The Use of iPads to Facilitate Growth in Reading Comprehension Skills of Second Grade Students
School of Education
Doctor of Education (EdD)
ebooks, mobile devices, multimodal text, reading comprehension, second grade
Curriculum and Instruction | Education | Educational Methods | Elementary Education and Teaching | Instructional Media Design
Reichenberg, Joy, "The Use of iPads to Facilitate Growth in Reading Comprehension Skills of Second Grade Students" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 942.
The increased accessibility of technological devices has made it easier for educators to make use of multimodal tools in the classroom. Although educational technology has been vastly researched, one area that is not reflected in the literature is the use of eBooks that are read on mobile digital reading devices and their impact on the performance of literacy skills of lower elementary age students. This quasi-experimental, nonrandom, pretest/posttest control group study examined the results of reading an eBook on an Apple iPad and its impact (if any) on reading comprehension skills of second grade students. This quasi-experiment included a treatment group who read eBooks on the Apple iPad for a series of six weeks, and the control group, who read the same books in traditional print for six weeks. The measurement for both pretest and posttest was the reading comprehension portion of the Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM). The research questions examined were: (a) What is the difference in the reading comprehension scores of second grade students on the CBM when using eBooks compared to students who use printed text? (b) What is the difference in the reading comprehension skills of second grade students who use the multimodal features of the iPad consistently when they read eBooks when compared to students who do not use the multimodal features each time? These data were analyzed using an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA).
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, Instructional Media Design Commons


Author: Patricia Shehan Campbell
Publisher: Cengage Learning
MUSIC IN CHILDHOOD: FROM PRESCHOOL THROUGH THE ELEMENTARY GRADES, Enhanced 4th Edition, equips teachers with the research, knowledge and resources to develop musically and pedagogically as they help children's grow from musical intuition to musical mastery. Combining current research with years of experience, Campbell and Scott-Kassner use practical strategies, imaginative scenarios and examples from worldwide musical resources to inspire the best possible teaching methods. The text emphasizes contemporary theories and practices of music education, including strategies for developing pitch, vocal, rhythmic, instrumental, listening, movement and creative responses in children. Numerous lesson plans and various curricular units offer plenty of examples to help readers create plans specifically tailored to the unique needs of their own classrooms. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.


© 2003 GIA.
Item #: G-5276 Status: Available
Series: First Steps in Music
Click here to download the 2020 Supplement to First Steps in Music.
Explore the wonders of the human voice with the fun, magical activities in The Book of Pitch Exploration! Whether it’s whooshing or shushing, hooting or booing, the human voice is capable of creating all kinds of sounds. This book allows children to discover these sounds through ideas, poems, stories, and songs that invite vocal participation from all involved. Not only are these activities fun, they also make excellent vocal warm-ups!
No revisions were made to this book.
John M. Feierabend, PhD, has spent decades compiling songs and rhymes from the memories of the American people in hopes that these treasures will be preserved for future generations. He is a leading authority on child development in music and movement and served as Professor and Chair of the Music Education Department of the Hartt School of the University of Hartford.
Number of Pages: 36
Discipline: General Music


The Town of Boone has implemented an elementary education program about water conservation! By introducing elementary aged kids to the idea of conserving water, whether it's taking shorter showers or turning the water off when brushing your teeth, we can make a big impact.
This presentation is available for grades K-5 and lasts approximately 30 minutes. A member of our conservation team will come to the class and give a “hands on” presentation designed to entertain and educate children on the water cycle and water conservation. Guided tours of the water treatment plant are also available. Contact Public Utilities to schedule your class trip and together we can teach our children that EVERY DROP COUNTS!
Annual Poster Contest:
The annual poster contest is available for 2nd grade classrooms at Hardin Park Elementary, Appalachian Christian School and Two Rivers Community School. Students in each class will be asked to design and draw a poster depicting water conservation, water quality or the water cycle. Prizes will be awarded to the top three winners. The class with the most participation will receive a fieldtrip including a guided tour of the water treatment facility and a pizza party! Teachers may Contact Public Utilities for information on how to get involved.
Dive right in and enjoy water-related books and games. There are two suitcases full of exciting information for grades K-2 and 3-5. Call or email to reserve this wonderful resource for your class. The library will be delivered to your classroom and picked up a week or two later. This is a great way to kick off a water cycle and/or water conservation program.


Are you curious about introducing kids to contemporary art?
Looking for easy, fun, and educational art activities for children?
Want to learn about interesting artists from diverse backgrounds and cultures?
Have questions like where to get affordable art materials from, how to do messy art, and how to have conversations with kids that spark creativity?
If so, this ‘Designing play spaces with contemporary art’ workshop is for you!
Dr. Louisa Penfold is a visual art and early childhood specialist who works at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
In this session, Louisa will walk you through concrete steps for connecting contemporary art and children’s play.
This session is perfect for teachers, parents, artists, or caregivers working with children aged 2-10 years.
Workshop Take Aways
-Discover the importance of art and play in childhood development
-Learn about two amazing contemporary female artists: Charlotte Poseneske and Louise Nevelson
-Get tips for collecting, storing, and reusing art materials as well as setting up art activities that invite curiosity and imagination
-Get ideas for adapting art activities in socially distanced settings
-Get a 10 page workshop handbook featuring key ideas, artist information, and steps for designing your own play spaces
-Links to further online resources
Dr. Louisa Penfold is a visual art and early childhood specialist currently working as a Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
She is the founder of Art Play Children Learning, a blog on connecting contemporary art and children’s play.
Louisa has worked on the learning programs at international art museums including Tate (UK), the Serpentine (UK), and the Ipswich Art Gallery (Australia).
Her PhD research, run as a partnership between Tate and the University of Nottingham, looked at the design of children’s play spaces in modern art museums.
Louisa's writing on children’s art education has been published in MIT’s Journal of Design and Science, the Journal of Childhood studies, and The Australian newspaper.
When not nerding out about art and education, Louisa loves sewing, pot luck dinners, and the Australian summer!
She is represented by the Curtis Brown Literary Agency.
This is a pre-recorded online workshop. You will be sent an email with a link to watch the video, download the handbook, and view the follow-up links.


Going to the Zoo Language Activity
In speech and language therapy, labeling is an important precursor to literacy development, and helps to increase the length of word phrases a child uses. One way children often practice this is through labeling animals, sounds they make, and what they are doing. This is also a good time to practice learning colors and talking about actions, such as sitting, walking, climbing etc.
Going to the zoo to practice labeling and making animal noises can be a fun activity to practice these skills.
- Print out the Zoo Activity Page here.
- While at the zoo, point to and label the pictured zoo animal and imitate their noises.
- Label the actions and colors of the zoo animals. For example, say “Look at the pink
bird,” or ask “What is the monkey doing?” and answer, “He is climbing.”
- Prompt your child to do the same
- Check off or count how many animals on the activity page you can find.
We hope you have a great time at the Zoo learning and practicing speech and language skills!
For more speech and language activities, check us out on social media:
Facebook: Project Play Therapy, LLC
Youtube: Subscribe Here


How to Foster a Child's Emotional Development
One of the most important parts of the human experience is feeling the range of emotions we go through in our lifetime. Even at a young age, the emotions children experience, from happiness to sadness, can lead to enriched life experiences and improved relationships on the journey to adulthood.
Emotional Empowerment allows us to experience these emotions. It teaches us how to have better control over our emotions when necessary – especially strong negative emotions like anger, fear and anxiety.
Learn about emotional empowerment and the five steps you and your family can follow to take ownership of emotions you face every day.
Step 1: Identifying Emotions
Helping a child build their emotional language gives them a better understanding of how to use words to express how they are feeling – a crucial component of Emotional Empowerment.
Step 2: Recognizing Emotions
Many people – both kids and adults – find it difficult to recognize emotions as they are feeling them. We can create a mental habit of doing a self-check and adjust our thoughts and behaviors based on how we feel.
Step 3: Understanding Emotions in Others
Noticing and understanding emotions in people around you is crucial for forming and maintaining close personal relationships. It’s one of the core components of empathy or recognizing how others are feeling.
Step 4: Expressing Emotions Appropriately
It’s important to learn how to communicate all emotions we feel, but some are more difficult to express than others. Children can learn how to express any emotion they feel in an appropriate way.
Step 5: Regulating Strong Emotions
Regulating strong emotions and having a balanced state of mind is an important part of the developmental process. Learning foundational skills early helps kids keep their emotions from taking over.
Managing Anger in Kids
No matter their age, learning how to manage anger and frustration is an important process throughout a child's development. Use these tips and tools to help manage your child’s anger.


