Clifford Crawley's composition teachers included Arthur Hutchings, Lennox Berkeley and Humphrey Searle. Having taught in schools and colleges of education in England from 1952, Crawley moved to Canada in 1973 to become a professor of composition and music education at Queen's University. In Canada, Crawley was also active as sometime conductor of the Kingston Youth Orchestra, the Queen's University Orchestra and Choral Ensemble, and the Eastern Ontario Concert Orchestra; festival adjudicator; examiner (RCMT); and participant in the "Creative Artist in the Classroom" and "Composer in the Classroom" programs of the OAC and Canadian Music Centre respectively. In addition, he worked as a music consultant in Honduras and Malaysia. Crawley displayed a special skill in writing for children and amateur musicians and composed a large amount of vocal music for school use, ranging from simple songs to the musical Porky, Snorky and Corky (1983). Some 50 of these school music pieces have been published.
In his first opera, The Slaughter of the Innocents (1974), three distinct levels of difficulty - simple amateur, experienced amateur, and professional - are maintained. Crawley's largest and most important composition is the two-act opera, Barnardo Boy (1980). In this warmly human work, Crawley effectively employs such devices as a brass band, a rock group, aleatoric passages, and quotations from hymn tunes and World War I songs. Of the smaller pieces, his setting of the Stabat Mater (1984) for soprano, flute and piano, and his work for two pianos, Three Shades of Dark (1987), are fine examples of Crawley's deeply expressive style. His musical idioms, while contemporary, are accessible and eclectic, carrying on the tradition of Benjamin Britten and Malcolm Arnold. Crawley was an associate of the CMCentre.
The Slaughter of the Innocents, church opera (R. Wright, after medieval sources). 1974 (Leicester 1974). Ms
Barnardo Boy, musical drama (D. Helwig). 1980 (Kingston 1982). Ms
Porky, Snorky and Corky, school musical (Crawley). 1983 (Kingston 1983). Vs, piano (orch or guit/autoharp or Orff instr). Novello 1987
The Pied Piper, opera (David Helwig). 1989. Ms
Also other works
Koleda: A Christmas Overture. 1980. Berandol
Canadian Dances. 1984. Ms
A Group of Seven. 1987. Double string orch with optional (keybd). Ms. Also a sinfonietta (1978) for small orch; 2 concertinos (1979, 1985); a concerto (1987) for piano and orch; other works for orch and for orch with soloist(s)
Other works for diverse chamber ensemble: keyboard; for voice and piano; for SATB including Peter Piper and Close of Spring, both published by Lawson-Gould


West Philadelphia middle-school students learn about careers in STEM through hands-on activities, field trips and mentors at Drexel's Summer STEM Camp
Nearly 25 local rising fifth graders interested in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) built a bridge, blew up a watermelon and made ice cream, as part of a Summer STEM Camp from July 28 – August 1, the third and final week of the camp this year.
The camp is hosted by Drexel University's School of Education and funded by a grant from PECO.
“Summer STEM Camp allows children to experience a variety of STEM careers and career pathways,” said Hope Yursa, PhD, camp director and an assistant clinical professor in the School of Education. “Each day the children participated in a variety of hands on activities, but then they actually got to go into the field to experience real-life applications.”
For example, decked out in hard hats, lab coats and goggles, the students were actively engaged in building different types of bridges from limited materials, before visiting the Ben Franklin Bridge to learn from bridge engineers about what their job entails and how they entered the field.
While on a trip to learn about hydroelectric power, the campers took advantage of what they learned about bridges to find and identity the many bridges that cross the Chesapeake River Basin.
The campers took home the bridge-building kits to continue their learning. The camp also provided each camper with a fiction book and informational book about the various STEM fields and the people involved in them.
During a unit that provided an introduction to thermodynamics and heat transfer, teams of campers developed plans to save penguins.
They then traveled to the Philadelphia Zoo to learn more about what is endangering penguins and polar bears, and saw a variety of people engaged in careers that involved educating the public about loss of habitat due to global warming.
The students, who attend nearby schools, including Morton McMichael Elementary School, Martha Washington Elementary School and Samuel Powel Elementary School also toured the Boeing Co., the Franklin Institute and Lancaster Science Factory as part of the camp.
The Summer STEM camp was developed to introduce children in West Philadelphia to careers in the STEM areas of construction, transportation, energy and communication. The camp engages students with hands-on workshops and activities.
The camp is free for students, and includes breakfast and lunch each day.
In 2012, PECO awarded Drexel a $1 million grant to help create a collaborative education program that invests in the local community. About $150,000-$200,000 of the grant was dedicated to the STEM camp, which is now in its third and final year.
The camp began as a one-week initiative focused on rising fifth-graders. The second year, Drexel increased it to two weeks, for fifth- and sixth-graders, respectively. This year, the camp is three weeks, and catered to fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders.
The camp’s staff is made up primarily of faculty and students from the School of Education. The lead counselor was Mike Franklin, a graduate of the School of Education, who currently teaches at Arthur Elementary School in Philadelphia.
Other counselors included Jileesa McFadden, a 2013 graduate of the School of Education, who has a secondary certification in biology and is currently teaching biology at a Mastery Charter High School; Lindsay McArdle, a 2014 graduate, who received her bachelor's degree in elementary education; Sarah Anderson, who is finishing a combined bachelor’s and master’s program this year; and Cynthia Casebere, who is currently pursuing her master’s degree in education.
Counselor Shane Miller, who is not a student in the School of Education, is interested in educational research and is currently working with Drexel to develop an application for mobile devices called the Adolescent Comprehension Evaluation (ACE) to measure reading comprehension for sixth to 12th grade students.
Also integral to the program was Obinna Otti, Drexel’s RAD Lab manager, who took photos and videos, and Joel Rodriguez, videography instructor and associate director of innovation, who teaches part-time in the teacher education program.
The principle investigators on the grant, Yursa and William Lynch, PhD, dean of the School of Education, are looking into funding sources to keep the camp going after this year.


While India’s tertiary education sector remains among the largest in the world, only 1 out of 10 young people, overwhelmingly from affluent families, acquire a higher education and we havee the answer to this problem
Each year, over 20 million students enrol for a graduate degree in India. But as the quality of education in these institutions differs, the race to join the country’s top academic institutions is intense. In fact, with an acceptance rate of only 0.7per cent, IIT JEE has earned the reputation of being the toughest entrance exam in the world.
Concerns over the quality of education have not been helped by a rote learning model and poor school management, which are eroding student learning outcomes. In fact, the 2017 ASER report underlines that while enrolment in secondary education has doubled over the last decade, children still lack foundational skills. The report highlights that as many as 27per cent of school children in grade eight could not read at the level of a grade two student and 57per cent could not even solve elementary mathematical problems.
And while India’s tertiary education sector remains among the largest in the world, only 1 out of 10 young people, overwhelmingly from affluent families, acquire a higher education. In these circumstances, as the world moves to a new skills economy driven by digitization, it becomes essential for India to reassess its twenty-first century education imperatives.
What Ails the Education Sector in India?
In the era of AI, where expertise in new technologies is rapidly outdated, the education sector must constantly evolve new skill paths that enable nations to bring the benefits of technology to its citizens. As information brokers, fusion engineers, and robot mechanics become the most sought-after skills, the need of the hour is for courses that are relevant to the new digital world. Further, in a country where as many as 53per cent of graduates have been categorized as being unemployable, the focus must finally shift from churning out graduates to delivering employability.
The success of Germany’s Vocational Education and Training System is a case in point. Its unique apprentice system, which provides for only 20per cent of theoretical learning, trains young people in almost 350 recognized occupations and guarantees them employment at the end of the course. The result—an unemployment rate of just 5.2per cent, which is half the statistic for Europe.
Yet, in India, only 5per cent of young people in the 14-18 year age group participate in vocational training. Subsequently, youth who have not been skilled for the new economy find their way into the unorganized sector that accounts for 95per cent of the employment generated within the country.
To achieve success in creating employment opportunities for the young, as experienced in countries like Germany, India will not just need to reorient its educational system to focus on creating employable graduates but will also need to address its current deficit of quality teachers across all levels.
Taking India to the New Skills Economy
If India is to successfully reorient its educational system to meet its twenty-first century education imperatives, several immediate reforms are the need of the hour. First, the branding and execution of vocational programs must be significantly altered, so that these are at par with the outstanding standards demonstrated by countries like Germany. Second, efforts to decentralize education must be given a fresh impetus. Third, evaluation parameters will have to move from measuring quantity to gauging quality.
Today, India faces a strange paradox. On one hand, with 50per cent of its population below the age of 25, its young population could be the fuel that drives India’s economy. On the other hand, with the highest number of illiterate adults in the world, it is in no position to leverage this unique advantage. Clearly, while India could have the highest number of young people in the world, it’s most important challenge will be to make these youth employable to fulfil its twenty-first century education and learning imperatives.


