Books & Music
Food & Wine
Health & Fitness
Hobbies & Crafts
Home & Garden
News & Politics
Religion & Spirituality
Travel & Culture
TV & Movies
Archive by Date | Archive by Article Title
Person First Language Awareness
Person First Language is a natural way of communicating about people with disabilities that respectfully acknowledges each person's dignity. Individuals with disabilities experience more discrimination and bullying when a diagnosis is given more significance than their personhood.
Sleep Disorders and Children with Special Needs
Sleep apnea, sleep disordered breathing, snoring, restlessness and other breathing problems during sleep can have serious consequences for preemies, babies and children with special needs
Sunblocking Clothing and Laundry Rinses
Using clothing or a laundry additive as a sunblock has been in the news recently - especially for those who donīt reapply sunblock lotion every two hours, or those who have had skin cancer
Music Education - Every Voice Heard
Children with special needs benefit from participation in school music programs, expressing themselves by playing instruments, writing and singing songs, learning and being included in the arts.
Pollutants in Umbilical Cord Blood, Breast Milk
Although pollutants have been found in umbilical-cord blood, contaminants in breast milk, PCBs and even Teflon in human blood, babies are born healthy and strong, and those with special needs born today have a better chance for a good quality of life and richness of experience.
Memory Loss Reversed in Mice - Down Syndrome and Alzheimers Disease Research Breakthroughs
Many parents are concerned to learn that plaques that are seen in the brains of older people with Alzheimers Disease also appear in relatively young adults with Down syndrome, although fewer show symptoms of AD
Gifts for Children Who Have a Disability
When a baby, toddler or child is diagnosed with a disability, useful presents are often the same gift that you would already want to buy
Signing, Reading and Spelling for Communication
Sign language, learning to read, write and spell, and other forms of communication are also eloquent ways to speak to one another
Perceptions of New Mothers, Newly Diagnosed Babies
When my daughter was born, I was surprised that my role in the world seemed to shrink down to being only her mother. When her brother was born, that role seemed to shrink further - I was the mom of a child with Down syndrome. What happened to my history and experience before children?
Children with Learning Disabilities
Children with LD may not be diagnosed with a learning disability until they have faced years of struggle in classrooms and community programs
Pages of Results:
Website copyright © 2015 Minerva WebWorks LLC. All rights reserved.


New Graphic Cabinet of the Collection of Prints and Drawings in St George’s Convent
March 16 – June 13, 2010
Women and art – a pairing of words that long meant only women as the subject of art. In the Czech lands, women assumed an active role in art in the nineteenth century. Contemporary opportunities meant women’s art focused on painting and drawing, but interest in graphic techniques also existed. However, the position of graphic art in the spectrum of professions open to women had two poles – while it was not contradictory to the idea that detail work was suitable for women, mastery of the necessary techniques required specialized skills that were usually difficult to acquire. Nevertheless, women engaged in graphic art from its very beginnings.
The National Gallery in Prague offers a wide cross-section of 19th-century women’s graphic art in Bohemia from among the artworks in its Collection of Prints and Drawings. The exhibition opens with artwork by aristocratic women who were the first to receive a good art education. Their activities in art, including graphic art, played a role in society’s recognition of women as artists.
The first professional women artists found themselves in a different situation than their aristocratic counterparts, often taking an untrodden path that offered nothing but an uncertain livelihood and frequently forced them to relinquish the traditional role of wife and mother. The exhibition looks at the activities of widows who took over the copper-engraving workshops of their late husbands. In the second half of the 19th century, women graphic artists began to produce fashion pictures and embroidering patterns in ladies‘ magazines. This period brought the first women’s schools offering classes in graphic techniques, particularly woodcut. Owing to this education, women found jobs in book and picture magazine illustration as early as the 1870s, making a name for themselves at home and abroad. The Cabinet also presents the artwork of Zdenka Braunerová’s contemporaries, whose activities significantly helped invigorate the graphic art genre in Bohemia.
St George’s Convent
Jiřské náměstí 33
Prague 1 – Prague Castle
Transport: Tram 22, 23 – Pražský hrad


Jurij Štrbenk (2012) Music education in first triad of special school with lower educational standard. Diploma thesis.
Music education has an important influence on holistic and balanced development on students in special schools with lower educational standard. It is important that special educators are aware of this fact and that they are competent to teach music. While teaching music in special school with lower educational standard, special educators must take into consideration the basic principles of special education as well as professional and educational principles of music education. The principle that is especially worth mentioning is the principle of individualization. It insurances that students with developmental and intellectual disabilities will obtain an individual approach regarding their special needs and their strong areas of interests. The music education however should not take place just within formal curriculum. More and more often we talk about including music in every leek of students everyday live in school. Special educators who work in first triad of special school with lower educational standard have lots of opportunities to include music in other school activities. In addition to special and music educational highlights, in this diploma thesis I presented some examples of specific activities, especially those combining music education with everyday school life, what in my opinion is the most important. I named the prepared didactic material Didactic Alphabeth for Teachers who teach in the first triade of Special School with lower educationl standard. I asked special educators who responded to my survey, to access teaching material, that I prepared. In their opinion, the material is useful and appropriate. The survey also indicates lack of special educator’s competence when talking about teaching music. It also indicates that special educators do not attribute enought importance to music in the sense of holistic development of children with special needs.
|Item Type:||Thesis (Diploma thesis)|
|Keywords:||didactic of music, special pedagogic, music education, special school with lower educational standard, holistic development|
|Number of Pages:||83|
|Language of Content:||Slovenian|
|Mentor / Comentors:|
|Link to COBISS:||http://www.cobiss.si/scripts/cobiss?command=search&base=50126&select=(ID=9171785)|
|Institution:||University of Ljubljana|
|Department:||Faculty of Education|
|Date Deposited:||11 Apr 2012 12:44|
|Last Modified:||11 Apr 2012 12:44|
Actions (login required)


Strategies for Developing a University-Sponsored Youth Sports Summer Camp: The Success of a Camp Takes Careful Strategic Planning
Walsh, David, JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance
During the summer, universities leave the opportunity to serve the health, physical activity, and educational needs of youths through on-campus camps. An example is Hellison's (2003) Neighborhood Scholar Program, in which high school students helped run a summer camp for younger students as a form of citizen and career education. Other camps have had various goals from having fun to enhancing psychological and medical benefits (Cutforth & Puckett, 1999; Moons et al., 2006; Newton, Watson, Kim, & Beacham, 2006).
For the past five summers, the Department of Kinesiology at San Francisco State University (SFSU) has run a self-sufficient, fee-based, physical activity and youth sports summer camp on the university campus. The Gator Youth Sports Summer Camp--named after the school's mascot--runs for six weeks in the summer, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Boys and girls ages 7 to 14 are separated into four groups based on age and offered a variety of developmentally appropriate sports and physical activities. The groups rotate through four different one-hour stations each day. The camp always begins the first Monday after public school lets out for summer vacation to accommodate parents. It aims to enhance self-esteem and self-confidence through physical activity and sports instruction, in addition to promoting fitness and motor skill development. While we welcome new participants, it is our vision to have as many of the same youths attend the camp every year, further developing their connection with the university and camp instructors, and enhancing their confidence, motor skills, and enjoyment of a variety of physical activities.
The purpose of this article is to provide the "lessons learned" through the development of this camp. When initiating Gator Youth Sports Summer Camp (hereafter, Gator Camp), we underestimated the tasks, university bureaucracy, responsibilities, time, and "nuts and bolts" it would take to make it a successful, ongoing operation. While each university will vary in the details, this article focuses on the administrative components of the camp and does not attempt to address the specific goals, objectives, strategies, and evaluation of the benefits to the participants. However, we do suggest that the primary processes and outcomes align with a positive youth-development approach, by promoting active participation and caring relationships and focusing on the emotional, social, and physical growth of the individuals (Fraser-Thomas, Cote, & Deakin, 2005; Hellison, 2011; Holt, 2008; Perkins & Noam, 2007; Petitpas, Cornelius,Van Raalte, & Jones, 2005).
This article will describe five strategies and considerations for maximizing the success of an on-campus camp: (1) meeting the university's tripartite mission, (2) navigating university bureaucracy, (3) organizing and implementing a marketing strategy, (4) hiring and managing employees, and (5) planning for risk management and safety. In addition, table 1 provides a list of questions to consider when preparing for a camp.
Table 1. Questions in Preparation for Camp
1. What will be the full-capacity instructor-to-child ratio?
2. How many participants will be allowed in the camp in total?
3. Where will the participants get dropped off and picked up?
4. How will a parent pick up a child who needs to leave early?
5. Will nonparents be allowed to pick up the participants?
6. What will be the charge for late pick-ups
7. What is the university refund policy?
8. If a child is not old enough, but is very athletic, can he or she still attend?
9. Are there any other camps at the university or locally that can help create a full-day option for working families?
10. Can families add on more weeks once the camp begins?
11. Will food and/or water be offered?
12. Do the participants need to bring any physical activity equipment? …


