Informative articles, research summaries and papers focus on literacy in children. Highlights a special segment of Position Papers in “How Young Children Learn to Read in High/Scope Programs.” In addition, specific advice and suggestions for parents and teachers and a schedule of relevant trainings and conferences are offered. Literacy information applicable to infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary school students.
Reading Comprehension: Teaching Reading Comprehension, Teaching Reading Strategies
in Education / Learning
A substantial collection of early literacy information. Includes information and articles on teaching reading strategies and reading comprehension activities to elucidate literacy and reading in young children. Other topics covered include bilingualism, developmental disabilities, phonics and technology and literacy. Features additional tips, advice, a parenting guide, and a schedule of trainings and conferences.
Reading Rockets is a national multimedia project offering information and resources on how kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how adults including parents, teachers, librarians, school psychologists, etc. can help. Reading Rockets creates and disseminates information about reading through PBS television programs, online services, and professional development opportunities.
Zero to Three provides practical tips and research-based information on early literacy for parents and/or professionals such as child care providers and pediatricians. Topics covered include language and literacy development and book preferences. The site also includes tips of the week and "Parenting A-Z."
The Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement Provides academic, technical articles and instructional resources on early literacy. Provides information on teaching reading strategies, reading books to children and story writing. covers topics such as reading comprehension activities, story writing, home and school effects and staff development.
Offers practical and research information and online journal articles on child literacy. Includes literacy in the classroom with reading comprehension activities, articles on teaching reading strategies, technology and literacy and other topics.
Summaries of current knowledge prepared especially for parents, with links to other relevant web sites. Articles cover how reading skills develop, difficulties with reading, and parents who have trouble reading. From the University of Michigan Health System.
Colorín Colorado provides information, activities, and advice for Spanish-speaking parents and educators of English language learners (ELLs). The parent's section is completely bilingual. For educators, there are downloadable resources for PreK-3 teachers (most resources are also relevant for grades 4-8) who have one or more English language learners (ELLs) in their class. The educator's section provides practical, research-based, and best-practice information and strategies for teaching English language learners.
Dr. Barbara Foorman discusses research on a variety of interventions for literacy in early childhood and school-age children. She presents effective intervention options for classrooms as well as individual students in need of literacy intervention support.
This article discusses reading interventions for third graders. It also discusses Early identification, intervention, and the success rates of retention.
in Education / Learning
- After School Care
- Bilingual Education
- Charter Schools
- Child Care/preschool
- Early Intervention -Practices
- Early Intervention- Literacy
- Gifted Children
- Health Care in Schools
- Home Schooling
- Language Delays
- Learning Disabilities
- Multicultural Education
- Out-of-school Time
- Parent Involvement
- Parents' Rights
- Physical Disabilities
- Preschool Curriculum
- School Psychology
- School Readiness
- School Violence
- Special Education


LSD, also called acid, is one of the most commonly used hallucinogens or psychedelic drugs.
Binge drinkers are most likely found on college campuses, where many students consider a big game or fraternity party an excuse to drink all weekend.
Many teenagers still think smoking is cool. Here are some tools to help parents stay diligent in keeping their kids from smoking.
A pregnancy ended by miscarriage can be a traumatic loss. Unfortunately, it’s one that many women experience. Knowing how to deal with your feelings and find support can help you cope during this difficult time.
Having a make-believe friend is a normal part of your child's growth and usually happens between ages 3 and 6.
When a friend shows signs of abusing alcohol or other drugs, it's hard to know what to do or say.
Fewer than a quarter of those who attempt to quit are able to make it beyond three months before resuming smoking. Women usually find it harder to quit than do men, even though women have a higher risk of smoking-related diseases. The following suggestions can help you kick the habit, again, for good.
Besides having trouble with school and relationships, teenagers taking drugs may display emotional extremes with irritability, anger and changes in sleep patterns.
Depression is a mood disorder that involves a adolescent's body, mood, and thoughts. It can affect and disrupt eating, sleeping, or thinking patterns.
Children who have ADHD are often given medication as part of their treatment plan. The type of medication most often chosen is a psychostimulant.
Three kinds of prescription drugs are potentially addictive: opioids, tranquilizers, and stimulants.
While being a new Mom brings lots of joy, it also brings stress—something a crying baby can make worse. Better understanding why your baby cries can help you deal with this stress in a healthy way and help you avoid the most common form of child abuse: Shaken baby syndrome.
Ecstasy, or MDMA -- also called "Adam," "E," or "XTC" on the street -- is a synthetic, mind-altering drug with hallucinogenic and amphetamine-like properties.
Research shows that adolescents who grow up with high self-esteem are far less likely to abuse drugs or drink, compared with children who grow up without much sense of self-worth.
Domestic violence is behavior someone uses to control a spouse, partner, date or elderly relative through fear and intimidation.
People who are thinking about getting a tattoo should slow down and think twice.
Organized sports for children offer obvious benefits such as physical fitness and sportsmanship, but did you know that a musical education program has many of the same benefits? Music education and participation in sports are both great ways to prepare your child for future success.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death in 15- to 24-year-olds. The strongest risk factors for attempted suicide in youth are depression, substance abuse, and aggressive or disruptive behaviors.
These fits of rage—the stomping, screaming, and falling on the floor—are a normal part of childhood development. Temper tantrums often occur only with a parent. They are a way for the child to communicate his or her feelings.
Too many young people are participating in a dangerous practice called binge drinking, or drinking to intoxication. It's defined as having five or more drinks in a row for men; for women, it’s four-plus drinks in a row.
Knowing about marijuana can help you recognize its use in children and others and help a user seek treatment.
Methamphetamine is related to the legal stimulant amphetamine, but has stronger effects.
Parents need to realize the rational part of a teen’s brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until he or she is 25 years old or so.
Preventing teen turmoil starts at birth. Parents set examples in the way they interact, express anger, and treat substance abuse.
Child abuse can happen in any family and in any neighborhood. Studies have shown that child abuse crosses all boundaries of income, race, ethnic heritage and religious faith.
Until recently, heroin was not considered a problem among children of middle-class parents. But lately, it has been showing up in new places.


