One of the greatest challenges students face is adjusting to college reading expectations. Unlike high school, students in college are expected to read more “academic” type of materials in less time and usually recall the information as soon as the next class.
The problem is many students will spend hours reading and have no idea what they just read. Their eyes are moving across the page, but their mind is somewhere else. The end result is wasted time, energy, and frustration . . . and having to read the text again.
Although students are taught how to read at an early age, many are not taught how to actively engage with written text.
Active Reading is applying reading strategies before, during, and after reading a text with the overall objective of increasing comprehension (understanding what was read) and recall (remembering what was read) to save time and effort.
The Secret is in the Pen
One of the ways proficient readers read is with a pen in hand. They know their purpose is to keep their attention on the material by:
- predicting what the material will be about
- questioning the material to further understanding
- determining what’s important
- identifying key vocabulary
- summarizing the material in their own words, and
- monitoring their comprehension (understanding) during and after engaging with the material
Annotating a Text
Review this video about “Learning How to Annotate” to develop active reading strategies:
Review Oberlin College and Conservatory’s “Keeping a Reading Journal” page.
And Dustin Wax’s “Keep an Academic Reading Journal” to develop reading comprehension strategies.


This week, the American Federation of Teachers released the following video in response to the results of the PISA exam (Programme for International Standards and Assessment). The test, which is administered in 65 countries to students between 15 and 16 years of age, compares students’ abilities to apply their knowledge of standard subjects including science, math, and reading to “real-world” situations. The most recent PISA results were released in early December, and ranked the U.S. near the middle in most results.
The release of the scores has naturally generated a deluge of response and commentary from education leaders, pundits, the White House, and Congress; about the the state of education in our country and what we need to do about it. This video offers a thoughtful examination of the test results, and suggests a different approach to policy reform than much of what the news media has presented in the last two weeks. What do you think? Do you agree with AFT’s assessment of the PISA and where the U.S. needs to go from here? (Spoilers: it’s not towards more testing or greater competition. Studies show the greatest impacts on a child’s academic success essentially boil down to poverty and access to early childhood education; not surprisingly, the highest-ranking PISA countries’ policies tend to bear out the research.)
Please share your reactions below!
Shannon Kelly, NAfME Director of Advocacy, December 11, 2013. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)


ハンガリーにおける保幼小連携音楽カリキュラム : 就学前教育から小学校1年生への系統性に着目して
MusicCultEduc_20_1.pdf 1.55 MB
Not until recently, the lack of smooth transition to elementary school has not been criticized in Japan. The Elementary 1st grade education starts as so called "Zero Start" and elementary school teachers has to build their curriculum without any information about children's experience during preschool years. Though some school districts started transition activities, such as visiting each institution and sharing experiences, there have not developed transition programs in certain subject.
The purpose of this study is to examine elementary school transition program in music education, focusing on the case of Hungary, which is well known for its systematically-designed music curriculum effected by Kodai.
As the results, (1) it was made clear that the aim of music education and expected abilities in both preschool and elementary school education are the same; (2) elementary school music education is strongly based on the music experienced during preschool years; (3) preschool music education is based by play activities and children's are trained through enjoyable music activities; (4) learning components are stated clearly in text books and it these are designed systematically; (5) what is strongly focus in music education in preschool years and early elementary school years are to learn essential factors in music education, such as sol-fa, sense of rhythm, and listening abilities; and (6) education to enhance abilities to read and write music score starts from the first grade.
From this study, it was made clear that music education in Hungary has a lot of elements for us to learn to create elementary school transition curriculum in music education, in Japan.


We at Kikani believe that Drama and the performing arts allow an avenue in students to develop cognitive abilities that complement their study in other disciplines. Further, it builds confidence which benefits public speaking opportunities. The talent that students discover through the Arts can form habits which transcend all areas of study. Communication between peers is accelerated as children are exposed to group activities. This experience also provides opportunity for them to display cultural leadership qualities. Some students find their ‘voice’ while studying the Arts. They may discover they are natural problem solvers or leaders. Creative expression is a great way to build self-confidence and can be particularly beneficial for introverted and reserved children. The Arts can also be a source of solitude – a place where a child is able to shut out their surrounds and immerse themselves in a creative environment. This process allows the imagination to thrive, aiding internal exploration. This experience can define a child’s growing sense of independence and interdependence. Hence art education has a place in the curriculum of students from Std 1 – 5 at Kikani.


Year of Publication
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Mary Shake
This qualitative case study examined the perceptions of 79 elementary teachers regarding their preparation to teach students learning English as a second language (ELLs). The focus of this inquiry centered on factors related to the preparation of teachers for serving non-native English speaking students. The research questions that guided this study are: (a) What are teachers’ perceptions of their preparation for teaching English learners?; (b) What types of preparatory experiences do teachers perceive as supportive of their preparation for teaching ELLs?; and (c) How do teachers’ perceptions of their preparation shape their practices with ELL students?
Findings of this study indicated that most participating teachers perceived that they were not prepared by their teacher education programs for teaching ELL students. Many participants related that they lacked preparatory coursework that included strategies for teaching ELLs, had few observational experiences in classrooms with ELL students, and lacked experiences in working with ELLs during field placements and student teaching. Teachers related that coursework in ESL methods, classroom observations and fieldwork placements in classrooms with ELLs, and hands-on experiences would benefit teachers’ knowledge and skill development for teaching ELLs. Further, teachers’ current classroom practices were consistent with their perceptions of their preparation for teaching ELLs. Focal teachers with perceptions of lower levels of preparation rarely provided alternative forms of assessment, ensured that ELLs comprehended directions, or implemented scaffolding during instruction for ELLs. The focal teacher who perceived that she was extremely well prepared by her teacher education program for teaching ELLs often modeled learning tasks, utilized varied strategies to facilitate comprehensible input, and provided options for alternative assessments for her ELL students.
Teacher educators are encouraged to re-examine their pre-service course objectives and content to ensure that teacher candidates are provided with the knowledge and skills to teach non-native English speaking students. In addition, opportunities for classroom observations and field placements in school contexts with linguistically diverse students are encouraged for all teacher candidates. School administrators are encouraged to provide professional development opportunities that include strategies for teaching ELLs. This study provides additional evidence that classroom teachers may not be adequately prepared by their teacher preparatory programs for meeting the literacy and learning needs of ELL students. Providing teachers with strategies and experiences related to ELL students will enable teachers to meet the language and literacy needs of their non-native English speaking students.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Correll, Pamela K., "Teachers' Preparation to Teach English Language Learners (ELLs): An Investigation of Perceptions, Preparation, and Current Practices" (2016). Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction. 19.
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons, Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons


At Duncombe, music education is important. The curriculum offered engages and inspires pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians. Children in every year group have regular high quality music lessons, taught by specialist music teachers. All children have regular opportunities to sing and to play instruments. A strong emphasis is placed on performance, with all children given regular opportunities to perform for an audience.
Our Approach to Music
- EYFS: In Nursery and Reception, children have access to musical instruments every day and are encouraged to experiment with making sound. Children also take part in weekly singing lessons with a specialist singing teacher where they learn how to use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. Weekly drumming lessons with our long standing African drums teacher introduce children to the dimensions of music such as pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, and structure.
- KS1: In Year 1 and Year 2, children continue to use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. They also listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music.
- In Year 1, children continue drumming lessons, progressing to more complex patterns.
- In Year 2, children start learning recorder with a specialist teacher. Every child is given their own instrument to take home. In these lessons children, experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.
- KS2: There is a strong focus on progression in KS2. In Year 3 children will start learning to play a new instrument. This rotates between violin or cello; clarinet or trumpet; or ukulele. They continue learning the same instrument until they leave Year 5, receiving three years tuition in total. Every child is provided with their own instrument, free of charge, which is theirs to take home to practise with.
- In Year 6 children do not learn an instrument unless they choose to. They do however, take part in weekly choral singing lessons with our singing teacher.
- Extra Opportunities: From KS2, children are encouraged to build on existing skills and progress to the next stage of musical excellence. Opportunities for advanced music learning at Duncombe include: guitar lessons, advanced drumming, advanced recorders, Choir and The Hub at Islington Arts and Media School. Advanced music provision is in addition to the curriculum offered in class.
- Performance: Every child is able to showcase his or her achievements in regular performances. All children takes part in frequent assemblies and are expected to perform a song in every one. Children also have annual music assemblies which are an occasion to celebrate what they have learnt that year. Each Key Stage works towards a major performance each term, ensuring that every child takes part in a large scale production every year. Children are also encouraged to perform at International Evening.
Specialist Music Teachers
We employ specialist music teachers who ensure that children:
- Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression.
- Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music.
- Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory.
- Use and understand staff and other musical notations.
- Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians.
- Develop an understanding of the history of music.


