WHY MUSIC EDUCATION ROCKS!
Do you have a budding pianist? A drummer
wannabe? A future flutist? Playing a musical
instrument is very beneficial to children. So, why
should yours learn to play?
They say that music is the universal language.
Regardless of where you are from or what your
background, a good melody is something that
everyone can enjoy and understand. There must
be something behind that, right?
For children, music provides many, many
benefits. Experts agree, there are lots of good
things about letting your child learn to play an
instrument. Here are 10 reasons why your child
should put down the remote and pick up a
1. IT WILL BOOST THEIR BRAIN POWER
Want to give your child a mental advantage?
Music can do that. “More and more studies show
a correlation between higher academic
achievement with children who are exposed to
music,” says children’s music specialist Meredith
LeVande of MonkeyMonkeyMusic.com. “Music
simply stimulates parts of the brain that are
related to reading, math, and emotional
2. IT WILL IMPROVE THEIR MEMORY
Where did that shoe go? That’s a question asked
far too many times in far too many households
with kids. Help your kids remember more (and
learn more!) with music. “Further research has
shown that participation in music at an early age
can help improve a child’s learning ability and
memory by stimulating different patterns of brain
development,” says Maestro Eduardo Marturet, a
conductor, composer and musical director for
the Miami Symphony Orchestra.
3. IT HELPS THEM SOCIALLY
Picking up an instrument can also help your child
break out of their social shell too, experts say.
“Socially, children who become involved in a
musical group or ensemble learn important life
skills, such as how to relate to others, how to
work as a team and appreciate the rewards that
come from working together, and the
development of leadership skills and discipline,”
says Marturet, who also oversees the MISO
Young Artist program in South Florida, which
allows young musicians to hone their musical
skills as part of a professional orchestra.
4. IT’S A CONFIDENCE BUILDER
Are there any areas of life that aren’t enhanced by
having good confidence? Probably not. And if
you want your child to develop their confidence,
learning to play a musical instrument can help.
“They find that they can develop a skill by
themselves, that they can get better and better,”
says Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen, a music
teacher and performer.
5. IT TEACHES PATIENCE
We live in a world of instant gratification, but real
life demands having patience. When you are
playing in a band or orchestra (and most
musicians do), you have to be willing to wait
your turn to play otherwise the sound is a mess.
That inadvertently teaches patience. “You need to
work together in a group to make music,” says
WHY MUSIC EDUCATION ROCKS!


Despite the push for innovation in our schools, many parents remain committed to the value of a traditional education and can sometimes represent a hurdle in the change process, particularly in independent schools. Persuading parents that educational practices need to change, both dramatically and quickly, if students are to be prepared for the unknown future is challenging but is also key in moving schools forward.
We know that we most value what we understand best and what parents understand best, in this context, is the kind of education they received when they were at school. The provision of a solid academic education, that will lead to the good grades students need to enable them to enter top universities, is the driving force of most independent school parents.
Throughout my years as a principal, I have learned that academic excellence, creativity, innovation and enjoyment are not mutually exclusive concepts. At least they don’t have to be if the curriculum is integrated, well-planned and balanced. In fact there is plenty of research to demonstrate that opportunities for creativity improve grades, that engagement and motivation are key to maximising students’ potential and that top universities seek out students whose talents go beyond good grades. The role of school leaders is to help parents to understand this better by joining the dots for them and explicitly setting out the benefits of more innovative approaches to learning.
Parental concerns about traditional, core skills permeate independent schools the world over. Even parents who choose a more progressive curriculum, such as that offered by IB schools, desire traditional literacy and numeracy skills to be taught, in ways that may have been discredited by academic research as ineffective or demotivating. This is particularly the case in elementary schools where the push for innovation can be met with fear on the part of some parents.
At the recent Global Education Leadership Summit in Bangkok, a forum of some of the most innovative schools in the world, it was interesting to note the emphasis placed upon standards based curricula as a crucial underpinning of innovation. Furthermore, the World Economic Forum’s 21st Century Skills clearly label Foundational Competencies, including literacy, numeracy and science, as playing a key role in future-ready education. So parents have nothing to fear in this regard. Core skills are still as relevant as ever. The role of the school leadership team is to shape these understandings for parents.
Of course the type of core skills students need to be successful in the future may differ from what some parents expect to see. In mathematics, the emphasis needs to be shifting from knowledge and application to developing thinking and understanding through problem solving , while in literacy students need to be able to communicate in a range of media and distinguish between real and fake “facts”. Parents need support in understanding what core competencies their children need and also the importance that other 21st century skills play in preparing them for the future.
Listening to and understanding parents’ concerns, bringing them into the conversation and sharing the need for and purpose of change is essential . If the message is crafted well, school leaders can create among parents a sense of urgency for the need for change and excite them about the possibilities, turning these key stakeholders into innovation’s biggest advocates.


£199.00 plus VAT (if applicable)
Debbie Hepplewhite’s No Nonsense Phonics Skills Box Set includes the complete range of nine Pupil Books in sets of six copies of each book, one copy each of the nine Teacher Books, six copies of a tabletop Alphabetic Code Chart and a wide range of additional complementary material and video footage provided through a USB stick.
The programme is suitable from beginner infants (4+) and beyond infants (primary) – according to the needs of the learners.
The Box Set provides an ideal pick-up-and-go range of practical material for trialling the No Nonsense Phonics Skills programme from the perspective of the teacher, any other supporting adults, the learners – and learners’ parents and carers. (Click on title or picture for a full product description)
Here is a PowerPoint presentation to enable very quick transparent review of the No Nonsense Phonics Skills programme’s rationale and contents:
See the full-size PowerPoint presentation video with audio commentary for training/CPD in the No Nonsense Phonics Skills programme (1 hr 15 mins). Click HERE.
Teacher Books 1 – 9
Pupil Books 1 – 9 (6 copies of each)
A4 Alphabetic Code Chart x 6
USB Memory Stick containing the following resources:
Video footage showing the resources being used
Giant Alphabetic Code Chart
Giant Alphabet Poster with letter formation
A4 Tabletop Mini Alphabet
Freize Cards that can be used for: lesson introductions, wall frieze, browse books and/or flash cards
‘Say the Sounds’ posters
Grouped word posters
Entry point assessment resources
Correlation Charts to show content relative to England’s National Curriculum for English and the ‘Letters and Sounds’ framework (DfES 2007)
Guidance for USB resources
The nine books in the No Nonsense Phonics Skills programme provide a comprehensive step-by-step method of teaching reading, handwriting and spelling in the English language.
Author Debbie Hepplewhite guides the learner and the teacher through a series of carefully designed systematic phonics routines to master the complex English Alphabetic Code. Each book is rich in content providing phonics instruction and exercises with ‘cumulative’ code, words and texts developing language comprehension and building up knowledge of ‘spelling word banks’.
High-frequency and tricky words, and additional letter/s–sound correspondences, are drip-fed into the teaching and learning sequence of the 109 included ‘Mini Stories’.
Each boxed No Nonsense Phonics Skills set includes 6 copies of each of the nine pupil workbooks, an accompanying Teacher Book for each of the nine pupil workbooks containing additional guidance and example comprehension questions for the Mini Stories, six copies of a laminated A4 table-top Alphabetic Code Chart, and a USB stick containing additional resources and video guidance from author Debbie Hepplewhite.
• Provides systematic and rigorous phonics teaching and practice with a rich vocabulary
• Teaches handwriting linked to the alphabet and to the English alphabetic code
• Applies and extends phonics to reading and writing cumulative texts, developing language comprehension at the same time
• Includes high-frequency and tricky words, and builds up spelling word banks
• Covers the national curriculum requirements for phonics and spelling in Years 1 and 2
• Involves and engages the learner fully and routinely in formative assessment
|Dimensions||36 x 25 x 18 cm|


