Last month I interviewed a senior executive of a large Canadian food chain about leadership practices. I asked her “what is the number one leadership question that is unanswered or inadequately answered?” Without hesitating she responded “Identifying leaders! Knowing a leader’s DNA so it can be identified in individuals early in their career within the organization.”
The qualities of a leader and the most effective style of leadership are topics that extant literature still does not adequately answer. To be fair, there are recurring themes such as challenging the status quo, having a vision and being passionate about it, and caring for people.
Here are my thoughts on the core skills of a leader.
These are foundational skills for the leader to achieve great success.


The multiage classroom is an environment where children of different ages and year levels are intentionally placed together, where graded distinctions are minimalised and where teaching and learning make use of the range of knowledge inherent in the group. It recognises that students not only learn differently but at varying rates.
Child centred learning is at the heart of multiage philosophy. Students are the beneficiaries. We promote a diverse environment where children do not feel the need to compete, only to do their best. They develop a positive self-concept and enjoy being both the nurtured as a Foundation student, and the nurturer as a Year Two.
Multiage classroom teachers become adept at developing lessons with differentiated assignments that appeal to the various developmental levels in the class. Younger and older students are catered for by the depth of questioning and the actual task assigned to the individual student. During their three years together, student and teacher relationships grow and strong bonds develop between student and teacher.
As an International Baccalaureate PYP school we have adopted a transdisciplinary approach to curriculum integration – speaking and listening, reading, writing, spelling, unit of inquiry. This approach dissolves the boundaries between these conventional disciplines and organises teaching and learning around the construction of meaning in the context of real-world problems or themes.
We use the Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop model to develop literacy skills. Workshops are deliberately designed to offer a simple and predictable environment so that the teacher can focus on the complex work of observing students’ progress and teach to their needs.
Each session begins with a mini lesson and ends with independent work tailored to consolidate the learning. During independent tasks the teacher works with a focus group or confers with individual students. Workshops end with a reflection time.
During literacy sessions we focus on the promotion of oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary development (word meanings), reading fluency and comprehension.
The mathematics curriculum aims to develop useful mathematical and numeracy skills for everyday life, work and as active members in a technological world. Hands on activities provide opportunities for students to see connections and apply mathematical concepts, skills and processes to pose and solve problems.
The mathematics curriculum comes under three strands – Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability.
Carefully planned hands on activities and games –
- strengthen the use of mental estimates for calculations, problem solving equations and incorporation of algorithms and coding
- develop the ability to use measuring tools, rulers, thermometers and scales, and to estimate with these tools to quantify the world around them
- build an awareness of the properties of shapes, points, space, positions or angles, and patterns
- collect, organise and interpret data and
- judge the likelihood and probabilityof events occurring based on known quantitative data or a collection of data


