Special Release No. 193
About one in every 10 Filipinos 10 to 64 years old cannot read and write
According to the results of the 2003 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), about one in 10 of the population 10 to 64 years old cannot read and write or basically illiterate (Table 1).
Basic literacy rate among females is higher (90.4 %) as compared with males (86.8 %) (Figure 1). Among regions, NCR has the highest basic literacy rate with 97 percent. It is followed by Ilocos (Region I) and CALABARZON (Region IVA) with around 94 percent each. ARMM has the lowest rate with seven out of 10 persons aged 10 to 64 years considered as basically literate (Figure 2) and (Table 2).
In the 2003 FLEMMS, a self-administered functional literacy questionnaire was accomplished by persons 10 to 64 years old in order to determine their literacy status. Literacy was categorized into four levels based on the individual responses in the self-administered questionnaire. Persons who cannot read and write are considered illiterate (Functional Literacy Level 0 in Table 1).
Persons who can only read and write are considered basically literate (Level 1). Persons who can read, write and compute (Level 2) and persons who can read, write, compute and comprehend (Level 3) are considered as functionally literate. Hence, a functionally literate person is one who can read, write and compute or one who can read, write, compute and comprehend. Persons who graduated from high school or completed a higher level of education were automatically considered functionally literate in the tabulations.
Eight out of 10 Filipinos are functionally literate
In 2003, 51 million or 88.6 percent of Filipinos aged 10-64 can read and write. Of those who can read and write (51 million), 5.1 percent cannot compute or lack numerical skills (Table 1).
The 2003 FLEMMS revealed a functional literacy rate which is similar to the 1994 rate of 84 percent. Of the estimated 58 million Filipinos 10 to 64 years old, around 49 million are functionally literate. The functional literacy rate among females is higher than among males (86.3 % vs. 81.9 %) (Figure 3).
Among the regions, NCR ranks first in terms of functional literacy rate (94.6 %), followed by CALABARZON (90.4 %) and Ilocos (88.6 %). ARMM has the lowest functional literacy rate (62.9 %) (Figure 4).
As to be expected, functional literacy rate of the population increases with an increasing level of education. Nine out of 10 persons who had reached high school level but did not complete it are functionally literate. By comparison, eight out of 10 elementary graduates are functionally literate while around six in 10 persons with some elementary education are functionally literate. Only around two percent among those with no formal education are functionally literate (Table 3). Among those who have had at most elementary education, those who are in the age group 10-14 are more likely to be functionally literate than those in the older age groups.
With respect to age, the age group 20-24 has the highest functional literacy rate followed by the age groups 15-19 and 25-29. The age group 60-64 has the lowest (Figure 5).
About three out of 10 of the poor cannot compute or lack numerical skill
Survey results also showed that seven out of 10 of the population aged 10 to 64 years who are poor are functionally literate compared to nine out of 10 among the non-poor. In the 2003 FLEMMS, ownership of household amenities and conveniences were used as a substitute for income in order to classify the households into either poor or non-poor.
An examination of the data on functional literacy among the poor and non-poor populations in each of the regions shows that the functional literacy rate of the poor is lower compared to the non-poor. Regions in Mindanao generally show lower functional literacy rates among their poor population compared to most of the other regions. In four out of six regions in Mindanao, the functional literacy rate among the poor population is below the national average of 69 percent. Bicol (68.5 %), Central Visayas (69.2 %), and Eastern Visayas (64.3 %) have functional literacy rates which are lower than the national average (Table 4).


SRU's College of Education going 'green'
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Students in Slippery Rock University's elementary education and early childhood program are going "green" through a newly adopted sustainability initiative.
"It's a program that is returning to its roots," said Robert Snyder, associate professor in the department and a leader in bringing sustainability practices back into teacher education. The goal is get graduates to take "green" learning and teaching skills into their classrooms when they begin their teaching careers.
"We have started the program in the College of Education and have a website for our science methods course. We have added programs and course work that lets our students learn about sustainability and energy issues so they can go out and teach it to elementary-level students," he said. "As a large university there are many ways to make our campus sustainable, and we are taking giant steps to achieve just that."
The SRU program is already expanding to the early childhood program for those who will teach in kindergarten through fourth-grade programs.
"We begin the program in our student's junior year, helping them complete certification through Pennsylvania and the Project WILD program. They will become trained in teaching the activities of sustainability through the Project Wild program," he said.
Project WILD is a wildlife-focused conservation education program for K-12 educators and their students. It is one of the most widely used conservation and environmental education programs among educators of students in kindergarten through high school.
The program is based on the premise that young people and educators have a vital interest in learning about the natural world. A national network of state wildlife agency sponsors ensures that Project WILD is available nationwide and is training educators in the many facets of the program.
The new emphasis will apply to all SRU students enrolled in the elementary education program - approximately 60 to 70 students each semester.
"It's a new emphasis on sustainability," he said.
"We are seeing that young students need more 'Green Education.' Projects like planting a seed, seeing it grow, being able to measure root growth and understanding how much soil and nutrients are required is important in understanding science and nature," he said.
Schools across Pennsylvania are emphasizing science, technology, engineering and mathematics areas - STEM - and the type of high-level thinking and real-world applications fit conveniently into Green Projects. They also fit with the new core curriculum Pennsylvania schools are in the process of adopting.
The program will make use of the Project WILD training and the Growing Up WILD version for younger children, he said.
"We will have pre-service teachers going out to schools with that training under their belts," Snyder said. "They will have gotten some practice by working with the children in our SGA Child Care Center where they will practice their teaching skills. It is a win for the center's children since they will be learning the ideas and concepts behind sustainability."
"The child care students will visit the SRU Science Center to see insects, learn about tree diversity as well as other 'green' topics. The SRU students will have the chance to test run their teaching methods at the same time," he said.
Snyder, who joined the SRU faculty in 2001, said he learned about sustainability as part of his own interest and through Project WILD certification training.
"I have been using the information in my classes for about 10 years, but with support of my dean, we are extending the topic across the department as well as through the Early Childhood Club and a number of planned workshops," Snyder said.
Keith Dils, SRU's College of Education dean, has endorsed the program and said it ties to SRU's overall efforts in sustainability not only on a universitywide basis, but with other programs offered by his college, including work with local Girl Scout Brownie troops, and science student visits to museums and science and technology centers that offer information about sustainability.
"We ran this idea past faculty, and they liked it. We want to use McKay [Education Building] to expand the Green School Initiative program," Dils said.
He said SRU's College of Education initiative could be expanded to a service-learning project in which SRU education students analyze the building both structurally as well as its relationship to sustainability.
"They could collect the rain water, see if solar panels are a possibility or if the windows being used are energy efficient," he said. "We can literally turn our building into a laboratory related to sustainability so that our students better understand the importance. They might later share that learning with schools where they teach."
"They may also learn how to write grants to someday help their school's sustainability projects," he said.


History of Russian art
Published: Sunday, May 14, 2006 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, May 14, 2006 at 12:00 a.m.
Writing in Fine Arts Connoisseur about accompanying an American art dealer on a buying trip to Russia early this year, B. Eric Rhoads said he gained "a deeper admiration for the few dealers who carry Russian art. Deep connections, intense work, and a willingness to navigate convoluted governmental bureaucracy are all required..."
One of those few galleries in Americato sell Russian art is here in Hendersonville. Tricia Beall established "Studio B" originally to market her restoration and conservation services for both oil paintings and fine frames. But her love of 20th century Russian art and her close friendship with the owners of a Chattanooga gallery that imports the art have led her also to represent Russian artists from the Voronezh region. Recently moved to a Fourth Avenue location between Main and Church streets, Studio B now houses a collection of imported paintings from the Russian Impressionist and Soviet Realist schools.
But to explain Studio B, we need some context. For that, we go back to the time of Catherine the Great, born in German Pomerania, who became Empress of All the Russias by deposing her husband in a coup d'etat. Catherine modernized Russia, introducing many cultural aspects of western Europe. In particular, she prompted Russian artists to go beyond purely religious art and become open to western innovation. By the time she died in 1794, the westernization of Russian art had taken root. The 19th century then saw the establishment of a strong academic basis for intensive art instruction, with technique grounded in the French and Italian traditions. Since that time, Russian artists have had excellent technical skills. Vasili Ivanovich Surikov (1848-1916) and Ilya Efimovich Repin (1844-1930) were noted artists of the Russian realist school. Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944), perhaps the most famous Russian artist, was one of the founders of pure abstract painting.
Russian art education is rigidly formal. An artist must complete six or more years of education at one of the Art Institutes. (The two most prestigious are the Pepin Institute in St. Petersburg and the Surikov Institute in Moscow, named for the Russian realist painters.) After completing his education, an artist may apply for admittance to the Union of Russian Artists, which is granted only through action by a jury of his peer artists.
Before the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917, wealthy patrons dictated taste, and the subject matter of paintings was similar to that of France. Following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Soviet government began providing materials, paint and accommodation to all members of the Artists Union, but insisted on "Soviet Art." Soviet artists became well-treated celebrities with wide recognition, but the subject matter of their painting was controlled by the state. Soviet Commissars dictated the form and content of art, which was intended to glorify the worker.
In this environment, two schools of painting flourished. One was Soviet Realism, a continuation of the 19th century realist genre but now glorifying workers and peasants, not wealthy landowners. The second was Russian Impressionism, which adopted the tenets of the French Impressionists but took on subject material that might be considered "not pretty" by other nationalities.
Artists being what they are, there were also "bootleg" paintings of unapproved subject matter. We shall touch on this in next week's column when we discuss a few paintings now hanging at Studio B.
Ted McIrvine can be reached at McIrvine@aol.com
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Connecting Language and Literacy to Content: A Swedish Application of Australian and American Research
This workshop will focus on a promising and practical example of how content teachers and language teachers collaboratively can improve language learning and literacy development, at the same time as the students learn the content subjects. Since school success is closely linked and related to the students’ abilities to read, comprehend, write and express themselves in the language of schooling – regardless if it’s the students’ first or second languages – it’s vital to connect the literacy development instruction to the content subjects. Without this connection there is a great risk that the students won’t develop their language and literacy enough, nor will they understand or learn the content subjects to their full potential. I will point out the Australian research carried out by Jim Martin, David Rose and John Polias and I will show how I have applied their research in my work as a teacher and how I have combined their findings with the features of lesson design pointed out by the SIOP Model (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol Model), which was elaborated by researchers (Short, Echevarría and Vogt) at Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington D.C. In this workshop I will share the model with the audience. The model which I will present has shown to be very effective in multicultural groups. It has given the teachers a tool to make their subjects comprehensible, as well as it has motivated the students to work harder to develop their language. The model is not complicated, but yet very powerful. It has the potential of providing school success and empowerment among students in diversity. The objective of this presentation is to give the audience an effective and practical model of what teachers can do in their classrooms to close the achievement gap among students in multicultural schools. The main target group for this workshop is teachers. The presentation will be in the format of a workshop and audiovisual equipment will be used. There will also be opportunities for interaction and questions. Handouts will be distributed, as well as suggestions for practical applications of the model.
Keywords: Literacy, Language Aquisition, Learning, Teaching, Second Language Learning
The Department of Swedish as a Second Language, Vilunda Upper Secondary School


