This seminal text provides a scholarly overview of current evidence-based approaches to emergent literacy intervention as a necessary component of clinical practice in speech-language pathology. Numerous books are available on the topic of emergent literacy, yet few are developed specifically for the speech-language pathologist. This book fulfills this important need.
The scope of this book is comprehensive yet focused: it is tailored to identify state-of-the-art approaches on a range of topics in the area of emergent literacy, yet focuses its emphasis on children from toddlerhood to kindergarten. This period corresponds to the emergent literacy years, which precedes childrens transition to beginning reading.
Each chapter provides scientifically cited background information relevant to the content of the chapter before discussing the "How To" and the "Why." Figures, tables, and charts throughout the text are easily accessible to the busy practicing clinician. By providing a usable integration of theory and research, it encourages readers to think about building early foundations in literacy to promote healthy early development, and emphasizes the specific approaches speech-language pathologists need to employ when targeting literacy in childhood intervention.
Designed for speech-language pathologists at both pre-professional and post-graduate levels, the book will also be of value to reading specialists, literacy coaches, special educators, preschool and kindergarten teachers, and others.
Anita R. Kraft, PhD, CCC-SLP, Advance for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (July 2007):
"'''Clinical Approaches to Emergent Literacy Intervention''' edited by Laura M. Justice, PhD, is part of the Emergent & Early Literacy Series by Plural Publishing. The purpose of the series, according to Dr. Justice, "is to provide clinical and educational professionals with usable, practical and evidence-based resources for enhancing their ability to include literacy as an integral part of their services to toddlers, preschoolers and school-age children." The series is a response to the guidelines from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) that suggest speech-language pathologists work with students on reading and writing. As stated in this volume, speech-language pathologists' knowledge of developmental language and literacy milestones, as well as their expertise in facilitating attainment of these milestones through linguistically responsive interactions with children, equips them to provide appropriate support and consultation to early childhood educators.1 This is stated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 2004. This attractive paperback edition fulfills its objective of providing practical, evidence-based tools for making literacy an integral part of speech and language intervention. The book is divided into two sections: "Program Design Considerations" and "Clinical Approaches." Each chapter addresses a particular area or approach to emergent and early literacy development and discusses difficulties with direct linkages to everyday practices. There are suggestions on how to work with children who need augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, as well as students who are at risk for reading failure. The book includes programs that stress prevention rather than remediation, although it is accepted that some problems only can be lessened and not completely eliminated even with early appropriate intervention. Of particular interest are the chapters on phonemic awareness. Educators are now becoming cognizant of the need for this skill when treating reading disorders. However, there is no mention of Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), a set of measures being used in some schools for Response to Intervention to offer help to students at risk of failing. This should be added in updated versions of the series. Clinical Approaches to Emergent Literacy Intervention will be useful for speech-language pathologists and professionals who work with young children and teach reading. It effectively contributes to answering the question, "What can speech-language pathologists do to include literacy as a target in childhood intervention?""


Classical musicians are cover artists. We play the scores of composers from long ago, and we get to put our own spin on the music.
But what about creating our own from scratch? It’s not always easy to start off. Compare it to writing in your own native language (English for the sake of the analogy).
You started reading somewhere around the age of five. Then you probably began to write short sentences and progressed to essays during the time of grade school. You learned to write poetry, the easiest form being the haiku, and possibly some fiction. Throughout this process you learned to express at least some part of yourself in a literary manner.
Now think about your journey with music. Your parents may have started you in lessons when you were just starting school and learning to read, or you may have waited until you could join band in the fourth grade, or maybe you didn’t even think you’d like music until you started taking piano in high school.
Nonetheless, the fact that you are reading this probably means you are a musician and have studied musical literature in some way, shape, or form.
You probably know at least the bare basics of theory, and if not, you’re not afraid to ask for help. The internet is full of resources.
And maybe you’re like me. You want to learn to express yourself with music too. Playing already composed music is one of the most amazing things you’ve ever done, but you also feel this urge to create.
Yet, instead of starting you off with short sentences, the music education system had you learn all the grammar, had you read only the very best of musical sentences. And the result of that is you know how elementary your own creations seem.
You have to start there though, and that’s okay.
You’ve got all the knowledge of theory and grammar that you need to learn how to write music much, much faster than when you learned to write.
At the risk of adding to an already loud discussion of advice blogs and Youtube channels telling you how to break into arranging and composing, I hope to help in any way I can.
Remember how all your teachers always say to “listen more than you play.” They’re referring to paying attention to your technique, to other members in your ensemble, to recordings of the greats. But something they don’t always talk about is that tiny voice inside you.
You experience the world differently than anyone else. For synesthetes, it’s very obvious; they literally see color when others don’t. For the rest of us, it’s the memories we’ve made that paint the world in different shades in our minds.
You hear things in a way that no one else does.
So when you’re listening to a song that you want to arrange, you might add notes here or there, or you might sing along and add harmonies.
Be confident in that voice. Arranging and composing is one of the rare times when you actually get to listen to that voice.
For the rest of your life, you’re encouraged to be more objective, to listen to technique, to think about what the audience or the judges are looking for. But here, in this creative space, listen deep inside.
Your instincts will guide you.
Of course you still have to work hard. There will be countless hours when you don’t know how to finish a song. The muse refuses speak to you. But keep trying different things; it’s a puzzle to be solved. You’ll find the answer.
Exercise: Pick one of your favorite songs that gets you moving, one that you either literally or figuratively dance to when no one’s watching. Learn the melody on your instrument (or just sing it) and then turn off the track and have fun with it. Don’t worry yet about writing anything down. Just let yourself have fun. Good luck!
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art has released 400,000 images online for non-commercial use.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art creates, organizes, and disseminates a broad range of digital images documenting the rich history of the Museum, its collection, exhibitions, events, people, and activities. Many of these images are available for personal enjoyment, study, educational purposes, and scholarly publication....read on...
Can Children Deprived of Art Education Still Grow Up To Be Innovators?
How does a society breed innovators? Is it through rigorous curricula focused on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)? Is it exposure to art or the experiences associated with play? ......read on..
7 Critiques You Can Use in Your Classroom Today!
Conducting critiques is an important part of teaching art. Critiques teach higher order thinking skills, get students interacting with one another and help students receive authentic feedback from both their peers and their teachers. However, if you are going to do multiple critiques throughout the year, you need to move beyond simply holding a discussion with a nervous room full of kids that don’t want to be called on and don’t want to talk....read on...
The Importance of Mindset
Let’s dispel the myth of the artist as creative genius propelled by innate abilities, and instead, let’s celebrate hardworking artists who spend untold hours and energy diligently pursuing their art. Throughout history there have been a number of artists who could have worn the “creative genius” label—Leonardo, Michelangelo, Vermeer, and Picasso....read on..
The 33 Digital Skills Every 21st Century Teacher Should Have
Every single teacher is concerned about his/ her teaching practices and the skills involved in this process. How many times have you wondered about a better way to teach the same lesson you have delivered to an earlier class? How often have you used technology to engage your students and improve their learning ? These are some recurring questions we keep regurgitating each time our teaching skills are put to the test....read on...
On Your Mark, Challenging the Conventions of Grading and Reporting by Thomas R Guskey
Guskey asserts the need to align grading and reporting practices to truly reflect what students are learning in K-12 classrooms....read on...
News From Other Sources....
Art Education, Assistant Professor (Non-tenure Track), University of Nebraska at Kearney.
To apply and for application information and position requirements visit http://unkemployment.unk.edu. Direct questions about the position to: (308-627-6224); Direct questions about the application process to: (308) 865-8522 or firstname.lastname@example.org AA/EO/ADA www.unk.edu
Nebraska Art Teachers Association
Check out these active NATA members sites


The most comprehensive PreK-8 literacy text on the market – packed with practical instruction and assessment strategies that support the literacy development of all learners.
Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students includes in-depth coverage of every major topic and research-based strategy in literacy education. Readers will gain a thorough understanding of every essential theory and practical technique, then choose which strategies best fit their students’ needs and their personal teaching style. Unique text features include: three chapters dedicated to comprehension, an Academic Word List adapted for elementary and middle school students, arranged by difficulty level of words; specialized techniques for teaching difficult phonics elements; formative phonics, syllabic analysis, and comprehension assessments that are easy to administer and analyze; comprehension techniques such as mystery passages, using manipulatives, macro close, and writing intensive reading comprehension; stage of development; explanations on using extensive databases of Lexiled informational texts; and step-by-step guidance for teaching reading and writing – including sample lessons for virtually every major literacy skill/strategy that incorporate the key elements of effective assessment and instruction.
عنوان: Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students (10th Edition) (9780134986487) Gunning, Thomas G.
ناشر: Pearson; 10 edition (April 28, 2019)
شابک: 0134986482, 978-0134986487
حجم: 168 Mb
فرمت: Original PDF