The ACT International Invitational Exhibition is held biennially and consists of 100 works of art contributed by artists from across the world. The exhibit and silent auction raises funds that ARTS, a 501(c)3 organization, uses to expand art education in an effort to offset the cutbacks in art education in schools.
Since 2010, ACT has raised over $150,000 that has contributed to arts and cultural events for over 5000 children and adults. This, we believe changes lives for the better for a lifetime and beyond.
Research reflects that the arts contribute substantially to tourism and economic development in communities. Studies further state that the four of the top ten contributing factors to tourism are arts, culture, and history-related.
Why Art Is So Important
CREATIVITY: Being able to think on your feet, approach tasks from different perspectives and think "outside of the box" is developed by the arts. If children practice thinking creatively, it will come naturally to them now and in their future career.
CONFIDENCE: The skills developed through theater, not only train the student how to convincingly deliver a messge, but also build the confidence needed to take command of the stage. Theater training gives children practice stepping out of their comfort zone and allows them to make mistakes and learn from them in rehearsal. This process gives children the confidence to perform in front of large audiences.
PROBLEM SOLVING: Artistic creations are born through the solving of problems. How does clay become a sculpture? How is a particular emotion expressed through dance? How will a character react in a theatrical situation? Without even realizing it, children that participate in the arts are consistently being challenged to solve problems. All this practice problem solving develops children's skills in reasoning and understanding. This will help develop important problem-solving skills necessary to success in a career.
PERSEVERANCE: When a child picks up a violin for the first time, she/he knows that playing Bach right away is not an option; however, when that child practices, learns the skills and techniques and doesn't give up, that Bach concerto is that much closer. In an increasingly competitive world, where people are being asked to continually develop new skills, perseverance is essential to achieving success.
FOCUS: The ability to focus is a key skill developed through ensemble work. Keeping a balance between listening and contributing involves a great deal of concentration and focus. It requires each participant to not only think about their role, but how their role contributes to the big picture of what is being created. Recent research has shown that participation in the arts improves children's abilities to concentrate and focus in other aspects of their lives.
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION: Through experiences in theater and dance education, children learn to break down the mechanics of body language. They experience different ways of moving and how those movements communicate different emotions. They are then coached in performance skills to ensure they are portraying their character effectively to the audience.
RECEIVING CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Receiving constructive feedback about a performance or visual art piece is a regular part of any arts instruction. Children learn that feedback is part of learning and it is not something to be offended by or to be taken personally. It is something helpful. The goal is the improvement of skills and evaluation is incorporated at every step of the process. Each arts discipline has built in parameters to ensure that critique is a valuable experience and greatly contributes to the success of the final piece.
COLLABORATION: Most arts disciplines are collaborative in nature. Through the arts, children practice working together, sharing responsibility, and compromising with others to accomplish a common goal. When a child has a part to play in a music ensemble or a theater or dance production, they begin to understand that their contribution is necessary for the success of the group. Throuch these experiences children gain confidence and start to learn that their contributions have value even if they don't have the biggest role.
DEDICATION: When kids get to practice following through with artistic endeavors that result in a finished product or performance, they learn to associate dedication with a feeling of accomplishment. They practice developing healthy work habits of being on time for rehearsals and performances, respecting the contributions of others, and putting effort into the success of the final piece. In the performing arts, the reward for dedication is the warm feeling of an audience's applause that comes rushing over the performer, making all the efforts worthwhile.
ACCOUNTABILITY: When children practice creating something collaboratively they get used to the idea that their actions affect other people. They learn that when they are not prepared or on-time that other people suffer. Through the arts, children also learn that it is important to admit that you made a mistake and take responsibility for it. Because mistakes are a regular part of the process of learning in the arts, children begin to see that mistakes happen. We acknowledge them, learn from them and move on.


Over the next two weeks I'll be doing presentations that take me back to my roots as a history teacher. I'll be giving the keynote at the Texas Social Studies Supervisors Association spring conference in Austin and giving a workshop for elementary school teachers in the Rochester (NY) City School District.
In both talks I'll show how history and social studies can be used to teach literacy, numeracy and critical thinking. No need to cut back on social studies instructional time to send struggling students for "mind numbing" test prep in reading and math. It begins when teachers provide students with the historical material that kids use to "do the history." Let's look at two examples – click photos to enlarge
First, a famous photo of the "golden spike" – the final ceremonial spike driven to mark the completion of a transcontinental railroad line in 1869. What can a student learn by looking at the image? Not much, because the important information is not in the image. It's in the background knowledge a student must already possess to interpret it. Unfortunately, this type of photograph dominates our textbooks. It's iconic – it refers to something else that we want students to know.
In contrast, here's a photograph of a city street in Rochester NY at the turn of the last century. With very little background information, students can use the photo to do history and interpret the impact of transportation technologies and the pace of change. Then the student could write a "first person account" from the point of view of someone in the photo. They could even go on to design their own comparison of the changes in communication technology in their world today. Perhaps include a graph showing the growth of cell phones vs land lines?
We can design the learning to help our students be the historian. It begins when we allow students to make their own judgments about source material and share what's important to them (instead of just repeating the details the teacher highlights). They'll develop their literacy and numeracy skills for a more authentic audience and purpose as they share their thinking with those around them.


Thursday, December 09, 2010
Teacher’s Institute in Sandusky, 1845
The main speakers of the Teachers’ Institute were Salem Lord, a teacher from New York State, Asa Lord, and M.F. Cowdery, who would later serve as Superintendent of Sandusky’s school system. Asa Lord was a teacher of mathematics, while M.F. Cowdery specialized in geography. Over ninety Ohio teachers attended the Teacher’s Institute. The Catalogue of the Instructors and Students of the Teachers’ Institute held in Sandusky, Ohio in 1845 was printed by W. S. Mills and Sylvester Ross. Sessions continued for two weeks, with instruction during the day, and lectures and general discussion held during the evening hours.
The names of the teachers who attended the Teachers’ Institute were listed in the Catalogue. Usually known as Rush R. Sloane, Mr. Sloane’s name was given as Richard Rush Sloane in the catalogue. Rush Sloane became well known as an abolitionist and served as Mayor of Sandusky from 1879 to 1880. Daughters of another Sandusky Mayor, Foster M. Follett, also attended the Teacher’s Institute. Helen and Sarah Follett worked along side their parents in attending to the sick during the 1849 cholera epidemic in Sandusky. Sarah and Emily Townsend were daughters of pioneer Sandusky resident, William Townsend. Sadly, Sarah Townsend and both her parents died in the cholera epidemic in 1849.
Several resolutions were adopted at the closing of the Institute. One encouraged the continuation of Teachers’ Institutes so that teachers could obtain practical instruction on subjects connected with teaching and governing schools. Another resolution demanded that the business of teaching be made a distinct profession. A significant resolution recommended “the introduction of vocal music into the Common Schools of this state, as an aid in mental and moral improvement, and an agreeable relaxation from study.” Paul D. Sanders wrote about this early support of vocal music education in Ohio in an article in the October 2001 issue of the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education. (subscription required)


Better Living Through Chemistry
The human brain, full of its folds and electric highways and chemical conversations, brews in the skull like a micro-universe, hailed by many as the most complex organism in the known universe—the ever-expanding, macro one. When scientists and researchers began opening the doors of how music affects the brain, no one was quite prepared for how thoroughly integrated music is in our brain activity.
Early studies surprised no one in arts education when they showed that children who received music training had a larger growth of mental activity than children who had no music training. Children learning music scored higher on IQ tests, performed at higher proficiencies in math and were generally better socially adapted. Later studies further confirmed that music training promotes focus and enables some people to hold their concentration better. Evidence mounted that music education fostered the mind, body and spirit, and, eventually, some brain researchers began to speculate that our relationship to music predated our formation of language. Studies showed that infants understand the “grammar” of music quite naturally, proving music is not so much an art form as it is a developmental component of our biology. It’s in our wiring: we’re born with a nervous system prepared for tunes.
Life got easier for researchers peering into music’s effect on the brain when imaging technology (like MRIs) improved. Suddenly, we could see areas of the brain igniting like a strand of blinking holiday lights when Mahler or Mingus or Madonna piped into our ears. Listening to, creating and playing music fire all the major regions of the brain, activating almost every possible cognitive function. Studies over time showed that the brain changes shape as the result of exposure to music. Now that discovery was mind-bending.
These findings shifted music from its status as life’s lagniappe into a mystifying, powerful tool in forming the human experience.
Psychologically, music produces pleasure, fear, comfort and an array of emotions that can also alter our perception of the world. The power of music is not to be underestimated or written off as merely an emotional response: music inspires the brain to release certain chemicals like dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin. Music changes our brain chemistry, which affects our emotions, which shapes our perception, which determines our reality.
In an even more telling study, researchers pitted music against anti-anxiety drugs in pre-operation patients, and they discovered that the patients who listened to music had lower cortisol levels (the hormone secreted to deal with stress) than the group who took medication. The implication was clear: music was a better drug. If you’ve ever wondered why we listen to sad songs when we’re feeling blue instead of happy tunes, it’s because sad songs reassure us that we’re not alone in our feelings as sad music encourages the brain to release prolactin, the hormonal tranquilizer found in mother’s milk.
Music has the power to induce trance states in individuals and groups, the latter a phenomenon that famed author and neurologist Oliver Sacks acknowledges as an actual enmeshing of collective nervous systems: somehow the music transduces separate participants into a shared energy. Think Grateful Dead show, tribal ceremony, Springsteen concert or hip hop cipher. Music literally binds people together.
No doubt brain science will continue to illuminate the intricacies of music within our personal mini-universes, and we will continue to marvel as new insights emerge into the influence of music on our intellectual, psychological and emotional well-beings. As we continue to delight in Beethoven’s 9th and rock out in our cars on the drive home from work, we can also imagine the electric light show happening as we participate in our natural birthright that is better living through chemistry.