Nick Kehs and his classmates at Jefferson Elementary School in Emmaus were absolutely abuzz. Crouched on the carpeted floor, they were using rubber bands to shoot Ping-Pong balls all over the classroom.
And they weren't getting in trouble.
In fact, their fourth-grade teacher, Mary Ann Clark, asked them to shoot golf and tennis balls, too.
Yet it wasn't recess; this was science class and they were testing Newton's Second Law of Motion.
The scientists-in-training at Jefferson observed that the more they pulled back on the rubber band -- thus increasing its force -- the farther the Ping-Pong ball rolled along tracks fashioned from yardsticks.
But when the same amount of force was used on the golf and tennis balls, they didn't travel as far or as fast, proving that the acceleration of an object depends on the object's mass as well as the force applied to it.
The experiment was a product of the East Penn School District's revamped science curriculum, introduced in the elementary grades in September and in the junior high and high schools two years ago, that requires students to engage in discovery and hands-on experiences.
It means that science class doesn't just consist of students reading textbooks and memorizing definitions.
Kindergartners are going on leaf safaris; and first-graders are gluing feathers, sequins and tape to Popsicle sticks to compare the respective difference in animal coverings such as feathers, scales and fur.
Second-graders are growing seeds in plastic bags to watch them germinate; fourth-graders are making compasses and studying electricity using wires, light bulbs and batteries.
Fifth-graders determine which seeds contain starch by pouring iodine on them; and sixth-graders are growing crystals as part of geology studies.
Some teachers have even taken to keeping classroom pets, from chicks to bunnies, so students can practice caring for them and watching them grow.
Simply said, the content of the curriculum has shifted from "reading about science to more doing science," said Gerald Zinner, East Penn's director of elementary education.
Already, a change in students' attitudes toward science has been detected -- particularly in the elementary grades.
"Last year, all we did was read from a book," said Alice Schneck, 9, during Clark's class. "Now, we get to know how it actually works with the hands-on experiments. When you get to do it, you learn it better."
Her classmate Nick, outfitted in a Philadelphia Eagles Ricky Watters jersey, issued the same verdict.
"We get to actually discover by ourselves," he said. "We get to use our brains and estimate how far things will go."
Francis P. Romano, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at East Penn, said by the time students graduate, they should have the ability to, among other things, form a hypothesis, collect and interpret data, use math and observation skills and possess basic scientific knowledge they can relate to everyday life.
In establishing the new curriculum -- which took four years to develop -- district officials sought the advice of Lehigh University professors and the business community. A committee of teachers, administrators, parents and community residents listened to presentations by various textbook companies, toured the SMART Discovery Center hands-on museum in Bethlehem, attended workshops, scanned Internet sites and talked to science experts and other science teachers.
"We investigated just about everything that exists in the science field," Clark said.
After that, the committee met to brainstorm about what hands-on activities best suited the curriculum the district wanted to develop.
"Not any one program fit our goals. We worked very hard to find pieces from a lot of different places to fit our goals," she said.
With the new curriculum, each teacher receives a red hard-cover binder -- containing hundreds of loose-leaf pages from a litany of sources -- that serves as a manual. At every grade level, teachers have a list of what students should know about science by the end of the year.
And, the summer prior to the curriculum's implementation, teachers attended a voluntary three-hour workshop where they learned how to use the manual and conducted some of the experiments themselves.
The district also used two books as guides: "Science for All Americans" and "Benchmarks for Science Literacy," both by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest general scientific organization.
"Science for All Americans" grimly states that students in the United States "rank near the bottom in science and mathematics" and are "well below the international level" in mathematical problem solving.
Clark said the hands-on approach to science fosters a higher level of thinking among students that leads to genuine understanding.
The inquiry-based approach to science education has also garnered favor at other area districts.


The Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) has released a cyberbullying study about elementary school students that calls for a change in the way states, districts and schools address online bullying and its prevention.
According to Anne Collier of The Christian Science Monitor, the study is one of the first to research elementary school-aged youth. Collier said she believes that study’s results demonstrate the need for social-emotional learning and media literacy education starting in even lower grades.
The MARC surveyed more than 11,700 students in third-, fourth- and fifth-graders in a variety of schools in New England between January 2010 and September 2012.
Most elementary cyberbullying occurred in online games. Over 90% of third graders reported playing interactive games online, while just 35% of subjects reported owning a cellphone — the device most widely-considered to be a major source of digital bullying. Children at the highest risk for repeatedly cyberbullying others were the most likely to report problems on Facebook, email, or through text messaging.
Cyber education needs to begin well before middle school as students begin using a range of mobile and online devices, according to the study.
MARC suggested that elementary cyberbullying education should probably include lessons relevant to online game-playing dynamics. Also, when a child aged 8 to 11 reports a problem on Facebook, email, or messaging, that should be regarded as a possible warning sign of higher-risk online involvement, MARC said.
Data shows that Facebook use is increasing among elementary school-aged students. The use of Facebook increased among third, fourth, and fifth graders between 2010-2012 especially among girls, according to the study. In 2010, 19% of girls were using Facebook and now this number rose to 49% in 2012.
According to MARC, cell phone ownership increased in every grade. Among fourth graders, 26% owned cell phones in 2012 and increased to 35% in 2012. The study found that 52% of fifth graders and 22% of third graders reported owning cell phones by 2012.
In every grade, smartphone ownership increased and non-smartphone ownership decreased between 2010 and 2012.
Owning a smartphone was a significant risk factor for both being a cyberbully and being a cyberbullying victim. 12% of fifth grade non-owners, and 18% of smartphone owners, admitted being a cyberbully. Similarly, 12% of fifth grade non-owners, and 34% of smartphone owners, reported being a cyberbullying victim. Similar numbers were found for third and fourth graders.
MARC suggested that parents who are considering buying their elementary-aged child a smartphone should be educated in both the benefits and the risks associated with children’s usage.
According to the study, traditional in-school bullying and cyberbullying both increased across the three years. Being a victim actually decreased from third to fifth grade., but the percentage of children who both bully and are victims increased from 15% in third grade to 21% in grade fifth, MARC found.
According to the study, cyberbullying education seems to be having a positive impact in Massachusetts. The study found that the proportion of children who could not define cyberbullying declined from 24% in 2010 to 10% in 2012.
Non-bullies were more likely than bullies to report that their class had been offered education about bullying and cyberbullying (especially among fifth graders). Children who were repeatedly mean online reported the lowest level of education.
MARC suggested that elementary education and awareness about cyberbullying is necessary for school safety and that it can be implemented successfully.