READING + GUIDED READING ACTIVITIES = GOOD READERS!
One of the first steps for literacy development in young readers is to provide them with meaningful activities! Meaningful activities provide successful and enjoyable experiences for early readers. It helps them to THINK about what they have READ!
George Washington and Cha – Cha the Chimpanzee’s FUN and FRIENDLY Guided Reading Activities facilitates the development of your young child’s early literacy accomplishments! They will foster reading enjoyment and improve comprehension!
Making time for children to talk about their reading and writing is perhaps one of the most underused, yet easy-to-implement, elements for learning. It provides measurable benefits in comprehension, motivation, and even language competence. The task of switching between writing, speaking, reading, and listening helps children make connections between, and thus solidify, the skills they use in each. Use these Guided Activities as a tool for conversation and discussions with your child!
Bright Kids’ Guided Reading Activities offer many high-frequency words and illustrations that provide direct support for meaning, word solving, and language structure. Watch as your child’s reading improves while having FUN enjoying these activities!
Through a series of guided activities focused on discovery, recognition, and application your child will learn to generate ideas and demonstrate improved comprehension.
Your child will benefit from daily opportunities for practise in applying their reading, writing, spelling knowledge and story discussion. Conversation improves comprehension. Such literary conversation helps children to analyze, comment, and compare—in short, to think about what they’ve read.
Through these experiences and their growing familiarity with texts such as simple recounts, stories, spelling and printing – they develop an understanding of the story, vocabulary and language structure; and of the communicative possibilities of images and sounds.
Applying BRIGHT KIDS’ supported and independent activities your child will learn to construct words and sentences! They will be able to combine words, images, and sounds to express personal thoughts and feelings. They will communicate ideas and information in oral and written forms.
Parents and teachers can use their downloads with any kindle, PC or Mac, SmartBoard, Whiteboard, projection system allowing you the freedom to enrich your child’s literacy experience with the technology you are using at home or in the classroom.


What It Takes to Launch a Robotics Team in a Rural Community
Liddy Renner (Idaho '18) worked with students to create Homedale High School’s first robotics team, proving to her students that anyone, anywhere, can be a scientist.
Liddy Renner is a first-year corps member teaching 9th Grade Science and Health at Homedale High School in Homedale, Idaho. Liddy’s classroom vision includes encouraging all students to think critically and stresses her belief that every single one of her students–that everyone, anywhere–can be a scientist.
Renner was approached by students who wanted to start a robotics team after hearing about the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)® Robotics program. According to the FIRST® Robotics website, the program’s mission is to, “inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.”
“Being able to work with students through a STEM program such as FIRST® Robotics is an exciting extension of the time my students and I spend together in the classroom," Renner says. "Students are getting hands-on experience in design, engineering, mechanics, and computer programming as they work together to build a robot."
Renner and another teacher were able to secure two grants to fund this team in just a short amount of time.
The grants, one through the Idaho STEM Action Committee which is funded by the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, and the second from FIRST® Robotics for first-year rookie teams, enabled the team to enter the competition. The steep cost of entry–$6,000–was an immediate barrier. The two grants covered the team’s entry fee and kit of parts, which included many of the technical pieces needed to build a robot like motors, a computer, cameras, etc.
We are extremely grateful to have received the grants; without them our participation in the competition, and our students getting this hands-on experience, would not be possible," Renner says. "We applied for the grants in early December, and by the first week of January we were ready to roll!”
Renner is one of two mentors/coaches for the team who both consider themselves to be learning right along with the kids. The other mentor of the program, Mark Thatcher, teaches science at Homedale High School. The two teachers work with the team every afternoon and during the day on Fridays. Homedale has a 4-day school week, which means teachers and students spend their days off working together on the project. Right now they have 6-12 kids who have actively been a part of the build season.
"Our goals for this season are to build a working robot, and successfully embody the ideals of the competition–gracious professionalism and ‘coopertition’–which both encourage sportsmanship and deep thinking. We are looking forward to the build season next year to deepen our knowledge, and are looking at creating a robotics elective class for the 2019-2020 school year," Renner says. "Homedale has great, hands-on mechanics opportunities, and a robotics elective class would allow students to build on those foundational skills and become successful in the fields of engineering, robotics and computer programming beyond their time at Homedale High.”
“It's been really special to see the growth and effort put forth by our students as they've approached the very steep learning curve that comes along with building and engineering a robot from scratch," Renner says. "Many teams have been competing and building for over 15 years, and have significant funds and resources to support their robotics programs."
She adds, "This is something we will need to work through for next year, as the grants we received were specific to first-year, rural teams.”
Renner notes that opportunities such as this one are oftentimes hard to come by in rural communities like Homedale, especially when technology is not as immediately accessible as in more urban areas.
“Over 50% of my students do not have computers or internet at home, so providing a space for them to push beyond their original limitations has been incredibly inspiring," Renner says. "I am incredibly proud of their growth and and dedication to this project, and can’t wait to see the final product in just a few short weeks!”
The Homedale Trobots will compete with other robotic teams at Boise State University on March 28-30th. Check out more photos of the team.
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The Curriculum at Abbotsbury
At Abbotsbury we seek to make creative links between curriculum subject areas and make learning enjoyable and relevant for our children.
We promote independent learning and the development of thinking skills. Much of the children’s learning centres around cross-curricular topics. We have recently begun to use a new curriculum, which is called The Inspire Curriculum and is based upon the model created by Cornwall Learning.
This curriculum covers all the programmes of study in the most recent National Curriculum and is organised into a series of exciting and motivating topic areas, which change every four weeks. We use a variety of teaching methods and allow the children to benefit from learning in different styles and environments. We encourage the use of visits to different places, such as museums, galleries, the theatre and outdoor spaces to widen the children’s experiences and to involve them in their own learning. We also arrange for many visitors to work with us in school.
The children have responded very positively to our new approach to the creative curriculum and particularly enjoy our topics and special themed weeks (e.g. International Airport Week, Multi-cultural Week, Book Week).
The Inspire Philosophy
We believe the primary school should be a safe and wonderful place where children want to be:
where learning happens both within and outside of the classroom.
Children will be encouraged to enjoy life whilst at school and discover their fascinations.
Whatever their background they will learn how to shape their own futures and develop their unique capacities and skills rooted in their own interests. They will learn the literacy and numeracy skills needed for life and necessary to progress in their education. They will be encouraged to be curious and use thinking skills to innovate, be creative and problem solve. They will develop their first understandings of employment and entrepreneurship.
A primary education should set up learners for life, with the knowledge and skills to be well-rounded individuals, mentally and physically healthy, with an appreciation for and a generosity toward the people, the world and the universe around them.
(Inspire Curriculum, Cornwall Learning)
The Inspire Curriculum Commitment
The Inspire Curriculum is committed to:
- Achievement and success
- Learning and life skills
- Creative thinking, innovation and enterprise
- Learning through exploration
- Stretch and challenge
- Developing working memory
- Independent and learner-led learning
- Collaborative learning
- Outdoors and nature
- Applied learning
- Authentic tasks with a real audience
- FUN and positive emotional links
To download this information please click on the link below
Here is an overview of the topics for each year group from Y1-6
|Year||Autumn Term||Spring Term||Summer Term|
|Year 1||The Big Build||Who am I?||Let’s Celebrate!||Posting and Places||To the Rescue||The Potting Shed…Buried Treasure||Brilliant Bodies||
|Where shall we go?|
|Year 2||What do I need to be me?||Through the keyhole||Flying High||Blown Away||Town Mouse, Country Mouse||Sowing and Growing||National Celebration – Two Queens||
Places: Britain or Brazil?
|Home and Away|
|Year 3||Why are humans animals too?||Set in Stone?||What’s the attraction?||Art on your Doorstop||Shake, Rock and Roll||Around the World in 20 Days||From Source to Sea||What did the Romans do for us?||Shadow dancers|
|Year 4||Where does my food go?||Were the Dark Ages Dark?||Batteries Included||Dragons: Fact or Fiction?||The Good, The Bad and The Ugly||Sounding Off||Amazing Amazon||It’s a Small World||A Place for Everything|
|Year 5||To the Stars||The Ancient Greeks||Poles Apart||Fever, Fire and Fashion||Round and Round||No Way Back!||Rites and Rituals||Our Common-wealth||The World is our Oyster|
|Year 6||Who is taking control?||What’s happening now?||A Voyage of Discovery||Who’s the Mummy?||Bombs, Battles and Bravery||Angry Earth||A time to Shine||You Choose!||You’re Hired!|
To find more details of the content for each year group and individual topics, please check on the class information pages.
Certain areas continue to be taught and developed outside of topic work.


