Hobbies Playing Music A Guide to the Staccato Articulation The Definition of Staccato Share PINTEREST Email Print Adam Hester / Getty Images Playing Music Playing Piano Tutorials Piano Chords Buying Advice Music Education Playing Guitar Home Recording By Brandy Kraemer Updated April 17, 2019 The staccato is a music articulation which indicates that a music note should be played separated from its neighboring notes. A word of Italian origin, staccato literally means "detached." Similar terms for this musical effect include the French détaché and piqué, and the German kurz, abgeschmackt and abgestossen. Music that is played staccato creates a contrast to the singing style of the legato articulation. An exaggerated version of the staccato is staccatissimo, also of Italian origin. When written in succession, the staccato creates a short, percussive effect, similar to heeled shoes tapping on the pavement or rain pattering against a window. Since the staccato creates an articulation that is crisp and short, it can be applied to pitched or unpitched music. Notating the Staccato in Music In music notation, the staccato is marked with a small black dot that is placed directly above or below the notehead. The staccato should not be confused with a dotted note, where the dot is placed beside the notehead and changes the value of the note. Examples of the Staccato The staccato articulation is used frequently in all genres of music. However, it may be difficult to detect the staccato if you are not yet familiar with its characteristics. Listening to some music that contains only staccato articulations may be a good way to better understand how the staccato sounds in music performance. Some of these examples can be easily found on YouTube: Piano example: Anton Rubinstein, Etude in C, Op. 23, No. 2Flute example: Joachim Anderson, 24 Etudes for Flute, Op. 33, Study No. 15Cello example: David Popper, High School of Cello Playing, Op. 73, No. 1 Staccato Technique Playing staccato notes accurately in music performance requires musicians to develop staccato technique. The technical approach to staccato execution varies by instrument, but because it is a common technical requirement, many études (also called studies or exercises) are written to hone in on this technical skill. All three examples above are studies for developing staccato technique, allowing the musician to build a staccato technique by focusing on playing the staccato notes as precisely as possible.


Here are some sites that you can use at home with your child to support their Literacy development in French. We recommend that you explore those sites on your own before doing the activities with your child.
Enjoy These Challenging Digital Breakout EDU!
A DAY AT THE PARK - TOPIC: USING MONEY
- Content: Elementary Math - Using Money
- Recommended Ages: Grades 1-4
- Content: Storytime
- Recommended Ages: Elementary
- Content: Animals, Ocean Survival
- Recommended Ages: Grades 2-6
- Content: Math, Number Sense & Counting
- Recommended Ages: Grades K-2
Art and Artists
BREAKOUT edu Links:
VIDEO #1 - http://www.sesamestreet.org/vi...
VIDEO #2 -
VIDEO #3 - https://www.mindsetkit.org/top...


According to a national report by Egale Canada Human Rights Trust...
64% of LGBTQ2SA+ secondary students report feeling unsafe at school
As an educator, I have found Kate to be a wonderful resource when learning how to approach gender in the elementary classroom. Her research and insight into what constitutes a truly safe and welcoming environment for all has shaped the way I interact with my students and approach education as a whole."
- Brittnee M., elementary school teacher
Let's work together
Let's not wait until junior or senior high school to address the above statistics. Elementary schools offer a unique opportunity to teach students about gender and sexual diversity when they're young, to change the culture around LGBTQ2SA+ & gender diversity for the next generation.
Most districts and schools have policies and guidelines in place to demonstrate their commitment to anti-bullying and the creation of safe spaces, particularly for marginalized students. While a step in the right direction, these kinds of approaches to change often do not confront the reality of structural and pedagogical influences within the education system that strengthen and reproduce harmful understandings of binaried gender and heteronormativity.
Anti-oppressive, queer affirming education for grades K-6 is my purpose and passion. Consultation and support for schools and educators is grounded in research and best practices to address a variety of topics and concerns including:
Classroom lesson plan creation, support, & facilitation
Workshops, training, and follow-up support to increase knowledge and awareness of LGBTQ2SA+ and gender concerns in elementary education, while providing educators with resources and strategies for creating more inclusive and welcoming environments
Support for elementary GSAs & QSAs
Support addressing parental concerns, with the latest research to back you up
Strategic planning to explore current policies, guidelines, and school practices to help create more affirming learning environments for LGBTQ2SA+ and gender diverse students, their families, and staff
Consultation packages are available for schools and administrators. Please get in touch using the form below to discuss options.


Pediatric Rehabilitation Services
Children are born to run and play, jump and sing. Their ability to freely move and express themselves promotes independence, increases socialization through participation in group activities, enhances motor skill development, improves strength and endurance, enhances learning opportunities and allows them to assume greater responsibility in taking care of their own daily needs.
When your child’s movement, speech or hearing is restricted, life can be challenging. Our pediatric team specializes in physical and occupational therapy, speech and language pathology, early childhood education and audiology is here to help children with orthopaedic, neurological and developmental diagnoses, including:
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
- Brachial-plexus injury (to the nerves of the neck and shoulder).
- Cerebral palsy.
- Developmental delays in fine or gross motor skills.
- Developmental disabilities.
- Down syndrome.
- Feeding and swallowing disorders.
- Hearing loss.
- Receptive and expressive language delay.
- Sensory processing disorder.
- Torticollis (twisted neck).
Early intervention can profoundly impact a child’s skills and abilities and can help parents support their child’s improvement. We work with a variety of agencies to provide the earliest, most promising intervention.
We also understand that some children respond best to treatment in familiar surroundings, so our pediatric team will provide care in the home, daycare or school.


Reading 2 Teacher's Edition Book & CD 3rd Edition (copyright update)
Reading 2 Teacher's Edition (3rd ed., 2 volumes) provides phonics instruction for review, multi-level discussion questions to promote critical thinking, and suggestions for pre-reading and post-reading activities to meet multiple-learning needs. Lesson instruction promotes the use of reading groups to help teachers tailor instruction to meet students' varied reading levels. Teachers use silent reading to teach students to read for learning and then use good questions to guide discussion which builds comprehension. Oral reading follows to communicate the message of the author by using inflections, rhythm, pitch sounds, and so forth. This new edition has 180 lessons and includes new features, such as two BookLinks and book-report instructions. TheTeacher's Toolkit CD, located on the inside back cover of the teacher's edition, contains additional instructional aids for phonics and literary skills, bi-quarterly assessments, service word cards, vocabulary context sentences, theStudent Worktext Answer Key, and more.
New Feature: The Reading 2 Teacher's Edition now includes guides and novels for two BJ BookLinks:The Treasure of Pelican Cove and Pulling Together. Corresponding student novels are available for purchase separately.
This Reading Teacher's Edition includes assessment packets and blackline masters authorizing their reproduction for assessment purposes.
In this 2015 revision, four Student Texts provide interesting selections from a variety of genres with emphasis on silent reading for comprehension, the development of higher-order thinking, phonics instruction, oral reading, and literary techniques.
The Home School Kit includes the Teacher's Edition (2 vols.), four Student Texts (All God's Creatures, Hearts and Hands, Memories to Keep and Previous Treasures), the Student Worktext, and the Worktext Teacher's Edition.
Recently revised with new format teacher's edition. Instead of a contained novel study (as in the older edition), there are several BookLinks lesson guides meant to be used with selected Journey books. While listed as support materials, I would recommend the use of these (or other study guides) for the experience of reading and studying a full-length work in Reading 2. Teaching Visuals Flip Charts are used for the skill lessons to facilitate review of phonics and other skills. Service Word Cards contain 108 most-needed irregular words that students must master by sight. These two tools are integral parts of the program.
The Home Study Kit includes Teacher's Edition (2 vols.), If Skies Be Blue Student Text, When the Sun Rides High Student Text, Student Worktext, Teaching Visuals Flip Chart, and the Worktext Teacher's Edition.
This reading program is the most comprehensive Ive seen, incorporating phonetic reading at the lowest levels (correlated to phonics instruction), a full range of comprehension skill development, and reading-related skills not usually found in a basal program (map skills, reading and making schedules, word skills, time lines, literary skills, and many more). The Teachers Manual contains daily lesson plans, with a complete presentation of the lesson, and student reading pages, either as a full size text, or in reduced size. Each reading lesson begins with skill development, the reading lesson, and optional enhancement or reinforcement activities. In the younger grades, many of the skill development sections reinforce phonetic and decoding skills. Many of the lessons refer to the Skill Charts for reading lists of words with the constructs being studied. The reading selections are wholesome, engaging, and include all genres - biographies, narrative exposition, historical fiction, Bible stories, imaginary (fantasy) stories, etc. These acquaint students with different types of literature from the beginning - a feature lacking in most other basal readers, which predominately seem to contain stories. As with all Bob Jones lines, the content is tacitly Christian. Typeset used in the readers is age-appropriate and not eye-straining. Most reading comprehension is done orally, but student worktexts contain skill practice pages and some exercises to test or reinforce student understanding. A Teachers Edition of the worktext has answers overprinted in red. The accompanying chapter-by-chapter study, along with background information and discussion questions, is contained in the Teachers Manual. Essential materials are listed first beneath each grade level, followed by asterisked (*) support materials. Complete Home Study kits contain all essential materials to teach one child.
The Bob Jones reading program has been a mainstay in our schooling for years, and we highly recommend it.


