There are many sensible reasons for changing majors in college. It is not uncommon to discover new interests that pull you in a different direction. Practical considerations, such as job prospects after graduation, also are important. College is a time for self-discovery and dreaming big. According to the Career Advising Center at the University of California, Berkeley, a typical student switches majors three to five times after declaring a major at orientation.
In 2012, Kiplinger released a list of majors that lead to jobs with low wages and high unemployment. Majors mentioned included anthropology, fine arts, film, philosophy, liberal arts and theater. If competition is intense for jobs in your chosen field, you may want to rethink your major, plan for graduate school or develop practical skills to complement your major. For example, a theater major will have expanded career options by taking classes in public relations and sales.
It may be wise to switch majors if you are doing poorly in your classes despite sincere effort. Science and technology classes are increasingly complex and competitive. According to a 2011 article in “The New York Times,” many science majors are not prepared for calculus and physics, which results in failing grades. Seek advice from your instructors, arrange for a tutor and enroll in developmental classes. Also take good notes, complete homework on time and study hard. If your performance still does not improve, consider a different major that could lead to a similar career.
If you lack enthusiasm for your major, ask yourself whether it is the subject matter, uninspiring instructors or your feelings about being in college. The answer will help you decide whether you should change majors, transfer schools or take a break from education. Being gifted in a certain area does not dictate how you must spend the rest of your life. While your parents may not understand why you changed your major from engineering to elementary education, it ultimately is your decision. The College Board suggests you will be happier and more successful if you choose a career based on personal interests.
Uncertain Career Goals
Students often choose majors before researching related careers and later discover they don’t like the types of jobs associated with their major. Other students change majors because they don’t know what to do with a degree in that field. The solution to career indecision is to research careers online and make an appointment with a career counselor. Then you can determine if a different major is better suited to your occupational and lifestyle preferences.
Style Your World With Color
Understand how color and its visual effects can be applied to your closet.View Article
Let your imagination run wild with these easy-to-pair colors.View Article
See if her signature black pairs well with your personal style.View Article
Let your clothes speak for themselves with this powerhouse hue.View Article
- Thinkstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images


Why should I take music lessons?
Music has the power to change your life! Learning from a professional
educator will help you grow musically and understand your instrument.
I've always wanted to learn, but I can't because....
There is always a way to take lessons even with today's lifestyle.
Watch this video below to learn why.
Let us be your partner in music education!
Looking to help your student advance so they can become first chair of their ensemble? Or, are you an older adult looking to take up or restart playing music now that you have more free time? Then let Q&F be your partner in music education!
We offer music instruction for all playing ranges from the new beginners up through advanced players. Our qualified teachers can help you with almost any instrument including woodwinds, brass, percussion, strings, guitars, drumset and piano.
When you take lessons at Q&F you also have access to the latest accessories, music, instruments and service by our trained and knowledgeable staff.
What are some benefits of playing music?
Making Music Makes You Smarter!
-Middle school and high school students who participated in instrumental music scored significantly higher than their non-band peers in standardized tests. University studies conducted in Georgia and Texas found significant correlations between the number of years of instrumental music instruction and academic achievement in math, science and language arts.
Source: University of Sarasota Study, Jeffrey Lynn Kluball; East Texas State University Study, Daryl Erick Trent
-Children and Teens — Playing music positively affects the development of children’s cognitive skills. It builds confidence, self-discipline and inspires creativity. Also playing music can increase productivity and help kids and teens connect socially with their peers.
-Adults and Seniors — Playing excercies the brain and helps fight memory loss. It helps reduce stress and lower blood pressure. And it can stave off depression and loneliness.
Making Music Makes You Healthier!
-Playing a musical instrument can reverse stress at the molecular level, according to studies conducted by Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Applied Biosystems. (as published in Medical Science Monitor)
-Making music can help reduce job burnout and improve your mood, according to a study exposing 112 long-term care workers to six recreational music-making sessions of group drumming and keyboard accompaniment. (as published in Advances in Mind-Body Medicine)
-Music making can help reduce blood pressure according to a new study conducted by the Department of Cardiology of Leiden University Medical Center of the Netherland. (as published by the U.S. National Laboratory of Medicine)


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


The children will be exposed to a comprehensive phonics instruction program that is effective for the students and just plain fun!! The publishers at Hampton-Brown have developed wonderful instructional materials for the early childhood classroom. The program entitled Phonics and Friends, easily transitions students from phonics to literacy.
The program builds phonemic awareness, introduces sound-letter association, models decoding strategies and helps build emergent reading skills. The program also provides a wide range of strategies for meeting individual needs as well as user- friendly assessment tools for the teacher. To build phonemic awareness the program includes sing along songs, Big Books and CD's. To introduce sound-letter association, 26 letter Rhyme Cards are provided. The front side of the card is a memorable rhyme and the backside demonstrates letter formation. To model decoding strategies, 26 Big Phonics Storybooks are provided. The Storybooks include predictable, patterned text with many words representing the target sound and letter with fun characters in a delightful story. To build emergent reading skills the program has 26 Sound and Letter Packs, each pack containing six copies of the Phonics Storybook in small format. The children try out newly acquired phonics skills in these leveled pattern books. The stories promote instant recognition of high-frequency words. A Sing-Along Song and Story Tape with Picture Word Cards are also included.
St. Stephen's Armenian Elementary School has always maintained high academic standards for their curriculum and provides the best quality instructional materials to meet these standards. Reviews are conducted regularly of the school's instructional materials in all subject areas. It gives us great pride to strive to provide the most innovative and challenging programs available.


The Handbook of Family Literacy, 2e, provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of family literacy of any available book. It documents the need for literacy education for children and parents, describes early literacy and math development within the home, analyses interventions in home and center settings, and examines the issues faced by fathers and women with low literacy skills. Cultural issues are examined especially those for Hispanic, African American, American Indian, Alaskan Native, and migrant populations. Noted experts throughout the United States, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa analyze the commonalities and differences of family literacy across cultures and families. Key features include the following.
ComprehensiveProvides updated information on the relation between early childhood literacy development, parenting education, and intervention services.
Research FocusProvides an extensive review of experimental studies, including national reviews and meta-analyses on family literacy.
Practice FocusProvides a comprehensive treatment of family literacy interventions necessary for program developers, policy makers, and researchers.
Diversity FocusProvides detailed information on cultural and diversity issues for guiding interventions, policy, and research.
International FocusProvides an international perspective on family literacy services that informs program developers, researchers, and policy makers across countries.
Evaluation FocusProvides detailed guidelines for ensuring program quality and fidelity and a valuable new evaluation perspective based on implementation science.
This book is essential reading for anyoneresearchers, program developers, students, practitioners, and policy makerswho needs to be knowledgeable about intervention issues, family needs, program developments, and research outcomes in family literacy.


Modern African Art : A Basic Reading List
Southern Africa : Zambia
Ellison, Gabriel. Art in Zambia / produced by the Zambia National Visual Arts Council; written by Gabriel Ellison. Lusaka, Zambia: Bookworld Publishers, 2004. 68, pp. illus. (chiefly color). N7396.6.Z3E45 2004 AFA. OCLC 62081552.
Art in Zambia rightfully claims to be the first popular history on the visual arts of Zambia. The book project was initiated by a group of Zambian artists who selected Gabriel Ellison, herself an artist, to write the text. Three chapters are devoted to the colonial period – roughly the 1920s to the 1960s – and these are quite interesting, pulling together unpublished and widely scattered bits and pieces on European artists who for one reason or another lived in or passed through Zambia (Northern Rhodesia at the time).
The story of contemporary art in Zambia from Independence in 1964 is a story of conscientious attempts to implant art institutions and infrastructure in the not always fertile soil of this post-colonial outpost. Initiatives were begun, but withered away due to lack of sustained support and patronage, despite the best efforts of artists and promoters. Artists emigrated; others drifted away from art practice or died young. Since 1989 the National Visual Arts Council has taken an activist role in raising the visibility of the fine arts in Zambia and in mobilizing resources to organize workshops and exhibitions. Clearly, the momentum picks up in the 1990s, and some of the insularity of the artists is shed. Corporate, governmental and NGO sponsorship has always been important in contemporary Zambian arts. Most of the really successful initiatives were underwritten by external sponsors, e.g., Anglo-American, NORAD, the British Council. Commissions for public art benefitted a handful of artists.
In the biographical section, which comprises about one half of the book, there are fifty-nine artists who are currently living and working in Zambia (or recently deceased). Included are illustrators, cartoonists, graphic artists, wildlife and botanical artists, postage stamp designers as well as painters, sculptors, and printmakers. Installation and conceptual art are not yet part of the Lusaka art scene. One art work of each is illustrated along with brief biodata - - year of birth, formal art education, and exhibition/collection history. There are almost no young artists in the under-30 age group. Still, this biographical list is quite a valuable, indeed unique documentation. The color reproductions are fairly good, though the works of art are not dated.
Lechwe Trust Collection: the charitable trust for the visual arts in Zambia. Lusaka, Zambia: Lechwe Trust, 2005. 53pp. illus. (color). N7396.6.Z3A4 2005 AFA. OCLC 84647552.
The Lechwe Trust promotes art and artists in Zambia through scholarships, commissions, exhibitions, and workshops. Founded in 1986, Lechwe Trust has also acquired art from artists, including earlier works, to build and preserve a truly representational collection of contemporary Zambian art. Curator William Miko selected 65 artists from the Lechwe Trust Collection to showcase for this 2005 exhibition, although works by only 26 are illustrated in the catalog. The Lechwe Trust Collection is still looking for a permanent home to display works.
Lechwe Trust: a charitable trust for visual arts in Zambia: the art collection. Lusaka: Lechwe Trust, 2009. 92pp. illus. (color). N7396.6.Z3L44 2009 AFA. OCLC 707726617.
The Lechwe Trust continues to build a national art collection in Zambia, which by 2009 numbers more than 200 works. That's the good news. The bad news is that the Lechwe Trust Collection has no permanent home and it remains in storage, but is brought out for exhibition from time to time. In this 2009 catalog, 72 artists are profiled along with reports on art projects sponsored by Lechwe Trust.