March is a busy time for art educators. We work hard to highlight our programs and share the amazing things our students have been doing in the art room all year long. Youth Art Month (YAM) is an important time to advocate for art education.
Many art teachers celebrate YAM with a big art show. This is a great way to show your community the strength of your program. Parents, teachers, students, community members, and school leaders love to see colorful art displays. But art displays do not allow the viewer to experience the power of art education for themselves. Is a beautiful display enough to communicate the importance of our discipline?
This is one of my favorite activities for YAM. Each time I have held a drawing challenge, I have been amazed at the results.
Provide your school community with a list of prompts to inspire their drawings. I try to break it up into several drawings a week. Collect and display the resulting work around the school. I like to do a raffle for art supplies at the end of the month to encourage participation.
This is a simple way to get the entire school community involved. Students and teachers both love to see the display. Download a copy to use with your students below!
Sometimes we forget other educators in our building might not understand what is being taught in the art room. These other teachers can be some of your greatest supporters. Students can learn a lot from collaborative lessons between the arts and other content areas. In order to create a strong connection with other colleagues, they need to understand what we do.
One of my favorite activities I’ve organized during YAM is a teacher art workshop. Invite colleagues to the art room after school and teach a lesson. Paint, clay, and printmaking are popular, even with adults! Through the process of learning something new in your classroom, teachers are sure to gain an appreciation for art education. And you are likely to gain new supporters.
Often parents are not up to speed when it comes to all the learning taking place in the art room. Reaching out to parents and communicating the role your program plays in the overall curriculum can be a challenge.
A “Family Art Night” is a great way to invite the entire school community to engage in artmaking. Invite families to learn about art together with their children. This can take many different forms, but the key here is parents and children engaging in the creative process together.
Why not get the entire student body involved? When everyone contributes to an artwork, the results are always impressive. This can be a mural, film, sculpture, or even a sticky note display. Including the input of all people involved in the artwork is key. I have seen schools where many people have worked together to paint ceiling tiles for the art room and hallways.
Whatever form this takes, be sure to display the resulting work somewhere public. Allow the art itself to share the power of creative learning.
There are many different ways to celebrate YAM. This is a time to advocate for the importance of art in a well-rounded education. Whatever you choose to do to in your school and community, make sure that it communicates the value of art education for our students.
What do you do to celebrate YAM in your community?
What do you think is the most important part of YAM?


This issue may be trivial, but it’s been gnawing at me for a while. When we separate students into English classes based on ability, scores, clout, or any objective or subjective measure, what should we call the classes and the students in those classes—Accelerated, Advanced, Honors, Regular, Remedial? I have a suspicion that the labels we choose may reveal our subconscious attitudes toward those students.
For example, if the courses for our brightest students are “Accelerated,” does that mean we go faster? If so, then the label is accurate. But I’m concerned that “acceleration” is not necessarily a desirable quality for literacy development. Do faster reading and faster writing make a student a better reader and writer? I don’t think so. If we refer to our brightest students as “Accelerated,” what is the comparable term for our struggling students? Decelerated? Slow? Certainly not the R word!
Many schools refer to those courses and students as “Remedial.” But remedial doesn’t mean slower; it means to remedy or fix something. Is that what we’re doing in those classes—fixing those kids? Does that imply that something is wrong with them, that they are somehow deficient? If so, then what about those bright kids? They obviously don’t need any remedies or any kind of “fixing.” (Or do they?) Are we just improving them without any sense of them being deficient in any way? Couldn’t we do that with students of any ability level?
If our brightest students are “Advanced,” what exactly does that mean? Are they more sophisticated in some way? If so, that’s great, and Advanced is a good word for them. But what should we then call the students at the other end of the spectrum—Regressed? Uncivilized?
Which brings us to Honors. Honors. What makes a stratum of the student body worthy of being institutionally labeled “Honors”—IQ? A particular entrance exam score? Parental insistence on registration in a particular course level? Do intelligence and integrity go so hand in hand that a bright student must automatically be regarded as inherently worthy of honor? If the brightest students are honor students, does that mean struggling students are dishonorable, and the regular-level students are simply un-honored? Is it possible for other students to become “honor students,” or are most students forever consigned to academic castes devoid of honor regardless of their character and behavior?
I know I’ve raised many more questions than answers here. Students pay attention to labels, probably more than they should. I’m concerned though that the way we label our students before they even walk in the door may have unintended effects.
Originally published in slightly different form on English Companion Ning.


Literacy InstructionPreK-4: While each classroom teacher may vary the organization of their “literacy block”, all classrooms provide direct instruction in reading, writing, and language and word study skills. There is a strong reading –writing connections evident in all classrooms. For example, if students are writing informational articles about the animals of the arctic, then students may also be reading informational articles, attending to author’s craft. How does the author createan article that is interesting to read? Vocabulary, language skills, and word study skills are embedded in this work in meaningful and relevant ways.
Grades 5-8: Teachers at this grade level are departmentalized, with each teacher as a content specialist.
· Grade 5: Stephen Heney –Literacy
· Grade 6: Angela Galyean- Writing
. Paul Lasher and Angela Galyean - Reading
· Grade 7/8: Tom Darling -Literacy
Reading Instruction includes:
• Read Aloud: The teacher Reads Aloud across a variety of genres; modeling and discussing what was read. This usually happens with the whole class. The goal is to introduce students to genres, good literature, and models of fluent reading
• Teacher-Guided Reading: Teaching reading comprehension strategies with instructional-level text - across a variety of genres. This usually happens in small, flexible groups. The goal is to teach students strategies for reading a variety of genres.
• Independent/Self-Selected/Silent Reading: Students read independently every day. The goal is to increase breadth and depth of reading, strengthen ownership/interest in reading, build stamina as readers, and build a community of readers.
• Literature Study: Students learn to use literary devices and tools to analyze literature across a variety of genres. The goal is to help students become familiar with and appreciate a variety of types of literature - and use knowledge of literary devices and features to analyze and interpretquality works of literature (grades 3 and up).
Writing Instruction includes:
• Teacher-Guided Writing: This happens across genres and content areas, and explicit teaching of specific features of writing, specific skills and processes, and writing for different audiences. The goal is to teach students the processes and forms of writing.
• Independent Writing: Students writing independently across genres with a balance of choice and "on-demand" kinds of writing (some pieces have multiple drafts; some just one). Teachers have individual conferences with students for revision and editing of writing pieces as needed. The goal is to build fluency and flexibility of writing, as well as ownership.
Language and Word Study Instruction:
• Word and Language Study: Systematic teaching, guided practice, discovery work and independent practice of phonemic awareness, phonics and decoding, spelling, word origins, vocabulary expansion, grammar and other conventions.
◦ Spelling: Phonemic awareness, phonics, word families, syllable spelling, spelling patterns, sight words
◦ Vocabulary: Careful word selection, concept-based instruction, morphology, repeated practice and application
◦ Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics: parts of speech, noun-verb agreement, sentence structure
◦ Oral Language: opportunities for active listening and speaking throughout the content areas


WELCOME: Professor Lucy Green and her team at the Institute of Education, University of London are embarking upon exciting research concerning ear playing. Her enquiry is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. A better understanding of ear playing may benefit a wide variety of musical learners. Building upon her books, How Popular Musicians Learn, and Music, Informal Learning and the School, the current study looks at instrumental teaching.
The informal learning practices of popular musicians are simple, effective, flexible and enjoyable. Shared in different ways by folk, jazz and many other musicians, they can lead to high levels of skill-development, particularly in the realms of ear playing. Furthermore, many of the skills involved can be just as relevant to classical music as to any other musical style.
Young popular musicians usually:
The Ear Playing Project (EPP) approach, funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, is based on a distillation and adaption of popular musicians' learning practices, designed for instrumental settings at any level. In particular, it focuses on one of the central ways in which popular musicians first acquire their skills – that is, listening to a recording, picking out a part, and attempting to play it by ear, usually with little or no formal guidance. The approach builds on the highly successful classroom project lead by Lucy Green within Musical Futures.
The approach involves the pupil listening to a recording and attempting to play it by ear. In order to make the task as accessible and inclusive as possible for the instrumental tuition setting, in the first few sessions the audio materials are specially prepared. In the final few sessions, this aid is removed and the pupil is given free choice about what music to play. A variety of teaching strategies are involved, which guide and encourage, whilst avoiding giving the pupil so much information that they would cease to use their ears.
For participating teachers, a handbook and audio materials (in WMA and MP3 formats) were available from the 'Download documents and audio tracks' page. Please note that this has now closed. For further information, please contact one of the project team (see our contact page).
The instrumental teaching and learning strategies were tested in a pilot research project, and then a main research phase in private practice, primary and secondary schools.
Over the past year, the EPP received support from organisations such as: the European Piano Teachers’ Association (EPTA); the European String Teachers' Association (ESTA); the National Association of Music Education (NAME); the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM); and the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music (ABRSM). All of these organisations kindly placed advertisements on their websites or in newsletters. The research officers (David and Maria) also staffed recruitment stands at ABRSM conferences in London, Manchester and Birmingham. There were 10 inductions, including sessions for the Oxford Piano Teachers’ Group, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and Croydon Music and Arts. Instrumental teachers working with at least 325 students joined the project. Additionally, we were joined by like-minded music teachers working in Brazil and Cyprus. The main research phase concluded at the end of August 2012.
Participant teachers were invited to an end-of-project meeting. Click here for further information.
Please click here to download our final newsletter (September 2012).
Musical Futures, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, is a highly successful national project, which is transforming classroom music education in the UK. It is also being rolled out in Australia, and piloted in the USA, Canada, Brazil and other parts of the world. The informal learning strand, which was led and developed by Professor Green, forms the precursor to the current instrumental project.
The Institute of Education brings together one of the largest groupings of music education researchers in the world, as well as offering courses in music education at PGCE, MA, EdD and MPhil/PhD levels. All staff are also members of the research centre 'iMerc': The International Music Education Research Centre.
Click here to download our current newsletter (September 2012).
Speedshifter is a free application, which can be downloaded from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) website. It speeds up or slows recordings without pitch changes and can also raise or lower the pitch. It may be helpful for participants who are not using instruments tuned precisely to concert pitch. Please click here to download the application.
We wish to convey our gratitude to Kim Bloomfield and June Bonfield-Brown and her school for seeking parents' permission for lesson photographs to be used on this site.


