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There are two basic types of grammar programs for computers: programs that correct the grammar of a document and programs that teach a user how to use grammar. The former is generally not considered a reliable method of editing an article, but the latter can teach a willing student more about grammar. In addition, some websites offer educational newsletter programs that help people gradually improve their grammar. The capability and reliability of each of these programs vary; for example, a poorly funded grammar program might not be very useful or can even be harmful when it comes to correcting an important document or teaching students grammar.
Some grammar programs are designed to analyze and correct a user’s grammar. A program scans a digital document for errors and then lists them with suggestions on how to completely fix or at least improve all incorrect sentences. These programs are usually reliable for novice mistakes, but they may frequently suggest the user fix correct sentences. It is difficult for programmers to code most or even all possible grammar mistakes, so all grammar programs are lacking in some way. The best computer software programs of this kind are usually not free and might even require a monthly subscription.
Other grammar programs are designed to actually teach users how to use grammar rather than fixing the mistakes they make. These computer programs are usually in the form of games and can range in difficulty from elementary education to high school or higher education. In general, there is relatively little demand for computer grammar programs, so the vast majority of the available games are often several years old. In fact, some old grammar computer games are no longer compatible with the latest versions of the popular operating systems.
Besides computer programs, some Internet newsletters give scheduled lessons on grammar. The emails arrive every day or week with a new explanation, tip, or other tidbit on grammar. This can be a slow way to learn more about grammar, but students are less likely to become overwhelmed with new information. A potential downside to educational newsletters is that students may become disinterested after a few emails and end up unsubscribing, not reading the emails, or sending the emails straight to their spam folder. Sometimes these newsletters make money by selling related products to their email list once they have gained the users’ trust, such as selling an e-book on certain aspects of writing.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK!


You can read the whole study here. What follows is the press release:
Remedial instruction rewires dyslexic brains, provides lasting results, study shows
Carnegie Mellon researchers say findings could usher in new era of neuro-education
A new Carnegie Mellon University brain imaging study of dyslexic students and other poor readers shows that the brain can permanently rewire itself and overcome reading deficits, if students are given 100 hours of intensive remedial instruction.
The study, published in the August issue of the journal Neuropsychologia, shows that the remedial instruction resulted in an increase in brain activity in several cortical regions associated with reading, and that neural gains became further solidified during the year following instruction.
"This study demonstrates how remedial instruction can use the plasticity of the human brain to gain an educational improvement," said neuroscientist Marcel Just, director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (CCBI) and senior author of the study. "Focused instruction can help underperforming brain areas to increase their proficiency."
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), scientists investigated the changes in a number of cortical regions located in the parietotemporal area, which is responsible for decoding the sounds of written language and assembling them into words and phrases that make up a sentence.
CCBI research fellows Ann Meyler and Tim Keller measured brain activity patterns by examining blood flow to all of the different parts of the brain while children were reading. Those measurements showed that prior to the remediation, the parietotemporal areas were significantly less activated among the poor readers than in the control group.
The new findings showed that many of the poor readers' brain areas activated at near-normal levels immediately after remediation, with only a few areas still underactive. However, at the one year follow-up scan, the activation differences between good and poor readers had nearly vanished, suggesting that the neural gains were strengthened over time, probably just due to engagement in reading activities.
These findings that point to the parietotemporal region's role in reading contradict a common perception that dyslexia is primarily caused by difficulties in the visual perception of letters, leading to confusions between letters like "p" and "d."
Visual difficulties are only at fault in about 10 percent of dyslexia cases. The most common cause, accounting for more than 70 percent of dyslexia, is a difficulty in relating the visual form of a letter to its sound, which is not a straightforward process in the English language. The same parietotemporal areas of the brain that showed increased activity following instruction are centrally involved in this sound-based processing.
The poor readers, 25 fifth-graders from Pittsburgh and its surrounding communities, worked in groups of three for an hour a day with a teacher specialized in administering a remedial reading program. The training included both word decoding exercises in which students were asked to recognize the word in its written form and tasks in using reading comprehension strategies.
This brain imaging study was also the first in which children were tested on their understanding of sentences, not just on their recognition of single words. The sentences were relatively straightforward ones, which the children judged as being sensible or nonsense, such as "The girl closed the gate" and "The man fed the dress." The children's accurate sensibility judgments ensured that they were actually processing the meaning of the sentences, and not just recognizing the individual words.
The research's implications may reach far beyond improving literacy skills. Just noted that the brain's capacity to adapt as the result of targeted instruction has the potential to influence the remedial learning process in other subject areas, as well.
"Any kind of education is a matter of training the brain. When poor readers are learning to read, a particular brain area is not performing as well as it might, and remedial instruction helps to shape that area up," he said. "This finding shows that poor readers can be helped to develop buff brains. A similar approach should apply to other skills."
Additionally, the concrete evidence of improvement demonstrated in this study may be valuable in evaluating the effectiveness of a teaching approach or curriculum, or could even be used to shape education policy. "We are at the beginning of a new era of neuro-education," Just said.###
The brain imaging research was supported by a grant from the R.K. Mellon Foundation, as well as the National Institute of Mental Health and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. In addition to Meyler and Keller, other study co-authors included Vladimir Cherkassky of the CCBI and John D.E. Gabriel of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


Sections / Articles
Web Resources: September/October 2013
Bright and Early – Sam Oertwig & Sharon Ritchie
- The PreK-3rd Grade National Work Group website provides information briefs and webinars regarding policies and practices from experts across the country.
- The May/June 2011 issue of Principal focused on Early Learning, with articles on the impact on the achievement gap, measurement and assessments, and principal preparation.
It’s Playtime! – Joan Almon
- The Literacy Guide, developed by Bank Street College, describes the stages of literacy development in preschool, kindergarten, and the early grades, and what to expect from children at each stage.
- Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School, a report by the Alliance for Childhood, examines new research on how much time kindergartens spend on cognitive instruction vs. play-based learning and some of the ill effects of current practices.
Building a Foundation for Literacy and Learning – Kathy Ward-Cameron
- Watch a short video in which David Dickinson discusses Vanderbilt University’s research on learning in preschool.
- Read the transcript of an interview with Robert Pianta on early literacy.
- Listen to the NAESP Radio podcast, “Early Moves That Create a Continuum of Learning Success,” where host Gail Connelly discusses the state of early learning with Deborah Leong.
Power of Pre-K – Rebecca Stephens
- Visit the FirstSchool Initiative website for an in-depth description of the program’s philosophy and framework.
- Explore NAESP’s Early Childhood Education webpage to find resources and policy statements on P-3 alignment, including recommendations from NAESP’s Task Force on Early Learning.
World-Class Collaboration: Q&A With Maureen Keithley
- Listen to Maureen Keithley’s entire interview about English-language learners on NAESP Radio.
- Visit the Principal magazine archive to access Nancy Protheroe’s Research Report, “Effective Instruction for English-language Learners.”
Going Green – Fred Barch
- The Department of Education’s Green Strides Webinar Series provides school communities with tools to reduce environmental impact, improve health and wellness, and teach effective environmental education.
- NAESP’s Green Schools page provides resources for school leaders to improve environmental literacy and foster 21st century skills.


Mindset: How You Can Fulfil Your Potential (2012)
Background to the report
The book hinges on the idea that it is our mindset, not ability or talent, that leads to our success. The basic idea is that there are two types of mindsets you can adopt- fixed or growth. See the link to the book below.
In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort.
In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.
Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn’t mean that others can’t do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training.
A key message throughout the book is that your mindset is not permanent. The growth mindset is based on the belief in change and it is important to know that no matter what stage you are at in life, it is not too late to make a change. This change is a challenge, but it is possible and well worth it.
Impact for education and learning
Dweck argues that schools must not label students – students that identify as ‘not clever’ will carry this label with them across school years and subjects. At the same time, students with a fixed mindset who are labelled as gifted and talented may then feel as though they are failures if they eventually encounter difficulty in their studies.
Additionally, schools must encourage mistakes to be viewed as learning opportunities, and must reward effort rather than talent.
Links to more informationBack to resources
- Parents' Beliefs about Children's Maths Development and Children's Participation in Maths Activities (2012)
- Predicting Long-Term Growth in Students’ Mathematics Achievement: The Unique Contributions of Motivation and Cognitive Strategies (2012)
- The Role of Aspirations, Attitudes and Behaviour in Closing the Educational Attainment Gap (2012)
- Measuring Mathematical Resilience: An application of the construct of resilience to the study of mathematics (2012)
- The Elephant in the Classroom: Helping Children Learn and Love Maths (2009)
- Everyday Maths Project
- Does Introducing Parents to Learning to Learn Techniques have a Positive Effect on Pupils’ Achievement? (2004)
- The Intergenerational Transfer of Numeracy Skills (2013)
- ACME Mathematical Needs Project (2011)
- Parental Engagement in Early Literacy and Numeracy Activities and Student Achievement in PIRLS/TIMSS


El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), commonly known as Día, is a celebration every day of children, families, and reading that culminates yearly on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
Día is a nationally recognized initiative that emphasizes the importance of literacy for all children from all backgrounds. It is a daily commitment to linking children and their families to diverse books, languages and cultures. The common goals of all Día programming are to:
- Celebrate children and connect them to the world of learning through books, stories and libraries.
- Nurture cognitive and literacy development in ways that honor and embrace a child’s home language and culture.
- Introduce families to community resources that provide opportunities for learning through multiple literacies.
- Recognize and respect culture, heritage and language as powerful tools for strengthening families and communities.
* Many thanks to our friends at Charlotte Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Library who have supported Dia and successfully promoted it as "Diversity in Action."