Physical Therapy published research on the use of supramalleolar orthosis (SMO) and treadmill training in infants with Down Syndrome. Seventeen infants were assigned to treadmill training with SMO's or treadmill training without SMO's. The infants received 3 minutes of treadmill training until the infant was able to take 3 steps independently. One month following the motor skill acquisition of independently taking 3 steps the Gross Motor Function Measure was administered. The infants who did the treadmill training without the SMO's had higher scores on the Gross Motor Function Measure in standing, walking, running and jumping. The researchers concluded that the use of orthosis may have a "detrimental effect of overall gross motor development".
Reference: Looper, Julia, Ulrich, Dale A. Effect of Treadmill Training and Supramalleolar Orthosis Use on Motor Skill Development in Infants With Down Syndrome
PHYS THER 2010 0: ptj.20090021


Instruction For Students Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing
who are deaf experience special challenges in learning
to read and write.
to read and write is part of the language acquisition process,
and many of the difficulties deaf students experience are related
to their lack of a strong language base (either English or ASL).
students may lack some of the background knowledge that hearing
students bring to reading.
students' lack of exposure to spoken language makes teaching
traditional sound-letter correspondence difficult, if not impossible.
those deaf students whose first language is signing, learning
to read and write in English constitutes learning a second language
with a different grammar, lexicon, and syntax.
need special methods to teach literacy to students who
should provide students with background knowledge regarding
culture and content, as well as language aspects such as grammar,
use of idioms and vocabulary development.
spite of the difficulties mentioned above, there has been some
success for the use of cued speech to teach traditional phonemic
(sound-letter correspondence) methods of reading to this population,
and this is not necessarily dependent on usable hearing.
should address basic fluency, development of advanced writing
skills and reading comprehension.
fluency is acquired within social contexts in which students
are motivated to communicate and relate to others.
provides students who are deaf with opportunities to enter the
world of literature and enjoy videos, TV with captioning, and
other forms of entertainment with their hearing peers. It allows
them to access information through all types of media. In addition,
strong literacy skills allow Deaf and Hard of Hearing adults
to compete in the job market.
to a wide range of written materials in "print-rich physical
of written, finger-spelled, and signed language, and the relationship
between the three.
to experiment with reading and writing in a risk-free and supportive
Methods for teaching literacy to students who are deaf include:
TV and video at home help expose children to lots of written
English, supporting natural literacy development.
the classroom, captioning allows the teacher to focus on broad
textual concepts in a more directed instructional environment.
video, multimedia, and on-screen captioning are all being used
increasingly to teach students who are deaf.
of these methods include:
ability to individualize lessons to the needs and preferences
of diverse students
combination of text and video is highly motivational and reinforces
the context for literacy learning
technology makes literacy more accessible and more comfortable
signing in the videos and computer applications is of excellent


Education News and Resources
21st Century Leaning
The Partnership for 21 Century - a national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student.
California Coalition for P21 - a coalition of statewide organizations advocate for 21st century readiness for all California students.
Responsive Classroom - a widely used, research-backed approach to elementary education that increases academic achievement, decreases problem behaviors, improves social skills, and leads to more high-quality instruction.
Edutopia - provide strategies and resources for educators on 21st Century Learning models
Community Outreach and Fundraising Guides
Our Community Outreach and Fund raising Guides were developed by a team of core parent volunteers from a Spring 2010 fundraising campaign in the Cupertino Union School District. This unprecedented district-wide community fundraising effort ultimately raised over $2.5 million in eight weeks, helping to restore 107 teachers' jobs slated for elimination due to state budget cuts.
The campaign brought together parents, teachers, administrators, unions, local businesses,
and an existing education foundation - all doing their part to preserve our children's current quality of education. Their expertise in both outreach and fundraising is invaluable.


June 25, 2008
Yale Joins With Fourth-Graders to Put Music to Story
By Mark Brackenbury
By Alexandra Sanders Special to the RegisterNEW HAVEN -- Trumpet-carrying Yale University students and crayon- wielding fourth-graders may seem like an unlikely combination, but when they get together, lives are changed.
Lincoln-Bassett elementary school recently held an innovative performance in which Yale University music school students put music to a book that the school's two fourth-grade classes wrote.
The students worked with Yale graduate and composer Jay Wadley to find fitting music for their story, titled "When the Brothers Unite."
"It was exciting because this presented an opportunity for them to explore music from different parts of the world," said Wadley.
The plot is about Spain and Algeria at war and includes assassinations of kings and evil henchmen.
The music, which has a Middle Eastern influence, punctuates shocking sentences with blaring notes, as long, low notes slowly snake around the story line until a resonating sound of jubilation at the end of the story when Spain and Algeria unite.
Students illustrated pictures to accompany the book. Detailed pictures of kings and boats surrounded by crayon scribbles depicting the sky were displayed on an overhead screen.
The performance was made possible by the Yale class of 1957. The class contributed more than $6 million to the music education program to help the New Haven public school system's music curriculum thrive.
The program has been brought to 20 different schools and has enabled the schools' music department expand its learning and teaching tools, said John Miller, project manager.
"We are so pleased they adopted us," said Ramona Gatison, Lincoln- Bassett principal.
"I have data to prove that this has changed the students," said Gatison. "It carries over into academics and social development. I realized I could really change some of the kids' behavior."
All fourth-grade students played a part in the project, but six students in particular wrote and illustrated the book. They stayed after school with art teachers and worked hard on it, Gatison said.
The six will receive a copy of the score and a CD.
"The kids who got involved really have a desire to write, a desire to create," said Gatison.
The kids described the performance with words like "cool" and "nice," and said that they learned something from the show.
"I thought it was good and I learned to always unite with siblings," said Ruth Escorbort, a fourth-grade student.
The students' excitement was clear when the composer gave them a pop-quiz where they had to match music to a scene in the story. Nearly 100 hands shot up in excitement.
"The kids really liked it and that's what is important," said Gatison, who ended the presentation dancing down the aisle to the beat of Lincoln-Basset students clapping along to the string quartet.
Alexandra Sanders is a New Haven Register intern.
(c) 2008 New Haven Register. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.


Chris Bowlby takes a look at changes to the school system in history, in this article first published in BBC History Magazine in October 2012
Wednesday 10th October 2012
It is the anniversary of what was called the Revised Code of 1862, which set out how school education was to be funded, with regular tests of how well pupils and teachers were doing. This was introduced following an investigation by the Newcastle Commission, set up, says Howlett, to discover “what was going on in voluntary schools”. Governments had previously adopted a “broadly laissez faire” attitude towards elementary education. But what the commission found was “pretty horrific” – with church and voluntary schooling failing to keep pace with population growth. In some places only 10 per cent of children were being educated.
There were broader reasons too for this new educational agenda. Government realised uneasily that impressive new industrial and military competitors – notably Prussia – were forging ahead with high-quality education. And politically, as Britain moved towards the Reform Act of 1867 and an extension of the franchise, there was a lofty sense among the elite, says Howlett, that new voters should be better educated.
So the Revised Code aimed to create the framework for the extension of effective and affordable elementary education for all social classes. It established a system of payment by results, whereby schools could claim four shillings annually for pupils who attended regularly, and eight shillings if pupils passed specified tests in reading, writing and arithmetic.
Conversely, poor results meant schools lost part of their grants. Such a system, argues Howlett, was seen as the “most efficient way of saving money” as education expanded.
But then, as now, a centrally devised system of testing pupils and teachers, and allocating funding, attracted fierce criticism.
Teachers, says Howlett, “resented that their salaries depended on results” and said the tests were haphazard, failed to allow for variation in how children developed and “did not reflect how well they had been teaching”. Another criticism with a distinctly modern ring was that the system discouraged breadth of education, as teachers felt forced to concentrate on the three Rs to the exclusion of other subjects.
The system of payment by results only lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, when a more decentralised and variable public educational system took hold, run mainly by local education authorities. And a broader curriculum, including subjects such as geography and history, had become more widespread, leaving the narrower focus on core subjects behind.
There was much educational reorganisation in the 20th century, especially of secondary schools as the leaving age rose. But it was not until the 1970s, points out Howlett, that the alarm over educational standards at all levels was sounded again – this time by prime minister James Callaghan. In a famous speech in Oxford in 1976, he raised “the strong case for the so-called ‘core curriculum’ of basic knowledge” and asked, “What is the proper way of monitoring the use of resources in order to maintain a proper national standard of performance?” Successive governments since have followed this agenda and intervened with modern versions of curriculum reform, testing and ranking of pupils and schools, and changes in educational financing.
And so this deep-rooted education debate continues, as does the tension between those stressing competence in the three Rs and vocational skills versus advocates of a broader approach to what and how children are taught. The current education secretary, Michael Gove, is keen both on school reform and more rigorous teaching of national history. He might find the 1862 Revised Code and what followed to be an illuminating special subject.
Chris Bowlby is a presenter on BBC radio, specialising in history
This series is produced with History & Policy. You can find out more about them and read their papers at www.historyandpolicy.org


Teachers know that the Internet is full of useful and creative materials to improve reading, but often they are too busy to find the best ones. To make these Web resources more readily available, Judith Zorfass and her staff at EDC’s Center for Family, School, and Community have developed the Literacy Matters Web site. The site aims to improve the literacy development of middle and high school students, especially those who may be struggling.
“We have compiled the best of what’s available online and made it easily accessible for teachers, parents, and students,” says Zorfass. “It provides a great number of literacy resources for grades 4–12—and it’s free!”
The site includes sample lesson plans, ideas for using teen literature, and helpful links and resources. Literacy Matters also sponsors interactive tutorials for students, and offers graduate online courses for middle and high school teachers on a variety of literacy issues.
Originally published on April 30, 2006


- 4 updates
The OECD report on numeracy and literacy in 24 countries said basic skills among young people in England and Ireland were "bound to decline" unless "significant action" is taken.
An OECD survey of 9,000 people in 24 countries, has showed that England and Northern Ireland have some of the highest proportions of adults scoring no higher than Level 1 in literacy and numeracy.
- 24.1% or around 8.5 million people scored at or below Level 1 in numeracy (basic sums), compared with an OECD average of 19%.
- 16.4% or around 5.8 million people scored the lowest level in literacy (simple texts), compared with an OECE average of 15.5%.
A major international study has revealed that the literacy and numeracy skills of 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK are among the lowest in the developed world.
In England, young people were 22nd for literacy and 21st for numeracy in a list of 24 countries, falling far behind countries like Japan, Finland and the Netherlands in the basics.
Those in Northern Ireland did slightly better.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned that despite facing a tougher labour market, the UK's young people have skills similar to those who are retiring from the workplace.
Latest ITV News reports
The literacy and numeracy skills of 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK are among the lowest in the developed world, a major study revealed today.