Making a Difference in the Classroom with Early Literacy Instruction
Smith, Sylvia B., Baker, Scott, Oudeans, Mary Karen, Teaching Exceptional Children
How can professional development programs help early childhood teachers with their instructional programs-so that children at risk of having reading delays instead show great improvement in skills and understanding? We found two effective dimensions of a professional development program in early literacy:
* Adoption of a dynamic early literacy assessment system.
* Teacher implementation of researchbased early literacy practices.
In this article, we focus on the link between changes in teachers' conceptual knowledge and student performance. We show how teachers used the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment system (Good & Kaminski, 2000), and we describe significant changes in teacher practice and student performance on foundational skills in early literacy.
Evolution of Instructional Changes
Every kindergarten and first-grade teacher wonders, "How can I help all children in my room learn to read successfully and on time?" A kindergarten classroom teacher and a Title I early literacy teacher at Glendale Elementary School wanted to better prepare their students for reading and made some major changes in how and what they taught every day in the classroom. The solutions they came up with resulted in significant improvements in how prepared their students were for learning to read. These teachers work in a school that presented a number of challenges to their goal of preparing all students to be successful readers. The percentage of children on free or reduced lunch was approximately 85 %, and many students came to school not well prepared to learn the academic and social routines of kindergarten. The school had the highest poverty level in the district; it also had the highest mobility rate. In addition, approximately 15%-20% of the children were English-language learners.
Despite these challenges and as a result of participating in the 4-year professional development project, the success these teachers had in preparing all their students for reading was substantiated. Other kindergarten teachers in the district heard about the success these teachers had in changing the Glendale kindergarten program; typically, the first thing they wanted to know was what curriculum the teachers used. The two teachers responded by saying, "It's not the curriculum-it's the way the curriculum is used that really seems to make the difference.
The next section describes two themes that emerged from a recently completed 4-year professional development project that seemed to be most influential in leading to effective and sustained changes in teacher practice (Baker, Smith, Kame'enui, McDonnell, & Gallop, 1999).
Themes of Sustained Change in Teacher Practice
Two themes underlie why the Glendale teachers suggested that the way the curriculum was implemented (and not the specific curriculum they used) made the difference between successful and problematic learning for many of their students (Baker et al., 1999). The themes were recurrent throughout the cases where changes in teacher practice were most effective and valued by the school (see Figure 1).
Teachers acquired a deep instructional understanding of the rationale for the changes being considered. They had multiple opportunities to try new instructional practices in the classroom, and they received specific feedback about implementation during ongoing professional development activities.
The presence of a school-based assessment system provided sensitive and frequent information on how well children were learning important concepts.
Together, these two themes complemented each other in a way that demonstrated a bridge between research and practice.
Acquiring Conceptual and Applied Knowledge About Now Instructional Practices
We gradually introduced teachers to relevant aspects of the early-literacy research base during a series of professional development meetings. …


Oro students first off the mark to play Riskland
By Noreen Chambers
July 2012, Popondetta, Papua New Guinea: Twelve-year-old Archie Ohusa still holds distressing memories of his home town, Popondetta, ravaged by a cyclone five years ago and he fears it can happen again.
Archie was only eight years old in 2007 when he witnessed category 3 severe tropical Cyclone Guba lash across Oro Province, leaving in its wake a devastating trail of destruction that swept away roads and bridges, and damaged food gardens, family homes, schools and other infrastructure. His family joined many other families and camped out in a church yard after their homes flooded that unforgettable day.
“I was frightened because this was the first time for me to see something like this and I was worried about losing our house,” Archie recalls.
Up to 2000 homes were completely destroyed and some 9,500 people displaced when Cyclone Guba devastated this coastal province. A reported 149 people died while close to 58,000 people who needed assistance could not be helped immediately because flood waters destroyed and washed away 56 bridges and culverts making assistance delivery very challenging.
Now a fourth grader at Sorovi Primary School, Archie relates his experience to UNICEF officers who are at his school to introduce the Riskland Game.
Riskland is a fun-filled educational board game aimed at providing lower primary school students with an understanding of what disaster reduction and risk management is all about. The game conveys messages that help students understand how some actions can reduce the impact of disasters, while others can increase our vulnerability. When students play the game, they learn about what they can do to reduce disaster impacts by answering questions and advancing along the boards winning path or going back several spaces for actions that increase our vulnerabilities
Sorovi Primary School is the first school in the country to play the Riskland Game. Popondetta was chosen as the first province to trial the game because of its vulnerability to flooding disasters. Head teacher, Letercia Genau is pleased her school is chosen to be the first to trial the game.
“We had to close the school for a period of time in 2007 when Cyclone Guba struck and our students were forced to stay home. Many families lost their homes and food gardens. Certain areas around the school become water logged when it rains continuously and I’m happy that this game will help my students to learn about disaster preparedness. Children learn better if it is done in a fun way,” Mrs. Genau says.
Before the students can play the game, UNICEF’s Education Officer for Early Childhood Care and Development, Cathy Patuvii takes the teachers through one hour of in-service training to demonstrate how the Riskland Game can be integrated into the existing curriculum and classroom lessons to make it more meaningful.
Based on the lower primary school curriculum, Cathy explains a unit of work that has been developed to integrate the Riskland Game into the curriculums subject strands – Literature, Social Science, Community Living and Environmental Studies. The teachers find the integration very useful and are keen to start using the game in their lessons.
Shortly after the in-service training, a chorus of voice rings out: “You helped to clean a polluted river. Advance six steps”. Sorovi Primary School fourth graders are spread out on the school lawn in groups of six and are playing Riskland. Archie’s group is getting the hang of the game and his team mates read out the instructions as a team player lands on square 6 and he is instructed to advance six spaces because his action to clean a polluted river will help reduce the negative impact of a flooding disaster.
To make learning about disaster fun for the youngsters, Riskland includes several risk activities, a work book for teachers and 20 worksheets for students.
Riskland was first developed by International Strategy for Disaster Reduction of the United Nations for children in Latin America and the Carribbean. UNICEF adapted the game to the Papua New Guinea context. The Department of Education is distributing Riskland to all schools in the country.
It is hoped that a young generation of school children, through playing Riskland, will teach their families and communities about natural hazards and help develop a culture of not only risk reduction but risk prevention as well


Illuminating one of the most pervasive issues of our time, Popular Culture is the first book to link the importance and implications of popular culture with pedagogical practice. It shows how cultural forms such as Hollywood films, pop music, soap operas, and televangelism are organized by gender, age, class, race, and ethnicity, thus providing the contradictory text that both enables and disables emancipatory interest, so fundamental to the formation of self and society. What emerges is a redefinition of the very notion of popular culture.
Related books and articles
Cross-Cultural Communication and Aging in the United States By Hana S. Noor Al-Deen Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997
Children on the Streets of the Americas: Homelessness, Education, and Globalization in the United States, Brazil, and Cuba By Roslyn Arlin Mickelson Routledge, 2000
Community Television in the United States: A Sourcebook on Public, Educational, and Governmental Access By Linda K. Fuller Greenwood Press, 1994
Analyzing Mass Media through Video Art Education: Popular Pedagogy and Social Critique in the Work of Candice Breitz By Spont, Marya Studies in Art Education, Vol. 51, No. 4, Summer 2010
Toward a Playful Pedagogy: Popular Culture and the Pleasures of Transgression By Duncum, Paul Studies in Art Education, Vol. 50, No. 3, Spring 2009
American Popular Culture/La Culture Populaire Americaine By Andre J M Prevos Journal of American Culture (Malden, MA), Vol. 19, No. 2, Summer 1996
Peer-reviewed publications on Questia are publications containing articles which were subject to evaluation for accuracy and substance by professional peers of the article's author(s).
America, the Pop Culture Superpower: Our Popular Culture Distorts Who We Really Are and Fuels Hostility By Royal, Robert National Catholic Reporter, Vol. 42, No. 42, September 29, 2006
Korean War Vets Missing from Popular Culture By Van Ells, Mark D. VFW Magazine, Vol. 90, No. 11, August 2003
Talk like an Egyptian: Is Arab Popular Culture Uniformly Anti-American? By Freund, Charles Paul Reason, Vol. 36, No. 6, November 2004
TV Show Asks: 'When Is Something a Classic?' ; Popular Culture Pundits Reexamine America's Icons By The Christian Science Monitor, November 23, 2001
Popular Culture's Spread in a Post-Cold-War World By Keith Henderson, writer of The Christian Science Monitor The Christian Science Monitor, March 30, 1992
The Mormon Church as It Wants to Be Seen ; Museum Strives to Lift Latter-Day Saints' Stature in U.S. Popular Culture By Rothstein, Edward International Herald Tribune, April 25, 2012


Our school is sorely lacking in the area of art education. I say that without shame or guilt because I would guess that 90% of our schools are suffering from the same fate. As we require more and more from our students in the areas of language and math something has to go. There are only so many dollars in the budget, so many teachers on staff, and so many hours in the day. And it is a fact of life that most administrators, teachers, and even parents, don’t envision the average student going on to a career in painting. Even though less than 2% of college football players go on to an NFL career, we pin our hopes on sports rather than the arts.
However, I would like to remind everyone that education is more than just preparation for employment- at least that was the original intention. In the “olden days” when I was a child education was supposed to make us “well-rounded informed citizens” and prepare us for life. Part of that life was to include hobbies, avocations, and interests that would contribute to the culture of our nation, not just the economy. Now it seems that “career prep” is the major focus of education. And we can see by the unemployment rate how well that has turned out in the past!
Last week a simple project in my kindergarten class reminded me of how much information I glean about my students from how they approach and complete an art project. And yesterday we went through the same process with a new project. Essentially had the same responses from the same children! That has to mean something. If a child consistently has difficulty with directions, even though they are given verbally and visually, something is amiss. If a child always places things upside down or in illogical positions I pay attention. Can he see and hear clearly? Does he process information correctly? If a child insists on coloring everything red I question why, because I once had a child who watched violent movies at home and equated red with the blood in the movies. Another child colored things odd colors because he was color blind.
And of course it is immediately apparent that some children have better developed fine motor skills than their peers. Some have more creativity. Some have a desire to do art, while others avoid it. Everything works together to give me a better understanding each child’s strengths and weaknesses.
I studied art in college. I’ve researched art therapy. I’ve dabbled in painting and observed the techniques of others. I’ve worked with children in one capacity or another for over forty years. I hope that in our race toward higher expectations for reading, writing, and arithmetic we don’t overlook the value of drawing, painting, and other creative endeavors.