Animated Storybooks Brought to Life
Encouraging the love of reading for all Bexar County Children, ages 4 – 6
This partnership is also made possible through a contribution from Charles Butt.
Improve literacy and build a solid foundation for your child's future with an ever-expanding collection of animated storybooks to any computer, smartphone, and tablet. Together, we are supporting literacy for 4 to 6 year-olds throughout Bexar County to inspire an early and lifelong love of reading.
Together, with parents and teachers of young Bexar County children, we can nurture the love of reading to increase critical elements of literacy development in a fun and interactive way. This is quality screen time you can feel good about.
Put your young child on a path to reading success!
In Bexar County, 3 in 5 children are economically disadvantaged.
More than 30% are not reading on grade level by third grade.
The need for early access to books is tremendous.


Literacy Milestones: Birth to Age 3
Identifying a reading problem is a challenge without a sense for what typical literacy development looks like. Find out what language accomplishments are typical for most children from birth to age three.
Most children learn to read by age 7. Learning to read is built on a foundation of language skills that children start learning at birth — a process that is both complicated and amazing. Most children develop certain skills as they move through the early stages of learning language.
The following list of such accomplishments is based on current research in the field, where studies continue and there is still much to learn. As you look over the list, keep in mind that children vary a great deal in how they develop and learn.
If you have questions or concerns about your child's progress, talk with your child's doctor, teacher, or a speech and language therapist. For children with any kind of disability or learning problem, the sooner they can get the special help they need, the easier it will be for them to learn.
- Make sounds that imitate the tones and rhythms that adults use when talking
- Respond to gestures and facial expressions
- Begin to associate words they hear frequently with what the words mean
- Make cooing, babbling sounds in the crib which gives way to enjoying rhyming and nonsense word games with a parent or caregiver
- Play along in games such as "peek-a-boo" and "pat-a-cake"
- Handle objects such as board books and alphabet blocks in their play
- Recognize certain books by their covers
- Pretend to read books
- Understand how books should be handled
- Share books with an adult as a routine part of life
- Name some objects in a book
- Talk about characters in books
- Look at pictures in books and realize they are symbols of real things
- Listen to stories
- Ask or demand that adults read or write with them
- Begin to pay attention to specific print such as the first letters of their names
- Scribble with a purpose (trying to write or draw something)
- Produce some letter-like forms and scribbles that resemble, in some way, writing
Click the "References" link above to hide these references.
AMERICA READS CHALLENGE: Read*Write*Now Partners Group (1997). Checkpoints for progress in reading and writing for families and communities. U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Barr, R., Kamil, M.L., Mosenthal, P.B., and Pearson, P.D. (Eds.) (1991). Handbook of reading research: Volume II. New York, Longman.
Burns, M. Susan, Griffin, Peg, Snow, C.E. (Eds.) (1999). Starting out right: Guide to promoting children's reading success. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Clay, M.M. (1979). The early detection of reading difficulties (3rd Edition). Heinneman, Auckland, New Zealand.
Hannon, Peter (1995). Literacy, home, and school: Research and practice in teaching literacy with parents. Falmer Press, London, England.
Hiebert, E.H., and Raphael, T.E. (1998). Early literacy instruction. Harcourt Brace College Publishers, Fort Worth, TX.
International Reading Association (IRA) and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) (1998). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children--A joint position statement of the IRA and NAEYC. Washington, DC.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) (1996). Technology and young children ages 3 through 8--An NAEYC position statement. Washington, DC.
National Center for Education Statistics (1999). The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)1998 reading report card. U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Snow, C.E., Burns, M. Susan, Griffin, Peg (Eds.) (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Teale, W.H., and Sulzby, E. (Eds.) (1986). Emergent literacy: writing and reading. Ablex, Norwood, NJ.
Excerpted from: DeBruin-Parecki, A. with Perkinson, K. & Ferderer, L. (January, 2000). Helping Your Child Become A Reader. U.S. Department of Education.


These Sassy Snake Crafts for Kids show that you can make snakes out of pretty much anything! From paper plates, cardboard tubes, egg cartons, socks & more!
You’d think that humans, with their high intellect, opposable thumbs and numerous joints can handle most situations with ease. Yet, this grand human will run at even the mention of a snake, let alone the sight of it!
Yes, snakes, those slimy, limbless creatures can give large monsters a run for their money, but they’re an important part of our wildlife and ecosystem. I’m sure most of us rarely think of snakes in that sense – we’re only concerned about the venom they pack in each bite!
And that’s exactly why we have World Snake Day, on 16th July, to appreciate these fascinating creatures who’re nature’s in-built pest control system. So let’s learn more about these sassy creatures with some sssimple and sssuper-fun snake crafts for kids!
10 Sassy Snake Crafts for Kids
This accordion paper snake from Easy Peasy and Fun is the perfect craft for kids who’ve got some craft practice but need something a wee bit more challenging. The result is a fun snake that can move in accordion style!
With Perler beads, you can make your snake as colorful as you want it to be! This craft is perfect for fine motor skill development and also to help kids stay focused on a single task for a while.
A snake from egg cartons? Doesn’t seem likely, but Mom Printables proves otherwise! This snake has muted colors and looks quite chic, if you ask me!! Younger kids can make them in solid colors for a more ‘rainbow’-ish look.
Articulated snakes – what on earth does that mean? Kids Craft Room shows us what this is with a cool snake toy that can be used again and again and again! Not to mention how bright and colorful these snakes are!
Recycling stuff to make crafts is so much fun, just like this yogurt pot snake! DIY Thought covers yogurt pots with patterned paper and puts them together to form a one-of-a-kind, super stylish snake!
Wouldn’t it be fascinating to have a snake mark your place in your book? You can now make it happen, thanks to this snake corner bookmark craft from Easy Peasy Fun! Good folding practice for young kids.
These bendy snakes from Kids Craft Room may look complicated but all you need to make them are tissue paper, newspaper and loom bands. The best part – you can make them as long and colorful as you want to!
Got lots of strips of colored and patterned paper lying around? Then this rolled paper snake from Our Kid Things is just the craft for you! Make many of these and hang them around the house!
There is seriously no end to the things you can make with toilet paper rolls! Eighteen 25 turns plain cardboard rolls into colorful snakes that sit in their natural coiled position – a row of them would look great on a shelf!
This snake craft from Crafty Morning includes a lot of fun stuff, like a rolling pin and bubble wrap. All these come together to create a beautifully bubble printed snake, that can be hung like a mobile.
Snakes have a characteristically straight and long body, yet you can make snake crafts out of materials of any shape! That’s the magic of crafting – anything is possible! If you enjoyed these, you may also like our collection of giraffe crafts, hippo crafts and elephant crafts, and if you still want more, make a wildlife diorama that includes all the animals!


Age No Bar To Learn Music
Music education offers a lot of benefits to children and even adults. Kids learn to play an instrument and parents encourage them in attending the classes regularly. This is because music helps in the overall development of children. Their intellectual and cognitive skills are much improved. It is said that music education at an early age can create a positive effect on their life. Thus you would have seen many pre-schools including music as a part of their education. Music is said to offer greater benefits in the long run for the kids. It helps to reduce the effects of the ageing brain. Thus adults stay younger even when they grow old.
Impacts Of Learning Music
It Shapes Your Brain
It is, of course, good news to parents who have enrolled their children in Carnatic vocal music classes in Mylapore and other areas. Music education impacts the brain and creates neural connections. Its effects are significant and the cognitive decline becomes slow as people grow older. Studies have proven that music training in childhood can create structural changes in their brain. Thus the motor and auditory functions improve. Thus music training enhances the connections of the brain.
Playing Instruments Has A Great Impact
It is said that people who have played instruments for more years would perform well in the neuropsychological tests. Instrument training in early childhood can make the brain function better when they grow. Playing instruments improves their vocabulary skills and they quickly adapt to new information. It enhances the cognitive simulation whatever the education you receive in the later stage of your life. Adults who tool piano class for six months showed improvement in their memory, verbal skills, cognitive functions, etc.
You Respond To Sounds Better
People who have attended music classes in the early years’ experienced improved ability to discern sounds. Adults with sound music knowledge, develop the ability to distinguish consonants which is crucial for a conversation to take place. It is a known fact that hearing power declines when you grow old. But people who have taken up music education or played a musical instrument for several years have a better hearing power than others. It helps them to hear better even in a noisy environment. Thus early music education facilitates communication and conversation in the later part of life.
It is not too late; even adults can take up music classes and enjoy its benefits. Look for the music classes in your locality so that you can enroll your kids. Help your kids to grow with a powerful and shaped brain.


