For all the parents hoping that classical music CDs and music classes will give their kids an intellectual leg up, Harvard researchers have some bad news: Mozart won’t boost your IQ.
Two studies published today in the journal PLOS ONE bust the myth. In the first, researchers reviewed dozens of studies, and found just one that used randomized trials and showed a positive link between music and IQ. Even then, the effect was so tiny — 2.7 points on an IQ test after one year of music lessons — that it barely registered as statistically significant.
“More than 80 percent of American adults think that music improves children’s grades or intelligence,” said researcher Samuel Mehr, a Harvard Graduate School of Education doctoral student. “Even in the scientific community, there’s a general belief that music is important for these extrinsic reasons — but there is very little evidence supporting the idea that music classes enhance children’s cognitive development.”
Next, Mehr conducted his own research, teaching music and visual art classes to 4-year-olds.
“We wanted to test the effects of the type of music education that actually happens in the real world, and we wanted to study the effect in young children, so we implemented a parent-child music enrichment program with preschoolers,” Mehr said. “The goal is to encourage musical play between parents and children in a classroom environment, which gives parents a strong repertoire of musical activities they can continue to use at home with their kids.”
Mehr then tested the kids in four specific areas of cognition, which is designed to pick up subtle cognitive benefits better than a general IQ test. The tests showed no evidence that the musical training had affected intelligence.
But don’t pull your kid out of Suzuki violin just yet: Mehr argues there are plenty of other benefits to music education.
“We don’t teach kids Shakespeare because we think it will help them do better on the SATs, we do it because we believe Shakespeare is important,” he said. “Music says something about what it means to be human, and it would be crazy not to teach this to our children.”


Why Teach Art by Tina Farrell. ART IS A SCIENCE. In many cases creating art
demands exact, specific mixtures as a variety of compounds such as: silica, wax,
VISION: To teach, serve, nurture and develop students understand and passion
... I want to broaden their concept of what art is and expose them to different art ...
What value does art have in the school curriculum? The answer is provided by
this free course, Why teach art? Aimed primarily at colleagues teaching art in ...
Teaching your students about art is a good idea—here's why: ... One of the most
important lessons you can teach your students is that more often than not, ...
Nov 23, 2012 ... A vital question, and one that as teachers and lecturers of art, craft and .... Design
and craft teach us about the value of sustainability, and.
Why Teach Art? All children need a variety of experiences to assist them in
exploring their environment. Through art, children learn to value their own ...
Consequently, art educators, who must fight to maintain their discipline's
presence in the curriculum, are continually returning to the question of why do we
A work of art is . . . a representation of the world outside of art--often the everyday
social world. . . . [W]ithin general education, the purpose of art education is not ...
www.ask.com/youtube?q=Why Teach Art?&v=KYXf4cbwBGE
May 5, 2015 ... The Big Draw and NSEAD patron Bob and Roberta Smith RA on why all schools
should be art schools. Art is a fundamental tool for expression ...
Jan 7, 2015 ... Our philistine-in-chief, always the politician, then did the politic thing: backed up
and said he actually loved art history -- and also didn't want to ...


Infant Toddler Development Training Module 4, Lesson 4
1. Our current understanding of early language and literacy development has provided new ways of helping children learn to talk, read and write. Early literacy does not mean the same thing as early reading for infants and toddlers. Based on this, as well as the module reading you have done on this subject, which of the following statements is correct?
2. When reviewing the language development table from Brain Wonders, it is suggested that toddlers and two year olds (ages 18 months to 35 months) may be expected to have a vocabulary of:
3. As we observe the first stories of babies, toddlers, and young children in different cultural contexts, we increase our understanding of the principles used in training (coaching) caregivers (Jervay-Pendergrass and Brown, 2000). In Shared Stories, the authors explain that training is built around several key principles. These principles include all except
4. Catherine Burke's article addressed the fact that parents and other family members are often concerned that using an augmentative communication approach will prevent their child from developing speech, feeling that he or she will rely on using signs and/or pictures and will not try to talk. According to Burke, which of the following statements is correct?
5. In the PLAI module case study of Michael, his mom used predictable routines so that Michael would:


It has been proven over and over that music education greatly improves the child’s development. The benefits of early musical training cannot be disputed.
But there is a big problem: what kind of music is appropriate for children?
For the younger age (2-5), it is obvious that childish simple songs are the best repertoire. Children enjoy it without any difficulty.
But the problem arises with the next stage (5-10), which is the most important for musical development. Here is the core of the matter. Usually teachers enforce their own choice, which most of the time is classical music (Beethoven, Mozart and after). If watched carefully, children don’t seem too enthusiastic about this.
The choice should belong to the child. But unfortunately the child’s taste might be influenced by peers or tv shows in the wrong way.
The wrong way means:
– for the girls, most disco and rap music pushes them into a too premature understanding of sex. Girls listening to most mainstream tend to become ‘naughty, sexy, bitchy’;
– for the boys, a large section of heavy metal would transform them, more or less, into young evil monsters.
Some parents may find both situations to be quite funny, but they are not.
Can parents influence their children’s taste?
Is it ok to enforce a certain type of music over another?
Enforcement – not a good idea, in the long run will have reversed effects.
What types of music we shouldn’t expect a child to enjoy?Let’s eliminate what most children do not like much or not at all: classical music and jazz.
What music can we expect the children to enjoy? Pop-rock and pre-classical (baroque). However pop-rock should be selected with much care. Also baroque is nice to listen to, but, for a child, it is difficult to play.
However there is a certain type of music, more appropriate for children, which has been completely neglected: the Medieval music.
In order to understand this, let’s look from a different point of view :”What kind of literature do children enjoy most?” The answer is: FAIRY TALES. The young mind is mesmerized by the magic and the filtered reality provided by these stories.
What kind of music relates best to fairy tales? Obviously, the music of the Medieval and Renaissance age. And there is no better alternative to that.
The only problem is that not many early music recordings create a good fairy tale atmosphere. It requires some effort to search on youtube, itunes and any other sources and select mostly instrumental works. Songs with vocal parts don’t seem to be appealing to kids.
– music is very important for child’s development
– children don’t like most of the music they are supposed to learn
– the best choice and most acceptable is the medieval music, related to fairy tales which children love.
– another option is rock music, but very carefully selected
A few consideration about rock. We detected three major parts of rock music:
1. bad rock – mainstream – generally frivolous, pornographic, ‘shake-butt’, etc
2. evil rock – bad-ass, cruelty, no mercy, etc
3. good rock – which includes protest rock and any non-evil and non-frivolous songs created on the rock foundation: accented rhythm, heavy riffs, truthful singing. This is the type of rock we are interested to learn and play.
Children should learn music. The most appropriate repertoire for them is the medieval songs: https://intelligentmusicalchildren.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/beautiful-music-for-children,
and carefully selected rock: https://intelligentmusicalchildren.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/rock-music-covers/
More info about our kids band: http://childrenmedievalband.wordpress.com