Developing Second Language Literacy
LA 5.3 Center 2: Building on and Developing Oral Language
|Learning Outcome||Pedagogical Intent||Student Position|
Employ theories of first and second language acquisition in teaching literacy
Employ theories of first and second language acquisition in teaching content area subjects.
Assessment: 50 pts.
TA: 25 Minutes
Through reviewing the ideas about reading drawn from readings and Videos, teachers can apply developing understandings of designing lessons and units that support literacy development.
Students have learned about defining content and language objectives, supporting the development of academic language, Literacy guidelines for ELs, and developing literacy focused classrooms. They are now ready to deepen their understanding about supporting their students reading skills.
- Based on your reading from Wright pg. 197 (3rd edition), pg. 186 (2nd edition), you have learned that oral language development is critical if ELs are going to build literacy beyond word-level skills.
- You will discuss these questions:
- What is the role of oral language development in reading comprehension?
- Why is oral language development critical to address the issues of struggling readers particularly ELs?
- How does oral language development support reading comprehension?
- Review your lesson plans with your colleagues and identify
- Where in your lesson could you increase peer interaction to increase student comprehension?
- How can you enlist students in activities so they can be more capable peers for each other?
- What alterations in a lesson or activity could do this?
- Think as well about your homework. How might you involve student interaction with parents, friends or family to increase student understanding of the texts you are having them read or the ideas they are learning?
- At the end of the discussion, take a minute with your colleagues and identify how you can in general build and rely on oral language to support students in comprehending the ideas you are teaching? Record important ideas on the Session 5 Key Ideas worksheet.
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Are you interrupting the purpose of Read-Alouds?
Posted by Brainspring on 23rd Jul 2015
My favorite part of being a teacher is getting to read a book aloud with a group of students gathered around. For me, it is so special to share reading for the enjoyment of reading, watching students engage with the story, connecting with the characters and anxious to hear what happens next. So many of students’ interactions with reading are focused on mechanics, such as decoding words and paying attention to sentence structure; read-alouds are a rare time when teachers and students can set aside the mechanics and immerse themselves in a book for the simple enjoyment of reading.
Read-Alouds are Effective without Extra Interruptions
Undoubtedly, teachable moments often present themselves during read-alouds, which can lead to discussions about vocabulary, grammar, story structure and concepts of print. However, as noted by a current article in Language Magazine, “A current fashion is to try to make read alouds do what they are not designed to do.” The current fashion is for teachers to constantly interrupt read-alouds to ask questions, point out details and provide explanations.
Purposeful instruction is not needed to make read-alouds effective. On their own read-alouds greatly contribute to reading development. The article lists that:
“• Hearing stories results in significant vocabulary development. Children gradually acquire the meanings of unfamiliar words when they hear them in stories.
• Hearing stories develops the ability to understand complex grammatical constructions.
• Hearing stories helps children develop a sense of how stories are constructed; they acquire a knowledge of “story grammars.”
• Hearing stories results in more knowledge of the world.”
Constant interruptions for instruction are not only unnecessary for students’ literacy development, they may be detrimental by disrupting students’ enjoyment of the stories. The article calculates that the trend to interrupt read-alouds can result in the story being interrupted as often as once every 4 seconds! These excessive interruptions may detract from students’ developing an appreciation for reading by making reading seem like a task, instead of something enjoyable. If part of our goal is to encourage students to read on their own, we must share the joy of reading with them, as well as teaching them the mechanics.
Do you think students respond better to a story when the teacher’s interruptions are seldom or more often? Comment below.
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Music in education: a living relic of Western Europe’s colonial mentality
by Nathan Holder Since music entered the National Curriculum in 1988, the UK’s approach to musical education has been grounded in Western Classical traditions. From Palestrina to Schoenberg, Baroque to 20th Century Experimentalism, students are routinely taught the fundamentals of the art largely by studying ‘The Great Composers’, by learning the conventions of western classical… Read More
How should we teach children about contested histories?
by Farah Elahi In recent years, there have been numerous campaigns for the inclusion of marginalised histories in the national curriculum. These campaigns have been successful in retaining key black British figures such as Mary Seacole and Olaudah Equiano in history lessons. However, inclusion is not enough. We must go further, ensuring that these stories… Read More
Muslim children as young as 7 are being branded radicals by their schools
Please Can I Tell You About A Child Who Is Muslim? by Shohana Khan He didn’t answer back to his teacher, because his parents taught him the importance of respecting those who you learn from. This respect comes from the tradition of Islam – the child is Muslim. Can I just tell you about a… Read More
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Here is a fun new STEM challenge. The students were given helium balloons, string, ribbon, dixie cups, tape and lego men.
They were challenged to make a balloon hover over one of the blue plants on a makeshift landscape. They could use background knowlege about gravity and air currents to make the balloon craft move to the correct location and hover.
Research shows that students respond better to STEM challenges when there is a story connected. The students were told that the landscape was a rainforest and that the blue plants had a rare medicinal plant that needed to be harvest. They had to hover over it to harvest it.
NGSS STEM Engineering Challenges 3-5-ETS1-1, 3-5-ETS1-2 and 3-5-ETS1-3
For more STEM challenges for Elementary see STEM Engineering Challenges for Elementary Education
Special thanks to Dave Francis, Utah State University
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Child Learning and Development
To enable students to describe their practice as an early childhood educator using the bicultural curriculum framework, Te Whariki, as it applies to the services, contexts, and philosophies of childhood learning and development in Aotearoa New Zealand
Explain how Te Whāriki relates to early childhood services and contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand and its influences on practice as an early childhood educator.
Describe the individual philosophies in a range of early childhood contexts.
Define key early childhood learning and development progressions for infants, toddlers, and young children.
Plan, implement and evaluate a learning experience appropriate to the development level of the learner.


7th Grade Beginning Choir
Learning to understand music can be empowering! It opens doors to future opportunities and friendships, and it engages both sides of the brain in a way that supports academic growth. This class introduces students to the study of singing in various styles as well as the process of learning and understanding music in mostly unison and two-part harmony.
The study of this class will prepare students to continue as a vocalist in our Junior High and Senior High choirs at CAC. It will also give them foundational skills that are helpful for any musical setting they may experience in their community or church. The following are taught and applied on a continuous basis through the learning of various songs and repertoire throughout the class: Vocal Pedagogy (how the voice works and how to sing healthily); Kodaly Solfege System & Ear Training (how to sight-read and understand what the music on the page sounds like); and Ensemble Skills (how to blend your voice in harmony with other singers).


Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it breathes life into every learner. Think of anything you have ever wanted to learn, anything after which you sought more information. Remember times when you thought or said, "isn't that interesting; I wonder what that is." "Or I wonder how that works." Many times, after having your … Continue reading Curiosity and Learning
An Easier Way to Make Learning Tracks
Whether you are musical director for a show, chorus director, or band or orchestra director, you know that students usually learn faster and more effectively if they have a recording of their part with which to listen and practice. While these Cds or mp3 audio files are an effective tool, they can take a tremendous … Continue reading An Easier Way to Make Learning Tracks
A Guide to Teaching the Beginning Flute
By Aleah Fitzwater, Guest Blogger Hello there! My name is Aleah. I am a classical flutist with a degree in instrumental music education. I am so thankful to be featured here on MR A Music Place. Here’s a big shoutout to Robert for the feature. Ah, the flute. One of the most notoriously difficult instruments for … Continue reading A Guide to Teaching the Beginning Flute
What Makes A Lesson Well Planned?
Lesson planning is among the most important things teachers do. Without a soundly planned lesson, teaching will inevitably suffer. Planning for classes of 20 or more students, many with varying needs and skill levels, can be challenging, but successfully teaching such a class is virtually impossible if lessons are not properly planned. In this article, … Continue reading What Makes A Lesson Well Planned?
What Are Some Good Score Study Habits?
How does a music educator introduce their ensemble to a new piece? Perhaps it goes something like this. The school ensemble conductor passes out the new music, maybe plays a demonstration recording, maybe gives a verbal summary of the main sections of the piece, and then optimistically begins to lead the ensemble in sight reading … Continue reading What Are Some Good Score Study Habits?
OAE’s Exciting Collaboration
Collaborations between arts organizations, universities, and local public school districts have at times been wildly successful and mutually beneficial. College students often find enriching rewards in working with younger pupils, and the latter benefit immensely from being mentored by their senior. Likewise, arts organizations such as symphony orchestras that go into the schools with relevant … Continue reading OAE’s Exciting Collaboration
What Makes A Melody Beautiful?
What makes a melody beautiful? I’m intentionally not asking what makes music beautiful, because there are many different kinds of music and with them, different kinds of beauty. But the beautiful melody is much more likely to transcend genres; it’s properties are more universal, so it seems most tenable to ask, “what makes a melody … Continue reading What Makes A Melody Beautiful?
Teachers as Mentors to Students
As we navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic with a balance of remote learning and bringing students back into physical school campuses, many are taking the opportunity to evaluate how the models upon which we teach our children can be improved. While much progress has been made in the last forty years, many of those advances … Continue reading Teachers as Mentors to Students
Teaching Success and Active Listening
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, verbal communication had fallen into a degree of disfavor. With social media ever popular, written communication had already replaced spoken word in many settings. With the the need for schools to resort to distance learning and for us all to suspend much of our social calendars to avoid … Continue reading Teaching Success and Active Listening
Many people begin a new year by making a resolution. Usually, it is a stated intent to exchange an undesired behavior for a desired one. We resolve to improve our eating habits, go faithfully to the gym, or embark on some self improvement plan or other. Somehow, the idea of a new year seems to … Continue reading Resolutions
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Inclusive Art Education Posters - Responding to ArtworkDownload
Inclusive Art Education Posters
7 Downloadable, colour posters to support students with disabilities and ASD.
Developed for special secondary art education, these versatile poster resources can also be used for primary and early years education. The layout and organisation of these posters, structures and supports students’ learning. These posters are designed with clear simple graphics and easy to follow steps, they can display in the art room or use for explicit teaching.
Describe an Art: These posters focus on analysing an artwork using the visual conventions, materials, techniques, processes, ideas and viewpoints.