By Teachers, For Teachers
Every now and then, you may get a class that you just can’t seem to keep interested. No matter what you do, it seems like all of the students are bored out of their minds.
If students aren’t paying attention, and their minds are wandering, then they are not absorbing any of the information that you are giving them to pass your class. Here are five teaching strategies that you can do to keep your class interested and engaged.
When you create a real-world connection to what students are learning, it will give them a greater understanding of why they need to learn it. If your students are constantly asking you why they need to learn something, and you always are answering with “Because you have to,” you will lose credibility with your students, and they will continue to not be interested in what you are teaching them. Instead, give them a real answer. If they are learning math and want to know when they will need to use it, tell them they will need math to write out checks, pay bills, buy groceries, figure out how much things that they want will cost. This will help them connect why they must learn with what they are learning for their future.
Technology is what students live and breathe every day. If you want to make your class the most interesting class that everyone loves to go to, then you must incorporate some kind of technology. Instead of lecturing and having students take notes, use a smart board and have students come up to the board and interact. Instead of giving students a quiz on paper, use a computer or a tablet. Instead of having students work on a project together, have them video conference with another class from another country and work with them on the project. Utilize technology in the classroom and your students will be interested and engaged in what they are learning.
It doesn’t matter if you are 8 years old or 18 years old, everybody loves to play games. Games are a great way to keep people engaged, and it doesn’t hurt that they are fun. A lot of the time students don’t even feel like they are learning anything because they are so into the game. If students need to learn important vocabulary words for science, play Jeopardy! If they need to remember specific dates in social studies, play memory. Any kind of game will help to make your class more interesting as well as keep them engaged.
A traditional classroom setting, where the teacher is standing in the front of the classroom lecturing to students as they take notes, is boring. If you want your students to be interested in what you are teaching them, you must make it interactive. Get them involved in everything that you are teaching. Try the jigsaw cooperative learning method, where students work together as a team to learn and complete a task. Each student is responsible for her own part, but must work as a group in order to complete the task. By involving students and making it hands-on, you are engaging them and making them interested in the content that they need to learn.
Choice menus aren’t just for elementary and middle school students. High school students will be just as happy when they get the opportunity to choose what, and how, they will learn content. Choice board menu options are endless. You can create a menu for any subject, topic, or concept that you want. You can create different choice boards based on the student. Struggling students can work on one board while more advanced students can work on another. It’s not only a great way to differentiate learning, but it keeps students interested and engaged as well.
Overall, talk less and involve students more. The more you make your class interactive and the more that you utilize technology, the more your students will enjoy what they are learning.
How do you keep your class interesting? Do you do any of the things listed above?
Janelle Cox is an education writer who uses her experience and knowledge to provide creative and original writing in the field of education. Janelle holds a master’s of science in education from the State University of New York College at Buffalo. She is a contributing writer to TeachHUB.com, Graduateprogram.org, and Hey Teach. She was also the elementary education expert for About.com for five years. You can follow her on Twitter @empoweringed, on Facebook at Empowering K12 Educators, or contact her at Janellecox78@yahoo.com.


The learning progressions describe the development of understanding in number, measurement and shape in the early years. The term progression implies a continuous, sequential development towards a greater understanding rather than a series of separate tasks that need to be mastered to “move up.” Each of the steps in the progressions represents a significant development in understanding and a lot of learning needs to take place between each step. Children will not necessarily come to understand these concepts in the order they are described, nor will they learn at the same rate. There are no expectations about the ages at which children will gain understanding of these ideas.
Each progression includes a description of the development of key mathematical concepts, an explanation of why the concepts are important, and information about how you can support children to develop these skills and understandings. The progressions are intended as a resource for early childhood educators as they meet the challenging task of helping young children develop their understanding of mathematical concepts. It is important for you to know how the mathematics develops and why, so you can appropriately challenge and support a child’s mathematical thinking.
Mathematics arises from events and happenings, play and routines that occur naturally within the early childhood learning environment. Take your lead from the children and their play. Use the opportunities that arise in the context of their play to strengthen children’s mathematical understandings.
The interaction ideas include a variety of questions you can pose as you interact with children to foster their mathematical understandings. The questions are intended as examples and suggestions. Tailor these to what you know already about the children involved, their interests, and their developing understandings.
It is important to follow up on children’s responses to provoke mathematical thinking. Asking children to describe and explain their thinking helps them to clarify their own ideas and gives you insight into their current understandings. Example questions and information to support you in interpreting children’s responses are provided for each step in the progressions.


Preparation to Visit an Art Museum
How do kids become engaged with works of art?
© Marvin Bartel, January 2011
- In my experience, museum visits go better for children who have had frequent practice in thoughtfully asking and answering questions and making discoveries in their own artwork and in the artwork of their friends in their studio art class.
- Children are more engaged if they have had frequent practice looking at and making discoveries in one or two examples from art history after they finished an artwork with some similar processes and/or concepts. Doing their own work first helps them identify with the ideas used to create the historical examples.
- Young children are more easily engaged in works of art in a museum if they have learned in their class to act out and make movements based directly on visual things, if they have learned create sounds to interpret visual things, and if they have learned to describe the tastes and feelings of visual things.
- Young children are more easily engaged in works of art in a museum if they have learned to use their imaginations to place themselves into the artwork that they learning about. "Look at these two paintings. How many would rather be in this painting, and how many would rather would rather be inside of this painting? Why?
WHAT I DO NOT EXPECT:
I do not expect children to copy museum work in their own artwork, but I want them to identify with the MOTIVATIONS and CREATIVE STRATEGIES of the artists.
My question are: "Why did the artist do this? How would it look DIFFERENT if you would have done it? Why would it look DIFFERENT if another artist made it? The other teachers in our schools are teaching nearly everything by showing kids examples to copy. As a result they do not realize that in art they may falsely assume that we also want them to imitate what we see instead of how we think and feel about what we see and experience.
BEHAVIOR PREPARATION I do not expect students to know and understand the museum expectations for behavior and empathy for other museum visitors. Therefore expectations are carefully explained, practiced, and reviewed in advance. This is again reviewed upon arrival with a series of questions.
WHAT DO I EXPECT ADVANCED ART STUDENTS TO GAIN from a MUSEUM VISIT? See this page on Reverse Engineering (backward planning). This page describes a webquest on art history.
Bartel HOME PAGE for Art Education
Topics | back
Bartel Home Bartel
also see: Creativity Killers http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/creativitykillers.html
All rights reserved. © Marvin Bartel. 2011
Updated: January, 2011 Author bio contact the author


This year our teacher is Miss Whitty, and we are very lucky to have the help of Mrs Jenkins in the classroom as well. We are a fabulous class who always work hard at everything we do!
Our topic in Combined studies this term will be Castles. We are excited about our trip to Warwick castle. This term we are becoming photographers and artists and combining our work together to make a collaborative piece at the end of term.
In English we are currently looking at quest myths. We know the features of a myth and have started to read lots of different myths passed down from generation to generation. Soon we will be focusing more on key features before finally being able to get creative and write our own myths.
Each week TALK HOMEWORK will be set on a MONDAY ready for our BIG WRITING lesson on a FRIDAY. Talk homework is very important because it helps our imagination and ideas flow before our independent writing session on Friday. If you lose the talk homework throughout the week there is a spare copy on the classroom door.
We are very lucky to have Mrs Freeman teach us Science on a Thursday. This term our science topic is Light and Shadow. Last term we were discovering what would happen if a plant was being refused particular things it needed to grow.
PE will take place on a MONDAY and a WEDNESDAY, but this may sometimes change due to weather. Therefore is is very important to bring our PE kits in EVERY MONDAY and to keep it in school the entire week! As this term is the summer term, we are hoping for some glorious weather, please make sure we are prepared by bringing a hat and water bottle every day to school
This year we will be having weekly times tables and spelling tests to ensure we are continuing our numeracy and literacy development. It is important that these are being done at home as it helps our maths and literacy writing in class.
Homework will be set on a Thursday and collected in the following Tuesday. This will consist of both a literacy and Numeracy task each week.
Thank you to the parent helpers that already come and help with book changing and reading. We welcome everyone into our classroom and we love reading to different adults as this helps our literacy skills. Please speak to Miss Whitty if you can spare half an hour of your time to listen to us read to you!
If you have any concerns or queries, please do not hesitate to come and speak to Miss Whitty or Mrs Jenkins they are very friendly and happy to help!