Say Good Night With A Math App
There’s an app for that. Seems that’s the standard answer these days, doesn’t it? It even applies to bedtime math, a smart way to build numeracy skills with your child.
Does your bedtime routine with your child include reading a book or two? Do those bedtime stories whisk you away to sunny meadows where rabbits romp, up winding pathways to stone castles on mountaintops, to the base of beanstalks rising into the clouds? How many beans were planted to grow that beanstalk? How many rabbits are hopping in the grass? Add a math discussion to your child’s bedtime routine, even one night a week, and you may help build math skills just as reading helps build literacy skills.
The Bedtime Math App is free and available in English and Spanish. It was the brainchild of Laura Bilodeau Overdeck, who has a BA in astrophysics from Princeton and an MBA in public policy from Wharton. You can get it for your iPhone, iPad, or Android. It gives you a daily math problem, a surprise problem, and a whole archive of math problems that you can browse by topic. It gives parents a fun fact to read and math riddles even the youngest children can solve.


-- IS 103 Series
-- Being Your Best You
-- Library Skills
-- Maida Kamber
-- Microsoft Office
> Skill Areas
> Library Resources
> Learning Resources
> Microsoft Office
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MATH 112: Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers II
MATH 112 is the designed to give prospective elementary education majors the depth of understanding necessary to teach mathematics in the elementary classroom. Topics will include representations of and operations on the natural numbers, integers, rational numbers and real numbers, and properties of those operations. Emphasis will be on communication, connections to other parts of mathematics, problem solving, representations, and reasoning and proof.
Upon successful completion of MATH 112, the student should be able to:
- Demonstrate various representations of Natural numbers and Integers.
- Define the operations on Natural numbers and Integers.
- Identify, describe, and demonstrate the proper use of the properties of operations on Natural numbers and Integers.
- Demonstrate various representations of Rational and Real numbers.
- Define the operations on Rational and Real numbers .
- Identify, describe, and demonstrate the proper use of the properties of operations on Rational and Real numbers.
- Apply appropriate mathematical reasoning to justify solution paths to various problems.
- Solve a variety of problems.
- Communicate mathematical ideas verbally, in writing, and through mathematical representations to various audiences.
- Demonstrate mathematical literacy and fluency.
MATH 112 resource page
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Happy Top 10 Tuesday y’all! It’s time for another music activity, and today, we will be helping preschoolers learn the concept of pitch with a fun and simple game.
Before we begin, we will need a pitched instrument. For the purpose of this game, I like the idea of using hand bells, one of the suggested Top 10 Tuesday instruments. (For a complete list of the Top 10 Tuesday instruments under $40 that will help bring music education into your home, click HERE.) The hand bells are a set up in a C major scale and are easier to mix up than visually seeing the notes together like on a glockenspiel. Here is a picture of a hand bell set:
They are available for purchase from Amazon.com. To check them out, click HERE.
You will only need three of the hand bells for this game: a low-pitched bell, a middle-pitched bell and a high-pitched bell. I would use the low C bell, the G bell, and the high C bell.
Play each of the three bells for your child and explain to them that there is a low sound, a middle sound and a high sound.
When they hear the high sound, they will stretch up as high as they can….on tippy toes with hands as high up as they can reach.
When they hear the middle sound, they will put their hands on their knees.
Finally, when they hear the low sound, they will curl up into a ball on the floor.
Start slowly, visually allowing your child to examine the bells as you play each one and as they move their body according to the sound. Now have your child turn away from you. As you play the bells this time, they will have to rely solely on what they hear. As you see your child is successfully taking on the correct shape with each sound, increase the speed of how fast you’re playing the bells. Make sure not to take on a pattern. You want the sounds to be as abstract and unplanned to follow as possible. The faster you go, the faster your child will be moving their bodies. Plenty of giggles are sure to follow and recognition of pitch and sounds has been achieved!
I hope you have enjoyed today’s Top 10 Tuesday music activity. Please check back every Tuesday for some more musical fun. For an archive of all previous activities, click HERE. Until next Tuesday, play on!


This past week I participated in a CCSS webinar produced by Schools Moving Up that provided a helpful discussion of Reading Anchor Standard 1. The focus of the webinar was the shared responsibility for literacy development, and page 5 of the Introduction again shows the importance of ELA, social studies, and science working together to improve students’ literacy skills, by providing a breakdown of what types of reading and writing need to occur over a student’s day. By 12th grade, 30% of the reading should be literary and 70% should be informational. For writing, 40% should be persuasive, 40% should be explanatory, and 20% should be narrative.
At one point during the webinar, the presenters indicated that within an English class, 50% of the reading should be literary and 50% should be informative. I had not heard that breakdown before, nor had I seen any reference to a specific breakdown of types of reading and writing within English alone – so I am a little confused there. I was able to ask the presenters about this after the webinar, but honestly, their answer left me wanting more. They said that because the reading standards are divided equally between literature and informational texts, equal time must be devoted to each. They went on to say that because social studies and science may not be ready yet for the reading standards and because 70% of a student’s overall reading should be informational, English teachers may have to devote more time initally to informational texts until social studies and science are ready to fully take on the standards.
Honestly, this really concerns me. Right now my English class is probably the opposite of what it should be, according to the comments above. I probably teach closer to 80% literature and 20% informative texts. The informative texts I use are closely tied to the literature we’re reading in class together. While I have moved to providing more informational texts in my College and Career Readiness class, without this additional period, I would have to dramatically change the way I teach English.
I’m not sure what to think about all this…
If in social studies and science students are reading strictly informational texts, then to balance and reach the 30-70 split between literature and informational texts, English teachers should be spending over 80% of the time reading literature. But this is basically what I’m doing and I need another period to work in the informational text reading that I feel students need to be successful in their college classes.
In the College and Career Readiness class, we’ve used the Article of the Week assignment from Kelly Gallagher, as well as assignments based on the CSU Expository Reading and Writing curriculum and assignments based on an AP Literature and Composition training I took through the Bay Area Writing Project. These assignments are closer to what students receive in their college composition and rhetoric class – but are also more like what they are asked to do in their philosophy, anthropology, and sociology classes, for example.
According to the CCSS standards, social studies and science teachers will help in getting students ready for the demands of those kinds of classes in college, but is what I am doing in English enough? If I am preparing students for the first transfer-level composition class, I should be doing far more informational reading, I think. And if I were teaching back at a regular high school, I’d have to do that all in my single English period…~Jen P


This study focuses on the life lessons in Don Quijote de la Mancha, written by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605 (First Part) and 1615 (Second Part). Literary classics can be applicable in current situations to teach valuable life lessons to people in any culture, society, and at any age. The goal was to first analyze and later modify certain episodes in the novel to teach several important, age-appropriate values to children: friendship, acceptance, gender equality, and knowing oneself. Short fables were written about each value using characters and episodes from the novel. During February, using the fables as a central activity, each value was taught to a group five second-grade students. Student oral and written responses were assessed to determine the effectiveness of teaching each lesson to children, based on qualitative responses that indicated their level of comprehension.
Kennedy, Julia, "Lecciones Quijotescas De La Vida: Teoría Y Práctica - Quixotic Life Lessons: Theory and Practice" (2013). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 717.
Educational Methods | Elementary Education and Teaching | Spanish Literature
Bachelor of Arts
Senior Independent Study Thesis Exemplar
© Copyright 2013 Julia Kennedy


Much has been written about Finland’s exemplary education system (See:https://literacyteaching.net/2014/10/14/an-infographic-of-finlands-education-system/) They are often at the top of PISA rankings in both literacy and numeracy skills. Further, they boast small teacher to student ratios which allow for more individualized instruction. The teaching profession is also highly regarded; teachers are highly esteemed professionals like their peers doctors and lawyers. Now, Finland is reforming the way their classrooms run and everyone is talking about it. Teaching by topic (or phenomenon teaching) will replace teaching by subject throughout the country’s classrooms. This approach intends to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of the “real world” and encourage collaboration among students. The Independent, a UK based blog, provides some examples of how this would be done.
“a teenager studying a vocational course might take “cafeteria services” lessons, which would include elements of maths, languages (to help serve foreign customers), writing skills and communication skills.”
“…pupils would be taught cross-subject topics such as the European Union – which would merge elements of economics, history (of the countries involved), languages and geography.”
I like this approach because it allows students to experience subjects in a contextualized way. Phenomenon teaching makes school relevant again. I suspect much of the world, myself included, will be closely observing how this unique approach to teaching fares in Finland.
To read more from the Independent:


