Research Report: A (Brush)Stroke Of Genius: Artists Share What Inspires Them
Protecting Art Education
Seventy percent of Americans are concerned about the future of art education, with good reason. An April 2012 report by the U.S. Department of Education showed that over the last decade, the percentage of elementary schools without a visual arts class rose from 13 to 17 percent.
Three-fifths (57 percent) of those surveyed confess that they themselves don't do enough to support art education. Not surprisingly, 67 percent are interested in learning how they can support the future of art education.
In response, Blick and www.TheMotherhood.com, the award-winning website for mothers, have teamed up to pair 50 art teachers with 50 bloggers. The teachers will sign up for Art Room Aid to request necessary funding for their class projects, and the bloggers will encourage their networks to rally behind the projects to help the teachers achieve their goals.
"This effort is a perfect way for arts enthusiasts to introduce children in their communities to essential creative learning," says Stufflebeem.
About the Surveys
Survey results were extrapolated from a national online survey of:
- 500 Americans who self-identified as artists, either by trade or hobby (Artists' Inspiration Survey)
- 1,000 Americans (Art Education Survey)
The surveys were conducted by Lab42 from November 16-21, 2012. The margin of error for national findings is +/- 3.1 percentage points.
About Art Room Aid
Art Room Aid was created in 2009. If you're an art educator, Art Room Aid provides the tools to easily share your dreams and funding needs without complicated applications or fees that take away from contributions. If you're an arts advocate, you can quickly locate a project that resonates with you and make a high-quality contribution that will go directly to a project in need.
About Blick Art Materials
Blick Art Materials is one of the largest and oldest providers of art supplies in the United States. Its products cater to the full spectrum of artists - from the youngest child ready to scribble with his or her first crayon to well-known, gallery-represented professionals. The company's extensive selection, competitive prices, and superior customer service make Blick the choice for professional and amateur artists, art educators, architects, designers, students, hobbyists, or anyone requiring quality art materials for work or pleasure. Visit www.dickblick.com for more information.


This bundle is great to use for morning work or homework for second grade. It is a spiral review that builds in difficulty that is aligned with the Common Core Standards. It includes review practice sheets for both math and Language Arts.
These practice review sheets start with first grade skills and gradually increase in difficulty.
The Language Arts Common Core Standards that are covered in this packet:
Reading: Informational Text
Reading: Foundational Skills
The Math Common Core Standards that are covered in this packet:
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
Numbers and Operations in Base Ten
Measurement and Data
This bundle includes Daily Practice for August, September, October, and November. By purchasing this bundle, you save $4.50. Click on the links below for the individual monthly packets.
Daily Practice for August
Daily Practice for September
Daily Practice for October
Daily Practice for November
Daily Practice for Second Grade (Spring Bundle)
Daily Practice for Second Grade (Winter Bundle)


Through the guidance of highly qualified teachers with degrees and certifications in Early Childhood Education, the children have the opportunity to creatively explore their environment and have many choices. Many of our activities will be classified as purposeful “play”. Though we, as adults, look upon it as “play”, the child’s “play” is his “work”. Play is an essential part of learning for preschool children. The skills children learn through purposeful, productive and high-level play—
- Skills in verbalization
- Language comprehension
- Problem solving
- Role play
are foundational skills for all cognitive development.
The children in our program are always learning and developing and experiencing as they work with the materials provided. Therefore, the “play” is “guided play” because the teachers have learning goals in mind as they plan the daily activities. The curriculum follows the Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards developed by the State Department and Connecticut Office of Early Childhood Education with Performance Standards and Benchmarks as criteria in the lesson planning for each child’s achievement.
Each classroom provides a literacy rich environment where the physical space is thoughtfully planned and includes print that is meaningful to the children which helps them communicate messages and ideas, learn new information and concepts, and organize and express their thoughts. A literacy rich environment conveys the message that reading, writing, listening and speaking are valuable and enjoyable. The teachers act intentionally to help the children use written and spoken language throughout the day. Some of the daily planned literacy experiences are:
- Letter and number recognition
- Sight words
- Beginning sounds and blends
- Concepts of opposite and similar
The following core components of language and literacy are presented and taught to the children:
- Literacy as a source of enjoyment
- Vocabulary and oral language
- Phonological awareness
- Knowledge of print, letters and words
- Understanding of books and other texts
As children draw, paint and work with play dough, they develop the small muscles (arm and hand) which are used in handwriting. Through these and other activities the children also develop eye-hand coordination and creative expression.
While building in the block area, children need to consider size, proportion and number—concepts that carry over to mathematics. They learn fractions as they discover that one long block is equal to two short blocks and sequencing and comparing as they arrange blocks in order of size. Children gain cognitive skills in language and literacy as words are used to plan and build with friends, express their ideas, and discover and understand spatial relationships. While exploring with sand, water and rice children develop early science concepts of spatial sense and measurement. As children participate in dramatic or role play they are developing social skills and are achieving a sense of community as they “become” doctors, vets, nurses, construction workers, firemen, moms, dads, teachers, scientists, chefs, farmers and wherever else their imagination takes them.
All of these preschool activities and early childhood experiences lay the foundation for future learning filled with enthusiasm and eagerness. We encourage you, as parents and caregivers, to question and comment on your child’s activities and to attempt at home to reinforce in as many ways as possible the interests that your child develops.


Rosa Parks was an activist in African-American Civil Rights Movement. She was known with different names ‘the first lady of civil rights’ and ‘the mother of the freedom movement’. She received many awards and honors like the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal. Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her complete name was Rosa Louise McCauley. She grew up in the southern United States. She attended the Alabama State Teacher‘s College in order to try and get her high school diploma. She left her education when her mother became ill.
Quick Facts: –
- The beginning of civil rights movements in the United States is dated to December 1, 1955, by most of the historians.
- On this day, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seats to a white passenger when the white section was filled.
- She was sitting in the front row of the middle section of the bus that was open to African Americans if seats were vacant.
- Rosa Parks was on the executive board of directors of a group that organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- Parks was arrested along with 114 other people.
- She was also forced to move from Montgomery after the boycott.
- Before this arrest, she was a civil rights activist and a long-time member of the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
- Rosa Parks was not the first African-American who refused to give up her seat during the Jim Crow Era.
- A high school student Claudette Colvin was arrested about nine months before Rosa took the step.
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Fun Facts for Kids about Rosa Parks ." Easy Science for Kids, Jul 2017. Web. 28 Jul 2017. < http://easyscienceforkids.com/rosa-parks/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2017). Fun Facts for Kids about Rosa Parks. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from http://easyscienceforkids.com/rosa-parks/
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Trinect — a five-year collaboration between Iowa State and the Des Moines Public Schools — is wrapping up its second year of bringing classroom teachers, student teachers, and engineers together in “triads” to improve students’ learning. The project is funded by a $4.5 million National Science Foundation grant.
Initial results from 40 triads over four semesters are statistically significant and promising. Teachers and their young students are developing a better understanding of engineering, while engineers are learning how to better communicate their craft. The partnerships have opened up a whole new world of discovery.
“Students’ ideas are very much being bantered around, debated, and tested in ways that we haven’t seen,” said Joanne Olson, a professor in the School of Education who is the principal investigator of the project. “We see a lot of interesting and innovative experimentation with teaching going on that is resulting in some really powerful learning experiences for the kids. That’s been amazing to watch.”
At The Downtown School in Des Moines, 9- and 10-year-olds recently demonstrated their learning after working with an engineer. They showcased roller coasters they designed and built in class using materials such as pipe insulation, ice pop sticks, duct tape, cardboard, foam, hot glue, and paper. They applied concepts about kinetic and potential energy.
“It’s that real-life application. They can really relate it to what’s going on in the world,” said Downtown School teacher Erika Buckner.
“We’re building their knowledge of what engineering is and other concepts they will use in the future,” said student teacher Patrick Chubb, an Iowa State senior in elementary education. “This gives them an opportunity to see what engineering is and if it’s something they want to pursue, they can start pursuing it early before they go to college.”
The project taught students to have a growth mindset. At first, they made a lot of errors. Their plans didn’t initially match the roller coasters they built, and they were not happy when they had to tear them down.
“They’re problem solvers and they’re seeing the value in trying something, but understanding on a first attempt, it’s not always going to be perfect,” Buckner said. “Understanding that and knowing that a failure or something that doesn’t work in the beginning is really just learning, so you can learn a lot more from mistakes than doing things right all the time.”
A panel of Iowa State engineers ultimately judged students’ roller coasters on their plan, design, creativity, and understanding of science concepts.
Trinect is not only engaging kids in conversations about engineering with a societal end in mind. It’s also teaching students how science can further their understanding of the natural world.
“This whole project is not about, ‘Let’s just shove engineering into the curriculum,’” Olson said. “It’s how to respond to the standards in a way that respects both the science and the engineering for the distinct yet connected disciplines that they are. There are lots of things that we’ve learned about the world because we’re curious, because we’re innovative, and because we have an innate desire to design.”
Less than 1 percent of current teachers in elementary schools have taken any coursework in engineering, Olson said. Through Trinect, Iowa State is launching a new era of outreach that aims to provide teachers and their students with better access to that content knowledge.
Ellen Nightingale, an Iowa State graduate student in civil engineering, worked with The Downtown School students. She said the experience challenged her to focus on her audience, tailor how she communicates, simplify her ideas, and deepen her own understanding so she can better explain concepts.
“I think it’s very difficult to ask for teachers to teach engineering without giving them the resources necessary to properly teach it,” Nightingale said. “Teachers have a very constrained schedule. I think it’s a good program at connecting people in engineering with the development of the curriculum so children are getting quality content.”
Iowa State is working on a plan to continue supporting science and engineering learning in elementary schools once funding for Trinect ends. A sustainability plan calls for an open course at Iowa State that would help STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professionals learn how to better communicate their expertise to the public. Those professionals would be paired with future teachers in a four-week practicum experience working in local schools.