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Introduction: Reading development depends on multiple cognitive and linguistic (e.g. phonology, vocabulary) abilities. According to the Declarative/Procedural Hypothesis (Ullman, 2013), these abilities may rely on different memory systems. Procedural memory supports the discovery of linguistic structure during learning (e.g. phonology, aspects of syntax) while declarative memory supports aspects of language that involve the arbitrary mapping of form and meaning (e.g. lexicon). Both systems follow distinct maturational trajectories: procedural memory plateaus ~10 years-old (Finn et al., 2016), while declarative memory matures throughout adolescence (DiGiulio et al., 1994). The maturation of procedural and declarative memory systems yield different predictions concerning their roles in reading development. Here, we ask whether declarative and procedural systems differentially contribute to reading as a function of age of first reading exposure? Specifically, we examined reading development in rural Ivory Coast, where age of school enrollment is highly variable due to poverty and the need for child labor. Consequently, children begin reading anywhere between 4-12 years. We hypothesize that procedural memory (matures earlier) contributes more to emergent literacy in younger children, whereas declarative memory (matures later) contributes more to emergent literacy in older children. These hypotheses have largely remained untested -- most reading research involves children who start learning to read at the same time upon mandatory school enrollment.
Methods: 76 children ages 8-14 years (M=10.16, SD=1.51) participated in French language and literacy assessments and declarative and procedural memory tasks. Declarative (Hedenius et al., 2013): Participants encoded real and imaginary images which were tested for recognition (measured d’). Procedural (Nissen & Bullemer, 1987): Serial reaction time (RT) task presenting an encoding phase of random or sequential patterns which were tested for recognition (measured RT for random versus sequential).
Results: Overall word reading scores were low (M=48% correct, SD=37%), but younger children were better readers compared to older children who enrolled in school late (b=-5.21, t(67)=-2.665, p<.01). Procedural, but not declarative, memory predicted reading outcomes (b=-0.12, t(67)=-2.321, p<.05). Importantly, the effect of procedural memory on reading was dependent on child age (b=0.01, t(67)=2.472, p<.05): simple slope analyses revealed procedural memory was a significant predictor of reading for older children only (1SD above mean age: 11.7 years-old; b=0.027, t(67)=2.431, p<.05).
Discussion: Procedural memory continues to be an important predictor of reading for older children. We did not find evidence to indicate declarative systems support reading more among older first-time readers. This suggests that cognitive and linguistic abilities supported by procedural memory remain vital at the earliest stages of literacy development for older learners despite the availability of a more mature declarative memory system. Understanding age-dependent contribution of procedural and declarative systems to literacy provides us with valuable insight into how children of different ages learn to read and informs literacy curriculum and intervention for a significant proportion of the world’s children who enroll in school late.
Joelle Hannon, University of Delaware
Sayako Earle, University of Delaware
Axel Seri, Centre de Recherche et d’action pour la Paix (CERAP)
Fabrice Tanoh, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Hermann Akpe, Réseau Ouest et Centre Africain de Recherche en Education (ROCARE)
Kaja K Jasinska, University of Delaware


There are a lot of parents who want to enroll their kids in the art class, as they believe this will help their child prepare for a bigger opportunity. Every individual needs to be aware of what getting or engaging in arts is really important to every child. There’s little doubt that the humanities are fun for teenagers. Diving into those finger paints and creating a fine looking image to hold on the icebox is amazing, just like the art classes for kids in Singapore. Acting in a very play is exhilarating. However, the humanities additionally, facilitate children to develop on several elementary levels. Here are the highest 10 ways in which the humanities facilitate children to learn and develop vital characteristics they’ll like as adults.
Importance Of Art Class
- Creativity. This is one of the best approaches every child may adopt when engaging your kids in the arts. This could look like a no brainer, however, the humanities permit youngsters to specific themselves higher than mathematics or science. In an arts program, your kid is going to be asked to recite a monologue in six alternative ways, produce a painting that represents a memory, or compose a replacement rhythm to boost a bit of music. If youngsters have observed thinking creatively, it’ll return naturally to them currently and in their future careers.
- Enhanced Academic State. This is one of the most important things why every individual and parent should know the importance and learning it by every people in every part of the world. Kids may improve their academic performance by means of arts, as they are more imaginative and also creative in many ways.
- Whereas mastering a subject matter definitely builds a student’s confidence, there’s one thing special concerning collaborating within the arts. Obtaining au fait a stage and singing provides youngsters an opportunity to step outside their temperature. As they improve and see their own progress, their self-assurance can still grow.
- Visual Learning. Particularly for young youngsters, drawing, painting, and sculpting in course facilitate develop visual-spatial skills. Per the study, kids got to grasp a lot of regarding the globe than simply what they’ll learn through text and numbers. Art education teaches students the way to interpret, criticize, and use visual data, and the way to create decisions supported it.
- Several of the humanities like the band, choir, and theater need youngsters to figure along. They need to share responsibility and compromise to realize their common goals. Youngsters learn that their contribution to the cluster is integral to its success, even if they don’t have the solo or lead role.
- Accountability. Similar to collaboration, children within the arts learn that they’re in charge of their contributions to the cluster. If they drop the ball or break, they understand that it’s vital to require responsibility for what they did. Mistakes are a section of life, and learning to simply accept them, fix them, and march on can serve children well as they age.
- A lot of people are not aware of this fact, but people who usually engage themselves especially at their young age can get this kind of character. This will allow every individual to persevere for their creativeness and pursue what they are imagination for some important reasons. This will help the kids for them to know what they can take with their imagination and creativeness as well.
Classes of arts for the kids is one of the most effective ways for them to explore their abilities. This is the main reason why people need to be more engaging in their kids and more. People today who are more creative and imaginative because of attending arts. There are a lot of ways in arts today that relies on the era, which involves the evolution of the technology and other means of modernization.


MUSIC FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Welcome to the world of Music for Young Children! It is our goal to create a happy habit of learning music through an activity based, game-filled program. Children are able to experience several components of music such as rhythm, keyboard activities, ear training, theory, singing, history and composing.
Mission & Values
In March of 1980, Frances Balodis sat at her kitchen table in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with a clear goal in mind: To create a program that would fulfill the need for quality music education for young children.
Today, MYC® has more than 24,000 students annually, 900 teachers, and is taught on 3 continents. More than 400,000 students have attended MYC classes. Over time, the curriculum has been refined, reviewed and mastered to ensure that it is consistent and current with both conservatories and the music industry.
Through it all, our principles and dream has remained the same:
Music is a gift that lasts a lifetime, and all children and families deserve quality music education.
For more information, visit www.myc.com
Current MYC Instructor
Laura Van Veen
This is a limited enrolment program and we must limit classes to 6 students and their parents.
Ready to register??
Sunrise (Pre-Keyboard, ages 2-3)
The natural energy and music children ages 2-3 years old have within them is amazing. They are generally constantly singing, moving to a rhythm or beat and always ready to move! Sunrise is an exciting and innovative pre-school music & movement program with a flexible format that fits the level of development of these children perfectly.
Sunshine (Keyboard class, ages 3-4)
Sunshine 1 , the youngest of the keyboard programs, is the starting point of the MYC® Method for 3-4 year old beginners, building their foundation in music reading and playing the piano. Students experience movement through beats and rhythms, as well as developing their fine motor skills with rhythm instrument ensemble playing. Children start learning the geography of the piano and note-reading through our MYC Critters (and their stories that children can relate to).
Sunbeams (Keyboard, ages 5-6)
Sunbeams (SB) is the entry point of the MYC® Method for 5-6 year old beginners. They are first introduced to piano geography and rhythms through our MYC Critters to help set their foundation of music knowledge and education; however, the pace of learning for these Sunbeams matches their developmental stages. Vocabulary development is the focus for this age group- at this stage we introduce “big kid” terminology to introduce concepts, finger numbers, and keyboard geography.


