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Principal used N-word in discussions about inappropriate words
POULSBO — A class of Poulsbo Elementary School fifth-graders had concerns about using the word “Negro” in a play being presented in observance of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.
Principal Claudia Alves attempted to explain to an 11-year-old fifth-grader how the word “Negro” was not the same as using the N-word. But she used the actual word, not the term “N-word.”
The child, whose father is African American, was upset and told his mother about it. Alves admits that, in discussing what happened, she used the N-word as an example two or three more times in conversation with the child’s mother.
The mother, Shawna Smith, said she doesn’t believe Alves is racist. But, Smith said, she doubts Alves would have used an obscenity in a conversation about offensive words, and is concerned that the N-word wasn’t held to the same standard. And that’s why she’s asked the school district to provide diversity training to teachers and administrators.
It all started Jan. 15 — the actual date of King’s birth. While practicing the play, two students declined to participate because of the use of the word “Negro.” “A lot of students didn’t want to use the word,” Smith said.
Alves said the teacher “asked me to explain the word ‘Negro’ to the students, and so I explained that I think the word ‘Negro’ comes from ‘Negroid,’ and that Negroid is a race, like Caucasian or Asian,” Alves said.
Within a few minutes, the teacher sent Smith’s son, Jassiah, to Alves’ office. “I said I understood that he would never use the N-word, but this is very different,” Alves said. “What the play is about is the Jim Crow laws, and they used the word ‘Negro.’” She explained that it wasn’t the same as using the more offensive word. “I didn’t use that word to upset him,” Alves said.
She added, “I did use that word, and that word is upsetting. I thought in the context of what we were talking about, it was all right.” She said she explained that what has been considered appropriate has changed over the years, but that the N-word was never appropriate, “no matter the period of time.”
The next day, Smith called Alves. The principal said she told her, “I understood why she wouldn’t want [the offensive word] used. I wouldn’t want ‘honky’ to be used. I would never want those words to be used.” She said she told the mom the N-word is used often in the media and in rap music, and “it’s confusing for kids when they get mixed messages, but it doesn’t make it right.”
Alves has 34 years of experience in education and in the 2012-13 school year was paid an annual salary of $99,625, according to the school employees salary database hosted by the Tacoma News-Tribune.
Brenda Ward, the North Kitsap School District’s director of elementary education, said Alves' use of the N-word “wasn’t necessary” in order to describe how it was different from another word.
Ward talked separately on Jan. 17 with Smith and Alves, and had a followup conversation with Jassiah to clear up "some confusion about the message he heard from the principal,” Ward said.
Smith and Alves will meet next week to discuss “how to bring more of an understanding into our education system,” Ward said. “It’s a good opportunity to review what we have in place to raise cultural awareness.”
Ward added, “We want to make sure we’re addressing the issue appropriately.”
Whether the principal's use of the N-word violates the state code of professional conduct for educators will be up to Superintendent Patty Page to decide, Ward said. If Page determines it does violate the code, she will be required to report it to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for an investigation, according to OSPI spokeswoman Kristen Jaudon.


It’s fun! You get to be a mad scientist! We challenge kids and teens to take the Summer Reading Challenge to unlock levels and reveal prizes!
Parents and caregivers, there are studies that back up the importance of reading in the summer for your child’s brain development and success in school. The Summer Reading Challenge isn’t a tutoring program. Depending on the age of your child, this is a self-directed program or one that you and your child work on together. Library staff at all 8 branches, one right in your neighborhood, are here to celebrate and support the fun of reading.
“Students who participated in the public library summer reading program scored higher on reading achievement tests at the beginning of the next school year than those students who did not participate and they gained in other ways as well” proves the Dominican University Study: Public Library Summer Reading Programs Close the Reading Gap.
Your child’s teacher will say that if your child doesn’t read much during the summer his reading level he obtained at the end of the school year will drop.
Reading for fun and regular trips to the library to get access to a variety of print materials improves “children’s reading performance… and produces improved attitudes toward reading and learning among children.”
Studies show that on average, by the time they are 3 years old, children in professional families have heard about 30 million more words than children from lower-income households. This early disadvantage affects IQ and school achievement. Words from a TV, computer, or radio don’t count when it comes to building a child’s vocabulary, and in fact too much screen time may hurt, researchers say.
What can you do to improve the number of words your child hears? Go to the library!!! You are the most important person in your child’s life and his first teacher. The Public Library Association (PLA) and Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) after studying research have reported that the most important tasks you can do for your child’s early literacy development, to prepare your child to get school ready, and continue to do well in school is: Reading, Talking, Writing, Playing, and Singing at an age appropriate level. These elements have been considered while developing the content for all our youth programming, including the Summer Reading Challenge. These elements are the building blocks of the Every Child Ready to Read @ Library methods used in our pre-reading classes. These methods are used when planning all children’s programs. Check out our “Let’s Play!” program . Take out some picture books are based on children’s songs and the book is intended to be sung not read. Talking can be done about any of your activities during the day. Take turns talking. When adult and child speak back and forth, this is incredibly important for language development. Reading encourages talking and ask questions of your child about what you are reading. Listen while they tell you what they have gotten out of the book and any retellings or “reading” of the story.
Why is access for the Summer Reading Challenge only online? This is to give youth another opportunity to become familiar with using the computer and develop digital literacy. They create an account and record the time they spend reading and the titles of the books. If you don’t have a computer at home, use our computers. In 1995 the Commerce Department published its first look at the “digital divide,” finding stark racial, economic and geographic gaps between those who could get online and those who could not. Now many lower income families have access to the internet. However one Pew study suggests, you can’t fill out a job application through a cell phone or update your resumé on a game console (another way that many lower income families report they access the Internet). The divide has shifted from an access issue to a kind of access divide. With jobs, politics and even health care moving online, millions are at risk of being left behind.
Coming to the library is great prevention for not letting your children and the children of Grand Rapids get behind!


William Russell Flint
Sir William Russell Flint (4 April 1880 – 30 December 1969) was a Scottish artist and illustrator who was known especially for his watercolour paintings of women. He also worked in oils, tempera, and printmaking.
He was born in Edinburgh. From 1894 to 1900 Flint apprenticed as a lithographic draughtsman while taking classes at the Royal Institute of Art, Edinburgh. From 1900 to 1902 he worked as a medical illustrator in London while studying part-time at Heatherley's Art School. He furthered his art education by studying independently at the British Museum. He was an artist for The Illustrated London News from 1903 to 1907, and produced illustrations for editions of several books, including W. S. Gilbert's Savoy Operas (1909) and Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1912).
During visits to Spain, Flint was impressed by Spanish dancers, and he depicted them frequently throughout his career. He enjoyed considerable commercial success but little respect from art critics, who were disturbed by a perceived crassness in his eroticized treatment of the female figure.
Flint was active as an artist until his death in London on 30 December 1969.
Illustrations to Savoy Operas
- Theo Cowdell, "Flint, Sir William Russell" Oxford Art Online
- Postle and Vaughan 1999, p. 76.
- "Savoy Operas: With Illustrations in Colour by W. Russell Flint", George Bell & Sons (1909)
- Cowdell, Theo. "William Russell Flint". Oxford Art Online.
- Postle, Martin, and William Vaughan. 1999. The artist's model from Etty to Spencer. London: Merrell Holberton. ISBN 1-85894-084-2
- Vadeboncoeur, Jim Jr. Biography of Flint at bpib.com
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Russell Flint.|


In music class, kindergartners sing, play instruments, listen and move to music.
How you can help at home: Your first-grader listens to music and then draws a picture that illustrates how the music makes her feel.
In a rich music program, second graders develop their understanding of pitch and melody, play instruments and learn about famous musicians.
Third graders sing, move to music, and begin to play simple melody instruments. They also learn how instruments work together in an orchestra.
With budgetary blues playing all over the nation, music programs are getting silenced. Use this guide to bring music education back to your child's school.
Recent research underscores how playing an instrument (sooner than later) bolsters kids' academic, social, and emotional lives.
Banging pots and pans drives home the basics of musical beat for youngsters.
Popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners spell out musical grammar for first- and second-graders.
When you use glasses of water as musical instruments, your child learns about pitch.
Teaching middle-schoolers the musical staff is easy with this primer on music literacy.


Bishop Library has three new e-resources in the subject areas of Social Sciences, Music, and English. You can access these new resources from the Library's webpage at www.lvc.edu/library under Articles & Databases.
ICPSR is the world's largest archive of computer-readable social science data, with over 500,000 files of research in the social sciences. In addition to archiving collections from disciplines such as sociology, political science, history, and economics, ICPSR has seven special emphases: gerontology, substance abuse and mental health, criminal justice, child care, health and medical care, education, and demography. Downloading of data requires the creation of an account. LVC
faculty, students and staff can create an ICPSR account using the login/create account link on the Find Data page.
The Grove Dictionary of American Music is the digital version of the eight
volume print reference resource (2nd ed.), a comprehensive reference resource on American music. Articles include brief definitions, biographies and more in-depth subject examinations such as the history of jazz, musical instruments, music education,
and the history of the orchestra. Over 400 images and 140 musical examples are included.
The Oxford English Dictionary online or
OED is considered the world's most authoritative and comprehensive dictionary of the English language. The OED includes over 600,000 words and is a guide to their meaning, history and
pronunciation. It traces the usage and development of words with the
inclusion of over 3 million quotations from international English
language sources. The OED online is updated quarterly with word revisions and new additions.