Home school literacy: An ethnographic study of parents teaching reading and writing
This qualitative research on the acquisition of literacy within a home school setting is a case study of one home school family. The term home school literacy was devised to describe the phenomenon of home schooling as a unique process of literacy acquisition and development. Each home school is considered a specialized context for literacy growth, where family members interact as a distinct system of learners. This study explores how two parents teach reading and writing to their child during the last three months of her third-grade year by focusing on how they envision themselves as teachers of reading and writing, and how they enact this self-concept in their teaching.^ The oral and written language of family members provided the primary data to investigate and identify interactions involving literacy teaching. Data were collected through interviewing, audio-recording, video-recording, documents, writing samples, protocol analysis, questionnaires, home visitations, and field notes. The qualitative nature of these data collection procedures involved the researcher and family members relating as co-researchers throughout the study.^ Results suggest that collaborative learning is likely to happen in a home school setting as parents become actively engaged in designing their own literacy development program and become acquainted with their children's individual learning styles. They will probably create their curriculum according to both their own and their children's needs and interests.^ Oral reading was found to be an effective means of sharing prior knowledge and experience while teaching. Also, parents could be models as readers, writers, and learners while teaching in a home school setting. Holistic, natural learning is possible in such a context where the child is the center of teaching interactions and parents discover their ability to teach in both a formal and informal manner at the same time, without time constraints. Evaluation is ongoing and negotiable between parents and children. Such a learning environment nurtures self-inspired knowledge seeking in all home school family members. ^
Education, Language and Literature|Education, General|Education, Elementary|Education, Reading
Elizabeth Baurle Treat,
"Home school literacy: An ethnographic study of parents teaching reading and writing"
(January 1, 1990).
Dissertations available from ProQuest.


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Kumon for your preschoolers’ kindergarten readiness – Get a Kumon Head Start!
Eighteen thousand incoming kindergartners were rated by their teachers on school-readiness behaviors. They were later given math and reading tests at the end of the school year. Kids with the lowest “Approaches to Learning” scores also scored the most poorly in math and reading tests.Conversely, kids with the highest scores did the best on their math and reading tests even through first grade. The research by the National Center for Education Statistics found that school-readiness behaviors at the beginning of kindergarten go hand-in-hand with academic performance and that trend continues through multiple school years.
Get a Kumon Head Start for your child. Get your child ready for kindergarten and confident to succeed in life.
What should parents know about getting ready for kindergarten? The National Center for Education Statistics who conducted the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study found the following behaviors are related to academic performance:
• Pay attention well
• Learn independently
• Persist in completing tasks
• Organize belongings
• Adapt easily to change
• Show eagerness to learn new things
• Follow classroom rules
Most early education programs and preschools will guide kids to follow classroom rules, be flexible to new routines, and be enthusiastic about learning. Kumon does even more to enable preschoolers to be prepared for kindergarten. Kumon gives children an academic advantage due to the focus on enhancing attentiveness, strengthening perseverance when completing tasks,fostering independent learning, and promoting organizational skills.
With over 50 years of helping children learn, with a universal Kumon method that has been working in over 49 countries for a current student population of over 4 million worldwide…Kumon will work for your child.
School success depends not only on knowledge and skills, but also on the habits and attitudes with which students approach learning.Evidence shows that characteristics including attentiveness, persistence, and independence go hand-and-hand with higher scores in math and reading —beginning as early as kindergarten and at least through the end of first grade.These results are leading some states to make early education available to greater numbers of children.
The Kumon Reading Program begins at the preschool level by having children connect words to familiar objects. The assignments build incrementally, with each worksheet teaching a lesson that’s one small step more advanced than the lesson before, reducing the likelihood of students hitting a wall and becoming discouraged. To help encourage reading at an early age, Kumon parents can take advantage of resources like Kumon’s Recommended Reading List,which has a section dedicated to read-aloud books.
Being enrolled in both the Kumon Math and Reading programs is necessary to develop the whole child. The Kumon Math Program develops strong problem-solving and calculation skills from the four basic operations through algebra and to calculus. The Kumon Reading Program builds excellent reading ability from understanding basic sentences to critically reading advanced literary texts. These skills learned through both programs are essential for long-term academic success. Invest now in your child’s long-term learning!
For students to begin learning their letters and numbers and writing them correctly, proper pencil grip and a certain level of pencil skills are needed. Kumon’s Level Z can help students develop pencil skills through the practice of scribbling and drawing lines, curves, and angles in a fun, colorful, and engaging way. In combination with other activities that advance motor skill development, Level Z will prepare students to write their letters and numbers for the first time with excitement and confidence.
For some of you, kindergarten is just around the corner.Take action now and get your child ready for school and academic success. If you enroll in the Kumon Reading Program between February 1-29, 2016, you will get 50% off the registration fee. That’s a $25 savings.
Find out more about how Kumon can work for your child by scheduling a free parent orientation.
To receive a brochure about the Kumon program, please provide the information below.
The Kumon Method was created to help children of all ages and
academic levels. To learn more about how Kumon can help your child,
choose the appropriate age range below.


There are 30 articles in this section.
Sort by: | Date | Title |
Sharing poetry with kids is a great way to highlight language. Poems include humor, interesting words, tongue twisters, alliteration, and opportunities for choral reading among other important literacy concepts. This article provides guidelines for a family poetry jam — a great way to promote literacy and togetherness in your own home.
Calendars help young children learn the basics of the days of the week and the months of the year. Your family calendar offers opportunities for other learning as well, including vocabulary, sequencing, and math.
Children learn when they make connections between what they hear and what they know. One method parents can use to help make these connections is called a think aloud, where you talk through your thoughts as you read. Here are three ways to use think alouds, with examples from some of our favorite kids' books. Try these ideas to expand learning and to improve reading comprehension.
Reading with comprehension means understanding what's been read. It takes practice, time, and patience to develop reading comprehension skills. Below is a before-during-after approach that families can use to help children learn to read for understanding.
Most words in a child's vocabulary come from everyday encounters with language. Children pick up language from books, media, and conversations with the people in their lives. Here are some ways you can increase your child's vocabulary and background knowledge, and strengthen the foundation for their reading success.
Day trips, vacations and special outings create special memories and great learning opportunities for families. The time leading up to your trip can be filled with excitement and adventure too! Whether you're going to the zoo, the museum, or a state park, below are a few "stops" to make before your visit to help your child get the most out of a family or school educational experience.
Dads play a critical role in their children's literacy development by modeling reading, sharing stories, exploring the world together, and engaging in meaningful conversations that build critical thinking skills. Here are a few suggestions to help fathers strengthen their literacy connections with young children.
Dads play a critical role in their children's literacy development by modeling reading, sharing stories, exploring the world together, and engaging in meaningful conversations that build critical thinking skills. Here are a few suggestions to help fathers strengthen their literacy connections with preschoolers.
The best story times are very interactive: You are talking about and reading the story, your child is talking, and there is conversation taking place between the two of you. Read below to learn more about dialogic reading and PEER, a method to help you remember a few important ways to read in this interactive way.
As children learn some letter-sound matches and start to read, they also begin to experiment with writing. These activities can be used with children to develop their writing and spelling abilities.


