For teachers looking for teacher-friendly writing instruction, this resources is for you!
Empowering Writers Informational & Opinion Writing guides provide you with everything you need to be successful at teaching writing. This includes:
A Proven Approach - Empowering Writers methodology and strategies deliver the "how-to" teach all of the foundational informational and opinion writing.
Response to Text Tasks Instruction builds upon the Literacy Launch and foundational skills taught to meet the requirements of today's state standards and assessments.
This product is a license for one individual to access the Narrative Writing Guide for Grade 4 on Empowering Writers HUB platform.
- Enhanced digital replicas of time-tested EW instructional materials
- Professional development videos on the foundational skills taught by EW certified instructors
- Virtual Field Trips that provide background for text annotation and analysis
- Skill Power! PowerPoints to introduce the foundational skills
- New ways to engage students and appeal to every learning style
Connect your digital guide to your digital classroom to assign student content, lessons and activities. Make sure to view the digital requirements before purchasing a license.
This product is a license for the digital guides only. The printed guide is sold separately.
License expires on June 30, 2022.
SKU: DB Narr 4
Outside of US and Canada? Contact us
More About the Resource
This new grade-level specific guide includes all of the foundational narrative writing skills and provides everything you need to be successful at teaching narrative, personal experience and response to text writing. Teacher background, detailed lesson plans, reproducible/projectable student pages, sample texts and exemplars are included.
- Recognize and distinguish between genres (narrative, informational, opinion/argument writing) and understand author’s purpose.
- Uncover the organizational structure of a narrative story
- Learn to read with an author’s eye, identify literary elements (character, point of view, setting, plot, motivation, conflict, theme)
- Annotate and analyze narrative stories to build foundational understanding
- Learn to recognize and generate narrative writing through skill specific instruction (entertaining beginnings, vivid, relevant elaborative detail, suspense, fully elaborated main events, conclusions, and extended story endings.)
- Develop literary language
- Extend or modify a narrative story in some way in to demonstrate understanding of the literary elements through a narrative extension task (NET).
- Respond, in writing, to narrative stories in order to demonstrate deep comprehension through a variety of literary analysis tasks (LAT).
The Digital Guide on the HUB
The HUB takes you beyond the book and combines professional development, digital teaching tools, how-to demonstration videos and direct to student content all in one convenient place!
Embedded professional development including:
- Teacher Background - get a deeper understanding of the genre with brief, topic-specific video segments that reinforce every lesson.
- Modeled Lessons - watch actual classroom footage of foundational skills being taught by experienced writing instructors—pragmatic insight that can be applied right away.
- Coaching Segments - elevate teaching practices with valuable overviews, pacing advice and troubleshooting tips from certified Empowering Writers Teachers.
Digital Student Content
We designed our engaging videos to introduce students to the topic, and to provide valuable background information and vocabulary. In an engaging multi-sensory fashion, your students will have a better knowledge base with which to approach the related reading and writing tasks. Embedded digital student content includes:
Virtual Field Trips
- Skill Power! PowerPoints
- Narrated Text Audio
Digital Student Pages
- Animated Video Lessons


The History of Sweet Pea Festival
It's that time of year again!
Tour buses are streaming into town, chalk is out on the sidewalks, and colorful posters are displayed on every bulletin board, shop display, and telephone pole. The excitement brews in the summer air as Bozeman embarks on the 44rd annual Sweat Pea Festival this week!
2020 Poster for Sweet Pea Festival of the Arts.
In 1978, Sweet Pea was "born out of a community’s desire to celebrate the arts."
A collective of about 17 people committed to bringing a three-day, multifaceted art festival to Bozeman. The notion of celebrating the Sweet Pea flower was inspired by Bozeman's Sweet Pea Carnivals that were held around the turn of the 20th century.
Early Days: Sweet Pea Carnival
Before white settlers staked claims on the Gallatin Valley, the native people who lived here knew this place as the 'Valley of the Flowers,' a homage to the stunning wildflowers and overall fertility of the region. In the early 20th century, the Gallatin Valley had over 17,000 acres of cultivated peas.
During this time, the Bozeman Commercial Club, now the Chamber of Commerce, was competing with Billings for the placement of a lucrative sugar beet processing plant in Montana. After seeing sweet peas growing in yards around Bozeman, the idea for a Sweet Pea Carnival was born!
Sweet Pea Carnival during the early 1900s. Image courtesy of Bozeman Magazine.
According to journalist Angie Ripple of the Bozeman Magazine, "the first Sweet Pea Carnival was held in August 1906 seeing a surprisingly large turnout. Bozeman quickly became known as the Sweet Pea Capital of the nation, and was second only to Portland’s Rose Carnival in the idea of presenting a floral carnival. Visitors riding trains to Bozeman for the carnival were greeted with fragrant bouquets of Sweet Peas. The first events featured a parade down Bozeman’s dusty and unpaved Main Street, an especially grand king and queen coronation, and a baseball game. The edible and fragrant sweet pea flower was the Carnival’s emblem and was used to promote the festivities."
Photo Courtesy of Museum of the Rockies Facebook Page
After several years, Bozeman did not get the sugar beet plant, and the Sweet Pea Carnival slowly died off. For a generation, the legacy of the "Sweet Pea Capital of the World" faded into memory.
Then to Now: Sweet Pea Festival
Fast forward to the summer of 1978 - the first annual Sweet Pea Festival of the Arts was in full swing. In the early years, the event quickly grew to over 12,000 attendants, who travel from all over to enjoy local food, local and national musical acts, and the work of local artisans and craftsmen.
The 1982 Sweet Pea Festival poster. Courtesy of Sweet Pea Festival.
Sweet Pea Festival is truly unique to Bozeman and to its community-minded roots. This festival emphasizes the value of volunteers. With over 400 people stepping up from the surrounding area to take tickets, clean up, set up and tear down, and manage events, it's really something that Bozeman can be proud of.
One of the proudest traditions the modern Sweet Pea Festival carries - they choose to give all proceeds back to the community in the form of grants, art education, and various community projects - especially to help improve Lindley Park where the Festival takes place.
By Zach Altman
Edited by: Cassi Miller, Alexa Jorgenson


Down At the Station is one of the great train songs because it combines the passion that many small children have for trains with some useful counting practice at the same time. Here is a great way to bring the song to life – whilst learning some numbers!
Down at the station early in the morning,
See the little puffa trains all in a row,
See the engine driver turn the little handle,
Puff, puff, chuff, chuff, off we go!
*Please note, this post contains affiliate links*
Down at the Station Train Song Activity ideas
Line the trains up, counting as you go. As you sing the song, one train moves off down the track. Ask the children how many are left, and repeat the song in this way until all the trains have gone.
Use fingers to help with the counting as well as an exaggerated action of turning the engine handle, which is lots of fun. Encourage plenty of puffing and chuffing and a few high pitched toot-toots!
Free Sheet Music for Down At The Station (Easy Piano)
To continue the train themed activity, you can play these lovely classic train songs; Puffin Billy and Chattanooga Choo Choo and actually pretend to be the trains. If you have a few children you can get them to link up behind each over, conga style. Choose two people to be a bridge and the others can go through it.
If you’re looking for more train songs for kids, or classical music for train-loving kids, visit this great post on Classical Train Music from Play Trains!
If you’re looking for more transport themed activities, check out our Buses & Trains lesson plan for a 30 minute, structured and lively lesson!
Counting songs are an excellent way to develop early numeracy skills. Check out our Pinterest board full of counting songs here:
If you enjoyed this post, come and join us on Facebook, Pinterest and Google + or subscribe to our free bi-weekly newsletter for many more musical ideas!
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ERIC Number: ED182180
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1979-Jun
Networks: How Energy Links People, Goods and Services, Grades 4, 5. Interdisciplinary Student/Teacher Materials in Energy, the Environment, and the Economy.
Johnson, Bette; Swinton, Olivia
The purpose of this unit is to investigate a simple energy network and to make an analogy with similar mutually supporting networks in the natural and man-made worlds. The lessons in this unit develop the network idea around a simple electrical distribution system that we depend on and also into further consideration of electrical energy itself. The network idea in the later lessons emphasizes the interdependence of the man-made network for producing and distributing electrical energy and the natural ecological network. In the final lesson, the consuming end of the network is examined and some strategies for consuming electrical energy are examined. Students should learn that energy networks such as the electrical circuits are a necessary part of modern life. They are also expected to learn about sources, conversions, and uses of electrical energy. There are six lessons in this fourth- and fifth-grade unit. Complete teacher and student materials are provided. (BB)
Descriptors: Electricity, Elementary Education, Energy, Grade 4, Grade 5, Instructional Materials, Integrated Curriculum, Science Education, Social Studies, Teaching Guides
U.S. Department of Energy, Technical Information Office, P.O. Box 62, Oak Ridge, TN 37830 (no price quoted)
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Learner; Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Sponsor: Department of Energy, Washington, DC. Office of Education, Business and Labor Affairs.
Authoring Institution: National Science Teachers Association, Washington, DC.
Note: For related document, see ED 153 859


