Elementary Education Degrees in Virginia
What can you do to improve the future of your community and strengthen your own job outlook? You may want to consider becoming a teacher. Making education widely available is one of the most efficient ways to make a community stronger, healthier, and more united. With an elementary education degree, you may have the chance to work with students of different ages and take on challenges in urban and rural Virginia communities. Your path starts with education and training.
Becoming an Elementary Teacher in Virginia
As an aspiring teacher, it’s crucial that you take the right steps to earn your license and degree. Discover what it takes to earn a teaching license in Virginia and how you can meet educational requirements by contacting elementary education programs in Virginia.
Virginia education is always changing in response to new research, allowing teachers to make better choices for their students and classrooms. Because of this, standards and legislation change on a frequent basis. The state of Virginia recently introduced new accountability measures that may change how teachers run their classrooms and help students prepare for standardized testing (Roanoke Times, 2017). With these standards, it may be easier to plan your educational efforts and get the most out of your teaching hours.
Finding the right elementary teacher program is easy when you have a comprehensive list of accredited programs to explore. Check out our list of elementary education schools in Virginia and get in touch with schools that catch your interest.
Getting Your Elementary Education Degree in Virginia
Unless you already have a Bachelor’s degree in education or child development, you likely need to start with a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education. Those who already have an undergraduate degree in this area of study may want to look into graduate programs, which are considerably shorter than undergraduate options and look more deeply into current issues. If you have a Bachelor’s degree in an unrelated field, look into one of Virginia’s many alternative certification programs to find out how you can get your license in less than a year.
Bachelor’s programs offer a well-rounded education, making you a great asset to local elementary schools. Before you get into teaching classes, you take general education courses in mathematics, English, history, and the physical sciences. When you have enough credits and a high enough GPA, you an start your education coursework.
Coursework covers theory and practical experience, allowing you to develop all of the necessary skills for an entry-level teaching career. As you work through each of your classroom rotations, you may learn how to communicate with students, take feedback from administrators, and make the most of your time with students.
Elementary Education Course Options in Virginia
- Childhood Learning and Development
- Reading Development
- Exceptional Learners
- Curriculum and Instruction for Elementary and Special Education
- Differentiating Reading Instruction
- Science in the Elementary School
- Classroom Management and Behavioral Assessment
- Social Studies in the Elementary School
- Mathematics in the Elementary School
- Language Arts Methods
- Contemporary Educational Issues
The final test of your teaching knowledge is student teaching. During this semester, spend more than 40 hours per week working with students under the supervision of a licensed teacher. If you thrive in your student teaching placement, you may be able to secure a job there after graduation.
Once you’ve graduated with your Bachelor’s degree, you may want to apply for your license. Submit your transcripts and application to the Virginia Department of Education. You have to schedule your Praxis II exam. After you pass this exam and get your application approved, you have to pass the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment. This allows you to get your initial license.
Make the most of this opportunity and start learning more about elementary education teacher programs in Virginia!
Working as an Elementary Educator in Virginia
Statewide, demand for teachers is on the rise. Through the year 2024, O*Net predicts an 11% increase in job openings for elementary school teachers (2017). Across Virginia, the average income for an elementary school teacher is $66,700 per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017).
There’s a lot you can do to learn more and positively influence your job outlook and earning potential. Start building your professional network so you can learn about continuing education programs and legislative changes. Many teaching students and new teachers find it helpful to join the Virginia Education Association.
The future of your teaching career could begin right now! Check out our list of teaching programs in Virginia and request information to get started.
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Mobile phone is a test of auditory sequential short-term memory, based on recall of digits. It is a well-established fact that individuals with dyslexia typically experience problems with recall of digits (Beech, 1997; Thomson, 1993; Turner, 1997), and digit span is a feature of the vast majority of assessment batteries used for diagnosis of dyslexia (Reason, 1998). Although digit span is normally a spoken test, there is good evidence that the form of the test used in LASS 8–11 correlates highly with traditional forms, such as those used in the Wechsler Intelligence Tests and the British Ability Scales and is therefore a valid measure of auditory sequential memory.
Auditory short-term memory is critical for literacy development, especially for the acquisition of phonic skills, i.e. mapping of letters (graphemes) on to sounds (phonemes), and for the storage of phonological codes in short-term memory during word recognition and processing of text. There is also a well-established connection between reading and memory (Baddeley, 1986; Beech, 1997; Brady, 1986; Jorm, 1983; Wagner and Torgesen, 1987). The predominant view in the research literature is that phonological processes underpin the development of a phonological recoding strategy in reading, and that working memory plays a significant role in this strategy, enabling constituent sounds and/or phonological codes to be held in the short-term store until these can be recognised as a word and its meaning accessed in long-term memory (Gathercole and Baddeley, 1993; Wagner et al, 1993).
Short-term auditory memory is sometimes called ‘working memory’ because it is the system which we use when we have to hold information for a brief period of time while we process it. Working memory is a limited-capacity system, and unless rehearsed or transferred to longer- term storage, information in working memory is only retained for a few seconds (Baddeley, 1986). For example, in order to understand what a person is saying to us we have to hold their words in working memory until they get to the end of a sentence (or equivalent break), then we can process those words for their meaning. We cannot process each individual word for meaning as we hear it because by themselves words do not convey sufficient meaning. Furthermore, words heard later in an utterance can substantially alter the meaning of words heard earlier (e.g. ‘The man opened the magazine – then he carefully extracted the remaining bullets it contained’).
In the same way that it is necessary to hold spoken words in memory in conversation, the student must hold letters and syllables in memory when decoding words. This is very important in the development of phonic skills. The majority of dyslexic students have problems in this area of cognitive processing (Thomson, 1982). Awaida and Beech (1995) found that phonological memory at age 5 predicted nonword reading (i.e. phonics skills) at 6 years. When reading continuous text for meaning the student must also hold words in memory until the end of the phrase or sentence. Poor working memory will thus affect reading comprehension. Of course, visual memory skills will be involved in much of this cognitive activity, especially for more competent readers whose capacity for rapid visual recognition of words steadily increases with age. Nevertheless, auditory working memory remains a significant factor in reading development and in writing as well. Students with weaknesses in auditory working memory also tend to have difficulty in monitoring their written output, and are inclined to miss letters, syllables and/or words out when they are writing (Baddeley, 1986; Brady, 1986; Jorm; 1983; Wagner and Torgeson, 1987.)
Further research has suggested a very close connection between auditory memory span and articulation (speech) rate (Avons and Hanna, 1995; McDougall and Hulme, 1994). It could well be that articulation rate is an index of the efficiency with which phonological representations of words can be located in memory and activated (i.e. spoken). In turn, this could be closely related to how quickly cognitive representations of words being read can be located in the orthographic and semantic lexicons and activated (i.e. recognised and understood). The three lexicons (phonological, orthographic and semantic) are all believed to be closely related (Rayner and Polatsek, 1989).
Like the other auditory tasks in LASS 8–11, Mobile phone requires adequate hearing ability. Where a teacher suspects that a low score on Mobile phone could be due to poor hearing, the student’s hearing should be tested.


We get one step closer to the top of the "interpreter proficiency" pyramid. These ground-breaking, and extensively researched materials, will help your students build the skills necessary for consecutive interpreting!
Effective interpreting requires a variety of skills. Consecutive Interpreting from ASL has carefully constructed exercises for your students. Using ASL source materials, with the study questions, and the "5-step follow-up" helps to build or improve their skills.
The topics included in this volume:
- Intralingual exercises
- Translation Review and Bridging to Consecutive Interpreting
- Fidelity in Interpretation
- Self-Monitoring and Correction
*Click here for FREE sample syllabus!*
Teaching students to focus on learning the skills step-by-step, from the less complicated before moving on to the more complex, is the most successful path to excellence in simultaneous interpreting, and all volumes of The Effective Interpreting Series are geared to strengthening students' foundational skills toward that goal.
Video Library access FREE for all teachers, contact us today to get started!
The Effective Interpreting Series is a multi-installment series offering five sets of source materials in English to use with any other language in a language pair, and five sets of source materials in American Sign Language (ASL). The series takes the complex skill of simultaneous interpreting and breaks it down into manageable components, allowing interpreters to increase the individual skills that lead to effective simultaneous interpreting.
Seminars on using The Effective Interpreting Series in your classroom or your mentoring sessions are now available! If you are interested in hosting a seminar for your college or university, please send an email to Joe Seifrid at email@example.com for complete details.
About the author:
Carol J. Patrie, Ph.D., was instrumental in designing and implementing the Master of Arts in Interpretation at Gallaudet University. An author of many National and International publications and a sought-after speaker and trainer, Patrie is one of the foremost professionals in the field of Interpretation and Education.