How to Be an Effective Teacher
Being an effective teacher
is harder than it may seem. It is something which comes naturally to some yet not at all to others.
With the first day of school being the one on which children may feel at their most vulnerable, they really can be a tough audience and will often make their minds up about their teacher
before the lunch bell. They are away from their family home, with a new selection of peers and being faced with new challenges – all factors which can contribute to an anxious atmosphere which, in turn, can contribute to a harsh, possibly unfair, judgement.
However, it is not all bad news. In order to tranquilise the troubles first day nerves and tensions may bring about, teachers can be most effective. An air of confidence will not only assure the children who the authority figure is but will also give them faith in the capabilities of said authority figure.
Sensitivity and tact are other ever-present characteristics in an effective teacher. Children are constantly in a process of change, maturing - under adequate guidance - to be educated and responsible young adults. Teachers
play a vital part in this process. Not only do effective teachers
lead their pupils, they assist them on their path to maturity, resolving problems, calming worries, and encouraging strengths. This is the key to being an effective teacher, an individual approach to each pupil. Not every child matures at the same rate, with the same confidence, as the next – a fact which emphasises the need for thought and sensitivity to be considered as fundamental requirements in every teacher.
Here at Teacher-appreciation.info
, we find that the most popular teachers recognised in our teacher appreciation gallery
are those with something special about them. Like the invaluable traits discussed above, it could be that they show kindness or sensitivity when faced with a particularly difficult situation, that they are funny and have the ability to make even the dullest subject entertaining or that they set an example – say of confidence, character or personal strength – which inspires students to reach to achieve their potential and objectives. A great tip for being an effective teacher is to consider students reaching their potential and objectives as your goal; such an aim will function as a platform for inspiration when developing a successful and rewarding career.
Another essential criterion is to choose the right school to be able to optimize your training when taking your teachers exams. There are a lot of Elementary Education degrees see what is best for you.


PER-112 Special Topics in Personal Fitness
A course in this area is designed to provide students with the basic knowledge and activity requirements to maintain active lives. This course is to be used as a gateway course before students complete their two additional requirements, one from leisure and lifetime activities and one from sport, dance and society core categories. (Students take one course from the personal fitness series then one course each from the leisure and lifetime series and from the sport, dance and society series.) The emphasis in each course is on fitness development and maintenance. Students are expected to train 3 times per week?2 times in class and 1 time outside of class. All courses involve the participation in conditioning activities, lectures, discussions, papers, and tests. Elementary education students take Physical Education 222 for their personal fitness course. Conceptual topics related to wellness included in all personal fitness courses are these: (1) principles for the development of an active lifestyle, (2) issues in nutrition, and (3) body image.


Careers in Contemporary Writing and Production/Jazz Composition/Composition
"To play great music, you must keep your eyes on a distant star."
-Yehudi Menuhin, violinist.
The arranger provides musical arrangements of a song for the musical artist. The arranger determines the voice, instrument, harmonic structure, rhythm, tempo and other aspects of a song, based on the artist's specifications. Training in music theory, orchestration, composition, and harmony is required. An arranger should have experience writing music, playing one or more instruments, and copying charts.
A Composer creates instrumental pieces, either to stand alone or to be combined with lyrics. They may also work as film composers, scoring music to enhance videos or films.
A conductor's main duty is preparing the orchestra for the finest performance they are capable of presenting. This includes choosing the repertoire, rehearsals, and possibly planning an entire season of musical events, as well as all other business of the orchestra. A conductor must have a strong ability on an instrument (usually piano), be able to sight read, and have a strong stage personality.
A copyist transfers musical parts from a score onto individual parts. This person must have strong notation and transposition skills, and training in music theory, as well as be neat and accurate.
See description under Careers in Songwriting.
An orchestrator is responsible for transposing music from one instrument or voice to another in order to accommodate a particular musician or group, and writing scores for an orchestra, band, choral group, individual instrumentalist, or vocalist.
Record producers work with recording acts to produce records. The record producer helps the artist select songs to be recorded, and supervises all aspects of the recording process.
See descriptions under Careers in Music Education.
A transcriber notates musical performances onto a score from a recorded performance.
Other Related Jobs


Music Educators welcome Ofsted's new music criteria
14 November 2012, Rhian Morgan
There’s been a broad welcome to Ofsted’s revised subject-specific criteria for music. David Ashworth, a music education consultant and manager of TeachingMusic.org.uk, said the new guidelines 'incorporate some of the key messages from Ofsted's most recent music reports and guidance documents, making them both up to date and consistent. I would like to think that these guidelines will impact on the way music is taught in schools and that there will be a steady and incremental improvement.'
The revisions include replacing the term ‘satisfactory’ with ‘requires improvement’ and new references to music hubs, the National Plan for Music Education and provision of first access to instrumental learning and GCSE/A Level courses. Retention rates in additional tuition, extra-curricular activities and curriculum courses at Key Stage 4 and 5 have also been added.
Mark Phillips HMI, Ofsted's National Advisor for Music, said: 'The term "musical provenance" brings together the important historical, social and cultural origins of music that help support pupils’ musical understanding. We have also included reference to the use of movement, alongside singing and listening, to help pupils internalise musical ideas.' There are also references to literacy, used to support musical learning, and to spiritual, moral, social and cultural education, recognising the importance of music’s contribution to a school’s overall effectiveness.
Deborah Annetts, chief executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, described the guidelines as superb news. 'This is a real boost for music teachers in schools where they are often asked to sub-level against their own expertise,' she said. 'To explicitly state that “manufactured sub-divisions of levels” is a sign of inadequate teaching will empower these teachers and send a clear message to those still sub-levelling that this is simply inappropriate for music education.
'On top of this good news, Ofsted has recognised that progression into Key Stage 3 and beyond is an important indicator of a good music department,' added Annetts. 'There is a clear signal here that music must not be sidelined, and that schools – if they want to avoid getting a bad report from Ofsted – should strengthen music and provide opportunities at Key Stage 4 and 5.'
The changes were also welcomed by Lincoln Abbotts, teaching and learning development director at ABRSM. 'The guidance set out in Ofsted’s report can only be positive as we all work towards achieving consistent high quality in music education. The "Outstanding" descriptions remind us of the incredible power that music has in inspiring young people and the wider community around their schools.'
But David Ashworth also sounded words of caution, saying that there needed to be an overhaul of restrictive whole-school assessment procedures. 'We are chipping away at this problem, but you reach a point when you just wish someone with the authority and muscle would, once and for all, work with music teachers to sort out what and how we should assess,' he concluded.


Note: To protect the privacy of our members, e-mail addresses have been removed from the archived messages. As a result, some links may be broken.
My suggestions for computer generated art projects are as following:
1) Design a series of small projects, focusing on the practice of tools.
This will really help those students who only have basic computer skill.
Each graphic program has different tools, and new students need more time to
get used to it. Business cards, one page of ad design, logo, or photo
retouching would be good ideas.
2) Advance students can have a series of product design. Have them choose
the theme and design the product such as stationary, letter set...
3) Illustration. Have students choose a magazine or story book. Design the
computer illustration to enhance the theme of those reading material.
4) Poster, invitation cards, wedding cards, book cover design..
5) Besides the product, I also recommend some project that help students's
critical thinking not only in the visual design but also contextual meaning.
Such as self-identity logo or image design.
the journal of art education also have many practical computer projects and
provide DBAE approaches.
Hope I'd help you.


