What: Rock n Roll is a high-energy and stimulating music and movement class for toddlers and their grown-up. Each class contains a variety of music and movement based activities. Weekly sessions with age-appropriate themes and musical selections. Experience the developmental benefits of music in a setting and with music that makes it fun for the mom, dad, or caregiver as well! Click the text or image for more info.
What: Whether they’re a budding rock-star or an aspiring classical soloist, Rock City is the place to find real music education for your preschooler. Through dynamic musical and movement-based activities, exposure to live instruments and musically inspired story-time, budding young musicians gradually develop the skills needed to read music, play simple rhythms and develop fine motor control - skills that are essential for future success in playing an instrument. Classes focus on foundational musical concepts such as fast and slow, sound and silence, high and low and even singing and playing major scales, and with our special take-home activity materials, their musical adventures will last all week long! Click the text or image for more info.
Who: Ages 5 - 7
What: Kids n Keys introduces children to the fundamentals of music and piano playing in a fun group-setting. In three 8-lesson segments students will encounter the concepts, symbols, and sounds that form the basis of music literacy. Our curriculum incorporates different types of activities and games that involve listening, movement, singing, and creative music-making. We also firmly believe that young students have the ability to make music at the keyboard even before they can read music notation. In every class, students learn to play popular melodies on the piano and prepare for a group concert. Click the text or image for more info.
Benefits of Music
- Challenges the brain in new ways
- New motor skills must be learned and coordinated
- Profound and seemingly permanent changes in the brain structure
Music & Mathematics
- Patterns of chords, notes and key changes
- Counting of beats, rests & how long to hold notes
- Geometry to remember correct finger positions for notes or chords
- Sequences called intervals are the differences between notes
- Ratios, proportions and equivalent fractions understanding are required to read music
Music & Reading
- Strong association between music instruction & reading ability
- Positive transfer occurs between language and reading
- More music skills result in greater degree of phonological awareness
- Music perception taps and enhances auditory areas
(How the Brain Learns by David Sousa, pg 225-229) Read More


Geography Year 9
"Geography prepares for the world of work - geographers, with their skills of analysis are highly employable!"
Michael Palin (previous) President of the Royal Geographical Society
At Carshalton High School for Girls we study AQA GCSE Geography. The course explores a wide variety of themes that include physical, human and environmental aspects of the world around us. Students are encouraged to learn about processes and the links between cause and effect. These skills not only help our students develop in this subject area but also that of other subject areas. Geography has much scope for cross-curricular opportunities in learning.
Study of this course will give students of all backgrounds the opportunity to develop: communication skills, graphical and cartographical skills, technological skills, including ICT and GIS, interpersonal skills through debate and discussion, literacy and numeracy skills, problem-solving skills and entrepreneurial skills and awareness of career possibilities.
In Year 9 students study:
The challenge of natural hazards
Many people now live in physically hostile areas of the world. This unit examines tectonic hazards, tropical storms, extreme weather in the UK and climate change.
Physical landscapes in the UK
This unit looks at the range of diverse landscapes that the UK has. Students will cover topics including coasts and rivers.
Students study a number of case studies to illustrate the real life application of the theory. Geography is a current and topical subject!


Resources › For Educators Multi-Sensory Instruction in Math for Special Education Strategies to Build Math Skills for Students with Disabilities Share Flipboard Email Print For Educators Special Education Inclusion Strategies Applied Behavior Analysis Behavior Management Lesson Plans Math Strategies Reading & Writing Social Skills Individual Education Plans Becoming A Teacher Assessments & Tests Elementary Education Secondary Education Teaching Homeschooling By Jerry Webster Special Education Expert M.Ed., Special Education, West Chester University B.A., Elementary Education, University of Pittsburgh Jerry Webster, M.Ed., has over twenty years of experience teaching in special education classrooms. He holds a post-baccalaureate certificate from Penn State's Educating Individuals with Autism program. our editorial process Jerry Webster Updated March 12, 2018 For some students with specific learning disabilities in reading, Math may actually provide a bright space, a place where they can compete with their typical or general education peers. For others, they have difficulty with the layers of abstraction they are required to understand and use before they get to the "right answer." Providing lots and lots of structured practice with manipulates will help the student build understanding for the many abstractions they need to understand in order to succeed at the higher level math they will begin to see as early as third grade. 01 of 08 Counting and Cardinality for Pre-School ThoughtCo / Jerry Webster Building a sound foundation for understanding counting is critical for students to succeed in both functional and more abstract math. Children need to understand one to one correspondence, as well as a number line. This article provides lots of ideas to help support emerging mathematicians. 02 of 08 Counting Muffin Tins - A Kitchen Pan Teaches Counting ThoughtCo / Jerry Webster Counters and muffin tins together can give students lots of informal practice in counting in self-contained classrooms. Muffin tin counting is a great activity both for children who need practice at counting, but also for students who need academic activities they can complete independently. 03 of 08 Counting Nickels With a Number Line Tetra Images / Getty Images A number line is one way to help students understand operations (addition and subtraction) as well as counting and skip counting. Here's a skip counting pdf you can print and use with emerging coin counters. 04 of 08 Teaching Money for Special Education philipdyer / Getty Images Often students can successfully count single denomination coins because they understand skip counting by fives or tens, but mixed coins create a much bigger challenge. Using a hundred chart helps students visualize coin-counting when they place coins on the hundred chart. Starting with the largest coins (you may want to have them use a whiteboard marker for 25, 50, and 75 for your quarters) and then moving to smaller coins, students can practice counting up while solidifying strong coin counting skills. 05 of 08 Hundred Charts Teach Skip Counting and Place Value Hill Street Studios / Getty Images This free printable hundred chart can be used for lots of activities, from skip counting to learning place value. Laminate them, and they can be used for skip counting in order to help students understand multiplication (color 4's one color, 8's over the top of them, etc.) as children will begin to see the patterns underlying those multiplication charts. 06 of 08 Using a Hundred Chart to Teach Tens and Ones ThoughtCo / Jerry Webster Understanding place value is critical for future success with operations, especially when students begin to approach regrouping for addition and subtraction. Using ten rods and ones blocks can help student transfer what they know from counting to visualizing tens and ones. You can expand building the numbers on the hundred chart to doing addition and subtraction with tens and ones, placing the tens and ones and "trading" ten ones cubes for rods. 07 of 08 Place Value and Decimals JGI / Jamie Grill / Getty Images By third grade, students have moved on to three and four-digit numbers, and need to be able to hear and write numbers through thousands. By printing and laminating this chart, you can give students lots of practice writing those numbers, as well as decimals. It helps students visualize the numbers as they write them. 08 of 08 Games to Support Skills for Children with Disabilities Jupiterimages / Getty Images Students with disabilities need lots of practice, but paper and pencil are daunting, if not outright aversive. Games create opportunities for students to practice math skills, interact appropriately in a social way and build relationships as they build skills.


Pre-School Music Program
Pricing and Information
~~~ COVID-19 UPDATE: These lessons are held online. ~~~
Children need music. At Klaudia’s Music Studio, we believe that music is an essential element of every child’s education.
Designed for children 3.5-5.5 years old without previous musical experience, this class is geared toward trying different musical instrument and hands-on playing. Activities include, classical music, nursery rhymes, instruments trial, percussion to the beat, movement and play. It helps with the decision about what musical instrument is the closest to the heart of the child. We welcome back all younger participants of our music summer camp who still do not take formal music lessons. Having fun with music while learning is the key! No musical instruments needed, all is provided for you. These lessons are not parented, although parents are welcome to stay in the class or observe from outside the classroom at any time. Classes are lead by two to three music faculty of dedicated teachers.
Pricing and Information
Labour Day: Sunday & Monday closed
Thanksgiving: Sunday & Monday closed
Winter Break: Two full weeks closed
Family Day: Sunday & Monday closed
March Break: Lessons on the 1st weekend then closed Monday to Sunday
Easter: Friday to Monday closed
Victoria Day: Sunday & Monday closed
Read this article related to our program:
From the earliest age, children respond to music through movement and imitation, clapping their hands and babbling to their favorite music. When caregivers and teachers encourage and guide them, any child can develop basic musical competence, learning to sing in tune and march to a beat.
Why is this important? According to early childhood educators, music is a basic life skill, as important as speaking, reading or writing. Music fosters cooperation and listening, expression and creativity, forces that are invaluable in every aspect of our lives.
Many scientists, inspired by the work of Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner, have come to consider “musical intelligence” as just one of many forms of human intelligence. And music has been shown to benefit a child’s broader education. In famous studies from the 1990s, University of Wisconsin psychologist Frances H. Rauscher determined that listening to Mozart’s music could actually enhance spatial reasoning.
More recently, research has confirmed that music instruction increases a child’s ability to work and play cooperatively with classmates. A few years ago Oakland University child psychologist Andrew Gunsberg showed that children engaged in improvisational musical play were able to perform much better on later cognitive tasks requiring focused attention. And in research published in February of this year, a Northwestern University neuroscientist, Nina Kraus, discovered that musical training enhanced brain stem sensitivity to speech sounds.