Curriculum – The Liverpool Counts Quality Mark
The District CE Primary School is working towards achieving the Liverpool Counts Quality mark.The Liverpool Counts Quality Mark is part of a varied programme of strategies targeted at improving maths results for the children.
The specific remit of the Quality Mark is to tackle the negative attitudes towards numeracy and mathematics which are prevalent in many areas of our society.
We aim to challenge these widely held views and promote a culture where people readily understand the impact good numeracy skills and mathematics qualifications can have on the social, financial, health and employment aspects of their lives.
We also aim to support teachers and other adults in our schools to encourage pupils to make connections in their numeracy and mathematics lessons to real life contexts and with other areas of their school experiences.
Recommended Maths Websites and Games
• Primary Games You’ll find all sorts of maths content here, all presented as engaging games and challenges.
• Maths Zone Another collection of games and activities across the full range of curriculum content, mostly appropriate to our KS2 pupils.
• Topmarks Lots of fun games to play with children of all ages! https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games
Internet-based Activities relating to Number and Place Value
• Chinese Dragon Ordering Numbers Learn to order numbers by playing this fun Chinese Dragon game!
• Underwater Counting Game Learn to count up to 10 sea creatures accurately with this fun underwater themed game!
• Give the Dog a Bone Explore the 100 square. http://www.primarygames.co.uk/pg2/dogbone/gamebone.html
• Spin to Win Create the highest number to win the round. http://www.primarygames.co.uk/spintowin/wheelres.html
• Eggs to Order (KS1) Ordering numbers according to place value. http://www.primarygames.co.uk/pg3/orderegg/ordereggsKS1.html
• Eggs to Order (KS2) The extended version that includes decimal numbers too. http://www.primarygames.co.uk/pg3/orderegg/ordereggsKS2.html
• Super Sid’s Decimal Challenge Can you match the decimal numbers to create the target number?
• Splat Square Splat the numbers in different colours. Play games, look for patterns and learn your numbers to 100!
Internet-based Games relating to Times Tables Practice
• Times Table Rock Stars Times Tables Rock Stars is a carefully sequenced programme of daily times tables practice.
• Teaching Tables A collection of little games from the Primary Games website.
• Multiple Wipeout Burst only the balloons that are multiples of the given table. http://www.ictgames.com/rhoodbeyond10.html


Steady beat used to be a concept that I used to assume all students just kind of knew. I didn’t understand the deep necessity for students experiencing it, and how a strong sense of the steady beat would improve other areas of a student’s performance in piano.
My first two years as a classroom music teacher, I had my students do rhythm drills. We started with rhythms of half and whole notes, while students used traditional counting (1-2-3-4). From one lesson to the next, they could not accurately clap the correct rhythms and count. They could tell me that a quarter note got one beat and a half note got two, but there was something missing. It was frustrating for my students and for me. I was failing them somehow, but I could not understand why.
Even though I graduated with a music education degree, there are some things that you just don’t fully understand on their importance until it smacks you in the face while you are teaching.
For me, learning adaptations for students with disabilities was more of an abstract concept than something I fully grasped. But when I was faced with teaching multiple students with common disabilities like dyslexia, I decided it was time for me to find resources to consult, and learn how to adapt teaching music.
In the past I have had a couple students with learning disabilities who became frustrated in music lessons and stopped. I find this to be a failure on my part and I am bound and determined to do a better job at adapting music so that every student feels the joy of learning music.


EDUCATIONAL & ENGAGING ACTIVITIES FOR #BSHARPKIDS
JIMMY FALLON & THE ROOTS WITH STING
SINGING THE POLICE’S HIT “DON’T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME”
INTERESTING ARTICLES/VIDEOS ABOUT MUSIC
- The El Sistema Music Revolution: Jose Antonio Abreu
- How music saved Venezuela’s children
- El Sistema USA – A National Alliance of El Sistema Inspired Programs
- Time to embrace arts education as a priority
Music & the Brain
- Children’s Brains develop FASTER with Music Training
- What playing a musical instrument does to your BRAIN!
- This is your brain. This is your brain on music.
- Hearing The Music
- Music Makes You a Better Reader
- Music Lessons Were the Best Thing Your Parents Did For You
- Music Education Could Close the Achievement Gap
- What does the inside of your head look like when you sing?
- Music Education is the KEY to raising literacy and numeracy standards
- 10 Reasons Making Music is Good for your BRAIN
- National SAT Score Comparison (students in Fine Arts vs. students NOT in Fine Arts)
- String players’ brains
- Music & Language Skills
- Scientific reasons to teach music in schools
- How playing music changes the learning brain
- Music in the brain
Social & Emotional Behavior
- Boys Town Education Model
- Music spurs emotional/behavior growth
- What’s Grit?
- Five ways to teach GRIT
- Teaching through relationships
- Music education requires kids to invest in themselves
- Emotional learning is as important as the ABC’s
Benefits of Music
- Benefits of Playing Music
- The Benefits of Music Education
- Why Listening to Music is Good for your Health!
- Why children should be exposed to classical music…
- Long term benefits of music lessons
- 20 Important Benefits of Music in our Schools
- Music boosts auditory processing
- Music as a language
- Why MUSIC?
- Seven amazing things science has discovered about music
- Why making music matters!
- Why I’m glad I participated in my school’s music program!
Music Infusion / Arts in the Classroom
- Educators want to pair MATH and MUSIC
- Arts in the classroom
- Project Based Learning
- Expeditionary Learning
- Creating a learning community
- How integrating arts into other subjects makes learning come alive
Miscellaneous Music Musings
- Is Music the KEY to Success?
- New Research Shows Listening to Music Actually Alters Your GENES in Surprising Ways
- Conducting with Marin Alsop
- How to read music
- When to clap at the symphony
- An illuminated visualization of Bach’s The Well Tempered Clavier
- The Power of Music
- 10 reasons musicians are more successful
- Pipe Dream Animation
- Music instrument using 2000 marbles
- Starship Groove Animation
MUSIC GAMES & RESOURCES
- Classics for Kids
- Speed Note Reading Game from Vic Firth
- Music Tech Teacher – fun music games for everyone!
- Super Duper Note Name Game
- Ultimate list of online music games
- Chrome music lab
- Guess the animal represented by the music
- Kidzone – NY Phil
- Lines & Spaces Games
- Making Music Fun
- Piano Education Resource Guide
- Musical Playground for Kids!
- The Wide World of Music: An Interactive Guide to 100 Musical Instruments
B SHARP SOLO CONTEST LINKS
FOR WOODWINDS & BRASS:
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE KJOS MULTIMEDIA LIBRARY
Once there, follow these steps:
1 – Click on BAND
2 – Click on Festival Solos Book 1 for all wind solos except Rondeau. Click on Festival Solos Book 2 for Rondeau.
3 – Make your instrument selection and scroll down to find the appropriate solo
“MELODY” IN G
“SPRINGTIME WALTZ” IN G
“WOODEN SHOE DANCE” IN D
“CAPRICCIO” IN G
“DANCE SONG” IN C
“COUNTRY GARDENS” IN D
GRASSHOPPERS & POLLYWOGS
RECORDING COMING SOON!


Elementary School Program
The elementary education program (K-4) is designed to provide comprehensive and appropriate instruction to all students. All core subjects are aligned, but not limited to, State, Common Core, and Diocesan learning guidelines. Every effort is made to design an instructional program that is sound, diverese, well rounded, and challenging keeping in mind the foundations of breadth, depth, and relevance. In addition to the core subjects, learners receive instruction in religion, physical fitness, Spanish, and the fine arts.
The learners of Saint Jeanne's are very self-motivated with a constant desire to achieve and excel. Therefore, it is incumbent on each teacher to draw out their individual talents, develop the personal strengths, and positively address the weaknesses. These tasks are undertaken both in class and during the extra-curricular activities. Teachers are challenged to make classes inspiring, engaging, and empowering with a focus on life skills that our learners will need in order to succeed in the world today and in the future. Our partnership with Saint Jeanne's parents is a critical part of this task and essential to the overall success of each learner.
This site provides information using PDF, visit this link to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software.