As the schools are shut down across the world due to the pandemic, most of the parents face uncertainty around how to educate their kids. Yes, I am one among them who is worried about my kid’s education. Taking up the role of the teacher is quite a daunting process, but luckily we are having internet!
Educational applications are a fun and amazing way in order to keep your kids learning outside of the classroom. But the cost of these apps can add up fast. But there are free apps available which are used for both fun and educational purpose. You can download the app Pre-K Preschool Games for Kids from the app store. This app is suitable for toddlers which will be focusing on memory development, logical thinking, and so on.
Best features of this app
It will be easier for the kids to learn things and can able to remember those things for a long time if they learn via play. It is because it will help our kids to understand easily when compared to books. This app is particularly developed for the kids whose age is four, and the available things are developed by the educational experts. Here are some of the notable features of this app, they are as follows,
- There are over 100 plus gaming levels for every play, and it will give your kid new experience every day.
- Your toddler can able to learn 32 variety of elements such as indoor, outdoor, animals, basic things, and a lot more.
- Your kid can experience fun sound effects as they are using friendly voiceovers.
- A friendly animated teacher is there, and her name is Marina, in order to guide your kids!
- The user interface is really simple.
- The major advantage is that there are no third-party advertisements.
Toddlers change and grow very quickly. So, you can make use of Pre-K Preschool Games for Kids to educate your kid in a fun way. This app will ensure your kids develop their visual perception, logical thinking, vocabulary skill, motor skill development, and so on. As a parent, it is considered to be our responsibility to give the best way to help our kids by providing the best educational materials. You can use the tutorial videos on YouTube if you do not know how to proceed with the app.


Multisensory teaching of basic language skills / edited byJudith R. Birsh [Texto impreso]Original language: English Publisher: Baltimore, Md. : P.H. Brookes Pub. Co. cop. 2011Edition: 3rd. edDescription: xxviii, 786 p. : il. ; 26 cmISBN: 978-1-59857-093-9Subject(s): Dislexia
|Item type||Current location||Collection||Call number||Status||Date due||Barcode||Course reserves|
|Libro||Biblioteca Universidad Europea del Atlántico Fondo General||No ficción||159.93 MUL||Available||2830|
Bibliografía por capítulos
1. Connecting research and practice ; 2. Multisensory structured language education ; 3. Development of oral language and its relationship to literacy 4. The history and structure of written English ; 5. Teaching phonemnic awareness ; 6. Alphabet knowledge: letter recognition, naming and swquencing ; 7. Teaching hand writing ; 8. Teaching reading: accurate decoding ; 9. Teaching speling ; 10. Fluency in learning to read: conceptions, misconceptions, learning desabilities and intructional moves ; 11. Word learning and vocabulary ; 12. Strategies to improve reading comprehension in the multisensory classroom ; 13. Composition: evidence-based intruction ; 14. Assessment ; 15. Plannuing multisensory structured language lessons and the classroom enviroment ; 16. Instruction for older students with a word-level reading desability ; 17. Adolescent leteracy: addressing the needs of students in grades 4-12 ; 18. Learning strategies and study skills: the skORE system ; 19. Wordking with High-Functioning adults with dislexya and other academic challenges ; 20. Language and literacy development among English language learners ; 21. Multisensory mathematics instruction ; 22. Technology that supports literacy instrucion and learning ; 23. Rights of individuals with dyslexia and other disabilities. Appendix A: Glossary ; Appendix B: Materials and sources.


Bernhard, H. C. (2004). The effects of tonal training on the melodic ear playing and sight reading achievement of beginning wind instrumentalists. Contributions to Music Education, 31(1), 91-107.
What did the researcher want to know?
Does tonal training have an effect on beginning wind instrumentalists’ melodic ear playing and sight reading achievement?
What did the researcher do?
Bernhard taught two groups of sixth-grade beginning band students, twice per week for 10 weeks. At the beginning of the study, students’ tonal aptitude was measure using a subtest of the Musical Aptitude Profile, a published music aptitude test. During the 10 weeks, both groups of students learned melodies from two traditional beginning band method books. The control group learned the melodies using traditional training (learning/identifying symbols in notation and associating them with instrumental fingerings or slide positions), and the experimental group learned the melodies using tonal training (using singing and solfege to develop tonal audiation). When learning each melody, the students in the control group (traditional training) engaged in the following:
- visually identified pitch letter name of each note
- visual identified fingering/slide position of each note
- played the melody by sight/notation on their instruments.
When learning each melody, the students in the experimental group (tonal training) engaged in the following:
- listened to the researcher/teacher sing the melody on “loo”
- sang the melody on “loo”
- listed to the researcher sing the melody with solfege
- sang the melody with solfege
- played the melody by ear on their instruments
- played the melody by sight/notation.
At the end of the 10-week instruction period, Bernhard tested each student on their melodic ear playing and sight reading achievement using two established assessments (the Measurement of the Ability to Play by Ear and the Melodic Sight Reading Achievement Test). The ear-playing assessment required students to listen to and play four-beat ascending melodic patterns, and the sight-reading assessment required students to look at and play short melodic patterns. The audio-recorded performances were scored by two independent adjudicators. Bernhard used statistical analysis (multivariate analysis of covariance, or MANCOVA) to examine whether students’ ear-playing or sight-reading varied depending on the type of training received, as well as whether tonal aptitude had any effect.
What did the researcher find?
Students who learned using tonal training (singing/solfege) scored significantly higher on the test of ear-playing than students who learned using traditional training (letter names). There was no significant difference between the two groups on the sight-reading test. Additionally, students with higher tonal aptitude performed significantly better on both the ear-playing and sight-reading tests than did students with lower aptitude.
What does this mean for my classroom?
Although some may consider the ability to play by ear a special “talent,” the results of this study suggest that anyone’s ability to play by ear can be strengthened through instruction that emphasizes tonal audiation. Instrumental teachers might consider incorporating singing and solfege into their lessons, as well as teaching students to play melodies by ear/rote.
It is possible that Bernhard did not find a significant difference in sight-reading ability due to either the short length of the study (10 weeks) or the type of tonal instruction (singing melodies). Azzara (1993) conducted a longer study (27 weeks) of beginning instrumentalists that also involved singing/chanting/playing tonal patterns and rhythm patterns with solfege/syllables as well as improvising, and he found that students’ performance of both prepared and sight-read etudes was significantly higher among students who experienced ear-based pattern instruction with syllables and improvisation compared to students who did not receive such instruction. In addition to singing/playing melodies by ear, instrumental teachers might consider incorporating tonal pattern and rhythm pattern instruction with syllables into their teaching as well as improvisation.
One thought on “RTRL.69: Effects of Tonal Training on Ear-playing and Sight-reading in Beginning Instrumentalists (Bernhard, 2004)”
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Instrumental music helps build important cognitive and motor skills which are just starting to develop in the young child. For example, left and right are concepts that are essential in life as well as the piano, and the keyboard is a fun way to demonstrate ideas like these (plus an endless array of other developmental tasks). Our piano classes are so fun, your little ones don’t even realize that they are learning!
During circle time, we incorporate a color-coded teaching method that uses color-coded notes on a traditional music staff to teach beginning piano to our students!
A color strip sits on the keys and guides the child to the correct key for each note.
This method of teaching preschool music allows children to begin playing piano as soon as they know their colors. To acquaint your little one with the various colors and their associated fingers, we matched and inserted color-coated golf tees into a styrofoam “hand”.
This reinforced that our thumb presses the red key, our index finger presses the orange, our middle finger presses the yellow key, the ring finger presses the green key, and the pinkie presses the blue key.
Piano could, and should be the starting point of the music education beginning from the age of two years old, because the piano is considered to be the ‘king’ of all instruments. Considering its advantages, we will continue to hone our musical skills on this most wonderful instrument.