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This essay explains the meaning and function of classroom observation in studying child development. The essay also presents the actual report of a classroom observation.
Meaningful experiences in early childhood education can positively shape children's development. With teacher facilitation, authentic child-centered early art education can enrich young students' learning, encourage positive attitudes toward other people, and more closely follow practices of the people around them in the contemporary world. However, art for young students often takes many diversified approaches and emphasizing questionable practices.
Observation is a part of meaningful and authentic early childhood art education. Observation enriches students' experiences with their environment, gives them reasons to study, interact with other children and follows the practices of their adult models. They develop strategies and skills to represent objects in their environment. Finally, adults play a critical role in young students' development by engaging in sensitive and critical dialogue.
Most of the children in the class were three years old, but there was one five year old. The preschool children were seemed very shy and they did not seem like they were very sociable. The children seemed to be experiencing a little bit of stranger anxiety. The teacher said the children often would cry and become uneasy whenever they meet a stranger. This can also be considered as signs of separation anxiety. The boys in the class were very natural and the girls seemed to be introverted and preserve. This would agree with the theories that boys will be inclined to be more sociable, and girls will be more reserved. In the preschool class, the teacher often has puppet shows and the children love it. One child was sitting at the table having a conversation with a stuffed beaver. According to a theory called animistic thinking, children believe that inanimate objects are alive. Another form of animistic thinking would be when the teacher told a story about leprechaun, when the teacher asked where leprechauns lived, one child answered. “Leprechauns live in the grass and run around from tree to tree, they are itsy bitsy and very hard to see.” These children think that these living things were real, but they just could not see them. However, the fun with the leprechauns had just begun. To test the children’s belief in the unrealistic, the teacher asked the children make little pots, and then she tell all of the kids that if they were excellent, the leprechaun would leave them gold in their pot. While these kids were eating their snacks, the teacher left and put gold candy in their pots, and then waited for their reactions and comments when they came back to see what had happened. One child soared around and shouted that “he was here, he was here,” and another child was looking around the room trying to find the leprechaun. Overall, Most of the children have beliefs based on what they sensed to be true, rather than on what would be logic or rational. Language development between the three-year-old children, and the five-year-old child was amazing. There were some grammatical morpheme problems that were noticed during the observation at the preschool. The children were very good with sentence structure and words. However, they struggled with prepositions, suffixes and prefixes. For example, “he sitted down on me,” “she hitted me with the beaver,” the children are learning that they need to ass the “ed” to the end of some words, but they do not know when it is and when it is not appropriate to do it yet. Children are good in imitation at the preschool. The teacher was their adult model. Imitation is a great way for the children to learn about the world, and is often a sociable test to see how far that they can stretch the rules.
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June 28, 2012
Common Household Chemical Can Increase Child’s Risk for Eczema
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study exposes the danger of the chemical butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP), a chemical found in the households of nearly 100 percent of the mothers studied. BBzP is often used in vinyl flooring and artificial leather, and it´s slowly released into home air. It can also increase a child's risk for developing eczema.
Eczema is characterized by dry, itchy red skin on the face, scalp, or extremities and is common in early childhood. "While hereditary factors, allergens, and exposure to tobacco smoke are known to contribute to the condition, our study is the first to show that prenatal exposure to BBzP is a risk factor," Allan C. Just, PhD, first author on the Mailman School study and currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, was quoted as saying.The study examined 407 nonsmoking African-American and Dominican women and their children in New York City. Exposure to BBzP was measured using a urine test during the third trimester of pregnancy. Following birth, researchers asked the mothers if their child had been diagnosed with eczema. They found that onset of eczema by age 2 was 52 percent more likely in children whose mothers had been exposed to higher concentrations of BBzP, compared with those whose mothers had been exposed to lower concentrations. All but one of the women in the study showed some level of exposure to the chemical.
It is unclear how BBzP can induce eczema. To find out, researchers looked at allergies as a possible cause. Children were tested for three common indoor allergens: cockroaches, dust mites, and mice, as well as for total IgE, a biomarker for an immune response to all allergens. However, they found no evidence of a link between BBzP exposure and allergy.
"We know allergies are a factor with some childhood eczema, but our data suggest that is not the case when BBzP is involved," senior author Rachel Miller, MD, Director of the Allergy and Immunology fellowship program and Associate Professor of Medicine (in Pediatrics) and Environmental Health Sciences, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center; and a Co-Deputy Director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, was quoted as saying. "However, these are important findings, given that eczema is a common and uncomfortable disease of early childhood."
Additionally, the researchers found that African-American mothers in the study were twice as likely as their Dominican-American counterparts to report their child´s diagnosis with eczema, but both groups had a similar association between BBzP exposure and the disease.
Study co-author Robin M. Whyatt, DrPH, Professor of Clinical Environmental Health Sciences and Co-Deputy Director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, conducted previous research which found that exposure to BBzP and other phthalates was shown to delay motor skill development in young children and to increase risk for behavioral problems. Phthalates are also known to disrupt the body's endocrine system.
Source: Environmental Health Perspectives, June 2012


346 ARGENTINE REPUBLIC
no census was taken, 60,000 ; of Argentines abroad, 50,000 ; grand total, 4,094,911. The increase of population 1869-95 has been at the rate of 4"6 per cent, per annunj.
By a treaty concluded between the Argentine Republic and Chile in 1881 the latter recognises the right of the former to all the country east of the crest of the eastern ridge of the Andes, including all Patagonia and the eastern part of Tierra del Fuego. Commissioners are now at work delineating the boundary. Disputes have arisen and the Government of Queen Victoria has agreed to act as arbitrator, but the Commissioners have not yet been able to agree as to the question to be submitted to arbitration. Commissioners are also at work on the boundary along the Bolivian frontier.
The capital of the Republic, Buenos Ayres, had a population of 753,000 in August, 1898. Other towns, with populations for 1895, are Cordoba, 47,609; Rosario, 94,025 ; Tucuman, 34,300; Mendoza, 28,709; Parana, 24,261; Salta, 16,600; Comentes, 16,129 inhabitants ; La Plata, the new capital of the province of Buenos Ayres (founded 1884), 45,410; Santa Fe, 24,755 ; San Luis, 9,826 ; San Juan, 10,410.
The immigration and emigration by sea have been as follows in five years : —
Years 1893 1894 1895
1897 . ,
In 1897 the immigrants comprised 38,745 Italians, 13,059 Spaniards, 7,813 French, and 1,876 Germans. Of the total, 21,431 were females.
In the twenty-live years 1873-1897, the total arrivals of immigrants numbered 2,063,232.
In 1895 the number of foreigners in the Republic was 886,895, of whom 492,636 were Italians, 198,685 Spaniards, 94,098 French, 21,788 English, 14,789 Swiss, 17,143 Germans, 2,269 Portuguese, 12,803 Austrians, and 32,184 of various nationalities. By the Constitution of the Republic, all children of foreigners born in the country are Argentine.
Eeligion and Instruction.
Although the Constitution recognises the Roman Catholic religion as that of the State, all other creeds are tolerated. There are 1 archbishop and 5 suti'ragan bishops. For the instruction of the clergy there are 5 seminaries. In 1888 civil marriage was established in the Republic.
Primary education is free, secular and compulsory for children from 6 to 14 years of age. In the capital and the 9 tenitories it is under the charge of a national council of education, assisted by local school councils ; and in the 14 provinces under their resjtective governments. The elementary schools are supported in the capital anil each province by the taxes established in their Education Acts, aided by large subsidies from the general Government. The sums contributed by the general Government and the 14 provinces to the support of the elementary education in the Republic amount to over 10,000,000 dollars. In 1896 there were 2,681 public, 1,034 private, and 34 national primary schools, with, in all, 8,557 teachers and 264,294 pupils. Secondary or preparatory education is controlled by the general Government, which maintains 16 lyceums (one in each province and the capital)^ with 450


If you think that one person can’t have an impact, think again. A couple of weeks ago my cousin from Germany came to visit us with his family. His oldest son has only been studying english for two years and seemed to be fluent. One way he was taught English was an assignment to find something to memorize. He chose Jack Johnson’s song the 3 R’s. He not only learned all the words by heart, but he also did a whole report, in english, about the 3 R’s, with Jack Johnson’s lyrics as the bases, and started a 3R campaign in his school! What exactly are the 3 R’s? For those of you who don’t know…here from Sheryl Eisenberg and the Natural Resources Defense Council is the simplest explanation I found…
- Reduce: Reduce means using fewer resources in the first place. This is the most effective of the three R’s and the place to begin. It is also, I think, the hardest because it requires letting go of some very American notions, including: the bigger the better, new trumps old and convenience is next to godliness…Reduce is a comparative word. It says:cut back from where you are now….
- Reuse: Before you recycle or dispose of anything, consider whether it has life left in it….Reusing keeps new resources from being used for a while longer, and old resources from entering the waste stream. It’s important as it is unglamorous. Think about how you can do more.
- Recycle: Recycling is the R that has caught on the best. Partly, this is because there are so many curbside recycling programs today…What keeps it from being a total piece of cake is the rules. Every municipality has its own, and they are not always as straightforward as they could be.…read more
For those of you who have children, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has a great kid’s page to help teach them these habits. Wouldn’t it be great if all our kids learned this at home and in school, by our example and through educational investigation? The point of this whole matter for me is that Jack Johnson, one man who is environmentally minded created a song (see the video below)… And, established the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation, to support environmental, art and music education now and into the future. As part of his 2010 world tour, the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation will offer direct and matching donations to All At Once partner non-profits. Jack Johnson will once again donate 100% of his 2010 tour profits (as he did in 2008) to charity. His influence is such that he inspired one child around the world in Munich, Germany to memorize his song, and lead his class in a 3 R campaign. While we all may not be Jack Johnson, we, each and every one of us, can start practicing the 3 R’s today and teach our children and grandchildren to leave our world a better place then how we found it!
Nature is God made visible. Nature is God known through our senses. When we love and serve nature, we are worshiping the Supreme Being. ~ Amma
Saving our planet is truly a Little Bit of Beauty™!


Republic Act No. 4670 or the Magna Carta for teachers is a declaration of policies for teachers about their rights, provisions, and compensations to promote and improve their living and working conditions, their terms of employment and career prospects and to attract and retain in the teaching profession more people with the proper qualifications.
The Magna Carta sets the measures for teachers to be qualified to teach for each year level of their choice. This is an important aspect because it emphasizes that certain education should be met before on can be a teacher. Let’s take for example the minimum requirement for Kindergarten and elementary level, a teacher in this level should at least be B.S. Elementary Education graduate. This would mean that a teacher in a vocational course cannot easily shift to teaching Kindergarten unless this criterion is met.
The working hours of teachers were also specified, and the corresponding compensations when one exceed on its regular work hours. The criteria for salaries was also provided to insure that teachers are compensated within reasonable standard of life for themselves and their family and they shall be properly graded so as to recognize the fact that certain positions require higher qualifications and greater responsibility than others. Special hardship allowance will also be provided for teachers working in the remote areas, those who have difficulty commuting to the place of work as determined by the Secretary of Education.
Medical examination shall be provided free of charge for all teachers and shall be repeated not less than once a year during the teacher’s professional life. If in case medical examination show that treatment and/or hospitalization is necessary, same shall be provided free by the government entity paying for the salary of the teachers. This also goes the same for injuries. Teachers shall be...