Frugal Tips for Music Lessons
- Friday, October 04, 2013
“The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).
We know from His Word that music was God’s idea. It’s part of His character, and because we are bearers of His image, music is part of our character too. It’s why He created us with voices to sing, why some of us are gifted musicians, and why most of us are inspired to rejoice, to worship, and to celebrate with music.
Martin Luther made this frequently quoted statement: “Music is a fair and glorious gift of God.” Though styles may have changed since Luther’s sixteenth century and our choices and personal preferences vary, I don’t know anyone who is not grateful for how music enriches our lives.
Instilling an appreciation for music and providing the lessons for developing skills that our children need in order to enjoy and use their natural musical talents is a priority for many homeschooling families, but finding frugal ways and resources to provide that education in music, including private voice or instrument lessons, can be a challenge. A typical half-hour weekly lesson can cost anywhere from $20–$50 per child. Depending on the number of children in a family who want or need lessons, $200 a month per child can be more than our budgets can handle, but the more motivated, disciplined, or gifted our children are, the more likely we will be to find a way to make it happen.
Even if our children are not musically gifted, studies have shown that a music education can help them develop skills in critical thinking and creative problem solving. Children who study music are more likely to achieve success in math and science as well—all good reasons to invest in a music education for all of our children.
One of the ways we can save money in that investment is to begin a music education program with our children at a very young age. This preparation can form a foundation that could reduce the number of private lessons the child will need when he is older and therefore make the financial investment more valuable. The good news is that this early preparation doesn’t cost anything but our time and patience.
My music teacher friend Leslie believes that children learn the disposition and desire to make music from their parents—that they can learn particular skills from a teacher throughout their lives, but that the love of making music comes from their parents, even if the parents have no musical abilities. A love for music will likely motivate our children to be diligent music students when they are ready for structured lessons.
Using free resources from the local library and online, Leslie exposed her son to music as soon as he was born, playing classical music and instrumental music (piano/guitar/saxophone/violin) throughout the day. She sang to him while changing his diaper, during bath time, while getting him dressed, and before bedtime or naptime—songs such as “Jesus Loves Me,” “Eensy Weensy Spider,” “I’m a Little Teapot,” and “12 Days of Christmas.” While he was a baby in a bouncy seat, she played the piano and his daddy played the guitar. When her son was a little older, she began using music websites to play theory and composer games with him.
As a teacher, Leslie also encourages parents to dance with their children and let them enjoy movement and rhythm, gently tapping out the beat on their backs. According to Leslie, research has shown that children who experience rhythm with their bodies can more easily hear it inside their heads.
Leslie insists that young children’s musical growth occurs best in a playful, musically rich, and developmentally appropriate setting that is free from direct instruction and performance pressure and that they learn best through play and experimentation, which can be accomplished in our own homes at no cost at all.
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|The EFA 2000 Assessment: Country Reports|
11. Major Trends of Development of the Primary Education in Georgia
In compliance with the Law on Education of Georgia, "the State announces priority of the education field and on this basis leads public education policy". Elementary education is the first stage of general education according to the reform program. The research and analysis identified several problems, which are crucial for the successful completion of the reorganization of basic and secondary education levels.
The majority of primary education teachers is of the pension age and should be replaced by young qualified specialists. The reform implies the reorganization of higher pedagogical institutions and improvement their efficiency in research and methodological activity.
The Ministry of Education and Teacher Training Institutes should ensure the following:
Definition of the content for elementary education, optimization of standards and creation of new curricula and textbooks on the basis of new methodology and technology.
Provision of children from disadvantaged families with free textbooks; The Presidents Foundation delivered textbooks free of charge to schoolchildren throughout Georgia.
According to the Law on Education, "education is equally guaranteed to all". Nevertheless, a number of children are left out of school. They come from the most disadvantaged families and homeless children. The State should ensure the equal right of education for all children of the school age despite their social background. The expenditure should be allocated in the state budget. Allocation of 10% of the budget intended for the education reforms has still not been executed.
The reform should have a scientific and methodological support. Transformation of the education system and its orientation, based on the human, cultural and general education values of the modern world, requires creation of new methodologies in pedagogical sciences and practice, conduction of fundamental research in this direction. Need to renew the education contents requires the formation of the contents of subjects based on systemic, synchronic, didactic and other generally established human principles, conduction of research for creation text-books, methodological systems and etc.
The conception of moral, aesthetic, physical and labor education should be elaborated. The training process methodology and content should be harmonized with elaboration of education ways and methods. Teaching and education complex technological system should be based on unified principles of pedagogical process.


Allen D. Glenn
Strategies for teaching social studies and the arts through integrated thematic units of curriculum and instruction. Prerequisite: elementary TEP student.
After completing the course you will be able to: (1) identify the core learning outcomes for social studies education; (2) develop strategies to integrate social studies learning into the school curriculum; and (3) develop instructional strategies appropriate for a diverse group of students. We focus on three core questions: (1) What is social studies? (2) What is taught in elementary social studies? And (3) what are appropriate instructional strategies? During the course you will be asked to read the text and related materials, participate in instructional activities designed to illustrate a pedagogical strategy for teaching social studies, develop lessons, critique each otherís work, and participate in on-line discussions. You will need access to the Internet. If you do not have a personal computer, the College has a computer lab on the fourth floor of Miller Hall. During your school placement you will also be asked to talk with your teacher about units and lesson plans in social studies, examine one or more teaching units, and explore how technology is being used in the classroom.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Lectures, small group work, micro teaching, and threaded on-line discussions will be used in the course.
Course is for elementary education majors in the College of Education.
Class assignments and grading
Four assignments: (1) Teacher led presentatioin; (2) Concept lesson; (3) Inquiry lesson; and (4) Final examination.
(1) Grades received on four assignments; (2) Attendance and participation in class activities; and (3) Professional conduct


As a new mother, I want to support my babyâ€™s cognitive development, which includes four increasingly sophisticated stages of mental representation that a child passes through on her way to an adult level of intelligence. If I can find a method to improve her cognition, I will go for it without hesitation.
That is why when I heard the cognitive advantage in relation to bilingual children, I immediately did some research, digging through a bunch of academic papers, and here is what I found.
Does bilingualism help a childâ€™s cognitive development? This issue has been a hotly contested debate over the decades among language researchers, educationalists, psychologists and sociologists.
Early studies believed bilingualism had detrimental effects on childrenâ€™s cognitive development, such as weaker linguistic skills, mental confusion, lower IQ scores, academic retardation, and etc.
Under the scrutiny of contemporary scientists, these previous studies turned out to be problematic, due to their poor methodology, for example, not taking into account such vital factors as socio-economic status, age, gender, school history and etc.
It was not until the early 1960s a turning point was reached in the way that bilingualism and its positive effects on cognition were viewed. Several studies lend support to bilingual children demonstrate higher levels of meta-linguistic awareness, which involves the ability to think flexibly and abstractly about language, and thus have higher abilities to analyze linguistic input.
Moreover, research appears to suggest a positive relationship between bilingualism and a wide range of other cognitive measures, including superior performance on concept formation tasks (Bain, 1974), enhanced ability to restructure perceptual solutions (Balkan, 1970), stronger performances in rule discovery tasks (Bain, 1975), greater verbal ability and verbal intelligence (Bruck, Lambert, and Tucker, 1974; Hakuta, 1986; Weatherford, 1986), precocious levels of divergent thinking and creativity (Cummins & Gulutsan, 1974; Bamford and Mizokawa, 1991), and higher levels of cognitive development at an earlier age reached by bilingual children than their monolingual peers (Hamayan, 1986).
Besides, a bilingualâ€™s unique access to two cultures enables them a wider range of perspectives and experiences than monolinguals, enhancing the possibility they think from different points of view.
Overall, with increasing attention to testing criteria and content, in more recent years scientists have overwhelmingly concluded that bilingualism per se does not have any negative effects on cognition.
Instead, the opposite increasingly appears to be the case; that high levels of bilingualism have accelerating effects on childrenâ€™s cognitive development.
So, I got my information confirmed: bilingual education in early childhood DOES improve babyâ€™s cognitive development. It is a case of one stone and two birds. Why not? Go for it!
P.S. The following papers were used for reference during writing this article and special thanks to the authors:
Lee, P. (1996). Cognitive development in bilingual children: A case for bilingual instruction in early childhood education, Bilingual Research Journal, summer.
Brasier, A. The relationship between bilingualism and the cognitive development of bilingual children, retrieved from world wide web: http://www.lib.nifs-k.ac.jp/HPBU/annals/an21/21-71.pdf on April 13, 2009.
Akbulut, Y (2007). Bilingual acquisition and cognitive development in early childhood: challenges to the research paradigm, Elementary Education Online, 6(3), 422-429.
How babies acquire languages?
Stages of babyâ€™s language acquisition
How children acquire second languages?
Stages of childrenâ€™s second language acquisition
Never too early to learn second tongue
Being bilingual boosts brain power
More resources on bilingualism and its effects
Why my baby isnâ€™t talking yet?