The development of English literacy and global studies concepts using sheltered instruction
The purpose of this study was to describe the development of English literacy proficiency, academic English literacy, and content literacy of 30 Spanish-speaking students through the Sheltered Content Approach. Participants were enrolled in a bilingual 10th grade Global Studies course in a public school in New York City. Ninety percent of the participants came from the Dominican Republic and 10% came from other countries from South America. Through the Sheltered Content Approach, English language learners attended an 8-week global studies content course with grade-level objectives and standards based curriculum delivered through scaffolded modified instruction, extralinguistic clues, and comprehensible content. Participants were exposed to reading comprehension strategies and writing process strategies in an interwoven way. Sheltered Content Approach strategies were used to contextualize concepts and expand language skills. ^ Data were collected through the following instruments: (a) an English language proficiency test, (b) a content area test, and (c) an informal questionnaire. ^ All participants increased their English literacy proficiency level (reading and writing skills), their academic English literacy, and their global studies knowledge. Participants indicated preferences for the following instructional strategies: (a) exposure to context embedded instruction, (b) using the native language as a translation tool, (c) using interactive, collaborative strategies, (d) having a teacher as a facilitator, and (e) exposure to lessons that connect new concepts and vocabulary with previous knowledge. ^ This research provided evidence to indicate that the use of Sheltered Content Approach strategies improved participants' language and content development. However, since this study was limited to a small sample of high school students, and there was no control group to establish cause-effect relationships, no generalizations can be drawn from the findings. ^
Education, Bilingual and Multicultural|Education, Reading|Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Olga Esther Mejia Glenn,
"The development of English literacy and global studies concepts using sheltered instruction"
(January 1, 2005).
ETD Collection for Fordham University.


Can Mozart Really Make Your Child Smarter?
- Music Education for Kids: Does Music Make Kids Smarter?
- Make Some Music With Your Family
- Can Exercise Make Your Child Smarter?
- Can Playing Music Make Your Child Smarter?
- How Music Can Help Your Child Learn
- Can Smartphones Make Kids Smarter?
Does musical genius start in the womb? The makers of “Baby Mozart” would argue yes. It seems that every classical musician has a hand in making baby toys these days. Every store greets you with a different product for playing Beethoven, Bach, or Hayden, and famous tunes stream out of most children’s musical instruments with the push of a button.
This fairly widespread trend of incorporating classical music in baby toys and products can all be blamed on “The Mozart Effect.” In modern parlance, The Mozart Effect stems from the theory that listening to music, especially of the classical genre, improves intelligence. This concept, believed to have been around for centuries, has apparently been proven by dozens of studies conducted by those who, surprise surprise, would wholeheartedly promote the boom in classical toys.
More music, higher test scores, right? Too bad the truth isn’t so cut and dried.
So what is the truth? The first studies began 1993, when Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw, and Katherine Ky published an article in Nature magazine about their research at the University of California at Irvine. In the study, college students were asked to listen to a Mozart sonata, a relaxation tape, and then silence, for ten minutes each. Directly afterward, the subjects were given a test on spatial reasoning. The results were astounding. Students scored much higher on the tests after listening to the Mozart than after the relaxation tape or nothing at all.
Naturally, the results took popular media by storm, with the Boston Globe coining “The Mozart Effect.” After all, if we could all improve our IQs by cranking up the Chopin, why wouldn’t we? And why not improve our kids’ chances by pumping classical music into the nursery as well?
But the road to Mensa is not so easily attained. What the original study didn’t seem to account for were the long-term impacts of music on a child’s brain. According to Dr. Rauscher, there were three limitations to the study that weren’t taken into account:
- It only tested the impact for a limited amount of time—about ten minutes after listening. In fact, later research showed that the effect lasted only for ten minutes.
- The researchers only tested the subjects’ spatial intelligence, which is relevant in areas such as architecture and visual arts, but cannot be a representation of overall intelligence.
- The subjects in the study were not infants, but college-aged. Dr. Rauscher maintains that the results can’t be applied to young children because the music only seems to increase spatial intelligence when the subject listens carefully and actively, which young children often don’t do. (In the original study, the students were even made aware that they would be tested after the listening session.)
Evidence in favor of The Mozart Study was faltering. Since then, a recent study in Australia, published in Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal in 2006, looked at the effects of pop music on 136 fifth graders. The process was similar to that of the original 1993 study, and concluded no evidence of The Mozart Effect in the children.
In 2010, a team at the University of Vienna ran a meta-analysis of 40 international studies and concluded that there was no proof of The Mozart Effect. While this doesn't prove that there are no positive long-term benefits to music listening, it does mean that wafting The Nutcracker Suite into your infant’s crib can't guarantee admission into an Ivy League college.
But don’t throw the baby out with the musical bathwater! Dr. Rauscher still concedes that research has demonstrated that playing a musical instrument can lead to improved spatial reasoning. What has not been proven is that passively listening to music, especially at a young age, has any long term effects on cognition. And if you still spring for the trumpet that blasts “What A Wonderful World”, well, we won’t blame you. Because that toy is plain cool, and you don’t need a scientific study to prove it.


Phonics Advanced First Grade is a comprehensive, educational, low-cost app based on the Common Core Foundational Skills. It is written by teachers, for teachers, and can used in the classroom, integrating easily into lesson preparation. Parents can use the app to help a child keep up or catch up with their peers. The Check Yourself section will identify a student’s individual needs.
The Common Core Foundational Skills for 1st Grade includes:
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
a. Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
b. Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
c. Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel
d. Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
e. Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
f. Read words with inflectional endings.
g. Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
All of these skills are taught and practiced in the Phonics Advanced App. The check yourself section allows the parent or teacher to see the child’s progress on these skills.
* Learning through animation, sound and touch.
* Bugs do the teaching to add fun and whimsy.
* The “Check Yourself” section tests your child’s learning and shows you the scores.
* Tutorial format guides your child through the activities.
* Games add to the fun.
* Based on the Common Core Standards for 1st Graders.
*Give your child a head start on first grade literacy.
* Correct answers get immediate and consistent praise while wrong answers simply ask them to try again.
*Multi-sensory learning creates a high degree of interactivity through voice, written words and animations.
*Fun bug graphics holds your child’s attention.
* Personalized feedback every step of the way.
Version 1.5 allows users to copy the app to their SD Card.


Use this guide to locate resources for historical musicology coursework and basic research. All information listed is available at the U of M Libraries or freely available online.
For help with locating books, scores, articles and journals, please visit the general Music Guide page.
Information and assistance with copyright policies, writing tips and procedures, and online resources such as streaming audio and databases can also be found on the Music Guide page.
Click on these links for Guides focused on various areas of music research (more guides to come):
|Brass Music||Music Education||Theory & Composition|
|Ethnomusicology||Music Industry||Vocal Music|
|Music (General)||String Music||Woodwind Music|
Trailer for "Immortal Beloved," a fictionalized account of Beethoven's life


Singing the Songs of My Ancestors: The Life and Music of Helma Swan, Makah Elder
Ever since she was a small child, Helma Swan, the daughter of a Northwest Coast chief, loved and learned the music of her people. As an adult she ... Show synopsis Ever since she was a small child, Helma Swan, the daughter of a Northwest Coast chief, loved and learned the music of her people. As an adult she began to sing, even though traditionally Makah singers had been men. How did such a situation develop? In her own words, Helma Swan tells the unusual story of her life, her music, and how she became a singer. An excellent storyteller, she speaks of both musical and non-musical activities and events. In addition to discussing song ownership and other Makah musical concepts, she describes songs, dances, and potlatch ceremonies; proper care of masks and costumes; and changing views of Native music education. More generally, she speaks of cultural changes that have had profound effects on contemporary Makah life. Drawing on more than twenty years of research and oral history interviews, Linda J. Goodman in "Singing the Songs of My Ancestors" presents a somewhat different point of view-that of the anthropologist/ethnomusicologist interested in Makah culture and history as well as the changing musical and ceremonial roles of Makah men and women. Her information provides a context for Helma Swan's stories and songs. Taken together, the two perspectives allow the reader to embark on a vivid and absorbing journey through Makah life, music, and ceremony spanning most of the twentieth century. Studies of American Indian women musicians are rare; this is the first to focus on a Northwest Coast woman who is an outstanding singer and storyteller as well as a conservator of her tribe's cultural traditions.


December 25, 2013
EarthDesk presents this image by Charles Henry Alston to honor our veterans, more than 100,000 of whom are homeless this 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 Smith’s rumble seat when she was going to record . . . I was sitting on [Duke] Ellington’s piano when he finished ‘Sophisticated Lady.’” He created this image while staff artist for the Office of War Information in 1940. More on Charles Henry Alston below.
Charles Henry “Spinky” 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 Charles’ mother, Anna Miller. Alston also recalled his older brother’s drawings of cars and trying to copy them. After the death of his father, Alston’s mother married Henry Pierce Bearden (Romare Bearden’s uncle) in 1913 and the family moved to New York City.
Alston earned a Masters degree in art education from Columbia’s 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 Alston’s works here.