It is never too early (or too late) to enrich your child’s education through music. Our early childhood music program is aimed at young children, under Klaudia’s direction. These young musicians will be given freedom of movement & expression to music, participation in sing-along nursery rhymes in circle time with the others and also doing their own music making. The children’s final presentation and show is a part of our semi-annual School Recitals each December and June. We’ll help your youngster become more musical, more creative — and maybe even more intelligent!
10. Playing a musical instruments is a safe, fun, and creative after-school activity.
9. We take it seriously. Classical music tutoring of Royal Conservatory of Music enriched with variety of non-classical popular repertoire.
8. Learning to read notes and other musical aspects is taught as an essential element from the beginning.
7. Fantastic results in quality of sound, pitch and musicality.
6. Benefit of improved learning skills, such as coordination, listening, attention span.
5. Flexibility. You get to pick a day/time for weekly lessons, as well as the teacher.
4. Convenience. Close to your neighborhood.
3. Certified, experienced, kind and attentive teachers.
2. One ½ price initial trial lesson; then risk-free 10-WEEKS trial period; no obligation to commit.
1. MUSIC EDUCATION FOR LIFE!


Middle School | Artists on the run
In this educational tour, the ALBERTINA Museum offers school classes an opportunity to view the exhibition Monet to Picasso from what’s currently still an unfamiliar perspective. In focus are works by artists whose lives were strongly impacted by circumstances that forced them to seek refuge elsewhere.
Chagall, Magritte, Giacometti, Picasso – many artists from the Monet bis Picasso exhibition were confronted with a need to escape in some way. They fled their home countries in haste, went underground as emigrants, were compromised in their artistic activities by political events, or were forbidden to travel.
On this guided tour through the exhibition, the participating school students explore the various reasons why 20th-century artists were compelled to flee and emigrate while attempting to comprehend how such flight and the associated losses would affect their own lives. What does it mean to be forced to leave your home? And what things change in an affected individual’s life?
What did it mean for the artists featured in the exhibition, and how did it impact their work?
In the studio, the school students face the challenge of being forced to explore new creative paths as artists. What to do when familiar motifs are out of reach, or when the usual variety of materials is no longer available?
- 90 minutes
(60 min tour of the exhibition and 30 min workshop in the Formatwerk studio)
- 120 minutes
(60 min tour of the exhibition and 60 min workshop in the Formatwerk studio)
There is no entrance fee for children.
Fee for the guided tour per participant of the group:
60 minutes program
90 minutes program
120 minutes program
Min. amount of participants: 13 children
If your group consists of more than 25 children, we will split up the group.
Teachers and attendants (max. of 2 per class/group) visit the exhibition for free and are responsible for the group throughout the museum visit.
Inquiries & Contact
ALBERTINA Art Education
on working days between 9 am and 4 pm under T +43 1 534 83 540 or E
CONTACT US NOW


Learn about the notable New Zealand heroes on our banknotes: Sir Edmund Hillary, Kate Sheppard, Sir Apirana Ngata and Ernest Rutherford with our Famous New Zealanders Reading Comprehension pack. Improve reading comprehension in your classroom with our differentiated close reading passages and questions. This pack includes FOUR Year Five and Six non-fiction passages with six pages of engaging text-dependent questions and higher-order thinking tasks. These activities are great for your guided reading program, or as homework tasks.
These link directly to the New Zealand Curriculum, Level Three, Listening, Reading and Viewing (see the Activity Information pages for more details on the exact skills found in each activity).
This resource would also be suitable for Year Seven and Eight learners as the higher order thinking activities will keep them challenged and engaged!
What this resource is all about:
The purpose of this resource is to provide ready-to-go texts and engaging higher order thinking questions.
This resource is jam-packed with exciting, thought-provoking activities to grab your students’ attention AND hold it. The activities begin at the lower levels of Blooms Taxonomy (Remember, Understand, Apply) and move through to the higher levels (Analyse, Evaluate, Create).
In this Famous New Zealanders Reading Comprehension pack you will receive:
1. Four texts – all with an extended and scaffold version:
- Sir Edmund Hillary
- Kate Sheppard
- Sir Apirana Ngata
- Ernest Rutherford
2. SIX corresponding NO PREP Higher Order Thinking Activities based on Blooms Taxonomy and aligned with the NZ Curriculum
Reading Comprehension Strategies included:
- Find Facts and Details
- Make Inferences
- Identify the Main Idea
- Ask Questions
- Compare and Contrast
- Make Predictions
3. Graphic Organiser and Activity Examples
- Information Web
- Main Idea
- Mini Booklet
- Large Billboard
4. Teacher Answer Key for applicable questions
5. Two ‘Tips For Use’ pages with ways to use this resource in your classroom.
6. Close Reading bookmarks in colour and black and white.
7. A list of references and internet links to further information
This resource features British English spelling e.g. colour, analyse.


The Persian Civilization
The Persian Civilization was one the largest civilizations the world has ever seen. It started as a collection of semi-nomadic tribes. They raised goats, sheep and cattle on the Iranian Plateau. This empire was founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BCE. Cyrus was a leader of one of those semi-nomadic tribes.
They first took control of the Middle East after the Decline of the Babylonian Empire. The Persian Empire is also known as the Achaemenid Empire. They created the World’s first ever human rights charter.
Fun Facts: –
- In the Persian Civilization, a technology known as Yakhchals was invented. It was quite helpful in preserving foods.
- Persian people are also credited with building the earliest known verticals axis windmills for grinding grain and pumping water.
- They were the first people to establish the regular routes of communication between different continents.
- Cyrus the Great allowed the people to speak their own languages and practice their own religions after being conquered.
- Many new roads were constructed during the Persian Civilization and also the world’s first postal service was developed.
- The Capital city of the Persian Empire was Persepolis which is situated in present day Southern Iran.
- It is also one of the world’s greatest archaeological sites and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.
- This empire started declining in 480 BCE after a failed invasion of Greece made by Xerxes I.
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Facts for Kids about The Persian Civilization ." Easy Science for Kids, May 2020. Web. 29 May 2020. < https://easyscienceforkids.com/the-persian-civilization/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2020). Facts for Kids about The Persian Civilization. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/the-persian-civilization/
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Quoting the New Zealand Ministry of Education:
Early Reading Together® helps parents/whānau to read to and talk with their young children (especially babies to 5 and 6 year olds) in ways that build a love of reading and lay a sound language and literacy foundation for children subsequently learning to read themselves.
The benefits of Early Reading Together® have been demonstrated consistently across diverse families, schools, early childhood services and libraries during the past three decades. The main benefits include:
- Children benefit from closer involvement with and more frequent and effective support from parents/whānau.
- They also benefit from a wider variety of enjoyable language/literacy experiences at home.
- Parents from diverse language/literacy, cultural, educational and socio-economic backgrounds learn sound, specific, constructive and enjoyable ways of supporting the language and reading development of their young children. For example: effective ways of interacting with children and encouraging them to participate in stories, rhymes and songs; helping children to talk about and make sense of illustrations, books and other texts.
- Parents gain deeper understandings about ways in which talking with young children and reading to them (from the time they are babies) help a child's language and literacy development.
- Librarians and educators help parents/whānau to access relevant and appealing resources in community and school libraries.
- Parents who struggle with reading become more confident, engaged and competent readers, because they begin to enjoy reading easy, predictable and appealing books with their children, in the non-threatening environment of their own homes.
- Educators, librarians and parents participate in a programme which:
» is practical, user friendly and manageable;
» is relatively low cost for early childhood services, schools and libraries, and free for families;
» strengthens collaboration and relationships between early childhood services, schools, libraries and families;
» has a sound theoretical and research basis;
» has a history of successful implementation throughout New Zealand since 1983.
- Families, educators and librarians benefit because Early Reading Together® serves as an effective 'scaffold' between homes, early childhood services and schools, and also homes and libraries. Participation in the programme helps less confident and less engaged families to develop the confidence, awareness, and relationships they (the families) need to take advantage of the educational provisions and libraries in their communities.
- Educators and librarians benefit because they develop deeper understandings about the range of diverse language and literacy practices which children experience within the different social and cultural contexts in which they live and learn. These deeper understandings prompt teachers and librarians to find better ways of building on the varied knowledge and experiences that children bring to more formal educational settings and libraries.
- The work of educators and librarians is supported and enhanced, because Early Reading Together® aligns with the emphasis they place on enjoyment of language and reading and the construction of meaning from a range of good quality print and screen based texts.
- Community libraries provide effective support for early childhood services, schools and families, and reach families who have not previously used libraries.
- A significant benefit of Early Reading Together® stems from the fact that it recognises, values and utilises the expertise and experience within each early childhood service, school and community library. For important educational and financial reasons, the programme is deliberately designed as a low cost, voluntary initiative which can be implemented by keen competent teachers, supported by community librarians (wherever possible). Educators and librarians with the required expertise and experience implement the programme by carefully following the research-based, fully-scripted Early Reading Together®: Workshop Leader's Handbook, and using the programme resources for families as intended. Important relationships and mutual understandings are developed between teachers, librarians and families within and beyond the workshops.