Burleigh, R. (2004) Seurat and La Grande Jatte: Connecting the dots. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated.
Third through fifth grades
Robert Burleigh has written many books for children. This was published in association with the The Art Institute of Chicago. In the acknowledgments, the author thanks curators from The Art Institute of Chicago for their help.
2005 Orbis Pictus Award
This book is about the Georges Seurat and his artwork, “La Grande Jatte.” The author describes the park that is in the painting and how it demonstrates a common Sunday in the 1800’s. Burleigh takes different people and elements in the painting and uses them to show how life might have been during Seurat’s time.
National Art Education Standards:
Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas
Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and culture
Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others
The illustrations in this book are mostly reproductions of Seurat’s work. Because this mostly deconstructs Seurat’s “La Grande Jatte,” portions of this piece are shown in different scopes. Many illustrations show different parts of this piece in great detail.
Important access features in this book include a chronology of events from Seurat’s life, an author’s note, a glossary, selected bibliography, and acknowledgements. There is also a half page of illustration credits.
Burleigh uses questioning throughout the book to create interest in the reader. Each question is followed by a detailed analysis of the art work. The overall tone of the book is informal and conversational.
Use in My Classroom:
I would use this in my classroom as an introduction to art analysis. Burleigh does an excellent job of deconstructing the different elements within the painting.
My Response to the Book:
I liked this book! I thought it was a clever way to write about one particular art piece as opposed to writing about the artist’s life and their art was in the background. I learned more about this famous painting and the process Seurat undertook to complete it.
Other books about Georges Seurat:
Georges Seurat (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists) by Mike Venezia
Sunday with Seurat by Julie Merberg


First Words Valentine is a free app for iPhone/iPad providing basic vocabulary for Valentines Day. Learning Touch ‘s First Words Valentine is one of more than 10 other First Words apps providing interaction with vocabulary words for iDevices.
First Words Valentine provides 8 holiday words users can match the letter tiles to create the word. Words are spoken out loud after tiles are matched correctly. A short animation of images about the word is provided to engage the user.
Although words can not be customized in this app, options are available allowing change of word order, how long the longest word can be, speech on/off, spelling speed and more as shown in the settings image below:
No verbal feed back is provided when letters are incorrectly matched (there are definitely pros and cons to that!). Letters can only be correctly matched to complete the word and move to the next word. If you are interested in a app with a valentines theme for students who love to work with letters and words, First Words Valentine might be the app for you for free.
Remember all those words on conversation candies you got on Valentines Day?
With the Little Speller app (there are at least 3 to choose from), you can choose words or create your own word list with in the app by going into the settings and choose “Customize Items > select the “+”> Create New List> name the list and add your words. You must choose your list to play your newly created list.
If you are looking to add a phrase, such as “Be True”, consider using Grasshopper App’s Sentence Maker to create a sentence or phrase. An earlier post describes how to customize Sentence Maker app and can be found here: http://wp.me/p1w0d0-m8 .
The Grasshopper apps mentioned above are .99 and sometimes free. If you join their Free the Apps, they will alert you of new apps you can download for a limited period for free. The Grasshopper apps folks are developing new emergent literacy apps all the time which are very useable for young children as well as older students who benefit from literacy development tools. As customizeable apps they are well worth adding to your mTool Kit!


The Reading Debate
Video of Jennifer Buckingham’s address to an Australian forum following significant media attention for her report (with Kevin Wheldall and Robin Beaman-Wheldall), Why Jaydon Can’t Read. Buckingham summarises succinctly the massive funding for literacy education in Australia and compares this with the poor results in student achievement. She goes on to examine the key components of effective reading instruction and argues that, given the scientific evidence, the only reason for not implementing effective programmes is ideology – how people believe reading ought to be rather than how it is.
This comprehensive article discusses the origins, prevalence and erroneous conception of the so called 'Three-Cueing System', which promotes guessing rather than teaching a systematic knowledge of the written language code.
Kerry Hempenstall summarises key aspects of the controversy around whole language versus phonics methods in beginning reading instruction. He argues for the evidence of scientific research to be given greater emphasis.
Whole-Language High Jinks – How to Tell When ‘Scientifically-Based Reading Instruction’ Isn’t (Moats, L January 2007): Thomas B Fordham Institute
Louisa Moats outlines how to discriminate between reading programmes which are scientifically-based and those which use the jargon, but are actually based on ineffective practices. Essential reading when choosing a reading intervention.
Joseph Torgeson summarises two decades of research on what is required to ensure effective early reading instruction for all children. He argues for improved teacher skills, improved practise for identifying children at risk of reading failure, and improved resources for teaching all of these children systematically, explicitly and successfully.
This report questions the effectiveness of Reading Recovery, an international popular reading intervention based on whole-language principles. The authors assert that not only are there serious problems with the methodology of Reading Recovery, but there is also strong evidence that it fails to help the children who need the most support in reading.
This lucid summary of the state of literacy education in 2009 highlights issues still not yet resolved: the lack of a systematic, good-quality evidence base for interventions, especially at secondary school; and the need to establish much more thorough professional development on reading development and how to intervene successfully with struggling readers. Such professional development should be made available to English teachers, teachers of other subjects, and LSAs.
Tom Burkard sets out the appalling statistics for continuing literacy failure after the Literacy Hour was introduced in 1998, showing how the National Literacy Strategy was itself a component in this failure due to its roots in whole language concepts of reading (not to mention some suspicious tinkering with statistics).
A news report from 2005 contrasting the success of synthetic phonics in Clackmannanshire with the lack of progress under the Literacy Hour. A key question is how much the classroom has changed since.
A good example of how mixed messages come from confused ideas about phonics teaching. Exactly when students should be taught more varied and complex aspects of the alphabetic code, some practitioners eagerly want them to begin to use ‘visual memory’ and look for ‘context clues’. Muddling up phonics instruction with other (failed) methods is the likely explanation for poor scores on the phonics screen (which assesses the effectiveness of the teaching, not students).
Dr Hempenstall summarises the position taken in the reading debates. This overview provides an excellent perspective not only on the key issues but the arguments and philosophical positions which sustain them.
The authors contend that literacy is much more complex than just learning to read, that the government’s policies on literacy are too narrow, and its treatment of professionals too heavy-handed. The weight of material cited is firmly on the ‘socially constructed’ approach to reading that is associated with whole language and constructivism.
This short paper form 1996 outlines the problem of falling standards and attributes it largely to a ‘mixed methods’ or ‘balanced’ approach, combining phonetic methods with context clues and guessing. The challenge for teacher training is clearly set out. It is interesting to reflect on how much (or little) progress has been made since the time of publication.
This site has extracts from Jeanne Chall’s landmark work, where she researched and articulated contemporary issues in how to teach beginning reading. Chall pointed out that the issue was already a long-standing debate, but one which was increasingly influenced by non-practitioners. She concluded that a code-based approach worked best for beginning readers, particularly those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and that this approach ultimately gave more success in reading for understanding.