Contact: Science Press Package
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Birds on treadmills
Guinea fowl are domesticated birds that are good for studying the science of walking and running.
[Image courtesy of Richard L. Marsh]
Click here for a high resolution photograph.
The roadrunner cartoon (Beep, Beep!) never seems to get tired, but real animals do get tired when they run. A new study investigates what movements in walking and running use up energy. This is a long-standing mystery of exercise science.
After studying helmeted guinea fowl -- pheasant-sized birds -- running on treadmills, the authors report that leg swinging (when the foot is in the air) consumes one quarter of the total energy burned in leg and hip muscles.
These results do not fully agree with past research projects that predicted that legs use almost all the energy when the foot is on the ground.
To estimate the amount of energy the active leg and hip muscles consumed during leg swinging, Richard Marsh from Northeastern University in Boston, MA and his colleagues tracked the amount of blood going to particular muscles during guinea fowl walks and runs. The harder a muscle is working, the more oxygen it uses.
With more research, scientists hope to understand the exact job all the working muscles perform when animals, including humans, run.
The study appears in the 02 January, 2004 issue of the journal Science.
Back to Science for kids
Science is published by AAAS, the non-profit science society.


SchoolArts is a national art education magazine committed to promoting excellence, advocacy, and professional support for educators in the visual arts since 1901.
Issue link: http://www.schoolartsdigital.com/i/142493
AdvocAcy The Truth About Art Education Eldon Katter T he unquestionable truth about art education is simple: As a result of a sound art education, young people end up knowing more about human artistic potential and accomplishments. Additionally, art education provides experiences that are unique in education. Not only do students learn about art, they also learn about perception and our visual world, about our cultural heritages, and about mastery of skills. dents begin to see their needs, values, and beliefs in relation to those of the diverse peoples throughout the world and in their local communities. As students move from the personal, through their community to the global, they form an expanded knowledge of their world. learning About Skill and Mastery Many skills used by artists are based upon traditional ways of doing things. These processes have been handed down from artisan to apprentice through hundreds of generations, and traditions are continued because they have been found to work. As they acquire the ability to work with patience, precision, and care, students learn an even more important life lesson: "If it's worth doing at all, it's worth doing well." Eldon Katter is co-author of Explorations in Art (Davis Publications) and former editor of SchoolArts. email@example.com learning About Art Quality art education offers the opportunity for all learners to experience the personal pleasures and special understandings that can be gained through repeated encounters with masterfully articulated forms of visual communication, decoration, and celebration. learning About Perception Perception is perhaps the most important part of visual arts education. It's concerned with changing and shifting viewpoints. Through art experiences, we learn how to see the same thing in different ways and from different perspectives. With practice, we can learn to broaden our perception, look more widely, take other things into account, and be more open to possibilities and choices. learning About our visual World We live in a society that is dominated by manipulated images, designed objects, and planned structures that affect the natural order of the environment. To live successfully and participate fully in this visually oriented world, we all need to understand and evaluate the purposes of the visual forms we encounter on a daily basis. learning About Global heritages Global implications in education are increasingly evident. Access to the Internet makes the need for global awareness greater than ever before. Through encounters with art, stu12 January 2013 SchoolArts Art helps students gain an understanding of the diverse peoples throughout the world. South African Ndebele artist Esther Nikwambi Mahlangu at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. Photo by Nancy Walkup.


My children adore tablets and they’re now so accustomed to touchscreens that their fingerprints can be seen on my TV set when they forget it doesn’t work that way. But my wife and I are careful about the apps they can use.
Although we’ve installed a few that are purely games, there are many inspiring educational apps that are just as much fun. Their numeracy skills have definitely been helped by the counting and math apps.
Toddler Counting 123
$1 on iOS
Basic counting apps are one way to interest the children in numbers and math. Toddler Counting 123 is a good one for adults to use alongside very young children.
The app is simple and well executed with straightforward menus and good graphics.
Its voice asks children how many squares, saxophones, and so on they can see on the screen.
When the child taps each item, its count is read aloud, and they even get a congratulatory message when they’ve tapped them all.
It’s cute, and there’s the option to switch to a language like Spanish or French for extra fun. But the app counts only to 20, which is a bit of a shame.
Kids Numbers and Math
$1 on iOS and $3 on Android
Kids Numbers and Math is for slightly older children because, after counting and numbers, the next numeracy challenge is basic arithmetic. This app teaches basic numbers as well as topics like addition, subtraction, maximums and minimums. It’s simple to use with big areas on the screen for little fingers to tap along and clear menu items so adults can control the app and adjust its difficulty settings.
One of the more challenging puzzles is to tap on the biggest number of the three shown on floating balloon graphics. The app has well-drawn cartoon images and clear audio along with amusing extras to keep young minds interested.
Shaking your device will cause different things to happen inside each part of the app, such as making apples fall from a tree.
The app also has advanced puzzles, which include numbers above 100, for an extra challenge.
$3 on iOS for iPad
A gamelike app is Operation Math. It has a secret-agent theme: A James Bond-like cartoon character has to type in answers on a smart wristwatch to crack enemy codes. The app has a basic story line about beating the evil ‘‘Dr. Odd,’’ and there are lots of missions of varying difficulty in terms of the number of puzzles to solve in a given time.
The simpler missions, for example, have only a few code doors to break through and involve only simple addition or subtraction puzzles. The more complex missions require fast mental arithmetic and can include multiplication and division functions.
A player who solves enough missions is rewarded with new outfits for the secret agent and different watch designs. This app is definitely fun, though it’s a shame that the only secret agent character is male.
Thanks to its game features, adults may find Operation Math a great way to brush up on their own skills — it’s just complex enough to make it fun.Kit Eaton writes on technology for The New York Times. Hiawatha Bray is not writing this week.


Music Education Liaison
NEUROMUSCULOSKELTAL HEALTH REPORT
I. Music educators-to-be and in-service music educators need to have a clear, accurate, and current understanding of:
A. the types of neuromusculoskeletal injuries for which they are at risk—for example, musculo-tendinous pain syndrome, tendonitis, nerve entrapments, and focal dystonias. They need to know what factors affect risk—such as increase in performance time, stress, and naturally-occurring conditions such as hypermobility.
B. (a) how the instruments they play and/or teach are constructed and how they function, (b) the basics of how whole bodies are made and function (including auditory systems), AND (c) how the whole body functions efficiently and inefficiently when coupled with each instrument while playing it [with special attention to the extra stress-demands placed on crucial anatomy-physiology when playing each instrument (e.g., the auditory system, or neuromusculoskeletal and soft tissue demands in the face-neck area in wind instrument players versus neuromusculoskeletal and soft tissue demands in the neck-jaw area in string players)].
C. musical acoustics and the acoustics related to each instrument they play-teach, and to human voices, and how the acoustics of instrument playing, speaking, and singing can interact with physiology to evoke unnecessary neuromusculoskeletal and soft tissue “cost” (including acoustic trauma to auditory systems and acoustic overloading of the vocal folds).
D. what sound qualities and visible effort-signs are associated with inefficient and with efficient instrument playing, speaking, and singing.
E. how neuromusculoskeletal, soft tissue, and auditory system injuries can occur in people who play musical instruments, speak, and sing.
F. how various diseases and medications can affect neuromusculoskeletal, soft tissue, and auditory system anatomy and function that are necessarily involved when playing instruments, speaking, and singing
G. what symptoms and syndromes indicate potential, oncoming, or full-blown neuromusculoskeletal and soft tissue injury in instrument players, singers, and teachers (including the vocal sound qualities that indicate injured or diseased voices), and acoustic trauma to auditory systems.
H. what to do to prevent injuries and diseases that detrimentally affect instrument playing, speaking, and singing abilities.
I. what to do (and what not do) when such injuries/diseases occur (appropriate and effective self-treatments, when to see a physician/therapist team, how to select a qualified team, how to follow through on a treatment-recovery plan, how to recondition neuromusculoskeletal and soft tissue anatomy/physiology after recovery). They also need to be educated to practical self-care strategies, such as rest, ice, and so on.
J. how the verbal and nonverbal communications of music educators can: (1) contribute to “mental-emotional” distress in learners that can enhance a protective self-identity and induce inefficient instrument playing, singing, and speaking, OR (2) contribute to “mental-emotional” engagement in learners that can enhance a constructive self-identity and elicit optimally efficient instrument playing, singing, and speaking in learners [based in the neuropsychobiological sciences].