Osage Art Foundation
The Osage Art Foundation was established in 2005 with three main goals – Creative Communities, Cultural Cooperation and Creative Capacity and has since played an active role in developing education and training of young people, broadening cultural awareness and participation in artistic endeavours, nurturing creativity and critical thinking and fostering international cultural exchange. The Osage Art Foundation is now widely recognised by the local community and internationally as having initiated many pioneering projects of international calibre.
The arts help us to understand who we are, where we come from, where we are going and what we want to be. They are an essential part of describing new information, new ideas and new values. The Osage Art Foundation aims to bring to the art world new voices, new vision, new ideas and new styles; to present art that spurs the imagination; to present work that addresses local issues, national concerns, and universal themes and work that celebrates diversity and difference. The Osage Art Foundation aims to celebrate the achievements of humanity together with its limitations and failures.
The Osage Art Foundation promotes and develops innovative best practice in curatorship and research, knowledge building and in teaching and learning.
The Osage Art Foundation raises funds and supports a range of programs that help young people come to a better understanding and appreciation of art and help improve relations between people of different cultures.
We believe that the arts play an important part in the life of every member of the community. We aim to help increase community participation in the arts through education and better access and understanding in order to help shape a future in which the arts play a vital role in everyday life.
The Osage Art Foundation believes that every society should strive to become a creative community. We believe that the aesthetic appreciation of art is vital to the well being of any society and should be accessible to all.
The Osage Art Foundation is committed to improving the links between education and the arts. Our projects help broaden people’s perspectives on different ways and means of expression. We have a particular interest in early childhood art education as it provides the building blocks of all art education and the foundation of skills necessary for contemporary life. Certain basic skills are implicit in all art education. Through observation, perception, expression, communication, technical skills and creativity children learn the life-long skills of open-mindedness, innovative thinking, technical skill and cultural awareness. We actively support children’s art education through seminars and workshops that stimulate children’s interest and participation in art, raising their self-awareness and nurturing their creativity and critical thinking.
The Osage Art Foundation is also committed to fostering cultural cooperation, improving understanding between people of different cultures and to developing creative capacity in every country that we work. International cultural exchange programs facilitate deeper and better understanding between people of different cultures. We aim to help break down barriers between cultures while maintaining and preserving the things that make them distinctively different.
Resources are vital if artists and communities are to engage with the arts and enjoy a rich cultural life. We aim to help improve the vitality and viability of the arts. The most important ingredients for cultivating creativity in a community are human capital and investment. Where possible, the Osage Art Foundation provides strategic funding or in-kind support to key arts organisations and third-party project based activities in order to help those activities to prosper.
The current focus of the Osage Art Foundation is on developing deeper discourse in and around the arts and in the wider community. We believe that research, analysis, examination and promulgation of issues pertaining to society, contemporary culture and value by artists, writers, critic, curators and commentators will build better understanding of regional perspectives throughout Asia and to the wider world beyond.
In order to better contextualize the work of the current generation of Asian contemporary artists, the Osage Art Foundation has helped to introduce a number of seminal contemporary Asian masters to the wider international artworld. For example, Roberto Chabet (1937 – 2013) made an unparalleled contribution to Philippine contemporary art as an educator, mentor, visionary, conceptualist, innovator, alchemist, poet and tireless promoter of younger talents, but until recently was not as well known internationally.
To date in 2013 the Osage Art Foundation has presented the Andy Warhol exhibition “Hello It’s Me, Goodbye: Andy Warhol’s Cinema”, jointly-presented by The Andy Warhol Museum, one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh the second in its series of non-profit “Market Forces” exhibitions, “The Friction of Opposites” that opened in Hong Kong in May 2013 at the same time as the commercial art fair Art Basel Hong Kong in order to focus attention on the non-commercial intrinsic values of art.
In May 2013 The Osage Art Foundation was honoured at the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards with an Award for Arts Sponsorship.


Dr. Yalow on Bridging the "Word Gap" in the Classroom and at Home
Learning language begins well before a child forms his or her first words, which is why exposure to words and language from infancy is a central part of what we do in our early childhood learning centers. That’s why Dr. Elanna Yalow, Chief Academic Officer at KinderCare Learning Companies is so passionate about providing all children the best possible access to language learning.
Here, Dr. Yalow talks about the word gap—and how we’re working in the classroom to help the youngest children develop a lifelong love of learning.
1. What exactly is the word gap?
The word gap is the difference in exposure to language among children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. In the United States, children growing up in professional homes hear over three times as many words as children from lower income families.
Over time this difference means that by the age of three a child from a more advantaged home has heard 30 million more words than a child from a lower income family, making that child better able to grasp the fundamentals of reading and better prepared to enter school.
2. Why has the word gap become a national priority?
Addressing this word gap is critical if we are to close the broader achievement gap for children entering kindergarten and beyond. We cannot expect our children to achieve their full potential when so many arrive at school already behind their peers.
In October of 2014, I was proud to represent KinderCare Learning Centers at a White House workshop where we shared best practices about how we can help children whose limited language exposure at an early age hampers their ability to succeed in school and later life.
This issue is something that we can address and solve, but only if parents, early learning professionals; and federal, state, and local agencies work together and share their expertise.
3. Let’s talk about those youngest learners: babies. How do our centers build language learning in, say, a 3- to 9-month-old baby?
All children benefit from a language-rich environment, so even in our infant rooms you’ll find teachers reading and talking to babies. When a baby reaches for a toy, our teachers may say to the baby, “Would you like the block? This is a red block. Let’s play with the red block together.” The teacher is introducing the baby to the name of the toy and describing it. Instead of merely giving the child a toy, we are actually stimulating the development of the circuits in the child’s brain and exposing the child to new words. Reinforcing those lessons helps children associate objects with words.
4. What about children who are just beginning to talk? How do we encourage language learning at such an early age?
When children begin to talk, we want to help them learn to use their new-found skills to communicate with others. While reading a book to children, teachers should point out connections between the story and things children are familiar with. For example, the teacher might say, “Galvin the Bear likes to eat honey. What do you like to eat?” Our teachers then build on each child’s response.
5. What is the most important thing that a parent can do to help children learn language at home?
Parents are children’s first and most important teachers in helping them develop their language skills. As a parent, one of the best things you can do is use every opportunity to expose your child to language. You can do that by reading to your child, telling stories, pointing out letters, and describing the world around them. Every time your child hears you speak, when you read to them, or when you just talk with them about what you are doing, you are building language and literacy skills and helping to give your child the best start in life.


Our Curriculum Design
At Freeland CE Primary School we have worked collaboratively to design a rationale which underpins our Christian Values and values of learning so that we encourage and develop every child to ‘know their roots, branch out and fly high’.
Teaching and Learning Policy
Please take a look at our curriculum map for all key stages. We have developed this to give an overview of the journey that each child will go through during their time at Freeland Primary School. This is not a concrete document and is subject to change depending on the needs and interests of the children. Our aim is to give our children rich learning opportunities and valuable experiences, to encourage them to be life long, inquisitive learners.
Freeland Primary School Curriculum Map including experiences, trips and visitors.
Phonics Scheme used at Freeland CE Primary School
We use Little Wandle as our phonics scheme. This is the link to the web page for Little Wandle and advice for parents to enable them to support their children effectively in learning phonics.
EPA Curriculum Statement
EPA schools have designed a curriculum which aims to:
- Have high aspirations for all children
- Encourage reflection, deep thinking and resilience
- Foster independence and raise self-esteem
- Value and develop pupils’ sense of belonging and pride in their achievements
- Develop empathy, collaboration and a sense of community
- Prepare children to make a positive contribution to modern Britain
Our goal is that children are empowered to grow as individuals academically, spiritually, morally, and culturally aiming to achieve success whatever their strengths. Our broad and balanced curriculum is under-pinned by the National Curriculum but enhanced and adapted with experiences and opportunities including high quality artistic, creative and sporting activities. Both cross-curricular and discrete approaches are adopted, depending on the nature of learning, and opportunity to allow links between themes and subjects foster a love of learning. Our schools have adopted the locally agreed syllabus for Religious Education to ensure our pupils develop mutual respect for, and tolerance of, those with different faiths and beliefs and those with no faith.
The teaching strategies within EPA schools enable the curriculum to be organised for all children to study and learn within a variety of settings and situations. Learning activities are carefully designed to enable all learners to progress well from their own starting points. Please see our class pages to see our curriculum in action.


High School Lesson Plans: Arts
Links verified on 5/11/2021
Click here for more Arts Resources from our High School Subject Area.
- A. Pintura - Art Detective - an online game about art history and art composition.
- ArtsEdge From the Kennedy Center - helps educators to teach in, through and about the Arts.
- Artful Installations: 3D Constructions - 8th grade major art talent class, but it is easily adaptable to all age groups: students use problem-solving skills, communication, and a diversity of tasks to create a three-dimensional version of a two-dimensional painting.
- Blick Art Materials Lesson Plans - Search by grade level or by discipline.
- Chasing Vermeer: A DaVinci Code for Children - Observe and explore famous paintings by Vermeer. They will do online research about the history of this artist and his paintings, noting the particular use of his light, shadow and interior settings.
- China CultureQuest - Lesson plan - learn about Chinese brush painting, calligraphy, and names then practice using the brush with tempera paint, as students draw and write Chinese words they find in their online research.
- Compare and Contrast - Select two works of art from a list of 26. Then click the "Begin Essay" button in the selection box that displays your selections to write your own short essay comparing the works of art. This is a display from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
- Drawing In One-Point Perspective - Step-by-step instructions for basic one-point
- How to Draw Tutorials
- How to Draw a Dog - Progressing from circles to the dog drawing
- How to Draw Ears - Step by step directions.
- How to Draw Eyes - Step by step directions. .
- How to Draw Faces - Basic methods to draw general anime faces.
- How to Draw Hands - Basics of drawing a hand
- How to Draw a Hamster - Progressing from circles to the hamster drawing.
- How to Draw a Jumping Man - Progressing from circles to the jumping man drawing.
- How to Draw a Stretching Woman - Progressing from circles to the stretching woman drawing.
- How to Draw It - How to make stylized cartoon type drawings of lots of animals.
- How to Draw (for Kids) - These step-by-step drawing exercises are designed for children.
- Favorite Art Lessons from the incredible Art Department -This site lists lessons from Early Childhood to Undergraduate. Wow! They even have lesson suggestions for days when you will have a substitute.
- Inside Art - An adventure in art history by Educational Web Adventures.
- Art Lesson Plans - Resource posted by the Los Angeles County Office of Education TEAMS Distance Learning Project for Art Lesson Plans and Art Projects.
- KinderArt - Art education for kids of all ages.
- Leonardo - Exploring Leonardo; his perspectives, his shorthand and more.
- Light Walk - A "light hearted" look at light, shadow, and images. Also, read how to make your own pinhole camera.
- Make a Town - A learning project to create a model town using free software (PC/Windows only)
- Perspective - A lesson in learning how to use perspective in your drawings and paintings to create the illusion of depth.
- Picasso - The works of Pablo Picasso are presented at the OnLine Picasso Project (7,044 catalogued works). [This expired link is available through the Wayback Machine Internet Archive. If the page doesn't load quickly click on Impatient? at the bottom right of the page.]
- Visual Art Lesson Plans - From Teachnology.