Parents who want their children to succeed in school might help them more by encouraging them to play rather than to study academic subjects.
Reva Fish, assistant professor of social and psychological foundations of education, and Laura Klenk, assistant professor of elementary education and reading, are observing activities in pre-K classrooms. What they see is limited time for free play, and they share a concern: the importance of play is not understood by parents and educators.
“We are trying to find a way to talk about play that encourages people to take children’s play seriously,” said Klenk. Both educators agree that play—free, unstructured activity that children choose to engage in—is, among preschoolers, a developmentally appropriate way to learn. Substituting developmentally inappropriate activities may undermine children’s ability to develop the skills that underlie academic success: engagement, persistence, and stamina.
The focus on measuring academic achievement—testing—is occurring even among children ages 3 and 4. “We’re assessing reading and math skills at younger and younger ages,” Fish said. “We’re changing the activities, the lessons, the goals. But the problem is that children haven’t changed. Developmental milestones haven’t changed—drawing a straight line, drawing a figure.”
Klenk said that children engaging in play are developing academic skills as well as the emotional and behavioral skills that will enable them to succeed as they continue through childhood. “If they are playing among themselves, they have to learn how to talk to each other, and that’s developing language skills,” she said. Klenk, who has studied play for 25 years, added that the concept of quantity—counting—also develops through group play. “And play also has strong emotional and social development components,” she said.
Both educators agree that children who are engaged in unstructured, creative, self-chosen activities develop stamina for learning. Because they have freedom to choose, they stick with their play longer. “Learning is deeper, and it lasts longer,” said Fish. “This pattern is important as children move up through the grades.”
On the other hand, if teachers direct children’s learning too much, even through play, with directions such as “Make this,” or “Show me what you can make,” the learning is shallow and easily forgotten.
It’s not just educators or even testing, however, according to Fish and Klenk. “Parents are pressuring their pre-K classrooms and even day care centers to teach academic skills like word recognition,” said Fish. “It’s as if we’ve lost our faith that kids are born wanting to learn.”
Fish and Klenk were featured presenters at the 2013 Conference on the Value of Play held at Clemson University in February. The U.S. Play Coalition awarded them a seed grant to continue their research on the importance of play. They are meeting with other faculty members from the School of Education to discuss ways to persuade educators and parents to provide developmentally appropriate learning activities in pre-K classrooms. “Play is so important,” said Fish. “It’s short-sighted to take it away.”


TRENTON — With the growing Latino population — and a young one at that — many institutions are thinking about new ways to teach children English while also reinforcing their Spanish native language.
One local college pioneering innovative ways to teach bilingual lessons is the John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy of Thomas Edison State College. TESC is using iPads to increase language skills and math literacy in New Jersey preschools that serve children from homes where English is a second language.
The project, which is administered by Watson Institute’s English Language Learners (ELL)) Summer Institute and Mentoring Program, is currently being piloted in Head Start programs in Trenton and Hunterdon.
“The iPads we have distributed in this first wave will be used as an interactive digital resource by educators to enhance early childhood language mastery,” said Ana I. Berdecia, senior fellow and director of the Watson Institute’s Center for the Positive Development of Urban Children, who is managing the pilot and leads the ELL Summer Institute and Mentoring Program. “We are delighted to be partnering with the Hispanic Information and Telecommunication Network’s Early Learning Collaborative in providing these multimedia learning tools to classrooms.”
According to Berdecia, teachers do not always have the resources to link technology with early childhood learning. The HITN’s teacher’s guide, parent’s guide, and the accompanying materials are expected to provide a clear map as to how to link both, while promoting early childhood English language literacy and reinforcing the children’s home language, Spanish.
“In Trenton we have a classroom with 15 Spanish speaking children, in Ringo 90 percent of kids speak Spanish—so we selected the classrooms that had large bilingual populations,” said Berdecia, who noted that the project was a pilot and not a fully implemented program.
“From my visits to the classrooms, I can see the pure enjoyment and engagement of children exposed to these interactive learning tools,” Berdecia added.
The transmedia materials provided through the program focus on English language development, early literacy and early math. The child-friendly program that students interact with is a cartoon popular in Spanish-speaking households.
“A well-known TV cartoon that appears in the leading Spanish-speaking network, Univision, teaches kids math, science, literature and different games. The lessons are in English but simultaneously repeated in Spanish which reinforces the Spanish language,” explained Berdecia who is herself a Trenton native and bilingual.
Berdecia hopes that the iPad program will eventually become an app for any parent to download on their tablets.
The program also helps teachers monitor their progress which is useful for teachers who do not speak their students’ native language.
“We use an assessment tool that we use to track the changes that teachers have done. Not all teachers speak Spanish or whatever the children’s native language is, so we equip the teachers with strategies to use when they do not speak the language of the students.” said Berdecia.
Teachers also receive a mentor for nine months and TESC offers a three day summer program to further equip them with strategies to use in the classroom.
The program is funded through a Ready to Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement. Teachers participating in the program will be asked to record how the children are using the devices and document what learning has taken place under the auspices of ELL’s Mentoring Program.
For more information on this and other Center for the Positive Development of Urban Children programs, contact Ana Berdecia at (609) 777-4351, ext. 4290; or email email@example.com


Music in the Early Years is for teachers working across the 3 to 8 age phase who want to make music integral to the life of the nursery and early years classroom.
Music has often been taught as if it were different, something outside the mainstream curriculum, with teaching approaches quite at odds with early years work. This book takes children's development as its basis and works towards building a music pedagogy within early years practice. A readiness to listen, observe and reflect is central to the practice which threads through the book.
Based on the authors' extensive experience and drawing on that of other teachers and researchers, lots of well-tried, practical ideas show how teachers, parents and carers can help children fulfil their music potential. Sample activities model ways of working with children and have been written in such a way that they can be substituted with other material and adapted for further use. Earlier and later stages of learning and progression are described as a basis for matching activities with children's learning needs, as well as a companion book, Primary Music: Later Years.
'The page layouts are clear and easy to read, the use of bullet points enabling easy reference. The chapter headings appear instantly relevant for the class teacher and the use of photographs at the beginning of each chapter adds to the books appeal … This is a thoroughly accessible book and one which all those involved in music education, both in school and education departments, will find a useful addition to their curriculum libraries. I'm sure that my students will pounce on it!' - Early Years
'This book is an important addition to the musical literature for the three to eight age range … due to the strong music education philosophy which is consistent with early childhood development, the accessible style and the attractive layout, this book will prove a very valuable resource to all adults working in early years contexts.' - Music Education Research


“Caged in Chaos: A Dyspraxic Guide to Breaking Free”
This nonfiction book was written by a Victoria Biggs, a teenage girl with dyspraxia, which affects motor skill development and often exists with learning issues. Caged in Chaos: A Dyspraxic Guide to Breaking Free is a positive, practical guide for teens struggling with the physical, social, emotional and learning issues caused by dyspraxia. In a conversational style, Biggs describes the primary effects of her learning difference—disorganization, clumsiness and poor short-term memory. And she also talks about the bullying, low self-esteem and loneliness she endures. This book is for kids 13 and up.


Diagnosing the math plague
Dr. Sherry Mantyka will discuss what's plaguing math students at a public talk on Thursday.
Dr. Sherry Mantyka has spent years testing and monitoring math learners, identifying why they struggle, and formulating strategies to help overcome mathematical roadblocks. Now the director of Memorial University’s Mathematics Learning Centre believes she has formulated effective – though not always popular – strategies that could benefit math students of all ages.
She will discuss these problems and their solutions on Thursday, Sept. 28, during a noon-1 p.m. lecture in room A-1049, Arts and Administration Building, as part of the Cognitive Science Lecture Series.
Dr. Mantyka explains that back in 1988, the province instituted a placement test to confirm or refute the notion that students were graduating high school with inadequate math skills. “The results were unambiguous. There was a huge pre-requisite skill deficit.”
The university subsequently established the Mathematics Learning Centre to give students who did poorly on that test a chance to gain foundational skills through individualized diagnosis and study.
Over time, Dr. Mantyka discovered a consistent trend: students could understand and perform certain mathematical tasks, but when they moved on to a more complex equation, they began to make mistakes in areas they had previously mastered.
Perplexed as to why bright, capable learners with strong achievement in other areas had these problems, she turned to cognitive psychologist Dr. Michael Rabinowitz, who explained that the human brain has large capacity to store information, but minimal capacity for active processing. Therefore, students did better if they learned the skill so well that it came automatically, instead of requiring conscious thought. The two professors set about finding ways to apply the concept of automaticity to math education.
“If students don’t acquire math skills to the level of automaticity, which is measured by accuracy and speed of finding the right answer, then they have trouble,” Dr. Mantyka explained. “Students first have to gain an understanding of the math. Then they have to do repetitious drills to get fast and accurate before they move on to the next level of sophistication.”
Dr. Mantyka has set down the methods that she and her colleagues have found most effective in a book called The Math Plague, set to be released this winter. The book is intended for teachers, parents and students or anyone else who wants to remedy math problems long before the university stage.


