I always love first classes! Thanks for coming and supporting your children in class today. Thank you for singing along and doing the hand actions during class, this helps the students stay focused and builds a musical bond between you and your child. When they see that you enjoy music, they do too!
*Just a reminder for next weekâ¦ 1. Parents donât come this next week, which means totes & bells donât either. Just send your kids in WITH THEIR HOMEWORK and they will be ready 45 minutes later.
2. Remember in 1st year the practice process is all about fun and ongoing practice through play. Forget about the typical rigid "we are now practicing" approach to teaching children music. Put out the bells and let your child play with them. Listen to the music everyday in a natural way. (Bedtime, while in the car, etc.) Once a week, make sure to play with the homework. That's it! It's a piece of cake!
Many activities in the first semester will concentrate on repetitions of certain melodic patterns. The first is MI-RE-DO. We will sing it, do solfege hand signs, play it on the bells, see the notes on the staff, and feel it with our full body! The songs this week that have this pattern in it are: Letâs Play Music, Red Balloon, DO RE MI, Three Blind Mice, Frog in the Middle.
A steady beat is an essential part of becoming a complete musician. We learn to hear, feel, identify and then reproduce a steady beat with every song in Letâs Play Music, but it is specifically addressed this week in Tambourine Train and Echo Ed.
Minor 3rd Interval - helps to sing in tune
Hickety Pickety and Echo Ed are key pieces in learning to match pitch. For a child to play and create music they must be able to hear and then reproduce what was heard. Using the minor 3rd SOL MI and simple rhythmic variations we train the ear to identify what is being heard.
Click HERE to read why ear training is important and why it should be part of your child's music education. Also, we've added the Magic Lamp Coloring book below. Print these two pages out and let your child color the characters as you discuss their favorite part about the puppet show.


Quality inclusive education
Through its development policy and development cooperation, Finland seeks to ensure that opportunities for quality, inclusive and equitable basic and secondary education and lifelong learning are realised for all.
Quality inclusive education is Finlandâs development policy priority to:
- Strengthen the capacities of teachers, schools and education providers to improve learning and learning outcomes. Finland supports structural reforms of education systems in areas such as mother tongue education, teacher education and the strengthening of teachersâ pedagogical competence and professional status. Finland supports the improvement of teaching methods, curricula and the quality of learning materials. Support also focuses on the development of digital pedagogy and innovative and inclusive teaching and learning solutions, with particular attention paid to the needs of students in the most vulnerable positions and to a human rights-based approach. Finland supports education providersâ capacities for mother-tongue instruction, for the teaching of foundational social and emotional skills, and for the assessment of learning. Finland promotes safe and inclusive learning environments that strengthen gender equality. Finland promotes the holistic wellbeing and learning of learners, for example by supporting the provision of school meals and the improvement of water supply and sanitation in schools.
- Support the right to quality inclusive education for girls, children and young people with disabilities and those in the most vulnerable positions. Finland systematically promotes the strengthening of education systems to make them more inclusive and gender transformative. Finland seeks to achieve this by supporting the capacity of education providers and structural reforms, including improving gender equality in curricula and learning materials, enhancing the status of female teachers, improving data collection on students with disabilities and developing learning support systems. Finland promotes comprehensive sexuality education. Support will focus on reducing barriers to learning, increasing girlsâ participation in secondary education and increasing the participation of children with disabilities in basic and secondary education. Finland supports the continuity of education also during crises, through supporting learning opportunities for refugees and access to education and training for young people and adults who have been excluded from educational opportunities. Finland advocates for the protection of education in conflicts.
- Improving youth skills for jobs and life. Finland aims to improve the quality of vocational education and training and higher education so that education and training better meet the changing needs of the labour market. Finland supports cooperation between higher education institutions, and vocational education and training reforms. Finlandâs support focuses in particular on improving opportunities of women, girls and persons with disabilities to learn vocational, entrepreneurship and foundational skills. Finland also supports life skills education and education for sustainable development, both in Finland through global and peace education and in international development cooperation.
Finland facilitates structural reforms of education systems, especially the development of quality basic and secondary education, including vocational education and training. At the same time, Finland improves the right of individuals, especially women and girls, persons with disabilities and persons in the most vulnerable positions, to access quality inclusive education.
Finland aims to strengthen the commitment of partner countries and multilateral actors to quality inclusive education. In concrete terms, Finlandâs objective is that the partner countries allocate more funds to education, especially to basic education. Finland also advocates for increased multilateral funding for education with a focus on equity and the poorest countries. Finland aims to ensure that education policies promote equity, gender equality and inclusive education, improve the status of teachers and the quality and relevance of education. Finland strives to ensure that the duty bearersâ responsibility to promote the right to education and the protection of education in crises is realised.
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Finlandâs development policy priority, quality inclusive education, supports UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 (inclusive and equitable quality education). Quality education that is accessible to all also contributes to the achievement of other Sustainable Development Goals. Education improves opportunities for earning a living and reduces poverty. Education policy can promote equality, non-discrimination and the realisation of human rights. Inclusive education contributes to peaceful and well-functioning societies. Education can facilitate the adoption of knowledge and skills for sustainable development, thereby supporting socially, ecologically and economically sustainable societies.


"What benefit could there be to diverting time and energy to making plinking noises? ... As far as biological cause and effect are concerned, music is useless."
That quote from renowned evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker pretty much sums up the official stance on music in this country. Anybody who has grown up with music knows that's not true, but it's sadly a convenient belief for school boards looking to save money. Over the past six years, since the dawn of the Great Recession, we have seen the quality and quantity of music programs plummet. School districts in Florida, Kansas and Arizona have scaled their programs back to the extreme. In 2009, California diverted $109 million from music programs, resulting in closed music departments across half of California's 10,000-plus public schools. Educators in New York City estimate that up to 85% of public school students have not received adequate musical instruction by the time they reach high school.
The crisis in music education is real. And there's scientific evidence that we're depriving our kids of tremendous cognitive benefits as a result.
Image Credit: woodleywonderworks/Flickr
Even a glance at the science proves these school boards wrong. An epic longitudinal study by researchers at the German Institute for Economic Research concluded in no uncertain terms that music training "improves cognitive and non-cognitive skills more than twice as much as sports, theater or dance." All the way back in 1999, James Caterall, an arts education policy analyst at UCLA, found that students who studied music had higher grades, higher test scores, better attendance records and higher rates of community engagement than other students. We've known empirically for a long time what we've intuitively known for centuries: Music is good for you.
That has a neurological basis too. Mathematics, especially, are aided by music education because it targets a very specific set of brain activity: the development of spatial-temporal reasoning. Highly developed spatial-temporal faculties are imperative for working through solutions to the complex problems in fields such as architecture, engineering, science and, obviously, mathematics â fields that our country desperately needs more children to pursue if we're to remain competitive in a globalized economy. Even more compellingly, UCLA's study found that these benefits were even more pronounced in students from low-income families, proving once again that music education plays a major role in closing the achievement gap. Disadvantaged students who performed with their school band or orchestra were more than twice as likely to be performing at the highest levels of math than peers who did not receive musical training. Turns out there's something to the "math rock" genre after all.
It isn't all math. Music education also does major work on the language-processing parts of our brains. To learn to read, children need to have "good working memory, the ability to disambiguate speech sounds and make quick sound-to-meaning connection," explains professor Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University. "Each one of these things really seems to be strengthened with active engagement in playing a musical instrument." And once again, musical skills are absolutely essential to low-income students for whom English may be a second language â students who might otherwise struggle to keep up with their peers.
All those benefits persist long after a child stops taking lessons. Numerous longitudinal studies show that taking music lessons as a child increases brain plasticity, and can help men and women resist the effects of aging and cognitive decline. If you doubt it, just watch this viral video of a man pulling out of his dementia thanks to a familiar old song.
But music education isn't only about shaping the brain. It helps develop the well-rounded people we most need in our society. Studies have also found that lower-income students who receive high levels of arts engagement are more civic-minded and are more likely to exercise their right to vote, do volunteer work, finish a bachelor's degree and choose a professional career path.
Image Credit: National Endowment for the Arts
That's why we need music education. It doesn't exist in a bubble; it isn't useless. Music gives kids the cognitive abilities they need to succeed in life. Not only that, it closes the achievement gap between classes that has long plagued our schools. It gives kids confidence, cognitive abilities and imagination. Why would you cut that? After all, what better things can an education provide.


Want students to become avid readers? Here are six ways you can use the Reading Journal and Reading Eggs Library to celebrate reading for pleasure in class.
Hereâs how the Reading Journal and Library in Reading Eggs help build a strong reading for pleasure culture in your class.
Is your child struggling with writing? Teach kids how to write with these 11 great tips.
Looking to build a strong reading for pleasure culture in your classroom? Here are our top tips on how to make reading a fun and rewarding activity.
This Reading Eggs Review shows how the program helped a child with ADHD not only learn to read but excel with her learning. The online program engages neurodivergent kids to stay motivated.
In this Reading Eggs review, a homeschooling mother and teacher shares why she loved using the Reading Eggs online program and workbooks as her homeschool curriculum.
Searching for First Nations books for your child? Explore the First Nations series in the Reading Eggs Library by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors, artists, and illustrators.
Our reading and math educational apps make gaining literacy and numeracy skills fun and engaging.