Here are some ideas for promoting literacy development at home with young children:
- Read at least one book together daily.
- Look for, point out, and read street signs.
- Look for familiar logos.
- Have conversations with your child during family routines: meals, bath time, dressing, shopping, eating out, special events. Be sure to comment, add details or ask questions on a variety of topics.
- Play word games like “I spy something red,” or “I’m thinking of something round,” or “I’m thinking of an animal that lives in the forest.”
- Write letters together to a friend. Put in special pictures your child has drawn.
- Save familiar logs from boxes, napkins, magazines and create a collage.
- Come together as a family and have individual reading time
- Sing songs and recite poems together.
- Use print during the day to communicate to your child by leaving simple handwritten notes.
- Emphasize how you use print through your day. For example, if you write a note to remind yourself to perform a task, say in front of your child, “I need to write a note so I won’t forget to go and get the dry cleaning today.”
Reorganize books on shelf, group by size or color – to spark interest.
- Model and point out the reading you do in everyday activities, newspapers, recipes, notes.
- Try group story telling, have a person start the story and then “throw” it to another person to continue the story, keep passing it on.
- Retell familiar stories and change the ending or add on to the problem in the story.


Advisor(s) - Committee Chair
Dr. Nedra Atwell (Director), Dr. Margaret Maxwell, Dr. Janet Applin
Doctor of Education
As school districts work to utilize instructional time, student behavior is often a huge hindrance to maximizing instruction. In 2001 while at the University of Oregon, Horner and Sugai created Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS), now utilized in over 7,000 schools throughout the country (Sugai & Horner, 2002). This program is provided to schools throughout Kentucky through a federal grant extended to the Kentucky Center for Instructional Discipline (KYCID).
This study analyzed PBIS in an elementary school in southwest Kentucky, McNabb Elementary, to measure the effect of PBIS on student discipline referrals and attendance. Referrals were evaluated from 2006-2012, to provide longitudinal data over time. Results of the study indicated that PBIS had a significant effect on discipline referrals within the school. Student attendance percentages also were gathered for a timespan of six years from McNabb Elementary. Results suggested that PBIS did not have a significant effect on attendance during the 2006-2012 school years. Future research of PBIS in Kentucky would be beneficial. Analysis of referral data bridging from elementary to middle school would provide extensive data for districts that have implemented PBIS. Also, a comparison of attitudes and satisfaction of parents of students who have participated in a PBIS program for at least three years would enlighten districts on parents’ evaluation of PBIS.
Educational Administration and Supervision | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Elementary Education and Teaching
Ross, Gregory E., "The Effects of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support on Student Discipline Referrals and Attendance" (2012). Dissertations. Paper 30.


Does your community playground look more like urban scaffolding than a nature setting? This is the case for most of us and is one symptom of a problem defining a national movement to reconnect children with nature. The lack of access to nature, or “nature deficit disorder,” is at the root of this movement. Many child development experts believe that failure to connect with nature combined with the proliferation of technology toys is responsible for a range of childhood epidemics from obesity to learning disorders. The problems and solutions have been documented in books like Richard Louv's "Last Child in The Woods" and by organizations like childrenandnature.org.
In response to feedback from child development experts, John Ogden's commercial playground company Progressive Design Playgrounds (PDPlay) recently launched a line of natural playgrounds called Outdoor Learning Environments that incorporates nature into play.
John, who's buying your products?
PDPlay's clients include park and recreation departments, real estate developers, homeowner associations, cities, churches school districts, PTA groups, private schools, day care centers and government agencies. In the last year, we have seen a marked increased in orders from child development centers for our line of natural playgrounds.
Does getting back to nature cost more?
Not necessarily. There are numerous things an organization can do to incorporate nature into their existing playgrounds to reap the benefits of natural play. One could even argue that natural playgrounds are more cost efficient than traditional play structures because they offer the most play value. Play value is measured by a play elements ability to hold a childs' attention. The best play spaces have the right mix of natural and physical play elements to attract and engage children.
How do you innovate?
We start with what we want for the children and work backwards. Options include physically challenging play, dramatic play, interactive play, cause and effect stations, motor skill development, art areas, and planting areas. In most cases, a natural playground should involve a combination of the above. The most important thing is that a playground should not be a drop in place solution. This quickly becomes boring for children. We work with our clients to create an imaginative play space where the children will want to stay and play and return often.
What other industries could benefit from getting back to nature?
There is no short answer to this question! Childhood development experts believe that in order for children to fully reap the physical, emotional and educational benefits of nature, it must be a part of their everyday lives. Putting natural playgrounds into schools and communities is a step in the right direction, but it is not the end solution. The movement to reconnect with nature is focused on children because they are in such a critical stage of their development. That said, adults, particularly in urban environments, are experiencing the same disconnect. We also work with businesses and universities to create outdoor seating areas and peaceful outdoor spaces because adults can also reap the benefits of natural spaces.
What are some solutions parents can deploy on their own?
There are many things parents can do to bring nature into the lives of their children. Most are simple and require little or no financial investment including bringing natural elements into the home, scheduling weekend excursions to the woods, the lake or the beach, or simply taking a walk around the block. When you live in the city, like I do with my two young girls, it requires a little extra effort. We created a small herb garden and my daughters are responsible for caring for it. The simple act of caring for and watering a plant teaches them the important lesson of cause and effect in nature and the environment.
What's next for your company?
We plan to continue the momentum of Outdoor Learning Environments by expanding our product line so that it is more accessible to smaller educational centers. We are also working with more higher education facilities to offer natural environments like shaded seated areas. In the 21st century nature has become a destination for children and adults. We see a great business opportunity in working with all of types organizations to change this and bring nature back into our everyday lives. In doing so, children, adults, businesses, communities and ultimately the environments benefits.
To Visit PDPlay.com: Click Here
To follow PD Play on Twitter: Click Here


Just a few short years ago, the Chairman of the UK’s National Radiological Protection Board, Professor Sir William Stewart, warned that the evidence of potentially harmful effects of mobile phone use were gaining increasing credibility. A study in Sweden had shown that heavy phone users were more prone to developing non-malignant tumors in the ear and brain and the Dutch suggested that mobile phone use could change cognitive function. Others still reported evidence of cell damage and cancer.
Caution was advised, although he recognized at the time that the claims of health risks were in need of verification. A couple of years later, a large study appeared to suggest that such health fears were completely without grounds, but researchers were cautious about dismissing the fears altogether. And this claim game has continued ever since with one side telling us to avoid mobiles or suffer the consequences and the other claiming that the evidence points to there being no danger at all.
Ignorance is Bliss
It would seem that the vast majority are either ignoring the nay-sayers or are actively listening to those who tell us not to worry, worldwide sales of mobile devices stood at over a billion units in 2009 and that figure looks set to increase in 2010 (according to global IT research company Gartner). But with the young and old particularly vulnerable to any inherent dangers that may be posed by mobile technology, a recent survey of 1,400 parents undertaken by gadget retailer Prezzybox.com has shown that caution really is being thrown to the wind.
Parents revealed that 63% of youngsters under ten years of age owned a portable phone. Those parents who gave in and bought their young offspring a device cited constant pressure (Simpsons-style) as their reason for doing so while others said they felt safer knowing that their little darlings were always within communicative reach. In a remarkably stand-off (or perhaps just a trusting) attitude towards parenting, 54% also admitted to not monitoring phone use in any shape or form. Some parents resisted the constant whining though, stating that such things were unnecessary for children so young and 7% admitted taking at least some notice of the nay-sayers, being concerned about potential health risks.
Furthermore, a year-long study by Coventry University of cellphone habits amongst youngsters may have you all ROFL – contrary to popular belief, it seems that regular text messaging actually has a positive role in literacy development. Text-speak, according to researcher Clare Wood, is “a valuable form of contact with written English for many children, which enables them to practise reading and spelling on a daily basis”.
Where Does That Leave Us?
While uncertainty about the health risks of extended mobile phone usage continues to rage, with those spouting the benefits and the dangers churning out data to support each case in seemingly equal measures, we’re left to consider the smartest way to deal with such issues in the absence of majority agreement.
Do we limit access to technology for those potentially at risk by way of “just in case” protection? Do we, in common with the 63% of parents in the Prezzybox study, just give in and let technology run riot amongst the young? Or is there some middle ground we can all happily inhabit until science makes its mind up?


