I've been thinking a lot lately about Mark O'Connor's blog articles, especially his most recent ones "The American Violin" and "Suzuki Has Gone Fiddlin'." The comments section of Mr. O'Connor's blog, especially the "Suzuki Has Gone Fiddlin'" article, show just how much disagreement there is in the American classical community on our preferred teaching methods.
Plenty of folks swear by The Suzuki Method, which was revolutionary when it took hold in the United States through John D. Kendall in the 1950s and '60s. At its core, The Suzuki Method believes that music education functions a lot like early language acquisition: if you create a vibrant musical community through teachers, recordings, concerts, and peers, then there's no reason your child can't learn to play the violin. Or, that learning the violin is as easy as learning to speak and read. (Which is still pretty hard sometimes. More picture books, Dad!)
So why do we need to change anything? Why does O'Connor want to rethink the way we teach our kids to play the violin?
While appreciative of The Suzuki Method's faith in each child's musical ability, Mr. O'Connor wants more. His O'Connor Method focuses on traditional American music like blues, folk, jazz, and spirituals; by making these genres the focus of his method, O'Connor opens the door to imrovisation and thus to individual creativity. (You simply can't learn to play jazz without learning to jam.)
That said, the more articles I read by O'Connor, and the more I examine his method books, the more I'm convinced that he wants just one thing to happen for his students: for them to find their voice. One of my favorite poets, Seamus Heaney, has written on the difference between "craft" and "technique," and I think it's relevant here if only to freshen to conversation about the Suzuki and O'Connor methods. For Heaney, discovering your "technique" is pretty much what most of us would call "finding your voice":
I think technique is different from craft. Craft is what you can learn from other verse. Craft is the skill of making … It can be deployed without reference to the feelings or the self. It knows how to keep up a capable verbal athletic display; it can be content to be vox et praeterra nihil—all voice and nothing else—but not voice as in ‘finding a voice.’ Learning the craft is learning to turn the windlass at the well of poetry. Usually you begin by dropping the bucket halfway down the shaft and winding up a taking of air. You are miming the real thing until one day the chain draws unexpectedly tight and you have dipped into waters that will continue to entice you back. You’ll have broken the skin on the pool of yourself. ("Feeling Into Words," pgs. 20-21)
Craft looks a lot like technique, but we certainly know technique when we see it. You get goosebumps when you witness technique; you feel like you're hearing something no one has ever heard before. Or, as Emily Dickinson said, you feel like the top of your head has been blown off. And when you learn technqiue, you're finding your voice, which can be as distinct as the way you walk, speak, or dance.
O'Connor's deep fear is that we're teaching children craft but not technique. We're teaching capable musical displays but not equipping our students with the true creative potential of technique. (It's a heavy moment in your artistic life, when you've broken the skin of yourself and you're no longer pulling up air, but it's one that is worth the wait.)
There have been plenty of counter stories, though, from Suzuki graduates about how their violin teacher included American genres and encouraged creativity. They narrate a more complex Suzuki Method, a hybrid method. On his blog, O'Connor recognizes the potential of a more hybrid Suzuki Method but worries about the lack of real commitment to creativity in this approach and the dangers of a hodgepode approach to musical education. He's put serious thought into the progression of his method and it's distressing, I think, to contemplate a buffet approach. Fair enough.
In the end, I'm not sure anyone can tell you which method is right for your child. But I do believe techique is necessary to any serious creative endeavor. If you want your child to write American music, then your child needs to find his or her American voice. That begs the question, however, if creativity and finding a voice are always what we want from art. Those things can be frightening in a way that performance isn't.


Words and music, such natural partners that it seems obvious they go together. Now science is confirming that those abilities are linked in the brain, a finding that might even lead to better stroke treatments.
Studies have found overlap in the brain's processing of language and instrumental music, and new research suggests that intensive musical therapy may help improve speech in stroke patients, researchers said Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In addition, researchers said, music education can help children with developmental dyslexia or autism more accurately use speech.
People who have suffered a severe stroke on the left side of the brain and cannot speak can sometimes learn to communicate through singing, Gottfried Schlaug, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School told the meeting.
"Music making is a multisensory experience, activating links to several parts of the brain," Schlaug said.
Schlaug showed a video of one patient who could only make meaningless sounds learning to say "I am thirsty," by singing the words, and another was able to sing "happy birthday."
"If you have someone who is nonverbal and they can say there are hungry or thirsty or ask where the bathroom is, that's an improvement," Schlaug said of the Melodic Intonation Therapy.
As long as a century ago there were reports of stroke victims who couldn't talk but who could sing, he said. Now, they are doing trials to see if music can be used as a therapy.
But, he cautioned, the work is geared toward people who have had a severe stroke on the left side of the brain and the therapy can take a long time.
Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University, reported that new studies show that musical training enhances the brain's ability to do other things.
For example, she said, the trained brain gets better at detecting patterns in sounds, so that musicians are better at picking out the voice of a friend in a noisy restaurant.
"Musical experience improves abilities important in daily life," she said. "Playing an instrument may help youngsters better process speech in noisy classrooms and more accurately interpret the nuances of language that are conveyed by subtle changes in the human voice," Kraus said.
When people first learn to talk and when they talk to babies they often use musical patterns in their speech, she noted.
"People's hearing systems are fine-tuned by the experiences they've had with sound throughout their lives. Music training is not only beneficial for processing music stimuli. We've found that years of music training may also improve how sounds are processed for language and emotion," Kraus said in prepared remarks.
Kraus said "the very responses that are enhanced in musicians are deficient in clinical populations such as children with developmental dyslexia and autism."
New studies of brain waves, she noted, mimic the patterns of sound that the individual hears. Whether speech or instrumental music is heard, it is actually possible to record the brain's electronic waves and play them back to hear the sound - which she demonstrated with a series of recordings.
Aniruddh D. Patel of The Neurosciences Institute in San Diego said new studies show that music doesn't involve just hot spots in the brain, but large swaths on both sides of the brain.
"Nouns and verbs are very different from tones and cords and harmony, but the parts of the brain that process them overlap," he said.
Some scientists, among them Charles Darwin, have speculated that musical ability in humans might have developed before language, Patel said.


********Due to recent funding cuts, there is a per head fee to attend. If you are interested please contact Lindsey Tilley at firstname.lastname@example.org or at 580-559-5465.
COST - please contact Lindsey Tilley at email@example.com or call 580-559-5465.
There is a growing need to provide age appropriate literacy experiences for young children. The Literacy First Process recognizes the uniqueness of the young learned and provides information and instruction for teachers related to activities and experiences to promote literacy in a child friendly learning environment.
The Literacy First Early Childhood Process is designed specifically to meet the literacy needs of children ages four to six. While many of the components of the Early Childhood Process are similar to the K-2 Literacy First Process, certain component have been adapted to meet the needs of younger students and other components have been added.
Each participant will receive supplemental materials along with four published books:
- I Can Read, I can Write by Terri Beeler
- Phonics A to Z by Wiley Blevins
- Classroom Centers by Linda Holliman
- Phonological Awareness by Yvette Zgonc
The total cost for these materials is over $150 but every participant receives them free as a part of attending this workshop.
The following components are included in the Literacy First Early Childhood Process.
- Characteristics of young children and considerations for teaching literacy skills.
- The development of literacy skills that affect reading success.
- Overview of how the Literacy First Early Childhood Process fits with the K-12 Literacy First Process.
- Phonological awareness - definition of skills, sequence of skills.
- Phonological awareness - specific classroom activities, lessons, resources.
- Phonological awareness - assessment, matching assessment to instruction.
- Walls that teach.
- Print rich environment - how to develop, expand and use to instruct.
- Application of Academic Learning Time and Anatomy of a Lesson.
- Literacy centers - how to develop and include literacy throughout all centers.
- Skills checklist of each child's emergent literacy skills.
- Read aloud - as a technique and tool to teach literacy components.
- Development of comprehension skills through listening - using specific strategies and techniques.
- Phonics skills for the young learner.
- Phonics assessments.
- Articulation of sounds.
- Emphasis on oral language development.
- Importance of providing experiences and building on the child's prior knowledge.
- Family connection and education in relation to their child's literacy development.
- Checklists for teacher instruction.
- Classroom environmental checklist.
- Shared reading and writing.
- Examples and discussion of daily schedules.
********Due to recent funding cuts, we will not be offering our usual Fall workshops. However, some school districts are choosing to run their own classes with some availability to the public. There is a per head fee to attend. If you are interested please contact Lindsey Tilley at firstname.lastname@example.org or at 580-559-5465.


