In 1916 the administrative structure of Britain's school system adhered to the Education Act of 1902. The act transferred the powers of the thousands of individual school boards and managers of voluntary schools to 318 Local Education Authorities (LEAs). These were empowered to establish secondary and technical schools, and develop the existing system of elementary education.
Government made funds available to Church voluntary schools, but only at the cost of giving up management autonomy. Those that did not receive funding were the 'unprovided' schools, over which LEAs had only limited control. The incorporation of these schools into the system proved a persistent obstacle to reform between the wars. The Board of Education, established in 1899, had overall authority.
During the First World War, there was a growing demand for education and increasing pressure upon secondary schools, which were able to accept only a small proportion of children from elementary schools. The response of David Lloyd George's government was H.A.L Fisher's Education Act 1918. The act provided for a grant of 50 per cent minimum of total expenditure incurred by local authorities in the provision of education. This financial commitment was a strong encouragement to local authorities to expand secondary provision and implied commitment to the implementation of other measures under the act. Full-time elementary education for all children was extended from 12 to 14. Fisher envisaged the establishment of nurseries and 'continuance schools' at which children between the ages of 14 and 16 would attend compulsory part-time classes.
LEAs were charged with the duty of providing advanced courses for older children in 'central' or senior schools, stating the inability to pay fees should not prevent any child from access to education from which it would benefit. It stopped well short, however, of the Labour Party ideal of free secondary education for all children. The majority of secondary pupils continued to pay fees. Fisher had the broad support of the Church, the Labour Party and organised labour, although there was opposition from some employers who feared the Education Act would reduce available labour. Fisher also sought to attract more teachers by providing pensions and setting up the Burnham Committee to determine standard salary scales.
By 1919 the Treasury was already questioning costs entailed by educational reform. Economic circumstances deteriorated during 1920 and in 1922 the Geddes Committee on National Expenditure pressed for cuts to the education budget. As a result, the act's provisions on nurseries and continuation schools were not implemented. Nevertheless, during the 1920s there was a growing movement in favour of general secondary education. 'Secondary Education for All' was associated with the Labour Party. The influential 1926 report of the Hadow Committee - 'The Education of the Adolescent' - recommended the division of primary and secondary education at the age of 11, with all children attending school to the age of 15. Hadow maintained the principle of selectivity; apart from the existing grammar schools there should be selective and non-selective 'modern' schools, geared to the needs of pupils of different abilities.


Synagogue in Przysucha, 2006. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ) reports that progress seems to be being made regarding the restoration and preservation of the imposing, 18th century synagogue building the Przysucha. The FODZ web site reports that a meeting will be held tomorrow about the synagogue's fate.
Przysucha was a major center of Hasidism in Poland -- Martin Buber mentione d seven Tzaddikim from the town. It was the seat of the influential Hasidic masters Abraham of Przysucha (d. 1806) and Jacob Yitzhak ben Asher (1766-1813), known in lore simply as the Holy Jew of Przysucha, who is credited with being the first propagator of Hasidism in Central Poland. Jacob Yitzhak's disciple Simcha Bunem (1784-1827) also lived here. Their tombs in the Jewish cemetery, which is near the synagogue, are places of pilgrimage.On October 26th, 2009 in Przysucha representatives of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland will meet with representatives of the local NGO’s: Oskar Kolberg Cultural Society and Music Education Society as well as the Oskar Kolberg Museum in Przysucha. The meeting will be dedicated to the concept of the historical synagogue’s development.
Przysucha was founded in 1910 as a settlement of German ironworkers. Jews lived here from the beginning, and by 1921 made up two-thirds of the population of 3,200.
The synagogue is one of the largest of Poland's surviving synagogues. It was heavily damaged in World War II when the Germans used it as a warehouse. It conserves traces of structural and decorative detail, including the central bimah, the women's gallery, a few faded frescoes and much of the Aron ha Kodesh, with stucco work above it. Attached to the outside wall is a rare example of a kune, or pillory, where Jews sentenced by the Jewish community court would be locked in punishment.
The Kune. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber.
FODZ, which took possession of the badly deteriorated building two years ago, has a web page dedicated to the synagogue and efforts to revitalize it. On the page you can see architectural drawings and other material.
In 2008, we carried out essential protective renovations, but the building still needs urgent repairs. The roof is in a very bad condition and the interior is rapidly deteriorating due to excess moisture. Currently we are working on the construction and conservation documentation. Once it is completed, we will be able to apply for funding necessary to start the restoration and adaptation works.
The synagogue in Przysucha (yid. Parshishe vel Przishe) was built between 1774 and 1777. With an area of nearly 600m², it is a massive limestone building towering over a small town (current population: 6800). The main prayer chamber is rectangular, with a vaulted ceiling descending in the middle towards a four-piered structure formerly framing the bima (reader’s podium). The aron ha-kodesh, framed by a portal topped with stucco griffins, has also been preserved. Some polychromies remain on the walls.
Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber, 2006


Art is a means of communication, right? Students love to express themselves through art, but sometimes a little story that goes with the art can mean a whole lot.
In my classroom of first graders, we would do a critique at the end of the month. Students could choose one piece of art from their folder of projects, and when their turn came, they got a chance to share something about the artwork.
One six year old boy named Doccor had several beautiful, colorful projects, but chose a simple taped-together white paper sculpture that he made in Free Time. In fact, Doccor snuck the tape after clean-up time for this project. I didn’t think much of his desperate little creation, but soon he had the whole room engaged as he set the paper “cup” up and began to show how it was a robot and a basketball hoop, etc. He simply had an admirable passion for 3-D art paired with his imagination!
After Doccor told a bit about why he liked this artwork, he was able to pick one raised hand to make a positive comment. He beamed as he had the entire class to choose from!
Critique helps two ways. It presents a chance for students to:
- Verbally add to artwork
- Understand and appreciate other’s artwork better
Critique does take valuable class time, but can be worth it as students recognize how to communicate. They will be likely to learn from the experience and repeat the commentary to family outside the art room! Parents quickly realize when their children talk about their art that they are benifiting, and support art education in return.
-Story from Ms. Samuelson’s Art Room, Iowa


How far can blood splatter? Students from Jurupa Hills High School measure blood splatter at the San Bernardino Sheriff’s department.
It's never too early to start learning how the world works. Babies begin exploring their worlds at a very early age, and research shows that many children find their future hobbies and careers before they even begin school. We recently asked a young woman at Upland High School this question: "When did you know that engineering was what you wanted to do?" She replied —"I was born doing this." She went on to recall sitting on her grandfather's lap while he worked on taking things apart and putting them back together, including her in projects like taking apart a VCR and putting it back in working condition. While you may not be comfortable taking apart electronics, there are plenty of things that parents can do to show their young children how things work.
The Alliance for Education partners with school districts, postsecondary partners and community and faith-based organizations to support efforts in providing early learning experiences and parent education. Examples of this partnership include work with the Watson and Associates Literacy Center at California State University, San Bernardino and local community and faith-based organizations such as The Church for Whosoever in Apple Valley to provide support in literacy development for students and their families. More information on the CSUSB Watson and Associates Literacy Center can be found at: http://literacy.csusb.edu/home.html.
Check out the video from TED.com and the web links below for easy science projects that you can do with your child and more information on helping your young child with successful transition to school.


Three arguments against whole language & why they are wrong
Three Arguments offers some real solutions, chief of which is making sure that all children have access to interesting reading material so they can finally achieve the standards of literacy they deserve.
9 pages matching sustained silent reading in this book
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Understanding Developmental Stages
Find resources to help parents understand children's developmental stages.
Ages and Stages
Gives parents information on developmental stages from pregnancy to age 21.
Ages and Stages
Invest in KidsTM
Helps parents understand and encourage their child's physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development in the first 5 years.
Outlines 40 developmental assets that are concrete, common sense, positive experiences and qualities essential to raising successful young people. Includes information on what you can do to build assets in children.
Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development
Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development
Covers over 30 topics related to the psychosocial development of the child, from conception to age 5, and presents the most up-to-date scientific knowledge.
Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center, Office of Head Start
Offers parents resources on growth and development, everyday parenting, games and activities, and understanding the Head Start program.
Just In Time Parenting
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
Resources geared toward children at different ages designed to provide the right information to parents at the right time. The website also includes a news section, a calendar of events, and frequently asked questions.
Learn the Signs, Act Early
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
Lists developmental milestones for children from birth to 5 years to help parents measure their child's growth. Includes interactive tools for parents, fact sheets on developmental disabilities, and public awareness resources for health-care and childcare providers.
The Magic of Everyday Moments® Campaign
ZERO TO THREE
In partnership with the Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute, the campaign is designed to help caregivers understand and gain ideas for how to use simple, everyday moments to promote children's social, emotional, and intellectual development.
Parents as Teachers National Center
Tips on specific topics to promote positive child development in the first 5 years of a child's life; an eNewsletter tailored to a specific child's age is also available.
The Period of Purple Crying
National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome
Describes the point in a baby's life when they cry more than any other time and equips caregivers with strategies to soothe the baby and cope with stress.
What to Expect and When to Seek Help: Bright Futures Developmental Tools for Families and Providers
National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health (2006)
Presents four tools to assist parents and providers in understanding the different stages of child development, social and emotional milestones, and ways to identify child strengths and childrearing abilities. Information is provided on what to expect at different ages, along with checklists for indications that parents should seek help.


