Level 3: First Semester
Adventures of the Superkids
This level steps up students’ phonics instruction by teaching more complex letter-sound relationships, such as digraphs and long-vowel sounds. Instead of focusing just on individual letter-sounds, children learn to use word families and whole-word patterns to help them decode and encode. They also learn how to read and spell six new Memory Words—high-frequency or sight words—in every unit. The decodable stories children read in this level are longer and more complex than those in kindergarten. Lessons for each story help guide children’s understanding and explicitly teach comprehension skills and strategies. Lessons also teach and have children practice using fluency skills, such as reading with expression and natural phrasing. Explicit and systematic instruction in expressive writing teaches children how to write a wide variety of products and introduces them to the writing process.


Something to think about on how we teach art......
Kathy Douglas - retired art teacher and one of the original Teaching for
Artistic Behavior Partnership members - posted this to TAB Yahoo Group.
Kathy is also a member of this list, but does not post much now. TAB
list keeps her hopping. She is one of the list owners and moderators.
That list is very active. This post from her was from March 28... I save all of my TAB Digests until I have time to read them.
Subject: [TAB-ChoiceArtEd] MIT Researchers: Teaching too much can stifle
Date: Monday, March 28, 2011, 10:54 AM
From Kathy's post -- and from the online article:
A squeeze, a squeak, a glimpse of learning
Studies find clues to babies’ minds
"Children make different types of bets, however, depending on how they are
taught. In a new study published in the journal Cognition, Schulz and colleagues
built a complicated toy and brought it to the Museum of Science. The toy had
many functions — pulling on one tube caused a squeak, pressing a button turned
on a light, and pushing a pad made music play.
In one scenario, an adult instructed preschoolers in how the toy worked,
demonstrating only the squeak sound. In another, children were just shown the
In both cases, the researchers encouraged the children to play with the toy and
figure out how it worked. Those who were explicitly taught how to make the toy
squeak played with it for less time and discovered fewer functions than those
who did not receive a tutorial."
Link is long - if it
breaks, just copy and paste. I don't bother to do the tiny url's anymore
as too many members have said they can't open those.
To find out more about the conversations that related to this post - sign onto:
Teaching for Artistic Behavior is Choice Based Art Education.
was a WONDERFUL thread on Advocacy, but I am waiting for permission
from the member to share it with you. I do not post anyone's emails to
the list without their permission. I always let them them know what I
have posted, too.
I love this Dr. Seuss quote that another member posted:
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better, It's not" Dr. Seuss
I am sure Dr. Seuss would want it posted here......"Stick together" yes, - but also do something.


Preschool children display innate skill with numbers, addition
Children may be born with some ability to perform basic arithmetic, Harvard research suggests
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 19, 2005 -- Psychologists at Harvard University have found that five-year-olds are able to grasp numeric abstractions and arithmetic concepts even without the formal education or language to express this knowledge in words. The discovery of these inborn skills among preschoolers could point the way to new teaching techniques, making arithmetic easier and more pleasant for elementary school children.
A paper describing the findings will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is now on the journal's web site.
"Teaching symbolic arithmetic is one of the primary tasks of the first four years of elementary education," says co-author Elizabeth S. Spelke, a professor of psychology in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "Some children have enormous trouble mastering this skill, and most children find symbolic arithmetic challenging and, at times, confusing. Our studies say, however, that children already have a basic understanding of this domain. I hope our work points the way to improving mathematics education by building on this understanding."
Spelke and her colleagues asked 16 preschoolers to compare arrays of dots on a computer screen, or to merge two sets of dots and then compare these with a third set. Even without the symbolic knowledge of arithmetic that formal schooling brings, the five-year-olds could consistently tell which sets of dots were larger. Further successful comparisons between arrays of dots and sounds reinforced that the children understood the basic concept of amount.
These skills contrasted sharply with the preschoolers' ability to comprehend symbolic arithmetic, as is taught in school. For instance, children were unable to answer verbal questions about numerical addition, such as: "Suppose you have 15 marbles and your mom gives you 10 more, while your sister has 20 marbles. Who has more marbles, you or your sister?"
However, the children were able to solve this same problem when it was presented in non-symbolic form, such as an array of 15 blue dots, then a second array of 10 blue dots, and finally a sequence of 20 tones. When asked whether there were more dots or tones, the youngsters were able to give correct answers.
"A fundamental question for psychology is, 'Where do abstract number concepts come from?'" Spelke says. "Some have suggested they come from human language or are constructed by children during formal instruction; our studies provide evidence that children have abstract number concepts, and that they can operate on these concepts to perform addition, before they start school. We conclude that abstract number concepts do not depend either on language or on instruction."
Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.


The World Bank is committed to helping countries achieve Learning for All, through our financing as well as our policy advice, technical support, and knowledge sharing of what works in education.
In September 2012, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim reaffirmed the World Bank's 2010 MDG Summit pledge to commit an additional $750 million in financing for basic education over five years (2011-2015) from the International Development Association (IDA) to help the poorest countries accelerate progress toward the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Education.
As of June 30, 2015, the total amount of new IDA commitments for basic education in FY15 is $1,079 million. This amount implies cumulative progress of $2.13 billion towards our MDG pledge, exceeding the original pledge by $1.38 billion.
Over the past three years, the World Bank has provided record support to basic education through IDA, for a total of over $4.36 billion, and remains firmly committed to accelerating global progress towards Learning for All.
In May 2014, the World Bank’s Board approved the $1 billion India: Third Elementary Education Project (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan III), to be implemented over three years. This IDA project supporting basic education in India is the World Bank’s largest education project in the world, serving the needs of 200 million children and 4.5 million teachers.
IDA Support to Basic Education (US $ Millions)
IDA & IBRD Support to Basic Education (US $ Millions)
[Source: Education Historical Lending Figures]


Title I of the United States Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is designated Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged, which frames the educational policies and agendas of the US Department of Education. It targets the academic achievement gap between high and low-performing children, the latter typically being from poor or underprivileged backgrounds. Title I, which has been described as the "cornerstone" of the No Child Left Behind Act, is the largest federal education program.
The purpose of Title I is "to ensure that all children have a fair, equal and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic achievements." It involves a set of programs which distribute grants to local educational agencies to achieve this aim through comprehensive school reform. It is designed at helping local school improvement, as well as advanced placement and dropout prevention programs.
The US Department of Education (USDE) oversees the different Title I programs, which are implemented in order to achieve the goals set in the legislation. The so-called "Student Achievement and School Accountability" programs disburse funding to more than 50,000 public schools around the United States. According to the USDE, more than 17 million schoolchildren from poor families are recipients of the funding through their educational institutions. The programs cover all primary and secondary grades including kindergarten with 60 percent of funding covering kindergarten to fifth grade. Schools eligible to receive the funding are institutions where at least 40 percent of the student population comes from low income families.
The No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President George W. Bush in 2002, has reauthorized and refocused the Title I programs to reflect 21st century realities and failures of the American educational system. Education analyst Garry Boulard argues that one of the main focal points of this legislative revision is an effort to achieve accountability for the programs and funds spent by integrating rigorous testing and performance standards for schools. The testing has been carried out for all students in grades three to eight, with schools evaluated based on the results.
The overall result, as Boulard points out is that standardized test scores have been improving in all states since the passage of that Act. However, there has been controversy surrounding the implementation of the testing system and concerns that schools eager to demonstrate higher scores and retain funding may still be failing their underprivileged students in a broader academic context. In a compendium of articles, Title I, Compensatory Education at the Crossroads (2001), education scholars point out other inherent issues surrounding the overall implementation of the program. One such issue revolves around the involvement of parents in Title I compensatory programs. This is an important element in ensuring the programs are well received by the target communities. Examining the history and specific parent involvement approaches, a research team from Johns Hopkins University concludes that until the late 1980s parents were rarely involved in consultation and decision-making regarding the implementation of the program.
More collaborative approaches involving parents emerged after 1988 which were specifically designed to extend learning opportunities into the home. These were found to improve academic achievement indirectly, by fostering a sense of school community extending through parents. The researchers compared the result from these different efforts based on previous studies, score data and surveys. They concluded that comprehensive programs that include both partnership efforts and learning resources for the home are best in engaging parents and promoting effective home-based learning.
Another important issue surrounding the implementation of the programs is the cultural and linguistic diversity found among the target group of economically underprivileged students and families. Barry Rutherford, from the Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence (CREDE) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, recognizes these issues. He advises that the reality of "multicultural, multilingual and multinational population of children in the nation's schools" needs to be adequately addressed, for example by instituting or retaining bilingual educational programs. In Rutherford's view, effective teaching involves both language and literacy development in the classroom as well as the ability and practice of connecting the curriculum directly to the students' diverse life experiences. A continuing debate about Title I and educational reform remains extremely relevant in American society, with a significant wealth gap resulting in diverging academic and career achievement.