Prepare to meet the needs of the growing number of English language learners (ELLs) in today’s classroom.*
Walden’s online Graduate Certificate in Teaching English Language Learners (Grades K–12) provides the practical instructional strategies you need to help students of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds thrive within the general classroom and other settings.
In this four-course, non-licensure program, you will explore a range of theories, strategies, and second-language learning programs, including dual-language immersion, transitional bilingual education, and structured English immersion. You will learn to apply:
- Formative and summative assessment tools to measure language proficiency and guide instructional approaches.
- Practical strategies to make academic content accessible to ELLs.
- Second-language learning and literacy development theories to create productive English language learning environments.
By learning to work collaboratively with families and colleagues, you will develop the skills essential to supporting and advocating for English language learners of diverse backgrounds.
Credits earned in this program may be applied toward Walden’s MS in Education with a specialization in Teaching English Language Learners (Grades K–12).
Find detailed information for this program, including possible occupations, completion rate, program costs, and median student loan debt.
*According to the National Clearinghouse of English Language Acquisition (NCELA), there were over five-million ELLs enrolled in US schools in 2007. The number of ELL students grew by 57% from 1997-2007 and the number and proportion of ELLs in schools are continuing to grow. Viewed online 7/24/2012 at http://www.ncela.us/files/uploads/3/EducatingELLsBuildingTeacherCapacityVol1.pdf.


Last week one of the kindergarten students asked, "Are snowflakes alive?" At first glimpse it is a simple question asked of a teacher. Now take a second to answer it in your own mind. Then ask yourself when you last took the time to wonder at nature as this 5-year-old did.
Don't be too hard on yourself; children are natural scientists. They are much more inclined than adults to ask hard questions about the world in which we live. From infancy they test the world around them. You remember the phase of their dropping things from the highchair just to see what happens. As early as 2 years of age, toddlers ask "Why?" With that, they begin a line of inquiry and a chain of hypotheses that could fill a yearlong curriculum.
Unfortunately, there is a disconnect once they get to school. Children are tuned in to science with their natural questioning and observation skills; however, science doesn't play a major role in their elementary school schedules. Science classes are not scheduled to take advantage of this age of natural wonder. Instead, science class takes a back seat to the fundamental skills of reading and math. There certainly isn't time to get everything done in a day (or a year for that matter), so science is often relegated to an abbreviated time in the weekly schedule.
If time keeps science out of the typical elementary science curriculum, you would expect to find it in preschool classes where time is not so closely tied to covering the curriculum. Still, science is the exception and not the rule. Indeed, a survey by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) found that 80 percent of elementary teachers spend less than an hour a week teaching science.
Creative teachers find ways to tie science into other lessons. In fact the language arts series used in our area has extension activities that focus on science, allowing teachers to find ways to shoehorn science into a unit. Others may be content that students are being exposed to science in this way. For us, science activities alone are not an answer to this problem, for science is about engaging in inquiry over a period of time through firsthand explorations and investigations. To take advantage of children's natural curiosity, science deserves to play a much more important role in elementary school.
Instead of science taking a hiatus in a child's life from the beginning of formal schooling until middle school, we need to recognize science as a way to reach students to facilitate language and math skills. It is an ideal discipline to develop 21st century skills of creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and information literacy.
To make this happen, the NSTA recommends that "teacher preparation and professional development must provide for experiences that will enable teachers to use hands-on activities to promote skill development, selecting content and methods appropriate for their students, and for design of classroom environments that promote positive attitudes toward science and technology."
As it is now, new teachers feel least prepared or comfortable teaching science as they embark on their careers. Veteran teachers often feel like they have to have all the answers to student questions.
Truth is, early childhood teachers and even elementary school teachers do not need to have a wealth of knowledge about scientific facts or concepts. From our experience, we would contend that one of the best skills we could teach an aspiring teacher is to elicit the question "why?" from his/her students, or to embrace the question, "Are snowflakes alive?" and to allow oneself the time that is necessary to explore an answer within such a remarkable teachable moment.
Linda Krulock graduated from West Liberty State College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education and early childhood. She teaches senior kindergarten at Wheeling Country Day School. Elizabeth Hofreuter-Landini is head of school at Wheeling Country Day. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard University Graduate School of Education.


Lesson study–the form of professional development long favored by Japanese teachers–has recently been initiated by teachers at many sites across North America. This handbook illuminates both the key ideas underlying lesson study and the practical support needed to make it succeed in any subject area.
In lesson study, teachers plan, observe, and refine “research lessons” designed to bring to life their long-term goals for student learning and development. Japan’s steady improvement of mathematics and science instruction since World War II is credited by researchers to teacher-led lesson study.
Nine chapters address topics including the basic steps of lesson study, supports, misconceptions, system impact, and how to pioneer lesson study in your setting. The handbook provides practical resources including schedules, data collection examples, protocols for lesson discussion and observation, and instructional plans for mathematics, science, and language arts. Contributions by US lesson study pioneers Lynn Liptak, Tad Watanabe, and Makoto Yoshida highlight additional issues in lesson study design.
Catherine Lewis received her doctorate from Stanford University. Fluent in Japanese, she has researched lesson study since 1993, and has participated in research lessons at more than 50 Japanese and US schools. Her book Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary Education (Cambridge University Press) was named an outstanding academic book of 1995 by the American Library Association’s Choice. Lewis is a senior research scientist at Mills College in Oakland, California.
This groundbreaking book is available only from Research for Better Schools. If you believe that teachers should be the central force in their own professional growth, then read this book to discover both why and how lesson study matters.


Most children begin learning phonics by sounding out letters and learning what items represent that sound and that letter, i.e. A is for apple; A sounds like “aaaaaaaaaaaaaa”. Children begin learning phonics from parents, siblings, videos, and music at a very early age (2-4 years old) even before entering school.
Phonics and phonemic awareness are comingled when teaching children in this manner. Phonics involves the relationship between sounds and written symbols, whereas phonemic awareness involves sounds in spoken words. Therefore, phonics instruction focuses on teaching sound-spelling relationships and is associated with print. Most phonemic awareness tasks are oral.
Even though parents are the initial teachers, it will take a professional to instill all of the rules of phonics and to teach students decoding skills as they begin to read. Hiring a tutor with experience teaching early learners will ensure a student’s success as they begin elementary school. A professional tutor can also reinforce phonics for those students that were taught the Whole Language approach to reading and are still struggling in 2nd and 3rd grades. Hiring an Advanced Learners tutor is a guarantee that you will receive a professional tutor that can make a difference in a child’s ability to read.
High School Tutors
“High school isn’t what is used to be.” High school students are inundated with grades, sports, work, volunteering, activities, and sometimes a little old fashioned teenage fun. Most students tend to take on more than they can mentally and physically handle, but want to prove they can do it. When a high school student shows signs of struggling it is important to get them the help they need as soon as possible. If your high school student begins wondering where they left their books, complaining they don’t have enough time to study, exclaiming the teacher isn’t fair, begins to say they just don’t understand or it’s too complicated, it’s time. It’s time to call for help. A simple call to hire a tutor now can make all the difference later. A tutor well versed in working with high school students understands these students are juggling a lot and they have ways to help the student stay focused, organized, well-prepared, and achieve their academic goals. Call or email us to day and we will help you find the right tutor for your student
View Some Of Our High School Phonics Tutor Profiles
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Educations are coming to the conclusion that teaching is focusing more on subjects of math and reading then on cursive writing skills. Use of computer technology could be eliminating or de-empahsizing the need for kids to learn and use cursive writing skills.
"Cursive writing is “not addressed as a skill anywhere in Kentucky's core content, and there are so many other things that are,” said Terry Price, director of elementary education for Bullitt County Public Schools. “Students need to be able to sign their name and be able to read it, but I think we'll get to a point in the future where it's not necessary at all.” (The Courier Journal, Dec 2, 2010).
Currently about 90% of first, second, and third grade teachers teach handwriting skills in the classroom. This survey taken nationwide by Vanderbilt University professor Steve Graham, found that handwriting lessons average about 60 minutes a week and most teachers explain that they have received no real handwriting teaching training and rely on past education to teach students.
“Handwriting was really in its heyday in the '30s, '40s and '50s, but our practices for writing have changed a great deal as word processing has become a more daily part of our lives,” Graham said. “It's hard to say really when those changes took place because there's not any study data to use to draw comparisons.” (The Courier Journal, Dec 2, 2010).
Charleen McAuliffe, deputy superintendent of Oldham County Schools, explains that students at the middle and high school levels are expected to type their work and “On something handwritten, such as a test, teachers just want readable script; they don't really care if it's in manuscript or in cursive.” (The Courier Journal, Dec 2, 2010).
“It's still an important part of written communication and expression because some people still use it, and when we look at historical documents, it's always a factor,” said Karen O'Connell, Archdiocese of Louisville curriculum coordinator. (The Courier Journal, Dec 2, 2010).
Cursive writing may not be a essential to the learning process, but it may be a valuable skill that can be used not only in the education communication process but also in the real world and liesure. Cursive writing is a enjoyable skill that every child should have taught to them whether it be 1 hour or 3 hours a week.