The first day of each educational year is a great day for both parents and new beginners as it opens an absolutely new page in the latter groups' life.
Elementary education for children in Azerbaijan starts at the age of six. But there are many who believe that there is no certain age for starting school. They argue that the issue depends on the will of parents and of course, mental and physical development of the children.
But what is really the best age for children to start school?
Parents who are doubtfull about their child's abilities can consult with a child psychologist to assess the mental capabilities of their children.
Some 139.214 first-graders are expected to go to school on September 15, reported the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan. The number of last year's first-graders exceeded 137.000.
Psychologist Chinara Guliyeva said that in order to determine a child's readiness for school, parents must take a number of tests.
"School readiness includes the ability to come into contact with peers, the ability to purposefully engage in some affair which requires the application of willpower, learning a poem and helping their parents," she stressed.
"Intellectual readiness is equally important - the child must be able to compare and summarize things and stories. For example, they should be able to compare the long and short rods or sticks," the psychologist noted.
The expert said that to understand if the age of six is a good age for starting school, it is necessary to test objectively capabilities of children at this age. She also gave some recommendations to parents to understand the state of their child at six.
How he/she looks at his/her peers' background? If he/she is ahead of his/her peers in mental development? Can a child stay alone for a while without his/her parents?
Parents also should pay attention to the distance between the school and their homes. A road to school should not be too long- no more than 20-30 minutes - otherwise the child would get tired even before reaching the school.
Primary school teacher, Aygun Aliyeva thinks that the age of six is the perfect age to start school.
She noted that a child should be very communicative at the age of six. According to her, he or she usually makes good relations with their peers.
"Modern education plays a key role in the first. It is carried out in the form of games and aims to develop the child's mental capabilities and logic," Aliyeva said.
However, Aliyeva also stressed that if a child counts the number very well, it doesn't mean that he/she is ready for starting school. Parents should watch if their child can concentrate on a subject for at least 15 minutes or not.
"If a child cannot pronounce all sounds correctly, make up a story of a picture and build a grammatically correct sentence, then he or she would be unprepared to start school," the teacher said.
Parents should also pay attention to their children's health as well as expand their general skills. This is a very stressful period for most children and that is why they should get well prepared for it earlier.


Back in September, the Washington Township school district implemented a new reading program with hopes of improving the skills of some students.
Read 180, which targets students who may struggle with reading and comprehension, has exercises designated to improve reading scores.
More than half way through the school year, township school officials say they are impressed with progress they have already seen with the program.
Read 180, created by book publisher Scholastic Corporation, uses various techniques to engage students in reading, including group reading with peers and computer instruction.
Each student is given "Lexile points," which help students advance to their current or advanced grade level.
There are two Lexile measures — the reader measure and the text measure. The reader measure represents a person’s reading ability on the Lexile scale. The text measure represents the text’s level on the Lexile scale.
“When used together, they can help a reader choose a book or other reading material that is at an appropriate level,” Director of Elementary Education Bobbi Marciano said. “The Lexile reader measure can also be used to monitor a reader’s growth in reading ability over time.”
As an example of how the Lexile system works, a first-grade reading level ranges from zero to 300 points. So a student with 250 points is on a first-grade level.
Currently five schools in the district, Thomas Jefferson Elementary, Bunker Hill Middle School, Chestnut Ridge Middle School, Orchard Valley Middle School and Washington Township High School, are using the program. The district may also be adding the program to Hurffville elementary and Birches elementary in the future.
“We’re so optimistic with this program,” Marciano said. “The kids are seeing themselves as readers.”
Stephanie Sonnak, a Read 180 teacher at Chestnut Ridge Middle School, told those who attended a recent board of education meeting that she was proud of the improvement students have shown in such a short time.
Director of secondary education, Jack McGee, said the program costs $31,000 per building. However, the district owns the license, so it’s not an annual cost to the district.
“It was certainly worth the cost because the students were suffering with reading and now they see a light at the end of the tunnel,” Marciano said.
Sonnak said the classes are set up to encourage engagement in the classrooms and it builds a community for learners. Every 20 minutes, the students rotate throughout the classroom to utilize each aspect of the program.
According to the Read 180 website, the classroom has different learning sections for the students to concentrate on. There are sections for independent reading, small-group learning, whole-group instruction and computers for the software section.
Sonnak said at the beginning of the school year, the kids were opposed to the class, but as the year continues, they are changing their opinion.
“Now, they come to me and ask for help in other subjects,” she said. “And I love helping them and I love that they are now setting goals for themselves.”
---Contact staff writer Kristina Pritchett at 856-686-3655 or email@example.com


Resources for Parents
PPS Middle School Magnet Program
Resources for students and families applying to the Pittsburgh Public School Magnet Program, incoming grades 6-8.
Please click on the links below to find information on each topic. For more resources, please ask a librarian.
- How to Write an Essay
- Literary Arts
- Dance, Instrumental Music and Vocal Music
- Science and Technology
- Theater: Drama and Technical
- Visual Arts
More free library resources:
- Book a Librarian - Personal help with finding books, audition materials, how-to information, and more. (Not for proofreading.)
- Tutor.com – live, one-to-one online help with essay writing, including proofreading. Available daily 3:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Learn how to use rhymes and songs to incorporate fun early learning experiences into your child's day.
6 Early Learning Skills
Learn about the six early learning skills your child needs for school success.
When young children are experiencing difficulties in their daily lives, reading about characters with similar problems can help them cope.
eCLP for Kids
Click here to find a variety of e-resources for kids, from eBooks to reading suggestions to homework help.
Ele, which stands for Early Learning Environment, was created by the Fred Rogers Center. It's a place for parents, caretakers and educators of young children to find and share digital resources to support early learning and development in children from birth to age 5.
Ready Freddy, a program created by the Office of Child Development at the University of Pittsburgh, helps parents and kids prepare for kindergarten.
Pennsylvania's Promise for Children's Early Learning GPS can provide support to young children and their families. GPS stands for Guiding Parents Smoothly -- helping families set the right course for their children's success in kindergarten and beyond.
Spark: The Kids+Creativity Network
Spark is a network of people, projects and organizations in the greater Pittsburgh region that are creating learning opportunities using technology, media and the arts.
Reading is FUNdamental Pittsburgh
Dedicated to reducing the literacy gap by providing children with access to books that motivate children to develop a life long love of reading.
The ABC's of Child Development
Developmental milestones from PBS for your child's first five years in physical, social & emotional development and in thinking and communication skills.
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC): Child Development
An online source with tools to promote health, prevent disease, and become prepared for new health concerns.
A parenting site provided by American Academy of Pediatrics dedicated to providing general health information & guidance on various issues such as, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.
PNC Grow Up Great
Founded by The PNC Financial Services Group, the site provides tips for parents to help prepare your child, ages birth to 5, for school readiness.
Zero to Three
Information for parents to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers.
Child Care & Early Education
Child Care and Early Learning
Resources from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.
Early Learning Programs & Providers Search
Search for early learning programs at the Compass site from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.
Pennsylvania's Promise for Children
Promotes the importance of providing young children in Pennsylvania with access to quality early learning programs.
The site of the Pittsburgh Public Schools with information for parents regarding information about the district, early childhood & elementary education.
It is important for parents to guide their children's Internet use the same way they supervise their children's reading and television watching.


Bringing Métis Children’s Literature to Life: Teacher Guidebook for GDI Publications
|Title:||Bringing Métis Children’s Literature to Life: Teacher Guidebook for GDI Publications|
|Subject:||Métis, Lesson Plans, Education, Resource, Literature, GDI, Burton, Wilfred, Children, Guide|
Bringing Métis Children’s Literature to Life is a guidebook for teachers to support the children’s literature published by the Gabriel Dumont Institute (GDI). The guidebook supports teaching about the Métis and utilize strategies that foster and promote literacy development (listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and representing).
The stories used in this guidebook are written and illustrated by Métis authors and illustrators.
Each story brings traditional and contemporary Métis culture to life. They honour the past
and present. Métis children often see themselves in these publications. Non-Métis students
will see and connect with the universal themes and relate them to their own lives while
learning about Métis culture. Most importantly, this resource is about engaging readers in the
history and traditions of Métis culture through literature.
Métis children’s literature is found in classrooms, and in school libraries and public libraries all
across Canada. Teachers use the books in various ways to bring awareness of the culture
and teach outcomes. However, teachers are not always an “insider” in the culture, and
often search for ideas on how to incorporate Métis content into their practice. There is a
desire by teachers to be more inclusive, but they may not know how. This resource assists
teachers in being culturally responsive while at the same time allowing them to teach
If you are printing this resource, we recommend printing on one side only. This way, you will have room to make notes on the lessons to fit your particular class.
To download this resource, right-click the link above and select "Save Link As" or "Save Target As", and then select the folder on your computer where you would like to save the file.
To order the publications included in the guide, visit our online shop at: shopmetis.ca
|Publisher:||Gabriel Dumont Institute|
|Date:||September 11, 2013|
|Identifier:||Teacher Guide - GDI Resources September 11 2013.pdf|
|Date of Copyright:||September 11, 2013|
|GDI Media Filename:||Teacher Guide - GDI Resources October 3 2013.pdf|


by Anne-Evan Williams, LGL Director of Educational Development
For years there has been a heated debate in the reading community: phonics instruction or whole language instruction? The surge of back-to-basics instruction has repeatedly conflicted with the views of educators who look at reading within a larger frame of reference. While teachers all seemed to agree that comprehension was the ultimate goal, they openly disagreed on the instructional path to get there. Many reading educators now agree on a "balanced" program of literacy, one that builds foundation skills while simultaneously engaging students with meaningful texts and opening discussions about meaning-making.
Now we're seeing the same debate emerge in the math community. Especially in light of NCLB assessments, schools now are finding themselves in equally heated debates about basic math instruction vs. a discovery approach to building problem-solving skills. Much like the debate within the reading community, the end result of real-world application seems to be agreed upon, but the process by which to get students there is hotly debated.
The issue of back-to-basics math was raised in a recent article on cbn.com. Says NYU's Dr. Sylvain Cappell, "If you can put aside the technical steps and just do the calculations automatically, then you can go on to advanced material."
Yet while some students do struggle with basic computation, still others struggle with engagement and problem-solving strategies. Says Dr. Joseph Rosenstein of Rutgers University, "They need to become engaged. And if they don't become engaged, they don't learn, they don't retain it." This is often the argument of those in support of a more exploratory process of math instruction.
So what's the solution? Is one method of math instruction better than another? Will one more quickly raise test scores and prepare our students for life after high school? Math educators are beginning to find, much like reading instructors, that there is no right answer. Just as students learn reading differently, students learn math differently as well. Perhaps the new wave of math instruction will follow trends in reading instruction, melding together a balanced approach of basic computation and exploratory, problem-solving approaches.
Tags: math instruction, math intervention, balanced instruction, back to basics instruction