Note: To protect the privacy of our members, e-mail addresses have been removed from the archived messages. As a result, some links may be broken.
<< This is a question concerning the internet. Is the internet a good
research tool for professionals in art education? why or why not? Is it
a good place to start brainstorming ideas? What about the reliability of
the source? >>
The internet is an excellent research tool for professionals, but just as a
book or magazine might be, it is only a TOOL. There are good sites...and poor
ones as well, just as there are good and poor books or magazines. Even some
of the poor ones, however, can spark an idea for a lesson that YOU make happen
by improving upon the idea.
As to the reliability of the source, take the sites of private individuals
with a grain of salt. I have seen some excellent ones, with a lot of savvy
and expertise. But you might want to double check the information if
something doesn't sound quite right.
Museum sites are great for highly concrete information and resources on art
I currently have six children in our gifted and talented program who are doing
a research piece on an artist, using our school library, my art library (in my
room), and the internet. I've got great hopes for this, and the kids are
really excited about it.
Batavia City Schools


Communities developing resources and competencies for using their languages
Foundational understanding for language development work of all kinds
Publications, fonts and computer tools for language development, translation and research
SIL offers training in disciplines relevant to sustainable language development.
7,105 languages are spoken or signed. CLICK for map of world languages & regional websites.
SIL's dedication to language development past and present
This paper presents results of a sociolinguistic survey of language attitudes concerning the Ginyanga language (Guang language family) of Togo. The survey was designed to determine a strategy for possible Ginyanga literacy development.
Community and individual interviews were used to investigate contact patterns between Gikyode and Ginyanga speakers, Ginyanga speakers’ reported attitudes toward Gikyode, and their attitudes toward the development of their own language. General information concerning population, language use in the Ginyanga language area, and current literacy efforts was also gathered.
Results were used to consider three possible literacy development scenarios: 1) the prospect of the Anyanga using Gikyode materials as they are, 2) the possible standardization of Gikyode and Ginyanga, or 3) the establishing of a CARLA (Computer Aided Related Language Adaptation) project for literacy development.
The survey shows that there is frequent contact between Ginyanga and Gikyode language speakers. Anyanga attitudes toward both the Gikyode language and ethnic group are not negative and reported attitudes toward the development of their own language are positive. Based on the results of the survey, efforts for the standardization of Gikyode and Ginyanga are recommended.


A new study contradicts the widely accepted belief that classroom attention peaks during the first 15 minutes of class and then generally tapers off. Instead, David Rosengrant, an associate professor of physics education at Kennesaw State University, discovered that classroom attention is not as linear as previously thought and is actually impacted by various factors throughout the duration of the lecture.
Using eye-tracking Tobii Glasses from Tobii Technology to exam the attention patterns of students in the classroom, the study provides new insight into effective teaching techniques that aim to keep students engaged and motivated to learn during lectures.
“Until now, there has been no first-hand, innate measurement of student attention from the student’s perspective in the classroom,” said Rosengrant. “We were able to measure what the students observe during a lecture, how much of their time is dedicated to the material presented in class and, as an instructor, what are the greatest inhibitors to keeping their attention.”
Rosengrant’s four-month pilot study observed eight college students wearing the special glasses to track their eye-gaze patterns during 70-minute pre-elementary education lectures at Kennesaw State University. He found a number of factors that influence whether students remain on task, or allow their attention to drift.
For example, the verbal presentation of new material that is not contained within the instructor’s PowerPoint, the use of humor by the instructor and the proximity of the instructor to the student, all contribute to greater attention from the student. Rosengrant’s study also concluded that “digital distractions” such as mobile phones and the Web, particularly Facebook, are the greatest inhibitors to retaining students’ attention in the classroom. From these insights, Rosengrant stresses the need for professors to alter their lecture structure through the injection of varying activities and the use of humor to engage students.
Rosengrant will publish the full study, “Studying Student Attention via Eye Tracking” in the fall and will continue to expand his research in order to generate insights that can impact the future of classroom instruction and ultimately, students’ success and the field of teaching.
“I hope that this study enlightens the education community about how to engage students effectively in the classroom, maximize student focus on the material and, ultimately, increase their achievement,” added Rosengrant.


Links Between Literacy and Numeracy Skills and Labour Market Outcomes
This Productivity Commission staff working paper (by Anthony Shomos) was released in October 2010. Literacy and numeracy skills are key components of human capital, which is an important driver of economic growth. This paper utilises data from a 2006 survey on the literacy and numeracy skills of the Australian adult population. Models were used to estimate the effect of improved literacy and numeracy skills on the probability of labour force participation and on wages. Results confirm previous research in the human capital literature –– that improving literacy and numeracy skills has a positive, statistically significant effect on labour market outcomes. Improving educational attainment was also estimated to have a positive, statistically significant effect on labour force participation and on wages. However, once literacy and numeracy skills were controlled for, the effect of increasing educational attainment on labour force participation and on wages was reduced. Some of the benefit occurs because more highly educated people tend to have higher literacy and numeracy skills. Literacy and numeracy skills are developed through education, but they can also be enhanced in other ways. Understanding the factors that influence literacy and numeracy skills is important and could be further explored with the data used in this paper. The views expressed in this paper are those of the staff involved and do not necessarily reflect those of the Productivity Commission.
|Date of creation:||Aug 2010|
|Date of revision:|
|Contact details of provider:|| Postal: Level 28, 35 Collins St, Melbourne Victoria 3000|
Phone: 61 3 9653 2100
Fax: 61 3 9653 2199
Web page: http://www.pc.gov.au/
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Field experience hours: 5 clock hours in a public or private school setting. The goal of this lecture/field experience class is to introduce philosophical issues about art education and to anticipate the practical application and resolution of these issues. Students research introductory and basic elements of curriculum design, lesson/unit plans, and assessment strategies. They generate applicable and pedagogically sound solutions addressing whom to teach, what to teach, how and when to teach. At the conclusion of this course, students will be familiar with leaders in art education and the issues and debates that currently define the field. Utilizing classroom observations and hands-on teaching practice, students will gain the knowledge to engage in learning and teaching as a reflective and active process.


There are six skills which are essential to any child’s early literacy development. One of these skills is Letter Knowledge, a stage in reading development where your child learns that letters are different from one another, and that letters, when put together, make up words. To help your child learn about letters, try one of these fantastic ABC books, available through CADL’s collection.
Dr. Seuss’s ABC by Dr. Seuss
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and JohnArchambault
Animalia by Graeme Base
Sleepy ABC by Margaret Wise
A to Z by Sandra Boynton
If you’d like to discover more about early literacy development, and how to raise successful readers, here are some great online resources to help parents learn about reading success.
Also, parents looking for books on early literacy skills and raising readers can find many here in CADL’s collection. Here are just a few titles to get you started:
Growing a Reader From Birth: Your Child’s Path From Language to Literacy by Diane McGuinness
Starting Out Right: A Guide to Promoting Children’s Reading Success by M. Susan Burns
-Liz V., Youth Services Librarian


Materializing Havana and Revolution: Cuban Material Culture
- material and visual in south asia. Davis, Richard H. // Material Religion;Nov2009, Vol. 5 Issue 3, p361
The article discusses the examples of visual culture and material culture in the study of South Asian religions. The perception of "Material Religion" editors of visual culture being a subset of material culture is highlighted, since visual objects are most often material objects, although that...
- Knee, Garter, Girdle, Hat, Stock, and Spur Buckles from Seven Sites in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. White, Carolyn // International Journal of Historical Archaeology;Jun2009, Vol. 13 Issue 2, p239
Material culture studies have begun to take new directions within the field of historical archaeology. Shoe buckles are the most familiar and readily identifiable type of buckle to archaeologists, but there are many other buckles worn as part of a personâ€™s dress that may be identified on...
- A Cypriot model for prehistoric ritual. Peltenburg, E. J. // Antiquity;Jun88, Vol. 62 Issue 235, p289
Prehistoric figurines and building models are rarely discovered in clearly defined, non-funerary contexts in the Near East and eastern Mediterranean regions. When they are found in association in a cache of over 50 objects it is a notable archaeological event. Here Dr Edgar Peltenburg, Director...
- The gabbroic pottery of Cornwall. Peacock, D. P. S. // Antiquity;Jun88, Vol. 62 Issue 235, p302
Cornish gubbroic pottery has one of the more distinctive British petrological signatures and a remarkable distribution in space and time. Here recent developments are reviewed and some misconceptions corrected.
- "Todo el aÃ±o es carnaval". Unmasking the Carnival in Buenos Aires, 1810-1920. Anderson, Patricia // Studies in Latin American Popular Culture;2005, Vol. 24, p37
This article analyzes the carnival in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1810-1920. The carnival can be understood as a cultural manifestation that, embodying the social, political and economic struggles between 1810 and 1920, reflected the tensions that underlay the city's growth and transformation....
- Latin American Popular Culture (Book Review). Childress, Boyd // Library Journal;8/1/2000, Vol. 125 Issue 13, p136
Reviews the book 'Latin American Popular Culture: An Introduction,' edited by William H. Beezley and Linda Curcio-Nagy.
- Object Lessons: Thinking About Material Culture. Burkhart, Anne // Art Education;Mar2006, Vol. 59 Issue 2, p33
Focuses on the study of material culture in an art classroom. Components of material culture; Reasons for studying material culture in the art classroom; Suggestions for studying everyday objects in art classrooms.
- McOndo and Latinidad: An Interview with Edmundo Paz SoldÃ¡n. Arias, Claudia M. Milian // Studies in Latin American Popular Culture;2005, Vol. 24, p139
Presents an interview with Edmundo Paz Soldan, an author of six novels specializing in Latin American studies. Illustration of the new Latin American narrative in the McOndo movement; Response to the exoticization of Latin America through the immense popularity of magical realism; Linkages...
- THE AMERICAN HOTEL IN POSTCARD ADVERTISING: An Image Gallery. Jakie, John A.; Scuhe, Keith A. // Material Culture;Fall2005, Vol. 37 Issue 2, p1
For today's student of material culture, early twentieth-century postcard art can be an important information source. Postcard views not only show what constituted specific landscapes and places in the past, but instruct, as well, how those settings, as social situations, were intended to be...