If you've ever watched a pianist's fingers flawlessly glide over the keys during an intense performance, you've seen the ideal outcome of piano lessons: mastery of the instrument. If you felt drawn to the instrument but daunted by the amount of practice required for proficiency, you should know that current neurological research indicates that our brains are more adaptable than we thought. Except for a few specialized skills for which there is a limited window of learning opportunity, students of any age can master the piano. All it takes is practice and desire.
The brain learns best by learning. While that may sound circular, it's better to think of a positive feedback loop in which the brain's ability to learn is amplified every time that ability is used. There are many platitudes to describe this phenomenon, and this one is fitting: "The more you know, the more you grow."
However, the relationship between learning and the ability to learn is not a simple cause-and-effect chain. There are limits. There are well-known developmental windows wherein the ability to learn a specific skill, such as identifying pitch separate from scale, known as absolute pitch (AP), is increased and after which that skill is much more difficult or impossible to attain. However, those windows aren't as static or limiting as we once thought. In other words, the lines of demarcation for these developmental windows and the amount they limit our ability to learn specialized skills have often been drawn in the wrong places.
The initial learning experience with an activity such as playing piano is perhaps a more critical factor than the age you begin learning. During your first piano lesson, your brain creates its network of neural pathways for "piano playing." EEG imaging studies indicate that your brain will use the neural network it creates during the initial experience of this new activity every time you play the piano afterword (Bangert & Altenmüller, 2003).
Clearly, first impressions are important.
Once your brain lays down a physical framework for playing piano during your first lesson, that neural network becomes a foundational part of how your brain will engage in playing piano for the rest of your life. This finding shows that learning a new skill such as piano playing requires the brain to make a permanent commitment to the physical hardware of performing that skill that cannot be easily altered at any point during your piano lessons, so clarity and correct technique are critical during your initial experiences of playing piano.
The scope of brain involvement in music creation and appreciation extends far beyond this instrument-specific network. Early brain imaging researchers found that nearly every region of the brain was activated by melodic listening (Mazziota, 1988). Different areas of the brain light up in response to different elements of music, such as melody, rhythm, duration and tone. Neuroscientists widely believe that the neural systems for processing various elements of music are spread out throughout the brain, "with different aspects of music processed by distinct neural circuits" (Parsons 2001, p. 211).
Furthermore, the notion of music processing as a right-brain activity is misleading. Although there are many cases of right-hemispheric dominance during brain-imaging music research, a number of studies have shown that subjects with musical training who engage in music listening are more likely to display left-hemispheric dominance or no dominance, rather than right-hemispheric dominance (Edwards, 2008). Learning piano is a whole-brain activity that strengthens your brain's ability to learn music.
As we learn more about the science of learning, many of our cultural attitudes toward music education are changing. You no longer need to begin piano lessons at 3 to attain proficiency. On the contrary; you can begin to study music at any age and benefit greatly from it.
Science has shown that although people respond to music in myriad ways, we all respond. Music is a universal element of human experience. Once you start to learn about it, your brain is designed to continue to learn. The more you know, the more you grow.
At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don't Have To.™
Bangert, M., & Altenmüller, E. O. (2003). "Mapping Perception to Action in Piano Practice: A Longitudinal DC-EEG Study." BMC Neuroscience, 4(26), 14.
Edwards, Richard D. (2008). "The Neurosciences and Music Education: An Online Database of Neuromusical Brain Imaging Research." ProQuest UMI Dissertation Publishing, 1-85.
Parsons, L. M. (2001). "Exploring the Functional Neuroanatomy of Music Performance, Perception, and Comprehension." Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 930, 211-231.


cally examine how various social, cultural, and contextual forces interact with neurocognitive processes to facilitate or constrain the development of literacy.
The major components of reading and writing are well documented. Depending on the assessed needs of the learner, instruction needs to target decoding and strategies for identifying unfamiliar words. Instruction should focus on depth, breadth, and flexibility of vocabulary knowledge and use. Learners also need strategies for comprehending and learning from text. Instruction should support the development of knowledge, including background, topic, and world knowledge. Learners also need metalinguistic knowledge (phonology, morphology) and discourse knowledge (genre and rhetorical structure). Metacognitive skills may need to be developed to facilitate comprehension and meet goals for reading.
Figure 2-1 shows the writing skills that may need to be targeted with instruction, among them sentence construction skills, planning and revising, spelling, and usage (capitalization and punctuation skills). As for reading, knowledge to develop for writing includes background, topic, and world knowledge as well as knowledge of the potential audiences for written products. Writing instruction, like reading instruction, needs to develop facility with writing for particular purposes, contexts, and content domains. Writing also requires mastery of tools required for writing (typing, word processing, and handwriting).
Literacy development, like the learning of any complex task, requires a range of explicit teaching and implicit learning guided by an expert. Explicit and systematic instruction is effective in developing the components of reading and writing and facilitating the integration and transfer of skills to new tasks and context. Full competence requires extensive practice with varied forms of text and tasks that demand different combinations of literate skill. It also requires learning how to use tools required in a society for producing and using text for communication, self-expression, and collaboration. Principles of effective reading and writing instruction are summarized in Boxes 2-2 and 2-4. Box 2-5 lists practices shown to be effective in the development of writing. Reading and writing involve many shared components and processes. Instruction that includes activities that capitalize on and make explicit the relations between reading and writing facilitates development of a better integrated and mutually reinforcing literacy system.
A sizeable literature on efficacious interventions for struggling learners points to additional principles for teaching reading and writing to this population that include (1) direct targeting of specific areas of difficulty in the context of explicit reading and writing instruction; (2) more intense instruction, more explicit instruction, and even more opportunities to practice; (3) direct targeting of the generalization and transfer of learning; (4)


PRLog - Nov. 1, 2012 - ATLANTA -- This Second Grade Common Core Workbook is the largest collection of resources for teaching the Common Core State Standards. This workbook includes over 575 pages of Worksheets, Activity Centers, and Posters that teach all the Second Grade English Language Arts Common Core Standards and all the Second Grade Mathematics Common Core Standards!
Second Grade Common Core Workbook
Second Grade Common Core Workbook: http://corecommonstandards.com/
If you are worried about teaching the Common Core State Standards, this Second Grade Workbook is just what you need! This Second Grade Common Core Workbook includes hundreds of Common Core Worksheets, Common Core Activities, and Common Core Posters to help teach all the Second Grade English Standards and Second Grade Math Standards from the Common Core Standards.
Download the Workbook Here: http://corecommonstandards.com/
Second Grade English Language Arts Standards
Reading: Informational Text
Reading: Foundational Skills
Speaking and Listening
Second Grade Math Standards
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
Number and Operations in Base Ten
Measurement and Data
"As a second grade teacher, this is the BEST resource I could ever imagine for teaching the Common Core Standards. This workbook covers every 2nd grade standard for English and Math with high quality worksheets, activity centers for small groups, and posters. This is a LIFE SAVER!!!"
The Core Standards are quickly becoming well known in the education world. Teachers in nearly every state are already planning and preparing to teach the Common Core State Standards. These core standards are constant and unchanging throughout the United States and offer teachers and students a common set of core standards for each grade level.
CoreCommonStandards.com is a brand new website that offers high quality worksheets, activities and workbooks that teach the Common Core Standards. Take a moment to browse the website by Grade Level Standards, State Standards, English Standards, or Math Standards.
Second Grade Standards, 2nd Grade Standards, Standards for Second Grade, Second Grade Core Standards, Common Core Standards Second Grade, Second Grade Common Core Standards, Standards Second Grade, Grade 2 Standards, 2nd Grade Common Core Standards


Creative Arts Curriculum
The course will examine the evolution of creative and performing arts curriculum in Australia and internationally.
Opportunities exist for this critical exploration into the benefits and place of the creative arts in either early childhood learning settings, primary, secondary and tertiary learning contexts or in community contexts such as art galleries and community arts centres.
Not currently available.
1. Examine the aims and objectives of creative and performing curriculum(s), taking a comparative case study approach, within and across sectors and specialisations;
2. Examine the historical legacy of past curriculum, research and theory as it informs present debates;
3. Specialist curriculum characteristics, strengths and weaknesses;
4. The case for informal and formal creative and performing arts curriculum;
5. The role of community and audience in shaping new curriculum: partnerships and new educational opportunities;
6. The role of creative arts curriculum in sustainability agendas, identities, culture, well-being and the environment;
7. New technologies and the shaping of creative arts curriculum; and
8. Impact of popular culture on creative arts curriculum.
The following list indicates indicative course content:
- Creative and performing curriculum(s), taking a comparative case study approach, within and across sectors and specialisations, discourses and ideologies
- The historical legacy of past curriculum, research and theory as it informs present debates and the critical re-construction of curriculum.
- Specialist curriculum characteristics , strengths and weaknesses: epistemologies, ontologies and skills and knowledge
- The case for informal and formal creative and performing arts curriculum looking at sector opportunities for innovation in curriculum.
- The role of community and audience in shaping new curriculum: partnerships and new educational opportunities.
- Creative arts curriculum: cultural and environmental sustainability
- The economy and globalisation: so where do the arts fit?
- Creativity, innovation and the role of the creative and performing arts in shaping the creative industries
- Knowledge, power and creativity through a critical pedagogies orientation.
- New media and new literacies the role of the creative and performing arts.
- Indigenisation in curriculum?
- Scoping curriculum futures for the arts?
- Scoping the sectors and community for creative and performing arts contribution for sustainable cultures: early childhood learning settings, primary, secondary and tertiary learning contexts or in informal learning contexts that may include community art centres, theatre education, orchestra, choral and band groups, artist in residence programs, museums and art galleries.
- Popular culture v's high art traditions.
Face to Face On Campus 2 hour(s) per Week for Full Term
Distance students are expected to engage in Online Learning activities for the equivalent of 2 hours per week for the full term. Tutorials may be delivered on-line as advised by the Course Coordinator.