Birmingham Public Schools includes art education for grades Preschool-12. The concepts taught are sequential, building on prior knowledge each year. Students see demonstrations, learn about artists and cultures, and execute newly absorbed information which helps them create a unique piece of art.
- promotes and develops creative thinking
- provides a means for self-expression
- serves as an emotional release
- strengthens self concept and confidence
- increases self-understanding
- heightens aesthetics awareness and sensitivity
- enhances the ability to visualize
- encourages creative problem-solving and decision-making
- develops appreciation for the individuality of others
- leads to the integration of the individual
- aids physical coordination
- develops work habits and a sense of responsibility
Art provides even more...
- Everything around us has been designed by an artist.
- Our homes, cars, clothes, appliances, schools, offices, stores, dishes and furniture have been designed by artists before they went into production.
- Magazines and newspapers need artists, and artists are needed to design stages and costumes for the theater.
- Artists help design interiors of homes and buildings, and even draw plans for city parks and roller coasters.
Birmingham students get a full range of art in their Preschool - 12 experience.
Elementary and middle school students learn about things like
- how to compare and contrast
- how to organize themselves and their material,
- how to be open and creative
- how to make decisions about their work and other issues
- discovering patterns in art and every day life
- learning about artists in history
- how to respect each others ideas in brainstoriming sessions
- step-by-step instructions and activities
- how to evaluate their art and the art of others
- careers in art
At the High School level students get the above reinforced information. Also, we teach...
Art Foundations, Drawing, Painting, Graphic Design, Jewelry, Sculpture, Ceramics, Photography, Graphic Imaging, Printmaking, Computer Design, and AP Studio Art (for grades 11 and 12).
- Elementary students have art exhibits at their schools once a year to showcase what they have learned.
- Middle Schools show off their work in the hallways of their schools throughout the year.
- High school students have many opportunities to show their work: the national Scholastic Art competition is held each winter with winners announced in January and a regional exhibit in February. Further national judging happens in March with winners announced and a display of their work in Washington D.C.
- The Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center hosts a high school exhibit and competition in May. Groves and Seaholm both have students recognized for their outstanding art work.
- Many competitions come our way from various outside sources.
- Check the Groves and Seaholm High School Art Education link for inforamtion about the Jewelers of Birmingham High School Scholarship Competition.
- PTSA sponsors the Reflections contest each year.
- All grades are eligible to enter the Community House "Our Town" exhibit. The high schools are judged with winners announced at an opening ceremony in October.
- A new venue has become available to the Birmingham Art teachers: the Arden Courts Alzheimer's Assisted Living Center has generously offered their site as a place to exhibit our students' artwork. They have secured a judge, and awards will be given to the top placing students in every grade from 1 -12 ! We appreciate their interest and support of the area's finest artists!
Charities and Foundations...
Art students have been involved in:
- making empty bowls and flower pots for sales benefiting the needy
- creating hundreds of commemorative tiles for the Birmingham Education Foundation
- decorating masks for the Michigan Hospice organization to benefit the facilities who care for the aged.
ART IS EVERYWHERE !


Ready2Read is a FUN, hands-on reading program that will make kids LOVE reading!!
Ready2Read Level 3 Unit 8 will cover word families, sight words and long vowels. This comprehensive reading program is designed to meet all of the Common Core Reading Foundational Skills standards.
You can visit the Information page for Level 3 on our blog.
This packet is 63 pages long and included the following:
Sight Words: may, think, from, of Word Families: -oil, -out
Page 4- Color by Number Sight Word Stars
Page 5- Trace it, Stamp it, Paste it
Page 6- Spin and Graph Sight Words
Page 7- My Sight Word Book
Page 8- Missing Letters
Page 9-Wonderful word Families
Page 10- Roll, Read and Color
Page 11-17- Read and Write the Room Word Families (also for memory card game)
Page 18-19- Read and Write the Room Sight Words
Page 20-22 Word Families Detectives
Page 23-24-Word Family Word Sort
Page 25-26- Sight Word Decorating Sheets
Page 27-29-Build a Word Family Scene
Page 30-34 Go Fish Game Cards
Page 35-36- Ocean Wall Characters
Page 37-38- Sight Word Headband
Page 39- Color by Sight Word Page
Page 40-Roll, Trace and Check it Off!
Page 41- Sight Word Match/ Sight Word Spelling
Page 42- Game Board
Page 43-Long Vowel Posters
Page 44-45 - Ready2Read Certificate
Page 46- Sight Word Graphing
Page 47-Word Family Graphing
Page 48- Word Search
Page 49-50- Word Family Word Race
Page 51-52- Box Them Up!
Page 53-Sight Word Make-a-Match
Page 54-55- Word Family Word Slides
Page 56-57- Stamp it Up!
Page 58- Tic-Tac-Toe Sight Words
Page 59-Sight Word Success
Page 60-Clap the Sight Word Syllables
Page 61-Fix that Sentences
Page 63-63 Lesson Plans
Be sure to visit The Moffatt Girls blog for more educational resources and ideas!


If Big Bird had ever invited his weird armless cousin from Down Under to visit Sesame Street, American kids would have met the moa. These flightless birds lived in New Zealand until hungry humans arrived; the last moa species predictably went extinct around 1500. Thanks to fossilized droppings, though, scientists are learning how the hapless giants lived, what they ate, and what holes they left in the ecosystem by vanishing.
Here are some fossil turds. In polite company, you can refer to them as "coprolites."
Researchers led by Jamie Wood of Landcare Research in Canterbury, New Zealand, discovered about a hundred moa coprolites in the entrance to a remote cave. Thanks to the sunlight and breezy air, the desiccated droppings had been well preserved. They picked out 35 choice specimens (above) to take back to the lab.
To turn the rocky clumps into open books, the researchers used every tool they had. They carbon dated the coprolites to find out their ages. They cracked them open and looked for tiny bits of leaves or seeds that had been fossilized inside. They extracted DNA from the coprolites, both belonging to the moas that had left them behind and the plants those birds had eaten. And they dissolved their samples to get out pollen grains, which could be traced to plant species.
There were 11 or so species of moa alive in the past, ranging from hefty to alarmingly large. The biggest were nearly twice the weight of a large ostrich today. However, the DNA sequences inside the coprolites revealed that they all belonged to just one species: the upland moa, Megalapteryx didinus. Jamie Wood says this was one of the smaller moa species, standing about three feet tall (minus the neck and head) and weighing around 80 pounds. "It had sharp claws and was feathered right down to the feet," he adds.
The upland moa was also the last one to go extinct. Carbon dating showed that the most recent fossil droppings were only dropped about 700 years ago. Other coprolites in the cave were closer to 6400 years old. Based on the pollen and moa DNA inside them, the authors think certain clusters of coprolites within their sample came from "a single defecation event." Nearly half their sample might be accounted for by just five birds, using this cave as a latrine at different points in history.
Plant DNA, pollen, and microscopic fossils inside the coprolites revealed what those historic birds had recently eaten. The upland moa wasn't picky: At least 67 types of plants were accounted for in the droppings. Some of the pollen may have blown onto the birds' food from elsewhere. But overall, the upland moa was an indiscriminate herbivore, eating whatever plants were around. In addition to trees, shrubs, and grasses, it likely ate the flowers of flax and fuchsia plants. (These nectar-filled treats are eaten by some living birds as well.)
The pollen and seeds inside the coprolites came from plants that flower in the spring and summer, which let the researchers infer that the birds moved to warmer forests during the winter months. And they squeezed a further bit of information from the stony droppings: Seeds from several plant species had survived intact inside them. This means the birds would have scattered these seeds—possibly to sprout again—wherever they did their business.
Certain regional plant species may have relied on the moas to distribute their seeds in this way. In evolutionary terms, the birds haven't been gone long; the authors point out that some very old trees alive today might have been planted by moas. Dominos tipped by the extinction of the moa may still be falling throughout the New Zealand ecosystem.
Jamie Wood says he and his colleagues still haven't exhausted the information that can be extracted from a fossil turd. In the future, they'd like to use DNA evidence to discover the sex of each dung-depositing moa. "Some moa species had vast size differences between sexes, so we are interested in working out whether the diets and habitat use also varied with the different sexes," he says.
Six-thousand-year-old poop might not have gone over well as a Sesame Street topic, even if Big Bird's extinct cousin had shown up. But for scientists, the fossils are providing an elementary education about a vanished species.
Jamie R. Wood, Janet M. Wilmshurst, Steven J. Wagstaff, Trevor H. Worthy, Nicolas J. Rawlence, & Alan Cooper (2012). High-Resolution Coproecology: Using Coprolites to Reconstruct the Habits and Habitats of New Zealand’s Extinct Upland Moa (Megalapteryx didinus) PLoS ONE : 10.1371/journal.pone.0040025