Expose children to good books to encourage reading, says visiting mentor
Award-winning books found in bookstores are choices that cannot go wrong.
So says visiting educator Dr. Daisy Lu as she shares her insights on how to teach reading effectively with teachers of Immaculate Conception Academy and graduating education majors of the University of Santo Tomas.
Cultivate good reading by exposing children to good books with multicultural backgrounds. The test of a good book lies firstly in the written language, according to Lu. In addition, the character develops. So does the plot. The author shows his/her message as the story unfolds and does not tell it, she says.
“When it comes to reading, motivation of children should be to the point of making the children reach the highest level of efficacy,” says the education specialist with at least four decades of teaching experience in the United States.
“Work at his/her highest potential. Try to raise the bar. Do not just have children emerge as simply good at repeating after you. Bring in the arts: Music, drama, poetry and storytelling.”
Gone are the days of just requiring children as readers to write book reports afterwards, she says, citing the American experience. Other activities requiring children to think creatively and even design, like producing a small play, have taken over. Teaching reading today is just like the Dalcroze method of teaching music, calling for improvisation all the time, she adds.
Nurture curiosity, Lu says. Letting growth prevail over security has to be encouraged. Having the courage to take risks takes the learner farther.
“Autonomy helps push children,” Dr. Lu tells her audience. “Give them freedom in putting together a play inspired by a storybook and they will achieve their goal with amazing results. Everyone wants to feel he or she is making a choice.”
Also important is openness toward what the kids can come up with. Their imaginative power goes to work. Wonderful ideas do surface.
“Charlotte’s Web,” a best-selling children’s book about friendship, was once turned into an entertaining play complete with music by her grade school class. The art teacher helped create the costumes for the spider and the pig, for example. Lu, who has music training, handled the music for the small production.
Critical thinking involving strategies has to be kept in mind when teaching. Teaching pedagogy by scaffolding means knowing how to zoom in by asking questions to keep stimulating more questions, according to the visiting lecturer from Seattle, Washington.
Lu describes a good reader as a person who shows selective attention. He does not read everything. He has self-regulation and demonstrates discipline. Metacognition is another indication of a good reader. This is “knowledge about when and how to use particular strategies for learning or for problem solving.”
Content knowledge when teaching has to be advanced, she tells local teachers. Language and reading teachers should work with other teachers like those in science to improve a child’s learning, according to her. She says she herself has never stopped learning, enrolling in diverse courses in the university and traveling extensively to enrich her own knowledge.
Lu has a doctorate degree in Cognitive Psychology, Socio-Psycholinguistics, Literacy Development and Bilingual-Multicultural Education from the University of Washington.
She was a K-12 teacher and principal in Seattle before deciding to focus on teaching at the university level.
E-mail Dr. Lu at email@example.com.
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Iconic picture book creator Byron Barton chats with SLJ about his process, his influences, and his unique style.
It’s never too early to encourage reading. Richard Byrne shares his picks for tools that young readers and writers can use with or without an adult. Includes screencasts demoing three applications: Building Language for Literacy, Reading Bear, and Maily, an iOS app for letter writing.
From preschool to middle grade, these nonfiction titles explore the animal kingdom and all its wild ways.
Tablets are wonderful devices, providing unbelievable computing power in a simple-to-use package. But they aren’t good for developing technology problem-solvers.
Using our hands is critical to learning, and the rise of digital devices in early childhood learning potentially limits children’s opportunities to learn about the world around them through touch. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers founds young children have trouble using toys and blocks because of their overuse of touch-screen devices. So, the digital industry is coming up with ways to use interactive touch and tools with the digital screen.
To celebrate the recent Spanish-language launch of the early literacy initiative, Every Child Ready to Read, Libro por libro has selected kid-friendly bilingual and Spanish titles that work well with each of the five practices: talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing.
SLJ’s editor in chief, Rebecca Miller, writes about early learning and the role books, adults, and libraries play in building the foundation to literacy, curiosity, and lifelong learning.
Mayhem, schmayhem. If your library’s children’s room is chaotic, it’s proof that the little ones are learning.
One in 68 children in the United States has an autism spectrum disorder, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. SLJ explores the different accommodations and programs within the library world that encompass the wide range on the autism spectrum—depending on severity of the condition to the age of the youth with autism.
In light of increased attention on early childhood development, SLJ presents a selection of fun and engaging board books.
Nineteen titles to inspire and entertain young scholars as they embark on a new educational adventure.
Inside the Worlds of Edward Hopper, Ashley Bryan, and Melba Liston | Nonfiction Preschool to Grade 4
This month, nonfiction titles introduce readers to whole new worlds. Learn about painter Edward Hopper, jazz prodigy Melba Liston, and puppeteer and poet Ashley Bryan.
Inside Human Trafficking, a Natural Mystery, and a Classic Author’s Memoir | Grades 5 & Up Nonfiction
Check out the latest nonfiction for older readers: Sandra Markle solves the mystery of the little brown bats, Alison Marie Behnke profiles human trafficking, and author Katherine Paterson provides an intimate portrait of her life.
When it comes to children under the age of two and screen time, early learning specialists and the American Academy of Pediatrics don’t recommend it. For ages two to five? Most experts agree that limited, “intentional and developmentally appropriate” use is acceptable. Here are our recommendations of a few apps that meet that criteria.
Given the focus on ebooks these days, could old-fashioned print books provide a superior reading experience? Actually, yes—especially for young children whose literacy skills are just beginning to emerge.
Library music programs are fun and support early learning. They’re also essential: A growing body of research is affirming the central role of music in building literacy.
Summer and Fall Picture Books, Easy Readers, and Beginning Chapter Books | Preschool to Grade 4 Fiction
This month, SLJ looks at Aaron Becker’s wordless triumph, Hervé Tullet’s latest interactive picture book, Mo Willems’s gentle yet hilarious take on friendship, and more.
Fiction for the middle-grade set includes both the light and lively, with Lynne Rae Perkins’s “true” tale of squirrels, and the stark and serious, with Andrea Davis Pinkney’s The Red Pencil.
The Latest from Stephanie Perkins, Maggie Stiefvater, and Scott Westerfeld | Gr 9 & Up Fiction Reviews
Whether it’s Stephanie Perkins’s latest title set in the City of Light, Scott Westerfeld’s mind-bending volume, or Maggie Stiefvater’s companion to her “Wolves of Mercy Falls,” July’s reviews are chock-full of heavy hitters. And don’t miss offerings from debut authors E. K. Jonston and Michelle Knudsen.


Play is how infants understand the world around them, and Tummy Time is the best way to build the strength and coordination needed to roll over, crawl, and reach. Since it is advised that babies lay on their backs to sleep and spend so much time in this position, parents are encouraged to work Tummy Time into their baby’s routine to help develop the neck and back muscles.
“As soon as the baby is born, you can begin Tummy Time in the hospital,” says Anne Zachry, PhD, OTR/L, a pediatric occupational therapist. “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that Tummy Time start at birth to avoid flat head syndrome. Tummy Time works the core, shoulders, back, and neck, which are all critical to playing and learning for babies.”
The American Occupational Therapy Association offers tips for successful tummy time sessions:
- Start Slow. Start gradually with short 2- to 3-minute intervals a few times each day and work up to 40-50 minutes on their tummies per day.
- Make Tummy Time Part of Your Daily Routine. Incorporate Tummy Time into activities you already do with your baby, such as reading, drying off after a bath, changing a diaper, burping, or applying lotion. “If you work Tummy Time into your daily routine, your child will come to expect it,” says Zachry.
- Promote motor skill development. Arrange toys in a circle around your baby to encourage side-to-side movement and reaching in different directions. Get down on the baby’s level to encourage eye contact and head-lifting which develop neck muscles. Talk to your baby and hold a toy to promote head lifting, smiling, cooing, and reaching.
- Get Comfortable. Roll a towel or blanket and place it under your baby’s chest and arms to provide extra support during Tummy Time. Be sure your baby’s weight is distributed evenly to equally strengthen tummy muscles. (Always supervise your baby during Tummy Time, especially when using a bolster.)
- Engage the Senses. Place a mirror in front of your baby. Their own reflection offers engagement. Vary the textures that your baby lays on (terry-cloth or fleece, for example) to offer different touching sensations.
- Consider Alternatives. Tummy Time does not always have to take place on the floor. Use your chest, lap, or arms as places for your baby to lay. Comforting your baby while encouraging Tummy Time will help hesitant children feel more secure with new positions. A side-lying positioning works well if a transition to stomach-lying is needed.
“If they resist tummy time, don’t give up hope,” says Zachry. “Don’t lay them on their tummy and expect them to stay happy. Keep them entertained and keep it brief. If they start to fuss, remove them from the situation so they do not associate Tummy Time with a negative feeling.”
For more tips on a successful Tummy Time session, download the full tip sheet here.
Pediatric occupational therapy practitioners promote participation of all children and their families in everyday activities or occupations, including tummy time, to facilitate development. For more information about how occupational therapy practitioners work with children in their homes, schools, private practice, hospitals, or community locations, visit www.aota.org.
To schedule an interview with a pediatric occupational therapist, call AOTA Media Relations Manager Katie Riley, 301-652-6611, ext. 2963 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org.
Founded in 1917, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) represents the professional interests and concerns of more than 140,000 occupational therapists, assistants, and students nationwide. The Association educates the public and advances the profession of occupational therapy by providing resources, setting standards including accreditations, and serving as an advocate to improve health care. Based in Bethesda, Md., AOTA’s major programs and activities are directed toward promoting the professional development of its members and assuring consumer access to quality services so patients can maximize their individual potential. For more information, go to www.aota.org.


Are Montessori schools relevant in today’s society?
Much more so than people realize. One would be hard pressed to find a pre-school that doesn’t have child sized materials for their students. Montessori was the first to do that, along with teaching young children to do things for themselves.
As far as relevance in elementary education, over the past few years billions of dollars have been spent to assure that teachers know inside and out the most recent scientifically based research on education that there is.
Why? Because it is the firm belief of Margaret Spellings, the US Secretary of Education, that teachers have this knowledge. She rightfully believes that it will improve our classroom management, curriculum development, and implementation of subject material.
What does the latest scientifically based educational research support?
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION -. (adapting the instruction to the level and needs of each individual student.)
FLEXIBLE GROUPINGS – organizing instructional groups according to the level of instruction that each child needs, but the groups aren’t static. As information is mastered, the children are moved to another more appropriate group.
MULTI-MODALITY INSTRUCTION – teaching the concept in many different ways
INTEGRATED INSTRUCTION – integrating science, history, social studies, and geography into the core curriculum.
ASESSMENTS – constantly assessing the mastery and academic needs of the students
DIRECT INSTRUCTION – isolating a concept and directly teaching it
REALIA – bringing the actual thing or a close facsimile of what you are teaching about into the classroom
All different terms for the precepts of the Montessori Philosophy.


New research coming from the United States suggests that the Wii Fit video game and the Wii home console from Nintendo can be used to improve the development of children who are affected by movement difficulties at an early age.
The study was conducted by Professor Elisabeth Hill from the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths and Doctor Dido Green from Oxford Brookes with Doctor Ian Male of West Sussex PCT.
It shows that regular use of the balance video games included in the Wii Fit can have a positive impact on motor skill development and even improve social and emotional behavior for kids who are affected by Developmental Coordination Disorder.
The study tracked two groups of children over one month and those who spent just ten minutes for three times a week working with Wii Fit performed better in development tests than those who took part in their regular Jump Ahead treatment program.
Their motor performance was about three times better than of those in the control group.
Professor Elisabeth Hill states, “The results provide interesting points warranting further discussion, particularly in view of the fact that many children have access to the Nintendo Wii Fit and may be using this system at home with minimal supervision. This simple, popular intervention represents a plausible method to support children’s motor and psychosocial development.”
Doctor Male added, “Interventions are often limited within the health care system, and little is known about how technology might be used within schools or homes to promote the motor skills and/or psychosocial development of these children.”
The new study showing the potential medical uses of Wii Fit and the older Nintendo home console comes after another United Kingdom research program showed that the Kinect motion tracking system could be used in order to improve rehabilitation for those who suffered a stroke.