Here's the latest article from the Special Needs Children site at BellaOnline.com.
Explaining Disabilities to Classmates
Understanding and explaining to other children what a having a developmental disability will mean for our children is a complicated challenge that may lead to unintended consequences for them as well as their classmates, who may be sensitive about our acceptance of their abilities and struggles.
Please visit specialneedschildren.bellaonline.com for even more great content about celebrating and supporting children with special needs and their families.
Find resources, links and news stories about disability issues at:
Teaching Home Addresses to Children
Severe Weather Events and Children
Medical ID Bracelets for Children
Managing Emergency Events and Drills at School
Peer Mentoring Programs and Childhood Disabilities http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art61295.asp
Creative Playtime for Babies and Children
Dolls for Children with Special Needs
Boardmaker and PECS Communication Systems
Preparing for Emergencies with Children
Community Emergency Response Training - CERT
Music Education - Every Voice Heard
Music Education and Music Therapy
Photography Lessons for Children
Reading Readiness and Reading Strategies
Reading and Literacy Skill Development
Establishing Advocacy Priorities
To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Special Needs Children located here -
I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!
Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!
Pamela Wilson, Special Needs Children Editor
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Webster’s Dictionary defines literacy as “the ability to read and write.” The simple definition belies a complex process that includes the ability to decode words on the page and understand what they mean in the context in which they are written.
In their Lead for Literacy memo “Literacy Unpacked: What Do We Mean by Literacy?” the team at the Language Diversity and Literacy Development Research Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education look at the various elements involved in ensuring that children learn to read with both comprehension and fluency. The memos in the series are informed by “Turning the Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success,” the 2010 report commissioned by Strategies for Children from Professor Nonie Lesaux, who leads the research group.
Defining literacy as “reading, writing, speaking, listening,” the one-page memo notes that skills-based competencies – such as print concepts, alphabet knowledge, word reading and fluency – are “highly susceptible to relatively brief instruction” and are typically mastered by third grade. Developing the knowledge that is the foundation of reading with comprehension, on the other hand, “requires sustained instruction, beginning in early childhood” and is acquired over a lifetime.
“With adequate instruction, skills‐based competencies are mastered by third grade for the average student. Yet the development of knowledge‐based competencies must be supported with good instruction throughout schooling. For many children, especially from academically vulnerable populations, knowledge‐based competencies are more likely to be key sources of academic difficulties,” the memo states. “Skills‐based competencies are necessary but not sufficient for early literacy development; later reading comprehension and academic success depend mostly on strong knowledge‐based competencies.”


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The Explode the Code series provides comprehensive phonics instruction, giving students the skills they need to read words, phrases, sentences, and stories by themselves.
Explode the Code Book 2 provides students with a review of long vowels. Skills addressed through a variety of encoding, decoding, and writing exercises include: y as a vowel, silent -e, consonant digraphs (sh, th, wh, ch, -tch, -ng, -ck), and vowel digraphs (ee, ea, ai, ay, oa, ow). Students will also practice blending sounds to read and write one-syllable words that include diagraphs and long vowel sounds. Reviews are included throughout.
Softcover consumable workbook. Grade 1.
Vendor: Educators Publishing Service
Publication Date: 1999
Dimensions: 11 X 8.5 (inches)
Availability: In Stock
Series: Explode the Code
Spectrum Language Arts, Grade 1Carson-Dellosa Publishing LLC / Trade Paperback$6.89 Retail:
$9.95Save 31% ($3.06)Availability: In StockCBD Stock No: WW681313
Learning Language Arts Through Literature Kit Grade 1Susan S. Simpson, Debbie StrayerCommon Sense Press / Trade Paperback$74.49 Retail:4 Stars Out Of 5 19 Reviews
$98.00Save 24% ($23.51)Availability: In StockCBD Stock No: WW2114
Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Grade 1, Activity, BlueSusan S. Simpson, Debbie StrayerCommon Sense Press / 1998 / Trade Paperback$21.49 Retail:5 Stars Out Of 5 1 Reviews
$27.00Save 20% ($5.51)Availability: In StockCBD Stock No: WW92901
homeschool mom5 Stars Out Of 5explode the code 3December 12, 2014homeschool momQuality: 5Value: 5Meets Expectations: 5my 1st grade son does so well with explode the code. this year, we started him off with 1.5, then he did 2, and now we are on 3. i suspect we will be able to finish 4 by the end of the year. he gets so excited to start each new book. they are silly and the directions are simple enough for him to pick up and do all by himself. the books are so great with teaching phonics and teaching him to sound words out as he reads. he is beginning to really love reading and i believe these books have given him a lot of confidence.
Joanne55 Stars Out Of 5Love these Books!!!November 22, 2014Joanne5My kids both really enjoy these books. I love the fact that they are able for the most part to work independently with little help from Mom. This has created a real sense of responsibility for my boy.
TinaMarie5 Stars Out Of 5The best thing we've ever gotten for homeschoolOctober 4, 2014TinaMarieThis is the best Phonics curriculum for my daughter. It truly makes learning phonics fun and easy for her. The lessons are easy to follow and teach. I don't really see us using anything else for our Phonics curriculum. It's helped make reading so much easier for her.
lynne9576WAAge: 35-44Gender: female4 Stars Out Of 5Kinder is eager to useOctober 3, 2014lynne9576WAAge: 35-44Gender: femaleQuality: 5Value: 4Meets Expectations: 4I'm using this for my 4th child and it has worked well. He eagerly completed two of the pre-k books and is now doing the first K book. He was very excited to read his first words. It came easily and early in the year.
ConnieTFayetteville, ARAge: 45-54Gender: female5 Stars Out Of 5September 19, 2013ConnieTFayetteville, ARAge: 45-54Gender: femaleQuality: 5Value: 5Meets Expectations: 5After 14 years of home schooling I can say that the Explode the Code series of phonics workbooks has helped my children with their reading skills like no other product. Paired with "Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" it is one of the best ways to teach beginning reading. I love it and will use it as long as I have children learning to read.


Providence Talks: Building Vocabulary from Day One
By Providence Mayor Angel Taveras
July 28, 2014
Here in Providence, we’ve made early childhood learning a top priority. We have no other choice: data shows that two-thirds of our children arrive for the first day of kindergarten already behind on national literacy benchmarks. Our efforts to ensure that every child is reading on grade level by the end of third grade have won Providence the All-America Award for grade level reading from the National Civic League.
But every day more research confirms that how children develop in the early years before they arrive in school is a critical factor in future school performance and success later in life. For a child’s vocabulary to develop fully, children need to hear at least 21,000 words per day. But children in the lowest income bracket fall short of that benchmark by more than 8,000 words every day. By the time a child growing up in a low-income household reaches their fourth birthday, he or she will have heard between about 20 and 30 million fewer words than their peers in middle- and high-income households.
Talking to one’s baby doesn’t just promote vocabulary development, but also brain development more broadly. At birth, a child will have developed all of the neurons that will carry him or her through adult life. In the first year of a baby’s life, brain size doubles, and at the age of three, the brain is already at 80 percent of its adult volume. Additionally, synapses are formed at a much faster rate between the ages of zero and three. Every verbal interaction a parent or caregiver has with a baby strengthens the neural connections within the baby’s rapidly growing brain.
Research shows that most children learn at the same rate in school. Due to disparities in vocabulary, low-income students start out at a disadvantage. Each summer, with unequal access to summer learning opportunities, this achievement gap widens. This growing inequality can lead to disparities in school readiness, long-term health outcomes, earnings, and family stability for years to come.
Our award-winning “Providence Talks” program — funded with a $5 million investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies — is designed to close the 30-million-word gap and ensure that children from low-income families begin school on a level playing field with their peers. Providence Talks aims to empower families with the additional tools and resources necessary to help build their children’s vocabularies from day one. It is the first citywide effort to close the word gap.
Providence Talks combines new information technology with existing effective home visitation programs. Participating families receive a small “word pedometer” that generates charts and graphs showing the number of words and conversations that their child engages with over the course of a day. This information is shared with families by a home visitor, and coaching sessions help them strengthen their household auditory environment. Free books and other resources are designed to help prepare our youngest learners for success in kindergarten and beyond.
Our program is just getting under way, but preliminary data demonstrates dramatic gains in word and conversation count — gains that we think will make a difference in years to come. Over two years, the program will expand from the initial pilot, now open to 75 early head start families, to a citywide scale. We hope that Providence Talks can become a model for other cities, so that more of our nation’s children from low-income families enter school’s starting gate on a level playing field with their wealthier peers.