This course examines language development from birth through primary-aged children. Topics will include speech and language processes for communication, language development stages, theories of language acquisition, assessment of language development and activities that foster language development. Special attention will be paid to linguistically diverse populations and children whose language development differs from the reference group, with regards to the most recent advances in the field. Selection and development of pre-reading/prewriting and reading and writing curricula for preschool, kindergarten and primary grades will be addressed. There will be an emphasis on development of literacy in the primary grades that employs a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach. The course includes 10 hours of clinical experience.
- Describe the continuum of language development from infancy through school age
- Explain how cultural and linguistic differences affect language and literacy development.
- Compare strategies for teaching reading and writing PK-2.
- Recommend strategies to support and enhance communication skills of young children with and without disabilities.
- Analyze the impact of one’s own culture and use of language and the ways in which these can differ from other cultures and uses of languages.
- Discuss ways of behaving and communicating among cultures that can lead to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.
- Describe augmentative and assistive communication strategies.
- Demonstrate communication strategies and resources to facilitate understanding of subject matter for English language learners.
- Develop ways to support and facilitate family and child interactions as primary contexts for learning and development.
- Demonstrate uses of technology in literacy instruction.
- Practice authentic assessments for literacy.
Otto, B., (2010). Language Development in Early childhood 3rd Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.
Burman, Lisa (2009). Are You Listening: Fostering Conversations That Help Young Children Learn. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.
Ezell, H., and Justice, L., (2005). Shared Storybook Reading: Building Children’s Language & Emergent Literacy Skills. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.
Schickendanz, J., (199). Much More Than The ABCs: The Early Stages of Reading and Writing. Washington, DC.: National Association for The Education of Young Children.Recommend Additional Text (School-age)
Recommend Additional Text (School-age)
Bears, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., and Johnson, F., (2008) Words Their Way Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instructions 4th Ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Cecil, N., (2007) Striking a Balance: Best Practices for Early Literacy 3rd Ed. Scottsdale, Arizona: Holcomb Hathaway Publishing Company.
Smartt, S., and Glaser, D., (2010) Next STEPS in Literacy Instruction Connecting Assessments to Effective Interventions. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.


Note: To protect the privacy of our members, e-mail addresses have been removed from the archived messages. As a result, some links may be broken.
>This may be splitting hairs, but how would one describe the difference
>between creativity and imagination?...snip...Is there any documented
>research >that could be recommended?
This question frequently comes up in my art methods class and serves as a
basis for discussion and reading. I find that art education students
typically use these terms when writing mission statements, goals and lesson
objectives but are unable to define them or explain what they mean. While
I don't claim to have THE answer to your question, I can share a few
resources and thoughts:
One of the more indepth and thoughtful accounts I've read on the
"imagination" is in the book "Imagination & Education" by K. Egan (& Dan
Nadanar I think....Sorry, I don't have the book handy). I've used the
first chapter "In Search of the Imagination" in this book from time to time
as a reading in my course. A few points from this chapter come to mind:
The imagination is simply a mental function like memory or attention...its
neither good or bad, but becomes so in how it is used and within the
context of particular cultural values...i.e., both Hitler and Shakespeare
were imaginative. Also, the major use of imagination by children is to give
them some sense of power or control in an modern "adult" world (Elliot
Eisner also speaks to this use). One of the more memorable points made in
this book is the notion that we need a kind of education that recognizes
imagination as fundamental to "learning to learn" and as essential to the
feeling that life is more than a repetitive, consuming experience.
For me, the dictionary serves as a good source for defining these terms:
imagination n. 1. the act or power of forming mental images of what is not
creativity n. 1. the quality of being creative; ability to create.
creative adj. 1. having the power to create. . .3. constructive;
purposeful; involving something useful or worthwhile.
So, for me, "imagination" involving "visualizing things" while "creativity"
involves giving form to those "visualizations"...or something like that.
Two authors/researchers I've found to be most helpful in understanding and
defining creativity for myself (and my students) is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyl
( I had to run out to my car to get the tape of his book "Flow" for the
spelling of his name) and Teresa Amabile (I highly recommend her book
"Growing up Creative" for teachers, art ed students and parents and her
book "The Social Psychology of Creativity" for those interested in studying
research on this subject.)
Hope this helps some,
CRAIG ROLAND. Associate Professor-Art Education.
Department of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville Florida.
32611-5801. (352) 392-9165 - Art Ed Office (352) 392-8453 - Fax


American Reading Company’s Leveling System maps out the reading field for both books and readers, integrating Common Core Standards for reading acquisition with a deep knowledge of the demands of literature and informational text for students, grades K through 12. The color-coded system is grounded on a review of more than 100,000 books evaluated with the following three questions in mind:
- What does the reader need to know and be able to do to understand this book?
- What supports does the text offer an independent thinker and problem solver?
- What challenges does this text present to a reader who is comfortable with other texts at this same basic level?
The Leveling System has been successfully field-tested in more than 1,800 schools across the country with hundreds of thousands of readers, making it possible for students to easily find books they can enjoy and read successfully—books that allow them to improve their reading through reading.
IRLA: Independent Reading Level Assessment FrameworkFormative Assessment Framework for Teaching and Learning Built on Common Core Standards
The Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) is a unified standards-based framework for student assessment, text leveling, and curriculum and instruction. The IRLA includes every Common Core Standard for Reading, both in literature and informational text, as well as those Language standards key to reading success, for students in grades PreK through 12.
Establish Baseline Level for Every Student
The IRLA will help you establish a baseline proficiency level for each of your students. The baseline level is the highest level at which a student can demonstrate proficiency without teacher help. This is the level at which you can expect the student to perform at proficiency on high stakes testing.
Develop an Action Plan to Ensure Reading Proficiency for Every Student
The IRLA will help you show students where they are, where they should be, and what skills and behaviors lie in between. Through regular conferences, you will be able to outline and track a course of correction, acceleration, or maintenance, for each student and his or her family.
Monitor Progress Towards Goal
The IRLA allows you to track progress in real-time. Each standard has been assigned a points value relative to the amount of time it should take a student to acquire that skill or concept. In each formative assessment conference, teachers score students on any standards they have mastered, allowing teachers and schools to track rate of reading growth for every student.
Built on Common Core Standards for Reading
Comprehension: Literature and Informational Text
- Active Reading Strategies
- Key Ideas and Details: Basic understanding
- Craft and Structure: Vocabulary, Text Organization, Literary Elements
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Compare/Contrast, Analyze, Synthesize, Evaluate
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
- Engagement and Independence
- Home Reading Routines
- Reading Across Genres
Foundational Skills: Reading Standards K–5
- Print Concepts
- Sequential Phonics/Decoding Skills
- Word Recognition (Power Words and Tricky Words)
- Fluency and Self-Monitoring
Vocabulary: Language Standards 2–12
- Word Recognition
- Literary and Technical Vocabulary
- Word Structures and Etymology
- Figurative Language
- Domain-Specific Information