When: Wednesday 14th November, 3:45pm – 4:15pm
Where: Theatre, Level 2 down the stairs to the right of the registration/foyer area
Six Bricks is a simple yet powerful program for learning using just six LEGO® DUPLO® bricks. It was developed in South Africa in 2013 as a means of providing children and their educators from less advantaged backgrounds with daily physical activities with which to improve their perceptual, pre-numeracy and pre-literacy development.
Six Bricks is a concept owned by the LEGO Foundation, used in some of their projects, and while it is not commercially available, there are great lessons to be learned.
There are well over 250 short exercises that can affect reasoning, literacy, numeracy and perceptual skills, and not just in children, but anyone at any age and from any background. From schools to corporate team-building, from playful learning to serious science communication, the Six Bricks program is demonstrably effective.
During the ASC2018 conference I will lead a ‘hands-on’ Six Bricks demonstration that involves curiosity, collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking and a can-do attitude, the “6Cs” of 21st century STEM skills.
Six Bricks is an example of a cost-effective program that is readily understood and simple to train others to implement. Delegates should come away with fresh ideas and the confidence to apply Learning Through Play methodology in their own work.
This session is supported by PlayFutures www.playfutures.net
Adam Selinger, Executive Director, Children’s Discovery Museum Ltd


American students’ chronically poor performance in mathematics on international tests may begin in the earliest grades, handicapped by the weak knowledge of mathematics of their own elementary teachers. NCTQ looks at the quality of preparation provided by a representative sampling of institutions in nearly every state. We also provide a test developed by leading mathematicians which assesses for the knowledge that elementary teachers should acquire during their preparation. Imagine the implications of an elementary teaching force being able to pass this test.
Most of the nation’s undergraduate education programs do not adequately prepare elementary teachers to teach mathematics, according to a study released Thursday by an education-reform advocacy group. Utah State University is among the 83 percent of surveyed programs that didn’t meet what the National Council on Teacher Quality calls an emerging “consensus” on what elementary teachers must learn before joining professional ranks.
“There’s a long-standing belief in our country that elementary teachers don’t really need to get much math. The only thing you need to teach second-grade math is to learn third-grade math,” said Kate Walsh, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based group. “We haven’t put much attention to fact the elementary teachers are the first math teachers kids get. Their foundational skills have long-term ramifications whether that child will be able to do middle and high school math.”
The NCTQ’s findings are similar to a reading report the group released two years ago, claiming that 85 percent of undergraduate elementary education programs fail to adequately prepare students to teach reading.


At St. Peter’s students engage in a wide range of fine arts and performing arts. Students discover the arts of other cultures, develop their creative voice, and experiment with their imaginations. From painting to pottery and sketching to sculpting; from creating kitchen confections to raising their voices in chorus; from performing on stage to playing an instrument, St. Peter’s nurtures the artistic spirit of its students.
Visual art should be an integral component of every child’s early learning experience. Exposure to visual art in preschool not only contributes to a child’s artistic and creative growth but also to the development of perceptual, cognitive, language, and social skills.
Preschool-3 and Junior Kindergarten students are the most prolific artists at St. Peter’s. Our youngest students explore their artistic talents in the classroom and during enrichment class taught by our art teacher in the St. Peter’s Art Studio. The intent is to awaken and challenge fresh minds to be aesthetically aware and relentlessly expressive. Art encourages children to animate their endless imaginations, which inspires their creative processing for collaboration, problem-solving and decision-making. Art becomes a common language of varied media through which children can express their ideas and cultivate a discerning sensibility toward their visual environment.
Like the visual arts, music should be an integral component of every child’s learning experience. Music impacts the developing child by offering opportunities for social interaction, emotional articulation, creative expression, language development, and physical fitness.
At St. Peter’s, students become musical virtuosos every day. Incorporating music into literacy, science, social studies, and math is a part of the daily routine. Not only do students musically engage during the regular classroom, they also attend an enrichment class taught by our music teacher in the school’s Music Conservatory. Through interactive, engaging lessons, students explore movement, rhythm, and pitch through a variety of musical styles. They sing familiar songs, learn new songs and write lyrics to new songs. They learn about the lives of classical composers and contemporary musicians and about the various instruments used to create music.
Intentional music education energizes the nervous system and stimulates the neural pathways associated with higher forms of intelligence as abstract thinking, empathy, and mathematics. Music directly contributes to the development of spatial-temporal reasoning, which is the cognitive capacity that influences reading, verbal competence, and writing aptitude.
At. St. Peter’s, all the world is a stage in the Preschool-3 and Junior Kindergarten classrooms. Without reservation, young children will mentally, emotionally, and physically immerse themselves in dramatic enactments. This bountiful capacity is a platform from which teachers introduce the dramatic arts. Students act as characters in familiar stories or create scenarios from their life experiences. These activities build memory, prompt creative expression, expand language, grow self-esteem, promote organizational thinking and develop social skills.
St. Peter’s has a long-standing tradition for exceptional theatrical productions, and every year, Preschool-3 through fifth grade students invite audiences to attend performances presented on the fabled St. Peter's stage. Because the dramatic arts enrich learning, students participate in the entire production process. Under the direction of a theater arts professional, students create dialogue, build sets, design props and costumes, and administer tech work such as lights and sound.


The purpose of this book review was to analyze the main arguments regarding literacy instruction from various paradigms of research. The Foreword of this text was written by Dr. Patricia Edwards the Past President of the Literacy Research Association. As Dr. Edwards pointedly reveals in her endorsement of this text, “Reading researchers must find some common ground in order to provide teachers with the necessary strategies to teach children reading." Dr. Edwards takes a strong stance on the reading wars debate. This foreword leaves readers with key questions that are answered throughout the reading of this text such as, what is whole language? Is it a teaching method? Philosophy? Or is it both? Are proponents of phonics really only teaching letters and sounds? What about comprehension? Language development? During the reading and review of this work, it was clear that the search for common answers to many of the aforementioned questions were answered.
Flowers, Tiffany A.
"Reading Researchers in Search of Common Ground: The Expert Study Revisited,"
Journal of Research Initiatives: Vol. 3
, Article 4.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/jri/vol3/iss3/4
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons, Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, Higher Education Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons, Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons, Online and Distance Education Commons


When you are first beginning to sing there are many fundamental vocal skills that you must achieve. Mastering these skills enable you to build upon them later to acquire more advanced professional vocal skills. They also help you develop good singing habits to take with you into your singing career, such as developing a clear, strong voice. Having a clear, strong voice is an essential foundation for advancing your vocal skills as your voice develops.
Having a clear, strong voice sets the stage for greater vocal range, increased voice projection, strong breath support, and improve vocal pitch and tone. These skills require practice to master and are most often learned through voice training lessons. These skills may be more quickly learned, however when you partner voice training lessons with simple lifestyle alterations.
Developing a clear, strong voice not only involves the vocal cords but the larynx as a whole. Just like the vocal cords, the larynx is also subject to external physiological changes which can also affect the voice. Some of these physiological changes can include a woman’s menstrual cycle, which can affect the voice as well as external factors like weather and climate. Wet climates or summer weather with increased humidity can cause extra moisture and mucous build up in the larynx and vocal cords while more dry climates or winter seasons may dry out the larynx more quickly and require you to consume larger amounts of water.
Other external factors that can affect developing a clear, strong voice may involve lifestyle habits. Your diet as well as exercise routines (or lack thereof) can have a great effect on your singing voice. If you commonly feel weak and have difficulty projecting or attaining vocal strength then you may need to alter your diet away from energy draining foods, such as alcohol, or large amounts of carbohydrates. Dairy products in particular have been known to cause harmful effects on the voice. This is because dairy products are highly acidic, causing mucous production. This excess mucous production can build up in the larynx and around the vocal cords making it more difficult to sing with clarity as well as making it more difficult to project your voice overall.
Caffeine and alcohol can also have profound effects on your singing voice. Alcohol in particular is a depressant and can make singing more difficult. Excessive consumption of alcohol can be detrimental to singing as consuming large amounts of alcohol begins to affect muscle motor control, including the vocal cords and the vocal muscles around them. Losing control of your vocal cords then reduces clarity and strength of your singing voice.
Achieving a clear and strong singing voice is fundamental to acquiring professional singing skills. There are several voice training lessons. which can help you master these foundational skills and improve your singing voice. You can learn more about these exercises and how you can use them to drastically improve your singing voice through voice training lessons.
As a third generation child of music (My grandmother is a proficient organist and pianist, my mother a classically trained vocalist and music educator) I have had the joy of being raised in an environment that fostered musical creativity. This creativity I was able to express both on stage vocally and as a part of musical theater. It has allowed me to participate in my community and challenge myself academically. I have found the quest for vocal improvement to be both enlightening and challenging and take every opportunity I can to further my learning.
Learn More About Me Through Voice Training Lessons
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ashley_Detig


Hobbies Playing Music What Is the Circle of Fifths? An Essential Tool for Musicians Share PINTEREST Email Print By Watchduck (a.k.a. Tilman Piesk) - Own work, Public Domain,Wikimedia Commons Playing Music Music Education Music Lessons Basics Music History Music Theory Playing Guitar Playing Piano Home Recording By Espie Estrella Espie Estrella is a lyricist, songwriter, and member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International. our editorial process Espie Estrella Updated February 23, 2018 The Circle of Fifths is a diagram which is an essential tool for musicians. It is named such because it uses a circle to illustrate the relationship of different keys that are a fifth apart. It is labeled with the letter names of the notes with C at the top center, then going clockwise are the notes G - D - A - E - B/Cb - F#/Gb - Db/C# - Ab - Eb - Bb - F, then back to C again. The notes on the circle are all a fifth apart, C to G are a fifth apart, G to D is also a fifth apart and so forth. Other Uses of the Circle of Fifths Key Signatures - You can also tell how many sharps and flats are there in a given key by looking at the Circle of Fifths. Transposition - The Circle of Fifths can also be used when transposing from a major key to a minor key or vice versa. To do this a smaller image of the Circle of Fifth is placed inside a larger image of the circle. Then the C of the smaller circle is aligned to the Eb of the larger circle. So now if a piece of music is in Ab you can see that when you transpose that it will be on the key of F. The upper case letters represent major keys, the lower case letters represent minor keys. Chords - Another use for the Circle of Fifths is to determine chord patterns. The symbol used for this are I (major), ii (minor), iii (minor), IV (major), V (major), vi (minor) and viio (diminished). On the Circle of Fifths, the numerals are arranged as follows starting from F then moving clockwise: IV, I, V, ii, vi, iii and viio. So, for example, a piece asks that you play a I-IV-V chord pattern, looking at the circle you can see that it corresponds to C - F - G. Now if you want to play it in another key, say for example on G, you then align the numeral I to G and you'll see that the I-IV-V chord pattern now corresponds to G - C - D.