During the 1600s, Dutch still life painters were some of the highest paid artists! Painters would use items such as flowers, wine goblets, fruits and foods to create detailed paintings. Your child can learn more about still life painting as well as the Dutch influence on horticulture and art!
What You Do:
- Start by taking a closer look at famous Dutch still life paintings with your child by either by doing research online or heading to your local library.
- Now help your child to set up a still life in the style of the Dutch Masters by covering a workspace with a tablecloth. He can use the dining table as the base for his arrangement. This way when he’s done, there'll be a beautiful centerpiece for others to enjoy!
- Offer your child flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables, vases and bowls to create his detailed arrangement to use as his still life.
- Once he’s satisfied with his arrangement he can get out his paper and a pencil to create a first sketch. Encourage him to work lightly.
- Now he can get out the paints and begin painting his own Dutch still life creation! Encourage him to take his time and think about including lots of detail, just like the Dutch Masters did. This includes shapes, shadow, light and colors. Not only is he paying attention to detail, he’s honing his hand-eye coordination!
- His finished still life can be proudly displayed somewhere in the home for everyone to enjoy!
Did you know: Many of the Dutch Masters' still life paintings of flowers were often created by looking at studies or book illustrations and not actual flowers? This is how painters created stunning paintings depicting fresh bouquets of flowers that may have not been native to their homeland!
Sarah Lipoff has a K-12 Art Education degree and enjoys working with kids of all ages.


Online education is not just for adults. Just as online universities have changed the way college students view their educational options, online elementary school providers are giving parents an attractive alternative to the local schoolhouse.
Online Charter Schools
Online charter schools are independent schools that are funded by the government. Most importantly, their classes are conducted online. All materials and instruction are free to students. In some cases, states even pay to supply personal computers and Internet connections in students' homes. Students complete unit exams and other state required tests to ensure they're progressing at an appropriate pace. Their teachers can be reached through email and phone calls, and with occasional face-to-face visits.
Even though many online charter school students study at home, they are not considered homeschooled students. Instead, they are thought to attend a "home-based" public school. Just like other public school students, they don't have to pay for their own books and materials. Because the state pays for these things, online charter schools students must follow a state-approved curriculum.
While state tax dollars help to meet operating costs on a per student basis, charter schools are often also supported by independent curriculum companies. These companies help to standardize course content and maintain the schools' virtual infrastructures.
Private Cyber Schools
Private cyber schools are sometimes known as online academies. They offer packaged curriculums to homeschooled students, who pay out of pocket. These curriculums supplement independent homeschooling lessons. For example, a homeschooling parent may need help designing his science lessons, but prefer to draft all his own history classes.
An important point to note: private cyber school curriculums are often the same ones used by online charter schools. Charter school students get to access the materials for free, but they're bound to the charter school rules and administration. Homeschooled students can pay for the same lesson plans, and use them with free reign.
Umbrella schools earn their name because they cover all the aspects of homeschooling. Umbrella schools are not tied to state funds, and they also don't require parents to teach or grade. Umbrella schools evaluate student schoolwork and keep track of students' scores and progress. Many have a religious affiliation, which underscores the overall curriculum, but umbrella schools can be secular as well. In some cases, umbrella schools organize group activities just like a traditional school would, including field trips, class projects, and state mandated immunizations.
Why Do Parents Choose Online Elementary Education?
They can oversee the pace and intensity of their kids' education, making sure it's not too fast or too slow.
They can tailor lessons to accentuate kids' strengths and interests, building on talents and getting kids more involved.
They can access special options for gifted students or students with learning disabilities.
They can avoid threats of bullying or school violence.


Elementary Education: Project Aware
Middle and High School Education
Middle & High School Education
Sexual violence is an issue that young people in all communities face, regardless of race, ethnicity or economic background. MOCSA’s education presenters reach students in more than 30 school districts in the Kansas City metro area, on both sides of the state line. Our educators communicate challenging subject matter in a manner that is engaging, informative, realistic, and age-appropriate. MOCSA’s presentations utilize a variety of teaching methods, including group discussion, lecture, question and answer sessions, and activities designed to enhance learning and behavior chance. Our free-of-charge presentations are available in both English and Spanish.
Multi-session and single-session presentations are effective in increasing knowledge and awareness in topics such as healthy relationships, sexual harassment, consent, media, and more. Click here for a comprehensive list of topics covered.
Teen Exchange is a multi-session sexual violence prevention program that encompasses each of the topics in the above link. The curriculum focuses on identifying and developing healthy relationships and preventing sexual violence. An abbreviated Teen Exchange is available in a "Pick Three" format. MOCSA educators suggest the following combinations.
• For Middle School: Healthy Relationships, Sexual Harassment, and Bystander Engagement
• For High School: Consent in Relationships, Sexual Assault, and Gender & Violence
To request a presentation, email firstname.lastname@example.org or call (816) 931-4527.
Strength Clubs for boys is MOCSA’s multi-faceted program offering a proven model and a vital next step for engaging and re-educating young men toward the crucial goal of reducing levels of sexual violence. The program aims to mobilize young men to find and use their strength for creating a culture free from violence, especially men’s violence against women. Strength Clubs challenge members to develop their own definitions of healthy masculinity, and to translate their learning into leadership amongst their peers.
Strength Clubs for girls use the same basic model as the program for boys, and focuses on topics such as gender stereotypes, body image, violence against women, healthy relationships, consent, bystander engagement, and communication methods. Strength Clubs for girls and boys take place one hour a week, for a course of eight weeks.
MOCSA produced an original series of videos, using local high school actors, that opens the door for discussions with teenagers about the issues of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and bullying. The real student situations in Lockers help teens understand the causes and effects of the choices they make, and that something seemingly harmless can have serious consequences.
Based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for sexual violence curricula, Lockers includes five 10-minute video segments that are designed to be shown in a facilitated classroom or other type of group setting. The accompanying study guide expands on the topics, offering suggested discussion questions, activities, handouts, surveys, statistics, frequent asked questions, and more.
2012 INTERCOM Competition recipient: Silver Plaque, Educational – Youth Audience.
2012 Omni Award recipient: Bronze, Public Service.
Running Time: 51:54
Created by the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault. Produced by Monkjack Productions. Directed by Anthony Ladesich of Mile Deep Films. Edited by Cara Myers of Vespera Films. Closed Captioned by T2 + Back Alley Films.
Missouri Tax Exempt Organizations click here. Please fax your Missouri tax exempt letter to 816-931-4527. Upon receipt of the certificate, your product will be shipped.
All Other Buyers click here.
Click here to see MOCSA's Teen Book Recommendations on Amazon.com.
Tip Sheets for Teens:
- Sexual Harassment: What is it?, Get Help
- Sexual Assault: Consent, Hospitals, Get Help
- Drug Facilitated Rape: Common Drugs
- Dating Violence: Dating Violence Wheel, The Cycle, Help a Friend, Get Help
- Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships: Your Rights, Boundaries
- Media Safety: Safety Tips, Get Help
Tip Sheets for Adults:
- Love is Respect.org: Chat live with a Peer Advocate.
- Choose Respect: Sponsored by the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Common Sense Media: Learn about internet and media safety.
- MTV's A Thin Line: A campaign to stop digital abuse.
- That's Not Cool: A site with digital examples of, and resources for, teen dating abuse.
- The Safe Space: Learn about teen dating violence through videos, stories, and quizzes.
You can help prevent child sexual abuse. Visit the Children's Trust Fund website for more information.


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


A study released June 26 by the National Council on Teacher Quality shows elementary school teachers are not well prepared by education schools to teach math.
The study of 77 elementary education programs nationwide -- about 5 percent of those that offer undergraduate elementary school certification -- was released a few months after a federal panel reported that U.S. elementary school students have difficulty understanding fractions, which then blocks their understanding of more complicated material like algebra when they reach middle and high school.
Though most new teachers know their multiplication tables, “they don’t come to us knowing why multiplication works the way it does,” University of Georgia math and science professor Denise Mewborn told USA Today for a June 26 story.
This is yet more evidence that states need to loosen up on who is allowed to teach what in the classroom. There is a strong case to be made for alternative certification programs for career-changers who’ve had real-life experience in the business world and didn’t go to education school, said Trevor Martin, vice president of government affairs at The Heartland Institute.
“Teacher certification based on demonstrated real-world knowledge should be standard, not alternative,” said Martin. “By opening up the field to accomplished professionals from business, science, and engineering, teaching becomes a viable option for many of our country’s brightest minds, and competition is injected into our classrooms to determine who exactly is best fit to teach.”
Earlier this year, legislators in both Missouri and Utah expanded the presence of an existing program, the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence’s Passport to Teaching, to address teacher shortages and give mid-career professionals more opportunities to pass on their knowledge to a new generation.
“With the looming teacher shortage facing Utah, it was imperative that alternative routes to teacher certification be made available to qualified professionals seeking to bring their talents into the classroom,” said Utah Rep. Greg Hughes (R-Draper), chairman of the House Education Committee. “Our mutual goal is to provide the children of Utah with great teachers.”
Karla Dial (firstname.lastname@example.org) is managing editor of School Reform News.