Presentation on theme: "Active Numeracy Workshop for Parent and Carers. Aims To support the raising of attainment in mathematics and numeracy across all stages To raise awareness."— Presentation transcript:
Aims To support the raising of attainment in mathematics and numeracy across all stages To raise awareness of the strengths and areas for improvement in children and young people’s numeracy skills
Confidence To face the challenges of the 21 st century, each young person needs to have confidence in using mathematical skills. BTC 1 Setting achievable goals Cross-age peer tutoring has a positive effect on motivation and achievement (R.T.)
What is Numeracy? Numeracy is a skill for life, learning and work. It is not just a subset of mathematics, it is also a life skill which permeates and supports all areas of learning. (Maths and Numeracy Principles and Practices paper)
Mathematics to achieve Mathematics is important in our everyday life, allowing us to make sense of the world around us and to manage our lives.
Links with Literacy Both involve the manipulation of abstract symbols, numbers...... and letters
Numbers in real life Think of the amount of numbers we see on a daily basis Can you brainstorm where you have encountered numbers today?
Numbers in Society Football match Planning a holiday Supermarket shopping Mobile phone tariffs Sales Pocket money Bills Time
Mental Maths Does being able to calculate mentally matter? Activity 1 – here are the answers, what might the questions be? A) 9 B) 3 C) 0 D) 21 E) 88
Approaches Recalling facts e.g. What is 3 + 7? Applying facts e.g. What are the factors of 42? Applying reasoning – I have 7 coins in my purse with a total of 23p, what could they be?
More approaches Designing and comparing procedures e.g. How might we count a pile of sticks? Interpreting results e.g. Double 15 and double again; now divide your answer by 4. What do you notice? Will this always work? Applying reasoning e.g. Why is the sum of two odd numbers always even?
Number, money and measure Number, number system, operations, standard measures, money and timeEstimating and roundingCalculating mentallyPlace valueConcepts, notation, fractions, decimal fractions, percentagesInverse processes to problem solvePatternsAlgebraic thinking
Addition and Subtraction Counting forwards and backwardsReorderingCounting on or backCompensation e.g. 34 + 9 (34 + 10 – 1)Bridging a multiple of 10Using near doublesBridging through 60 to calculate a time interval
Mental Strategies Regular short practice keeps the mind fresh If you don’t use it, you lose it!
Questions – Open V Closed Count these cubes How could we count these cubes? What is 6-4? Tell me two numbers with a difference of 2. How many centimetres are there in a metre? Tell me two lengths that together make 1 metre
Multiplication and Division Repeated additionAs an array e.g. Four rows of three objectsAs a scaling factor e.g. Making a line 3cm long 4 times as longKnowing x and ÷ facts to 10 x 10Doubling and halvingX and ÷ by single digit number and x by 2 digit numbersFinding fractions, decimal fractions and percentages
Grouping dots How many ways can you group 12 dots in a rectangular array?
Partitioning What is 12 x 7?You could do:12 = 10 and 2 so...10 x 72 x 7Add together
Shape, position and movement Classifying and relating 2D and 3D objects and their properties Geometry skills relating to angle, symmetry and transformation
Information handling Interpreting statistical information in the world around us Assessing risk and making informed decisions
Problem Solving Drawing upon these key aspects to solve a wide range of problemsReal life problems Scenarios across the curriculum e.g. Art/ music – patterns and symmetry Languages/ HE, design technology – time, money, measure Science/ social studies– graphs/ charts Demonstrate confidence in using language, properties and thinking skills
What Can I Do to Help My Child? Talking to your child about their experiences e.g. a trip to the shops – how many numbers? Fun maths tasks e.g. Dividing chocolate barsHelp with recipes/ t.v. guides/ newspapers/ magazinesHave fun with numbers (websites)Number puzzles, SudokuHelp with maths at home
Websites to support numeracy Manga highEducation city (schools subscribe)SumdogTut-pupICT magic
Workshop You are now invited to take part in our numeracy workshop


The report, The Essentials of Numeracy: a new approach to making the UK numerate, calls on employers to recognise that some of the millions of people who struggle with numeracy may be in their own workplace. It says that initiatives to improve adult numeracy so far seem to have had little effect. Poor maths skills among adults is now too big a problem to be left to the education and training system alone.
The report, supported by the professional service company KPMG, draws on a range of evidence, including a recent survey carried out for National Numeracy by YouGov and new research from the Money Advice Service (MAS).
The YouGov poll asked 2,000 adults to calculate the new rate of pay of someone paid £9 an hour who receives a 5% pay increase. Almost one in four (23%) were unable to answer correctly. Two further questions – one about simple interest on a savings account and the other about exchanging pounds for dollars – were asked, with only one in six people (17%) getting all three questions correct.
The poll also revealed that almost nine out of ten people (89%) felt it was important to the economy to improve numeracy skills among the general population and half of those questioned said they had reasons for wanting to improve their own numeracy and maths skills. But, 49% said they did not want or need to improve.
MAS research to be published later this year will show how poor numeracy – independent of other factors including income – makes people less likely to save money and more likely to use credit badly.
Previous research by Pro Bono Economics estimated that poor numeracy costs the UK £20 billion a year. Further analysis of this research has put the average cost to an individual with low numeracy at £460 a year.
Against this background, National Numeracy has worked with maths specialists and employers to develop an alternative solution: an explicit, national focus on the ‘Essentials of Numeracy’, that is, the practical maths skills and understanding that everyone needs in order to cope with everyday life and to function well at work. The charity wants its approach to be embedded within workplaces and is seeking to work with businesses and other organisations to help them identify poor numeracy skills, tackle negative attitudes to maths and support those employees and clients who need to improve.
Andy Haldane, chief economist at the Bank of England and a trustee of National Numeracy, said: “Poor numeracy can hit workplace productivity and also has profound economic and social effects for households who fall into problems with debt and financial hardship. Data from the 100,000 who have already engaged with the National Numeracy Challenge shows that improving basic numeracy online at low marginal cost is possible. The Essentials of Numeracy report is a key milestone to begin to tackle these important societal issues. Next, we need to see such initiatives on scale to bring about real improvements to support the economy.”
In her foreword to the report, Melanie Richards, vice-chair of KPMG UK, also said: “Many of the 17 million adults with poor numeracy are now out of reach to the education system, meaning employers must play their part too. Businesses have a vital role to play in helping the millions of adults held back by a lack of basic numeracy….If we are to solve the UK’s long-standing productivity puzzle, improving basic skills in the workforce will be a key challenge for the business community to tackle.”
Broadcaster and TV mathematician Rachel Riley said: “I make no secret of the fact that I love maths but I also know not everyone is like me and many were thrilled to have left trigonometry and algebra behind in the classroom. But there is some maths that everyone really does need a grasp of to make good, informed decisions both at home and at work, which is why I wholeheartedly support the Essentials of Numeracy.”


Fairlawne class is made up of children from year 4 to year 6, learning together in a caring, enthusiastic and supportive environment. When a child enters Fairlawne class, they are likely to be a reasonably fluent reader, ready to develop independent learning skills. In order to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 and ensure good progress, all learning is differentiated to the age, individual needs and ability of the child, with a range of teaching and learning approaches being employed.
In English, writing tasks are generally linked to a class book or topic, providing a meaningful and on-going context for the writing; this also helps to develop the child’s reading comprehension and skills of inference and deduction. The text selected is often linked to our current Geography or History topic. This cross curricular approach helps to develop the child’s understanding of more than one area of the curriculum, whilst providing good breadth and depth. Children are also taught spelling and handwriting skills within each English lesson, with phonics support given to those children who need it. Daily guided reading is also an important part of the timetable, as is daily home reading which all children are encouraged to complete.
In Maths we endeavour to develop numeracy skills within a real-life problem solving context. By year 6, all children should have sound mental maths skills and be proficient in using standard written methods for calculations. Home learning and support with homework tasks will help every child become more confident in this. As for English, children are set meaningful targets in every lesson, enabling them to move forward in their learning and to take responsibility for their progress.
During the afternoon, a varied timetable covers Science, Geography, History, Art, DT, RE, PE , Computing, PHSE, Music and French. A variety of topics are covered each year, enabling a broad and balanced coverage of the National Curriculum during the three years a child is in the class. As a child progresses into the later years, they are encouraged to seek answers to their own questions, utilising independent research skills and developing a thirst for knowledge..
All children work towards assessment at the end of Key Stage 2. By the time children have progressed through their seven years of Primary Education they should feel confident in themselves and their abilities to move on to their Secondary Schools.
Click here for Fairlawne Welcome Powerpoint presentation


“Research has repeatedly shown that music helps children boost their abstract reasoning skills, improves memory and leads to improvements in IQ. Every aspect of music promotes better learning, leads to creative expression and a connection with fellow students that some might not otherwise achieve.”
(Toronto Star, editorial page, April 20, 2013).
Young children usually learn best through interaction with other children. For over 90 years, the Canadian Bureau for the Advancement of Music (CBAM) has been dedicated to developing the area of teaching music in a small group environment.
The fundamental skills of rhythm, ear training, and sight reading, are developed through educational games and stimulating activities. Small groups help with social development and the learning experience is accelerated through the camaraderie and friendly encouragement that exists in the group. They learn together, play together, perform together, as well as converse, teach, and support each other.
• The children inspire each other to strive for better achievement by steady practice and hard work.
• Increased self-confidence and poise are developed as the student becomes more secure at performing in front of an audience. This is strengthened with in-class performance. At the year-end recitals parents and friends are invited to attend and hear all the students.
• The moderate cost of group lessons allows more children the opportunity to a fundamental music education. Having the teacher come into the school provides a convenient location for the parent and a familiar location for the child.
The main objective of our program is to enrich the lives of students and to prepare them to successfully pursue future avenues of music study. Through the study of the piano, our music education program provides a strong foundation in the fundamentals of music, self-discipline, and improved learning skills.
You too can take part in your student’s musical progress. In fact, if you talk about ”practicing” too much the student may not like it. Perhaps you might refer to learning time as “playing the piano”. You will encourage more interest if you make sure you can hear the piano even if it is not always “music”. Your interest and a routine of practice time are important to support the student.


Mary Frances Early was the first black student to graduate from the University of Georgia. She graduated with a Masters in Music Education in 1962. After the Valedictorian earned a Bachelors degree from Clark Atlanta College, she decided to be a part of the integration movement in the south. After applying to the University of Georgia, Early was given an FBI-style security check of her background. She was admitted in 1961 and made history one year later.
Since her graduation, Early continued to spread her knowledge of music to surrounding premier HBCUs, Morehouse and Spelman Colleges. She also served as music coordinator and supervisor of Atlanta Public Schools. By 1981, Mary Early became the first African-American president of the Georgia Music Educators Association. She later returned to her alma mater, now Clark Atlanta University, in 2003, to serve as the head of the music department.
Early has been awarded the Benjamin E. Mays Black Music Heritage Award, the University of Georgia Outstanding Alumna Award and the Foot Soldier for Equal Justice Award at the University of Georgia. Next week the University of Georgia will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Early’s graduation in a special ceremony.