Domains and Sub-domain Scores
There are three domains (2 early literacy and 1 early numeracy):
Word Knowledge and Skills
Comprehension Strategies and Constructing Meaning
Numbers and Operations
There are ten sub-domains (9 early literacy and 1 early numeracy).
A Sub-domain Score represents the percentage of items a student would be expected to answer correctly within a sub-domain. Sub-domain Scores range from 0 to 100. They represent a student's proficiency in each of the following ten areas:
Assesses a student's knowledge of letter names, alphabetic letter sequences and the sounds associated with letters.
Assesses a student's understanding of print concepts regarding written word length and word borders and the difference between words and letters.
Assesses a student's ability to differentiate both upper- and lowercase letters, identify words that are different and match words that are the same.
Assesses a student's understanding of rhyming words; blending and segmenting word parts and phonemes; isolating and manipulating initial, final and medial phonemes and identifying the sounds in consonant blends.
Assesses a student's understanding of short, long and variant vowels and other vowel sounds; initial and final consonants; consonant blends and digraphs; consonant and vowel substitution; and identification of rhyming words and sounds in word families.
Assesses a student's understanding of affixes and syllable patterns in decoding and identification of compound words.
Assesses a student's knowledge of high-frequency words, regular and irregular sight words; multi-meaning words; words used to describe categorical relationships; position words and synonyms and antonyms.
Assesses a student's ability to identify the meaning of words in contextual sentences.
Assesses a student's ability to identify the main topic of text and the ability to answer literal and inferential questions after listening to or reading text.
Assesses a student's ability to identify and name numbers; understand number-object correspondence; complete sequences; compose and decompose groups of up to ten and compare sizes, weights and volumes.
Skill Sets: There are 41 skill sets (36 early literacy skill sets and 5 early numeracy skill sets).
Skills: There are 145 skills (133 early literacy skills and 12 early numeracy skills).
For more information, refer to the STAR Early Literacy Technical Manual.


It was lovely to meet you all at Parent Consultations this week. We thank you for your continued support to help us give the children a rewarding and stimulating learning experience. We hope you were able to read the Recipes the children wrote about how to make a good friend. All were able to achieve ... Continue reading "Primary 5"
Hello everyone It has been a fun week in Primary 4. This week in maths we have been learning all about Roman numerals. We learned that Roman numerals are made of 7 different letters and how to use our numeracy skills to help to add different symbols together to make new numbers. Ask your child ... Continue reading "Primary 4 13.2.20"
This week we have started a new Science topic on the Solar system. We are looking forward to learning facts about each planet and how they orbit the sun. We will be starting a display of our research. In RME we have continued to learn about Islam and this week we learned about Eid. Our ... Continue reading "Primary 6 13.2.20"
This has been another busy week in Primary 1. In phonics we are moving on from learning single sounds to blends. This week we have been learning the sound 'sh'. The children enjoyed making sea shells and thinking of lots of words with 'sh' at the start and end. The common words we have been ... Continue reading "Primary 1 11.2.20"
We are part way there with our life size knights, they are taking slightly longer than we thought! We will update with pictures once they are completed and guarding our classrooms. We tested our Bows as well and had great fun practising our battle faces! Pom poms were used instead of arrows for safety, and ... Continue reading Primary 3 7.2.20 →
This week we have been revising our addition facts for 2, 5 and 10. We are gaining confidence in skip counting to work out the answer and have been using some songs to help us remember the order. Within social studies we have begun to look at navigation in line with our Pirates theme. We ... Continue reading Primary 2 - 03.02.20 →
Hello everyone Primary 4 have had a busy but fun week! In Science we have been learning about water. Our focus this week was the oceans and plastic pollution. The children worked individually, in pairs or in groups to design their own plastic collection inventions that could be used underwater to collect plastic. We had ... Continue reading Primary 4 6.2.20 →
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our shared start/finish. Even though we experienced technical difficulties in the morning everyone seemed to enjoy playing the games when we were eventually able to access the Education City website. We hope you now have a better understanding of how games can help the children to ... Continue reading Primary 5 →
This week the children had the opportunity to do a class talk on their favourite dinosaur. Many children brought in excellent posters and powerpoints to show to the class! Well done to everyone in Primary 1 for having the courage to stand up in front of an audience. We were all very impressed at how ... Continue reading Primary 1 News →
Carmondean Blog Primary 7 Numeracy and Maths In both Mrs Wylie and Mrs. Macaulay's class we were working with fractions, decimals and percentages. It was very fun to learn about we love numeracy very much. In maths we continued to learn about perimeter and angles. WWII Families This week we have been ... Continue reading Primary 7 31.01.20 →
In Primary 3 this week we have been getting into the spirit of Chinese New Year that began last Saturday. We spent a part of Monday afternoon creating decorative Chinese lanterns that were decorated and then taken home Tuesday. This also formed the basis of our writing for this week in which the pupils were ... Continue reading Primary 3 →


Math isn't easy, at least for most of us. It takes hard work, practice and repetition to be able to master each of the different disciplines, from long.
Number Drop is a free math puzzle mobile game which will train your arithmetic and logic. It is simple to play but the puzzles are challenging to help master your mental math and logic skills. "Not really surprised that this app is number one in list of apps to improve your math.
The National Numeracy Challenge is a free, online learning tool designed to help you improve your everyday maths skills in manageable steps whilst building your confidence along the way. 3 Tips for Improving Your Maths: Smarter numeracy skills can lead to a better job, more.
Check out this article to get some useful suggestions on improving math skills. You can apply these tips to any mathematical concepts you're learning.
Likewise, lugging around books and whatnot for math practice is a threshold that Improving mental math skills will only benefit a student's academic career.


No matter how confident they may feel in their writing, we encourage all students to take first-year writing on campus to improve their writing abilities and prepare them to write effectively in future classes.
By taking Writing 150, students will learn to:
- Use rhetoric responsibly to compose arguments in a variety of genres for specific audiences and purposes.
- Critically read texts. This includes:
- analyzing how a text functions in a specific situation, community, or public;
- analyzing the nuances of language (diction, figures of speech, tone, etc.);
- identifying and evaluating the elements of an argument claims, reasons, assumptions, and ethical, emotional, and logical appeals.
- Write coherent and unified texts (effective introductions, clear thesis, supporting details, transitions, and strong conclusions) using a flexible and effective writing process, including prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing.
- Use style diction, figurative language, tone, grammar, punctuation, spelling, mechanics genre, conventions, and document design correctly and for rhetorical effect.
- Navigate the library to locate primary and secondary sources, evaluate the appropriateness and credibility of those sources, and effectively incorporate and accurately document outside sources in a research paper.
BYU also offers a course for international students that fulfills the first-year writing requirement. Contact the Department of Linguistics and English Language for more details.
Advanced writing courses are designed to build on skills developed in first-year writing classes by introducing students to the disciplinary nature of academic writing. Emphasis is placed in these courses on the kinds of written and oral communication, reading, and research typical to particular areas of study and provide students opportunities to refine their communication skills for multiple audiences, including specific disciplinary and professional audiences. While reinforcing skills learned in first-year writing, advanced writing courses place greater emphasis on style, oral communication, and library research.
The Advanced Writing GE requirement can be satisfied by completing any one of the six courses below.
- English 311 Writing about the Arts and Humanities
- English 312 Persuasive Writing
- English 313 Expository Writing for Elementary Education Majors
- English 315 Writing for the Social Sciences
- English 316 Technical Writing
The Advanced Writing GE requirement can also be completed by taking classes outside the English Department (and in some cases, particular majors require a certain class). Students should check with their college advisement center or the Undergraduate Catalog to determine which advanced writing course(s) fulfills the requirements for their major.