Lv 4. However, we will not miss a chance to share a few awesome tips about other types of autobiographical writing. What is an Autobiography. 1 decade ago. Or, in other words, an autobiography is the story of someone's life written or otherwise told by that person. Perhaps you won an award or traveled to an exotic land. 4 Answers.
But the following 15 questions won’t let you down. I've put together the highlights of our conversation below in an easier to follow article format. Afterward, go over your work …
interior designer. i have to write an autobiography, but i am not sure what i should include. Art's answers are in quotes. Enlist the help of your family. Relevance . 15 Questions for Writing an Autobiography. You do not have to be a professional writer to make an autobiography.
Tell your story with photographs. Favorite Answer. Write a paragraph that starts with the story of something unique that has happened to you that distinguishes your story from those of all other people. Or go traditional and make it by hand. The word autobiography literally means SELF (auto), LIFE (bio), WRITING (graph). What things should i put in an autobiography? An autobiography is the inspiring story of a person’s entire life and the societal setting thereof, while memoirs have a narrower focus on the narration of a particular span of time within the subject’s lifetime. In our guide on how to write an autobiography, we will talk more about a personal or autobiographical essay. An autobiography is a snapshot of your life and times that can be enjoyed by current and future members of your own family as well as by anyone looking for insights, inspiration or just an entertaining read. Answer Save. When writing an autobiography, you should check it for spelling and grammar mistakes, or proofread it by Grammarly. Employ this technique: Write all three, put them away for at least a day, then revisit them to see which one your gut picks as the best of the bunch. Or, in other words, an autobiography is the story of someone's life written or otherwise told by that person. Start with when & where you were born, followed by a very brief information about your parents, and any siblings. Have you lived in different cities? Plus, you’re always free to use our instructions for any type of autobiography, as they can be helpful for any piece of writing. Your inspiration can betray you after you start writing a memoir. Even when you use the 3 above-discussed principles, you might still stumble in the middle of your autobiography. We've all seen those massively thick books on someone influential in our history that an author has written about. Use a computer to design, arrange and print your picture book. It mostly deals with individual’s memories, feelings and emotions.
So a biography is an account of someone's life written by someone else. Do you have any ideas?Novel Podcast Project, Ieee Table Of Contents Format, Us History Regents Timeline, Creative Thinking Worksheets, Ielts Animal Rights Vocabulary, Living In A Fantasy World Lyrics, How To Memorise An Essay In A Different Language, Child Development Perspectives, Causes And Effects Of Increasing Crime Among Youth, Homeostasis Card Sort, Folio Society Planet Of The Apes, Fred Shuttlesworth Timeline, Autobiography Of Malcolm X Quotes, Jnanpith Award 2018 Winner, Competency Measurement Tool, Importance Of Reflective Teaching, Romeo And Juliet Summary Act 2, How To Publish A White Paper, Final Evaluation Report, Haunted House Writing, Logo Design Primer, Ielts Essay Brainstorming Pdf, Tim Wise Website, Italian Read Aloud, Mountain Cur Size, Skellig Michael Deaths, Photography Portfolio Template Ppt, Vouloir Conjugation Passé Composé, 8 Principles Of Corporate Governance, Merriweather Post Pavilion Tickets, Ryanair Refund Delay, 120 Words Essay Example, Effects Of Industrial Revolution Slideshare, Literary Essay Conclusion Outline, The Postmaster Character Sketch, Complex German Structures, Lord Of The Flies Theme Questions, Architecture Art History, Advice Essay Writing, Career Planning Conclusion, First Grade Opinion Writing Prompts, Why Is Discrimination Wrong In The Workplace, Work Experience Education, Diligence And Dedication, The Best Of Sports Illustrated, Assessment In Music Education,


These workshops were co-delivered by NZCER and the National Centre of Literacy and Numeracy for Adults. They included: a range of Assessment Tool user levels from beginner to competent; utilising literacy and numeracy data to inform whole organisation decision making and use of Assessment Tool results to inform teaching and learning practice. Each workshop is specific for its intended audience.
The embedded literacy and numeracy process is designed to facilitate successful learning environments for learners who may otherwise have difficulty with the literacy or numeracy demands of their programme or target vocation. This workshop explored how the embedded literacy process is informed by learners' results with the Assessment Tool. Through the careful mapping of demands, the Assessment Tool informs educators and learners as to specific areas that require development. This allows educators to scaffold demanding tasks to ensure positive learning experiences for learners and to priorities key areas of literacy or numeracy to develop.
Prioritising key literacy and numeracy skills and designing scaffolded strategies to develop these skills can be accomplished using the Learning Progressions and associated resources. The workshop below explores methods of developing group and individual learning plans that facilitate this process. A real example is given and used to support organisations develop their own literacy and numeracy priorities. The assessment tool is a key component of the process and should be used to inform the planning and implementation of the plans.


I feel that art is necessary in a child’s education. Does that surprise anyone, especially since I am an art teacher? I have seen many students benefit from the following in my art classroom:
- improved self-esteem and self-confidence,
- increased observational skills,
- greater use of imagination and creativity,
- ability to problem solve through trial and error,
- freedom from fear of failure,
- increased desire to come to class,
- pride in creative work,
- thoughtful judgment of works done by self and peers,
- awareness of other ways to see the world,
- respect for others,
- appreciation for art in history and other cultures, and
- increased ability to switch from left to right brain thinking.
In some school districts, the arts are valued. But in others, the arts are taking a backseat. Courses in the arts are often the first to go when curriculum changes are made.
I decided to do some research on the web for articles about art education. Here they are:
Art For Our Sake by Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland.
Guggenheim Study Suggests Art Education Benefits Literacy Skills
Book Tackles Old Debate: Role of Art in Schools
Art Education: The Benefits
Benefits of Art and Music Education
Making a Better Case for the Benefits of Art Education
Americans For the Arts: Quick Facts


No skill is more fundamental to learning throughout life than reading. Students who don’t develop a love for and proficiency in reading by 3rd grade are likely to struggle in their future lives.
In Philadelphia, that’s a large group. Last year, 60 percent of District 3rd graders failed to meet proficiency standards on the state reading test. Among Blacks and Latinos, only one in three was proficient.
By 4th grade these students’ learning challenges are likely to extend across the curriculum. Ultimately, they are four times more likely than proficient readers to drop out of high school. As they fall further behind, the effects spill over to their classmates.
While this is a national problem, Philadelphia ranks near the bottom among big cities on the national reading test given to 4th graders.
And so it is heartening that a citywide campaign has come together to tackle the city’s early literacy crisis, with the ambitious goal of doubling the percentage of 3rd graders reading on grade level by 2020. Nearly 50 organizations have made formal commitments to this READ! by 4th campaign; dozens of other groups are involved. The Free Library of Philadelphia is anchoring the effort. The School District is at the table. There is foundation and corporate support, and growing understanding of the impact of illiteracy on the city. More nonprofits, charter schools, and businesses should join in.
Philadelphia has seen what a coherent, cross-sector collaborative can accomplish. Project U-Turn, a campaign involving the District, the city, and the nonprofit sector, has been able to drive up the city’s graduation rate slowly but surely. Illiteracy is a similarly multifaceted problem, with room for improvement on many fronts. Recognizing that, the campaign proposes to work simultaneously on engaging parents as teachers, improving classroom instruction, boosting attendance, and preventing summer learning loss.
Some words of advice at the outset:
Keep kids and their interests at the center. Offer children books at the right level that they are interested in – and comfortable, engaging spaces for reading – and they will take to it. Children bring energy and curiosity into the classroom; a good reading program taps that. Some students need extra help, but the solution is not boring test-prep drills.
Give teachers support. Teaching reading is complex. Good instruction is critical. An effective reading teacher must have classroom management skills, a deep understanding of literacy development, and the flexibility to diagnose and respond to each student’s individual needs. Teachers need professional communities where they can hone these skills.
Start early, the earlier the better. More quality pre-K slots are desperately needed, so children come into kindergarten ready to read. Early diagnosis and support for students with learning issues is also vital. Outside of school, a citywide campaign can foster a book-rich, literacy-rich environment – and support and engage parents, who, more than anyone, can help children develop oral language and literacy skills.
Secure more resources. We cannot gloss over the challenge of launching this campaign at a time when resources are bare-bones; for instance, few schools have functioning libraries or librarians. Politicians sometimes question whether school funding gets to the children who need it. But there is no excuse to withhold support for substantial new investments in ensuring that children learn to read. We can pay now – or pay later.


North Elementary STEM Club partners with Code Ninjas
North Elementary STEM Club recently partnered with Code Ninjas (based in Wexford, PA) to offer its students an enrichment class into the topic of computer coding. This S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, math) workshop focused on teaching children, ranging from kindergarten through 4th grade, foundational skills into the world of computer coding.
East Liverpool Potters were given a demo into Scratch, a programming language developed by MIT University where North students learn about basic computer coding concepts to build their own video game. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically.