- Teachers and librarians find their involvement satisfying and beneficial professionally, which helps to explain why they continue to run the workshops, usually in their 'spare time' and over and above their existing workloads. They report that they are 'humbled' by the positive responses and gratitude of the families for the support provided.


Most of the classes that I teach are relatively large. Mostly they are between twenty five and thirty pupils, more often than not, closer to the thirty. That presents plenty of problems at times, mostly relating to the basic practicalities of working with large groups and messy materials or difficult to use tools. Also, simply getting around a class of thirty a offering some individual guidance in a lesson of sixty minutes is challenging to say the least.
There are however also advantages, and as far as I’m concerned, working on large scale group works are one of the them. There are so many good reasons for doing it once in a while with any class or group of people you might be working with. Consider the following points:
- The strength of building on the group identity, a team working together as a number of ‘social’ advantages
- The lower achievers share a chance to participate and have a place in a greater whole, my experience is that this works particularly well
- Pupils like to help and support each other for the benefit of the group work
- Large artworks do simply have a ‘wow’ factor. In the first instance that can be fantastic in the classroom as pupils realize that something a bit special is coming together, there can be a quite tangible buzz of success. Outside of the classroom larger works do tend to put the activities of the art department very much in public view, and that can only be a good thing!
- It can also have the positive spin off that the more able pupils realize for themselves that they too might actually be able to try some more ambitious scale work.
Group work certainly isn’t something to use very week, but it does offer some great possibilities. I once watched a Tim Rollins workshop with some art students, it was one of the key moments that moved me towards working in art education and at the same time was a fantastic demonstration of what can be achieved in group work in the arts.
The film below is pretty old but for any one interested in art or education it is certainly an interesting watch.


- 6 points
|Semester 1||UWA (Perth)||Face to face|
- Details for undergraduate courses
- Honours core unit in History [Bachelor of Arts (Honours)]
- Historiography is the study of how history is written. How can we 'know' the past? What assumptions underpin our historical methods? What truth claims can historians validly make? Part 1 analyses three major schools of history writing from the nineteenth century to the present: positivist (or empiricist) history; social and cultural history; and the challenges posed to history by postmodernism. Part 2 consists of three modules, each of which addresses the theoretical underpinnings, strengths and weaknesses of one particular form of recent historiography, concentrating on the works of major writers in the field. Each of the historiographical approaches have their own claims to validity, and have mounted strong critiques of the others.
The academic objectives of this unit are (1) to familiarise students with, and develop a critical understanding of, the literature on historiography; (2) to develop an understanding of the relationship between different concepts of and approaches to history; and (3) to evaluate both the claims and the criticisms of these concepts and approaches.
- Students are able to (1) develop a critical understanding of the historiographical issues in the questions provided; (2) develop concrete essay writing skills, including the ability to research and write an effective essay, the ability to communicate ideas persuasively, the ability to develop and sustain an original argument, and the ability to critically understand historiographical issues and, hence, the discipline of History; (3) communicate verbally the arguments about the nature of historiography and the issues and arguments involved; (4) read widely and understand the material presented; and (5) express independent and critical positions on the literature and the issues presented in the unit.
- Indicative assessments in this unit are as follows: (1) seminar participation; (2) two seminar papers; and (3) major essay. Further information is available in the unit outline.
Supplementary assessment is not available in this unit.
- Unit Coordinator(s)
- Assoc/Prof Ethan Blue
- Unit rules
- a major in History to an adequate standard
- Contact hours
- Seminar - 2 hrs per week
- The availability of units in Semester 1, 2, etc. was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change.
- All students are responsible for identifying when they need assistance to improve their academic learning, research, English language and numeracy skills; seeking out the services and resources available to help them; and applying what they learn. Students are encouraged to register for free online support through GETSmart; to help themselves to the extensive range of resources on UWA's STUDYSmarter website; and to participate in WRITESmart and (ma+hs)Smart drop-ins and workshops.
- Books and other material wherever listed may be subject to change. Book lists relating to 'Preliminary reading', 'Recommended reading' and 'Textbooks' are, in most cases, available via the Booktopia Textbook Finder, which has the functionality to search by course code, course, ISBN and title, and may also be posted or available at the appropriate school's administrative offices. Where texts are listed in the unit description above, an asterisk (*) indicates that the book is available in paperback.


THE CYCLE OF POVERTY
Poverty is a vicious cycle and it crosses all continental
borders. Around the world over five hundred million workers struggle to make a mere $1 USD a day or 55 pesos a day.
(International Labor Organization) That is not enough to provide food, shelter, clothing and education for a single person
let alone a family. In the desperate struggle to survive children are maimed and sent out to beg; women are forced into prostitution
by their husbands; men leave home for months at a time to travel the countryside in search of hard labor jobs to put bread
on the table. Others fortunate enough to have a parcel of land scratch out a meager existence against the odds of foul weather,
scattered internal armed conflicts, and other unforeseen problems that arise. Many of these families are abandoning their
land and migrating to the big cities in hope of work. Most often they end up in squatter shanties with hundred or thousands
of others just like them. Some pick through garbage dumps for anything they can turn into cash or eat. Some are abused by
unscrupulous city folk. Some die, leaving their children in the same situation.
The cycle of poverty claims casualties
even in the Philippines where over 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. In tight labor markets
the unemployed have a difficult time gaining and then keeping even entry-level jobs. This is sometimes due to the lack of
basic life, relational and decision-making skills to succeed in the workforce. Without work and shrinking welfare rolls many
families find it impossible to make ends meet. They have to make painful choices: heat or food; medicine or clothes. Thousands
live on the constant verge of eviction and homelessness. Breaking out of the cycle is almost impossible unless someone helps.
Through Home & mobile Base livelihood, ECS
project steps in to give men and women needing adequate HOME employment foundational skills and tools get on the road to economic
freedom. You can give a hungry man a fish but tomorrow he will be hungry again. If you teach him how and where to fish he
has a better chance of surviving. When you also help him with fishing equipment he can probably take care of himself, his
family, and many others who come his way. The cycle is broken. :
HOW WE DO IT
e LIVELIHOOD & TRAINING is a home & mobile base livelihood & training center
whose mission is to bring computer to technology deprived out of school youth person with disability , pastor, leaders and
families, to train disadvantage community resident to become computer technician at the lowest possible cost or totally free
tuition fee, & subsidized /sponsored registration & miscellaneous fee and to provide environmentally responsible recycling
of end-of-life computer & electronic equipment.


After a caterpillar comes to school in a jar, the children are captivated as it eats, grows, and eventually becomes a beautiful Painted Lady butterfly. This title features colorful illustrations from veteran illustrator Bari Weissman and lively text from National Book Award finalist and Michael L. Printz Honor winner Deborah Heiligman. This nonfiction picture book is an excellent choice to share during homeschooling, in particular for children ages 4 to 6. It’s a fun way to learn to read and as a supplement for activity books for children.
Now rebranded with a new cover look, this NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book includes web research prompts and an activity encouraging kids to identify the different types of butterflies all around them. Both text and artwork were vetted for accuracy by Dr. Louis Sorkin, Senior Scientific Assistant at the American Museum of Natural History.
This is a Level 1 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores introductory concepts for children in the primary grades and supports the Common Core Learning Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Let's-Read-and-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.
About the Author
At age five, Deborah Heiligman checked out her first library book—What Is a Butterfly?—and her love of science and nature has grown ever since. She has written one other Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science book, On the Move, illustrated by Lizzy Rockwell. She is also the author of the middle grade biography Charles and Emma, which was a National Book Award finalist and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. Ms. Heiligman lives in New York City with her husband and two sons.
Bari Weissman has been illustrating children's books for nearly forty years. She was born and raised in the Bronx and received her master's degree in art education at Massachusetts College of Art. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts, with her husband.


Supporting children with Understanding and Using Language
Understanding and using language is important to successful communication. As understanding develops, a child’s vocabulary grows, and they further develop their understanding of the world around them. The greater their vocabulary, the more able they are to express themselves.
Language skills are also important to literacy development. If a child struggles to understand and use language they are likely to find it difficult to read and write words and sentences.
A child with difficulties understanding language may:
- Not respond appropriately to instructions
- Not respond to questions or requests
- Demonstrate poor attention and listening
- Have difficulties keeping up with the learning in the classroom
- Give unusual answers to questions
- Need instructions to be repeated before being able to carry it out
- Demonstrate disruptive behaviours
Understanding language includes a range of different skills:
A child with difficulties using understanding language may:
- Not use many spoken words
- Not join words together
- Miss words from sentences
- Not use words in the correct order
- Use incorrect word endings e.g. verb tenses and plurals
- Use the wrong words for things
Spoken Language includes a range of different elements:
We work with children with a range of language difficulties, from children who are late to talk to older children who have difficulties with more complex language skills. If you are concerned about your child’s understanding or use of language you should consult a speech and language therapist.