The Montessori Curriculum
The Montessori curriculum is focused on the core subjects of math, science, reading and writing, and extends its reach to focus on topics to round out the person including cultural studies, leadership development, collaboration, and practical life skills. The curriculum incorporates concrete materials to enable students to use all senses to understand concepts and it builds upon itself year over year. At Montessori Private Academy, we also incorporate STEM and art education with additional science and art lessons.
All Montessori classrooms are set up in 3 year cycles of learning (as opposed to the traditional model of 1 grade level together), corresponding to the age ranges of children. At MPA we offer the following programs:
- Young Child (2 years; preschool)
- Early Childhood (3 to 6 years; preschool-kindergarten)
- Elementary I (6 to 9 years; 1st-3rd grade)
- Elementary II (9 to 12 years; 4th-6th grade)
- Middle School (12 to 15 years; 7th-9th grade)
Hands-On Learning Materials
In addition to the mixed-age classes, a strong component of Montessori curriculum is use of hands-on, manipulative materials. Children move from the concrete material to the abstract concept, providing a deep understanding of process and integration of information. Likewise the information cycle moves from the general concept to more specific information as the child's readiness and fits each child's learning style.
Introduction of New Information and Concepts
New information and concepts are introduced via individual presentations, small group lessons and large group line activities. Repetition, observation, group and individual mastery are all respected methods of learning at MPA. A simple set of classroom ground rules ensures a peaceful, yet engaging environment of respect, interaction and fun learning!
A View Into the Curriculum
Even after understanding conceptually how Montessori classrooms are set up, it can be difficult to understand how the curriculum is designed to grow with the student. Below is an in-depth video outlining how the Montessori math curriculum starts in preschool and progresses through high school.


50 Years of Success. One Powerful Curriculum. A Lifetime of Literacy.
With a legacy of success spanning over 50 years, Open Court Reading is backed by research into how students learn to read. Yet, the program continues to evolve to meet the rigorous and changing demands of today’s classrooms, as well as the ever-changing needs of students and teachers alike.
With success stories across the country, Open Court Reading has touched thousands of students across all levels of literacy to build strong readers, writers, and thinkers.
History of Open Court Reading
Initial research in early reading reveals that explicit phonics instruction is crucial for proficiency among emerging readers. This critical information moved Open Court Reading authors to make phonics a cornerstone of the program with Sound/Spelling Cards (first developed by Open Court Reading and an industry breakthrough), explicit instruction, and scaffolded instruction.
Additionally, Open Court Reading authors developed Decodable Books to help students apply and reinforce encoding and decoding skills. Continued research in vocabulary and comprehension introduced the need for advanced reading selections to support vocabulary development and critical comprehension.
An Eye on the Future
Today, Open Court Reading continues to evolve, responding to new technologies, valuable teacher feedback, and relevant research findings. It continues to achieve documented success in schools and districts across the country―aligning with changing classroom demographics to ensure equity across the socioeconomic spectrum and proactive inclusion for students at all levels of learning.
Meets Top Tiers of ESSA Criteria
The What Works Clearinghouse™ (WWC) report from 2014 details two studies of the core literacy program Open Court Reading. This evidence-based report examined two studies which meet Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) criteria, one meeting Tier 1 (Strong Evidence) criteria while the other meeting Tier 2 (Moderate Evidence) criteria.
Summary of Findings (October 2014)
- Studies conducted and cited in this report met WWC design standards and comprised a total of 1,113 students in grades 1 through 3 located in six states.
- With regards to effectiveness, the report states: "Open Court Reading was found to have potentially positive effects on general reading achievement and comprehension for beginning readers."
- Skindrud and Gersten (2006) found an average improvement index of +12 in general reading achievement. Borman et al. (2008) found an average improvement index of +10 in comprehension. These improvement indices show the expected percentile gain of the average student due to the intervention and usage of Open Court Reading.
Foundational Skills: Five Ways to Build the Cornerstone of Proficient Reading
This paper, presented by author Marsha Roit, presents the best practices for teaching primary grade students the foundational skills needed for language and literacy development.
Vocabulary: Why and How?
A white paper that addresses questions regarding vocabulary and how word meanings are taught vs. those left to experience without instructional attention.
Effective Teaching Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension in K–3 Students
A practical guide that focuses on strategies for skillful comprehension and effective comprehension instruction.
Building Effective Writing Skills
Steve Graham and Karen R. Harris discuss how to transition students from using a knowledge-based approach to writing to becoming thoughtful writers using four concepts: Create, Support, Teach, and Connect.
Four Basic Ingredients for Teaching Writing
This recorded webinar examines evidence-based practices for teaching writing to young students.
Request a Demo
Explore the Open Court Reading professional development materials by requesting a demonstration from your McGraw-Hill sales representative.


Good practices for developing life skills were defined as examples of teaching and learning approaches that contribute to the development of life skills. Examples of good practices can be educational programs, specially developed learning and teaching didactics or methods, curricula, methodological instruments, etc.
What’s the innovation?
Special emphasis in the instrument was also placed on the description of innovative characteristics and the main benefits of good practice for learners, where the description is supported when possible by authentic quotations, photos, videos and products of adult learners. The potential of transferability and the universal character of good practice were also included in the instrument.
The LSE partnership collected cases of good practices, which are presented in more detail on the database below.
Themes and relevant capabilities
|Good practice||Project Learning for Young Adults (1999/2016)||Civic, personal and interpersonal||School dropouts, young adults||SL|
|Good practice||Learning for Successful Life (2003/2014)||Literacy, numeracy, digital||Vulnerable and marginalised groups, unemployed people||SL, EN|
|Good practice||Study circles (1993)||Personal and interpersonal, civic||Open to anyone||SL|
|Good practice||Citizens’ Curriculum (2014-2017)||Literacy, numeracy, digital, health, civic, financial||Vulnerable and marginalised groups, unemployed people||EN|
|Good practice||Royal British Legions industry (RBLI) Lifeworks (2012)||Personal and interpersonal||Ex-armed forces personnel (disabled, unemployed)||EN|
|Good practice||St Mungo’s Broadway Citizens’ Curriculum Pilot (2012)||Arts and culture; Residential programme; literacy, numeracy, digital, health, civic, financial||Homeless adults, vulnerable and marginalised groups||EN|
|Good practice||Take Care Project (2012-2014)||Literacy, health||Immigrants and refugees||AR, BG, ZH, HR, NL, FR, DE, EL, LT, PL, PT, RO, RU, ES, TR, UK|
|Good practice||Language for Life (Taal voor het leven) (2012-2015)||Literacy and numeracy||Low socioeconomic background, low-skilled, immigrants and refugees||NL, TR, RO|
|Good practice||Letters for Life (2015-2017)||Literacy, civic, personal and interpersonal, digital||School dropouts, people who never attended school||PT|
|Good practice||“Welcome to Belgium” Pedagogical kits (Mallettes pédagogiques “Bienvenue en Belgique”) (2010)||Literacy, civic, health, personal and interpersonal||Immigrants and refugees||FR|
|Good practice||The Second Chance – Systemic Development of Functional Elementary Education of Adults (2012-2013)||Civic, personal and interpersonal||Adults above 15 with incomplete elementary education or without vocational qualifications, priority given to socially vulnerable target groups.||SR|
|Good practice||Together within (Pratto apo koinou) (2014)||Literacy, personal and interpersonal, digital, civic||Low socioeconomic background, low-skilled||EL, EN|
|Good practice||Public Second Chance Schools (Public Adult Education School) (2000)||Literacy, numeracy, civic, digital||School dropouts||EL, (EN)|
|Good practice||Life Long Learning Centres (KeDiViM) (2010)||Environment, digital, literacy, civic, financial, personal and interpersonal||Open to anyone; vulnerable and marginalised groups, school dropouts, Roma, offenders, immigrants, people with disabilities, religious minority||EL, EN|
|Good practice||Danish Language and Culture (2015)||Literacy, civic, personal and interpersonal||Young refugees between 18-30||DA|
|Good practice||Recycling Design (2016)||Literacy, civic, personal and interpersonal, environmental||Refugee and native Danish women||DA|
|Good practice||Fitness – a healthy body (2009)||Health, personal and interpersonal, literacy, numeracy, civic, environmental||Young adults, people with physical/mental health issues, low socioeconomic background, low-skilled||DA|


Move your cursor over the icons on the image for information about teaching
Teach students how to use reading comprehension strategies.
- Explain how to activate prior knowledge and use it with other clues to construct meaning.
- Instruct students to develop and answer questions about important ideas while reading.
- Train students to develop a mental image of what is described.
- Provide techniques for students to monitor if they understand what they are reading, and reread if not.
- Teach methods to identify key words to draw inferences from the text.
- Give students opportunities to orally summarize the main points.
Teach students to identify and use the text’s organizational structure to comprehend, learn, and remember content.
- Explain how to identify and connect the parts of narrative texts.
- Provide instruction on common structures of informational texts.
Establish an engaging and motivating context in which to teach reading comprehension.
- Help students discover the purpose and benefits of reading.
- Create opportunities for students to see themselves as successful readers.
- Give students reading choices.
- Give students the opportunity to learn by collaboration with their peers.
Laying the Foundation
Students who read with understanding at an early age gain access
to a broader range of texts, knowledge, and educational opportunities.
Recommendations and how-to videos from the WWC
practice guide, Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten
Through 3rd Grade, can help students lay the groundwork for
success in education.