“You teach middle school? Why?! All those hormones and growth spurts and changes. How do you do it?”
These words are not uncommon for middle grades teachers to hear. The general public, other educators, and even parents of young adolescents are often shocked to hear that anyone would want to teach this age group. And who can blame them for being skeptical? Children ages 10 to 15 are experiencing a great deal of change. In no other time, besides the first years of life, are humans experiencing such rapid cognitive growth.
Early adolescents are extremely social and care deeply about what their peers think of them. This might explain why groups of 8th graders wear feathers in their hair one month and multi-colored contacts the next (even if they have 20/20 vision). This is a period of dramatic physical change. Girls get taller, boys don’t…yet. Voices deepen after they rise in pitch. During the middle grades years the only constant is change. Middle level educators know that these changes dramatically impact the way that middle level education must look and how we as teachers must structure our instruction to ensure career and college readiness for our future leaders.
In addition to all of these changes, adolescence brings excitement to learning, a curiosity about the world, and a longing for guidance. Who wouldn’t want to teach this group of impressionable and unpredictable youth? One middle level educator said it best when he stated, “These are the pivotal years, where we make or break a student, where we turn them on or off.”
As Teaching Ambassador Fellows we’ve had the opportunity to travel across the country and talk with many middle level educators. In all of our conversations similar themes have emerged.
1.) Middle grades’ students need a variety of choices in their classes, their programming, and their activities. Students are trying to figure out who they are and offering them an array of choices will allow them to try new things in a safe space.
2.) The middle grades experience needs to be one that focuses on the whole child. It cannot simply be about academics but has to be focused on the social and emotional development of each child. Life skills, study skills, and social skills need to be taught during these years because these foundational skills are crucial to future success.
3.) Middle grades schools need time in the day and access to caring adults for teachers and students to build relationships, for teacher collaboration, and for planning interdisciplinary curriculum. Without sufficient time, students’ needs cannot fully be met.
4.) Middle grades schools need to have clear intervention programs for struggling students. Once students have been identified as “struggling” there need to be school or district-wide programs in place to help support these students, their families, and their teachers. These intervention programs must be meaningful and consistent.
5.) Middle level education must recruit and retain highly effective middle level educators. They must be experts in their content area, possess excellent instructional strategies that are specific to middle level education, and strive to develop positive relationships with their students.
6.) Middle grades schools need to have a strategic partnership between students, teachers, and families. School-wide structures need to be in place to engage, welcome, and communicate with all families. When students see that their families are valued, welcomed, and engaged they are more likely to feel valued and welcomed in their school community.
Research shows show that many students at the greatest risk of dropping out of high school can be identified in middle school by their grades, attendance, behavior, and test scores. Countless studies have shown that if middle level schools are to meet the diverse needs of young adolescents, schools must be developmentally responsive, socially equitable, and academically rigorous. They have to be places where kids are turned on, instead of off; where that 6th grader gets a friendly reminder to take his homework out of his backpack; where despite all of the physical changes they are experiencing every student is accepted and has a safe space to build relationships with those around them, who are going through the same kinds of changes.
The middle grades can be a time of turmoil or a time of triumph. We know that with all hands on deck our young adolescents can thrive. Middle level education must be a distinct and valued focus at the local, state, and national level. As we aim to welcome graduates with 21st century skills into the world as productive and collaborative citizens, middle level education clearly matters.
Secretary Duncan recently spoke at the Association for Middle Level Education’s (AMLE) annual conference. Click here to read the speech.
Geneviève DeBose and Kareen Borders are Teaching Ambassador Fellows at the Department of Education


|How do I know if my child is ready for Kindergarten?|
Kindergarten ReadinessKindergarten is where most children learn to read and write. Though some kids can do this before entering kindergarten, it is not required or expected. Being ready for kindergarten means having well-developed preschool skills, and being academically, socially, and physically ready for the transition. Here are some signs that your child is ready for kindergarten:
Academically (pre-reading skills)
• Can retell a simple story
• Speaks in complete sentences of 5-6 words
• Writes name or recognizes letters in name
• Feels comfortable in a group
• Asks for help when needed
• Knows personal information (name, age, gender)
• Exhibits fine motor skills (holds pencil, traces shapes, buttons shirt, etc.)
• Exhibits motor coordination (rides a bike with training wheels, hops, skips)
• Manages bathroom needs
Is my child ready?
Most children start kindergarten at age 5. If your child’s birthday falls in late spring or summer and will have just turned 5 at the beginning of the school year, or if you feel your child would benefit from another year of preschool, you might consider waiting until the next academic year.
Consider your child’s academic skills, but also his or her temperament. Remember that if your child is on the older or younger end of the class, this has an impact not only on kindergarten, but also on middle school, high school, driving, and college. If he is the youngest in his class now, he will be then, too!
When in doubt
• Discuss your concerns with your child’s preschool teacher.
• Discuss your concerns with the future principal and kindergarten teacher
• Tour the school and observe a kindergarten classroom
• Trust your instincts! You know your child best. Listen to others, think about your child,
and then go with your gut
For more information about early literacy development, visit
|Created at 4/25/2008 9:12 AM by kmolnar|
|Last modified at 2/24/2009 2:36 PM by kmolnar|


Our curriculum is research-based and has been aligned to the Illinois State Learning Standards. Through differentiated instruction, all students will have access to the general education curriculum. We believe that every child has the innate capacity to succeed. Our model ensures that all students who attend will receive the targeted, individualized educational supports they need to reach maximum potential regardless of their learning styles, socioeconomic background, or level of cognitive ability.
English/Language Arts (120 minutes of instruction daily)
- Scott Foresman Reading Street (K-5)
Scott Foresman Reading Street © 2011 is an all-new comprehensive Reading and Language Arts series for the 21st Century. Reading Street delivers classic and soon-to-be classic literature, scientifically research-based instruction, and a wealth of groundbreaking online experiences for high student engagement.
- Words Their Way Developmental Model
Words Their Way is a foundational program that helps students develop those foundational skills targeted in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
- My Sidewalks on Scott Foresman Reading Street: Intensive Reading Intervention (K-5)
My Sidewalks on Scott Foresman Reading Street: Intensive Reading Intervention is an intensive reading intervention program that accelerates the reading development of struggling students.
Mathematics (90 minutes of instruction daily)
- enVisionMATH Common Core (K-2)
Written specifically to address the Common Core State Standards, enVisionMATH Common Core is based on critical foundational research and proven classroom results.
- Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley enVisionMATH (3-5)
Daily Problem-Based Interactive Math Learning followed by Visual Learning strategies deepen conceptual understanding by making meaningful connections for students and delivering strong, sequential visual/verbal connections through the Visual Learning Bridge in every lesson.
- focusMATH Intensive Intervention
focusMATH identifies at-risk students early and accelerates their learning with instruction that is intensive, balanced, and individualized.
- Scott Foresman Science (K-2)
Scott Foresman Science program provides inquiry-rich content with cross-curricular connections that link reading and science skills in every chapter.
- Interactive Science (3-5)
Interactive Science, a next generation K-8 science program featuring an innovative write-in student edition that makes learning personal, relevant, and engaging.
- Scott Foresman Social Studies (K-5)
Scott Foresman Social Studies offers a variety of ways for students to think critically about key concepts—through reading, hands-on activities, and technology—so they actively experience the world they live in.
Physical Education and Health
- Skills and fitness
- Indoor and outdoor sports and games
- Making healthy choices
- Personal safety
- Appreciation of all artistic media
- Artistic expression
- Hands-on projects
- Music appreciation
- Vocal and instrumental music
- Performance opportunities


It’s true a teacher can never really succeed,
Without teaching their student to read.
A student can never ever really succeed,
Until a student knows how to read.
A fact no one should ever concede,
That we can and need to learn to read.
– An excerpt from “Time to Turn the Table,” a poem by John Corcoran
The movie “Waiting for Superman” has struck a bull’s-eye on hearts across America with its story of struggling students who desperately need to get into a special charter school, which will make the difference in their education and their lives. Even President Barack Obama has called the film “heartbreaking” and “powerful.” As a former adult nonreader and now a national literacy advocate, I am thrilled by the attention the movie is getting and I’m grateful to director Davis Guggenheim for his passion and commitment to the subject.
At the same time, I find it just a bit disheartening that America is still in the process of discovering its literacy problem. It is no secret that the number of non-readers and below-average readers in this country has reached epidemic proportions and continues to increase. We’ve known it for years. The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy found that 43 percent of the total population aged 16 or older – some 93 million people – rated at the below-basic or basic level in their reading skills. Illiteracy is a problem that does not discriminate, cutting across societal, racial and ethnic backgrounds. It is not a poverty issue, per se, but being unable to read will condemn a person to a lifetime of substandard economic performance.
What we need now is the will to change things at the grass-roots level where education is delivered, with support on a policy level as well. Having the will to make a difference can help the struggling students out there, whether they are children such as those featured in “Waiting for Superman” or adults who are trying to function in society without adequate reading skills. I know because for the first 48 years of my life I was a member of what I call the “subculture of illiteracy.” No matter that I was a college graduate, a former schoolteacher and a successful real estate entrepreneur, I could only read at a second-grade level. That statement always elicits the question, how did I manage? The short answer is the subculture of illiteracy is full of resourceful people with incredible street smarts. What we want, more than anything, is to acquire what everyone else has: the ability to read. Without that basic skill, which is our right to have, we will never have equal opportunity to succeed in school or the workplace.
Debate continues over how this can happen. Is it up to the parents, the teachers, the schools, the government, the colleges of education, the students? My answer is yes. At every single level, we need to have the will to do what we know works. This needs to begin at the grass-roots community level. We cannot wait for “the system” to rescue us. The science and methodology are there to teach virtually every student, including those with extreme dyslexia and auditory discrimination problems like mine, how to read. In schools across the country – private, public, and charter – it is being done. I’ve visited schools where resources are spent on intensive phonics instruction for struggling young students in a small group setting, and communities where people come together to teach adult learners. There are numerous examples of how computer technology is being deployed – and should be expanded – for literacy instruction and to promote literacy skills.