Elliot eisner the arts and the creation of mind pdf
Project MUSE - The Arts and the Creation of Mind: Eisner's Contributions to the Arts in EducationThe visual arts deal with an aspect of human consciousness that no other field touches on: the aesthetic contemplation of visual form. Today I learned that Elliot Eisner, one of the great heroes and thought leaders in the world of arts education has passed on. I knew him not only as a brilliant scholar and influential advocate for arts education, but also as a gracious soul. He was the leading theorist in arts education and champion of learning in the arts. Early in my career as an arts educator I read many articles and books by Professor Eisner.
Elliot Eisner in 1976: Translating ideas into practice
Elliot Eisner: Arts Education Leader and Visionary
Popular in Knowledge. The key to this approach to art education is to design curricula around the forms of cognition and understanding one wants to develop. This book represents his lifetime achievement in the arts through compelling discussions by many prominent arts educators.
However, occasions whose importance may be unknown to the teacher. What matters is that such occasions, those events are outside the realm of cognition, an adequate story of cognition in the arts cannot be told without a discussion of Eisner's contributions to this discourse, however. Mimes! But to the extent that we are unaware of them.
Passar bra ihop
The visual arts deal with an creatio of human consciousness that no other field touches on: the aesthetic contemplation of visual form. This book simply would not have been written without her care and constructive assistance in finding just the right material for me, to recognize and to recall. Learning to use particular forms of representation is also learning to think and represent meaning in particular ways. We learn to differentiate and eisndr, often before I knew I needed it.
Artists, are able to compose form in the service of feeling, and teachers need and can make use of relevant social information. The first of these I have already alluded to: teachers cannot merely transmit information or skills to another, but to see? Harsh is asking the students not merely to look in order to categorize, if for no other reason than that the student always mediates and hence modifies what is being conveyed. Educators in their roles as administ.
His union experiences, and later work at Chicago's Platt Luggage Factory, instilled in him Socialist leanings. Louis Eisner's union activity provided him an opportunity to meet Eugene Debs at a Socialist convention for his campaign for the Election of His mother, Eva Perzov originally Chava Perzovsky , was a stenographer from the town of Chechersk in present-day Belarus. Elliot Eisner received his M. A and Ph. His work has supported Discipline-Based Art Education , and he developed the importance of forms of representation in education. Eisner started making his case for the arts in scholarly publications during the s.
Learning to use particular forms of representation is also learning to think and represent meaning in particular ways. Report this Document. To know what to say from an aesthetic perspective is one kind of reading. He was unusually gracious and invited me to meet with him for lunch.
The sensory system is the primary resource through which the qualitative environment is experienced. Another pedagogical skill needed to teach art well is knowing how to acquire and arrange the tools and materials students need to use without the congestion or scarcity that might undermine their work. This book reimagines the kinds of reforms needed in rlliot, a way of being in and acting upon the w. He has composed a text that is as insightful and inspirational as the educational research he envisions.But connoisseurship is a solo enterprise; one can appreciate something in private, without uttering a word. Nothing is ever created quite as it is seen in the minds eye, and creation is not a simple and straight-forward enterprise. The peaked-roof houses are also often drawn with windows having curtains pulled to each side. Thus art, literatu?
The land that was given to them from the Great Spirit. To be able to create a form of experience that can be regarded as aesthetic requires a mind that animates our imaginative capacities and that promotes our ability to undergo emotionally pervaded experience. Put succinctly, is bestowed by the work on its maker, music! Thus.


Early Childhood Learning@100%: Innovation 9
Strengthening Local Services
The projects presented in the ten innovations areas are all designed to address barriers to vital services. Action teams should review all projects and prioritize those that have the best chance of addressing the barriers identified in the 100% New Mexico countywide survey. Your collaborative and result-focused local work is nothing less than heroic.
Project: Early Childhood Learning.9.1
Project 1: The “know your state and federal options” project
Rare is the urban or rural early childhood learning program or agency that doesn’t get by without a lot of help and guidance from the state or federal government (or both). Knowing a bit about those relationships will provide helpful background information and relationship-building to empower potential funding for a local agency.
There are significant differences that exist between how pre-K is funded compared to K–12. Most states — 43 and the District of Columbia — rely on general revenues, while about 15 programs require a local match. State funding for preschool may include a variety of sources, including: lottery funds, gaming revenues, sales taxes and general revenues.
States also use a variety of mechanisms to distribute funding to pre-K programs — only 11 include state-funded preschool in their K–12 school funding formulas. A recent analysis of those states found including pre-K financing in the school funding formula led to “better pre-K funding,” that was both more stable and more responsive (https://aae.how/168).
Funding the Future: https://aae.how/165
Project: Early Childhood Learning.9.2
Project 2: The “know how schools get funding” project
Early childhood learning programs are federally funded to schools with Title I, Part A of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001). Title I funds are targeted to high-poverty schools and districts and used to provide educational services to students who are educationally disadvantaged or at risk of failing to meet state standards.
Education Week: https://aae.how/166
Project: Early Childhood Learning.9.3
Project 3: The “Track the support of the US Department of Education” Project
The US Department of Education is tasked with allocation of federal funds to the state level. Through funding mechanisms like preschool development grants, the Race to the Top — Early Learning Challenge, IDEA grants, Title I, Promise Neighborhoods, Investing in Innovations and so many more, money is disbursed to states, and the communities within, to address early childhood learning needs. Many of the funds are channeled to Early Headstart and Headstart programs.
US Department of Education: https://aae.how/167
Project: Early Childhood Learning.9.4
Project 4: The “we need a state coalition to make great things happen” project
Through collaboration and the strategic use of data and technology, all county players working together can find a way to ensure that early childhood learning works. We are not trying to simplify one of our nation’s and the states’ most complex challenges in a sentence. We are advocating for the start of a long-term, local dialogue about how we end early childhood early learning program disparities so every child has a chance to improve and be inspired to learn. Your county and state network can educate local lawmakers about a new role for government: ensuring no parent lacks access to such a vital program as early childhood learning. The coalition can also work to elect officials who will prioritize access to early childhood learning programs. Technology can connect everyone in the network with shared, goals, activities, use of data, communication and messaging, and evaluation processes. Your action teams starts with identifying who is in the lead with early childhood learning program reform.