NCASE Resource Library
The National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE) has developed a number of publications, webinars, and other resources on strategies for finding sup
The NCASE Out-of-School Time Professional Development System-Building Toolkit was designed to assist states as they build professional development systems inclusive of school-age providers.
Federal, state, and local agencies are increasing investments and building capacity in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.
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This issue brief shares how to apply new research from neuroscience to build an out-of-school time (OST) program that will help recruit and retain underserved youth. The brief describes how LA's Best programs build on what is relevant and of interest to youth to build an engaging social setting, while embedding literacy and numeracy skills.
This issue brief is a compilation of a panel of business leaders involved in supporting afterschool. It underscores the importance of "soft skills" in preparing youth for today's workforce, including communication skills, teamwork, and critical thinking skills . It explores how business involvement greatly benefits programs.
This issue brief provides a review of the research on benefits of school-community partnerships for students and families. It identifies features of effective partnerships (complements academic efforts with enrichment, supports transitions across school years, helps programs to gain access to students, to staff, and to resources).
This paper provides information on state and territory efforts to use contracts and grants with providers, beginning with an overview of states and territories whose 2016–18 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plans indicate that they are currently using contracts and grants.
This issue brief highlights interviews conducted by BUILD QRIS Learning Network with 29 key informants from 7 states and 9 national entities to explore thinking about Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI). There was consensus that building a CQI culture at multiple levels will strengthen outcomes for children and families and build change that lasts.
This issue brief identifies 6 elements of coordinated community system-building efforts including: (1) shared vision; (2) engaged leadership; (3) continuous quality improvement; (4) data management; (5) sustainable resources, and (6) marketing/communications. It includes promising practices from a number of city and state planning efforts.
This National Afterschool Association (NAA) brief summarizes the research on the afterschool workforce. It explores the conditions and barriers to building and sustaining a quality afterschool workforce, including pre-service requirements, core knowledge and competencies, provider registries, and credentials/certifications.
The Stage of Change approach provides a model for those leading change to take into account readiness for change tied to motivation, confidence, and commitment levels of the individuals engaged in change. It is a model for educators, based on practices for health care and mental health. It offers guidance on what support to provide staff, given their stage of readiness for change.
This brief examines the trends in changes to state licensing regulations. The findings come from state child care regulations and from a survey of state licensing agencies. It is a joint effort between the National Center on Child Care Quality Improvement (NCCCQI), a previous contract of the Office of Child Care, and the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA).
This is a summary of a series of briefs. It includes a guide to planning and implementation, and a tool for targeting workforce investments. It includes quick facts about the workforce. It outlines top strategies to raise the quality and retention of early childhood and school-age workforce. The summary includes links to the other briefs.


ERIC Number: ED474952
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 2002
85 Engaging Movement Activities.
Weikart, Phyllis S.; Carlton, Elizabeth B.
This book presents activities to keep K-6 students moving in a variety of ways as they learn. The movement experiences are planned around key curriculum concepts in movement and music as well as in academic curriculum areas. The experiences develop students' basic timing, language abilities, vocabulary, concentration, planning skills, and capabilities for cooperative decision making and leadership. For each activity, the book includes: suggested level, key experiences in movement and music, curriculum concepts, materials needed, steps for doing each part of the activity, questions for extending children's understanding, and extension ideas for creative variations. Some of the 85 activities include: "Creativity with Scarves"; "Explore That Sound"; "Low Or High"; "Musical Houses";"Names in Beat"; "Traveling Pathways between Objects"; "Attributes of Shapes"; "Listening and Identifying"; Understanding Spatial Concepts"; "We Keep the Beat Together"; "Action Words"; "Different Shape-Different Movement"; "Combining Words"; Echo Sequence"; "Pushing Up"; Stop and Balance"; "Creating Designs"; "Spelling Song"; "Mirroring"; "Plate Dancing"; "Plate Aerobics"; Same and Different"; "Greater or Lesser Numbers"; "Human Clock"; Aerobic Integration"; "Hand-Jives"; "Identifying Angles"; "Machines that Work"; and "Timing Relationships." The text is enhanced by many illustrations and photographs. An attached music CD contains recordings to go with many of the book's activities. (SM)
Descriptors: Creative Teaching, Elementary Education, Integrated Curriculum, Movement Education, Music Education, Physical Activities
High/Scope Press, a Division of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, 600 North River Street, Ypsilanti, MI 48198-2898 ($34.95). Tel: 734-485-2000; Fax: 734-485-0704; Web site: http://www.highscope.org.
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners; Teachers
Authoring Institution: N/A


04/05/2017 - In an increasingly competitive international environment, providing workers with the right mix of skills can help ensure that globalisation translates into new jobs and productivity gains rather than negative economic and social outcomes, according to a new OECD report.
The OECD Skills Outlook 2017 reveals big differences in the extent to which countries are equipping workers with the right skills to benefit from the globalisation of production chains. The report finds a country with a skills mix that is well aligned with the skills requirements of technologically advanced industries can specialise in these industries on average 8% more than other countries, and up to 60% more than countries with a low alignment between countries’ skills mix and these industries requirements.
“Countries increasingly compete through the skills of their workers. When workers have a mix of skills that fits with the needs of technologically advanced industries, specialising in those industries means a comparative advantage,” said Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, launching the report in London. “Equipping workers with new skills in areas like decision-making can also reduce their vulnerability to the risks of offshoring.”
Global value chains (GVCs) – where workers dotted across different countries contribute to the design, manufacture and sale of a single product – generally lead to productivity gains and job creation as small companies and countries are connected with global markets. GVCs can also cause job losses or wage stagnation when workers are ill equipped to respond to changing demands.
“In GVCs, where multiple inputs may cross borders many times before a final product reaches consumers, and where, on average, one-third of jobs in the business sector depend on demand in foreign countries, innovation is key for employment. Employment grows even in the more routine occupations, when sectors innovate” says Andrew Wyckoff, OECD Director for Science, Technology and Innovation, co-launching the report. “And innovation will not happen in the absence of the right skills and skills mix”.
The Skills Outlook 2017 shows that countries that strongly embraced GVCs over 1995-2011 saw a boost to labour productivity growth in industry. The extra growth ranged from 0.8 percentage points in industries with the lowest potential for fragmentation of production to 2.2 percentage points in those with the highest potential, such as high-tech manufacturing.
To get the most out of GVCs, industries need workers with literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills, prowess in management and communication and a readiness to keep learning. The more firms that have workers with these skills, the more productivity gains from GVCs will spread across whole economies. Yet OECD analysis has found that about one adult in four across OECD member countries have low literacy or numeracy skills.
The Skills Outlook finds that countries which have benefited from GVCs by increasing their specialisation in technologically advanced industries, improving the skill mix of workers and achieving good social or economic outcomes include Germany, Korea and Poland.
Conversely, Finland and Japan have highly skilled workers but could benefit more from GVCs if they deepen their specialisation in high-tech industries. Countries where worker skills are best aligned with the needs of high-tech industries include the Czech Republic, Estonia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.
Investing in skills, along with increased participation in GVCs, is particularly important in developing economies that tend to be at the lower end of value chains and where working conditions are more often poor.
On average in OECD countries, one third of jobs in the business sector depend on demand in foreign countries and 30% of the value of OECD country exports comes from abroad.
The report is part of the OECD’s biennial Skills Outlook series that expands on the findings of the 2013 OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), testing the skills of more than 150,000 adults in 24 countries. The 2017 report also uses the OECD-WTO Trade in Value Added (TiVA) database, which measures trade according to the value added each time a product or service is exported or imported within a global production chain.
The report is available at: http://www.mxjevk.cn/edu/oecd-skills-outlook-2017-9789264273351-en.htm
For further information, journalists are invited to contact Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, Andrew Wyckoff, OECD Director for Science Technology and Innovation, or the OECD Media Office ([email protected]; +33 1 45 24 97 00).


Reading for understanding: An investigation into teachers’ reading comprehension strategies in Grade three isiXhosa Home Language classrooms in the Western Cape
MetadataShow full item record
Reading is one of the components of literacy that plays a crucial role in accessing knowledge. It develops the children’s mind and stimulates their understanding of the reading content and enables them to function and communicate effectively in society. Research conducted in the field of literacy suggests that there is a literacy crisis (especially in reading), around the world. Recent research indicates that South African Foundation Phase learners perform poorly in reading comprehension. Considering poor literacy results observed in South Africa, it is important to explore reading as a socio-cultural and cognitive practice and to identify the factors that contribute towards adequate acquisition of reading comprehension skills in the Foundation Phase. Thus the focus of this study is on reading comprehension in isiXhosa Home Language which is used as the main language of learning and teaching from Grade R - 3. I have used a qualitative approach as an underpinning research methodological framework for this study. Data was collected by means of interviews and classroom observations from two selected Grade three classrooms in one primary school in the Western Cape. The findings of this study illustrate the significance of learners’ prior knowledge and the use of adequate resources to enhance learners’ reading comprehension. The study concludes that reading comprehension is a cognitive process that demands innovative teaching approaches that will facilitate meaningful learning across the curriculum.