Communicating can be difficult for children with autism spectrum disorder, but a new study shows a link between social interaction and motor skills. Researchers believe that helping children with autism develop motor skill will also improve their social skills.
Every child needs a friend, but as any parent of a child with autism knows, it’s sometimes hard for kids with special needs to connect with the others socially. A new study published online in the journal Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders adds to the growing evidence of the important link between autism and motor skill deficits.
Researchers at Oregon State University and University of Michigan tested 233 children ages 14 to 49 months diagnosed with autism and found that children with better motor skills were more adept at socializing and communicating.
Megan MacDonald, an assistant professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University and lead author of the study says this new research shows how important it is to study motor skills and social skills together—because the two influence each other.
“Even at this early age, we are already seeing motor skills mapping on to their social and communicative skills,” MacDonald says. “Motor skills are embedded in everything we do, and for too long they have been studied separately from social and communication skills in children with autism.”
Developing motor skills is crucial for children and can also help develop better social skills. MacDonald said in one study, 12-year-olds with autism were performing physically at the same level as a 6-year-old.
“So they do have some motor skills, and they kind of sneak through the system,” she said. “But we have to wonder about the social implications of a 12-year-old who is running like a much younger child. So that quality piece is missing, and the motor skill deficit gets bigger as they age.”
In MacDonald’s study, children who tested higher for motor skills were also better at “daily living skills,” such as talking, playing, walking, and requesting things from their parents. MacDonald says this is a positive sign for parents and children.
“We can teach motor skills and intervene at young ages,” MacDonald says. “Motor skills and autism have been separated for too long. This gives us another avenue to consider for early interventions.”
MacDonald says some programs run by experts in adaptive physical education focus on both the motor skill development and communicative side. She said because autism spectrum disorder is a disability that impacts social skills so dramatically, the motor skill deficit tends to be pushed aside.
“We don’t quite understand how this link works, but we know it’s there,” she said. “We know that those children can sit up, walk, play and run seem to also have better communication skills."
Lead author Megan MacDonald is an assistant professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University. She is an expert on the movement skills of children with autism spectrum disorder.
This study was coauthored by Catherine Lord of Weill Cornell Medical College and Dale Ulrich of the University of Michigan. It was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Simons Foundation, First Words and Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Michigan.
About the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences: The College creates connections in teaching, research and community outreach while advancing knowledge, policies and practices that improve population health in communities across Oregon and beyond.


Job Duties and Responsibilities for Teaching Kindergarten
Learn about the education and preparation necessary to teach kindergarten. Get a quick view of the requirements, as well as details about degree programs, job duties and licensure, to find out if becoming a kindergarten teacher is the career for you.
Kindergarten teachers instruct students in basic subjects but are also required to nurture children and teach them valuable social skills. By using hands-on lessons and creative play, they lay the foundation for future learning. The typical requirement for this profession is a bachelor's degree in education and state teaching licensure.
|Required Education||Bachelor's degree with student-teaching experience|
|Other Requirements||State licensure or certification|
|Projected Job Growth (2012-2022)*||12%|
|Average Annual Salary (2013)*||$52,840|
Source: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Job Duties for Teaching Kindergarten
Kindergarten teachers are some of the most important teachers children will ever meet during their academic careers. These teachers build a firm foundation for future learning. Students' opinions and perceptions of school are shaped by what they experience during their first years of school. A kindergarten teacher must serve as educator, surrogate parent and psychologist in order to mold students who are well-adjusted and eager to learn.
Kindergarten teachers teach their students basic academic skills, including letter recognition, phonics and phonemic awareness. In addition to these tasks, they help students learn to read and write.
Kindergarten teachers instruct children on basic mathematical concepts. Pupils learn number recognition, simple addition and subtraction, basic fractions, measurement and problem solving. Students in kindergarten also learn social skills, science, arts and humanities, practical living and social studies. Many kindergarten teachers instruct the same class of students the entire day, but other kindergarten teachers instruct one kindergarten class in the morning and a different set of students in the afternoon.
Kindergarten teachers are responsible for leading students through creative play and hands-on activities. They must plan lessons according to the state curriculum and assess students, tailoring their lessons according to the different abilities of children in the classroom. Kindergarten teachers grade papers and conduct parent-teacher conferences as well. They may also sponsor after-school clubs or sports teams.
Kindergarten teachers typically must earn a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a state teaching certificate to work in public schools. Some teachers eventually earn a master's degree in education to achieve higher salaries and career advancement. All teachers are responsible for pursuing continuing education opportunities. They participate in workshops and seminars that help to strengthen their arsenal of teaching methods.
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Two projects at the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood have created the free online workshops described below. Funding for the workshops was provided by the U.S. Department of Education through the Steppingstones of Technology program.
Interactive Technology Literacy Curriculum Online, or ITLC Online, contains six online workshops that focus on using technology to promote emergent literacy. Content for these workshops is based on the Center's Interactive Technology Literacy Curriculum. The workshops are intended for early childhood staff and families interested in learning how technology can be used to help young children develop early literacy skills. Adaptations to ensure all children's participation in literacy activities are addressed throughout the website. Technology activities, resources, and articles can be printed and used at school or home.
- The Literacy Foundations workshop provides an overview of literacy development in young children including oral language, emergent reading development, and stages in early writing.
- The Literacy Environments workshop has helpful guidelines for designing a literacy-rich environment with a reading, writing, art, and technology center are the focus of this workshop. Factors to consider for arranging and managing the center are addressed.
- The Children's Software workshop contains techniques to evaluate software with special attention to levels of interactivity and modifications to meet individual needs are included in this workshop. An evaluation guide and recommendations for software are provided.
- The Technology Integration workshop provides strategies and activities for integrating technology into the curriculum to promote emergent literacy. An integration plan format and sample curriculum activities are included.
- The Authoring Software workshop focuses on software which gives children, educators, and families the ability to create books, customized activities and overlays. Application ideas and sample products are provided.
- The Literacy Assessment workshop addresses the use of technology as a tool for documenting children's learning. Software, equipment, and activities for creating electronic portfolios and computer products are included.
The Early Childhood Technology Integrated Educational System, or EC-TIIS, (pronounced eee-see-ties) provides nine online workshops, which focus on the use of technology as a tool to assist young children with disabilities in achieving developmental goals. The workshops are intended for early childhood staff, families, and preservice personnel interested in learning how technology can equalize opportunities for young children. Certificates of completion, Illinois CPDUs, and CEUs from Western Illinois University are available upon for the following workshops.
- The Adaptations workshop provides information on a variety of adaptive input methods, portable communication devices, and customized activities for young children.
- The Computer Environment workshop offers strategies for designing and adapting the physical environment, a checklist of considerations for setting up the computer center, and ideas for managing computer time.
- The Curriculum Integration workshop offers ideas for integrating technology into the early childhood curriculum, including a format for activity planning and a variety of classroom examples.
- The Emergent Literacy workshop contains information on curriculum applications, adaptations, assessment techniques, and family involvement procedures for using technology to support young children's emergent literacy development.
- The Expressive Arts workshop offers techniques for incorporating technology into expressive arts for young children, including environmental design considerations, curriculum activities, and adaptations.
- The Family Participation workshop discusses levels of participation, workshop strategies, and resources to assist families in using technology with their young children.
- The Math, Science, and Social Studies workshop provides strategies for designing computer activities, off-computer materials, and adaptations to help young children meet math, science, and social studies early learning standards.
- The Software workshop contains considerations for selecting developmentally appropriate software, including evaluation factors, software classifications, and suggestions for software to use with classroom themes and children's learning preferences.
- The Technology Assessment workshop contains procedures for using a team process to assess a young child's technology needs and provides a case study.
For further information about either the ITLC Online or EC-TIIS workshops, contact Linda Robinson, Project Director, at L-Robinson1@wiu.edu.