Hobbies Playing Music Sheet Music Quizzes Test Your Musical Reading Abilities Share PINTEREST Email Print Playing Music Playing Piano Tutorials Piano Chords Buying Advice Music Education Playing Guitar Home Recording By Brandy Kraemer Updated May 24, 2019 01 of 08 Identify the Piano Notes Brandy Kraemer, 2016 This colorful quiz was made with the beginner pianist in mind. See how well you can spot the notes of the piano keyboard, concentrating mostly on the "naturals" — Choose from four, eight, or twelve questions. Lessons to Review:Notes of the Piano KeysThe Piano Keyboard LayoutThe Black Piano Keys 02 of 08 Treble Staff Notes Quiz Brandy Kraemer, 2016 Identify the notes of the treble staff, and test yourself on written sharps and flats — Choose from four, eight, or twelve questions. Lessons to Review:Memorizing the Treble Staff NotesHow to Read Accidental on the Staff 03 of 08 Bass Staff Notes Quiz Brandy Kraemer, 2016 The piano uses two staves, treble and bass, and the notes are slightly different on each. Test yourself on the lower octave staff notes — Choose from five, ten, or fifteen questions. Lessons to Review:Mnemonic Devices for the Bass NotesReading Ledger Lines 04 of 08 Music Note Length Quiz Note-Length Quiz Brandy Kraemer, 2016 Depending on where you live, music notes go by different names. Try a beginner quiz on note values and rhythm in the dialect of your choice — Choose from four, eight, or twelve questions: U.K. Note-Length QuizU.S. Note-Length Quiz 05 of 08 Key Signature Quiz Brandy Kraemer, 2016 See how well you can identify musical keys, key signatures, and their relative minors — Choose from four, eight, twelve, sixteen, or twenty questions. Lessons to Review: Reading the Key Signature 06 of 08 Volume & Dynamics Quiz Brandy Kraemer, 2016 How well can you identify and interpret musical volume commands and their corresponding sheet music symbols? Try the musical volume quiz — Choose from five, ten, or fifteen questions. Lessons to Review:Common Dynamics SymbolsVolume & Dynamics Terminology 07 of 08 Tempo Command & BPM Quiz Brandy Kraemer, 2016 Test your knowledge of tempo terminology, BPM, and the most common metronome marks found in piano music — Choose from five, ten, or fifteen questions. Lessons to Review:Tempo Marks & BPMGlossary of Tempo Commands 08 of 08 Time Signature & Rhythm Quiz Brandy Kraemer, 2016 In-Depth Note-Length Quiz: Challenge your understanding of how time signatures and note & rest lengths work together to create rhythm in sheet music — Choose from five, ten, or fifteen questions. Lessons to Review:Understanding Time SignaturesMusic Rest Lengths Beginner Piano Lessons▪ Notes of the Piano Keys▪ Finding Middle C on the Piano▪ Intro to Piano Fingering▪ How to Count Triplets▪ Musical Quizzes & TestsGetting Started on Keyboard Instruments▪ Playing Piano vs. Electric Keyboard▪ How to Sit at the Piano▪ Buying a Used Piano▪ Tips for Finding the Right Piano Teacher▪ Musical Keyboard Comparison GuideForming Piano Chords▪ Essential Piano Chord Fingering▪ Diminished Chords & Dissonance▪ Different Types of Arpeggiated Chords Musical Symbols of Piano Music • 8va, 15ma & Other Octave Commands• How to Read Sustain Pedal Marks Reading Key Signatures: All About Key SignaturesEverything you need to know about the accidentals & key signatures.Use the interactive key signature locator to identify or double-check your key.There are always two keys that relate to one another more than any other key. Find out what this means.Comparing Major & MinorMajor and minor are often described in terms of feelings or mood. The ear tends to perceive major and minor as having contrasting personalities; a contrast that is most obvious when the two are played back to back. Learn more about major and minor scales and keys. Learn About Enharmony: The 6 Enharmonic Key SignaturesIf you’re familiar with the circle of fifths (or you just know your way around the key signatures) you may have noticed a few anomalies. Some keys – like B-sharp and F-flat major – are seemingly absent, while others go by two namesThe Inefficient KeysThe circle of fifths shows only the working scales. But, if we expand on its pattern, we can see that it’s actually more of an infinite spiral, so there’s no end to the possibilities of musical scales.Table of Working & Non-Working KeysSee a clear visual of which keynotes are workable and which would be redundant.


The importance of shared book reading for promoting early language and literacy skills in young children has been well established. Libraries regularly run story time sessions for young children and their parents to promote these skills in pre-schoolers, but visiting public spaces can be an overwhelming or distressing experience for some children on the autism spectrum.
As Dr Marleen Westerveld, Autism CRC Project Leader and Senior Lecturer for Griffith University’s School of Allied Health Sciences, points out: “The ability for children on the autism spectrum to attend their local library and participate in story time activities can be affected by factors such as the story time space and session structure.
“Autism is highly prevalent. Australian Bureau of Statistics data indicate that, in 2015, more than 1 in 50 school-aged children had an autism diagnosis. About 50% of children on the spectrum struggle to read, with most, if not all children on the spectrum having difficulties with understanding what they read,” Dr Westerveld said.
“That is why initiatives such as autism-friendly story time sessions in libraries are so important – they help set the foundation for early literacy skills and encourage a love of books and reading. Brisbane City Council has been instrumental in making this initiative a reality and working to ensure their sessions are accessible for all children.”
Dr Jessica Paynter, Autism CRC Researcher and Lecturer for Griffith University’s School of Applied Psychology, explains the approach taken.
“As part of our initiative, we surveyed parents with young children on the autism spectrum to identify the barriers that impact their child’s participation in story time sessions,” Dr Paynter said.
“We are now working with the First 5 Forever Team at Brisbane City Council libraries to increase their knowledge and understanding of the characteristics of autism and how these characteristics may impact on children’s participation in story time sessions. We are also developing strategies the First 5 Forever Team can implement to create more autism-friendly sessions.
More autism friendly
“Our strategies include the use of a library sensory checklist to determine how the story time space can be made more autism friendly. The checklist includes how to structure the story time session and make use of visual planners,” Dr Kate Simpson, Autism CRC Researcher and Lecturer for Griffith University’s School of Education and Professional Studies, said.
Brisbane City Council’s First 5 Forever team is looking forward to seeing the initiative make story time sessions more suitable for children on the autism spectrum.
Supported by the project team, the first professional development training day for librarians was held on 19 April, with 22 staff attending from 20 different libraries.
A pilot study will be run this year at one library in which librarians will implement autism friendly story time sessions with coaching from the project team.
“The ‘story time’ initiative is one of 55 projects being delivered by Autism CRC in collaboration with its Participants and Partners to help improve the lives of people on the spectrum,” said Andrew Davis, CEO of Autism CRC.
“Autism CRC’s vision is to see autistic people empowered to discover and use their diverse strengths and interests. Shared-book reading plays a vital role in children’s emergent literacy development and contributes to reading success down the track – the importance of which should not be overlooked,” Mr Davis said.
“To stay updated on the development of autism-friendly story time sessions in Brisbane, follow Autism CRC on social media or visit our website,” he said.
A video about the initiative is also available on the Autism CRC YouTube channel.


Our selection of thought-provoking and useful articles from around the web on educating and raising children.
(Sheila Wayman, The Irish Times)
This article begins with a familiar scenario: give a small child an expensive toy, only to find them playing with the cardboard box it came in. It’s an insight into how children see the world, and the importance of play for them. How can educators build on what comes naturally to children? Not surprisingly for a leader in education, it’s Finnish researchers examining this at the Playful Learning Centre at the University of Helsinki.
(William Stixrud, The Washington Post)
The best thing you can do to cushion kids from anxiety and develop motivation is to let them take the driver’s seat. This is the advice from the author, a specialist in learning difficulties. But what happens when the child in the driver’s seat drives into the quitter’s ditch, giving up on activities after a short period? The article offers some practical advice to encourage children to stay on the road to perseverance.
(Amelia Hill, The Guardian)
We know that digital devices are changing the early childhood learning experiences. In the balance between the positives and negatives, senior paediatric doctors are warning that children are increasingly finding it hard to hold pens and pencils because of an excessive use of technology. This report from the United Kingdom says overuse of touchscreens is preventing children developing the finger muscles needed to hold a pencil.
(Adam Bulley, Jonathan Redshaw, Sam Gilbert, The Conversation)
We all know young children forget things, hence the parental mantra of ‘don’t forget to’… This article suggests a better way: providing young children visual cues, such a timetable of weekly household chores on their bedroom door. This strategy is based on research by the authors, who found that it was only when children reached the age of 9 that they started setting themselves visual memory prompts.
Like this post? Please share using the buttons located on this page.
You can also subscribe to The Parents’ Website and get regular updates straight to your inbox.


New York, NY — Too Small to Fail and Sesame Street launched today a new text-to-parents program in partnership with the free mobile health information service, Text4baby, to distribute research-based tips to new parents about the importance of talking, reading and singing with their newborn children. The service will reach Text4baby’s network of subscribers that has reached more than 820,000 parents nationwide at no charge to participants.
This new text-to-parents program of 'Talking is Teaching: Talk, Read, Sing’ is the first national partnership to use texting to deliver tips on early language development to parents of infants. Research-based tips developed by Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street, will provide parents with specific ways they can promote their infants’ early language development and support Sesame’s mission to help all kids grow smarter, stronger and kinder. Each early language development tip sent out through Text4baby will also be paired with a link to an engaging and relevant video, also produced by Sesame Workshop. These videos, featuring real parents and children, as well as the Sesame Street Muppets, will model for parents how to engage in the specific behaviors promoted through the tips.
From meal time to bath time to bed time, text messages will span a wide range of topics aimed at helping parents find fun and meaningful ways to incorporate talking, reading and singing to their babies into their everyday moments and routines. For additional parenting resources, visit www.talkingisteaching.org andwww.sesamestreet.org/talking.
Originally announced at Clinton Global Initiative America, this partnership builds off the latest research about the power and potential of providing parents with key information to promote early literacy development through text messaging. Recent research has found that communicating with parents through mobile text can be a highly effective strategy for producing positive learning outcomes for children. A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that San Francisco preschoolers whose parents received text messages with highly-specific tips on reading to their children or helping them sound out letters and words performed better on literacy tests than children whose parents did not receive such messages.
Beginning today, parents who have signed up for the Text4baby service will receive early language development messages beginning from their baby’s 9th week of development, and every other week thereafter until their baby turns one. The text-based tips will be made available in both English and Spanish. Too Small to Fail will also work with community partners and pediatricians in Tulsa, OK and Oakland, CA, as well as in other cities across the country, to encourage parents of infants to sign up for the service.
New parents can sign up for this service by texting BABY (or BEBE in Spanish) to 511411. To access even more early learning tips and information, visitwww.talkingisteaching.org.
The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation
# # #
About Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street which reaches 156 million children across more than 150 countries. The Workshop’s mission is to use the educational power of media to help all children reach their highest potential. Delivered through a variety of platforms, including television programs, digital experiences, books and community engagement, its research-based programs are tailored to the needs of the communities and countries they serve, helping children everywhere grow smarter, stronger and kinder. For more information, visit us at www.sesameworkshop.org.
Text4baby is the nation’s only free mobile information service designed to promote maternal and child health through text messaging. Text4baby is provided through a public-private partnership of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), Voxiva, The Wireless Foundation and over 1,200 national, state and local health organizations including the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The service is completely free for the more than 800,000 mothers who have enrolled thanks to the generous support of America’s leading wireless carriers. To learn more, please visit www.text4baby.org.
About Next Generation
Next Generation promotes solutions to two of the biggest challenges confronting the next generation of Americans: The risk of dangerous climate change, and the threat of diminished prospects for children and families. Through the use of non-partisan research, policy development, and strategic communications, we identify strategies that help deploy clean, advanced energy technologies; we also work to ensure a level playing field from which today’s kids can build a brighter future.
Learn more at www.thenextgeneration.org, and on Twitter @nextgen_USA.