Piazza: Luogo di incontri authored by Donatella Melucci and Elissa Tognozzi. This introductory-level program addresses the needs of beginning learners of Italian with an enriching language learning experience through communicative and thoughtful practice, innovative instructional design, robust technology integration, and a wide range of cultural coverage. It employs an intuitive and functional approach to proficiency development, with research-driven strategies to include cultural awareness, literacy development, and difficult sentence structures
Foreign language teachers all face the same challenges. One of the largest challenges is trying to import the culture of their language into the classroom. In recent years, technology has been an important ally in this effort by providing easy access to realia. However, teachers need to choose their materials with care because sometimes they can appear “fake” or “prepackaged,” which can make students disengage.
One way to refresh Italian language curricula, particularly in the second year of college study, is to consider a content-based instruction. Opera may appear to be unsuited to the early years of college language study. The librettos, with the exception of a few phrases, are not a linguistic model for someone trying to communicate in modern Italian. However, opera can indeed be effective and enjoyable when approached thematically.
Italian language is immediately associated with a single nation: Italy. It is therefore very important for students of Italian to be exposed to texts and audiovisual materials that show the country, where the language they study is actually spoken, as it really is. Italy has changed a great deal in the last thirty years: it has become multicultural, and it has experienced the fall of the political party system that came into being after World War II.
Secondo le raccomandazioni dell'ACTFL, per rendere l,esperienza di apprendimento di una lingua straniera realmente efficace, deve a\,venire all'interno deia classe uno scambio comunicativo che sia quasi esclusivamente nella Iingua target.
Italian culture is often related to pizza, mandolino and La dolce vita. The Commedia all’Italiana has often been chosen as the most representative of the Italian life-style, thanks to the realism and subjectivism that characterizes the Commedia. Nowadays, Italian culture and language is changing and we, as Italian teachers, must be aware of its changes in order to show to our learners a significant picture.
The presentation will focus on integrating museum resources in the Italian language and culture curriculum at intermediate and advanced levels. Through a step-by-step construction of well developed, dynamic, self-paced activities, I will demonstrate how enriching, innovative, and adaptable online museum resources can be in teaching both language and content-based courses. Alternative platforms of content delivery, such as Wikis and Google+ will be discussed.
I plan to present an overview of a class that I have designed and that I am currently teaching at the University of Michigan. Italian 271 – Calcio, the Italian National Sport is an advanced language class taken by students who have completed four semesters of language learning. A passion for most Italian men and women, more than politics, religion, or any other sport, in Italy soccer is a source of endless conversations and a central element of popular culture. A not-given penalty or a victory in an important competition occupies the media for days and the memories of the tifosi forever.
This presentation will examine the use of four digital tools—Word Press, Audio-Lingua, Vimeo and VoiceThread—to increase students’ communicative skills and cultural awareness in Italian. We will review the curricular requirements for the AP Italian Language and Culture Course and discuss how many of the core elements can be incorporated into pre-AP levels of Italian instruction.
In linguistics the term 'collocation' is used to mean a combination of lexical items that regularly or habitually occurs together, and sounds natural, in speech or writing. The way words combine in a language is not determined by rules of syntax or grammar but is instead established through repeated context-dependent use within the language community.


“What’s fascinating about computer science is that it requires analytical skills, problem solving and creativity, while also being both foundational and vocational,” says Hadi Partovi, co-founder of Code.org
Not every child who learns to write will become a novelist, nor everyone who learns algebra a mathematician, yet we treat both as foundational skills that all children should learn. Coding is the same
Understanding that in the future no profession is untouched by machines means admitting that coding is part of the liberal arts, and therefore a core skill every child must possess.
Everyone I interviewed observed that the best way to reach young children was to get them to create games, or to treat learning exercises as a form of play.
Our society remains deeply biased against careers that involve any sort of risk. Economic anxiety caused by rapid change has encouraged more conservatism when it comes to careers, at precisely the time when we should be most innovative.
But while we have made the tools more accessible, we haven’t made the careers easier to build. Nearly all creative markets are what labor economists call tournament models, where the chance of winning is small, but the winnings are huge if you can reach the pinnacle of the profession.
First, we need to cultivate more role models that show how to be a maker and that such a career is entirely possible and potentially even profitable.
Second, and most importantly, we need to address the risk of these professions head on.
But we have yet to build mechanisms to de-risk these careers over time. How can we create more market resilience for creativity?
Society isn’t about to change its approach to risk, but we can change both the perception and actual risk of taking on a creative profession.
When there is space for creativity in school curriculums, teachers and administrators are positive and supportive, but that support seems to completely wither away when a student suddenly desires to do what they love as their job.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.


Kids Growing, our elementary school program, operates during the school day and uses gardening and food activities to support learning objectives. From planting a tiny seed to making fresh pesto, children’s exploration of nature and healthy food is at the heart of this program. The gardens are dynamic classrooms for vibrant hands-on learning in many subject areas. Volunteers and staff ensure that outdoor programs are accessible and safe for teachers to bring their classes, and help teachers learn more about school gardening.Details & Participating Sites
Urban Roots Youth
Urban Roots Youth, our after-school and summer youth program, teaches youth the techniques of growing food in small spaces. The youth help maintain the school gardens, compost and rainwater catchment systems, and sell produce at a local market. In summer, they provide recreational programs for young children in the gardens. They have opportunities for paid work through student summer jobs and in our social enterprise gardening on private lands.Learn more
Grownups Gardening is our community engagement program, engaging parents in our partner schools and other community members. They join as members and volunteers, and may attend free monthly skills-building workshops, take plants and food home, earn certificates and honoraria. Our volunteers are key to high-quality Kids Growing programs, as they increase the adult-child ratio and allow each child to get hands-on experience. Volunteers are offered free membership.
Our social enterprise will garden at your home or workplace. Our expertise is in permaculture design, organic edible and native ornamental gardening, and we’ll teach you how to maintain your own garden & compost.Learn more
Workshops & Consultations
Learn how to start and maintain your own school garden. We run workshops in conjunction with teachers’ organizations and teacher education programs, and cover varied subject matter including integration of art, language, math and technology into garden programs.Learn more
Imagine a Garden In Every School
Green Thumbs is at the forefront of garden-based elementary education in Ontario, and helps teachers and families to start food gardens in their schools. Across the province people are doing great work to create school food gardens and connect children and youth to food and their environment. The goal of the “Imagine a Garden In Every School” campaign is to link us together, to share resources, ideas and experience, and to make it easier for people across Ontario to start and maintain school food gardens.Visit Website
Summer programs are critically important in the school garden since summer maintenance is often a barrier to success. Active programming with a focus on play, nutrition, and games turns the garden into a summer camp destination, providing healthy outdoor activities for low or no cost.
The goal of the summer programs are a) getting the harvested food in the hands and mouths of those who need it, and b) providing employment to youth with a long-term goal of fostering good green jobs for youth.
Here’s a lovely booklet put together by Anna from Summer 2012 staff.


Evaluation is an integral part of the therapeutic process, as it provides the key to identifying each child’s unique needs and skills related to participation in “typical” childhood experiences, such as school, peer and family relationships, sports and play. We offer a range of evaluations for fine motor/handwriting skills, gross motor skill development and sensory processing. Evaluation results and recommendations are documented in comprehensive reports.
Evaluation and therapy address the following skill areas:
- Fine Motor Skills: hand dominance, dexterity, pencil grasp, self-care tasks such as feeding, dressing, and tying shoes.
- Visual-Motor Skills/Handwriting: cutting, coloring, tracing and copying, handwriting and keyboarding.
- Gross Motor Skills: muscle strength, postural control, balance, coordination, jumping and climbing.
- Motor Planning/Praxis: conceiving, planning, sequencing and executing actions for new/unfamiliar motor tasks.
- Sensory Processing or Sensory Integration: the nervous system receiving and responding to messages from the senses.
- Play Skills
For more information or to make an appointment for an OT evaluation, please contact us.