Peace on Earth by Charles Henry Alston
EarthDesk presents this image by Charles Henry Alston to honor our veterans, more than 100,000 of whom will be homeless Christmas Day (EarthDesk, December 24). Alston was a painter, muralist, illustrator and sculptor. A central figure in the Harlem Renaissance Movement, he was also companion to some of the towering musical figures of the day:
I knew Ella Fitzgerald when she was a kid. I went with Billie Holiday to her first recording, and I used to sit in Bessie Smithâs rumble seat when she was going to record . . . I was sitting on [Duke] Ellingtonâs piano when he finished âSophisticated Lady.'â
He created this image while staff artist for the Office of War Information in 1940. More on Charles Henry Alston below.
Charles Henry âSpinkyâ Alston was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 28th, 1907. Early artistic influences included illustrated courtship letters by his father, Reverend Primus Priss, to Charlesâ mother, Anna Miller. Alston also recalled his older brotherâs drawings of cars and trying to copy them. After the death of his father, Alstonâs mother married Henry Pierce Bearden (Romare Beardenâs uncle) in 1913 and the family moved to New York City.
Alston earned a Masters degree in art education from Columbiaâs Teachers College. While still a student, he illustrated album covers for jazz musician Duke Ellington and book covers for poet Langston Hughes. Alston played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance Movement of the period. During the Great Depression, he and sculptor Henry Bannarn directed the Harlem Art Workshop which was funded by the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project.
Alston painted murals throughout Harlem, including depression-era murals as part of the WPA. One of his best-known murals was created by Alston and other Harlem artists for the Harlem Hospital Center. He later taught at the Art Students League and the City College of New York (CUNY).
This biographical information and more can be found at The Art of Charles Alston website.
A 1965 oral history interview with Alston is here.
Wikimedia Commons has an extensive collection of Alstonâs works here.


The Reggio-Emilia approach developed in the Reggio-Emilia area in Northern Italy when educators, parents and children began working together to reconstruct society after World War II. It was under the leadership of philosopher and educator Loris Managuzzi that the Reggio Emilia approached evolved from a parent cooperative movement to a city-run system first, to todayâs
A âletterscapeâ is what I call a landscape drawn with text. More accurately, a letterscape is a form of calligram, a piece of text in which the design and layout of the letters creates a visual image related to the meaning of the words themselves.
Considering how unexceptional snow is around the northern hemisphere, we are left wondering why are winter paintings actually so rare and sparse in Western art. True enough, winter landscapes were virtually absent from the arts until the Late Middle Age. What may seem like a simple matter of taste is actually a fascinating and complex
What is a Calligram poem?
A calligram is a word or piece of text in which the design and layout of the letters creates a visual image related to the meaning of the words themselves.
This Lesson plan includes the history, contemporary use of calligram, as well as examples from different cultures. The practical inquiry encompasses four activities and art explorations.
In the context of art education, Surrealist games can be a useful tool to disinhibit students and unlock their creativity.More so, they are a valuable component of any open-ended art exploration and a wonderful addition to project-based curriculums.
What makes Chagallâs art so special? Ask me, and I would say it is the richness of the imaginary world he built with his art. Of course, he was an outstanding colorist, but I donât believe his works would have been as powerful without the incredible set of characters that he created. His paintings are
Why Chagall? I was thirteen and about to start art school when 150 of Chagallâs painting arrived in Turin for an incredible exhibition of the artistsâ oeuvre. To this day, I remember the guided tour I joined with my parents and the incredible journey we did through Chagallâs art and life: 19th century Russia, the
AKA, how to take one of the least creative bits of art education and make it inspiring. The issue with teaching color theory (most times) While color theory is definitely significant in art practice, the actual argument has arguably more to do with science than with art. This is to say, that color theory classes


Teaching and Parenting styles
Music Teaching Methods
This is a developmental approach to music education that combines music, movement, drama and the spoken word, while tapping in to a childâs innate playful spirit.
The Orff Approach teaches music in four main stages: imitation, exploration, improvisation and finally, composition. First, children use their voice in song and poetry, then they add the body as an instrument (body percussion â clap, stomp, snap, etc), and lastly, instruments are added (xylophones, metallophones, glockenspiels), which are viewed as an extension of the body.
Dalcroze-Eurhythmics was developed to teach rhythm, structure and expression through music and movement. In this method, the body is the first instrument, helping to make the music come alive.
Dalcroze is a rich, deep practice that invites each person to experience music in their own way. It features interactive games and activities to help students trust their ideas and hone their musical intuition.
The KodÃ¡ly Method began in Hungary and is based off of ZoltÃ¡n KodÃ¡lyâs philosophy of education; that everyone is capable of musical literacy when provided with strong, artistic, folk music in their native tongue. Folk music is the music of the people and tells the peopleâs story.
This is a comprehensive method that focuses on the voice as the first, most natural, and most important instrument. The KodÃ¡ly Method emphasizes a love for music, as well as developing a strong inner ear and musicianship skills. As knowledge and skills grow, children proceed in a sequential manner.
SolfÃ¨ge (hand signs) are also commonly used in KodÃ¡ly as a way to show spatial relationships between notes.
Dr. John Feierabend is an American music education researcher, pedagogue and author. He is considered one of the leading authorities on music and movement development.
The Feierabend Approach emphasizes the use of high quality folk songs, as well as classical and traditional music. His approach strives for all people to become tuneful, beatful and artful. His work is committed to collecting, preserving and promoting folk music as a bridge to enjoying and understanding classical music.
The Montessori Method
The Montessori Method is all about encouraging independence and self-sufficiency. Developed by Maria Montessori, she believed that children are infinitely more capable than we think, and that, through observation, a prepared environment and a prepared adult, each child can soar to new heights.
Another key component to Montessori is showing the upmost respect for the child as an individual person.
A few key elements of Montessori include: freedom of choice, uninterrupted work and play time and mixed-age classrooms.
Attachment Parenting emphasizes the relationship between parent and child through empathy and responsiveness, as well as physical body closeness. This nurturing connection is viewed as a way to raise secure, independent and empathetic children.
Free-Range Parenting allows the child to move about without constant adult supervision, in an age appropriate and developmentally appropriate way, while being aware of the risks. This is often seen as the opposite of helicopter parenting, where the parent constantly hovers and micromanages the child.
Unschooling/Joyschooling is a form of homeschooling that focuses on the childâs interests, rather than a set curriculum, and uses those interests as a gateway into other subjects and experiences. Parents act as a facilitator and guide, providing rich resources and helping the child navigate the real world.
Peaceful/Respectful/Gentle Parenting refers mostly to the adultâs mental state. Making sure that you (the adult) stay grounded and calm in the face of challenging behaviors and situations, so that you can remain patient and emotionally available to help the child.
This form of parenting focuses on non-punitive, connection based parenting, in which the adult understands growth and developmental stages of childhood in an empathetic way. Parents also work to set and hold limits and boundaries with compassion.
Slow/Simplicity Parenting is where the adult plans few organized activities for the child, and instead, the child is encouraged to explore the world at their own pace.


The Christmas in Sweden Worksheet â Get our entertaining FREE Kids Science Word Search Games.
Our FREE science worksheet for kids about Christmas in Sweden has a fun word seek game combined with a missing-and-hidden word search game for kids.
This fun and educational printable science worksheet all about Christmas in Sweden is completely FREE for you to print out completely free and you are permitted to use this worksheet as often as you wish for your classroom kids or for your kids at home!
Our kids science worksheet on Christmas in Sweden is a great way to perk kids interest during a science enrichment class, homeschooling, distant learning lessons, regular school science classes or while your kids are undertaking early learning activities.
This FREE Christmas in Sweden kids word search is enjoyable for kids in Primary school from First to Fifth Grades. Additionally, Kindergarten kids and kids in Preschool will also enjoy this Christmas in Sweden word search worksheet.
Your kid can have fun while learning fun facts on Christmas in Sweden doing our fun science for kids worksheet.
Your children will enjoy to learn fun facts all about Christmas in Sweden while playing the FREE word searches game.
Primary school kids from first Grade to fifth Grade can use our Christmas in Sweden worksheet as a reading comprehension tool.
Kids shall learn well and enhance their reading skills because they will probably have to re-read several times the Christmas in Sweden fun facts to find the missing words. This educational word game will not only increase your kidsâ science knowledge, but also increases the brainâs memory and also improves their reading skills.
Younger kids in Pre-K and Kindergarten who didnât yet learn to read and write can use our free fun facts Christmas in Sweden worksheet as a fun and educational listening comprehension exercise.
Parents or Educators can read out loud to the kids the fun facts about Christmas in Sweden. Next, they help the children to answer what were the missing words. Additionally, your kids learn to recognize words and find them in the Christmas in Sweden kids worksheet.
Parents homeschooling their kids can use this Christmas in Sweden worksheet to teach their kids fun science facts about Christmas in Sweden.
Teachers and private tutors are free to use our FREE Christmas in Sweden worksheet to supplement traditional science classes at school and interest children in learning all about Christmas in Sweden. Most beneficial is you use our free earth science worksheet for children on Christmas in Sweden together with the free interactive online quiz with score on Christmas in Sweden.
Our Fun Science Website offers lots more FREE printable fun earth science worksheets for kids and FREE word search games. Download and use our fun science word puzzles to make learning science fun for your children!
What do you know about Christmas in Sweden? How does Sweden celebrate Christmas? How is Christmas in Sweden different from a typical American Christmas? Did you know that Christmas in Sweden lasts almost two months? What other holidays does Sweden celebrate in December?
Learn more fun facts about Christmas in Sweden by downloading our free fun Christmas in Sweden worksheet for children!
FREE Printable Christmas in Sweden Worksheet


This comprehensive, multisensory, phonics-based reading program presents a skill sequence and lesson structure designed for beginning, at-risk, or struggling readers. Recipe for Reading can be a successful intervention for students in Tiers 2 and 3 who have not been successful with other reading interventions. The Recipe for Reading curriculum is ideal for differentiated instruction in a variety of settings - inclusion, one-on-one, or whole class. It can be used as a core phonics program or as a focused, supplemental phonics instruction for struggling readers. The carefully structured scope and sequence allows you to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students.