- Nicotine, including secondhand smoke
- Medications, both over-the-counter and prescription drugs
- Herbs and high-dose supplements, vitamin A
- Fish, mollusks and shellfish, sushi (raw fish)
- Hot tubs and saunas
- Household clear, paint thinners
- Cat litter (because of an infectious disease called toxoplasmosis caused by a parasite found in cat feces)
- Raw milk and cheese
- Soft cheese and blue-veined cheeses such as feta, Roquefort, and Brie
- Artificial colors, nitrates, and MSG
- Deli meats, luncheon meats, hot dogs, and undercooked meats
Women who want to become pregnant, are pregnant or breast-feeding should eat at least 12 ounces of fatty fish such as tuna every week to help themselves and their babies, experts will recommend later on Thursday.Eat tuna! Have they gone loony? Dr. Fuhrman is very mercury-phobic—especially for pregnant mothers! And tuna is hardly a safe fish. More from Disease-Proof Your Child:
Fish including mackerel, sardines, light tuna and salmon are rich in omega-3 fatty acids -- components of fat known to help brain development. Walnuts, flaxseed oil and leafy green vegetables also contain the compounds.
Women need the nutrients to prevent postpartum depression and babies need them for brain and motor skill development, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies coalition says.
The coalition, which includes the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says "90 percent of women are consuming less than the recommended amount of fish."
But these fish can also carry high levels of mercury, which is a brain and nerve toxin.
Higher levels of mercury found in mothers who eat more fish have been associated with birth defects, seizures, mental retardation, developmental disabilities, and cerebral palsy.1 This is mostly the result of women having eaten fish when they were pregnant. Scientists believe that fetuses are much more sensitive to mercury exposure than adults, although adults do suffer from varying degrees of brain damage from fish consumption.2 Even the FDA, which normally ignores reports on the dangers of our dangerous food practices, acknowledges that large fish such as shark, swordfish, and yellowfin and bluefin tuna, are potentially dangerous. Researchers are also concerned about other toxins concentrated in fish that can cause brain damage way before the cancers caused by chemical-carrying fish appear.
Fish with Highest and Lowest Mercury Levels
- white snapper
I have one final question. Who writes these reports? Bozo the Clown!
1. Shamlaye, C. F., D. O. Marsh, G. J. Myers, et al. 1995. The Seychelles Child Development Study on neurodevelopmental outcomes in children following in utero exposure to methylmercury from a maternal fish diet: background and demographics. Neurotoxicology 16 (4): 597-612; Rylander L., U. Stromberg, and L. Hagmar. 1996. Dietary intake of fish contaminated with persistent organochlorine compounds in relation to low birthweight. Scand. J. Work Environ. Health 2 (4): 260-66; Does methylmercury have a role in causing developmental disabilities in children? 2000. Environ. Health Perspect. 108 (supp.3): 413-20.
2. Clarkson, T.W. 1997. The toxicology of mercury. Crit. Rev. Clin. Lab. Sci. 34(4):369-403.


The town was incorporated in 1810 by the proprietor, Daniel Penfield, who purchased the town lands in 1795 and moved to the area in 1809. Penfield is a suburb of Rochester, New York. The town's motto is "A Town of Planned Progress".
There were 13,144 households out of which 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.4% were married couples living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were non-families. 22.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.05.
In the town the population was spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 27.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.7 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $63,223, and the median income for a family was $74,959. Males had a median income of $52,282 versus $33,365 for females. The per capita income for the town was $29,576. About 2.3% of families and 3.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.9% of those under age 18 and 5.0% of those age 65 or over.
Schools in Penfield
The Penfield Central School District has 4 public elementary schools, including one (Indian Landing) located in the Town of Brighton. The grounds of the Charles Finney School are adjacent to the grounds of Penfield High School as the building housing Finney housed the Penfield High School until it was moved to a newer structure during the 1960s.
The District was included by the American Music Conference in its list, the 2006 Best 100 Communities for Music Education.
|Penfield High School (PHS)||Public High School||9-12|
|Southeast Christian Academy||Christian School||PK-12|
|Charles Finney School||Christian School||K-12|
|Bay Trail Middle School (BTMS)||Public Middle School||6-8|
|Harris Hill||Public Elementary School||K-5|
|Cobbles||Public Elementary School||K-5|
|Scribner Road||Public Elementary School||K-5|
|Indian Landing||Public Elementary School||K-5|
|St. Joseph's||Catholic Elementary School||Pre-School - 6|
Following the American Revolution the lands that became Penfield were included in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. After passing through several hands, Townships 13 and 14 of Range IV of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase were acquired by Daniel Penfield in several transactions during the course of 1795.
The Town of Penfield was established in 1810 and the first Town Meeting was held on 2 April 1811. The town initially consisted of Townships 13 and 14 of Range IV. A portion of the southwest corner went to the Town of Brighton when it was established in 1814, and Township 14 became the Town of Webster in 1840. So modern Penfield is, with minor differences, Township 13 of Range IV of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase.
The volunteer Penfield Fire Company provides fire protection, rescue and non-transport emergency medical services to that part of the Town included within the Penfield Fire District. Northern parts of Penfield receive these services from the Webster Fire Department.
The Penfield Volunteer Emergency Ambulance Service (PVEAS) provides Basic Life Support with trained Emergency Medical Technicians. Advanced Life Support services are provided by the Southeast Quadrant Mobile Critical Care Unit (SEQ MCCU).


Since the inception of the formal education system, science and finance have managed to grab the attention of the students. Arts, as a subject, has always been kept on the back burner. The reason for this widespread difference is simple to understand: the Arts are associated with creativity, and most artists feel that their own creativity comes from within. As a result they prefer to stay away from formal education. In recent times the perception towards formal arts education has changed, due to several schools and colleges being dedicated solely to the arts. In California alone, there are between 45 and50 art schools which offer various undergraduate and graduate courses in various art disciplines.
An art school is an institution where formal art education is provided to persons of all walks of life through methodical learning and practical training. After undergoing a professional course from a reputable art school, an artist is not only assured of better earning perspectives but is also able to experience a change in his or her artistic perception. Art school undertakes the task of polishing one’s hidden talents—be it designing, fine arts, painting, or acting—and ignite an indomitable passion in an artist’s sprit. Undergoing formal training via a reputable art school opens up new horizons in terms of money and work experience for artists, and gives them an edge over their contemporaries that haven’t received any formal training.
A number of freelance artists shun the idea of attending an art school because they believe that getting into any such institution is a monumental task. The reality is quite opposite, especially when one is seeking admission to an art school in California. Most Californian art schools offer both undergraduate and graduate courses and take students based on portfolio or practical audition, depending on the art discipline one chooses.
For example, the California College of Arts offers numerous courses and starts its admission process during the fall of every year. This institution gives a fair chance to its prospective students to experience the real atmosphere of its campus by organizing a Preview Fall day. The admission process of this school is simple and offers a number of scholarships and financial aid opportunities to the deserving and needy artists who wish to receive a formal education in the arts. For more information about the California College of Arts, visit its official website at: https://www.cca.edu/.
There are several other schools and colleges in California offering art courses to freelance artists, one of the most well-known being the California Institute of Arts. A low teacher-to-student ratio and a strong emphasis on practical exposure are obvious advantages to this wonderful art school. To gain insight on its admission process and to obtain information about its offered courses, visit its official website at: http://calarts.edu/.


ECSE 519: Language and Early Literacy Development
Explores the development of language, communication and early literacy in children birth to age five, focusing on both typical and atypical development pathways. Considers how children acquire language in social context and the relationships between communicative skills and literacy. Within a theory to practice framework, the course covers topics that include the family's role in early language development, language socialization across cultures, bilingualism and second language acquisition, speech and language impairments, and the emergence of literacy in both home and preschool settings. The role of early childhood teachers in fostering language and literacy development in children with diverse needs and backgrounds is highlighted. 3 hours lecture.


Celebrate Music In Our Schools Month!
Posted by William Hall on Friday, March 1, 2013
March is Music In Our Schools Month and MIOSM means Advocacy!
Music programs nationwide are in danger. State and local legislators are attempting to make up for funding shortfalls in this difficult economy by cutting education budgets, which can place school music at risk. Advocacy takes place on many fronts, and advocates for music education need to learn to speak to different audiences, each of whom has a key contribution to make. Music In Our Schools Month – March 2013 – is a perfect time to get involved and do your part to ensure that America’s students have access to a comprehensive, sequential music education taught by exemplary music educators!
Here are some resources to help you celebrate Music In Our Schools Month
- Share Your Story — How has music affected your life? Add your story to our growing collection and help NAfME convince decision makers that music must be protected in school.
- View the Concert for Music In Our Schools Month
- Why Music? Celebrity PSAs for MIOSM – Encourage your local radio stations to download and play on the air these 60-second celebrity messages about the importance of music education.
- Register for Your Flag Certificate – A U.S. Flag will be flown over the U.S. Capitol in honor of MIOSM. Register to receive a certificate of commemoration.
- Music Education Fact a Day for MIOSM – Follow NAfME on Twitter or “like” NAfME on Facebook. Each day in March, we will post a fact or quote that will reinforce the value and benefits of music education that you can share with your friends and followers.
- View the Music In Our Schools Month Webinar
- What States Did for MIOSM 2011 — Check out what members around the country did to celebrate MIOSM 2011.


Why is Orton-Gillingham Needed?
The National Institutes of Health report that one in six people in the United States have difficulty learning to read. They also report that 75% of children identified as having reading difficulties after nine years of age continue to have difficulties throughout High School. Traditional methods for teaching reading are ineffective with this population of children and adults.
To address this issue of literacy, a National Reading Panel was formed in 1997. This panel consisted of 14 individuals, including leading scientists in reading research, and representatives of colleges of education, reading teachers, educational administrators, and parents. Congress asked this panel to assess the status of research including the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read.
A report submitted to Congress in February 1999 by the National Reading Panel showed that a successful reading program should consist of systematic phonics instruction integrated with phonemic awareness, fluency, and comprehension strategies.
The Orton-Gillingham method has been successfully used for more than 70 years and incorporates the components recommended by the National Institutes of Health. It is a structured, multisensory phonics approach. It is systematic, proceeding from simple to complex, and it is cumulative in that new information builds on what has been previously learned. Multisensory reinforcement and practice cements new learning into long-term memory. Although it is structured, the program is also flexible, which means that the method can be adapted by building on the strengths of the individual while providing remeditation of weaknesses.