Newly appointed professor of education and incoming director of the Harvard Literacy Laboratory Connie Juel is moving some of the services of the renowned lab into public schools. This is part of her overall plan to broaden the experience of Harvards graduate students. “Theres no better way to train reading teachers and reading supervisors than to bring them directly into the schools where children are most involved in the process of learning,” she says.
Juels own experience as an elementary-school teacher fueled her research, which helped to overturn a prominent literacy theory of the 1980sthat readers read by predicting upcoming words rather than by learning about letter-sound relationships. While serving as the Thomas G. Jewell Professor of Education at the University of Virginia, Juel concluded that matching spoken sounds to letters is the foundation of literacy. “Disabled readers frequently have problems perceiving the sounds in spoken words, like the uh in mumps or the sh in fish,” which is called phonemic awareness. “This prevents them from connecting letters to those sounds.”
Much of Juels career has been devoted to identifying and documenting how best to intervene and help the struggling reader by improving classroom instruction. For the past eight years in Charlottesville, Virginia, UVA students and community volunteers have tutored first-grade remedial readers using Juels model, which emphasizes reading, writing, and letter sounds. On average, 90 percent of those tutored students have completed first-grade reading at or above grade level.
Juel is currently completing a study that follows the literacy development of 200 children, from preschool through first grade. “So far it is clear that early oral vocabulary is a strong predictor of both phonemic awareness and later reading comprehension. This means that teachers who develop oral vocabularies in their young students make a real difference.”
The Harvard Literacy Laboratory, founded by reading expert Jeanne Chall in the 1960s, is staffed by graduate students who work one-on-one with children aged 6 to 19, two hours a week. The Literacy Labs waiting list averages 60 pupilsand that makes Juel uncomfortable. She and other researchers have found that early intervention with literacy problems is critical, before a child gets too discouraged. Without intervention, a poor reader at the end of first grade has a 90 percent chance of remaining a poor reader. Juel hopes that moving the lab into public schools will help to develop both knowledge of effective interventions and effective reading instruction in the classroom.
In her new office at the Graduate School of Education, Juel has nearly two dozen photos of her former graduate students huddled beside children, teaching them to read. Like her predecessor Jeanne Chall, who trained legions of policy experts, researchers, and reading teachers, Juel is always eager to put research findings to work. “Watching children learn to read is like seeing a whole future open before them.”


Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience significant difficulties in attention, learning, executive functions, and behavioral regulation. Emerging evidence suggests that computerized cognitive training may remediate these impairments. In a double blind controlled trial, 76 children with IDD (4–11 years) were randomized to either an attention training (n = 38) or control program (n = 38). Both programs were completed at home over a 5-week period. Outcome measures assessed literacy, numeracy, executive functioning, and behavioral/emotional problems, and were conducted at baseline, post-training, and 3-month follow-up. No training effects were observed at post-training; however, children in the training group showed greater improvements in numeracy skills at the 3-month follow-up. These results suggest that attention training may be beneficial for children with IDD; however, the modest nature of the intervention effects indicate that caution should be taken when interpreting clinical significance.


- Chile peppers belong to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, and they’re related to potatoes, tomatillos, and eggplants. In 2014, 32.3 million tons of green chile peppers were produced in the world. China is the leading producer of chiles.
- Peppers were probably first cultivated in Mexico around 6,000 years ago. Their use spread throughout Central and South America. Today, Peru grows the largest number of pepper species in the world. Many wild peppers grow in Bolivia and are eaten by the people there.
- Christopher Columbus was the first European to encounter peppers in the New World. His physician brought them back to Europe and wrote about their medicinal and food properties.
- Portuguese traders might have introduced peppers to Asia, although recent discoveries have shown that peppers might have already been growing there.
- There are hundreds of types of peppers, but people eat only a few. Bell peppers are large and juicy; sweet peppers are small, thin-walled, and sweet; chile peppers are hot and pungent.
- Capsaicin is the chemical compound that gives chile peppers their heat. A chile pepper’s heat is measured by Scoville heat units (SHU). To put it into perspective, a bell pepper contains 0 SHU. The world’s hottest pepper, Pepper X, has 3.18 million SHU. Ouch! Jalapeno peppers contain between 3,500 and 10,000 SHU, while habanero peppers contain 100,000 to 350,000 SHU.
- Peppers are hotter if they’re grown with infrequent watering.
- Peppers can be eaten in many ways. Dried peppers are sometimes crushed to make a powder. Peppers can be canned or frozen. Some peppers, such as poblanos, have thick skins. They’re roasted and the skins are peeled off. Chipotle peppers are smoked, dried jalapeno peppers.
- Asian cuisine often features peppers. Most curries contain peppers, as well as other Indian, Thai, and Chinese dishes.
- Most plants in the Solanaceae family have toxic leaves; peppers are one exception. The leaves can be steamed and eaten as greens.
- In India and Africa, elephants often eat farmers’ crops. They don’t like pepper plants though. Farmers have discovered that if they grow a few pepper plants on the outsides of the fields, elephants stay away.
Questions and Answers
Question: Are peppers hard to grow?
Watch a video and read more about peppers.
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Fun Chile Peppers Facts for Kids ." Easy Science for Kids, Sep 2020. Web. 26 Sep 2020. < https://easyscienceforkids.com/chile-peppers/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2020). Fun Chile Peppers Facts for Kids. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/chile-peppers/
We've recently added
- How To Build a Winogradsky Column and Learn About Soil Science
- Potato Light Bulb Experiment
- How To Use Friction to Pick Up Bottle of Rice
- How To Make Popcorn Dance
- Vinegar and Baking Soda Fire Extinguisher
- Power of Bleach
- Comparing Surface Tension of Liquids with Pennies
- Ice Cream Chemistry
- Using Distillation to Purify Water
- Filter Water with Dirt
- Build a Balloon Barometer
- Build Your Very Own Seismograph
Sponsored Links :


Teachers at a northern Virginia elementary school recently decided it would be a great idea to teach black history by having kids play slaves on the Underground Railroad running from imaginary fugitive slave catchers because, well ... there’s no other way to say this: a lot of racist people are also stupid.
Or, alternately, a lot of stupid people are also racist.
According to a letter obtained by The Root, a physical education class for third, fourth and fifth-graders at Madison’s Trust Elementary School in Ashburn, Va., recently featured the original version old-school hide-and-go-seek. The instructor split the children into groups and had them run through an obstacle course that was designated as the “Underground Railroad.”
The lesson was designed to teach children about ... well ... no one can figure out that part. But wouldn’t you run faster if you were a slave trying not to be caught? Most history teachers know that students have a hard time understanding the harsh realities of slavery unless they are running past the monkey bars by the sliding board just like Harriett Tubman used to do.
Plus, pretending that racism literally might kill you is fun. Sure, the black kids already learned that valuable lesson in another class called “Every Fucking Day” but for white kids, trust me, Confederate Freeze Tag is tons of fun.
In at least one instance, an African-American child in the class was designated as a slave for the activity, according to Loudoun NAACP Chapter President Michelle Thomas, who said she’s heard several complaints from parents regarding the activity.
“Obviously, he’s the only one that’s black, he’s the only one that could have ever been related to someone who used to be a slave, and imagine him carrying that stigma all through school,” Thomas said.
Thomas later clarified that the student may not have been the only black person in that class, but she said the student was at least among a small number of black children participating in the ‘game.’
To be clear, this wasn’t just one teacher who did this. It was three.
“You have three teachers and an administrator who failed to see the racism in this exercise. That’s startling,” Thomas told WTTG, noting that the school district has a long history of discrimination against black students.
In a statement, the NAACP of Loudoun, Va., listed a number of problems at the school including:
- Achievement gaps;
- Black students being denied entrance to challenging academic programs for gifted and talented students;
- Black history lessons (aside from the “Massa May I?” one) and ...
- Few black teachers (the kind of teachers who would have said: “Hell no! You’re not doing that!”)
In a response, Loudoun County Public Schools Public Information Officer Wayde Byard defused the situation by assuring parents that the kids may have been playing slaves but “students during the Madison’s Trust ‘game’ were not designated as ‘slaves’ or ‘slave owners.’
Parents said that children were ...
Hold up. Did this motherfucker just say kids were playing the “runaway slave game” on a course called the “Underground Railroad” for Black History Month but they were not designated as slaves or slave-owners? Does he even know about black history? Who does he think was on the Underground Railroad? Subway engineers? Does he think Harriet Tubman was called the “conductor of the Underground Railroad” because she collected train tickets?
David Stewart, the principal of Madison Trust, issued a letter to parents basically saying: “My bad,” and calling the lesson “culturally insensitive,” which is an interesting way to spell “racist.”
Neither Stewart nor the school board would comment on what, if any, disciplinary actions have been leveled against the teachers. But Stewart noted that the lesson will be re-taught to students as they “further explore” ways they can “ensure it will never be repeated.”
Now I don’t have a degree in elementary education nor am I qualified to speak on teaching black history to schoolkids. However, my years of experience as an amateur and professional black man leads me to offer one suggestion on how Madison’s Trust might be able to avoid this kind of controversy going forward.
Stop doing racist shit.