The Prussian threat has gone: so, too, should state schools
THE scholarly paper of the week is Class, Gender and English Women's Sport 1890-1914. This study by Dr Kathleen McCrone of the University of Windsor, Canada, explores the history of schoolgirls' sports.
The paper is important because it provides the only readily available description of how the schools were nationalised. Dr McCrone thus explains why, this week, too many children will return to state schools that are bog standard.
State schools sink for the same reasons all nationalised industries sink: they are deprived of autonomy, of competitive pressures and of investment. But people will not privatise them. Most industries improve for being privatised, but people fear that the private sector would fail the poor, so they believe the schools must remain nationalised.
Yet systematic education was introduced into England by the Church, not the state. And the education was indeed systematic, with each parish having access to a church school. There were more than 12,000 elementary church schools by 1891, and the Church's enterprise in mass education was so successful that, throughout the 19th century, British literacy rates exceeded those on the Continent.
But the church schools had their enemies. The Liberals resented the Church as the "Tory Party at Prayer", and introduced successive state education Bills in the Commons. Swayed by the bishops who sat there, though, the Lords vetoed every Bill. Only in 1870 did the Lords pass the famous Act to create state schools.
Between 1870 and 1891, the state and church schools competed levelly - and the state schools lost: practically nobody attended them, and their over-provision created more than a million empty school places.
It was the Conservatives under Lord Salisbury who nationalised the church schools. The Tories, worried by the German threat, wanted the schools to teach military drill, but the church schools refused to become Prussian academies. So, in 1891, Salisbury made the state schools an offer: he would abolish their fees if they taught military drill.
Fees were then 10 shillings a year (except for the children of the poor who, at both state and church schools, were educated free) but, Salisbury suggested, if their fees were abolished, the state schools might attract pupils. To pay for the "free" state schools, Salisbury did not double the income tax of the rich; instead he doubled the domestic rates, the tax that preferentially hit ordinary people.
Under this double whammy of targeted taxes and "free" schools, a third of all parents had, by 1902, transferred their children from church to state schools. The church schools thus found their margins so squeezed that they had to apply for government grants - which were provided only if they accepted local authority control and if they introduced . . . military drill.
The story is unexpected, because most people assume that a Left-wing government introduced free schools to educate the poor. As a result, it is almost impossible to persuade people of its veracity, particularly as the facts are available only in specialised tomes. But Dr McCrone's scholarly paper is accessible on a Google web search.
The 1891 Elementary Education Act nationalised the church schools and saved the state schools, but only Dr McCrone's paper readily, if only in passing, shows why the money was provided - not to educate the poor, who were already being educated, but to bribe the schools into introducing military drill.
This week, millions of children will return to state establishments that were nationalised to provide the cannon fodder of Flanders. Every few years they get disrupted by White Papers that, like yesterday's, reverse earlier policies and introduce new, damaging contradictions and confusions. Let those schools now go the way of National Service.
- The author is the vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham


Art Education at the Turn of the Tide: The Utility of Narrative in Curriculum-Making and Education Research
Rolling, James Haywood, Art Education
Given current developments in contemporary art, learning theory and art education, Julia Marshall (2006) declares the timeliness for substantively new "ideas and models for art education" (p. 17). Clearly, the story of art education practice is ever evolving and has historically given place to new tellings (Hamblen, 1984). On the surface, relating our professional narratives is vital because unless an art educator tells the story of what s/he does and why s/he does it, someone else may tell the story and leave out something important. Collectively documenting and telling stories of our individual pedagogical practices helps educators argue against the notion that that arts learning is less relevant and more expendable than other subjects (Stankiewicz, 1997).
Looking deeper, narrative is a fundamental process of human research and development. Brent Wilson (1997) writes: "I like to think of research as re-search, to search again, to take a closer second look. Research implies finding evidence about the way things were in the past, how they are presently, and even about how they might be in the future" (p. 1 ). Narrative practices are re-searching methodologies giving rise to meaningful or useful stories that encapsulate "the entire research process from problem identification to data analysis" (Creswell, 1994, p. xvii). Analyzing and interpreting the data at hand, narrative processes tell a story that informs others of who we are, where we come from, where we are going, and what our purpose may be (Rolling, 2008). Oral storytelling, for example, is an ancient re-searching practice that identifies and examines problems of the human condition. Filmmaking is a contemporary methodology that can serve as narration of our experience of the world and the meaning we make of it (Connelly & Clandinin, 2006).
In the second installment of the popular Lord of the Rings1 film trilogy by Peter Jackson (2002), the tattered Fellowship of the Ring is confronted with the glowing form of their dear friend Gandalf the Grey, a wizard who perished while defending his friends against a powerful Balrog, a large creature able to shroud itself in fire, darkness, and shadow. Upon the occasion of this unexpected reunion, the resurrected wizard - now much stronger and wiser- casually explains that his name is no longer Gandalf the Grey, and is no longer the person they once grieved for, emphatically stating: "I am Gandalf the White. And I come back to you now-at the turn of the tide." The narrative turned and the sentimental story line of the affable Gandalf that once merely sheltered his friends from danger now shifted. Suddenly, he offered them redoubled strength and the real possibility of fulfilling their charge at the moment when the Fellowship was at its weakest. Likewise, the place of the arts in education has emergent qualities that, from time to time, need to be recalibrated (Hamblen, 1984; Pearse, 1992). If the arts in education now stand before us at the turn of the tide, how ought we to relate to it?
It is useful to note that contemporary art education practice overlaps a unique period of change in neighboring social science disciplines, a turn of the tide that involves the embrace of narrative methods to rewrite prevailing working models and paradigms of social science practice (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Riessman, 2008). The proliferation of narrative methodologies in social research emerges from what has been called the narrative turn in contemporary life, a clarion call to "look on traditional empirical research with new eyes that see the significance of stories at all stages in the research process" (Day Sclater, 2003, p. 622).
Over recent decades, there continues to be a nagging ill-fittedness about the place of the arts in modern education (Eisner, 1965; Johnson, 1971; Hoffa, 1979; Anderson, 1981; Sullivan, 1999; Stankiewicz, 2004). This article is a narrative of professional practice intended to evoke similar probative rewritings. …


Starting today, I’ll be sharing activities that will improve fine motor skills. Remember the importance of working on foundational skills before you start working on fine motor activities. For example, you’ll want to make sure that your child has good postural control, and is skilled with large and medium motor tasks before moving on to fine motor skills. Control and stability are important prerequisite skills for fine motor activities such as writing and cutting!
Hand Separation: The hand can be divided into 2 separate sides. The pinky and ring finger side is for stability. The thumb, index and middle finger perform manipulation skills. It is important to be able to separate the two sides of the hand when it comes to fine motor skills. As you can see in the photo above, I am stabilizing two coins using my pinky and ring fingers, yet I am still able to hold and manipulate a quarter using my thumb, index and middle finger. In the video below, I am performing translation skills. When I pick up the buttons and bring them into my palm, this is called finger-to-palm translation. As I bring one button out to my fingertips at a time, while stabilizing the others in my palm, this is called palm-to-finger translation with stabilization. This is a great exercise for working on hand separation! A similar activity is to have your child put coins into a piggy bank.
Resource: Exner, C.E. (1997). Clinical interpretation of “In-hand manipulation in children: translation movements, American Journal of Occupational Therapy, (9), 729-32.


When I was a kid, my family would drive frequently to Yonkers, NY to visit my grandparents. Along Long Island’s Northern State Parkway, there was always an enormous amount of trash on the side of the road. People thought nothing of rolling down the window and tossing trash from moving cars.
If that strikes you a bizarre, selfish or just plain disgusting, thank the “Crying Indian.” One of the most effective television commercials ever, the Crying Indian was the centerpiece of a long-running public service campaign from Keep America Beautiful. The anti-pollution campaign changed behavior. It drove awareness of the problem of litter, and fed a growing environmental consciousness in the U.S.
People did a lot of things when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s that are now considered socially unacceptable: women smoked while pregnant. Parents smoked in front of their kids. Drinking and driving. Not wearing seatbelts. From buying war bonds to fighting child abuse, public service messages have a long history of changing behaviors and our definition of what is or is not acceptable. Perhaps we need to revisit this tradition.
Although “kindergarten ready” may not have the same cachet as “college- and career-ready,” early learning is the cornerstone of long-term success for America’s children. After all, learning starts at birth, and learning standards should start with even our youngest children….Without early-learning standards and quality pre-K education programs to support them, the developmental gaps start and expand even before children enter kindergarten.”
Rather than get standards-happy, I’d rather see an aggressive public awareness campaign that carries the message that a child’s success in school is largely driven by what happens before that child sets foot in school on Day One, and gives parents a few things they can do to get their child ready from the start. Here are a few ideas off the top of my head.
1. Read to your child for 30 minutes a day.
2. Have conversations with your child every day. Use questions, not commands.
3. Teach your child the alphabet before kindergarten.
4. Teach your child to count to 20.
5. Limit TV time to 30 minutes a day.
Rather than try to parent-proof children with “early childhood learning standards,” perhaps we’d be better off sharing the habits of good parenting broadly, aggressively and publicly. Behaviors change when people see the benefit of changing. Isn’t that what education is all about? It works. If you need proof, just look on the side of the road.
Update: Joanne Jacobs has more on this. ”Kindergarten preparedness training is a regimen with an ancient history,” comments reader Obi-Wandreas. “In some more primitive areas it is still referred to by its archaic designation of ‘parenting.’”