Graduate Catalog 2015-2016
Home | Graduate Catalog 2015-2016 | Graduate Programs, Disciplines, and Course Offerings | Graduate Programs in Education | Graduate Education Courses | EDE - Childhood Education (Elementary Education) Courses | EDE 684 Big Ideas Of Science
EDE 684 Big Ideas Of Science
3 Lecture Hours; 1 Laboratory Hour; 4 Credits
Education research suggests that students improve their learning and understanding of science when connections are made to essential questions and big ideas. In science big ideas include energy, evolution and matter. This course will enable students to develop deep, transferable understanding and skills by relating the concepts taught in the elementary science curriculum to science big ideas. This course will focus on the development of students' ability to understand the changing world in which they live. They develop this by utilizing a broad range of thinking skills and learning styles to promote meaningful and deep learning. The course will include activities and experiments that address multiple learning styles and abilities, and foster skill development including mathematics, scientific literacy and technical skills.
Prerequisite: Matriculation in Sequence I of the Graduate Elementary Education Program or EDE 604 or equivalent
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Nine million Canadians have trouble reading and writing.
In America the news isn't much better. The Department of Justice reports that there are 21 million Americans who can't read at all and another 45 million who are marginally illiterate. One-fifth of high school graduates can't read their diplomas.
This YouTube video highlights the ridiculous characterization of adult illiteracy. And although this spoof pokes fun at the lack of funding for struggling readers – a closer look at the individual drama and suffering of these adults and children is no laughing matter.
Estimates for American high school dropouts, who typically have low literacy skills, are on the order of about $335 billion per year. For those you gain entry into the workplace, private industry spends an estimated $3.1 billion annually to bolster the literacy skills of entry-level workers.
More books, more reading time, and even more money alone cannot fix this problem. The answer lies in explicit, systematic phonics instruction. Every teacher should be able to teach the fundamentals of reading.
Why would we relegate this critical life skill to a few overworked, reading specialists?
If we can approach this ongoing adult illiteracy epidemic correctly, by teaching reading strategies that actually improve reading skills, we won't need to laugh - we'll be smiling.


Contact: Science Press Package
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The tortoise and the volcano
Giant Galápagos tortoises that survived an explosive volcanic eruption about 100,000 years ago.
Image/Artwork courtesy of Luciano Beheregaray.
Click here for a high resolution photograph.
In the Aesop's fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare," the slow and steady tortoise defeats the speedy yet over-confident hare and reminds us of the value of never giving up. The giant Galápagos tortoises that survived an explosive volcanic eruption about 100,000 years ago never gave up either. In a new study, scientists report that the tortoises living on the volcano's slopes today, the descendants of the eruption survivors, carry a record of the eruption in their genetic make-up.
The authors say that the eruption left its mark when it killed off much of the tortoise population. This caused a dramatic reduction in genetic variety, a situation known as a "genetic bottleneck."
The scientists analyzed the genetic diversity of separate populations of giant tortoises from the same island in the Galápagos. Each population of tortoises studied lives on the slopes of a different volcano.
They report that the genetic diversity found in tortoises on the slopes of Alcedo, a volcano with an explosive eruption in its past, is lower than the genetic diversity of tortoise populations from volcanoes with less explosive eruptions in their past. The timing of the drop in genetic variation seems to agree with the timing of the eruption, the researchers say. This research appears in the 03 October issue of the journal Science published by AAAS the science society.
Back to Science for kids
Science is published by AAAS, the science society.


* Your child will receive a weekly Spelling list.
* All Spelling tests will be announced.
* The day for each Spelling test is already typed on your child's homework assignment sheet.
* The words included in each Spelling list are words that appear often in our Scott Foresman's Reading Street textbook.
* The list of words will usually be grouped to follow certain vowel and/or consonant patterns. Yes... Phonics instruction is still around!!
Lesson 1 Frindle
Lesson 2 Thunder Rose
Lesson 3 Island of the Blue Dolphins
Lesson 4 Satchel Paige
Lesson 5 Shutting Out the Sky
Lesson 6 Inside Out
Lesson 7 Passage to Freedom
Lesson 8 The Ch'i-lin Purse
Lesson 9 ... 10 Ways to Help Save Wildlife
Lesson 10 The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Lesson 11 Wings for the King
Lesson 12 Leonardo's Horse
Lesson 13 The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins
Lesson 14 Mahalia Jackson
Lesson 15 Special Effects in Film and Television
Lesson 16 Weslandia
Lesson 17 Stretching Ourselves
Lesson 18 Exploding Ants
Lesson 19 The Stormi Giovanni Club
Lesson 20 The Gymnast
Lesson 21 The Three-Century Woman
Lesson 22 The Unsinkable Wreck of the Titanic
Lesson 23 Talk With an Astronaut
Lesson 24 Journey to the Center of the Earth
Lesson 25 Ghost Towns of the American West
Lesson 26 At the Beach
Lesson 27 They Mystery of Saint Matthew Island
Lesson 28 King Midas and the Golden Touch
Lesson 29 The Hindenburg
Lesson 30 Sweet Music in Harlem
This page was last updated on: July 20, 2013
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Amsterdam, The Netherlands (PRWEB) November 22, 2012
The NASBE report shows that learning to write is crucial for young children’s development, but the time, knowledge and resources to offer quality handwriting instruction are often lacking. “Using current techniques and goals,” the report says, “handwriting can be taught much more eﬃciently and eﬀectively—and without as much pain for students—than in the past.” Software publisher Boreaal concurs that educational apps such as LetterSchool can form a large part of the solution. By offering individualized writing exercises on the iPad or iPhone, LetterSchool makes it possible to provide high-quality instruction at low expense and with minimal teacher effort. By spending $2.99 on LetterSchool, schools not only save money on expensive handwriting methods and software, but also on precious teaching time. Moreover, Boreaal claims that LetterSchool’s instructions can be much more effective than traditional teaching methods. By watching the animated letter formations, and by forming the letters and numbers themselves over and over again, children are able to fully internalize their shapes and functions. The kinesthetic practice, which occurs through fun and nonthreatening motor activity rather than passively listening to classroom instruction, reinforces the results.
The NASBE recently published “The Handwriting Debate” in preparation for an important decision that state boards of education must soon make: whether or not to specify handwriting requirements for English Language Arts (ELA). One conclusion that can be drawn from the report is that, though the use of pen and paper is diminishing, the act of learning to write is extremely important for young children’s development in the following areas: cognitive and motor skills development, literacy development, brain development, memory and written expression. The report adds that handwriting instruction is especially valuable to many students with disabilities. The problem is that overfull curricula leave little room for handwriting lessons. Moreover, those lessons often make less than optimal use of the available time. Many schools consider handwriting skills a lesser subject, and many teachers indicate that they received poor handwriting instruction themselves. Mobile apps such as LetterSchool provide a solution to these problems.
LetterSchool has already been introduced into many homes, schools and therapy practices all over the world. The method’s educational value is strongly appreciated by users. Feedback confirms that LetterSchool lets kids have fun while they practice the complex skills of handwriting. The continuous highly positive response from parents, teachers and therapists underscores LetterSchool’s important role as an innovator in handwriting instruction. A list of the app’s awards and experts’ reviews is available at LetterSchool.com.
Install the free lite version of LetterSchool which will allow you to reach the gold level and test-drive the free-form writing game more quickly. Reporters can also request a promotional code for the full version. Feel free to ask for our media kit containing high-resolution artwork on the contact page of our website.
National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), “Policy Update: The Handwriting Debate”, Vol. 19, No 7 (September 2012)
iTunes, LetterSchool Lite:
Overview of awards and reviews:


Those of us who built our musical skills through formal education may look at “garage band” musicians with some bewilderment. Maybe even with a little disdain (disguised jealousy in my case!). How is that these guitarists, electric bassists, and drummers are able to learn their instruments, all without the assistance of music teachers? We have to be somewhat impressed that they can figure out so much, seemingly on their own. But if they’ve done it without instruction from a musical expert, doesn’t that call into question the quality of their skills?
Ten years ago music educator and research Lucy Green published her book How Popular Musicians Learn. She shed light on the learning processes of “vernacular musicians,” as I like to call them, who acquire their musicianship outside of a school/lesson setting. Lucy followed up that landmark volume with another book and research studies further exploring the topic. Lately, many within the music education profession, myself included, have been paying greater attention to vernacular musicians. One thing we have found is that these people do not devote any less time and energy to their musical pursuits than those in more formal settings. Research refutes the notion that popular music skills are arrived at by osmosis (through just goofing around with music), whereas good “classical” musicianship comes through discipline. More likely, the real difference is whether the time and effort invested is perceived as pleasant or unpleasant. Most vernacular musicians describe their music activities as voluntary, enjoyable, and what they love to do. They seem to be tapping into more intrinsic motivation than many formally trained students, whose music experiences can be dominated by solitary technique-intensive practice of music assigned to them by teachers.
The interesting thing is that everyone starts off as a vernacular musician. Enculturation refers to learning that occurs through immersion in one’s culture and social environment. It’s how all young children begin learning music, as they’re exposed to music making around them and naturally engage themselves in playful exploration of musical sound. But upon reaching schooling age, some people become invested in formal music instruction, and their music making activities take on that value system. Much of their time is spent in teacher-led lessons and rehearsals, and in isolated practice sessions. Young vernacular musicians, however, continue on a more exploratory path. Below are some of the most important characteristics of vernacular music learning:
- Informal group learning with peers – A more experienced peer may lead informal sessions, sharing previously unfamiliar chords, progressions, or licks. In less directed peer situations, learning is accomplished as musicians engage in group efforts to reproduce popular songs, create new compositions or arrangements, and otherwise jam for pure enjoyment. (Check out this clip from the movie School of Rock, specifically at the 1:40 mark where Jack Black and a student disagree on whether to call their class activities “goofin’ off” or “creating musical fusion.” :) )
- Chosen musical material – Practicing is done within a real music context, meaning it emphasizes songs, tunes, or licks that they want to learn, as opposed to scales, long-tones, and exercises that they’ve been assigned. Interestingly though, many vernacular musicians eventually choose to practice scales, arpeggios, and the like as they “discover” the benefits, often through suggestions published in musician magazines.
- Listening-copying process – They often “just listen” to soak up a groove, or try to play along with recordings for fun. But they also thrive on the challenge of listening carefully and working up imitative performances of difficult passages.
Obviously the ear is a critical component of vernacular musicianship. It is the means by which they build up a huge repertoire of songs, quickly memorize heard music, embellish basic music material, and improvise. In contrast to formally trained music students who rely greatly on notation in their practicing, vernacular musicians naturally develop formidable aural skills as they practice.
This line of thinking should in no way discredit the value of a great music teacher of the effectiveness of individual practice. The research literature is replete with evidence that formal education works, and that deliberate practice is an leads to improved skills. But surely there is something music education can learn from the activities of vernacular musicians. I suspect that far fewer “garage musicians” pack away their guitars into permanent storage after their teen years, like so many high school band members do upon graduation. “Indeed,” Lucy Green writes, “those societies and communities with the most highly developed formal music education systems often appear to contain the least active music-making populations.”


Teachers' self-reports and documentation of their secondary literacy instruction
Few studies have documented how teachers implement research-based practices in secondary English/Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. Self-reports of 9 urban and suburban middle-school and high-school teachers from New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts were examined in this qualitative investigation. Data from semistructured interviews, classroom artifacts, and student work were explored through recursive, constant comparative analysis to present a narrative of authentic practices reported by the participants.^ Findings indicate that most teachers integrate research-based instructional strategies such as independent reading, instruction in reading comprehension strategies, scaffold learning over time, making connections to students' lives, and using supplemental materials to teach concepts. The study also documented that secondary teachers' perceptions of literacy fall along a "literacy continuum" and they believe students should arrive in secondary school with proficient literacy skills; that most teachers reported that students met academic expectations when they integrate multiple research-based approaches, such as flexible grouping, and teacher modeling to teach reading and writing; that most teachers teach reading, writing, vocabulary, and test preparation; and that structural factors such as testing shape teachers' instructional choices and often contradict their beliefs about literacy. ^ Hypotheses generated from the findings led to recommendations for the ways literacy instruction can be integrated with ELA content. First, secondary teachers should teach more reading comprehension strategies, beyond making connections, to foster students' independence and interaction with text. Second, classroom conversation should facilitate discussion of social issues and promote critical literacy. Third, teachers should use unit planning to immerse students in study throughout the school year. Unit planning provides the opportunities for teachers to reflect on their practice, integrate a variety of research-based practices, provide students with choice through multiple learning experiences, and modify the curriculum to meet the needs of the students. Fourth, teachers need to provide students with explicit instruction by using models, rubrics, and establishing clear expectations for academic tasks.^
Education, Secondary|Education, Reading|Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Salika Ann Lawrence,
"Teachers' self-reports and documentation of their secondary literacy instruction"
(January 1, 2007).
ETD Collection for Fordham University.


Elementary 1st Grade Vocabulary
There are five main components to reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. A student must master all five of these skills in order to be a successful reader. Kindergarten and first grade are crucial ages because this is when the foundation for reading is established. First grade instruction should focus primarily on phonemic awareness, phonics and vocabulary skills. These students should be working on letter- sound recognition, sound manipulation, vocabulary, discussions, and listening to stories being read aloud. All of these activities will help students develop reading skills. First grade teachers should also focus on vocabulary building. Reading comprehension is closely linked to word knowledge. Students can not comprehend what they are reading if they do not know the meaning of words. Students should learn an average of 2,000 new words per school year. These skills will build a solid foundation for young readers and they will be better equipped to understand reading comprehension and fluency.
Vocabulary development is essential to any solid reading program. Developing vocabulary at any grade level can be difficult because students come into every grade with vastly different levels of word knowledge. So teachers must ensure that their classrooms are "word-rich" environments (the alphabet should be displayed and books should be easily accessible). Teachers must directly and explicitly teach vocabulary on a daily basis. It includes providing definitions (for younger students the simpler the better) and context to the word (discuss the word in context to the text). Teachers should involve the students in learning words instead of having them write down definitions. Students could come up with antonyms or synonyms for the word which would encourage a deeper processing of the word meaning. Students should also encounter the vocabulary words in multiple contexts and they should be provided with different opportunities to utilize the word (either written or spoken). Two other important components of vocabulary development include: morphemic analysis and contextual analysis.
M orphemic analysis is the ability to draw the meaning of the word by examining the meaningful parts (example: prefixes, suffixes, roots). Contextual analysis involves making predictions or inferences about an unfamiliar word based on the context in which it is used. Teachers should model how to use context clues in order to draw predictions about word meaning. These two components will help students develop vocabulary skills, which will encourage stronger readers with a more defined sense of independence.
Vocabulary instruction should also include the use of sight words. Sight words are words that readers should know instantly because they are used constantly in text. These words also do not sound as they are spelled, which makes it impossible to use phonics (the, that and you). These words should be openly displayed and taught to students in conjunction with phonics.
Phonics and Phonemic Awareness
Students need phonemic awareness in order to understand phonics instruction. These two components are often times confused with one another. It is crucial to understand the difference between the two; a simple way to remember is to associate phonemic awareness with the ears and phonics with the ears and eyes. Phonemic awareness focuses simply on the sounds. Students are not shown any print during this time. Young readers should be able to hear, manipulate and understand the sounds in words spoken aloud. The teacher can ask students to identify the beginning, middle, or end sounds. What is the beginning sound in the word cat? What is the ending sound in the word dog? Phonics is the connection of the sound to the symbol. Students are shown letters and then taught the sounds of the letters. When students are asked to "sound out words" they are using their phonics skills. Learning phonics is the prerequisite for reading (decoding) and writing (spelling). The teacher would point to a letter such as "B" and ask students what sound "b" makes. Teachers can use tools such as letter flash cards and BINGO games.
Students who have the ability to decode words can now move on to learning reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is simply the ability to understand text. Reading comprehension instruction would include rereading text, discussions, retelling, vocabulary building, thinking aloud, and summarizing. Students should be able to identify major components of stories: characters, sequence, major plot points, and details (graphic organizers are useful tools in helping students with reading comprehension).
The teacher must also help students develop strategies that they can use when they are having difficulty comprehending the text. These strategies will help create independent readers who have tools they need when encountering reading challenges. Students can take notes while reading, write down questions or highlight unknown words. Students can use their own graphic organizers to help them understand story sequence and character development. It is also helpful if students create a mental picture of the story in their heads, it can help them to better process the information. Students can draw pictures after they have read in order to recall story details and establish comprehension. If students are having difficulty they can always reread the text.