Music instruction accelerates brain development in young children, particularly in the areas of the brain that are responsible for processing sound, language development, speech perception, and reading skills.
If a child is not ready yet for private lessons, he/she can still greatly benefit from group music programs. That is why Sharon Music Academy offers various music programs for preschoolers to prepare them for future music education. We maintain a small group size ( no more than 6-8 students ) to provide maximum attention to all students.
Itâs sure to be music to parentsâ ears: After nine months of weekly training in piano or voice, new research shows young studentsâ IQs rose nearly three points more than their untrained peers â Forbes Magazine.
Our experience supports these findings published in Forbes Magazine. Additionally, we firmly believe and emphasize that how you teach music is even more critical for studentsâ brain development. Scientific research encourages starting the study of music from a young age. Young children benefit the most from music lessons as they are the most receptive and impressionable.
"Jolly Keys" program is created as a comprehensive introduction to piano. It gives children between ages 4 and 5 and their parents a taste of what music can bring into their lives and prepares children for private music lessons. Children learn to understand musical "vocabulary" and develop imagination as well as their relationship with the music. The classes involve singing, elementary note reading, introduction to the basics of the keyboard, music history, and rhythm development. The course also focuses on general coordination and refining motor skills necessary for playing any instrument.
This preschool music program is a fun group class for children between ages 3 and 4 designed to introduce children to music. Through musical games and active interaction with a teacher and each other, kids learn basic musical concepts such as rhythm, melody, percussion instruments, and singing. âJolly Notesâ helps children develop general learning skills that they can use beyond musical studies: focus and concentration, cognitive abilities, motor skills, social skills, and hand-eye coordination. The goal of the class is to instill a love of music so that the children can start music lessons next year.
At the end of this course, we want our young students to:
Â· Participate in a musical group.
Â· Sing childhood songs on key.
Â· Demonstrate tempo through the use of Presto and Largo.
Â· Demonstrate dynamics through the use of Forte and Piano
Â· Identify by clapping and playing rhythms with rhythm instruments.
Â· Learn simple notation and listen to the music of the great composers.
Â· Perform for their family and friends.
Pre-Twinkle is a group lesson course for children between ages 4 and 5 who are not ready for private lessons. Students of this age, parents with a violin teacher known as the "Suzuki Triangle," learn to play the violin through games, music, and visuals. The students will have an informal recital at the end of the session. The students are known as "Pre-Twinklers" because they are learning musical concepts to be able to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." It is the hope that this introduction to violin playing will become a lifelong adventure in studying the violin. Parents are encouraged to read "Nurtured By Love" by Suzuki to learn more about the violin method.


When I kept encountering the words "orthographic mapping" in my reading, it piqued my curiosity! What is this? Why is it important? I decided I needed to knuckle down. I was determined to research and read (no more browsing and skimming) to fully grasp this difficult concept. What Is ... Read More about Are You Curious About the Importance of Orthographic Mapping?
Let's start by being clear about teaching high-frequency words! Are they high-frequency words or sight words; popcorn words, flash words, heart words, or tricky words? Perhaps they're decodable, nondecodable, regular, or irregular. How do we make sense of it all? Why should we teach high-frequency ... Read More about How to Make Sense of Teaching High-Frequency Words
Are you ready to implement an analogy-based phonics program with your students? If so, your first step is to check out my last blog post, Everything You Need to Know About Analogy-Based Phonics. Thinking about developing your own program? Be sure to read these suggestions! How to Start Teaching ... Read More about Would You Like a Free Sample of an Awesome Analogy-Based Phonics Program?
Are you searching for more ways to teach phonics? In that case, consider adding analogy-based phonics to your teaching repertoire. You can implement phonics instruction in several ways. Your choices include synthetic, analytic, and analogy-based approaches. I used one or more of these ... Read More about Everything You Need to Know About Analogy-Based Phonics


Techniques to Enhance, Empower, and Empathize in the School Environment
Many people believe that the number one priority of schools is to give students the necessary foundational skills and tools to successfully complete K-12 education. An essential part of this process is the school environment, in which students engage and hopefully thrive in learning. Have you ever wondered about other ways to make the school environment more engaging? What might be your superpower in enhancing the environment, empowering the learning process, and communicating with empathy? Elizabeth âLizâ Stone, MPA, CPDC, CO-OPÂ®, presents this absorbing 90-minute session addressing four ways to effectively transform the school environment. The session includes an interactive Q&A practitioner panel. It is designed for school administrators, teachers, and other personnel who work with deaf or hard of hearing children in K-12 settings. Others are welcome to attend as well.
Elizabeth âLizâ Stone
MPA, CPDC, CO-OPÂ®
Thursday, February 2, 2023
3-4:30 p.m. ET
Elizabeth âLizâ Stone, MPA, CPDC, CO-OPÂ®, has been a University Ombuds since 2015 and is the current director of Ombuds Programs at Gallaudet University, The Office of the Ombuds is a confidential, informal, independent, and impartial conflict management resource for Gallaudet University and Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center community members. Stone is a conflict management practitioner with 20+ years of experience in higher education, nonprofit, and government-affiliated settings. She is a proven leader who is committed to the principles of equity and belonging. Stone has a deep understanding of various conflict resolution and restorative practice models and approaches for individuals, groups, and organizations. She also does conflict consulting on the side for other organizations and individuals. Stone earned her bachelorâs degree in social work from the Rochester Institute of Technology and her masterâs degree in public administration from American University. She hails from San Diego, Calif., and is currently living in the D.C. metropolitan area.
Participants will be able to:
- Examine the use of three dimensions of empathy
- Examine the role of trauma-informed practices within the school environment
- Analyze the relationship between trauma-informed practices, cultural understanding, and engagement within the school environment
- Discuss the significance of enhancing the sense of belonging within the school environment
This session is accessible via American Sign Language/English interpreters and closed captioning. Additional accessibility accommodations should be requested by emailing firstname.lastname@example.org no later than January 23, 2023.
Alexis Greeves, MA, is a licensed professional clinical counselor, a Registered Play Therapist- Supervisorâ¢, and a TheraplayÂ® practitioner and trainer. She has been providing psychotherapy services to children, adolescents, adults, and families for over 20 years. Greeves is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessingâ¢, Sensorimotor Psychotherapyâ¢, Co-ActiveÂ® coaching, and a great variety of play therapy modalities. Teaching and training are a great source of joy for her as she enjoys raising up the next generation of therapists to carry on this healing work. Greeves has taught Intro to Play Therapy courses at the graduate level in Washington, D.C., and in the Twin Cities, Minn. She specializes in providing culturally and language-specific mental health services for deaf and hard of hearing individuals of all ages and is fluent in American Sign Language.
Tara J. Miles, MA, MSW, is a manager for family education at the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, overseeing the overall vision of family education at its demonstration schools (Kendall Demonstration Elementary School and the Model Secondary School for the Deaf). She is also an adjunct professor of social work at Gallaudet University, teaching a wide array of topics on human diversity, human behavior, and parent/child relationships. Miles hails from the steel mill city of Youngstown, Ohio, and is a product of Youngstown City Schools. She received her training at Howard University and Gallaudet, earning a bachelorâs degree in early childhood education and masterâs degrees in family-centered early education and social work. Miles has 22 years of experience in the field of deaf education and family engagement. Previously, she served as a trainer at the Clerc Center, providing workshops and training on various topics in the field of deaf education. In her spare time, Miles enjoys reading, traveling, and coaching cheerleaders and dancers.