Imagine the reaction of a parent who asks: "Is my child ready for first grade?" What would they say to the seemingly simple inquiry, "Can he skip down the street?"
Adults don't skip. Other than while holding the hand of a young child, we would all be hard pressed to say we have seen an adult skipping down the street. Clearly, it is not a motor skill that children will use later in life, but for a young child skipping is imperative.
This playful method of movement is actually a great predictor for a child's later comfort with fine motor and visual motor skills. Bob Sornson, founder of the Early Learning Foundation, identifies fluid skipping as one of four necessary movement goals for all students by the end of kindergarten. His list of goals that indicate early learning success follow:
In some ways, we all agree with him, perhaps without realizing it. For example, we can agree that the body was designed to move. Anyone who has young children will tell you how much they need to move. Parents, just think of every time you have ever said "sit still."
The bottom line is that movement, from the crawling of a baby to the skipping of a 5 year old, is an important predecessor to a child's brain growth and development. Most parents understand that crawling is an important cross lateral movement that improves communication between the two sides of the brain. Likewise, physical activity in early childhood develops brain-body coordination that lays the foundation for cognitive brain wiring yet to come. Indeed, such motor skills serve as catalysts for the development of listening, speaking, attention, emotional control, and visual motor and visual thinking skills.
In the progression and the development of sensory motor skills, optimal readiness for school is built on balance and gross motor skills. Those fundamental skills need to be obtained for later skills to develop - skills such as visual memory that help young students remember sight words, or skills such as visualization that allows us to comprehend abstract concepts.
All of this is to say that learning and movement are intrinsically tied together.
For young children, movement is the key to joyful learning. Movement increases blood flow and brings more oxygen to the brain. Indeed, a student before second grade can only pay attention for 10 minutes before needing to move in some way. The child who is fidgeting is sending a clear message that (s)he needs to move. Being asked to sit still at a desk might make it impossible to concentrate when the body needs to move.
Research agrees, young children need to move. Even the NFL has adopted a campaign to encourage physical activity in children for at least 60 minutes every day. Daily physical education classes meet this goal. It allows children the exercise and cardiovascular fitness to keep the blood moving and oxygen pumping in the brain. It is a different way to think about the whole child when we think about early childhood education.
What is a parent to do? Consider if you will that to sit still and be productive, your child might need to have an opportunity to move first. If you want your 6-year-old to sit for an hour, physical exercise ahead of time will help and the opportunity to move even in small ways every 10 minutes will make a world of difference.
Linda Krulock graduated from West Liberty State College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education and early childhood. She teaches senior kindergarten at Wheeling Country Day School. Elizabeth Hofreuter-Landini is head of school at Wheeling Country Day. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard University Graduate School of Education.


Date of Award
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Middle and Secondary Education
Patrick K. Freer
The purposes of this study were (a) to explore the individualized meanings of creativity of students within choral ensembles; and (b) to identify the effects that teachers’ perceptions and classroom environment have on helping students shape the meaning of creativity. The study took the form of the Explanatory Sequential mixed methods design of Creswell and Plano Clark (2011). The first phase of research was a survey administered to middle/high school chorus students (N = 314) and middle/high school chorus teachers (N = 11). Participants were selected from 6 middle schools and 5 high schools across 3 different school districts in the southern United States. The Measures of Creativity Perceptions Assessment survey was researcher-created and validated by an earlier pilot study. It consisted of Likert-scaled questions measuring the importance of purposes of music education and frequency of certain musical topics address in class. Participants also rated their perceptions of how they found certain activities to be creative, as well as how much student input and musical decision making were present in chorus class. Findings showed that most students found their chorus class to contain creative activities. They were unable to explain through which activity creativity occurred. Findings from the quantitative survey helped to form a qualitative second phase, including teacher interviews and student focus groups. 2 teachers were interviewed. 2 focus groups were conducted, comprised of 4 students from each of the interviewed teachers (total of 8 students across the 2 focus groups). Qualitative findings suggested that middle school students viewed creativity differently inside chorus than they did in general. This likely came from the influence of their teacher as well as a process-oriented view of creativity. High school students had traditional understandings yet noted that creative activities, like improvisation and composition, were absent from their chorus classes. Teacher participants stated that they felt unconfident in leading such lessons, and were most affected by their undergraduate professors. Implications include additional focus on creativity in undergraduate music teacher preparation programs. This would also address the recent revision of the music education national standards. Further research involving student perceptions of creativity is necessary.
Langley, David W., "Students' and Teachers' Perceptions of the Engagement of Creativity in Secondary Choral Ensemble Classes." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2014.


Employers throughout the UK are to be asked to take part in a major new project to improve numeracy skills in the workplace. The National Numeracy Challenge aims to reach a million adults over a five-year period, concentrating initially on those at work, but with plans to expand into areas beyond the workplace and so reach those not in employment or education.
The project is being launched by National Numeracy, the charity set up in March to combat the UK’s low levels of numeracy and negative attitudes to maths and numeracy. At its launch, National Numeracy highlighted government figures showing that 17 million people of working age in England had at best the numeracy skills expected of children at primary school; over 8 million of these adults had the skills expected of 7-9 year-olds or younger. The equivalent figures for literacy are 5 million and 2 million respectively.
Employers will be asked to sign up to the National Numeracy Challenge, making a commitment to raise the skills of all their employees to at least Level 1 (roughly equivalent to the standards expected of 14-year-olds). In some sectors, employers may feel that Level 2 (equivalent to GCSE A*-C) is a more appropriate target.
Employers will be offered a low-cost diagnostic tool to assess the initial skills and measure the progress of everyone taking part. They will also have access to a suite of online resources and advice on personalised learning in the workplace, at college or in the community. The scheme is due to go live next spring.
National Numeracy chair Chris Humphries said:
All employers know what a massive problem we have with numeracy in this country. We are now asking them and their employees to commit time and effort to doing something about it. This is a radical move and one that is urgently needed if the UK is not going to sink further behind its competitors .
Poor numeracy is a blight on individuals’ life chances and we believe that employees will be as keen as their employers to improve their skills. With 17 million people in need of help, this is just the beginning. Our initial targets are actually quite modest, but we are in this for the long term.
The Challenge is being developed in partnership with a group of other organisations, including the CBI, TUC Unionlearn and Business in the Community (BITC). Work is starting immediately on developing a full specification of ‘the essentials of numeracy’ required by everyone and a user-friendly and reliable diagnostic tool.
CBI director-general John Cridland said: “Having a good standard of numeracy is one of the essential basic skills that employers look for when recruiting, and it is equally important for everyday life, so we fully support the National Numeracy Challenge.”
TUC general secretary designate Frances O’Grady said: “We are delighted to support the National Numeracy Challenge. Union learning representatives up and down the country are already working hard with colleagues to improve their numeracy – these are skills that are essential if all of the UK’s workforce is to achieve its full potential.”
Steve Holliday, chief executive of National Grid plc and chair of BITC’s talent and skills leadership team, said: “Numbers are necessary, even essential, at work and in everyday life – you can’t say ‘they’re not for me’. If you find them challenging, then you need to be brave and ask for help. The National Numeracy Challenge will encourage people - with the support of their employers - to do just that.”
The Challenge will also tackle negative attitudes to maths and numeracy. National Numeracy points out that being numerate goes beyond simply ‘doing sums’; it means having the confidence and competence to use numbers and think mathematically in everyday life. It helps people manage their personal and social lives as well as increasing opportunities at work. The message is that – with the right support and encouragement – anyone can develop the skills they need. There is no excuse for a ‘can’t do’ attitude. Further details of the impact of low numeracy can be found in 'what the research says' and 'facts-and-figures'.
As well as starting in the workplace, National Numeracy will work with the adult education sector – the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), together with colleges, other training providers and community learning groups - to ensure that the Challenge is open to anyone already involved in learning. And after the initial phase, it is planned to extend the Challenge to harder-to-reach groups, through involving, for example, those working with job seekers, people on benefits and offenders.