What ways of being musical are valued by the students with whom we work, the communities in which we work, and the larger society we inhabit? How might these values manifest in music learning spaces? What roles might technology and media play in empowering music learners and facilitators to engaged in culturally valued musicking. How might technology, media, and progressive education practices empower music learners and facilitators to co-construct new forms of musicking?
In this participant-led session, we will discuss these and more. We will consider multiple and varied possible pathways ahead for music learning in contemporary music learning spaces by asking “what if.” With a focus on re-envisioning and reframing music education, we will explore possibilities and develop plans to turn our ideas into praxis. Come to share your ideas; come to explore new horizons of music education; and come to collaboratively plan ways ahead for music ed.
Rathgeber, J. (2015, July). #whatifmusiced: Considering possibilities, crafting praxis. Two-Hour interactive session presented at the Interactive Multimedia Performing Arts Collaborative Technology (IMPACT) Conference, New York University, New York, NY.


The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A in the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which represents the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21-A, means that every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards.
Article 21-A and the RTE Act came into effect on 1 April 2010. The title of the RTE Act incorporates the words ‘free and compulsory’. ‘Free education’ means that no child, other than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education. ‘Compulsory education’ casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary education by all children in the 6-14 age group. With this, India has moved forward to a rights based framework that casts a legal obligation on the Central and State Governments to implement this fundamental child right as enshrined in the Article 21A of the Constitution, in accordance with the provisions of the RTE Act.
RTE Act and State of Assam
The Right to Education (RTE) Act has become reality in Assam on July, 7, 2011 with the state Cabinet approving the Rules needed for implementing the Act. With this, Assam became the 19th state in the country to implement the RTE Act of 2009.The act is comprised in State RTE Rules, July, 2011.The State specific norms in compliance to RTE Act,2009 is detailed in the rules.
The Department of Elementary Education, State Council for Educational Research and Training and Axom Sarva Siksha Abhiyan Mission are the three main vehicles in implementing the various provision of the Act in the State. The detail of provisions which are notified and complied in the State are detailed as follows


Language and Literacy Education (Intermediate)
This course investigates current theory and practice related to English language and literacy development, including effective planning, instruction, assessment, and implementation of the curriculum at the intermediate level (grades seven to ten). The course will expand on the broadened definition of literacy that is needed to examine the literacy practices of adolescents in a dynamic world. TECs will develop requisite knowledge and skills to establish a repertoire of research and evidence-based instructional strategies to support students' disciplinary literacy development. For teacher education candidates with subject specialization in English this course will include an enhanced emphasis on curriculum and instruction in grades nine and ten.


New Piano Technology Means Long-Distance Lessons in Kansas City
In Kansas City, Kansas, new technology means distance is not a barrier for students hoping to study piano in school, the Kansas City Star reports.
Using Skype and a piano with special technology, students at Eisenhower Middle School in the Kansas City school district take lessons with university faculty and students at the University of Kansas, 40 miles away.
The students use a piano that allows the instructor to "play" keys on the student's piano and the student to "play" the instructor's. The teacher and student move through the lesson using video chat, with the teacher modeling and student practicing remotely. (Check out the Star's video for a look at how it works.)
Just nine students are taking lessons so far. They were selected by their music teacher through an essay contest. The Star reports that time was the limiting factor, and that there was more demand from both middle school students and potential teachers.
The program allows students who might not have been able to afford lessons or locate a local piano teacher to study the instrument.
The piano is a Yamaha instrument called the Disklavier, a combination of disk (for floppy disk) and Klavier, the German word for keyboard. The Star reports that this use of the Yamaha piano to connect public school students with teachers remotely is, as far as Yamaha knows, unique.
While the Kansas City program is after school, other schools have taken steps to incorporate piano labs into school-day music classes. Pianist Lang Lang recently discussed a music education program his foundation is supporting in which students use digital keyboards (and headphones) to study the instrument together in the same classroom. And The Huffington Post featured a piece on a public school teacher who set up a similar piano lab in New York City.


Pretend play meets physical activity in our variety of kids’ climbers. With so many ways to play, climber toys keep kids interested (and outside) for hours! Plus, climbers are packed with many cognitive benefits for kids while they play. Read on to learn more about some cognitive benefits of climbers in our curated list!
1. Motor Skill Development
Climbers challenge gross and fine motor skills in a big way as kids climb and slide. Climbing activates both upper and lower body strength as kids pull themselves up onto the top platform. They’ll learn to balance and control their body as they go down the slide as well. Fine motor skills are also challenged through the gripping motion as little ones hold onto handles, platforms, and ladders.
Play Tip: The Step2 Naturally Playful Woodland Climber II™ has both rock-wall style sides and a ladder for multiple ways to climb.
2. Physical Activity
Climbers are designed as “back-and-forth” activity centers, meaning once a child goes down the slide or jumps off the platform, they need to run back to start the action all over again. This kind of play gets kids active and exercising without even knowing it! And, the excitement of being outside and running around a playset does a kid’s body good.
3. Critical Thinking
To make it to the top of the climber toy, kids work out where their hands and feet need to be placed to help push themselves up. This is especially challenging with a rock-wall style climber side, where there are many options for where to grip! Through repetition, kids will learn how to solve the problem and make it to the top all on their own – with parental supervision.
Play Tip: Rock climbing designs present many “routes” for kids to work through as they climb, like the Step2 Skyward Summit™ climber.
4. Social Skills
Climber toys are great for many kids to play together because of their open design. When kids play together, they communicate with each other as they take turns climbing and sliding! They also learn critical skills like patience while waiting for a friend to go down the slide, and taking turns when using a ladder or rock climber wall.
5. Imaginative Play
Getting outside to play breaks kids’ normal routines, letting them expand their imaginations and learn to improvise based on what a friend says or does. When they play together, kids build off of each other as they create stories and communicate them verbally, and even act the stories out as they go!
Play Tip: Jump start their creativity with a climber set like the Step2 Pirates Paradise Climber & Slide™.


Primary News & Highlights
“Learning at Genesis involves students and staff working hard. It is rigorous, and we hold ourselves accountable for the quality of work produced. Instructional time is explicit with our learning goals well-established. We have a distinct focus on high quality literacy and numeracy skills as the prime indicators of a student’s later academic success in school; whilst concurrently embedding a future-skills curriculum into our learning design. These future-skills include student agency (choice and voice), collaboration and teamwork, creativity, inquiry, flearning (learning through failure), flexibility, and authenticity (real-world products and audience). Future-skills apply to staff and students alike. Staff value the ability to collaboratively plan and create together.”
As part of unpacking our vision for Primary School Pedagogy, the statement above addresses the fundamentals of excellent teaching and learning in a primary school – that being explicit instruction in Literacy and Numeracy, but also this interesting new concept of “future skills”.
So what are future skills?
These are the things which education researchers are saying are the life skills our children are going to need into the future, to equip them for the workforce of tomorrow; a future which we cannot yet predict will look like. However, if our children have these “future skills” as part of their own competencies, they will handle such a future so much better. Future skills are not the “content curriculum” or all the stuff you and I had to memorise at school. Future skills are more so the soft skills, and character traits that every person needs to get along with people, and collaborate.
The concept of “flearning” is one of these future skills. “Flearning” (or learning through failure), is the ability to bounce back from not being successful, think of alternative ways of solving problems, and in modern well-being terms is the “resilience” children need to persevere through tough times.
When famous basketballer, Michael Jordan says, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” it makes me think, “what if Michael Jordan had quit after failing once, and never became famous?” The world would have really missed out!
In terms of our children and building resilience, at Genesis we have been focusing on “praising the process of learning and trying” rather than “praising the result”. The former of these two builds more resilient and future ready children.
Head of School (Primary)