David Spencer's Education Paragon is a free educational resource portal helping David Spencer's secondary school students, their parents and teaching colleagues with understanding, designing, applying and delivering assessment, curriculum, educational resources, evaluation and literacy skills accurately and effectively. This wiki features educational resources for Indigenous Aboriginal education, field trips for educators, Davids Music Jam, law and justice education, music education and outdoor, environmental and experiential education. Since our web site launch 10.5 years ago on September 27, 2006, online site statistics and web rankings indicate there are currently 1,868 pages and 11,682,604 page views using 7.85 Gig of bandwidth per month. Pages are written, edited, published and hosted by Brampton, Ontario, Canada based educator David Spencer. On social media, you may find David as @DavidSpencerEdu on Twitter, as DavidSpencerdotca on Linkedin.com and DavidSpencer on Prezi. Please send your accolades, feedback and resource suggestions to David Spencer. Share on social media with the hashtag #EducationParagon
In the classroom, evaluation is the systematic process of collecting information about a student's achievement in relation to specified curriculum expectations. (Source: Toronto Catholic District School Board)
Evaluation involves making a judgment' or an interpretation about the worth or value 'of the information that has been gathered (i.e. a determination that the student has improved greatly as compared to her performance six months ago [self-referenced]; that the student’s performance is slightly behind her peer group [norm-referenced]; but she did succeed on a standardized spelling test [criterion-referenced]. The teacher must decide how to blend these three judgments).
- be an integral part of planning,
- be a continuous, deliberate activity,
- involve interpretation and judgment as well as measurement,
- should reflect the objectives of the learning activity,
- be responsive to culture, gender, geographical location,
- be fair and equitable,
- safeguard confidentiality of student information,
- be based on norm-, criterion-, and self-referenced indicators,
- provide useful, productive feedback to students,
- assume student self-appraisal, as well as student participation,
- provide opportunities for student improvement,
- assume communication to students in advance,
- be regularly communicated to parents in a meaningful way,
- use formative, summative, and diagnostic assessment techniques,
- provide information in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains,
- should guide teachers as they plan for individual needs.
Taking Your Place in the Professional Community - A Handbook for Beginning Teachers by the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation <http://www.stf.sk.ca/the_profession/pdf/taking_your_place_in_professional_community.pdf>.
Find more terms and definitions in David Spencer's Education Paragon Glossary.


Digital literacy development requires a range of approaches to change which both respond to and help shape organisational culture. Culture is complex but is essentially about ‘the way we do things around here’.
Each institution will have its own culture and a web of sub-cultures across subject disciplines, departments, teams, role groups etc. Working with these is important but changing the culture itself is an opportunity which requires skilled leadership.
A key finding from the Institute of Education project in relation to change management is that:
the classic opposition of “top down” and “bottom up” change failed to explain how the project could achieve institutional change. Instead, opportunistic “middle out” change proved most effective: spotting institutional developments and either weaving them through our analysis work, or supporting particular initiatives by providing them with the evidence base they needed to secure institutional support and resourcing.
The project team presented on their model of organisational change to the Jisc online conference in session called projects, policy and digital literacies: from student experience to organisational change.
The change management detailed guide looks at culture and approaches to change in detail but here are some key messages from the existing digital literacy initiatives:
- Invest in partnership approaches which engage staff, students and other stakeholders across the institution – students as change agents are particularly effective
- Create opportunities for conversation and development through workshops, events and other development opportunities
- Work digital literacies into other change agendas is more effective than pursuing a consensus through more isolated initiatives
- Understand what influences and motivates different groups ie forms of communication, reward and recognition etc
- Know your audience and always talk about digital literacy in context ie what it means to different subject disciplines, professional roles etc
- Enable communities of practice or peer networks to develop and encourage links across departments and roles while maintaining a strategic overview
- Provide seed funding for mini projects
Students as change agents
Institutions are engaging students in digital literacy projects through a range of roles such as co-researchers, mentors, and technical support. The advantages are that students are generally more digitally confident and fluent than staff in the use of personal and social media. Although students need support in applying this digital know-how successfully to academic study, they are often more willing to explore the possibilities that technology can bring to their learning.
These practices can be developed effectively by working in partnership with staff and other students. Students can also feel empowered by their involvement in change, benefiting from new personal and work-related skills as initiatives at Oxford Brookes University and the University of Greenwich show.
Evaluating the impact of digital literacy initiatives will provide evidence of change, identify successful and unsuccessful approaches and build a case for continuing development activities. The review section will look at tools and approaches to help understand the current ‘as is’ situation and evaluate progress against objectives.
- Change management detailed guide
- Organisational development resources
- Change Agents Network effective practice resources
- Students as digital pioneers - outcomes and lessons from the developing digital literacies programme
- Students as change agents - resources from across Jisc programmes
- Planning a participatory workshop


drawing and painting
The aim of art education is to let children experience and discover while painting
and drawing that there are many ways to see and express something. In scribble drawings it is obvious that things have
no definite shape and
meaning; the child seeks and finds several possibilities to shape its ideas.
The viewer often has difficulty with that, since he views the child's
impressions/images with those of his own.
But often it is not recognized that this ability to seek and find solutions
quickly dries up when the adult starts telling the child that little
chickens should be colored yellow and that the tree is bigger than the
The ability to seek, examine, change, and so imagine can be preserved and
developed. Letting the child experience and see how different things can be
in various situations, letting the child play with this phenomenon. In the
way children experience their world much more is possible than it seems on
first thoughts. Offer the child the possibility to really project itself into
situations, by making these tangible and perceptible.
A feature of working expressively is that it is possible to have many
solutions to one and the same problem. To teach the child to get and have an
eye for that enriches it.
By comparing the series of drawings a child's personal development becomes very clear.
In his development Michiel shows various lines, one drawing is highly decorative, or impressive, while the next suddenly shows strongly nervous
movements. This changing occurs constantly. From the images it appears that the way of viewing is strongly influenced by that subject indicates. Where
quietness and vagueness predominate this becomes visible in the image. When the involvement evokes intense emotions then on the hand the elaboration is


For a young child, grasping the concept of numbers and what they represent gives them a great head start in maths. Playing games with these numbers is a great opportunity for them to develop these early numeracy skills.
The pattern includes 11 colour charts for each number along with written and photographic instructions, including a step by step guide on how to complete the colourwork. Because crochet stitches don't sit squarely above each other it can be tricky to get neat colourwork, these charts have been carefully worked out to produce neat results.
This pattern is written in US terms.
The sample was made with Debbie Bliss Eco Baby in shades Pebble, Tangerine, Red, Denim, Aqua, and Rose. Some suggested substitutes are shown below.


The union budget for the year 2010-11 was announced by FM as ‘inclusive’ budget, seems not to include children who are over 42 per cent of our population. Out of every rupee spent in the budget, only 4.63 paise was allocated to children. The gap between the funds allocated and the funds actually released in the areas like education, health, development and protection is very wide. Despite an increased allocation to elementary education about 52 % of children are either not attending school or dropping out before class eight which indicated the far reaching goal of Universal Elementary Education. The allocation for child development and health has increased but it is quite inadequate as revealed from high incidence of infant and maternal mortality, malnourished or under nourished children. Despite the massive immunization programme, still many children are highly affected by Polio. The budget provides least attention to the protection of children. India is featured with the highest working children in the world, increasing rate of crime against children and highest number of sexually abused children in the world. Added to this, juvenile crimes have gone up over the years. In this background, inclusion of children in the budget in respect of education, health, development and protection merits great significance particularly for the state of Odisha where 39 percent of the population belongs to the vulnerable groups. The study is expected to capture the expenditure and allocation over last few years and analyse the micro-macro picture of education sector in specific and provide inputs for further policy and programming in the state.


“The arts can teach, can connect and can speak to everyone about common experiences and, thereby, build community among us.”Don Hall, Jr.
Combine your Kaleidoscope visit with art-infused education in your classroom. At Crayola you can find suggestions to inspire your students before they arrive at Kaleidoscope or expand your students’ art experience once you return to school.
Studies have found through teaching art we help a child grow in the following areas:
- Recognition of the elements & principles of design
- Eye/hand coordination (fine motor skills)
- The ability to learn to create what they see
- Knowledge of art history and different cultures
- Experience different mediums
- Create a higher level of concentration and interest in learning
Business Leaders recognize that the arts better prepare students for skills required for 21st century business because the arts:
- Strengthen student problem-solving and critical thinking skills, adding to overall academic achievement and school success.
- Help all students develop more appreciation and understanding of the world around them.
- Help students develop a positive work ethic and pride in a job well done.
Thoughts about art education:
- Creating a website or designing a home requires mastering skills which are developed through arts education.
- The arts teach students to think through and within a material and use what they have in new ways.
- Develop vocabulary by listening to and discussing unknown words
- Teaching students to be creative is a deliberate process, much like teaching reading or math.
- Learning to draw helps kids in all other subjects.
- Drawing develops hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness – abilities used by engineers and architects.
- Art develops imagination and critical thinking skills.
- Art strengthens problem-solving skills, increasing school success.
- Art teaches life skills such as decision-making and self-confidence.
- Learning to draw and think creatively helps prepare students for the future!