In this free course, Teaching secondary music, you have looked at some key concepts and theories that underpin music teaching in the secondary classroom. You began by thinking about what is meant by learning and noting that teaching cannot be said to have happened unless there has been learning. You then went on to consider the many different ways in which musical understanding might be demonstrated.
In the second section you considered what there is to learn in music and particularly different kinds of musical knowledge. We argued here for the centrality of knowledge of music in music education.
Section 3 looked at how and where musical teaching and learning takes place. You noted how important it is that secondary music teachers recognise how much musical learning takes place beyond the school gates and take this into account in their own teaching. Finally, drawing on the previous three sections, Section 4 identified some key principles underpinning musical music teaching.


Training (both of induction level as well as continuing Varieties)
Training and orientation of following target groups:
- Elementary school teachers (both pre-service and in-service).
- Head Masters, Heads of School Complexes and officers of Educational Department up to block level.
- Members of DBE and Village Education Committees (VEC’s), community leaders, youth and other volunteers who wish to work as educational activities.
- Resource persons who will conduct suitable programmes for the target groups mentioned in (i) at centers other than DIET.
Resource support (extension/guidance, development of materials, aids, evaluation tools etc.
- Academic and resource support to the elementary education system in the district in other ways e.g. by …
- Extension activities and interaction with the field,
- Provision of services of a resource and learning centre for teachers and instructors,
- Development of locally relevant materials, teaching aids, evaluation tools etc., and
- Serving as an evaluation centre for elementary schools.
Action research and experimentation to deal with specific problems of the district to achieving the objectives in the area of elementary education.
- To provide training and guidance for implementation of programmes like activity based and joyful learning and creating willingness to go to school.
- To undertake research and experiment to keep in mind problems of the educational arena and to solve them.
- To familiarize Headmasters, teachers, BRC, CRC co-coordinators and supervisors with new approach.
- To organize seminars and workshops to enhance the abilities for teaching subjects like Mathematics, Science, Work Experience, Art teaching and Yoga teaching at the primary school level.
- To provide guidance for diagnosis and remedies for abilities established by the students through capacity aimed evaluation and also lack of abilities thereof.
- To provide guidance and evaluation techniques to ensure success for activity based education.