- Discovery Education -- Contact Ms. Bianco for access code
Discovery Education streaming is a digital video-based learning resource from Discovery Education. With streaming video, educators gain on-demand access to 50,000 content-specific segments from 5,000 full-length educational videos.
- Kappa Delta Pi: International Honor Society in Education: Teacher Resources
KDP-recommended web sites, books, journals, and articles on hot topics in education
- Smithsonian Education -- Resources for Educators! Lesson plans, online activities, field trip planning and more.
- Discovery Education: Explore the Blue -- Explore the Blue has a variety of K-5 resources designed to inspire students to get outside and become a future conservationist, from standards-aligned cross-curricular lesson plans and streaming video to a U.S. Habitat Map.
- International Reading Association: ReadWriteThink -- standards-based lesson plans and reviewed Web resources for K-8 educators and students.
- National Geographic Education: Teacher Homepage
- Science NetLinks - Resources for Teaching Science
- Council of Economic Education: EconEdLink - Economics & Personal Finance Resources for K-12
- Literacy Network - Thinkfinity Literacy Network delivers free, top-quality online educational resources for literacy instruction and lifelong learning for adults and family literacy programs. The content on TLN strengthens literacy development, creativity and critical thinking skills for success in the 21st Century.
- The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: Connect, Create: Educators
- Smithsonian's History Explorer - Your gateway to innovative, standards-based online resources for teaching and learning American history, designed and developed by the National Museum of American History.
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: Illuminations - Resources for Teaching Math
- National Endowment for the Humanities: EDSITEment! - Explore lesson plans by subject: Art & Culture, Foreign Language, History & Social Studies, and Literature & Language Arts
- Thinkfinity Teacher Resources -- contains more than 55,000 authoritative educational and literacy resources for teachers, students and community programs including standards-based K-12 lesson plans, student materials, interactive tools and web sites.
- Wonderopolis: Camp What-A-Wonder: Wonder of the Day - Create. Laugh. Imagine. Explore. Learn. Smile. Grow. Wonderopolis is a place where wonder and learning are nurtured through the power of discovery, creativity and imagination.
- The Learning Network: Grades 3-12 (The New York Times) -- This URL connects to the archive of daily lesson plans posted over the past two years at the New York Times Learning Network.
- Starfall.com -- a free public service to motivate children to read with phonics. Our systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL).
- GlobalSchoolNet.org -- Provides online opportunities for teachers to collaborate, communicate, and celebrate shared learning experiences.
- Discovery School -- Free teachers resources from Discovery Education
- Scholastic (children's publishing, education and media company) -- lesson plans, online activities, teaching strategies
- TeachersFirst -- A collection of lessons and web resources for K-12 classroom teachers, their students, and families. Materials are arranged by subject area and grade level.
Other links to explore:
- Musicals101.com -- Grades 7 - 12 Widely recognized as an expect on musical theater, Musicals 101.com creator John Kenrick was a producer and manager on Braodway in the 1980s and 1990s.
- AASL (American Association of School Librarians) 2011 Conference: Get Reading @ Your Library: Promote Reading without Competition, Extrinsic Rewards or Prizes
Teachers and interns contact Ms. Herward to share your favorite lesson plan sites.
Created by Linda Herward October 12, 2011
Contact Benoni Outerbridge at email


Jump-start your child's learning and literacy development with Little Bookworms, a program in which 4-6 year old children discover the world of books, while developing early literacy skills through a meaningful, hands-on approach. Little Bookworms will help your child develop skills that reading research demonstrates enhance emerging literacy, including oral language, comprehension, phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and print awareness.
Little Bookworms will build your child's skills through developmentally appropriate, engaging and fun activities with the ultimate goal of creating a lifelong love of reading and learning!
***Build the foundation for reading and writing with Little Bookworms!***


*American Academy of Pediatrics Literacy Toolkit is a Web-based resource that offers strategies and tools teachers can use to encourage families to read with their children. The site includes handouts in Spanish and English, information about selecting quality books, book lists, and links to other literacy resources in a variety of languages.
The Council for Exceptional Children’s Family Page offers resources, information on relevant publications, and links for families relating to children with special needs.
Disabilities—Working with Families, is a collection of resources from Head Start’s Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center. It offers information both for teachers engaging with families of children with special needs, and on relevant parenting practices for teachers to share with families.
Especially for Parents, from the U.S. Department of Education, provides numerous resources educators can share with parents, including a tool kit for Hispanic families.
Family Communications Resources for Parents, founded by Fred Rogers, helps families talk to their children about thoughts, feelings, and concerns. Offers a variety of articles on topics ranging from fears, the environment, angry feelings, moving, and more.
For Families, from NAEYC, offers resources and information to support families in their early childhood education and parenting needs.
The For Parents page of Head Start’s Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center offers a variety of resources and information for families, as well as learning games and activities.
Healthy Children, a parenting site from the American Academy of Pediatrics, offers a wealth of information about children’s health and safety at different stages of life.
National Center for Family Literacy offers information, research, and statistics on literacy, resources for teachers and families, a newsletter, projects, and links to community programs.
Parents as Teachers is a parent education and family support program serving families throughout pregnancy until their child enters kindergarten. The website offers a program locator, parenting tips, a free newsletter for parents, book lists, and links.
Reading Is Fundamental’s Parents Page offers information for families, organized by children’s age levels. Includes tips to build children’s literacy skills and a variety of online resources.
Right Choice for Kids was created by NAEYC to inform families about the importance of high-quality early childhood education programs for young children. The site includes news, videos, resources, and a database parents can use to find NAEYC-Accredited programs.


Page updated April, 2008 - Marvin Bartel
Recently, in my Art for Children class, a college course for elementary education majors, a student came to me very sadly relating how much she felt cheated by the lack of art instruction she had received in her elementary school. When she was in elementary school she had very much wanted to learn to draw. Her teachers dismissed it by telling her it was not very important. Her experience, unfortunately, is not an isolated case. About 40 percent the elementary schools in the US do not have art teachers. Some areas of the country have much better schools.
The above student grew up in Elkhart, IN. The good news is that the Elkhart Schools, in 2000-2001, added Elementary Art Teachers. Elkhart, IN, children now have art teachers. However, other schools in our area have discontinued art teachers in their elementary schools.
The Arts Education Partnership Critical Links page reports on four visual arts studies showing the benefits of art programs.
Keep Arts in Schools web site
. . students have experienced significant advances in achievement and
student growth as the arts have become infused in the curriculum."
This site has well written explantions of how the arts influence brain development.
Americans for the Arts
This Web Page has a link to a PDF file that gives the data on the higher SAT scores for students enrolled in the arts (including music).
"No Arts Left Behind" by Rita Goldman,
© 2005, Centerpiece Magazine
Maui Arts & Cultural Center
Goldman relates the problems with No Child Left Behind and goes on to cite examples of how the arts are facilitating learning.
“In all my years of teaching science, last year was the absolute best, because I finally integrated art into the curriculum. . . . If you don’t integrate art, you are doing them a great disservice. -- Maggie Prevenas at Kalama Intermediate School in Makawao, Hawaii
Five Habits of Creative Families is an essay that searches for good parenting practices by iterviewing the winners of Sholastic contests and their parents.
Less than half of the nation's 8th graders are being taught the arts
National assessments in the arts are infrequent.
National Assessment of Educational Progress in arts education (visual
art, music, theatre, and dance) studied the general population of 8th
across the country and found that students are not achieving at high
in responding to, performing or creating works of art. However, NAEP
that students receiving classroom arts
instruction outperformed other students
and that instruction increased all of their arts abilities, including the
ability to create works of quality that communicated complex ideas and
feelings - a fundamental communication skill in contemporary society.
less than half of the nation's 8th graders are being taught the arts.
benefits of an arts education are being denied American students."
The National Center for Educational Statistics offers the 1997 report. ( 958KB)
Chapter 4 - Creating and Responding in Visual Arts: A Close Look at the NAEP 1997 Visual Arts Assessment as a pdf downloadable file.
Better Test Scores Through Arts Education
Read a copy of a letter to a school administration related to whether or not to employ elementary art specialists.
Research you can use
Cornett lists 11 studies that show the benefits of arts education.
Cornett, Claudia. Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts: An Integrated Resource for Classroom Teachers, 2nd Ed., © 2003, Pearson Education, N. Jersey. Merrill Prentice Hall. see page 8. Sorry, no link. This is a book - remember libraries and bookstores?
NAEA the National Art Education Association
Advocacy Kits and Links
TeacherArtExchange is a place for art teachers to share ideas, questions, and ideas.
How Important are the Arts in our Schools? by Marvin Bartel. This essay responds to an April 13, 1999, front page article in the Goshen News about budget cuts in the Goshen Community Schools.
All rights reserved. © Marvin Bartel - 2000, 2005, 2008
Thanks for your visit. Contact Marvin Bartel
Art and Learning