Note: To protect the privacy of our members, e-mail addresses have been removed from the archived messages. As a result, some links may be broken.
"So, despite what you read in the papers and in the brain-based education
literature, neuroscience has not established that there is a sensitive
period between the ages of 4 and 10 during which children learn more
quickly, easily, and meaningfully. Brain-based educators have uncritically
embraced neuroscientific speculation."
The brain-based art education course I just took never suggested any such
thing, or for that matter, most of what this writer says brain-based
education is about.
here's another site with a very brief explanation of Sperry's split brain


Cathy Angel created the “Making Reading Heavenly” reading program in hopes of motivating teachers, helping students progress with their reading skills and providing a better tool for teachers to teach language arts with, according to her website.
“Making Reading Heavenly is a successful program that really works, because it is a program that engages the students,” Angel said on her site. “It can be used in a competitive format to motivate kids. This creates an exciting journey that provides students with great skills, solid self-concepts and a lifelong love of reading.”
Elementary-level teachers from across the region have been attending her sessions at Emerson Hough throughout the week. Teachers representing schools in Newton, Pella, Grinnell, Ankeny, Bondurant and West Des Moines were among some of the educators present.
Westwood Elementary (Ankeny) teacher Heather Snyder spoke favorably about the program.
“My first thought was, ‘Why didn’t we learn this in college?’” Snyder said. “A gal that I teach with ... she’s just in her third year of teaching and I said, ‘Do you know this? Did you know this?’ and she said, ‘No, no, no.’ I was really sad, I was hoping that maybe she got it. I’m older and I was hoping the (teaching) program had gotten a lot better.”
Some of the methods used in the program and facts that Angel presents are, presumably, the things Snyder questioned the younger teacher about.
One of the methods that Angel supports is doing away with spelling lists. She gave reasons why on her site:
“Research shows that spelling lists are not the answer for most of the struggling spellers out there,” Angel said. “In these classic scenarios, words are practiced for three to four days at home, and then quickly forgotten in weeks to come. When asked in six weeks how to spell ‘list’ words, they are often spelled incorrectly again.”
Angel is also very keen on using sound to teach reading. She has something she calls the “100 rules and sound spellings.” Those 100 items often involve a certain motion to accompany the phonics behind the word.
Newton Community School District Elementary Education Services Director Jim Gilbert seemed impressed by the program.
“The lectures are focused on helping emerging readers,” Gilbert said. “This helps kids through alphabetic principles. This training is going to help our kids learn how to read better. All of the sounds she makes have physical movement. Each is a symbolic, physical, kinetic movement that goes along with the sound.”
Another sound tool Angel implements is making catchy literacy-related songs. This is something that Newton preschool teacher Jaimie Cranston talked about adding to her curriculum.
“I was thinking about the fourth through sixth (grade) kids and how some of those rules/songs are so good and catchy,” Cranston said. “But it feels so juvenile for some of those who are already behind. So I was trying to figure out ‘Apple Bottom Jeans’ tunes to go with the songs.”
“I was trying to think of appropriate, catchy songs, then I was trying to think of classic songs, like from ‘Grease,’” Cranston said. “But that didn’t sound cool either. So we thought of beatboxing and we are playing with the idea.”
Angel’s confidence in her program and its benefits was evident during her Tuesday afternoon teaching session.
“Kids that are struggling the most will benefit from this program,” Angel said.
Angel, who is a teacher by trade, explained her goals and motivations as an educator to the class.
“My goal for those second graders is that they leave my room as independent as they can be,” Angel said. “I didn’t used to teach like that ... This way, I’m giving them a tool. If I teach them about how to stop and think about ‘What are my choices?’ their chances of moving ahead on their own are far greater.”
Staff writer Ty Rushing may be contacted at (641)-792-3121, ext. 426, or at firstname.lastname@example.org


Information by Country
India: Global Campaign for Education – more teachers needed
While access to schools improved, challenges persist, with many children leaving primary school without learning the basic skills of reading and writing. Even though the literacy rate of the country has reported a sharp increase from 18 per cent in 1950-51 to 65 per cent in 2000-01, one-third of the population, or nearly 300 million people aged 7 and above are still illiterate; 42 million children in the aged 6 to 14 do not attend school. Lack of teachers (especially female), teacher absenteeism, irregular classes, overcrowded classrooms, and traditional methods of rote learning have diminished the quality of teaching and learning, and the support teachers and schools can provide children.
The focus of this year’s Global Action Week (24 to 30 April 2006) is ‘Every Child Needs a Teacher’, which is certainly the case in India.
Though enrolment rates have shot up, there has not been a corresponding increase in the number of teachers. Within India, the teacher absence rate ranges from 15 per cent in Maharashtra to 42 per cent in Jharkhand. With 16 per cent schools in the country having less than two teachers, the average Pupil Teacher Ratio is 1 to 42. Bihar has the worst teacher pupil ratio at 1 to 83. Uttar Pradesh still faces difficulty to provide even a single teacher in 921 primary schools.
Teacher absence is correlated with daily incentives to attend work: teachers are less likely to be absent at schools that have been inspected recently, that have better infrastructure, and that are closer to a paved road. Absence rates are generally higher in low-income states.
To overcome the problem of teacher shortage and teacher absenteeism the para teacher scheme has been introduced in India. Para educators are generally members of the same community in which they teach, and therefore share many of the experiences and cultural practices of their students, including their primary languages and cultural practices.
The state of Rajasthan has successfully overcome the problem of both teacher shortage and teacher absenteeism through these para teachers under the ‘Shiksha Karmi Project’, which is also the origin of para teacher scheme in the country. India at present has more than 500,000 para teachers in a number of states.
The Government has pursued a fivefold strategy since the 1990’s to improve the quality of education in general. These include improvement in the provision of infrastructure and human resources for primary education; provision of improved curriculum and teaching learning material; improvement in the quality of teaching learning process through the introduction of child-centered pedagogy; attention to teacher capacity building, especially female teachers; and increased focus on specification and measurement of learners’ achievement levels.
With increased involvement of community in management and running of schools, as well as enhanced teacher support and development, it is expected that the issue of absenteeism will be addressed in time to come.
UNICEF India is committed to ensuring quality education for all children, especially girls. The current Master Plan of Operations in cooperation with the Government of India (2003-2007) supports the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the national plan for the universalization of elementary education, to ensure all children have access to quality education and complete a full course of primary schooling.
In addition, UNICEF, with its partners, is developing and demonstrating a replicable model of quality education, the Quality Package, that can be scaled up. To measure progress, the District Information System in Education (DISE), a UNICEF-supported initiative, has emerged as the official computerized database for monitoring key education indicators (gross/net enrolment, school infrastructure, teachers), covering 539 districts across India in 2005.
In collaboration with the Education Department of the Government of Gujarat, UNICEF has launched a Life Skills programme in three districts of Gujarat, covering about 147 schools. A total number of 243 teachers have been trained. The four day training programme equips the teachers with the ten basic life skills of self awareness, empathy, problem solving, decision making, effective communication, interpersonal relations, creative thinking, critical thinking, coping with emotions and coping with stress. This has already kick-started the process of turning class rooms into child friendly spaces, with no barriers between teachers and students.


Born: August 6, 1932 | Died: May 13, 1996
Born Dorothy Jeanne Thompson, she grew up around music in Detroit where her father, guitarist Wiley Thompson, often brought home fellow jazz musicians. Even as a young girl, Dorothy would provide support and background to their music by playing the piano. She attended Cass Technical High School where fellow students included such future musical talents and jazz greats as Donald Byrd, Gerald Wilson, and Kenny Burrell. While in high school she played a number of instruments (including the saxophone and string bass) before coming upon the harp.
She attended Wayne State University in Detroit where she studied piano and music education. After she graduated, she began playing the piano in the jazz scene in Detroit, though by 1952 she had made the harp her main instrument. At first her fellow jazz musicians were resistant to the idea of adding the harp, which they perceived as an instrument of classical music and also somewhat ethereal in sound, into jazz performances. So Ashby overcame their initial resistance and built up support for the harp as a jazz instrument by organizing free shows and playing at dances and weddings with her trio. She recorded with Richard Davis, Jimmy Cobb, Frank Wess and others in the late 1950s and early 1960s. During the 1960s, she also had her own radio show in Detroit....
- Afro-Harping by Joshua Weiner


Aboriginal Languages Literacy Program
The Aboriginal Languages Literacy Program provides financial assistance to community organizations to develop and deliver local projects that will help people increase their literacy levels and raise awareness of the importance of literacy in the aboriginal languages of the NWT.
In the NWT literacy is linked to language, social context and cultural identity. Literacy includes concepts such as: reading different kinds of printed material, writing, speaking, listening, observation, visual representation, numeracy, use of technology, critical thinking and problem solving. Literacy development is encouraged in the 11 official language of the NWT.
Through the Aboriginal Languages Literacy Program, contributions are provided to official Aboriginal language communities to support the preservation, maintenance, enhancement and revitalization of their languages and for community based literacy programs. The focus of this funding initiative is on community and family literacy, and on developing Aboriginal language resources.
Eligible projects contribute to enhancing literacy and generate resources that can be used by others. Examples of Aboriginal language literacy projects include: Aboriginal language curriculum development; Aboriginal language compact discs and/or applications; oral history projects; and dictionary projects.
Funds are provided through contribution agreements, the terms of which include submission of financial and narrative reports.