Learning language at a young age is very crucial for children’s later educational success. However, a major problem faced by many children from low socioeconomic status (SES) families today in learning a language is a lack of resources and developmentally important stimulation in their homes and schools. This lack of relevant resources and experiences for many young low SES children leads to a detrimental effect on their language and literacy development. Prof. Breazeal and her team will explore how to implement an early childhood language intervention aimed at promoting and guiding parent-child interaction through a social agent with the ultimate goal of empowering low-SES parents and helping bridge the learning gap between low-SES and high-SES families. The social agent will be designed to engage both the adult and the child in a joint learning activity (e.g., storytelling) and encourage adult-child dialogue.
Cynthia Breazeal, Hae Won Park, Ravi Tejwani, Huili Chen
MIT Media Lab


Listen to Coronavirus Patient Zero
Boston Schools Benefit from the ReadBoston Program
Literacy is a problem across the nation; and with the influx of many poorly educated immigrants, the problem is only getting worse. The city of Boston has done something about it, and partners with the Boston schools for one phase of its implementation. In 1995, Mayor Thomas M. Menino founded the ReadBoston project to address the low literacy levels of the city’s youth. The project’s goal is to have all children in Boston schools reading on grade level by the completion of third grade. ReadBoston targets children both before they enter Boston schools kindergarten and throughout elementary school.
After school programs and summer activities extend the campaign to ensure Boston’s youth can read. Preschool Years Before entering the Boston schools, ReadBoston partners with childcare centers, providing materials and training to help the centers establish and encourage home reading programs for the children who attend the centers. They also work with daycare teachers to improve their literacy teaching skills. ReadBoston has two main programs under the early years literacy campaign — Early Literacy Links and The Reading Trail. Early Literacy Links reinforces ReadBoston’s focus on the importance of early literacy by promoting more effective reading instruction through teacher training.
Three literacy specialists and one resource librarian focus their efforts in a small number of childcare centers to help train teachers and daycare providers. Their focus is how to best prepare young children to become able readers. The Reading Trail promotes family involvement in the literacy development of their children. Home lending libraries are established and maintained in childcare centers across the city to encourage children to read, to have a family member read to them, to visit the library, and to use individual “trail guides” to record the books they read. As the children reach milestones along the “trail”, they are given books and other reading incentives. Additionally, centers participating in The Reading Trail receive books to establish libraries and training on how to integrate family reading activities into their current curriculum. Boston Schools Once children reach the elementary level within the Boston schools, ReadBoston is there to welcome them and assist the Boston schools to foster literacy home-school connections. Within the Boston schools, ReadBoston breaks into four separate yet cohesive programs — the Family Literacy Project, Reading Is Fundamental, the After-School Project, and the Families And Books program. Family Literacy Project: • Encourages family involvement in children’s literacy; • Sets up home lending libraries and provide the books in Boston schools elementary classrooms to take books home to read with their families; • Promotes twice yearly parent-teacher conferences with an emphasis on literacy; and • Provides teacher training and support to help each of the Boston schools incorporate the program into their existing curriculum. There are currently 21 elementary level Boston schools participating in the ReadBoston program.
They hope to eventually expand to every elementary school in the city. Reading Is Fundamental (RIF): • Provides three free books each year to participating students to create a home library of their own; and • Develops fun activities to encourage reading as a worthy pastime for the children. Each year ReadBoston gives three books to over 15,000 students within the Boston schools through the RIF program. The After-School Project integrates literacy into the Boston schools’ after-school programs. Literacy specialists promote literacy instruction by providing literacy training, advice and books to increase literacy instruction and reading within the after-school arena. Families And Books reach children during the off-school summer months, using two Storymobiles that visit 40 neighborhood sites each week during July and August. Each Storymobile provide fun storytellings for children, who also can take books to read at home. The two Storymobiles together carry over 10,000 books that may be checked out by the children. In addition to the involvement of the Boston schools, a wide array of community members have joined the ReadBoston campaign — foundations, corporations, community groups, and individuals. They provide both funding and volunteerism.
The community-sponsored book drives have garnered over 500,000 new books for the ReadBoston program, and over 1,700 tutors volunteer each week to help children learn to read — working in the childcare centers, the Boston schools classrooms, and the after-school programs. Boston and its community are serious about literacy for the city’s children.
Run Abroad Articles
Run Abroad Books


Curriculum for Young Children
Course Code: CHD2432
Credit Hours: 3 semester credit hours
Effective beginning: 2021-22
Course Description:This course is a study of the techniques of using language arts, science, art, social studies, math, and physical activities with young children with emphasis on interdisciplinary learning.
Required textbooks/ course materials:
Textbook information will be provided by the instructor.
See your Instructor First Day Handout for individual instructor assignment schedule.
Discipline-level learning outcomes:
CCC Outcome 1: Demonstrate knowledge of basic principles of child growth and development.
CCC Outcome 2: Create a developmentally appropriate learning environment that is safe, healthy, respectful and supportive of children and families.
CCC Outcome 3: Develop educational programs that promote the social and emotional development of children.
CCC Outcome 4: Develop educational programs that improve motor, language and cognitive development of children, including literacy development.
CCC Outcome 5: Demonstrate involvement and positive relationships with families and communities.
CCC Outcome 6: Apply principals of screening and assessment.
CCC Outcome 7: Demonstrate professionalism in the field of early childhood education.
CCC Outcome 8: Identify and demonstrate effective program management techniques.
|Course-level student learning outcomes||Discipline-level learning outcomes||Assessment methods|
Knowledge of basic principles of child growth and development
Creation of developmentally appropriate learning environment that is safe, healthy, respectful and supportive of children and families.
Development of activities that improve motor, language and cognitive development of children, including literacy development.
Promotion of involvement and positive relationships with families and communities.
Understanding and application of the principles of screening and assessment.
Online prof dev module with assessment quiz, video with assessment questions
Phonemic awareness notebook, article with activity, essay
Online prof dev module with assessment quiz
Article with assessment questions
Tests, Quizzes, Writing Assignments, Essays
College-wide policies and resources
For more specific information on Chipola's college-wide academic policies and resources available to students, visit the link below.


Focuses on exercises, techniques, and steps of classical ballet with an emphasis on terminology and correct body alignment. Develops an aesthetic awareness of the art of classical ballet. Includes a warm-up at the barre with center floor work and combinations.
Covers the basics of ballroom dance favorites like the Fox Trot, Tango and Waltz along with Latin styles such as the Cha Cha, Salsa and Rumba.
Fun and games that explore creativity and self-expression and develop dance skills that prepare students to move into other movement disciplines. Focuses on coordination, rhythm and creativity.
Start your child on his or her way to a life-long love of movement and music. Includes simple movement that helps parents and caregivers increase flexibility and model healthy exercise habits. In this class children will learn to recognize body parts along with colors, directions, and counting while also learning basic rhythm. Through fun and games this class will develop motor skills and stimulate brain development.
This class will teach young students basic hip hop movements while instilling rhythm and precision, preparing them for the faster pace of a hip hop technique class. Each class will include a warm up that promotes cardiovascular activity and strengthening, as well as an upbeat dance combination.
A high-energy dance form using the latest music mixed with movements that are influenced by some of today’s top video choreographers. Hip Hop is a broad collection of urban street dance styles including breaking, popping, locking, turfing, jerkin and krumping and often incorporates elements of freestyling. Classes will provide a structured method of learning various styles of movement in a fun and vibrant environment. Each class will incorporate dance combinations and routines and will encourage individual expression and personal style.
Jazz dance is an exploration of style and presentation. Rooted in the rhythm of jazz music, jazz dance is a true American art form. Includes a warm-up that develops strength, flexibility, coordination, and dance techniques specific to jazz dance. Includes dynamic choreography set to popular music and encourages individual expression and development of personal style.
Designed to build coordination, strength and body awareness through a range of creative techniques. Introduces basic ballet terminology, positions, movements, and ballet class discipline.
Sharpens reflexes and improves memory skills and coordination. Establishes fundamental tap movements, vocabulary and works on basic rhythms and steps that progress into fun and lively dance combinations. Develops musicality, timing, balance and quick weight shift.
Introduces basic rhythm using simple tap steps along with coordination and movement skills that encourage creativity and prepares students or other movement disciplines. This class will cultivate a love for dance in a nurturing and fun-filled environment.
Covers the basics of ballet and tap with an emphasis on correct technique and terminology and dance class discipline.
Drawing from many dance styles, theater dance incorporates elements of acting combined with dance as it pertains to musical theatre. Classes will focus on proper technique and musicality and will include upbeat choreography from popular musicals.
This class focuses on creativity in motion, imagination and motor skill development. Our faculty will guide students in a way that makes exploring movement and learning fun! Tiny Dancer is a great introduction to an independent class.
Questions? Contact Amy Brinkman-Sustache, Director of Education, at 414. 277. 8480 x6002 or via email.