The Yamaha Method
Principles Fundamental to the Yamaha Method
From "Yamaha Music Education System: celebrating 50 years of growth." American Music Teacher | August 1, 2005| Kathy Anzis
Group Lessons: Teacher + Children + Parents
"I believe that music should not be competitive, but should be a means of fostering friendships. Music provides a context in which goodwill may be exchanged..." Kawakami, Genichi. Reflections on Music Popularization. (Tokyo: Yamaha Music Foundation, 1987): 6
Lessons are taught to a group of students (typically 8 to 10 per class) and, in the case of the Junior Music Course, one parent attends with each child. This format motivates children and provides an opportunity to develop ensemble skills and cooperation within a supportive community of friends and parents. With their peers, children become part of a musical team making music together. With their teacher and parents, the group becomes a musical community.
The group format, in conjunction with the musical content, brings joy and fun to the learning process. Students who attend class with their friends have extra-musical reasons to return every week. The camaraderie that grows contributes to tight, expressive ensemble performances at advanced levels and promotes long-term involvement in music.
Parental attendance facilitates accelerated growth. The parent/child partnership is active, not passive. Each partnership develops into a mini-ensemble, where co-learning, co-practicing and co-discovering can be enjoyed in class and at home. The entire family hears music shared between two members and often is motivated to join in the fun. In fact, when younger siblings of students become students themselves, we often find their sense of pitch is more developed than that of other entering students. They have heard the language of music at home and already have begun to absorb it.
Comprehensive Music Education
The JMC curriculum is broad compared to typical private piano lessons. Children sing solfège, play the keyboard, sing songs with lyrics, move to music, play rhythm and keyboard ensembles and participate in "music appreciation" activities (initially a non-analytical experience). They develop diverse musical skills without prematurely focusing on one instrument or style. This approach allows students to choose their future musical path when they are more physically and mentally mature.
Music is a Language
The method assumes music is a language children can learn naturally in the same way they learn their spoken and written language: we hear, we imitate, we speak and we read. You will find a parallel sequence played out in JMC classes throughout the world-children hear a melody or harmony, sing it in solfège, play it on the keyboard and then learn to read it.
The aural awareness of four- and five-year-olds is more developed than their manual dexterity and visual skills. Therefore, the Yamaha approach for this age group focuses on aural training versus emphasizing piano technique and reading. While early lessons cover the basics of keyboard technique, technical study is more actively undertaken in upper- level courses when students are developmentally ready. Likewise, the introduction of reading and theory takes place gradually in a timely and contextual manner. When students are intellectually ready, it is explained in academic terms what they have sensed and experienced musically at a young age.
The Yamaha Method employs "Fixed-Do" solfège (without altered syllables) in both ear training and keyboard activities. Fixed-Do enables a child to connect a specific pitch and syllable, such as middle Do (middle C), with a specific key on the keyboard. Aural training using Fixed-Do helps children internalize pitch, resulting in a strong relative pitch sense and, in many cases, perfect pitch. Consequently, in JMC classes one will observe students singing solfège by ear and eventually playing keyboard by ear.
Solfège is the core of the Yamaha Method; students absorb this musical vocabulary and use it in both beginning and advanced courses. Solfège becomes each student's first musical voice. In every class, teachers sing melodic patterns and chords that children imitate. Solfège sessions at the teacher's piano account for approximately 15 to 20 minutes of a 60minute class. Through singing solfège, students begin to acquire a sense of pitch, rhythm, meter, harmony, form, phrase structure, key, articulation, dynamics and mood.
By the end of two years in JMC, students have built a substantial vocabulary of solfège, having sung 50 melodies and numerous chord progressions using the I, IV and V7 chords in the keys of C major, G major, F major, D minor and A minor. Aside from developing musicianship, these solfège experiences prepare children to play in these five keys. In fact, children experience singing in a key for approximately one semester prior to playing in that key.


General Reading Comprehension
Tips to improve your reading comprehension in general. Includes ideas on how to approach the assignment and how to read comfortably and without distraction.
Very extensive list of links for reading tips. Detailed information about locating main ideas, reading graphs, reading in the sciences, and marking texts and making margin notes. Useful steps for reading different types of assignments.
Descriptions of and instructions for a wide variety of graphic organizers to help reading comprehension. Includes comparison-contrast charts, question-answer relationships, selective underlining, and summarizing. This site is designed for teachers, but can easily be used by students. Very clear instructions and helpful graphics.
Offers very detailed information on the purposes and advantages of reading comprehension strategies, and suggests specific ideas to improve comprehension. Very advanced descriptions and definitions, but interesting background on reading comprehension in general.
Great background information on reading comprehension and different strategies. A list of useful links for understanding the reading process, identifying topics and main ideas, converting words into pictures, and many more. Detailed and helpful- lots of useful information and ideas!
A simple overview of the contents and format of textbooks. Explains the purpose and uses for textbook components like the table of contents, glossary, chapter introductions, answer keys, and maps and diagrams. Great general information relevant for many different types of textbooks.
A very extensive and useful list of ideas for reading and studying with textbooks. Gives background on the anatomy of a textbook and how to survey a textbook chapter, marking your text and taking notes, and how to read effectively at the university level and in the sciences. Each section includes easy steps for reading and studying strategies and very helpful tips.
Detailed tips on increasing reading speed, reading difficult texts, and concentrating while reading textbooks. Also includes a link for reading strategies for different types of courses, like math, biology, psychology, etc.
A very extensive site on vocabulary building. Includes a very informative introduction on the value and purpose of vocabulary and gives background and specific suggestions for many different strategies of vocabulary building. Covers etymology, using a dictionary, common word roots, context clues, and more.
A very interesting site listing the most common errors In English. Includes pairs of words most often confused and vocabulary that is frequently misused.


Born in 1925 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, William Daley, a self-proclaimed "mud man," was raised in a home that valued art and poetry.14 In the wake of Pearl Harbor he enlisted and served as an aerial gunner in the Army Air Corps. After the war he took advantage of the GI Bill and enrolled at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. A class with Charles Abbott, a ceramist from Maine, introduced Daley to the idea of making pots.
Oval Chamber by Daley, 1986. Slab-constructed and oxidation-fired stoneware; height 40 ⅜, width 23 ⅜, depth 20 ½ inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D. C., gift of the James Renwick Alliance and museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program.
After graduating, he enrolled at Columbia Teachers College where he received a master's degree in art education. Daley joined the Philadelphia College of Art (PCA), now the University of the Arts, where he taught many now established ceramists. He retired in 1990 and today dedicates himself to a studio practice.
Daley's work focuses on the vesica, a form that is an ovoid at its core. He describes the space that is created by the intersection of two circles as "an ancient icon which informs the mystery of two as a new one."15 Although these vessels are not functional in the strict sense, they are meant as spaces or containers for contemplation.16 His vesicas are steeped in ceramic antecedents but display a structural and spiritual vocabulary that is very much their own. ERA


Early interventions are designed to help students before they begin to fail. Knowing which students are at risk for reading difficulty and what to do for those students are the first steps in providing effective early intervention. Find out how to use this knowledge to help address the reading problems of struggling readers.
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While there is a great deal of information on reading and RTI, there is a dearth of research on math with RTI. Thus, the development and implementation of reading and RTI has blazed a path to RTMI (Response to Math Intervention).
Research-based information and advice for sizing up reading programs and finding the right one for your child with a learning disability.
Because the cause of adolescents' difficulties in reading vary, interventions may focus on any of the critical elements of knowledge and skill required for the comprehension of complex texts, including fundamental skills such as phonemic awareness, phonemic decoding, text reading fluency, vocabulary-building strategies, and self-regulated use of reading comprehension strategies.
Response to Intervention (RTI) is a complex subject and states and districts have a lot of discretion with the implementation of this three-step, research-based approach to intervention and placement. Learn about some of the common misconceptions of the RTI process and read about additional RTI web sources.
While much has been learned about literacy in the elementary grades, less is known about programmatic approaches that help struggling adolescent readers acquire the skills they need to succeed in high school. The Enhanced Reading Opportunities Study tests the effectiveness of two supplemental literacy interventions targeted to ninth-grade readers with reading comprehension skills that are two to four years below grade level. The interventions studied are (1) Reading Apprenticeship for Academic Literacy from WestEd and (2) Xtreme Reading from the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning.
How do adolescents move from reading words to applying knowledge learned from a text? See the adolescent reading model and the Strategic Intervention Model (SIM) clearly illustrated.
This article presents a round-up of intervention initiatives aimed at struggling adolescent readers. It provides a snapshot of program characteristics and research findings for Reciprocal Teaching, Apprenticeship in Reading, Read 180, Language!, SRA Corrective Reading, and Strategic Instruction Model (SIM).
The push to ensure all students engage in challenging classes in high school has created new demands on high schools, including a demand to providing extra help for students who are behind in reading, mathematics, and advanced reasoning skills. This report looks at the nature of the extra help schools must provide and argues that the old model of offering only three types of extra help — functional skills for students deemed to have limited futures, remedial instruction in elementary skills; or tutoring for students struggling to pass a course or improve their test scores — must be abandoned and replaced by interventions that support and accelerate the development of intermediate and even more advanced skills.
This article summarizes a study that evaluated the effectiveness of intensive instruction in the Word Identification Strategy, a learning strategy for decoding multi-syllabic words. Results indicate that intense strategy instruction within a relatively short time period can boost students' decoding skills by several grade levels.