How to help:
Comment on what is happening and what your child can see or is interested in.
For example, 'coat on', 'baby is drinking' etc.
Repeat your child's language back to them correctly.
For example, child: 'him runned', adult: 'yes, he ran!'
Extend your child's utterances by one or two words when repeating them back.
For example, child: 'car', adult: 'daddy's car', 'fast car' 'car driving' etc.


Bring the magic of music into your living room!
Classical 100 features 100 pieces of classical music, ranging from Bach to Bernstein and Handel to Haydn. You can sort the music by mood, instrument, style and historical period, or any other way that suits you.
Make musical learning more engaging
Each of the 100 pieces features its own musical challenge.
Challenge your children to complete the activities. Listen, learn and explore all 100 pieces. The challenges are fun and flexible enough to use in a number of ways – from short starter activities to longer pieces of work spanning a few hours.
Accessible and available for free this summer
You don’t have to be a music teacher to use Classical 100.
Each challenge includes a helpful guide and all the resources you may need to get started so everyone can bring the magic of music into their homes.
Play our Classical 100 quiz!
How did Classical 100 come about?
Classical 100 was developed by industry experts with a wealth of primary teaching knowledge and professional experience compiling syllabuses and other education materials, and has been rigorously tested by a broad community of teachers, music services and music education experts.
Michael Elliott, Chief Executive at ABRSM: “Classical 100 is about igniting enthusiasm for, and keeping children engaged in, music. This is really important for all of us and is part of ABRSM’s commitment to support and inspire achievement in music.”
How does the resource support the curriculum?
England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Classical 100 can be used to meet the National Curriculum’s Key Stage 1 Attainment Target: ‘to listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music’.
At Key Stage 2, it can also be used to ‘appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians’ and ‘develop an understanding of the history of music’.
The sorting tool allows you to search by historical period, giving pupils a greater understanding of how music has evolved over time. Music can also be found by instrument, helping them to recognise and identify particular qualities of tone and timbre.
Each of the 100 pieces now features its own musical challenge, encouraging students to compose and create their own music, develop their performing skills and demonstrate musical knowledge and understanding.
Classical 100 can be used to meet some of the First-level outcomes of Curriculum for Excellence, being an appropriate resource particularly for EXA 1-19a: ‘I have listened to a range of music and can respond by discussing my thoughts and feelings’.
For example, if a teacher wants to exemplify music of a gentle, calm mood, Classical 100 will lead them to a list including Grieg’s ‘Morning Mood’ from Peer Gynt Suite, or if they’re exploring energetic, dramatic music they could discover ‘O Fortuna’ from Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Classical 100 can also be used to meet a range of the Expressive Arts experiences and outcomes from Early to Second level, particularly for EXA 0-18a, EXA 1-18a, EXA 2-18a.
Inspired by a range of stimuli, and working on their own and/or with others, students can express and communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings through a range of musical activities.
From September, you can request an INSET session on Classical 100. Find out more.
Sign up for Classical 100
Join the thousands of schools already using Classical 100.
It’s simple to get started – just sign up with your primary school email address.
Classical 100 was developed in collaboration with Classic FM and Decca Classics, and is supported by the Department for Education.


How to help the students to improve their digital, civic and social competences?
Which tools can support teachers in their daily work in class?
It has been very interesting to know the Baross schools education programmes which is considerable, art education is also prominent, choir, instrumental music and drama classes work effectively and highly popular among students.
The first day of the Meeting, the students welcomed us with an intercultural performance in which a group sang and danced music presenting different cultural contexts and some students performed performing musical instruments.
The main topic of the meeting have been the outputs:
- curriculum integration methodologies,
- the Student Guide for Digital Storytelling,
- Digital Stories for Inclusion,
- the Website with the Digital Storytelling Toolbox.
All partners have discussed on the future and sustainability of the project, as well as having the opportunity to visit Budapest, the capital of Hungary. The Hungarian partner was very welcoming and friendly, the visit of the city by boat through the Danube was very appreciated.
The project ends on the 31st October but the consortium will continue to equip the schools of skills with a path of integration and interculturality.
On the project website mysty.eu you can download the Guide to students for digital storytelling to follow the step of creating a digital story.
MYSTY project – MyStory: Digital Storytelling Toolbox for Diversity in Schools is funded by the Erasmus + program – Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships Schools and aims to create innovative tools for pupils and teachers – specifically, digital storytelling – to share and introduce such teaching practice to enhance awareness on diversity within the school environment.


NSPC: What we do.
A 2018 national survey regarding the status of orchestra programs in the United States projected that there will be approximately 757 new jobs this year for string teachers (Smith, Mick, and Alexander, 2018). The population of string teachers is aging, and the number of new string education graduates does not meet current demands. This national problem has greatly limited the number of children who are able to learn to play stringed instruments. A national survey from the Give a Note Foundation (2017) on the status of music education in the public schools revealed that there is only 25% of orchestra classes offered to students in elementary school. While the availability for students in middle school orchestra classes increases, 41%, the number decreases within the high school orchestra classes, 36%.
The NSPC is attempting to address this shortage of qualified string teachers with a plan that establishes teacher-training programs at universities throughout the country. Since it is the responsibility of one generation to pass on our culture and musical heritage to the next, the NSPC is working to ensure the future of a diverse number of string players by increasing the number of young people who will be playing stringed instruments and experiencing the joys of music-making in all types of communities across the United States. The NSPC is also working to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of teachers, in every state, who will be able to teach these children the art and technique of playing stringed instruments.
The NSPC supports the creation and growth of String Projects at universities across the country. These String Projects provide practical hands-on training for undergraduate string education majors during their college years and give children the opportunity to study a stringed instrument.
The Consortium was originally formed in 1998 under the auspices of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA). It is now an independent non-profit organization working together with ASTA and other music organizations to serve string education and string development across the United States.


The curriculum for primary and secondary schools has been revised at intervals to reflect changing social and educational priorities.
‘The three Rs’
At first, primary education aimed to give children a solid grounding in ‘the three Rs’ – reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic – along with history and geography. In addition, boys were to be taught military drill and girls sewing. Some subjects were divided into branches: for instance, reading and writing included study of grammar, spelling, dictation and composition. The need to pass annual examinations governed the curriculum, and this narrow focus influenced the approach to all subjects, including singing, drawing and science, which were introduced during the 19th century.
Keeping education secular
The Education Act 1877 provided for secular education, specifically excluding any religious observances from the teaching. This was partly to prevent denominational disputes. After much debate, half an hour’s religious teaching was allowed per week, but this was deemed to be out of school hours, so that children did not have to attend it if their parents objected.
Better understanding of how children learned led to primary school curriculum changes in 1904. Some new subjects such as nature study, which involved first-hand observations and practical work, were added. In 1907 the School Journal was established to provide learning materials with New Zealand content, and to support the curriculum.
Civics and moral training had been taught formally since 1904, but during and after the First World War there was greater emphasis on preparing students to become patriotic citizens, and flag-saluting ceremonies and observance of Anzac Day and other imperial occasions became widespread in primary schools. There was also new stress on preparing children for what was seen as appropriate gender roles. In 1929 the curriculum specified woodwork for boys and home craft for girls at Form 1 and 2 (Years 7 and 8). It was not until the 1970s that both boys and girls were allowed to take cooking, sewing, woodwork and metalwork.
After the abolition of the Proficiency exam in 1936, the subjects taught in primary schools remained much the same, but there were changes in emphasis. For example, technological developments in the later 20th century prompted changes to the science and maths curriculums. Schools also had more leeway to tailor the curriculum to their own needs.
Military-related physical drill for boys was required for boys under the Education Act 1877, and team sports were always an important adjunct to study in schools. Other types of physical training took longer to develop. It was 1912 before a formal physical education syllabus, based on the British model, was introduced to New Zealand state schools.
Secondary subjects diversify
Secondary school subjects were initially very academic and, in addition to those taught at primary school, included French, Latin, Greek, algebra and geometry. Technical subjects such as typing and accounting received more attention from 1900 and, when free secondary places were introduced in 1903, some traditional secondary schools adopted them.
In the 1920s and 1930s there was debate over whether all secondary students should be taught the same subjects, or be educated according to their supposed future career. The latter view was behind the introduction of compulsory home science for Form 3 and 4 (Years 9 and 10) girls in 1917. Concern about the lower birth rate and the fashionable theory that study made adolescent girls unfit for motherhood was another reason. In district high schools all children in forms three and four had to study agricultural and dairy science from 1917.
Core secondary curriculum
Support grew for the idea of giving all junior secondary school pupils the same basic course, combining both academic and practical subjects. They could then go on to specialise in subjects of their choice. In 1942 the introduction of a core secondary curriculum removed the fundamental differences between types of secondary schools, and some gender distinctions, such as compulsory home science for girls.