2837 words 12 pagesReflection
Dr. Amy Summer, Instructor
EDUC - 6709G - 1: Literacy Development in an Academically Diverse Classroom
June 22, 2014
Creating and implementing effective lessons for a literacy learner who is struggling with reading and writing takes much effort and appropriate resources. Throughout the Literacy Development course, I have gained much insight and resources that have become valuable tools in addressing students’ literacy needs. Each week, I conducted lessons and activities that targeted the needs of many students, but my initial focus on was on one particular student. His individual reading level, spelling development, and writing abilities were analyzed and the recorded data was used …show more content…
McKenna, M., & Stahl, K. (2008b). Assessment for reading instruction. (2nd ed., pp. 87-91). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Mesmer, E. M., & Mesmer, H. A. E. (2008). Response to intervention (RTI): What teachers of reading need to know. Reading Teacher, 62(4), 280-290.
Morris, D. (2014). Diagnosis and correction of reading problems (2nd ed.) p. 101-102. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Literacy Learner Study
Introduction (1–2 paragraphs)
The literacy learner for this study is a second grade student.
He is a struggling reader and reads about 20 wpm.
This student receives ELL pull-out segments for 45 minutes each day.
He attends a reading program called Fast ForWord. This is a computer based reading program and each session is 45 minutes long.
This student is also in RTI Tier 3, and will be tested for special education services at the beginning of third grade.
Informal Literacy Assessments (3–4 pages)
Spelling Development (based on spelling assessment):
The student did not test past the first grade list of words on the spelling assessment. On some of the words, the student wrote the correct beginning and ending letters. The vowels especially short i and e tend to confuse the student. The words containing the CVCe pattern caused him to struggle during the assessment.
What is the student’s level of spelling and what does this mean instructionally?
This student is considered an emergent speller. Instructionally, he


From an early age, Francis Nnaggenda knew he wanted to be an artist. Born in 1936, Nnaggenda was raised in rural Uganda where he became intimately connected with traditional life. He grieved over the way modernization was undermining the stability of African communities. Becoming an artist, he thought, was going to be the best and most practical way of raising his voice against a skewed development process that he was witnessing.
With such strong opinions, Makerere Art School proved to be inconsistent with his aspirations. The School had at the time of the run up to independence abandoned the curriculum that was respectful of Ugandan art-making traditions which Margaret Trowell, its founder, had developed. Under Cecil Todd, Trowell’s successor (1958), Makerere Art School was instead reviewing its curriculum towards an emphasis on knowledge of world art, technique and skills acquisition. Elimo Njau and Sam Ntiro, Trowell’s direct and highly regarded protégés became Nnaggenda’s allies. The duo was opposed to Todd’s scholarly approach to art education and in the early 1960s, they prepared Nnaggenda for the daunting task of redefining traditional life along modern lines. In taking an alternative route in pursuit of an artistic career, Nnaggenda’s experiments in sculpture left an indelible mark on Uganda’s modern art landscape to which Makerere can lay no claim.


Visual art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge students, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.
As students progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and richness of the world.
During their visual art education at The British International School of New York, students develop lifelong traits such as creative thinking, risk-taking and confidence. Throughout history and across cultures, visual art tells stories, inspires movements, and impacts our understanding of the world. Incorporating art history into our units provides context and exposes our students to some of the most influential and meaningful artists across time. In the art studio we encourage students to find their unique voices, points of view and ways of working through various mediums such as painting, drawing, animation, collage and sculpture.
The Arts in Middle Years
In the Middle Years Program, students dive deeply into projects that explore concepts such as identity, abstraction and historical influence which challenge them to push their creative capacities beyond what is expected.
Teachers create projects and experiences that link with units of inquiry, to help students develop a deeper context to the content they are learning and an understanding of how the arts can be used as an avenue to communicate their opinions and knowledge of the world.
It must not be forgotten that the basic law of children’s creativity is that its value lies not in its results, not in the product of creation, but in the process itself. It is not important what children create, but that they do create, that they exercise and implement their creative imagination


Learning to Write and Loving It! equips teachers of young children with practical strategies, assessment tools, and motivating writing activities that are based on current research and proven practice and are easily applicable to all kinds of learning environments. Included are many authentic writing samples and photos to illustrate effective, developmentally appropriate instructional methods, mini-lessons, and activities. Sought-after author and speaker Miriam P. Trehearne demonstrates how to scaffold play and literacy learning and how to easily link assessment to instruction.
Differentiate using effective instructional approaches for teaching writing and supporting inquiry and play
Assess and document student writing seamlessly throughout the day
Motivate and engage children in writing fiction (narrative), nonfiction, poetry, and song
Enjoy learning with a powerful collection of vignettes from real classrooms
Use teacher-friendly guidelines for effectively integrating technology and selecting software for young children
A companion CD offers modifiable reproducibles, observation checklists, assessments, and projects for parents to do with their young children. Learn how to successfully scaffold writing, and, in the process, foster cross-curricular skills in science, social studies, and math.
Research shows that writing provides a strong foundation for literacy development. Further, writing helps children express themselves, clarify their thinking, communicate ideas, and integrate new information into their knowledge base. This book helps teachers get children off to a strong academic start by learning to write and loving it!


When I began working in my craft business I always loved (and still do) watching the children’s faces as they stood proudly with their finished products.
But I soon realised that the end result was only one part of the story. What they were learning though the process of creating the craft was just as rewarding.
What children can learn and the skills they are developing through play is a crucial part of the early childhood learning. Play = learning. Through their natural curiosity, imagination, investigation and purely the courage of giving it a go, children are gaining valuable life skills.
Take 2D foam craft as an example, it looks as though we are only putting layer and layers of foam stickers on a board to make the finished picture. This children’s craft is more challenging than we think, there are lots of skills involved in making the finished product:
Cognitive / Thinking Skill – Children need to first evaluate and decide which shape goes where and which shape need to go first – children are problem solving and using their trial and error skilsl as they work through the picture.
Coordinating Skill – Children are developing fine motor skill, as they take the backing off each sticker shape and then place it onto the board.
Social / Relating Skill – Children can work alongside others such as friends or a parent. They are developing communication skills – talking about what they are doing, watching others to see what they do, taking turns and sharing the foam stickers .
The process also builds confidence – as the picture comes together and they will sense their achievements and teamwork. A child once said to me at the workshop – “this craft is challenging but rewarding at the same time”
Essentially children are learning life skills, through hands on experiences – by doing, watching others and experimenting. The great thing about children’s craft is it has broad appeal and it helps children develop independence, confidence and the different skills they need to develop.
On the flip side parents also learn about their children through play, as it provides great insight into their personalities, strengths, interests and social skills. As you watch your children grow through play you see their art work evolve from a scribble to a face with arms and legs or in the case of foam art it starts with stickers covering the board in random locations, to a perfect replication of the design completed independently.
So the next time you see your kids playing take a moment to enjoy the process as they learn, grow and have fun.


Louis-Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his orchestra composition Symphonie fantastique.
Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his ‘Treatise on Instrumentation’ and his influence was central to the further development of Romanticism, especially for composers like Richard Wagner, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss, and Gustav Mahler.
He holds a unique place in musical history excelling in the fields of composer, practical musician and writer at once.
Unlike most other renowned composers of his time, Berlioz was not a child prodigy and began studying music at the age of 12. He was discouraged from learning the piano by his father, and became proficient in the guitar and flute. His early compositions were small arrangements, romances and chamber pieces.
He turned his back on a career in medicine to follow his passion for music, and went on to compose works that showcased the innovativeness and search for expression that were hallmarks of Romanticism.
Berlioz had a romantic soul and a great affection for literature, particularly the writing of Thomas de Quincy, Goethe, Byron and Shakespeare – who inspired many of his best-known works. Whilst only twelve he learned to read Latin and translated Virgil, whose works made him weep, into French.
For the opening of Stanley Kubrick’s film ,The Shining’, composer Wendy Carlos re-interpreted the ‘Dies Irae’ section of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique using a Moog synthesizer.
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Have you ever noticed the sounds trees make in different seasons? How do you think the wind sounds like in a forest in late summer? Do you think a…
Classical Music of South Asia
Welcome to this brand new 30-minute collection of classical music from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond! Paying equal attention to more established…
Discover a treasure trove of music education resources created by the experts at Minute of Listening.


Although it may seem that playing house or doctor is cute and simply just play, these scenarios actually possess some very important benefits for children. Through dramatic play, children are actively able to play different roles and act out different situations in a safe environment, building traits and skills they can apply to the real world.
Through dramatic play, children develop and learn important social skills. They learn how to take turns, have an opportunity to exercise manners, and learn how to communicate and interact effectively with one another. The social skills that children gain through dramatic play they can then apply to the real world -- the classroom, the home, in public settings and later, in the work world.
Dramatic play is an ideal way to promote language development in children. When acting out different scenarios, children use words that they may never otherwise have an opportunity to use in a meaningful way. For example, when a child assumes the role of a parent or a teacher, he may use words that he hears his father or teacher use, giving them a purpose and making them a significant part of his vocabulary. He uses his words as a means of communication, helping to build his language skills.
Expression of Emotions
Although adults know how to use their words to express their feelings and emotions, most children are unaware of how to do so. Dramatic play provides children with an opportunity to express how they feel about events they have experienced in a safe environment. For example, if a child is coping with the loss of a grandparent, she may act out her feelings and internalize her emotions, helping her understand them better.
Motor Skill Development
Dramatic play helps children develop both their fine and gross motor skills. When a child jumps, hops, runs or dances while playing, he is exercising and building the large muscles of his body, increasing his agility, balance and coordination. The buttoning, zippering and tying that he may do when putting different costumes on himself or on figures helps to develop his fine motor skills, as he uses the small muscles of his hands to do so.
Dramatic play encourages children to think creatively and exercise their imaginations. When a child uses different objects to represent specific items -- a sheet as the sea or cotton balls as ice cream -- she is exercising her creativity. Additionally, when playing dramatically, children pretend they are someone or something else in different settings, which in and of itself promotes creative thinking.
Lily Mae began freelance writing in 2008. She is a certified elementary and literacy educator who has been working in education since 2003. Mae is also an avid gardener, decorator and craft maker. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in education and a Master of Science in literacy education from Long Island University.