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Educators working in a positive school culture experience collegiality, trust, and tangible support as leaders and peers, creating an environment where there are high expectations, involvement in decision making, and open communication. Students entering a positive school culture feel safe, engaged, and connected and see school as a place where they can learn and contribute to the world around them. A positive school culture—morale—is the cornerstone of a good school and the foundation for school improvement.
School cultures should support, reinforce, and reflect the well-being of everyone in it, ensuring that students and adults feel valued, respected, and cared for and are motivated to learn, lead, and teach. In this episode, we take a look at how we build school morale so that administrators, teachers, students, and parents are energized and positive about learning. You'll hear from
- Dave Burgess, award-winning U.S. history teacher at West Hills High School in San Diego, California; semi-professional magician; highly sought-after professional development speaker; and author of Teach Like a PIRATE: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator;
- David Culberhouse, former teacher and principal of a California Distinguished School, currently senior director of elementary education for the Rialto Unified School District in southern California and co-moderator of the West Coast #satchat, weekly Twitter discussions about education and leadership held Saturday mornings;
- Joe Mazza, former teacher, principal, and technology integration coach, currently project manager for Connected Teaching, Learning, and Leadership in the North Penn School District in Lansdale, Pennsylvania; innovation coach at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education; and producer of #ptchat, another weekly Twitter chat—this one for transparent and collaborative dialogue between parents, family engagement practitioners, and teachers—held Wednesday nights; and
- Angela Hamilton, assistant principal, and Eric Russo, special education co-teacher who specializes in reading and language arts, at Drew Freeman Middle School of Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland. Drew Freeman is a member of ASCD's Whole Child Network of Schools and is in its second year of a three-year, comprehensive school improvement process using the tenets of the Whole Child Initiative—healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged—as a sustainable whole child approach to educating their students.
What is the link between school morale and learning?


Date: May 2013
Creator: Gonzalez, Lauren
Description: Although prior research has shown that parental involvement positively affects a child's literacy development, attention should also be directed to the factors that keep parents from being involved in their children's education. The study reported in this dissertation examined five factors: socioeconomic status, level of education, employment, culture, and language that may be influential in parental assistance of their children's literacy development in the home. The data sources for this investigation included interview responses and a demographic survey. Data from 17 parents, each from a different household, and each with a child in kindergarten were obtained and used for the study. For analyses of these data, content analysis was used to identify similar themes among the interview responses and the demographic survey. Results indicated the following: (1) the time parents spent assisting their child with literacy activities was affected by long work hours, (2) parents with a yearly income of $25,000 or less were unable to provide additional literacy materials for their children, (3) lack of multicultural literature caused culturally diverse parents to feel devalued, and (4) parents who did not speak English fluently lacked the strategies to assist their children in completing English literacy homework. The findings suggest there ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries


Art Education for Young People
In our Look and See program, a year-long study of visual art, 4th through 8th grade students, as well as their teachers, will learn to experience the meaning in works of art as they are introduced to our unique, objective method of art appreciation.
Classes typically meet once a week and de Mazia instructors work closely with classroom teachers to plan, develop, and adjust the programming and course schedule to meet the needs of their students.
Our art appreciation program for children will offer students the tools to begin to answer questions such as: What is art? Is a painting a recreation of reality, or is it something else? How can students have their own interpretations of art, and yet still agree as a group as to what they are seeing?
Our intention is to incorporate visual understanding along with their other primary learning skills. Our hope is that learning visual language at a decisive point in the educational life will allow them to objectively see the world with a deeper appreciation. Students never look at their world the same way again!
Click here to view our Look and See course locations.
“Students have had the opportunity to learn the language of color while increasing their vocabulary. The artistic lens is beginning to develop. They are using critical thinking skills while comparing and contrasting. This is in direct alignment to the PA State standards.”
— Geraldine Fitzpatrick-Doria
Principal, BB Comegys Elementary School
Many of our classes for 4 -8th grade students are offered free of charge through the de Mazia Foundation's community outreach.
Click here to download information about how we can design a program for your school or organization.
The Violette de Mazia Foundation receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.


How Kids Learn to Read
The success of a child’s early reading development has been proven as an essential factor in their later academic life, therefore its important that kids learn to read through a systematic process that addresses the core areas of literacy.
As part of this process, motivation plays a key role – the more enjoyable the learning experience, the more effectively kids will learn to read. By associating reading with fun, kids are more likely to be enthusiastic and look forward to reading, and instilling this sense of enjoyment in their early learning experiences will help them develop a positive attitude to both reading and learning that will shape their approach to future education.
As highlighted by the National Reading Panel’s report (2000), a US study widely recognised for setting out the fundamental principles of early reading instruction, in order for kids to learn to read they must understand five essential areas of effective reading instruction:
- Phonemic awareness – the ability to hear, identify and manipulate the individual units of sounds, known as phonemes, in spoken words.
- Phonics – how letters are linked to sounds (phonemes).
- Fluency – to read text quickly and accurately.
- Vocabulary – learning new words in context and understanding their meaning.
- Comprehension – the ultimate goal of reading, comprehension is the ability to understand, remember and communicate with others what has been read.
ABC Reading Eggs incorporates these five fundamental elements of early literacy development, providing scientifically based reading activities with highly motivational elements. As an example, Lesson One of Reading Eggs beings by introducing the letter m, placing a strong focus on the phonic skill of recognising that the written letter makes a particular sound, as well as the phonemic awareness skill of being able to hear the sound as part of spoken words.
The lesson features a highly engaging animation of Sam the Ant, who introduces a number of interactive activities to reinforce the letter’s sound and shape, asking the student to listen for the sound in words. A memorable song about the letter helps children remember the sound of the letter, adding to the sense of fun.
The lesson continues with a variety of activities focusing on letter formation in writing, vocabulary development and reading comprehension. Students are asked to complete a dot-to-dot to make the letter m. The letter’s lower case and upper case forms are introduced. The lesson then displays and reinforces words starting with m, before introducing them to the e-book, which is read aloud to the student, the voice acting as a model for their own fluent reading of text. Once the lesson has been completed, the student is rewarded with a hatching egg, as well as Golden Eggs that can be saved or spent on other games throughout the program.
Reading Eggs has simply taken off in our school! It allows students to work at their own level and provides students at the lower end of the scale with the opportunity to gain success. The kids love the games, stories and different challenges!
Claire Badrock, Meekatharra School of the Air
Reading Eggs is wonderful for early and beginning readers. It’s very easy to operate and the children get to be independent learners at an early stage. They love to share their progress as they sit side-by-side in the computer lab, proud of their individual achievements. I highly recommend it to all teachers in other schools.
Jenny Dyer, Mount Pleasant Primary
Tips for when your child is learning to read http://www.kidspot.com.au/schoolzone/Reading-5---6-years-helping-your-child-learn-to-read+4681+305+article.htm
Strategies for teaching reading http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/learningandteaching/earlychildhoodliteracy/strategiesforteaching_reading.html
BBC reading activities http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/


Young children who can sit still and focus are more likely to graduate from college than children who are easily distracted, according to a new study from Oregon State University.
Researchers made use of data that spanned 25 years, tracking a group of 430 preschool-age children through age 21. Parents were asked to rate their children on such behaviors as “playing with a single toy for long periods of time,” or “gives up easily” when a task or games gets hard.
“We were interested in identifying early predictors of later success,” said Megan McClelland, early childhood research core director at OSU’s Hallie E. Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families, and a lead author on the study.
“We know that early academic skills predict later academic stills,” she said. “But the ability to pay attention and focus are foundational skills that help kids persist through difficult tasks when they need to.”
She was quick to add that academic skills are critical, and that “aptitude part is part of the equation.”
Still, she said, “There are a lot of very smart people who have difficulty finishing tasks.”
The Juggle examines the choices and tradeoffs people make as they juggle work and family. The site provides readers with news, insight and tips on parenting, workplace issues, commuting, caregiving and other issues busy readers with families face. It is also a place for readers to share and compare their own work-and-family experiences and to seek advice and recommendations. The Juggle is includes regular contributions from other staffers at the Journal. Contact the Juggle with ideas or suggestions at email@example.com
Content engaging our readers now, with additional prominence accorded if the story is rapidly gaining attention. Our WSJ algorithm comprises 30% page views, 20% Facebook, 20% Twitter, 20% email shares and 10% comments.


Last year the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund helped Harapan Rainforest start a hornbill nestbox scheme. This provides additional nest sites for hornbills while the forest regenerates and more large trees suitable for nesting become available. Lack of nest holes due to loss of large trees is a major threat to hornbills in Sumatra. Over the last year, our tree climbers have mounted 20 boxes at the dizzying heights of 25-30m above the forest floor.The good news for Harapan Rainforest’s hornbills (all nine of Sumatra's hornbill species are found in the forest) is that we have just secured funds from the Seaworld-Busch Gardens Conservation Fund to continue and expand our nestbox programme for another year. This is a terrific opportunity to develop even more community involvement in this work. We will recruit indigenous forest-dwelling community members to locate active hornbill nest sites in the coming breeding season. This will help us identify exactly what makes a good hornbill nest tree and what we can do to help improve this, either with our nestbox design or, long term, with our forest restoration plans.
It is very important for us to know how Harapan Rainforest is regenerating. To do that we need to know what it is like now. I’ve been running the inventory teams that have just finished the first phase of that work, covering just over half of Harapan Rainforest. It was a marathon effort, with 374 plots measured, taking nearly a year with six teams of eight people involved full-time. In each plot they recorded information on soil type and topography, and measured every tree. When we measure the trees again in a few years time, we should be able to tell how quickly the forest is regenerating. It could also be used to calculate how much carbon is being stored. At the start of the survey, each team could finish one plot a day, but by the end could do two. I hope that they can maintain this level of productivity in the second phase of the inventory, starting shortly.
We are currently celebrating the achievements of Harapan Rainforest’s mobile school. Twenty-one children between seven and 13 from the indigenous Bathin Sembilan community currently attend the school. They learn literacy and numeracy skills, and are introduced to ideas related to nature conservation. The school is popular with the government’s education department, which is currently validating it so that the pupils can leave with recognised qualifications. Though attendance fluctuates as families move within the forest, the school is enormously successful and is a source of pride for all of us at Harapan Rainforest. It offers a real opportunity to improve the livelihoods of indigenous communities who have tended to find themselves on the margins of mainstream society as their nomadic lifestyle makes it difficult for their children to attend conventional schools.