More subjects, for example computer studies, were introduced over the next five decades, reflecting changes in society and the types of work available. Many subjects once thought essential, such as Latin, have virtually disappeared, and relatively new subjects, such as economics, are very popular.


By Teachers, For Teachers
October is Bullying Prevention Month, and throughout the course of the next couple weeks we’ll be spotlighting ways educators can combat this continuing problem.
Approximately 160,000 children stay home from school each day because they are being bullied. Children who are bullied suffer from depression, anxiety, and other psychological and physical health problems. By implementing anti-bullying strategies and educating students on how to recognize and respond to a bully, bullying related absences and health issues can be prevented.
Does bullying really exist among kindergarteners and first and second graders? Unfortunately the answer is yes, it does.
It seems unimaginable that such innocent young children can be capable of behaving cruelly toward their peers, but research has confirmed that bullying at this age occurs at the same rate as in the upper elementary grades.
Although the types of bullying situations may differ, the general characteristics are similar. For instance, Little Johnny is in kindergarten and asks to play with a group of classmates and they say “no.” Every day Johnny asks them to play, and they repeatedly deny him.
However, once in a while the classmates will allow him to play with them, but in order to do so he must do what they ask. He may be the group pet when playing house, or the housekeeper instead of the dad, etc. This child has no chance to defend himself and is unable to change the group dynamic; it is the teacher's job to be aware of these situations and encourage the correct behavior. Here's how:
According to researchers at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and the Stanford University School of Medicine, 9 out 10 elementary students have been bullied by their peers. Most incidents occur on the playground, bus, or in the hallway. Here are a few ways children in grades 3-5 can respond to a bully:
The National Catholic Educational Association reports that children in middle school were more likely to be bullied than those in high school. They also report that sixth graders in particular were more likely to be bullied on the bus, and were more likely sustain injuries from being bullied. Most researchers agree that bullying will continue unless schools implement a bullying prevention program where they have the teacher's full support. Here are some ways to teach bullying prevention strategies to middle school students:
According to PACER.org, the most effective way to stop bullying is to have a peer intervene. Research also shows that 15-percent of high school students say they have been bullied at one time or another. In order to ensure a safe learning environment for all students, teachers need to provide prevention strategies that will encourage students to intervene and take the steps needed to prevent bullying. Here are a few ways you can empower students to become upstanders versus bystanders:
This article originally appeared in a recent issue of TeachHUB magazine, our award-winning, downloadable publication. For more informative articles about issues affecting education, download the latest issue today!
Janelle Cox is an education writer who uses her experience and knowledge to provide creative and original writing in the field of education. Janelle holds a Master's of Science in Education from the State University of New York College at Buffalo. She is also the Elementary Education Expert for About.com, as well as a contributing writer to TeachHUB.com and TeachHUB Magazine. You can follow her at Twitter @Empoweringk6ed, or on Facebook at Empowering K6 Educators.


What is the link between “Goodnight Moon” and academic excellence?
Or how about “Green Eggs and Ham” and career success?
The question may seem like a riddle, but the answer is no joke.
Early childhood reading can have a lifelong impact on success in school, the workplace and beyond, experts say, because it is the building block of a vital skill:
A 2012 national study by The Annie E. Casey Foundation found children are four times more likely to leave high school without a diploma if they are below proficient reading level in the third grade. Three years earlier, the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported 67 percent of fourth-graders scored below proficient levels on reading tests.
A child’s literacy development from birth through early elementary school can be a strong indicator of later life success, according to the 2012 study.
That’s why reading skills need to be developed long before children enter the classroom. That’s why literacy education needs to begin as soon as children exit the womb and enter the world.
The program’s mission is to promote reading for newborns, infants, and toddlers, as well as promote bonding through reading.
I encountered 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten while researching an article about early childhood literacy for the local newspaper. The program is offered locally through Streator Public Library, but it also is available nationally. Anyone can participate for free, with or without a local facility to sponsor.
The gist is this: Read 1,000 books to your child before kindergarten. From birth to the time school starts, just read a book from cover to cover. Repeats are allowed, so if your child wants to read “Are You My Mother?” 990 times and then 10 other books, you aren’t breaking any rules.
Reading one book a night is 365 in a year. In two years, that’s 730. Three years of daily reading would be 1,095, leaving you ahead of the game with two years to spare.
In June 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement promoting daily reading with children, beginning in infancy. The 1,000 Books program is a handy starting point and good incentive to keep parents on track.
1,000 Books Before Kindergarten offers all of the resources a family needs on its website: program instructions (available in English and Spanish), reading log sheets, printouts for milestones (reaching 100 books, 200, 500, etc.), and a reading list suggesting books for youngsters.
It’s worth playing the role of Scheherazade to the children in our lives. She told 1,001 stories in 1,001 nights to save her life; surely, we can read 1,000 stories in 1,826 nights to improve our children’s academic (and lifelong) success.
- EDITOR’S NOTE: Portions of this blog post also were published in an article written for The Times newspaper (Ottawa/Streator, IL). To read the article, visit http://bit.ly/1OchPUj.


Books are an influential agent for helping children understand their homes, communities and the world. As a mother of three multiracial kids, I know how important it is to for children to see characters that resemble them in books. As a professional that works with children daily, I know it is also important for children to see people who do not look like them also. This helps them to develop an appreciation for the beauty of the cultures of others. I believe that it is important that books reflect the diversity that exists in today’s world.
Reasons to read culturally diverse books to your children are:
- They can improve a child’s cultural competence. This will help the child develop empathy towards others and facilitate acceptance of cultures different from one’s own. They can also inspire learning of other cultures and over-all cultural awareness.
- They can open up discussions about cultural roots between you and your children. They can also strengthen their individual cultural identity
- Bilingual books are a fun way to learn new languages. They also encourage multilingual and literacy development.
- I believe that it is important for immigrant, biracial and bicultural,multiracial and multicultural children to read about characters with similar experiences and emotions.
- I am always saying that books can take us anywhere we want to go. What better, not to mention cheaper way, to travel to a faraway place than in a multicultural story?
As a part of your child well-balanced reading régime please expose them to diverse cultures, people and places. I believe that this helps the child develop into a person that is culturally competent. Unfortunately, we live in a world where children are increasingly exposed to hatred and intolerance of cultural diversity; so remember to carefully choose and read your multicultural books before sharing them with your children to make sure that they are without misconceptions, stereotypes, ignorance and prejudices. There are many books that convey the beauty of the diverse cultures.
It is February, so let's celebrate Black History Month by reading children's books by Black American Authors. In honor of Black History Month, I thought I'd share a link of some book written by Black American Authors. Inside the Books Yes, I said Black American not African American but that is a post for another day.
Remember to read culturally diverse books regularly not just on cultural holidays. Now that I've said that let me shamelessly plug one of my books. You can find it on Amazon, B&N etc.


Cross Posted from innovatingplay.world
Written By Christine Pinto and Jessica Twomey
Development of mathematical thinking in young children happens in three important stages: concrete, pictorial, abstract. In order to develop a firm foundation in mathematics, children must have the opportunity to manipulate objects, show their thinking in pictures, and finally represent their ideas in mathematical symbols. As we created this interdisciplinary experience, careful thought and consideration were given to how we could capture children’s natural playful experiences to support this process as we explored number stories. Throughout this four week study, we embraced the opportunity to incorporate reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing to create and solve number stories in all three stages of development.
Week 1 – Exposure to Number Story Elements
Playing with Words
As we support children in becoming deep mathematical thinkers, we consider the practice of mathematics alongside the content. For young children developing the practice of mathematics means giving them the tools they need to communicate their ideas through language. Mathematically proficient students do not just apply strategies to solve problems, they continuously make connections and ask themselves, “Does this make sense?” In Playing With Words we help children to see connections between oral language, written words, sentence structure, and provide models for mathematical thinking in the area of reading. During this time children were developing foundational skills in print concepts, phonemic awareness, phonics and word recognition alongside the ability to process, articulate, and connect mathematical ideas.
Week 2 & 3 – Application Through Creating Number Stories
Creating with Words
After taking time to develop and work with the language of number stories, children were given the task of creating their own stories in order to apply and share their math thinking. This brought the possibility to incorporate all three phases of mathematical development into their work. The creation of individual number story books played beautifully with the process of writing development as children were able to show their thinking in pictures, words, and sentences. At the root of this experience was the opportunity to immerse children in the concept of how sentences in words AND equations are both symbolic representations of their thinking. Rather than isolating the developmental processes of reading, writing, and mathematical thinking, we were able to weave them together in order to support children in developing the richest possible foundation in all areas.
Making Number Stories with Block People on Flipgrid
Week 4 – Listening and Solving Each Other’s Number Stories
“Mathematical understanding and procedural skill are equally important, and both are assessable using mathematical tasks of sufficient richness.”