How do we enhance and grow a vocabulary painlessly and dramatically? Literacy development is contingent on the use of words in both conversation and writing that encourage learners to set goals to use the vocabulary they are learning. One way to do this (credit give to the second grade teacher in Brooklyn) is to have a “Stay” and “Go Away” word list. This allows the parent and teacher to help the learner (of any age group) to substitute a better word for a word currently in use. There is a comfort zone when using words that we are familiar with, however, Vygotsky (zone of proximal development theorist) showed us that when we challenge our children to stretch beyond the familiar to the uncommon we imcrease their learning.
The “Stay and Go Away” method is a fun way to say these words are better choices than others. Parents and teachers can easily target certain words to move into the “Go Away” section without diminishing self efficacy when always accepting the choice of the simpler word, and then encouraging the movement to the replacement word.
Just introducing other words that describe the commonly used “boring” or “bored” would be a tremendous move towards building descriptive and expressive language.


The importance of reading
We're commemorating National Book Week from 7 to 13 September. It's an initiative of the South African Book Development Council (SABDC) in collaboration with the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
This initiative seeks to encourage the nation to value reading as a fun and pleasurable activity and to showcase how reading can easily be incorporated into one’s daily lifestyle.
The commemoration coincides with International Literacy Day on 8 September.
Being able to read is an important part of a child’s development and exposing children to books at an early age helps with their vocabulary development and language skills. Sadly, thousands of learners and adults don’t have basic literacy and numeracy skills.
According to statistics, nearly 60% of households don’t own a leisure reading book with only 14% of the population active book readers. Reports suggest a mere 5% of parents read to their children.
Results from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016, which assesses reading comprehension of grade 4 learners, reveal that South Africa faces many challenges when developing reading literacy at Grade 4 level. Nationally, 78% of learners cannot read for meaning by the age of 10.
Literacy is the foundation
Literacy is the foundation for all learning. Improving the levels of literacy can also assist in improving numeracy.
Improving literacy and numeracy skills are crucial to a child’s ability to develop fully as an individual. These skills can help them to live a satisfying and rewarding life and to participate fully in society as they grow and mature.
The PIRLS has a set of recommendations of which the strengthening of teaching on reading literacy, in the Foundation Phase (grade R to grade 3), is at the top of the list. It also recommends that extra-mural reading be encouraged and that a culture of reading cultivated. Parents and learners must increase the amount of time spent on reading.
Promoting a culture of reading
Provincial Minister of Education, Debbie Schafer says although there aren’t any quick fixes, there certainly are slow and sure ones. This is something the Department is focusing on for some time now.
“We are acutely aware that our rates of literacy and numeracy in South Africa are concerningly low, which negatively impacts on our education system and consequently our economic growth,” she said.
Minister Schafer says promoting a culture of reading, encouraging parents to read to their children and making books accessible in schools will help improve literacy levels of learners.
"No child should leave school without having mastered these skills. In fact, no child should proceed to grade 4 without having mastered basic literacy and numeracy.”
"If the basics are not laid at an early age, the problems persist throughout the system and become a problem for every teacher after that," she added.
How can I help?
Solving South Africa’s literacy problems requires innovative solutions and collective involvement.
According to Minister Schafer, one of the biggest challenges is creating a culture of reading books and educating parents about the importance of reading books to their children, and if they can't read, still encourage their children to read.
"The ability to read is something so many of us takes for granted, but the reality is that because of our unequal history, many parents today can’t read at all, or not well. This inhibits them from taking an active interest in their children’s education because they don’t feel confident enough," Minister Schafer said.
One of the ways to encourage reading in your household is to make reading a habit. Do you need tips on what you can do at home to build the reading, writing of your children? The Department of Education has some great ideas on how you can make reading fun for your children.
Another way of improving literacy skills is by visiting local libraries - borrowing books to read in your free time and participating in the activities on offer. Research has shown that learners become more competent readers when they have access to a school library with a good resource collection.
Donate books and change a life
Do you have reading books you’re no longer using? Consider donating it to a local school library or one of these NPOs to help make a difference.
International Literacy Day
On 8 September we celebrate International Literacy Day, in which we highlight the importance of literacy. Through a virtual conference, United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), will initiate a collective global discussion to reimagine the literacy teaching and learning of youth and adults in the post-Covid-19 era towards the achievement of the SDG4.
The focus this year will be on the role of educators and the changing method and practice of teaching.
International Literacy Day has been celebrated annually since 1967 to advocate the importance of literacy.


At the local, state, and federal levels, governments are facing budget shortfalls, attempting to spend more money than they’re bringing in. Forever trying to avoid raising taxes, legislators, mayors, school board members, and more look to cut every bit of funding that’s unneeded or wasteful in the name of saving money. Programs that get the axe are often public services, sometimes unpopular and sometimes expensive.
One of the most common and damaging victims of these cuts has been the arts. Despite being vital to many lives and communities, arts funding has found itself on the chopping block in schools, communities, and, notably, the federal budget. Ultimately, at each of these levels, governments must return to recognizing the transformative potential of art and continue to invest to make it more accessible and universal in a society that dearly needs it.
Over the last four years, former President Donald Trump made continuous attacks on the National Arts Endowment, proposing to cut the agency’s funding completely in each of his proposed budgets. The National Arts Endowment (NEA) was founded by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 in an effort to provide supplemental funding for the arts in recognition of the arts “as a vital part of our national life, and not a luxury.”
Funding for the NEA is not a substantial part of the federal budget ($162 million for 2020), but it provides funding to projects that would not otherwise be profitable, especially in impoverished communities; nearly half of all NEA supported activities take place in high-poverty neighborhoods, and many reach underserved populations. Beyond all of this, it represents a powerful commitment to the place of the arts in American society, a commitment that sees enrichment in the arts not as a privilege for the wealthy few but as a vital part of everyone's lives.
Cutting NEA’s budget could have disastrous effects not only for the many thousands of artists it funds directly and their audiences but also the outlook for art in our country as a whole. The idea has gained traction with many on the right, who argue that the NEA is wasteful and unnecessary. The NEA, somewhat miraculously, has survived Trump’s presidency. Mostly thanks to bipartisan support in Congress, its budget has modestly increased, though still substantially less than inflation has, resulting in an actual federal funding decrease of 10% over the last twenty years.
Despite its importance and prominence at the federal level, NEA funding is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of arts funding in the United States. The majority of public funding for the arts comes from state and local governments that spend 35% and 12% less on the arts now then in 2000, respectively.
Even more ubiquitous, though, is the well-known phenomenon of the arts slowly being stripped out of schools. Since 2000, when over one-fifth of schools offered both theatre and dance classes, schools have rapidly changed their priorities, with data showing that in 2010 only 3% of schools had dance classes and only 4% had theatre classes.
The benefits of art education are widely acknowledged, helping students engage more effectively and improving overall learning outcomes. Despite this, the contraction in arts funding is continuous, and it threatens to have major long term consequences. Unsurprisingly, cuts to arts funding in schools disproportionately affect people of color and other marginalized communities. Arts funding is a racial justice issue, deeply entangled in white supremacist structures of education and generations of wealth built on racism, but there are opportunities to push back.
Artists and educators across the country are calling for new and deepened investments in arts education. In Massachusetts, lawmakers have the opportunity to fund the Student Opportunity Act, which will distribute additional funds to school districts. Educators see this as an opportunity to reinvest in arts education, arguing that “arts education is one of the tools we need now to build a better world.”
At all levels of government, leaders need to do a better job of actively identifying the privileges that usually allow for the creation and consumption of art: privilege on axes of race, class, ability, education level, and more. Arts funding, from schools to the NEA, have both the opportunity and duty to address these inequalities and fight for the arts as a vital part of our human lives.