At Happy Days, we believe that a positive sense of trust and security begins in infancy.
Warm and responsive care is essential for this healthy early development. We maintain a high teacher to infant ratio so that the children receive the care and attention that they need. Our teachers and aides provide an abundance of one-on-one interaction with the infants – talking, singing, holding, and playing games like peek-a-boo. These interactions stimulate the children’s mental and physical development and create a comfortable and pleasant atmosphere.
We have created a safe hands-on infant environment in which the children may explore the world around them.
We enrich the infant environment with soft colorful toys, picture books, and music. As motor skills develop, infants are safe to explore, crawl, climb, stand, and finally walk! Within this environment we provide an emergent curriculum program that introduces beginning sign language skills to promote communication. We also introduce basic art materials, encouraging sensory play and helping to develop fine motor skills.
We also support the importance of early literacy development.
Our teachers read to the children throughout the day as well as provide a variety of “cardboard” books for them to explore on their own. Infants are invited to become an active part of their own reading development by choosing books of interest, turning the pages, pointing to pictures while the teacher reads the words or identifies the object. As their speech develops, they are encouraged to name pictures in the books.
During the day, we keep a record of your infant’s day.
This includes an overview of how the child’s day went including a schedule of diapering, eating, and sleeping. Parents are encouraged to get to know the teachers and keep them updated as to how the child is doing at home, eating or sleeping patterns, or any changes in routines. This helps us to create a relationship with families and provide better care for your child.


We tend to understand that serious art needs to incorporate silence to portray the human act of thought.
When we give a speech, we try and avoid filler words like “um” and “uh.”
In monologues, actors make sure to give enough natural pauses to help their character convey a more realistic cadence.
In serious classical performances, musicians will make sure to give enough breath in between phrases so their melodies will not sound robotic.
In jazz, soloists will make sure to give enough space between ideas to convey a more natural, thought-out improvisation.
The better we get at our craft, the more we recognize the importance of silence in our art.
Yet, when a young music student pauses and slows down to gather their thoughts during a performance, it’s considered a mistake.
Perhaps we don’t trust or appreciate their more juvenile thought process. Maybe we’ve decided what a “normal” musical pulse sounds like, and this isn’t it.
Regardless, when a student feels shame for slowing down to think while they play, the shame isn’t coming from them, it’s coming from us.
I really think we can do better than this.
Elementary education teaches deliberate pause to kids, actually encouraging kids to slow down and think about what they are trying to do or say before taking action.
Slowing down to make sure to think about where to place their fingers, pausing to gather their thoughts about where they are in a song, and having the freedom to be fully present in the musical task are huge educational benefits for our students. These should be goals to head toward, not mistakes to avoid.
(Later, matching the beat when playing with others and playing to a “click track” when recording can be additional skills to strive for)
We can embrace our students’ pauses and silences right now, regardless of ability level or musical style.
After all, if our students ever decide to be serious artists, they’ll need to unlearn any robotic adherence to the metronome anyway.


Did you know that children are expected to know BASIC writing skills before starting kindergarten? This is because writing promotes children’s literacy development, which helps them to learn to read, write, and communicate effectively. The earlier children develop these skills, the stronger their literacy foundation. Is your child ready?
Did you miss part 1 of this series? No worries! You can read it here.
Writing with children is something to get excited about! Children LOVE to write and draw. They get to use tools like crayons, markers, paint daubers, and paint. You know, things that can get MESSY! What’s not to love?
So, what writing skills does your child need to know and how do we turn their random scribbles into meaningful writing? That’s easy!
Pre-K Writing Skills with Pictures and Ideas
Pictures are a way for children to represent and express their IDEAS and to convey meaning before they can WRITE sentences.
- How to Assess: Does your child draw pictures, symbols or shapes to express their ideas or write a story? Do they use letters or words when drawing/writing? Do they use the proper pencil grip? Does your child understand that writing and drawing helps us to communicate?
- How to Develop:
- Set up a writing center for your child to use freely. Stock it with pencils, crayons, markers, paint daubers, lined paper, colored paper, alphabet stickers, and stencils.
- Label things with words, pictures, and symbols in the child’s environment – such as toys, books, and craft supplies.
- After reading a story together, have your child create a journal entry! Your child could write and draw about what happened in the story or what might happen next.
- Teach your child that writing is everywhere! After a trip to a restaurant, make a play restaurant at home! Use pictures and symbols to create the menus. Download our play menus for free here.
Pre-K Writing Skills by Forming Letters with Accuracy
- Assess: Can your child write many or all uppercase and lowercase letters independently? Can they copy and write them with an example? Can they write their first name? Their last name? Do they leave a space between their first and last name? Does your child write from left to right?
- Build fine motor skills to help strengthen your child’s muscles and coordination. Have them pick up pom poms with tweezers and separate them by color into a muffin tin. Or string beads to make a necklace.
- Help your child learn the proper pencil grip. Do writing activities together where you can remind them how to hold the pencil. Some children require quite a bit of reminding to get it down.
- Teach your child upper- and lowercase letters by using fun hands-on activities and sensory bins. Create a salt tray and have them use the eraser side of a pencil to write letters. Spray shaving cream on the table and write in it with your finger. You could also use our fun hands-on activities!
- Have your child write their name every day. You could have them write on a whiteboard for fun or even create a chart that they write their name on every day and at the end of the week they get a sticker.
Here are some great activities to download to build writing skills
- Alphabet Animal Tracing Cards
- A-Z Handwriting Practice
- Handwriting Activity Sheets
- Dot and Color Letters and Sounds
- Learning Letters Activities Binder
- Snap Cube Letters
Learning how to PROGRESS from creating drawings and scribbles into writing real words takes a lot of PRACTICE for children. With our help, you can make the process fun and exciting! Children will enter kindergarten with a love for learning and a foundation for writing and literacy development.
This article only covers a portion of assessment questions. We will provide for FREE our full assessment containing the list of skills children need for kindergarten at the end of this series.
Is your child using the proper language skills to be understood by adults and peers? In our next article we’re going to talk about speaking and listening standards and what your child needs to know before kindergarten.


What is the Reading Comprehension?
To understand the meaning of a story we must remember the details and connect them together. We might rely on our general knowledge to grasp these meanings. This process is called making inferences
. Inferencing is one of the main skills required for reading comprehension. A comprehension disorder
is when a person is able to hear or read the information, but has difficulty remembering it in relation to prior knowledge.
Reading comprehension relies on (a) word recognition and (b) listening comprehension. If a child has difficulty decoding texts (seeing print and producing the correct sound) or reading fluently (reading aloud smoothly) they will have difficulty with reading comprehension. Therefore assessment is important to determine which skill needs further development.
Who is it for?
Reading comprehension difficulties are common among children with speech and language impairment. This often creates difficulties understanding stories they have heard or read.
How is Reading Comprehension assessed?
To assess reading comprehension, a Speech Pathologist will provide a text for the child to read, whether it’d be a sentence, paragraph, or short story, and ask the child specific questions about it. The quality of the answers gives us an indication of the child’s level of understanding. At Speakable we use norm-referenced texts, which measures a child’s skills based on the performance of many other children who have been assessed using the same text. All tests are administered the same way and can be used to measure improvements over time.
How does Speakable treat reading comprehension difficulties?
At Speakable we use the Visualisation and Verbalisation Program
(VV) which was formed by Nanci Bell, a Special Education teacher. It works by strengthening the connection between spoken language and visual imagery. In VV, the specialist teaches the child to use mental imagery to remember texts. There are different levels depending on the length, and complexity of the texts. They encourage the child to remember features such as size, colour, shape, location, movement, mood, perspective, and sound, to name a few.
Research has shown this approach assists:
• Auditory memory
• Critical thinking
VV is designed to help all ages. Those who will most benefit from the program may:
• Have to re-read texts a few times to remember what they have read
• Has difficulty understanding spoken language
• May remember details (the "parts") but have trouble remembering the whole
• Appears to have difficulty sustaining attention
• Often ask the same question repeatedly
Where can I get more information?
• Reading Rockets
• ABC’s Reading Comprehension Strategies for Parents
• Visualizing and Verbalizing Program for Cognitive Development, Comprehension, and Thinking