Mr. Mahoney's website
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FUN science websites
6. Science games at Kaboose
7. Yucky Fun at Discovery
11. Hundreds of science links (K12 in Rhode Island)
12. Zoom Science (pbs)
16. Science for kids
19. Brain Pop
20. Biographies of some people who loved science as kids
There are three domains of science
Physical sciences: Energy and matter have multiple forms and can be changed from one form to another. As a basis for understanding this concept. Light has a source and travels in a direction.
Life sciences: Adaptations in physical structure or behavior may improve an organism’s chance for survival.
Earth sciences: Objects in the sky move in regular and predictable patterns.
Investigation & Experimentation


With music and art classes facing cuts by schools forced to deal with budget shortfalls, BoardBuzz has commented frequently on the importance of arts education. One fact we often hear cited by supporters of music education is that it improves math scores but maybe that’s the wrong way to look at it. Renowned jazz musician Wynton Marsalis says instead that math classes help people with music. A strong proponent of arts education, Marsalis speaks often about the value of music education in our schools. In his 2009 address before a Congressional Committee on Arts Advocacy Day, he says “music is Superman” because it integrates everyone, no matter their age or background. In Marsalis’ view a strong education in the arts erases the generation gap and gives kids — and students of all ages — the ability to “converse and face the world with confidence.”
Take a look at this remarkable speech:
Wynton Marsalis will be the keynote speaker at the 2010 NSBA Annual Conference in Chicago on April 11, where he will not only share more thoughts on arts education but also give a special musical performance.


Reading inventory shows SSISD students on track
100 percent of Lamar Elementary second graders at recommended level by end of the year
By FAITH HUFFMAN, News-Telegram News Editor
June 22, 2008 - How well do your first and second graders read? Are there techniques they need a little extra help to master?
At least twice a year, teachers across the state are required to administer tests designed to answer those questions. The Texas Primary Reading Inventory is administered at the beginning and end of the school year to first and second graders to see just how they're doing, how much progress they've made, if they're reaching targeted goals and if they read as fluently as they should.
"It's a diagnostic [tool] where we evaluate their skills and individuals and figure out what they need to work on, who to pull out in small groups for help, things like that," said Connie Mabe, Sulphur Springs Independent School District director of elementary education, who recently presented overall TPRI results to school trustees.
Each test is divided into three parts, phonemic awareness, graphophonemic knowledge and reading comprehension. Phonemic awareness checks how well the student blends word parts and detects initial and final sounds. Graphophonemic knowledge includes initial and final consonant substitution, middle vowel substitution, initial blending substitution and blending in final position. Reading comprehension gauges reading accuracy levels or rate of fluency, and handling of explicit and implicit questions.
Any student rated as "still developing" on any of the three skills areas at the beginning of the school year received accelerated reading intervention with literacy support teachers.
While it may seem redundant to test both at the beginning and end of the school year, there's a definite benefit. Not only does it show current results for new students for whom no data may be available, but it also shows how well the material was maintained over the summer, or if student's reading skills regressed.
According to the data, first graders (not including bilingual students) showed significant gains in reading levels. When the 2007-2008 school year began, only 143 of the 268 first graders tested were "reading at instructional or independent level." At the end of the school year, 255 of the 268 first graders tested had met the mark.
The majority of SSISD second graders -- 240 of the 264 tested -- were already reading at or above a second grade level when the year began. At the end of the year, 245 of the 253 tested (some moved out of the district) were reading at the targeted level.
Lamar Elementary School's second graders and their teachers should be applauded -- all students tested were reading at the recommended level at the end of the year. It was the only SSISD campus to reach 100 percent.
Bilingual students also showed good progress. At the beginning of the year, only 11 of the 47 bilingual first graders tested on both the English and Spanish reading exams were "reading at instructional or independent level." By the end of the year, 36 of the 46 bilingual first graders tested were reading at the recommended level.
Bilingual second graders did a bit better at the beginning of the school year, with 24 of the 36 students (67 percent) taking both tests meeting expectations. At year's end, 31 of the 39 bilingual second graders (80 percent) tested had met the recommended standards.
Other data show SSISD first graders did better at meeting fluency standards than second graders. Overall, 117 of the 268 first graders tested were able to read 60 or more words per minute by the end of the school year. Only 67 of the 253 second graders tested were able to read 90 or more words fluently per minute.
"Fluently" is an important consideration, because there's more focus on comprehending groups of words -- sentence, paragraphs, etc. -- for second graders, Mabe said. In essence, second graders in the spring are introduced to harder stories with more difficult questions.
"The stories have more difficulty," Mabe noted. "It helps with their level of comprehension if what they are reading is not broken down into individual words and pieces of words, or fragments, instead of whole sentences."
The scores help determine which students need more instruction in summer school.
"A lot digress in the summer," Mabe said. "Maybe they don't pick up books to read. This will help them."
The curriculum is designed to begin preparing the students for the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test they will be required to take during spring of following year as third graders.
At the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year, third grade teachers will look at the data for each second grader and conduct another student assessment to decide which students need additional help from reading intervention teachers.


Insights from Piaget
According to Piaget, a striking difference between infant and preschooler cognition is the ability to use symbolic thinking, which involves the use of words, gestures, pictures, or actions to represent ideas, things, or behaviors. Similar to motor skill development, the ability to symbolize occurs in gradual steps and is dependent on interactions with other persons and objects in the environment. As monumental as symbolic thought might be, Piaget referred to the cognitive development between ages 2 and 6 as preoperational thought. Due to the constraints of preoperational thought, preschoolers' first symbolic concepts are not as complete or as logical as are those of older children and adults; thus they are referred to as preconcepts. An illustration of a preconcept used by preschoolers is overgeneralization. Young children know, for example, that whoever walks on two legs, is tall (according to the standards of young children), and speaks in a deep voice belongs to a particular class of persons (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). The English word they learn for this class of persons is usually Daddy; the Hindu term is Bapu, and the Xhosa (South African) word is Tata. So when young children use the terms Daddy Papal Bapul Tata, or other linguistic variations to refer to all men, they are demonstrating the ability to use preconcepts. The same classification ability is demonstrated when English-speaking preschoolers call dogs, cows, and horses, doggies. Besides calling all men by the term their culture uses for father and using one term to distinguish all large, four-legged animals, young children have difficulty in distinguishing specific members of a species from each other. This inability is evident in a young child who has seen a kitten down the street thinking another kitten seen in another place is the same one (Elkind, 1976).
It is the nature of young children to be egocentric in their thinking. To say that preschoolers' thinking is egocentric simply means that young children have an excessive reliance on their own point of view, coupled with a corresponding inability to be objective. By and large, young children tend to focus on one feature or perspective at a time. Their tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation to the exclusion of all others is called centration. Preschooler egocentrism shows up in young children's inability to share their toys, a fact that parents often fail to understand. Because parents frequently do not comprehend the limitations of young children's logic, they tend to scold them when they refuse to share their toys. The inability to consider two perspectives at once, however, means that very young children are unable to comprehend the concept of sharing. According to Piaget, the reluctance to share does not mean that young children are necessarily selfish. On the contrary, they frequently attempt to comfort others in distress. Their attempts to comfort another child or an adult, however, are likely to come in a distinctly egocentric form such as offering a toy or lollipop. These examples reflect the preschooler's lack of understanding about what might soothe another person as well their egocentric view that what is important to them is also valuable to others. The inability of preschoolers to consider two perspectives simultaneously can also be seen in their failure to conserve matter and volume. The inability to understand that the quantity of matter (such as clay) does not change when the shape changes, or that the volume of water remains the same if it is poured from a short squat glass to a tall narrow glass, is reflected in preschoolers' judgment (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). Where that lack of understanding is likely to show up is if young children are given drinks in different-size containers. The young child is likely to complain that another child has more juice if the other child's glass is taller, even if the amount of juice is the same in both glasses.
What This Means for Professionals
Rather than expressing impatience with preschoolers when they do not share, parents might take their young children's perspective in the matter. Parents can be certain that each child has an identical toy or when noticing that two children are insisting on having the same toy might distract one of the children by offering that child an equally attractive toy. Because preschoolers lack the ability to conserve matter and liquid, parents need to be patient with them when they complain that they have less lemonade than the other children whose glasses are taller (even though they are narrower). Instead of providing a logical explanation to the prelogical preschooler regarding how the width of one glass compensates for the height of the other glass, it is better to take care that glasses chosen for their liquid refreshments are all the same height and width.
© ______ 2009, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.