Best 7th Grade Science Fair Projects for Kids Video
Enjoy watching the finest chosen and really simple to comprehend 7th Grade Science Fair Projects video:
Why Watch this 7th Grade Science Fair Projects Video
Watch this video about a good 7th grade science fair project on how to turn water into hydrogen and oxygen with electrolysis. With this video, you will be able to see how electricity can be used to make water into hydrogen and oxygen. You will be able to see how the project was constructed, what materials were used, and how the project works as the kid who made the project will demonstrate. The kid will explain the details and concept behind her project, shows how to test if her project worked, and talks about what could be the uses for her idea; basically powering up a car just by using ocean water. Check out this video for a great 7th grade electrolysis science project.
Watch this useful 7th Grade Science Fair Projects for kids video and considerably extend your young children’s fascination about 7th Grade Science Fair Projects.
This 7th Grade Science Fair Projects video is great for young kids, from ones engaged in early learning programs for pre-K children, all the way to Fifth grade, undoubtedly along with pre-school youngsters and children engaging in homeschooling.
Begin to explore our offered completely FREE educational videos for kids, hand chosen by our award-winning deputy editor. These videos are an immense assemblage of science for kids videos available to you on our science kids website. Have a look at numerous more convincing as well as useful nonetheless enjoyable easy to understand science facts for kids on our complimentary science site about numerous even more interesting topics, and let your children enjoy doing our many ABSOLUTELY FREE easy science worksheets, ENJOYABLE online science quiz games and free games for kids to play online.
Liked our selected 7th Grade Science Fair Projects video? Browse through lengthy details on Electrolysis.
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Best 7th Grade Science Fair Projects for Kids Video - ." Easy Science for Kids, Jul 2017. Web. 28 Jul 2017. < http://easyscienceforkids.com/best-7th-grade-science-fair-projects-for-kids-video/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2017). Best 7th Grade Science Fair Projects for Kids Video -. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from http://easyscienceforkids.com/best-7th-grade-science-fair-projects-for-kids-video/


Music is the universal language of all mankind.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Studying Music - It's Magic!
Music is at the core of our humanity. It is the universal language with which we can express ourselves and understand each other. This page is dedicated to music and music education as an essential part of our lives and of its value in the development of young minds.
Articles and Studies in Support of Music Education
Stop "Defending" Music Education
How To Make Your Kids Smarter: 10 Steps Backed By Science
Is Music The Key to Success?
Musical Training Can Accelerate Brain Development And Help With Literacy Skills
From Bassoonist to Nobel Laureate; an Interview With Thomas Sudhof, Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine
Music Education and the Multiplier Effect
Music Education Advocacy Organizations
Memorable Quotations on Music
Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.
- Ludwig van Beethoven
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
- Berthold Auerbach
There is nothing like music to relieve the soul and uplift it.
- Mickey Hart
It is essential to do everything possible to attract young people to opera, so they can see that it is not some antiquated art form, but a repository of the most glorious music and drama that man has created.
- Bruce Beresford
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.
Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die.
- Paul Simon
If a composer could say what he had to say in words, he would not bother trying to say it in music.
- Gustav Mahler
Music expresses that which cannot be said, and on which it is impossible to remain silent.
- Victor Hugo
After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
- Aldous Huxley
Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.
- Herbie Hancock
Music is the soul of language.
- Max Heindel
Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.
- Pablo Casals
Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.
- Lao Tzu
If music be the food of love, play on.
Music is love in search of a word
- Sidney Lanier
Love, I find, is like singing.
- Zora Neale Hurston
I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music.
- Billy Joel
Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.
- Maya Angelou
Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
- William Congreve
The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.
- Bruce Springsteen
The good thing about music is, when it hits you, you feel no pain.
- Bob Marley
Music should be your escape.
- Missy Elliot
Music is magical, powerful, beautiful...
It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness of pain; of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature and everlasting beauty of monotony.
- Benjamin Britten
No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.
- W.H. Auden
Music is the strongest form of magic.
- Marilyn Manson
All music is beautiful.
- Billy Strayhorn
Music is essential...
I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me - like food or water.
- Ray Charles
During World War II, Britain's finance minister recommended to Winston Churchill that they cut arts funding in order to better support the war effort. Churchill's reply was, 'Then what are we fighting for?'
If you look deep enough, you will see music; the heart of nature being everywhere music.
- Thomas Carlyle
Music is the fourth great material want, first food, then clothes, then shelter, then music.
-Christian Nestell Bovee
Without music, life would be a mistake.
- Friedrich Nietzsche


WHAT ARE WORKPLACE ESSENTIAL SKILLS AND WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?
Workplace Essential Skills are the foundational skills people need to be efficient, effective and adaptable in the workplace. Essential Skills are the core skills needed for learning technical skills and working safely. These are the skills that more and more companies are enhancing to maintain their competitive edge.
All nine Essential Skills are used in different combinations and are transferable to every occupation. They are the skills used to carry out work tasks and they are the building blocks used in learning new skills.
For Work, Learning and Life.
HOW TO IDENTIFY POSSIBLY HAVING LOW ESSENTIAL SKILLS
Are you struggling to find or keep a job?
Have high absenteeism
Have low self-esteem
Not sure if you have what it takes to go back to school
Making mistakes on the job?
ADDRESSING WORKPLACE CHALLENGES
The Workplace Essential Skills training program can be customized into a one or two week program that includes face to face classroom learning with strategies on understanding various workplace documents, identifying keywords, and skimming and scanning techniques. The curriculum also includes computer online learning to assist learners who are looking to move from Essential Skills levels 1,2 or low level 3. The training is coordinated by an experienced Essential Skills facilitator. This program is designed specifically to address workplace challenges for the unemployed, employed or individual who is wanting to advance in the workplace.
WHY THIS PROGRAM?


On the Shelves: A Case Study on Library Access
My name is Shannon. I have Spina Bifida, a mobility impairment, and use a wheelchair for mobility. My coursework in elementary education requires frequent use of the library to conduct literature reviews of children's books and research to create classroom projects.
In order to do my required coursework, I needed assistance retrieving these books from the library shelves, because I could not reach them from my wheelchair. Library staff said that they did not have the time to pull books from the shelves for me, and since I was registered with the disability services office, someone from that office should assist me.
I met with a disability services office counselor to explain my concern about the library's decision. He met with the library staff to resolve the issue. The disability services office staff member informed the library staff that they were required to provide accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. The library agreed that if the student provided them with a list, the books would be pulled within 24 hours.
This case study illustrates the following:
- Students with disabilities may need accommodations to access library and reference materials.
- All library staff need to be aware of procedures for assisting students with disabilities who request accommodations.
- Campuses should ensure that students have timely access to printed and electronic resources available in academic libraries.


Based on the Software Carpentry strategy of collaborative development of hands-on, interactive lessons for workshops, we facilitate and develop the lessons for Data Carpentry workshops.
These lessons are distributed under the CC-BY and are free for re-use or adaptation, with attribution. We’ve had people use the lessons in courses, to build new lessons or use them for self-guided learning.
Data Carpentry workshops are domain-specific, so that we are teaching researchers the skills most relevant to their domain and using examples from their type of work. Therefore we have several types of workshops and lessons are ordered by topic.
This workshop uses a tabular ecology dataset from the Portal Project Teaching Database and teaches data cleaning, management, analysis and visualization. There are no pre-requisites, and the materials assume no prior knowledge about the tools. We use a single dataset throughout the workshop to model the data management and analysis workflow that a researcher would use.
The workshop can be taught using R or Python as the base language.
The focus of this workshop is on working with genomics data and data management and analysis for genomics research. It covers metadata organization in spreadsheets, data organization, connecting to and using cloud computing, the command line for sequence quality control and bioinformatics workflows, and R for data analysis and visualization. The workshop does not teach any particular bioinformatics tools, but the foundational skills that will allow you to conduct any analysis and analyze the output of a genomics pipeline.
Geospatial Data Workshop
This workshop is co-developed with the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). It focuses on working with geospatial data - managing and understanding spatial data formats, understanding coordinate reference systems, and working with Raster and Vector data in R for analysis and visualization. This assumes intermediate R skills, for people who have the basics of R down but haven’t worked with spatial data in R before.
|Working with vector data in R||Leah Wasser, Joseph Stachelek|
|Working with raster data in R||Leah Wasser, Joseph Stachelek|
|Introduction to Geospatial data||Leah Wasser, Joseph Stachelek|
Biology Semester-long Course
The Biology Semester-long Course was developed and piloted at the University of Florida in Fall 2015. Course materials include, readings, lectures, exercises and assignments that expand on the material presented at workshops focusing on SQL and R. The course is accessible to:


Get your students hooked on reading with READING ROCKS GUIDED ACTIVITIES!
One of the first steps for literacy development for young readers is to provide them with meaningful activities that provide successful and enjoyable reading experiences.
By using Bright Kids’ READING ROCKS FUN and FRIENDLY Guided Reading Activities you can facilitate the development of your young students’ early reading accomplishments by extending their reading experience success.
READING ROCKS offer a variety of activities with many high-frequency words and illustrations that provide direct support for meaning and word solving, and language structure.
Through a series of learning activities focused on discovery, recognition, and application your students will learn to generate ideas and demonstrate comprehension.
Your students will also benefit from daily opportunities for practice in applying their reading, writing, and spelling knowledge and skills.
Through these experiences and their growing familiarity with texts such as simple recounts, stories, spelling and printing – they develop an understanding of the story, vocabulary and language structure; and of the communicative possibilities of images and sounds.
Applying READING ROCKS supported and independent activities your students will learn to construct words and sentences and to combine words, images, and sounds to express personal thoughts and feelings and communicate ideas and information in a number of oral and written forms.
READING ROCKS guided activities can be used with any story or book!
READING ROCKS comes with ready to use teacher rubrics for EASY assessment.