Art Education as a Calling
Gunter Ullrich was not only a visual artist, he also supported artistic and cultural-historical learning all his life. In addition to his passionate work as an art teacher, he was also involved in adult education and filled several generations with enthusiasm for art and culture.
Art Teacher at the Secondary School in Aschaffenburg
After his successful studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (1948-1952) Gunter Ullrich moved to Main-Franconia to teach at the secondary school in Aschaffenburg (today’s Friedrich Dessauer-Gymnasium). But in the beginning the lessons were not easy: at a time when the city had to worry about housing shortages, reconstruction, and economic worries, art lessons were not a high priority. In addition, art was not one of the students’ favorite subjects at the mathematical-scientific school. Art lessons had long since been relegated to the very end of the day.
With a lot of creativity and passion Gunter Ullrich changed the value placed on art lessons. Using simple and cleverly used resources and materials (such as paper or scraps of material), he reinvigorated art.
While some teachers still insisted on the traditional art theory from the 1920s and 1930s, Gunter Ullrich devised new art practices and new opportunities for the children to develop. He also familiarized his students with modern art, which had been condemned as “degenerate” during the war years.
Gunter Ullrich had the “ability – as a perpetual learner himself – to pass on his artistic insights to the youth without restricting creative individuality.” (Quotation from the 1983/84 yearbook of the Friedrich-Dessauer-Gymnasium)
Gunter Ullrich also let the children travel new artistic paths: in addition to figurative representation they also became familiar with contemporary, non-figurative representation. With only a few forms and colors, the students were encouraged to pursue completely innovative design possibilities. Ullrich offered the students richly varied instruction: Not only could they draw or paint, but also mold with clay, carve in wood, cut in linoleum, embroider on fabric or model with paper or remnants of material.
It was always important to Ullrich that the children be creative in direct proximity to the art of the city. He had students draw outside in the courtyard or took them on art historical expeditions, such as at the collegiate church. Even the city itself was the object of projects by his school classes: In accordance with specially made designs, the children were allowed to paint the underpasses on the Darmstädter and Großostheimer streets.
In the 1970s, advanced courses in art were introduced and the curriculum for the upper grades revised. Ullrich managed to convey the range of artistic practice and scholarly study of art history. In the practical work he emphasized all techniques, ranging from strict nature studies to abstraction. Students learned the techniques of well-known masters by copying their work.
Between 1967 and 1980 due to his educational dedication, Gunter Ullrich was district chairman of Unterfranken’s Art Educators and in this role continuously increased the importance of art education.
In his thirty years as an art educator, Ullrich has always been concerned with promoting the students’ powers of observation, creativity, independent thinking, and practical work.
He was a formative influence on many generations and even after retirement he maintained contacts to former students and invited school classes to his home studio.
Gunter Ullrich and Adult Education
In addition to his work as an art teacher, it was important to Gunter Ullrich to interest the public in the arts again after the Second World War. Beginning in the 1950s he initiated courses at the Volkshochschule Aschaffenburg to teach interested adults art techniques such as drawing and painting. Ullrich placed the focus of exploration on Modern Art, which was still little known in Aschaffenburg at that time.
For thirty-five years Gunter Ullrich was chairman of the Franconian Confederation, a supra-regional cultural association with municipal groups to strengthen Franconian art and cultural history. From 1967 to 2002, Ullrich inspired the members with numerous lectures on cultural topics, through trips to regional museums, and through excursions to culturally significant cities in Franconia (for example Bad Wimpfen, Würzburg, Schweinfurt). In addition, Ullrich also offered regular trips abroad, for example, to discover the art of van Gogh in the Netherlands or to explore the origins of Tiepolo in his hometown of Venice. His successful volunteer activities for the Franconian Confederation were reflected in its ever-growing membership and positive public image. In recognition of his merits he was awarded the Culture Prize of the Franconian Confederation in 2001.


Why in news?
- Recently, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2018 has been released, conducted by NGO Pratham.
About Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)
- This is an annual survey that aims to provide reliable estimates of children’s enrolment and basic learning levels for each district and state in India.
- ASER has been conducted every year since 2005 in all rural districts of India.
- It is the largest citizen-led survey in India.
- ASER is a household-based rather than school-based survey.
- Schooling status is recorded for children of ages 3-16, while children of ages 5-16 are tested for their ability to read simple text and do basic arithmetic.
- It is also the only annual source of information on children’s learning outcomes available in India today.
- It is a rural survey and urban areas are not covered.
- ASER in other countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Pakistan, Mali and Senegal.
- The survey covered around 3.5 lakh households and 546,527 children between the ages of three and 16 across 596 rural districts.
- It is conducted by an autonomous unit of education-NGO Pratham.
- Noted improvements :
- The proportion of children not enrolled in school has fallen below 3% for the first time ever in India and stands at 2.8%.
- The proportion of girls out of school has also declined, from 6% in 2010 to 4% in 2018.
- The percentage of students in Class 3 who can read at Class 2 level has increased from 21.6% in 2013 to 27.2 % in 2018.
- Increase in children enrolled in Class 5, who can read a Class 2 level text, was from 47.9% in 2016 to 50.3% in 2018.
- States which showed improvement in basic reading levels (more than 5 percentage points over 2016): Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
- States which showed improvement in basic arithmetic levels(more than 5 percentage points over 2016): Punjab, UP, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh
- These achievements are attributed to the Right To Education Act 2009 (RTE) legislation, which mandated free and compulsory education for 6-14 year olds and is credited with reducing “inequalities in access between states” and “beefed up infrastructure in government schools”.
- Figures to be worried of:
- Only 73% of Class 8 students in rural districts can read a Class 2 level text. However, 56% can’t solve a basic division problem.
- 1 out of 4 children in rural India leaves Class 8 without basic reading skills and over half of them (55.9%) without basic numerical literacy or without the ability to do a simple division sum.
- Only 28% of Class 5 students are able to do division, compared with 37% in 2008.
Issues highlighted by the Survey:
- Learning outcomes witnessed a decline following the “push towards univeralization” after the RTE came into force in 2010.
- While there have been improvements across numeracy and literacy indicators since 2010, levels remain below those seen a decade ago and significant disparities in learning outcomes across the nation’s states persist.
- Poor performance in school-based reading and math tests also signals future problems in adulthood, as the lack of foundational skills impedes children’s ability to carry out basic life tasks.
- The survey also highlighted wide-disparities among learning levels in states.
- Governments should focus on raising the motivation level of teachers in their schools as this will go a long way in improving the quality of these institutions.
- Improvements to the pupil-teacher ratio could help tackle varying abilities in classrooms, as more resources help reach a larger number of children and address specific learning challenges.


Changing attitudes is key to influencing behaviour and skills.
People start to see that it is not alright to be bad at maths.
They recognise the importance of numeracy skills.
Children stay at school.
Adults sign up for classes and training if needed.
Children are taught well at school.
Children who need extra help are able to get it.
Adult classes are advertised, provided and made accessible.
Numeracy must be taken seriously. Although this may seem obvious, it is also an indication of the radical change in attitude that is needed if the UK population is to become fully numerate.
The importance of numeracy needs to be understood by everyone and everyone needs to realise that they can become numerate. Maths is not something that you either simply can or cannot do. Maths is challenging and demands persistence in order to progress, whatever level you are working at.
In order to achieve, learners need to persevere to overcome the challenges that are a part of learning maths; and they will only do this if they believe that it is possible, and important, to achieve in maths.
The strange thing is that people who CAN do maths often say that they can’t. For example, a builder might say ‘I can’t do maths’ but will actually use maths perfectly well every day doing things like calculating areas, ordering materials etc.
A new drive is needed to spread positive messages that numeracy is a vital life skill, that it can be learnt and that dismissive attitudes are harmful. Backing for this must come from politicians, business, education, the media and individuals, including parents and teachers. Government should support practical projects designed to understand and change public attitudes.
This recommendation has been supported by a number of organisations and government reports. For example the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee’s Adults Literacy and Numeracy report (2014).
How can you make a difference?
- Be aware of what you say about maths, especially around children
- Challenge people that you hear saying ‘I can’t do maths’
- Let us know if you hear prominent figures making thoughtless, negative remarks about maths
- Speak to young people about the value of maths in everyday life and work
Work so far
National Numeracy has sparked a new debate about numeracy and society’s attitude to maths. We have been driving home the message that numeracy is vital for everyone by:
- Ensuring changing attitudes is a core part of all of our projects and resources – see this video introduction to our attitudinal approach (value, belief & effort) for the National Numeracy Challenge
- Working with organisations and individuals - including our celebrity ambassadors - that have the ability to influence public opinion.
- Ensuring, via the media, that there is a wide understanding of why numeracy is important
- Campaigning and lobbying to improve attitudes – see the recommendations in our Manifesto for a Numerate UK
- Ensuring parents understand the influence they can have – see our Family Maths Toolkit
- Working with schools to instil a positive attitude to the subject – read about our work with schools


My grandfather used to say that most of the work a parent puts into the salvation of a soul and the development of the person happens in the first three years. Later, the study of brain growth and anatomy would reveal that the most of a child’s brain is hardwired by the age of three. He simply observed his eleven younger brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, and his own three children to come to this conclusion. As an early childhood music specialist and homeschooling parent, I have researched this topic extensively. In the end, we can spend a lot of time teaching children many things, but it is the first few years of life that establishes the brain synapses that set up a child’s aptitude for language, music, math, art, physical and psychological achievement.
We also now know that the brain is integral in religious and spiritual experience, with evidence that the frontal lobes are utilized in spiritual exercise. So it is safe to assume that the brain will also respond to spiritual stimulation in its development, allowing a child to develop a proper aptitude toward the eternal. Studies have shown that atheists tend to have heavily developed parietal lobes and less developed frontal lobes, while the deeply spiritual have unusually strong frontal lobes. Keep in mind that the frontal lobes connect intimately with our physical movements and are responsible for much of our personality and identity, so it is vital to introduce the faith to our children as the brain is hardwiring.
With this heavy on my mind, my husband and I spent several years developing the Making Music Praying Twice program, bringing early childhood music practices together with a curriculum that integrates the Catholic faith. We found, as parents, that our parish had programs for children and adults of all ages, but not much for children and their parents in this key time of development. We soon discovered that there were other parishes with the same challenge, unsure of how to reach out to the youngest parents and youngest children. I continually ponder the Biblical metaphor warning us that a proper foundation is vital to the success of a building. We need to invest the foundations of our families, marriage and the earliest years of parenthood and childhood, if we expect to grow strong, healthy Catholics for the future of our Church.
Over the past two years, we have revised and streamlined the Making Music Praying Twice program to an affordable and device-friendly digital edition. We hope to bring the gift of faith-integrated early childhood music education to as many families and parishes as possible. There is a parish kit to help parishes offer a program for littles with a parent or caregiver or for use with playgroups, co-ops, or parish preschool and daycare programs. There is also a version for families to use at home or with friends.
While I encourage families, ministers and teachers to explore what we created, I also challenge you as parents, grandparents, and faithful Catholics to consider how important being a part of Church and a living faith is for children in the very earliest years. I challenge you to consider how you can help increase the culture of faith in the lives of these children in our families and communities.