“Provides the very sorts of information needed to assist students in developing their understanding of complex texts in more complex ways.”
Richard L. Allington, Professor of Literacy Studies,
University of Tennessee
Jennifer Serravallo is a literacy consultant, researcher, and author of several professional books, including The Literacy Teacher's Playbook for grades K-2 (2014) and 3-6 (2013),
Conferring With Readers (2007) and Teaching Reading in Small Groups (2010). Until 2012, Jennifer was a Senior Staff Developer at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, where she worked for eight years helping urban, suburban, and rural schools implement exceptional literacy instruction through reading and writing workshops. While working toward her MA at Teachers College, Jennifer taught grades 3–5 in two Title I schools with large class sizes, high numbers of ELLs, and an enormous range of learners. The experience galvanized her to develop Independent Reading Assessment and other resources that help teachers meet students wherever they are in their learning curve as readers and writers. Jennifer is also a graduate of Vassar College, with degrees in Child Development and Elementary Education. She has taught undergraduate- and graduate-level courses at both Vassar and Teachers College on children’s literature and Urban Education Reform.


Olivier Messiaen (December 10, 1908–April 27, 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist.
Messiaen was born in Avignon into a literary family: his mother was the poet Cécile Sauvage, while his father was a translator who worked on an edition of Shakespeare in French. He began composing at a young age, and at the age of eleven, entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he had a traditional music education under Marcel Dupré and Paul Dukas among others.
He secured a post as organist of La Sainte Trinité church, Paris, in 1930. He retained this position into his eighties, and the music he composed for the organ throughout his life was informed by his interest in theological subjects.
In 1939, with the outbreak of World War II, he was called up for military service. He was captured by the Germans, and in 1941 wrote one of his most famous pieces, the Quatuor pour la fin du temps as a prisoner of war.
Later the same year, he was released, and in 1942 took up a post as professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire (he became composition professor in 1966). He also gave informal lessons to young avant garde composers, including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. It was through these that he met his second wife, Yvonne Loriod, who was to become a champion of his work as a pianist.
He went on to teach in many places abroad, including in the summer school courses at Darmstadt.
Messiaen's musical style is typically a mix of extended, but essentially tonal, harmony with often complex rhythms and structures. He frequently used what he termed modes of limited transposition, which he formulated in conjunction with a mathematician friend, and are not related to church modes. He was also interested in medieval and Indian rhythms. During the early 1950s, he became interested in dodecaphony, and is considered to be a pioneer in the field of serialism, a method to which he introduced his pupil Pierre Boulez. His music is rife with a variety of idiosyncratic sound-structures that he dubbed 'special chords' (accords speciaux). His sheet music sometimes contains indications of particular colors; Messiaen experienced a condition known as synaesthesia that caused him to see colors whenever he heard music.
Many of Messiaen's works are concerned with the Roman Catholic faith (for example Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus), but he also drew inspiration from Hinduism; his Turangalîla Symphony takes its name from two Sanskrit words with manifold meanings, including 'time', 'play' and 'love song'.
Messiaen was also influenced by bird song, often walking in the woods with manuscript paper and transcribing the songs he heard. His books of piano pieces, Catalogue d'oiseaux, and his orchestral work, Oiseaux exotiques, are both based on bird song. All of his works composed after 1955 include fragments of birdsong.
Messiaen was a pioneer in the use of new instrumental forces. His works introduced the Gamelan-like sound of a large tuned percussion section into European music. He was also a champion of the Ondes Martenot, of which his sister-in-law, Jeanne Loriod, was a leading exponent. This biography is published under the GNU Licence


Physical Details: Commonplace book : 1 v. : handwritten ; 31 x 23 cm.
Creator: William Mills Ivins (1881-1961)
Description: In his notebook, Ivins addresses topics such as art education and scholarship, art theory, museum administration and purpose, history of printmaking, and print collecting.
Additional loose pages inserted throughout notebook. Only selected pages have been scanned.
Forms part of: William Mills Ivins papers, 1878-1964
Rights Statement: Current copyright status is undetermined
Citation: Notebook of William Mills Ivins, 1927-1928. William Mills Ivins papers, 1878-1964. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Digital ID: 9809
- Museum administration


Fifth & Sixth Grades
The Harmony 5th & 6th grade provides students with the opportunity to further develop leadership, academic, social, and mediation skills in preparation for the culminating experience of their elementary education, the graduation project, and toward the greater goal of developing lifelong learners. Course work is often designed as a path to practice the skills of real work that they will do in the world.
What We’re Currently Learning
Harmony 5th & 6th graders investigated Brain Science this semester as the core hub of our integrated life skills curriculum. Through this lens, our class explored a wide variety of topics including: the nervous system, the basic anatomy of the brain, functional areas of the brain, the emotional center of the brain and the amygdala, strategies for managing negative emotional responses, the neurological and anatomical changes in the teenage brain, autism and Asperger’s Spectrum Disorder, and neurological and brain injuries and disorders.
We watched a variety of videos, TED talks, documentaries, and hosted guest speakers, such as Mr. Steve Volan, Bloomington City Council member and current IU graduate student, who spoke about living with Asperger’s. We were also fascinated by IU Brain Science Department’s, Dale Sengelaub. Dale gifted our class much time. He brought in his brain collection, gave a captivating presentation, sent thoughtful email answers to student inquiries, and fielded student questions for over one and a half hours! Additionally, he will join our students at our annual Harmony School Open House, including his brain collection in our student exhibition of their brain science research projects.
Our ultimate goal, besides learning science and the various life skills topics, is to provide students with practical strategies for dealing with the specific issues in our personal lives and to employ in our relationships as citizens in diverse communities. This is where our mindfulness training comes into practice. We’ve learned and practiced mindful breathing and meditation, and talked about other mindfulness practices as well.
All in all, this has been an illuminating unit of study! Below we have several pictures of this wonderful experience.
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GO Solve Word Problems delivers anchored instruction, guided, and adaptive practice
to help students build math problem-solving skills and achieve mastery.
The GO Solve Word Problems System
1. Anchored InstructionEngaging animations instruct students in each mathematical situation and help students build mental models of word problems through graphic organizer representations.
2. Guided PracticeInteractive activities break down the problem-solving process and progressively build understanding through step-by-step practice.
3. Adaptive PracticeStudents practice solving math problems in adaptive sessions that adjust the difficulty of the problems based on each student's performance. Repeated exposures build fluency with recognizing each mathematical situation. Additional learning supports include: hints, calculator, notebook, and personalization.
GO Pads: Graphic Organizer sheets encourage students to organize their thoughts and calculations on paper when solving practice problems inside and outside of the program.
Student Exercises: These activities deepen students' understanding of word problem situations and challenge students to think critically. In these exercises students examine problems, sketch organizers, and write their own problems.
Go Solve Word Problems blends whole-class, group, and individualized instruction, for flexible implementation in any classroom. Students efficiently build robust problem-solving skills over 30 minute sessions, 1-2 times a week, in less than 2 months.
- Whole-class use: With an interactive whiteboard or projector teachers can lead the class through the Anchored Instruction animations and engage everyone in discussion.
- Paired use: In the Guided Practice sessions, students can tackle problem solving together in pairs.
- Individual use: Students can work independently on word problems in the Adaptive Practice.
Depending on your school's curriculum and infrastructure this implementation can be customized to fit your needs.


Funky Chickens: Free Lesson Plan Download
Level: 3-5 Art Education Lesson Plan
Art Elements: Line, Shape, Color
Art Skills: Drawing, Coloring, Digital Design
Art History: Folk Art
* Get more free lessons like this, on our Lessons Page
Technology in the art room is a really hot topic. Classrooms are filling up with mind-blowing hardware and devices, apps and websites are getting better, and the products they can create are getting more sophisticated. So, what do we want our students to learn from this 21st century media? It is the perfect opportunity to dig into our art history! This lesson asks students to discuss and experience making very traditional and very high-tech art then compare and contrast the two. These activities constitute a well-rounded unit that directs students to create art, think about it critically, and then reflect on their experience. Perc-a-doodle-doo!