Pupil Premium is additional funding provided to schools for supporting children who are at a greater risk of under-achievement.
We ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all pupils
We ensure that children belonging to vulnerable groups, including those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, are adequately assessed and provision is made to meet their needs
In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who receive free schools meals will be socially disadvantaged
We also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged will be in receipt of free school meals. We therefore reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any groups of pupils that the school deems to be socially disadvantaged
Our PPG provision is carefully planned in order to elicit high outcomes for disadvantaged children and to narrow any attainment gaps between contrasting groups.
With this in mind, activities and support are designed after reflection on our own practice and in response to various research projects, an example being the Education Endowment Foundation.
This has determined which types of intervention have been proven to have the most impact on children’s progress and attainment.
(Source: Education Endowment Foundation – Evidence summaries)
Our various provisions for PPG children fall into one or more of the following categories:
Metacognition and Self-Regulation: Impact = +8 months eg KS2 Study Club
Reading Comprehension Strategies: Impact = +6 months eg Reading Intervention
Mastery Learning: Impact = +5 months
Collaborative Learning: Impact = +5 months
One-to-One Tuition: Impact = +5 months eg One-To-One Mathematics/English
Oral Language Interventions: Impact = +5 months eg Talk Boost
Phonics: Impact = +4 months eg Phonics Booster
Small Group Tuition: Impact = +4 months eg Mathematics Support
Digital Technology: Impact = +4 months eg TT Rockstars, Weekly News
Sports Participation: Impact = +2 months eg Funky Fitness, Football
Outdoor Adventure Learning: Impact = +4 months eg JASS days


While the known health impacts of sedentary lifestyles have focused attention on children’s outdoor activity, the development of their physical literacy – the physiological, social, cultural, cognitive, expressive, and psychological dimensions of their physicality – is much less in focus.
Developing children’s physical literacy is embedded in the Early Years Learning Framework and Primary curriculum: Health and Physical Education, and the performing arts subjects within The Arts. This study asks “How well prepared are pre-service teachers to implement a program that contributes to developing children’s physical literacy?”
This mixed methods study includes an environmental scan of BEd courses at 12 Australian universities; and at one university, a content analysis of units, a review of 227 students’ practicum records, and an online survey of 57 pre-service teachers.
The study finds that pre-service teachers are generally well-informed, committed and confident but have limited diagnostic and practical pedagogical skills to effectively develop children’s physical literacy.
& Williams, P.
Developing Children’s Physical Literacy: How well prepared are prospective teachers?.
Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 44(6).
Art Education Commons, Early Childhood Education Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Elementary Education Commons, Health and Physical Education Commons, Outdoor Education Commons, Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons


Van Gogh - a Lesson Plan Idea
Inspire your Children with the 'The Life of Van Gogh' famous artist video
Start your Van Gogh art day with our art video of the life of one of the world’s greatest artists, Vincent Van Gogh. Let your children discover what motivated and inspired him, what drove him on, despite his personal problems and lack of success, and why he became a world famous artist. Art teaching has never been so exciting.
The video will keep your children enthralled and engaged throughout its 35 minute length. My experience tells me the video is appropriate for Year 2 ( 6 to 7 year olds) and above, but the final decision rests with you, the art teacher.
Teachers Please Note
We value the role of art education in schools, but understand that some famous artists produced controversial art works and led far from ‘normal’ lives. For this reason, in my videos, aspects of the artist’s lives may have been simplified, amended or exaggerated to make their stories accessible to kids. Paul, Artist in School make every effort to create accurate interpretations of each artist’s life – we accept no responsibility for the consequences of any factual inaccuracies.
Van Gogh Resources for Art Teachers
Reluctant Child Artists?
Do you teach children who are reluctant artists?
Or have no confidence in drawing or painting?
After viewing the ‘Life of Van Gogh’ video show these FREE motivational videos. Children will realise they can draw, and no one in the world draws as they do – something to be really proud of.


“We would like our girls to go to school and learn; obtain an education and in future be able to be self-reliant. This is the surest way of securing their future”
There are 207 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers, 129 primary schools, 16 Secondary schools and four youth polytechnics in the county. There are however no commercial or public colleges and universities in the county. The proportion of primary schools that are situated within a radius of less than one kilometer from the community is 79 per cent, less than five kilometer is 7.7 per cent while more than five kilometers is 84.4 per cent. This implies than majority of schools are located at distances that are more than five kilometers from home, posing a challenge in terms of accessibility.
During drought, a significant number of children drop out of school because there is no food and water. Some must accompany their mobile herding parents in search of pasture and water for livestock. Our interventions in provision of meals in some schools, text books and reading materials, construction of classrooms and masonry water storage tanks plus supply of energy saving stoves has resulted in significant changes in targeted schools. This is beginning to have an impact on learning outcomes, particularly in reading, writing and numeracy skills.
Summary of 2018 education achievements
Despite many hardships, parents were more willing to send their children and keep them in school. However, infrastructural challenges as well as harmful practices such as early marriages and female genital mutilation continued to hamper girls’ education in 2018. Students were able to access spacious and clean classrooms and pupils from poor nomadic households that could not afford to pay school fees received subsidies for three terms through fees-for-food programmes. 600 pupils received bedding facilities to keep them safe from harmful parasites and have comfortable sleep.
Six schools received food and nutrition assistance during the peak of the dry season in efforts to boost learning and good health. They included Kalacha Nomadic Girls’ Primary, Helmer Girls’ Primary, Ririba Girls’ Primary, Dukana Girls’ Primary, Hawecha Girls’ Primary, and Anona Mixed Primary School. Our interventions provided safer and child-friendly learning spaces increasing enrollment , retention and transition of the nomadic pastoral children’s education.
Provision of text books and pens, rulers and school bags reduced the gap in access to adequate learning facilities, therefore improving performance at school. More than 1,300 pupils benefited from the project. Equipping schools with learning materials ensured that the learning conditions were conducive and the experience worthwhile giving learners the opportunity to nourish their minds.
The school lighting project positively impacted on learning environment, giving learners confidence and ample time to study and improve their performance. Well lit compounds and dormitories minimized exposure to risks of being bitten by scorpions which crawl during the night. Under climate change adaptation, PACIDA strengthened environmental clubs at Illeret, Telesgaye, Baqaqa and Hurri Hills primary schools.
Read more about PACIDA’s education achievement from our 2018 annual report:


Making Sense of Mathematics for Teaching Girls in Grades K–5
Close the gender gap in mathematics. Acquire tools, tips, short exercises, and reflection questions that will help you understand the math and gender stereotypes impacting girls’ education and eliminate gender bias through effective elementary school math instruction.
Address Gender Bias in Elementary Education
Close the gender gap in mathematics across K–5 classrooms. In Making Sense of Mathematics for Teaching Girls in Grades K–5, a team of acclaimed experts presents their research and recommendations for teaching math to girls in four succinct, results-focused chapters. Included are a variety of tools, tips, short exercises, and reflection questions, as well as videos demonstrating how real classroom teachers strengthen girls’ experiences as learners of mathematics.
Use this book to better understand gender biases related to mathematics and improve girls’ education:
- Understand the environmental barriers and gender stereotypes that create gender differences in mathematics performance and prevent many girls from learning mathematics at high levels.
- Learn how to foster a safe learning environment that encourages girls to take risks when they learn math.
- Focus on the mathematics gender achievement gap through three lenses: (1) perceptions, (2) possibilities, and (3) priorities.
- Apply the tasks, questions, and evidence (TQE) process to successfully plan and implement inclusive lessons that engage all students.
- Watch short videos of girls engaging meaningfully in mathematics learning.
Product Code: BKF816
Published By: Solution Tree
Page Count: 120
“I highly recommend Making Sense of Mathematics for Teaching Girls in Grades K–5 for all mathematics teachers, instructional leaders, and administrators as a guide to enacting strategies advocating for and empowering each and every girl to rightfully position mathematics as a subject they are excited about, engage in with confidence, are unafraid to take risks in and ask questions about, develop literacy for, appreciate the beauty of, and see endless possibilities for. With a valuable collection of practical and reproducible tools, this book is a must-have as we work to prepare each and every student for their bright futures!”
“In this invaluable book, Adams, Wenzel, Childs, and Neff provide specific instructional actions teachers and leaders can take to improve the classroom experiences of girls, cultivate female students’ positive mathematical identity, and empower girls to learn, do, and use mathematics. This book will challenge both your beliefs and practices. I highly recommend it to anyone who cares about reaching each and every student."
“I hear some people remark, ‘Girls’ math gap? Isn’t that all taken care of now?’ Actually, the discrepancies still exist, as revealed in the powerful research base presented in this new book from Adams, Wenzel, Childs, and Neff. Using thoughtful ways to think about change, the authors address the issue via research-informed practical approaches for teachers that delve into helping girls reduce math anxiety, stimulate STEM career interest, build confidence, energize engagement, and experience relevant role models.
Through a multifaceted process emphasizing three Ps: perceptions, possibilities, and priorities, the authors use ‘Do Nows,’ classroom videos, and reflection opportunities to unearth a variety of misconceptions and engage teachers in ways to make genuine change. The gap may still exist today, but Making Sense of Mathematics for Teaching Girls in Grades K–5 is an impressive leap in the right direction."