The Wait and See Approach:
While some students crack the alphabetic code with minimal or even no instruction, others require systematic phonics reinforced by decodable texts to become skilled readers. The catch is that when students enter school, we don’t know for whom code-based instruction will be essential. We can wait and find out, and in fact, we do this so often that the approach has a name, “wait to fail.” But by the time we learn which students required systematic foundational skills instruction, they are years behind and it requires a great deal, sometimes even too much, of children, their teachers, and their families to close the gap.
The wait and see approach disproportionately affects students disadvantaged by other societal problems, such as poverty and racism. These already vulnerable students are too often on the wrong side of the achievement gap, paying the price for our fear of delivering instruction to those who might not need it. Because classroom phonics instruction often lacks the differentiation and progress-monitoring needed to support all learners, it typically benefits students who master skills easily and are likely to have been born into other advantages. Students less reliant on instruction are most likely to reap its rewards.
Educators seem to be in another game of “wait and see,” waiting for the Reading Wars to end. But it has been nearly two decades since reading researchers determined that systematic and explicit instruction in phonics is effective. Still, schools of education and publishers are stuck in the past, presenting reading as “cueing” and preparing teachers to use rudimentary strategies that will fail large numbers of children.
“The Reading Wars are over and science lost.”Cognitive scientist Dr Mark Seidenberg
It is not science that has lost. Reading science continues, with researchers learning more every day about how our brains learn to read; it’s children, their families, and teachers who have lost. Scientists are now able to rewire the brains of people who are dyslexic, and yet we still have children without disabilities leaving elementary school struggling to decode. Why?
Materials for ineffective practices are more plentiful than those for code-focused approaches
Hundreds of thousands of glossy leveled books pour into schools every year while decodable texts are relatively rare and drab. But if schools can ban peanut butter to protect the 0.6% of students who are allergic, surely we can shut out materials that lead to reading failure in upwards of 40% of students. Stopping the flood of ineffective materials and creating the demand for better training and curricula will help to make foundational skills instruction more effective and engaging for students and teachers.
Why don’t we think of phonics instruction as preventative care?
As a society, we take so many precautionary measures to keep children safe- everything from seatbelts and helmets to vaccines- and reading struggles put students at risk for a myriad of life-long tribulations. When the wellbeing of children is on the line, we shouldn’t hesitate to learn something new, change our habits, and insist on something that is for their own good. We must integrate the findings of researchers, doctors, and psychologists, develop new products and ban inferior ones, and enact legislation to keep children safe; reading science is no exception.
We need to insist on a helps all, harms none, code-focused approach to teaching reading.


Institute for Educational Leadership Announces Three $100K Winners To Be Selected for Designing Innovative Adult Learner Education and Training Models Through Mind That Move Us Initiative
June 05, 2018
According to the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor, career pathways can expand affordable options for secondary, post-secondary, and adult students and learners, as well as offer opportunity for youth and others facing individual or institutional barriers to employment. Career pathways refer to a combination of rigorous and high-quality education, training and other services that align with the skill needs of industries that are in demand.
The Organisation for Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that 36M low-skilled adults in the United States lack the foundational skills preventing them from moving forward both professionally and personally. Additionally, eight out of every ten of these adults are parents, many with children in public schools or young adults at community colleges as highlighted in OECD’s Time for the U.S. to Reskill report.
Creating career pathways and systems is important in any community, but it is particularly important in those areas where adults without postsecondary training or education lack access to programs that are structured paths to economic success and mobility. The ECMC Foundation, a national foundation that makes investments in postsecondary programs to improve educational outcomes among underserved populations, is supporting communities to overcome these challenges through the Minds That Move Us initiative; partners leading Minds That Move Us include the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL), Coalition for Adult Basic Education (COABE) and the National Association for State Directors for Adult Education (NASDAE).
The Minds That Move Us partners are challenging communities to design innovative education and training models that create social equity and economic mobility for all. Driven by the market demands of business and industry as well as the needs of youth and adult learners, these challenges engage the bright minds of public/private partners to examine the current education and training gaps within their communities and then create models that can be scaled and replicated within various industries.
IEL President, Johan Uvin, said, "The Adult Career Pathway Design challenge aims to find teams around the country who will work together to design out-of-the-box solutions to pressing educational and economic challenges for the betterment of their communities."
The Adult Career Pathway Design challenge is open to communities across the United States, and encourages teams of educators, employers, community organizations, and adult students to create innovative solutions that address common barriers preventing adults 26 and over from entering, persisting and successfully completing career pathway programs. The top 10 entrants will be involved in multiple activities including a two-and-a-half day Design Camp to hear from subject matter experts about next generation career pathway design features and approaches that: 1) stack and aggregate learning experiences at various levels of education and industry credentials; 2) use prior learning assessments, competency-based assessments and/or micro-credentials; 3) provide academic and wrap-around supports; and 4) incorporate universal design principles to ensure adult learners with visible and invisible disabilities can benefit from programs. The top 10 entrants also receive ongoing coaching over three years to assist in designing their programs, culminating in a two-day Career Pathways Festival where teams pitch their programs to a distinguished panel of judges and a live, virtual audience including funders that may consider offering pre-commitments to provide implementation funding for ideas they want to support.
"We are looking forward to the innovations that will be developed in the Adult Career Pathway Design challenge, and to provide $100K each for three winners," said ECMC Foundation President Peter J. Taylor. "This initiative draws from the creativity of talented individuals, and we hope it will redefine how we think about career pathways in the postsecondary education field. It is also one where everyone will benefit and learn from all participating communities across the nation."
Applications for the Adult Career Pathway Design challenge are due Friday, June 29th. An informational webinar will be held on Friday, June 8th at 2pm EST. For more information, go to www.MindsThatMoveUs.org.
Since 1964, IEL has equipped leaders to work together across boundaries to build effective systems that prepare children, youth, and now adults for postsecondary education, careers, and citizenship. COABE represents more than 55,000 adult educators who organize efforts to advance national and international adult education and literacy opportunities for all persons. NASDAE advances the leadership of state staff in adult education throughout the states and territories so that every program will be of quality and excellence to increase literacy and prepare adults for success as contributing members of society through work, community and families.


Ten thousand hours, Malcolm Gladwell once argued, is how much practice it takes for an individual to transcend the norm and become an expert. Concerning musical greatness, he pointed to the Beatles in his book The Outliers, calculating that they played about 1,200 gigs in Germany between 1960 and 1964, meeting that practice threshold and paving their way into legend.
Not every band becomes the Beatles, though. Practice makes perfect but it isn't all that goes into making a musical talent — and science is beginning to understand what those factors are.
According to a new study from the University of Cambridge led by David M. Greenberg, one specific personality factor seems able to predict musical talent across the board. Whether or not a person has ever picked up an instrument, if they score high on personality measures related to openness to experience, they may have untapped musical genius. Personality tests may be the key to identifying who might be best suited to learn music and even what instrument they should chose, before they start sinking hours into practice.
The methodology: Openness to experience is one of the Big Five personality traits used in psychological research to taxonomize personality. It's the personality trait most frequently associated with creativity, and it usually signals a high level of intellectual curiosity, well-developed problem solving ability, imagination and now, perhaps, musical aptitude.
With support from the BBC, Greenberg was able to pull together nearly 8,000 participants to measure their personality traits and their musical aptitude using a series of perceptual tasks that don't require any actual musical knowledge.
"We were able to view the analysis outside of musical experience and pit people were musicians against those who weren't," Greenberg told Mic. "Even those people who didn't play an instrument, their levels of openness were still predicting their performance on the test."
Individuals with high levels of openness were better at memorizing melodies, judging when a rhythm fell on beat and had higher levels of musical sophistication than those whose strengths lay on other personality metrics, such as extraversion or contentiousness. "That for us was really intriguing, because people could be walking around and have potential for musical talent and not even realize it," Greenberg said.
Greenberg's study is far from the first to link musical talent and personality measures. Previous research has suggested personality is an important factor in determining one's musical tastes; several studies have even laid the groundwork linking openness to experience and musical aptitude. However, few studies have compared measures between musicians and non-musicians on the scale Greenberg achieved.
His work also helped further narrow down the specific kind of openness to experience that can predict musical talent. The openness to experience personality factor can be further broken down into six specific values, including openness to feelings, to ideas and to aesthetics. The measure Greenberg used took into account only the last two factors, and openness to aesthetics was the only one with reliable predictive power.
Future studies, Greenberg says, will have to look more closely at the the different factors of openness to pinpoint exactly the personality traits that influence music talent (openness to feelings has some interesting potential). The more precise the measures get, the more effective tests of this nature can be in determining who should consider studying music.
Greenberg sees applications for his research in music education. "If you can map a person's personality at a young age that can allow you to help guide them towards what activities or musical activities they might want to pursue," he said. "If a child is 8 years old with a high level of openness to experience, you can give that special attention."
However, Greenberg feels they're just beginning to see the scope of musicianship personality research could predict. "We're hoping to expand these results to look at the personality types of different musicians," he said. His research already suggests those who self-report strong singing abilities score higher on personality measures related to extraversion.
"If it turns out that singers are a different personality types than pianists, we might be able to predict what instrument they might be most suitable for," Greenberg said. "That's the direction that we're going."


Updated: Jun 26
Here is a recipe for kid-friendly, homemade paint. This paint is made out of 3 ingredients: Flour, Water, and Food Dye. This can be stored in an air-tight container after you are done making the paint. It is appropriate for all ages, and can even be used as finger paint! This activity would be great for sensory exploration and fine motor skill development. Children can practice grasping, mixing, and painting with this fun activity!
· 9 Tbsp. flour
· 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. hot water
· 6-8 drops food coloring
· Bowl or cup
· Fork or whisk
· Painting supplies: paper, paintbrushes, newspaper
Measure 9 tablespoons of flour into your cup or bowl. Add the hot water and whisk thoroughly. Make sure to get all clumps out. You can use an electric mixer as well to get all the clumps out.
If your mixture is too thick, you can add more water. If your mixture is too runny, you can add more flour until you reach your desired thickness.
Next, add 6-8 drops of food coloring to your flour and water mixture. Stir well. You can add less food coloring to get a lighter shade or more food coloring to get a more vibrant shade. Once you’ve reached your desired color, you are ready to paint.
Before painting, you will want to put down newspaper, a tray, or a grocery bag so the paint does not leak onto your table.
You can mix your paint colors together to make new colors. I mixed yellow paint and blue paint on a paper plate to make green paint. You can mix red paint and yellow paint to make orange paint. Mixing red paint with blue paint will make purple paint.