We have had a busy week this week in Primary 1T.
We have been learning:
- Single sounds of the alphabet: this week we have focused on b and l.
- Tricky words: to and he.
- We have worked our reading books. We have worked on recognising tricky words, learning new words and we are starting to make sentences using those words and words that we can read with the our knowledge of sounds and blending skills.
- We are working on our handwriting. This week we had a go at writing all the sounds that we have worked so far ( no cursive yet just the way we can make it as this will became with practice ).
Home learning ideas:
- Reading: work on the new sounds and tricky words provided on the links below. This should be for a maximum of 10 minutes per day. Please ensure you continue to do that as this is vital for your child’s reading progress. We have attached the tricky words that we will be working on until December ( you could print or copy them and practice them at home).
- Reading at home: read books with your child. Use your reading caterpillars to work on comprehension and higher order thinking skills,
- Make some words that your child can read ( with sounds worked up to now) and tricky words and you could ask your child to make sentences with them.
- Read to your child books everyday and enjoy them.
- If your child is enjoying attempts to writing please don’t stop them to correct the letter formation as this will stop the flow and could put him/her off from writing (letters, stories, cards, etc). After he/she has finished you can remind them the formation if you wish.
Numeracy and Maths
- This week we have continued to work on addition skills including number bonds to ten.
- We have worked on writing sums.
- We have continued to work on our numeracy skills: number recognition, counting forwards and backwards, etc.
Home learning ideas:
- Please continue to look at and discuss numbers in the environment with your child. On buses, cookers, door numbers etc. This will help us with our number recognition as we continue with our numeracy work.
- We have been using this game to help us with addition:
You could also use this game at home:
- You can practice addition by: rolling two dice and adding the result, playing snakes and ladders and ask your child to guess where they have to go , use cards ( each player has to show one and whoever guess the number gets the card, the winner is the player who gets more number of cards), etc
- This week we learned about Remembrance Day.
- Topic work: We have started our topic about toys. Mrs Cross brought a toy that her Granddad made for her Dad. Do you know what it is? This week our focus has been on toys from the past, we realised that they didn’t have batteries but they are still fun!
- HWB We had our NSPCC Speak Out assembly. We now that we have the right to be safe!
- P.E: We have focused on games. We loved playing ‘Cross the river’ and ‘Cats and mice’
- Outdoor learning: We worked on addition skills on Monday however on Wednesday we have a fabulous time building houses for our bears. Amazing team work, concentration and problem solving skills!
- Next week is Anti bullying week. Children are invited to wear odd socks on Monday 16th November.
- Scottish Book week: Next week on Friday your child will receive their P1 Bookbug. Books look great! We are looking forward to reading them in class too.
- E-learning journals: Some parents have received an email regarding access to their children’s targets on the learning journals. The targets don’t show up as an observation like the previous ones you have from nursery (if you had a nursery profile), it is the same account however the targets are on a green tab that says reports. If you are still having any issues please let us know. The comments about your child’s learning in December they will come up as an observation so it will be easier for you to see them.
- Thank you for your continued support in your child’s learning.
Our Tigers are fantastic! We love seeing them playing together and persevering when a challenging task presents. Our highlight of the week was seeing them working together while building the bears’ houses. What a joy!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs Cross and Mrs de Bonrostro


ERIC Number: ED477157
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 2003
Writeaerobics: 40 Workshop Exercises To Improve Your Writing Teaching. Bill Harp Professional Teachers Library.
To teach writing well, teachers need three things: first, they have to understand writing itself, as well as writing pedagogy; second, they need to be writers themselves; and third, they need to know how to communicate their knowledge about writing effectively to their students. This book is based on the premise that writing ability--and teaching effectiveness in writing--is not based on what a person knows, but what he/she does. The book contains 40 days of information (roughly two classroom months) about writing for teachers to think about, exercises to try in their own writing notebooks, and activities to try with their own young writers. It applies the aerobics principle to writing. Each of the 40 "Writeaerobics" workouts includes the following: quotes on writing to inspire teachers (some could make posters for a classroom wall); short lessons on the writing craft or teaching writing; "writeaerobic" exercises for the writer's notebook, so that teachers can personally understand and experience the topic of that day's lesson; and ideas to build craft lessons for the writer's workshop. Appendixes offer advice on why keep a writer's notebook; playing with leads; learning from advertising copywriters to write simply; and helping young authors identify with their older counterparts. (Contains 40 references.) (NKA)
Descriptors: Classroom Techniques, Elementary Education, Instructional Effectiveness, Instructional Improvement, Writing Exercises, Writing Instruction, Writing Strategies, Writing Teachers, Writing Workshops
Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc., 1502 Providence Hwy., Suite 12, Norwood, MA 02062 (Order no. 3028, $18.95). Tel: 800-934-8322 (Toll Free); Web site: http://www.christopher-gordon.com.
Publication Type: Books; Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners; Teachers
Authoring Institution: N/A


This chapter introduces readers to relationships between Indigenous identities and leadership in diverse educational environments and institutions and will benefit policy makers in education, student affairs professionals, scholars, faculty and students. Melvin received both a BS in Elementary Education and an MS in Educational Leadership from the University of North Dakota. Over the years, American Indians developed voices when it comes to American Indian student issues as well as other issues of social justice. Within national organizations for student affairs professionals American Indian or Indigenous affinity groups developed and continue to grow. The transition from ignorant light-skinned Indian kid to self-actualized multifaceted individual is more than growth. Every life experience teaches him to balance work and leadership by meeting people where they are and contributing critical questions to conversations. That Elder taught him that people are not inherently oppositional; rather, they are merely acting out what they have learned. Open dialogues foster additional network opportunities for students and families.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)


The Primary School Curriculum (1999) outlines the contents of children’s learning—the what and how of children’s learning—for children’s first eight years in school, from junior infants to sixth class.http://www.ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_Assessment/Early_Childhood_and_Primary_Education/Primary-Education/
The curriculum aims to:
- develop each child’s potential to the full
- encourage a love of learning
- help children develop skills they will use all their lives.
The curriculum is presented in seven areas, some of which are further subdivided into subjects. These are:
- Language: Gaeilge and English
- Social, environmental and scientific education (SESE): history, geography and science
- Arts education: visual arts, music and drama
- Physical education
- Social, personal and health education (SPHE)
- Religious or ethical education is the responsibility of the different school patron bodies.
All classes have access to I.T. equipment & the school has a comprehensive e-Learning Plan which has been sanctioned by the Board of Management. Each child has an opportunity to develop I.C.T. skills through use of P.C.’s, I.W.B.’s, Digital Cameras, iPads etc.
Each year the children are tested using Standardised Tests for Primary Schools. If these test results show that the child is not performing adequately for his/her age the teacher will recommend the child for learning support. The child’s parents will also be involved in this decision.


History of the Kansas State University Orchestra
The Kansas State University Orchestra had its beginnings only four years after Kansas State was founded in 1863, evidence of a strong belief in music education and in the necessity for the performance of classical music. The College String Band gave performances in 1867 and 1872, but we have no surviving evidence of other performances by this group. Founded at Kansas State Agricultural College in 1882, the College Orchestra has continued without interruption since that time. A picture of the Orchestra in 1888 shows a motley ensemble of five violins and one each of viola, cello, bass, flute, piccolo, cornet, euphonium, valve trombone, and bass drum.
In the early years of its history, the College Orchestra played each morning for Chapel exercises in Anderson Hall. The Orchestra’s chief function was to accompany hymns sung by the choir and the "grand chorus" of the remaining 400 students at the daily Chapel exercises. The Orchestra had by this time also performed selections from The Creation by Haydn and several lengthy pieces that have long since passed out of the orchestral repertoire.
The Orchestra evidenced a high level of competence by the first decade of the Twentieth Century with an all Wagner concert in 1908, playing music from Lohengrin, Götterdammerung, and Tristan und Isolde. By 1910 the College-Civic Orchestra had grown to forty-two members, including twenty-four strings. The Annual Spring Concerto of 1915 presented many works that would still be familiar to today’s audiences--selections from Aida by Verdi, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 and Piano Concerto No. 1, Valse Triste by Sibelius, Marche Militaire by Schubert, and selections from Wagner’s Lohengrin. The Orchestra was also involved with Gilbert and Sullivan productions from 1913 through the 1930s.
Both college students and townspeople comprised the Orchestra from 1905 to 1913. A photo dated 1909 shows an orchestra of at least fifty players. One function of the Orchestra during that time was to accompany the Choral Union. The Orchestra reverted to a membership of college students from 1913 until after World War II. In 1940 there were fifty-five members, still sitting in the old string seating arrangement of (from left to right) Violin I, Cello, Viola, Violin II. Evidently World War II took its toll on the Orchestra; the Royal Purple of 1945 carried a headline, "Orchestra is Small." Despite the lack of string players in 1945--only nine--the group continued to rehearse, but there was no orchestra concert. When Professor Luther Leavengood came as the new head of the Music Department in 1945, he reinstated the College-Civic Orchestra at KSAC. This town-and-gown union soon provided twenty-seven string players and a full complement of winds and brass. Professor Leavengood also changed the old string seating arrangement to the modern one: Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello.
In December 1904, the old Auditorium, which seated twenty-five hundred, was dedicated. In 1911 the Minneapolis Orchestra presented a concert in the Auditorium, the first orchestra other than the College Orchestra to perform there. The current conductor recalls being inspired and excited by the Children’s Concerts in the old Auditorium, performed by the Kansas City and Dallas Symphony Orchestras.
In January 1965 two music students set fire to the old Auditorium, for years derisively called the "old barn." This arson destroyed the Auditorium, valuable music libraries, and instruments. After the old Auditorium burned, the Orchestra performed in either the Union Ballroom or the Chapel Auditorium and rehearsed in the Military Science garage on the north side of the campus. The K-State Orchestra has rehearsed in a large ensemble room in the McCain Music Wing and given concerts in McCain Auditorium since the building was completed in the fall of 1970. That year the Minnesota Orchestra (formerly the Minneapolis Orchestra) presented two dedicatory concerts for today’s McCain Auditorium, an echo of its 1911 performance in the old Auditorium.
Special thanks to Byron Jensen (Ed.D. KSU) and Lyndal Nyberg (M.M. KSU) for their help in preparing this history of the KSU Orchestra. Dr. Jensen's doctoral dissertation was a fascinating and lengthy history of the Department of Music at Kansas State University.
|KSU Orchestra Conductors|
|1882-1886||William L. Hofer|
|1886-1904||Alexander B. Brown|
|1904-1919||Robert H. Brown (son)|