Public education can work. In fact, it worked in bringing the United States to the forefront in the 20th century. And it is working now in many districts in Connecticut which focus on celebrating excellence in learning as a component of their mission statements. Connecticut schools did have standards, core objectives, and a fair mastery test. Now, by definition, the goal of the Common Core standards and their testing is proficiency. Is proficiency -- the lowest of expectations -- what we want for our students? No, we want excellence, and excellence is missing in the superficial Common Core, where lessons have measurable but insignificant objectives, and testing is obsessive. The mandated blocked schedules have an unreasonable concentration on math and literacy, leaving little time in the classroom day for science, social studies, world languages, technology and the arts.
From 1986 into the 21st Century, Connecticut celebrated excellence by recognizing exemplary classroom curriculum projects linked to core standards that were high performing expectations for our schools. Celebration of Excellence, a program acknowledging high performing teachers in the core areas -- Understandings and Applications, Aspects of Character, Foundational Skills and Competencies -- was creative, and represented collaborative, proven areas of success for students. Making change for the sake of standardization across the country with newly written but untested Common Core national standards, limits our students and our educators. So, instead of dictating one size fits all and block scheduling every minute for teachers and children, how about renewing a commitment to high-quality, effective schooling, with flexibility in goals, expectations, and methodology. If one of the goals is to bring up national testing scores to make us more competitive on the world stage, and our children better prepared for careers and citizenship, wouldn't it serve Connecticut better to set up mentor district partnerships across the state where there is a sharing of successful best practices between the districts, and use the contributions of outstanding educators to mentor in areas needed?
Education is continuously changing, not static. Exemplary districts have always been open to new programs, and that is as it should be. Exciting new programs and ways of teaching them are happening all the time. But it has been customary for most school systems to pilot a new program to judge whether it fills their needs, and produces the desired results. Before adopting the Common Core standards in 45 states as we have now done, wouldn't it have been smarter to pilot the program in a few states with diverse districts that are both urban and suburban, with both challenging and failed schools? Let Connecticut again take the lead. Why waste education funding with an untested program that frustrates educators, stresses students, and doesn't really meet our needs?
Announcing a two-year delay of the controversial new teacher evaluations linked to high stakes Common Core test scores for Connecticut teachers and students, is a move in the right direction. We need to do more to stop this abuse of our school system and misuse of taxpayer dollars, and slow down. Give educators, districts, and boards back their autonomy to use funding in the most effective way. It is time to listen to the voices of parents, teachers, and students, who are stressed by the new standards which include impractical data collection and rigorous testing. Pullback is the only common sense action. There is still widespread concern about the adoption of the Common Core curriculum and standards. They are not the answer for our public schools in Connecticut. One program for all will not play for the diversity we encourage in our students.
Let's start making smart decisions. Instead of diminishing the value of exploration and American core values, how about making public school learning relevant to the choices, innovation, and challenges that our students will meet in the real world.
Jean Jaykus taught for the Ridgefield Public Schools for 36 years in grades 3-6. She was Ridgefield's Teacher of the Year, and won a Connecticut Celebration of Excellence Award for her curriculum project in Science and Technology. AnneMarie Surfaro-Boehme taught in the Ridgefield Public Schools for 34 years. Her teaching career includes the Early Childhood levels kindergarten, first, and second grades. She was Ridgefield's Teacher of the Year, and won a Connecticut Celebration of Excellence Award, for her curriculum project in The Arts: Creative and Performing.


According to the National Reading Panel, there are five primary components of reading instruction:
1) Phonemic awareness,
4) Vocabulary, and
A good discussion of these components is found here on the National Institute of Child Health and Development website. Another website that I've learned from is BalancedReading.com; unfortunately, the website's author inexplicably disses synthetic phonics, but he has useful information on other elements of reading instruction.
I've already given dd5 a good start on reading, and she now reads books to herself on a daily basis. Looking back on what we have done, I see how I have been addressing all five components above with her even while I thought I was just "doing phonics"--
1) For phonemic awareness, I sing her an "ABC Song" nightly, a unique version each time, e.g., "A is for anteater, B is for bear, C is for calculator, D is for diaper, E is for eclectic, F is for Frank, etc."; her phonemic awareness has also been promoted by the games and activities on the Starfall website and a "lift-the-flap" Phonics book.
2) For explicit phonics instruction, we have been slowly working our way through Reading with Phonics (my mother, a former schoolteacher, gave it to me). The Starfall website has also been helpful in teaching dd5 phonics.
3) Fluency is gained through "practice, practice, practice", and that's what we do by reading and rereading favorite books--something we have done since she was a baby--and repeated reading of sentences and paragraphs in our phonics book that she didn't read fluently the first time around. I don't teach "sight words"; in fact, I consider the memorization thereof to be a waste of time (nearly all "sight words" can be sounded out mostly or completely) and potentially confusing. As she practices reading, she naturally memorizes words she sees repeatedly, and she learns the words in varied contexts, which contributes to development of her vocabulary.
4) I build her vocabulary by exposing her to a wide range of subjects via books, videos, and conversation. When we come across a word she doesn't know in any book she's reading (including the phonics textbook), I tell her what the word means. Sometimes I get carried away and start talking about vowel shifts in words borrowed long ago from old French or German, but she's tolerant of my linguistic meanderings.
5) I work on comprehension by talking with her about what she has read or watched. This is an area where a homeschooling parent has a huge advantage over a schoolteacher. One-on-one instruction means we can tell when our child doesn't really comprehend something and can immediately respond with activities targeted to help her understand a written or spoken text. In a group setting, it's easy to get away with not understanding something. I sat through many lectures in college that I didn't understand, and usually the professors had no clue that I was wallowing.
According to this report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, only 15% of the college/university education schools surveyed actually teach future elementary teachers about all five components of reading instruction. That is discouraging since these five components do not seem like they should be overly controversial or difficult to discuss, and it only fuels distrust of education schools generally. On the bright side for homeschooling parents who are sometimes questioned about their "credentials" to teach their children, by perusing my blog post and the linked material, you have likely learned more about teaching reading than over 80% of recent education school graduates. Isn't that reassuring?


A.W.E.: Art Wonder Earth
The AWE: Art Wonder Earth exhibit runs from April 23rd to May 29th, 2014, and is located on the Fourth Floor of Library North in the Children's Literature area.
About the Exhibit
Pollak Library's children's literature spring exhibit, A.W.E.: Art Wonder Earth , explores the importance of youth's interaction with the environment and the creativity young people can gather from nature. The exhibit takes place during April--a month strongly connected to environmental protection and advocacy, largely through Earth Day (22nd). The exhibit features sculptures created by candidates of CSUF's Multiple Subject Credential Program, who explored ecological art themes in a lesson plan designated to draw bilingual and elementary students into awareness of local animals and habitats using papier-mâché media. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore the creative inspiration conjured from nature and art as A.W. E. explores ways to connect children with nature.
To commemorate our Earth Month 2014 theme "Returning to Nature," Pollak Library invites you to browse and check out selected children's literature on environmental themes.
About the Curator
Name: Shannon Brayshaw
Major: Art Education
Projected graduation: Fall 2014
Future plans: Pursue multi-subject credentials or single subject art credentials
Interests: I am enthralled with spreading enthusiasm for the arts in youth and using art as a tool to spread awareness and teach. I have a special interest in Eco Art (environmental art)- art that advocates protecting the environment by presenting sustainability ideas and is often created from recycled materials. Victorian era history, outdoor advocacy, gardening, and travel are a few other interests I hold.
Why were you inspired to create the AWE: Art, Wonder, Earth exhibit?:
I am part of CSUF's Honor's Program which requires a Senior Honor's Project- a research project that will help reflect a summary of my undergraduate years and best work. Brainstorming research topics in correlation to my passions and major, I decided to focus my research topic theme on the three things I care about most: Nature, Art, and Youth. Having a sister 10 years younger than I, and observing generational differences in regards to her increase in technology use and more limited daily interaction to the outdoors helped reinforce my decision. Thus Art Wonder Earth (AWE) was conceived- research that explores modern-day youth's interaction and thoughts towards the outdoors, the creativity nature inspires, and how eco art-inspired project can aid in instilling enthusiasm for the natural world in the younger generations.
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1907: Rowles v. The Board of Education of Wichita
In 1907, Sallie Rowles in Wichita won the case for her daughter Fannie to attend Emerson School near her home, but within three years the situation drastically changed.
Despite the fact that early schools in Wichita had not practiced educational discrimination, by 1906, the Wichita board passed a resolution stating "the separation of white and colored children is more in keeping with the ideals and wishes of a majority of patrons." Black patrons objected at a school board meeting, but official support had disappeared. In 1905, the Kansas State Superintendent of Public Instruction in the 15th Biennial Report sought to justify segregation of the races in public schools. In 1909, the Kansas Legislature repealed an earlier law governing Wichita Schools, which had not permitted segregation. L'Ouventure and Douglass Schools were built exclusively for elementary education of black children in the first class city of Wichita.
Read the Rowles opinion and the 1909 law and the 15th Biennial Report.
View a scanned copy of the Rowles opinion.
View a scanned copy of the 1909 law.
View a scanned copy of the 15th Biennial Report.