This guide provides links to selected Web sites that are related to the history of art and architecture. A wealth of information about art and architecture can be found on the Web. Virtual tours of museums, quality images of art works, and textual information can be retrieved easily using the sites listed below. For additional sites on studio art go to Web Guide: Studio Arts. If you are interested in art in schools, try Web Guide: Art Education.
You may also wish to consult Art Information and the Internet by Lois Swan Jones located in Cornette Library's Reference Collection (N 59 .J66 1999 Ref). This book provides an excellent discussion of using the Internet to find information on art, as well as listings of hundreds of Web sites and other Internet resources.
Associations and Professional Organizations
- American Association of Museums
- Presents information on membership, services, events, publications, advertising and media opportunities, bookstore, and related organizations.
- College Art Association
- Professional organization of artists, art historians, fine arts educators, and museum directors and curators. Provides information on membership, career and professional development, CAA publications and conferences, and related news items.
- Society of Architectural Historians
- Encourages scholarly research and promotes the preservation of significant architectural monuments. Offers information on membership, activities, local chapters, and projects, as well as numerous links to related Web sites.
- Web Guide: Citing Internet and Print Resources
- A list of links to various style manuals.
Current Awareness Resources
- Daily news items on art and a free Arts News Service delivered three times/week by e-mail.
- Art & Architecture Thesaurus Browser (Getty Information Institute)
- Provides information on terms "used to describe art, architecture, decorative arts, material culture, and archival materials."
- Getty Provenance Index (Getty Research Institute)
- Offers access to several searchable databases providing information on the history of collecting and the provenance of art works.
- Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (Getty Research Institute)
- Locate current and historical places related to art and architecture.
- Full-text articles from 55 core journals on art and art history. Coverage is from Volume 1 Issue 1 to the most current 3-5 years. Off-campus access available only to West Texas A&M faculty, students, and staff.
- Union List of Artist Names (Getty Research Institute)
- Learn about over 200,000 artists worldwide from antiquity to the present.
- Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record
- Provides access to documentation (text and images) on thousands of buildings and engineering structures housed in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress.
- Georgia O'Keeffe and Texas
- Cornette library site with unique images of O'Keeffe, plus images of some of her artwork and personal items.
- Index of Art History Departments' Websites Around the World
- Lists schools in the United States and foreign countries that have art history department Web pages. Click on the link in the left frame to get to the index.
- Images (resizable to fit the screen) of works of over 200 artists.
- Provides access to hundreds of images at museum Web sites, image archives, and other online sources. Searchable by artist's name.
- Digital Imaging Project
- Images of architecture and sculpture from the classical period to the Post-Modern.
- World Art Treasures
- Includes images from the Jacques-Edouard Berger Foundation of art works from Egypt, India, Asia, and Europe.
- Career Alternatives for Art Historians
- This site lists skills, knowledge, and educational requirements for various careers, like art librarian, antiques dealer, curatorial consultant, and more, open to art historians. Links are also provided, in some cases, to additional resources related to these careers.
- Career Learning Center (College Art Association)
- CAA offers several videos and documents with career guidance and advice.
- College Art Association Standards & Guidelines
- Five categories of standards, guidelines, and resume and CV information.
- International Directory of Art Libraries
- Provides information, including addresses, phone and fax numbers, e-mail addresses, hours of operation, personnel listings, and links to Web pages, for "nearly 3,000 libraries and library departments with specialized holdings in art, architecture, and archaeology throughout the world."


A teacher’s job is really a highly respected and specialized area, whether it is teaching kindergarten, elementary school, senior high school, college, or publish-graduate courses. Instructors are essential in most fields of your practice, and to be able to be instructors themselves, they should be educated by experts within their preferred fields.
Teacher education is really a diverse area, covering numerous subjects as well as other techniques training. Teaching in almost any area is demanding and it is a frightening task. Beyond regular education, many people decide to follow specialized pathways, for example early childhood education or special education. These instructors need extra educational background to be able to be licensed to cope with their specific students. These instructors must have extensive persistence and become friendly with small children. Innovative play way techniques have to be adopted to make sure ongoing interest among kids.
Another specialized educational area is Montessori teaching. This kind of teaching seems to become simple, but actually, it’s highly demanding. Because this is a particular type of teaching, targeted at gifted or advanced students, having a amount of versatility and personalization not present in traditional courses, instructors must learn to the how to work inside the Montessori structure, and apply their educational background to this kind of teaching.
Elementary or primary school may be the backbone for those individuals education. Thus, these instructors need to have the ability to convey fundamental concepts, for example reading through, spelling, writing and math, in addition to cover fundamental science, social studies, and often language courses. Obviously, all this needs to be trained at a time-appropriate fashion. Elementary teacher education concentrates on techniques that actually work perfect for youthful students.
Senior high school instructors face challenges grade school instructors tend not to. Simply because they train teens who coping the problems of adolescence and may frequently “act up,Inch instructors should try to learn how you can engage and motivate this difficult age bracket. Subjects are trained in greater depth in senior high school, too, therefore the teacher will require more specific understanding. Additionally they sometimes need to be prepared to make amends for any gaps in elementary education, particularly inadequacies within the fundamentals – reading through, writing and math.
Ultimately, the aim of teacher education would be to provide future instructors – or instructors searching to help develop their teaching ability – using the abilities they have to convey essential information for their students. Working out they’ll require is dependent on the majority of factors, such as the age bracket, subjects, and kind of faculty they’ll be teaching in.


The Quebec Education Program (Q.E.P.) divides elementary education into three two-year cycles. This organizational model takes into account the need for a long-term approach in developing competencies. It corresponds better to the students’ learning rate and permits more differentiated teaching practices.
The Q.E.P. is designed as a system with three integrating elements: subject areas, broad areas of learning and cross-curricular competencies. Its structure is intended to facilitate the establishment of connections among the different educational components.
Within the Elementary Education Program, there are 14 programs (courses) of study organized into the following six subject areas:
The broad areas of learning help students relate subject-specific knowledges to their daily concerns and thus give them a better grasp of reality. There are five broad areas of learning in the Québec Education Program:
Cross-curricular competencies represent goals that are common to the whole curriculum. They apply to all the broad areas of learning and are also closely linked to the subject areas. The Q.E.P. containes nine cross-curricular competencies grouped into four categories:
All elementary schools across the English Montreal School Board offer various levels of French language instruction integrated within the Québec Education Program.
Students attending St. Dorothy Elementary follow a bilingual curriculum model. Starting in Kindergarten, students are speak and learn French during 50% of their classroom time. This encourages the growth and understanding of a second language during the most important learning years of life.
Grades 1 through 6 continue to dedicate 50% of class time to French language instruction. Along with French Language Arts; Geography, History, Music, and Mathematics.
Resource Teachers provide assistance to students who need extra help in English, as well as in French. Teachers collaborate to include students with special needs in the regular classes.
Teachers work with small, guided reading groups comprised of students with the same instructional needs.
All students and families have access to LEARN (Leading English Education and Resource Network) which provides e-learning resources and academic support, online tutoring and homework help for all grade levels. A username and password is provided by the school to each student.


Parent involvement in literacy varies widely by household, but a new study by Stanford researchers shows that an early literacy text messaging program for parents of preschoolers has had a positive impact on the children’s kindergarten readiness and literacy development. The program, READY4K! has been implemented in some San Francisco Bay area preschools, and researchers are optimistic about the use of text messages to prompt parents to dedicate time to early literacy.
So, how exactly can texting parents help their children develop literacy skills? READY4K! send texts with tips and ideas for parents to engage their children in easy-to-achieve literacy practices. During the 2013-2014 school year, 31 preschools from the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) participated in the READY4K! pilot program, hoping that it would boost family engagement in literacy.
“I believe that all families want to be involved in their child’s learning, but many feel they don’t have the time or perceive that supporting their child’s learning might be labor intensive or something that the teacher is better at,” explained Meenoo Yashar, executive director of program quality and enhancement at SFUSD. “The texting program offered some simple nuggets around literacy strategies and validated that families do want to be involved, if given information that is easy to receive and useful.”
At the end of the eight-month pilot program, children from families who received the texts scored significantly higher on literacy assessments.
“Our text messages had enough of an effect on the parents that it trickled down to the children, which is really encouraging,” said Benjamin York, a doctoral student at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, who created the texting program with Professor Susanna Loeb. “But it’s not parenting-by-text. The texts are there to just help facilitate authentic parenting.”
Parents received tips such as using alliteration, or pointing out letters on the shampoo bottle during bath time. The texts suggest ways to integrate literacy into everyday activities. They serve as little reminders to parents of simple, yet meaningful teachable moments.
As the researchers evaluated the pilot program, they found that children whose parents received the text messages were better able to identify upper- and lower-case letters and sounds. Furthermore, parents who received the texts spent more time fostering literacy through activities than parents from the control group.