Age Group: 3-6 years
The prekindergarten community will be children from three years of age to six years. They will experience a variety of age-appropriate activities in several interesting areas. Children may choose activities from learning areas. The program offers balanced teacher/child directed activities. Within a nurturing environment, an experienced, qualified teacher fosters the letter recognition, letter sound recognition, and language development, gross and fine motor skills, social mixing, independence, and cognition.
They are inquisitive about the surroundings. They will be able to clearly express themselves and create more complex sentences. Research proves early literacy competency as an indicator of literacy and academic success in kindergarten and elementary school. The Pre-K program will be literacy-oriented activities. The program will focus on word recognition, word sounds, word spelling, storytelling, and anticipation of story developments, cursive writing and name recognition of peers. Learning centers are adjusted on a weekly basis to maintain and stimulate the children’s interest and curiosity. Daily schedules and consistency help build the trust that is blossoming in this stage of development.
Math/Cognitive Development: Advanced skills like sorting, stacking, matching and one-to-one correspondence are encouraged through games and materials. Critical thinking is motivated by asking interesting questions and engaging in analytical conversations. Counting and concept of addition will be introduced. A conceptual method will be used to teach numbers, and counting to children from 1 through 100. Analytical thinking, creativity and imaginative expression are encouraged.
Language Development: Pre-K children will be offered a pre-reading phonics program to assist language development. They will be introduced literature in displays, readings and conversations. Stories reading will be presented to build vocabulary. Letter, shapes, color and sound recognition will be introduced. Correct sentence structure will be offered to the children.
As they advance, children will be encouraged to learn new words and sounds as well as create more complex sentence structures and retell stories. Classroom interactions will be held where questions will be asked and detail answer will be supplied for students’ questions. Reading and cursive writing will be encouraged.
Motor Skill Development: Pre-K children will be motivated to do writing, drawing specific shapes, printing letters and painting, which develop the finer muscle of the hands to prepare them for refined tasks. Vigorous physical activities such as dancing, climbing, running, throwing, kicking and rolling balls help develop children’s strength, fitness and coordination. Self-help on eating lunch by self-serving food will be encouraged.
Social/Emotional Development: Children will be encouraged to learn a sense of accomplishment by completing tasks and feeling a sense of responsibility. They will take on some responsibility and cooperate with peers. Pre-K children will be nurtured in an environment where they recognize the rights of others and establish healthy, friendly relationships with classmates. At this age, they start developing individual identity. Independence, self-reliance and empathetic understanding of peers will be encouraged to prepare them for kindergarten school environment. Independence, self-reliance and empathetic understanding of peers will be encouraged to prepare them for kindergarten school environment. They will be encouraged to identify their feelings and to empathize with others. Exploration, discovery, self-expression and self-direction will be encouraged.
For questions and inquiries, please get in touch with us today. Give us a call at 512-609-8844 or send a message to sarum@AustinStarMontessori.com.


Education System in USA
It is very important for every student who wishes to study in USA to understand and be aware of the education system. The system begins with kindergarten followed by 12 years of
primary and high school education which is compulsory to get admitted to any graduate college or university.The children enroll themselves into an education system when they are
five or six years of age. A child can choose to study either in private schools, or home schools or public schools.In America, the school academic year begins in late August or
early September of each year and ends in late May or early June.
Primary or Elementary Education in the US
In primary or elementary school education, a student will be completing five grades of education. These five grades of education focus on introducing children to the broad
range of knowledge, basic academic learning, reading and socialization skills they will need to perform well in their future. This also includes learning basics of mathematics,
English proficiency, science, social studies, physical development and fine arts.
Secondary Education in the US
Junior high school (or middle school) and Senior high school together provides secondary education to the children. Junior high school refers to grade six through eight and high
school begins with ninth grade and progresses to twelfth grade. The mandatory subjects which are taught in US high schools include :
- biology, chemistry and physics,
- statistics, algebra, geometry and calculus,
- oral languages, humanities, literature and composition,
- history, geography and economics. Most of the states have made health courses mandatory so that the students learn about first-aid, nutrition,
sexuality and drug awareness. Art, foreign language and physical education is also made compulsory by some schools in the curriculum.
Undergraduate Education in the US
Undergraduate Schools offer a two-year degree which is called associate's degree or four-year degree called bachelor's degree in a particular field of study. This particular
course of study is called major. The most common bachelor's degrees are Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Bachelor of Social
Work (B.S.W.), Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.), Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.) and Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) which is awarded after completing five year architecture
Postgraduate Education in the US
After the completion of undergraduate courses, the students can continue their studies by pursuing a master's degree which is a two-year degree to specialize in a particular field.
After completing the master's degree, the students can pursue their education even further in a particular field with a doctorate degree. Based on the course opted, capability of
the student and the dissertation selected, the duration to complete a doctorate degree is between three to six years.
External Link related to Education in USA
that helps you find the right college, right course, correct under-graduate or a post-graduate program, and information about different colleges in USA
Directory of USA Schools, Universities and Colleges


My father left school at 16 to start his first job. He never got a college degree but if he had gone to university, he would have studied literature. He loved words and language, in particular poetry.
My father devoured books and would read to my brother and me every night. To this day I am grateful for the love for books and words he instilled in me and my brother.
Where perhaps 20 years ago fathers would not want to be seen pushing a pram, these days it is not unusual to see fathers taking their children shopping, to the playground or the doctor's office. However, reading to a child is not an activity most men, and women, think of when they talk about father involvement.
In most families mothers are the ones who read most frequently to their children. A recent study conducted by the Booktrust in Britain found that mothers are 50 per cent more likely to read to their children than fathers. In this study, 42 per cent of mothers, compared to 29 per cent of fathers read daily to their babies. Fathers did read more frequently to older children but even when children were five, 60 per cent of fathers compared to 75 per cent of mothers read to their children daily.
Where fathers in the past were primarily considered breadwinners and head of the family, these days they tend to spend more time with their children and are involved in caretaking activities such as feeding and bedtime routines. We know that these activities benefit different aspects of children's development in unique ways. When fathers are very involved in children's daily activities and routines, children are less likely to have behavioural problems, are more social and do better in school.
In our research though, with 500 low-income fathers in the US, we found that when fathers read frequently to their children at a young age, this had an impact on their language development one year later and their literacy development two years later. We were quite surprised by this finding.
What was even more striking, was that mothers' book reading did not have this significant impact on child development. So, what's so special about dads reading to their children?
When we looked more closely at what was happening during book reading interactions, we found that fathers used more abstract and complex language.
When sharing a book with their child, they would often link events in the book to a child's own experience. For example, when a ladder was discussed in the book, many fathers mentioned the last time they had used a ladder to climb up on the roof or use it for their work. Mothers did not do this. Mothers focused more on the details in the book and often asked children to label or count objects or identify colours.
It seems that fathers make different and unique contributions to children's development when reading to them. Fathers are often praised for engaging their children in rough and tumble play and this type of play is indeed beneficial to children.
However, with many children these days, in particular boys, struggling with reading, it is important to have more fathers reading to their children. Often parents do not realise how much children learn from their parents' behaviour.
Watching a father read to his child sends a very strong message that he is interested in spending time with his child and engages his child in one of the most rewarding and beneficial activities for children's development.
Sharing a book not only promotes children's language, literacy and cognitive development, it also builds relationships. What better way to end the day with your dad reading a funny book about farting monsters before you go to bed! Book reading is an activity that can be done anywhere and anytime: in line at the grocery store, waiting at the doctor's or on the beach or at home.
Reading literally builds brains as recently discovered in a study using MRIs. Therefore more fathers should be encouraged to read to their children.
Sharing a book can also help children's fine motor skills by having them turn the pages or hold the book. Dads should be more encouraged in helping children develop those skills, for example, by making puzzles with them, drawing, writing or cutting.
Oftentimes, mothers tend to be the ones engaging children in those activities but why not fathers? Fathers can bring a different approach, dynamic and even language to these activities which benefits children's fine motor skills and also their language skills.
Good fine motor skills could help children's language skills as the little research in this area suggests they are related. So fathers, read to your children often and start early. Also bring out the play dough, puzzles, crayons and scissors to enjoy some quality time with your child while also building important skills for later.
Elisabeth Duursma is senior lecturer in early childhood literacy at the Early Start Research Institute at University of Wollongong.