Come on in! Join Pinterest today...it only takes like a second or so.
activities for 2 year olds 2
Children have an innate sense of curiosity. Such curiosity leads them to an exploration of the world around them and the natural progression to science. Science
Kids Art Activity: Homemade paint recipe that ERUPTS! Kids will go nuts watching the paint fizz again and again.
A fun and easy way to introduce babies to new texture. #spon
20 colorful activities that combine art and science for kids
cheesy leftover mashed potato pancakes
Boo Bubbles...Fun Science Project for Kids
5-min Banana Pancakes... an interesting attempt at wheat free pancakes.
Racing Rainbow Painting with Cars-Explore ramps, gravity, color matching, counting and more in this fun process art activity for kids
Bubble Wrap Stomp Painting - make some bubble wrap "boots" then dip in paint and stomp around to create art!
every baby should have a book like this.


"American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning." from web site
Resources compiled by the Australian National Botanic Gardens.
MERB/CMI is a bibliographic database of more than 31,000 resources in music and music education from 35 Canadian and International journals and other sources covering the period 1956 through the present. The journals are fully indexed by title, author, and subject.
The Music Education Search System was developed and is maintained by Edward P. Asmus, Ph.D. as a service to the music education community. There are three databases that comprise the system, Music Journals, Polad-Cady Abstract Collection, and Boletin De Investigacio Educativo Musical.
This bibliography is designed to cover the secondary literature on how music was taught and learned during the two-century period 1450 to 1650, elucidating aspects such as the institutions, traditions, and practices of musical pedagogy in the Early Modern Period.
RefWorks is a Web-based bibliography and database manager that allows you to create your own personal database by importing references from text files or online databases. You can use these references in writing papers and automatically format the paper and the bibliography in seconds.


BABY BUILDERS STIMULATES MOTOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT
“Developmental psychologist have long recognized that perceptual-motor development in infancy [is] the foundation of all mental life.”1
BABY BUILDERS BUILDS STRENGTH,BALANCE AND COORDINATION
“. . .The processes by which infants learned to control and coordinate their bodies. . . set the stage for all further development.”2
BABY BUILDERS STIMULATES COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
BABY BUILDERSWORKS TO PREVENT DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS
“Early care and nurture have a decisive and long-lasting impact on how people develop, their ability to learn, and their capacity to regulate their emotions.”4
BABY BUILDERS POSITIVELY IMPACTS CHILDREN PSYCHOSOCIALLY
“Parents who have a broader understanding of their infant’s development and his capacities, improve their ability to cope and interact with their infant.”5
BABY BUILDERS EDUCATES PARENTS ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND PROVIDES TECHNIQUES TO SAFELY EXERCISE THEIR
“Confining babies and young children to strollers, play pens, car and infant seats for hours at a time, may delay development such as rolling over, crawling, walking and even cognitive development. Certainly such restrictions can begin the path to sedentary preferences and childhood obesity.”6
Campbell FA, Pungello EP, Miller-Johnson S, Burchinal M,, Ramey CT. “The development of cognitive and academic abilities: growth curves from an early childhood educational experiment.”, Dev Psychol 2001 Mar;37(2): 231-42.
Elkind, D. “Authority of the brain.” J Dev Behav Pediatr, 1999, 6, 432-3.
Palmer, et al. “The Effects of Physical Therapy on Cerebral Palsy.” New England Journal of Medicine, 1988, 318, 803-8.
Copyright 2003 – 2010 Leadership Vision, LLC. All rights reserved


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


Connecting with Families
Families are children's first and best teachers and can provide you with background information about children's personalities, values, cultural practices, and unique interests; they are a valuable classroom resource. Children learn from their social interactions with the people around them. It's important to include families' cultural perspectives and local community events in your early childhood learning environment.
Curriculum and learning are most effective when they happen within positive, strong, and encouraging child-adult relationships. Children learn best when families are involved at all stages of their education. HighReach Learning curriculum:
- Involves and informs families, connecting them to classroom experiences.
- Provides open-ended learning opportunities for real skill development.
- Encourages families to interact through simple routines, which has been shown to provide real, positive impacts for children.
Our curriculum programs offer Family Connection Sets to help keep families informed and involved about their children's growth and development in the classroom. In addition, all of our topics suggest ways to connect children to the community around them by incorporating local events, suggesting possible field trips, or inviting speakers into the classroom. This not only makes learning fun but meaningful and powerful.


The K-5 STEM curriculum is designed to provide an engaging and challenging science and technology based learning environment for elementary age students. This curriculum was selected by the K-5 STEM Design Team and staff.
Science: Full Option Science System® (FOSS). Features of the FOSS program include:
- Research-based and nationally field-tested
- Students learn science by doing science
- Integrated reading, writing and mathematics
Engineering: Engineering is Elementary. From their website:
The Engineering is Elementary® (EiE) project fosters engineering and technological literacy among children. EiE has created a research-based, standards-driven, and classroom-tested curriculum that integrates engineering and technology concepts and skills with elementary science topics. EiE lessons not only promote K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning, but also connect with literacy and social studies.
Mathematics: Singapore Math. From their website:
Singaporemath.com Inc® was started in 1998 by Jeff and Dawn Thomas with a mission to bring quality Singapore math educational books to the U.S.A. We lived for five years in Singapore (Dawn is a Singaporean), where our daughter attended kindergarten and the first half of first grade, before moving back to the U.S. in 1997. We were disappointed with the quality of mathematics materials used at schools here and decided to continue using the books from Singapore with our daughter, as a supplement to her school work. It then dawned on us that it would be a good idea to make these Singapore math books available to the schools and homeschoolers in this country.
Given the STEM emphasis across all curricular areas at WSS, and the need to integrate literacy into all student-learning experiences, WSS staff will customize a literacy program to support student work in all curricular areas. Four strategies will be employed to meet the Common Core goals established for each grade level.
1. Employ the Seattle Public Schools strategies utilized in Readers and Writers Workshop to support students in their development of Narrative Reading and Writing skills.
2. Continue to use (while available) Reading Wonders to support students in the development of sentence structure, grammar, syntax, and paragraphing.
3. Design and implement a customized expository reading and writing curriculum to support student work specific to the STEM domains.
4. Implement Read Naturally (or similar) computer-based intervention program to support struggling readers at all grade levels.
Click here for more information on Balanced Literacy in Seattle Public Schools.
Music helps develop the three C’s: confidence, cooperation, and coordination. Apart from being a wonderful emotional and creative outlet, it opens countless doors in life; people who have awakened their musical abilities go on to sing, dance, play instruments, participate in ensembles, and create music.
Here are some ways that music and STEM fit together:
- STEM education is engaging and interactive, and music is that by nature.
- STEM education is designed to help students succeed. There’s plenty of evidence that music education does that as well. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and similar organizations have noted that arts education enhances the skills needed to be successful in the global economy: creativity, innovation, critical thinking, and problem solving.
- A meta-analysis of ten years of SAT scores has confirmed the relationship between music study and better performance on standardized math tests.
- STEM education is meant to prepare students for the future. Music does too; not just with the cognitive skills I just mentioned, but also in the larger sense of helping create well-rounded, balanced individuals.
I would like to talk about how I am going to integrate technology into P.E. At K-5 STEM, students will have access to pedometers and heart rate monitors. I am going to teach the upper grade levels (grades 2-5) how to track their activity level using pedometers daily in P.E., and graphing their steps on graph paper as the year goes on. I believe it’s very important for children to see how personal fitness can help them in their daily lives.
Besides teaching with technology in P.E., children will learn the Seattle School District’s P.E. curriculum called Five for Life. Five for Life stands for Endurance, Muscular Strength, Muscular Endurance, Flexibility, and Body Composition. In addition, I believe children should learn about cooperation, community, and teamwork in P.E., which is why I will be having a day called Team Thursdays. I will be teaching team-related activities that teach students how to get along with their classmates/peers, verbal/non-verbal communication, and how to be part of a community of learners. I am excited to be part of a brand new school, and be part of a school that will be setting the ground work for future generations.