Current music practices and teachers' needs for teaching music in public preschools of South Korea
Metadata[+] Show full item record
The present study aimed to investigate the current music practices and teachers' needs for teaching music in public preschools of South Korea. The data were obtained from the public preschools in South Korea, and 66.7% (n = 606) of the total sample (N = 908) responded. The online survey consisted of 42 questions: a Likert-type scales, single and multiple-choice responses, and open-ended questions. The 42 questions regarding the current music practices of public preschools were divided into seven categories according to question content. The majority of teachers stated that their lesson plans included group music activities more than twice a week, lasting less than 30 minutes on average. The most important reason indicated for including music in the curriculum was "enjoyment and recreation." Almost all teachers planned music curriculum with a weekly theme, and they chose songs to complement the theme. Singing and finger play were reported to be the most frequently occurring activities in public preschools. The teachers taught songs with piano accompaniment or a CD, and several common CD collections for music activities were revealed. Rhythmic instruments were the most accessible instruments in a music center, but a piano was the most frequently used by teachers during circle time in the classroom. Teachers identified a lack of ideas for music activity in preschools as a difficulty. The majority of participants requested more applicable and thorough preservice and inservice music education programs for preschool teachers.


HighScope Active Learning
Gretchen's House is proud to use the HighScope Active Learning Curriculum
HighScope uses the term active learning to describe our philosophy. In the early childhood years, learning is not simply a process of adults giving children directions or information to memorize. The HighScope Curriculum, used around the world, is based on decades of research demonstrating positive outcomes for all children when they are actively engaged in the process of thinking and building their own understanding.
In HighScope Classrooms
- Children try out ideas, solve problems they encounter in play, and build skills in important content areas.
- Teachers encourage children to explore a variety of materials in different ways, using all of their sense.
- Children think and talk about what they are doing and learning.
- Teachers recognize and encourage children's learning by planning activities and experiences, using HighScope's curriculum content as a guide.
- Children from diverse backgrounds, including English language learners and those with special needs, develop a positive self-identity and an appreciation for the uniqueness of others.
HighScope Curriculum Content
- Developed and revised to reflect the latest discoveries in early childhood education, the HighScope Curriculum covers all aspects of child development, including physical, social, and emotional development; language and literacy; mathematics and science; and the creative arts.
- Aligns with state early childhood learning standards, including the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five.
The hallmark of the HighScope Curriculum is the Plan-Do-Review process, in which children make and carry out plans, then reflect on their accomplishments. During Plan-Do-Review, children
- Initiate activities that build upon their natural curiosity and excitement about learning
- Engage in purposeful activity as they attempt to achieve goals they set for themselves
- Develop self-confidence and increasingly complex thinking and play
- Receive support from teachers who extend children's learning throughout the process of planning, playing, and reflecting
Problem solving is an integral part of the active learning process. In the HighScope classroom, children
- Learn to resolve conflicts with others using the Six Steps in Conflict Mediation
- Receive guidance from teachers who take the lean in supporting children as they learn to solve problems by themselves
Teacher and Child Relationships
HighScope teachers form genuine relationships with children and their families by
- Placing infants with primary caregivers to support a sense of security and the formation of attachment in a trusting relationship
- Maintaining consistent small groups for preschoolers, to ensure that teachers and children develop close and stable relationships
- Taking an active role in the learning process, first understanding children's current developmental abilities, and then carefully selecting classroom materials and planning activities to support children as they grow and learn
- HighScope's assessment tool, COR Advantage, helps teachers understand more about your child's development and growth
The HighScope Classroom
A great deal of care and consideration goes into arranging a HighScope classroom and stocking the shelves with a wide variety of materials that stimulate children's thinking, creativity, and problem solving. HighScope classrooms are
- Organized into interest areas - such as the house are, block area, and art area - to promote different types of learning and social interactions
- Arranged for infants and toddlers to provide our youngest learners with plenty of free space to test and develop motor skills
- Designed to be warm and inviting, reflecting the cultures of families in the program and the communities in which they live
The Classroom Day
Children benefit from established routines and knowing what comes next. The daily schedule in HighScope classrooms includes
- Infant routines based on individual schedules and biological rhythms
- A predictable and consistent daily routine for toddlers and preschoolers that gives them the sense of security they need to make choices and take risks, opening the door to exciting learning opportunities
- The Plan-Do-Review process, large- and small- group activities, healthy snacks, and outdoor play; full-day programs also include mealtimes and a rest or nap time
Connecting Home and School
HighScope respects the family as the child's first teacher. HighScope teachers
- Build strong connections with families
- Partner with families to support children's learning through home visits and parent teacher conferences
- Help family members extend learning to home through parent meetings and the Family Network, a parent website
- Share their observations about children's development with parents and discuss ways to work together to achieve common goals


Key factors in determining people’s health
Five key factors play an important role in helping determine whether people are healthy or not2. Many are linked to literacy in some way.
1. Living and working conditions
Income and social status are the most important factors in determining good health. People with higher income are likely to be healthier than those with low income. Literacy levels may affect both income and social status.
Employment can affect health in several different ways:
Literacy levels may affect a person’s ability to find and keep employment. Or, people may be unable to read safety notices.
Education affects health. People with higher education are likely to be healthier. They have better job opportunities and higher income. The security that comes from these makes them feel they have more control over their lives.
2. Personal health practices and coping skills
Stress, vulnerability and control affect health in a number of ways. Low literacy skills or unemployment are both stressful. People in these situations may feel they have no control over their lives and may have limited coping skills. These may lead to stress, which is a key factor in depression and other mental health problems, and may lead eventually to other illnesses.
Lifestyle choices affect people’s health. People who make choices that lead to a healthy lifestyle are at less risk of health problems than those who choose high-risk behaviours. For example, choosing to smoke puts people at higher risk of a number of different health problems, like heart or lung disease. Lifestyle choices may be linked to access to health information.
Social support networks are linked to better health. People need families and friends for support, especially when things are difficult for them. Those with a strong network of support are likely to be healthier.
Pre-natal and early childhood development are important stages of development. A child’s experiences during the first few years of life may have a long-lasting effect on his health. For example, if a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, it may put her baby at risk of serious health problems. Or, if parents help their children develop early literacy skills, this supports literacy development throughout their lives, a more indirect effect on health.
3. Physical environment
Physical environment affects health. The quality of people’s housing, the water they drink and the air around them are all factors in their environment. Housing quality may be related to income, which may relate back to literacy skills.
4. Health services
Health information is important in helping people make healthy choices. People who have difficulty reading will have difficulty accessing and understanding most health information. Health services contribute to good health. People need to have access to good health services, especially preventative health services. However, they also have to feel comfortable accessing them, and they have to know how to use them appropriately.
5. Biology and genetics
Genetics may affect people’s health. Some diseases that pass from a parent to a child may not be connected to literacy. Others, however, may interfere with literacy development.
|Previous||Table of Contents||Next|


ERIC Number: ED399526
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1997
Reference Count: N/A
Diagnosis and Correction in Reading Instruction. Third Edition.
Based on the premise that diagnosis and correction are interwoven with reading instruction on a daily basis, this book helps preservice and in-service teachers acquire the skills necessary to make diagnosis and correction integral parts of their reading program. To achieve this goal, the book combines theory, basic knowledge and skills, practical application, and hands-on material. Chapters in the book are (1) Introduction to a Diagnostic-Reading and Correction Program; (2) The Teacher's Role in the Diagnostic-Reading and Correction Program; (3) What a Teacher Should Know about Tests, Measurement, and Evaluation; (4) Some of the Factors That Affect Reading Performance; (5) Visual and Auditory Factors and Their Effect on Reading; (6) Who Is Underachieving in Reading?; (7) Standardized Reading Achievement Tests: Survey Type; (8) Diagnostic Reading Tests and Techniques I: An Emphasis on the Informal Reading Inventory; (9) Diagnostic Reading Tests and Techniques II; (10) Observation and Other Child Study Procedures as Diagnostic Techniques: Performance-Based Assessment; (11) Helping Children Overcome Reading Difficulties; (12) Word Recognition Skills and Vocabulary Expansion: An Emphasis on Diagnosis and Correction; (13) Reading Comprehension and Literature: An Emphasis on Diagnosis and Correction; (14) Learning Strategies and Study Skills in a Diagnostic-Reading and Correction Program; (15) Helping Special Children in a Diagnostic-Reading and Correction Program; and (16) Teachers and Parents as Partners in the Diagnostic-Reading and Correction Program. Appendixes include an informal reading inventory, the Fry Readability Formula, and a 300-item glossary. (RS)
Descriptors: Elementary Education, Informal Reading Inventories, Parent Teacher Cooperation, Performance Based Assessment, Readability, Reading Comprehension, Reading Diagnosis, Reading Difficulties, Reading Instruction, Standardized Tests, Student Evaluation, Study Skills, Teacher Role, Vocabulary Development, Word Recognition
Allyn and Bacon, Order Processing, P.O. Box 11071, Des Moines, IA 50336-1071 ($54).
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher; Books
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Practitioners
Authoring Institution: N/A