Music is Medically Powerful
âWe are just starting to understand how powerful music can be. We donât know what the limits are.â says Michael De Georgia, director of the Center for Music and Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. He leads
1. A team of Canadian researchers found that playing music to preemies reduced their pain levels and encouraged better feeding habits, which in turn helped with weight-gain. This is now common practice in many NICUâs.
2. Listening to and playing music increases the bodyâs production of the antibody immunoglobulin A and cells that attack invading viruses and boost the immune systemâs effectiveness.
3. Doctors are currently working to develop âdosableâ and âprescribableâ music therapy and music as medicine protocols that serve specific neurologic functions and attend to deficits that result from many neurologically based conditions.
Music Has Power over Performance
4. Listening to music during sports training can boost athletic performance by up to 20 percent. (Thatâs roughly equal to the boost some athletes experience from illegal performance-enhancing drugsâ¦ except exposure to music doesnât show up on a drug test.)
5. When given a rhythm to walk or dance to, the beat serves as a footstep cue for the brain, allowing people with neurological damage caused by stroke or Parkinsonâs disease to often regain a symmetrical stride and a sense of balance.
6. Lifelong musicians process sound better than non-musicians. A 70-year-old musician understands speech in a noisy environment as well as a 50-year-old non-musician.
7. Kids with regular music education score significantly higher, especially on vocabulary tests.
Music Has Power over People
8. Playing music from a specific region boosts sales of products from that region. (Playing French music boosts sales of French wine in liquor stores, etc.)
9. Fancy venues often play music that young folks donât like to discourage loitering because music impacts teenagersâ attitudes and behavior. When the brain hears something it dislikes, it suppresses dopamine, (the pleasure chemical) and as teenagersâ moods fall, they go elsewhere to find something to bring it back up.
10. Shops often play background music to encourage spending in their stores. Classical music produces a higher level of sales than top 40 music, no matter the age of the customer. The interesting twist is that no more items were sold but instead, the customers opted for more expensive items when listening to classical music.


First published: Spring 2022
Discredited by the state for anti-Soviet activity, a group of dissenting artists in the 1960s channelled their creative energy into the growth of Russian naÃ¯ve art
In the decade following Stalinâs death in March 1953, a gradual cultural relaxation occurred in Russia, a brief period of artistic freedom. Of course, this in no way resembled the freedom available to Western artists who were at liberty to explore the personal and political within the psyche of the post-war period. Nonetheless, there seemed to be a softening of the autocratic structures that constrained Russian society, a culture where individual thought and expression had been comprehensively and ruthlessly suppressed.
Ivan Egorovich Selivanov, Lion, 1957, watercolour, pencil and whitewash on paper, 13 x 16 in. / 34 x 41 cm, courtesy: Moscow Museum of Modern Art
After the 1917 revolution, there was an intense push to create a new art for a new ideal society. The Socialist idea that personal leisure was an opportunity for peopleâs creativity was explored. It was the period of the avant garde, and this experimentalism extended to self-taught artists. Among the artistic intelligentsia there was great enthusiasm for the vivid and non-Westernised traditions of peasant culture. Many, like Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich, believed the new proletarian art should be built on its foundations.
Pavel Petrovich Leonov, At the Factory, 1970s, oil on cardboard, 28 x 40.5 in. / 72 x 103 cm, courtesy: Moscow Museum of Modern Art
In the 1920s and 1930s, the idea of art education by correspondence emerged. Russia is vast and there were not enough artists to produce propaganda art for the decoration of public spaces. At the Russian State House of Folk Art, correspondence courses in painting and graphics were devised. At first, no-one thought painting could be taught by correspondence but the initiative was a success. All sorts of people â workers, housewives, prisoners, from all over the country â received training.
Vasily Tikhonovich Romanenkov, The Birth of the World, 2004, pencil and felt-tip pen on cardboard, 18 x 30 in. / 46 x 76 cm, courtesy: Collection Bogemskaia â Turchin
However, by 1934 â when the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution âOn the restructuring of literary and artistic organisationsâ â Socialist Realism became the only permissible ideological approach. Amateur artists were expected to conform to the subject matter and technique of professional artists who obeyed strict codes laid down by committee. Amateurism was not a means of self-expression as might be understood in the West, but part of an apparatus to create a new kind of human being, one whose consciousness had been ignited by communist ideals. Amateur art was strictly supervised. Titles of works by correspondence course graduates might include: A Working Group is Studying the Stalin Constitution; Young Lenin Listens to his Motherâs Piano; Comrade Stalin among Collective Farmers.
After Stalinâs death, his successor Nikita Khruschev famously denounced the personality cult surrounding the dictator. Fissures seemed to be appearing in the cultural deep freeze. The âThawâ had begun. By 1960, the correspondence courses for amateurs had become part of a new independent organisation: The Peopleâs Free University of the Arts by Correspondence (ZNUI).
by JAMES YOUNG and TATYANA SINELNIKOVA
This is an article extract; read the full article in Raw Vision #110


Youth Art Month
Art Connects Us
The Bullock Museum is pleased to once again host artworks created by some of Texas's most promising visual art students.
March is Youth Art Month, a nationally recognized program that emphasizes the value of art education for all children, encourages support for quality school art programs, and promotes the importance of art appreciation for all people. Sponsored in Texas by the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA), the state has been a leader in Youth Art Month celebrations since the program began in 1961.
The Bullock Museum gives its proud support to the state and the TAEA through this annual exhibition. Throughout the month of March, the Museum's Third Floor Rotunda is home to an exhibition of over 100 pieces of student artwork created by K-12 students from across the state. Visitors will enjoy works in a variety of media that speak to Texas students' experience of the power of art to transform their lives.
The Bullock Museum, a division of the Texas State Preservation Board, is funded by Museum members, donors, and patrons, the Texas State History Museum Foundation, and the State of Texas.
Banner image courtesy Mirha Shahid
Secondary image courtesy Maely Clover
At the museum: 03/02/2022 - 04/02/2022


This year-long Common Core curriculum map (also called a pacing guide) has the school year broken down week by week with language arts teaching topics and their correlating Common Core standards. Areas covered are Common Core literature, informational text, foundational skills (phonics), writing, and language (grammar). The curriculum map organizes the year into six units (five weeks of teaching, one week of review and assessment for each unit). This leaves a few open weeks at the end of the year for final testing and other activities.
An editable version of the curriculum map is included if you need to make customizations.
The included assessments test students on the grammar, phonics, and reading comprehension skills taught during the unit. The tests are each about four pages long and include a mix of multiple choice, short answer, fill in the blank, and matching. Along with each assessment is a test review. The format of the review is very similar to the format of the test. A key is included for each assessment and review.
-Language Arts Curriculum Map (6 pages)
-Editable Version of the Curriculum Map (6 pages)
-6 unit reviews, each about 4 pages long
-6 unit tests, each about 4 pages long
-Answer Keys for all tests and reviews
**For personal and single classroom use only. **


In numeracy, children and young people will learn through active learning.
They will develop problem-solving capabilities through:
â¢ calculating mentally
â¢ explaining their thinking
â¢ using relevant contexts and experiences
â¢ using technology in appropriate and effective ways
â¢ collaborating and learning independently.
How can parents/carers help?
Children are learning all the time through what they see, hear and do. Parents are the first teachers in their childâs learning, and have a key role to play in developing skills as children move through their education. They can do this, for example by finding opportunities to practice numeracy skills and by listening and providing feedback as children explain their thinking.
Numeracy Units are available from SQA to support the development of numeracy skills, helping to raise overall standards.
Units provide learners with recognition of their ability to work with numbers and money, to calculate, to measure, to handle graphical information and to make decisions that are relevant for learning, life and work.
These Units form part of the courses in Maths at National 3 Lifeskills and National 4 and Lifeskills Maths courses at National 4 and National 5.
They will also be available as free-standing Units for all learners at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) levels 3, 4 and 5.
Numeracy skills will are embedded in National 5 Maths courses.


5 Websites Tailored to Music Educators
- Musicianâs Way: Wellness
Musicians are found in multiple industries. They donât just work stages, but compose for commercials, films and games, analyze and write music for academic programs in music, and teach their many skills from piano to sight singing and ear training to aspiring musicians, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And because musicianship requires consistent and dedicated practice of many musical skills, the twenty-first century has brought with it numerous online tools for helping musicians of every stripe learn and maintain their skills. Here are five great music education websites.
MusicTheory.net is host to a wide array of different learning tools for kids and college students alike. From intervals training and sight singing exercises to music reading practice and key signature quizzes, MusicTheory.net is a go-to for musicians just starting out as well as those who are looking for a solid music fundamentals review. MusicTheory has a super comprehensive outlay so users can easily find what theyâre looking for, and also includes chord identification and scale exercises.
Intended for intermediate to advanced musicians of all ages, Teoria includes a wide variety of exercises in ear training and music theory, including intervals, chord construction and identification, scales, dictation, instrument transposition, and much more. Recommended for students pursuing high school and collegiate studies in music, Teoria has been widely recommended by music educators at every level of study. Teoria also has a superbly comprehensive outlay, and all the exercises are free â making it an ideal resource for college students studying music especially.
3. Musicianâs Way: Wellness
Dedicated to the holistic wellness and unique health needs of the musician, Musicianâs Way: Wellness is host to a wealth of information on how vocalists and instrumentalists can properly care for their health, from diet and exercise to prevention and treatment of repetitive injuries. Information on computer ergonomics, posture, hearing conservation and musician-specific exercise programs like the Alexander and Feldenkrais techniques are also available. For professional musicians or those intending on entering long-term professional practice, MWW is a must-read.
Tonara is a website that aims to make practicing music fun with play-alongs, goal-oriented assignments, and live feedback that helps you hone your technique as you play. Tonara is especially helpful to very young musicians who are just beginning to study their instrument, and by making practice fun, Tonara seeks to motivate young musicians to practice more and turn themselves into pro performers. Tonara is also at work on a mobile app for musicians on the go, and its methodologies make practice easier and more entertaining for musicians of all ages.
Explicitly for educators in the fine and performing arts, the Kennedy Centerâs ARTSEDGE offers a wealth of resources to music educators to enhance, improve, and simplify their educational practices in and out of the classroom. From lesson ideas and pre-planned activities to how-to guides and tutorials for new teachers, ARTSEDGE is a vital resource for music educators â especially those new to the field.
Related Resource: Top 20 Best Masterâs in English Language Learning Online 2018
Each of these fantastic music education sites caters to a different aspect of music education and training. Via the resources offered by each, musicians and educators alike can help to create the newest generation of musicians â with the help of 21st century technology.