Arachnaut's Lair - FTP Site. A music educator's ftp heaven! You'll find lots of surprising goodies here!
Aria Database - At this amazing site, you can search for arias by opera, composer, and voice part. Once you find it, many arias come with lyrics and translations.
ARTSEDGE: The National Arts and Education Information Network
Classroom Connect - Welcome to Classroom Connect's home on the Internet! We have designed this site with the hope that it will become "homebase" to thousands of K-12 educators and students around the globe.
Electronic Music Interactive - Electronic Music Interactive is a multimedia primer for electronic music that prepares students for more advanced study.
Harmony Central - Harmony Central is an attempt to bring together much of the music related items that can be found on the Internet.
History of the Metropolitan Opera - Learn about the history of one of the world's most celebrated opera companies.
Institute for Music Research - The Music Research Information Service (MRIS) is a gateway to research information in the fields of music education, music psychology, music therapy, and music medicine.
J.S. Bach Home Page - Sections here are Johann Sebastian Bach's life, complete works, recommended (or not) recordings, cantatas, and Bach information around the world. Perhaps a Website is the first medium which could put before a student so much from this complex and prolific genius. In the biography section a map shows the places where he lived, and the extensive timeline gives a framework to Bach's life, with a parallel column for contemporary musicians. The works and recordings are listed by BWV number, category, instruments, key, title, and year.
K-12 ART ED Listservs - The MUSIC-ED listserv puts you in touch with other great minds who care deeply about music education.
Maestronet Conservatory - The Maestronet Conservatory is your source of sheet music online. This is sheet music you can download and print now! All of our sheet music has been arranged by grade level by our staff and senior editors to provide a structure or syllabus which conforms to the prevailing standards or levels of the major methods from around the world.
Maria Callas - One of the most famous sopranos ever. Learn about her life and her career at this site from Italy.
Music 101 - Wonderful interactive lessons! Eartraining lessons, guitar chords, and a great links page. This is a fun site with a large amount of information!
Music Education Launch Site - a little of everything for the music educator. Offers an interactive page for teachers to share ideas and a section for music lessons. Jokes and a great set of music links for needed resources.
Music Education Online - This page is designed to aid music educators in connecting with a variety of music education resources located on the Internet as well as providing an interactive bulletin board for posting questions and comments on music.
Music Education Resource Base - MERB/CMI is a bibliographic database of more than 28,000 resources in music and music education.
Music Educators National Conference Website - Nearly 70,000 Music Educators dedicated to providing a complete, balanced, sequential education to every child in America.
Music is..and the Value of Music in Education - a home page by James Hubers on the value of Music Education.
Music Resources on the Internet
Musicians Institute - This is a most encouraging site about the power and benefits of music education.
Operas of Gilbert & Sullivan - Texts of the operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan.
Sheet Music Online - The Johns Hopkins University Sheet Music Online and the Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection.
Suite 101 - Suite101.com, located on the World Wide Web at http://www.suite101.com/, provides a solution to the chaotic information flow of the Net by offering to its members a comprehensive and efficient way to find high quality sites on the Web -- fast.
Underground Music Archive - IUMA is the one stop for all your Internet music needs
Wagner on the Web - Richard Wagner was a composer know for his classical music and for his operas. This site offers biographical information, as well as resources on his famous works.
Welcome to MusicSearch
Welcome to the American Music Conference! - A service to all those who care about the importance of music, music making and music education.
zZounds Music Discovery Center - Musical instruments from around the globe. If you are looking for a well known instrument or even a not so well known instrument, zZounds is the place to go. A well organized site that is well designed.


North Carolina tobacco farmer John A. Burwell and his wife Lucy Penn Guy Burwell inhabited a world defined by the southern plantation economy and by the social ties of extended family. Brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, parents and children, and a large crop of cousins corresponded and visited back and forth. Cousins intermarried, further cementing the ties that made up a close and complex kinship web. Favorite first names -- Lucy, Mary, Sally, Elizabeth, Edward, William, John -- were used in related families and in succeeding generations. In this largely rural antebellum setting it seems that family, rather than church, educational institution, or town, provided ones sense of community and identity.
Genealogical details are sketchy. The Burwells lived near the North Carolina-Virginia border (Burwell's farmland was actually in Virginia), and two other branches of Mrs. Burwell's family lived close by. Her aunt and uncle E.T. and Edward Townes and their children lived in the same general area, while aunt Mary A.E. Rawlins, husband and children were based about 75 miles away in Danville, Virginia. Another aunt, Mary T. Guy Williamson, and her family had settled near Louisville, Ky.
The parents of Lucy Penn Guy Burwell and her two younger sisters, Elizabeth T. Guy and Anna Guy, had evidently migrated to Alabama around 1820. Sometime before 1840 both parents died, and the three girls then made their home with or near their mother's aunts, E.T. and Fanny Townes, in North Carolina. By 1840, Lucy Guy was married to John A. Burwell and settled in Lynesville, N.C. Anna Guy married cousin Edward Rawlins of Danville, Va. in 1846 and they relocated to New Orleans. Her unmarried sister joined her there.
John A. Burwell was a prosperous tobacco planter who also produced corn and wheat for market. He did well enough to enjoy moderate luxuries -- a carriage and team of horses, fashionable dresses for wife and daughter, oysters and brandy -- but was clearly not of the richest class of planters. He and his wife owned 15 slaves to work the fields and several to serve in the house. Burwell took great pride in his tobacco, yearly endeavoring to "beat his neighbors" and win the prize awarded by Virginia tobacco merchants for the highest quality crop. Pride seems to have been a primary feature of Burwell's personality, for he set great store not only on his tobacco, but on the quality of the material goods it bought, the beauty of his daughter, the reputation and success of his sons. The work of his plantation, hunting, fishing, and dining seem to have been the preoccupations of his life.
John and Lucy Burwell had at least 7 children: Thomas, Armistead, John E., Charles, Lizzie Anna, and a girl and boy whose names are not known. The children were for the most part educated by a succession of teachers hired by Burwell. Lizzie Anna Burwell attended an "institute," in nearby Warrenton, N.C. for some part of her elementary education. After school Thomas Burwell went to work for a commission merchant in Norfolk, Virginia, while the other children remained at home.
Details on Lucy Burwell's life are not abundant. She managed a complicated household; bearing and caring for children, directing the work of domestic slaves, gardening, nursing the sick, entertaining company. She appears to have suffered ill health frequently. To her fell the tasks of maintaining the social facade required by a prideful husband -- a husband who was evidently hot-tempered as well as arrogant. In 1857, Lucy Burwell left home, accusing her husband of violent behavior. The marriage ended, Lucy and her daughters went to live with her brother, and little is known about the family after this.
There is virtually no biographical information on the slaves -- called "servants" by their owners -- whose work fueled the plantation economy and its elaborate social life. They are mentioned as individuals at birth or death, when ailing, when hired out, when bought or sold. Families were split up when Anna and Elizabeth moved to New Orleans and had their slaves sent to them. Occasionally the women were permitted to visit mothers or daughters. Various members of the Burwell and Guy families wrote of their affection, respect, even love for certain slaves. But although these men and women may have been recognized as individuals, with distinct talents and personalities, they were also possessions, accorded no control over their own lives.


Researcher: Let Children Play!
An early-childhood researcher at the University of Illinois is featured in this Science Daily article, which argues that unstructured playtime is a critical part of literacy development. Pushing more traditional kinds of academic work in early childhood at the expense of play, Anne Haas Dyson says, is akin to "banning the imagination."
Many early-childhood experts have pointed out the importance of play in developing inquiry and critical-thinking skills that are the building blocks for later learning. But there has been a movement toward more formal instruction in pre-K and kindergarten as a way of getting children on grade level by the 3rd grade.
The findings of the National Early Literacy Panel, released last month, suggest that more attention to foundational literacy skills is needed in early-childhood classrooms. But experts quickly cautioned against interpreting those findings as supporting a strict instructional approach. Instead, many researchers say, young children should have rich learning environments with ample opportunities for hands-on learning, interaction with peers and adults, and large blocks of play time. Lack of such unstructured experiences, they argue, is detrimental to both health and learning.


Top 10 Resources on Reading Together
By: Reading Rockets
- Family Literacy Bags: Adventures in Reading
Reading Rockets has developed a set of family literacy bags to encourage hands-on fun and learning centered around paired fiction and nonfiction books.
- Reading Tips for Parents
A child's success as a reader begins much earlier than the first day of school. Reading, and a love for reading, begins at home. Our one-page Parent Tips offer easy ways for parents to help kids become successful readers. In English and 10 other languages, for babies to grade 3.
- Themed Book Lists
Sometimes it just takes one wonderful book to turn a kid into a reader. Tap into what interests your child. Browse these themed booklists selected by Maria Salvadore, our children's literature expert. Everything from graphic novels to poetry to modern folktales.
- Print Awareness During Read Alouds
How can you help kids develop print awareness? Here are some sample questions and prompts you can use before, during, and after a read aloud activity to help children activate basic knowledge about print and books.
- Mission Critical: Reading Together to Build Critical Thinking Skills
Critical thinking, the ability to think deeply about a topic or a book, is an essential skill for children to develop. Critical thinking doesn't develop overnight. It's something that develops and builds through conversations and experiences. It's also something parents can nurture by sharing quality books with their children.
- The Importance of Reading Widely
Sharing lots of different kinds, or genres, of books with your young reader exposes them to different words, different pictures, and whole new worlds. Below are some genres to try with your reader that complement 'traditional' fiction. Some are suggestions that can be used as read alouds, other may be ones your child can read.
- Use a PEER When You Read Aloud
The best story times are very interactive: You are talking about and reading the story, your child is talking, and there is conversation taking place between the two of you. Because of all the talking, this type of shared reading is often called dialogic reading.
- I Love Storytime: The Best Way to Read to Your Toddler
Reading to your toddler is one of the best ways to boost language skills. Here are 12 tips to help make sure your toddler gets a head start on reading.
- The Role of Fathers in Their Child's Literacy Development
Dads play a critical role in their children's literacy development — by modeling reading, sharing stories, exploring the world together, and engaging in meaningful conversations that build critical thinking skills.
- Reading Together: Tips for Parents of Children with ADHD
If your child has ADHD, paying attention for long periods of time can be a challenge. So, meet the challenge head-on — make reading time fun time for you and your child.
- Reading Together: Tips for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Whether your child has mild or severe Autism Spectrum Disorder, making reading a fun activity can help your child's learning and social skills. You'll find sharing books together can be a good way to connect with your son or daughter. Reading also helps your child's language development and listening skills.
Reading Rockets (2013)