Sixth grade teacher in San Bruno
PowerTeacher. SysAid Help Desk Software. Student Information - Science 6 Period SCI. Sixthgraders. Blue Balliett's Books. Blue Balliett's Books. The Great Plant Escape. Science Knowledge and Skills - 6th grade. Rock Cycle Activities - Stream Erosion. Rockcycle. Rock Cycle Activities - Physical and Chemical Weathering Activity. Rock and the Rock Cycle. Rock Cycle Activities - Wind Erosion. Science Fair Project Ideas. Gerunds Anyone Lesson Plan, Gerund Phrases Worksheet, Verbals, Teaching Activity.
Education World® : Teacher Tools & Templates. Student Materials: Story Map. Story_map. Free Video Clips for Ancient Mesopotamia (Sumer, Babylon, Assyria) Ancient Egypt - Menu page. Pyramids. Pyramids Clickable Mummy - Click on the different parts to view interesting and information about the mummification process.
Deep in the Tombs of Egypt - Wow, so much to do here!! Activities, games, videos, etc. Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids - Exhibit from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Egyptian Pyramids - This Web site contains excerpts from Mark Rigby's book, The Complete Pyramids . FAQs - Frequently asked questions and answers from Rediscover Ancient Egypt. Giza Spinx and Pyramids - This site has some great pictures and diagrams. Great Pyramid of Khufu Guardian's Egypt - There's a lot of information here on the Pyramids of Egypt. How the Pyramids Were Built - Detailed article. Information on Pyramids Inside the Pyramids - Information and pictures of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure.
Lesson Plans Mummy Masks -Art education lesson plan for upper elementary. King Tut - Explore each of the links below at this site: Discover the Tomb - Learn about the discovery of King Tut's tomb. Social Studies - Ancient Civilizations. Harcourt School Publishers - The Learning Site. Mesopotamia: Lesson Plans. Mesopotamia. Ancient History Lesson Plans - Ancient Greek Olympics in the Classroom. Introduction Purpose: To develop a better understanding of the Greek city-states.
Children can easily become confused when studying the ancient Greek civilization. Some can understand that these people were all Greeks. Others can understand that these people were loyal to their city-state. Most have trouble putting these two ideas together. Positioning: This 4-5 day unit may be taught anytime during your study of ancient Greece, but works extremely well positioned immediately before any comparison of Athens and Sparta.
Materials: Simulation Operation (Lesson Plan) Introduce the Greek Olympics to your class. TO BE GREEK: The ancient Greeks all spoke the same language. TO BE A CITIZEN OF A CITY-STATE: They referred to themselves, however, as citizens of their individual city-states. What I want you to do now is to break up into 5 groups. Direct students to start designing their flag and pledge, plus whatever else they might wish to design. Greet your class at the door. Hail Argives! Hammurabi and His Code. Hammurabis Code of Laws. Internet4Classrooms - Helping Students, Teachers and Parents Use the Internet Effectively. NLVM Data Analysis & Probability Manipulatives. Free Math Worksheets.
Equivalent Fractions. Factor Tree. Equivalent Fractions. Factor Game. Math Playground. Enchanted Mind Java Puzzles - Tangrams. Tangrams is an ancient art. The story goes that this form of recreation has never been improved upon since the legendary Chinese Tan first conceived of it. In Chinese this puzzle is called ch'i ch'iao t'u. This translates to 'ingenious-puzzle figure of seven pieces'. Lewis Carroll was reputed to have been a great fan of tangrams. He is said to have had in his possession a Chinese book made of tissue paper which had 323 tangram designs in it.
If you click the button below, the tangram applet will open. To move the pieces, drag them with the mouse. There are a number of designs you can match by moving the pieces around. When you have mastered the predesigned patterns, you can make up your own. Good Luck! ClassZone. Math Live. Bad Wolf Press.


Your high school student can create a unique painting in the style of Italian masters such as Rembrandt and da Vinci. He’ll learn more about this unique style of painting in art history. Chiaroscuro paintings often have strong contrasts of light and dark within the image and were popularized during the Renaissance. Often artists would use candles to illuminate their subject matter for the paintings as well as include the candle in the image!
What You Need:
- Candlestick and candle
- Items for a still life
- Acrylic paint
What You Do:
- Invite your high school student to learn more about the art of chiaroscuro painting by doing some research at the local library or on the Internet.
- Offer your child a piece of paper and a pencil so he can take notes on chiaroscuro painting and painters. Encourage him to make a list of his favorite artists and paintings that he discovers.
- Chiaroscuro paintings are often focused on a portrait or action, but your child can create a dramatic still life instead. Encourage your child to gather items and arrange them in an intriguing way. He can also find a candlestick as well as a candle to use while painting.
- Encourage your child to create a sketch before beginning to paint. Remind him to think about areas of light and dark within the painting. To create a true chiaroscuro painting, your child can work in a room that can be darkened so that the candle really is the only illumination of his still life!
- Now he can begin painting, working slowly and thinking about color gradations. He can use an extra sheet of scrap paper as a palette for mixing colors to create shades and hues.
- Once his chiaroscuro painting is finished, place the painting in a gilded frame for others to see, just like an Italian Renaissance master!
Sarah Lipoff has a K-12 Art Education degree and enjoys working with kids of all ages.


Combined Vision and Hearing Loss
Shifting the Perspective
Literacy has commonly been defined as the ability to read and write. However, that definition has placed literacy beyond the scope of possibility for some children who have complex sensory, physical or developmental challenges. More recent work in the field of literacy has acknowledged the broader contexts in which literacy takes place and recognized literacy as a right for all individuals. This shift in perspective validates the role literacy plays in enhancing the quality of life for every learner. Literacy expands communication and understanding related to self-help, expressing an interest or participating more fully in the community. Regardless of age or ability, acquiring literacy skills is a question of “how” rather than “if” or “when”.
Literacy is an integrated process which develops gradually from birth and is built upon learning from broad experiences, linking language with the development of concepts, and providing exposure to the written word in a variety of meaningful contexts.” (Wright, 1997)
Each of the children pictured above has combined vision and hearing loss. Some also have physical or cognitive challenges. They represent various stages of literacy development and remind us that children show different abilities at different ages. Despite the challenges of learning to “read” in the conventional sense, ALL have acquired literacy skills because of the expectation and opportunity to do so. Their families and teachers hold the assumptions listed below and have used them as the basis for designing appropriate literacy instruction.
- All children can learn and should be expected to do so.
- All children can become and are becoming literate.
- Literacy development is founded on experiences and concepts beginning very early in life.
- Literacy instruction must include a strong emphasis on communication and socialization.
- Literacy exists along a continuum from emergent literacy to independent literacy.


Six Arts of Ancient China
In ancient Chinese culture, to promote all-around development, students were required to master six practical disciplines called the Six Arts (liù yì in Chinese): rites, music, archery, chariot racing, calligraphy and mathematics.
The study of rites and music instills in people a sense of dignity and harmony. The rites include those practiced at sacrificial ceremonies, funerals and military activities.
A famous saying of Confucius on music education is: “To educate somebody, you should start from poems, emphasize ceremonies and finish with music.” In other words, one cannot expect to become educated without learning music.
During the Shang Dynasty (circa 16th century – 11 century BC) and Zhou Dynasty (circa11th century – 256 BC), archery was a required skill for all aristocratic men. By practicing archery and related etiquettes, nobles not only gained the proficiency at war skills; more importantly, they also cultivated their minds and learned how to behave as nobles.
To become a charioteer is also an excellent form of training that requires the combined use of intellect and physical strength.
Men who excelled in these six arts were thought to have reached the state of perfection.
The Six Arts have their roots in Confucian philosophy. The requirement of students to master the Six Arts is the equivalent of the Western concept of the arts and skills of the Renaissance Man.
The elements of moral education, academic study, physical education and social training are present in the Six Arts – all attributes dating back to ancient times that are considered just as valuable in the modern world.


Music historians generally consider the dulcian to be the forerunner of the
modern bassoon, as the two instruments share many ...
The modern bassoon has a colorful and complex past. It evolved from a 16th
century instrument known by a variety of names - curtal or curtail (English),
In the Middle Ages shawms – wind instruments played with either a single or a ...
The forerunner of modern bassoons and oboes was a kind of shawm which ...
While not as famous as a clarinet or a tuba, the bassoon has had the ... History.
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument that uses a double-reed to make sound.
During the Baroque period the harp underwent many changes but it was in the 17th century when the pedal harp was invented. The origin of the oboe can be traced back to instruments
used in previous periods such as the shawm of the Renaissance. Music Education in the Ne... More »
How well do you know the history of the bassoon? As with many instruments with
ancient origins, the exact predecessor of the bassoon is hard to pin down ...
The origins of the dulcian are obscure, but by the ... to indicate that the baroque
bassoon was a newly-invented instrument, with only ...
The ancester of the bassoon was a 16th century instrument that had several
different names (curtal, dulcian, fagotto, and bajon, etc.). This ancencester to the
Jun 11, 2005 ... A VERY Short History of Bassoon. The history of both the oboe and basson can
be traced back to an instrument called the shawm .
Learn Bassoon History, How It's Made, How It's Played, About the Bassoon
Family ... century, that instrument builders made the first bassoon with separate


Posted by ☻i♥zee☻ on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 4:47pm.
Are there any good literacy sites?
- Literacy - Ms. Sue, Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 4:48pm
Please explain what you're looking for.
- Literacy - ☻i♥zee☻, Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 4:49pm
A site(s) that you can get examples of writing- poetry, short stories, etc.
- Literacy - Ms. Sue, Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 4:52pm
Check out these sites.
- Literacy - ☻i♥zee☻, Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 4:53pm
thank you Ms. SUe
- Literacy - Ms. Sue, Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 4:54pm
Answer This Question
More Related Questions
- teachers aide curriculum comtent - a sense of what it was like to live in a ...
- media literacy - So i need help on figuring out the steps on making media ...
- dzwaboni sec school and am doing this subject(math literacy, history, geography,life science, life orientation, English and tshivenda - Am in grade 10 and I do maths literacy.so what percentage should I get in maths literacy to do law degree?
- English 8R - HELP! (FAST!) - English 8R HW - literacy elements + literacy ...
- Math - Uche spends half of his school day in literacy class. He has 3 literacy ...
- Literacy - Which graphic organizer is best to use when teaching literacy?...
- EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY - MR. SANCHEZ READ ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE...
- Literacy development - What is the role of formal assessment in the literacy ...
- computer literacy - Digital literacy is a skill that important for
- Literacy - what are the components of a successful literacy program?