- The Oxford Handbook of Popular Music in the Nordic Countries
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Music in a Globalizing Region
- Musical Borealism: Nordic Music and European History
- Nordic Modernity and the Structure of the Musical Landscape
- Inclusive Popular Music Education?
- Roots, Routes, and Cosmopolitanism: David Lindley Meets Harding Hank
- From the Faroes to the World Stage
- Christian Metal and the Translocal North
- Music and Landscape in Iceland
- Music and Environmentalism in Iceland
- A Metahistorical Inquiry into Historiography of Nordic Popular Music
- Echoes of the Colonial Past in Discourse on North Atlantic Popular Music
- Swedish Prog Rock and the Search for a Timeless Utopia
- Trajectories of Karelian Music After the Cold War
- Music in the Aftermath of the 2011 Utøya Massacre
- Aspirations, Global Futures, and Lessons from Sámi Popular Music for the Twenty-First Century
- Masculinity, Race, and Transculturalism in a Norwegian Context
- Hip Hop as Public Pedagogy
- Urban Music and the Complex Identities of “New Nationals” in Scandinavia
- Rap, Reggae, and White Minoritization
- Sámi Festivals and Indigenous Sovereignty
- Digitally Mediated Identity in the Cases of Two Sámi Artists
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Abstract and Keywords
The chapter develops an original concept of musical borealism, drawing from literatures on European music and cultural history and from orientalism. The chapter looks beyond the simple concept of borealism as an exotic gaze by opening up horizons and offering a series of nuanced distinctions. Basic categories discussed are Nordic myth, Nordic folk and popular music, Nordic global music, Nordic ultra-national music, and non-Nordic Nordic manifestations. The chapter expands the historical, spatial, and experiential dimensions of musical borealism and creates a historical foundation for the remaining chapters in the handbook.
Philip Bohlman serves as Mary Werkman Distinguished Service Professor of Music and the Humanities at the University of Chicago, where he also serves on the Jewish studies faculty. His published works include Jewish Music and Modernity (2008), The Music of European Nationalism: Cultural Identity and Modern History (2d ed., 2009), and World Music: A Very Short Introduction (2002). A pianist, he is also the artistic director of the New Budapest Orpheum Society, a Jewish cabaret ensemble in Chicago.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Handbooks Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.


Head of Department: Mr Colin Duncan
The Economics and Business Studies Department aims to enable pupils to become better economic decision-makers, both at a personal level and within society as a whole.
Business Education encompasses a number of subject areas: Economics, Business Management, Accounting and Administration & IT. We aim not only to develop the pupil's insight into the economic world in which they live, but also to equip them with the analytical and practical skills to give them a stake in the economic system. This involves developing a spirit of enterprise, challenging the pupils to think, develop and communicate their ideas effectively and put them into practice.
Courses in Accounting
Accounting is offered primarily at Higher for pupils who have a good pass (A/B) in National 5 Mathematics. Pupils must have good numeracy skills.
Pupils can pick up Accounting as long as they have good numeracy skills, ie having passed Higher Mathematics.
Accounting Higher (S5/S6)
The purpose of this course is to give an opportunity to pupils who wish to develop their accounting skills. The course will enable pupils to analyse financial statements and prepare cost data for planning and control purposes. Emphasis is placed on the development of decision making and problem solving skills through the application of accounting skills and techniques.
Pupils would normally be expected to have attained one of the following:
- Taking Higher Maths (S5)/ passed Higher Maths (S6)
- Must like using numbers and be prepared to put in the time to develop the practical skills required.
- Approval from Mr Duncan or Mrs Kemp.
The Course has three mandatory Units.
Preparing Financial Accounting Information
Learners will develop the skills, knowledge and understanding relating to the preparation of both routine and complex financial accounting information. Learners will develop an understanding of current financial accounting regulations and the ability to apply them in a range of business structures.
Preparing Management Accounting Information
Learners will develop the knowledge and understanding of internal accounting information and the ability to prepare such information using a range of both routine and complex accounting techniques. Learners will carry out learning activities that extend their understanding of the impact that management accounting information has on making decisions about the planning, control and future success of the organisation.
Analysing Accounting Information
Learners will develop the skills, knowledge and understanding of the interpretation and analysis of accounting information, and the ability to interpret and analyse such information using a range of techniques. They will carry out learning activities that allow them to analyse and report on the organisation’s current financial position and performance, and to offer financial solutions that can assist in planning and decision making. This will provide learners with an understanding of financial analysis.
Assessment throughout the course is by end of topic tests. External assessment is in two parts: a question paper (worth 67%) and an assignment (worth 33%).
- Advanced Higher Business Management
- Degree courses


Some form of writing activity should be included in every reading intervention session for students whose deficit area is word identification. Writing helps strengthen letter sound relationships and is one of the most effective strategies to use in develop the syntactic cueing system.Read more
The Curriki library hosts thousands of educator-vetted, openly licensed, online educational materials that teachers, educators, or other professionals have created and have made freely available to others for use, reuse, adaptation, and sharing.
Students and teachers use Curriki Groups to...Read more
Try this storyboard creator in your classroom!
From first grade to graduation, Storyboard That engages students with digital storytelling in the classroom. The site offers ideas, tools, lesson plans, and more!Read more
Polleverywhere is a free interactive way to get immediate feedback from your students. Select the "Linked URL" located on the right side of your screen to get started.Read more
These guides are designed to explain what the new, high standards for ELA say about what students should learn in each grade, what they mean for curriculum and instruction, and how we can implement teaching practices that support them. This guide, which focuses on fluency in Grades 6-12,...Read more
Padlet is an online tool that allows students (and teachers) to collaborate on projects. Check out the school-friendly version of Padlet, called Padlet Backpack. Select the "Linked URL" to the right to explore this resource.Read more
Use this template to plan daily lessons aligned to ELA/literacy standards.Read more
Learn how Word Sorts can support the learning of foundational skills.Read more
This grades 3-5 resource will help students “flesh out” their character descriptions when writing narrative and literary pieces. If the resource is duplexed, students can fold and cut along the lines to create a Skeleton Description Open-flap page.Read more
This middle school peer revision checklist for writing standard one will help guide students as they provide objective feedback to their peers.Read more


Foundation phase: Grade R to Grade 3
In the foundation phase, we focus on teaching the foundational skills, concepts and knowledge which are required for further learning. We offer a vibrant, invitational atmosphere where the learners enjoy coming to school and where they acquire a love for learning, that will sustain them throughout their school years. We acknowledge the potential in each learner to reach optimum ability; therefore, there is less emphasis on competitiveness and more emphasis on individual achievement. We encourage opportunities for growth in independence and responsibility so that learners can take up the challenge of being personally responsible and accountable for their actions in the intermediate phase.
Perceptual development forms an integral part of all learning in the foundation phase, and includes gross motor skills, sensory motor integration and language development.
Curro Serengeti’s alignment with 21st century skills includes:
- Language and literacy
- Life Skills
- Annual – family sizzling social
- Valentine’s Day celebrations
- Theme days
- Mass outings
- Parent-and-child evenings
- Cultural evenings
- Participation in all sports offered at the school
- Reading programme followed intensively
- Eisteddfod participation
- Continuous assessment in all learning areas
- Cross-evaluation in all grades to ensure a high standard of education
- Enrichment activities for learners who excel in literacy and/or numeracy
- Parent meetings four times a year to discuss the progress of learners
- A formal progress report to show parents the assessment standards achieved during the term
- An end-of-year function at which EVERY learner receives recognition for the work done during the academic year
- IT classes once a week that are integrated with the curriculum
- Outings once a term to various educational places that integrate with the themes done in class
Language and literacy
In the literacy subject, we have incorporated the latest global trend of matching learners to book levels and of teaching guided reading and writing. This develops conceptual understanding at the learners’ own pace. Literacy skills are also taught using structured text types.
The curriculum has been written with a learner-centric, problem-solving approach leading to an individualised, well-developed number concept in young learners. This facilitates the successful learning of Mathematics as an abstract subject from Grade 4 to Grade 12.
We have added Robotics and Science to this subject as it involves design and a deep level of cognition, which underpins the learners’ creativity in using software to program their Lego educational toys. Collaboration is encouraged by allowing learners to work in pairs.


Ford Street, 2019
32pp., pbk., RRP $A16.99
Decades of research have shown that children respond to the rhythm, rhyme and repetition of their native language as the first steps in learning to talk and later to read. The words can be utter nonsense or hold little meaning as the poems of Spike Milligan and traditional nursery rhymes have proven by their endurance because it is the cadence and expression that captures the ear.
Thus, poems are important in children’s early literacy development and so a new book with a range of poems that capture both the ear and the imagination is a delightful addition to this genre. from the mysterious yumbie to the elusive moonfish to the pet flea who eats 100 meals a day (“it’s my blood but that’s okay) to the angry old lady of 93 who is on Facebook and learning karate, Laing spans the spectrum of the topics in his imagination, providing a rhythmic experience that has broad appeal and reinforces why our language should be predominantly spoken aloud.
Featuring eye-catching and fresh art by some of Australia’s best known illustrators including Shaun Tan, Leigh Hobbs, Judy Watson, Marjory Gardner, Mitch Vane and Anna Pignataro, there is something in here for everyone, young and not-so-young that will create or renew the fascination with language and how we can manipulate it.
If your students are tired of the sterilised, contrived texts that they are supposed to engage them and engender a love of reading, share these poems with them and watch the joy return.