Our annual celebration of Arts Education Month, which has just concluded, gives us a great opportunity to remind ourselves why art is so essential for everyone and why it deserves to be supported.
When school budgets get very tight, art and music education tend to be among the early casualties. That is exactly what has happened in recent years as school districts faced tough budget decisions, given draconian state funding cuts.
What is difficult to understand is a political arena and a social context that make such a choice necessary in the first place. It is shortsighted and counterproductive. The arts are not frills — they are essential elements of a complete education, and they often provide the very skills and motivation required for school and career success.
We’re fortunate that most schools in Santa Barbara County still provide music and arts education at the elementary level, plus theater and more advanced art at the secondary level, thanks to strong community support and districts that understand the value of a strong arts education program. And the reasons to include the arts in a school curriculum are compelling.
The arts represent a form of thinking that is both sensory and intellectual, one that requires the use of imagination and judgment. What’s more, the arts provide unique ways of reaching students who may not learn as well through language and mathematics alone. In addition, studies point to higher levels of involvement and educational achievement among students taking advanced arts courses.
The arts are a form of expression and communication that is essential to the human experience, and they truly deserve a regular place in our classrooms.
Several years ago, when I co-chaired a state task force on the arts, our report called for a renaissance in K-12 arts education and made clear that every child in school should have equal access to high-quality education in the visual and performing arts. We emphasized the critical need to incorporate the arts into the core curriculum for all students; provide state standards that specify the competencies that students should demonstrate in each of the arts; provide career awareness and preparation experiences; and provide every student with an arts education program that includes access to the arts through technology.
Fortunately, most Americans agree. A Harris Poll found that 90 percent of respondents considered the arts vital to a well-rounded education for all students. Parents recognize that the arts provide a heightened appreciation of beauty and cross-cultural understandings, and that the arts enhance creativity, thinking skills, and discipline. Many young people find great joy in artistic expression. For some, it is an outlet and a source of inspiration. It helps them keep connected to their teachers and their schools.
The state Board of Education, in declaring Arts Education Month, stated that arts education is an essential part of basic K-12 education for all students, and a way to develop the full potential of their minds.
Arts education is essential. On behalf of all the children we represent and serve, we should support arts education with all our efforts and resources. Otherwise, we will have drained from our schools the humanity, the creativity, the discipline, and the joy that arts can provide to all our children.
— Bill Cirone is Santa Barbara County’s superintendent of schools. The opinions expressed are his own.


High school students who struggle on college-readiness tests solve the simplest arithmetic problems as quickly as higher-achieving students, but they use very different brain processes to do so, according to new research.
In "Why Mental Arithmetic Counts: Brain Activation during
Single-Digit Arithmetic Predicts High School Math Scores, math disability and anxiety researchers Daniel Ansari and Gavin Price of the Numerical Cognition Laboratory at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, and Michèle M. M. Mazzocco, the director of the Math Skills Development Project at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, analyzed the links between students' math achievement and the way their brains processed the most basic problems. Their study was published this month in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The researchers asked 43 high school seniors to perform single-digit arithmetic while their brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging, which can measure the activity in different areas in real time. The students previously had been identified as showing consistently high, average, or low math achievement from kindergarten through 9th grade. The students' results were then compared to their achievement on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, a college-readiness assessment typically given in 10th grade.
Students who performed well on the math section of the PSAT had higher activity in the left supramarginal gyrus and bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, both areas that have been linked to memory of math facts. By contrast, those who had worse math PSAT scores had lower brain activity in those areas, and more activity in areas associated with processing number quantities, such as the right intraparietal sulcus. The findings suggested that high-achieving students knew these answers by rote memory, while lower-performing students were still mentally calculating even low-level problems.
"The degree to which they engage these slightly different brain processes relates to how they do," Ansari said.
Both groups solved the problems equally quickly, but Ansari noted that the difference in how students process the problems could add time and effort as students attempt more and more complex equations.
"Perhaps the building of those networks early in development go on to facilitate high-level learning, which in turn allows you to free up working memory. It speaks to this raging debate in math education on procedural versus concept learning," Ansari said. "People err too strongly on one side of the debate. I have a feeling there is a message here for elementary education in not to go to either of the two extremes but to look at the interactions between the two."
The researchers plan next to track students taught in different ways in the early grades to determine whether differences in teaching styles might contribute to differences in mental computation styles years later.


Improvements in standards in primary and secondary schools in England are being marred by poor levels of literacy and numeracy, Ofsted inspectors say.
The national strategies aim to raise standards in schools
Pupils with below average abilities in reading, writing and maths are not getting enough help, Ofsted reports.
The education watchdog evaluated national strategies across 47 local authorities, in 220 primary schools and in 180 secondary schools.
The findings were published in two reports on Wednesday.
The report on the Secondary National Strategy - introduced in 2001 under the name the Key Stage 3 strategy - found it had had a positive influence on pupils' attainment as well as improving the quality of teaching.
But inspectors found that schools were not doing enough to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of pupils who start secondary school in year 7 (11 and 12 years old) with below average abilities.
In the majority of the 180 schools inspected, the teaching of literacy and numeracy across the curriculum was given a low priority, with teachers losing momentum.
In a tenth of schools, there was still "a lack of commitment to the strategy among teachers".
Some of the schools inspected found it hard to keep abreast of all the strategy's developments, especially where staff turnover was high.
And nearly a quarter of schools were "unsatisfactory" in the way they monitored the transfer of data about pupils' achievement when they moved from primary to secondary school.
Primary national strategy
The report on the Primary National Strategy, introduced in May 2003, found it had improved the teaching of maths and English overall, but that teaching in both subjects remained no better than satisfactory in one in three lessons.
Inspectors still found a gender gap in boys' and girls' performance, with almost half of all boys not reaching level 4 in writing by the time they left primary school.
While standards in maths have risen, "there are still too many pupils leaving primary school below the expected level in mathematics", the report says.
The inspectors also raise concerns about primary schools focusing their attention on older children in years 5 and 6 (ages 9, 10 and 11) at the expense of identifying under-achievement at an earlier age and intervening then.
Ofsted's director of education, Miriam Rosen, said the rise in results in maths and English was a good sign.
"But we must be careful not to become complacent. There is still much to be done to ensure all pupils leave primary school competent in reading, writing and mathematics," Ms Rosen said.
"The programmes themselves have definitely helped but we're still seeing that not all teaching is good and we're also finding that schools will often concentrate on bringing on the older pupils at primary level.
"We think it would be helpful if they were to identify under-achievement earlier in the younger pupils and to intervene earlier in order to bring them on. We're talking about pupils in years three and four.
"We have seen how improvements can be made if the strategies are applied effectively."
Schools Minister Andrew Adonis welcomed the fact that the national strategies for primary and secondary education were paying off. But he said the government was not complacent and was determined to reduce the number of children who did not reach their full potential.
"Our White Paper proposals place a strong emphasis on personalisation and catch-up classes with an extra £230m for primary schools by 2007-08 to help those who fall behind and an extra £335m for secondary.
"We have made support for boys' writing a priority in recent years, promoting the use of non-fiction and ICT, which we know can be particularly motivating for boys."
'High stakes' curriculum
Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said the support provided by the literacy and numeracy strategies had "certainly helped teachers".
"There needs to be an inquiry involving the teaching profession into how the gap in attainment between boys and girls writing can be narrowed," he said.
"The detrimental impact of high stakes national curriculum tests is obvious, with teachers feeling constrained to concentrate on pupils in years 5 and 6 prior to the tests at the expense of younger pupils.
"In secondary schools, teachers need time and space to concentrate on the literacy and numeracy needs of youngsters newly arrived from primary schools.
"The review of the Key Stage 3 national curriculum is long overdue. Its current rigidity needs to be replaced by flexibility."