Keeping young kids engaged in learning music can be a struggle, for teachers and parents alike. The solution? Make music a blast by incorporating games! Here are some great tips from Dallas, TX teacher Eric C., which can be used both in the classroom and during at-home practice…
As an educator, we would like for our students to enjoy our lesson plans, even if the lessons sound dull on paper. In fact, the ideal these days is to have students believe that learning can be fun. It’s best to create an environment in which the students feel welcomed and comfortable. These strategies can be applied for both private music lessons and larger music classes.
What do students like to do for fun? Well, if you observe kids during their downtime, you can see that most children like to play games. And there are tons of great ideas for music games for kids! One easy way for young musicians to get familiar with theory (such as the names of notes, rhythms, vocabulary, etc.) is using flash cards. Divide students into teams, and have one member from each team face each other and assess their knowledge. You could also incorporate a game like darts or basketball; if a team member answers correctly, that member will have an opportunity to throw or shoot to score a point.
Another idea for students is playing hangman, use musical vocabulary. This is a great one for private music lessons (teacher vs. student) or at-home practice (parent or sibling vs. student). For even younger kids (around pre-K to 1st grade), musical chairs is also a fun activity. You can easily teach kids about different music genres this way. For example, instruct your student(s) to march around – then play a march tune (John Phillip Sousa would come to mind) as you play the game normally.
Above are some great examples that teachers have used in their classrooms and lessons that students typically enjoy. However, there are many more ideas for music games for kids that are out there. Try to create your own and see what you can come up with. Just remember, students want to have fun and they want a fun teacher to learn from!
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Eric C. teaches singing, music theory, percussion, songwriting, speaking voice, acting, trombone and tuba lessons to students of all ages in Dallas, TX. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Tarleton State University, and joined the TakeLessons team in January 2013. Learn more about Eric, or search for a teacher near you!
Photo by francoiskarm


Students as young as kindergartners are learning computer programming as Massachusetts schools join a growing national movement to prepare students for 21st-century jobs.
Once considered an extracurricular activity for geeks, coding increasingly is being seen as both an essential life skill and a potential pathway toward becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg.
“The coding craze is the biggest uptick in education in years,” said Elliot Soloway, a professor of computer science at the University of Michigan. “What we’re seeing is a new content area being incorporated into the curriculum at lightning speed, faster than any other content area has been assimilated into teaching. Schools are desperate for the new, and coding’s not just any new; it’s one that has currency.“
Since December, 1 million students have enrolled in an online computer science course offered by Code.org, a nonprofit founded by Harvard graduate Hadi Partovi and backed by Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Microsoft’s Bill Gates. The group recently announced partnerships with 30 school districts, including Andover, Arlington, Ashland, Brookline, Littleton, Milton, Needham, Newton, Reading, Waltham, Wayland and Wellesley.
Newton Public Schools is using Code.org to help teach the foundational skills for coding in grade 2 and build on that in middle school, said Leo Brehm, the district’s director of information technology.
This summer, a Newton North High School teacher also will undergo training through Code.org to teach basic computer science in grades 9 and 10 and more advanced classes in grades 11 and 12, Brehm said.
“Computer science is a natural outlet to exercise critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and it enhances mathematics, engineering and robotics,” Brehm said. “There’s also a shortage of people in the workforce who can code.”
Boston Public Schools expects to become a formal district partner of Code.org within the next year or two, after it prepares its schools from an infrastructure and staffing standpoint — work that is well underway, a BPS spokesman said.
Article from The Boston Herald


Young children’s experience of visual displays of their artwork
Boone, Danielle J. (2008) Young children’s experience of visual displays of their artwork. Australian Art Education, 31 (2), 22-45, 31(22), pp. 22-45.
The practice of displaying children's artwork in early childhood classrooms poses a number of questions about the child and his or her visual artwork. This paper focuses on young children’s experiences with the display of their own visual artwork. Following Giorgi's (1985a; 1985b) approach to conducting phenomenological psychological research, 13 children between the ages of 4 and 6 years attending an independent school outside metropolitan Detroit, Michigan (USA) participated in semi-structured interviews as a way of uncovering their lived experiences of seeing their artwork displayed. The study yielded 12 essential themes and from these three key issues and their implications for early childhood art education are explored.
Impact and interest:
Citation counts are sourced monthly from and citation databases.
These databases contain citations from different subsets of available publications and different time periods and thus the citation count from each is usually different. Some works are not in either database and no count is displayed. Scopus includes citations from articles published in 1996 onwards, and Web of Science® generally from 1980 onwards.
Citations counts from theindexing service can be viewed at the linked Google Scholar™ search.
Full-text downloads displays the total number of times this work’s files (e.g., a PDF) have been downloaded from QUT ePrints as well as the number of downloads in the previous 365 days. The count includes downloads for all files if a work has more than one.
|Item Type:||Journal Article|
|Additional Information:||For further information, please contact the author: Dr Danielle Twigg, Faculty of Education, School of Education and Professional Studies, 176 Messines Ridge Road, MT GRAVATT QLD 4122, Queensland, Australia. Telephone +61 (0) 7 3735 1021. Email: firstname.lastname@example.org, Room: M10_4.02C, Griffith University - Mount Gravatt, www.griffith.edu.au|
|Keywords:||art education, phenomenology|
|Subjects:||Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > EDUCATION (130000) > CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY (130200) > Creative Arts Media and Communication Curriculum and Pedagogy (130201)|
|Divisions:||Current > QUT Faculties and Divisions > Faculty of Education|
|Copyright Owner:||Copyright 2008 the author.|
|Deposited On:||24 Sep 2009 04:53|
|Last Modified:||09 Jun 2010 14:02|
Repository Staff Only: item control page


Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Friday, December 17, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Date: Thursday, December 16th
Time: 12:00-1:00 p.m. (CST)
This webinar will discuss how to use Acrylic, Stratcore, Astrowhite, Loc-Line, Loc-Lift RG, Dual Loc, CPVC, Green Wire, Flag pole Holders, Model Magic, VHB tape and Epoxy Putty to create hundreds of solutions in 5 minutes or less. Participants will learn techniques in scoring, snapping, deburring, heating and bending acrylic. In addition participants will learn creative techniques for working with PVC and CPVC.
Cost: Free for Lekotek Affiliates
$30 General Public (per person)
$200 for groups over 10 people
Continuing Education: 1 IACET CEU
Click here to register: http://www.lekotek.org/services/educators/training_webinars.html
Monday, December 13, 2010
Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability involving difficulty in acquiring numeracy skills. The book The dyscalculia assessment can help investigate maths difficulties in children and provides advice for implementing the findings into teaching plans. Get help pinpointing a child's difficulties with numeracy and using that information to help the child progress. This book is ideal for use with primary school children, but can easily be adapted for older or younger students and is invaluable for SENCOs, TAs, educational psychologists and teachers.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
"This valuable how-to book is a critical tool for all instructional designers and faculty who teach online. Coombs' many years as a pioneer of online teaching show in his deep knowledge of the principles that can allow the reader to apply these lessons to any learning management system (LMS)."
—Sally M. Johnstone, provost and vice president academic affairs, Winona State University, Minnesota; former executive director of WCET at WICHE
"As more and more of our social and professional lives come to be mediated by technology, online accessibility is a fundamental right, not a luxury. This book is a must-read for anyone concerned with maximizing access to learning."
—Richard N. Katz, former vice president and founding director, EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research
"This valuable book reflects Coombs' unique experience and commitment to the best teaching, learning, and accessibility options for all kinds of students and teachers."
—Steven W. Gilbert, founder and president, The TLT Group-Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
On Wednesday, February 10th, About Special Kids will host a workshop for parents and professionals. This training, combining the Article 7 and IEP training, is an all day training that offers basic information about special education laws and regulations for Indiana children ages 3-21. In addition, this training provides information on how to prepare for a case conference and write an IEP. This training is a great opportunity for family members and professionals who advocate for children with a disability or serious chronic illness.
Monday, December 6, 2010
This webinar session will cover the Topic Guide 3: Eligibility for ADA Paratransit. The session will first address the categories and types of eligibility, including conditional eligibility. Important best-practice do's and don'ts will also be discussed, including basing decisions on the most limiting condition, using a comprehensive task/skill list, applying the reasonable person test, identifying specific abilities and/or limitations, basing decisions on a case-by-case analysis of each applicant, and interpreting safety issues properly. Additionally, this will address the eligibility determination process, including the 21-day process, functional assessments, the appeal process for eligibility denials, and visitors. There will be time for participant questions.
To Register visit http://www.adaconferences.org/Transportation and click on the “Registration” web link on the right side navigation list.