-Common Core State Mathematics Standards
As a culminating experience, a Number Story Flipgrid was created between classes. The grid was used to assess student understanding, as well as allow children an authentic audience to publish, communicate, and support learning through collaboration. Each child had the opportunity to read and act out his/her story. Recording took place one-on-one between each student and teacher, allowing for individualized guidance and checking for understanding. After all the number stories were recorded, children were able to use the Number Story Flipgrid on the Chromebooks, along with paper/pencil recording sheets, to solve number stories created by their peers. At the conclusion of this activity, children were also invited to add their number story bead to their growing memory strings.
When we begin with play, we follow the natural instincts of the child. Using guidance from research on child development we focus on building thoughtful, rich, interdisciplinary experiences. This approach supports a strong foundational knowledge, practical application, and real life learning transfer for young children. In this process we develop connected, joyful, life-long thinkers and learners with the capacity for depth in understanding, questioning, and problem solving as it relates to their surrounding world.


Parents in and around Punta Gorda and North Port know that healthy kids need proper nutrition, lots of exercise, and well-rounded lives. It’s also safe to say that for all children, a well-rounded life should include music in one form or another.
Studies have shown that music does so much more than simply entertain!
Did you know that children who are involved in some kind of musical training during school perform better in math and science? They also develop better coordination, do better in reading, concentrating, and goal setting. Studies show that students who are involved in a music education program also perform better on their SATs, and are more likely to attend college.
While it’s ideal for Sarasota, North Port, and Boca Grande parents to start their kids young, it is never too late to learn a musical instrument. Music stores in the Naples area will have great advice on age-appropriate music lessons and teachers for your curious child.
But lessons aren’t the only way! Keep an eye out in the Punta Gorda community for musical events such as the guitar army, church, school, and community performance programs. Check with Sarasota, Englewood, and Boca Grande libraries, websites, and community centers for more information.
Keep up the good work, Punta Gorda & North Port parents! Your children are lucky to have you to help them stay safe, healthy, and happy!
My name is Lynette Henk and I am very interested in kids health in Boca Grande and North Port. I am the owner of a Naples area home business that sells Healthy Chocolate Nuggets. If you are interested in learning more, visit my web site at MyCbocolateVitamins.com or give me a call at 941-216-5727.
Healthy Chocolate lover, Lynette Henk
Punta Gorda, Florida 33983
XoVitality Anti-Aging Capsules
The following online article was used as source material for this blog:
Brown, Laura Lewis, “The Benefits of Music Education”, http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-benefits-of-music-education/, accessed on October 10, 2013
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I am Lynette Henk, and I am a Punta Gorda-based XO premium dark chocolate member. I joined XO in May of 2010. I sell the industry-leading XoVitality Anti-Aging Capsules and Cold Pressed Nuggets online and in Punta Gorda, Boca Grande, Englewood, and Sarasota. Our valued North Port customers recommend High Antioxidant Nuggets because Nuggets are a great way to get the antioxidants you need to stay healthy.
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Call me at 941-216-5727 to own your own XoVitality Anti-Aging Capsules business in Punta Gorda, Boca Grande, Englewood, or Sarasota.


Music is everywhere. From before we are born we are exposed to music – high and low pitches, loud and soft sounds, steady beats and changing rhythms. We know that a child can recognise and respond to sounds from inside the womb, and that it is often the most familiar sound of all, a parent’s voice, that acts to soothe or calm a distressed baby. Exposure to music and participation in the making of music during early childhood can have a significant effect on the development of your child.
It is never too early to start, but that doesn’t mean that you need to sign your 3 month old up for lessons! Music is everywhere – it is simply a matter of being aware of opportunities to create and respond to it in everyday situations. And the good news is that you don’t have to be ‘musical’ to do this! Dr Peter deVries is a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, and is the Music Council of Australia’s early childhood music education expert. He has some tips about engaging your child in music:
As you child grows, so will their relationship with music. Visit the Huggie’s toddler development section to find out more about the developmental benefits of music for kids.


AS91635 Implement complex procedures to produce a specified digital media outcome
This workshop for teachers will run from 10am to 5pm and will be a practical introduction to one possible context for delivering this achievement standard.
The digital media outcome will be a multi-page website which integrates photographic content. The primary form of media will be “web languages” and the complex techniques covered will be “static site generation”, “dynamic data handling” and “multiple device outputs”.
For assessment purposes a student’s final outcome must incorporate original content. The production of original photographic content will not be covered in this workshop.
– Static site generation
– Page templates
– Static data
– Responsive design
– Dynamic data
– Complex layouts
– Jekyll static site generator
– Command line
– HTML and CSS
– Chrome dev tools
– Flickr API
Designed for beginners with little or no prior programming experience, Building the Web focuses on the basics of CSS/HTML and provides foundational skills for advanced coding.Details →
“It was fun and I learnt a lot of new skills that could help me in the future.”
Student, Westlake Girls High School, Auckland


With each new school year comes a brand-new set of subjects, books and teachers. It also means new technologies being introduced into the classroom.
As students head back to school, here is a look at the technologies that will support STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) learning this year.
Enter some art classes today and you may find a dearth of paints, brushes and charcoal. Today, art students can learn the same painting, drawing and sculpting techniques they previously would have learned using traditional supplies, only with digital tools instead. While the traditional mediums aren’t completely going away any time soon, today’s students can benefit from the versatility that cutting-edge tools supply, from the time a project idea is conceived through when the finished product is shared with the world.
Whether it’s an anatomical diagram of the human heart or a map of the Milky Way, every science teacher knows that a picture’s worth a thousand words, particularly when it’s a sharp, clear picture. Teachers and students are benefitting from top of the line projection technology in classrooms. The LampFree Projectors from Casio’s Core Series, for example, have the ability to project images and video wirelessly from smart phones, laptop computers and tablets, expanding teachers’ ability to create engaging lesson plans. Additionally, the mercury-free Laser and LED hybrid light source is energy-efficient, reducing power consumption by up to 40 percent, a bonus lesson in environmental stewardship.
Accessible Computer Science
Certain innovations are helping students go beyond just consuming technology. Apps abound for independent learners, as well as educators, to use in their classrooms to help computer science students of all ages and abilities to hone their coding skills. From straight-forward instructional apps to those that gamify the learning process, young coders-in-training have a wealth of resources at their fingertips.
New technology is rocking the music education boat in an effort to make learning an instrument more intuitive. For example, Casio’s LK-265 is outfitted with such tools as a Key Lighting System, Voice Fingering Guide and Step-up Lesson System, enabling beginners to learn built-in songs at their own pace. Additionally, an LCD display makes mastering music notation and correct hand positioning easy. Students don’t even have to wait for teacher feedback — the keyboards have a Scoring System that evaluates performance.
Today’s students are getting a closer look at the inner workings of mathematics than their predecessors, thanks to new graphing calculators, such as the fx-CG50 PRIZM and fx-CG500, which offer expanded features, including the ability to easily draw three dimensional graphs such as planes, cylinders and spheres, and view them from various angles to better analyze their shapes. A cross-section option and special zoom function allow students to closely examine graphs for in-depth analysis and an improved catalog function means students can use commands more easily and quickly.
As rapidly emerging technologies innovate education, it’s an exciting time to be a student or teacher.


Locusts – How Can They Eat Acres of Crops?
Locusts might seem like harmless little grasshoppers, and in many ways, they are like grasshoppers. They eat plants and they hop long distances on springy back legs. Just one locust can’t cause trouble. The problem is, locusts sometimes gather in big groups, or swarms. A swarm of locusts can stretch over 400 square miles in size and include billions of the hungry insects.
People have feared locust swarms for thousands of years. An approaching swarm looks like a big black cloud. As the swarm descends, the insects eat everything in sight – garden crops, flowers, grass and even clothes hanging on a clothes line. In poor desert countries, families can starve after locusts eat all their food.
Not So Fun Facts about Locusts for Kids
- One locust can eat its weight in plants every day. A swarm of locusts can eat up to 400 million pounds of plants each day!
- Locusts can travel long distances, so they can cause major damage. They’ve been known to fly from Africa to England!
- Locusts have even been known to swarm inside houses and eat the furniture!
- These pests have powerful jaws. The sound of a swarm of them eating can be heard from faraway.
- Some clever African tribes have learned to outsmart the locusts. When a swarm approaches, the tribe builds a big fire. The smoke confuses the locusts and they drop to the ground. The people catch them, roast them and eat them!
- Harmless: safe, causes no harm
- Springy: bouncy
- Swarm: large group
- Descend: come down
- Starve: become ill or die because of hunger
Learn More All About Locusts
Check out this video of how locusts perceive the signal to swarm:
A video explaining how locusts know they are to swarm.
Question: Do locusts live in the U.S?
Answer: Locusts live in almost every country, but they rarely cause serious damage here. In the 1800s, though, Mormon pioneers in Utah almost starved because of a locust swarm. Seagulls came and ate the locusts – saving the pioneers.
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The 9-Essential Skills
Workplace Essential Skills are defined as the skills that people use to perform a wide variety of daily life and occupational tasks.
- Workplace essential skills enable people at work to do the tasks required by their occupation, give them the basics to learn all other skills (job and life) and assist them to manage and adapt to the changing workplace environment.