A Survival Kit for the Elementary/Middle School Art Teacher
This comprehensive resource provides practical information, proven management tips, and over 100 specially selected art projects to help new and veteran K-8 art teachers implement an effective art education program and make art appreciation and activities fun. For easy use, materials are printed in a big 8 ¼" x 11" format with lay-flat binding for photocopying of various management aids and student project handouts, and organized into two main parts. Part 1, The Art Program, offers tested guidelines and reproducible tools for building and managing the program. Part 2, The Art Curriculum, presents 102 exciting art projects organized by medium into nine units: (1) Exploring the Elements & Principles of Design, (2) Paper, (3) Painting, (4) Drawing with Pencil, Pastels, Crayons & Markers, (5) Painting, (6) Printmaking, (7) Three-Dimensional Design, (8) Architecture, and (9) Technology: Computer, Photography, Video.
Specifications of A Survival Kit for the Elementary/Middle School Art Teacher
|Author||Helen D. Hume|
|Number Of Pages||458|
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Are you thinking of becoming a teacher of the Fine Arts? Particularly a Music teacher? If this is so, you must read on! Integrating the arts, including Music Education, is an academic necessity and asset to any student that wants to reach their full learning potential throughout their life.
The Importance of Music Education
The arts in education campaign has been ongoing for some years now and will always be a controversial topic for many. Should we or should we not provide our students with an opportunity to explore the arts in school? Should we include the arts in the school day or make them extracurricular? Should we incorporate arts education lessons and activities in the general classroom? Will the arts have a great effect on academic excellence?
These are all questions that have crossed several great minds in the past, but the real question I have is, "why the controversy?" After all of the scientific research that has been collected, is it not proof enough that the arts and music in the classroom has a tremendous effect on world-wide academic achievement and cultural value?
Here is a list of the 5 most important reasons why music education is so beneficial to our students:
- A Music Education program provides an aesthetic experience for its students. Often times, students will utilize music as an outlet for expression that is sometimes unavailable to them in other academic areas.
- Musical experiences will provide the students with opportunities for emotional response, which often encourages the cognitive processes.
- Music Education instills “life values" in students. Some of these include; discipline, cooperation, social skills, and building good character. Knowledge of music technology, music history, music theory, and music culture will reinforce knowledge in other academic subjects as well.
- Music will often create a sense of school spirit, which will in turn provide the students with a sense of self-worth which will almost always reflect a positive attitude.
- A good Music program will aid any school district in the direction to obtain the highest level of achievement and excellence deemed possible.
The facts are in! Here is some research-based data taken from http://www.tmea.org/025_Advocacy/musicquotes.htm, that further explains the necessity and importance of Music Education in our schools.·
Students who were exposed to music-based lessons scored a full 100% higher on fractions tests than those who learned in the conventional manner. -Neurological Research, March 15, 1999
High school music students have been shown to hold higher grade point averages (GPA) than non-musicians in the same school. -National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988
Middle school and high school students who participated in instrumental music performances scored significantly higher than their non-band peers in standardized tests. -University of Sarasota Study, Jeffrey Lynn Kluball; East Texas State University Study, Daryl Erick Trent
The College Entrance Examination Board found that students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on math than students with no arts participation. -College-Bound Seniors National Report. "Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ." The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001
Music integrated into seventh- and eighth-grade social studies results in better subject performance and better social behaviors and attitudes. -National Educational Longitudinal Study, 1988
For more information and research, you can visit the website above or do some arts in education or Music education research of your own at the following sites:
As a Music teacher, I have spent all of my working and non-working days, through both instruction and action, striving to discover a solution to this controversial battle. It should not have to come to a budget vote every year to see if we get to keep our jobs. I hope that as a new Music teacher, you will fight for arts advocacy in your schools and community and have the courage to say, "Enough is enough. Arts advocacy is what our students need to become the best they can be in all aspects of life."
Please spread the word of the importance of Music Education and vote for arts integration in our schools!


Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP):
The TCAP Achievement test is a timed, multiple choice assessment that measures skills in reading, language arts, mathematics, science and social studies.
Tennessee is an English-only state, which means all assessments are provided in English only. We do not offer any of our assessments in a native language format.
2014-15 Social Studies Assessments:
The State Board of Education approved an assessment transition plan for social studies for the 2014-15 school year. There will be a field test in 2014-15, and operational social studies testing will resume in the 2015-16 school year.
For additional TCAP Information: http://www.tn.gov/education/assessment/achievement_faq.shtml
K-2 SAT 10:
The K-2 assessment (formerly known as SAT 10) is an optional test that districts can choose to use. The test measures basic reading and math skills. It is a norm-referenced assessment designed to measure individual student achievement compared to national norms. The K-2 assessment provides a benchmark of how students perform on the foundational skills required for success in future grades.
More than 100 Tennessee school districts decided to participate in the K-2 assessment during its first two years of operation, which resulted in important new student performance information.
Focus Clusters are the Tennessee standards, which correspond to some of the most important topics and skills for students to master in each of the early grades.
For additional SAT 10 Information:
All students tested in grades 3 through 11 will complete an online test in February.
• Each writing assessment will consist of two complex texts and two essays.
• Text will cover social studies or science topics in order to demonstrate the range of informational reading possible in a Common Core curriculum.
• Students will write two essays:
One prose constructed response (PCR) essay about the first text. The essay will be an analytical summary (informational/explanatory).
One prose constructed response (PCR) analytical essay about both texts. The essay will be informational/explanatory or opinion/argument.
• The assessment will have an extended time limit. Total time will equal a maximum of 2.5 hours in all grade levels. The time on task allowed for this assessment will be 2 hours. Teachers will be allowed to institute a break after 1 hour. This break would last approximately 30 minutes.
• The assessment in all grades will be scored centrally at Measurement Incorporated.
The 2014 TCAP Writing Assessment will continue to have no effect upon district or school level accountability and will not be factored into teacher value-added scores.
Tennessee is a predominately English language speaking state. All assessments are provided in English only. Tennessee does not offer assessments formatted in the native language of our students other than English.
Easy CBM- Response to Intervention (RTI) Assessment
Students in grades K-8 will be given three (3) benchmark tests to identify strengths and weaknesses in Reading and Math skills. Results will be used to guide remediation and enrichment instruction to students.
High-School End of Course:
High School End of Course examinations are given in English I, English II, English III, Algebra I, Algebra II, U.S. History, Biology I and Chemistry. The results of these examinations will be factored into the student’s grade at a percentage determined by the State Board of Education in accordance with T.C.A. §49-1-302 (2).
• The End of Course exam grade will count 20 percent of the second semester grade for the 2009-10 and the 2010-11 school years and 25 percent of the second semester grade in subsequent school years.
Students will not be required to pass any one examination, but instead students must achieve a passing score for the course in accordance with the State Board of Education’s uniform grading policy.
For additional End of Course Information: http://www.tn.gov/education/assessment/high_school.shtml


Are you the parent of a preschooler? Have you ever wondered if your child will be prepared for kindergarten? You are certainly not alone! Many parents are unaware of the skills that their child should have upon entering kindergarten. There are a lot of things you can do to prepare your child for kindergarten. Are you considering placing your child in the VB public school’s kindergarten program? You’ll find a wealth of information ranging from an overview of the program to school menus and course guides.
Read to Your Child
Reading is at the heart of learning, and reading aloud helps children prepare for school success. "Getting Your Child Ready for Kindergarten" is a suggested list of books that will help families and early childhood educators easily find picture books that introduce basic concepts and skills. The books are listed by the four core categories of the Virginia Standards of Learning and include alphabet books, counting stories, number books, stories about animals, weather, starting school and more. All of the books are available at Virginia Beach Public Library branch locations. Download the book list.
The VBPL also offers early literacy classes for children ages six months - five years old. Visit their website for a list of classes.
Even though the “building blocks” for brain development are created before birth, the brain is only 25 percent complete at birth. The brain grows to about 80 percent of adult size by three years of age and 90 percent by age five. For more information about how a child’s brain develops visit Zero to Three’s website.
Child Development Resources
Find information about child development, community resources, early learning experiences, literacy development and activities to help you prepare your child to be ready to learn when he or she enters schools. Below is a list of organizations:
To help parents and preschool teachers know exactly what will be expected of students entereing kindergarten. Growsmart has developed a Kindergarten Transition Checklist. This checklist indentifies literacy, math, language, gross and fine motor, and social/emotional skills a child should master prior to entering kindergarten.
There are many activities you can do with your child to develop fine motor skills on the checklist. Download our month of fine motor activities calendar here.
Before entering kindergarten, all preschool students are screened to determine whether they are eligible for additional assistance programs. The VB City public schools offer half-day kindergarten to all students. Qualifying students may enroll in an extended day kindergarten program, an extension of the half-day kindergarten program. This provides kindergarteners with additional instruction in language and math. Every elementary school has an EDK program. Title I students attend full-day kindergarten programs. Visit the VBCPS website for more information on kindergarten programs, registration and school-specific information.
KG Meals-What should you expect?
Virginia Beach City Public Schools morning kindergartners may purchase a nutritious breakfast and afternoon kindergartners may purchase a nutritious lunch. View Virginia Beach City Public Schools lunch menus. Follow the link for "Elementary Schools."
Virginia Foundation Blocks for Early Learning
The Virginia Department of Education has created Virginia’s Foundation Blocks for Early Learning as a guide for preschool education. These foundation blocks focus on the skills and experiences children will need in order to successfully enter kindergarten. Download the guide here.
Virginia SOLs for KG
The Standards of Learning (SOLs) for Virginia Public Schools describe the Commonwealth's expectations for student learning and achievement in kindergarten. Learn more about the Standards of Learning.
: Bringing together City, Schools, and the Community for
a common mission.
GrowSmart’s mission is to promote and improve the
healthy development, school readiness, and reading
proficiency of young children, ages 0-8, in Virginia
This site was designed to provide information and resources for Virginia Beach parents, caregivers,and teachers of young children, ages 0-8.
The site is also intended for our community stakeholders who wish to find out more about the City of Virginia Beach’s early learning efforts and how you can get involved.
Address: 4525 Main Street Suite 700 Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Phone: (757) 385-0144
© Copyright 2016
| The City of Virginia Beach


Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
Art education is important for students’ overall learning, and yet, in many elementary schools, children receive few opportunities to learn through this vital teaching tool. In this Capstone Project, the researcher interviewed two teachers about their perspectives of art-based education and incorporating art-themed projects into their curriculum. Five high school students were also interviewed about their involvement in an Art club at a local high school, and their perspectives regarding the use of art education in the current curriculum. Findings from analyses of the interview data and relevant research literature has provided a guide for an informed action project that aims to solve the need for art-based curriculum in local elementary schools by integrating art into thematic units of study. This is done by assigning three to five art projects each week that assists students in their regular classes.
Weise, Andrea Dominique, "Integrating Art Based Education in Elementary Schools" (2015). Capstone Projects (Campus-Only Access). 583.