Hook/attention grabber: Story about how budgets are being cut in music programs across the country. • The Big Idea: Music impacts the lives of students, and improves their academic performances, but budgets are still being cut.
Budget Cut (Sarcasm)
• Budget cuts in Music Education are on a high roll since 2008, and expects to increase in years to come. “ Many school systems will have no music specialists serving elementary schools by next year.” (Retrieved by the article: The Consequences of Curtailing Music Education)
Kid’s life without music
• Why should your audience listen to you? Explain your ethos (credibility). My audience should listen to me because I have extreme passion of music, and has helped overcome my learning disability and exceeded academically.
Call to Adventure: Children can live a more fulfilling life by bringing back music programs, and use that as their prerequisite for their curriculum.
¥ Preview the three main points that will support your big idea:
Bringing back Music Programs 1) Promote a non-profit concert in your city that needs a music program; 2) Develop a fundraiser everywhere for helping buy instruments for kids; and 3) Help other cities and towns that needs Music Programs.
Supporting Point One: Promote a concert in your city that needs a music program • Having a community chorus, or band concert can promote buzz about the huge impact of music to their ears.
¥ Several recent studies suggest that the brain processes music and language in similar ways, and that training in music may have benefits for language-related skills (retrieved from article: Seven ways music boosts that brain)
Supporting Point Two: Develop a fundraiser everywhere to help buy instruments for kids. ¥ Reusing the big idea by including the benefits of adding music to their programs so that donors will attract.
Supporting Point Three: Helping other cities and towns that need Music Programs. • Networking through fundraiser websites like kickstarter.com would help raise funds for certain cities with poor economy.
Call to Action: Find a city that either you know, or through research that needs a music program in their schools, and connect their school board to an online fundraiser.
We need your help to promote awareness about the true benefits of music in our lives!


Music’s prominent place in early education is based on the value of music to children’s growth and learning. The values of music are many and varied. Shellenberg (2003) relates music education to a wide range of cognitive skills. Children who had participated in music education for one year had increases in general intelligence. Schellenberg (2003) thought this increase was related to periods of focused attention, memorization, and the concentration involved in listening to, and making, music.
Research and theory document the following:
- Music has intrinsic and instrumental value in and of itself. Music is critical to human development and to creative thought.
- Music can also be used to present ideas and build concepts, teach or persuade, entertain, design, plan, beautify, and create (Consortium of National Arts Education Associations [CNAEA], 1994).
- Music plays a valued role in creating cultures and building civilizations. Music awakens children to folk arts and their influence on their own lives and the lives of others (CNAEA, 1994).
- Music is a social activity. Listening to music and singing or dancing together unites children. Individuals come to feel a part of the community when singing together.
- Music is another way of knowing, another symbolic mode of thought and expression. From the enactive and iconic mode of knowing and learning about the world through action, perception, and imagery, music grows to become a symbolic mode of learning.
- Music gives children unique opportunities to create and be fluent in their thinking. They can respond in unique ways to listening or moving to music and create new songs and rhymes.
- Music gives children the opportunity to express their feelings and ideas freely as they dance in the light of a sunbeam, pound a drum, or sing a song of joy.
- Music is mathematical. The rhythmic quality of music fosters children’s ability to keep time and count sequences.
- Music is physical. Children sway, clap, dance, or stomp to music, gaining control over their bodies. Even singing is a physical activity that requires the ability to control muscles, vocal cords, and breathing.
- Music benefits children with special needs. Because music is a pleasurable, nonthreatening experience, it can be used to help a child with special needs feel more comfortable within the group (Humpal, 2003).
- Music develops the skills necessary for learning to read and write (Andress, 1995). The Music and Reading Readiness Skills box on this page describes how and why music is necessary for the development of reading readiness skills.
© ______ 2006, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.


Why would I take a task that is so simple that we take it for granted and simplify it for my son? Arithmetic can't be simplified it is already simple. It is also tedious and that is why we have calculators, but it is still very simple. It is so simple that most of us can't even recall when we learned it, like the alphabet, phonics and how to count. Shouldn't the question be "Why do schools fail to teach something so simple?" or "Why do some kids have problems with something so simple?"
How does making school more simple help?
On Jun 25, 2012, at 2:53 AM, Jonathan Crabtree <email@example.com> wrote:
> In Australia more students than ever leave school without basic numeracy skills. > > So if YOU were starting from scratch, how would you simplify arithmetic? > > For the sake of the question, we'll assume: > ten numerals 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 > four operations + - x ÷ > equality sign = > > I am not seeking pedagogical replies or contributions. Instead how can arithmetic ITSELF be made simpler?


Montgomery County Women's History Archive:
40 Women of Historical Significance in Montgomery County
Nina Honemond Clarke
Author, community activist, educator, historian, principal and teacher, Montgomery County Public School system
First African-American supervisory resource teacher in the integrated county school system
Nina Clarke was born in Poolesville, Maryland in 1917. She was the seventh of ten surviving brothers and sisters. Granddaughter of slaves, Clarke grew up on a farm where the family raised its own food. Clarke’s family has lived in Montgomery County for seven generations. Her father was a farm hand and her mother was a maid. Clarke was educated in a segregated county public school system. She remembers walking with her sisters four to ten miles to attend a two-room school house, while white children were transported by the county bus, a horse drawn wagon. The county did not provide school transportation for African-American children until the 1940s.
After graduating from Rockville Colored High School in 1934, Clarke attended Bowie State College and received an advanced first grade teaching certificate in 1937. She was one of only two children in her family to attend college. She returned to the county at age 19 and began teaching in several of the local schools for black children. Later, Clarke finished her B.A. degree in elementary education at Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia. In 1952, she earned a Master of Education degree from Boston University. She served as the first African American delegate to the Teachers Association in Montgomery County prior to integration.
Clarke became one of the first African American teachers to teach white children. County schools began to desegregate after the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Referring to other African American teachers, Clarke recalled that they knew that “we had to be twice as good to be even thought of as average.” In the first year of teaching at a white school, Clarke recalled that one of her first-grade students told her, “Mrs. Clarke, you’re exactly like my mother. The only difference is you have black hair and she has red hair.”
In 1962, she was selected by the Board of Education as the first African-American teacher specialist in Reading/Language Arts in Montgomery County. In 1967, she was selected by the principal of Brookhaven Elementary School to be Assistant Principal. In October 1968, Clarke was appointed principal of Aspen Hill Elementary School in Rockville, becoming the second African American woman principal of an integrated school. Clarke remained principal of Aspen Hill until her retirement in 1973, completing 36 years in the Montgomery County Public School system.
Following retirement, Clarke started a new career as a historian, author, lecturer and volunteer. She is the author and co-author of several books and articles. She co-authored in 1978 with Lillian Brown, A History of the Black Public Schools of Montgomery County, Maryland 1872–1961. In 1983 she published History of the 19th Century Black Churches in Maryland and Washington D.C. She also authored History of Jerusalem United Methodist Church. Clarke has been a freelance writer for the Montgomery County Journal Newspaper, Washington Afro-American Newspaper, and Flower of the Forest Journal of Baltimore.
About her interest and passion about researching local African-American history, Clarke told a Montgomery County newspaper, “I want to do it. I want to leave this legacy for blacks to pick up something I wrote. If I can do that, then I know that it’s worthwhile.”
- The Montgomery County Historical Society Library
- Lillian Brown and Nina Clarke, A History of the Black Public Schools of Montgomery County, Maryland 1872–1961, New York: Vantage Press (1978)
- See Lillian Brown