Initial Sound Speller
Try Initial Sound Speller
with a sample word list!
Note: Although this activity is designed for the grade levels above, it can also be used as a remediation or enrichment activity at any grade level with an appropriate word list.
- Foundational Skills
In phonics, students study the relationship between letters (graphemes) and their sounds (phonemes). Students first learn phonetic patterns, which can then be used to decode words during reading or encode words during writing.
After mastering the alphabet, kindergarten and first grade students are exposed to basic phonetic rules and patterns, like short vowel sounds and word families. Throughout elementary school, students learn increasingly difficult phonetic patterns. The goal is for students to have solid phonetic skills well before they leave elementary school.
It can also be assigned as homework. When explicitly introducing and teaching a phonics pattern, teachers can use Initial Sound Speller as a whole group lesson. Teachers can create word lists that help students practice initial sounds in any word pattern. These words can support the skills being taught in small group lessons. Many of these lists can be found in Teaching Resources under English/Language Arts.
The word is read aloud, but the initial letters are not displayed. Students roll over the four choices to hear the sound each makes before picking the correct letter/sound combination. Students can also choose to hear the word in context or the word read aloud again. If students answer incorrectly, they will receive immediate feedback and are encouraged to try again until they pick the correct sound.
Teaching Tip: Initial Sound Speller is perfect to review weekly phonic patterns. The audio features are great for English Language Learners (ELLs).


Develop foundational skills, use cutting-edge technology and discover the right career path for you in the world of surveying and spatial information. Enter the industry as a surveying or spatial information services assistant.
Through a mixture of theory and practical course work, learn to:
Read, design and produce maps
Collect surveying data and work with spatial data
Perform simple surveying computations
Operate specialised software
Provide field support for surveying and spatial projects
Gain practical experience and develop specialist skills that give you an advantage in the job market.
Experience in producing maps and plans
The skills to conduct spatial data storage and management
The ability to collect surveying data and provide field support services
A strong pathway to continue your study and enhance your career opportunities
Some courses require evidence of previous experience or study before you can enrol
There are no entry requirements for this qualification. You can enrol today.
This course is offered as a traineeship. Enquire today to check the eligibility requirements.
During your study youâll need to provide your teacher with the following evidence:
A general construction induction card (commonly known as a white card) â you will need this before you can enter a construction site. This can be gained during the course or at TAFE NSW campuses that offer this service with an accredited WorkCover assessor.
To be prepared for this course, we recommend that you have:
Moderate computer skills to work with complex software and spreadsheets
Good communication skills
An eye for detail
A budget of approximately $325 to supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Access to a computer or laptop to complete study at home
Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) at a Year 12 high school level
TAFE NSW may ask you to complete a Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) skills test. This skills test helps us to understand your individual study needs, to design an individualised plan that supports your study success and ensures your LLN skills match the demands of the course.
TAFE NSW is committed to meeting the learning needs of every community. Meeting these needs can mean there are additional entry requirements at different campus locations. Check your preferred location for further requirements. If you need help preparing for study, contact us to find out how we can support you.
Our graduates go onto roles like:
Surveying or Spatial Science Technicians collect, record and evaluate spatial information and prepare databases, maps, charts and plans in support of Surveyors, Cartographers or Other Spatial Scientists.
Other jobs include: surveying field assistant and spatial information services assistant.
Take your study further with other courses offered at TAFE NSW:
The Certificate III in Surveying and Spatial Information Services does not have any pre-requisite courses.
The Certificate III in Surveying and Spatial Information Services does not have any related courses.
At TAFE NSW, we recognise your previous study and work experience. You can apply for recognition of prior learning or a credit transfer with any of our courses. If you're successful you'll get your qualification faster.
Courses are made up of a combination of both core and specialty units. In the Certificate III in Surveying and Spatial Information Services qualification, youâll need to successfully complete 11 units of competency, including 6 core and 5 speciality units.
Core units are central to the job outcomes of a particular industry or occupation. These are the units industry has agreed are essential to be capable and qualified at a particular study level.
TAFE NSW provides support services across all campus locations and online. Whatever your needs or circumstances, we have the people, resources, counselling and facilities to support you in focusing on your studies.
TAFE NSW Disability Support Service
TAFE NSW Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) support
TAFE NSW Aboriginal Support; Learner support (ABE)
TAFE NSW Careers, Counselling and Pathways Service
TAFE NSW Libraries
Scholarship programs â be supported as you explore your talents and fulfil your potential
Smarthinking - online access to a tutor
LinkedIn Learning â an online resource which offers innovative courses and tutorials to improve your personal and professional skills
Student associations â get social with our student community
On campus, online and blended study environments; at TAFE NSW your learning works with your lifestyle. Heart your favourites, compare courses and discover what works for you.


Christopher A. Daniel
Public schools and universities throughout America are cutting their music and arts programs at a rapid pace due to budget deficits. Thankfully, jazz musicians are working to keep jazz music alive in schools, while helping students appreciate the role that music can play in oneâs life. Iconic jazz singer Al Jarreau, award-winning composer Ramsey Lewis and Branford Marsalis of the legendary first family of jazz, are working to ensure that youth not only have a sense of music history but also continue to nurture their creativity, despite the cutbacks.
Seven-time Grammy Award-winning artist Al Jarreau hosted a Master Jazz Music Class at Atlantaâs Benjamin E. Mays High School in September. The following evening, Jarreau and three-time Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer Ramsey Lewis, curated the Jazz Roots Series, entitled Jazz & Soul, at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. As part of the venueâs educational outreach initiative ArtsBridge, Jarreau and Lewis treated 100 high school students, from four schools, to a soundcheck and Q&A session. The singer/songwriter, famous for scatting and his ability to vocally resemble musical instruments was impressed by the primarily African American high schoolâs musical collective.
He expresses his joy for talking with youth and seeing how music education positively influences their lives. âJazz is this wonderful thing that influenced the world,â he says. âThereâs no better place to be than in a classroom and learning. Some of our finest ambassadors were jazz musicians who went to other countries and explained the story of America. Education is still the answer; itâs a good way to learn about lifeâs importance and spiritual leanings.â
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis is also an acclaimed educator. The Tony-nominated composer, saxophonist and bandleader has held past positions at Michigan State, San Francisco State University and Stanford University. He is currently serving as Artist-In-Residence at North Carolina Central University, where he has received mixed reviews from students and colleagues on his teaching style. His jazz-based platform emphasizes critical thinking and application, which is why he believes that students and faculty perceive him as a challenge. âItâs a completely different way of thinking,â says Marsalis. âRegardless of whether students become a musician or not, theyâll benefit from the expanded way of thinking. Why not just learn something that you never really know and figure out how you can put that to use later in life? Jazz at its highest level teaches you that,â added Marsalis.
Marsalis, a Jazz Master Fellow for the National Endowment for the Arts, launched his tour with his quartet at Emory University the same night as the Jazz Roots Series to promote their new project Four MFs Playinâ. Mr. Marsalis expanded his recent musical project by collaborating with symphonies and listening to more classical music â a technique heâs sharing with his students. âKids have to get used to really hearing complicated songs which is very different for them,â he says. âStudents learn a lot of methods instead of just playing music, but in doing so really arenât able to engage the casual listener. You have to find a way to get people to relate to the sound of this music. The whole idea is to get people who are accustomed to listening to different forms of music to find elements in our music that are easy to detect.â Thatâs music to the ears of those who support music programs in schools.
Christopher A. Daniel is a pop cultural critic and contributor to The Burton Wire. He is also a contributing writer for Urban Lux Magazine and Blues & Soul Magazine. Follow Christopher @Journalistorian on Twitter.