A summary of the findings of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector regarding the breadth and challenge offered by the current KS3 curriculum.
Access the full article here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/459830/Key_Stage_3_the_wasted_years.pdf
In the annual Report (published September 2015) it was found that Primary Schools had continued to improve while the performance of Secondary Institutions faltered: the gains made in Primary School, the report concludes, are not being embedded and developed at KS3.
The document takes into account the findings from:
* Over 2000 Inspections carried out between September 2013 and March 2015
* 100 interviews with senior leaders
* 10, 942 questionnaire responses from pupils in Years 7 to 9
While cause and effect cannot, with complete certainty, be ascertained, key findings of the Report determined that, in the majority of participant schools who failed to demonstrate adequate progress at KS3:
* Senior leaders did not prioritise the staffing of KS3, staffing KS4 and KS5 before this. As a result, classes were often split between two teachers or taught by non-specialist staff. 85% of leaders interviewed prioritised the staffing of Key Stages 4 and 5 before Key Stage 3.
* Some leaders were not using the PP funding to effectively close the gaps quickly in KS3, focusing resources on KS4 pupils instead. Indeed, when interviewed, senior leaders acknowledged that those working below target in Years 10 and 11 had been a higher priority than pupils in the lower years. Moreover, in just under half the schools in the sample of monitoring Inspections, it was found that no additional provision was in place for disadvantaged pupils in KS3.
* The way that assessment data is monitored and tracked in KS3 is not as developed or robust as other Key Stages. Many Secondary Schools believed KS2 results to be unreliable; however, baseline assessments conducted in Year 7 were not being used effectively to track pupil progress.
* Secondary Schools do not work effectively enough with Primary Schools, simply accepting repetition of skills as inevitable. The focus is on pastoral elements of transition only.
* Homework is not consistently providing opportunities for pupils to consolidate or extend their learning: one fifth of senior leaders acknowledged that this was an area of improvement in their schools.
* Careers education is not good enough in KS3, particularly in Years 7 and 8; most of the 60 schools visited as part of the ‘Going in the Right Direction?’ initiative were identified as not making good-quality careers advice a priority for their pupils.
* While developing literacy was often a high priority in schools, the same level of priority was not evident for numeracy; one in five senior leaders said that the development of numeracy skills was much weaker than the development of literacy skills.
OFSTED advised that Secondary school leaders should:
* Make KS3 a higher priority in all aspects of school planning, assessing, monitoring and evaluation.
* Ensure that the transition from KS2 to KS3 focuses as much on pupils’ academic needs as it does their pastoral needs by creating better cross-phase partnerships with Primary Schools to make sure that KS3 teachers build on pupils’ prior knowledge, learning and skills.
* Focus on the needs of disadvantaged pupils in KS3, including the most able, to close the achievement gap as quickly as possible.
* Guarantee that pupils have access to timely and accurate careers advice and guidance from Year 8 onwards.
* Have literacy and numeracy strategies that ensure that pupils build on their prior attainment in Key Stage 2 in these crucial areas.
Practical examples of school interventions can be found on pages 14-15, 16, 17-18, 22, 24 and 26-27 of the Report.


“Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them — a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music.” — Gerald Ford, former President, United States of America
Prenatal studies show that at the beginning of the second month of pregnancy, a foetus’ eyes, nose, and ears are clearly visible, and by the fifth month, the baby's hearing has fully developed. This has lead to further research regarding the baby’s ability to recognize music and the various benefits that music can have on the unborn child and the mother. This article explores a few of the benefits associated with music in pregnancy and how it may help your unborn child.


Mrs Nash is the class teacher in Acorns, supported by Mrs Startup. For children in early years education, there is an emphasis on learning through play and independent activity that goes alongside. This is designed to develop the foundational skills that the children will need in order to develop as successful learners. Therefore, children engage in activities that support the development of social and emotional skills, alongside their phonics, writing and number development.
A typical day for the children in the Acorns class is made up of many different elements: talking and listening, reading and writing activities, stories and poetry, art and craft , developing mathematical and scientific skills and knowledge, religious education, P.E. and music. These are usually organised around a particular theme (e.g. 'Weather' or 'Space' ). These themes usually last about a term and incorporate all aspects of the curriculum. The security offered by the firm yet happy setting of our Acorns class enables the children’s educational foundations to be established.
Thank you for all your support
Mrs Nash and Mrs Startup
Our focus for this term is: Fabulous Food
We will be:
- Finding out and exploring how food is produced locally, including the role of farming.
- Explore the range of plants in the local environment.
- Creating our own Farm Shop and Cafe.
- Cooking biscuits, bread, making smoothies and popcorn.
- Testing conditions for seed germination.
- Planting seeds, growing cress and beans.
- For our ‘fabulous finish’ we will be visiting the gardens at Great Dixter
Please could we have:
Empty packets for our 3D shape display.
Packets from countries that we can put on our World map.
Class teacher: Mrs Nash
Teaching assistant: Mrs Startup
- Please sign your child's reading record every evening, after hearing them read and put it in their book bag every day
- Please make sure that your child has their coat with them in school
- Children need their wellington boots in school for any visits to our woods
- PE is every Wednesday - please make sure that your child has their PE kit in school for their lesson


Starting at an appropriate reading level, SLC students are
taught explicit reading comprehension strategies. These include finding
the main idea, making inferences, drawing conclusions, finding facts, and detecting
the sequence. Students are also taught to be active readers and to use
strategies such as prediction, questioning, image construction, and
summarizing. Students learn to monitor their own comprehension when
reading, and to become aware when they are confused or the text does not make sense.
Knowledge of words is also critical for good reading comprehension.
Explicit vocabulary instruction at SLC is based on the Greek and Latin roots
that form the foundation of the English language. Students learn the "building
blocks" of words, as well as specific vocabulary derived from such roots.
Students learn word meanings and relationships and gain the skills to decipher
an unlimited number of new words. Vocabulary development is especially critical
for middle and high school students who will soon take the SAT.
As SLC students' reading ability and confidence grow, so do
the lengths of the passages and complexity of the reading material. Students
also learn how to approach different reading tasks such as literature and


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Greek Red and Black Figure Pottery
Transcript of Greek Red and Black Figure Pottery
The reason the pots were called black figure pots is bacause there was a glossy slip applied to the pots. When the pots were then fired the slip would turn black, making figures in the clay. The figures were then outlined by a red or white color. Other colors were used to but they were not as common. (historyforkids.org) The pots were often painted decorated of men and women in the Trojan War. The gods were not as popular in the decoration. in decorating these pots. There many things from ancient greece such as comedy scenes and some sport scenes. This Project will teach you the history and the way of Black and Red Figure Pottery. First we will go over Black Figure Pottery since it was created before Red Figure Pottery. The art forms were created in Greece. Eventually Red Figure Pottery was discovered and was easier to make. Some famous black-figure potters included Kleitias , Ergotimos, Nearchos, Lydos, the Amasis Painter, Andokides, Euthymides, and Sophilos.(www.visual-arts-cork.com) Red Figure Pottery Red Figure Pottery was discovered in about 530 BC and
died out in about 3rd century BC. It replaced the very common
black figure pottery.(wikipedia.com) Red Figure Pottery was the era with the most pots
and artifacts that are still intact today. Over 40,000 artifacts are
still preserved today. How was Red Figure Pottery Made? The Red Figure method was basically the
opposite of Black Figure. It was easier to make and harder to
make mistakes. The differnce from black figure was that when the pot was at a leather hard stage the figure
was put into the pot. The potter would then outline the figures with a brush or a charcoal. The figure
would come out fully during the firing and the outlines would go away. The slip was then put on to the clay
which would change colors during the firing stage making the red figures. The Red figure method allowed for more detail and overall better pots. Some great Red figure potters included Douris, Brygos and
Onesimos.(www.visual-arts-cork.com_ One of the works of Douris By Sebastian Lemm Works Cited:
"Greek Pottery, Ceramic Art of Ancient Greece: History: Geometric Style, Black Figure, Red Figure." Greek Art | Encyclopedia of Visual Arts in Greece | History of Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking: Artists, Museums, Galleries, Exhibitions. Web. 1 May 2010. <http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/antiquity/greek-pottery.htm#blackstyle>.
"Red-figure Pottery." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-figure_pottery>.
"Greek Black Figure Pottery Vases - History for Kids!" Kidipede - History and Science for Kids - Homework Help for Middle School. Web. 01 May 2010. <http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/art/pottery/blackfigure.htm>.