Definition of the Target Group
About 1 in 9 Dutch people between 16 and 65 years old are illiterate. They have difficulties with reading, writing and communicating in Dutch. Of this group, nearly 70% is of Dutch origin. People who have difficulties in reading and writing, have more difficulty finding a job or to maintain a job. Half of this group is unemployed or inactive. Illiteracy often also causes a poor health. For example, people with low literacy skill cannot read the information/instructions for medications. In addition, children of people with low literacy skills are more at risk of a language deficiency. Parents who have difficulties with the language often cannot read to their children and can help their children less well with their homework.
The government has made extra funding available to tackle functional illiteracy through the ‘Tel mee met taal’ in 2016. The government invests annually from 2016 to 2018 € 18 million for the different projects from this program.
VAVO (Adult general secondary education)– special support
The Equal Treatment (Disabled and Chronically Ill People) Act
Approximately 30% of students live with one or more disabilities. One third of this group – 10% of the total number – experience this as an obstacle to attending education and training. The Equal Treatment (Disabled and Chronically Ill People) Act applies in such cases. Under its provisions, institutions must adapt their facilities effectively to accommodate disabled students, unless this incurs an unacceptable burden for the institution.
For more informative also see: chapter 12.3 Support Measures for Learners in Early Childhood and School Education.
Specific Support Measures
'Tel mee met taal’ 2016-2018 - only in Dutch available - (‘Count me in’) Is the title of the new action programme launched jointly by the Ministry of Education, Culture & Science, the Ministry of Health, Welfare & Sport, and the Ministry of Social Affairs & Employment. The purpose of the new programme is to prevent people with limited language skills from becoming marginalised. Every functionally illiterate person is one too many. To address this issue, the government is focusing extra attention on Dutch language skills over the next few years. The action programme is designed to create synergy by linking areas in which language plays a key role: schools, libraries, community centres, neighbourhood outreach teams, debt advice bureaus, school dropout monitoring, reintegration programmes, youth care services and social benefits offices.
With the action program at least 45,000 new participants start in a language course. For this, municipalities, UWV, social community teams, training centers and libraries work closely. In addition, at least 3,000 additional language volunteers must be trained in 2018. They coach people with low literacy skills as a language buddy or language coach. 3,000 volunteers have been trained already.
The government subsidizes various projects to improve the knowledge of the Dutch language.
For more information also see chapter 8.2.
Illiteracy Action Plan 2012-2015
With the Action Plan illiteracy the government has taken different measures to combat illiteracy between 2012 and 2015. The main measures are:
- Tackling early school leaving and improving the literacy and numeracy skills of pupils. This prevents young people with insufficient reading and writing skills at the labor market.
- Drawing up guidelines to improve the literacy and numeracy levels in adult education. These guidelines are based on existing reference levels of Dutch language and numarcy.
- Supporting municipalities, language service providers and civil society organizations in reaching the target group and offering effective language training.
Special adapted state examination Dutch as a second language (NT2)
If someone has a physical disability, he / she can take an adapted State Examination Dutch as a second language (NT2). This person gets for example an exam in large print if he / she is visually impaired.
Someone can apply online for the state examination in Dutch as a 2nd language. DUO asks which additional services the person needs. The person must also send a statement from a medical specialist to the ‘NT2 administration’.
VAVO (Adult general secondary education)
On basis of the Equal Treatment (Disabled and Chronically Ill People) Act a student may not be refused by a school (unless it is a disproportionate burden for the school, in that case there will be searched for another solution).
Dyslexia and dyscalculia
See chapter 12.1.2 for specific support measures in secondary education.


Do you like to listen to podcasts? I have several that I listen to regularly, mostly dealing with blogging and online business. Have you ever thought about using them in your classroom? Using science podcasts can be a great way to add some variety to your lessons!
Some Ideas for using science podcasts
- Find one on a current topic that you’re studying and assign it as homework. Have students answer questions about it on a worksheet or online. Padlet would work well here as an online place to have a discussion.
- Listen to a podcast as a whole class. You can pause at certain points to have students discuss it in groups or pairs, or do some other type of activity around it. This is a fun way to teach listening skills!
- Have students do a one-pager based on a podcast.
- Use Edpuzzle to embed questions into a science podcast that students answer before they can move on. To do this, download the podcast and then run it through a program that will convert MP3 to MP4. Here’s a free one that works well. Then upload it into Edpuzzle and add questions as you would to a video.
Students tend to like to listen to podcasts over doing written homework because they can do it pretty much anywhere they have wifi. Just pop in the earbuds, click on the episode, and they’re good to go!
As an added bonus, many of the larger podcasters provide transcripts to go with their podcasts, making it beneficial for those students who still like to have something physical to read and highlight.
podcasts to try out
- 60-Second Science – this is an awesome science podcast produced by Scientific American. They literally are 60 seconds long and cover a variety of topics. Great if you have a little time left over at the end of class! Or have students pick one and present to the class. These come with transcripts.
- Nature – these podcasts also come with transcripts. They are longer and go more in-depth on the topics.
- The Wild – this one focuses on how nature survives alongside humans. Perfect for a unit on Human Impact.
- Science – this magazine produces a weekly podcast on various topics.
- Tumble – this is a fun podcast about “science for kids.” Lots of fun topics, covered with real scientists.
- StarTalk – hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, often co-hosted with comedians and celebrities. Or, as host Neil deGrasse Tyson says, “Everything under the sun; Or rather under the universe!” for an audience of “All the people who never knew how much they’d love learning about space and science.”
- Point of Discovery – stories of research in natural sciences. This one actually talks to the people “in the trenches” of scientific research and focuses on the process of science.
- People Behind the Science – interviews with scientists from all different fields share what it’s like to be a scientist and what led them into the research they do.
- Lab Out Loud – this podcast is for science educators! Hosted by two science teachers with discussions with leading scientists, researchers, educators, and other guests.
- Teaching Science in 3-D – this is another one for science educators. The hosts help you make sense of the NGSS. You’ll hear new strategies to teach the NGSS … it’s almost like professional development!
As a side-note … I’ve listened to many of these podcasts, but not all of them. It’s a good idea to preview any episodes that you’re going to ask your students to listen to.
Do you have any favorite science podcasts? Do you have one that’s a favorite? Please share with us in the comments.


Shadow puppets aren’t just for sunny days, they’re great fun indoors with a torch in winter too. These Halloween shadow puppets would be great for a Halloween Party activity or for adding a bit of spooky science fun to your house decorations.
If you love all things icky and sticky my new book might be perfect for you! Gross Science is full of sticky, slimy and gruesome science experiments for kids!
What is a shadow?
Shadows are made when an object blocks light. The object blocking the light must be opaque or translucent for a shadow to form.
Halloween Shadow Puppets
Lolly sticks or craft sticks
Black Card or orange card
Cellophane – optional
Double sided tape – optional
How to make a shadow puppet
We made bat and pumpkin shadow puppets, but you could also make witches hats, spiders, ghosts or anything else Halloween themed.
First draw the bat, pumpkin etc outline on a piece of card and carefully cut it out.
If you want to add extra colour, cut out shapes on the inside of the shadow puppet and attach cellophane over gaps using double sided tape.
The puppets are a bit easier to hold if you attach a lolly stick or craft stick handle, but this is completely up to you.
Ask a friend to hold the torch behind the spooky shadow puppet and you should see the shadow form on the wall.
Try moving the torch further away and closer to the shadow puppet to investigate how the shape and size of the shadow changes.
Remember – Shadow Facts
Transparent materials let light pass through them in straight lines. We can clearly see though transparent materials.
Translucent materials ( like our cellophane ) let some light through, but scatter the light in different directions. We cannot easily see through translucent materials.
Opaque materials do not let any light pass through them. We cannot see through opaque materials at all.
More Halloween Science for Kids
We’ve got lots more Halloween science ideas including making your own fake blood, a pumpkin lava lamp, witches potions and lots more!
Last Updated on September 28, 2022 by Emma Vanstone
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The Noun Family kit will explore grammar using ten different fun and hands-on activities. Your child/student will learn about the different types of nouns, adjectives, and articles including: nouns classified as person, place, or thing; proper and common nouns; singular and plural nouns; masculine, feminine, and neutral nouns; descriptive adjectives; indefinite and definite articles; and singular and plural articles. The kit includes the following materials: an illustrated lesson plan in an organized folder; wooden grammar symbols for noun, adjective, and article; noun, adjective, and article definition cards; 6 noun activity card sets; 1 adjective card set; 20 objects to use for various grammar activities; blank labels to get you started; and a journal.
Grades: First Grade to Fourth Grade
This educational kit was made with love by a certified Montessori teacher of 18 years. I am certified in Early Childhood Education (preschool and Kindergarten), Elementary Education I (grades 1st to 3rd), and Elementary Education II (grades 4th to 6th). I have worked as a lead teacher in all the above grades, Montessori teacher trainer, dance director, and Parent Education director. I hope you enjoy this kit as much as I enjoyed making it. I created the ABC Crate LLC so that I could share the joys of Montessori lessons and philosophies with all who seek wonderful lessons for their little ones. I have many more kits to come ranging from preschool to middle school. Feel free to drop a note about which lessons you would like sooner. ABC Crates are great for Home School programs, parents seeking support material for the home, and for teachers to use in their classroom. My website is abc-crate.com and my email is firstname.lastname@example.org.
Optional purchase: A work basket to put your shelf work in. These do not come with work. This is the basket only. They are approximately 8 plus x 6 x 2 plus. They vary slightly based on stock. We recommend for pre-K through even up to 8th grade displaying work and activities on an inviting shelf. If you would like a home guide on how to arrange work shelves and set up a constructive learning environment, we can send one free of charge with your order. Just send us a message to include with your order.