- They are not the technical skills required by an occupation but are the enabling skills that are necessary in most occupations and that allow people to do their jobs successfully.
- In the example of writing, everyone will need to write on the job whether it is a simple note to co-workers or a lengthy report to administration. In both cases the frequency and degree of complexity will be different for each occupation.
- Reading Text - Reading materials in the form of sentences or paragraphs
- Document Use -Tasks that involve a variety of information displays in which words, numbers, symbols and other visual characteristics (eg. Lines, colors or shapes) are given meaning by their spatial arrangement
- Numeracy - Using numbers and thinking in quantitative terms to complete tasks
- Writing - Writing text and writing in documents, such as filling in forms, and non paper-based writing such as typing on a computer
- Oral Communication -Using speech to give and exchange thoughts and information
- Working with Others - Employees working with others to carry out their tasks
- Thinking Skills -The process of evaluating ideas or information to reach a rational decision
- Computer Use - Using different kinds of computer applications and other related technical tools
- Continuous Learning - Works participating in an ongoing process of acquiring skills and knowledge
Essential Skills are the skills people use to carry out a wide variety of everyday life and work tasks. Essential Skills are not the technical skills required by particular occupations but rather the skills applied in all occupations. For example, numeracy skills are required in a broad range of occupations. The complexity and frequency of numeracy varies, of course, some workers calculate material requirements for jobs while others use tools to take a variety of measurements. Essential Skills: Help people perform the tasks required by their occupation and other activities of daily life, provide people with a foundation to learn other skills, enhance people's ability to adapt to change.
The ACCESS ESAF series of videos demonstrate complex mathematical skills and utilize the power of visual learning. Animation and graphics are used to create a video series that is both entertaining and progressive; with layers of content creating additional visual interest and quality. The website learning platform reinforces the video content to deepen the learning experience.
The Aboriginal designed curriculum has a holistic impact. Participants gain a higher level of numeracy competency and confidence, satisfaction with the learning experience and higher achievement goals; all adding up to what is needed to improve quality of life and employment options.
Certified, skilled trades people are in high demand and there are good skilled-trades jobs in every corner of the province. Training for and working in the trades requires strong numeracy skills to succeed. We need to make sure that apprentices are prepared to enter this competitive job market, where success depends on preparation and dedication to learning especially in the area of numeracy skills.
It is our experience that students who develop a solid level of Essential Skills numeracy prior to entering into their technical training have a greater likelihood to succeed. Potential apprentices are required to attend technical training at the college level prior to beginning their work-site apprenticeship training. Sadly many are not successful due to low numeracy skills from either: being out of school for a long period of time or not having the education required to compete. The paradox is that many of the students are able to successfully complete the practical hands-on tasks however fail when it comes to the book work and written tests. Using our approach to Essential Skill building in numeracy, students are achieving a completion grade of up to 95% in their technical trades training programs.


Once or twice a year every music educator needs to go recharge their batteries a bit by attending a conference or convention in their field. I have always been blessed with administrators that understand the importance of these events, and I just returned from my yearly visit to the Iowa Music Educator's Association Convention at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. I want to tell you a bit about what I saw and learned along the way. In one session by Dr. S. Daniel Galyen of the University of Northern Iowa , I learned that the concept of mental practice and imagery is becoming much more accepted and useful in the field of music education.
I had the chance to take in several very good sessions at the IMEA conference including a very interesting one having to do with mental practice and imagery. Basically it has to do with concepts used for many years by professional athletes but that has only in the last ten years or so been applied as a tool for helping musicians and other performance artists. Musicians can use these techniques in a variety of ways and for many different purposes.
I have used the basic concept of mental repetition with my beginners (and even with high school students) for many years. My favorite among them is what I call "Say It, Think It, Fake It, Play It." I first read about this concept in one of the music education magazines a few years ago and have adapted it to my own needs. I apologize that I do not have a specific reference for the original article.
Using Mental Imagery To Help Students Learn Note Names:
For me, "Say It, Fake It, Think It, Play It," has always made my students show immediate and obvious improvement during lessons when I have students that are unable to learn the notes of the staff on their own. Many of these students insist that the only way they can play is if they write in the letter names of all of their notes. Whenever I have a student like this I pull out an easy finger exercise (without anything written on it) and have the student say the names of the notes. Even if it takes them thirty seconds to go one measure, we still say the note names and do not write them down. Next, we say the note names again while combining this with fingering the notes. Third, we move the fingers while thinking the note names in our head. Finally we play the notes while actively thinking the notes in our head at the same time. In each of these cases if a student is having difficulty you repeat that segment until they are able to do it cleanly and quickly. As an assignment the student is asked to practice the fingering exercises, one or two measures at a time but they are not allowed to write in any notes.
In most cases using this strategy will be painfully slow at first, but the more they do it the better they get at it. In many cases the results are immediately obvious, although one often wonders if the initial improvement is due to rote repetition or to true learning. Over time it does work, especially if you can convince the student that doing the same thing at home will help him progress that much faster. If you are looking for something to use with a student that is having difficulties with learning notes or with playing a difficult passage in an etude, try it out and see if you get similar results.


ACT vs. SATThe two most common college entrance exams are the ACT and the SAT. Some schools accept both exams, others require one or the other. Typically students should start taking these exams in 11th grade.
There are many factors to consider when looking at which college entrance exam to take. Historically, ACT exams were accepted by many mid-west school and SAT exams were preferred on states on the east or west coast. A student may also look at the subject tests of each particular test to try and showcase their strengths.
The ACT includes 215 multiple-choice questions and takes approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes to complete, including a short break (or just over four hours if you are taking the ACT Plus Writing). For more details about the ACT, click here.
ACT Test Prep
The SAT tests the reading, writing and math skills that you learn in school and that are critical for success in college and beyond.
For more details about the SAT, click here.
Students should first look to see which exam the colleges they are interested in require. Many students choose to take both in an attempt to get the highest score possible as well as taking each specific exam more than once.
ACT is by far the most common college entrance exam that Forest Lake students take.To register for the ACT go to www.actstudent.org , the Forest Lake High School code is 240-865
Please note the high school can not register students for this exam. You must register online.For either exam, spend time preparing before your first test. If you have an idea of the content questions and how to manage your time, you will be less anxious and frustrated by the test, which will in turn enable you to score better.
The ACT will be offered to current juniors on Tuesday, February 25 during the school day. This is the only opportunity to take the test during the school day. National test dates after the 2/25 test are: 4/4/20, 6/13/20, and 7/18/20. All students should plan to earn a score with which they are happy by September of their senior year. Forest Lake is almost always a test site for the national test dates; however, you must register with ample time to guarantee a spot in Forest Lake. Go to act.org to register.
National test dates for the SAT are: 3/14/20, 5/2/20, and 6/6/20. All students should plan to earn a score with which they are happy by September of their senior year. Go to collegeboard.org to register.
The PSAT test is taken by 11th grades. It is the Pre-SAT test. It entails critical reading skills, math problem-solving skills, and writing skills. Top 11th grade scores nationwide qualify students for National Merit Scholarships. This test will take approximately three hours. We encourage all 11th grade students at Forest Lake Area High School to take the test to see how prepared they are for post secondary education and to identify learning areas that they can improve upon.
* PSAT registration closes 09/13/19 for the 10/16/19 test. You can find the registration form here.
The ASVAB is a required test to enter any branch of the military. The test plays a very large role in determining what job you will be assigned and trained for once you enlist. Additionally, the ASVAB is a free test that provides valuable feedback. Typically, the ASVAB is offered one time during second semester after school.


One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, Leopold Stokowski, once said, ‘A painter paints pictures on canvas, but musicians paint their pictures on silence.’ In both cases, both have virtually nothing to work on or start with except inspiration and passion.
Working from and with nothing can be tough, to say the least, and such is the challenge faced by musical composers. However, the minute a combination of notes starts streaming into their consciousness, they grab a music sheet and begin putting on paper those notes. They then grab a musical instrument and start playing those notes. Another musical composition is then in the works.
If you like your child to spend his spare time on something worthwhile instead of staying for hours in front of a computer or with his tablet or smartphone, why not enroll him in music lessons? There are certain benefits of music education, and here are some of them:
Brain development – Certainly, there are many other ways by which your child’s brain can develop. But musical training can help develop areas in the brain that involve language and reasoning while your child also enjoys the reinvigorating sound of musical notes. There are recent studies that show that taking music lessons can physically develop the part of the left side of the brain known to be involved in language processing.
Learning how to think creatively – Students of music are usually faced with many situations where they have to think creatively and even solve problems at the drop of a hat, especially if he’s playing music that requires improvisations in some parts.
Providing self-expression – People express themselves more effectively in certain ways. One of the many ways someone can express himself is by playing a musical instrument or by singing – or both. Studying music can help your child touch base with his core, and once he knows his true essence, it would be easier for him to express what’s deep within him.