Help music students learn more in less time, reach higher goals, and become active participants in their education. An extremely beneficial text for band, choir, orchestra and general music that provides the steps needed to create an effective music education curriculum for you, your school, and your district. A sequenced music curriculum gives direction to your teaching, builds cohesion among your colleagues, engages students and parents in goals you set, and builds awareness and support from your school's administrators. Contents include: overview of the national and state music standards; aligning district standards to the national or state standards; suggested activities for each national standard; designing an organized curriculum of lesson plans; assessments; organizing assessment documentation; student involvement; curriculum sample with resources and websites. A must for all music educators!


Hispanic Students' Performance Seen as Bright Spot in NAEP
Hispanic students appear to have bucked the trend of stagnant academic growth in U.S. history, civics, and geography, according to the latest test results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
The 2014 NAEP report showed flat academic progress for students as a whole. But Hispanic students as a group had made gains in U.S. history and geography since 2010 and in all three subject areas since the 1990s, when the first tests were administered. White students were the only other racial group with that long-term trend.
First, just to be clear, there is no way to definitively answer that question. NAEP offers data, but not explanation.
But experts pointed to good teaching strategies, better use of disaggregated data, and increased focus on policies for English-language learners as possible contributing factors.
"It's hard to say why the scores have risen (but) there has been a lot of attention to English-learners over the years to make sure they get intervention to get them to where they need to be," said Allison Horowitz, a K-12 policy analyst at the Education Trust, a nonprofit organization that aims to close the achievement gap between low-income or minority-race students and theirmore-advantaged peers.
It's worth noting that the report, also known as the "Nation's Report Card," comes amid increased scrutiny of history and civics education. As Education Week has reported, 17 states are considering legislation that would require students to take a citizenship test in order to graduate from high school. The move has drawn criticism.
Meanwhile, some states are balking at an overhaul of the Advanced Placement U.S. history curriculum framework.
Educators and experts have long worried that social studies education is being pushed to the back burner in favor of more talked-about subjects such as math, English, and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines. The overall results of the 2014 NAEP tests underscored that concern.
Also, the achievement gap remains. "My greater concern is that these gaps still exist," said Michelle Herczog, the president of the National Council for the Social Studies. "Hispanic and black students are faring much poorer than white and Asian students, which is a cause for concern."
But the gains among Hispanic students was considered a "bright spot" by NAEP officials, and the gains weren't just limited to U.S. history, civics, and geography.
Hispanic students also showed academic gains on the NAEP math and reading assessments, which were administered in other years.
"So it's been a consistent story across the board," said Horowitz.
Kathleen Leos, the CEO at the Global Institute for Language and Literacy Development, attributes the improvements to three key educational strategies being employed in classrooms today: building on prior knowledge, scaffolding, and teaching vocabulary within the context of the content area.
She used this example to describe the latter strategy:
"If you say table in geography it's different than in science. Students have to learn not only the word, but also the context," she said. "So it [the gains among Hispanic students] says that teachers are learning how to teach complicated vocabulary in the context of their content area. There are multiple meanings to those words and [students] applied and inferred it correctly."
She said the strategies work across the board with all students, not just subgroups. But for Hispanic students particularly, the key is language. "Teachers are trained to deliver content knowledge and language proficiency at that high level simultaneously. More and more teachers are learning how to do that."
She also noted educators are becoming more specialized, for example, they may be specifically trained to teach students for whom English is not their native language.
Experts also gave credit to the No Child Left Behind legislation, which succeeded in prompting the education system to look separately at subgroups of students and to use that disaggregated data to improve student achievement.
Image is from the 2014 NAEP report.


I often tell my students “good readers write and good writers read.” In my opinion, writing and reading are inseparable. The connection between reading and writing is essential to a child’s literacy development. Teachers and parents can nurture a child’s imagination through writing. An article in The Science of Learning affirms the importance of writing for children, stating that writing “remains an essential part of educating students of all ages, including adults.”
Books can provide an impetus for writing. When children discover books they love, it offers the potential to extend their world far beyond the piece of the earth they live. Librarians, teachers, and parents should strive to make certain children encounter these books. One specific genre of books I love to introduce to children is poetry. Through poetry, children learn to express themselves in a creative way. Most children love to read and write poetry. Consider infusing poetry writing with journaling.
Journal keeping provide great opportunities for children to write poetry and/or to express their thoughts through writing. These written reflections can remain private or shared. Children can write in their journals daily, weekly, or as often as they wish to record an entry. However, unless it’s a class assignment, children should choose the type issues that are important and of interest to them. Keep in mind; some personal experiences of people have become famous books, such as the journals or diaries of Anne Frank, Lewis Carroll, Harry S. Truman, and Virginia Woolf. While some people may not aspire to become a famous writer, journaling can provide an insight into one’s life later on in history.
Encourage your child/student to journal today. Make it a family or classroom endeavor. I hope that children will appreciate journaling as a creative process—experiencing it as an enjoyable routine instead of a dreaded family or class project.
The book recommendations below are books I used with my 4th and 5th grade book clubs. My students loved these stories because they included humor and poetry, while the characters embarked on journeys of self-discovery through the power of words. These “oldies” are short reads; read them together as a family or class.
Do you have any recommendations for great books to encourage journaling or poetry writing? I would love to hear from you.
For Your Eye Only by Joanne Rocklin
Love that Dog by Sharon Creech
Thanks for stopping by and I invite you to join me again as I continue to explore literacy topics and issues affecting children.


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- Familiarizes students with the format of standardized tests
- Teaches students test-taking strategies and techniques for answering different kinds of questions
- Provides practice test questions in areas tested
- Eases testing anxiety
The SAT is a globally recognized college admission test that lets you show colleges what you know and how well you can apply that knowledge. It tests your knowledge of reading, writing and math — subjects that are taught every day in high school classrooms. Most students take the SAT during their junior or senior year of high school, and almost all colleges and universities use the SAT to make admission decisions.
American College Testing Program. The ACT is a curriculum based test that measures the students knowledge of English, reading, math and science skills.
The California Achievement Test, CAT E/Survey (Grades 2, 4-12) is a nationally normed standardized test that measures achievement in the areas of Reading, Language Arts and Math. It meets most states’ requirements for an annual assessment for homeschool and private school use. This is a Core Battery/Survey Edition and takes approximately 2½ hours to administer. NO BACHELOR’S DEGREE REQUIRED!
The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) is a program cosponsored by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). It’s a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT®. It also gives you a chance to enter NMSC scholarship programs and gain access to college and career planning tools. Enter the competition for scholarships from NMSC (grade 11).
The PSAT/NMSQT measures:
- Critical reading skills Math problem-solving skills Writing skills


- Elgar original reference
Edited by Kerry Thomas and Janet Chan
Chapter 15: Issues in conceptions of creativity and creativity assessment in music education
Descriptions of ‘creativity’ are not unfamiliar to many educators today. At some point in their careers, educators in most countries will have to face the daunting task of assessing the creativity of a student essay, a poem, a composition, an improvisation or some kind of performance. The answers to the questions ‘why assess creativity?’ and ‘how to assess creativity?’ are dependent upon the nature of the assessment practice and the value ascribed to it; furthermore, the needs of the various interested parties will determine the nature of the assessment, its value and the conceptions and definitions that underpin the term ‘creativity’. Of these parties, in educational contexts, the students themselves have the greatest interest. They need to know their strengths and weaknesses and what they must do to improve their creative and practical skills, their technical understanding and the quality of their ideas, and also how to acquire the ability to research and realize their creative intentions.
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MONART DRAWING CLASSES
Join us and learn the basics of drawing while experimenting with new media including design-quality markers, colored pencils, chalk and oil pastel, watercolor and much more. This guided step-by-step method improves visual perception skills by breaking down the subject matter for students to see and follow along with. Parents and teachers report an improvement in fine motor skill development as well as handwriting.
Meets Wednesday 3:45-4:45pm, Ages: 1st-5th grade
FALL SESSION: Living Rainbows Theme
Students will learn about the color wheel and use that knowledge to draw, paint and collage colorful animals in nature such as a butterfly, tropical bird and under water scenes. Look forward to lots of painting in this semester!
Meets: Nov. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; Dec. 7, 14, 21; Jan. 4
Tuition: $185.00 for the 9 week session
SPRING SESSION: Cartooning And Characters Theme
Students will learn how to make a funny caricature drawing of themselves, develop a cartoon strip and draw favorite characters from books, movies, games and cartoons. Students will vote each week on what to draw; some options may be Lego figurines, Disney characters, mythical creatures, mer-pets, Dr. Seuss characters or Garfield. Bring pictures of your favorite characters to draw.
Meets: Mar. 15, 29; Apr.5 , 12, 19, 26; May 3, 10, 17, 24
Tuition: $205 for the 10 week session