The goal is social change, developing better citizens, primarily among economically disadvantaged communities, through the pursuit of musical excellence.
The focal point of the child's/youth's experience and the primary method for learning is ensemble playing; lessons are in groups. Everything is about the team; the culture is one of mutual support.
The pedagogy includes intensive – a high level of frequency - and lengthy contact with students, minimum 10 hours/week for each child participating.
Musical excellence and performance.
The attention to excellence unites the children around a common goal and the performance gives purpose and direction to the effort and allows the achievements to be celebrated by the whole community.
Inclusivity and accessibility strives to give every child an appropriate opportunity to participate.
Peer support is fundamental where children are responsible for each other and where those who are more advanced become mentor assistants for younger children; they become coaches/conductors; they remain involved.
The focus is on the collective practice of music, the joy of making music together, a hope-instilling music education program that enriches the lives of children.
Music is universal – every country, every people, everywhere! It’s the most live cultural element in every society - whether you listen, hum, clap, sing or play an instrument. Whether it’s a turntable, cd or iPod. Music is a social phenomenon; it exists in the everyday life of every community. Music is one of the most powerful forces in the world and one of the best tools available for social change and social action.


visual artist, art historian, and art critic, was the youngest child born to Frank Donaldson and Clementine Richardson Donaldson of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. When Jeff Donaldson was four years old his father died. To support the family Clementine Donaldson worked as a grammar school principal and high school principal. Donaldson received his early education in Pine Bluff, where he studied art with John Miller Howard, a professor at Arkansas AM&N College (later the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff). After earning a BA in Studio Art from Arkansas AM&N in 1954, he returned to Chicago, where he had moved as a teenager with his family, and took courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Donaldson went on to study photography, color and design, and printmaking at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he earned an MS in Art Education and Administration in 1963 ...
Kimberly M. Curtis
José Martí is one of the major figures of nineteenth-century Latin America. He is regarded by Cubans across the political spectrum as the father of Cuba's independence. His collected works span some twenty-eight volumes and include exquisite poetry, insightful essays on Whitman and Emerson, impassioned political analysis, and a remarkable book of children's literature, La edad de oro (1889).
While still an adolescent, Martí embraced the cause of Cuban independence, founding the newspaper La Patria Libre in 1869. He was imprisoned and then banished for writing a letter denouncing a Spanish fellow student. After 1871 Martí spent a great deal of his life outside of Cuba (Mexico, Guatemala, Spain), and most of the years between 1881 and 1895 in New York where he dedicated himself to the Cuban independence movement as a brilliant orator journalist fund raiser and political leader He ...
Constance Porter Uzelac
painter, art historian, and writer, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of John Porter, a Methodist minister, and Lydia Peck, a schoolteacher. The youngest of seven siblings, he attended the public schools in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and graduated cum laude from Howard University in 1927 with a bachelor of science in Art. That same year Howard appointed him instructor in art in the School of Applied Sciences. In December 1929 he married Dorothy Louise Burnett of Montclair, New Jersey; they had one daughter.
In 1929 Porter studied at the Art Students League of New York under Dimitri Romanovsky and George Bridgeman. In August 1935 he received the certificat de présence from the Institut d'Art et Archéologie, University of Paris, and in 1937 he received a master of arts in Art History from New York University, Fine Arts Graduate Center.
Porter first exhibited ...


In Physical Education, for 7th and 8th grades, students do 7all of the following in each separate category as related to California Content Standards...
These are standards outlined as essential standards for the school's PE department. For further information about PE content standards, one can access the California Dept. of Education website at www.cde.ca.gov or talk to Mrs. Baracosa and Mr. Ludington at the school.
Essential Content Standards for COA middle school related to PE.
- Demonstrate patterns for throwing: overhand and underhand throwing; catching; kicking/punting; striking; trapping; dribbling (hand and foot); and volleying.
- Combine locomotor, and non-locomotor skills into variety of movements.
- Demonstrate body management needed for successful participation indoor/outdoor activities.
- Identify and describe key elements of overhand, sidearm, and underhand throwing; catching; kicking/punting; striking; trapping; dribbling (hand and foot); and volleying.
- Use principles of motor learning to establish, monitor, and meet goals for motor skill development.
- Explain and demonstrate spin and rebound principles for performing manipulative skills.
- Diagram and demonstrate basic offensive and defensive strategies for individual and dual physical activities.
- Participate safely in moderate to vigorous physical activity when conditions are appropriate (weather, travel, injury). This includes using the pool for two separate units through the year.
- Develop and teach a team game that uses elements of spin or rebound, designated offensive and defensive space, a penalty system, and a scoring system.
- Students also learn about group dynamics, teamwork, and social interaction in a co-education setting in all their P.E. classes.


Through its National Education for Sustainable Development Strategy and other national policies, Uganda has developed national priorities that include environmental education. Primary and secondary school students engage in environmental education through cross-curricular activities embedded within national curricula. Within higher education, several graduate programs relevant to environmental education exist at the university level. The National Environmental Management Authority, which is mandated to support environmental education in Uganda, offers training opportunities for teachers and teacher educators. Various civil society organizations promote environmental education capacity building within schools and communities. Environmental education in Uganda is funded in part by the national government, as well as through fundraising efforts by civil society organizations.
Policy & Practice
Environmental education appears in several legislative documents, including The National Environment Act (Chapter 153; Sections 6, 86 (i and e), and 87) and the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. Uganda also has national formal and non-formal environmental education strategies, which were incorporated into the National Education for Sustainable Development Strategy. Other legislation relevant to EE includes the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act (2003) and the Government White Paper on Education (1992).
EE in K-12 Education
The National Curriculum Development Centre has integrated EE using a cross-curricular approach in all subjects in the Primary School Curriculum. Integration of EE in the Secondary Curriculum is ongoing through career subjects.
While Uganda does not have a certification program for environmental educators, several graduate programs exist at the university level. In addition, The National Environmental Management Authority through its Directorate of District Support Coordination and Public Education organizes training-of-trainers programs for environmental educators in schools and teacher training colleges. The Uganda National Commission for UNESCO also organizes capacity-building programs for teachers. Civil society organizations organize and conduct capacity-building programs for communities and local schools.
EE in the National Government
The Directorate of District Support Coordination and Public Education at the National Environmental Management Authority is mandated to support environmental education in Uganda.
National EE Campaigns and Funding
While there is not a specific budget for environmental education at national level, the National Environmental Management Authority allocates some funds for environmental education activities. Other actors such as the Uganda National Commission for UNESCO and civil society organizations engage in environmental education fundraising endeavors.


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“Communicating through language is the crowning achievement of the human species.” Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D. and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D.
We are excited to share with you the first professional reading in our three part series, “What is SLC Reading This Summer?” If you are familiar with our work, you know that we spend a large portion of our time talking with teachers about the importance of oral language in a young child’s development. Lev Vgotsky, a prominent early childhood theorist, stated that oral language is the “universal tool.” He believed that language is a “primary mental tool because it facilitates the acquisition of other tools and is used for many mental functions.” Thus, language is the basis of all learning for humans (“Tools of the Mind,” p. 18). We agree with Vgotsky and the authors of our first featured text, “How Babies Talk: The Magic and Mystery of Language in the First Three Years of Life,” that oral language is foundational in early literacy development.
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, well-respected researchers and professors, wrote “How Babies Talk” in an effort to help parents, caregivers and teachers understand not only the importance of language development of children in the womb to age three, but also to help them understand exactly what a child knows how to develop their oral language skills at every stage. As the authors say, “We begin with the fetus who is listening in on our conversations and then turn to the newborn who, in his own subtle way, is already taking part in these conversations. We will look at the four to eight month old statistician who cannot say a word, but who accurately analyzes our speech for common sounds and patterns. Then it’s off to the nine to twelve month old who charms us with her points, her demands and her questions – all without saying a word. Eventually, we work our way up to the knowledgeable three year old who talks in full paragraphs, rarely stopping for a breath.” (“How Babies Talk,” p. 4)
The book is organized for easy reading with chapters organized by the age of the child. Each chapter is further divided into two large sections: “Language Milestones,” which details for the reader what children know about language at each age, and “Scientific Sleuthing Pays Off,” which explains how scientific findings can be used to enrich interactions with children. Best of all, there is a third, smaller section interspersed throughout each chapter called, “Try This” with specific activities or interactions for parents, caregivers or teachers to try with children to boost their language. It doesn’t get much better than this: explanations of what children know at each age, why we know they know it and how to enhance it!
“How Babies Talk” is absolutely a text we’re putting on our “favorites” shelf of our professional development library! Get a copy from our Amazon link above, read it, and let us know what you think.
Authored by Jordan Khadam-Hir, Rice University School Literacy & Culture