The Kenyan Child Foundation aims to bring Primary School Education to the Children of Kenya, with a particular focus on those most disadvantaged in the community.
Our first project is Saint Patrick’s Primary School, Machakos County. Located 150km south of Nairobi, this was where the story of the Kenyan Child was born. Our relationship with this province came about in the market town of Sultan Hamud, where we were initially involved on an outreach programme during summer 2014.
As a Foundation, we recognise that those in greatest need lack a basic primary education. Our aspiration is to improve access to elementary schooling for children in their own locality.
The Kenyan Child Foundation’s objective is to take action by fostering connections, working alongside the local people and fundraising for a new primary school, something which is now a reality.
St Patrick’s School
After an extensive fundraising campaign and thanks to the generosity of the Irish people, Saint Patrick’s Primary was built with four classrooms. This School is located in the townland of Kawese, constructed with the support of the local community.
St Patrick’s Primary is free for all children. The School offers an elementary education to an ethnically mixed community, from diverse tribal and religious backgrounds. St. Patrick’s Primary School has revitalised the locality and has succeeded in uniting the multi-cultural population, made up of the Masai and Akamba peoples.
A group of outreach volunteers visited the region during summer 2015, bringing teaching resources, educational toys and sports equipment with them for the new school.
In the future, the Kenyan Child Foundation plans to extend St Patrick’s primary school to accommodate over 200 students as well as opening other schools in the locality. The foundation also plans to improve healthcare provision and promote business opportunities for the Kawese community.
Facts About Kenya
- Population: 46.05 million
- Population living below $1.25/day: 43.37%
- Life expectancy: 61.72
- Economic growth rate 5.60% (2015)
- Age 5 and under mortality (per thousand under 5 children): 73
- Maternal mortality rate (deaths per 100,000 live births): 360
- Literacy rate: 74.90%
- Females with at least some secondary education: 48.40%


The Symposium for Research on Child Language Disorders celebrates its 40th birthday this year. Each year, SRCLD meets in Madison to “provide a forum for sharing recent research and promoting interaction among established scholars and students in child language disorders”.
Is there such a thing as ‘dyslexia’? In this guest blog, Philip Kirby and Maggie Snowling offer a historical perspective on the debate [Photo credit: Béve Hornsby (1915-2004), founder of the Dyslexia Clinic at Barts Hospital, London. Courtesy of the UK Dyslexia Archive. Learn more about Dr Hornsby and her contributions to dyslexia here].
I’m used to thinking about time in two different ways in my research. One type of time is developmental time — the journey that children make as they learn to read. The other is processing time — how processing happens in real time, as people read. Beyond the disciplinary boundaries of cognitive psychology, another type of time concerns the cultural evolution of writing systems: the development of a language from a purely oral tradition to one that has a writing system. Does this history have any relevance for helping us understand how children learn to read?
We’ve been thinking a lot about semantic diversity lately and how it might relate to children’s reading development. We invited our latest recruit to the research team, Nicky Dawson, to summarise our recent paper and think about the implications of its findings. Over to Nicky…
Our latest research-practice Partner event was themed around mental health and well-being. Lucy Bowes discussed some of her work on bullying and mental health and this set the scene for a wide-ranging discussion.
Nearly 135,000 stories from 5-13 year-olds across the UK and a huge 56 million words later, the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year has been identified as ‘plastic’.
There’s been much discussion recently regarding the “language gap” and the “word gap” — the recognition that there are huge variations in levels of children’s language ability by the time they start school. Some of our research has investigated how children’s spoken language sets the foundation for literacy development. It is clear that children with low levels of spoken language are at risk for reading failure, particularly with it comes to reading comprehension.
Some children start school with worryingly low levels of oral language. In this guest post, Maggie Snowling tells us why this matters and what can be done about it.
Word Detective is our nationwide citizen science project for children. Lots of children have already taken part in our quiz, as these photos show. With your help, we hope many more children will take part. We need 1000s of Word Detectives to help us answer important questions about how children learn to read. Follow our how to guide and you can complete the quiz in 10 easy steps. And there are prizes to be won!
Word Detective is our nationwide citizen science project. Many children have already participated, earning their Word Detective certificate. With your help, we hope many more children will take part. We need 1000s of Word Detectives to help us answer important questions about how children learn to read. You can complete the quiz with your class in 10 easy steps, by following our how to guide. And there are prizes to be won!


In the 1870s France was devastated by the Franco-Prussian war, and violent insurrection in Paris drove numerous Impressionist artists to seek refuge in England. Their experiences in London and the friendships that developed not only influenced their own work, but also contributed to the British art scene. This book, published to accompany a major exhibition, is the first to tell the story of the French Impressionists who experienced a creative flourishing in London as they responded to British culture and social life—regattas, processions, parks, and of course the Thames. New texts from leading writers draw out key figures and events from this remarkable period, revealing the artists’ connections with patrons, art dealers, and British artists, and considering both the contribution they made to British art and art education and the impact their cross-Channel experiences had on French art. Lavishly illustrated with more than 170 beautiful works—drawing and sculpture as well as painting—this book illuminates a key period in this enduringly popular movement.


“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ~ William Butler Yeats
Seeing how art is made is always fascinating. Seeing how stained glass windows are made is one of the more interesting mediums of art to see in the process. There are many steps and today we’d like to share this short four minute video with you because art education is important to keeping art alive from generation to generation.
Stained glass is a labor intensive art, but one we find so very satisfying. It feels good to do our small part to keeping alive an art which goes back to the days of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Enjoy this video on How Stained Glass is Made!


What to do with this activity?
This year, going back to school will be extra challenging. You can prepare your child for the normal and the extraordinary challenges by talking with them and getting organised. Barnardos Ireland have some helpful Tip Sheets to download here.
Make sure your child knows how to open their snack box, put on and take off their coat (and put a name label on it) and so on. All this will help your child to feel independent and more confident. Encourage your child to ask questions and share with you how they feel and what they think about school. Ask about their teacher, what they are learning, and their friends.
Talk with your child's teacher to know what is expected of you and your child, and to hear how they are getting on. Tell them about any situations at home that might be upsetting your child. If you would like to know more about the Irish primary school curriculum have a look at the website of the NCCA (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment).
For current advice from the Irish government on going back to school, watch this video.
Children improve their language by hearing how words are used in everyday life. Chatting to your child helps build their communication skills. Getting your child to tell you stories or explain things, helps them to put ideas in the right order. This is an important skill for listening and speaking.
When you’re out and about with your child ask them to recall little things that happened on previous trips. For example, “Do you remember what we saw here yesterday?” This helps your child to recall, listen, speak and to become more aware of their surroundings – good skills for listening and speaking.
But remember, to listen well, first let your child finish what they are saying. Avoid too many questions that might interrupt their train of thought. Try not to think about what you want to say next. Concentrate on what your child is saying. Check with them that you understood, for example, “So what you are saying is…”
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Standards-based Science and Social Studies curricula spiral through each grade level, requiring students to apply reading, writing, and math skills and exhibit increasing levels of higher-order thinking as they advance from grade to grade. Science and Social Studies units integrate instruction of core content, subject-specific skill development (i.e. measuring volume, identifying geographic features on a map), and content application (i.e. to experiments, research, oral presentations, and written reports).
All students, and urban students in particular, must acquire the background knowledge needed to comprehend complex texts. Beyond decoding and identifying basic meaning, an effective reader must also know the content-specific vocabulary and contextual information the author assumes his or her readers understand in order to be able to learn unfamiliar content and access new information. A rigorous, literacy-based social science curriculum supports this aim. Faculty members develop instructional units and assessments in alignment with the comprehensive California State Standards. Teachers present curriculum in an engaging and challenging format that ensures students master the key concepts and vocabulary while also teaching them to analyze primary sources, debate contrasting points of view, and make cause and-effect connections. Social studies classes provide students the opportunity to hone their nonfiction reading skills and apply content knowledge to written essays and oral presentations. In addition to building content knowledge, these elements of our social studies program directly support our students’ English language and literacy development.


If you are just starting to take data science courses online, this is probably one of the courses you need. This introduction to data science course offered by IBM through the Coursera platform will give you the foundational skills and data science concepts you need at later advanced stages. The specialization consists of four part course that introduces you the skills needed for a successful data science career. You learn what data science entails and what exactly data scientists do and their roles. You will be introduced to data science applications in various fields and how data analysis helps in decision making.
This specialization is for beginners. You don’t need to have any programming language or computer science knowledge. You right away step into the world of data science but you need to put effort and handwork to navigate problems you may encounter if you are an absolute beginner. You will get an opportunity to complete hands on projects and learn methodologies involved in solving and applying data science solutions to real world problems.
The course tutors will breakdown for you complex concepts such as big data, statistical analysis and relational database. In their day to day activities, data scientists use various tools mostly open source tools and programs to effectively carryout tasks and implement projects. In this specialization you will learn the use and deployment of the most common ones like Jupyter Notebooks, RStudio, Github,Sql and Watson IBM Studio. The skills you gain while completing this course will enable you to work on exiting new projects.
There are four courses in this specialization and each one has hands-on projects and a shareable certificate after completion if you are a subscriber. The four courses are:
- What is data science?
As the specialization is for beginners, it starts with a course that defines and explains in details what data science is and what data scientists do.
2) Tools for data Science.
You will learn some of the most popular data science tools, how you use them and their features. The tools include Jupyter Notebooks, Jupyter Lab, RStudio IDE, Git, GitHub and Watson Studio. You will gain understanding of what each tool is used for and the programming language it can execute. Towards the end of the course, you will be required to create a final project with Jupyter Notebook and share your work with course mates for review.
3) Data Science Methodology
You learn how data scientists think and major steps involved in tackling data science problems. You will also learn major data science practices from forming a concrete research problem to building models.
4) Databases and SQL for data science with Python
This course introduces you to relational database and SQL to help you access data in a data science environment. knowledge in database is a must have for data scientists and that’s why you should take this course as a potential data scientist. No prior knowledge of programming or database is a requirement for this course. By the end of the course you will be able to access data from Jupyter Notebook using SQL and Python.
All the courses in this specialization can be enrolled for free but to earn a certificate of completion and IBM Badge, you should subscribe for $39 a month. Given the amount of resources and materials you get access to, it is worth joining the subscription.
- According to Coursera, 38% of the learners Started a new career after completing this specialization while 17% got a pay increase or promotion.
- Earn a shareable certificate upon completion
- 100% online learning at your own schedule
- No prior experience required
- You need approximately 4 months to complete but you may take a much less time depending on how you plan
- Flexible deadlines at your won pace.
Enroll for free in the link below.