Why do you do anything the way you do? If your answer to this question is âbecause Iâve always done it that way,â or âbecause it works,â then you may be missing out on much greater success. Being a New Englander all my life, I have been very happy with the mantra, âIf ainât broke, donât fix itâ for as long as I can remember. Honestly, this is good advice in many cases. Making change just for the sake of making change can be foolish, and leave you worse off than you were before. On the other hand, always following that advice will prevent you from ever finding a better way.
Without question, the best teachers are the ones who are the best learners. Great teachers never stop learning, never stop seeking out better ways of teaching their content in general and to specific students. Great teachers use textbooks and methods books as a starting point, not as a thirty-year plan. One area in which we music teachers often get too set in our ways is in how we teach music reading, or even in how we define music reading. Last year, I decided to try something new because I wasnât satisfied with the results I was getting doing it the way I had always done it. In this case, the use of solfege syllables was involved. I have shared elsewhere on this blog my initiative with fixed do and the successful results I obtained with it.
Another area ripe for change is the way band students are started in most method books. Why do beginners have to try and sustain whole notes before they play half notes or quarter notes, which are much easier? Why do all beginning trumpet students have to start on concert B-flat, when for some students, starting on concert F is easier? Why not introduce the pitches of concert E before concert E-flat, or the pitches of concert B before concert B-flat? I wondered that one year, and had all my students learn concert B and E first, and then give them songs to play in F and C major. The result was fascinating. After being introduced to concert E-flat and B-flat later, they had more trouble playing in concert Bb major than in either concert F or C major. We simply have an easier time doing what is more familiar. There is nothing inherently more difficult about playing concert C major than concert Bb major. Even concert G and D are easily learned if taught early on. Piano students do it all the time, why not band students? We only think saxophone students will struggle with five sharps, because thatâs what we were taught. But itâs not harder; itâs just different.
There are advantages to this different approach. If you transition your students from recorder to beginning band, they are probably already familiar with playing in concert F, C, G, and D so they are starting out on more familiar territory, and can more easily audiate between recorder and their new band instrument. Another advantage is that these are string-friendly keys, so adding wind players to your string orchestra is much easier; you can avoid asking string players to play in flat keys that are unnecessarily difficult for them, or you can avoid asking wind players to play in difficult sharp keys, because having been playing in these keys from the start, they are not difficult.
You see the vista of possibilities that open before us when we become curious enough to seek out a better way. Are there disadvantages to starting band students in sharp keys? Yes, but theyâre all hardships on us, not our students. We have to publish new music for our students to read, because nobody is publishing band methods in sharp keys. But with notation software like Sibelius and Finale, which allow us to scan and then transpose music, the task of publishing new music is not the time consuming hassle it once was. Also, hasnât ever bothered you that while your students are required to learn scales and arpeggios through four sharps and flats for festivals, nearly every single piece we give our bands to play is in one of two keys? What kind of rigorous, thorough music education is that? Iâd love to see this catch on to the point where there is enough demand for band music in sharp keys that publishers start publishing concert music and methods in those keys. When you think about it, maybe itâs been broken all along, and weâre just now realizing we have an opportunity to fix it.


NCASE Resource Library
This report analyzes data from a survey of approximately 1,500 parent and guardians conducted by Afterschool Alliance in spring 2022. It explores parent perceptions of OST program access, availability, and quality, along with the characteristics of the unmet demand in the context of the new federal Engage Every Student Initiative.
For the first time, an analysis of America After 3PM data examines the experience of children with special needs and disabilities in afterschool programs compared to the overall population of afterschool children.
This brief highlights the benefits of participation in 21st CCLCs based on their statewide evaluations. Benefits include: promoting academic growth; keeping kids connected and building relationships; engaging, inspiring, and motivating students; and preparing youth for life after high school.
This issue brief highlights the challenges English language learners (ELLs) face in developing literacy proficiency and articulates how afterschool programs can play a central role in providing the supports to help ELL students thrive in school, work, and life.
This issue brief includes helpful facts on literacy rates among underserved youth. It identifies ways afterschool and summer programs can contribute to literacy development. It includes program examples and ideas for advocacy.
This issue brief provides a review of the research on benefits of school-community partnerships for students and families. It identifies features of effective partnerships (complements academic efforts with enrichment, supports transitions across school years, helps programs to gain access to students, to staff, and to resources).


Adults in many countries lack financial knowledge, and Cyprus is no exception, a new study by the University of Cambridge and University College London has found.
âThe ability to solve financial problems is critical to the well-being of adults across the world since every day transactions, such as saving, spending and interacting with banks, require significant understanding of key financial concepts,â said a statement from the researchers who undertook the study.
The figures were taken from a Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) study where adults aged from 16 to 65 from 31 countries around the world were asked to complete a set of basic financial tasks.
Using the argument that asking fewer questions has the advantage of brevity, is cost effective to implement and form a useful basis for broad comparison across countries, the authors opted to ask four questions.
âEach of these questions required participants to use basic numeracy skills to solve an everyday financial problem, such as working out the change they would expect to receive when shopping,â the statement said.
The average response rate to the study was highest in Turkey, at 80 per cent, and lowest in Sweden, at 45 per cent. Cyprus ranked third, with 73 per cent responding.
While adults in Estonia, Finland and Japan performed well across all four tasks, those in Turkey, Chile, Israel, Italy, Spain and England had among the weakest financial skills. Cyprus did well in some respects, with one answer correctly answered by 73 per cent, but two by just 37 per cent.
About a quarter of participants in all countries, including Cyprus, could not work out how much change they should receive from a shop when buying a handful of goods, and this increased to about a third in Spain, England and Italy.
About one in three adults struggled to work out the price they had to pay for a product when they were given a per unit cost, for example per litre or per kilo. Cyprus did slightly better than average on this question with 69 per cent of answers being correct.
About half of the respondents could not read a simple financial line graph â the type often used to convey key information about the economy and financial products â and this rose to three-quarters in Greece, Chile, Italy and Turkey
Most struggled to calculate discounts involving more complex calculations.
âOur key conclusion is that, in some countries, policy intervention will be needed to ensure adults have the basic skills they need to navigate their way through an increasingly complex financial world,â the report said.
More results show there is a slight tendency for women to be better at performing simple everyday financial tasks than men, especially when calculating the amount of change people should expect after buying several items. For this, women from Poland were seven per cent more likely to find the correct answer, and women from Cyprus five per cent more likely, putting the island fourth in the rankings. In Turkey men were far more likely to find the right answer.


Learning is much more than the paper, pencil and books.
Research suggests that students who received more arts education did better on standardized tests, had greater social skills and were more motivated to achieve their goals than those who had little or no access to arts education.
According to a report by Americans for the Arts, art education strengthens problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. For young children, arts education provides them with opportunities to learn words for colors, shapes and actions.
Moreover, many of the motions involved in making art, such as holding a paintbrush or scribbling with a crayon, are essential to the growth of fine motor skills in young children. Learning art is also related to gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skills.
At our school, art is used as a medium for our students to express their inner thoughts and as a creative learning tool to understand the many nuances of the world we live in. Regular visits to museums and art exhibitions further expand their horizons and expose them to art from other times and artists.
Yoga and Meditation
Speech and Drama
Murals and Sculpture
Theme Based Arts


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Newcomers: Language and Literacy Development for a New Generation
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 @ 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm EST
Presented by Margarita CalderÃ³n, Ph.D., Author and English Language Learning Expert, Benchmark Education
Sponsored by Benchmark Education
Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation. Get a CE Certificate for this edWebinar Learn more
Discover effective ways to help todayâs new arrivals learn the vocabulary and literacy skills needed for a successful transition to American schools and society. Renowned author and researcher Dr. Margarita CalderÃ³n explains how to combine targeted instruction with a supportive classroom culture, enabling Newcomers to use current technological and social-emotional terms along with traditional forms of English.
This research-based edWebinar provides an update on effective techniques for working with Newcomers and include discussion of recent arrivals to the U.S., such as Afghan refugees, Haitians, and the Central American immigrants who speak native dialects rather than Spanish. Viewers learn about ways to:
- Develop Newcomersâ academic vocabulary and ability to participate in classroom discussions
- Provide systematic phonics instruction and interventions based on the science of reading
- Establish protocols and routines that facilitate comprehension of literary and content-area text
- Engage Newcomers in writing activities that support formative assessment and SEL
This edWebinar shares proven ways to help Newcomers in grades 3â12 become fluent English speakers, readers, and writers, so it is of interest to directors and supervisors of multilingual, ELL, dual language, and migrant programs, as well as principals, instructional coaches, specialists, and teachers who work with Newcomers.
About the Presenter
Dr. Margarita Espino CalderÃ³n is Professor Emerita/Senior Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University. She has worked on numerous research and development projects focusing on reading for English learners funded by the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Labor, and collaborated with Harvard and the Center for Applied Linguistics on a longitudinal study funded by the NICHD.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York funded her five-year empirical study to develop Expediting Reading Comprehension for English Language Learners (ExC-ELL), a comprehensive professional development model for grades 6â12 math, science, social studies, and language arts teachers that integrates language, literacy, and content. This led to the development of the effective, evidence-based program, Reading Instructional Goals for Older Readers (RIGOR), for Newcomers with interrupted formal education. Dr. CalderÃ³n has over 100 publications, is an international speaker, is invited to do keynote speeches at major conferences, and conducts comprehensive professional development programs nationally and internationally.
Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.
Join the Language and Literacy community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.
Benchmark Education promotes building language and literacy for life. Support for the whole child is how learning happens. At Benchmark Education, a whole-child mindset underpins all that we do. We apply research-based approaches that strive to build equity, access and excellence for every child, at every distance. Learn more at www.BenchmarkEducation.com.