An early-childhood researcher at the University of Illinois is featured in this Science Daily article, which argues that unstructured playtime is a critical part of literacy development. Pushing more traditional kinds of academic work in early childhood at the expense of play, Anne Haas Dyson says, is akin to "banning the imagination."
Many early-childhood experts have pointed out the importance of play in developing inquiry and critical-thinking skills that are the building blocks for later learning. But there has been a movement toward more formal instruction in pre-K and kindergarten as a way of getting children on grade level by the 3rd grade.
The findings of the National Early Literacy Panel, released last month, suggest that more attention to foundational literacy skills is needed in early-childhood classrooms. But experts quickly cautioned against interpreting those findings as supporting a strict instructional approach. Instead, many researchers say, young children should have rich learning environments with ample opportunities for hands-on learning, interaction with peers and adults, and large blocks of play time. Lack of such unstructured experiences, they argue, is detrimental to both health and learning.


Come to the Science Fair Family Night on February 27th, 2014. Read More »
Library Media Center
Welcome to the Sunrise Elementary Library!
Our Library is an exciting place for your student. It is filled with wonderful books to read and it provides engaging learning activities to develop library, information, and technology skills.
Library instruction has changed significantly in the last decade. With the arrival of the information age, the scope of our library program has expanded considerably. We are the information specialists who teach your student how to navigate technology in a global world. Our mission is to ensure students are effective users of ideas and information. We focus on both literacy development (love of reading) and information problem solving (research.) and technology skills. Library classes focus on the English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards. Library instruction also teaches students the information problem solving process, those research strategies of how to find, evaluate, select, and use information. We then provide students the opportunity to use their technology skills to create and share their learning. Critical skills for today's world.
AR/STAR This table shows the student with the most points who has maintained an average passing percent of 85%, and has an average book level that isn't below their average minimum book level in the AR program. It also recognizes the student who has shown the most growth in their reading based on STAR test scores. Updated 2/19/2014


I am so thankful I have patient blog followers. You've asked for it - and now - here it is! Click on the picture below to get your FREE second grade Common Core activities for Reading Literature. =)
Alright, all that's left is 1st grade and Kindergarten. PHEW! I hope to get them done in the next couple of weeks...
On Pinterest, I was shown this amazing site with all of the literacy standards covered! It is put together by Read Tennessee. They have media, teaching strategies, lesson and unit plans, activities/centers, and assessment ideas that are all FREE! Click on the picture below to go directly to their website! This has soooo many more resources than I can find!
What would you be interested in seeing after I complete K and 1 Reading Literature?
Reading informational text? Reading foundational skills? Writing? Speaking and Listening? Language? Or would you rather see math? What portion - Operations and Algebraic Thinking? Numbers and Operations in Base Ten? Numbers and Operations - Fractions? Measurement and Data? Geometry?
Thanks for your input!


(Volume 1)Ed. Heather J. Buchanan & Matthew W. Mehaffey - GIA Publications
This book is an ideal tool for anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of the choral repertoire and wishes to learn from leading conductors and educators in the choral profession. In Part I, noted choral directors and teachers Frank Abrahams, Anton E. Armstrong, Joseph Flummerfelt, Graeme Morton, and Weston H. Noble cover such topics as breath control, stylistic awareness from polyphony through the Classical period, the challenges of modern music, "Performance Practice in the African-American Slave Song," and "Meeting the National Standards Through Choral Performance." Part II establishes a new system for assessing the difficulty level of choral literature, and contains nuts-and-bolts analyses of more than 100 of the most significant works from levels 1 through 5. Repertoire Resource Guides include information on the compositions and their composers, historical background, technical requirements, stylistic considerations, musical elements, suggestions for additional listening, and a guide to selected references. Also included is an in-depth analysis of the choral masterwork "Requiem" by Gabriel Faure. Teaching Music through Performance in Choir is a major contribution to music education and an essential resource for choir directors at all levels!


Note: To protect the privacy of our members, e-mail addresses have been removed from the archived messages. As a result, some links may be broken.
Art helps us to find a vehicle with which to speak when no 'traditional'
means allows us a comprehensive enough avenue to express ourselves fully.
Art gives us a springboard to explore new and unguessed at places within
ourselves, keeping alive the wonder of that which we call life.
Art provides us with a road map with which to navigate the world we live in
and find our own sense of reality as we traverse it.
Art supplies us with the tools to celebrate that which we find beautiful,
and to, in turn, attempt to try and create our own beauty.
Art challenges people to understand and appreciate both our universality and
diversity, giving us a much wider lens through which to view the human
I think that it is very important that as art teachers we keep in mind the
unique vision that we help to instill our students with and not get overly
bogged down in how we are providing a learning skill that in and of itself
can be ascribed to a number of areas in the curriculum. While many of us
have fought very hard for years to get the larger community to buy into the
need for good quality, sequential art education for students, using
understandable and basic truths about art's ability to impart skills that
give us equal footing with the other subject areas, we can't lose sight of
that which also makes art magical and sets it apart from every other area of
learning and inquiry that is out there. As I think about going into the
classroom this fall, I wonder how many students will experience the 'Ahas!'
of discovering the wonder of color, texture, line, shape and the emerging
creation that comes from their individual vision and personality. And while
there is merit in discussing the processes engaged in as well as the
'problem solving' strategies employed in working with the material, it is
the work itself and the person whom it reflects that truly provides the
spark that makes the experience so meaningful. It also is why I have been
able to continue teaching art for the past 26 years and never get tired of
what I do or, for that matter, of what I am privileged to see my students
Secondary Art Content Facilitator - Anoka-Hennepin School District, MN.


To Do This, You Must Know How traces black vocal music instruction and inspiration from the halls of Fisk University to the mining camps of Birmingham and Bessemer, Alabama, and on to Chicago and New Orleans. In the 1870s, the Original Fisk University Jubilee Singers successfully combined Negro spirituals with formal choral music disciplines and established a permanent bond between spiritual singing and music education. Early in the twentieth century there were countless initiatives in support of black vocal music training conducted on both national and local levels. The surge in black religious quartet singing that occurred in the 1920s owed much to this vocal music education movement.
In Bessemer, Alabama, the effect of school music instruction was magnified by the emergence of community-based quartet trainers who translated the spirit and substance of the music education movement for the inhabitants of workingclass neighborhoods. These trainers adapted standard musical precepts, traditional folk practices, and popular music conventions to create something new and vital.
|Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1901|
Featured prominently in the book, here are the Fisk Jubilee Singers performing "Done What You Tole Me To Do."


Remember being made to stand on a sheet of plain paper with your foot firm on the ground to trace its outline? Many a time this exercise to get your right shoe/slipper size might have not really helped and you would find your new shoes far from that perfect fit.
Soon, elementary and middle school teachers of government schools will be on a similar job, but with a small difference. To get the exact fitting, they will adopt the ‘footprint method'.
As part of the State government's plans to provide free footwear to students of classes I to X from the coming academic year, 150 teachers and Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTEs) from various districts recently underwent training on how to measure students' feet size. The four-day training was offered by the Central Footwear Training Institute.
In this method, the foot is dipped in ink and the footprint is traced on a blank sheet of paper. “For the exact quantity and fitting, you need to adopt this process as this is much more accurate than tracing just the outline on a paper,” says Y.V.R. Choudhary, assistant director, CFTI, who conducted the workshop for teachers.
The length and grid fittings are important to design a shoe or sandal. According to Mr. Choudhary, based on the different sample sizes collected from a class, they would zero in on the size for a particular age group. But this could still vary from student to student.
When compared to other methods such as tracing the size by putting foot on Plaster of Paris or measuring tool, Mr. Choudhary says the footprint method is time consuming but gives better accuracy.
Officials in the Directorate of Elementary Education say the participants were given theoretical and practical training. They will soon go to schools to teach headmasters what they learnt.
The tender notice issued by the Directorate of Elementary Education states that the State proposes to purchase 81 lakh pairs of sandals for students of classes I to X, studying in government and aided schools. The budget for this is estimated to be about Rs. 94.76 crore. The size and quality specification will be finalised by the expert committee comprising Khadi Board, Central Footwear Training Research Institute and Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology.
Keywords: footprint method,