Numeracy skills are "blighting" millions of people's lives, as they struggle to understand their payslips or calculate money in shops, education campaigners warned on Friday.
Being bad at maths should no longer be seen as a "badge of honour" or down to genetics, according to National Numeracy. The new organisation, which aims to challenge the nation's entrenched negative view of the subject, has warned the UK's attitude to maths must change.
Chris Humphries, chair of the group, said that poor numeracy skills will leave people at a higher risk of being excluded from school, or out of work as an adult.
Figures from a Government survey, published last year, show that 17 million adults in England have basic maths skills that are, at best, the same as an 11-year-olds, he said.
The Skills for Life survey, which questioned 7,000 16 to 65-year-olds, show that almost half of the working age population has numeracy skills roughly the same as those expected of primary school children, and the proportion has risen (from 47% to 49%) in the last eight years.
Speaking at the launch of National Numeracy, Humphries, former chief executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, said: "That's a scary figure, because what it means is they often can't understand deductions on their payslip, they often can't calculate or give change.
"They have problems with timetables, they are certainly going to have problems with tax and even with interpreting graphs, charts and metres that are necessary for their jobs."
He added: "It does matter, poor numeracy seriously blights an individual's life chances.
"Young people with poor numeracy are twice as likely to be excluded from school, we know adults with poor numeracy are twice as likely to be unemployed."
Humphries said that poor maths skills are also "highly damaging to the UK economy".
Mike Ellicock, chief executive of National Numeracy, said: "We want to challenge this 'I can't do maths' attitude that is prevalent in the UK.
"And it's often a boast, or a badge of honour and that's across the whole of the social spectrum."
He added: "A huge part of the message is breaking down this view that's held in this country that maths is a can do, can't do thing, that 'It's genetic, I can't do it, my mum couldn't do it' and that kind of thing.
"There's absolutely no evidence for that whatsoever."
Ellicock said it was vital that all primary school teachers understand key maths concepts, as young children who fail to learn the basics will suffer later on.
"For my money Key Stage 1 (five to seven-year-olds) is the crucial area, so there has been talk about having specialist maths teachers in Years 5 and 6, but my view is Key Stage 1 is crucial, and if you look at children and young adults that struggle with maths later in their lives you can pretty quickly trace it back to the ideas that they met in Key Stage 1."
A YouGov poll of 2,068 adults, commissioned by National Numeracy, reveals that while four in five (80%) would feel embarrassed to tell someone they were bad at reading and writing, just more than half (56%) would feel embarrassed about saying the same of their maths skills.
Humphries suggested that the relevance of maths has been "downgraded" in the UK, and that since the Second World War, more attention has been paid to the arts and humanities.
He also warned that international studies show that the UK is lagging behind other nations.
In 2006, it was ranked 17th out of 30 developed nations in terms of the proportion of people with low or no qualifications, with 35% at that level, double the number of countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany and Sweden.
Humphries said that National Numeracy was at the start of an "ambitious" journey.
"The history of attitudes and concerns about mathematics in the UK, and particularly in England, date back 40 years, and we're quite realistic, we don't expect to transform this particular issue overnight."
He added that there was no "straight answer" as to why the UK had a poor attitude towards maths.
"I think it's a whole history of struggling with maths in the past, downgrading the relevance of maths, so that there was a much stronger focus that we had in this country since the war on the arts and humanities and social science that maths became slightly less trendy, progressively not as many people did maths," he said.


According to a story in today's Guardian, a UK school curriculum reform commission has proposed that primary students should be required to become proficient in web-based and digital tools like Twitter, Wikipedia, blogging and podcasting.
Here's more on the proposed curriculum changes:
"Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum, the Guardian has learned.
However, the draft plans will require children to master Twitter and Wikipedia and give teachers far more freedom to decide what youngsters should be concentrating on in classes.
The proposed curriculum, which would mark the biggest change to primary schooling in a decade, strips away hundreds of specifications about the scientific, geographical and historical knowledge pupils must accumulate before they are 11 to allow schools greater flexibility in what they teach.
The proposal would require children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts,
Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of
communication. They must gain "fluency" in handwriting and keyboard
skills, and learn how to use a spellchecker alongside how to spell."


A unique approach to early literacy work with families where children develop their language skills and their ability to read and write from an early age has had a huge success.
Researchers from the University of Sheffield funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) initially planned to use the approach with around 60 families, but discovered that around 6,000 had actually benefited from their work.
Professor Cathy Nutbrown of the University of Sheffield, who led the project, shared her approach to family literacy with Early Years practitioners including nursery workers, teachers, child-minders and family support units to help them plan and evaluate their family literacy work.
A report by the National Literacy Trust in May this year found that children in the UK are more likely to lack the basic reading and writing skills than children in Australia or Canada - even though the UK spends four per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on family benefits relating to children compared to 1.2 per cent in the USA and 1.4 per cent in Canada.
The Sheffield research team further developed the 'ORIM Framework in the Raising Early Achievement in Literacy' project in the late 1990s. The framework focuses on four key elements: opportunities, recognition, interaction and models (ORIM). The key to the framework is that it highlights parents’ roles and offers ideas for how they can help their child.
Opportunities included resources for engaging with literacy such as books, writing materials, and use opportunities to see and discuss printed work.
Recognition showed parents the small steps in literacy progress their children were making to encourage their efforts.
Interaction outlined situations where parents could positively involve themselves in literacy activities - writing birthday cards, saying nursery rhymes, reading stories or spotting print images in the neighbourhood.
Modelling was where the parents lead by example and their children could see that they were using reading, writing and print in everyday life.
Around 20 practitioners learned the theory behind the practical work they do and how it can benefit children's literacy. They agreed to adopt the framework and report back on its application, how they adapted it, and impact. Most said that it helped promote many activities including enhancing parents' recognition of the reading behaviour in three and four year-old bilingual children, encouraging talk in two year olds and encouraging young, reluctant boys to begin communicating with writing.
"We have been excited to see how the Early Years practitioners involved in this project are taking our ideas and developing them further to work with parents who have young children, so that they can help develop their interest in literacy from an early age," says Professor Nutbrown.
Professor Nutbrown was delighted to discover that the initial 20 practitioners had shared the approach with some 300 colleagues, far more than anticipated. She added: "This has greatly exceeded our expectations and by the end of the project the new approach reached over 6,000 families."
For further information contact:
Professor Cathy Nutbrown
Telephone 0114 222 8139
ESRC Press Office:
This release is based on the findings from the Framework for Early Literacy Development with Parents: Opportunities, Recognition, Interaction and Models funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and carried out by Cathy Nutbrown at Sheffield University. The project built on the results of two earlier projects - REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) and Making it REAL (in Collaboration with the National Children's Bureau).
The ORIM Framework and details of the whole project 'A Framework for Early Literacy Development with Parents' will feature prominently during International Literacy Day on the 8 September 2012.
The project involved active sharing of the ORIM Framework with preschool practitioners working with young children and their families followed by collection and analysis of field reports and results to build a variety of case studies that demonstrate the benefits of the approach.
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC’s total budget for 2012/13 is £205 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes. More at www.esrc.ac.uk


Ice Cream is a quintessential part of summer! But it also makes for a great (and delicious) science experiment…no fancy machine or cranking required!
This ‘recipe’ was adapted from Steve Spangler Science.
Here’s what you’ll need: 2 sandwich-sized baggies, 2 gallon-sized baggies, 1/2 cup half-&-half (or milk), 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, ice, 1/2 cup of rock salt, and winter gloves.
*You can print off the step-by-step instructions by downloading your own free copy of our Fascinating Science for Kids ebook.
1. Pour 1/2 cup of half-&-half or milk into one of your sandwich-sized baggies. We used milk and it worked wonderfully. Add 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Get all of the air out and then seal the bag. Place your filled bag into another sandwich-sized baggie and seal.
2. Put your double-bag inside of a gallon-sized baggie and add your ice and 1/2 cup of rock salt. Place this bag inside another gallon-sized bag (you will have 2 small bags and 1 large bag inside).
3. Have your child put on some winter gloves and start shaking!
Shake the bag for about 15-20 minutes, passing it around the various members of the family!
I put a dishcloth around the bag when it was Little Brother’s turn…he karate-chopped it more than anything, but it turned out just fine!
All done! Nice and soft, but still slightly solid!
Ready to be served! This only makes a serving of ice cream. If you want to double the recipe, you can (just use quart-sized baggies instead of sandwich-sized). Don’t attempt to do any more than doubling, though, or it will be too heavy for the child to carry when you add ice and rock salt.
Little Brother approved!
Definitely Big Brother approved! He was SUPER excited about how yummy “his” ice cream turned out!
The Science Behind It:
The salt lowers the temperature at which ice freezes, or raises the temperature at which it melts (which is why we use it on the roads in the winter). Instead of melting at 32 degree Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius), the rock salt causes the ice to melt at a temperature much lower, depending on how much salt you add. The more rock salt you use, the lower the temperature the ice will melt at. This creates an environment that the ice cream mixture can freeze below the normal 32 degrees. Then the salt/ice slush absorbs the heat from the cream mixture, lowering the temp of the cream and causing the cream to ‘ice’, creating the yummy ice cream texture!
Download your free Science eBook with this experiment and 14 others by clicking below and entering your e-mail address. You’ll immediately receive an e-mail that will have the link to the eBook! If you would rather not be an e-mail subscriber, “like” us on Facebook and then send us a private message to claim your FREE eBook.