Two major literacy reports were released this week. Interestingly, the areas addressed represent “bookends’ on the education continuum—early literacy and adult literacy.
Developing Early Literacy is the report of the National Early Literacy Panel. I found the findings on instructional practices that give young learners a leg up on early literacy skills of particular interest:
Instructional Practices That Enhance Early Literacy Skills
• Code-focused interventions: Interventions designed to teach children skills related to cracking the alphabetic code. Most code-focused interventions included PA instruction.
• Shared-reading interventions: Interventions involving reading books to children. These interventions included studies of simple shared reading and those that encouraged various forms of reader-child interactions around the material being read.
• Parent and home programs: Interventions using parents as agents of intervention. These interventions may have involved teaching parents instructional techniques to use with their children at home to stimulate children’s linguistic or cognitive development.
• Preschool and kindergarten programs: Studies evaluating any aspect of a preschool or kindergarten program. Ten studies in this category concerned one particular intervention (the Abecedarian Project). Other studies evaluated effects of educational programs, curricula, or policies, such as extended-year experience, on kindergartners.
• Language-enhancement interventions: Studies examining the effectiveness of an instructional effort aimed at improving young children’s language development.*
It was also very clear that there is a need for more on research on this critical period in literacy development. For the complete report go to http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/NELP/NELP09.html


PRIMARY school children were encouraged to become chatterboxes for the day in an initiative designed to boost communications skills.
Reception classes at Reid Street Primary School, Darlington, spent weeks learning the words to four songs, which they then performed to friends and family.
The Chatterbox Challenge aims to develop speech and language through fun activities and a performance.
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Dozens of four and five year olds also looked at Chinese culture and performed a dragon dance for an appreciative audience.
Foundation stage leader Amanda Jones said: “It has worked really well. The children have been incredibly excited and have been going home talking about it.
“While it has been hard work and challenging, the children have done nothing but chatter about what they have learned and parents were delighted.
“Children need to develop skills in speaking and listening as this is the basis for their literacy development. Chatterbox provides an exciting, enjoyable, yet challenging means of helping our children develop these essential basic skills.”


Music educators, convinced that music offers a uniquely enriching dimension of living, agree that every student has a right to an education in music.
But, they say, this right is often impeded by the emphasis upon musical performance at assembly programs, football games, and concerts - the means by which parents and the public (and sometimes the principal and other teachers) most often judge the calibre of a school's music-education program.
Too strong a concentration upon performance ignores the large number of students who have never studied an instrument, sung in a choral group, or performed with a band or orchestra. Referring to a 1979 survey of students aged 9, 13, and 17 that revealed the high percentage of students without performing experience, Dr. Richard Graham of the University of Georgia, concluded, ''This shows . . . a clear need for additional music education opportunities in the nation's high schools - opportunities that are as attractive as our performing groups, but which may not require extensive performing skills.''
Such opportunities include composing, dancing, music history, relating music to other art forms, and experiencing the beauty and variety of musical sounds.
The goals of music education programs, according to 100 music teachers from New York state, are ''enjoyment'' and ''cultural enrichment.'' They place third priority on proficiency in performance, and after that they name in declining order: character development; public performance; understanding of form, structure, and aesthetics; training for music as a career; and festival competition.
No agreement exists on the best method of reaching these goals. Some school music teaching stresses sight-reading and solmization (the use of musical syllables, do-re-mi and so forth); other schools emphasize rhythmic development and coordination, often employing rote-learning techniques. Most teachers welcome visits by professional musicians, attendance at symphony concerts, and other community resources that enhance music appreciation.
More serious than the debate over methods is the general assessment that school music programs are weaker now than they were 15 years ago. Many school systems have cut music-teaching positions, apparently as a result of budget paring, declining school enrollments, the back-to-basics movement that regards the arts as frills, and the diversity of interest groups within the music profession itself.
This professional crisis has alerted music educators to the necessity of making sure that school music-education programs establish clearly defined goals , appropriate methods for reaching them, proper evaluation procedures, and more public understanding and support.


Guidance & Career Studies - Grade 10
GLC2O1 - Career Studies (.5 credit) (You must also choose CHV2O1) - This half credit course teaches students how to develop and achieve personal goals for future learning, work, and community involvement. Students will assess their interests, skills, and characteristics and investigate current economic and workplace trends, work opportunities, and ways to search for work. The course explores post-secondary learning and career options, prepares students for managing work and life transitions, and helps students focus on their goals through the development of a career plan. Refer to Canadian & World Studies section for CHV2O1.
GLE2O1 - Learning Strategies 1: Skills for Success in Secondary School - This course focuses on learning strategies to help students become better, more independent learners. Students will learn how to develop and apply literacy and numeracy skills, personal management skills, and interpersonal and teamwork skills to improve their learning and achievement in school, the workplace, and the community. The course helps students build confidence and motivation to pursue opportunities for success in secondary school and beyond. Placement in this course is usually at the recommendation of a teacher or administrator.


Does it make any sense to hope your kid will learn phonics by playing games on an iPhone or iPad? A book seems simpler, less expensive and better. And kids like to be read to. In a book, the words are in context with the story and pictures.
I don’t own an iPad so I borrowed one from Jenny Gillespie, our graphic designer. Even she said she prefers books for teaching her kids to read and she’s 30, so I don’t feel like such a dinosaur because I prefer books.
Books have distinct advantages. Spill juice on a book? Drop it on a hard floor? No problem. Spill juice on Mom’s iPhone or iPad? Drop it on a tile floor? Mom’s going to be upset.
A company sent us a press release about a phonics game called Coop Phonics. The release says, “My game is the first REAL (emphasis theirs) social learning game ever created.” The game is social as in the parent points to the word on the screen, pronounces it and then presses an icon to initiate lots of sound effects and old-school-looking graphics. And it’s not really a game.
Coop Phonics is $1.99 and based on my experience with the “game” it is way overpriced. Even if it were free I don’t think it would be a good use of time.
Kids learn phonics so they can sound out words they don’t know. As they sound out words, they often discover the word they are trying to read is one they have heard and said before. There is a sound-symbol relationship kids have to learn in order to read.
All kids need some phonics instruction. How much instruction they need depends on the kid. Some kids internalize the phonics rules quickly, while others need more explicit instruction and practice. The more kids read and are read to, the more they add to their sight word vocabulary — they learn how their listening and speaking vocabularies look in print.
When you read to your kids, point to the word they don’t know and sound it out with them. With the youngest kids, just sound out the first letter. I know some preschools teach reading to 2- and 3-year-olds, but really, kids who learn their ABCs in preschool along with some letter sounds will do fine when they get to kindergarten and first grade, when reading instruction starts and kids are developmentally ready for it.
My kids are grown and learned to be excellent readers in kindergarten and first grade without an iPad. I’m not willing to wade through hundreds of games on iTunes looking for a good phonics app, so if you know of one, tell me so I can check it out and share it with our readers.


Reach Out and Read
Reach Out and Read (ROR) is a national pediatric literacy program that promotes early literacy and school readiness in over 4900 clinics nationwide. The program builds on the unique relationship between parents and medical providers to develop critical early reading skills in children beginning at 6 months of age. ROR prepares young children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors who prescribe books and encourage families to read together. Over 4 million children are served annually in the country.
There are 221 sites in Florida, including 17 in the Tampa Bay Area. USF Pediatrics runs the Reach Out and Read program at the USF 17 Davis Clinic, USF STC Clinic and the Healthpark clinic. There is also a program at the All Children's Hospital pediatric clinic. The goal of the program is to integrate parent education about literacy development into regular pediatric care for young children, taking advantage of regularly scheduled well-child visits to reach parents of young children. At every health supervision visit, children from 6 months to 5 years of age receive a new book along with advice from their provider. Through the guidance from pediatricians and nurse practitioners, parents learn ways to support their children's early literacy development. Reading aloud is "prescribed" to parents as part of their child's daily routine to make literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric primary care. The goal is for children to grow up with books and a love of reading.
In our clinic waiting rooms, community volunteers - many of whom are USF students - engage the children with books and reading, looking and labeling, reading aloud, listening to the children read, and modeling book-related interactions for parents. Used books are available in the waiting and examining room for children to peruse while waiting to see the doctor. Later on, in the examining room, the pediatric care provider introduces an age-appropriate children's book into the visit, commenting on the child's response and offering information on the child's development. At each well-child checkup, the child is given a new book to take home. These books have been carefully chosen and are developmentally and culturally appropriate for the child.
Handouts and brochures with tips on reading are also made available to the families. For many parents, seeing the doctor give the child a book and seeing books and reading throughout the clinic communicates the importance of reading more effectively than any amount of explanation. Further, the accumulation of these books in the home, all carrying the health provider's recommendation, offers parents an opportunity to help their children develop and grow, and offers children a pleasurable and positive way to elicit parental attention.
Dr. Sharon Dabrow, Professor of Pediatrics, is the USF ROR Medical Director. Dr. Jennifer Takagishi is the Healthpark ROR Director. They can be contacted at email@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.org. Ms. Ellen Kent is the volunteer coordinator and can be contacted at email@example.com. For more information, visit the ROR website at www.reachoutandread.org.