GCSE (equivalent) Children’s Play, Learning & Development BTEC First Award
Exam Board: Pearson EDEXCEL
Specification Number: 5444
If you have an interest in children and would like to understand more about their development, then this course will be suitable for you. The course will give you a greater understanding as to how children behave in the way that they do and will teach you basic skills in caring for young children.
This course is an excellent foundation to studying child care. There are 3 broad topics of study:
- Patterns of Child Development
- Promoting Children’s Development through Play
- The Principles of Early Years Practice
Students will begin to develop an understanding of the five areas of development and the expected milestones for the different ages of children from birth to age 8. The course also looks at the importance of play in a child’s learning and development.
Mode of Assessment:
Currently the mode of assessment is 75% coursework and 25% examination. The majority of the course will focus on individual portfolio building through coursework.
BTEC Children’s Play, Learning & Development
Type of Qualification: BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate
Level of Course: 3
Aim of course:
This course gives an introduction to study the child development sector. It has been developed in consultation with higher education to ensure it supports progression to higher education. The course will give an understanding of children's development from birth to the age of 8 years and offers students the opportunity to complete 50 hours of work placement to further develop their understanding.
There are 4 units:
- Children’s Development Students will gain an understanding of children’s developmental progress from birth to seven year 11 months, students will learn about theories and models of developmental and relate them to the Early years foundation stage.
- Development of Children’s Communication, Literacy and Numeracy skills In this unit you will be using your work placement and knowledge gained in the classroom to plan stage appropriate activities that encourage children's development and understanding and use exciting and interesting ways to help them find out more
- Play and Learning In this unit students will learn about the types of play and the opportunities that should be made to children at different ages. They will learn why play is important in development and look at important theoretical perspectives, philosophies and curriculum approaches. You will investigate these approaches through your work placement and research.
- Children’s Physical Development, Care and Health needs In this unit students look at children's physical needs and how to support them if they are unwell. They will look at the importance of routines, sleep and nutrition and how they impact holistically on a child’s development. Basic First aid will be covered.
Mode of Assessment:
- Unit 1 - Children's Development: external written paper
- Unit 2 - Development of Children’s Communication, Literacy and Numeracy skills: supervised task externally marked
- Unit 3 - Play and Learning: internal task
- Unit 6 - Children’s Physical Development, Care and Health needs: internal task


Giant Water Lilies Video for Kids
Giant Water Lilies Facts
Water lilies belong to the Nymphaeaceae family. There are total 70 known species of water lilies. They can be found all over the world. Water lilies are only found in shallow and still freshwater. Scientific name of the giant water lily is Victoria Amazonica. Water Lily is the national flower of Bangladesh and blue water lily is the national flower of Sri Lanka.
Fun Facts: –
- This beautiful flower is native to tropical South America and Brazil.
- It was first discovered in Bolivia in 1801. At that time, it was named as Eurgale Amazonica.
- This flower has got its present name in 1837 when it was renamed as Victoria Amazonica by English botanist John Lindley as a tribute to Queen Victoria.
- The Giant Water Lily is the largest water lily. It can grow to have a diameter of around 3-6 feet.
- The leaf of the Giant water lily can support a weight up to 30 kilograms.
- The flower is white in colour and it blooms only at night. These flowers emerge at dusk and close by noon.
- It is also known as Amazon water lily, Amazon water platter, Royal Water Lily.
- The Giant Water Lily is a short lived perennial.
- These flowers are hand pollinated in the season of summer. Then the plants are grown in the Tropical nursery.
- The flower has sharp spines that are used to protect it from fish and other animals but its surface is soft.
- The lily pad has open notches on the side which are used to drain excess water collected on the top.
Cite This Page
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MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Fun Facts for Kids about Giant Water Lilies ." Easy Science for Kids, Feb 2020. Web. 28 Feb 2020. < https://easyscienceforkids.com/giant-water-lilies-video-for-kids/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2020). Fun Facts for Kids about Giant Water Lilies. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/giant-water-lilies-video-for-kids/
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Enjoy this Easy Science for Kids Cattle Family Quiz – you’ll get your quiz score after completing this FREE online interactive quiz on the Cattle Family. You need to answer all the questions to be able to get your score. You can do this fun quiz about Cattle Family again, till you get the perfect score and become a quiz champion!
Tip: To get it right the first time, read the page with fun facts about the Cattle Family.
About Our FREE Online Cattle Family Quiz
Our fun easy science quizzes are a free to use online quiz resource for teachers and educators of kids in elementary school, grammar school and preschool. This fun Cattle Family quiz helps your kids learn fun facts about Cattle Family while enjoying this FREE general knowledge quiz for kids.
If your kid is enjoying home-schooling, or is in an after-school enrichment program, then this is a fun activity, with reading comprehension benefits for kids in grade 1-5. Kids will enjoy competing against their classmates and friends, to see who gets the best score, doing this educational free quiz game online on Cattle Family.
As a reading comprehension training activity for kids, you can set a timer to encourage kids to do the reading comprehension faster and better, or you can limit the number of times they can read about the quiz topic, before they do the actual interactive quiz questions and answers game.
Younger kids who cannot yet read or write, such as Pre-K kids, Kindergarten kids or Preschool kids, will benefit from doing this and our other science quiz games, as a listening comprehension activity; you read out to them about the topic and then read the quiz question and answers. You will select the Cattle Family quiz answer they think is correct, and at the end you get the quiz score. Your child can try again and again doing the Cattle Family quiz, till gets the perfect score faster, as he or she learn to listen more carefully and develop a better memory and attention span!


Student Research Paper
Date of Creation
This essay investigates the sweeping educational reforms that the Nazi government implemented to use elementary education to further its political goals. Along with the major laws concerned, it concentrates on several personal accounts of families and students during this era to better understand how these educational reforms affected Germans. Additionally, it analyzes the Hitler Youth and other such recreational organizations that the Nazis created to continue to mold students’ ideologies. It examines the stories of several people who were children in these organizations and what their impressions were of the groups. Finally, it places these Nazi reforms in the context of the post-1945 period of denazification and reconstruction.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
James, Ian R., "Education in Nazi Germany" (2019). Student Publications. 715.


PEDC 9073 Motivating Music Students
3 Graduate Level or In-service Credits/ 45 hours Instructor: Laura Ruotolo August 1-30, September 1-30, November 1-30, March 1-30
University of the Pacific
This course provides music teachers with a variety of motivational techniques to utilize during large group rehearsals, small group lessons, and private lessons. Young students will become motivated to learn music when lessons are exciting and educational. Music teachers will research current music education topics, review motivational strategies about music concepts, and create Power Point slide shows about practice techniques to use in the classroom. Music teachers will reflect on their teaching and gain ideas on how to motivate and inspire their students to excel in music. Teachers will share and reflect upon their motivational strategies and learn new ways to motivate their students. This course is appropriate for the Arts grades K-12. A teacher’s job description is not only to teach but to inspire and motivate their students to succeed!
This course addresses the Common Core Standards by providing teachers with ways to implement the standards in their classroom. Teachers will create assignments that have students self-assess and evaluate their individual performance and group performance. Teachers will design goal sheet assignments for their students. Both assignments will aid in developing literacy skills specific to music and in addition to what they learn in their English classes. Teachers will reflect upon articles that discuss the strong connections between music and various areas of study. Teachers will research the audition process in professional orchestras to give students a better understanding about a professional music career or college study. This course is appropriate for the Arts grades K-12. A teacher’s job description is not only to teach but to inspire and motivate their students to succeed!
August 1-30, September 1-30, November 1-30, March 1-30


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The Textmapping Project
A resource for teachers improving reading comprehension skills instruction
Classroom Teachers: We receive emails from teachers like you every day. They link to us from their classroom pages - like this from Share to Learn and this from Classroom 2.0. And they send us lots of comments as well. We love to hear from you! Here's how you can contact us.
London Metropolitan University: Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning.
Georgia Department of Education: Framework for English Language Arts, Fifth Grade.
Infinite Thinking Machine: first segment, first episode!
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development: in Differentiation in Practice: A Resource Guide for Differentiating Curriculum, Grades 9-12, by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Cindy A. Strickland.
Creative Commons: Featured Content of the Week, 8/23/03
National Council of Teachers of English: Hot Topics Spotlight
University of North Carolina School of Education: lesson plan
State of Michigan: MiCLASS training program for middle school teachers
Syracuse University: Tutoring and Study Center
and many more...
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Ever since the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted in 2001, art programs in schools have been steadily declining. These programs have been deemed nonessential, as schools are now focusing more on the sciences. This has been happening despite the fact that experts agree that there are many benefits to learning about both art and science that supports the positive impact of art in schools. Some of these benefits, according to PBS, include:
- Increased Motor Skills – Many hand movements help students to increase their motor skills, such as using a paintbrush or coloring. Scissors especially aid in dexterity. Often times, schools have benchmarks in place to measure students’ motor skills and they expect them to reach a certain level by kindergarten.
- Visual Learning – Many different art forms help students to develop visual-spatial skills, which is very important in the digital age. Children are taking in more visual information at a younger age and art can assist them in navigating a world filled with graphic symbolism. Dr. Kerry Freedman says, “Art education teaches students how to interpret, criticize, and use visual information, and how to make choices based on it.”
- Innovation – When children are allowed to express themselves artistically, it helps to develop their inventiveness. In a world where it is an advantage to be forward-thinking, innovative people can be a great asset in the current job market.
Art Franchising Opportunities
There are many other advantages to art programs, such as decision making, language development, and improved academic performance. Parents know the importance of art in their children’s lives and they are seeking alternatives to underfunded (or nonexistent) school programs. This is why art franchises, such as Kidcreate Studio, are becoming more and more popular! It is an excellent franchise option, as it is recession-resistant, there are multiple revenue streams, and our model allows Owners freedom and flexibility.
To learn more about franchising with Kidcreate Studio, Get Started here!