Purpose. Since 1970, obesity prevalence more than quadrupled in ages six to eleven. There are several pleas for research that would concurrently evaluate the threefold relationship between the built environment, children's physical activity levels and impact on obesity. Having to pay for physical activity either monetarily or in lost leisure time is a recent phenomenon in society. Many people will not or cannot sacrifice time or money in order to purposely exercise, although society benefits with opportunities for physical activity within normal daily routines. For children, a normal daily routine is the trip to and from school.
Methods. Quasi-experimental in design, five schools with a Walking School Bus measured pre- and post-BMI in 1102 active commuters and controls ages five to twelve. A parent questionnaire evaluated dose response, confounders, and contributors or barriers to a child's active commute.
Results. The provision of a chaperoned walk-to-school program in areas with lower walkability increased the percentage of children actively commuting to school to 39.8 percent, as compared to the national average of five to fourteen percent, p < 0.0005 (one-tailed)(SPSS Nonparametric Binomial), and decreased BMI, z = - 10.125, p < 0.0005 (two-tailed)(Wilcoxon Signed Rank). Sixty-six percent of obese students that actively commuted to school were no longer obese in post-testing. Forty-seven percent of overweight students that actively commuted to school were within the healthy weight category in post-testing. The number needed to treat was thirteen indicating that one case of obesity or overweight was prevented when thirteen students actively commuted to school. Walking School Bus participants walked 65% farther than students that walked without an adult chaperone.
Conclusions. The provision of a chaperoned walk-to-school program was sufficient to overcome many barriers to the active commute to school such as disability, age, gender, distance and other environmental factors. The Walking School Bus significantly increased the percentage of children actively commuting to school and overweight and obesity significantly decreased in students that walked or biked to school.
|School||THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER|
|Subjects||Physical education; Elementary education; Public health|
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Meryl Meisler and the "Drop-Ins." (Arts Education and AIDs Education Combined in Urban Communities in Brooklyn, New York)
Wyrick, Mary, School Arts
Meryl Meisler has effectively connected urban communities in Brooklyn with HIV/AIDS education and classroom art teaching. A graduate of Buffalo State College and recipient of the Disney American Teacher Award for the Visual Arts, Meisler has students do assignments about social issues in their communities. She engaged middle and high school students in creating a mural for the medical room of Roland Hayes Intermediate School 291, now a community center.
She often focuses on AIDS education, having been certified to teach family living and sex education, which includes teaching about AIDS and HIV infection. She and her at-risk students, the "Drop-ins," included the mural works in a video installation at the New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York. Meisler's students also combined art education with AIDS education by contributing art for the "AIDS Timeline" by the artists' collaborative, Group Material.
Expanding the Role of Educators
AIDS activists address many social issues in their work -- drug abuse, homelessness, and other race, gender, and social issues important for public school curricula. As Meryl Meisler has done in her teaching, we should expand the role of the artist and teacher into the public affairs and personal struggles in our communities.
The Group Material Installation
The student assignment for the "AIDS Timeline" took the form of a photocollage in the shape of a backwards question mark. For the assignment, Meisler asked students individually to document, with photography, decay in their schools and communities. Together, they combined these photographs and other visuals into the collage made into the shape of a question mark. Collaboration with the community is an important part of Group Material's commitment to urban groups. By including Meisler's students' collage of decay in their school and community, the AIDS epidemic was connected to living conditions in urban communities where HIV is most likely to spread.
The New Museum Installation
Meisler also collaborated in a project for an art exhibit entitled the "The Final Frontier," at the New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York. …


Menu of Opportunities
Audience Needs and Challenges
|About Future Teachers|
Considerations are dependent on the grade level that the pre-service educator will teach, their level of science preparation (e.g., education major or science major), and their access to resources and opportunities. The majority of pre-service educators are elementary education majors, who need to be prepared to bring hands-on science activities into the classroom, that meet grade-specific state-mandated science content standards. In general, the curriculum for elementary teacher preparation does not include extended study of science and many elementary teachers lack confidence in science.
Other pre-service teachers may specialize in a particular field of science as they prepare to teach middle school or high school science subjects. Throughout their science coursework, there is a significant chance that all future teachers will not be exposed to teaching models that reflect the best education practices or the standards-related content for which they will be responsible. In short, their own experience with science learning may include little authentic inquiry, broad, shallow coverage of far more content than they need to master, and models of teaching that falsely separate science and education. It is left to the teacher to integrate content and pedagogy, often after they enter the classroom where they are confronted with the realities of classroom management.
It also is important to understand that the majority of pre-service teachers, whether education or science undergraduate majors, do not participate in authentic scientific inquiry; true scientific research traditionally is not experienced until graduate school, even by science majors. Thus, entry-level teachers of science may not have a strong understanding of the process or nature of science. There is a disparity in the opportunities and resources available to pre-service teachers, dependent to some degree on the training institution. While some universities may have a plethora of faculty, classes, resources, and research opportunities (whether or not they are well-leveraged in the preparation of teachers), other institutions, such as minority serving institutions and community colleges, are unable to provide these resources for their students and faculty.
|About Education Faculty Involved in Teacher Preparation|
There is tremendous variability in the depth of understanding of science and the process of science among education faculty responsible for preparing pre-service teachers. Education faculty often include science education faculty who have received strong science content but that content may be restricted to a specific field in science, often biology, and may not include much exposure to Earth and space science. Many faculty have had limited exposure to authentic science experiences, either through coursework, internships, or research. Likewise, there is tremendous variability in the construct of courses about how to teach science. These courses model to different degrees teaching practices informed by educational research and current scientific content.
Many faculty identified a need for continued exposure to current science content, as their research focuses primarily on education issues. Faculty also noted a lack of access to, and funding for, varied professional development experiences. In addition, they often are not aware of current Earth and space science resources, and thus cannot prepare future teachers in the use of these resources to support the content and process skills that K-12 educators will teach in the classroom environment.
|About Science Faculty Involved in Teacher Preparation|
Most science faculty who instruct undergraduate students at 2- and 4-year colleges are helping to prepare future teachers, as many of their students will eventually become teachers. Despite the fact that these courses represent a significant component of a future teacher’s science background and capability to teach science, the traditional content and practices of introductory science courses do not align with content and pedagogy that the future teacher must employ in the classroom. Introductory courses often cover broad content through lecture that does not humanize science; classroom teaching requires standards-aligned content explored through hands-on, inquiry based learning experiences that illustrate science as a human endeavor. For a variety of reasons, science faculty face a variety of obstacles should they choose to seek professional development that focuses on teaching methodology.
Science faculty may need greater access to the broad range and interconnected nature of science to teach introductory courses that may be expected to cover all of physical science, for instance. They may be unaware of their students’ needs and abilities—such as misconceptions, some students’ fears of science, or a belief that science consists of memorizing facts. Some science faculty may have expertise in fields completely unrelated to the topic that they are responsible for covering.
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Under the Hat: Tempo
The instant we hear music our bodies start responding to the sounds.
Why is it that some music makes us want to dance and other music makes us want to take a nap? Using examples from his songs “Grilled Cheese” and “Sueños,” Mister G illustrates the role tempo plays in creating mood in music. It’s really not that complicated: fast tempos tend to make the listener want to move fast and slow tempos make the listener want to move more slowly.
He explains how songwriters use tempo as a tool to create different emotions in the listener and encourages listeners to notice the way the speed of music affects their emotions.
As a songwriter, Mister G takes into account the subject for his songs before deciding on a tempo. So, with an exciting topic like “Grilled Cheese,” a fast tempo is in order. And with a gentle lullaby like “Suenos,” a slow tempo makes sense.
Next month in Under the Hat: What role does rhyme play in songwriting? Playing examples from his songs “Pizza for Breakfast” and “Cocodrilo,” Mister G explains how rhymes are the fundamental building blocks of lyric writing for popular songs.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mister G (Ben Gundersheimer) is an Amherst College graduate who spent 20 years as a singer/songwriter/producer in the adult music world prior to earning a Masters in Elementary Education at Smith College and transitioning to making music for children. His most recent release, CHOCOLALALA, a collection of original, bilingual (Spanish/English) songs for children, won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award and is on the Grammy ballot for Best Children’s Album of 2012. A leading figure in the kids music world, Mister G’s 2011 bilingual release, BUGS garnered numerous national awards and was dubbed “irresistible” by People magazine. www.mistergsongs.com


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Key Standards Supported
Reading Foundational Skills
|RF.1: Phonics and Word recognition|
|RF.1.3||Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.|
|RF.1.3a||Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.|
|RF.1.3b||Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.|
|RF.K: Phonics and Word recognition|
|RF.K.3||Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.|
|RF.K.3a||Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or many of the most frequent sound for each consonant.|
|RF.K.1d||Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.|
See how teachers are using Monkey Word School Adventure
Topics from our community related to Critical Thinking, and English Language Arts.