Conquering fear – That may sound like something that would fall under the field of psychology, but believe it or not, enrolling in music lessons can help your child conquer fear and even take risks. Studying music helps your child deal with anxiety, and dealing with anxiety early in life will make it easier for him to deal with future anxieties or apprehensions.
These are just some of the many benefits you can get if you let your child have musical training. You’ll certainly do him and yourself a big favor if you get him into this type of education early in life.


Check it Renegades! Below is Part One of two posts by Judith Vogel. She’s a fellow with me at the Institute for Rowing Leadership, among other awesome things. Plus she loves the color Orange! Let us know what you think of agility and rowing! Post how you might use these drills in practice and check out the Tools page for more examples.
There is a considerable amount of available research on the positive effects of agility in power-based sports such as tennis, soccer, and skiing. Agility requires a combination of neuromuscular recruitment and a sense of timing, or coordination of muscle groups, in order to effect a change in direction. Agility is used to train powerful planned, and reactive, changes in direction. It is conventional knowledge that movements in endurance sports are too ‘slow’ to require a great deal of agility training. Most endurance sports are cyclical and the demand for change in direction may not necessarily involve enormous changes in power.
Steve Fairbairn, who completed his seminal [rowing] coaching in England in the 1930’s, describes all sport as dynamic and that they all require posture, control, timing, balance, and touch. All components of sport can be classified under one or more of these five principles. Agility can be defined as a kinesthetic rhythm, or sense of timing, as it applies to the sequencing of muscle groups.
Motor Skill Development
From an early age, children learn how to manipulate their center of mass in order to navigate their environment. This begins with very basic movements such as running, jumping, climbing, ducking, balancing, and rolling. Over the course of development the child learns how coordinate their movements in more complex, or sport specific, movements. Motor learning is highly dependent on kinesthetic schemas, which form over time. These schemas begin with a vocabulary of basic movements upon which the person elaborates as the complexity of the environment changes. Agility, balance, and rhythm based exercises give the athlete a kinesthetic vocabulary from which they can build complex movements.
Neuromuscular training determines the athlete’s ability to coordinate the movements of multiple muscle groups. Movement coupling has been utilized to train the athlete to respond in a dynamic environment. The incorporation of unplanned agility sequences requires the athlete to coordinate motor groups according to perceived degrees of freedom in their environment. As the athlete develops in their ability to coordinate movements their body is better able to complete the sequence by recruiting the appropriate muscle groups.
Rowing is predominantly a horizontal movement during the drive and recovery phases of the stroke. There is no dramatic change in spatial position, as compared to soccer or football, and the athlete applies power in a unidirectional manner. This consistency in movement is a sharp contrast to the transition points of the catch and the finish. During the transitions, the athlete must integrate both horizontal and vertical sequences of movement with in a very narrow time frame. Literature has supported the notion that agility is a trainable motor skill, which can be improved through progressive practice.


By Margaret Mary Policastro, Diane Mazeski, and Noreen Wach
This material is derived from discussions that took place when 5th- through 8th-grade students were getting ready for an interactive read-aloud and being introduced to the book 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery (2016). Hearing these questions posed, we were quite curious and interested in how the students would react as the teacher asked them to write their responses on a white board. As we moved around to get a glimpse and catch the responses, the students were engaged, serious, and appropriate. The responses included a range of topics such as “Human Rights,” “Equality,” “Animal Kindness,” “Freedom,” and “World Peace” (see Figure 1).
This book, compiled by experts in the filed of literacy language arts education, will provide support for educators as well as valuable knowledge in literacy development in areas such as language arts block, including whole group, small group, writing, and differentiation. Capstone publishing ensures “the quick tips and suggestions within will reinforce current practices while providing an invaluable go-to reference” (capstonepub.com).
Dr. Margaret Policastro gives a snapshot of what literacy looks like in today’s classroom and the support on how to make that home-to-school connection.
How to implement:
The joy of reading continues at home — in the kitchen, doing the laundry, painting a room, wherever!
What a wonderful book to share on parent’s night, at open house, during parent teacher conferences, and in your newsletter’s home. Parents are partners in education and the tips and strategies in this book will strengthen the home-to-school alliance.
Discuss the book in a staff meeting and decide what might be included in the weekly principal’s newsletter. Ask your students to share their favorite stories that are read at home. Ask your parents to volunteer and come and read to the class. Children should view their parents as life long learners. You may need to help prepare the parent before, perhaps showing them a few techniques you use to model reading.
This book, authored by Dr. Margaret Policastro and Dr. Becky McTague, infuses best practices of the new balanced literacy model through the lens of Common Core with support in read-alouds, independent reading and writing, language and literacy, and several other areas.
This must-read book will be the vehicle that will take you through the process of meeting the new instructional demands of the Common Core State Standards in the new balanced literacy model. This book can be used as a solo read or as a professional read for you and your colleagues. It doesn’t matter where in the process you are of looking at your practice with a new lens. Live with a chapter at a time, take notes in the margins, bring questions to your teaching partners, provide successes, and “rethinks” at your meetings. Hard to find common time to meet? You can create a web document and meet virtually. Additionally there is an educational goldmine of goodies in the appendices.
It is true that “assessment drives instruction”. This resource, authored by Dr. Margaret Policastro, Dr. Becky McTague, and Dr. Diane Mazeski, can easily be used as a professional read for teachers, staff and administrators. The seven chapters can be assigned to read for grade level meetings, grade band meetings, jigsaw activities for faculty meetings. These readings should be used to build capacity, deprivatize instruction and develop rich conversations. Nothing happens overnight in changing a culture of a school. This book will guide you through the steps. Be patient, change will come.


Amy Woodgate | Head of Junior and Middle Schools
“We need to actually teach kids that books aren’t like broccoli. No adult ever read a book because it’s good for us. We read because it’s fun.”
Jackie French (Australian Author)
Literacy is much more than writing a story, sending an email or increasing a child’s reading age. It is the ability to engage in the world, both inside and outside of the classroom, both now and into the future. Literacy is a fundamental skill for learning across all subject areas.
Providing children with a language-rich environment at home and at school is an important way of supporting their literacy development. A language-rich environment exposes a child to a variety of words, texts and images for reading, writing, listening and creating. They are able to hear and use interesting vocabulary, explore information, and experiment with ways of making meaning and sharing ideas. Playing with words, hearing words like ‘spectacular’, ‘ginormous’, ‘radiant’ and ‘enticing’, even at a very young age, teaches children that language can be fun and that they can understand the meaning of words that they may not yet be able to actually decode or write.
Reading is a thinking task. Effective readers do more than simply decode the words in a text. Effective readers think about what they have read, and they know how to use their prior knowledge to access, understand, use and evaluate a text. Good readers are flexible in how they approach a text and know that each reading task may have a different purpose. They may read for pleasure or they may read to gather information. They may read a text designed to persuade, or they may be asked to read a text that requires a response. Good readers read for understanding, for information and for enjoyment.
Mem Fox is passionate about books and our children developing a love of reading. In her text, ‘Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud To Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever’, Mem explains that she wants reading aloud to a child ‘to sound like chocolate’. It should be enjoyable for everyone involved. It can be a time to play with language, to discuss themes from the story, to look at letters, sounds and rhyme, and a time to just simply enjoy delightful storytelling.
Mem Fox has developed her ‘Ten Read Aloud Commandments’ as a way to encourage children, families and teachers to develop a love for reading.
Last week, SCOTS PGC College celebrated Book Week 2019. The theme for this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week was ‘Reading is my secret power’. The aim of this week is to celebrate Australian children’s literature and bring children and books together. At SCOTS PGC College, our students thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to take part in the book character parade. We saw everything from Olga the Brolga to Mary Poppins to Harry Potter. There were superheroes, kings, queens, princesses, book fairies and everything in between. It was certainly a celebration of books!
The inaugural Book Week Family Night initiated by Mrs Peterson was also a wonderful way to come together as a school community, share a meal, and most importantly, share a book. It was lovely to see some of our staff, our School Captains and Senior Prefects also come along and share their love of reading with our younger students.
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Children ages 2-4 will explore centers that focus on science, technology, engineering, art and math. Preschool Prep includes circle time, story time, a lesson with correlating art project and center time. Our curriculum and teaching philosophy is based on developmental play through STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math). We foster and encouraging independence while children explore and play. Parents or caregivers stay in the classroom with the child, and independence is gained gradually as the child begins to play and interact with peers without assistance.
Gifted & Talented Test Prep
Have your child learn from the teacher parents rave about, Richie, the owner of Standout Learning. Richie will engage your child in various hands on activities to enrich their strengths and weaknesses in order to prepare them for the Gifted and Talented Assessment.
Mind Body Music
A combination of play, music education and mindfulness that allows children to be exactly who they are, and have a blast connecting through music. This class includes: • Stimulating play with puppets, bubbles, instruments, and surprise props • Music education through fun songs and games to develop musical aptitude • Captivating breathing techniques and basic yoga poses as the children grow • Different themes to explore through music • Entertaining music everyone can sing along to • Connection with each individual student to ensure an inclusive and safe environment