Five Themes of Geography
David Spencer's Education Paragon is a free educational resource portal helping David Spencer's secondary school students, their parents and teaching colleagues with understanding, designing, applying and delivering assessment, curriculum, educational resources, evaluation and literacy skills accurately and effectively. This wiki features educational resources for Indigenous Aboriginal education, field trips for educators, Davids Music Jam, law and justice education, music education and outdoor, environmental and experiential education. Since our web site launch 10.5 years ago on September 27, 2006, online site statistics and web rankings indicate there are currently 1,868 pages and 11,682,604 page views using 7.85 Gig of bandwidth per month. Pages are written, edited, published and hosted by Brampton, Ontario, Canada based educator David Spencer. On social media, you may find David as @DavidSpencerEdu on Twitter, as DavidSpencerdotca on Linkedin.com and DavidSpencer on Prezi. Please send your accolades, feedback and resource suggestions to David Spencer. Share on social media with the hashtag #EducationParagon
Five Themes of Geography
The five Themes of Geography originated by the National Geographic Society to fulfill a need for geographers (people who study the earth and everything on it) to categorize everything they learn. The five themes were written in 1984 by the Joint Committee on Geographic Education of the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) and the Association of American Geographers (AAG).
Theme 1: Location
- Where is it?
- Why is it located there?
- Absolute location is given in degrees of latitude and longitude.
- Relative location depends upon your point of reference. Is the location near, far, a short walk away, a short drive away.
Theme 2: Place
- What is it like?
- Physical Features (characteristics) Landforms (mountain, plateau, peninsula), Ecosystems (plants, animals),
- Bodies of water (oceans, bays, lakes, rivers)
- Human Features (characteristics) - bridges, roads, buildings
- All places have features that distinguish them from other places.
Theme 3: Human/Environment Interaction
- Humans depend on the environment
- Humans adapt to the environment
- Humans modify the environment
- How do people interact with and change the environment?
Theme 4: Movement
- Movement is the flow of people, ideas and goods such as transportation, communication and trade.
- There are patterns of movement such as migration.
- There are linkages and connections between regions and places.
- How are people and places linked by communication and transportation?
- How are trading partners moving goods through imports and exports?
Theme 5: Regions
- Regions can be defined on the basis of:
a) Physical Features - landforms, climate, soil, vegetation (ie. grassland, marshland, desert, rain forest)
b) Human Features - government, political divisions, religions, economic system, language, culture
- Region is a basic unit for geographic study.
- What are the unifying features of the region and how do they form and change over time?
- How can Earth be divided into regions for study?
- NationalGeographic.com <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/education/themes.html>
- Studies/Foundations/Chapter 1/geographythemes.ppt Five Themes of Geography (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation)


offices at OSPI provide technical assistance for the learning standards and oversees the testing of the standards required by Washington's legislature.
The Common Core State Standards are now the Washington State K-12 ELA Learning Standards. The standards describe what students should know and be able to do at each grade level.
Assessments are designed to help districts, schools, teachers, parents and students determine the level of proficiency of a student's understanding of the ELA learning standards.
Resources to support alignment of instruction materials to the CCSS, curriculum alignment, classroom instructional supports, Open Educational Resources (OER) curricular reviews, and materials adoption
Resources that support the development and implementation of ELA related professional learning.
The Learning Pathways in Early Literacy use the WA State frameworks specifically in the areas of social-emotional development, cognitive development, language and literacy development, and reading and writing development to meet the goal of preparing students to have a strong foundation is language, thinking, communicating, reading, and writing.
Sign up for English Language Arts Network (ELAN) email/text alerts
Receive updates about important initiatives, opportunities for educators, assessment news, and top ELA resources.
Please join us for a Mini-Summit on Writing in Seattle this November 3rd and 4th. This Mini-Summit is brought to you
by Joyful Writing Interventions and will be facilitated by Dr. Ruth Culham and Libby Jachles. This Mini-Summit will offer two days of interactive presentations, discussions and working strategies to support K-5 educators and enhance student outcomes. Clock hours will be available.


In high school and college there are several types of essays that students face. These styles encompass Writing courses often require various types of essays.
The facts, just the facts: expository essays are not about giving an opinion or taking a side. In this lesson, we will learn about the different.
The three types of essay most commonly assigned in school -- the narrative Many magazine articles, for example, and a number of nonfiction books, of narrative, albeit one that is invented or based on a real-life subject. Subscribers get access to our exercise archives, writing courses, writing jobs and much more! Students must show confidence and authority in their writing. Missing the old look? We have detected you have disabled http cookies on your browser. Guest editorials in newspapers and magazines, reviews in the art sections of periodicals or on entertainment-oriented Web sites, or position statements for nonprofit organizations or political lobbying groups are all forms of persuasive writing that publishers of this content will pay for. For example, an essay comparing and contrasting the Democratic and Republican parties might end by drawing conclusions about the nature of politics in the U, subjects in school types of essay and examples. Meanwhile, effective storytelling is an essential skill for feature writing, which — as opposed to reporting, which is event driven — focuses on a person, a place, or a thing, such as a company or an organization. How to write a good essay: Paraphrasing the question
Avoid: Subjects in school types of essay and examples
|ELEMENTARY EDUCATION FREE REACTION PAPERS||Nonfiction Book Report A nonfiction book report demonstrates critical thinking about the subject matter. This number increases every day as we keep hiring new people. Five Paragraph The five paragraph essay includes an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. No, our papers are never resold or published anywhere else. Argumentative essays express an argument or opinion. It seems more fun to write than the other two types of essays.|
|OPTOMETRY IS MY PAPER PLAGIARIZED||Four Major Types of Essays. Enter your email address to receive exclusive members-only discounts. The online writing classes for kids also cover how to interpret essay writing prompts in testing situations. Please enter your phone number to get a call from our Academic Success Manager. Every new order you place counts towards the total ordered amount thus increasing the discount level.|
|SOCIOLOGY COMPOSITION ONLINE FREE||You can communicate with the writer directly, via the control panel. When a new order comes in, we circulate a notice to all writers in that field, and someone who is available and interested in your topic will chose to work on your project. Essay writing is a common school assignment, a part of standardized tests, and a requirement on college applications. An argumentative essay functions as a means for a writer to get a solid argument across to a reader. It differs, however, in that it uses a hypothesis - a specific claim or position - as its organizing principle. We employ writers specializing in statistics and data analysis software, including SPSS.|