Every parent has a dream to provide the best education to their children. They want them to progress in every field, whether it is related to studies, sports, music or any other activity.
Many parents lack the promising vision for their child’s career. They want a kid to learn everything, at the same time they forget to ask, why? Study is required for mental education; sports for physical education, but what about it’s financial relevance? It’s true that the intrinsic value of study and sports cannot be calculated in monitory terms but what about having a vision to act for some income along with other activities.
History Of The Indian Education System
Our ancient education had many things to teach children about money from the elementary education itself. The children were supposed to complete their education in the ashram. For a complete education term, they had to work hard and in return, they were provided with education. During the final pass-out, students had to pay guru-dakshina (Fees) to their masters (guru) from their own earnings. This process was very encouraging for children to make themselves financially independent.
Ways to Inculcate Finance Education in Children
Let’s see how we can support our children to learn finance and money from their own efforts:
- Teach children about money from the day they learn numbers and counting. Educate them about it’s importance through stories and games.
- As children grow, they tend to demand more. Gradually teach them about the value of money. Tell them stories of your struggle and what difficulty you faced while started earning. Teach them about importance of saving and spending wisely.
- A lot of demands by the children are not genuine. Teach them to understand the importance of their demand. Let them decide about the importance of a demand being need or want.
- For their every requirement, provide a fix amount of money and try to give them a choice, so that they can select the one that suits them best, while saving some money. For example, if they want to buy shoes. Give them Rs. 500 for purchasing the shoes and tell them that whatever they will be able to save, it would be given back to them for their saving.
- As children grow, start giving them allowances for their monthly expenses. Keep strict watch on how they spends their money. Tell them to make details of expenses every month. If the children control his expenses well, then give him reward points and for the aggregate years point gives them some handsome gift. Whatever a child saves in a year, try to praise him and motivate to save more.
- Sometimes borrow money from children for their motivation and repay with some interest on the amount. This way, they will learn about interest and investment. They will be encouraged to save more.
- If children ask some question, then don’t ignore them. Answer them for all their queries until they are satisfied. Groom them to be more analytical as they grow.
- It is very important to allow children to experience the loss and profit on themselves. The loss will increase their risk assessment ability, and profit will motivate for better performance. Incase child feels demoralized then boost them with your valuable guidance for boosting the moral.
- While selecting the career, advise your child to keep a view on earning capacity along with interest in the opted field.


Purpose. Since 1970, obesity prevalence more than quadrupled in ages six to eleven. There are several pleas for research that would concurrently evaluate the threefold relationship between the built environment, children's physical activity levels and impact on obesity. Having to pay for physical activity either monetarily or in lost leisure time is a recent phenomenon in society. Many people will not or cannot sacrifice time or money in order to purposely exercise, although society benefits with opportunities for physical activity within normal daily routines. For children, a normal daily routine is the trip to and from school.
Methods. Quasi-experimental in design, five schools with a Walking School Bus measured pre- and post-BMI in 1102 active commuters and controls ages five to twelve. A parent questionnaire evaluated dose response, confounders, and contributors or barriers to a child's active commute.
Results. The provision of a chaperoned walk-to-school program in areas with lower walkability increased the percentage of children actively commuting to school to 39.8 percent, as compared to the national average of five to fourteen percent, p < 0.0005 (one-tailed)(SPSS Nonparametric Binomial), and decreased BMI, z = - 10.125, p < 0.0005 (two-tailed)(Wilcoxon Signed Rank). Sixty-six percent of obese students that actively commuted to school were no longer obese in post-testing. Forty-seven percent of overweight students that actively commuted to school were within the healthy weight category in post-testing. The number needed to treat was thirteen indicating that one case of obesity or overweight was prevented when thirteen students actively commuted to school. Walking School Bus participants walked 65% farther than students that walked without an adult chaperone.
Conclusions. The provision of a chaperoned walk-to-school program was sufficient to overcome many barriers to the active commute to school such as disability, age, gender, distance and other environmental factors. The Walking School Bus significantly increased the percentage of children actively commuting to school and overweight and obesity significantly decreased in students that walked or biked to school.
|School||THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER|
|Subjects||Physical education; Elementary education; Public health|
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Cracking the Code of Words
The number of words your first grader can read and spell increases dramatically during this year. Children can achieve this through lots of practice, at school and at home. Through talking with adults, listening to books read aloud, and discussing everyday experiences, they continue to develop the language skills that help them learn to read and write. Most importantly, your first grader starts to “crack the code” of written language, as he sounds out words, learns to identify them, and understands their meaning.
First graders develop the tools for reading the printed word. They learn to recognize many common words by sight, and they develop strategies for “decoding,” or figuring out, words as they read. By the end of the year, most first graders are able to read easy books all by themselves. Writing daily helps your first grader learn to read by reinforcing the relationships between sounds and letters. At the same time, through talking and listening, she continues to develop new vocabulary and knowledge about the world that will help her understand what she reads.
First graders spend a large part of their day at school reading and writing. However, parents still have a huge effect on a child’s literacy development. When you talk to your first grader about new words, listen to her read books aloud, and communicate with her teacher on a regular basis, you take simple but important steps in supporting her reading and writing. Learn more ways you can encourage and inspire your first grader as she learns to read and write.
How to Help Your First Grader Read and Write
- Play word games and board games. Games are an easy and enjoyable way to help your child increase reading-related skills, such as vocabulary, categorizing, letter-sound relationships and problem-solving. It’s fun and useful to play board games or make up your own word games.
- Help your child fix her own reading errors. Children learn best when they can fix their errors by themselves. If your child is stuck, ask questions such as, “Did that make sense?” or “Do you see a little word you know inside that big word?” to help her correct her own mistakes.
- Talk together about books you read. Talk with your first-grader about the books you read aloud to help her improve her comprehension. When you ask your child to describe her favorite part or to make a prediction, you are helping her to make sense of stories.
- Help your child write a bit each day. First graders learn to write best when they write everyday about things that interest them. When you help your child write important dates on his calendar or encourage him to write in his diary, you are giving him the practice he needs.
- Talk to your child’s teacher often. Talk with your first grader’s teacher about her progress often, and find out how reading and writing are taught in your child’s class. When you and your child’s class. When you and your child’s teacher work together, you can help your child learn to read and write.
Next: Learn about your first grader’s listening abilities.