Our camps help kids:
Develop physical literacy
- Physical literacy means developing the foundational skills and the confidence required to participate in regular physical activity, play a sport or get to the podium. YMCA camps include intentional activities that help build physical literacy and allow your child to participate in whatever activity or sport they choose. It’s proven that people who are physically literate are more likely to be active for life.
Become socially responsible
- Through our values of respect, honesty, responsibility and caring, we teach kids to respect themselves, others and the environment in which they learn and play.
Some camps explore philanthropy and help kids see the value in community service.
Develop life skills
- Kids learn social skills, how to be independent and to make good choices.
We foster individual development through group learning, challenge and fun.
and help create happy, healthy communities.
Eight ways to tell if your child is physically literate
1. Forward roll – Can your child do a basic forward roll on the floor? The forward roll is a basic gymnastic movement that demonstrates your child has developed a reasonable degree of flexibility and coordination, as well as proprioception (knowing where the body is as it moves through space).
2. One-leg balance test – Ask your child to stand on one foot for 30 seconds. Get them to put their hands on their hips and lift the knee of their non-standing leg as high as possible. Repeat with the other foot. If they start to hop uncontrollably or fall over, they need to work on balance.
3. Swim (comfortable in water) – Can your child swim? Swimming is the foundation of aquatic sports and is an essential skill for safety around the water.
4. Throw a ball – It may seem a bit simplistic, but the ability to throw a ball is a good measure of a child’s overall coordination and an essential skill used in many sports.
5. Strike an object – Can your child hit a ball with a bat? A puck with a hockey stick? A badminton bird with a racquet?
6. Land from jumping – Watch your child as they jump from a low platform, tree branch or your deck. Do they land with their knees aligned squarely above their feet and sink smoothly into a squat? Or do their knees collapse inwards and their legs wobble around?
7. Flat footed squat – Can your child do a flat footed squat from a standing position and then stand up again? This movement indicates flexibility, coordination, balance and strength.
8. Confidence to try sports – Is your child confident when trying new physical activities or sports? Kids who have a reasonable degree of physical literacy are confident, eager and able to try new sports and activities.
Learn more about physical literacy at activeforlife.ca!


CSL Research Design
The transitions from pre-school to primary school and from primary school to post-primary school (secondary education) are key turning points in children's lives. The CSL study explores how children, their families and schools manage and adjust at transition periods, with a focus on wellbeing and learning outcomes.
Equality, Voice & Inclusion
We consider the impact of gender, social class, ethnicity, dis/ability and age on primary school children's lives, prioritising children's voices, and the intersection of family, community and school dynamics on learning outcomes and patterns of equality, participation and engagement with the primary school curriculum.
Wellbeing & Engagement
Children's wellbeing is emotional, psychological and social and develops within school contexts. School engagement is a core component of wellbeing and influences children's learning outcomes. In the CSL study we examine how children's wellbeing and engagement develop throughout primary schooling.
Leading and Teaching
We explore everyday experiences and insights of children, teachers, principals, parents (and grandparents!) of their primary schools, providing a rich overview of school and classroom environments in a wider context of social change, and developments in curricular, pedagogical and assessment practices.
We examine how children's literacy and numeracy attainment develops across primary school. By collecting standardised achievement data over time, we will be able to examine how a range of factors interact with learning and attainment.
Children’s School Lives is a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study conducted over 6 years. It is divided into two cohorts as we track the same group of children each year in their experience of primary school.
- Follows children starting in their pre-school year as they transition into primary school
- Tracks these children until end of 2nd class
- Wave 1 collected in Spring 2019
- 87 primary schools and 200 pre-schools representing all school types nationally
- 8 in-depth case study classes across diverse primary school settings
- Follows children in 2nd class
- Tracks these children each year until first year in Second level school (2024-2025)
- Wave 1 collected Spring 2019
- 102 primary schools representing all school types nationally
- 7 in-depth case study classes across diverse primary school settings
|Wave 1||Wave 2.1||Wave 2.2||Wave 3||Wave 4||Wave 5||Wave 6.1||Wave 6.2|
|Cohort A||Pre-School||Junior Infants||Junior Infants||Senior Infants||1st Class||2nd Class||-||-|
|Cohort B||2nd Cass||-||3rd Class||4th Class||5th Class||6th Class||1st Year||1st Year|
Children’s School Lives is a mixed methods study that involves a national study of children across 189 primary schools and more in-depth research in our case studies with 13 schools.
In the case studies, selected to represent the diversity of types of primary schools in Ireland, we spend extended time in each school/classroom interviewing and getting to know the children, their teachers, school principal and parents in the study classes. Peer, classroom and school cultures are studied using multi modal, child centred and participatory methods. Through our CSL family sub study, we also interview the parents and grandparents of our case study children.
In the national study, a repeated measures survey of children, their parents, classroom teachers and school principals is carried out. The children’s survey takes the form of a child friendly ‘workshop’ where children are guided by experienced fieldworkers through an interactive data collection booklet containing questionnaire items interspersed with games. Schools principals, teachers and parents are contributing via on-line questionnaires.


Explain what they installed last night
The Friday night install process is very cut-and-paste, and people new to Ruby don't understand any of the things that they did. Show them the components (git, github, ruby, rails, heroku) and explain what each is for and how they fit together in plain language and ''why'' each one is important. Diagrams can help. Don't assume beginners have any context: for example, git is not the only version-control software out there, it is just one way to do it.
Make sure they know basic *nix commands
- Remember that some people don't yet know that when you're at the command line, you're actually sitting in a folder, and when you change a directory it's like moving into a folder with a GUI. This is NOT obvious if you've never used it before.
- If they are learning this for the first time, give them a little challenge like: go into the Desktop folder, create a subfolder and then cd into it. Use pwd to prove you're in the right place.
- Check in to make sure everyone knows at least the following unix commands:
cd, ls, mkdir, irb, pwd.
- Explain what an argument and a flag are. curl -O http://whatever.com/text.txt
- (Someone who knows DOS should write the equivalent of this section for DOS)
Explain other foundational concepts.
- How does a web server work?
- What is versioning? Why would you need to use it?
- What is the difference between running code at the command line and running code out of a file?
- What is the difference between Ruby and Rails?
See Foundational Skills for a slide set describing the basic skills required to be a programmer that don't involve writing code.
Here's a whiteboarded roadmap/flowchart of the old slides:
Contact Sarah Allen (sarah at ultrasaurus dot com) and send your github name if you want to be a collaborator. Or just fork the github project and send a pull request when you've made changes.
- everything is an object
- everything returns something
- open classes
Additional Notes for Programmers