Kids say the darndest things.
At least that’s the hope when educators and student-teachers at Carpe Diem Academy introduce a contemporary teaching method called Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) into their lesson plans come spring.
Funded in part by a $5,000 ArtsErie grant, the progressive afterschool program will integrate critical response in visual art, partnering with language and literacy.
Designed to spark student-initiated discussion via observation of visual art reproductions, VTS helps learners hone their critical thinking and language skills. This method prompts learners by asking them “What’s going on in this picture?” and “What do you see that makes you say that?”
This teaching strategy will not only benefit Erie’s kindergarten, first and second grade students who attend the academy, but it will also further develop the facilitation and active listening skills of Mercyhurst students who are studying to be teachers, said Mary Elizabeth Meier, Ph.D., director of art education at Mercyhurst.
“This arts integration initiative through Carpe Diem Academy allows us to explore opportunities for integration of visual literacy and language development in curriculum used throughout the Erie school system,” said Meier, a former elementary and middle level art teacher who has taught in schools in Erie County and East Hartford, Conn.
This past fall, Meier and art education students piloted VTS with second graders at the academy with surprising results. While discussing a poster reproduction of the 1935 oil painting, “Parade on Hammond Street” by artist Allan Rohan Crite, one student described the painting as a representation of “showing support.”
When asked to elaborate, the girl described how the crowd’s presence in the painting represented “showing support,” pointing out that the people gathered to watch the marching band were looking, giving their best attention, and clapping — all of which, according to the girl’s observation and interpretation, signify support.
“That response was astounding because it was an even richer message than I intended to teach them that day,” Meier said. “If we as educators learn to listen to what our students are saying, we can learn a lot and vice versa.”
Approximately a dozen graduate students and several undergraduate students are in collaboration with Meier and Carpe Diem Academy director Amy Bauschard to integrate VTS into the curriculum. They are working together in stages of grant writing, fieldwork and professional learning workshops for the VTS facilitators.
Visual Thinking Strategies is a method of critical response to art and visual culture that was born in the mid-90s, stemming from research in museum education (Philip Yenawine), visual thinking (Rudolf Arnheim) and aesthetic development (Abigail Housen).
Carpe Diem Academy, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, was launched in 2012. Hundreds of students from Edison, McKinley, Lincoln and Jefferson schools receive additional lessons in math, reading and the arts. Open four days a week from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., students also participate in daily fitness, while receiving a healthy snack and dinner.


While the video game has been, and probably will be for years to come, synonymous with entertainment, the time spent in front of the screen can transcend from recreation to training. Pulling from the situational awareness an officer's already learned from classroom lectures and real-life exercises, computer-based training can become a training 'result' instead of wasted hours saving a pink-dressed damsel in distress.
The switch is in how the player, officer or otherwise, handles the simulation. The "game" or "entertainment" aspect is removed once the player begins to take the scenario seriously, beginning to sympathize or care about the virtual situation at hand.
It is possible for a video game to teach usable skills when you consider that according to national news sources, 28-year-old gamer, Paxton Galvanek, rescued two victims from an overturned SUV, on the shoulder of a North Carolina interstate, using skills he had gained by playing the video game, America's Army. His character choice for game play: the medic class. While his wasn't formal training, the concepts Galvanek learned while sitting at his computer seemed real enough to the two individuals he rescued.
In Galvanek's case, he chose America's Army for its entertainment value — he and countless others. In 2007, video game sales generated a monstrous $17.94 billion. In comparison, United States movie ticket sales added up to $9.7 billion. Judging from those dollar amounts, this technology is no longer a "future-tech" concept, it is here today, and it isn't going away anytime soon.Boots on the ground
Physical training is what officers typically encounter in their training experience. They strengthen their foundational skills by practicing the physical actions required by their jobs, such as pulling the trigger of their duty gun or kicking down a door. Each action has its own skill set with each set reinforcing itself upon correct completion.
While the goal may be to instill the correct foundational skills as second nature, officers are also inundated with decision making — the cognitive aspect of their training. Officers must react to a situation and make critical decisions in a split second, while performing practiced physical foundational skills. The decisions they make can mean the difference between the innocent victim and the injured partner.
Simulated training can help officers hone their decision making skills. In a simulated training scenario, learning objectives should be the focus of the training mission, not foundational skills that should be second nature. Participants' learning objectives should change to focus on one particular aspect of training, requiring them to make the rest of their decisions correctly to defend against negative training. These skills ultimately gather to form situational awareness, an education that assists everyone in potential situations in the future. To reiterate, Galvenek's virtually based situational awareness helped him in a real-world situation.Boots in the game
Michael van Lent, chief scientist at Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Soar Technology, where he's part of game development for training/teaching purposes, offers three points to show how a video game becomes a teaching tool: interactive, immersive and engaging.
• Interactive. The simulation's interactivity comes from the user's decisions. The game's effectiveness is in coaxing these decisions, and the effectiveness of a simulation's interactivity directly correlates to the game's success or failure as a teaching tool.
Simulation does not attempt to replace field training, but rather exercises a different domain of the brain, explains Capt. Jeremy MacDonald, who heads the research and development team of new training technology for the Canadian Army and produces Canadian Forces: Direct Action.


Teaching Instrumental Music
Bennett Reimer said, “Whenever and wherever humans have existed music has existed also.” Throughout history, cultures have expressed their joys and sorrows, triumphs and defeats through the beauties of music. There are wide variety of reasons to teach music, regarding both music itself, and music’s effects on a person. The true reasons to teach music are those that are fundamental to being affected emotionally by it. Music is beautiful. Through sound, we can feel the complete spectrum of human emotion; both the deepest despair to elation beyond which most peoples lives will ever reach. Beyond motor skills, reading notation, and an understanding of theory, a music education allows students to develop themselves as more expressive human beings.
Today in our society, the ease and availability of recorded music allows people to experience a wide variety of music through listening, although this does have its drawbacks. In the past, the only way to experience music was through performing it yourself. Since this is not necessary today, educators need to provide and foster experiences of making music, whether in a concert band, rock band, chorus, orchestra, folk group or simply alone at home for the pleasure of developing your musical skills. This is why public schools need strong music programs; to develop the love of making music in as many students as possible, by using as many musical outlets as possible, to foster lifelong connections with music.
Learning to perform music develops many skills in a student. Joanne Erwin in her book “Prelude to Music Education” outlines five main values of music. Music affects people intellectually, emotionally, physically, personally and socially.
The theory of music is an intellectual skill, governed by physics yet guided by how humans perceive sound. Music theory is more often taught in a classroom setting similar to other school subjects, although its lessons permeate (and assist) musical performance as well.
Emotionally, no subject matches music in its expressive breadth. The organization of sounds in melody, harmony and form allow musicians an expansive palate of ideas and emotions to work with. Music can even be expressively complex yet technically simple, allowing young students insight into these feelings well before they are capable to find this emotion in other subjects, for example reading classic literature in English class.
Music develops complex and precise mind and body connections. Performing on musical instruments develops intricate motor skills that people would not otherwise come by. Music is very effective at developing coordination in even the youngest students.
The emotional aspects of music are closely and personally tied to the performer. Music affects the body to feel, ranging from the thrill of a first kiss to the despair of losing a loved one. Making music can be an escape from the daily grind for anyone, even if it is not your profession. The study of music develops maturity and responsibility. In their practice students will advance their skills in time management, as they will quickly learn how to effectively allocate their attention and problem solving, learning how to work past stumbling blocks in their practice without a teacher’s immediate guidance. Leading students to this point, when they are thinking critically and independently about music is the ultimate goal for any music program.
The social aspect of music is akin to playing on a team. Communication between players is crucial in a one-hundred piece band, a jazz combo and between a soloist with a pianist’s accompaniment. Sharing the emotional experiences of music with the other members of your ensemble has been every one of my most potent musical experiences.
I believe that every student should receive a musical education, and that every student who wishes to perform deserves the opportunity. Hopefully the means are available to allow every interested student to perform with an instrument in band. Disparities in skill may call for a variety of groups that can best develop each student, but I strongly believe no student should be turned down for not being good enough.
Often students who don’t participate in a school ensemble take a general music class, which I believe should work to develop a comprehensive appreciation for music. These students could learn to enjoy more classically or jazz-oriented music through study of the history of the popular music they regularly enjoy. Ultimately, it is my hope that this appreciation will lead to a life-long engagement in music, so that one day these students will buy a ticket to the philharmonic, or perform in a community band.
Music’s uniqueness is contained in the way that it traverses many facets of human life and the world in which we live. A comprehensive music program involving performance, listening, creativity and a deeper understanding of music provides the best insight into this art. For this reason, music education is a necessary part of any complete school curriculum.