|Product #: CTP2534EM_book_TQ|
Sing Along & Read Along with Dr. Jean (eBook) (Resource Book Only) eBookPreschool|Kindergarten|Grade 1
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Teach along with Dr. Jean! This guide shows you how to use the 12-book Sing Along and Read Along reader series and companion MP3 collection with your students to promote an interactive learning experience. Use the engaging ideas and activities in this guide to help supplement many early childhood learning concepts.
Included songs: Color Train, Five Little Monkeys, Action Alphabet, Dinosaur, Rules Rap, Birdies, Nursery Rhyme Rally, May There Always Be Sunshine, I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a One, Twinkle Friends, My Mother is a Baker, My Hands on My Head.
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Phonics For Kids – Teach Your Child To Read
One of the most important responsibilities we have as parents is to help develop a solid reading foundation for our children.
Studies show that a failure to do so can greatly hurt the child’s chances for future success and can lead to a life of difficulties and hardship.
That’s why program which focus on phonics for kids have been gaining in popularity over the last couple of years and why many parents have been turning to them. The only problem is, with so many options available, it becomes difficult to decide which program should you use to teach your child to read?
I’m sure you’ve seen many commercials and advertisements for reading programs claiming they are the “best”, but can you really trust what they say?
Not all reading programs are suitable for all children.
When you teach your child to read, you should choose a reading program that is appropriate for your child’s age and skill level set.
As a watchdog for educational products, we are constantly reviewing dozens of the child reading programs and have spoken to hundreds of parents who have used them. Based on my research, I have prepared reviews for various reading programs along with providing lesson plans utilizing phonics for kids.
What can happen If you don’t start a reading program for your child at an early age
These statistics are gathered from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development:
- 74% of the children who are diagnosed with reading problems in the 3rd grade, continue with problems into the 9th grade. This shows the importance of building a love for reading at an early age when children are most impressionable.
- children who fall behind at an early age (even in Kindergarten and 1st grade) fall further and further behind over time. Without remedial help, child reading problems do not diminish over time, but persist through the school years and into adulthood.
- Among those children, 10-15 percent drop out of high school and only 2 percent complete a four-year college degree.
- Surveys of adolescents and young adults with criminal records show that about half have reading difficulties.
- Of youth with a history of substance abuse, half have reading problems.
What does your child need in order to read well?
You need to provide 4 things to your child, preferably at an early age, to build a proper reading foundation:
- Phonics information and the ability to manipulate the sounds that make up spoken language.
- Phonics skills and the understanding that there are relationships between letters and sounds.
- The ability to read fluently with accuracy, speed, and expression.
- To apply reading comprehension strategies to enhance understanding and enjoyment of what they read.


“When it comes to learning reading comprehension strategies children differ. They learn in fits and starts. What works for one may not work for another. For some it’s a matter of time, for others a matter of interest. Some kids take these strategies and run with them after one whole-group Toolkit lesson. Others need additional time, guidance, and practice to internalize comprehension strategies and use them to make sense of what they read. The small-group lessons in Comprehension Intervention are specifically designed to support those kids.”
-- Stephanie Harvey, Anne Goudvis, and Judy Wallis
Enhance your Toolkit Instruction with Targeted, Small-Group Lessons
Created to follow each Toolkit lesson, the Comprehension Intervention small-group sessions narrow the instructional focus, concentrating on critical aspects of the Toolkit’s lesson strategy to reinforce kids’ understanding, step by step. Using the language of the Toolkits in a small-group setting, Comprehension Intervention approaches each Toolkit strategy lesson in a new way and with new texts, showing kids that they can apply the thinking and strategy language they learned within the whole group to a wide variety of readings.
Framed around the gradual release of responsibility, the four-step session structure provides explicit scaffolded instruction. With an eye towards formative assessment, each session ends with Assess and Plan, a section that supports daily progress monitoring with strategy-specificsuggestions for reviewing student work, assessing students’ thinking and accomplishment of session goals, and determining the need for additional practice.
Comprehension Intervention lessons lend themselves to a variety of instructional settings:
Guided reading groups—Sessions are ideal for small, flexible, needs-based guided reading groups to reinforce or extend what has been taught in a Toolkit lesson.
Tier 2 RTI groups—Sessions are designed to take about thirty minutes. They break down the original Toolkit instruction into smaller steps, making learning more accessible for Tier 2 students.
Tier 3 RTI groups—Infinitely flexible and targeted, sessions help teachers increase instructional intensity for individuals or very small groups, allowing additional time for instruction and practice.
Special Education—The Toolkit whole-group lessons are ideal for special ed inclusion because they are based on shared readings, which allow for natural differentiation. All kids can participate in the whole groupToolkit lessons and then have their individual needs met in the small-group intervention lessons.
Learn more about the Comprehension Toolkit series at ComprehensionToolkit.com
The Comprehension Toolkit series helps you teach nonfiction reading strategies in a variety of instructional settings.
Grades K-2: The Primary Comprehension Toolkit
Grades K-2: The Primary Comprehension Toolkit Bundle (includes Trade Book Pack)
Grades 3-6: The Comprehension Toolkit
Grades 3-6: The Comprehension Toolkit Bundle (includes Trade Book Pack)
Grades K-2: Small-Group Lessons for The Primary Comprehension Toolkit
Grades 3-6: Small-Group Lessons for The Comprehension Toolkit
Short Nonfiction for Guided Reading and Independent Practice
Grades PreK-1: Toolkit Texts
Grades 2-3: Toolkit Texts
Grades 4-5: Toolkit Texts
Grades 6-7: Toolkit Texts
Grades K-2: Scaffolding The Primary Comprehension Toolkit for English Language Learners
Grades 3-5: Scaffolding The Comprehension Toolkit for English Language Learners
Staff Development with The Comprehension Toolkits
Resources for PLCs
Inquiry Circles in Elementary Classrooms DVD
Inquiry Circles in Middle and High School Classrooms DVD
Save with Teacher Packs
The Primary Comprehension Toolkit Teacher Pack
The Comprehension Toolkit Teacher Pack


David Houle, an admitted futurist, tells us we are in “The Shift Age”… one that many years from now, historians will look back upon and either praise our ability to clutch newness or lament our inability to move on from the past. I’d like to argue: the missing link in this statement is the median. Can we build our future, with lessons of the past fully in mind?
I would like to also add: can we push beyond identifying what we don’t have (Lack), and really both identify and cultivate what we do have readily available to us (Fat)?
This includes recognizing the value in the undervalued vestiges of what came before us (culturally… artistically… musically). What may have once been deemed obsolete, out of fashion, or otherwise lacking. Why value something based on its current level of appreciation?
Take the model of hip-hop: a musical genre (not to mention, a cultural phenomenon) built from literal scraps of music that had come before it. What is to be learned from Hip-Hop?
Hip Hop was created out of presence of both Lack and Fat. There was a lack of resources: alongside a shortage of Music Education in inner city schools, there was limited access to instruments (but a wealth of recorded matter). Conversely, there was a fatness in community… hip hop was born at a party, it was a communal happening that united a neighborhood through sound.
Lack versus Fat is an expression of the possibilities created when we re-evaluate what is available to a given community and what can be considered a deficit versus what can be reconsidered as a resource. The Lack perspective draws from comparison to unnamed others (or what is not available to the community). The Fat Perspective seeks to take stock of what a community has at their disposal (things that might be considered obsolete, or not useful).
I coined the term Lack versus Fat while remembering the old coffee can of bacon fat that sat perched on my Grandmother’s stove. A child of the Great Depression, she found value in what many of us now throw away. Think of the used Vegetable Oil from restaurants that know run converted automobiles around the world.
Taking stock of what might at first be deemed as a deficit (in the urban context, this may be abandoned lots and empty storefronts) and counting these things as Fat (or something of value [like space for gardens and pop-up galleries]) counters what we are taught to find worth in. This idea extends to building with reclaimed materials and maintaining physical media libraries to help revitalize cultural life in a neglected community (like in the case of artist/urban planner Theaster Gates’ Dorchester Projects). It also extends to shopping at Thrift Shops and staging performances in unconventional venues.
In a society so keen on planned obsolescence, Lack versus Fat seeks to continue to move forward while not leaving behind what could easily be crushed under the bulldozer of “progress”. In fact it seeks to use those things as resources.
Lack might create the pressure or need for immediacy in action (to solve a problem), but Fat is the fuel that can move us all forward towards a better future (and new solutions).


Business coalitions have persuaded governments around the world to turn schools into competing business enterprises where children are drilled and tested on a narrow range of skills. Despite their declining contribution to the costs of schooling, businesses are taking control of more and more aspects of schooling, not only to produce submissive employees with basic literacy and numeracy skills, but also to prevent the development of critical thinking skills. They are seeking to erode public schooling, as well as promote consumer values and business viewpoints and ideology.
Corporate leaders have assumed the unrivalled moral authority to define the purposes and methods of public schooling in response to the new technology-driven glohal economy. Hailed as victorious generals in the battle hetween capitalism and socialism, many espouse a millennial vision that links education to global free markets... corporate executives most want schools to emphasize "a basic understanding of math and science" and "sound work habits such as self-discipline, timeliness and dedication to work."... The corporate model of reform pays little heed to other expectations of public schools: building just and tolerant communities, reducing distrust of one another and our shared institutions, safeguarding democratic ethics and introducing children to the cultural wisdom of the world.
Education is no longer just about the 3 'R's, but the 5 'R's:
- Respect (for business values)
- Retail (consumerism)
The consequence of this corporate capture of childhood has been a generation of children who have been manipulated, shaped and exploited as never before in history. Not only have they lost the opportunity to play and develop at their own pace, their psyches have been damaged and their view of the world distorted. They are trained rather than educated and constantly tested to make sure they have absorbed the ‘correct’ information. They are supposed to seek happiness in possessions, treat relationships as a means to an end, and incessantly compete with each other. Children have never before been under such pressure to conform to business requirements. It is little wonder that so many children grow into youths who are unhappy, stressed, fat, delinquent, or self-destructive.