Blind Contour Homage “The Kemmel Road, Flanders” Mary Riter Hamilton
Mary Riter Hamilton’s life was marked by both personal and historical tragedies, events that pushed her to produce remarkable paintings while also impacting her health. Shortly after she was born in 1873, Hamilton’s family moved from Ontario to Manitoba, where she spent her childhood. After training as a hat maker in her teens, she followed her employer to Thunder Bay, Ontario, where—at the age of 18—she met and married Charles W. Hamilton. Within four years, both her infant child and her husband had died.
Hamilton never remarried. After her husband’s death, she travelled in search of an art education, having always enjoyed drawing as a child. She studied in Toronto before moving to Europe to train at the Académie Vitti in Paris, only coming home in 1911 when her mother fell ill.
From the time she returned to Canada until the end of the First World War, Hamilton struggled to support herself. She moved to Victoria, BC, setting up shop as a portrait artist and selling her own paintings to survive. When the war began, she begged the Canadian government to send her to Europe as a war artist. But because she was a woman, her request was denied.
It wasn’t until 1919—just after the end of the war—when her opportunity to return to Europe arose. She was hired by the Amputation Club of British Columbia “to paint the battlefields of Europe, a tribute to those who were killed, maimed and wounded in the Great War.” And since she arrived so soon after the end of the war, she was able to capture the sorrow and despair that still populated the terrains she covered—the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Ypres.
For three years, Hamilton endured perilous dangers living in a tin hut with Chinese workers hired to clear the western front of war debris. Unexploded landmines and shells littered the devastated fields she painted. Travelling bands of uprooted criminals and looters—as well as rats and disease—constantly threatened her safety. She frequently had little to eat, while rest and comfort were hard to come by. Yet, she set up her easel on the battlefields, accompanied by her dog, Old Bob. She used whatever materials she could find; when she ran out of canvases, she turned to paper, wood, and even cardboard. In this time, she produced over 350 paintings—the largest collection of Canadian World War I paintings produced by a single artist.
While the European response to Hamilton’s war paintings was reverential and supportive (her pieces were displayed together to large crowds in Paris), “Canada was less enthusiastic and authorities offered little praise.” Indeed, when Hamilton returned home, the public showed little interest in her war paintings, perhaps in a desire to move on from the losses of war. In the end, Hamilton refused to sell any of these pieces, donating the entire collection to the National Archives of Canada.
Her experiences on the battlefields in Europe took a major toll on Hamilton’s health. She spent the rest of her life in Canada in and out of hospitals and psychiatric wards, painting whenever she could in order to support herself. Although her work was admired, it was not until after her death that Hamilton became celebrated as one of the most important Canadian artists of her time.
1954 – Vancouver, B.C.
1873 – Teeswater, Ontario
Gwiazda, Emily. “Mary Riter Hamilton.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2018. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mary-riter-hamilton
McLeod, Susanna. “Painting ‘Placed Watered with the Best Blood of Canada.’” The Kingston Whig Standard. 21 July 2015. https://www.thewhig.com/2015/07/21/painting-placed-watered-with-the-best-blood-of-canada/wcm/2891f626-c75e-8f8a-e4bb-502daeb83349


ERIC Number: ED489841
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Children as Illustrators: Making Meaning Through Art and Language
Thompson, Susan C.
National Association for the Education of Young Children
Art and literacy experiences can be integrated into the classroom to great effect, and in this book, the author demonstrates that. Interpreting and creating pictorial representations is an important step on the road to literacy, as is experimenting with combinations of symbols and text. When teachers value and support children's symbolic expression and communication, children respond and gain in confidence. This engaging book is a joyous exploration of visual expression combined with writing and reading. Included are instructions for more than two dozen printing, painting, collage, and other techniques that children will enjoy learning and using in their illustrations. The following chapters are included: (1) Understanding Children as Creative Beings; (2) Connecting Children's Art with Literacy and Language Development; (3) Learning from Adult Illustrators and Artists; (4) Extending the Learning through Reflection and Revision; and (5) Illustration Techniques and Activities. Lists of the following resources are also included: references; children's literature cited; websites and organizations; and further reading. Appended is: Developmental Benchmarks and Stages for Ages 4-8.
Descriptors: Art Education, Art Activities, Creativity, Literacy Education, Language Acquisition, Painting (Visual Arts), Illustrations, Young Children, Child Language
National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1509 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-424-2460 (Toll Free); Tel: 202-232-8777; Fax: 202-234-6415; Web site: http://sales.naeyc.org/default.aspx.
Publication Type: Books; Guides - General; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education
Authoring Institution: National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, DC.


Susan Rogers, Ph.D earned her doctorate in Cognitive Psychology from McGill University. Susan is currently an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music where she teaches record production, audio engineering, psychoacoustics, and music cognition.
Research at the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Lab (BMPCL) explores the perceptual and cognitive processes underlying the music faculty. The current experiment addresses a centuries-old topic: the physical basis for the music-theoretic distinction between consonance and dissonance from a new perspective. Musical training in childhood develops a heightened aptitude for sound processing and it is difficult to turn off musical knowledge. This study looked at how musical training shapes sensitivity to auditory roughness – the physical component of dissonance. Musicians were recruited from four different categories: training on fretted, fretless, nonpitched instruments, and voice. Would listeners trained on fretless instruments such as cello and violin show a higher capacity to hear roughness components than listeners trained on nonpitched instruments such as drums? Would vocalists accustomed to adjusting their pitches to blend with other vocalists show a different listening sensitivity than the piano or guitar players whose instruments have a fixed pitch? These findings advance understanding of how musical training shapes the auditory pathway and how knowledge influences auditory perception. The work has implications for music education methods, and particularly ear training.


Listening to music has been popular since ancient times until the present, but playing music is not much so. Most people are probably content to just listening to songs, as learning how to play them on an instrument can be quite a daunting task. However, there are essays about music stating that playing instruments proves to be a much more satisfying experience, as you will be able to understand more about the intricacies of the songs you are playing, and you will feel happy that you are able to play the songs yourself.
Thankfully, most schools around the world are teaching music to students, particularly children who are in elementary school. Now, you may be wondering, why would they teach a subject considered as an act of leisure in schools? Well, there are numerous advantages to learning music, and here are some of them.
Helps in Language Development
According to an article published by PBS, children who are learning how to play music not only develop the knowledge in identifying sounds and notes but also in language and reasoning as well. Studies show that music education helps in the development of the left side of the brain, which is said to be responsible for a person’s ability to process language. By learning how to play instruments, children will have an easier time deciphering and gathering information as well.
One of the most important things to do while playing music is to remember the notes or the chords that should be played in a specific part of a song, and because children have to memorize the notes included in a musical piece, it greatly enhances their memory. For beginners, there would be sheet music given to them so that they will have a guide on which notes to play. However, as the lesson progresses, the music teacher may take away the sheet during the exam and let the students play without one. Getting a good grade in the subject motivates children to memorize the sheet music, and without even realizing it, their memory is becoming sharper and sharper the more they don’t rely on sheet music.
Even if a student is only learning one instrument such as a plastic trumpet, there are dozens of different ways to play it, and it is up to him or her to discover these playing methods. Learning music is said to improve the creative thinking of children, as they are allowed to “think outside the box” when it comes to playing their assigned instruments. If the student is creative enough, he or she may even be able to write a song. The creativity in music can also be applied in other aspects of life in these children’s future, as they may also have the ability to think outside the box for other tasks such as school projects or even office work. In addition, the National Association for Music Education stated that creative thinking developed through learning how to play music enhances the children’s ability to solve problems not only by one solution but more.
Improves Brain Function
Besides memorization, playing music also requires the student to keep a close eye on where his or her hands are in the instrument, as well as keeping the ears focused on the part of the song that he or she is playing. Because of all of these activities being performed at once, the brain is forced to work harder and harder, and because of this, the brain is getting better at performing other functions too. In fact, research suggests that children who are learning how to play music have a significant growth in neural activity compared to those who didn’t learn. Not only does playing music enhance the brain, but it also improves the person’s hand-to-eye coordination.
There have been a few studies related to how music education helps increase children’s IQ, and most of them have proven that learning how to play music does make children more intelligent. The most interesting study on music education was conducted by the University of Toronto’s E. Glenn Schellenberg, who concluded that children who were participating in music classes have IQs that are three points higher than those who didn’t take lessons. The increase in IQ can also be connected to how the brain gets better at performing functions due to the memorization, hand-to-eye coordination, and focused listening that are being done simultaneously. Because of the many activities and skills that are being acted at once by the child who is playing music, it also increases their ability to multitask, which is one of the traits seen mostly in people who have high IQ.
So these are the benefits of music education to children, and from reading this article, you may already see that music education does not only teach children how to play instruments, but the subject also helps in improving their thinking and motor skills.


The area surrounding Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument offers several different views of the volcano and activities to enjoy. Take a minute to read through the information below and gain a better idea of the layout of the land surrouding the active volcano.
Mount Saint Helens is an active volcano, and as such is protected to maintain an extensive research area. The caldera is closed to hiking, as the threat of eruption continues with steam and ash continually being released. It is possible to hike or mountain bike around the perimeter of the volcano, and with a climbing permit, to scramble to the crater rim. Climbing permits are occasionally suspended depending on volcano activity, so it is best to inquire locally for conditions.
Several observatories around the volcano have been created to provide an up-close examination and exploration of the 1980 eruption, and the subsequent recovery.
- Silver Lake Visitor Center - Just 5 miles east of I-5, this center introduces visitors to the Mount Saint Helens story. Visitors can enjoy the distant view of the smoking volcano, and explore the Silver Lake wetlands, created by an ancient eruption.
- Johnston Ridge Observatory - Located in the heart of the blast zone, this state-of-the-art education center displays the transformation of the surrounding landscape, and the current science and understanding of volcanoes.
- Coldwater Ridge - Coldwater Lake was essentially created by the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, and is illustrated by a short interpretative trail. The nearby Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center features a video theatre, exhibits, and a small cafe.