Learning List recently reviewed Learning A-Z’s Raz-Plus ELL Edition, which was submitted for state adoption in Texas in response to the Texas Education Agency’s Proclamation 2019 call for K-8 English language arts and reading (ELAR) products aligned to the new ELAR Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Raz-Plus ELL Edition is a supplemental program that supports reading instruction in grades K-5 with instructional materials designed specifically for English language learners (ELLs). Resources are available online and may be downloaded and printed and/or displayed using classroom projection devices. Instruction focuses on developing proficient readers using cross-curricular texts that match students’ individual reading levels.
Raz-Plus content is organized in 29 reading levels (i.e., aa to Z2) that gradually increase in difficulty. Levels are identified using Learning A-Z’s proprietary “Text Leveling System.” This system considers qualitative indicators (e.g., author’s purpose), quantitative measures (e.g., word count), and reader and task considerations (e.g., student interest and skill) to provide a rounded measure of text complexity. Learning A-Z provides a “Level Correlation Chart” aligning its complexity levels with other widely used measures (e.g., Lexiles, Fountas & Pinnell). Learning A-Z’s text complexity levels are not grade specific, levels; however, they may be matched to grade levels. For example, in terms of Lexiles, texts Q-Z2 range from 651L to 1,140L and support instruction across grades 3-5. [Read more…]
Raz-Plus has a variety of tools to assess reading skills. Resources include running record forms, Benchmark Quick Checks, and materials to evaluate foundational skills, such as the ability to identify upper- and lower-case letters, recognize letter sounds and symbols, and read high frequency words. The program includes timed reading assessments of fluency and rubrics to evaluate comprehension.
About Learning A-Z*
Learning A-Z is a literacy-focused PreK-6 educational provider of technology-enabled learning resources. Our products blend traditional teacher-led instruction with robust online resources to make teaching more effective and efficient, practice more accessible and personalized, assessment more strategic and automated, and learning more informed and proactive. Our suite of products includes: Raz-Plus, Reading A-Z, Raz-Kids, Headsprout, Science A-Z, Writing A-Z, Vocabulary A-Z, and ReadyTest A-Z. Learning A-Z’s resources are used by more than 7 million students in more than 170 countries. Learning A-Z is a business unit of Cambium Learning Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABCD).
*Information in this section is provided by or adapted from Learning A-Z.


All parents want their children to succeed in school, to enjoy learning and playing with others, to explore new opportunities, and to be able to take advantage of the many learning experiences offered.
School readiness is the term often used to describe a child’s ability to meet the tasks of the school setting and ability to take advantage of the learning environment and experiences provided.
Children who start school ready to learn are more likely to continue to thrive. Many studies have shown that children who do well in kindergarten, continue to succeed in the early grades and are more likely to complete high school. They also have better long-term outcomes in the areas of health and career success.
There are five developmental areas for children that, in combination, contribute to readiness for school. In many communities across Canada, school readiness is measured through a teacher-completed checklist called the Early Development Instrument. Developed by the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, it provides a measure of school readiness the five developmental areas: Physical Health and Well-being, Social Competence, Emotional Maturity, Language and Cognitive Development and Communication Skills and General Knowledge.
In this column, let’s look at the developmental domain or area of Language and Cognitive Development and how a parent can encourage readiness in this area.
This area of readiness includes: interest in books and numbers. Parents should read daily to and with their child, discussing, asking and answering questions, talking about pictures. Books should be available in the home, where children can get them out as they wish, without always having to ask. Children can be asked to tell or “read” a story to a parent or other child. Get a library for the child — they are free! Try to build up a good selection of books in your home. Garage sales are a good source for this. Let your children see you reading and writing.
Basic literacy skills, such as turning the pages of a book, knowing that able to identify at least 10 letters of the alphabet, able to attach sounds to some letters, an awareness of rhyming words, able to print own name, able to participate in a group reading activity, by listening, asking questions, and answering questions.
Parents can tell nursery rhymes and rhyming songs and poems. Let the child handle the books, teaching them what is the front, back, how you know when to turn the page, pointing to the words as you read aloud. Sing the alphabet song, read alphabet picture books, and write your child’s name on many items around the house Point out the letters of the child’s name whenever you see it on signs, in stores, etc. Provide writing and drawing materials such as pencils, markers, paint and paint brushes. Let your child dictate a letter, grocery list, or story to you-you can write down most of it and encourage your child to sign his or her name, or write some of the words. (You can spell them for the child). Have fun making home-made books, with photos and drawings, and your child providing the words they want included on each page.
Basic numeracy Skills: these number and mathematical skills include the ability to count, recognize numbers, understand simple concepts of time and size, recognize basic geometric shapes such as circle, square, and triangle, and the ability to sort or classify. Parents can encourage development in this area by playing games involving numbers, such as card games, counting items at every opportunity, baking together and talking about numbers in recipes, and keeping height and weight growth charts. Most board games require a dice and you can count every move of the game piece. Sorting and classifying (by colour, size, shape) can be encouraged by simple activities; ask your child to find all the blue socks, or get out all the big cups, or sort out blocks by size, shape or colour.
Interactive activities with your child are fun and will help your child enjoy and benefit from school.
Positive Parenting appears every week in LIFE. This week’s column was written by Laurie Lafortune, Understanding the Early Years co-ordinator with Family Services of Central Alberta. (X) can be reached by calling 403-343-6400 or www.fsca.ca.


http://www.throughtheflower.org/ Through the Flower is a non-profit Feminist art organization founded by Judy Chicago in 1978. Their mission is to educate a broad public about the importance of art and its power in countering the erasure of women's achievements.This web site includes "The Dinner Party Curriculum Project." Judy Chicago states "Although there are many ways of approaching The Dinner Party, it is important to note that The Dinner Party is built on a solid foundation of research into history, art history, feminism, and the obstacles women faced (and continue to face) as they struggled to participate fully in the societies in which they lived. The Curriculum is structured in a sequence that is intended to help students gradually develop a consciousness about gender along with a deep understanding of women's history, women's art, and women's achievements. The Curriculum consists of a series of downloadable pdf files; teachers may pick and choose among the fourteen Encounters, selecting those that seem most appropriate to their classrooms, grade level, and goals." http://judychicago.arted.psu.edu/dpcp/intro.php
CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES TO REVOLUTIONIZE CURRICULUM
http://gclass.org/ Founded in 1977, the New Museum (at 235 Bowery, New York, NY 10002 212.219.1222) is a leading destination for new art and new ideas. It is Manhattan’s only dedicated contemporary art museum and is respected internationally for the adventurousness and global scope of its curatorial program. See the curriculum under the "Learn" tab, for the THE GLOBAL CLASSROOM, (g.class)http://gclass.org/ G:Class "provides the tools necessary for high school teachers to utilize the cultural and educational resources of the New Museum, to incorporate contemporary art into the curriculum, and expand learning beyond the classroom. Lesson plans are designed to incorporate contemporary art into the classroom, and are developed in collaboration with the New Museum’s school partners to address both Museum exhibitions and New York City class curricula. The core of each lesson plan is designed to use observational and interpretive activity through inquiry and extended peer discussion to foster an informed, critical understanding of art, culture, current events, and their relationship to students’ own lives and the world around them."
SOCIAL THEORY & ART EDUCATION to REVOLUTIONIZE CURRICULUM
http://cstae.org/ The CSTAE is launching an e-portfolio digication web page on the NAEA web site. You are invited to submit your lesson plans, unit plans and syllabi that embrace social justice approaches and pedagogy that advance social theory


Kids love these printable sheets!
Activities include cotton swab painting, coloring, cutting, tracing, solving puzzles, matching and sorting, hands-on experiments, writing, clothespin clipping, and more. Heather Villegas says, “My kindergartner loves it!”
What's Included in the Kindergarten Bundle
200 PAGES IN ALL
Homeschooling a kindergartener? Then you need this huge activity sheet bundle with 200 printable pages, covering dozens of topics:
- Alphabet →32 pages of letter review
- Sight Words → 53 pages of practice
- Consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) Words & Blends → 19 pages of puzzles and worksheets
➕MATH ← 57 pages
- Pattern Recognition
- Number Recognition
- Counting Clip Cards
- Skip Counting
- BONUS: Days of the week & months of the year
🧪SCIENCE & MORE← 39 pages
- Apple Investigation
- Sink or Float
- Community Helpers
- Living and Non-living Things
- Animal or Plant
- The 5 Senses
These pages were designed by Ehrica, a 👩🏻🏫 pediatric developmental therapist with a degree in elementary education and an endorsement in special education. So you can trust they are developmentally appropriate and effective for teaching your kindergartener.
The Kindergarten Bundle is an instant digital download (PDF); nothing will be mailed.