The Crazy Horse Memorial
The Crazy Horse Memorial is located in the Black Hills in South Dakota. The mountain is 27th highest mountain in South Dakota with a height of 6,532 feet. This memorial is still under construction. After completion, it will depict Crazy Horse, a Native American war leader from Oglala Lakota, riding a horse being the world’s largest sculpture. The purpose of this memorial is to honour the culture of living Native Americans. Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear and Sculpture Korczak Ziolkowski dedicated the memorial in June, 1948.
Quick Facts: –
- Ziolkowski worked on the memorial until the time of his death in 1982 and then his foundation continued the work.
- The Crazy Horse Memorial is planned to stand 563 feet high and 641 feet long. The head of the sculpture alone is more than 87 feet high.
- The monument has been in progress since 1948 is far from getting completed.
- The Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation does not accept any federal or state funds as it is a non-profit foundation.
- The Crazy Horse is best known for fighting against George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
- This monument was likely inspired by the Mount Rushmore Monument.
- Korczak Ziolkowski had previously worked on the Mount Rushmore monument under Gutzon Borglum.
- The Crazy Horse Memorial is only about 8 miles away from Mount Rushmore.
- The monument is not a true replica of the Crazy Horse but it is an artistic expression of him.
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Fun Facts for Kids about the Crazy Horse Memorial ." Easy Science for Kids, Jul 2017. Web. 28 Jul 2017. < http://easyscienceforkids.com/the-crazy-horse-memorial/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2017). Fun Facts for Kids about the Crazy Horse Memorial. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from http://easyscienceforkids.com/the-crazy-horse-memorial/
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Ballers, Insecure and more
Videoconferences that connect students with experts in various fields.
January 28, 2015
October 22, 2014
The impact and implications of social media are discussed.
October 8, 2014
Information about airplanes and flight.
September 17, 2014
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is examined.
April 23, 2014
The structure and purpose of the Federal Reserve System is explained by economists, who discuss the nature of inflation and monetary policy. Also: reasons to invest in a post-secondary education.
April 9, 2014
The hidden infrastructure of a city is examined.
Ideas for going green at home, school and work. Included: recycling; and energy conservation.
March 26, 2014
Crafting with metal and ceramic is demonstrated.
March 12, 2014
Scientific aspects of bowling are examined.
March 7, 2014
The Jim Crow era is examined.
January 22, 2014
Human sight and hearing are discussed.
Canines and how they experience life are discussed.
January 3, 2014
Engineers who helped design, build and launch the Mercury capsule share their experiences.
December 6, 2013
Veterans of World War II and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars share their experiences.
October 4, 2013
The 1963 Supreme Court decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, which ruled that state courts must provide attorneys to indigent defendants, is discussed.
September 20, 2013
Abraham Lincoln and the 13th Amendment are discussed.
April 11, 2013
The Korean War is discussed.
April 6, 2013
The Third Degree Glass Factory, a glass-art education center, is visited.
April 4, 2013
The science behind extreme weather is explained.
March 14, 2013
The use of forensic science in criminal investigations is discussed.
January 17, 2013
Dan Gutman's "Jackie and Me," about a boy who travels through time to see Jackie Robinson play, is discussed.
December 13, 2012
Dan Gutman's "Jackie and Me," about a boy who travels through time to see Jackie Robinson play, is discussed with the author and baseball historians.
December 6, 2012
A writing workshop with "Kingdom Keepers" author Ridley Pearson.
November 15, 2012
Constructing a new bridge over the Mississippi River is discussed.
November 8, 2012
Military veterans discuss their experiences.
October 18, 2012
Recalling the Cuban Missile Crisis.
September 17, 2012
Political campaigns and the First Amendment are discussed.
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This pilot study compared two approaches for teaching rhythm reading skills to first-grade children. Two intact first-grade classes participated in six lessons focusing on simple rhythms (4 beats using eighth and quarter notes). The lessons were based on the same musical materials; only the approach was varied. After random assignment, Class 1 experienced the “Subdivision Approach” where the quarter note is the beat, and eighth notes are subdivisions of the beat. Class 2 used the “Additive Approach” where, in this case, the eighth note is the “shortest sound” and a quarter note is the equivalent of two short sounds.
Pre- and posttests were administered using the respective rhythm icons, asking the children to say the rhythm syllables and do the corresponding hand movements. Within-group pre- and posttest scores showed learning took place with each method. Several t-tests showed that the Additive Approach class scored significantly higher than the Subdivision Approach class (p<.001). The results of this study indicate that, for this particular set of subjects, the Additive Approach was more successful than the Subdivision Approach in this rhythm reading task. Of particular interest was the fact that the Additive Approach prepared students to more successfully decode and perform syncopated rhythms seen only in the pre- and posttest. The research approach employed appears, with modification, to be a useful one that may successfully be employed in a larger project. Although the results of this particular study cannot be generalized to a larger population, the positive results indicate that further study is merited.
Gauthier, Delores and Dunn, Robert E.
"Comparing Two Approaches for Teaching Rhythm Reading Skills to First-Grade Children: A Pilot Study,"
Research & Issues in Music Education: Vol. 2
, Article 4.
Available at: http://ir.stthomas.edu/rime/vol2/iss1/4


1) First, human beings invented speech and language.
2) Later on, for a variety of practical reasons, writing was invented as a means of consistently and accurately recording speech/language.
3) Various approaches to developing accurate writing systems were tried but the only completely successful solution came with the development of signs or symbols (letters) to represent the basic sound units of speech. One of these developments was what we now, in English, call the alphabet code.
4)In countries whose languages are written using a simple (transparent) alphabet, where each sound is represented by a different and unique letter, literacy rates for those receiving basic schooling approach 100%, with the teaching of the sound-symbol system being completed within about two years of primary schooling.
5) In English speaking countries, whose language is written using a more complex (opaque) code, barely 50% of pupils become properly literate, despite having had ten years or more of schooling.
What is meant here by opaque in this context means that the way in which sounds are represented in words may not be at all obvious from looking at spellings in different words. How the alphabet code works is as follows:
1) Letters are spellings of sounds, so the word 'dog' contains three sounds 'd' 'o' 'g' and we use the spellings
2) Spellings can comprise more than one letter. The sound 'sh' in 'ship' is represented by two letters sh; the sound 'ie' in 'night' is represented by the three-letter spelling igh; and, the sound 'oe' in 'dough' is represented by the four-letter spelling ough.
3) Finally, spellings frequently represent more than one sound, so that the spelling ow can be 'oe' as in 'slow' or 'ow' as in 'cow'.
It seems quite obvious that teaching a transparent code, as they do in in, say, Italy or Spain, is considerably easier than teaching an opaque one, such as English. What advice are teachers of reading and spelling in the UK given about how to approach the task of teaching literacy? Advice is predominantly handed down by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), whose latest contribution to the task of improving reading and spelling in schools is Letters and Sounds. The major problem with this document is evident in the title. Letters do not come before sounds. The sounds of the language, even though they can't be physically seen, are the basis for the alphabet code - the spellings we use to represent the sounds in the language. Sounds in the language are stable; they don't change. And, linguists are in agreement that there are, give or take one or two depending on accent, forty-four sounds in UK English. If teachers base their teaching on the sounds of the language, which everyone learns naturally, and the teaching is taught from simple to complex, all children can learn to read and most can learn to spell to a high degree of proficiency. For a summary of many of the common spellings of the vowel and consonant sounds in UK English go to: http://www.sounds-write.co.uk/downloads.asp
Apart from being something of a dog's breakfast, Letters and Sounds doesn't give what Jim Rose in the The Review of Early Reading said all teachers need: proper training, delivered by knowledgeable trainers.
What is happening at the moment is not good enough for the nation's children. They all deserve to be taught by teachers who are accurately trained and supported in how to optimise their pupils' literacy development. If not, we will continue to produce hundreds of thousands of illiterate 16 year olds leaving our schools semi-literate and suffering a lifetime of blighted career and life opportunities as a direct result of the failure of the education system to teach them to read and spell.


It’s never too early to stoke an interest in reading among kids. Developing a love of reading is essential, as reading is the basic foundation of learning across all other subject. Some children might find books intimidating or difficult, but parents and teachers can encourage a love of reading by employing different strategies and tips. The following is a super-comprehensive resource of reading tips for kids, teachers, and parents.
- Resource Page: Resource webpage from the School Home Links Reading Kit that offers dozens and dozens of links that feature activities to get kids to read better.
- Reading Tips for Kids: Reading tips for kids who are struggling with hard reading material.
- Reading Practice: Webpage that offers downloadable reading materials that kids can use for practice.
- More Reading Practice: Reading practice based on specific books, intended to help kids who are struggling readers.
- Word Central Resource: From Merriam Webster comes a webpage that teaches kids about how to pronounce words and vocabulary.
- Focus on Words: Website that encourages kids to improve their vocabulary by addressing the Greek and Latin elements of English words.
- Graphic Organizer Explained: Webpage that shows kids how to use a graphic organizer, which includes diagrams and explanations.
- More Graphic Organizer Types: ThinkQuest webpage that details to kids what the purposes of graphic organizers are.
- Learning Disabilities: Webpage that provides tips to kids who have learning disabilities, explaining how they can become better readers.
- Summer Reading Tips: Tips by a professor on how kids can spend their summertime reading.
- Reading Comprehension Strategies: Website that features a multitude of reading comprehension strategies that are designed for teachers in lesson plans.
- Homonyms Lesson: Webpage that is useful for teachers who want to teach their students about picking out homonyms in what they read.
- Reading Comprehension Tactics: Article written by instructor explains methods on how teachers can get kids to read more effectively.
- Teacher Resource: Website for teachers that offers them ideas on how to teach reading comprehension skills to their students.
- Graphic Organizers for Teachers: Webpage that provides graphic organizers for teachers, which they can use in reading lessons and projects for their students.
- What Teachers Should Know: Webpage that instructs teachers on exactly what they should be able to teach their students.
- Reading to Kids: Information that instructs teachers on how to read to kids to develop their interest in reading.
- Successful Reading Tips: Reading tips that teachers can share with their students to get them to improve.
- Reading Tips Resource Page: From the University of Mississippi comes a webpage that features several links to websites with reading tips for parents.
- Tips for Better Reading: Webpage from the RIF organization that features brochures with tips for parents who want their kids to get better at reading.
- Tips for Parents: Webpage of tips for parents to help their kids develop a reading interest includes advice from experts.
- Materials and Resources: From the NEA comes a webpage that includes tips for parents to get their kids to start reading for pleasure.
- List of Tips: From the Reading Rockets website comes a list of tips from kids themselves about what parents can do to help.
- Parental Strategies: Strategies developed by the Reading Center that help parents come up with ideas on how to stoke a reading interest in kids.
- Reading Strategies: Pamphlet that offers parents several reading tips for teaching their children how to read more.
- Reading Tactics: Webpage that provides several reading tactic tips on getting parents to improve their kidsí reading skills.
- Advice: Advice from the University of Michigan on how to promote reading in kids, in families.
- Reading Suggestions: From the government comes a webpage that offers suggestions on how parents can turn their kids into readers.
- Reading Cards: Webpage featuring activity cards that parents can use to help their kids get started in reading.
- Reading Improvement: Webpage that offers parents tips so they can help their kids become stronger readers.
- Reading Chair Website: Website that features reviews of kidsí books that are perfect for parents to use to encourage their kids to read.