ERIC Number: ED390553
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1995-Sep
The Development of Children's Story Telling Skills.
To examine the skills and knowledge children use when they develop and tell stories, this study sought to provide an experiential demonstration of how schemata guides comprehension. Subjects were preschool, third-, and fifth-grade children described by their teachers as having average reading comprehension. Each child met with a researcher in an empty classroom. Child and researcher played games to get acquainted with each other, and then the researchers told the child a story. The child was then asked to retell the same story, remembering every possible detail. Story reconstructions were taped, the tapes transcribed, and the story coded for recall. Results showed that: (1) older children's storytelling skills had a qualitative advantage over those of younger children; (2) preschool and third-grade children told less elaborate stories and remembered fewer emotional details than fifth graders; (3) children's storytelling abilities became more elaborate with age; and (4) children were able to recall only to the extent that their schemata, determined by their knowledge of the world, enabled them to do so. Appended are text suprastructures for three stories. Contains 14 references. (JW)
Descriptors: Age Differences, Cognitive Development, Cognitive Processes, Elementary Education, Elementary School Students, Foreign Countries, Learning Processes, Preschool Children, Preschool Education, Reading Comprehension, Recall (Psychology), Retention (Psychology), Schemata (Cognition), Story Telling
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the European Conference on the Quality of Early Childhood Education (5th, Paris, France, September 7-9, 1995).


The Suzuki Method of music education began in the middle of the 20th century by Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki. Dr. Suzuki believed that the best and most effective way to learn music is to be exposed to it from a very early age. He calls this the “mother tongue” method—young children learn to play an instrument in the same way that they learn their own language: by listening, absorbing, and copying. The parent attends the lesson as an integral part of the learning process. In general, the age at which a child is taught to read music is the same as when he or she is learning to read books in his or her own language. Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy is one of “Talent Education”; he does not believe that only certain people are born with “a gift”, or “talent”, rather that each child has infinite potential. He believes that in teaching the child music, a medium for the emotional and spiritual growth of the child is being created.
Private Instruction is at the heart of our Suzuki program.
Instruments taught using the Suzuki Method at the Music School: violin, viola, cello, flute, and piano.
Suzuki Violin and Cello Instructor: Chris Cavanaugh
Suzuki Violin Instructor: Heather Bond
Suzuki Flute and Piano Instructor: Liz Hodges
Suzuki Piano Instructor: Terry Barton
Suzuki Piano Instructor: Karen Lindsey
The Suzuki approach begins a child’s music education at a young age, often 3 or 4 years old, and teaches music as a language would be learned. Time is spent listening to music to develop auditory skills and memory. The Suzuki approach utilizes repetition of skills to build confidence in young players.
The Suzuki lessons are paced to develop playing techniques in small, successful steps. The student attends a lesson with a parent, who is a vital and active participant in every lesson, and brings focus to home practice. A partnership between teacher, parent, and child strengthens the success of the child’s learning and offers a lifetime of rewards for the family.
Key Elements to the Suzuki approach are:
*Small, Successful Steps
*Parent, Teacher, Student Triangle
Suzuki Education encourages and fosters learning in community! Our instructors offer regular group classes for all their students to supplement their private lessons. Group class is an opportunity for students and parents to listen and observe each others’ teaching and learning, and build lasting friendships with peers who are working on the same skills. Shared recitals and community performances bring out the joy of accomplishment and give students the chance to make music together. Group classes, recitals and other performance opportunities are scheduled by each instructor throughout the academic year.
Suzuki Class Tuition: $15 per class for non-Music School Suzuki students
*Free for Manchester Community Music School private students.
If you'd like to observe a Suzuki lesson first hand, please contact our register, Daisy Wojewoda, at email@example.com.


At the start of the year, I worked with a wonderful group of year 5 students at a Welsh primary school in Cardiff called Ysgol y Wern. The project formed part of the Arts Council of Wales’ Lead Creative Schools Scheme, and my task was to help improve numeracy skills through cooking.
I worked at the school for 2 days a week over a period of around 8 weeks, and after a few visits playing games with the children to get to know the class, we started to create the project together. As a group, we decided to cook street food from around the World, travelling to a different country each week and cooking some easy yet tasty dishes with the children.
The project was a huge success, and I was very sad to see the project come to an end – although I’m very proud of the work that we did and how the children grew in confidence with their cooking and numeracy.
I feel that so much can be taught through cooking and believe that it should form an integral part of the curriculum; with subjects like science, geography, numeracy, literacy, history as well as the most obvious cooking skills all being covered in one activity.
Cooking with children doesn’t have to be just baking sweet cookies and cakes – get children involved by asking them to research recipes that they would like to cook, give them tasks to do like weighing and measuring, chopping ingredients as well as tasting. Getting children involved with food preparation from a young age will help widen their tastes and build a healthy relationship with food.
With this in mind, I will over the course of the Summer Holidays share the recipes that I did with the children in the hope that it will inspire more children to cook and learn through cooking. Parents – don’t be a control freak, let the kids do as much as they can….there will be some mess, but get them involved to tidy up too.
If you make any of the recipes, then be sure to tag me on social media using my handle and the hashtag #SummerCookingSeries. Let the fun begin!!
For further information on the Arts Council’s Lead Creative Schools Scheme, please click the following link:


ERIC Number: ED481435
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 2002-Dec-6
Native Americans Today.
Through this lesson, teachers can use children's nonfiction books and the Internet to help their students develop accurate, substantive information about Native American people in the present day. During one 50-minute session, students will: participate in critical discussions about their knowledge of Native Americans; work cooperatively in small groups; access and gather information from Internet Web sites about Native Americans; and share information with others through discussion. The instructional plan, lists of resources, student assessment/reflection activities, and a list of National Council of Teachers of English/International Reading Association (NCTE/IRA) Standards addressed in the lesson are included. A present-day Native American book list and an ERIC Digest,"Teaching Young Children about Native Americans" (Debbie Reese), are attached. (PM)
Descriptors: American Indian Culture, American Indian Studies, American Indians, Childrens Literature, Discussion (Teaching Technique), Educational Objectives, Elementary Education, Evaluation Methods, Internet, Lesson Plans, Reading Instruction, Small Group Instruction, Student Motivation
Managing Editor, ReadWriteThink, International Reading Association, 800 Barksdale Rd., P.O. Box 8139, Newark, DE 19714-8139. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org. For full text: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons.
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners; Students; Teachers
Authoring Institution: MarcoPolo Education Foundation.; National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL.; International Reading Association, Newark, DE.


ERIC Number: ED489481
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Nov
Interventions for Reading Problems: Designing and Evaluating Effective Strategies. Practical Intervention in the Schools Series
Daly, Edward J., III; Chafouleas, Sandra; Skinner, Christopher H.
This comprehensive, user-friendly guide meets a growing need for school psychologists and other practitioners called on to work with struggling readers and their teachers. Presented are a systematic framework and a wealth of step-by-step strategies for targeting key areas of literacy development: phonological awareness, fluency, and comprehension. Particular emphasis is placed on scientifically based assessment and intervention practices that do not require major curricular change and can be applied with students of varying ages and ability levels. Featuring over 35 reproducible assessment and instructional tools--in a large-size format for ease of photocopying and use--the book also offers practical pointers for establishing an effective consultation relationship and documenting student progress over time. This book is part of the Practical Intervention in the Schools Series, edited by Kenneth W. Merrell. This book is divided into the following chapters: (1) Introduction and Overview; (2) Where Do You Start as a Consultant?; (3) Selecting and Monitoring Early Literacy Interventions; (4) Producing Measurable Increases in Reading Fluency; (5) Reading Comprehension; and (6) Service Accountability: The Measure of Performance.
Descriptors: Reading Instruction, Reading Difficulties, Intervention, Educational Strategies, School Psychologists, Phonological Awareness, Reading Comprehension, Reading Fluency, Emergent Literacy, Evaluation Methods
Guilford Press, 72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012. Tel: 800-365-7006, ext. 3 (Toll Free); Tel: 212-431-9800, ext. 3; Fax: 212-966-6708; e-mail: email@example.com.
Publication Type: Books; Guides - General
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Counselors; Teachers; Practitioners
Authoring Institution: N/A


SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ART STUDIO
Online Course for Artists and Art Educators
Sustain(ability) and the Art Studio is an online course that prepares artists and art educators to develop ways of thinking about sustainability in their artistic practice or teaching, and prepares them with essential tools for forming their own sustainable art studio and practices.
By the end of the course, students will have an understanding of various natural art processes (such as natural watercolors, inks and dyes, handmade paper or woodblock printmaking) and have a broad understanding of the possibilities that exist through the relationships and partnerships that can be developed within their communities.
This course is particularly designed and recommended for those interested in integrating sustainability in their teaching and/or artistic practice.
Course Outline and Dates for Summer 2021
Intro to Art and Sustainability
Friday July 9 - 2:00 to 4:00pm EST
- Sustainability as a standalone concept
- Historical background and the function of art
- The local and the global
- Sustainability: an issue of materials
- Circular systems
- Myths and misconceptions
- Sustainable art in the city
- Sustainable art in low income and underserved communities
Friday July 16
Art Processes and Sustainability - 2:00 to 4:00
- Painting processes: Simple inks and watercolors
- Natural dyes
- Cardboard as a medium
Objectives, Relationships and Alliances - 4:00 to 5:30
- Establishing needs
- Establishing our own SDGs
- Local relationships and alliances
- Developing ideas around sustainability
- Action plan (students develop a project from a choice board)
Friday August 6 - 2:00 to 4:00pm EST
- Participants present and debrief about their projects.
Friday August 13 - 2:00 to 4:00pm EST
Open discussion about art, art education and sustainability
Dates for Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 TBD