An assistant principal, sometimes called a vice-principal or Deputy Principal, assists a principal in the general governance and leadership of a school. Experience as an assistant principal is often a prerequisite for advancement to a principalship. Assistant principals are often responsible for student discipline, classroom observations, teacher evaluation and supervision, facilitating parent meetings, maintaining schedules, and handling logistical matters. Additionally, assistant principals frequently serve as testing coordinators, training staff on procedures related to standardized assessment, as well as accounting for testing materials. In addition to these duties, assistant principals are instructional leaders.
With the advent of site-based management, assistant principals are playing a greater role in ensuring the academic success of students by helping to develop new curricula, evaluating teachers, and dealing with school-community relations—responsibilities previously assumed solely by the principal.
An assistant principal works directly under the principal and helps coordinate, direct and plan the academic or auxiliary activities of the school. The assistant principal manages the teachers, counselors, staff and students on a daily basis. Along with the principal, they review and approve or recommend modifications to new or existing programs and then submit their proposals to the school board. They prepare or oversee the maintenance of attendance records, personnel reports, planning and other activities. The assistant principal coordinates or directs the use of the high school facilities.
An assistant principal meets with staff and parents to discuss policies, educational activities and a students learning or behavioral problems. He or she provides counsel and guidance to students regarding academic, personal, behavioral or vocational issues, along with enforcing attendance and discipline rules. The assistant principal organizes and directs committees of volunteers, specialists and staff to provide either advisory or technical assistance for programs and develops partnerships with communities or organizations to help meet educational needs providing school-to-work programs.
An assistant principal must make decisions and solve problems by analyzing information and selecting the best solution, along with developing cooperative and constructive working relationships. They perform daily administrative tasks such as processing paperwork and preparing or maintaining information files, records and reports and also handle complaints, resolve conflicts or grievances and settles disputes. An assistant principal requires extensive knowledge, skills and experience to deal with the responsibilities of students and staff on a daily basis.
Common work activities of vice principals include:
- Working closely with the principal on a daily basis to ensure the smooth overall operation of the school.
- Supporting committees of staff and parent that function to improve the learning and social environment of the school for the students.
- Teaching classes, developing rapport with the students, handling discipline issues and filling in for the principal when required.
- Resolving conflicts between students, teachers, parents or combinations of conflicts between various individuals.
- Assisting in yearly teacher evaluations, assisting in providing guidance to staff and students, and encouraging a positive climate in the school.
- Directing assemblies and other special gatherings of students for events throughout the year.
- Developing emergency response plans for schools as required by state and federal education agencies. Filing reports and updating as required.
- Record keeping as required through the use of various logs, tracking records, computer programs, inter or intranet software or other programs.
Sample of Assistant Principal’s Resume for Job
Your City, State, Zip Code
Your Email Address
I am writing in response to your advertisement for an Assistant Principal in the Chronicle. With my previous experience as an effective Assistant Principal, I feel that I am qualified for the position. I have earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in Elementary Education, teacher certifications, and skills training through development conferences in education.
My current position as an Assistant Principal at __________________ School involves curriculum development, instructor assessment, and providing results for State regulations. The school has increased its student success rate by 3% since my hire in January 2003. I have planned, designed, and implemented various academic incentive programs for student enrichment. With these programs, students develop a sense of self-awareness by competing for academic incentives (books, audio books) for outstanding performance and attendance. Other programs have created a student-based academic schedule to ensure the best learning environment for elementary attendance.
I feel that my ability to enrich the student body is evidence of my qualifications for this position. Your organization suggests an ideal candidate practice creative leadership; my leadership has improved instructors’ motivational input in student learning. It has also raised the student’s consciousness of academic success. I have enclosed my resume and three reference letters for further evidence of my qualifications for the Assistant Principal position.
Please call 000-000-000 or 000-000-0000 if you may have questions regarding my willingness to perform as an effective Assistant Principal.
Your name (Printed)


A very special feature of the French system is that it offers education to children as young as two years of age.
The objectives of the pre-primary school program are for your child to acquire a rich oral language, to learn to socialize, to exercise their motor skills and to begin sensory, emotional, relational and intellectual development.
To meet the diverse needs of young children, EFIB encourages learning through games, arts and crafts, and songs, all of which help to contribute to the development of their personality and cultural awakening. A solid academic foundation also begins in the pre-primary program with the introduction of early numeracy skills as well as phonics training and literacy. These early foundations are in both English and French.
The teachers focus on making children comfortable with a new language and ensure that each one of them is given both, a schedule and the autonomy to live his own experiences and yet foster the acquisition of knowledge.
The Pre-Primary structures its program in five main domains, each one of them being essential to the development of the child and to the foundation for their learning. Each one of these domains complements each other in the acquisition of language skills and anchors its use in authentic communication.
- Language at the heart of all learning
- Living together
- Acting and expressing yourself through your body
- Discovering the World
- Sensibility, imagination and creation
At EFIB, five teachers helped by five pre-primary assistants work actively towards creating a comfortable learning environment which fosters solidarity and ensures that all children are properly catered for.
Beginning of the next school year, the classrooms will be structured as follows:
- A TPS - PS class led by David in French and Anshu in English
- A MS class under the responsibility of Vaidehi in French and Matilda in English
- A GS class under the responsibility of Amrita in French and Matilda in English
Twice a year, parents are invited to speak about their children's progress and receive the official grading booklets, which evaluate the acquisition of knowledge and competencies as described in the official programs of the French National Education.


JOIN Music Together®……..
Music is a universal language. It transcends boundaries and has the
power to bond people the world around. It reaches beyond culture and
language to touch the depths of our souls, express our common emotions,
and inspire us all. Now serving 2,500 communities in over 40 countries,
Music Together's internationally recognized early childhood music
programs support this natural bonding experience. We connect families
and communities across the globe as they express and explore the basic
human instinct for making music. Are you ready to make some music
A Music Together Class is:
- A community of families sharing songs, instrument play, rhythm chants, and movement activities in a relaxed, playful, non-performance-oriented setting.
learned through developmentally appropriate activities that support and
respect the unique learning styles of very young children.
- Infants, toddlers, and preschoolers participating at their own levels in family-style classes of mixed ages.
and caregivers contributing to the enrichment of their child’s music
environment, regardless of their own musical abilities.
- A new song collection every semester for three years, featuring great arrangements of original and traditional songs in a wide variety of tonalities, meters, and cultural styles.
45 minutes of PURE FUN with your child every week!
About Music Together
At Music Together, we understand the importance of music in early childhood—from birth, in fact. Because the truth is, most people are born with enough music aptitude to play in a symphony orchestra when they are adults, if they choose. But first we must learn how to "speak music"—to take the musical instrument we all have, ourselves, developing that musical capacity from a very young age. The sounds we make, our movements, our rhythms—these are the building blocks of music and of early childhood learning. And that's what Music Together is all about. Music is more than instruments and voices. It's more than rhythm and movement. Music is a powerful force that can inspire, create community, and build family bonds. And it can be life-changing to develop our inner music-maker as early as possible.
Internationally Recognized Music Program
Music Together is an internationally recognized music program for children from birth through age 7—and the grownups who love them. Parents, primary caregivers, early childhood professionals—everyone is involved in the educational process. First offered to the public in 1987, we've always been pioneers in the field of early childhood music with truly innovative, high-quality music education and outreach programs that redefine what musical means. We're research-based, so we know our stuff and we're good at what we do. But we're also down to earth, accessible, and all about having a good time. It's a balance that makes us both serious and fun. What can we say? We're serious about having fun!
At the core of the Music Together approach is the idea that young children learn best from the powerful role models of parents/caregivers who are actively making music. Our program brings families together by providing a rich musical environment in the classroom and then facilitating family participation in spontaneous musical activity at home in daily life—which is so important to music development and early childhood learning. It's based on the recognition that, in a supportive environment, children can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat, and confidently participate in the music of their culture. Music Together creates that environment! By emphasizing actual music-making experiences, we introduce children to the pleasures of producing music instead of passively consuming it from iTunes or TV. We're very high-touch. Face to face, heart to heart, voice to voice—for a truly bonding and enriching experience.
Music Together is committed to helping families, caregivers, and early childhood professionals rediscover the pleasure and educational value of informal music experiences. All our teachers have successfully completed Music Together’s training program. Music Together applies the latest research in early childhood music development to the program.
The years between birth and kindergarten are when most young children learn rapidly, efficiently and joyfully. These years are also crucial to music learning. This is why we encourage you to support your child’s music education by joining us for classes this
Music Together for Valley Families began in 1999 and has been bringing The Joy of Family Music® to many communities throughout the Pioneer Valley in both parent-child classes and in school settings. We feel very grateful to be able to share a program designed to be both educational and tons of fun!
GIVE THE GIFT OF MUSIC!!!
Gift Certificates available in any amount.
Learn more about Music Together by watching the videos below