Closing the Vocabulary Gap
216 pages, £16.99
How can we promote social mobility? As Alex Quigley states in his book, this is a very big problem. His answer is to tackle something that is closely related, but more manageable: the vocabulary gap.
In my own and others’ research, I see enormous disparities between children and adolescents in their word knowledge and there is, indeed, a wide gap between the “word-poor” and “word-rich”. We should be concerned about this vocabulary gap because it is associated with a range of outcomes, including education and employment but also physical and mental health.
As Quigley argues, knowledge about words underpins all education and learning. This is because word knowledge underpins speaking, listening, reading and writing. The importance for subjects such as English and modern foreign languages is obvious. But he argues that it may be even more important for other subjects, such as science and maths. Quigley emphasises the high vocabulary demands of the new key stage 2 and GCSE assessments. Such concerns have been widespread in my recent interactions with teachers and researchers alike.
This book brings together research evidence and teaching experience to provide practical knowledge and resources for primary and secondary teachers. Quigley draws on research to distinguish academic from everyday words; and cross-curricular words (for example, “analyse”) from subject-specific words (for example, “photosynthesis”). Vocabulary knowledge involves information about spoken words and their meanings.
Importantly, once children can read, it also involves written words. Vocabulary breadth – the number of words that you know – is important. But, as Quigley emphasises, so too is vocabulary depth: what you know about words and how they connect to other words.
Connections between words are at the heart of this book. In English, despite many exceptions, there is a systematic relationship between letters and sounds, and, therefore, between spoken and written words. In contrast, relations between word forms and their meanings appear arbitrary. However, with more knowledge about words, morphology and etymology, it is clear that there are, in fact, regularities here, too.
This is important for teaching because we can’t teach children every word that we think they might need to know. It is more feasible to teach crucial vocabulary alongside these regularities and patterns.
There are parallels with phonics teaching here. In early reading, there is a code that children need to crack, and phonics instruction is all about explicitly teaching that code rather than hoping that all children can work it out for themselves. It is important to explicitly teach words and their meanings alongside the regularities that will allow children to generalise this knowledge to new words. This is particularly important for closing the vocabulary gap because children with high levels of knowledge and resources may well work out these codes for themselves but it is the word-poor who are likely to benefit most from explicit teaching.
Knowledge of spoken words and their meanings is central to reading. But, as Quigley notes, reading also provides important opportunities for new words to be learned. Reciprocity in the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading has a number of important messages for teaching practice. Quigley draws out how we need to build vocabulary knowledge to promote academic progress directly, but also so that we can support reading, with knock-on effects for progress. We also need to support reading abilities so that we can facilitate independent learning of vocabulary.
A key strength of this book is that it summarises research evidence for teachers, providing a primer on vocabulary, morphology, etymology, phonics, reading comprehension strategies and much more. In addition to being instructive, it provides flexible frameworks so teachers can develop materials, activities and assessments that will meet their needs, and those of their students.
The book is essential reading for any teacher hoping to raise levels of vocabulary, reading and writing. However, it will particularly benefit teachers in key stage 2 and beyond who tell me that they lack the knowledge and resources they need to support vocabulary, reading and writing in their pupils. What particularly struck me, though, is how useful this book is for researchers like myself who are committed to raising language and literacy standards in school. Crossing the boundaries between educational research and teaching practice can be challenging, but is essential if we are to work together to find optimal ways to support pupils.
Dr Jessie Ricketts is a senior lecturer specialising in language and reading acquisition at Royal Holloway, University of London


Trumpet Lessons (Ages 10+)
Trumpet lessons are currently available with the teacher(s) listed below and are open to all ages 10 and above. Students must have access to their own clarinet for practice at home. A method book will also be required, and we advise that you wait until your first lesson before purchasing a book so that the teacher can assess and recommend appropriately, which book to purchase. All of the above instruments & supplies as well as additional supplies that may be useful for trumpet lessons are available for purchase and/or rent from School of Music Arts. Please refer to our Rentals page for further details on instrument rentals.
Ben is a lifelong musician from London, Ontario. He studied Music Education at the University of Western Ontario where he conducted the Western Mustang Band and is currently an occasional teacher for the Thames Valley District School Board after teaching 2 years in the U.K. His primary instrument is trombone and he has played in the Band of the Ceremonial Guard in Ottawa and Queen's Own Rifle's in Toronto, as well as community orchestras in London and Oakville. Ben has also sung in numerous barbershop quartets and choruses and currently sings with London's Forest City Fire. When Ben isn't making or listening to music, he enjoys watching soccer, all things pop culture, board games, and spending time with friends and family. Ben teaches Trombone Lessons, trumpet lessons, french horn lessons, baritone lessons and tuba lessons.
What Are Your Rates?
We've learned that every music teacher is different, and each has different skills. Some have Masters degrees, while others are still students themselves. For this reason, we've given the teachers the ability to set their own rates when they are hired based on their skills. The rate for trumpet lessons start at $23.00 for a 30 minute lesson.
Is 30 Minutes Enough?
For beginners the answer is definitely yes. When you are first learning, you're getting a lot of new, and in some cases, confusing information given to you. The amount of information given in one 30 minute lesson will give you a lot to work on as you practice throughout the week. Practicing is absolutely essential to learning music. As you get to more advanced skills, more time may be necessary if and when your teacher recommends it.
How Long Will It Take To Learn?
We get asked this question a lot. There is no specific date, or number of lessons. It depends on a few things including how often students practice. Although the songs may be very simple, we know we can have students playing at least one short song within 30 days. If you are hoping to play Mozart, it will take more time. But anyone can do it if they want it enough or work hard enough.
What Else Do I Need To Play?
There are additional supplies that may be needed throughout the course of your study, such as valve oil and cleaning swabs. Also, as you progress, you will need new, more advanced method books so that you can continue to learn new songs and new techniques. We stock the basics to make sure every student has what they need to play, but other items can be specially ordered for you if needed or desired. For more information on product availability, please ask our administrative staff.


Art and music spark the imagination and present an opportunity to reveal a better or a different way to live. Art crosses all socioeconomic boundaries. It awakens the awareness of the advantaged to the plight of others. It ignites creativity.
Years ago, art and music education were part of the public school curriculum beginning with primary school. A poster of various paintings graced the blackboard to be replaced by new selections each week. I can still recall one of the first pieces of art I was exposed to; The Blue Boy, by Thomas Gainsborough.
The March of the Toreadors from Carmen, by Bizet, blasted from a phonograph. We were expected to be able to identify the various arias on a weekly test.
There were no museums in our small town. There were no performance halls. Art and music appreciation provided an opportunity for an experience we would not have had otherwise.
Today school is often the only place some children have to learn about the arts. Budget cuts and high-stakes testing have pushed these programs into non-existence. For these children, without a basic exposure to art, drama and music, reality television sets the standard for the arts.
Our politicians blather on about “taking back our country” and “making America great again.” One way they might begin to do that is to leave education and textbook material decisions to educators and support art education in public schools.
One political hopeful trotted out Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the A&E series Duck Dynasty to support his position with voters.
Duck Dynasty?? Really??
Few of us would consider reality television qualifies as an art form, but without exposure to the arts in public school, Duck Dynasty could become the new normal.
If candidates are serious about “making America great again” supporting art education in public schools is a good way to begin.


Kastner, J.D., & Shouldice, H. N. (2016). Assessment in general music education from early childhood through high school: A review of literature. In Oxford handbooks online. http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935321.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935321-e-99.
* Due to copyright restrictions, I am unable to disseminate final printed versions of articles published in major journals. However, you may email me (firstname.lastname@example.org) to request a copy of the accepted manuscript if you are unable to access a journal.
Shouldice, H. N. (2019). “Everybody has something”: One teacher’s beliefs about musical ability and their connection to teaching practice and classroom culture. Research Studies in Music Education, 41(2), 189-205.
Kruse, A. J., Giebelhausen, R., Shouldice, H. N., & Ramsey, A. L. (2015). Male and female photographic representation in 50 years of Music Educators Journal. Journal of Research in Music Education, 62(4), 485-500.
Shouldice, H. N. (2013). Trading Hindemith for “Hugs, High-Fives, and Handshakes”: One preservice music teacher’s decision to teach elementary general music. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 195, 41-57.