This two-day training utilizes Structured Literacy curricula to help teachers meet their goal of making sure their kindergarten students are ready to read by the first grade.
Navigate Kindergarten utilizes a pre-reading curriculum in order to focus on the prevention of reading difficulties. Participants learn phonological awareness, letter recognition, and alphabet sequencing activities for students as well as oral language activities including vocabulary, comprehension, listening, and verbal expression. Additionally, participants utilize multisensory techniques to develop students’ sound-symbol relationships.
Participants learn how to build foundational skills that will help with the prevention of reading difficulties and the prevention of dyslexia. These include lowercase alphabet introduction and reinforcement activities, advanced phonological and phonemic awareness activities, advanced oral language activities, handwriting techniques, and print concepts. This two day class, curriculum, and a class set for 26 students is $775


Anonymous Student Profile
Student A came to DH READ with severe struggles with fluency (reading,) although his receptive vocabulary was at grade level. At the time of his evaluation, Student A was not able to identify or produce over half of all vowel and consonant sounds. His phonemic awareness was minimal. Any words read correctly required sounding out of the word. He was unable to burst any given word. His behavioral issues were also a notable hindrance during the evaluation.
Based on this, our Instructor’s first focus was toward building foundational skills with his phonemic awareness, reducing sound outs, and improving his accuracy with sight words. Instructors spent time during his activities to address behavioral issues including: work refusal, leaving his seat, throwing objects, and disrespect toward instructors and aides. After 65 hours of our one-on-one instruction, Student A showed mastery of all short vowel and consonant sounds, vowel pairs, and was reading primer level passages with 92% accuracy.


We’ve been incorporating a lot of open-ended explorations into our preschool activities. These sink or float activities are an engaging way for kids to explore the properties of different materials. They are great science investigations for toddlers and preschoolers.
Sink or Float Science Activities
I love how Ashley from Life with Moore Babies encouraged her kids to collect their own objects for this Does it Float or Sink? activity.
These Sink or Float Activities for Toddlers from Mom Inspired Life include some great objects that I hadn’t thought of experimenting with before.
In Science for Kids: Sink or Float, Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy helps her daughter put together her own science investigation along with a great free printable.
This Sink and Float Water Play with Natural Materials is perfect for toddlers on hot summer days.
This Does it Sink or Float? – Pirate Style activity is perfect for little learners.
Teach your kids about surface tension in this Make a Paperclip Float experiment.
This Will it Sink or Float? Is a great easy science experiment your kids will love.
This Salt Water Density Experiment For Kids is a fun twist on the classic sink or float experiment. Extend this experiment by testing to see if there is a difference between raw and and hard-boiled eggs in this egg floating science experiment.
Use leftover fruit to test these Fruity Boats.
This Garden Sink or Float Activity will be an instant hit with your kids.
FREE PRINTABLE SINK OR FLOAT RECORDING SHEET
Design your own Sink or Float Science Experiment with this free printable recording sheet.
Gather materials and experiment to see whether they sink or float. Then recording the results by drawing or writing in the free printable sink or float recording sheet.
Click the button below to get your free printable sink or float recording sheet.
More Math and Science Activities with Fizz, Pop, Bang!
Fizz, Pop, Bang! Playful Science and Math Activities is designed to bring hands-on fun to math and science play. It’s full of engaging and powerful learning opportunities in math and science, shared through ideas that incorporate art, play, sensory learning and discovery, for a whole-brain approach.
It includes 40 educational projects and 20 printables including a set of build-your-own 3D shape blocks, engineering challenge cards and a range of math games.


Born in 1877 in Ipswich, Soffock, died on 02.06.1958. Recognized primarily as a landscape and flower painter. He received his formal art education at the Regent Street Polytechnic School and in Italy. In 1900, at the age of 23, he exhibited his first work at the Royal Academy entitled Summer Heat. From 1900– 47 he exhibited more than 55 works at the Royal Academy. In 1918 Wood was appointed the British official war artist for the Balkan front stationed in Macedonia. He painted battles from the Thessaloniki and Dojran Lake fronts. Several of his paintings from his Macedonian period can be found in the collection of the Imperial War Museum in London, UK.
Wood lived most of his life in London and exhibited frequently. His work was extremely popular during his lifetime. He was elected an Associate to the Royal Watercolor Society in 1913, and became a full member in 1918. Largely as a result of his war experience, A.J. Mann hired Wood in 1920 to illustrate the book “The Salonika Front”. He served as Vice President of the Royal Watercolor Socuiety from 1923-1926 and became a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1927. Works by William T. Wood may be seen in the Imperial War Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and the museums in Hull, Leeds, Manchester and Perth.


Helping Your Child Stay Motivated to Learn at Home
While most schools in the United Kingdom are closed due to the global pandemic, parents are forced to become teachers in their own homes. One of the things that’s most challenging about this, is keeping your child motivated to learn when there are so many distractions around. There are lots of things you can do to help, as explored below by a prep school in Kent.
If possible, you should try and set-up an effective study space for your child so that they have a dedicated area for their schoolwork. This should have a desk, plenty of natural lighting and all of the relevant stationery and books. What’s more, it should be free from distractions, such as the TV and their games consoles, so that they can properly concentrate. Most schools are uploading learning resources and activities for students to complete at home, so they will need a decent study space to complete these tasks.
It can be tough to make yourself available to your child all day if you’re working from home but try and check-in as much as possible so that they can ask you any questions they might have. You should also make sure to praise your child when you see them completing their schoolwork, as this will motivate them to continue doing so. You may want to consider imposing stricter rules about screen time, such as “no phones between 9am and 3pm” so that they are less inclined to play on their phones all day.
Bear in mind that learning doesn’t just come in the form of completing worksheets set by teachers. Your child will have an opportunity to learn something new in almost everything they do. For instance, if you’re playing a board game together, such as Monopoly, they will be able to work on their numeracy skills, as well as understanding the importance of patience (whilst they wait for their turn) and also that taking part is better than winning. Other games might teach them problem-solving skills and maybe even teamwork.
Taking a walk through the park and exploring nature, baking a cake, growing a vegetable patch and starting a craft project are all other ways to help your child learn key skills in a fun and social way. If you’re struggling, don’t be afraid to contact your child’s teachers for some additional tips and support.
Thanks for reading xxx
Hi and welcome to The Willow Tree. I’m Michelle, also known as Shel and I am a mama to three beautiful crazy kids – I have two handsome boys and a wild and wonderful girl.
I really wanted a concrete place to share my love for travel, in particular Disney and offer my readers a chance to gain some knowledge around what we love to do as a family of 5.
I share our family adventures which include days out, travel advice and tips, holiday reviews, restaurant visits and of course, our love for Disney, including Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World.
Life is about creating memories, and here we are sharing them with you


Parents and caregivers have an important role to play in children’s literacy development both before and after they start school. The foundations of literacy – phonological awareness, vocabulary and oral language – begin to develop in the early years of life, before children begin formal reading instruction at school.
A child’s experiences and home environment during their early years of life have a strong and measurable effect on their literacy skills before they reach the classroom.
Many studies indicate that children’s emergent literacy skills significantly predict reading test scores in later years, reinforcing the importance of home environments on early literacy development and reading achievement.
Engaging children in play-based literacy activities encourages the development of phonological awareness, vocabulary and oral language, as well as other knowledge essential for learning to read.
For example, by playing word games, using rhymes to explore the sound structure of the English language, and teaching them about the alphabet, letter-sounds and print concepts through directed, play-based activities.
Parents can also enhance their children’s vocabulary and oral language through informal activities, such as providing access to books and educational toys, reading books together, and trips to the library or museums.
One of the most effective things parents can do is TALKING with children, listening, and answering their questions.
Once children start school, parents continue foster reading development by maintaining shared reading activities, ensuring children have reading material at the appropriate levels and following their progress.
The links provide some examples of activities that are free, easily accessible and enjoyable. They have been carefully selected to reflect the highest quality, up-to-date research evidence on early literacy development. There is also advice for parents who are concerned about their child’s reading and language development.