This book explains the Educational Thoughts of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and its bearing on Universalisation of Elementary Education in India. The focus is on the vision of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on "Education For All". The intent is to critically examine what vision has been implemented and what are the issues yet to be attended under the current initiatives. In the last chapter, there are some suggestions on the firm steps required to successfully implement the educational vision of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
Dr. Nishi Sharma
Year of Publication:
Customer Outside India:
Click Here to Buy


The main activities of DIET, Sohra may be briefly highlighted as follows:-
- Training and Orientation of the following groups:-
- Elementary School Teachers (both pre-service and in-service)
- Secondary School Teachers (in-service education)
- Headmasters and head teachers of elementary schools in the district
- Members of BRCs, VECs, SMCs and Community Leaders
- Resource Persons who will conduct suitable programmes for the target groups mentioned above at centers other than the DIET
- Academic and resource support to the elementary and secondary education systems in the District in other ways, example by,
- Extension Activities and Interaction in the Field
- Provision of Services of a Resource and Learning Centre for Teachers and Instructors
- Development of Locally Relevant Materials, Teaching aids, Evaluation tools, etc, and
- Serving as an Evaluation Centre for Elementary Schools
- Action Research and Experimentation to deal with specific problems in the district in order to achieve the primary objectives of developing elementary education.
The role and function of DIET in the present as well as future context should be as per the main thrust put forward in R.T.E., N.C.F. 2005, N.C.F.T.E. 2009, B.I.T.Es, S.S.A., R.M.S.A. and the various policies and programme set upon from time to time.


I love taking my kids to Kindermusik classes. They have so much fun participating in the activities and singing the songs. Not only do they love it, but their development benefits from the music education. They don’t even know they are working on reading, math, social/emotional, motor, and listening skills. According to the Kindermusik website,
“Psychologists, neuroscientists, and experts in early childhood development have demonstrated that music does more for children than bring them joy; it helps their brain cells make the connections needed for virtually every kind of intelligence. Kindermusik’s curriculum is built on this research.
When young children are consistently engaged by music in an age-appropriate, socially accepting environment, they benefit at many levels:
- They gain the phonological processing, spoken language, and comprehension skills that are the foundation of reading.
- They build the spatial-temporal and reasoning skills required for math, science, and engineering.
- They develop social and emotional skills that are essential for school readiness—like the ability to regulate their responses and relate to others in complex ways.
By moving and dancing to music and playing simple instruments, children improve their gross and fine motor skills. Activities that encourage freedom within a fun and friendly structure spark their creativity.”
I’ve watched my kids grow to love a variety of music, dance, and instrument play that has carried over from class to home. We play different types of music and dance around the house. We play instruments, make our own music, and make up our own songs. Parker has become quite the singer and Brandon is learning to get his groove on. Music and music education has become an important part of our lives.


As we mentioned in a previous post, we will profile some of the states that have coordinated their pre-K programs with kindergarten.
The Oregon Department of Education’s Early Learning Division created 16 Early Learning Hubs across the state whose function is to enable local organizations involved in early learning, K-12, health and human services, and the private and not-for-profit sector to create “aligned, coordinated and family-centered early learning systems.”
Decades of research has shown that the first five years are important brain building years that shape our children’s futures. Quality early learning experiences are predictors of health, happiness, growth, development and learning achievement at school …
There are 250,000 children under the age of five in Oregon. Of those children, 130,000 are exposed to risk factors from the moment they are born. That’s more than half.
While these factors may be out of their control, making sure these children get access to early learning experiences before they are six, while their families also get access to support services is in our control—and it can change everything for these children and their families.
Each hub prepares its own strategic plan and work plan to accomplish this goal. For example, as described in individual program documents:
The Blue Mountain Early Learning Hub has among its strategic goals the following:
Increase by 10% the number of at-risk children served in 3, 4 or 5 star QRIS [Quality Rating & Improvement System] programs and quality early childhood programs in identified ‘hot spots.’
Increase by 5% the number of children who receive a developmental screening (ASQ) before the age of three.
Increase by 25% the number of families that participate in at least 70% of a parenting education series.
Increase by 10% the number of children who receive regular well child visits and regular dental visits.
The Northwest Early Learning Hub’s work plan includes the development of memoranda of understanding to allow organizations to
share information on budgets and enrollments;
conduct joint early learning and health screening events for children from target populations;
support parenting education efforts and increase parents’ utilization of supportive services; and
create opportunities for early childhood educators’ professional development, among other initiatives.
For example, Early Learning Multnomah, the early learning hub for the Portland area, has used a portion of its grant funds to establish the P–3 Schools Project. This project funds eight full-time P-3 coordinators in eight high-need schools across the county; they are charged with coordinating early learning activities such as Play and Learn groups where children aged zero to five can come together with their parents to play educational games while parents learn more about what is expected once children reach kindergarten. The P–3 coordinators also accompany kindergarten teachers on visits to the homes of incoming kindergarten students and families, and they help organize and staff the Early Kindergarten Transition Program, a two-to- three-week summer program in which incoming kindergarteners are given the opportunity to become familiar with their new school and parents learn about ways to support learning at home.
Oregon has shown a clear commitment to ensuring that at-risk children enter kindergarten ready to learn. Its multi-faceted approach supports children and their families by promoting community partnerships that focus on health and environmental issues at home, the provision of quality pre-K, teacher development, and the transition to kindergarten. The first year evaluation of the program showed that families gained confidence in their abilities to support their children’s reading and math skills; there were increases in the engagement of under-served communities in KRPI events; early childhood learning staff reported increased knowledge about the pre-K to kindergarten transition process, while K-3 teachers reported better understanding of the pre-K environment; and there were overall improvements in pre-K to K-3 program alignment.


ERIC Number: ED439781
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1999
Starting Out Right: A Guide to Promoting Children's Reading Success. Specific Recommendations from America's Leading Researchers on How To Help Children Become Successful Readers.
Burns, M. Susan, Ed.; Griffin, Peg, Ed.; Snow, Catherine E., Ed.
Noting the increasing number of students who cannot read, this book shows parents, educators, caregivers, policymakers, and others how to promote the reading success of young children. It focuses on children from birth through the first 5 years of formal schooling, and includes practical guidelines, program descriptions, advice on resources, and strategies for use in everyday life (including practical literacy and language activities for parents and their young children) and activities and practices for classrooms. Following a brief introduction, the first chapter discusses the process of reading. This chapter outlines the characteristics of good readers, circumstances that promote reading, and the kinds of opportunities that enable children to be successful readers. The next chapter focuses on children through age four. This chapter covers the key aspects of language and literacy and activities for very young children; the role of home, day care, and preschool environments in literacy development; and language and literacy activities in preschool. The third chapter looks at children in kindergarten through third grade and provides families and communities a basis for understanding and helping as teachers work with children at this level of reading development. This chapter describes the elements of effective classroom instruction in the early grades. The last chapter addresses reading difficulties and features a variety of interventions to help struggling readers, such as tutoring, pull-out remediation programs, and dramatic school restructuring. (Contains over 100 references.) (TJQ)
Descriptors: Beginning Reading, Classroom Environment, Early Childhood Education, Early Intervention, Early Reading, Elementary Education, Emergent Literacy, Language Acquisition, Learning Activities, Parent Role, Reading Ability, Reading Difficulties, Reading Improvement, Reading Instruction, Reading Readiness, Reading Skills, Teacher Role
National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055 ($14.95). Tel: 800-624-6242 (Toll Free); Tel: 202-334-3313; Web site: http://www.nap.edu
Publication Type: Books; Guides - Non-Classroom
Education Level: N/A
Sponsor: Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC.