To prevent obesity from becoming a problem as they grow older, new Canadian guidelines recommend toddlers and preschoolers be more active. In fact parents are being urged to let their kids be involved in more physical activities for at least 180 minutes a day.
The guidelines have been suggested by a joint committee of members of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, and ParticipACTION, the not-for-profit organization dedicated to inspiring active living for Canadians.
They suggest that children between the age of 1 and 4 should remain active at least for 3 hours a day. This activity does not necessary mean an exercise routine, but more playing, crawling, and walking running than just sitting at one place.
They also add that by the age of five kids should be involved in energetic play for at least an hour a day. This means more of jumping, running, active playing etc. For babies under the age of one being active is also better than just sitting and they should be involved in crawling, playing several times a day.
The guidelines also limit the time spent by kids in front of TV, computer or tablet screens. For kids under the age of two, no screen viewing should be allowed and for those between two to four only one hour or less of screen time is allowed per day.
This is the first time that such guidelines have been released in Canada. The recommendations have been supported by Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group (CHEO-HALO).
The experts say that the guidelines put Canada is the forefront among nations tha are putting an effort to provide activity benchmarks and sedentary-time guidelines for preschoolers. But it also shows that obesity is a growing concern in Canada.
In the last 25 years obesity rate of children has nearly tripled. As many as 26 per cent of kids between two and 17 years are now overweight or obese. That number jumps to 41 per cent among First Nations children.
The researchers noted that currently preschoolers spent more than 80 percent of their wakeful hours in a sedentary way. Also children today are watching TV and getting addicted to computer screens much too soon.
Dr. Mark Tremblay, who chaired the committee that drew up the guidelines and who is also the director of CHEO-HALO, in Ottawa says,
“Regular physical activity is essential at a young age as it contributes to bone and skeletal health, motor skill development, psychosocial health and cognitive development. Lifestyle patterns set in the early years predict health outcomes later in life,” he adds.
Kelly Murumets, the president and CEO of ParticipACTION adds that rather than being inside, it is important to take kids out where there are able to run and play.
“It is crucial for parents and caregivers to give young children regular opportunities to move more, and it can be as simple as getting outdoors to explore the neighbourhood rather than sitting in front of the TV,” she said.
For younger babies she says it is better to put them on the floor where they can crawl, and explore things than keep sitting in a high chair.
Canada AM’s medical specialist Dr. Marla Shapiro says that keeping children active has more advantages than just controlling their weight.
“Motor development and movement is the basis not only for our healthy bones and growth, but in later years, our cognitive and brain development, our social skills, our psycho-social markers, self-esteem, learning, attention – it has incredible benefits,” she said.
The Canadian Pediatric Society, also has shown its support towards the new guidelines. Dr. Claire LeBlanc, a pediatrician at the Montreal Children’s Hospital and the chair of the CPS Healthy Active Living and Sports Medicine Committee says that it is not just parents but the society in general which should take the responsibility of developing healthy lifestyle activities for all.
“Society needs to make physical activity for children a priority because we all have a role to play, including health care teams, governments, schools, facilities and all levels of decision-makers,” he said in a statement.
The society recommends communities maintain safe recreational areas like community playgrounds, parks and sidewalks, compulsory daily physical education for all grades in schools, more affordable sport and recreation programs after hours at schools and at local facilities by the government and community. They also believe that advertisements that promote un healthy foods during children’s TV shows need to be eliminated.


> . . . Copying a drawing that is projected upside down is a good activity
. . .
IS COPYING A GOOD LEARNING EXPERIENCE?
They grow up visually handicapped as compared to those who learn and become
competent under the instruction of a good drawing teacher. If you do not
have an art teacher, you do the best you can. You learn by copying and you
learn from drawing books that give the formulas from drawing experts
who are trying to sell books.
Our brains develop quite differently when we learn to compose flat pictures
from things that are three dimensional than when we merely imitate a
picture. Also, our brains develop quite differently when drawing from
formulas out of drawing books than when learning to figure out our own
conclusions from our own observations and experimentations.
I hope for brains that can think on their own based on their own
observations, experiences, and experiments. I honestly fear a world in
which brains that have been taught to believe in and depend on experts.
Ok, before I start I just wanted to tell Marvin that I respect his thoughts
and ideas. I quite often use his web site to get ideas- thank you, Marvin. I
understand what you say about copying vs. observational drawing, however,
not all students are spatially intelligent. These students need other ways
of learning to draw. Some students find it difficult to know where to start
in an observational drawing, because they caught up in all the details. In
order for these students to enjoy drawing they must experience a sense of
achievement or success. This is where copying comes in. Copying a 2D picture
or drawing is easier than drawing from life. Plus, copying a drawing that is
upside down is a way to shut down the critical side of the brain and
hopefully activate the creative side. The goal is for the student to feel
confident about his or her work. Once confidence is built then you can move
on to observation of real life.
I am an artist and a certified art educator. I was a self-taught copier
until high school. I copied anything that interested me. It was the only way
I knew to be artistic. Was this wrong? No, it was not. It was a huge part of
my art education. Throughout school I was considered a talented artist. In
high school I was introduced to observational drawing and my realistic
drawing abilities greatly improved. In college, observational drawing was
extremely important, but we also went to the Museum of Fine arts weekly to
copy from the Masters.
Observational drawing may the preferred way to teach drawing skills but
please do not discriminate against copying. It does have its place in art
education. Having said that I tell my high school students who are serious
about improving their artistic abilities to draw, draw and draw some more


Primary school teachers feel they lack the necessary skills to teach music even though it is part of the national curriculum, according to the results of a survey published today.
One-third of the trainee teachers questioned admitted they had never been trained to teach music, while 78% of those who had been taught felt their skills were insufficient to deliver a lesson, the study carried out by the Institute of Education showed.
The results, which highlight teachers' insecurities surrounding their ability to play instruments and sing, confirms a trend first revealed more than a decade ago, according to the study's lead researcher and professor of education, Susan Hallam.
Professor Hallam said: "Although the situation has improved slightly (since the early 1990s), many teachers still have the same reservations.
"Music is vital to a child's education. It helps concentration, aids relaxation and can influence moods and emotions.
"Singing helps young children with language development and, where coupled with movement, enhances physical co-ordination. Children have a right to high quality music education; action needs to be taken speedily to make sure this happens."
Professor Hallam and her team are calling for more teacher training time to be devoted to music as well as more professional development opportunities in boosting musical teaching skills for qualified teachers.
The option of bringing specialist music teachers into schools to help fill the skills gap should also be explored, they recommended.
The survey was based on a questionnaire completed by 350 trainee teachers studying PGCE primary school courses at four higher education institutions.
The results will disappoint the education secretary, Alan Johnson, who in January announced a £10m investment to increase the amount of music taught in schools.
The announcement included the appointment of a national "singing ambassador", the composer and broadcaster Howard Goodall, who has been asked to establish a national schools singing competition.
At the same time, Mr Johnson revealed proposals to create a 21st century schools songbook for whole school and classroom singing.
A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said the government was committed to music in schools and that some of the £10m was to be spent on teacher training and "music leaders."
He said: "We recognise that as well as being a worthwhile activity for its own sake, music is a powerful learning tool which can build children's confidence, teamwork and language skills."
The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), the organisation responsible for teacher workforce development and national training standards, said its own survey showed that 80% of more than 7,000 newly qualified primary school teachers rated their training as "good or very good".
The TDA's chief executive, Graham Holley, said: "The content of initial teacher training courses is a matter for individual training providers. It is subject to inspection by Ofsted, who rate the present tranche of new teachers as being the 'best ever'.
"Any further training and development needs identified by teachers should be addressed with their line manager in school as part of their induction or continuing professional development."