Take a stroll down memory lane with the new Library exhibit: Promoting Children’s Literacy – A collaboration between the DiMenna-Nyselius Library and the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions.
Visit the DiMenna-Nyselius Library during December, 2011 and January, 2012 to view our new exhibit, Promoting Children’s Literacy. The exhibit features some of the wonderful materials available in the library’s Curriculum Collection, created to support the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions (GSEAP). The large cases in the lobby focus on popular children’s books that will evoke fond memories: Madeline by Ludwig Bemelans, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Alice and Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Harry Potter by JK Rowling, Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
The smaller cases just inside the library represent different GSEAP programs. Each case is devoted to a different program and contains materials from the Curriculum Collection that directly support it. Programs featured include the Early Learning Center, Elementary Education, Secondary Education, TESOL, World Languages, and Bilingual Education, Special Education, Educational Technology, and School Library Media.
The Curriculum Collection, located on the Main Level of the DiMenna-Nyselius Library, contains a selection of K-12 instructional materials. This collection is an essential resource for those studying and working in education. Materials are available in a variety of formats, including books, multimedia, computer software, periodicals and educational kits. Our collection is constantly updated and includes award-winning titles including Caldecott, Newbury, Coretta Scott King, and Nutmeg books.
Visit the Curriculum Collection, located on the Main floor of the Library, to check out the Library’s wonderful collection of children’s material.


Clara, Ossip & Nina, Detroit 1927
Ossip Gabrilowitsch was born in Russia, one of three sons of a Jewish
lawyer. When the family moved into Germany the spelling of the name was Germanized.
It is correctly pronounced in four syllables: Ga-bri-lo'-witsch.
In 1898, while under the tutelage of the great pianist Leschetikzy in Vienna,
Ossip met fellow pupil Clara Clemens. He was 20. She was 24.
Although for the next 10 years they were separated by his concert tours and
continents between them, they managed to maintain their friendship and finally
married in 1909. When they married the bride was 35 and the groom 31. Her
sister Jean was maid of honor. Mark Twain wore the scarlet
ceremonial gown and hood he had worn when receiving his doctorate from Oxford.
In 1910 their only child, Nina Clemens Gabrilowitsch, was born.
1918 saw Ossip become conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, a
position he held until his death in 1936. He was responsible for the building of
Orchestral Hall. The building was erected in four months and 23 days after Gabrilowitsch
threatened to quit unless he and his musicians had a permanent home. His
years with the symphony have been described as the "golden years of music in
Detroit". He also founded a youth orchestra which later became the National
Ossip and Clara and their young daughter, Nina, had a large home in Detroit with
many servants, and a summer home in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. At his invitation, the
world's greats of the music scene came to Detroit to give concerts. He had begun
the study of music at age five, and thus was a personal friend of
Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Heifetz, Stravinsky, Casals, Rubenstein, and others,
many of them refugees fleeing from persecution of Jews in Europe. Clara was
always a gracious hostess to them in their home.
Ossip idolized his famous father-in-law, Mark Twain and they had long been close
friends, with animated conversations about anything but music, in which, of
course, the famous writer had but little more than an elementary education.
Ossip requested to be buried in the family cemetery in Elmira, New York and
there is where he was laid to rest.
touch” was an indescribable something that was the envy of
pianists. The hands that brought such beautiful tones into being, are
now silent, but the memories of his art cannot be stilled. All of the
exquisite tone pictures that those fingers recreated from the great
galleries of musical art—his superlative
Mozart, his beautiful
Chopin, his forceful
Bach, his romantic
Schumann, his splendid
Beethoven—all these were rich and noble contributions to music.
Fortunately some of his interpretations are preserved on records and are
therefore permanently available. We are permitted to present herewith a
photograph of this eminent pianist’s hands, by courtesy of the Rembrandt
Gabrilowitsch’s hands ideal, from a pianistic standpoint.


This is a writing on the issue of the importance of music and how it contributes towards the early childhood development. Reading five and more articles and journals on this issue, I have to agree that music and movements contributes to the child’s total development: psychomotor, perceptual, affective, cognitive, social, cultural and aesthetic. According to Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner (1983), music intelligence is equal in importance to logical - mathematical intelligence, linguistic intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily - kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence. Making music is as much a basic life skill as walking or talking. Peery and Peery (1987) suggest that it is desirable for children to be exposed to, trained in, and enculturated with music for its own sake. That is, it is a birthright for all people to be able to sing in tune and march to a beat (Levinowitz and Guilmartin, 1989, 1992, 1996). To ensure a comprehensive learning experience, music must be included in early childhood.
We generally think of music as something created by humans for entertainment purposes. Without knowingly, music can make us smarter. Developing a child’s musical ability may actually improve her/his ability to learn and be successful at other disciplines, such as language, math and science. The latest neurological research on brain development and its relationship to music are beginning to find that the relationship on brain development to music education reveals that training in music has a positive effect. Musical experiences are displayed in the brain as multimodal, involving auditory, visual, cognitive, effective, and motor systems. Training children in music at an early age exercises higher brain functions, including complex reasoning tasks.
Wilfried Gruhn in his journal , Children... [continues]
Cite This Essay
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Barbara is a first grade teacher at River Plaza Elementary School in Middletown, NJ. She received her Ed.M. in early childhood/elementary education from Rutgers University. Barbara's Diary Entries
Barbara's Educational Philosophy
As William Butler Yeats stated, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." As an elementary school teacher, I will spark the interests of my students so that they have the desire and encouragement to learn. First, children must believe in themselves. Once they develop confidence, they can then take on the world as long as they have the opportunities to do so. I will provide my students with the self-assurance, motivation and opportunities they need to make learning a priority.
Just like students, teachers vary in how they learn and share information. When I think of myself, the words "patient" and "motivated" come to mind. These qualities, I believe, will help me as a teacher. Not all children learn on the same level. Some quickly absorb information while others need it repeated various times. Patience is essential in helping children to learn so that they feel comfortable with the pace that they are learning at. This reassurance will help reinforce positive self-esteem. Also, if educators are not motivated to teach, students will not be motivated to learn! Enthusiasm goes a long way in the classroom, and I will share mine with as many students as I can.
Because not all students learn in the same manner, I will adapt my lessons to reach as many learning styles as I can. To reach kinesthetic learners, I will include various hands-on lessons so they can actively participate in learning. There will be small and whole group discussions so auditory learners can listen and learn from others. Students will also have opportunities to read aloud in class. I will incorporate visuals into lessons so visual learners can excel. Videos, transparencies and models will help the students visualize what they are learning. While I know that I cannot incorporate every learning style into every lesson, using different teaching strategies to reach these learners will help all students learn and stay focused. By using many different teaching methods to adapt to all learning styles, my students will feel positive and academically excel.
It is easy for teachers to go into a classroom and "fill a pail" instead of "light a fire." By understanding my students and how they learn, I can guide them in developing the self-esteem and enthusiasm needed to keep their "yearning for learning" burning throughout the rest of their lives.