Your children will love learning at our school because we understand that children come to us with their own learning styles, strengths and challenges. They have different combinations of unique and shared patterns of values, knowledge and experience of the world and their place in it. Recognising each child as an individual, we can help them develop a love of learning by facilitating a culture of collaboration, mutual respect, support and problem-solving that involves the whole school community.
Within our Primary School Programme, it is necessary to achieve a balance between the programme of inquiry and single-subject teaching. The relationship between the subject areas and the units of inquiry will change from one unit to the next. However, in order to support transdisciplinary teaching and learning, the homeroom teacher takes responsibility for the main language of instruction (English), mathematics, social studies, and science.
The importance of traditional subject areas, or disciplines, is acknowledged: language (both English and Mandarin); mathematics; science; social studies; the arts; and personal, social and physical education (PSPE): and these are specified as components of the Primary School curriculum model. Overall expectations for each subject, within each age range, are specified in detailed scope and sequence documents. In general:
Assessment, Recording & Reporting
The assessment component in our curriculum can be divided into three closely related areas:
Teachers assess student learning in a variety of ways using a range of assessment tools, and the students themselves are expected to be reflective and think about their own learning.
Evidence of student learning is collected and feedback is given to students regularly and frequently: individualised, immediate feedback has been proven to make the most significant improvements in student learning. Students and teachers work together to create a ‘portfolio’ for each student. This portfolio is used as a reference during the Student-Led Conferences (SLC).
Teachers communicate regularly with parents so they can support and celebrate their child’s learning, as well as understand their progress and development. The School uses a digital platform called Seesaw, which facilitates daily communication between the teacher, parents and students. In addition to being a great way to digitally share learning activities, it provides a platform for discussions at home in support of mother-tongue development.
Formal reports are sent home at the end of Term 1 and Term 3. Students share their individual learning journey with their parents during their Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences held at the end of the first and third terms, and at the SLC held at the end of Term 2.
HKCA PLK School Scope & Sequence Documents
In order to create a Programme of Inquiry (POI) each school needs to ensure it addresses the essential conceptual understandings and learner outcomes within all subject areas. HKCA PLK School uses a combination of IB and ‘school-developed’ Scope & Sequence continuum documents in order to facilitate a well-designed, inquiry-based transdisciplinary programme. In line with the school’s Vision and Mission, the programme is designed to create a balanced curriculum where all subject areas play an important role in guiding the students’ interests, talents and essential learning.
The following IB PYP documents are used to guide the school’s planning process:
These PYP scope and sequence continuum documents:
The scope and sequence continuum documents have been organized around “phases” rather than age-band stages. This is in recognition of the fact that learning is a developmental process whereby the learner does not always progress through age-related stages in a strictly linear fashion. The resulting continuums are organized in such a way as to place primary importance on the construction of meaning, leading to deep understanding of concepts. The continuums make explicit the conceptual understandings that need to be developed at each phase. Evidence of these understandings is described in the learning outcomes associated with each phase. The POI provides opportunity for learning both about and through the subject areas. The documents also provide guidance to ensure an interactive and ongoing process of curriculum development.
Reference: Introduction to the PYP scope and sequences (International Baccalaureate Organization 2009)
HKCA PLK School Transdisciplinary units of inquiry
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“Musical ability is not an inborn talent but an ability which can be developed. Any child who is properly trained can develop musical ability just as all children develop the ability to speak their mother tongue. The potential of every child is unlimited”.
Who is Shinichi Suzuki?
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki (1898 – 1998) was a Japanese musician, philosopher, and educator and the inventor of the international Suzuki method of music education who developed a methodology of educating people of all ages and abilities. His philosophy is centered around the idea of cultivating the ability among all children to learn things well, while building the character of the children during music education.
What is the Suzuki Method?
The Suzuki method is an internationally known music curriculum & teaching methodology, created by Japanese violinist Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. The method aims to create an environment for learning music that parallels the linguistic environment of acquiring a native language. Suzuki believed that this environment would also help to foster good moral character.
What is the Mother Tongue?
Dr. Suzuki has called his teaching method the Mother-Tongue Approach, inspired by the fact that all children learn to speak their native tongue efficiently. Positively reinforced by the love from parents and the family environment, the child responds and develops the most difficult of skills, that of intelligible speech.
The Suzuki Triangle relationship
The triangle relationship describes the relationship between the teacher, parent, and the student. This relationship is truly the corner stone of the Suzuki method. The teacher offers expertise, guidance, and ears. The parent offers support, to both student and teacher, plus insights and translation between teacher and student. And the student offers the possibility.
Dr. Suzuki believed the early years are critical for developing mental/intellectual processes and muscle coordination. Listening to music can begin as early as at birth; formal training may begin at 3 or 4 years old, but it is never too late to begin.
Listening & Repetition
Children learn words after hearing them hundreds of times. Listening to music every day is important, especially listening to pieces in the Suzuki repertoire so the child knows them immediately.
Constant repetition is essential in learning to play an instrument. Children do not learn a word or piece of music and then discard it. They add it to their vocabulary or repertoire, gradually using it in new and more sophisticated ways.


(12 months to 2.5 years)
Toddlers are busy trying to figure out everything in their world. We have caring teachers that offer stimulating activities for the quickly developing brains. Singing is part of our curriculum as well as puzzles, matching games, building blocks, dress-up and much more.
A fun interactive classroom with their own playground awaits our toddlers. Toddlers are encouraged to use their fine motor skills while joining in fun creative art and craft projects.
Toddlers are starting to play side by side and learning to share. Our knowledgeable teachers give toddlers a variety of fun opportunities to learn how to use their new words and development caring for others.
(2.5 to 5 years)
Children are offered a variety of activity centers that encourage a sense of confidence and self-esteem while also exploring the subjects of math, science, language, and writing. Some of the daily activities include calendar counting, singing, story time, and letter recognition.
Our center offers a safe outdoor area for trikes, running, jumping, climbing, and just playing. Children are given many opportunities to explore fine motor skill development by using scissors, chalk, crayons, paint, markers, and other exciting media.
Students learn to get along with their friends by interacting one on one and during group sharing activities. Free time is also a part of the day and children are encouraged to interact socially appropriate with their peers and teachers.
Children learn to sit with a group, table manners, socially appropriate behavior, academic skills, and a love for learning from our enjoyable yet structured classroom environment.
(5 to 12 years)
Before school, after school and summer camp options.
Fun activities. Homework help. Field trips to spray park, skating rink, and library in the summer.


Do your Year 7 or Year 8 students struggle with numerical fluency? Does lack of numeracy hold them back from fulfilling their potential in key stage 3 maths? Hamilton's KS3 numeracy materials can help.
Hamilton's key stage 3 numeracy materials are the result of a three-year study to find the best ways to teach numeracy at this level for students who are working below, at or beyond their age-related expectations. Developed and refined in response to test results and feedback from secondary teachers, they are highly differentiated in their content, format and time requirements for students at different levels of numeracy.
Even numerate students experience a sharp decline in numerical fluency from Year 7 to Year 11. Hamilton's quick regular revision resources have been shown to help them retain their secure numeracy.
In addition, Hamilton has developed a ground-breaking set of investigations that give numerate students a numerical grounding for understanding algebra. Working with these, students learn the tactics and resilience necessary for approaching mathematical problem solving, while covering the whole of the algebra content for key stage 3.
Overwhelming evidence indicates that numerical fluency declines sharply from Year 7 to Year 11. Although many students enter secondary school at or nearly at age-related expectations, there is little ongoing opportunity for them to revise or even use their numerical skills. This demise of numerical fluency inevitably affects students' life skills and test results, before and at GCSE. Hamilton's materials identify and fill skills and understanding gaps to consolidate numeracy.
Students who are at age-related expectations can go on to use Hamilton's numerical algebra investigations to develop numeracy confidence and to gain problem-solving meta skills and cover the key stage 3 algebra curriculum at the same time.
Some students do not come to secondary school with the numeracy required to progress to the key stage 3 curriculum. Hamilton has designed a complete programme of in-depth materials to support secondary teachers (or teaching assistants) in teaching those core numeracy skills with the aim of enabling these students to access the secondary curriculum.
A set of investigations targeted at these students provides them with opportunities to develop numeric confidence and problem-solving skills and resilience.