February is Black History Month and teachers and homeschooling parents across the nation will be looking for new ways to incorporate it into their lesson plans.
Target and the Smithsonian Institution have developed a free and downloadable curriculum for every grade level.
It's easy to access.
You can download or print straight from the site.
Scroll down and you'll see a Classroom button. Click on it.
Then you'll be able to scroll through and find your grade and select the lessons you choose to use.
It's all free.
Here's an example of a kindergarten through second-grade lesson:
Art and Life of William H. Johnson: Rural Life in South Carolina
This lesson has been adapted from Art and Life of William H. Johnson: A Guide for Teachers, produced by the education department of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (http://americanart.si.edu/education/guides/whj).
These standards are achieved through guided work with the teacher.
U.S. History (from the National Center for History in the Schools)
- Topic 1. Living and Working Together in Families and Communities, Now and Long Ago
- Standard 1. Students understand family life now and in the recent past, and family life in various places long ago.
- Standard 2. History of students’ local community and how communities in North America varied long ago.
Visual Arts (from the National Art Education Association)
- N-VA.3. Visual Arts: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas.
- N-VA.4. Visual Arts: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Language Arts (from the National Council of Teachers of English)
- N.12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
- To examine two works by the artist William H. Johnson
- To understand how a painting can tell a story
- To develop vocabulary using a painting as a prompt
One 45-minute class
- William H. Johnson painted images from his own life.
- A painting tells a story through shapes, colors, objects, and activities.
shapes, colors, objects, activities, family, community
Materials and Reproducibles
- William H. Johnson, Early Morning Work, ca. 1940, oil on burlap, 38 ½ x 45 5/8 in. (97.8 x 115.9 cm). Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of the Harmon Foundation
- William H. Johnson, Cotton Pickers, ca. 1940, watercolor and pencil on paper sheet, 10 ¾ x 11 ½ in. (27.4 x 29.2 cm) irregular. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of the Harmon Foundation
Background Information (for the teacher)
Part One Listing the pictures’ elements
Hand out images of Early Morning Work and Cotton Pickers, or display them on a computer screen. Working as a class, fill in the columns of the graphic organizer (on the board, chart paper, or the computer) in the following way:
- Ask students to identify all the colors found in the paintings.
- Ask them to identify all the shapes.
- Ask them to identify plants, animals, farm equipment, and any other objects.
- Finally, have them list the activities being performed in the paintings. These can include actions that change facial expressions and body posture.
Part Two Creating an artwork
After reviewing the final lists of words, tell students that they will create an artwork (a drawing, painting, or collage) that includes two colors, two shapes, two objects, and two actions from the lists.
Part Three Concluding or extension activity
Working individually, in pairs, or in small groups, students now draw or paint an uninhabited landscape on a large sheet of plain drawing paper or mural-sized craft paper. Next, they cut figures from the prints of Johnson’s works and arrange them on their drawn or painted environment. In this way they “collaborate” with William H. Johnson to create a collage.
A Journey Through Art with W.H. Johnson http://americanart.si.edu/education/johnson/index.html
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Art at Seldens Landing
Art is the most ancient and basic form of human communication. The need to communicate visually is within every human being to some degree, and it is crucial for an advanced-thinking society to continue to foster these internal needs on an academic level. Here at Seldens Landing, we use art class to allow students to exercise these basic human needs, as well as foster important developmental motor skills and creative thinking skills. As illustrated in Daniel Pink's book, "A Whole New Mind", for a society to succeed, it must strive to make art education and creative thinking a top priority. Art is far more than decorative - it allows us to learn about the world and about ourselves through the use of visual language. At Seldens Landing we understand this and implement this understanding within the art curriculum.
15 Things Your Child Learns from Art:
1. Develops creative thinking.
2. Provides means of communication and self-expression.
3. Serves as an emotional release.
4. Strengthens the self-concept and confidence.
5. Increases self-understanding.
6. Heightens aesthetic awareness and sensitivity.
7. Enhances the ability to visualize.
8. Provides problem-solving/decision-making opportunities.
9. Develops appreciation for the individuality of others.
10. Leads to the integration of the individual.
11. Serves as a balance to classroom activities.
12. Aids physical coordination.
13. Develops work habits and a sense of responsibility.
14. Aids the adult in understanding and helping the child.
15. Generates joy.


Music Teacher Workshop : Creativity in the Classroom: Lets Write a Song Part 1
This is a must read by Marla Lewis that shows you how to teach kids to write a song.
Music Teacher Workshop : Creativity in the Classroom: Lets Write a Song Part 2
More from Marla Lewis builds on part 1.
Making The Most Of Circle Time And Music
Circle time expert Susan Salidor reveals her secrets
Ray Day discusses the creation of adaptive devices to help all children play music
Musical Resources: Online Guide to the Symphony Orchestra
Sandy Toms' collection of resources for and by teachers
Ready, Set, Music! Music Resources For Educators
The K-12 National Standards, PreK Standards, and What They Mean to Music Educators
from Larry Newman articles & resources for teachers
more from Larry Newman: this is a huge collection of great links
Franklin Institute's music hotlist - good broad list of links
Susan Galentine's Music Education Gal site with resources to simplify the lesson planning, professional development, and classroom life of the music educator
The Texas School Music Project (TSMP) This site helps you make music with children by providing ideas and information about specific problems common to all specialists in your discipline, and teaching tips and "tricks of the trade" for music educators of all levels.
glossary of musical terms
José Rodríguez Alvira's Music Theory Web
http://www.songsforteaching.com/ great stuff.Creative teachers can use music to teach content across the curriculum -- to students of all ages. A host of educational experts brings you tested ideas for using the magic of music in your lesson plans. Educational songs from popular artists are presented by subject.
Mary Flynn's song resource for teacher
Sandy Jones' songs for teaching resource
classic, some with midi
for more like this: classic songs
Music Education @ DataDragon.com [ Teens ] - Learn how to read and count music notation, see and hear musical instruments, and learn about musical genres.
Marycliff Productions: Piano keyboard lessons on dvd or video with music book
teaching english w/ music
The internet center for choral music
The Choral Public Domain Library - the largest website devoted exclusively to free choral sheet music.
Avi Ariav's free music scores. Print your own music sheets.
Jonathan Savage and Will Evans music teaching and research resource
Elizabeth Rexford's The Virtual Museum of Music Inventions. Galleries and teacher resources for homemade musical instruments.
A great collection of art oriented links, including a large music section.
This is an incredibly fun resourece from Naftali Lahav. Tools for teaching guitar. Build instruments from kits with your students in the classroom. Wide age range.
Amy Hinson's great oboe site, designed as a resource for oboe-challenged band directors, parents of young oboists, and oboists who don't have the opportunity to take private lessons.
Jari Villanueva's great taps and bugling resource
Flutes Are Fun: Jennifer Grady's Flute resource
Play The Guitar: Guitar information and instruction, with an emphasis on acoustic guitar.
Edmunds Mickus' Music in Latvia teaching resources


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ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you.
News | October 24, 2012
IRA and NCTE Offer Resources to Address Common Core State Standards
IRA and NCTE are pleased to offer a wide array of resources to aid in the successful implementation of the English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
IRA recently released guidelines to address the need for a link between reading instruction and the ELA CCSS. These guidelines provide teachers and educational leaders with recommendations on how to integrate many of the central ideas of the standards into effective practice. They represent a consensus of the thinking of literacy leaders in the field who support thoughtful implementation of the standards for student literacy achievement.
The guidelines from IRA capture the most pressing issues in clear language, point out their significance for those responsible for implementation, and then offer clear guidance on accomplishing the task at hand. Seven specific issues are addressed, including:
- Challenging texts
- Foundational skills
- Disciplinary literacy
- Diverse learners
Visit the CCSS guidelines webpage to download for FREE the guidelines white paper/statement entitled Literacy Implementation Guidance for the ELA Common Core State Standards and to join the IRA CCSS Resources mailing list for future notifications. To see IRA’s current offerings of CCSS-related materials, including books, journals, webinars, and more, visit www.reading.org/elacommoncore.
NCTE offers books, online courses and events, journal articles, and more to support the teacher’s focus on keeping students at the center of instruction. These can be found on the Common Core State Standards Resources page. These resources from NCTE show how to keep students at the center of every classroom, providing examples of upholding NCTE principles in a time of Core Standards, and supporting teachers and schools with interpreting the CCSS and planning units of instruction keeping students at the center and teachers as decision-makers.
In addition to general materials, NCTE also offers resources on the instructional shifts associated with the Common Core State Standards:
- Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are grounded in evidence from the text.
- All students need regular practice with complex texts.
- Students need to build knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts.
- Literacy is a shared responsibility.