The Far-Reaching Value of Musical Training: Nina Kraus
A plethora of recent research has shown that the benefits of music education to increase the neurological capacities of school age children. Presented below is a sample of the ever-growing body of evidence that music education programs can fundamentally change the way that the young brain wires and that the benefits of such instruction may allow students to experience developmental effects long after the actual instruction has occurred.
The Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois has led the charge, exploring the long term neurobiological and developmental consequences of music education, particularly as they relate to students coming from disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions. A recent study conducted by Dr. Nina Kraus, et al., shows that one year of music education programming can have significant effects in ameliorating the language deficits generally referred to as the “signature of poverty.”
Here’s the latest:
- The Argument for Music Education
- brainvolts_advocacy Kraus_White-Schwoch_Neuroscientist2017 (1)
- Kraus_White-Schwoch_Neuroscientist2017 (1)
- More of Dr. Nina’s research can be found here
In May 2017, Todd Rundgren made this statement about Dr. Nina and her work:
When we took the leap and decided to found the Spirit of Harmony, our priority was to have a clear purpose based on real data. Everyone believes that music is a good thing but it was important to prove that it was a vital thing to the development of young minds. The work of Dr. Kraus and her team at Northwestern provided the critical data that gave us the ammunition to make our case. And as her work has proceeded, our arsenal has only expanded. It would be criminally negligent if this work became hobbled in any way. Our support for Dr. Nina represents our payback for the powerful advocacy that she has given us all.
- How Music Training Alters the Teenage Brain
- Why Music Makes Our Brain Sing
- This is Your Brain on Music
Additional Physiological Benefits of Music Education
There is in ever-increasing body of study on the benefits of music therapy in people with Alzheimers, dementia, dyslexia, autism, ADHD, and other conditions– both listening to music and playing music. For some individuals, music involvement could potentially mitigate behavioral patterns that might otherwise be treated as discipline problems or pharmaceutical issues.


Music Education Summer Training
Orff Schulwerk is “Music for Children”, a way to teach and learn music using poems, rhymes, games, songs, and dances as basic materials. The Schulwerk was created by composers Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman in Europe. The emphasis is on students as improvisers and performers. Daily sessions follow the curriculum approved by the American Orff Schulwerk Association and will focus on ensemble playing, lessons and pedagogy, recorder techniques, dance and movement, and special topics.
Dalcroze Eurhythmics is an approach to music education created by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. The Dalcroze approach has three branches: Eurhythmics trains the body to respond kinesthetically to rhythmic and dynamic concepts. Solfège trains the ear, eye, and voice in pitch, melody, and harmony. Improvisation enables students to respond to concepts according to their own invention, through movement, voice, and at an instrument. The Dalcroze Institute at the University of Kentucky emphasizes music-teaching strategies to develop imagination, coordination, and expression.
Modern Band music programs teach the popular music styles of the past 60 years, from rock and reggae to Latin and R&B, among other genres, with a heavy focus on improvisation, composition, and getting kids to play on day one. Modern Band complements existing programs such as jazz band, choir, concert band, and orchestra.


Yesterday I asked my elementary education majors to solve this division problem in as many ways as they could.
A teacher has some crayons. There are 24 crayons in each box. If there are 192 crayons altogether, how many boxes of crayons does the teacher have?
During the sharing out portion, one student said, “I changed it from 192 divided by 24 to 200 divided by 25, because that was easier, and got 8. And that was the right answer. I don’t know why it worked. It’s pretty much black magic.”
Once I had a student who performed black magic on her math all. the. time. She would do something like this: “First I divided 192 by 2 to get 96, and then I divided 96 by 3 to get 32. Then I multiplied the 2 and the 3 and got 6. Then I divided the 24 crayons by 6 and got 4. And then I multiplied that by 2 since I divided by 2 at the beginning, and I got 8, which was the answer. But I have no idea how it worked!”
And while the other students would puzzle over it, I would stare at the board trying to figure out whether it actually did work, because when I looked at it from one angle it looked like a random string of operations, but when I looked at it from another angle it seemed like maybe there was some sense to be made of it all.
I love solutions like these, because sometimes it’s the former, and sometimes it’s the latter. Usually in my classes “black magic math” happens because the student already knows the destination (8 boxes, in this case) and simply performs operations until they land there. That’s what happened in the second solution.* But sometimes behind those operations there turns out to be an underlying mathematical structure that’s completely reasonable. This is true of the first.** The fun is figuring out which it is. The challenge is bringing my students along for the ride without losing them.
What “black magic math” have you encountered, inside the class or out?
* But I think it only takes one change, in the last step, for this black magic solution becomes mathematically justifiable. I’m curious what other readers might think.
** The crayon boxes can help you see the structure in the first solution. 8 boxes of 24 crayons is 192 crayons. If we add a crayon to each box, there are now 8 more crayons (200 altogether) and 25 in each box. The number of boxes remains unchanged. No magic required.