The following is a guest post by Dr. Chris Weber, expert in instruction and intervention systems and Senior Fellow at the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE).
The demands of educational leadership have never been more challenging and the stakes have never been higher. Ensuring high levels of learning—particularly for our most vulnerable students—is the most critical task education leaders face today. Of all the characteristics of leadership, the most crucial and difficult is courage—courage to have progressive conversations with stakeholders and courage to challenge the status quo and transform the way teachers teach and students learn.
Fortunately, there is a research-based set of principles and practices that will ensure that we deliver on this mission: Response to Intervention (RTI), also known as Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).
Serving ALL Students
We can predict that students will bring different learning styles, interests, and readiness levels to core learning environments. We can predict that some students will need more time to master core priorities and that other students will benefit from enrichment. We can predict that some students will have significant deficits in foundational skills. If we can predict it, we can prepare for it. Delivering on the promise of RTI requires the courage to proactively and systematically prepare supports for students.
We must also courageously challenge the traditional practice of grouping students based on ability and label. Students aren’t in tiers; needs and supports are in tiers. We must support students based on their needs, not a label. Equally important, we must have the courage to insist that staff support students based on their availability and expertise, not their job title or funding source.
It also takes courage—and a leap of faith—for leaders and staff to prove to themselves that students will learn more (and perform better on end-of-course tests) when we teach less. And yet, it’s true. The quantity of content threatens the mastery of critical skills and concepts.
Delivering on the moral imperative of high levels of learning for all requires courage. All means all; if a student will be expected to live a happy and productive adult life without accommodations and modifications (which is the case for 99% of students, including the majority of students with IEPs), then they are in the ALL category.
The actions of school leaders speak louder than words. Leaders that talk about their professional respect for teachers, but then micromanage teaching and learning with rigid pacing guides quickly lose credibility. High expectations for all combined with tracking and the marginalization of students with IEPs violates the verbally expressed moral imperative of a growth mindset and high levels of learning for all. Leaders’ actions must match their words; a school’s actions must match its mission statement.
Courage in Action
The first way that leaders can behave in courageous ways is to embrace continuous improvement and change. Change frightens many. Leaders must manage the change process respectfully and sensitively. They must also positively and willingly model the reality that learning organizations accept constant, evidence-informed revisions to practice as a professional obligation.
When initiatives are selected and commitments are made, school leaders must lead from the front. It takes courage for leaders to roll up their sleeves and do the work, often because the leader may not imminently qualified. If a new pedagogy is determined to be necessary, school leaders must practice new lessons with students. If the school commits to monitoring student progress more frequently, then leaders must administer the assessments one-on-one with students. Vulnerability and humility require courage; leaders never ask students or staff to do something that they are not willing and ready to do first.
Just as school leaders must monitor how much they say, and place a priority on listening, they also must avoid the temptation to do too much, or to ask their staffs to do too much. Trying to push too hard too quickly will not result in more rapid gains of staff performance or student achievement. The key is patient persistence—and patience requires its own special brand of courage. There is a temptation to engage in many simultaneous projects, and there is often external pressure to do so.
There is no more appropriate or important “project” on which to focus than RTI/MTSS. By modeling necessary transformative actions, leaders can and must exercise the courage to ensure that all students learn at high levels.
RTI Health Check
Are you and your staff proactively and systematically preparing supports for students? Take our RTI Health Check to see where you are, and where you need to go.


Teaching music? That’s why!
What does a music educator do? One hears this question often when it comes to the definition of this profession. The field of music education is about twenty years old in Austria and thus still in its infancy.
In principle, it has to do with establishing connections between musical content and the various requirements of a very heterogeneous audience. In the form of workshops, staged concerts, classical recitals, or other participatory formats, the audience treads new paths. The intentional approach to strata of the population who have little contact with complex forms of music is one of the goals in music education. Concert halls and festivals leave their usual settings and take place in streetcars and parks, or go into the schools. In this way, they topple the nimbus of musical elitism from its pedestal.
The paths along which music educators lead the pupils are often very easily accessible, associative, and incorporate all the senses.
In teaching the music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, there is yet another aspect: taking Joseph Beuys at his word that everyone is an artist, the participants in music education projects are encouraged to approach composing in a playful manner. In this way, a new area becomes accessible to the audience not only musically, but also socially: it opens a window for possibilities not yet thought of, expands the playing field for fresh approaches and solutions.
Composer Ernst Krenek and his music are simultaneously difficult and easy to teach. On the one hand, there is the rich life that offers countless points of reference: the travels, the native country, identity, and emigration. On the other hand, a many-sided and partially inaccessible oeuvre that is hard to be reconciled with the life of a composer – late-romantic tendencies, jazz elements, twelve-tone music, and electronics.
In the projects at the Ernst Krenek Forum, we decided to illuminate the two sides, both the extra-musical as well as the musical. The subjects offer impulses for an independent creative occupation with the subject. Thus, in the workshops, for example, the pupils create their own twelve-tone rows, fabricate music which they link to the journeys, and deal with their own concept of native country. In the workshop formats, each of which lasts a week, the pupils prepare under the guidance of artists their own small performance, which is presented at the end of the workshop.
Music educator Veronika Grossberger has been active for many years in the music education program of the Ernst Krenek Forum.
You are interested in visiting a workshop at the Ernst Krenek Forum? Feel free to contact us!


Science is one of my favourite areas to teach. I believe that every child is a born scientist and it’s something that is easy to nurture and explore at home. Summer is such a fun time to do science and nature study activities with your kids.
You have time to devote to longer experiments, can explore nature and oceans, and even take your science to different locations.
Below you’ll find some of our favourite Simple Summer Science to do with your kids this year.
Summer Science Experiments
We’ve picked some of the best summer science experiments and investigations you can do with your kids.
From solar power to nature study there’s lots to explore during the summer months.
Sun Science for Kids
Explore the power of the sun with easy Solar Print Dinosaur Footprints. An easy activity to do that shows how powerful the sun is as it bleaches the black paper.
Another fun way to explore the power of the sun is to create your own Solar Oven. We love doing this in summer with the kids.
Summer Nature Study for Kids
As we can get outside with the kids more in the summer, doing science around the natural world is fun. This plastic bottle wormery is easy to make and helps kids to understand a little more what worms do under the soil.
Another of our favourite summer nature science activities is to investigate the life cycle of the frog. One of the best ways to do that is by raising your own tadpoles with your kids.
If you can get the beach why not have a look to see what you can discover in the rock and tide pools. We have a guide to rock pooling with kids as well as a rock pool scavenger hunt you can do together.
Check out our favourite science equipment for summer with the Learning Resources Moonscope and Aquascope from the Nancy-B Science range with our review.
Plant Science for Kids
On the theme of nature, it’s the perfect time to explore plants and growth in more detail. Start by just growing some quick seeds with your kids. It’s easy to do and they will start to learn that plants need light, water and nutrients.
Whilst your growing seeds talk about nutrients and grow your salad with the kids. It will reinforce “how do plants grow” but also you can talk about food, digestion and what makes some food healthy and others not.
Once you have your vegetables why not perfect for science investigation looking at the starch in the different vegetables.
Plants need water and water evaporates from their leaves. This simple celery experiment for kids is great to investigate how this happens and reveal the vessels that use it.
Take a look at plants and examine the reproductive organs. Follow along with a simple plant science dissection.
Plant Growth Activity Pack ~ $5.00
Plant Cells & Photosynthesis ~ $5.00
Exploring Materials – Melting, freezing and Evaporation
A tasty science experiment to do with the kids this summer make their own ice-cream in a bag.
Melting ice is a fun experiment to do about materials and if you make your own ice paints then you can get creative whilst the ice melts.
Another process ideal to explore with kids this summer is evaporation and this easy Borax Free Crystal Growing experiment is simple to set up and do at home.


No Law Student Left Behind
27 Pages Posted: 26 Jul 2013
Date Written: 2013
Dean Tacha examines legal education through the lens of the "no child left behind" discourse. Inspired by the controversy generated by this federal legislation focusing on elementary education standards, Dean Tacha evaluates legal education borrowing themes from the debate. She begins her analysis by acknowledging the critical role that lawyers play in modern society. Lawyers preserve the legacy of freedom and justice for all. A good legal education is an important component of protecting the rule of law for generations to come. Dean Tacha challenges legal professionals to come together in common cause to address the current models of legal education to better serve the profession, the nation, and the world for the future. As part of her analysis, Dean Tacha assesses the economic value of a legal education, the "teaching to the test" aspect of legal education, the need for legal education to prepare new lawyers for a rapidly changing legal environment while also instilling some of the age-old skills of the generalist lawyer, the role of the legal profession in shaping legal education, the role of lawyers in our nation and in the world, and how legal education can and should evolve to meet these challenges.
Keywords: legal education, law schools, law students, law and society, legal profession
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation


ERIC Number: ED201405
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1981
Toward Self-Discipline: A Guide for Parents and Educators.
Gilstrap, Robert, Ed.
The roles of parents, teachers, school administrators, and members of the community in developing self-discipline in children are examined in this collection of articles. Chapter 1 describes how parents can promote the development of self-discipline in their children through such methods as setting limits and establishing a framework for discipline. Chapter 2 provides environmental planning guidelines and interpersonal guidelines to aid beginning teachers in fostering self-discipline in their students. Chapter 3 presents guidelines for the experienced teacher about his or her role as a teacher, the developmental needs and abilities of children, aspects of teacher-student relationships, and the influence of parents, peers, curriculum, and organization. Chapter 4 reviews the school principal's role in the development of self-discipline in children. The last chapter examines the responsibility of community members in educating children and describes a few programs designed to help develop self-disciplined children. (Author/JA)
Descriptors: Administrator Role, Beginning Teachers, Children, Community Role, Discipline, Elementary Education, Guidelines, Parent Role, Self Control, Teacher Role
Association for Childhood Education International, 3615 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20016 ($4.00, plus $0.40 postage/handling).
Publication Type: Collected Works - General; Guides - Non-Classroom; Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: Association for Childhood Education International, Washington, DC.