From a Creighton Student's Perspective
January 24, 2012
Sophomore, Elementary Education Major
In today’s Gospel, on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, we see Jesus remind the people around him that they truly are his brothers, sisters, and mothers, if they are willing to follow the will of God. Although it seems like Jesus is speaking only to the people around him, it is so important for us to remember that Jesus is also speaking to us in this passage. If we listen to him and figure out what his plan is for us, then we also can be his brothers and sisters. To be able to do this, we have to learn how to look past our earthly commitments and focus on what God has in store for us. We need to remember that God is loving, caring, and infinitely merciful, and so he always has only our best interests in mind. All we have to do is look past our own earthly desires and instead listen to God’s wonderful plan for our lives. It is fitting that today is the feast of St. Francis de Sales, because he is a great example of how to do exactly that.
St. Francis de Sales was born in France in 1567 into a noble family. He was very privileged throughout his life and attended the best schools with the best teachers to get the best education. After many years of studying this way and learning about predestination, he began to believe that he was condemned to hell. After much despair and even physical afflictions, he decided to turn around and dedicate his life to God. He rediscovered that God is love, and so he knew that anything God had in store for him would be good. After living a very holy life, he died, was canonized as a saint 42 years later, and then declared a Doctor of the Church in 1877. St. Francis de Sales can serve as a great reminder to us about the importance of focusing on what is truly important in our lives. It would have been very easy for St. Francis to just think about succeeding monetarily or prestigiously in this life. However, he chose to dedicate his life to God and focus on the heavenly reward. Let us pray today that, with the intercession of St. Francis de Sales, we may be able to center our lives on what is truly important. Let us remember that Christ wants us to be in communion with him, because we are his brothers, sisters, and mothers if we just follow the will of God.
Collaborative Ministry Office Guestbook


Resnick Art Education Training Center A national and international center for teacher training functions within the Youth Wing. Its task is to educate, to offer advice and direction, to nurture, and to provide inspiration under ideal study conditions. Teachers and other educators, school principals and coordinators, Education Ministry supervisors, students, and museum educators from other institutions attend year-long courses, study days, and conferences, where they participate in discussions about art education. The collective learning experience at the Museum refines their skills and expands their repertoire of teaching methods.
Further information in Hebrew>>>
Israeli writer Eshkol Nevo leading discussion in the Sands of Time: The Work of Micha Ullman exhibition
Artist-teacher leads self-portraiture-drawing workshop in Summer Course for Art Educators
Resnick Art Education Training Center Curator Lihi Sapir speaks with Art Educators about works, which examined their professional identities
Art Educators visiting the European Art storeroom


Learning Metrics Task Force will focus on quality in global education
(November 2012) As the 2015 deadline approaches for achieving the Education for All goals, UNESCO and the Brookings Institute’s Center for Universal Education are joining together in a new effort to measure quality in education. While much attention has focused on improving access to school programs for all children and youth, access is only a first step. In order to ensure that education opportunities are truly effective, methods for measuring outcomes are also needed. To address this concern, education and development leaders have been invited to serve on the newly formed Learning Metrics Task Force.
Dr. Diana Weber, a Senior Literacy and Education Consultant for SIL, will participate in the Measures and Methods Working Group for Primary Level. This team will work together over the course of the next seven months to develop recommendations for how learning can best be measured. They will also contribute to a dialogue on global development and collaborate on global sharing of successful methods. The working group’s first assignment is to pool knowledge of available assessments of early childhood learning that could be recommended at a global level or as options that countries could adopt at the national and regional level.
As SIL’s representative, Dr. Weber will bring an important perspective to the table: SIL recognizes the key role of local languages in all development, including making education truly accessible and effective for all students. The best schools in the world are ineffective when students don’t understand the language used by their teacher or printed in their textbooks. Around the world, children and youth from ethnolinguistic minority communities struggle to benefit from available education because school is conducted in a language that is unfamiliar to them, rather than the language they speak at home. Studies have shown that student success increases dramatically when the language of instruction is the students’ mother tongue.
The Learning Methods Task Force is scheduled to release a final report in September 2013. Its recommendations are not binding, but can be adopted as education leaders in a given country see fit. The report will include recommendations for:
- a set of learning competencies from early childhood through post-primary;
- suggestions for measuring the competencies; and
- suggestions for ways that governments and education organizations can implement these measures to improve learning opportunities and outcomes for children and youth.
SIL contributes to the Education for All goals through language development efforts such as multilingual education and mother tongue literacy for children and adults. SIL is an official NGO partner of UNESCO with consultative status.
Related links of interest
- The Learning Methods Task Force: A joint effort of UNESCO and the Brookings Institute
- Putting learning first: The role of the Learning Methods Task Force
- First meeting of the Learning Methods Task Force
- The Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institute and The Global Compact on Learning
- Literacy and education in SIL
Why Languages Matter: Meeting Millennium Development Goals Through Local Languages
[English] [中文] [Español] [Français] [Português] [Türkçe]
- Multilingual Education [English] [中文] [Español] [Français] [Português] [Türkçe]
- Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education: Including the Excluded
- News Article: “Global literacy progress in focus at UNESCO round table”


Math 5 emphasizes the understanding of subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions through the use of manipulatives. Students gain confidence as they develop reasoning and judgment skills through a variety of estimating and problem-solving activities. An optional pre-algebra chapter explores adding, subtracting, comparing, and ordering positive and negative numbers.
Mrs. Melissa Seeling teaches this course.
Recommended Viewing Schedule: five 30-minute lessons a week for a full year; 165 lessons per year
>> Click the Resources tab to learn more about the instructor for this course.
|363119||DL MATH 5 DVD MOD 09|
Melissa graduated with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education 2008 and a master's degree in Elementary Education in 2010. Shortly after finishing graduate school, she married Hans Seeling. About a year later, she began teaching here at Press Distance Learning. “I am thankful for the opportunities that the Lord has given me, and my desire is that He will use me to impact the lives of my students. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to teach your child and to have a small part in your child's education. ”


Interested in Chinese culture? Then Confucianism is probably the first thing you need to know about. Confucius, the all-rounded philosopher, promotes harmonization and humanity that outlines the basis of Chinese culture and deeply affects the offspring. Inspired by the “Six Arts” in Confucianism, Loong Yat Heen is going to incorporate the philosophy with delicacies. Discover Chinese civilization with the Appetizing Six Arts Collection throughout the months of June and July.
The “Six Arts” in Confucianism are the general principles of education that aims at developing one’s morality. Using “Rites”, “Music”, “Mathematics” and “Calligraphy” among the “Six Arts”, the collection is definitely soul-detoxifying.
Rites – Chilled Marinated Scallops with Wolfberry Seeds
Encompassing all rituals and norms, the purpose of rites is to instill harmony into people. As a ritual, hospitality brings people together through dining and therefore it places a high importance on food quality. After mixing the reddish wolfberry with the disc-shaped scallop, the dish is simply eye-catching while the a-little-bit-crispy wolfberry complements the bounciness of scallops.
Music – Chilled Fresh Prawns with Osmanthus in Sesame Sauce
“To educate somebody, you should start from poems.” This is how Confucius sees Music education. Osmanthus, a common element in Chinese poem, is heavenly aromatic. Served together with prawns and sesame sauce, the golden floral sprinkles provides an alluring finishing touch by enhancing the fragrance and colour as a whole.
Calligraphy – Chilled Sea Cucumber with Chinese Celery and Mustard
Calligraphy, or literature in general, comprises history and its legends. Sought for elixir of life, Qin Shihuangdi treated sea cucumber as a cure-all. By accompanying the sea cucumber with Chinese celery and mustard, the dish is gusty and high in medicinal value which sea cucumber can lower the chance of getting cardiovascular disease.
Mathematics – Chilled Shredded Abalone with Jelly Fish
Mathematics stresses on accuracy and this is also true in culinary. To avoid getting a tough texture, the cooking time for abalone must be accurate. After simmering, the eight-headed abalone is served with jelly fish which perk up the dish by offering a refreshing and crispy mouthfeel.
Besides the “Appetizing Six Arts Collection”, Loong Yat Heen also offers Chilled Sliced Ox’s Tongue with Preserved Soya Sauce and Chilled Tomato with Alaska Crab Meat for your enjoyment. Chill out with the chilled appetizing specialties this summer.
For more information, please call (852) 2734 3722 or click here for further details and reservations.


The pedagogy of Olga Samaroff: A consideration of her artistic legacy
Van Beck, Peter John
Doctor of Musical Arts
Olga Samaroff was one of the most influential American musicians in the 20th Century. She was important not only as a concert pianist, but as a teacher of some of this century's great performers. As a teacher, she instilled in her students the importance of observing all of the composer's written markings and playing within the stylistic guidelines of the time period in which the composer lived. At the same time, she refrained from imposing specific interpretations on her pupils; individuality was a quality she valued above everything else. Although she taught literally hundreds of pianists who made successful careers in both performing and teaching, three students---William Kapell, Rosalyn Tureck, and Alexis Weissenberg---stood out above the rest. An in-depth analysis of these three pianists' recordings suggests to what extent each of these students adhered to her teaching principles. Many of their mannerisms reflect trends in 20th Century pianism and in contemporary musicianship as a whole.
Biographies; Music; Music education