Research Guide for Art and Music
This guide lists selected print and electronic resources available to LCU learners.
Find Books for in-depth or historical information
Art books are shelved in the N call # section. Music shelved in the M call # section.
Search the library catalog by:
keyword or phrase
Search examples: Art motif is keyword. Artâ€”Themes, motives is subject heading.
Art education is keyword. Artâ€”Study & teaching is subject.
Melody books is keyword. Musical books is subject heading.
Subject Headings listed on the detailed record define/broaden/narrow terms
Find background information in M-N Reference books, such as:
Dictionary of Art
New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians
Find Articles using Databases for current information
Journals shelved by title in current, fiche, film or back issues â€“ see catalog for holdings.
Click here for a list of current Art and Music Subscriptions.
Many journals not located at LCU may be in a full text database or at a local library or may be requested from another library (1-2 weeks delivery â€“ see ILL Info Guide)
Humanities Full Text
For teaching methods: Professional Development Collection
ANY topic: Academic Search (includes many full text journals)
Other databases may be useful depending on topic.
Few databases have all articles with text.
Database content may change due to contracts between publisher & vendor.
Internet: validate for authority, currency & source (edu, gov, org are best)
Mother of All Art & Art History Links http://www.art-design.umich.edu/mother
Artcyclopedia.com â€“ artists, art history & movements
Allmusic.com â€“ index to recordings, bios, music genres & terms
International Music Score Library Project: http://www.imslp.org/
Digital Scores & Libretti Collection: http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/loebmusic/collections/digital.html
Music Education Online: www.childrensmusicworkshop.com
Performing Arts Encyclopedia: www.loc.gov/performingarts/encyclopedia
For additional help, contact a Librarian in person or 720-7326 or email@example.com


ASIA NEWS NETWORK
WE KNOW ASIA BETTER
Publication Date : 11-06-2013
Expert says that's the best way to get kids to learn a language
If you want your child to be good in English, speak the language at home.
That theory, however, may not always work, according to a linguistics expert.
Young children benefit more when parents converse with them in the language they are strongest in, rather than the one they hope their children will excel in, said Associate Professor Xiao Lan Curdt- Christiansen from the National Institute of Education of Singapore.
"Some parents here have the mentality that if they want their kids to be good in a certain language, they will speak to their child in that language, even if they can't speak it well themselves," said the expert, who has conducted research on family language policy and how it affects a child's literacy development.
"But what they don't realise is when they are not strong in that language, they tend to use limited vocabulary, and this... limits the child's learning of that language."
Giving an example, she said: "You won't be able to use beautiful adjectives to describe, say, food. You can probably say in English, this is rice, that is chicken rice, but you won't be able to describe how delicious it is, because your knowledge of the English vocabulary may be weak."
She shared her observations at an international symposium on languages organised by the Nanyang Technological University, the first such meeting in Asia.
She suggested that parents tap existing resources - such as story-telling workshops - to help them teach languages to their children. Learning languages in such a manner is more useful than attending tuition sessions, "where kids practise on assessment books, but don't speak the language, and the language doesn't come alive for them".
The four-day symposium, which opened yesterday, will see some 600 experts from over 45 countries discuss issues relating to bilingualism and multilingualism.
Professor Virginia Yip from Hong Kong's Childhood Bilingualism Research Centre spoke about how it is best for children to learn two languages before they turn three. "Kids have this innate capacity to acquire language... but for an adult to learn a new language, it becomes very challenging," she said.
Speaking at the launch, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education Sim Ann pointed out that the home language environment here has changed significantly over the years. More families are using English to communicate with their young children.
That has given rise to "a constant debate and soul searching about the direction of our bilingual policy," said Sim. "For example, should we be teaching mother tongue languages in the mother tongue itself, or should we be using English to teach the mother tongue language, particularly for children in predominantly English-speaking homes?"
Parent Kate Tan, 25, agreed that the proper use of language at home is important for children.
The marketing executive speaks to her three-year-old daughter in English, while her parents-in-law, whom she lives with, communicate with the child in Mandarin.
She said: "When I speak Mandarin, I always mix English words in, and I don't want my daughter to learn that."


“Physical development is the physical growth and the development of both gross (e.g. walking) and fine motor (e.g. finger movements) control of the body”
This is a fantastic way in describing physical development in all children as they grow, however there is more that comes into play when considering the physical development in young children.
Children gain control of their bodies at a young age, and this is done through the links that they create with their brains and their bodies so they gain the abilities to move around in the way they wish to.
Gross motor skills will always come before fine motor skills and fine motor skills require higher levels of concentration and patience then what gross motor requires.
There are lots of different milestones children will gain in the first 5 years of their lives that will be important for when they are adults. A great way to explain these milestone and to show you how much children develop physically in their first 5 years of life is through this table.
|Physical development by six months||He/she will show basic distinctions in vision, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, temperature and perceiving pain. They will also lift their head when on their stomach and possibly show squeals of delight as well as grasp objects and roll over.|
|Physical development by 12 months||They can control their torso and hands, sit without support, crawl and has growing control of legs and feet. He/she may stand or creep across the floor.|
|Physical development by 18 months||Can creep or crawl up stairs, possibly walk, draw lines on paper with crayon and will show growing physical independence.|
|Physical development by age two||They can go up and down steps, run, sit self on chair, use a spoon and fork, turn single pages in a book, kick a ball, attempt to dress themself, build a tower of six blocks, kick a ball and has bowel and bladder control (though they may not care to show it and be toilet trained!).|
|Physical development by age three||They can run well, march, stand on one foot briefly, ride a tricycle, feed themself (with a bit of mess), put on their own shoes and socks (though not tie laces!), unbutton and button.|
|Physical development by age four||They can skip on one foot, cut with scissors, wash and dry their own face, dress themself, throw a ball overhand and other skills to show growing independence.|
|Physical development by age five||They can hop and skip, dress without help, has good balance and smoother muscle action, skate or ride a scooter, print and write simple letters establish whether they are left or right handed. Girls’ fine motor skill development is likely to be about one year ahead of boys.|
This table only covers some of the development milestones in regards to physical skills that children will go through from birth to 5 years of age.
The majority in this table that are mentioned are specifically linked to gross motor skills which involved moving the whole body to complete a task such as kicking a ball or skipping with a jump rope. the other main type of physical development that is important to mention is fine motor skills. These skills involve writing and sewing and even help children when it comes to gross motor through throwing a ball or holding a cricket bat with the correct hand grip.
Without fine motor skills children may find it harder to reach milestones in gross motor.
Children acquire gross and fine motor skills in early life through daily activities and games with their peers and also through watching what their teachers or parents or guardians are doing and how they are doing it.
To finish up here are some websites that have different games or activities you can do with children to assist them with their fine and gross motor skills.


Activities and Exercise
Exercise and Adolescents
Teens need at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity on most days for good health and fitness and for healthy weight during growth.
Help Girls Stay Active as Teens
The teen years often bring a sharp drop in physical activity, especially for girls.
In Gymnastics, Kids Flip for Fitness
The sport helps build strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular endurance. Its all-around fitness benefits make it a good springboard to other activities.
Make Exercise a Family Affair
Like adults, children should be physically active most, if not all, days of the week.
Sports and Music: Both Good for Kids
Organized sports for children offer obvious benefits such as physical fitness and sportsmanship, but did you know that a musical education program has many of the same benefits? Music education and participation in sports are both great ways to prepare your child for future success.
Teach Teens to Stretch
An adolescent athlete can never stretch too much, experts say. Stretching to stay flexible is vital -- particularly when a child reaches puberty and goes through a growth spurt.
Weight Room No Longer Off-Limits to Kids
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Sports Medicine now say that strength training is fine for kids, as long as they are supervised and don't try to lift too much weight.
Weight Training for Teens
Once children hit puberty, and hormones make it possible to build muscle, weight training can become a part of a healthy exercise program for youths. Research suggests strength training has a lot to offer some teenagers in terms of health, fitness and fun.


In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the warrior King of Mycenae who led the Greek armies in the destruction of Troy. For the viewer, Lenton Parr’s title encourages associations with the armour and weapons of ancient combat, such as might be unearthed during an archaeological excavation. The blackened and blistered ‘body’, with its tripod of spindly legs, stands directly on the floor, without a plinth, and inhabits the same space as the viewer. When approached, the sculpture seemingly metamorphoses into an armoured crab-like creature and a menacing adversary.
Agamemnon encapsulates the stylistic precedents and the personal innovations made by the sculptor in his work during the 1950s and early 1960s. Parr studied sculpture at the Royal Melbourne Technical College before travelling to England in 1955, where he worked as an assistant to the internationally acclaimed sculptor Henry Moore. During this time, Parr became acquainted with younger artists such as Reg Butler and Eduardo Paolozzi, whose abstracted welded-metal sculptures were seen by the English art critic Herbert Read as embodying a so-called post-war ‘geometry of fear’.1 Parr returned to Melbourne in 1957 and embarked on a long and distinguished career in art education, which culminated in his appointment as Director of the Victorian College of the Arts from 1974 to 1984.
In the 1960s, Parr exhibited with the group Centre Five, which had formed in Melbourne to foster and promote the public appreciation of sculpture in Australia. Other members included Vincas Jomantas, Julius Kane, Inge King, Clifford Last, Norma Redpath and Teisutis Zikaras. The group sought to facilitate closer working ties with architects, to expand the role of sculpture as public art, and to increase the representation of sculpture in public collections. Perhaps as fitting recognition of this last endeavour, Parr’s welded steel sculpture Agamemnon was one of the first works of contemporary Australian sculpture bought for the National Collection in 1968.
1 The phrase ‘geometry of fear’ was used to describe the post-war British sculpture exhibited in the British Pavilion at the XXVI Venice Biennale in 1952. See Herbert Read ‘New Aspects of British Sculpture’ in Exhibition of Works by Sutherland, Wadsworth, Adams, Armitage, Butler, Chadwick, Clarke, Meadows, Moore, Paolozzi, Turnbull London: British Council 1952.
Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2010
From: Anne Gray (ed), Australian art in the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002