empathy and technology
z-access - live generated animation workshops for education and creative development
For the last 6 years Georgie Pinn has been developing a range of motion tracking based applications that bring animation to an interactive live arena . With empathy and education as the focus, the projects investigate experimental forms of shared identity and experience, using narrative and the role of the custom made avatar. Georgie encourages the audience to step outside of their familiar world and connect with the other through a personalised emotional experience.
Georgie uses the immersive nature of interactive animation and sound to harness empathy and make way for learning and new forms of expression for both the artist and the audience. The intention of the project is to democratise public screens. Georgie uses the generative, data driven software Touchdesigner as a tool for exploring these concepts.
The workshop outcome is to enable artists of all mediums and educators to transform their content into an animated format that can be manipulated in real-time by the audience in public spaces, lifting the work off the page into a screen-based event context. This project aims to increase and diversify audience participation and generate an emotional connection with the subject matter.The video below illustrates an example of a workshop designed for artists.
- electric corpse'
government funded workshops for holiday programs and primary school curriculum
The project was originally commissioned by the City of Melbourne. Georgie Pinn devised workshops where children could create an animated film based on their own hand drawn characters. The concept was then incorporated into the primary school curriculum with funding from Creative Victoria. Childrens' drawings lift off the page as they animate them using full body motion tracking and facial recognition software. The group then collaboratively devise a narrative and and soundscape, acting out the scenes of the film. Apart from the multi disciplinary skills the participants learnt how to share ownership of their concepts and designs, how to collaboratively create and how to connect empathetically with the avatars an content.
case study documentary of project- made by creative victoria
example of completed animated film
- 'electric dragon'
The dragon is by nature is an eclectic creature, wearing the head of a camel, the body of a snake, the claws on an eagle etc. He resonates through many cultures and was chosen as a vehicle to connect a range of cultures and increase knowledge and empathy towards the significance of The Lunar New year,
The interactive multi media event was comissioned for the main stage of Federation Square over 5 nights. Georgie Pinn wrote and created an animated narrative that followed the creation story of Fang, the dragon. The film was screened in parallel with a traditional shadow based choreography performance by the dancer Anna Yen. The performance was then followed by a call to action for the audience to mount the stage, form their own shadow, create their own dragon and simultaneously animate the dragon in real time using full body motion tracking. They were able to step inside the skin of the protagonist and write their own personalised chapter to the story as their actions were mixed back into the screened narrative above the stage.
edited documentation short of the event
the legend - the creation story
INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION - ' Electric puppet
This is the fantasy world of the robot, collage style puppets made from found objects and old technology. They meet together for an event where the participants are able to interchange and select different body parts to design and personalise their own characters. After which they are able to drive in real time the animation of the characters with their own bodies.
These characters reference the idea of the found object in our throw away society and show how the old can become new though imagination and resourcefulness,f finding personality and empathy for inanimate objects.


“Teachers need to consider both long-term planning and short-term planning. For this assignment you will be doing long-term planning. You will create a four-week New York State Next Generation Standards map for ELA for the grade level of your choice (K-6). You should select a topic that is from a grade-appropriate content area on which to base your map.
Your map needs to include: (you should use the checklist in the Week 9 resources as a guide):
-Topic and explain why you chose this topic – indicate what part of grade level common core curriculum or school curriculum it enhances, how the unit helps students meet the New York State Next Generation Standards
-Focus Standards – the New York State Next Generation Standards on which this lesson is based. You must include at least one standard for each of the following areas: Reading-Literature, Reading-Informational Text, Reading – Foundational Skills (K-5), Writing, Speaking, Listening, Language. Write out standards by number and words.
-Skills/Strategies to be taught – List 2 skills or strategies that will be explicitly taught during this unit
-Selected Vocabulary – 5 Tier Three vocabulary words that will be explicitly taught during this unit
-Sample Lesson Activities That Focus on New York State Next Generation State Standards and That Reflect Available Resources – 5 activities with a brief description of what students will do to show they are meeting the Focus Standards. One must focus on comprehension. Two must be tied to the skills/strategies indicated above. The other two activities can be any activities appropriate for the unit. Two of the 5 activities must also indicate how you will accommodate for diverse learners (each of the 2 activities must accommodate for different needs).
-Possible Assessments – indicate two assessment ideas (formative or summative) that could be used as a part of the lesson activities or skill/strategy instruction from above. You may select pre-assessment, during teaching assessment, or post-assessment. For each assessment indicate what the assessment is designed to measure.
-Selected Works – You need 2 for each area, – Literary Texts, Informational Texts, and Reference Materials (can be any medium). The works you choose must be grade appropriate. Indicate what focus standard(s) will be met by each work.
Use the resource below.
Your assignment must include the following:
Topic and explanation of why you chose this topic
Focus Standards – written by numbers and words
5 Sample Lesson Activities That Focus on New York State Next Generation Standards and that reflect available content standards
Assessments related to skills/strategies taught or sample lesson activities
Citations from the course should be used throughout your assignment”


Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 35+ years. The percentage of children aged 6-11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 20%. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12-19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 20.5% over the same period (CDC, 2017). Currently Ohio has the 16th highest childhood obesity rate in the United States where 33.1% of youth in Ohio are overweight or obese. Ohio's current obesity rate for adults ranks 11th in the United States at 33.8% (StateofObesity.org, 2017)
Physical Education is an integral part of the overall education for every student and provides one of the few opportunities for every student to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence necessary to lead a physically active lifestyle. A high-quality physical education program promotes an active lifestyle, improved health, motor skill development and better cognitive performance.
Daily physical education for all students is recommended by numerous national associations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, the National Association for State Boards of Education, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Heart Association, and is also noted in the Healthy People 2020 document.A student who becomes skilled and knowledgeable in physical education is more likely to become a healthy adult who is motivated to remain healthy and physically active throughout his or her life.
Physical Education can provide the following benefits:
1) Improved Physical Fitness2) Skill Development3) Regular, Healthful Physical Activity4) Support of Other Subject Areas5) Self Discipline6) Improved Judgement7) Stress Reduction8) Strengthened Peer Relationships9) Improved Self-Confidence10) Experience Setting Goals


In every level of education, one needs to understand the difference. It is very essential since choosing the best education for young learners is not an easy feat. The best of preschool Jakarta itself should underline the correct focus and use an appropriate curriculum. You can take Global Sevilla as an example that focuses on six areas of learning and development. Here is the detail.
Physical And Creative Development
Physical and creative development are the two basic areas every young child should have learned. Creative skills can bring independence and excitement toward learning. It also covers huge areas including dance, music, art, role play, and games. It also worked for hand in hand with the physical development that turned as the most fundamental skills to develop.
Knowledge Of The World And Mathematical Development
The knowledge of the world and mathematical development emphasize logic development for the students. As the pupils have little experience in the world, the areas lead them to learn more knowledge. From basic geography, history, technology, design, to IT. The area is also one of the significant keys to rose problem-solving abilities for each student in the school.
The preschool Jakarta itself implements the idea through many media, including games, songs, stories, and sensory fun activities. Along with it, mathematical development focuses on the student’s ability to understand numbers, shapes, patterns, space, and measurement. This kind of skills and knowledge will be very helpful as the children get older.
Language And Social-Emotional Development
Last but not least is social-emotional and language development. The two areas underlining the need of growing surrounded by people. It also helps children to understand that they are not alone and live within society. With that in mind, the children can learn how to become independents, play, and even cooperate with others.
To support that kind of activity, Global Sevilla also emphasizes the need to communicate, language, and literacy development. This kind of preschool Jakarta program and focus will encourage students to listen, speak, and express their ideas. The skill is also fundamental to writing and reading. They can also use many items, such as rhymes, stories, and books.
At such a young age, the younger students don’t have enough experience to receive high-tier education. That is why the global Sevilla school introduces the six areas of learning and development under the IEYC curriculum. It provides some detailed activities that suit their abilities, needs, and skills to further develop in higher degree education.


ERIC Number: ED383425
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1994-Feb
Let's Read Together: Parents and Children in the Preschool Classroom.
Otto, Beverly; Johnson, Linda
A parent-child reading project was implemented in an urban child-parent center classroom for 4-year-olds. Although the children represented a variety of ethnic and cultural groups, they all came from families of limited economic resources. The purposes of this project were to emphasize the importance of shared storybook experiences at home and at school, and to provide opportunities for parents and children to increase the frequency of shared storybook experiences. Planning the project involved establishing a classroom lending library and scheduling times for parents to come to share books with their children in the classroom. The outcomes that resulted from establishing the lending library were: parents assisting their children in returning and checking out books; parents taking the initiative to sew book bags and illustrate them; and parents donating books. Children's interest in reading, their listening skills, and their vocabulary increased as a result of parents reading aloud to them in class. Monologue, Echo Reading, and Dialogue were the three distinct reading styles identified from analyzing videotapes of parent read-alouds. Each of these approaches was effective in keeping children engaged in the storybook experience. Results indicate that parent-child reading programs can encourage partnerships between parents and teachers to enhance the literacy development of their children. (BAC)
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Chicago Metro Association for the Education of Young Children Conference: "Focus on Feelings" (Chicago, IL, February 3-5, 1994).