Social Media and children
Introduction : Social media life is a term for the online stages that individuals use to associate with others, share media substance, and shape interpersonal organizations. Probably the most famous stages incorporate Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Pinterest, Skype, YouTube, Viber and Snapchat. Online multiplayer amusements, similar to World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Clash of Clans and The Sims are additionally getting to be essential web based life spaces for youngsters, where they associate with different gamers and visit while playing. Gaming visit destinations are likewise prevalent routes for youngsters and adolescents to interface with other people who share their specific gaming interests.
Benefits for children using social networks:
Social: social help can be found on interpersonal organizations. Children can meet others with similar interests, Children can feel esteemed and acknowledged. Youngsters can make more companions rapidly and figure out how to make and keep up fellowships and connections. This can be exceptionally valuable particularly for just kids.
Educational: kids can figure out how to communicate better, enhance their education abilities and also numeracy skills, learn how to type and read. Additionally they can find out about the world, news, fundamental abilities, interests and information using interpersonal organizations.
Drawbacks for children using social networks:
There are many dangers for children and teens who use social media. It is vital for all Parents to show these drawbacks to their children, in any case or not on the off chance that they enable them to utilize informal communities. It is essential to understand these risks as a feature of one’s fundamental abilities in this day and age .
Stranger danger: stranger danger and engaging with contacts off-screen, it is necessary to teach them and supervise your child about not meeting outsiders or individuals you’ve had contact with on the web.
Health issues : according to me, in these days most of the children spend their time on social media to posting and chatting with their friends and stranger people or playing online games and watching videos instead of playing outside games. So after they are suffering from many health diseases which is not good for new generation.
Wastage of Time: Most of children spend to much time on social media which is wastage of time, as a result they become unintelligent and irresponsible such as they do not focus on their study and work.


This cross-curricular unit links geographical and historical study to enable students to research, understand and develop an affinity with the history of their local area
How has education has changed over time?
How can the place of school in local history be investigated?
Education in the UK has a very long history and can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon times. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge have the longest histories, with Oxford (founded in 1167) being the oldest university in the English speaking world. However, prior to the 19th century there were very few schools and those that existed were usually run by the church.
The Elementary Education Act of 1880 reformed education and meant that all children had to attend school from the ages of five to 10. Since then, the age of leaving has steadily risen so that, from 1973 it became compulsory for children to stay in education until the age of 16. Recent plans are in place to raise the leaving age to 18 from 2013. See the Wikipedia entry on the history of education in England for more information.
The subjects studied have also changed dramatically over time. Prior to the 19th century, as most schools were run by the church, religious education was the main subject studied. At the end of the 19th century the three Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) dominated and the main teaching style was through dictation. Visit Channel 4's Victorian Children: Victorian Schools website for more detail (you will see that geography is in there). Today pupils are given the opportunity to study a variety of different subjects from Politics and Art History to Travel and Tourism and teaching styles are much more interactive.
School in the late 19th Century
How do your experiences of school today compare with those of previous generations?
The picture on the front page of the Channel 4 Victorian Schools microsite shows a school at the end of the 19th Century.
How does this picture compare with your school today?
What are the similarities?
What are the differences?
Now take a look at the Victorian school timetable from 1899 on the same website.
How does this compare to your timetable?
You can find out more about each of the subjects that were studied by clicking on each one. There are even some tasks that you can try out.
Try out the dictation or drill activities provided to give you an idea about what it was like to be at school in the late 19th Century.
Anniversary front page
Your task is to produce the front page of an anniversary newspaper for your school. This will describe how your school has changed over time.
You can complete this work either individually or in groups of two or three.
Your school might have quite a long history (10, 50 or even 100 years), in which case you will need to find out as much information as you can about what your school was like in the past and how it has changed.
Think about where you are going to find out the information you need. You could do an Internet search, look in the school or local library, or interview some of your teachers (especially those who have been at the school for quite a long time!).
The anniversary front page document gives you some more guidelines and some ideas for presenting your front page.
If your school has a very short history, you might think instead about producing a newspaper from the future. Imagine you are writing the anniversary newspaper in 2100 and looking back at what the school is like now. How might the school change in the future, and how will school life be different then?
My front page
In this final task, you will be evaluating your work from the lesson. Complete one of the cards in the my front page document which asks you to write down what you think about your work:
What are you most proud of?
What would you change about your work?
What would you add to your work if you had to do it again?
Add a photo of your group to the card and print it out. You can now display it in the classroom alongside your anniversary front page.
By placing a booking, you are permitting us to store and use your (and any other attendees) details in order to fulfil the booking.
We will not use your details for marketing purposes without your explicit consent.
You must be a member holding a valid Society membership to view the content you are trying to access. Please login to continue.
Join us today, Society membership is open to anyone with a passion for geography
Cookies on the RGS website


NCERT 5th Class Exemplar Problems 2021 Download for Mathematics & Science to Hindi medium, English medium, Urdu medium and another subjects online at http://www.ncert.nic.in & https://epathshala.nic.in…
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has interdicted Chapter-wise exemplar problems for both Maths and Science group students through the main portal of the council to both Hindi medium, English medium, Urdu medium and all regional language student studying under various State level or Central Education boards of the country.
Every year the NCERT has provided the updated or latest exemplar problems with answer solutions to Mathematics (Maths) & Science subjects for getting better knowledge of the subjects under the elementary education primary school in subject wise to every lesson of the course in evaluation wise for Session-1, and Session-2 exams to the academic year of 2021.
|NCERT 5th Class Exemplar Problems 2021||Details|
|Name of the Education Board||National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)|
|Name of the Class||Class -5 / STD-V / 5th Class|
|Official Website of the Board||http://www.ncert.nic.in & https://epathshala.nic.in|
|Categories||Class-5, Exemplar, NCERT|
NCERT 5th Class Maths Exemplar Problems 2021
Mathematics is most important subject than other subjects of the course, every student who has enjoyed the solving of mathematics problems the student will get a better career in the maths world, and the NCERT has provided the primary school class 5 maths exemplar problems suggested by experts of the council and this is one of the toughest subject to most of the student world.
Class teachers and various leading educational organizations also shared the NCERT 5th Class Maths Exemplar Problems 2021 to all regional board student, we have advised contacting your responsible class teacher to get lesson wise to all the listed chapters for paper-1 & paper-2 exams held under all evaluations.
- Number System
- Fractions & Decimals
- Data Handling
- Ratio & Proportion
- Symmetry & Practical Geometry
NCERT 5th Class Exemplar Problems 2021 Science
Every Science student studying under the state or central education board also download NCERT 5th Class Science Solutions 2021 from the official website of the council along with private institution class teacher suggested exemplars for Term-1, Term-2, Term-3, Term-4 examination tests of SA-1, SA-2, SA-3, SA-4 and FA-1, FA-2, FA-3, FA-4, and Unit Tests, 3 Months (Quarterly), 6 Months (Half Yearly) Pre-final and annual final examination tests.
Practice the STD-5 Science and other subjects using the exemplar problems along with suggested solutions to get a better score in all exams, and follow the direct link to download NCERT STD-5 Exemplar Problems 2021 for all regional student.
- Food: Where Does It Come From?
- Components of Food
- Fibre to Fabric
- Sorting Materials and Groups
- Separation of Substances
- Changes Around Us
- Getting to Know Plants
- Body Movement
- The Living Organisms and their Surroundings
- Motion and Measurement of Distances
- Electricity and Circuits
- Fun with Magnets
- Air Around Us
- Garbage in, Garbage out


Wasps – The Noisy, Aggressive But Useful Insects
Honeybees are relatively quiet and almost cute as they go about their work. Wasps, hornets and yellow jackets, on the other hand, are noisy and aggressive. People don’t like them because they build nests near homes and can damage shrubs and trees. Mostly, though, people are afraid of their painful stings.
But wasps have a useful purpose. Wasps are fierce predators and they hunt and eat almost every insect pest that harms crops. Wasps eat grasshoppers, aphids, flies and other bees. They also eat nectar, tree sap and fruit. Some wasps eat human food, which is why they can be a nuisance at picnics.
Fun Facts About Wasps for Kids
- Wasps live everywhere but Antarctica.
- Wasps can sting over and over again.
- Wasps make nests from paper. They chew up strips of bark and spit it out again to form a rough paper. Some wasps make nests in basements, sheds or dark, cool places.
- A queen starts a new colony each spring. She raises a few worker wasps first to make the nest larger and bring food. Then she starts laying eggs. A colony can grow to 50,000 wasps in one summer.
- In the fall, all the wasps die except for a few new queens. The new queens spend the winter in an old log or burrow. In the spring, they make new colonies.
- Aggressive: fierce, unafraid
- Purpose: job, role
- Fierce: tough, fearless
- Nuisance: annoying
- Colony: group of wasps
Learn More All About Wasps
Have a look at this cool documentary video about Japanese hornets:
A documentary of the wild lives of the Japanese hornets.
Question: Do all wasps live in colonies?
Answer: Some wasps live alone.
Question: Do wasps make honey?
Answer: Only honeybees make honey.
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Fun Wasp Facts ." Easy Science for Kids, Sep 2020. Web. 29 Sep 2020. < https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-wasps/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2020). Fun Wasp Facts. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-wasps/
We've recently added
- How To Build a Winogradsky Column and Learn About Soil Science
- Potato Light Bulb Experiment
- How To Use Friction to Pick Up Bottle of Rice
- How To Make Popcorn Dance
- Vinegar and Baking Soda Fire Extinguisher
- Power of Bleach
- Comparing Surface Tension of Liquids with Pennies
- Ice Cream Chemistry
- Using Distillation to Purify Water
- Filter Water with Dirt
- Build a Balloon Barometer
- Build Your Very Own Seismograph
Sponsored Links :