Before the Great Depression, robber barons such as Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan had the same troubles as the late rapper Biggie Smalls, Kanene Holder tells her students.
"More money can cause more problems," says Holder, a staff member at Urban Arts Partnership, a nonprofit group that promotes arts-integrated education. She's been using hip hop music to explain tough concepts to her classes for the past six years. "We talk about how before the Great Depression, the robber barons didn't see problems coming."
Holder is one of a growing number of teachers to implement hip hop into their classrooms over the past few years. A report released last month by the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development found that more than 300 middle schools, high schools, and after-school programs have been spicing up typical lessons with hip hop, a genre of music that has long been kept out of classrooms.
[Learn how big names in industry are promoting music education.]
One of the best known schools using this approach is the High School for Recording Arts (commonly known as Hip Hop High) in St. Paul, Minn., which was founded in 1996. But nearly 70 percent of educational hip hop programs have been started in the past five years, according to the NYU report.
At Hip Hop High, students learn about music production, entrepreneurship, and lyricism, but hip hop has a place in other parts of education, explains Martha Diaz, coauthor of the NYU report. Hip hop education can help engage frustrated African-American and minority students, she says. Just 57 percent of black and Hispanic students graduate from high school, according to a June report by Education Week.
Educators are "teaching the history of hip hop, the social justice value of hip hop," Diaz says. "They know kids are into this type of music, and teachers can use it as a bridge to talk about other subjects."
In Holder's class, she might compare the 1990s East Coast vs. West Coast hip hop turf wars between Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls to the American Revolution. "It's just like the Loyalists vs. the Patriots," she says. "I would have the students do a rap battle—they'd formulate a rap in a group, formulate some main ideas, [and] then perform it in front of the class. It's kind of like a town hall meeting, hip hop style."
[Read why arts education is getting White House attention.]
Diaz says the initial report was meant to be a survey of the number and types of hip hop education programs, but the NYU research group is planning a subsequent study to determine hip hop education's effects on graduation rates and student achievement.
Holder, who will teach poetry at Central High School in Newark, N.J., starting later this year, says the verdict is already in for her: Students who were previously disinterested in class have become excited about learning.
"They like being educated by people who are like them, seeing themselves as having a voice," she says. Holder is well-qualified to use the genre in her lessons—she's also a hip hop dancer and actress in New York City, which she says lends her credibility with her students.
"They feel like they can bond with you in a way," she says. "Hip hop is all about realness."


Contact: Science Press Package
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Whale numbers, before hunting
Humpback whales in the singing position. According to the authors, whales were far more abundant before commercial hunting than previously thought.
Courtesy of NOAA.
Click here for a high resolution photograph.
When Europeans first came across the Atlantic to North America, more than 300 years ago, they marveled at the large numbers of whales they could see in the ocean. But, hunters have killed a great many whales since then. Scientists Joe Roman of Harvard University in Boston, MA and Stephen Palumbi of Stanford University in Stanford, CA wanted to know how many whales there were before the hunting began. They studied the DNA of three kinds of whales: humpback, fin, and minke whales. The large amount of variation in the whalesí DNA sequences was a big clue that the populations used to be much larger than they are. According to the scientistsí calculations, there were once ten times more humpback and fin whales than there are now. Because the numbers of these types of whales are now so low, the researchers donít think the populations will survive if they are hunted commercially. The scientists published their research in the July 25, 2003 issue of the journal Science.
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Science is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.


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Teacher quality is the most important in-school factor that influences student learning and achievement. Research shows that students with high-performing teachers can progress three times as fast as students with low-performing teachers and each student deserves access to highly effective teachers in every subject. In turn, all teachers deserve a fair and accurate assessment of their skills, how they perform in the classroom, and how they can improve. Teacher effectiveness is dependent on accurate and fair evaluations based on multiple measures, including—but not solely based around—their students' performance in the subjects they teach.
Teachers should be evaluated based on their performance in their own subject area using a range of criteria, including observations, peer reviews, parental or student input, and analysis of agreed-on student learning evidence. In this episode, we discuss effective teacher evaluation that produces results that truly benefit students, schools, and educators. You'll hear from
- Mike Blakeslee, deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the National Association for Music Education, a whole child partner organization and member of ASCD’s College, Career, and Citizenship Readiness Coalition;
- Bryan Goodwin, vice president of communications at McREL, based in Denver, Colo., and coauthor of "Use Caution with Value-Added Measures" in the November 2012 issue of ASCD's Educational Leadership; and
- Cindy Weber, superintendent of Durand Area Schools in Durand, Mich., and author of "The Balancing Acts of Teacher Evaluation," also in this month's Educational Leadership.
If the ultimate goal of teacher evaluation is to improve student performance, what should evaluators look for?


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Parental Influence on the Developing Learning Skills of Children
Through the years many psychologists have been interested in the effects that parents have on their children's learning abilities. Several studies have been done and many have found that parents do indeed positively affect their children's cognitive abilities. Many of these studies have only found correlations, however, and not causation. This paper summarizes three of these studies and analyzes them to determine some possibilities for the psychology of parental influence.
(a) Home Literacy Activities and Their Influence on Early Literacy Skills
This study conducted by Evans, Shaw and Bell is the first of three that explores how home learning activities influence a child's ability to learn in a more formal setting. This particular experiment was performed because the researchers were not satisfied with the lack of conciseness in previous studies. This study partials out socio-economic status and uses more standardized measures than previous studies when attempting to determine home activity influence children's reading skill acquisition.
A total of 66 children from mixed socioeconomic backgrounds were used for this study. One parent was used for every child. There were three tests that were administered to collect data. The first test was the initial demographic questionnaire. This test was concerned with family composition, income, parent's education, languages spoken, general home environment and any special needs the child has. The Literacy Practices Questionnaire was a tape recorded test of oral questions asked of the parent. These questions were both open and closed ended. The queries concerned how much time in a week the parent read with the child, age when parent first read to child and age when parent read to the child on a regular basis, who else reads to the child and who initiates book reading. The next test is the Children's Book Title List. On this there are 36 children's book titles and 20 foils. The test required that the parents indicate which title were the real books. There was a cacophony of tests that measured the children's cognitive abilities. These measured general intelligence, phonological and language understanding, letter knowledge, and literacy skill. First, "the frequency of being read to was correlated with children's vocabulary scores, age of first being read to, and age of being regularly read to... (Evans, Shaw, Bell)." However, it was not a predictor or rapid automatized naming speed and visual perception/nonverbal reasoning. Parental reports of the frequency of activities at home dealing with letters (letter names, sounds, printing letters, etc...) predicted future knowledge of letter names, sounds, and phonological sensitivity after controlling for the child age, level of parental education and child's cognitive abilities. The frequency of book reading at home influenced the child's development of vocabulary. Also, teaching the alphabetical knowledge influenced reading and writing. The researchers stress that there were very few disadvantaged families in this study and that most of the parents were likely to have been interested in reading to have participated in this study which required a substantial time investment.
(b) Parental influences on Chinese literacy development: A comparison of preschoolers in Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore
This study conducted by Li and Rao began with three predictions for their findings about Chinese literacy in the societies of Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore. First, they anticipated finding age differences in Chinese literacy, with the older children surpassing the younger ones. Second, they predicted societal differences in Chinese literacy development, with children in Hong Kong exceeding those from Beijing and Singapore on the Preschool and Primary Chinese Literacy Scale (PPCLS). This would reflect differences in educational policy on pr
Technology mentioned in this term paper
Names referenced in this report
a predictor, Bell, Shaw, Li, Rao,
Organizations included in this research paper
PPCLS, PACR, Cooperative Pre-School Inventory,
Locations mentioned in this research paper
Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, Dominican Republic,
Keywords referenced in this research paper
parent, parental, literacy, Hong Kong, parental involvement, cognitive abilities, school, skills, age groups, positive reinforcement, child development, Child Rearing, parent involvement, Early Literacy, foster parent, Beijing, literacy education, 36 children, Singapore, longitudinal study, societies, first test, Exemplar, Chinese characters, Outcomes, socio economic status, higher level, critical factor, primary caregiver, questionnaire, middle class, special needs, more time, Dominican Republic, motor development, one form, theory, emotional, information, Information System, appetitive, correlations, Summary, research, questions, phonological, prediction, paper, generalize, organism,