LAWRENCE — University of Kansas researchers have confirmed what decades of anecdotal evidence and national research suggested: Increased music participation has important direct and indirect effects on positive outcomes in student achievement and engagement.
For a baseline study commissioned by Nashville’s Music Makes Us initiative, KU researchers from the School of Music and the Center for Public Partnerships & Research (CPPR) examined four years of districtwide data on the 2012 graduating class, as well as student surveys and focus groups, to determine what influence music can have on students. Principal investigators were the School of Music’s Christopher Johnson and CPPR’s Becky Eason.
"The results of this study strongly support the notion that education advocates should also be advocates for music education,” said Johnson, a professor of music education & therapy and director of the Music Research Institute at KU. “It has been stated many times that the reason that kids in music do better in school is because the smart kids participate in music. This is the first study that has ever taken those fourth-grade test scores and used them to even the playing field, allowing us to see what happened as the students progressed from fifth grade to 12th grade. The results noted in this study were calculated after the initial differences in the fourth-grade test scores were removed from the equation.”
Analysis showed that students engaged in music programs outperformed their peers on every indicator: grade-point average, graduation rate, ACT scores, attendance and discipline referrals. Overall, the study demonstrated that the more a student participates in music, the more positive these benefits become.
Johnson analyzed quantitative data about high-school music participation, school engagement and academic achievement for 6,006 students in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools class of 2012 cohort. Eason conducted qualitative surveys and focus groups with current fifth- through 12th-grade students. Analyzed together, the data establish a benchmark — a picture of students who have been enrolled in middle- and high-school music and the potential effect of music study on student engagement and student academic achievement.
“One of the key findings that shouldn’t get lost is how important music is for creating a sense of belonging and purpose for the students who participate,” said Eason, associate director of CPPR. “They identify themselves as musicians, as being in the band or chorus, and they’re motivated to come to school so that they can participate in music. The students also believe that music participation teaches them skills like discipline and concentration that they can use to their benefit throughout the school days.”
Eason said the project was also a great example of how units across the university can work together; the study marks the fourth research collaboration between CPPR and the Music Research Institute.
“Professor Johnson brings credentials in music education and the necessary quantitative skills to the research,” Eason said. “I have a background in qualitative research and the staff to administer the project. Between the two of us, we were able to accomplish a pretty remarkable study.”
Metro Nashville leaders are using the study’s findings and its recommendations to inform decisions about the future of the Music Makes Us initiative. Eason and Johnson hope to replicate and extend this project in other communities and school districts.
“This benchmark study confirms what every music teacher knows,” said Laurie Schell, director of Music Makes Us. “Music engages students in school and can motivate them toward greater achievement. Our job now is to take this knowledge and let it guide us in expanding a high-quality music program that reaches all students.”
More about Music Makes Us
Launched in fall 2012, Music Makes Us is a K-12 initiative focusing on music literacy and student participation. A joint effort of Metro Nashville Public Schools, Mayor Karl Dean, music industry leaders and community advocates, Music Makes Us is intended to strengthen traditional school music while adding a contemporary curriculum that embraces new technologies and reflects a diverse musical landscape. The initiative has augmented traditional school music with contemporary, culturally relevant music offerings (bluegrass, hip-hop, rock) as well as real-life music industry experiences (record-label production, audio-engineering and audio-technology programs).
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools is the nation’s 42nd-largest district with more than 83,000 students. “Music and other co-curricular activities are going to play a key role in our journey to becoming the highest-performing urban school district in the country,” said Director of Schools Jesse B. Register. “We will offer every student in Metro Schools the opportunity to learn a music instrument or otherwise participate in music programs. This new research reinforces our resolve. Music will help students grow, achieve and be empowered in education.”
For more information, contact Bill Woodard, Achievement & Assessment Institute, 785-864-1680, or J.D. Warnock, School of Music, 785-864-9742.


|Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia|
1 August 1919 – 4 November 1920
|Preceded by||Avetik Sahakyan|
|Succeeded by||Hovhannes Katchaznouni|
|Chairman of the Armenian National Council|
October 1917 – 17 July 1918
|Preceded by||position established|
|Succeeded by||position abolished|
Surmalu, Erivan Governorate, Russian Empire
|Died||20 March 1948 (aged 81–82)
|Resting place||Père Lachaise Cemetery|
|Political party||Armenian Revolutionary Federation|
|Occupation||politician, writer, public figure and revolutionary|
|Religion||Armenian Apostolic Church|
Aharonian was born in 1866 in Surmalu, Erivan Governorate, Russian Empire (today Igdir, Turkey). Growing up, he was influenced by the natural features of his birthplace, such as the Aras River and Mount Ararat, both of which were located near Surmalu.
His mother, Zardar, was a literate person, who was able to educate her child by teaching him how to read and write. After completing elementary education at the village's school, he was sent to Echmiadzin's Gevorkian Seminary, and graduated from there. He became a teacher for a few years, after which he went to Switzerland's University of Lausanne to study history and philosophy. During this period of time, he met Kristapor Mikaelian, who was then the chief editor of the Troshag (Flag) newspaper. He then began to write for the paper. In 1901, upon graduation, he went to study literature at the Sorbonne.
In 1902, he returned to the Caucasus and became the headmaster of the Nersisian School in Tiflis and the chief editor of the Mourj (Hammer) newspaper. Thus, in 1909, he was captured by the Tsar's government and imprisoned in Metekhi's prison, where he fell ill. Two years later, after a generous donation of 20,000 rubles, he fled to Europe.
He returned to the Caucasus in 1917, and chaired the Armenian National Council, which proclaimed the independence of First Republic of Armenia on May 28, 1918. He signed the Treaty of Batum with the Ottoman Empire.
In 1919, he was the head the Armenian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference with Boghos Nubar, where he signed the Treaty of Sèvres formulating the "Wilsonian Armenia" in direct collaboration with the Armenian Diaspora. He suffered a stroke in 1934 and lived for the last fourteen years of his life totally incapacitated. Aharonian died in Marseille in 1948.
Avetis Aharonyan with his second wife Nvard at the Saint Lazarus Island in Venice in 1920
- Translated from Armenian: N.A. Արդի հայ գրականութիւն Բ հատոր, [Modern Armenian literature: Volume II], 2004, pp. 245–246 (Armenian)
- Rouben Paul, Adalian (2010). Historical Dictionary of Armenia. Scarecrow Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780810874503.


Earlier this month, Dr. Martha Burns presented a webinar titled “What’s in the Common Core, but Missing in Your Curriculum.” One of the exciting new changes that the Common Core State Standards(CCSS) bring is a great deal more emphasis on howstudents learn rather than focusing solely on whatthey learn. The emphasis of previous standards have focused more on memorization of facts rather than on higher order thinking skills. In this webinar, Dr. Burns reviews the learning capacities spelled out in the CCSS and describes the skills that students need to be successful as lifelong learners, e.g., the ability to evaluate, to adapt, adjust and critique, etc. At the foundation of these higher order abilities lie the foundational skills below. Together, these skills can be termed the “process of learning.”
· Executive control or self-control
Students with deficiencies in these foundational skills may be labeled as “trouble makers” or “at risk” and have difficulty keeping up in today’s growing classroom. Experienced educators have always recognized the importance of these skills, but the idea that they can be specifically addressed and improved is relatively new. Without the ability to remember the details of a non-fiction text, how would a student be able to evaluate and critique it?
Dr. Burns describes new insights in neuroscience that are contributing to our understanding of the process of learning and what can be done to strengthen these skills in all learners, even those with learning disabilities and other challenges. The idea that these skills are inherent in students and cannot be changed is simply untrue. With the right training, all students can become stronger, more capable learners.
One efficient way for students to practice the skills needed to meet the rigor of the Common Core Standards is through the research-based learning tools employed by Scientific Learning’s Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs. Dr. Burns concluded her presentation with a walkthrough of the programs, highlighting the aspects of the programs that speak directly to the foundational skills needed to create college and career ready students. She also describes what happens in the student’s brain when they are engaged with the software and the results that can be expected.
This new approach by the Common Core State Standards to draw attention to the “process” of learning, rather than just content, is important for all stakeholders to understand. With this new understanding comes a greater importance to use all of the tools at our disposal to help all learners succeed.


> I am certainly in favor of pre-testing to see what students know
> and can do. However, it may not be possible or it may not be the
> best use of time to bring every student up to the same level before
> moving on. We risk boring the best students who need to be
> challenged more. Diverse ability levels are hard to teach en mass,
> but easy to teach one-on-one.
I use my own version of the K-W-L chart
What do you know? What do you want to know? How will you find out
how to know It? .... and then -what did you learn about the
If you know something already about the problem or question I
present, then what else do you want to find out? How will you do
that? What will you focus on? If you don't like my problem to
solve, what's your alternative? (dodging my problems is not a choice
This is how I start the thinking process.
> Therefore: CREATE A COLLABORATIVE STUDIO CULTURE
> I find it useful to tutor the advanced students on how to tutor the
> slower students when the needs arise? I like to challenge every
> student to help with the teaching and learning. If peers can learn
> to teach with questions and by helping to set up experiments, (not
> doing things for them) all will benefit. Self-instruction and peer-
> instruction are natural and often the most effective ways to
> learn. The culture of an art classroom should be a learning
> environment where citizenship means that we all pitch in to leave
> no mind behind. I call it creating a collaborative studio culture.
I am such an advocate of peer teaching --- "the best way to learn
something is to teach it." But as Marvin suggests the classroom
climate needs to be established so the comfort level is acceptable
for the kids. They need to trust each other. I truly rely on peer
teaching for basic technique kind of stuff. Of course I monitor that
teaching, but for the most part the kids are very responsible about
passing on the skills.
I had a very unusual AP class this past year. It included every kid
from the intellectually gifted to the artistically gifted to the
learning disabled. The personalities covered as wide a range. And
they all got along, because I expected cooperation and collaboration
and helping each other. I told them from the get go that the
diversity within the group required cooperation. They more than rose
to the challenge. Kids will do that when they are given the
responsibility and challenge. Especially in the art room. They know
they are "different" and they bond in that differentness.
> If a pre-test is used, try asking them to name the most famous
> woman artist they know. I have had many elementary education
> college students who could not name one
Oh boy... not even O'Keefe?


Curriculum and Methods in Elementary Education: Mathematics
EDUC323 (Not Liberal Arts) $ Curriculum and Methods in Elementary Education: Mathematics 3 hrs. 3 crs. Activities in the classroom that help children develop insight into mathematics, both as a study in itself and as a tool for applied use. Extensive review of methods and latest curriculum materials together with appropriate supporting research will be completed. The focal point of the course is the development of a math unit of instruction, a detailed lesson plan and a portfolio of mathematical activities.Preq: Admission to the Teacher Education curriculum and methods courses and MATH 271. 1 hour lecture, 2 hours laboratory. The course includes 15 hours of field experience.