At the University of Kansas in the late 1930s, William P. Foster was barred from joining the marching band because he was black.
When he graduated in 1941, he aspired to direct a band but the school's dean of music told him "there were no jobs for colored conductors," Foster told Florida's Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 1998.
He took those discouraging words as a challenge to create his own band, he later said.
In 1946 he founded the Florida A&M Marching 100 band, and over the next 50 years turned it into one of the best college bands in the nation as he popularized high-step marching and swinging showmanship.
Foster died Saturday of pneumonia at a Tallahassee, Fla., hospital, said a university spokeswoman. He was 91.
He helped revolutionize marching-band style by introducing the sounds and dance moves of black popular culture into halftime shows at the historically black university.
"Dr. Foster had an indelible impact on college marching bands," Frank Wickes, the longtime director of Louisiana State University's marching band, told The Times in an e-mail. "He pioneered the high-energy style which was emulated by the majority of African American university marching bands nationwide."
The band's style became internationally famous under his leadership. "They were legendary," said Paula Crider, president of the American Bandmasters Assn., a group that Foster had also presided over.
By the 1970s many of the dominant bands in the country incorporated Foster's techniques, according to a 2003 San Jose Mercury News interview with Darryl Lassiter, who made the film "Pay the Price" about a marching band at a fictional black college.
Foster combined precise marching formations with snazzy dance steps, singing and strutting.
In 1989 the band was chosen by France to be the sole U.S. representative in a Paris parade celebrating the bicentennial of the French Revolution. They marched and danced to James Brown tunes.
"There's a psychology to running a band," Foster told the New York Times in 1989. "People want to hear the songs they hear on the radio; it gives them an immediate relationship with you. And then there's the energy. … Dazzle them with it."
William Patrick Foster was born Aug. 25, 1919, in Kansas City, Kan., to a railway clerk and his wife.
He took up the clarinet at 12 and in high school was student director of the band. When he was 17, he directed an all-city band in Kansas City.
He enrolled at the University of Kansas "to get a good education" and when segregation prevented him from fully participating, Foster held his "head high" and "worked toward the next achievement," he told the Wichita Eagle in 2006.
After receiving his bachelor's degree in music education, he earned a master's in 1950 from Wayne State University in Detroit and a doctorate in 1955 from the Teachers College at Columbia University.
When he formed the Marching 100, he coined the name as a goal for membership, and the band continues to use the name even though it has grown to more than 400 members.
He directed the McDonald's All-American High School Band for a dozen years beginning in 1980.
He also wrote two books, "Band Pageantry" (1968), which was widely used as a handbook to his distinct style, and a memoir, "The Man Behind the Baton," published after he retired in 1998.
Band members called their charismatic director "the Law," because he wanted them to do it his way or not at all.
Foster's wife of 68 years, Mary Ann, died in 2007. He is survived by two sons, William and Anthony, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.


National Programs for Middle Schools During March
NAESP encourages members to look into these national programs that are available to middle schools to participate in during the month of March:
American Red Cross Month
A time to commemorate the American Red Cross involvement in domestic disaster relief, community services that help the needy; support and comfort for military members and their families; the collection, processing and distribution of lifesaving blood and blood products; educational programs that promote health and safety; and international relief and development programs.
Music in Our Schools Month
Sponsored by the National Association for Music Education to communicate the importance of music in the learning experience of all students.
National Nutrition Month
Sponsored annually by the American Dietetic Association to promote the importance of healthful eating and physical activity habits all year long.
Youth Art Month
Sponsored by the Council for Art Education to emphasize the importance of art activities and encourage schools and youth groups to support their art programs.


This is the nation’s first public school district to give every kindergartener an iPad. And the implementation was done very carefully, with the research component built in from the start, not added as an after-thought.
This fall, the district randomly selected 8 of its 16 kindergarten classes to receive iPads. There’s been ongoing professional development to help the teachers incorporate the devices into literacy instruction.
In December, iPads were rolled out to the rest of the classes. Assessments of all students’ literacy were made at the beginning of the year and again in December. The initial assessments and research has focused on literacy skills, but the researchers are also looking at how iPads might affect numeracy skills as well.
Of the assessments that were made, the results all trended positive, with students in the group that received iPads at the beginning of the school year performing better on average than students in the comparison group. However, the differences between these two groups were not statistically significant, except in one area. That is, students with the iPads exhibited a substantial increase in their scores on the Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words (HWSIW) test, a test of a student’s phonetical awareness, assessing their ability to make the sound and letter connection.
via Hack Education


Journal of Effective Teaching
In this article, I reflect on the pedagogical decisions I made when I taught a course on gendered literacies during the 2008/2009 presidential campaign. I specifically focus on what I term the “Hillary” phenomenon, the media’s often negative and unflattering portrayal of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. I start with a brief exploration of my goals for teaching current events; I then discuss student perceptions of Hillary Clinton’s role in politics, and I show the importance of paying attention to students’ social influences that, in Arizona, are often marked by “fear and trepidation” when it comes to political change. I show the importance of using examples from Clinton’s writing, and I point toward pedagogical reasons for engaging students in discussions that address our positionalities in a variety of discourse communities. I conclude by pointing out that we need to encourage students to think critically about their own roles in perpetuating current value systems by challenging their assumptions about gender roles, race relations, sexual orientation, or class systems.
Keywords: Classroom practices, women and politics, women and the media, gender discrimination, social expectations, discourse communities, identity and literacy development.
The Journal of Effective Teaching ©2011 All rights reserved.


Geography B (9035)
This is our current GCSE specification.
For our new specifications see:
GCSE Geography B offers a different approach to delivering Geography, focusing on geographical issues and challenges and how these affect our world.
This course offers:
- a stimulating and imaginative issue-based approach to Geography
- an insight into future challenges through the study of current issues of local, national and global importance
- an awareness of mankind's responsibilities to other people, the environment and the sustainability of the planet.
Study of this course will give students of all backgrounds the opportunity to develop:
- communication skills
- graphical and cartographical skills
- technological skills, including ICT and GIS
- interpersonal skills through debate and discussion
- literacy and numeracy skills
- problem-solving skills
- entrepreneurial skills and awareness of career possibilities.
This course has 25 per cent controlled assessment and is suitable for students wishing to study a variety of subjects at a higher level.
Spelling, punctuation and grammar
Use our interactive spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG) resource to give you and your students guidance on how SPaG is assessed. The resource contains five examples with different selected SPaG marks.
Our step-by-step guide to GCSE Geography controlled assessment is designed to support you and make the process clearer. From contacting your controlled assessment adviser to task marking and standardisation, download the guide to make sure you have all the support materials you need. This guide is relevant to both specification A and specification B.
Get news, updates and inspiration
- Last date to conduct computer based exam for May/June 2016 Business & Communication Systems 413009
- Last date for AQA and the moderator to receive internally-assessed marks for May/June 2016, except for Art and Design, Dance (units 3 & 4), Drama, Performing Arts (units 2 & 4) and Physical Education
- Last date to conduct writing tests and despatch to the AQA examiner for May/June 2016 MFL unit 4 Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Italian, Spanish and Urdu
Codes and references
|Specification title||Geography B|


Starting today, I’ll be sharing activities that will improve fine motor skills. Remember the importance of working on foundational skills before you start working on fine motor activities. For example, you’ll want to make sure that your child has good postural control, and is skilled with large and medium motor tasks before moving on to fine motor skills. Control and stability are important prerequisite skills for fine motor activities such as writing and cutting!
Hand Separation: The hand can be divided into 2 separate sides. The pinky and ring finger side is for stability. The thumb, index and middle finger perform manipulation skills. It is important to be able to separate the two sides of the hand when it comes to fine motor skills. As you can see in the photo above, I am stabilizing two coins using my pinky and ring fingers, yet I am still able to hold and manipulate a quarter using my thumb, index and middle finger. In the video below, I am performing translation skills. When I pick up the buttons and bring them into my palm, this is called finger-to-palm translation. As I bring one button out to my fingertips at a time, while stabilizing the others in my palm, this is called palm-to-finger translation with stabilization. This is a great exercise for working on hand separation! A similar activity is to have your child put coins into a piggy bank.
Resource: Exner, C.E. (1997). Clinical interpretation of “In-hand manipulation in children: translation movements, American Journal of Occupational Therapy, (9), 729-32.