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This is the first book to focus on the role of education in relation to music and gender. Invoking a concept of musical patriarchy and a theory of the social construction of musical meaning, Lucy Green shows how women's musical practices and gendered musical meanings have been reproduced, hand-in-hand, through history. Dr. Green views the contemporary school music classroom as a microcosm of the wider society, and reveals the participation of music education in the continued production and reproduction of gendered musical practices and meanings.
Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; Part I. Musical Meaning and Women's Musical Practice: 2. Affirming femininity: women singing, women enabling; 3. From affirmation to interruption: women playing instruments; 4. Threatening femininity: women composing/improvising; 5. Towards a model of gendered musical meaning and experience; Part II. Gendered Musical Meaning in Contemporary Education: 6. Affirming femininity in the music classroom; 7. From affirmation to interruption of femininity in the music classroom; 8. Threatening femininity in the music classroom; 9. The music curriculum and the possibilities for intervention; Bibliography; Index.


Artful teaching: Integrating the arts for understanding across the curriculum, K-8
Source:Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University; National Art Education Association, New York; Reston, VA, p.181 (2010)
Call Number:Cubb LB1591.5 .U6 I67 2010
Keywords:Art and society--United States, Art--Study and teaching--United States
Contents: Introduction : Five best questions about arts integration : what to ask before your start / David M. Donahue and Jennifer Stuart (with Todd Elkin and Arzu Mistry) -- What is art? / Laurie Polster -- How does art connect to social justice? / David M. Donohue ... [et al.] -- Creating alliances for arts learning and arts integration / Louise Music -- Seeing is believing : making our learning through the arts visible / Stephanie Violet Juno -- Leadership for and in the arts / Lynda Tredway and Rebecca Wheat -- Arts integration : one school, one step at a time / Debra Koppman -- Musical people, a musical school / Sarah Willner -- Visual prompts in writing instruction : working with middle school English language learners / Dafney Blanca Dabach -- Creativity as classroom management : using drama and hip-hop / Evan Hastings -- Keeping reading and writing personal and powerful : bringing poetry writing and bookmaking together / Cathleen Micheaels -- Learning and teaching dance in the elementary classroom / Patty Yancey -- Working with K-12 students : teaching artists' perspectives / Ann Wettrich.
"The book includes rich and lively examples of public school teachers integrating visual arts, music, drama and dance with subject matter, including English, social studies, science, and mathematics. Readers will come away with a deeper understanding of why and how to use the arts every day, in every school, to reach every child."


Embalming Schools and Colleges in the U.S.
Students seeking embalming training often enroll in mortuary science or funeral science degree programs. Besides preparing students for exams, an embalming program teaches students to prepare and present bodies for a funeral.
How To Choose an Embalming School
Students who wish to pursue an education in embalming would ultimately seek a license in funeral services, since the two areas are covered under the same program and cannot be separated. Students may want to research schools which are accredited by the American Board of Funeral Service Education. The board selects the curriculum for each school and determines what classes schools are allowed to offer students. Aspiring embalmers can also look for schools that prepare them to take the national funeral director exam, administered by the International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards. Graduates might also be required to take a state exam. Because requirements for licensure vary, students might want to focus their school search on a specific state when choosing a school for funeral services.
Students who wish to learn the craft of embalming might consider an associate degree program in mortuary science, which can provide the knowledge needed to sit for national and state exams, if required. For individuals who plan to eventually enter in funeral service management, a bachelor's degree could provide the proper educational background.
Embalming School Program Overviews
Associate of Applied Science in Mortuary Science
In an associate degree program, embalming school students complete coursework in microbiology, chemistry, pathology and restorative art. They study funeral psychology, funeral service administration, mortuary law, ethics and accounting. Students learn how to conduct a funeral, and they acquire knowledge of basic embalming chemicals and techniques. Embalming courses cover postmortem body changes, body positioning and signs of death. Students study facial feature restoration, feature construction and cosmetic alterations. Some schools offer facilities such as restorative arts laboratories, casket selection rooms and cremation rooms .
Bachelor of Science in Mortuary Science
Students enrolled in a 4-year mortuary science program receive knowledge in the areas of mortuary law, management, ethics, psychology and counseling for grieving families. Students can learn about funeral arrangements and laws, marketing and merchandising and funeral practices. Restorative art and mortuary anatomy are also covered. Embalming chemistry, microbiology and embalming theory courses are included in these programs. Aspiring embalmers study cavity embalming, embalming treatments, chemical changes in human remains and sanitation.
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Department of Art + Design,
Art History, Art Education
BFA of Art + Design
Illustration Concentration (BFA)
Using imaginative techniques of pictorial representation and a unique visual signature, illustrators convey ideas that intrigue, excite, move, or inform, and may also interpret political and societal issues, moral concerns and examine the meaning of events. Illustration has a significant cultural role, both fostering and reflecting current taste, while promulgating the vocabulary, imagery and ideas expressed in avant-garde art to the general public.
The Illustration concentration is closely aligned with the Graphic Design and the Digital Art + Design concentrations and focuses on effective communication, conceptual abilities and proficiency in media skills.
Students electing the Illustration concentration are encouraged to pursue the creation of a distinctive style. They learn illustration principles, including compositional and textual layout and technical skills in a variety of media, while developing creative conceptual talents in the formulation of ideas and problem solving. This is helpful in learning to convey a message in an original visual language. Students are challenged by a wide variety of assignments that reflect the ever-changing field of contemporary illustration.
Students in the Traditional Media option utilize a range of classical art skills. Students in the Digital Media option become familiar with computer software to produce digital imagery. Students obtain professional knowledge that can be transferred to many areas of application.
Students should meet with their adviser to determine recommended course sequence based on individual needs and course availability.


Teachers: A Force for 21st Century Global Citizenship
At the heart of the educational system, teachers hold the keys to a better future for all. In their mission to transmit universal values such as human rights, respect, justice and cultural diversity, they help transform younger generations into global citizens of the 21st century.
The world is facing global challenges that cannot be fully resolved within national boundaries. Sustainable solutions have to be found through collaborative and coordinated responses, at both local and global levels, that involve a wide range of stakeholders in the public and private sectors.
We also need engaged and globally-minded citizens able to take up the challenges to build a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable world. This implies rethinking education and how it can contribute to the formation of global citizenship.
In a globalized world, education cannot be limited to reading, writing and numeracy skills alone. It must also seek to nurture non-cognitive skills such – ie. empathy, interpersonal communication, self-confidence, curiosity - that are conducive to international understanding and solidarity.
This approach to education includes valuing schools and centers of learning as places where all girls and boys, women and men, can develop competences that allow them to consider their rights and obligations to promote a better world and future.
With this concern in mind, what is the specific role of teachers in developing global citizenship? How can they be change agents in the classrooms and the wider school community? How can we best design teacher training systems to support these goals?
These questions and more will be discussed at UNESCO Headquarters on Friday 4 October 2013, in celebration of World Teachers’ Day. The speakers taking part in the debate include:
- Soo-Hyang Choi, UNESCO Director of the Division of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development
- Utak Chung, Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU) in Republic of Korea
- Bahia Baalbaki, Head of Educational Affairs Committee in Public Secondary Schools' Teachers in Lebanon
- Charles Gitau Mwaniki, Acting Senior Assistant Director of Education, State Department of Education, Kenya.
The panel will be chaired by Oliver Liang of the International Labour Organisation.
During this discussion, UNESCO will share an operational definition of global citizenship education (GCE) and related competences that was sketched out at the recent Technical Consultation on Global Citizenship Education that took place in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in September 2013.
UNESCO is leading the global reflection on this shifting paradigm where school is considered as an active contributor to building a peaceful and sustainable future on a global scale.
To attend events at UNESCO HQ contact : email@example.com
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