Intent – Music
Increasingly, research is showing that high-quality music lessons have a significant, positive impact on a child’s intellectual, social, emotional and physical development. According to the Music Education Council, “The benefits are greatest when musical activities start early and continue over a long period of time.”
Singing and active music-making are the core of music experience and understanding, and have been shown to benefit concept formation, abstract thought, memory, linguistic development, spatial awareness and coordination, as well as creativity and confidence. At Whitley, we deliver weekly, high-quality music lessons and participate in regular events outside of school to celebrate our passion for the subject.
We aim to nurture the enjoyment of performing and develop confident vocalists. We use music as a medium of celebration and feel it is a powerful communicative tool. We love singing and sing passionately, from our hearts.


I love books. I loved reading to my children when they were small and now, nothing gives me greater pleasure than reading books and sharing books with my grandchildren. I think it is really easy to make the link between book sharing and developing reading skills, but I think we tend to forget all the great advantages and other skills that are developed through book sharing, and it’s never too early to start.
Even in the very early days a new-born will get comfort from the closeness and the sound of their carer’s voice. It is a great way to develop a bond with baby, not only for parents, but for grandparents, carers, siblings, and extended family. Although a young baby might not understand the words that you’re saying, they will enjoy the tone of your voice and the rhythms and the sounds of the language that is being used around them; this will help to stimulate and develop their hearing and later, their listening skills. As their eyesight develops and they begin to focus, they will really enjoy the bright colours and pictures, and books will start to play a part in helping to develop their visual skills.
Research tells us that a child’s language level at 5 years of age is the most important factor in them reaching the expected levels in English and Maths at age 7; so, we know that developing their language is hugely important. Reading and book sharing is a great way to help build a child’s vocabulary and their understanding. Although baby can’t talk back, a carer using lots of language around them will really make a difference.
There are so many advantages for book sharing in terms of a baby’s communication development and these include:
- Teaching the baby about turn taking and interaction
- Developing their understanding through picture recognition and hearing lots of vocabulary
- Developing their spoken language through copying and repeating the sounds and words that they hear
- Supporting social and emotional development as baby hears different tones of voice and different emotions expressed in your reading
- Promoting thinking skills by encouraging baby to look and point in response to your questions
- Building listening and memory skills
- Giving children information about the world around them so that when they start talking, they have lots of talk about
Sharing a book doesn’t mean that you need to read all the words on the page, it is just as valuable to talk about the pictures or make up a story for the little one that they can relate to; maybe put them in the story and tell them stories about themselves. The sort of book that is shared is less important than the language that is used and the more exposure a child has to hearing language being used around them, the easier it is for them to develop the language skills they need as a firm foundation for literacy development.
But most importantly of all, sharing books should be fun and start children on a lifelong love of books.


Many students experience a regression in learning when they neglect to engage in any educational activities over the summer break. Most children experience interactive learning when they participate in summer camps and programs, which may incorporate some aspects of reading, writing, art, and exploration. For children who spend their summer break at home or on a family vacation, it’s important for parents to encourage some form of daily learning to help their children prepare for their next grade level. Here are some ways to prevent summer learning loss in your kids:
Make Time for Learning
It’s important to take a little down time to beat the heat and make time for learning. Set aside 15 to 20 minutes daily – that’s all it takes! During this time encourage your child to find enjoyment in reading and writing.
Keep track of your child’s progress over the summer by scheduling their daily reading time, math, or writing activities on a calendar. It will help you gain a better perspective on what they’ve accomplished and if there are any subjects that may have been overlooked.
For parents with younger children who are at a pre-reading level or have a child that is falling below their grade level; reading to your child for 10-15 minutes daily is highly beneficial for their development.
Encourage Creative Writing
Creative writing is fun for children. It gives them a chance to exercise their imagination and tell a story that is fun and exciting. Ask your child to write a short story at least once a week; it can be about a paragraph or longer. Help them by providing a topic or theme, such as a “special outing” or “memorable holiday/vacation.” This is a great opportunity to review, build, and reinforce their grammar and spelling skills. There are also many workbooks you can buy from local stores that are aimed towards specific grade levels. These workbooks can help your children review the past grade level as well as preparing for an easier transition into the next grade level. You can set aside 2 to 3 lessons from the workbooks weekly.
Develop Math Skills
Math is not the most popular subject among children. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make it fun by incorporating math problem-solving skills into our daily lives. You can test their critical problem-solving skills by creating fun impromptu activities like an outdoor counting game or a number matching game with playing cards. The addition of prizes and rewards for getting the right answer are also great for keeping their interest level high. There are math workbooks for your child’s grade level you can buy from bookstores or department stores. Take the time to complete at least 4 to 5 math problems a day. This can drastically help close the gap for students of all ages and develop more critical math skills.
Focus on Areas of Improvement
Based on your child’s latest report card, determine if there are any areas of improvement you can focus on during your daily summer learning sessions. As a parent, it may seem like decades ago when you last went to school but don’t be discouraged. Teaching methods and lessons may be foreign to you, but you don’t need to feel helpless when it comes to supporting your children’s education. Take advantage of the many tools and resources readily available to help your child overcome their most challenging learning curves. Use online resources, workbooks, computer games, and other activities to make learning fun and easy for both parents and kids.
Encourage your child to find enjoyment in reading. Whether it’s a short story, novel, magazine, comic, or graphic novel – all types of reading are beneficial. 15 to 30 minutes or more of reading a day is all it takes! Give your child the freedom to choose what they want to read over the summer break. Just make sure it’s appropriate for their grade level.
To get more information on giving your child a learning environment that builds self-awareness, emotional intelligence, strong morals, and ethical values; contact Guiding Light Academy, a local private school in Mississauga. At Guiding Light Academy, we aim to inspire lifelong learning and develop spiritual awareness by utilizing the whole child approach to education.
Learn more today by visiting our website or booking a tour of our school.


I was recently in a classroom where grade 4 students were working on IXL.com as a means of practising and reviewing math skills. As I walked around the room, I observed that a number of students consistently only practiced numeracy skills where questions were numeric and didn’t involve word problems, and this got me thinking about why that was. Yes, in general, straight equations are easier to solve, but there must be something more to it. Upon speaking with students and delving further into the types of problems provided by IXL.com, I quickly realized why some students were shying away from attempting to solve them … it was due to the vocabulary used in the problems, and I am not talking math vocabulary, I am referring to vocabulary used in the context of the questions – chemical names such as phosphorous and sulfuric acid, country names such as Australia, etc. For students reading at or above grade level, these questions may not pose a problem; however, for students reading below grade level, it’s a completely different story.
The above highlights issues with IXL.com, but they are not the only company using vocabulary in their resources that students reading below grade level simply can’t decode and comprehend. In all fairness, some companies do offer differentiated/scaffolded resources for English Language Learners (ELL) students, but students reading below grade level are not quite in the same category, so they are often left to flounder in subject areas (other than Language Arts) where levelled reading material may not be provided. When it’s time for grading and report cards, these questions must be asked: Are those students falling below grade level in most or all subject areas because of their inability to read at grade level, and would their mastery of concepts be at grade level had the reading material and questions provided been accessible to them? Very possibly, yes.
At the moment, the only solution available to teachers would be to rewrite texts and questions themselves in order to provide necessary differentiated and/or scaffolded resources for learners in their classrooms – which theoretically speaking is an ideal solution, but practically speaking, teachers simply don’t have the time to rewrite and reword texts and questions in all subject areas. And so perhaps the responsibility should fall on the companies providing the resources to offer leveled texts and questions in subject areas they are providing materials for so that students can be evaluated fairly on what they know and understand vs what they are able to read and comprehend. Perhaps there are companies that have already taken that step, in which case, should this not simply become standard practice across the board?
Are you a teacher struggling to provide differentiated and/or scaffolded resources in your classroom? How have you been solving the issue? Alternatively, if you have found ready-made resources, where did you find them? We welcome your thoughts and insights!


wood joints and their uses
Woodworking joints – wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining together pieces of wood, to produce more complex items. some wood joints employ fasteners, bindings, or.
Half lap joints – basic woodworking joinery, Half lap joints are among the most basic of woodworking joints, but there are times where they are the perfect choice for connecting two pieces of stock..
Diy scrap wood projects: finding salvaged lumber and old wood, * do not use salvaged wood that shows any signs of damage from termites or powder post beetles. you do not want to risk bringing these critters into your shop or home..
Woodworking – wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Materials . historically, woodworkers relied upon the woods native to their region, until transportation and trade innovations made more exotic woods available to the.
Joint – definition of joint by the free dictionary, Joint (joint) n. 1. a. a place or part at which two or more things are joined. b. a way in which two or more things are joined: a mortise-and-tenon joint; flexible.
Bs 5268-2-2002 structural use of timber. code of practice, Bs 5268-2-2002 structural use of timber. code of practice for permissible stress design, materials and workmanship – free ebook download as pdf file (.pdf), text file.
Woodworking 168 – blogspot.com, In the baroque period (16th century, as in louis xiv), when rich people could afford music education in their own homes, music was composed for small ensembles.
Wood joints, joining wood, dove tails, rebates, mitres, How to make joints in wood mitre joints are always cut to 45° in a mitre box so that they will form a 90° corner when joined..
Woodworking by hand – blogspot.com, I decided to make use of my newly acquired antique oak mainly to see what it will look like when planed and finished. i also decided some more dovetails wouldn’t do.