This essay explains the meaning and function of classroom observation in studying child development. The essay also presents the actual report of a classroom observation.
Meaningful experiences in early childhood education can positively shape children's development. With teacher facilitation, authentic child-centered early art education can enrich young students' learning, encourage positive attitudes toward other people, and more closely follow practices of the people around them in the contemporary world. However, art for young students often takes many diversified approaches and emphasizing questionable practices.
Observation is a part of meaningful and authentic early childhood art education. Observation enriches students' experiences with their environment, gives them reasons to study, interact with other children and follows the practices of their adult models. They develop strategies and skills to represent objects in their environment. Finally, adults play a critical role in young students' development by engaging in sensitive and critical dialogue.
Most of the children in the class were three years old, but there was one five year old. The preschool children were seemed very shy and they did not seem like they were very sociable. The children seemed to be experiencing a little bit of stranger anxiety. The teacher said the children often would cry and become uneasy whenever they meet a stranger. This can also be considered as signs of separation anxiety. The boys in the class were very natural and the girls seemed to be introverted and preserve. This would agree with the theories that boys will be inclined to be more sociable, and girls will be more reserved. In the preschool class, the teacher often has puppet shows and the children love it. One child was sitting at the table having a conversation with a stuffed beaver. According to a theory called animistic thinking, children believe that inanimate objects are alive. Another form of animistic thinking would be when the teacher told a story about leprechaun, when the teacher asked where leprechauns lived, one child answered. “Leprechauns live in the grass and run around from tree to tree, they are itsy bitsy and very hard to see.” These children think that these living things were real, but they just could not see them. However, the fun with the leprechauns had just begun. To test the children’s belief in the unrealistic, the teacher asked the children make little pots, and then she tell all of the kids that if they were excellent, the leprechaun would leave them gold in their pot. While these kids were eating their snacks, the teacher left and put gold candy in their pots, and then waited for their reactions and comments when they came back to see what had happened. One child soared around and shouted that “he was here, he was here,” and another child was looking around the room trying to find the leprechaun. Overall, Most of the children have beliefs based on what they sensed to be true, rather than on what would be logic or rational. Language development between the three-year-old children, and the five-year-old child was amazing. There were some grammatical morpheme problems that were noticed during the observation at the preschool. The children were very good with sentence structure and words. However, they struggled with prepositions, suffixes and prefixes. For example, “he sitted down on me,” “she hitted me with the beaver,” the children are learning that they need to ass the “ed” to the end of some words, but they do not know when it is and when it is not appropriate to do it yet. Children are good in imitation at the preschool. The teacher was their adult model. Imitation is a great way for the children to learn about the world, and is often a sociable test to see how far that they can stretch the rules.
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The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (English: National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world.
It is located at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Italy, and was founded by the papal bull, Ratione congruit, issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western musical history: Gregory the Great, for whom the Gregorian chant is named, and Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music.
It was founded as a “congregation” or “confraternity” — a religious guild, so to speak — and over the centuries, has grown from a forum for local musicians and composers to an internationally acclaimed academy active in music scholarship (with 100 prominent music scholars forming the body of the Accademia) to music education (in its role as a conservatory) to performance (with an active choir and symphony orchestra).
The first seat of the Congregation from 1585-1622 was the church of Santa Maria ad Martires, better known as the Pantheon. Successive relocations were to the church of San Paolino alla Colonna (1622-52), Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (1652-61), San Nicola dei Cesarini (1661-1663), Chiesa della Maddalena (1663-85), and, finally, San Carlo ai Catinari in 1685.
During the first century of existence, the Congregation was the workshop of a number of prominent musicians and composers of the day, including Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. The institution in that period was often in rivalry with the other important musical organization of Papal Rome of the day, the Sistine Choir. Rivalry centred around the rights to control access to the musical profession, to train musicians, and to publish music. The rivalry never really ended and can be said to have lasted through the entire existence of the Papal States, that is, until 1870, when the so-called “temporal power of the Church” was ended by military action of the new nation state of Italy.
The early 1700s are considered to have been a particularly glorious time for the Accademia. Among names associated with the organization during that period are Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, and Niccolò Jommelli. In 1716, Pope Innocent XI decreed that all musicians practising their profession in Rome were required to become members of the Congregation. The Accademia suspended operations during the revolutionary period of the Napoleonic Wars but opened regularly again in 1822 a few years after the Restoration brought about by the Congress of Vienna.
The years between that reopening and the end of the Papal States in 1870 were ones of great change. The organization opened its membership to hitherto excluded categories, such as dancers, poets, music historians, musical instrument makers, and music publishers. In 1838, the Congregation of Santa Cecilia was officially proclaimed an Academy and then a Papal Academy. The list of active and honorary members of the Accademia during that period is formidable and includes Cherubini, Mercadante, Donizetti, Rossini, Paganini, Auber, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Gounod, and Meyerbeer. Among the crowned heads of Europe who were honorary members was Queen Victoria.
After the unification of Italy, the Accademia reestablished itself with the formation of a permanent symphony orchestra and choir, beginning in 1895. It went from being the seat of a Liceo musicale—a music “high school"—to being a full-blown conservatory; also, it hosts the “Eleonora Duse” Drama School, as well as a centre for experimental cinema. The most recent innovation has been the digitisationand cataloguing of centuries of musical documents — including an important collection of traditional music in the ethnomusicological archives — and their preservation and eventual display in the Accademia's multimedia library also available to the public online. The Accademia also maintains a musical instruments museum (the MUSA).


Engaging the Next Generation
Many rhythm and blues musicians have dedicated significant time to the formal education of the next generation of artists. Nat Dove, a blues pianist of international renown, founded Bakersfield Blues Preservation Society in California, and offers “Blues in the Schools,” a program covering history, mathematics, geography, language, and other skills. He also lectures at universities and colleges nationally.
Fernando Jones, a guitar and bass player, is the director of the Columbia College Chicago Blues Ensemble. In addition to teaching advanced performance skills to college students, he also developed “Blues Kids,” a multicultural, interdisciplinary artist-in-residence music program designed to improve literacy through music.
In Memphis, the Stax Music Academy uses music to mentor young people. The Academy provides music education and performance opportunities to students with the goal of enhancing their leadership skills and academic abilities in order to inspire them to become active and productive community members.
The Rhythm and Blues program is produced in partnership with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.


Interested in Chinese culture? Then Confucianism is probably the first thing you need to know about. Confucius, the all-rounded philosopher, promotes harmonization and humanity that outlines the basis of Chinese culture and deeply affects the offspring. Inspired by the “Six Arts” in Confucianism, Loong Yat Heen is going to incorporate the philosophy with delicacies. Discover Chinese civilization with the Appetizing Six Arts Collection throughout the months of June and July.
The “Six Arts” in Confucianism are the general principles of education that aims at developing one’s morality. Using “Rites”, “Music”, “Mathematics” and “Calligraphy” among the “Six Arts”, the collection is definitely soul-detoxifying.
Rites – Chilled Marinated Scallops with Wolfberry Seeds
Encompassing all rituals and norms, the purpose of rites is to instill harmony into people. As a ritual, hospitality brings people together through dining and therefore it places a high importance on food quality. After mixing the reddish wolfberry with the disc-shaped scallop, the dish is simply eye-catching while the a-little-bit-crispy wolfberry complements the bounciness of scallops.
Music – Chilled Fresh Prawns with Osmanthus in Sesame Sauce
“To educate somebody, you should start from poems.” This is how Confucius sees Music education. Osmanthus, a common element in Chinese poem, is heavenly aromatic. Served together with prawns and sesame sauce, the golden floral sprinkles provides an alluring finishing touch by enhancing the fragrance and colour as a whole.
Calligraphy – Chilled Sea Cucumber with Chinese Celery and Mustard
Calligraphy, or literature in general, comprises history and its legends. Sought for elixir of life, Qin Shihuangdi treated sea cucumber as a cure-all. By accompanying the sea cucumber with Chinese celery and mustard, the dish is gusty and high in medicinal value which sea cucumber can lower the chance of getting cardiovascular disease.
Mathematics – Chilled Shredded Abalone with Jelly Fish
Mathematics stresses on accuracy and this is also true in culinary. To avoid getting a tough texture, the cooking time for abalone must be accurate. After simmering, the eight-headed abalone is served with jelly fish which perk up the dish by offering a refreshing and crispy mouthfeel.
Besides the “Appetizing Six Arts Collection”, Loong Yat Heen also offers Chilled Sliced Ox’s Tongue with Preserved Soya Sauce and Chilled Tomato with Alaska Crab Meat for your enjoyment. Chill out with the chilled appetizing specialties this summer.
For more information, please call (852) 2734 3722 or click here for further details and reservations.


Bärenreiter recorders. For generations of young musicians (and often to the chagrin of neighbours and family), they were constant companions or highly sought-after instruments, beautifully made in high-quality wood in descant, treble or tenor sizes.
After a long period of neglect the recorder came into vogue again during the course of the “youth movement”. As a beginner’s instrument which was easy to carry, it earned itself a firm place in music teaching and domestic music-making.
The instrument maker Peter Harlan (1898–1966), the “father of the recorder”, played a major role in the recorder renaissance. Harlan, himself a former member of the Wandervogel, saw the perfect means to realize the ideal of a return to nature and truth in the instruments of the sixteenth century, particularly with regard to recorders, fiddles, gambas and clavichords. In 1921 this idea led to the first reproduction of a recorder with “German fingering”: instead of using cross-fingering, the right index finger simply covers a finger-hole.
In the mid-1920s Bärenreiter, probably through an introduction by Willibald Gurlitt, made contact with Harlan. In the following years he produced the range of Bärenreiter recorders of different sizes which sold for about 4 Reichsmarks in his workshop.
Bärenreiter recognised the recorder as an important instrument in music education and published tutors and literature at a time when no publisher, except for Georg Kallmeyer and Nagels who were closely associated with the youth movement, took the recorder seriously. The rediscovery of early music published in new editions also led to a revival in recorder playing. Bärenreiter met the demands of both areas of development – the recorder as a serious artistic instrument on the one hand and as a school and domestic instrument on the other – with new editions of early music, easy newly-composed pieces and Baroque suites of movements for playing at home or at school.
Following the general trend, Bärenreiter also produced plastic recorders made of cellulose acetate after the war. These were particularly popular as beginner instruments because they were sturdy and easy to clean.
After Harlan’s death in 1966, Kruspe in Erfurt took over the building of Bärenreiter recorders, followed by Mollenhauer in Fulda. In 1987 a decision was taken to stop selling instruments and thus a long and now almost forgotten chapter of Bärenreiter history ended.