Icahn Schools use the Core Knowledge Sequence, a nationally recognized curriculum. It is based on the concept that every child should be equipped with a core foundation of knowledge so that they are armed with the common knowledge base necessary to compete in any setting. The program is taught sequentially and thematically. Jeffrey Litt adapted the Core Knowledge Sequence to expand its effectiveness and include multiculturalism.
Our English Language Arts program uses direct, explicit, systematic and sequential phonics instruction and decodable literature to promote early reading success. Students read award-winning fiction and non-fiction literature. Each classroom has numerous library books for the children to borrow and read at home. Teachers maintain a log of each child's reading. In addition, all grades have class sets of well-known children's literature for in class use and guided reading lessons. Many of our schools also provide a full library. Our staff developers provide ongoing support to teachers through demonstration lessons and peer coaching. Our recent addition of Network Intervention Specialists, provides additional support and workshops in English Language Arts.
All children participate in the Iowa Test of Basic Skills by taking a test in June. The results determine each child's reading and mathematics strengths and areas in need of strengthening. Our Targeted Assistance Program and after school tutoring provides individualized remediation using the ITBS as a guide. Baseline assessments are used to drive the instructional program. Lesson plans reflect individualized instruction needs.
The mathematics program at the Icahn Charter Schools (ICS) provides a curriculum that covers units beyond the conventional curriculum. An integral part of the instructional program is the support from a subject specialist. Demonstration lessons and peer coaching ensure that the teachers benefit from the latest research on the teaching of mathematics. Those students, who need to strengthen their skills, as determined by baseline testing and teacher judgment, are afforded small group instruction forty minutes each day, five days a week. As with all major subject areas, the ongoing assessment documents a child’s progress for teachers and parents. Our 8th graders have a 100% pass rate on the High School Integrated Algebra Regents exam.
Science is an integral part of our curriculum and an exciting subject for our students. The study of geology, physics, biology and chemistry are among the topics included in our curriculum. The content spirals throughout the grades with each following grade going into more depth. Our students learn the importance of science in their daily lives and in their futures. As a result of our program, at least 90% of our children scored at or above the national norm on the New York State Science test in any given year of testing. Additionally, our 8th graders have a 100% pass rate on the High School Living Environment Regents exam.
Social Studies is a truly exciting course at ICSs. Our children, beginning with early childhood classes, learn about the continents, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, exploration, colonialism, slavery, etc. There is an emphasis on multiculturalism.


India is a multi-ethnic country with its broad based cultural it fascinates every one. Indian education has newly gained world acknowledgment. Students from different countries like South Africa, China, Canada, France, Germany, Australia and U.S.A. prefer India for higher education for its quality learning programs. The Indian economic growth as rise and leaps in presently few years therefore there is a requirement to educate young ones to hasten the growth development .Due to initiatives taken by government in recent few years, it is assumed that premier education is available in India. According to sources many new amendments and policies are made by the central government these incorporates innovative syllabus, introduction to new courses, and pulsating teaching methodologies. Modernized infrastructure, proficient and experienced teachers, adoption of E-learning and many dynamic educational programs.
Indian education system engage low charge of tuitions fees in contrast to the western countries. Here, the educational division is done in four levels: primary, secondary, senior and higher education. Elementary education continues till class 8th standard whereas secondary and higher education includes two year. After this students adopts for graduation that will be of three to four years concerning the course and its different educational studies.
Schools in different part of India established themselves in an advanced way ensuring the contemporary developments that had taken place in Indian educational system. Schools in Dwarka are renewed ones and are affiliated to different boards of education: CBSE, ICSE, IB and NIOS. International, residential, public and private schools in Dwarka consider that each child is a champion and should be appreciated and cherish with greatest tenderness and comprehension. Schools in Dwarka aspire to create an environment where children can speculate, discover, imagine, articulate and overall where they bloom like a flower.
These schools in Delhi have grand school building and faculties are devoted and proficient in their respective field. Here, schools made learning interesting while making a combination of academics and co- curriculum activities. Teachers guide students by imparting moral values as to help young generation to walk in right path with respect, human dignity and confidence. These schools truly built-in the impressive core curriculum which regularly motivates the young minds.
Nursery schools in Dwarka are fun learning area for kids where your kids will develop essential life skills, learn social behavior and communicate with children of their age. These schools have attractive childhood learning programs that help kids to explore new boundaries, learn new techniques and also improve their emotional behavior. Dwarka sector 11 has excellent International schools where children experience global learning with wider school curriculum.
MBS International School is sited on Dwarka sector 11, phase- 1, caters education from nursery to class 12th standard. It is an English medium and co-educational school that strive to give superior education with academic brilliance, religious consideration , social awareness and create a love for our mother land in children.
The school provides first- class amenities such as air conditioner and smart class rooms, well-fitted science and computer laboratories, rich library including books from different field of art, literature, science and reference books that help children in studying their concepts and also beneficial for making projects. Day-boarding facilities are accessible for working parents with absolute care under school staffs. Dwarka is a prosper region in west Delhi with residential areas, markets and malls and schools. So, if you are on view of selecting a best school for your child than Dwarka is the super place for you.
About the Author:
Writer is school advisor of OnlineSchoolAdmissions.com - a portal that provides free of cost consultancy to parents and schools for fast and easy online school admission process. Parents can locate schools in Dwarka or best schools in Dwarka.


The House of Blues grew out of founder Isaac Tigrett's love for the unique American art form known as the "the Blues". Weaned on this music during his early childhood in Tennessee, one of Isaac's goals was to introduce the world to the music of the rural south, including the Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Gospel, Jazz and Roots-based Rock & Roll.
The very first House of Blues opened its doors in a converted historical house in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1992 and is home to live music, original folk art, and delta-inspired cuisine.
The House of Blues is dedicated to educating and celebrating the history of Southern Culture and African American artistic contributions to music and art.
Our mission is to create:
The House of Blues commitment to serving the community will always be a priority. From feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving Day before opening to the public to its grass-roots efforts to find and support local artists, the House of Blues is more than a place for music and food.
Steeped in tradition of the South, many of the artifacts and items represented in the House of Blues have historical significance.
Our "Crazy Quilt" stage curtains pay respect to the enslaved Africans who used the Underground Railroad as a passage to freedom. The "Jacob's Ladder" pattern is an example of this.
These curtains that cover every stage at our venues have been constructed in a free-form-abstract arrangement and took over one thousand hours to complete.
Under every stage in the House of Blues is a metal box filled with Delta Mississippi mud. This box is welded to the structure on the stage to ensure that every artist has the roots and the spirit of the South planted beneath their feet.
Our art collection is almost entirely comprised of Folk, Outsider, and Self-Taught artwork and we refer to this style as the "Visual Blues." Currently, the House of Blues is the largest curator of Outsider Art in the world.
Juke Joints are a major inspiration for the House of Blues look and feel. Many southern juke joints are full of hand painted signs and decor: eclectic collections of art, posters, furniture, wall murals, and other sorts of decoration.
House of Blues Music Forward Foundation is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to fostering unity and creating opportunity through music.
Music Forward educates youth about the role of music and culture in social change; invests in music education programs; creates performance opportunities for young and emerging musicians; and inspires young people with practical experience in the music industry.;


Michael Pershan and Henri Picciotto have been having an interesting exchange on Twitter about teaching computer programming to kids.
Here’s one bit from Henri:
and one from Michael:
But, don’t just restrict yourself to these two pieces. Even with the obvious limitations of Twitter, the entire discussion between them is really interesting.
One passage in particular in the Michael Pershan’s piece linked above caught my eye:
If we mandate schools to democratize access to privileged knowledge, we will finally eliminate schooling inequities, right? It feels silly to even point this out, but that is obviously impossible. There is an unending race between privilege and access in our schools. If you require school to teach every kid coding, privileged kids will create a Super Coding elective and slap that on their transcripts. You can’t stop privileged kids from having access to privileged knowledge. (They decide what counts as privileged knowledge.)
The example I’d like to counter with comes from Quanta magazine’s profile of Maryam Mirzakhani:
Eager to discover what they were capable of in similar competitions, Mirzakhani and Beheshti went to the principal of their school and demanded that she arrange for math problem-solving classes like the ones being taught at the comparable high school for boys. “The principal of the school was a very strong character,” Mirzakhani recalled. “If we really wanted something, she would make it happen.” The principal was undeterred by the fact that Iran’s International Mathematical Olympiad team had never fielded a girl, Mirzakhani said. “Her mindset was very positive and upbeat — that ‘you can do it, even though you’ll be the first one,’ ” Mirzakhani said. “I think that has influenced my life quite a lot.”
I guess what my too-long-for-a-tweet thought was something like this – you just never know how kids are going to react to a class (or anything, I suppose). But, if the door isn’t open, they can’t walk through it.