By Laura Devaney, Managing Editor, @eSN_Laura
The school library is changing. Instead of a stuffy and silent space filled with books, today’s school libraries are becoming collaboration centers, where teachers and librarians work together to help students develop technology skills and evaluate digital information.
Over the past decade, studies have shown that students in schools with endorsed librarians earn higher scores on standardized reading tests, and those scores are higher regardless of students’ socioeconomic level and despite overall school staffing declines.
A 2012 Institute of Museum and Library Services study that spanned 10 years analyzed library conditions and their impact on learning and literacy development in two Philadelphia neighborhoods. The researchers found that, when comparing a poor community with an affluent community, “children with early access to print and technology continue to build and gain knowledge. Children who don’t have early access enter school far behind and are taught the ‘basics.’”
When computers are readily available to children, those children are able to use technology such as search engines comfortably as they compare information and engage in learning. Children without the same easy computer access are not able to judge the quality of information found online as adequately.
According to the report, public libraries can serve as an extension of school libraries and can support early learning in important ways, including linking new digital technologies to learning and helping children develop “deeper learning” skills through literacy and STEM-based experiences.
A successful working partnership between teachers and librarians is often touted as a sign of 21st-century education, but “evidence suggests that achieving successful collaborative relationships in the field is fraught with challenges,” according to a June 2013 study published in School Library Research, the research journal of the American Association of School Librarians.
While such collaboration does exist and is successful, it is not as widespread as it could be, the report claims. One roadblock could be that, in some universities, preservice teachers are educated at the undergraduate level, while preservice librarians are educated at the graduate level. Sometimes, teachers resist or take offense to the idea that they “need help from a librarian,” and the education system’s focus on test scores makes it less likely that teachers “will engage in collaboration unless they foresee a tangible reward in the form of improved test scores,” survey participants said.
“Now is a particularly crucial time for teachers and school librarians to be working together to educate students in the skills needed to be successful in the digital age,” according to the report.
A move to digital collections
As the idea of teacher-librarian collaboration is changing, so, too, is the concept of a library’s resources. Today’s students joke about older generations using printed encyclopedias for reference projects, as many schools have added digital collections to augment their offerings. But it’s not just reference materials that are going digital: Entire book collections are as well.
Students and teachers in the Van Meter Community School in Iowa have used the eBook platform MackinVIA for more than a year, and have access to roughly 900 eBook titles in the collection. In addition to eBooks, MackinVIA includes online databases as part of a “one-stop” process and offers access to most titles simultaneously, so multiple students can use the same book at once. Using a “backpack” feature, students can select books they want to read and can store books and resources as part of school projects.
“It’s so simple for the kids to use— even the kindergartners use it without a problem,” said Shannon Miller, the district teacher librarian and technology specialist.
“It hooks them on reading—even things that they might not have read before or outside of the genre they typically pick,” Miller said. Van Meter has a one-to-one computing program in which students bring their own devices, and parents can help their children select books and perform research using their children’s devices and user accounts.
Capstone Digital’s myON reader is a digital library platform that offers a “personalized literacy environment,” complete with more than 4,700 enhanced digital books for students from birth through 8th grade.
For this complete story and more form Laura Devaney, please visit eSchool News here.


New research from The CIBC Centre for Human Capital and Productivity at The University of Western Ontario shows that education, and related education-based initiatives, can reduce crime rates, improve health, lower mortality rates, and increase political participation.
The findings were released today in a new policy brief titled The Impacts of Education on Crime, Health and Mortality, and Civic Participation, which was authored by Western economics professor and CIBC Center Director Lance Lochner.
The social benefits from crime and mortality reduction appear to be sizeable, says Lochner. For example, estimates suggest that increasing the high school graduation rate in the United States in 1990 would have resulted in nearly 100,000 fewer crimes, providing an annual benefit valued at more than $2 billion. Social benefits from reductions in mortality are likely to be of similar magnitude.
Estimated benefits from crime reduction are similar in the United States and Europe while estimated effects of education on health, mortality, and political participation appear to be weaker in Europe.
The strongest case for government action is based on educations effects on crime due to its significant externalities, adds Lochner. In terms of crime reduction, policies that increase high school completion rates or that improve school quality and early childhood learning opportunities, especially in disadvantaged communities, are likely to be more successful than policies aimed at increasing college and university attendance.
Explore further: New study of freelance workers examines link between their well-being and hours worked


Open House Resources
||This useful list of resources for educators will help make your next Open House Night a success. Being well prepared to meet students' parents for the first time can make a huge difference in how well the rest of the year goes. These printables will give you ideas on how to plan your event, introduce yourself to parents, and foster positive parent-teacher relationships. You'll also find helpful skill building tips to distribute to parents and great decorating ideas that showcase students' work. These resources will help you prepare for your next Parents' Night, Open School Night, or Back-to-School Open House.
Advice & Ideas for Teachers
- Getting Parents Involved
Encourage parents to volunteer in the classroom year round as an important positive step in improving their child's education. New teachers, who are trying to build solid relationships with parents, will find this resource particularly valuable.
Advice for Parents
Preparing for the Open House
Showcasing Student Achievement
- Creative Writing Teacher Resources
Build solid creative writing skills with our extensive collection of printables, graphic organizers, and lesson plans. You'll find poetry activities, short-story writing exercises, journal topics, and more!
- Art Resources for Teachers
Emphasize the importance of art education across the curriculum with TeacherVision's art lesson plans, printables, activities, quizzes, and references, for grades K-12.
- New Teacher Resources
Discover everything a beginning teacher will need for a successful school year, from tips for your first day, to classroom-management advice, to printables and lesson plans that will support your curriculum all year long.


At the beginning of the year, kindergarten student Thalia expresses excitement about learning to read, but remains unclear about the specific skills needed to read. When asked what reading entails, she responds, "You look at the pictures, maybe you'll know what the words say." This video follows Thalia's progress over the year as she engages in a variety of reading and writing activities that develop her awareness of letters, sounds, and words -- the details of reading and writing. Her English-language teacher, Jim St. Clair, uses poems, songs, predictable books, reports on classroom activities, and student journals to build on her emergent literacy skills and to promote a love of reading and writing.
Factors that contribute to Thalia's literacy development:
- Language-based activities
- Integration of language and literacy in daily routines
- Instruction based on student interests and needs
- Variety of texts appropriate to kindergarten
- Flexible grouping
- Parent involvement
- Collaboration between teachers
"[Thalia] has a very strong interest in learning to read. I think it's really a goal for her."
Jim St. Clair, kindergarten teacher.