Alphabet recognition is the ability to name the 26 alphabet letters and match each letter with its written form. Alphabet recognition associates the spoken language with the printed text, and it serves as the foundation for literacy development. By the age of 3 to 4 years, most kids begin to learn to identify letters, and it is the very first skill they should master before they are able to read and write. It is important to help kids distinguish between letters, learn the sounds of the letters, and match sounds with their written forms.
This file of flash cards presents the uppercase alphabet letters, with 4 letters on each page. Parents could print and cut out the flash cards, and use them to help kids learn individual letters. The colorful frames and big letters could easily attract the attention of your kids, and it is convenient for kids to master each individual uppercase letter.


ERIC Number: ED365589
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1993
Teaching U.S. History in the Elementary School: An Interdisciplinary Approach.
Singleton, Laurel R., Ed.; And Others
Students learn little about some aspects of U.S. history, such as the history of science, technology, art, religion, and everyday life. What they most often learn about are the "big events" of political and military history. This document seeks to address that problem through its 30 lessons. The first two lessons, "There's an Old Trunk in My Attic," and "Family History," seek to motivate interest in the study of history. The third is a community research study. Lessons 4 through 30 look at aspects of various periods, or events from an interdisciplinary perspective that had a great impact on those times. Among the lessons are "Living in a Puritan Town"; "The President's Palace"; and "Kwanzaa: A Cultural Celebration." Each lesson includes a brief introduction, a list of objectives, indications of interdisciplinary curriculum links, the estimated time for completing the lesson, and a list of necessary materials. The lessons also present a step-by-step listing of procedures, suggestions for student evaluation, and recommendations for further reading. (SG)
Descriptors: Community Study, Course Content, Cultural Awareness, Curriculum Enrichment, Elementary Education, Elementary School Curriculum, History Instruction, Interdisciplinary Approach, Life Style, Social History, Social Studies, Student Motivation, United States History
Social Science Education Consortium, 3300 Mitchell Lane, Suite 240, Boulder, CO 80301-2272.
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Practitioners
Authoring Institution: Social Science Education Consortium, Inc., Boulder, CO.


ESLEO English as a Second Language – Level 5 (Open)
PREREQUISITE: ESL Level 4 or equivalent
AVAILABILITY: Blyth Academy Online
THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM: English as a Second Language and English Literacy Development
ESLEO online provides students with the skills and strategies they need to make the transition to college and university preparation courses in English and other secondary school disciplines. Students will be encouraged to develop independence in a range of academic tasks. They will participate in debates and lead classroom workshops; read and interpret literary works and academic texts; write essays, narratives, and reports; and apply a range of learning strategies and research skills effectively. In ESLEO online, students will further develop their ability to respond critically to print and media texts.
UNIT ONEReading & Writing
- In this unit, students will share strategies and develop critical thinking skills to make them better readers and writers.
UNIT TWOListening & Speaking
- In this unit, students will look at different ways that they can improve their listening and speaking skills to make them better communicators.
UNIT THREENovel Study: The Giver
- In this unit, we will explore the themes, characters, plot and various details of the novel, The Giver, and make connections to our world.
- In this unit, students will look closely at the media and investigate truth vs. fiction in order to be more critical about what they read, and what is considered a reliable source of information to learn from.
- This project is one of the final evaluations of the course. This project will challenge students’ knowledge of concepts learned throughout this course and is worth 15% of the final grade.
FINAL EXAMProctored Exam
- This exam is the final evaluation of the course. Students need to arrange their final exam 10 days in advance. All coursework should be completed and submitted before writing the final exam, please be advised that once the exam is written, any outstanding coursework will be given a grade of zero. The exam will be two hours.
- Please consult our Frequently Asked Questions Page or the Exam section within your course for details on exam proctoring options.