Colorado Home Intervention Program (CHIP)
CHIP, a statewide home-based early intervention program within Outreach Programs, is designed specifically to serve families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing, newborn to age three.
At the heart of CHIP is the parent facilitator, a highly trained professional with qualifications and core knowledge to assist family members in optimizing their childâs development. Working with the family, the parent facilitator designs an individual program that fits both with the familyâs needs and the childâs learning style. The parent facilitator helps family members develop techniques to encourage their childâs communication development.
Children are referred to the program by pediatric audiologists through the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) process in Colorado and are eligible for services established by the Early Intervention (EI) Colorado eligibility criteria.
+What is CHIP?
The program coordinator provides additional information about the program in this article on the Colorado Home Intervention Program.
+Early Hearing Detection and Intervention
Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) is a national initiative whose goal is to maximize linguistic and communicative competence and literacy development for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. EHDI has three objectives.
- All newborns will be screened for hearing loss
- Referred infants will be diagnosed before 3 months of age
- Children will receive appropriate medical, audiological, and educational intervention before 6 months of age
Information about EHDI comes from the American Academy of Pediatrics Year 2007 Position Statement: Principals and Guidelines for Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Programs, Joint Committee on Infant Hearing.
A critical component of successful early intervention is the monitoring of the childâs progress toward the goals determined by the family and the Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) team. CHIP provides a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary assessment, which includes parent response questionnaires and a video taped language interaction at regular intervals, in order to monitor a childâs progress and determine appropriate intervention goals.
Through a partnership between the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind; the Speech, Language, and Hearing Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder; and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the results are analyzed and used for program evaluation and improvement.


NACOGDOCHES, Texas â Puzzling looks situate on their faces as an unfamiliar teacher begins speaking Arabic. As words flow from her mouth, the students fall deeper into confusion. Scanning the worksheet, they see symbols that bear no meaning to them.
For a day, Stephen F. Austin State University students discovered what it was like being an English language learner, immigrant and refugee student during an immersive trip to Las Americas Middle School in Houston.
âI stepped into the studentsâ shoes,â said John Singleton, SFA junior music education major from Houston. âThe teacher gave us an assignment in Arabic, and being an English speaker, I didn't know what it was. It made me think, âWow, this is what immigrants and refugees go through.â It changed my perspective on teaching in a lot of ways.â
This semester, Dr. Mary Catherine Breen, associate professor of secondary education and educational leadership at SFA, brought her students enrolled in a disciplinary literacy course to Las Americas Middle School to learn about immigrant and refugee students and their quest for English proficiency.
âThis experience broadens studentsâ perspectives. No matter where our students teach, they will have English learners in their classrooms,â Breen said. âThere are federal protections for the education of immigrant and refugee students as well as native-born English learners. It is important for our students to learn about the individual students who are afforded opportunity by these laws â not just the laws themselves.â
Las Americas Middle School is a newcomer campus that educates recent immigrant and refugee students who have no or limited English language proficiency and who often have had limited formal education in their native countries. More than 35 countries, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Burma, Guatemala and Somalia, and more than 30 languages, including Hindi, Swahili, Spanish and Persian, are represented at the school.
During their visit, SFA students learn about the school and how it differentiates in language-proficiency levels. SFA students spend time in the classrooms working with students who have varying levels of language proficiency on different subjects.
âWhen our students meet the students at Las Americas and the teachers who serve them, it personalizes the subjects we learn in the classroom,â Breen said. âWhile language diversity is increasing in the East Texas region, most English learners here are native Spanish speakers. At Las Americas, there are many countries and languages represented. Our students often think you have to speak the studentsâ languages to teach them; this isnât the case.â
A social worker who works exclusively with immigrant and refugee students shared her experiences. For example, the social worker has spent time overseas in refugee camps and in countries where many of Las Americasâ students are from in order to gain awareness of the studentsâ backgrounds. She explained how trauma affects physical, mental and cognitive development and ways she works with teachers to meet studentsâ needs in the classrooms.
âSFA students learn about the individual students and their experiences. I can tell them about immigrant and refugee students and teaching students who are learning English, but it becomes very real when they see a campus of more than 250 students who represent this unique population,â Breen said.
SFA students not only experienced urban education while visiting Las Americas, they also heard stories from students from all over the world about their home countries, why they left, their journey to America and their experiences here.
âLas Americas is a beautiful program. It changed my perspective of refugees,â Singleton said. âI never knew the things they go through. When they tell you their stories, you need a box of tissues because it is phenomenal. The fact that the teachers are trying to actually help the students and do all that is necessary to help them progress is beautiful.â
Breen said SFA students learn a variety of lessons while on the trip, such as different methods for teaching a student whose language they donât share; federal, state and community resources for these students; and methods for helping students who have experienced trauma and the psychology behind how this can affect learning.


In this video learn How to Draw a House in 1-Point Perspective: Sectional Perspective. Enjoy this video and master the fundamentals of Perspective Drawing with regular practice. Use the Drawing and Sketching supplies given below.
Perspective Drawing and Sketching Supplies you may need:
- Mixed Media Sketchbook And Drawing Pads
- Sketching And Drawing Art Pencil Kit
- Mix Media Paper Pad For Drawing And Painting
- Graphite Charcoal Pencils With Sketch Pad
- Graphite Charcoal Pencils Set For Artists
- Faber Castell Graphite Set For Sketching
Details of How to Draw a House in 1-Point Perspective: Sectional Perspective
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Learn How to Draw a House in 1-Point Sectional Perspective in this Step by Step Narrated Drawing Tutorial. SUBSCRIBE:
Circle Line Art School: Episode 234: How to Draw 1-Point Perspective: Sectional perspective: A narrated art tutorial from Circle Line Art School.
For this drawing I use a 2B pencil, a black pen and a grey pen.
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How to Draw Architecture: Sectional Perspective
How to Draw a House in One-Point Perspective
Learn to Draw Perspective: Step by Step Narrated Art Tutorial


Editorâs note: This story led off this weekâs Mississippi Learning newsletter, which is delivered free to subscribersâ inboxes with trends and top stories about education in Mississippi. Subscribe today!
Mississippi has long struggled to improve reading scores. From 1992 until 2007, the stateâs average score for fourth-graders remained below the âbasicâ level of achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Student performance on state tests has been poor in recent years as well, with only a little more than half of students in some grade levels scoring proficient. These scores, in part, are what prompted legislators to pass the Literacy-Based Promotion Act in 2013, which requires most students to pass a reading assessment before moving on to fourth grade. Since rolling out programs required under the Literacy-Based Promotion Act, the state has seen some reading scores improve, including those on the exam students must pass to graduate to fourth grade.
Choose as many as you like
The Alcorn School District in north Mississippi, which has been prioritizing literacy in the youngest grades for the past few years, is among several districts examining what initiatives have most helped improve literacy scores. Officials at Alcorn say they are seeing progress, which is reflected in the test scores: During the 2016-17 school year, about 44 percent of third grade students scored proficient on the state reading assessment, up from around 36 percent during the 2014-15 school year. What has the district done to boost scores? Here are four actions district officials say are key:
- Extra instruction time every day for kids with disabilities: Every special education student in the elementary grades who struggles with reading participates in an additional 30-minute class, in which they are taught literacy basics like phonics and reading comprehension. Students receive in-person lessons from a teacher and spend time with an online program called Reading Horizons, designed to assist struggling readers. Risa Smith, the districtâs director of special education, said this additional class time is meant to help struggling readers progress in all classroom subjects. If a childâs ability to read improves, âyou should see improvements in all other areas, â she said.
- Re-training teachers on how to teach phonics: This year, the district required all kindergarten, first- and second-grade teachers to take ârefresher trainingâ in phonics instruction to help ensure the districtâs literacy instruction is effective and high-quality. A 2016 report found that Mississippiâs teacher preparation programs failed to provide the skills needed to teach reading successfully. The content taught in classes and the hours spent on instruction vary greatly among teacher prep programs; new teachers often learn strategies to teach that have not been proven to be effective.
- A literacy coach for teachers: Through the state, the district received a grant that pays for a literacy coach, whose sole focus is to help teachers teach literacy. The coach observes instruction in the classrooms, and works with teachers and administrators to identify and then improve weak reading instruction.
- Joint training for special education and general ed teachers: In the past, the districtâs special education teachers were trained separately from its general education teachers, despite the fact that many students with disabilities are taught in inclusive classrooms by both teachers. The district recently began training general and special education teachers together in an attempt to get teachers to see all students as âtheirâ students, rather than relegating responsibility for students with disabilities to special education teachers. This joint training allows all teachers to develop the skills and knowledge to teach both general ed and special ed students.
This story about struggling readers was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.
The post This Mississippi district says these four strategies are helping their struggling readers appeared first on The Hechinger Report.