Blessed Marguerite Bourgeoys Facts
The French religious Blessed Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700) was the founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame, the first religious community for women established in Canada.
Marguerite Bourgeoys was born on April 17, 1620, in Troyes, France, the sixth of 12 children in a pious, middle-class family of comfortable circumstances. She received an elementary education in the neighboring "little schools." In 1640 she came into contact with the Canonesses Regular of St. Augustine of the Congregation of Notre Dame, which later inspired her own foundation. This institute required solemn vows, conformed to the customary stringent regulations that confined nuns within cloister, and educated girls in boarding schools. Bourgeoys joined a pious confraternity of laywomen attached to the convent in Troyes, known as the Extern Congregation, and soon became its president.
Bourgeoys learned about Canada and its religious needs in 1653 when she met the governor of Montreal, Paul de Chomedey de Maisoneuve, during his visit to his sister who was the superior of the Troyes convent. He accepted Bourgeoys' offer of help rather than that of the nuns, whose organization and special apostolate seemed to him unsuited to rough frontier conditions and needs.
Arriving in Montreal on Nov. 16, 1653, Bourgeoys began a varied and laborious, but gratuitous social apostolate among the small French colony. In 1658 she became Montreal's first schoolmistress when she converted an abandoned stable into an elementary school. Later she started schools in and near the island of Montreal, including the city of Quebec. Several of these mission schools— eventually restricted to girls—trained Indian children; she opened a school to train older girls in household arts in 1665. She also trained and arranged marriages for the "daughters of the king, " poor orphans mostly, who had been sent to the predominantly male colony by Louis XIV. Mainly to enlist collaborators in her labors, she returned to France in 1658, 1670, and 1679.
Founding of the Congregation
On her second trip Bourgeoys obtained permission from Louis XIV to establish a group of laywomen, without vows and without cloister obligations, dedicated to educational work and subject to the local bishop. She composed a religious rule for her fledgling congregation, but because of doubts about the permanence of the group and misgivings concerning novel features such as the substitution of simple for solemn vows and the permission to work outside cloister, Bishop Laval of Quebec withheld his formal approval. His successor, Bishop Saint-Vallier, also denied permission but relented in 1698, two years before the founder's death. With this formal acceptance, the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal became the first religious institute founded in Canada.
Among the 24 sisters who pronounced the three vows of religion on this occasion was Bourgeoys, who was henceforth known as Sister of the Blessed Sacrament. Pope Pius XII beatified Marguerite Bourgeoys in 1950. In 1982 she was canonized.
Further Reading on Blessed Marguerite Bourgeoys
A biography of Marguerite Bourgeoys is by Simpson, Patricia CND, co-director of the Marguerite Bourgeoys Centre, Marguerite Bourgeoys and Montreal, 1640-1665 (McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion. Series Two (1997).


A special education teacher often has students with varying learning, mental, physical and emotional disabilities. Teachers whose students have mild to moderate disabilities may work with the children in a regular classroom alongside the classroom teacher. In other situations, the special education teacher may have her own classroom. Some special education teachers teach lessons similar to those of regular education students, while other special education teachers teach students independent living skills.
A special education teacher must have a bachelor’s degree and a state license to teach in any of the states. Certification varies by state and by subject taught. Some states require special education teachers to have training in general studies, such as elementary education, while other states allow special education teachers to have a major in a content area, such as communication arts. As part of the training to become a special education teacher, a student spends at least one semester in the classroom learning the responsibilities of a special education teacher.
Special education teachers must be mindful of the rules and regulations imposed on them and their school district by federal laws, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, IDEA, of 2004. Special education instructors must also protect the privacy of their students under the guidelines of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA. Each special education student in the district has an individualized education plan, or IEP, customized to his disability. The special education teacher serves on the IEP team, along with parents, administrators and other teachers, to see that the IEP’s goals are met.
Resource Room Teacher
The special education teacher’s primary task is to meet each of the goals established in his students’ IEPs. The teacher who works with special education students in a separate classroom creates lessons geared to meet those objectives. The classroom setting, which is sometimes call a resource room, also provides the teacher the chance to work with his students on life skills and behavior modification techniques.
In most instances, IEPs seek to place special education students in regular classrooms as much as possible. In that situation, the special education teacher attends classes with her students. She gives her students modified homework that covers the same topics covered in the daily lessons. The special education teacher may work with small groups of students who may or may not qualify for special education, and she may team-teach the entire class with the regular classroom teacher.
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Sutjiati, Rosemarie (2011) Peran Pendidikan Pra-Sekolah dan Tenaga Pendidik Pendidikan Dasar dalam Pembangunan Karakter Siswa. In: International Seminar on Elementary Education Improving the Quality of Elementary Education to Build a Better Future Generations Character, Januari 2011, Bandung.
Peran Pendidikan Pra-Sekolah dan Tenaga Pendidik Pendidikan Dasar.pdf - Published Version
Globalization brings forth huge changes in the workplace. Profession and work specification become more delicate than ever. Education is responsible in providing qualified human resources to answer those challenges. One of the most important parts of education is character education. Character determines the future of a person, society and nation. A nation fails to pass it core values will most likely to perish. This makes character education the most important responsibility of elementary education in our nation. This paper also examines the role of pre-school education in determining student’s achievement in elementary school and current pre-schools condition in our nation. The findings suggest that first, teacher education, teacher knowledge, skill, competence and integrity positively affect effective learning process including character education and graduate quality. Second, in this nation the participation level to attend pre-school which have positive effect on student’s achievement in elementary school is still very low. The main reasons are because most people didn’t aware yet that pre-school is important and the fee needed to access pre-school is still too high for some people. We need to educate our teachers in order to understand the importance of character education and be able to accomplish it. Strategic plan is also vital to ensure the education development. We also need to socialize pre-school to the society in order to encourage them to bring their children to participate in pre-school education.
|Item Type:||Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)|
|Uncontrolled Keywords:||Teacher, education, elementary school, strategic plan, pre-school.|
|Subjects:||L Education > L Education (General)|
|Depositing User:||Perpustakaan Maranatha|
|Date Deposited:||29 Feb 2012 10:35|
|Last Modified:||29 Feb 2012 10:35|
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Explode the Code, Book 6
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The Explode the Code series provides comprehensive phonics instruction, giving students the skills they need to read words, phrases, sentences, and stories by themselves.
Explode the Code Book 6 provides students with an introduction to -r controlled vowels, silent letters (-igh), and vowel diphthongs. Skills addressed through a variety of encoding, decoding, and writing exercises include: -r controlled vowels (ar, or, er, ir, ur, war, wor), silent letters (-igh), and vowel diphthongs (oo, ea, ie, oi, oy, ou, ow, au, aw). Students will also practice blending sounds to read and write multisyllabic words. Reviews are included throughout.
Softcover consumable workbook. Grades 2-4.
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Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Grade 4, Activity OrangeSusan S. Simpson, Debbie StrayerCommon Sense Press / 2000 / Trade Paperback$16.79 Retail:4.5 Stars Out Of 5 6 Reviews
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LeighNCAge: 45-54Gender: female5 Stars Out Of 5Great daily workbookMay 7, 2012LeighNCAge: 45-54Gender: femaleQuality: 5Value: 5Meets Expectations: 5My children love Explode the Code! I've used the entire series and have been pleased with all the books.
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This is an example of a "beginning of class ritual"
© Marvin Bartel, 2000Age Levels?
This ritual is probably appropriate for any age beginning from grade three through adults in senior citizen homes. Younger children may have some problems with the modeling method and the blind contour drawing methods used, but other parts of the experience work well with younger children. First grade children can begin to do some work from observation, but we need to be content with some "uneven" results.
Outcomes? what is learned?
A writing and drawing tool. Ball-point pens are good.
A piece of clay the size of a large hen egg wrapped in plastic or in a sandwich bag. Do not have it preshaped shaped like an egg.
A six inch square of brown paper (similar to old grocery bags) or anything similar.
A seven inch square "blinder card" or helper card (manila folder or tag board cards with small center holes to place on the ball-point so they can not see the drawing paper as they are drawing)
A wet paper towel to wipe clay off of hands.
A dry paper towel to finish cleaning.
Many examples from art history could be used after the above hands-on experience. Here we see a beautiful 54 inch abstract sculptural interpretation of a bird in flight. It is most appropriate to lead a discussion of works such as this after students have experiences such as the above modeling and drawing ritual. The experience of making and drawing increases the likelihood of intuitive knowing, identification with, and understanding. The imperative for abstraction becomes more a obvious and natural solution. Their experience heightens both their need to know and their ability to know.
Conversely, to have shown the historical
will limit their ownership in their work. Secondly, they will have seen
the object as something to imitate rather than something to know.
they will not have learned to create from their own insights and
of the world. They will be encouraged to be dependent on others and
confident in their own creative facility.
Bird in Space3by Constantin Brancusi
1 Lowenfeld, Viktor and Brittain W. Lambert. Creative and Mental Growth, 6th Ed. 1975 Maclmillan, N.Y. pp. 224-225.
"Two methods of working with clay can be observed. One is that of pulling out from the whole and the other is that of putting single parts together. . . . Pulling clay out from the whole means to have a concept of the total, however vague, from which details will be developed: this method is called the analytic method. The other method . . . . putting single representative symbols together into a whole means the child is building up a synthesis of partial impressions: this method is called the synthetic method.
2 Chapman, Laura H. Approaches to Art in Education. 1978 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, N.Y. p.54
"Changing Habits of Work. . . . The value of learning to 'shift gears' is widely acknowledged."
3Gardner's Art Through the Ages, 5th ed. revised
by de la Croix, Horst and Tansey, Richard G. 1970. Harcourt Brace and
N.Y. p. 720, figure 17-33.
All rights reserved.
Goshen College students may print a copy for their own use. Others must have permission to copy or publish.
Layout and text © 2000See these recently updated Links to many more essays and lessons by the same author
Contact Marvin Bartel
Updated 4 February 2004
Back to Art Rituals in the Classroom Essay
Link to a list of drawing rituals.
See other Art Education Essays by this author
See an example of a List Making Game to get ideas for artwork.
Back to Marvin Bartel Art for Children and Secondary School Art art education home page
Goshen College Home


Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges
A chapter in black-Jewish relations that is not often told.
John Biggers intended to become a plumber.
But when he took a drawing class in 1941 at Hampton Institute, a black college in West Virginia, Biggers' life changed. He went on to become a renowned artist as well as chair of the art department at Texas State University. Biggers' art teacher at Hampton, Viktor Lowenfeld, was one of hundreds of Jewish scholars who fled Germany and Austria with the rise of Nazism, and found refuge in the United States. Lowenfeld left Vienna in 1939, and was hired as a psychology professor at Hampton. He also offered art classes there, and these classes elicited such enthusiastic responses that Lowenfeld eventually founded the college's art department and educated a generation of artists at Hampton and later, at Penn State University.
The unlikely and inspiring encounters between African-American students like Biggers and Jewish refugee professors like Lowenfeld recalls a chapter in black-Jewish relations that is not often told. Gabrielle Simon Edgcomb's book, From Swastika to Jim Crow: Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges (Krieger, 1993) records the story, as did a PBS documentary of the same name (2000) and, in 2009, an exhibit at New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage.
Edgcomb's book counts 53 European Jews who taught at many of the 114 historically black colleges in the American South. The scholars included prominent sociologist Ernst Borinski (Tougaloo College, Mississippi) and political scientist John Herz (Howard University, Washington, DC), both of whom were refugees from Germany. Ten of the scholars were funded by the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars, but younger and lesser-known academics found jobs on their own.
During their teaching careers, the Jewish refugee professors enhanced the reputations of the colleges and introduced new ideas and influential methodologies that have enriched many fields of study. For example, Lore Rasmussen, a refugee from Germany who became associate professor of elementary education at Talladega College, developed the "Miquon Math" series, a hands-on approach to elementary mathematics based on the belief that mathematical insight grows out of observation, investigation, and the discovery of patterns and relationships. Her method is still widely used and available from Key Press.
Many of these refugees' students rose to notable positions: Dr. Joyce Ladner, a graduate of Tougaloo, became the first female president (interim) of Howard University, and Dr. Joycelyn Elders of Philander Smith, became surgeon General of the United States. Like Ladner, many attributed their success partially to the "profound impact" of their professors.
Did you like this article? MyJewishLearning is a not-for-profit organization.


From then on, the imperial civil service examination was abolished and a new education system was set up. Western-style schools, from elementary to higher education, were established and western educational theories, practices and textbooks were introduced. Education on foreign language, science and technology was eagerly sought out. As the modern form of the school system and curricula spread across China, writing and publishing of new-style textbooks for elementary education flourished all over the country.
Traditional textbooks for Chinese elementary students were based on core value and belief systems in Confucianism, such as Three Character Classic (三字經), One Hundred Family Names (百家姓)， Thousand-Character Writing (千字文），Wisdom in Chinese Proverbs （增廣賢文）and Four Books and the Five Classics (四書五經). New textbooks were designed to suit the learning habits of elementary students and the content expanded into science, technology, nature, world knowledge, modern concepts of ethics, etc. Displayed here are just a few samples of these new style textbooks for elementary school students at the end of 19th and early 20 century, selected from the Chinese collection at East Asia library.
Xiu Yaochun (秀耀春, Francis Huberty James, 1851-1900), missionary from Britain, taught in the Imperial University, Peking (京师大学堂). This book is a translation from an unknown English source on teaching methods for elementary students.
最新國文教科書，蔣維喬, 莊俞編纂，上海 : 商務印書館, 光緖30年 Weiqiao Jiang （蔣維喬，1873-1958，influential educator and philosopher. This book covers a wide range of subjects, with lovely pictures and interesting text, quickly became a favorite textbook for elementary school children. It was the first complete set of standardized textbooks in China and had a great impact on Chinese education. The publisher of the book, the Commercial Press (商務印書館), became a major player in this revolutionary educational reform.
澄衷蒙學堂字課圖說，劉樹屏编，[蘇州?]： 澄衷蒙學堂印書處, 光緖31  Liu Shuping (劉樹屏, 1857-1917), the first principle of Chengzhong Elementary school in Shanghai, which was established by Ye Chengzhong (叶澄衷）in 1899. He and his colleagues first wrote this textbook to be used in his school. It covered the basics of natural science, geography, chemistry, astronomy, law, politics, etc. and was widely adapted by many schools across China.
再次改良婦孺新讀本，陳榮袞編，出版不祥，[1900-1903] Ronggun Cheng (陳榮袞, 1862-1922年), influential educator. He was actively involved in the education for children and women, and advocated the use of vernacular Chinese (白話; "plain speech"), a style of writing that is similar to modern spoken Mandarin Chinese in textbooks, instead of classical Chinese or literary Chinese (文言文), a traditional style of written Chinese. This book was his early attempt to use both vernacular Chinese and classical Chinese in the textbook for elementary children and women.
普通最新雑字圖本，王燾，上海：鴻裁書莊付石印，光緒三十二年 （1906） Teaching of English was introduced in the late Qing. This book, published in 1906, has section of Chinese/English commonly used words.


Special PDE featured sites
Directories/Indexes to Resources
ERIC "The new ERIC online system, released September 2004, provides the public with a centralized ERIC Web site for searching the ERIC bibliographic database of more than 1.1 million citations going back to 1966. Effective October 1, more than 107,000 full-text non-journal documents (issued 1993-2004), previously available through fee-based services only, will be available for free."
The Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM)
A consortium effort to provide educators with quick and easy access to the educational materials found on various federal, state, university, non-profit, and commercial sites.
Internet Scout Project
A weekly publication which features new and newly discovered Internet resources, special subject reports, and network tools of interest to researchers and educators.
- A place where teachers and students can connect art and curriculum
Watershed Education Program
Award-winning program offered on the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Web site.
The Foundation Center
The Center offers links, both direct and annotated, to more than 2,000 grantmaker Web sites and a range of informational materials (e.g., program brochures, application procedures, press releases, FAQs, etc.) produced by individual foundations. For the Foundation Directory itself, contact your local library!
PDE Grants Guide
Information on state and federal grants available in the Commonwealth.
Lesson Plans / Teachers Helping Teachers
The Getty's Art Education Web Site. Includes lesson plans, image galleries & exhibitions, student art galleries, etc.
"Ocean sciences Teacher Resource Center".
CEC Lesson Plans
The Columbia Education Center site offers a large number of teacher-submitted lesson plans organized by grade level in five categories (language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and miscellaneous).
Resources for education in the information age, with over 5,000,000 reviewed sites. Includes lists of links to States that have "released Tests or sample questions from their exams....one of the most extensive lists on the Web and updated regularly."
The National Endowment for the Humanities selection of the top humanities sites.
The Engine for Everything Education K-12!
Visual and performing artists in e-Presentations available to schools free of charge.
A library of K-12 resources and lesson plans for teacher use in classrooms, curriculum planning and professional development.
An "interactive curriculum enrichment service" for high school English and History teachers provided by the National Humanities Center.
ClassTrips.Com Comprehensive Directory of class trips & outreach programs to schools that enrich curriculum studies for all grades from early childhood through college. This site includes other teacher resources as well. Sponsored by Family Publications.


A Briefe Introduction to the Skill of Song, C. 1587
When, in 1584, William Bathe, then just a young student at Oxford, published a tract on the teaching of music, his work became the first musical text book to appear in the English language. No copy of this work now exists, but some years later Bathe produced a new version, now called A brief Introduction to the skill of song. In it Bathe sought to present a new, much simpler way to learn music, in open opposition to the traditional approaches of the day, the "manifold and crabbed, confused, tedious rules", as he puts it. This book, a facsimile of Bathe's work, describes musical methods old and new and will be of great interest to musicologists and players of early music. Introduction by Bernarr Rainbow and published in the series ClassicTexts in Music Education.
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