The Great Leap Forward: The Political Economy of Education in Brazil, 1889-1930
Executive Summary — In 1890, with only 15 percent of the population literate, Brazil had the lowest literacy rate among the large economies in the Americas. Yet between 1890 and 1940, Brazil had the most rapid increase in literacy rates in the Americas, catching up with and even surpassing some of its more educated peers such as Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela. This jump in literacy was simultaneously accompanied by a brisk increase in the number of teachers, number of public schools, and enrollment rates. Why were political elites in Brazil willing to finance this expansion of public education for all? André Martínez-Fritscher of Banco de México, Aldo Musacchio of HBS, and Martina Viarengo of the London School of Economics explain how state governments secured funds to pay for education and examine the incentives of politicians to spend on education. They conclude that the progress made in education during these decades had mixed results in the long run. Key concepts include:
- Competition in national elections and a literacy requirement may have provided the right incentives for state political parties and state politicians to spend on education in a way that increased literacy rates in a significant way over the period studied.
- Brazil started from an extremely low base and ended in what today would be considered a low level of literacy as well (around 40 percent of the population).
- Between 1889 and 1930 there was significant progress in the provision of elementary education in Brazil. It was to a large extent a consequence of the fact that some states got more taxation powers and had the obligation to spend on public education.
- Positive trade shocks can be converted into long-term development if there is electoral competition, and economic assets are not concentrated in a few hands.
- Expenditures on education between 1889 and 1930 altered the development path of some states and changed their relative rankings compared to other states in a somewhat permanent way.
Brazil at the turn of the twentieth century offers an interesting puzzle. Among the large economies in the Americas it had the lowest level of literacy in 1890, but by 1940 the country had surpassed most of its peers in terms of literacy and had done a significant improvement of its education system. All of this happened in spite of the fact that the Constitution of 1891 included a literacy requirement to vote and gave states the responsibility to spend on education. That is to say, Brazilian states had a significant improvement in education levels and a significant increase in expenditures on education per capita despite having institutions that limited political participation for the masses (Lindert, 2004; Engerman, Mariscal and Sokoloff, 2009) and having one of the worst colonial institutional legacies of the Americas (Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robison, 2001; Easterly and Levine, 2003; and Engerman and Sokoloff, 1997, 2002). This paper explains how state governments got the funds to pay for education and examines the incentives that politicians had to spend on education between 1889 and 1930. Our findings are threefold. First, we show that the Constitution of 1891, which decentralized education and allowed states to collect export taxes to finance expenditures, rendered states with higher windfall tax revenues from the export of commodities to spend more on education per capita. Second, we prove that colonial institutions constrained the financing of education, but that nonetheless the net effect of the increase in commodity exports always led to a net increase in education expenditures. Finally, we argue that political competition after 1891 led politicians to spend on education, Since only literate adults could vote, we show that increases in expenditures (and increases in revenues from export taxes) led to increases in the number of voters at the state level. 65 pages.


Text Messaging and Literacy – The Evidence
Routledge – 2014 – 128 pages
"Well thought out and timely. This is the leading group in the world working on texting and literacy, and they have a strong track record of publications. It would also be the first book, as they say, to deal with the subject at an academic level. The focus on education is important, as this is where most of the anxieties lie. It will be a major step forward in creating a new climate."
Professor David Crystal, author of The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language and The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language, Television consultant and presenter
As children are given mobile phones at increasingly younger ages, there is considerable media coverage of claims that mobile phones, and text messaging in particular, are responsible for declining levels of literacy in children and young people. Such claims are often adopted wholesale by teachers and parents, despite the fact that there is an empirical literature which has failed to find a basis to these claims, and to the contrary has found that text messaging is supporting children’s literacy skills.
Written by leading international researchers Text Messaging and Literacy presents an overview and discussion of the academic evidence for and against use of text messaging and mobile phones in supporting literate activity and discusses what conclusions we can and should draw about the impact of mobile phones, and their potential role in education.
Areas covered include:
In challenging existing assumptions the authors present the cutting edge of international research, highlighting their own studies involving children of all ages, adolescents and adults. This ground breaking book is essential reading for both researchers and students in education, educational psychology, literacy and new media and it’s impact on learning.
"I was impressed by the way the authors evaluated and discussed research methods throughout, but in particular they devote a chapter to methodological issues. This chapter reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the different techniques used to elicit, collect and interpret textisms. The authors cover self-report, observational and experimental methods and ways to analyse include counting, categorising and thematic analysis. The chapter will be of great use to researchers wanting to interpret work already conducted and to help them plan future studies in a way that allows them to draw the most meaningful interpretations from their data." - Jacqui Taylor, Bournemouth University, UK
1. Mobile Phone Use and the Rise of Texting; 2. The Media Furore; 3. The Links between Children’s Spelling, Reading and Texting; 4. Does Mobile Phone Use Facilitate Literacy Development?; 5. Texting and Literacy Skills in Adolescents and Young Adults; 6. Understanding Children’s Mobile Phone Behaviours in Relation to Written Language Abilities; 7. Texting and Grammar; 8. Methodology Matters; 9. Lessons Learned and the Future of Texting
Clare Wood is Professor of Psychology in Education at Coventry University, UK. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Research in Reading and is the Director of the Centre for Applied Research in Psychology.
Nenagh Kempis Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology, University of Tasmania (UTAS), Australia, and is also Associate Editor for the Journal of Research in Reading.
Beverly Plester is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University, UK.


University of Montana-Missoula, The
Kathleen Harper has held a part-time faculty position in the University of Montana Geosciences Department since 2008. She received her PhD from the University of Wyoming in 1997, where her research involved characterization of the timing and intensity of metamorphism along the 1.78 Ga Cheyenne Belt collision in Southeastern Wyoming. She then spent several years teaching introductory courses in physics, astronomy, as well as courses in physical science topics for elementary education majors at the University of Wyoming. Following this, she became the Assistant Director of Wyoming NASA Space Grant for several years, supporting science education through research fellowships and development of student and faculty interaction with NASA scientists.
At the University of Montana, Kathleen teaches introductory geology and designs curriculum for the introductory geology lab. She has been working to reform the teaching approach to support student learning, to promote student understanding of the process of geoscience (and science in general); to increase student engagement in the large-enrollment lecture course; and to design lab activities that help students explore regional geoscience issues.
Website Content Contributions
Helping Students Discover Total Internal Reflection part of comPADRE Pedagogic Library:Interactive Lectures:Examples
Students learn the basic relationship of Snell's Law, practice applying it to a situation, then are given another situation where it "doesn't work."??? This situation turns out to be one in ...
Experiment Problem in Kinematics: How Much Does it Take to Win the Race? part of comPADRE Pedagogic Library:Teaching with Interactive Demonstrations:Examples
In this activity, students are presented with two objects that have different constant speeds and that will race each other. The students must determine which object will win the race, as well as either how much time elapses between the objects crossing the finish line.
Transport of heavy metals in the Clark Fork River part of Integrate:Workshops:Teaching the Methods of Geoscience:Activities
This is an activity about transport of sediment contaminated by copper, arsenic, and other heavy metals that was deposited into the Clark Fork River channel as the result of historical mining activity. The Clark Fork River between Butte and Milltown, Montana has been the focus of several large superfund projects designed to address the impacts of this legacy of mining in the watershed. This activity is used in an introductory physical geology lab (primarily non-majors) with students who may have limited experience working with quantitative analysis and analyzing graphs.
Introduction to Physical Geology part of Process of Science:Courses
This course is an introduction to geoscience; the study of how the Earth works. Humans around the world are impacted every day by geologic phenomena, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and also by access to natural resources such as oil, metals, and water. I hope that students will develop a new appreciation of the natural world, an understanding of the physical processes that have gone into making the Earth as we know it, and an awareness of how Montana fits into the global picture. We will also delve into the nature of science: what is science?; what is the process of science involve?; what defines "good" science? This knowledge will help students make informed decisions about issues that affect humankind.
Geoscience methods applied to real-world problems part of Integrate:Workshops:Teaching the Methods of Geoscience:Essays
Geoscience methods applied to real-world problems Kathleen Harper, Geosciences, The University of Montana, Missoula Many students come into my Physical Geology course with the impression that they are going to be ...


Computer Classroom at Home: Maths 5 - 6 This title introduces children to Maths concepts, including data and graphs, fractions, angles and problem solving. It includes a full instruction manual. This Australian program will help children practise and improve key learning skills that will assist their understanding of Maths taught in the primary classroom. Features interactive lessons with colourful characters who introduce topics and act as study partners when children need assistance.* Developed from the Primary School Curriculum* Monitors child's progress* Ability to print lesson content
This third edition of the perennial bestseller defines the recent changes in how the discipline is taught and introduces a new perspective on the discipline. New material in this third edition includes: A modernized section on trigonometry An introduction to mathematical modeling Instruction in use of the graphing calculator 2,000 solved problems 3,000 supplementary practice problems and more
How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method
A perennial bestseller by eminent mathematician G. Polya, How to Solve It will show anyone in any field how to think straight. In lucid and appealing prose, Polya reveals how the mathematical method of demonstrating a proof or finding an unknown can be of help in attacking any problem that can be "reasoned" out--from building a bridge to winning a game of anagrams.
The very ancient Indian Mathematics Tricks. Vedic is the Holy Book of Hindu. Just one example: Suppose you want the square of 35 (any two digit square ending with 5) Multiply 3 (1st dig) x 4 (1st dig +1) = 12 write then 5 x 5=25 write one after another So, The answer is 1225.
Specifically for children in first grade, this essential workbook teaches children basic math concepts and skills and then offers a variety of activities for skill-and-drill practice. Featuring 48 pages of challenging lesson content with real-life applications, easy-to-understand directions and a complete answer key.