A website devoted to teaching/playing/writing for/ the King of Instruments
Sep. 30, 2019
Aristotle understood. Much of his philosophical expertise is still relevant today. Whether it's a violinist, trumpeter, flautist, clarinetist, or some other instrumentalist, when they FIRST start learning how to play their instrument one of the most important things they're taught is how to keep it in tune and maintain it. They need to KNOW their instrument inside and out and how to take care of it along with learning how to play it so it functions properly, stays in tune, and doesn't fall into disrepair; the best horn player in the world, for example, if (s)he doesn't take care of that horn, is certain to have poor playing. The same goes for the organ; if the instrument isn't taken care of, the playing will sound awful -- and, if and when it does sound awful the performer needs to know how to diagnose why it sounds awful, where in the instrument the problem is coming from, what has to be done to reverse it, and, ideally, be able to perform a temporary, if not permanent, fix. Hands-on training of organists about the inner workings of their instrument, i.e. a structured course of study more broad than simply showing someone how to turn a cyphering pipe into a "dead note" for the time being, is greatly needed in the organ world. When someone is a musician, they learn to be a player -- they learn to be a performer -- they learn to be a technician of the instrument -- so they CAN be a player, so they CAN be a performer, and be them WELL. Those who truly understand what being a musician means know that these aspects of musicianship are inextricably woven together and inseparable. Some beautiful pipe organs have no one to maintain them or bring them back to life -- and no one to play them. To dismantle these instruments merely for lack of maintenance, reduce them to pieces, and then drop those same pieces as useless trash out a second floor window into an alley dumpster is nothing less than a crime against music -- a crime which, sadly, has been committed more than once in the organ world and has, among other things, resulted in the disappearance of many beautiful and carefully crafted instruments, some of which were of historic importance and of very substantial size. The preventive for this kind of unwanted and unnecessary destruction has its roots in education. That being the case, then today's university Boards of Regents, Presidents, Provosts, Deans, along with the Superintendents, Principals, and School Boards of the local public school system, should bear this in mind and let it guide their decision-making without excuse or exclusion. This is not a new concept; German organists during the time of J.S. Bach, for example, were not just enjoined to play it but were in fact expected to keep the instrument entrusted to them in good working order, tune it themselves, and even make minor repairs if needed to keep it playing the same or better than it was when they were appointed to play it. Of all musicians the organist stands unique in the musical world -- the master of the most stupendous, the most wonderful musical instrument ever fabricated by the hand of man -- and can claim a special birthright in the land of musical sound which no other orchestral or keyboard musician can, or ever could. This places organists and any program which educates them fully in ALL aspects of their profession in the forefront of music education, not at its periphery. Aristotle had it right.


Some kids guess because they donât know what else to do. They havenât been taught phonics or strategies for breaking down multi-syllabic words.
They may not have been taught to rote memorise the Dolch Words as I have done in my lessons. Rote memorisation of Dolch words is an excellent supplement to phonics instruction. Rote memory of Dolch words increases a kidâs familiarity of high frequency words which he will encounter in every book he reads.
There are many methods to teach kids the Dolch words. I find that the most effective way is to spell out the word using letter names and then saying the word spelt. Let him repeat this a few times and he will not only be able to read by sight but will be able to spell the word as well. Read my post on Dolch words here.
We apply our knowledge of letter-sound relationships to correctly pronounce written words. Understanding these relationships gives the kids the ability to figure out the words they havenât seen before.
When your child gets stuck on words when reading, help him to figure out the words.
When your child is trying to sound out a word ask him to look at all the letters in the word and not just the first one or two letters.
When you teach your child to read, say each sound in the word slowly as demonstrated in my first lesson â câ¦aâ¦t and then say the word cat. This process is called blending.
I have now taught many word families and as suggested earlier, you may teach your child/student more word families. However, I believe that that will not be necessary as by the end of lesson 30 almost all students will be able to figure out unfamiliar words.
When your child /student comes across an unfamiliar word ask him to figure it out as I have suggested in my notes to my lessons.
He should be encouraged to figure out the unfamiliar words. Some may call this guessing but all my students were able to read well using this method.
Here are a few examples.
If your child comes across the word scrap, ask him to sound out âapâ which he knows from lesson 3.
Then from there he will be able to figure out > rap >
crap> scrap. This is simply because he knows the individual sounds represented by the consonants r, c and s.
Another example: brand
He knows the sound represented by âanâ from lesson 2.
an > and > rand > brand.
In this way your child/student will be able to figure out thousands of unfamiliar words.
We will learn more on how to figure out words in this way in later lessons that will be uploaded.
Please share my lessons on YouTube with all your contacts so that together we may be able to reduce illiteracy.
Donations to continue my work and reach out to more students will be appreciated.


âCreativity is the art of imagining what is possible beyond what is known now,â says Julia Gillard. In this video, Australiaâs former Prime Minister and and Board Chair of the Global Partnership for Education talks about creativity and the need to inspire young people to discover their passions and follow them. She also highlights the importance of guaranteeing universal access to primary education, since creativity becomes relevant once literacy and numeracy skills have been attained.
There is a tremendous change going on in education, Ms Gillard says. We are trying to ensure that every child in the world goes to primary school and at the same time an interesting conversation is going on about making schooling more creative. There is a global quest to foster problem-solving skills and resilience, and enhance creative abilities in a changing world where the need to constantly reinvent ourselves is becoming imperative.
For Ms Gillard, achieving universal primary education remains a top priority. âWhen we talk about creativity in education, I am always very keen to remind people that we canât forget the basics,â she says. âIf children donât become literate and numerate through their schooling, then everything else is going to fall by the wayside.â
According to Ms Gillard, we have to cover these basics, and once weâve covered them, we need to expand childrenâs imagination and boost their professional development ambitions. She invites young people to think about the passion that drives them and to focus their energies on fulfilling it. âWhat really matters in the long term is having a sense of purpose and passion,â she adds.
This interview was filmed for the 2014 World Innovation Summit for Education.


Shirley Kountze, a woman who has lived a noteworthy life, was Medfordâs first African American school Principal. In this position, she implemented a multicultural vision that resonates back to the diverse neighborhood in which she grew up.
Born on September 2, 1938, Shirley was raised as an only child in New Yorkâs Bronx neighborhood by her lawyer father and schoolteacher mother. This was a middle-class ethnic and racial mosaic populated mainly by Jewish and Italian immigrants with a block and a half of African Americans. Her parents created a safe and encouraging environment: âOne of the things that they instilled in me,â Mrs. Kountze remembers, âwas that there was nothing I couldnât do and there was no place I couldnât go.â
Shirley met her husband Elmer (âAlâ) Kountze when they were both attending Boston University as History majors. In 1959, when Shirley was going into her senior year, they got married and they moved in with Alâs parents in West Medford. Everybody in this community knew each other and were supportive of one another. Yet it was painful to know that African Americans were unwelcome âacross the tracks,â beyond the three streets-Jerome, Lincoln, and Arlington-that formed the focus of the Black community.
For Shirley, who had grown up in a diverse community, the racial pockets in Medford were all too obvious. Her remedy was to bring schoolchildren together across racial and cultural differences.
After moving to West Medford, Mrs. Kountze earned her Masters degree in Elementary Education from Salem State College in 1968: as a teacher, she could spend more time with her children. For two years she taught at Tuftsâ Elliot-Pearson School. Then during the busing controversy in the Medford Public Schools in 1969 she became very active in the desegregation of the Hervey Elementary School in West Medford, working with other African American parents who wanted equal treatment for their children. Through this process, she was one of a few African American teachers hired at the Hervey in 1970. At that time it became a âk-3 Magnet Schoolâ that was designed to create a multicultural environment, drawing students of all races. For Shirley this was a wonderful opportunity to put her ideals and teaching philosophy to good use: she introduced a more progressive teaching style than had been usual at the Hervey.
After teaching in the Hervey for four years, and supervising a Language Arts program for one year, she was made Principal of the Hervey and Hillside schools in 1975. In 1981 she was transferred from the Hillside to the Brooks School in order to expand the successful magnet program from k-3 to k-6, thus becoming Principal of the Brooks and Hervey Schools. In 1984, the small Hervey School closed and the magnet program was expanded to Grade 8 at the Hobbs Junior High School: Shirley was now Principal of the Brooks/Hobbs k-8 Magnet School. As Principal, her primary goal was to create a multicultural environment in which every student had access to all programs. âI was going to make sure that everybody was exposed to everything the school had to offer,â she says, âAnd everybody was going to know about everybodyâs culture. And celebrate that.â As she had always done as a teacher, she looked past her studentsâ and teachersâ limitations and sought what they needed in order to excel. Her expectations were always high but never unreachable, and she provided the resources for both students and teachers to attain them.
Through her career she has touched many lives. People of her generation, with children attending her schools, could see how instrumental she was in making school a better place for all children. They could see how her schools had transformed since their own schooldays. West Medford was home to a great Principal, who laid a foundation of respect, understanding, compassion, and self-worth that will not be forgotten. âYouâre smart, youâre proud, and youâre skilled,â insists Mrs. Kountze.
Pearl Emmons, May 2005
Resource persons: Mrs. Shirley Kountze, Mr. Elmer Kountze, Ms. Carol Rickenbacker