How Music Education Benefits Your Child
At The Newcastle School, we provide your child with an outstanding music curriculum. Our music specialists know how essential music education is to a child’s development, but there are various benefits that come from our curriculum.
Children are born with the ability to learn sounds and words, but music education will only help enhance those natural abilities. Musical education physically develops part of the left side of the brain associated with processing language. It can even wire brain circuits in specific ways, linking familiar songs to new information. Since language is at the root of social competence, music education will strengthen your child’s ability to become verbally competent.
A child is born with an unfinished brain and music plays a critical role in developing a young child’s brain. For older children, music can create an effective study environment and learn information more efficiently. Children who participate in music are often found to score higher on tests and have higher IQ scores. The brain of a musician works harder than that of non-musicians. When you’re playing an instrument or singing, you naturally have to use more of your brain. Teaching children music from an early age will give them the opportunity to challenge their brains.
Motor Development and Coordination
Music can help young children pattern their body movements so their motor skills will keep up with cognitive development. Teaching children to dance, sway, bounce or clap along with music from an early age is a great way to develop these motor skills early on.
Some studies have found a link between music and spatial intelligence. This means that understanding music can help children visualize elements that go together, as they would while doing math. Spatial-temporal skills come into play when solving any multistep problem, whether it’s in math, art, engineering or while working with computers.
Emotional Awareness and Social Skills
Music can evoke strong emotions in all of us, including children. Music can give your child an outlet for their emotions, so when they’re scared or upset, music can soothe them. When a child learns to play a musical instrument, they can use this skill to channel both negative and positive emotions. Children can also benefit from musical experiences by increasing confidence and self-esteem, along with enjoying the sense of community that can come with participation in music groups or lessons.


ERIC Number: ED420549
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1997
Children's Social Consciousness and the Development of Social Responsibility.
This book synthesizes the research in diverse fields of the social studies relating to the development of children's awareness of and responsibility for social inequity and social action. The book addresses the issues concerning: the processes by which young people develop a sense of social responsibility; and classroom and school practices that effectively support this development. The book is divided into seven chapters including: (1) "I Care About the World. But I Don't Think It Concerns Me, Even Though It Does.'"; (2) "The Development of Social Responsibility"; (3) "From Consciousness to Activism"; (4) "Processes that Promote Development"; (5) "Educational Interventions and Social Responsibility"; (6) "The Current State of Educating for Social Responsibility"; and (7) "The Courage To Teach Social Responsibility." (EH)
Descriptors: Children, Citizenship Education, Citizenship Responsibility, Elementary Education, Ideology, Social Cognition, Social Responsibility, Social Studies, Social Values, Socialization
State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246; phone: 800-688-2877.
Publication Type: Books; Information Analyses
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A


Citation: Nortey, S., Bodjawah, E. K., & Poku, K. A. (2021). The intellectual legacy of Gold Coast Hand and Eye curriculum and art education in Ghana. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 22(6). Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea22n6
In 1887, the British colonial masters in the Gold Coast implemented an Arts education reform that prioritized the faithful representation of everyday objects in still-life artistic works. This was known as the Hand and Eye curriculum, an Arts education which was geared towards industrialization and functionality rather than innovation and creativity. This study assesses the educational code of 1887, the art during that period, what the legacy offers for creativity in art-making, and how colonialism impacted the Ghanaian art scene. Using a mixed-method approach and drawing on diverse data sources such as audio-visual materials, school visits, archival studies and exhibition histories, the study finds that the intellectual legacy of copying what one sees is still a significant component of the Ghanaian curriculum and educational practice today. While there are examples of exciting developments in Ghanaian artistic education and practice, the country’s basic and secondary art education is still steeped in the still-life paradigm of colonial art-making and education.


Long before goos and gah turn into recognizable words, baby brains are hard at work distinguishing the sounds of their home language, and creating connections that will support future language production. Now, new research appears to show that all the hard work could be accelerated with a little specialized training.
Researchers, based at Rutgers University, tested 4-month-old babies, bringing them into the lab once a week for 10 weeks to play a specialized game. They listened to non-language bleeps and bloops that became increasingly complex with time. As the babies shifted their eye gaze to anticipate the sound, they were rewarded with an animated video.
When the same babies were tested at 7 months, scans showed that they were quicker to react to language sounds than babies who hadn’t gone through the specialized game. The results of the study were published this month in the Journal of Neuroscience.
April Benasich, a Rutgers researcher and director of the Infancy Studies Laboratory, said in a press release that it’s very likely that one day parents at home will be able to use an interactive toy-like device – now under development – to mirror what she accomplished in the baby lab and maximize their babies’ potential.
She points to the number of babies – between 8 and 15 percent – who are at high risk for poor acoustic processing and delayed language development, and says that this tool could be an intervention to help them.
As I have written in the past, most toys that claim to teach a baby to speak or read are pretty much worthless. I asked Susan Neuman, a professor of Educational Studies specializing in early literacy development at the University of Michigan about the potential for language-training toys for young babies, and she said, “it sounds a bit wild to me.” Benasich says that prior research shows that tiny differences in the speed of acoustical processing in early childhood – even a tenth of a millisecond – has the ability to predict real-world language abilities when kids are starting school.
Before any brain-training tools are created, there’s more research to do. The researchers plan to continue following the babies through the time they are 18 months old to see if they retain and build on the skills with no further training.
Citation: The Journal of Neuroscience, 1 October 2014, 34(40): 13349-13363; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0972-14.2014


Literacy involves meaning-making with materials that humans use to communicate and they can be visual, spoken, written, drawn or sung. Definitions vary according to theories, personal values and culture.
Literacy development is a foundation for socializing with others, doing well in school, developing independence, working and managing money. To be literate, children learn in a variety of ways in their homes, places of formal education and communities.
The adult-child interactions are very important. Words, their sounds and letters, are best understood when seen and applied in everyday experiences, driven by children’s motivations.
How to support learning from early childhood to Year 12?
Parents can do several practical things to encourage broad literacy and learning in early childhood years:
Don’t wait. Read aloud what you are reading to your newborn. As their hearing develops, children become attuned to the sound of your voice and the tones of the language you speak.
Write down or record on your phone your child’s stories. Turn them into a slide show, animation, or book. Your children will see the transformation of their own spoken words into written words.
Talk about their experiences. Prompt them to describe something they have read, seen, done or heard about. Remember, children’s oral language supports their literacy development, and vice-versa.
Play games that involve rhyming. Rhyming games help children appreciate beginning and ending sounds. You can play them at any time – while shopping, in the car or at the dinner table.
Books. For toddlers or even babies, start with durable board books of everyday things, animals or faces with few words that invite interactivity. Progress to more complex picture books with rhyming language. Talk about personal links with the stories and ask questions about the stories as these will support comprehension.
Slide your finger underneath the words as you read them, pointing out each word. This shows your child that we always start on the left and move to the right when reading English.
Talk about words children notice. It is very important to be sure the words make sense to children, and talk about what words look like, what sounds, letters and patterns they make. This builds children’s word recognition and attack understanding and skills of what words in context mean.
Read with your child. Reading with children from an early age helps them develop a solid foundation for literacy. It also promotes bonding and is good for your relationship with your child.
Listen to your child. Follow his lead and talk about things he brings up. If he asks a question, give him the chance to come up with answers before you step in.
Invite your children in activities where you use literacy. If you send e-cards or make shopping list, your children could help create these with you. Explain what you are doing and invite children’s participation, so children can meaningfully engage with and create texts with you.
Above all, be sure the experience is playful, enjoyable and encourages children’s active involvement. Literacy should be engaging for your children, not a chore.


A new study found higher education students are more engaged and motivated when they are taught using playful pedagogy rather than the traditional lecture-based method.
The study was conducted by University of Colorado Denver counseling researcher Lisa Forbes and was published in the Journal of Teaching and Learning.
While many educators in higher education believe play is a method that is solely used for elementary education, Forbes argues that play is important in post-secondary education to enhance student learning outcomes.
Throughout the spring 2020 semester, Forbes observed students who were enrolled in three of her courses between the ages of 23-43.
To introduce playful pedagogy, Forbes included games and play, not always tied to the content of that day’s lesson, at the start of each class. She then provided many opportunities for role-play to practice counseling skills, and designed competitions within class activities.
During the study, students mentioned they saw more opportunities for growth while learning in a highly interactive environment. Students also described that the hands-on nature of learning through play established a means for skill acquisition, and they were able to retain the content more effectively.
“As we grow older, we’re conditioned to believe that play is trivial, childish, and a waste of time,” said Forbes. “This social script about play leads to it being excluded from higher education. A more interactive learning approach leads to a deeper and more rigorous connection to the material.”
To maintain what Forbes described as “rigor” within higher education, the most common approach tends to be lecture-based learning. However, according to Forbes, this mode of education is counter to the very outcomes educators set out to achieve.
The results of the study suggest there is a unique and powerful classroom experience when play is valued and used in the learning process. According to Forbes, students who participated in this study also indicated that play increased positive emotions and connections with other students and the professor in the course.
“I also saw that when I introduced play, it helped students let their guard down and allowed them to reduce their stress, fear, or anxiety,” said Forbes. “Play even motivated students to be vulnerably engaged, take risks, and feel more connected to the content.”
Play is underutilized and devalued in higher education, according to Forbes. She suggests educators reevaluate their understanding of using play in graduate courses.
Playful pedagogy creates an interactive and warm learning environment, resulting in greater understanding of the material. This method is also more aligned with the humanistic missions and values of universities and programs.
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- 32The COVID-19 pandemic created numerous changes and challenges for many people. In the education field, teachers were asked to re-create lesson plans and student interactivity in a virtual realm, something many had never experienced. During the 180th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, which will be held virtually June…