History TOPIC ID 45
Every group of Americans had its own distinctive musical traditions.
Native American Music: Music played an extremely important role in Native American rituals and ceremonies. In contrast to African and European musical traditions, Native American musics tended to use only a limited number of pitches and made little use of harmony. Choral singing, often accompanied by rattles was common. Also common was a responsorial technique in which a performer and a chorus sing back and forth to each other.
The question of Native American influence on contemporary American music has not received the study it deserves. There has been a tendency to underestimate the influence of Indian music. But it seems likely that Native American music had a special impact on cowboy songs and country music.
English Musical Culture: English folk tunes have left a lasting legacy on American popular music. Such songs as "Yankee Doodle," "My Country 'Tis of Thee, and the "Star Spangled Banner" derive from English folk tunes.
The Puritans felt very uneasy about certain kinds of music. The Puritans prohibited certain kinds of music, such as instrumental and theater music, and carefully scrutinized the kinds of music performed even in church. The kinds of music that grew out of the Puritan tradition, such as hymns, tended to have a leaner, more austere sound than their European counterparts.
African American Musical Traditions: African Americans contributed richly to an evolving American music. It is on the sea islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, where many African Americans lived apart from southern whites, that one can find forms of African and African American music that are close to their original forms, including hollers and work songs, that coordinated work activities.
Africa has one of the most complex rhythmic musical cultures in the world and one of the distinctive features of African American music lies in its use of rhythmic syncopation and a strong beat. Yet rather than singing on the beat, singers tended to sing or embellish around the beat. Early African American music was characterized by a remarkable rhythmic subtlety, distinctive vocal styles, and the creation of the banjo, a distinctly African American instrument that derives from African instruments.
Scottish and Irish Musical Traditions: Scottish and Irish immigrants brought a great store of songs to America (including Auld Lang Syne, the song we sing at New Year's).
Stephen Foster, the most popular American composer of the mid-nineteenth century, wrote many of his popular songs in an Irish idiom, emphasizing lyricism and pentatonic scale (five note scale). His 1854 song, Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair, is filled with nostalgic yearnings for home which typifies Irish and Scottish songs of this period.
German Musical Cultures: Germans came to the United States with highly developed musical skills. German immigrants were very important in formal music education and in establishing classical music institutions. Many German songs, such as O Tannenbaum, became very popular. German men's choruses were "Americanized" in the United States in the form of school glee clubs and barbershop quartets.
One kind of Central European music that became very popular in the mid-nineteenth century was the polka, which made the waltz seem very old fashioned
L atin American Musical Cultures: Especially in the 20th century, Latin American musics have had a very strong influence on American popular music. Latin American musics themselves were formed out of a blend of various ethnic groups' musics including Spanish and African influences in the Caribbean and Indian and Spanish musics in Mexico. Such musical forms as the tango came from Argentina, the cha cha and mambo from Cuba, and reggae from Jamaica.
Hawaiian Music: Hawaiian music was particularly influential in spreading a taste for the steel guitar, which eventually gave us the electric guitar


Anton Rubinstein (born Vikhvatinets 28 November 1829; died Petershof 20 November 1894) was a Russian pianist and composer. Rubinstein and Franz Liszt were thought to be the greatest pianists of the 19th century. He was very important as a teacher and influenced many Russian musicians. He composed lots of music, although hardly any of it is heard nowadays. As a composer he is best remembered today by a little piece of piano music called “Melody in F”.
History[change | change source]
First concert[change | change source]
Rubinstein gave his first piano concert when he was ten. Between 1840 and 1843 his piano teacher took him on long concert tours of Europe. He met Chopin and Liszt and was received in London by Queen Victoria. Between 1844 and 1846 the family lived in Berlin. His friends there included Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer.
Lessons[change | change source]
In 1846 his father died and Anton went to Vienna where he gave piano lessons to try to earn some money. When he returned to Russia in 1848 the tsar’s sister-in-law let him live in her palace. He played for lots of parties. Often the tsar came.
Tours[change | change source]
In 1854 he toured Europe again. Then he returned to Russia. He wanted to improve music education in Russia so he started the Russian Musical Society and then he started the St Petersburg Conservatory. During his long career he spent many years as director of the Conservatory as well as conducting concerts.
Compositions[change | change source]
He wrote a lot of music, but although his compositions often started off with good ideas they often become rather boring. His opera Tom the fool was not a success. He was annoyed and wrote an article in a music magazine saying that it was not possible to write operas using Russian stories. He criticized several composers who were writing music which used Russian folktunes. This included the composer Mily Balakirev and his friends who were called The Mighty Handful. He said that they had not learned how to compose properly.
Rubinstein very much wanted to be famous as a composer as well as a teacher, but this made him very narrow-minded. However, it was as a pianist and conductor that he was important. He helped to improve the standard of music making in Russia by teaching and performing, and by starting the conservatory in St Petersburg.


Salary Information for Physical Education Graduates
Most graduates with degrees in physical education go on to work at an elementary, middle, or high school as physical education and health teachers. While there are many more career paths for people with health education degrees, careers as teachers tend to be very popular.
The type of teacher you choose to become should depend on the specific age group you like to teach. How much can you earn teaching at these various age levels? Let’s take a look at the salary information for teachers, based on studies by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Salary Information for Kindergarten and Elementary School Teachers
Kindergarten and elementary school teachers typically teach children between the ages of 5 and 10 years old, and their median pay in 2012 was $53,090 per year. In 2012 there were 1,519,700 people working as kindergarden and elementary education teachers and the job growth should be around 12% between 2012-2022.
Salary Information for Middle School Teachers
Physical education teachers interested in working with older children can consider teaching at the middle school level. Middle school teachers build on the foundation that students learn in elementary school and help prepare the future high school students for the more difficult workload. They teach students between the sixth and eighth grades and made a median salary of $53,430 per year in 2012. There were 614,400 middle school teachers in 2012 and the job growth rate between 2012-2022 is expected to be 12%.
Salary Information for High School Teachers
Physical education teachers interested in working with teens should consider teaching at the high-school level. These teachers help prepare students for life after graduation, whether it’s college or working, and usually serve expanded roles as athletic coaches as well. In 2012 there were 955,800 people working as high school teachers making an annual salary of $55,050. This is slightly higher than the salaries of other teachers, but the job growth between 2012-2022 is only expected to be 6%.
As in all careers, the salary of a high school teacher can vary quite a bit based on education, experience, location, sector. Of course, those with more education and experience will, on average, make more money than less educated and younger teachers, and teachers working in private schools will make more than those working in public schools. According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual wage of the 90% percentile of high school teachers was $86,720. Listed below are the five states with the top paying salaries in secondary education:
- New York at $75,250
- Alaska at $41,040
- New Jersey at $70,870
- Rhode Island at $69,990
- Massachusetts at $69,340
Making More Money as a Physical Education Graduate
Want to make more money as a physical education teacher? No matter what level you teach at, here are a few tips you can use to earn a higher salary:
- Earn a master’s degree in your field.
- Take on activities responsibilities, such as coaching after school.
- Continue working at a single school throughout your career.
- Work in a high-need area (which also allows you to apply for loan forgiveness programs in some cases).
- Work for a private school rather than a public school.
If you want to work as a health educator, you will likely have to take additional courses as well as complete a certification exam, depending on where you live and the type of employer. A health educator provides and manages health education programs that help people maximize and maintain healthy lifestyles. Some schools hire full-time health educators with a physical education background.
According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, health educators earned a mean annual wage of $53,800 in May of 2011. With a master’s degree, you may earn more. States with the highest employment level in this occupation include:
- New York
However, the top paying states for health educators are
- Maryland at $83,140
- District of Columbia at $74,710
- Georgia at $74,150
- Rhode Island at $66,270
- Delaware at $64,570
List of online physical education degrees
|Nutrition Science (BS)||The Kaplan University Master of Science in Health Education is built to prepare you to enter many exciting opportunities. Courses focus on exploring the principles of nutrition, prevention, complimentary healthcare, and explores being mentally healthy, not just physically healthy. Kaplan also offers a Nutrition Science program that explores the effects of nutrition and diets on the body and mind.|
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This site is about Lesson Plans, specifically Lesson Plans that make use of Primary Source materials.
While I will be using the Lesson Plans to help third-year Elementary Education majors learn more about lesson planning and about the use of Primary Source materials, I hope that any teacher might find something of use here. Whether you are able to use some of the materials here as you find them, or if something here sparks an idea, my hope is that this site might help you enrich your lessons.
The lessons here are broken into two categories: Visual Literacy lessons involve the interpretation of visual artifacts. Little Houses lessons are about creating visual artifacts from verbal descriptions, based on the Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
This series of activities illustrate a variety of uses of primary resources to build visual literacy and other literacy skills.
The first few lessons focus on understanding visual literacy, experiencing activities that require the use of visual skills and their metacognitive skills to read pictures, to make predictions and to create questions. These lessons will also introduce the students to the resources of the Library of Congress. Students will be given a series of photos, copies of artwork, maps, and documents to study and respond to in a variety of ways.
These lessons are used to demonstrate how a teacher can use primary sources to create interest and curiosity prior to a lesson and to extend students' interest and curiosity after a lesson.
The students will read a variety of passages about the homes Laura Ingalls lived in during the times depicted in Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie. In addition the students will create visualizations that describe the process of home building and life on the prairie. The visualization activities allow for the use of prior knowledge and creativity.
This is an outline of the site with links to all of the pages.