To excite, educate and empower students to gain a greater understanding of numeracy using music.
Numeracy with a Spin – Teaching students the daily relevance of numeracy in their lives through hands-on musical learning.
The Math Thru Music (MTM) DJ program combines numeracy with DJing to create the ultimate fun learning experience for all ages. No matter the choice of music, math plays a huge part and the MTM program connects the dots. DJ’s perform under immense pressure and some of that can be relieved through understanding basic mathematics. Our program helps students learn the craft of Djing while strongly building and developing numeracy skills. The creativity in a DJ is determined by their confidence, technique and math skills….
No calculators allowed! Every song ever made has a BPM (Beats Per Minute), which determines the pitch and genre of the song. Using various formulas, students are taught to exercise their problem-solving skills to mix similar or different genres of music. MTM encourages curiosity and creativity while learning to understand mathematics.


New Online Resource from Apperson helps Teachers and Parents Teach Character Development
New educational video series for first and second grade students highlights positive character traits exemplified by prominent figures
Renton, WA. – Oct. 24, 2019 – Character education supports students’ social and emotional development and teaches them how to be productive, positive citizens and role models. To support schools in providing character education as part of their work to teach the whole child, Apperson, Inc, announces the launch of The Character Tree, a new character development online resource for first and second grade students that provides appealing online video lessons to teach children about positive character traits. Teachers and parents can sign up for free access to The Character Tree for the 2019-2020 school year by visiting: https://charactertree.com/sign-up/#join
The Character Tree uses engaging discussions, real-life examples from history, role modeling and hands-on materials to emphasize positive character traits such as kindness, bravery, hope, leadership, gratitude and perseverance. The subscription, which is free for the 2019-2020 school year, provides access to 32 videos suitable for first and second grade students. The videos feature adorable puppets asking and answering questions, as well as discussions about historic figures such as Rosa Parks and Jane Goodall. The lessons are standards-aligned and each comes with a teacher’s guide and printable resources for students.
“Character education is incredibly important to the social and emotional development of young children and should be taught and reinforced regularly in the classroom and at home,” said Apperson Chairman, Bill Apperson. “We developed The Character Tree as a resource to support teachers, parents and out-of-school-time providers in this important task and to help children become positive role models in their classrooms and communities.”
The Character Tree videos feature Bill Apperson’s daughter, Sara VanderWel who plays the role of “Miss Sara” in the videos and guides discussions with the puppet children and “Gray Squirrel” as they learn about positive character traits. The puppets express their feelings, ask questions and discuss and demonstrate positive behavior.
VanderWel has served as an early elementary teacher for the past 12 years. She specializes in literacy and writing and in 2018 received the Bonnie Campbell Hill Literacy Leader Award for Washington State. She holds a B.A. in Elementary Education and a B.S. in Spanish Language and Literature and an M.S. in K-6 Reading and Literacy. She also runs a Teachers Pay Teachers site called The Primary Pal.
Bill Apperson’s inspiration for developing The Character Tree came in part from discussions with VanderWel about the social and emotional issues her students often face. He also drew inspiration from his own experiences mentoring a child and from the lessons imparted by the late Fred Rogers, creator and host of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
More than 2,000 educators have already signed up to use The Character Tree. “I am using your website to teach my first graders about good choices in their school life. They love your videos. It has been a great addition to my classroom,” said Dr. Karen McGinnis, first grade teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School in Drexel Hill, PA.
For more information about The Character Tree and to subscribe or view video samples, visit https://charactertree.com/
About Character Tree
The Character Tree is a division of Apperson, Inc. Since 1955 our mission has been to maximize potential. In the last 25 years, Apperson has become a recognized name in the education community. We advance educational and professional development by providing innovative services and solutions. We deliver exceptional customer service, driven by our core values of integrity, passion, respect, and teamwork. This results in greater knowledge and enriched outcomes for students, teachers, and business leaders, alike. For more, visit https://charactertree.com/.


One of the best instruments to introduce young students to music in a classroom is the recorder. The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument very similar to flutes; that is, a flute with a whistle mouthpiece. Since its finger spacing is relatively small, it is often used in music education for children first learning to play an instrument.
This week, a fifth grade class at Glen Park Academy (GPA) in Gary received a generous donation of soprano recorders from community member Vanessa Welty. When GPA music teacher Daria Depa learned of the donation she invited Welty, who is a colleague, to make the presentation in person.
“I wanted the students to meet the person behind the generosity and give them the opportunity to thank her,” said Depa.
While visiting the class, Welty was able to witness what the students would be learning on their instruments and was touched by their excitement. The class presented Welty with a thank you card, played a song for her and taught her to play “Hot Cross Buns” on the recorder.
“This gift is from my heart, and I know that the children will benefit from the recorders while hopefully sparking a greater interest in music,” said a teary-eyed Welty.
The class will perform on their recorders at Glen Park Academy’s Christmas Program in December.


Your School Can Implement Reading Recovery and Ensure Early Literacy Development for Each Child!
The Canadian Institute of Reading Recovery (CIRR) works with school systems across the country to implement Reading Recovery as an early intervention strategy for children in Grade 1 who are struggling to read and write.
Provincial Education Ministries or Individual School Boards determine that Reading Recovery is the Early Literacy Intervention they desire to implement and work towards fully implementing Reading Recovery according to the Standards and Guidelines. For an example of an implementation of Reading Recovery please see the York Region District School Board.
The Whole School Benefits from highly skilled Reading Recovery teachers
Because of their deep understanding of literacy theory and practice, Reading Recovery-trained teachers and teacher leaders become experts for their schools which benefits the whole classroom. Trained teachers work for part of the day in Reading Recovery and the other part day in another role, for example: half time grade one teachers, special education or resource teacher, library, or literacy coach.
Each year, a typical Reading Recovery-trained teacher works with 8-12 Reading Recovery students and 20 – 40 other students. Each Teacher is trained by a Teacher Leader who typically supports Reading Recovery in the entire school district or in the case of large school districts is one of a few teacher leaders training teachers.
The CIRR network of 5 Canadian Trainers provides training for personnel selected by their school board to become Reading Recovery Teacher Leaders. This training takes one year and can be completed in a training centre (Halifax, Thornhill, Winnipeg and Vancouver). Reading Recovery Teacher Leaders then train Reading Recovery teachers within their school districts. This Teacher training also takes a period of one year of intensive learning. There are over 60 Teacher Leaders actively training teachers all across Canada.
Watch this short video from the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board about how the whole school can benefit from the Reading Recovery Teacher, the classroom teacher working together.
Reading Recovery Lessons
Daily 30-minute Reading Recovery lessons are tailored to meet the specific needs of the student and are delivered by specially trained teachers. Drawing on careful observation and using their knowledge of a wide range of procedures, Reading Recovery teachers give each student the support they need to make fast progress in reading and writing.
Every lesson has several key components, each of which is designed to offer students opportunities for problem solving and practice. Lessons include reading familiar books, taking a running record on a book introduced in the previous lesson, working with letters and/or words using magnetic letters, writing a story, assembling a cut up story and reading a new book.
During each lesson children learn to hear and record sounds and to work with spelling patterns. Comprehension, independent problem solving and reading fluency are all included in Reading Recovery instruction.
After Completing a Series of Lessons, Students Can:
- Read increasingly more difficult texts at an instructional level, expanding their power to learn from their own efforts and solve problems as they read and write.
- Compose increasingly complex messages using resources to solve new words: students monitor and edit their work, knowing when and how to get help.
- Continue to learn with supportive classroom instruction.
Each year, the impact of Reading Recovery in Canada is documented in a National Data Report.
To find out more about implementing Reading Recovery in your school district, or to arrange to observe teacher training sessions or Reading Recovery lessons, please contact the CIRR or the Reading Recovery Trainer in your region.
Download the Reading Recovery – Frequently Asked Questions
Download the Reading Recovery Canada Brochure
An approved booklist is available for all implementations of Reading Recovery. It is updated every 3 years. Publishers can submit books to be reviewed and added to the booklist. Details for this process can be found here.
Where is Reading Recovery being implemented in Canada?
Reading Recovery teachers achieve unparalleled results because they are part of a professional learning network that includes Reading Recovery trainers, teacher leaders, and teachers. This network gathers at regular intervals to learn from each other and from experts in the field of Reading Recovery both in Canada and around the world. Each year a report is produced that outlines the achievements of Reading Recovery in Canada. You can find the 2017-18 report here.
Published Standards & Guidelines assure fidelity of the teacher leader and teacher training and high level teacher expertise for schools.
This video outlines the Reading Recovery implementation at Peguis Central School in Manitoba – part of the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre.
For more information about implementing Reading Recovery in your school please contact us at email@example.com or call 416 908 7711.