UAF Core Curriculum in Mathematics
The goals of the mathematics core curriculum are to ensure that students develop basic numeracy skills, are able to employ problem solving strategies, can communicate mathematical concepts, and are able to construct and evaluate mathematical arguments.
New guidelines have been developed for all core math courses starting Fall 2014. Instructors can find information about syllabus structure, required topics, timing, and assessment criteria.
Deadlines for 2015-16 course materials to be sent to firstname.lastname@example.org.
Sept. 18, 2015: Fall syllabi due
Jan. 29, 2016: Fall blank final exam due
Fall graded final exams due (fulltime DMS faculty excepted)
Spring syllabi due
July 15, 2015: Summer syllabi due
Sept. TBD, 2016: Spring and summer blank final exam due
Spring and summer graded final exams due (fulltime DMS faculty excepted)
Fall 2016 syllabi due
Guidlines beginning FALL 2014:
- Math 103 Concepts and Contemporary Applications of Mathematics (rev. S14)
- Math 107 Functions for Calculus (rev. S14)
- Math 161 Algebra for Business and Economics (rev. S14)
- syllabus guidelines for all calculus courses (Math 200, 201, 202, 262, 272)
- topics and timing for Math 251, Math 252, & Math 253 Calculus I, II, & III (rev. S15)
- topics, timing, and assessment for Math 262 Calculus for Business and Economics (rev. S11)
- topics, timing, and assessment for Math 272 Calculus for Life Sciences (rev. F07)
- Stat 200 Elementary Probability and Statistics (rev. F08)


Timeline of Nigerian History
9000 BCE Late Stone Age evidence of indigenous habitation in Iwo Eleru rock shelter in southwestern Nigeria.
600 BCE Evidence of iron technology used by Nok civilization, near present day Abuja.
1000-1500 CE Foundation of centralized states such as Kanem, Borno, Benin, Ife, Oyo, and the Hausa city states
1100-1400 CE Introduction of Islam into savanna and Sahelian states of northern Nigeria
1804 Usman dan Fodio flees Gobir and then declares jihad against the Hausa rulers of Gobir. This war will eventually lead to the establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate in northern Nigeria. The Caliphate spread Islam beyond the ruling classes to common people to a greater extent than had previously existed.
1807 British abolition of the slave trade. Although the trade in slaves continues from southern Nigerian ports for another forty years, trade in palm oil and other forms of “legitimate” commerce expand rapidly from this point.
1833 Final collapse of the Oyo empire, which marks the beginning of sixty years of instability and war among Yoruba states in the southwest.
1846 The Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionaries establish a mission in Abeokuta; from this point Christianity begins to spread rapidly in southern Nigeria for the first time. A new elite emerges in the south, educated in European mission schools and sharing many European cultural attributes.
1861 The British make Lagos a Crown Colony, the beginning of the British colonization of Nigeria.
1885 Establishment of the Oil Rivers Protectorate in southeastern Nigeria, renamed the Niger Coast Protectorate in 1893.
1886 Formation of the Royal Niger Company (RNC) which monopolizes trade in the Niger basin until the revocation of its charter in 1900. In the same year, a peace treaty is signed, ending the prolonged war among Yoruba-speaking peoples of the southwest.
1887 King Ja Ja of Opobo exiled to the West Indies for abrogation of Treaty of Protection which guaranteed the British free trade in his realm.
1892 British attack on the Ijebu
1893 Establishment by the British of a Protectorate over the Yoruba.
1894 Revolt of the people of Brass against the Royal Niger Company. In the same year, Nana, the Itsekiri governor of the river Benin, is deposed and deported for hindering British access to interior markets
1897 Name “Nigeria” officially adopted.
1898-1909 Ekumeku underground resistance movement fights against the RNC and British colonial rule.
1900 Creation of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
1902 The Aro Expedition begins as part of the British effort to “pacify” the hinterlands of eastern Nigeria.
1903 British forces conquer the Sokoto Caliphate and kill the Sultan
1908 Protests in Lagos against the water rate, fueled by the reporting of Nigerian journalists such as Herbert Macaulay, often dubbed the “father of Nigerian nationalism.” Macaulay and other journalists use newspapers to report on and critique the performance of the colonial government.
1914 Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates.
1914-1918 Nigerian troops aid the British cause in the First World War
1920 Foundation of the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA)
1923 Establishment of the Clifford Constitution allowing for elected representation for Nigerians in the governance of Nigeria for the first time. Aina Onabolu (1882-1963) fights the colonial administration to introduce art education into the secondary curriculum in Lagos. (See: Nigerian Lives: Aina Onabolu)
1925 Foundation of the West African Students’ Union (WASU)
1929 The “Women’s War”, or Aba Riots, a major protest against colonial taxation and British indirect rule in southeastern Nigeria.
1936 Foundation of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) a political organization of young nationalists in the Lagos area
1944 Nnamdi Azikiwe founds the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (later Nigerian Citizens) which quickly becomes an influential political party pushing for independence for Nigeria from British colonial rule. In the same year Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti founds the Abeokuta Ladies’ Club, later renamed the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU) to lobby against the injustices of colonial indirect rule.
1945 Nigerian labor unions organize a General Strike bringing work and business to a standstill. The strike precipitates important economic changes in the form of the first Ten Year Plan, adopted later the same year.
1948 Establishment of the first Nigerian university in Ibadan
To be continued


Video games are often blamed for a wide range of problems that affect today’s youth. From increases in childhood obesity to desensitizing kids to violence, the list goes on and on. Because of this overemphasis on the negative effects of video games, the benefits often go unseen.
Studies have shown that some video games can promote spatial skills and hand-eye coordination, and even improve practical skills. Quicken Loans Zing blog previously discussed some video games that bolster basic arithmetic and financial understanding in Five Games That Teach Good Financial Habits. But what else can games teach you? The answer is more than you would think.
Both kids and adults enjoy playing video games. But which ones are both entertaining and best at improving your child’s skills and knowledge? Let’s look at games that help develop science skills, for elementary kids to high schoolers and beyond.
JumpStart (PC, Mac)
JumpStart is intended to supplement a student’s early elementary education (preschool to third grade) in the home in an entertaining way.
Each JumpStart game is tailored to a specific grade level, and improves your child’s skills based on the expectations for their age.
Spore (PC, Mac, Nintendo DS)
Spore is an online gaming experience that’s part of a larger series. Spore is intended to teach children about basic scientific principles, with a focus on the early principles of biology. In later games in the series, such as Spore Galactic Adventure, the focus broadens to include other sciences such as astronomy. With this game carrying an Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating for ages 10 and up, game play is intended for children in late elementary school through early high school.
Portal 2 (PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)
Portal 2 is the second installment in the Portal series, but boasts dramatic improvement in gameplay and hosts a wide range of new features. The game itself challenges you to use your intellect and futuristic advancements in science to escape your captors. In this world, you’re encouraged to use your limitless potential to create, break and solve puzzles, all while creating an understanding of scientific rules. While this game may involve the least amount of educational lessons on the list, there’s no doubt that it will encourage your kids to pay more attention in their science lessons. This widely popular game is for the little kid in everyone. ESRB rates this game for everyone ages 10 and up.
While not all video games are intended to be educational in nature or appropriate for all audiences, some video games offer more benefits than most people would believe. If you’d like more information about video games that can benefit your children in educational ways, be sure to check out the Open Education Database for a great list of games.
Do you or your kids play any educational games? What are your favorites?
Let us know in the comments below!
If so, subscribe now for tips on home, money, and life delivered straight to your inbox.


Our youngest daughter is a budding cook and loves making cookies and cakes. She has a page-a-day calendar with recipes for cookies on. Here's one batch she made last week:
For the Cookies:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
grated zest of 3 lemons
1 1/2 cups plain flour
For the Filling:
4 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
grated zest of 2 lemons
juice of 1/2 lemon
Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest together until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and cornflour together and stir into the creamed mixture. Roll into balls and press flat on a baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool.
To make the filling, beat the butter and sugar together with the lemon zest and juice until light and fluffy. Spread the filling onto the flat side of one cookie, then put another cookie on top and sandwich together.
Baking as a way to practice numeracy skills
Baking is a great way for kids to practice a number of skills - not just the skill of baking!
Measurements are well practised as ingredients are weighed etc. Depending on the unit of measurement, sometimes fractions are sometimes practiced - as they are here, when things are measured in cups, and half cups etc. This is something that can come up on the Naplan test in Grade 3 too. For example - here is a question I found on one of the past papers:
Thomas needs 3 cups of flour to make a cake.
He only measures 1/2 cup at a time.
How many 1/2 cups of flour will he need?
1 2 3 or 6 ?
When a student is faced with a question like this, of course they are being tested on their knowledge of basic fractions, but if they have had the real life experience of measuring flour using half cups for a recipe, then the question becomes so much more familiar and so, easier.
We have a large and varied selection of recipes that the girls can bake from - with measurements in cups, grams and ounces, depending on where the recipes come from ! It is great for the kids to be exposed to all these different measurements and to also be able to understand how they relate to each other. Many recipes have 2 different measurements shown, so the kids get used to seeing for example 100g (4 oz), and so gradually learn to convert between different units of measurement.
The more kids bake and weigh ingredients, the better they become at estimating weights. It is not only important that kids can read and use units of measurements, but also that they have a rough idea of what, for example 1kg might feel like.
Another way of practising this is by helping at the shops when buying say - a bag of sugar, and feel the weight of it when they put it in the basket. Or perhaps they know their own weight and so then have a reference point to compare other things to.
Estimating real weights and lengths etc is something else that may appear on the Naplan test, where the students may have to choose the most sensible or likely option from the answers as to what something might weigh or measure.
Here is another example of a question from a past paper:
Which of these is the closest to the length of a real shoe?
To answer this question, students need to understand what 1cm is actually like and be able to relate this to real life objects. I remember always using my 'big' 30cm ruler at school to compare things to when estimating lengths. It's helpful for kids to have a point of reference like this to refer to - something that they can think, "Is this object longer or shorter than my 30cm ruler?"; thus making it easier to estimate the length of something they don't know.
Real life is often the best practice
Sometimes the best practice for basic numeracy and literacy skills for young kids is doing something 'real' - like baking!
So - take a look in your recipe books, and see what tasty delights your kids could bake with you, for some 'homework' today!