Holden, H. and Button, S. W. (2006) 'The teaching of music in the primary school by the non-music specialist.', The British journal of music education., 23 (1). pp. 23-38.
This article reports on an investigation of the teaching of music by non-music specialists in the primary school. In particuilar, it examines attitudes to teaching music, factors affecting teachers' confidence, the relationship between confidence and training, support for music teaching, teaching experience and musical badkground. The non-specialist teachers taking part in this survey were chosen from twelve schools across one Local Education Authority (LEA). The attitudes and views on teaching music of 71 teachers were obtained through a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews. The findings of this survey show that there is much work still to be done in providing non-specialists with effective long-term training and support to increase their music skills, subject knowledge, and confidence, to enable them to make a more marked difference to children's musical education.
|Full text:||PDF - Published Version (96Kb)|
|Publisher Web site:||http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0265051705006728|
|Publisher statement:||© 2006 Cambridge University Press|
|Record Created:||07 Jul 2008|
|Last Modified:||10 Aug 2011 16:51|
|Social bookmarking:||Export: EndNote, Zotero | BibTex|
|Usage statistics||Look up in GoogleScholar | Find in a UK Library|


Guide-pedag.pdf (Objet application/pdf) Rcrla2009a.pdf (Objet application/pdf) La littératie pour tous... Chantale Carette conseillère pédagogique en français au primaire. Elementary Education - Mini Lessons in Writing Workshop. Connection ___ I connected today's work with our ongoing work. ___ I explicitly stated my teaching point.
Teach ___ I restated my teaching point. ___ I told a personal or class story connected to the teaching point. ___ I demonstrated by thinking aloud. ___ I pointed out things students should have noticed. Active Involvement ___ I asked students to be actively involved by turning and talking. ___ I listened / observed / coached their active involvement. ___ I shared an example of what I heard / observed. Link ___ I restated the teaching point. ___ I told students how what I had taught can be used in the future.
Sorts. Unit 4-Week 3 « 6th Grade Scott Foresman Reading Street Resources.
 By "The Sisters" - Gail Boushey and Joan Moser Read to Self Read to Someone Listen to Reading Work on WritingWork on Words Our Daily 5 Choice Charts Daily 5 Choice Cards.
Mini-Lessons. Cheri Summers comments: I compiled these mini lessons for a class that I am teaching for second grade teachers.
But I think that many of them would work for first and third grade as well. Literacy. Suggested Resources Kid Writing: A Systematic Approach to Phonics, Journals, and Writing Workshops by Eileen Feldgus and Isabell Cardonick Month by Month Reading and Writing for Kindergarten (also known as Building Blocks) by Dorothy Hall and Patricia Cunningham Getting the Most Out of Morning Messages and Other Shared Writing Lessons by Payne and Schulman) I Can Read!
Daily 5 Part 2- mini lessons. Yesterday I posted an overview about how I run Daily 5 in my classroom.
I also forgot to say yesterday that Daily 5 is the most amazing thing ever. I've never seen students so engaged and quiet.


This beautifully illustrated text filled with rich examples of student work reflects the latest trends in art education and demonstrates how to motivate students to learn by integrating art with other content areas. Emphasis Artcontinues to focuses on the intrinsic worth of art-studio experience through its Discipline-Based Art Education approach, as well as the process of implementing art education in classroom practice. Useful for both general classroom teachers and art specialists, this popular text promotes art appreciation while providing a wealth of creative ideas and clear technical direction, including lesson plans that incorporate objectives. Teacher candidates or practicing teachers will find practical information for today's classrooms including a focus on integrating art instruction into the general classroom with individual chapters across the discipline areas, sequential curricula for grades K-8, art appreciation, and art production. Hundreds of specific, practical suggestions and lesson planshelp teachers implement art education in their classrooms. Readers will also find stimulating new examples of authentic children's artwork and updated coverage of art and technology including digital photography, video, and the web.
Robert D. Clements, Professor of Art, taught art education at the University of Georgia for 25 years. There, he won the University’s highest awards for his teaching and research. A renowned artist in his own right, Dr. Clements’s works are on display in museums and institutes throughout the world. Besides his sculpture and public art, he has written three books and 60 articles and directed many grant projects. Born in Pittsburgh, PA,Dr. Clements received his BFA degree from Carnegie Mellon University and his graduate art degrees from Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Clements is recognized for his work in Who’s Who in American Art and Who’s Who in America. He has written the fifth through current editions of Emphasis Art. To understand Dr. Clements’s influence on the world of art and art education, one need only speak with the many art teachers throughout the country who speak of him with reverence and who don’t hesitate for a moment to provide their students’ works for use in his books.
Frank Wachowiak (1913—1998) was a master teacher and artist whose approach to teaching art to children is recognized throughout the field. Born in Wisconsin, he received his degrees from the University of Iowa where he subsequently taught until moving to the University of Georgia in 1967. For 50 years his passion for a life in art was evident as he worked in the happy, charged environment of children searching, discovering, and creating through art.As he taught and studied children’s art
all over the world (particularly while at the University of Iowa Lab School and the University of Georgia Children’s Art Classes),
Dr.Wachowiak found that it was easy to stay young at heart. Since his passing in 1998, every edition of Emphasis Art, including this one, has built off of his inspiring words and clear technical directions, as well as his model of including beautiful examples of children’s art.


The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is a city-supported public art program that brings together young people, neighborhood residents, artists, and a wide variety of public and private institutions to create murals of enduring value that reflect the aspirations and experiences of the city's diverse communities. Since 1984, the Mural Arts Program has created over 3,000 murals and works of public art which are now part of Philadelphia's civic landscape and a source of inspiration to the hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors who encounter them earning Philadelphia international recognition as the "City of Murals."
The Mural Arts Program's free after-school and summer intensive art education programs known as Big Picture and Mural Corps are aimed at young people 10 to 21 years of age. The programs not only teach mural-making and other fundamental art skills but inspire students to become artists, organizers, and leaders in their communities.
Over the past year, youth enrolled in the Big Picture and Mural Corps programs drew inspiration from the practice and activism of Mahatma Gandhi: "We need to be the change we wish to see in the world." Through the self-portraits, students were asked to challenge their preconceptions of who they are, how the world portrays them, and how they portray themselves.
The Mural Arts Program believes that if young people are equipped with a strong sense of self, knowledge of their potential, and a connection to the world around them, they will be better prepared to make wise decisions and choose positive paths throughout their lives.


Curriculum focus and learning intentions
How the ACE Consumer resource fits into the New Zealand curriculum.
The curriculum focus for ACE Consumer is primarily within the Social Studies Curriculum.
Being a critical and enquiring consumer is implicitly linked to active citizenship.
This resource supports achievement objectives from the Social Studies’ Resources and Economic Activities strand, but also develops concepts embedded in the Social Organisation strand – such as rights and responsibilities and aspects of citizenship.
While this resource meets the specific Level 4 Achievement Objectives of:
- Resources and Economic Activities (how and why individuals and groups seek to safeguard the rights of consumers) and
- Social Organisation (how and why people exercise their rights and meet their responsibilities).
It is designed around the use of focus Social Studies concepts that underpin these Achievement Objectives. These concepts are relevant to various strands and levels, thus extending the lifetime of this resource beyond the current curriculum.
Social Studies concepts
Rights, responsibilities, market, goods and services, competition and the market, laws and regulations, needs and wants, participation, social decision-making and values exploration.
- Perspectives - Current issues
- Settings - New Zealand
- Essential skills - Communication skills; Numeracy skills; Information skills; Problem-solving skills; Social and co-operative skills
The Social Studies processes at Levels 3-4
|The Social Decision-making processes* - Indicators||Located in resource lessons |
|Identify possible causes of issues and problems.||4, 6|
|Use criteria to evaluate a range of solutions to relevant problems.||4, 5, 6|
|Make a choice about possible action and justify that choice.||4, 5, 6|
*The Social Studies processes do not follow a linear progression, but are visited and revisited throughout a unit of work, or a course of study. The three processes inter-relate and complement each other.
This resource can be linked to the Mathematics, English and Health and Physical Education curricula.
This resource uses a number of key concepts embedded in the Social Studies curriculum achievement objectives as the basis for all the learning intentions and activities. These concepts are introduced and revisited throughout the resource and used as the basis for the online activities.
Descriptive concepts (what we look at):
Consumer rights and responsibilities
Business rights and responsibilities
Competition and the market
Consumer needs and wants
Consumer rules and laws (government).
Analytical concepts (how we look):
- Consumer decision-making
- Critical thinking and inquiry processes
- Values exploration
- Social action and participation
- The key understandings developed in this resource derive from the concepts and are listed in the consumer education table that follows.
- Student outcomes can be measured against their knowledge, skills, attitudes and values based on the following key understandings (see the Social Studies Exemplar project (2004) for more information).
Key aspects of learning
|Personal and social significance|
Active informed consumer
|Individuals understand and exercise their rights and responsibilities as critical (active and informed) consumers. |
Purchasing decisions made by consumers can be influenced by factors such as advertising and trends.
|Individuals (and organisations) understand and exercise their rights and responsibilities in business.|
Role of Government
|Government ensures laws and information are available to consumers to fully participate in (and therefore influence) the market. |
Government is aware of new or changing markets, and develops laws and regulations, if required, to ensure business and consumer participation.
(The three aspects of learning used to analyse this topic are derived from the Social Studies Exemplar project (2004)).
| Students will: |