With Media, Parents and Kids Learn More Together
This article highlights research from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center on improvements in learning from new media when parents and students (or students and peers) learn together.
Word Analysis: Finding Clues in Words
Lesson in Action
Standards: Foundational Skills • Literacy in History/Social Studies
Mr. Chen's 5th grade class is starting a unit on Ancient India. In this lesson, students will recognize root words, prefixes, and suffixes, and they will learn to apply this knowledge to identifying...
Writers Speak to Kids
A collection of video interviews of children's book authors talking about the process and craft of writing.
Writers Workshop: An Introduction
This slideshow provides an overview of the Writers Workshop, a framework for writing instruction and practice. Implementation of mini-lessons, independent writing, conferencing, and sharing are...
Writing for the Web: Blogs and Wikis to Support Literacy
Writing online, through blogs, wikis, or discussion forums, can boost student motivation for writing, and help them learn to adapt writing for different audiences, tasks, purposes, and disciplines....
Writing to Learn
In this Educational Leadership article, researcher/author Robert Marzano suggests a five-step process for using writing as a learning tool in content classrooms. “Although formulaic,” he says, “it...
Your Role in Ensuring Accessibility
Subscription Required: No
Developed to supplement the Digital Accessibility Toolkit: What Education Leaders Need to Know, use this infographic to learn what you can do as state and local leaders, teachers, professional...
iLearn II: An Analysis of the Education Category on Apple's App Store
Provides information about the apps available in the Apple App Store. Includes an analysis of best practices in educational apps and a review of the content of children's apps.
iPad for Special Education
PowerPoint presentation on benefits and uses of iPads in educating children with special needs. Includes apps, resources, and ways to accommodate students in learning with the iPad.
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Dig It Up! The Big Egg
Take a crack at this egg and discover all seven different species of dinosaurs hidden inside! Will you find the stegosaurus first, or the mighty T-Rex? Learn more about each creature with the excavation guide when you’re done. Just soak the egg in a bowl or sink, chip away with your chisels, and discover!
Contains 7 different dinosaurs to discover inside• Helps promote an early interest in science for kids• 2 chisels allow you to dig with a friend! • Includes a 7” by 4” Giant Egg, 7 different dinosaurs, 2 chiseling tools, excavation guide and instructions
Age Recommendation: Ages 4 and up
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Get ready for back to school with these beginning of the year math and reading activities for kindergarten! They’re ready-to-go and engaging. Read on to learn more!
If you teach kindergarten, you know how important it is to teach reading and math. From the beginning, there are many foundational skills to teach. In order to start the year out strong, they must be taught with intention.
Teaching the Alphabet
Without a doubt, you’ll be teaching your students the alphabet starting in week one of the new year. Engage your kindergarten students with these alphabet activities this back to school season! Moreover, this kindergarten letter identification and recognition curriculum is the perfect support to any science of reading or phonics-based program. It’s ideal for back to school, small group instruction, or intervention groups.
Teaching Letter Sounds
I love to teach letter-sounds directly alongside of teaching letter recognition and identification. Obviously, they go hand-in-hand, and it makes sense to teach them together.
Whether you have students struggling with letter sound correspondence, or simply need a time saving curriculum to help you teach letter sound association in small groups, this curriculum promises to deliver.
There are 7 activities for each letter. Moreover, each activity provides students an opportunity to reinforce these letter sounds reading readiness skills.
- Focus Letter Mat (vowels in red, consonants in blue, each focus mat contains the upper- and lowercase letter and 3 labeled pictures that begin with the sound)
- Sound Warm Up (letter-sound correspondence fluency)
- Sound Off (student generated begining sound word list)
- Letter Sound Pictures (6 pictures for each letter with the first letter omitted; only 4 for X)
- Check Yourself (student self-assessment; saying picture name and identifying whether or not it begins with the focus letter)
- Listen Up (discriminating between words that begin with the focus letter and those that don’t)
- Letter-Sound Assessment (cumulative assessment over learned skills)
Next, let’s view a few samples of the activities:
Early Math Skills
Next, it’s time to chat about math.
These activities are fun, effective, and print-and-go! They are perfect for kindergarteners, and the format makes them simple to use, organize and store.
Each math activity is skill based, purposeful, and engaging.
Beginning of the Year Math and Reading Activities for Kindergarten
Besides providing your students with skill practice, these activities will also save you time. . Especially at the beginning of the year, time is so important to a busy teacher. You can save yourself prep time and money by snagging the bundle!
Looking for back to school resources?
I hope you find these Beginning of the Year Math and Reading Activities for Kindergarten useful! If you’re looking for more back to school resource, check out these post! Just click on your grade level to learn more (kindergarten | first grade | second grade)
Would you like to sample a FREE literacy activity? Fill out the form below and I’ll send you a FREE resource right to your inbox!


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Our group was interested in analyzing the high school public education system in the Clark County School District. As Las Vegas residents, it is important to know how the schools in our city are being affected, especially since many of us went to school here. It is also detrimental to know as it could potentially be the schools of our future children and generation. We took data from the 2017-2018 school year and decided to model the total index score of each high school based on four different variables. Chronic absenteeism is defined as the percentage of students in the school who missed 10% or more school days in the school years. Proficiency average refers to the percentage of the student body who are proficient in basic science, math, and English. CCR completion, or college career readiness completion is the percentage of students who completed a college and career readiness program. Lastly, the high school graduation rate 4-5 is the graduation rate of students from the high school after 4 or 5 school years attending it. We built a model and used STATA to create the descriptive statistics and eimpirical results. We also created scatterplots and bar charts to clearly see the relationships between the variables if there are any.
Las Vegas (Nev.)
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Education, Elementary;Middle school education;Education, Secondary;Education and state;
Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration | Elementary Education | Secondary Education
Canale, Oscar; Reyes, John David; Sunga, Asia; and Tumanan, Jay, "High School Environment in the Clark County School District" (2022). Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters. 119.
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons, Elementary Education Commons, Secondary Education Commons
Faculty Mentor: Djeto Assane


National Youth Art Month Is In Full Swing!
Posted by Alan Gill on
According to his mother, Pablo Picasso’s “first words were ‘piz, piz’, a shortening of lápiz, the Spanish word for ‘pencil.’” At eleven, Claude Monet was selling charcoal caricatures to the locals. And, at fourteen, Leonardo Da Vinci was apprenticed to the painter Andrea del Verrocchio, in one of the greatest workshops of Florence.
Starting early and finding the right guidance allowed these artists to gain immortality through their work. In the spirit of supporting the arts for youth across the United States, the Council for Art Education (CFAE) holds its annual Youth Art Month each March. This year’s national theme being ‘The Power of Art.’
Art is about expression and feeling, and since 1947, this program has helped to foster the passion of these amazing boys and girls. Want to learn more? Read on!
- Celebrating the visual arts, the CFAE welcomes all children from grades K–12 to participate. “The Youth Art Month Program emphasizes the value of art education for all children, encourages support for quality school art programs, and promotes art material safety.”
- One of the programs put on by the CFAE during the month is the State Flag Program where students are encouraged to create a flag that embodies what makes their state great. The winner’s design is made into a flag and put on display at the National Art Education Association National Convention in March.
- The 2016 flag design winner is Joanna Marin, a 6th grader from North Middle School in Everett, WA! After the convention, it will be hung at the state capital building in Olympia, WA.
So, tell everyone you know and spread the word! This is a great program that has done wonders for these talented kids. The art will be displayed in Chicago at the McCormick Place Convention Center and Hilton Chicago Hotel and will be sure to generate some amazing support. If you want to get more involved and volunteer or work for this great program, get started today!