Maryland is one of more than 40 states where Common Core Standards have been adopted by public school systems, but it seems parents are having the most trouble understanding the changes.
Now Carroll County is trying to help with a new video campaign.
The path to at least understanding common core math, for elementary school students, may be as easy as your computer. Here's why: A good number of the math lessons are now on the Internet.
At Mechanicsville Elementary School in Gamber, second-grade students are wrapping up another year of math common core style, but the lessons won't end with the last day of school.
The new math concepts have been recorded and posted to the school system website, which helps students and parents learn all summer long.
"They can see what we are actually teaching in the classroom. The video shows exactly what we do in the classroom," Carroll County teacher Jenn Heim said.
The goal is to help more parents understand the math changes.
"So it's pretty exciting to have a place where we can learn the way that they're learning and help them further with their work," parent Sara Abbott said.
And that's what school officials had in mind when they started recording the common core math lessons earlier this year.
"If we have a parent group that doesn't know how to help their children at home, that just brings out their frustration, and then they may be showing kids different method that maybe their kids aren't ready for because we learned it that way. We always go back to how we were taught," Carroll County Supervisor of Elementary Education Donn Hicks said.
"The great thing about these videos is that the videos have Carroll County teachers, but they have the pause button, too, so they are able to slow down and take these strategies at their own pace," teacher Jen Dorsey said.
That goes a long way toward making the lessons plain for parents and fellow educators.
"These videos help not just parents, but believe it or not, teachers, so they can say, 'This is why things work the way they do when we solve math problems,'" math supervisor Caroline Chucko said.
The videos run between three and five minutes. Another 30 or so lessons are set to be recorded over the summer.


Recommended Elementary Song Collections! Thursday, September 08, 2011
Every Dog Must Have Its Day
This is an exciting new resource for teachers seeking a creative way for children to develop and showcase their musical aptitude. The song collection focuses on improving and supporting music skills such as singing, rhythm and note reading, listening, and playing Orff and classroom instruments. Wonderful for performances, there are also creative opportunities for incorporating movement and drama. Fully reproducible, the songs and their campy canines will delight and challenge your students. Perfect for classrooms, Orff ensembles, and choirs, the CD includes all musical tracks with both full performance recordings and instrumental versions as well. Every Dog Must Have Its Day will engage and enchant your students and concert-goers alike while addressing the standards and offering a solid music education. Recommended for upper elementary grades.
Okay, how much fun can we have when we sing? These 13 crazy songs about creepy creatures are a blast from beginning to end. Learn a lot about each one of these critters, their habits, and their habitats. This entertaining collection of songs can be performed individually (25 minutes of music) or combined intoa 35-45 minute program, tied together by having students read some or all of the informative “Animal Factoids” before each song. 100% Reproducible and 100% creepy-crawley fun! Enhanced SoundTrax CD includes reproducible PDF files of student pages and Cover Art. Recommended for Grades 1-6
For more information on these or other elementary resources, contact Stanton's today!


Press Release by National Iranian American Council (NIAC)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) - Article 26.
- (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
- (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
- (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Education Rewards, by Sarah Hartwig
Posters for Tomorrow exhibition, “The Right to Education” held in Paris in December 2011; organized by UNESCO and the 4Tomorrow association to stimulate thought and debate on human rights issues.
Washington, DC - NIAC calls on the Treasury and State Department to take immediate action to address restrictions that have cut off online courses for Iranians. The online education provider Coursera has announced that it will no longer provide access to individuals in Iran, Sudan, and Cuba due to U.S. sanctions. Under existing federal authorities, a license should be issued to Coursera to allow their continued provision of educational services in embargoed countries. NIAC urges Coursera to work with Treasury and State to facilitate the provision of this license.
"Denying Iranians the right to an education undermines American interests and values, and violates the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," said NIAC Policy Director Jamal Abdi. "The Iranian government has systematically denied education to students based on their political and religious beliefs. The U.S. should not be in the business of denying education to students simply because they are Iranian."
NIAC has urged that scientific and academic exchanges are critical to improving U.S.-Iran relations and empowering moderate elements in Iran.
Coursera is but one example of how broad U.S. sanctions have impacted Iranian students in recent years. Similar non-profit online education services MITx and EDx do not offer Iranians certificates of completion.
In 2010, Educational Testing Service suspended the TOEFL English-language proficiency test for Iranians, which is required for studying in the US and UK, in 2010. Thankfully, that issue was resolved through grassroots pressure and the intervention of Treasury and State.
Many Iranian students studying in the U.S. report difficulties in paying tuition and basic living expenses due to sanctions closing off financial channels. In 2012 in Minnesota, TCF Bank unilaterally terminated at least 29 Iranian students' bank accounts. The bank is now being investigated for discrimination by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, but such difficulties continue to plague Iranian students in the U.S.
Under Iran sanctions legislation passed by Congress in 2012, prospective Iranian students are now denied from studying in the U.S. in energy or nuclear-related fields. A directive was subsequently sent to U.S. universities operating abroad instructing them to deny undergraduate students from taking math, science, or engineering courses beyond the introductory level and requiring a U.S. government license to admit Iranian graduate students. Under sanctions pressure, scientific journals began rejecting Iranian authors last year. Many prospective students in Iran say they are being denied U.S. student visas due to security restrictions and because they are automatically disqualified due having fulfilled their mandatory military service in Iran.
"The patchwork of Iran sanctions is so broad and convoluted that the limited carve outs put in place are never able to prevent collateral damage," said Abdi. "The end result is that we end up punishing ordinary people and jeopardizing our most important relationships with the next generation of Iranians who will decide Iran's future."
Between 1974 and 1983, more students came to study in the U.S. from Iran than any other country, with approximately 50,000 Iranian students studying in the U.S. That number has dropped significantly. Recognizing the significant benefit of hosting Iranian students and building bonds with the people of Iran, the State Department has worked to expand Iranian student visas and nearly 9,000 Iranian students now study in the U.S.-more than at any other time in the past two and half decades. Unfortunately, sanctions continue to undermine these efforts.
US Restricts Free Online Courses to Some Countries
- The U.S. education company Coursera, which offers free Internet-based classes in subjects ranging from Medicine and Mathematics to Business and Social Sciences, says it 'regretably had to make changes' to its accessibility in some countries. 01/30/14
... Payvand News - 01/30/14 ... --


When Linda's children were young (they are in their 20s now), they did not watch much television. Occasionally, they danced along with Barney or watched "Sesame Street," but their days were filled with dolls, board games and dress up.
In the decades since, things have changed. With the proliferation of televisions and personal computers, and now smart phones and tablets, parents are warned by the American Academy of Pediatrics that children should not watch television at all until they are 2 years old. This message may seem confusing to young parents since their generation were the children who first grew up on "Sesame Street" and "The Electric Company" - not to mention the fact that as young mothers we all received an abundance of Baby Einstein videos at any baby shower.
Screen time, as it is commonly referred to, is on the rise and our youngest children are getting way too much of it. Science Daily reports that on average, preschool-aged children are exposed to four hours of screen time each weekday, with 3.6 hours of that exposure coming from home. The AAP encourages parents, teachers and caregivers to restrict total screen time for children over 2 years old to less than two hours each day.
Two hours adds up very quickly when you realize that screen time includes television shows, computer work, video games, apps played on a smart phone, etc. Certainly some "screen time" is educational, but we seem to be going overboard.
How is this screen time affecting preschool children? As early as 1979, researchers knew that the more TV preschoolers watched, the poorer they did academically and socially in the first grade. Today we believe it contributes to childhood obesity, children's poor sleep patterns and their inability to attend to a task for long periods of time. (Children who exceed the two hours per day of screen time are one and one-half to two times more likely to encounter attention problems in school.)
Even background television has an effect. If your young child is in the room and the adults are watching television, he or she will not attend to a toy or an activity for very long. Babies and very young children need to have experiences with real materials and people in order to learn about the world around them. They also need to hear lots of language spoken to them, not at them.
Some argue that being in front of a screen for too long limits the time for a child to be active. However, Annie Page at the University of Bristol found that even if children did an hour or more of vigorous exercise a day, those who also watched TV or played on their computers for at least two hours each day were still likely to suffer the side effects. The child who played a total of two hours of video games was affected whether or not they also played soccer for the rest of the day.
What advice would we give parents since completely turning off the screen might be too difficult? It is the age-old advice - everything in moderation. To reduce screen time it is best to keep TVs and computers out of a child's bedroom, eliminate background TV altogether and resist eating in front of the television. Simply being aware of this research will encourage you as an adult to limit a young child's screen time. And the next time you buy a child a present (or a baby shower gift for that matter), find something that doesn't require a screen - the less the toy does, the more the baby or child does, and the more the young child learns.
If you are looking for more suggestions, the National Research Center for Women & Families suggests the following:
Linda Krulock graduated from West Liberty State College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education and early childhood. She teaches senior kindergarten at Wheeling Country Day School. Elizabeth Hofreuter-Landini is head of school at Wheeling Country Day. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard University Graduate School of Education.