LOGIC AND RHETORIC SCHOOL
Classical Christian Education in the Logic and Rhetoric Programs at CLA
Through truth, goodness, and beauty, Classical Christian education is designed to cultivate a wise and virtuous man. Therefore our focus is on developing the whole person and forming the soul. Through a biblical worldview, we partner with parents to prepare the Commission graduate for life. It is our desire that they will hunger for God's will so that God can use not only their vocation, but their whole lives to know and serve Him.
We teach our students to focus on fewer things and know them well.
We develop the art of reason and argument in our students through conversation and Socratic discussion so that in any area of life they can know what they believe and why.
We intentionally challenge ideas and work from classical literary sources as well as God's word.
We train students to submit to, internalize, harmonize, align with, and accept God’s divine truth rather than individual, subjective “truths.”
Course Overview of Logic and Rhetoric subject areas by grade levels 7th-12th:
Classical Christian Education Resource:
Socratic Method Resource:
Logic (Levels 7 and 8)
In classical education the Logic stage is where students discover why certain facts exist as certainties. They want to know the “why” of something—the logic behind it. At Commission, we teach our students to dissect and take apart information and begin to critically think through ideas and arguments in all subject areas. They learn reasoning, informal and formal Logic, and begin to develop skills to argue with wisdom and eloquence. The goal in this stage is to teach students how to formulate good questions, sort information, draw comparisons and contrasts, and how to collect, process, and apply the knowledge they have previously acquired in the grammar stage.
Rhetoric (Levels 9-12)
We know that students in the Rhetoric stage naturally become independent thinkers and communicators. The foundational skills from the grammar stage and the analytical skills from the logic stage come together and form a spring board of learning potential. Students study and practice rhetoric skills that develop and grow the art of persuasive speaking and effective writing. This not only pleases and delights the listener, but also will serve the student well when they communicate with others in life, academia, and work beyond Commission. Rhetoric students learn to read the classics in their original languages and will complete their high school journey with a final thesis senior year. The goal in this stage is equip and train students to solve problems and defend their ideas and processes through writing, speech, or conversation integrated throughout all subject areas.
C.S. Lewis contrasts liberal arts education with what he calls "vocational training," - the educational model prepares one for employment. Such training, he writes, "aims at making not a good man but a good banker, a good electrician, . . . or a good surgeon." Lewis does admit the importance of such training—for we cannot do without bankers and electricians and surgeons–but the danger, as he sees it, is the pursuit of training at the expense of education. "If education is beaten by training, civilization dies," he writes, for "the lesson of history is that civilization is a rarity, attained with difficulty and easily lost."
— (Andrew Kern, founder of the Circe Institute)


...a secure Christian environment in which consideration and respect for self and others, can be fostered..
There are seven areas of learning and development that must shape educational programmes in early years settings. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. These three areas, the prime areas, are:
• communication and language;
• physical development; and
• personal, social and emotional development.
We also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. The specific areas are:
• understanding the world; and
• expressive arts and design.
Our curriculum plans involve activities and experiences for children, as follows:
• Communication and language development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
• Physical development involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children are helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
• Personal, social and emotional development involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.
• Literacy development involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children are given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
• Mathematics involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures.
• Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
• Expressive arts and design involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.
We consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of development of each child in our care, and use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all of the areas of learning and development. We focus strongly on the three prime areas, which are the basis for successful learning in the other four specific areas. The three prime areas reflect the key skills and capacities all children need to develop and learn effectively, and become ready for school. It is expected that the balance will shift towards a more equal focus on all areas of learning as children grow in confidence and ability within the three prime areas.
Throughout the early years, if a child’s progress in any prime area gives cause for concern, we will discuss this with parents/carers and agree how to best to support the child. We also consider whether a child may have a special educational need or disability which requires specialist support and link with, and help families to access, relevant services from other agencies as appropriate.
To prepare children for a smooth transition into Key Stage 1 and the National Curriculum, at St Mary’s we stress the importance of:
We have recently introduced the online programme called 'Tapestry' which records children's achievements through narrative and photos. We encourage parents to log on and contribute comments and anecdotes from learning the children demonstarte at home so we have an all round picture.


The How and Why of Dual Language Programs
Reviewed by Jacqueline Barreras
Reading Dual Language Essentials for Teacher and Administrators this summer made me realize that dual language programs provide an educational experience that supports the required 21st century skills. Our rapidly changing world needs schools to recognize the importance of bilingualism by implementing dual language programs that develop bilingual and biliteral students.
Throughout the book, Yvonne S. Freeman, David E. Freeman, and Sandra Mercuri develop the idea of dual language programs being a way of promoting academic development, mastery of two languages, and cross cultural understanding, “The bilingualism students develop in dual language programs results in academic, cognitive, linguistic, and economic benefits as well as increased cross cultural competency” (7).
The book is organized in a sequential format that allows teachers and administrators to understand the rationale behind dual language programs, their effectiveness, and the essentials to implement dual language models as a school-wide initiative and within the classroom.
At the start of the book the authors explain the what and the why for implementing the dual language approach. This information is useful for any administrator and teacher wanting to revise their current school’s vision to promote biliteracy. A breakdown for initiating dual language programs drives the point home that creating a culture of bilingualism is doable through the proper procedures of setting goals, planning, reflection, and collaboration.
Essentials for promoting bilingualism
What I love most about this book is how the authors set it up as a guide for launching and supporting dual language programs. In addition to the structure, a variety of ideas and examples from various grade levels were offered for each procedure.
When implementing dual language structure in the past, my Spanish speaking students were engaged on both English and Spanish days, but my native English speakers struggled to understand or be engaged during our Spanish days. Through chapters six and seven, Freeman, Freeman, and Mercuri provide what they call “implementation essentials” with examples and ideas in one-way and two-way language programs.
The examples offer research based implementation ideas that can support native English speakers and speakers of other languages through challenging moments. “Because students in dual language classrooms still need to meet standards as they acquire another language, it is important to engage them in meaningful activities as they learn academic content in two languages” (127).
Essentials worth trying and sharing
By the end of Dual Language Essentials for Teacher and Administrators, I found myself revising my literacy units of study to make sure I apply the process shared by the authors. Simply reading it and jotting down my thoughts was not enough. It’s become my toolbox for alternatives when collaborating with my dual language teachers and when there’s a challenge during the implementation process of the dual language program.
Throughout the book, Freeman, Freeman, and Mercuri demonstrate their understanding of the challenges teachers and administrators face when implementing dual language programs with today’s high stakes standardized assessments and era of standards.
Additionally, the authors were able to provide extensive resources to help teachers and administrators immediately return to their school and classroom to implement or revisit their dual language initiatives. “…(A)dministrators and teachers should work together to promote and display their passion for the dual language program to parents, communities, and school board” (107).
Jacqueline Barreras teaches 5th grade for the School District of Palm Beach County in Florida. She has a Master’s of Science in Elementary Education and has been recognized by the state of Florida as a High Impact Teacher. She loves learning alongside her students in order to help them continue to grow. She also loves camping with her family and reading.


Maria Huhmarniemi & Timo Jokela
‘Handmade’, place-making, revitalisation and regional development are topical themes in the research of art and culture in the Arctic. The revitalisation of traditions through contemporary crafting has become a featuring approach in the Arctic, corresponding to global interest in materiality. The concept of Arctic art is used in this article to describe art, crafts, design and cultural productions that transmit the material and cultural heritage of Arctic nature and the northern knowledge system related to tactile situated knowing in northernmost Europe. Long-term art-based action research has been carried out in collaboration with the Arctic Sustainable Art and Design (ASAD) network of the University of the Arctic to promote art, culture and education for Arctic sustainability. A few case studies presented in this article were art exhibitions, and the art productions that were shown in the 2019 Arctic Arts Summit (AAS) in Rovaniemi, Finland. In the present work, we discuss the knowledge studied, illustrated and debated in contemporary art productions in the AAS 2019. We conclude that the northern knowledge system is formed in situated learning in relation to local ecocultures, traditions and diverse Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures. Northern knowledge can be adopted by newcomers and even guests when participating in ecocultures. Artists inform, educate and transform their global audiences by sharing and presenting northern knowledge and different ways of knowing. Research on the ‘handmade’, place-making, revitalisation and knowledge themes has relevance for policy making, contemporary art, arts research and art education on many levels.