No Child Left Behinds Early Reading First grant program supports preschools and early childhood education providers, especially those who serve children from low-income families, so that they can become preschool centers of educational excellence and the children they serve will arrive at kindergarten with the foundational skills necessary to become successful readers. The following are excerpts from an article on EducationNews.org highlighting the progress of a Texas preschool program that is funded by an Early Reading First grant:
"Sebastian Wren, the Program Associate for Reading at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory in Austin, Texas, has been personally involved with INSPIRED, a very successful pre-school and day-care project in Round Rock Independent School District, Round Rock, Texas. Wren recently concluded, Although they started out with different performance levels, by the end of the year, African American students, Caucasian students, and Hispanic students were performing approximately equally. Thus, there is some evidence that the INSPIRED project is helping to level the playing field for disparate groups of students."
"Wren has summarized the project as follows: The preliminary assessments to ascertain individual reading and language skills were collected in the winter of 2003-2004. The pre-school and day-care teachers participating in the Round Rock INSPIRED project then received a substantial amount of training in instructional activities that support the development of early reading and language skills. By the end of the school year in 2004, students had made substantial gains in the various reading-related skills that were assessed. A total of 259 students were tested both in the winter and spring of the 03-04 school years in a variety of reading-related tasks, including name writing, concept of word, print knowledge, alphabet knowledge, verbal memory, rhyme awareness, and beginning sound awareness. "
"Approximately half of the students who participated in the 03-04 INSPIRED Project were Hispanic, and in the winter, Hispanic students performed more poorly than Caucasian students on most of the reading-related tasks. By spring, both Caucasian students and Hispanic students had made significant gains, but the Hispanic students had made more dramatic gains, closing the gap with the Caucasian students. The same is true of the African American students who made up 11% of the student population."
"Catherine Davis is the coordinator for INSPIRED. She participated in the following Q & A:
"Question #1: What is the background on the grant and what are the expectations from the district?
"Answer #1: Round Rock Independent School District was one of thirty grants awarded in cycle two of the Early Reading First program. As with all Early Reading First grants our goal is to provide intensive reading instruction that is grounded in scientifically based reading research as acknowledged by the National Reading Panel's report. We expect the children participating in our program will be ready to start kindergarten as well as if not better than their more economically advantaged peers. We want our children to learn to read on schedule."
About Extra Credit
NCLB Extra Credit is a regular look at the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's landmark education reform initiative passed with bipartisan support in Congress.
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||Blackboard,1877, watercolor, Gift (Partial and Promised) of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz Jr., in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
For a short period in the late 1870s, a decorative quality became evident in Homer's art. Blackboard, which continues the theme of elementary education found in many of his oils, epitomizes this development. The studied elegance of the work's design derives in part from its monochromatic palette and in part from the geometric patterning found in the bands of color in the background, the checkered apron, and the marks on the board.
The marks on the blackboard puzzled scholars for many years. They now have been identified as belonging to a method of drawing instruction popular in American schools in the 1870s. In their earliest lessons, young children were taught to draw by forming simple combinations of lines, as seen on the blackboard here. Rather than being a polite accomplishment, drawing was viewed as having a practical application, playing a valuable role in industrial design. Homer playfully signed the blackboard in its lower-right corner as though with chalk.


Online Curriculum Design Degree Programs
The classroom is constantly changing, and the success of students today depends on their teachers' ability to keep up with the latest advancements in learning.
Curriculum design degree programs teach students how to create course curricula that reflect emergent changes in education and the best practices for reaching students today. With the knowledge gained through this degree program, educators may be able to improve their performance in the classroom, as well as the outcomes for their students.
Overview of Curriculum Design Programs
Students in curriculum design programs typically gain in-depth knowledge on how to craft a course curriculum that meets students' needs and an institution's educational goals. Subjects covered in these programs often include multicultural education, technology in the classroom and pedagogical theories that guide the field.
Examples of potential courses include:
- Early childhood education: This course focuses on how young children learn and the ways in which cognitive, social, emotional and physical development influences their classroom needs. Topics addressed in this course typically include how to develop, supervise and assess early education programs; how to work with children from different socioeconomic backgrounds and be sensitive to cultural differences; and the societal and political influences that affect early childhood education.
- Technology and teaching: Students in this course can expect to get an overview of how different kinds of media affect classroom instruction. Topics generally include the use of electronic texts in the classroom, how to deliver classroom content via distance learning, the best ways to design a website to augment classroom content, and theories on technology in the classroom. This course may also cover the use of mass media in the classroom and the importance of applying critical thinking skills to information disseminated by the media.
- Curriculum development and implementation: This course covers theories of curriculum design and how those theories can be used to develop course content for a diverse group of learners. In addition, students are taught how to implement a curriculum, the issues that can arise when introducing a curriculum into the classroom and how to assess its effectiveness
Depending on the program, students in curriculum design degree programs may be required to choose a concentration to focus their studies on such as elementary education, English as a second language, secondary education or reading education.
Potential Careers for Curriculum Design Majors
Students who earn curriculum design degrees can work in public or private schools, nonprofit organizations, military bases, adult education programs, charter schools, community colleges or alternative schools. Some of the jobs available to these professionals include:
- Instructional coordinator: Instructional coordinators are responsible for ensuring that the teaching standards and curriculum of an institution are effective. To that end, they help develop and implement course curriculum, organize training for teachers, assess teachers' performance and help them make improvements, and create teaching standards for educators to follow. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), instructional designers, who are required to earn at least a master's degree, made an median annual wage of $60,610 in 2013. Employment in this profession is expected to increase by 13 percent nationwide between 2012 and 2022.
- Postsecondary teacher: Postsecondary teachers, who generally earn a Ph.D. to enter the field, instruct students at the college level, as well as contribute to their field through scholarly research. The job duties of these professionals include designing and teaching courses, planning and grading assignments and tests, keeping abreast of developments in their field, conducting research and presenting the findings to other professionals and participating in school committees. The BLS predicts a 19 percent increase in demand for postsecondary school teachers from 2012 to 2022, with median annual wages at $60,170 (as of May 2013).
In addition, curriculum design graduates might also pursue careers as corporate trainers, curriculum specialists or curriculum coordinators.
"Education Teachers, Postsecondary," Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2013, http://www.bls.gov/oes/CURRENT/oes251081.htm
"Instructional Coordinators," Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2013, http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes259031.htm
"Instructional Coordinators," Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook (2013-15 Edition), http://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/instructional-coordinators.htm
"Postsecondary Teachers," Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook (2014-15 Edition), http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Education-Training-and-Library/Postsecondary-teachers.htm


Music and Dyslexia: A Positive Approach
This is a sequel to the highly successful Music and Dyslexia: Opening New Doors, published in 2001. The field of dyslexia has developed rapidly, particularly in the area of neuropsychology. Therefore this book focuses on these research advances, and draws out the aspects of music education that benefit young dyslexics. The contributors also discuss the problems that dyslexic musicians face, and several chapters are devoted to sight-reading and specific strategies that dyslexics can use to help them sight-read.
The book offers practical techniques and strategies, to teachers and parents to help them work with young dyslexics and dyslexic musicians.
List of Contributors.
Section I: Tackling Problems.
1. Dyslexia and other developmental Differences (Tim Miles)
2. Things that can go wrong (Tim Miles)
Section II: In and around the Classroom (Christine McRitchie Pratt)
4. Classroom Rhythm games for literacy support (Katie Overy)
5. Early Years: Deirdre Starts to Learn Piano (Olivia McCarth and Diana Ditchfield)
6. Winning Over the Reluctants (Christine McRitchie Pratt, Diana Ditchfield, Sheila Oglethorpe and John Westcombe)
7;. Can Music Lessons Help the Dyslexic Learner? (Sheila Oglethorpe)
8. Parallels Between the Teaching of Musical and Mathematical Notation (Tim Miles)
9. The Paper Work (Diana Ditchfield)
10. Sight-reading (Sheila Oglethorpe)
11. Sight-reading and Memory (Michael Lea)
12. Ten Top Tips and Thoughts (Nigel Clarke)
13. Can Computers Help? Matching the Inner with the Outer Ear (Adam Apostoli)
Section III: Strategies and Success.
14. Positive Connections Across the Generations (Annemarie Sand John Westcombe)
15. Similarities and Differences in the Dyslexic Voice (Paula Bishop-Liebler)
16. Thirty-seven Oboists (Carolyn King)
17. Suzuki Benefits for Children with Dyslexia (Jenny Macmillan)
18. Dyslexia: No Problem (Diana Ditchfield)
Section IV: Science takes Us Forward.
19. Insights from Brain Imaging (Katie Overy)
20. Music Reading: A Cognitive Neuroscience Approach (Lauren Stewart)
"A great read for specialist music teachers, advisory staff and anyone wanting to get a real feel for the difficulties faced by our children." (Children and Young People Now, July 2008)
Music and Dyslexia: A Positive Approach (US $135.00)
-and- Educational Interventions for Students with Autism (US $30.00)
Total List Price: US $165.00
Discounted Price: US $123.75 (Save: US $41.25)