Find your particular content area among the links below. Go to that section and peruse the articles; select one of interest to you. Outline this article and prepare a five to ten minute oral presentation on it for your class. Develop discussion questions to accompany your presentation and then lead the discussion.
English Science Mathematics Social Studies Speech Pathology Elementary Education Health Physical Education
By now you should have a very good idea of the issues, topics, and problems involved in educating ESL/LEP students in general and in your specific subject area. You are a preservice teacher and are fortunate to be in a program that considers this information vital to your preparation. The general state of preservice teacher education in this area is not always so sanguine. Go to the section on Teacher Education and LEP students. Here you will find several articles that discuss precisely this issue: the importance of including this information in a teacher preparation program. Select an article, read it, and then write a one page rebuttal or agreement according to what you have learned and now think on the subject.
Teacher Education and LEP Students
Will the LEP Train Reach Its Destination? Designing an IHE Teacher Training Program for Specific LEP Student Instructional Needs
John E. Steffens
Educational Research and Teacher Training for Successfully Teaching LEP Students
Carl A. Grant
Teachers for Language Minority Students: Evaluating Professional Standards
Evaluating Limited English Proficient Teacher Training and In-Service Programs
Stephanie Dalton and Ellen Moir
Return to the ESL/LEP home page
Return to the ESL-Activities page
Jean W. LeLoup
Modern Languages Department
Copyright © 2000, 2014 Jean W. LeLoup; technical modifications Bob Ponterio


This course is designed to extend the student's range of expression
and communication through art by encouraging in-depth exploration
of two and/or three-dimensional media, as well as challenge conceptual
issues of contemporary art. Students learn strategies for incorporating
new concepts and processes in the public school art classroom.
The course is offered on demand by prior arrangement with the
art department chair.
This course is designed to develop strategies for incorporating
creative approaches to instruction through an in-depth discussion
of visual art. Emphasis placed on recognizing creative behavior
in the classroom as well as enhancing/encouraging the creative
process in students. Learn how to apply such strategies in extending
student's artistic expression and communication and in encouraging
student's in-depth exploration of two and/or three-dimensional
media. The course is offered on demand by prior arrangement with
the art department chair.
This course is to provide a thorough understanding of the stylistic
developments in painting and sculpture from the mid 19th century
through Post-Modernism in contemporary art. It couples a
intense survey of these movements and the artists who fueled them
with discussions on employing art history concepts in art education
in the public schools.
This course consists of a discussion of Chinese painting, calligraphy,
sculpture and architecture, as well as folk art. Other consideration
will be given to a comparison of the Western painting with Chinese
painting, and Western sculpture and Chinese sculpture. Sculptures
of Qin, Han, and Tang Dynasties (220BC-907 AD) as well as paintings
of Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties (960-1911) will be given
special emphasis. Final attention will focus on the hands-on practice
of student in creating art works using Chinese traditional media.
This course consists of a discussion of aesthetics and philosophy
of eastern art. Eastern painting and sculpture will be introduced.
Major philosophy schools will be introduced. Various ways of appreciating
Eastern Art will be discussed. Differentiate Western art and Eastern
art. Other class topics consists of practical experience of creating
Chinese painting and calligraphy, as well as seal, using traditional
Chinese art media.
This course takes a comparative approach to a study of both Western
and Eastern art. Contents will focus on some of the topics so
as to discuss in greater depth: the relationship between nature
and human being, the evolution of imagery concepts, the methods
of expression, and other areas relating to cultural context. Arts
of a variety of media will be discussed. Learning experiences
will include exploratory activities of working with new technology,
including the Internet and CD-ROM.
This course consists of a discussion of development and aesthetics
of American art. American painting, sculpture, architecture, and
decorative arts will be introduced. Major art schools will be
introduced. Differences and similarities between American art
and European art, as well as various ways of appreciating American
art will be discussed.
Historical and aesthetic study of contemporary Chinese art, with
special focus on the impact of particular historic events, the
achievement of each main period, and the ongoing issue of modernity.
This course explores the nature of contemporary Chinese art while
probing to its development under the influence of Western arts.
The characteristics of Chinese art will be compared to those in
Europe and America as social and cultural phenomena. A critical
analysis of Chinese art after openings of economy and culture
to the international community is included.


Avery Molek’s drum cover of Guns & Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” is fast becoming legend, amassing more than 1.6 million views on YouTube during the past year. What makes Molek’s performance truly remarkable is that he is only seven years old.
Molek’s cover (which, if you haven’t seen, is worth a view) showcases his prodigious skills and leads one to ask – how might his command of the drums help him develop other abilities?
“The research is out there that the act of learning music will potentially help children achieve higher understanding math, science and reading,” says Nollie Moore, assistant professor of music at Columbia College of Missouri. “I think (music education) is a critical piece for intellectual, emotional and social development.”
According to a 2006 study by Dr. Laurel Trainor, professor of psychology, neuroscience and behavior at McMaster University, children who received music instruction demonstrated “different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year” when compared to children who did not take music lessons. Trainor also found that children who took music lessons did better on memory tests measuring mathematics, verbal memory and literacy than children who did not take music lessons.
Another compelling argument for music education comes from the National Endowment for the Arts. In its 2012 study examining K-12 children, the NEA found that children in the eighth grade having high levels of arts engagement from kindergarten through elementary school scored higher on writing and science tests than their counterparts who did not have similar exposure during that time.
While a case can be made that music education might enhance a child’s ability to learn math and science, there’s more to it than that. Moore and others feel that music provides a one-of-a-kind outlet for children to express themselves, and helps children experience feelings and creativity unique to the arts.
“Music is an expression of the human experience and emotions,” Moore said. “I believe it’s important that we learn how to experience beauty and empathy. It’s part of being a healthy human being.”
Moore, who has two sons, says that while parents should be concerned with how their child is progressing in math and science, it’s important not to lose sight of the arts. “We ought to be concerned that we’re raising children that are healthy emotionally and can … express themselves emotionally. I think the arts in general allow for that, and I think music is, quite simply, built for that.”
So, if you’re looking to give your child a leg up in regard to their overall development, consider introducing them to music. Watch Molek’s video and consider replacing your child’s plastic “Rock Band” guitar with a Fender Stratocaster. Or, if they share Molek’s penchant for percussion, give your child a drum set that would make Rush’s Neil Peart green with envy. You might be amazed by the results.


MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILL, AND INSIGHT ARE NOT INherited characteristics, but are acquired. Musical pedagogy, or music education, concerns the processes through which musical knowledge, skill, and insight are acquired. Research in musical pedagogy applies to the problems of music education methods of thinking that have revealed what is known about music through acoustics, psychophysiology, aesthetics, and other related fields of study.
The auxiliary science that contributes most directly to musical pedagogy is psychology. What general psychology teaches about the educative process is applied to the specific problems of music education. Performance on an instrument is studied as sensorimotor learning. The psychological laws of learning can be applied to piano playing as well as to handwriting. For a rough definition in psychological terms, the learning process is the process of acquiring the ability to make the correct response to a given stimulus. Five steps may be distinguished in the process: mental set or adjustment; selection of the correct response; elimination of the unsuccessful act; fixation of learned responses; and integration of the separate acts into a unified whole.1____________________


How to Help Prevent Summer Regression
by KIRSTEN MYERS
Executive Director of Special Services
Rockford Public Schools
While summer vacation is a highlight for any child and family, it is also a time when students forget a good deal of what they learned the previous school year. As a result, the first several weeks of each new school year is spent on assessing where students are in relationship to where they should be coming into the next grade level. This can be challenging to both parents and teachers alike as many weeks are spent reviewing and recouping literacy and numeracy skills lost over the summer vacation.
Helping your child to retain what they learned last year doesn’t mean a summer vacation full of hours spent crying over worksheets, tutoring or taking classes. There are several ways, noted below, in which parents can help prevent their child from losing information that they learned during the previous grade. It is as simple as spending 20 to 30 minutes per day on a few mathematical equations coupled with time spent reading high interest books.
Tablets or Computers—An easy and motivating way to retain skills is to have your child play educational games on a tablet or computer. The Educational Freeware website, www.educational-freeware.com, provides users with reviews of the best free learning games, software and websites. Additionally, Kahn Academy, offers over 3,200 videos on everything from arithmetic to physics and offers hundreds of skills to practice. With Kahn Academy, students can review previous skills and prepare for the next school year while working at their own pace.
Free Worksheets—There are several numeracy and literacy websites online that offer free printable worksheets. You can find specific skill worksheets by typing your child’s grade followed by the term “free math/literacy worksheets” into your search bar, and you will have a plethora of worksheets to choose from. Simply print the worksheets and allocate a small amount of time each day to work on them.
Workbooks—One of the easiest ways to help a child retain the information they learned last year is to purchase a skills workbook at your local bookstore. Educational workbooks are easy to find as they are nearly always labeled by grade level.
The Library—Reading is critical for students as it is the gateway to all learning. To help your child retain their reading skills over the summer, visit your local library and choose books that are of high interest to your child. Additionally, most city libraries have a Summer Reading Program where children fill out forms to show how much they’ve read which may make them eligible to win small prizes from the library.
Parents, teachers and students can agree that when regression occurs, it makes moving forward in their academic subjects that much more challenging when the new school year starts. With a little family time and dedication, you can help your child retain the material they learned last year in preparation for the 2012/2013 school year.