Our 8th Grade just finished learning Systems of Equations in Algebra. As a project, they created their own “Khan Academy Style” videos, teaching the different solving techniques. The 8th Graders used iPads and their iMovie skills to edit, cut, and add voice overs to their instructional videos.
Category Archives: Class Projects
First graders love singing the song by Albin Le Lait “Bonjour Comment Ca Va”. They are able to count to 10, talk about their brothers, sisters as well as their pets. We are currently learning about “Quest ce que c’est?” (what is this?) and new vocabulary about the classroom.
Over the last two weeks some students came back to NDV for a math review and science enrichment. For the math review, students went over basic foundational skills involving decimals, fractions, proportions, and algebra. One group of students investigated what would happen when people are presented with a calorie food menu vs. an exercise food menu – would they change their order and choose healthier options once they saw how long they would have to exercise? Another group calculated the number of minutes people would have to exercise depending upon the restaurant and the exercise they conducted. The last group of students investigated whether the International Olympic Committee should change racing events so that distances are proportional to athletes heights. Below is an image of each group presenting and sharing their results to the class – they all did an amazing job.
For science enrichment, students learned about roller coasters through creating their own paper roller coasters. We watched videos and discussed the fundamentals of potential energy, kinetic energy, and speed. Once the roller coasters were completed, students conducted a speed experiments to calculate which parts of the coaster were the fastest. Below are a few images of groups with their roller coasters.


Right now, you are reading these words without much thought or conscious effort. In lightning-fast bursts, your eyes are darting from left to right across your screen, somehow making meaning from what would otherwise be a series of black squiggles.
Reading for you is not just easy – it’s automatic. Looking at a word and not reading it is almost impossible, because the cogs of written language processing are set in motion as soon as skilled readers see print.
And yet, as tempting as it is to think of reading as hard-wired into us, don’t be fooled. Learning to read is not easy. It’s not even natural.
The first examples of written language date back to about 5,000 years ago, which is a small fraction of the 60,000 years or more that humans have spent using spoken language.
This means our species hasn’t had enough time to evolve brain networks that predispose us to learn literacy. It is only through years of practice and instruction that we have forged those connections for ourselves.
How the brain learns to read
Brains are constantly reorganising themselves. Any time we learn a new skill, connections between neurons that allow us to perform that skill become stronger. This flexibility is heightened during childhood, which is why so much learning gets crammed in before adolescence.
As a child becomes literate, there is no “reading centre” that magically materialises in the brain. Instead, a network of connections develops to link existing areas that weren’t previously linked. Reading becomes a way of accessing language by sight, which means it builds on architecture that is already used for recognising visual patterns and understanding spoken language.
The journey of a word
When a skilled reader encounters a printed word, that information travels from their eyes to their occipital lobe (at the back of the brain), where it is processed like any other visual stimulus.
From there, it travels to the left fusiform gyrus, otherwise known as the brain’s “letterbox”. This is where the black squiggles are recognised as letters in a word. The letterbox is a special stopover on the word’s journey because it only develops as the result of learning to read. It doesn’t exist in very young children or illiterate adults, and it’s activated less in people with dyslexia, who have a biological difference in the way their brains process written text.
Words and letters are stored in the letterbox – not as individually memorised shapes or patterns, but as symbols. This is why a skilled reader can recognise a word quickly, regardless of font, case, or typeface.
Information then travels from the letterbox to the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, to work out word meaning and pronunciation. These same areas are activated when we hear a word, so they are specialised for language, rather than just reading and writing.
Because information can travel so quickly across the skilled reader’s synaptic highways, the entire journey takes less than half a second.
But what happens in the brain of a five-year-old child, whose highways are still under construction?
The growing brain
For young children, the process of getting from print to meaning is slow and effortful. This is partly because beginning readers have not yet built up a store of familiar words that they can recognise by sight, so they must instead “sound out” each letter or letter sequence.
Every time children practise decoding words, they forge new connections between the visual and spoken language areas of the brain, gradually adding new letters and words to the brain’s all-important letterbox.
Remember, when a practised reader recognises a word by sight, they process the letters in that word, rather than its shape.
Literacy instruction can therefore support children’s learning by highlighting the symbolic nature of letters – in other words, by drawing attention to the relationships between letters and speech sounds.
Here, evidence from brain imaging research and educational research converge to show that early phonics instruction can help construct an efficient reading network in the brain.
What might the future hold for literacy development?
As technology evolves, so too must our definition of what it means to be “literate”. Young brains now need to adapt not only to written language, but also to the fast-paced media through which written language is presented.
Only time will tell how this affects the development of that mysterious beige sponge between our ears.


At Laxey we have a growth mindset philosophy. This means we believe that everybody can learn and succeed with the right attitude. Courage, tenacity and self belief are crucial and can be developed by how we recognise and reward success. Directed effort alongside outcome is valued and children are encouraged to take risks and not fear failure.
Our curriculum focusses on the principle that there are thinking skills as well as subject specific skills which we develop in a range of contexts. We also provide opportunities for children to fulfil the outcomes from the DESC’s Essentials for Learning (E4L) curriculum which can be viewed on the DESC website.
We teach most key literacy and numeracy skills in small focus groups which allow us to cater for children’s ever changing needs as they develop their skills and progress. Children play an active part in assessing their learning so they know what they need to learn next.
Our curriculum is creative and engaging, with the children taking part in planning many of the activities. There is a balance between teacher-directed learning and time for children to investigate their own lines of enquiry through independent, self chosen challenges.


Encourage, support, and promote the arts for the benefit and education of the communities of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Guiding Principals Governing our Choices and Actions
- Communities deserve the opportunity to participate in and enjoy the arts in all their forms.
- Visual artists, literary artists, and performing artists are part of a community of artists who should work together to support and advance their arts.
- Art brings people together to celebrate beauty, to make and create meaning, and to honor their shared past and present cultural heritage.
- Art education supports successful student learning.
- Art provides a life-long way for individuals to express their creativity, sense of beauty, emotions, and insights.
- A thriving arts culture helps to build community.
- A thriving arts culture provides economic benefits to the communities in which it exists.
- Goal Statement #1: Organizational Development: Become a respected, recognized arts organization.
- Goal Statement #2: Education: Promote understanding and appreciation of the arts.
- Goal Statement #3: Promotion: Develop a climate that supports arts production and a center to showcase the arts.
- Goal Statement #4: Communication Resource: Serve as a communication link for the arts.
- Goal Statement #5: Advocacy: Serve as an advocacy group for the arts in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.


Reading at grade level by third grade is a critical milestone — one that can help predict whether or not kids will thrive in later grades and graduate from high school. That’s why Read On Arizona — a statewide public-private partnership devoted to improving early language and literacy outcomes — tapped the Annie E. Casey Foundation to advance its work helping young Arizonans reach this important target.
The collaboration followed the Foundation’s Results Count™ approach for leadership development. Results Count encompasses five core competencies, two foundational skills and two foundational frameworks ― the “5-2-2” for short.
Early on in the partnership, representatives from education and human services organizations in Arizona took a deep data dive to identify clear focal areas. They noted research indicating that economically disadvantaged kids are more likely to fare worse in reading achievement.
In Arizona, this research proved true. In 2015, 40% of all third graders passed AzMERIT, the state’s official assessment of grade-level reading proficiency. Among economically disadvantaged third graders, the pass rate for this same assessment fell to 28%.
Two years later — and two years into Read On Arizona adopting the Results Count approach — 44% of all third graders and 32% of all economically disadvantaged third graders passed AzMERIT. Otherwise put: The proportion of students hitting the test target increased by 4% for each group, but the 12% achievement gap between the two groups remained unchanged.
“If we want to move the needle for everyone, we need to lean in where there are disparities in achievement: kids who are economically disadvantaged, in special education or English language learners,” said Terri Clark, who leads Read On Arizona and serves as the state’s Literacy Director. “We won’t have a lower goal or a different goal for them. Instead, we have to pursue strategies that support them and work for them, recognizing that it’s a significant lift.”
To bridge this achievement gap, Arizona schools and more than 500 community partners across the state are offering a comprehensive menu of strategies for reaching lower-income families. Underlying these strategies is research conducted by Arizona State University in partnership with Read On Arizona. This research indicates that poverty and attendance —and especially chronic absenteeism — are two of the most significant factors impacting struggling readers.
Read On Arizona partners also began using an interactive mapping tool to break down chronic absenteeism data by neighborhood and grade level. Once they began sharing this information widely with community partners and parents, chronic absenteeism fell in every grade up to third grade from 2015 to 2016, the most recent data available.
Read On Arizona has also advocated for the Arizona Department of Education to include new measurements in its accountability report cards, which the state issues as part of its plan to empower public schools to achieve and increase student success. These new entries examine how well individual schools are reducing their disparities in achievement, lowering chronic absenteeism and decreasing the number of minimally proficient students.
Following their Results Count program experience, Read On Arizona and its partners have a strong framework in place. They will continue to intentionally share data, track data to assess progress, and change course as needed. In addition, they will shift their commitments to the results they want instead of to particular programs that are already in place. Partner organizations are also more comfortable having deeper and challenging conversations about accountability, and they are sharing what works — and what doesn’t — for kids, especially those who are lagging behind in reading, says Clark.
Watch videos about leading for results