(PhysOrg.com) -- Many children, when learning to read, are encouraged by their teachers to retell all they remember about a story in order to build their comprehension skills. But can similar comprehension strategies be applied to mathematics? Researchers at North Carolina State University say that when teachers work with kids to talk through math problems, kids do a better job of absorbing and understanding the content.
“Current methods of teaching math - with examples and activities - are important, but we’re neglecting the communications component around it,” says Dr. Paola Sztajn, professor of mathematics education at NC State. “Helping children verbally work through math problems and articulate problem solving is an important aspect of their understanding.”
However, according to Sztajn, in order to reinforce this aspect of learning, you first need to reach the teachers. “We need to educate teachers how to do ‘math talk’ in classrooms and create ways for them to integrate it into their curriculum,” Sztajn says.
Sztajn and her team recently received a five-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation to launch the program - Project AIM: All Included in Mathematics - and explore this new method of teaching. The researchers will develop a “math talk” curriculum for second-grade teachers across Wake County, and then work with the district’s math coaches to provide professional development to all second-grade teachers. The teachers will undergo approximately 40 hours of professional development over the course of a year to prepare to incorporate “math talk” into lessons.
“We specifically chose second grade because it has been shown to be a pivotal time in children’s development - especially in the areas of math and literacy,” says Dr. Ellen McIntyre, head of the Department of Elementary Education at NC State and a researcher on the project. “After second grade, students go from doing simple math - addition and subtraction - into more complicated areas such as multiplication. We need to make sure our students have a strong foundation before moving forward. However, the idea is to apply the ‘math talk’ concept to other grade levels and other types of math content.”
Working with Sztajn and McIntyre are Dr. Angela Wiseman and Dr. Steve Amendum, both assistant professors of literacy education at NC State.
“What makes this research unique is that we’re taking experts who specialize in elementary math education and experts in elementary literacy education and combining the knowledge from both groups to help kids learn how to talk about math that will ultimately help them learn more mathematics,” McIntyre explains.
Explore further: New study utilizes Kinect for Windows technology to teach elementary school students geometry


A curriculum-based project
Crafting North Carolina is an art education resource that connects lessons with the study of North Carolina. Craft objects in the collection of the Mint Museum are used to reinforce historical and cultural themes that are taught in the curriculum. This page will provide educators and parents with information about how this site addresses specific goals and standards that are listed in the North Carolina Department of Instruction's Standard Course of Study for 4th Grade Social Studies.
Introduction to the NC DPI Goals and Objectives for Grade 4 Social Studies
North Carolina: The Land and Its People
In fourth grade, students study the state of North Carolina. As they investigate North Carolina, they learn about the characteristics of the people in terms of values and beliefs. They explore geographic regions, climate, and resources of the state. They are introduced to the concept of culture and learn about the states social, economic, and political institutions.
The competency goals of the fourth grade unit engage students in an investigation of these basic questions:
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES FOR GRADE 4 SOCIAL STUDIES
Anthropology / Psychology / Sociology
GOAL 1: THE LEARNER WILL ANALYZE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
GOAL 2: THE LEARNER WILL ASSESS THE INFLUENCE OF MAJOR RELIGIONS, ETHICAL BELIEFS, AND AESTHETIC VALUES OF LIFE IN NORTH CAROLINA.
GOAL 5: THE LEARNER WILL EVALUATE WAYS THE PEOPLE OF NORTH CAROLINA USE, MODIFY AND ADAPT TO THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT.
GOAL 6: THE LEARNER WILL EVALUATE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE, GOODS, AND IDEAS FROM PLACE TO PLACE.
GOAL 9: THE LEARNER WILL EVALUATE HOW NORTH CAROLINIANS USE ECONOMIC RESOURCES TO SATISFY THEIR WANTS AND NEEDS.
GOAL 11: THE LEARNER WILL ASSESS CHANGES IN WAYS OF LIVING OVER TIME AND INVESTIGATE WHY AND HOW THESE CHANGES OCCURRED.
GOAL 12: THE LEARNER WILL TRACE DEVELOPMENTS IN NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY AND DESCRIBE THEIR IMPACT ON THE LIVES OF PEOPLE TODAY.
SKILL I: THE LEARNER WILL ACQUIRE INFORMATION FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES.
SKILL III: THE LEARNER WILL DEVELOP SKILLS IN CONSTRUCTIVE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND IN SOCIAL PARTICIPATION.


"Bippyleep!": science for kids
Illustration is a good way to help kids learn - if they co-operate. Sally Kindberg reports back from Bath
It always helps if we have one or two visitors from outer space in our audience, and luckily there were several, cleverly disguised as earthling children.
Author Tracey Turner and I were at Bath’s fifth Festival of Children’s Literature to promote The Comic Strip Big Fat Book of Knowledge, our new omnibus edition of the Comic Strip History of the World, the History of Space and the Greatest Greek Myths.
Tracey writes the fabulous and witty text for our books, and I draw the pictures. We like to make these events as interactive as possible, so it was great to have a lively audience, especially when we were talking about and drawing UFOs, and getting these special visitors to tell us more about their planets. “Blppyleep!” was apparently a greeting from Jupiter which I duly put into a speech bubble. Always handy to know these things.
One of the great things about drawing comic strips is how you can change facial expressions very simply but get subtle results. Apparently I pull faces all the time (according to friends) when I’m drawing characters, but in Bath I had four young volunteers on stage to help. They giggled in an unhelpful manner when I urged them to think of something very sad so I could draw their faces. “Imagine someone has given you a five pound note as a present, the wind blows it away and it falls down a drain,” I suggested to the main giggler. “Money isn’t important to me,” said the seven-year-old girl.
“OK,” I said, “What about this – someone gives you a piece of delicious cake, you trip up, the cake falls off the plate and a dog eats it?”
“I don’t like cake, “ said the girl.
At these events you never know quite how things are going to go, which I love, and luckily the audience did too.
Later, Tracey related the history of the universe in five minutes while I drew a diagram of the Big Sausage of Time, we did some highlights of world history (including the story of an astronomer with a golden nose), got the audience to trick Greek mythological monster Cyclops with some magical items, then showed them some dinosaurs (from next year’s comic strip book) and had a quiz. Quite a busy hour. But we love a challenge.
The Comic Strip Big Fat Book of Knowledge by Sally Kindberg and Tracey Turner is published by Bloomsbury. Sally's website is www.sallykindberg.co.uk.
Photo copyright Julian Foxon Photography.


A Steiner Waldorf school aspires to a distinctive ethos that puts the needs of the developing child at the heart of its educational practice. This ethos crosses boundaries of ethnicity, gender, religion and nationality and affects every gesture in the school irrespective of its cultural setting. The curriculum and pedagogy is founded on the notion that lesson material and educational method must be in harmony with the developmental readiness and emergent capacities of the children. This awareness is a common thread that guides and binds the work in the school.
‘Formal’ teaching and learning begins in the Lower School, where the thread of rhythm, imagination and experiential learning introduced in the Early Years is picked up and extended. Teaching in the Lower School embraces the idea of integrated education in which the core skills of oracy, numeracy and literacy are woven together with a study of science and an immersion in the arts.
The two-hour Main Lesson, usually given in the morning, is an opportunity for the children to work with a range of themes over an extended period, and to engage with those themes via a variety of perspectives and learning styles. Topics introduced in the Main Lesson are varied and age-appropriate; for example, ‘Weighing and measuring’ in Class 3 (age 9/10 years) or ‘The Story of Rome’ in Class 6 (age 11/12 years).
These themes can be extended and developed in subject lessons, as appropriate, and represent an opportunity for an experience that embraces practical, aesthetic and cognitive learning styles, and for an education that is genuinely inter-disciplinary. Typical subject lessons in a Steiner Waldorf school include one or two foreign languages, music, games, handwork, landwork, religion and eurythmy (a movement-based activity that addresses coordination, concentration and spatial awareness, as well as social skills).
A further distinctive feature of the Lower School is the role of the class teacher, who works with a single class of children over an extended period (typically, between six and eight years), taking the children from the early stages of childhood into the throes of adolescence. This is an expression of the importance given to cultivating positive social relationships within the class and the school as a whole.
Main Lesson curriculum in the Lower School:
The introduction, consolidation and practise of literacy and numeracy skills are at the foundation of every Main Lesson throughout the Lower School. This work is supported and enhanced by the progressive introduction of age-appropriate themes and topics. These include:
Class 1: Fairy tales and legends
Class 2: Fables and animal stories, nature stories
Class 3: Traditional crafts and farming, measurement, Old Testament stories
Class 4: Myths and legends of northern cultures, animal study, local geography, mathematics (fractions)
Class 5: Ancient civilisations, Greek history, plant study, mathematics (decimals), UK geography
Class 6: Roman and medieval history, geology, mathematics (percentages), physics, European geography
Using SSP (Systematic Synthetic Phonics )
Our school use phonics as one of many tools for teaching literacy but we start with an `analytical` approach, beginning with the whole and moving to the parts, not the other way around. From a story will come a sentence, within the sentence there will be focus on certain words, within those words specific letters, sounds and blends will be explored. Letters are then learned as a picture or `shape`. They learn that some letters – particularly vowels – have more than one sound and will be able to identify which sound it is making in a given word but the rules as how this works come later. Once the children have mastered a few letters they will begin to write simple words and sentences and from this prior activity of writing they will begin to learn how to read.