The Acadience Reading assessment is a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade. They are designed to be short (one minute) test probes used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills.
Each measure has been thoroughly researched over the last few decades and demonstrated to be reliable and valid indicators for hundreds of thousands of students. Teachers use the measures to monitor early literacy development and predict later reading proficiency. This aids in the early identification of students who are not progressing as expected, so teachers can provide extra supports for those students. When used as recommended, results help set literacy objectives for students and then monitor progress toward those objectives.
mCLASS Next is used to assess the following skills:
- Phonemic Awareness. The earliest literacy skill. First Sound Fluency (FSF) and Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF) are measures that indicate students' abilities to hear, segment, and isolate the phonemes in words. This is a critical precursor to developing letter-sound relationships in print.
- Alphabetic Principle and Basic Phonics. Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) is the measure that best indicates a student's knowledge and skills with phonics. Students' progress in figuring out unfamiliar words spans several years, from kindergarten to second grade.
- Fluency. For each skill and measure, fluency is a goal. Students should develop reasonable automaticity with identifying letters and sounds, and putting words together. Enough fluency is needed so that a student's reading pace does not prohibit reading comprehension.
- Advanced Phonics and Word Attack. NWF and Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) both help measure students' abilities to read texts that stretch beyond their sight-word vocabulary.
- Accurate and Fluent Reading of Connected Text. ORF Accuracy is the measure used to assess students' abilities to recognize and read words accurately and automatically. Students' progress in this area spans several years, from first to third grade.
- Reading Comprehension. DAZE is the measure used to assess the students' abilities to construct meaning from text using word recognition skills, background information, prior knowledge, familiarity with linguistic properties such as syntax and morphology, and cause and effect reasoning skills. Students' progress in this area is monitored beginning in third grade.
|Talk to your Literacy Assistant if you have a concern about a student prior to testing||Wait until after testing to express a concern|
If a student is having a bad day, please request that he/she be tested on make-up day
|Use Benchmark Passages for a re-test|
|If a student has forgotten his/her glasses, please request that he/she be tested on make-up day.||Change the standardized administration of a test|
|Use progress monitoring materials to instruct students so they understand what is expected of them on test day||Practice or review Benchmark passages prior to testing|
|If there is a discrepancy in the student’s performance relative to other information available about the student, or if there is a question about the accuracy of a score, validate the score by retesting the student using alternate forms of the DIBELS measures or additional diagnostic assessments|
See an overview of what Acadience Reading: mCLASS can do for a young learner's literacy
- mClass home from Amplify (login page for educators)
If you have any questions, please contact Michelle Lovell at 801-567-8087 | firstname.lastname@example.org. You can also contact Shannon Johnson at 801-567-8873 | email@example.com.


Why is phonics important?
Phonics is important in learning to read and write. Research supports the view that phonics is a key predictor of later reading success.
English is a phonetic language, which means we have a sound that is matched by a written letter or combination of written letters.
Matching sounds to letters © QUT English is the most complex alphabetic language to learn because it is irregular – there can be many options for combining letters to create a specific sound, or combining sounds to make up a word. However, there are parts of the English language that do follow rules and it’s important that children understand these rules to be successful decoders.
Learning to read is complex and phonics is just one part of code-related literacy development and becoming literate.
Building blocks of literacy. Adapted from The Melissa Institute. © QUT Learning to read also involves developing strategies in all of the blocks in the image above, as well as discovering the pleasure of reading and reading for a purpose.
Oral language and phonological awareness play a key role in early childhood literacy development. Phonics knowledge is finite and can be learnt quickly, whereas comprehension and vocabulary knowledge continues to develop over a lifetime. This makes phonics learning easier to measure than comprehension and vocabulary development.
Over the past 50 years, academics, policymakers and education leaders have argued over whether we should, or should not, teach phonics. Rather than arguing whether phonics is necessary, research has shifted from ‘should we or shouldn’t we’ teach phonics, to what form of phonics should be taught, when, and how much.
There are a range of different ways you can teach phonics in your early years setting. The ‘best’ way to teach phonics is through teachers using their informed professional judgment about what’s needed for the children they’re teaching.
What is phonics?
Phonics is understanding the structure of oral language and its representation in written language. It’s a method for teaching children to read by helping them to connect sounds with letters or groups of letters. Phonics is just one part of learning to read.
Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in oral language. The relationship between phonemes and letters is known as phoneme-grapheme correspondence – more commonly known as phonics.
Explaining phonological awareness
Phonological awareness is the ability to detect and manipulate the larger units of sound; for example, rhyme and syllables. Phonological awareness is important for children in the prior-to-school years. Research suggests it is easier to attend to larger units of sound, such as rhymes and counting syllables, than it is to attend to the smaller units of sound as in phonemic awareness.


Register for Free edWebinars Below
Join live or receive a link to the recording and earn a CE certificate
- This event has passed.
Messy Science: Using Art to Promote Scientific Reasoning
Monday October 29, 2018 @ 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm EDT
Presented by John Funk, M.Ed., Senior Early Education Expert (Clinical Professor)
Sponsored by Frog Street Press
In this edWebinar, John Funk, M.Ed., Senior Early Education Expert, provides ideas for using creative and critical art activities to promote scientific reasoning and support science vocabulary. Learn how to take simple art projects and use them to support children’s development in learning about science.
This recorded event will be of particular benefit to early childhood teachers. There will be time for a Q&A session at the end of John’s presentation. Gain creative classroom ideas for turning art projects into science lessons.
About the Presenter
John Funk, M.Ed., Senior Early Education Expert, has worked in early childhood since 1979. He taught preschool, first and second grades and kindergarten. While teaching kindergarten, John was chosen as the Utah Teacher of the Year and met with the President of the United States. He worked as an early childhood specialist for a large school district and managed early childhood services for Salt Lake CAP Head Start. He is Past President of the Utah AEYC. As an early childhood, reading, art, and literacy consultant for the last two decades, he has written on early childhood subjects and products for McGraw Hill, Leap Frog and Discount School Supply. He served on the editorial panel for Young Children magazine published by NAEYC. Currently, John teaches courses in early childhood, children’s literature, classroom management, reading methods and supervises interns at the University of Utah, as well as working in professional development and content for Frog Street.
Join the Early Childhood Learning Solutions community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view past edWebinars to earn CE certificates.
edWeb members can download a personalized CE certificate from their edWeb member page. Not a member? Join here!


For those of you who know me well; will know that I have a keen interest in how we support our children in school and at home.
We know that every child is different and children will learn at different speeds. As someone who struggled at school academically, I was often the student who needed to pop their hand in the air and ask for help. I was, let's call me, a C grade student. Certain subjects didn't always come naturally to me, but I was a trier. I was someone who always tried my best and some twenty years on, that ethos and mentality to 'give something a go' has always stood me in good stead.
Now I have children of my own, it is, of course, natural that I would want to encourage them to do well at school. But how can we help them? Studies show that a child’s academic performance is linked to their home life and the amount of parental support they get. The students who perform best tend to have happy and stable homes and good communication with their parents. Studies show that a child’s academic performance is linked to their home life and the amount of parental support. The students who perform best tend to have happy and stable homes and good communication with their parents.
Many of us can relate to the challenges of asking our children to do their homework. Kids will often put it off until the last minute before it needs to be submitted to the teacher which causes stress and anxiety. It is easy to think that it is the job of schools to educate our children but there are plenty of learning opportunities that can be undertaken at home.
When it comes to exams, we can also relate to the focus and support that is required. Especially when children are preparing for SATS and school exams, particularly the 11+, if they decide to 'give it a go'.
I was really interested to see the range of books and how it might make a positive impact on our daughter, who is nine years old. I was keen to use it was a positive way to spend one to one time with her, under the guidance of these books, focusing on the areas she needs support on; resulting in a great way for us to build her academic confidence in the home.
Our daughter, who is currently in Year 4, we want to support her with her learning at home and building their confidence in her core subjects. This was the reason for trailing the SATs books. These books have an aim to educate and inform parents of primary school children who would like to help their children develop literacy and numeracy skills, whilst also understanding more about Key Stage 2 SATs.
When it comes to tests and exams, we haven't yet made any decisions on whether our daughter will take the 11+ exam. But, I have started to do my own research on understanding what our options are. Most schools will start to develop your child’s skills in Year 4 and have a year of focused practice in Year 5, before the 11+ exam is taken at the start of Year 6.
Whether you decide to take your child through taking the 11+ or not, it really is a completely personal family decision. One that you must make with your child, considering their confidence and emotional wellbeing in that decision. Bond is the leading provider of 11+ resources, having provided consolidation, revision and practice materials for the 11+ exam for over 50 years. Their wealth of 11+ publishing offers a comprehensive range of simple to use, affordable resources providing a complete learning programme for a child’s 11+ journey.
You may find this article useful:
Their range of books includes:
Assessment papers – carefully graded practice papers providing essential practice for each question type in a realistic exam style
Test papers – matching the style, content and difficulty of the real 11+ exam these test papers enable realistic mock exam practice at home.
10 Minute Tests – bite-sized tests for quick practice and revision, covering all the core skills plus motivating and fun puzzles
How to Do 11+ – step-by-step guidance for developing core skills with parent tips and practical activities
Parents' Guide to the 11+ – written by an experienced 11+ tutor, this essential manual offers a practical 4-step approach to guide you through the entire process
Bond Online – giving your child unlimited access to thousands of 11+ questions this interactive resource is a fun and engaging way of helping your child prepare for the 11+ exam
I hope this article is helpful. We are definitely on this journey and I am sure that many of you reading this may be on a similar one. If you are looking for more learning support to provide at home, then I would recommend these range of books from Oxford University Press. I have also included some useful links below.
In summary, Bond offers essential practice and support for children aged 5 through to 13 who are sitting the 11+, Common Entrance exams or Key Stage 2 SATs. Thanks for reading.