kids socially and emotionally.
Here are seven areas where studies have shown the benefits of music to kids' education and development:
Language processing: Several recent studies suggest that the brain processes music and language in similar ways, and that training in music may have benefits for language-related skills. The Neurosciences Institute reports that its research has "revealed a significant degree of overlap between music and language processing," and in a 2005 study , researchers at Stanford University found that mastering a musical instrument improves the way the human brain processes parts of spoken language. The findings suggested that students who are struggling with language and reading skills could especially benefit from musical training.
Memory: The benefits of music training appear to extend to memory, too. A 2003 study by researchers at The Chinese University of Hong Kong found that children with musical training showed better verbal memory than their peers. "When these children were followed up after a year," the study's authors wrote, "those who had begun or continued music training demonstrated significant verbal memory improvement." In other words, memorizing music pieces correlated with improvements in non-musical memory, too.
This correlation may stem from particular ways that music "challenges" young minds. Takako Fujioka, a scientist at the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and co-author of a study that found musically trained children showed greater improvement on memory tests throughout the course of a year than their non-musically trained peers, explains that playing music "requires the brain to solve the problems of how to allocate attention and memory toward complex tasks."


Children love to express themselves through movement—and with this great new resource, you can guide them through a range of actions and dances that will help them develop both physically and mentally.
Lesson Plans for Creative Dance: Connecting With Literature, Arts, and Music is a resource for physical educators, classroom teachers, and dance specialists as well as a useful supplement to college level elementary education courses. Author Sally Carline has tested and refined the creative movement activities that she has prepared for educators and for preservice teachers, and she includes background material that will ground you in understanding how to best teach and incorporate movement activities in a variety of classes and settings.
Lesson Plans for Creative Dance supplies you with
lesson plans that incorporate Laban movement concepts and extend children’s movement vocabulary;
a progression of learning that creates a rich, extended experience for students;
28 dances with music for students through age 12; and
ways to incorporate dance with various types of literature, art, and music.
Part I presents guidelines for assessing creative dance based on Rudolf Laban’s analysis of human movement. You learn about body, dynamic, spatial, and relationship awareness and gain insight into using rubrics to evaluate your students. You also learn how to help children warm up properly, channel their energy, and improve their footwork and rhythmic skills. Part I will help you incorporate dance with action words, action rhymes, and other poetry as well as with visuals and rhythm in a variety of settings.
Part II offers 28 age-appropriate, ready-to-use dances that include a variety of lesson progressions as your students acquire and develop movement skills. You will be able to teach dance skills and incorporate other creative elements and concepts to give your students an understanding of the many ways in which a skill can be performed.
Through Lesson Plans for Creative Dance, you can work on several ideas within the same lesson and continue to develop those ideas in future lessons. You can also incorporate ideas from language arts, social studies, art, music, and science to facilitate children’s learning and increase their enjoyment of various subjects.
This lesson planner will help you take your movement education to the next level, help your students acquire skills and knowledge, and bring meaning and joy to your creative dance sessions.
Part I: Introduction to Teaching Creative Dance
Chapter 1. Teaching and Assessing Creative Dance
Chapter 2. Introductory Activities
Ages 4 to 6
Ages 5 to 7
Ages 6 to 8
Ages 7 to 9
Ages 8 to 10
Ages 9 to 11
Ages 10 to 12
Part II: Dances With Literature, Arts, and Rhythm
Chapter 3. Dances With Action Words and Visual Aids
Chapter 4. Dances With Action Rhymes
Chapter 5. Dances With Poetry
Chapter 6. Dances With Rhythm
Part III: Dances With Music
Chapter 7. Dances for Ages 4 to 6
The Queen’s Guards
Chapter 8. Dances for Ages 5 to 7
When I Get to the Fairground
Pattern to Cure a Headache
Peter Pan and His Shadow
Chapter 9. Dances for Ages 6 to 8
The Full Moon
The Little Chinook
Battle of the Seasons
Chapter 10. Dances for Ages 7 to 9
The Space Stealers
The Volcano Makers
Chapter 11. Dances for Ages 8 to 10
The Abandoned Cartwheel
Chapter 12. Dances for Ages 9 to 11
Skeletons and Ghouls
Chapter 13. Dances for Ages 10 to 12
The Sheriff and the Cowboy
Resource for physical education, classroom, and dance teachers working with children ages 4 to 12. Reference for PETE or creative movement instructors. Text for PE, elementary education, and dance students in elementary education courses.


What are your students ready to learn?
What will you teach them?
State education standards give us guidelines as to what skills should be taught in each grade level. As teachers, though, we know that the students we work with every day don’t all come into our class ready for “grade level” work. Some students have already mastered these skills and are ready for something more. Other students need more basic, foundational skills to help get them closer to the standards.
DesCartes is a tool from NWEA that lists skills from simple to more complex/difficult. If your school uses NWEA MAP assessments, you can easily use students’ RIT scores to match them to the skills that the assessment shows that they are ready to be working on right now in class. More generally, DesCartes can be a great tool for seeing the continuum of skills, understanding what skills come before and after those you think of as on “grade level” so that you can more easily plan lessons for students who need more basic skills and so that you have direction for the students who are ready for a challenge.
Every child should have a chance to learn something new every day!
These planning pages are designed to help you think about the skills that are most important for each student, as they relate to the standards we are required to teach.
To Use the Planning Pages:
1) Choose a standard or concept on which the instruction will focus.
2) Highlight the DesCartes skills that relate to that standard/concept.
Consider: What skills to students need to get to the standard? What comes next for students who have already mastered the standard?
3) Enter students’ names in the boxes based on the MAP RIT scores. If your students have not taken the MAP test, use a pretest or previous classroom assessment data to determine what skills students are ready to learn.
4) Plan instruction for the largest group of students, including:
- the lesson/actvity (what students will do),
- the resources (the books, websites, manipulatives or other tools students will use), and
- the means of assessment (the way you will determine what students have learned).
If your student groups are similar in size, plan for the highest group first.
5) Adjust lesson plans for students who need more support or those ready for more of a challenge. (You may not always have both.) Ensure that all students have opportunities to work with quality materials, to practice, analyze and apply the skills and concepts, and to make connections to other subjects and/or the “real world.”
Not all parts of the lesson have to be changed. For example, you may choose to use the same activity and resources, but adapt the assessment.
Material from DesCartes: A Continuum of Learning is provided by courtesy of Northwest Evaluation Association and may not be republished, rewritten, or redistributed. All rights reserved.