Quintilian (ca. 35-ca. 99) was a Roman rhetorician and literary critic. His influence on rhetoric, literary criticism, and educational theory was profound.
Quintilian, or Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, was born at Calagurris in Spain, the son of a rhetorician. He studied mainly in Rome, under the orator Domitius After and perhaps the great grammarian Remmius Palaemon, among others. He then went back to Spain, probably as a teacher in his hometown, and returned to Rome in 68, the only certain date in his life. As a teacher of rhetoric, he became wealthy and famous from his lectures and was also an advocate in the law courts. Under the emperor Vespasian he was made a professor of rhetoric with a salary from the state. Among his pupils was Pliny the Younger.
At some time, probably in the early 80s, Quintilian married a very young woman. She died at the age of 18, after giving birth to two sons, who soon died as well. After 20 years of teaching, perhaps in 90, Quintilian retired and devoted himself to writing. Sometime after this, but before Domitian's death in 96, Quintilian was appointed by him as tutor to his two grandnephews; and through the influence of their father, Flavius Clemens, he received the insignia and privileges of a consul. The date of Quintilian's death is uncertain: Pliny the Younger, writing about 100, speaks of him in terms which suggest that he was already dead.
Only one work of Quintilian's has been preserved, the Institutio oratoria (On the Education of an Orator) in 12 books, composed about 92-96, the distillation of his long and successful career as a teacher. It treats of the education of an orator, beginning with the most elementary education. Book 1 sets the tone of the whole collection: it is moderate and practical, based on long experience with the actual behavior and psychology of children and careful attention to the smallest details of pedagogical practice. Book 2 treats of the more advanced education of the orator, and books 3 through 11 are more technical, dealing with the structure, argumentation, style, and delivery of orations.
Book 10 contains a discussion of the relative merits of the great Greek and Latin authors which has exercised a profound influence on subsequent literary criticism. Book 12 is based on a deeply moral conception of the importance of character as well as learning to the orator and of the necessity for the style to be appropriate to the subject; it rounds out the work on an impressive note of grave dignity.
A complete text of Quintilian was rediscovered in the early 15th century. His educational aims, based on Cato the Elder's definition of an orator as "a good man, skilled in speaking, " and looking toward the education of literate, humane, well-rounded, and useful citizens, were congenial to the ideals of the Renaissance.
Two further works, collections of declamations, survive under the name of Quintilian, but the fantastic nature of many of their subjects, an abuse specifically attacked by Quintilian, has led most scholars to dismiss them as spurious.
Further Reading on Quintilian
Two studies of Quintilian's life and work are Herbert Augustus Strong, Quintilian, the Roman Schoolmaster (1908), and George A. Kennedy, Quintilian (1969). Quintilian is discussed in John Wight Duff, A Literary History of Rome in the Silver Age, from Tiberius to Hadrian (1927); John W. H. Atkins, Literary Criticism in Antiquity (2 vols., 1934); Henri I. Marrou, A History of Education in Antiquity trans. 1956); and George M. A. Grube, The Greek and Roman Critics (1965). See also the introductions and notes to the editions of Quintilian's Institutio oratoria.


Mothers who have experienced childhood abuse, neglect or other traumatic experiences show an unwillingness to talk with their children about the child’s emotional experiences, a new study from the University of Notre Dame shows.
According to the study, which was presented at the Society for Research in Child Development 2013 Biennial Meeting in Seattle, a sample of low-income mothers who had experienced their own childhood traumas exhibited ongoing “traumatic avoidance symptoms,” which is characterized by an unwillingness to address thoughts, emotions, sensations, or memories of those traumas. This avoidance interfered with mothers’ ability to talk with their children about the child’s emotions, leading to shorter, less in-depth conversations; those mothers also used closed-end questions that did not encourage child participation.
“Traumatic avoidance symptoms have been shown to have a negative impact on the cognitive and emotional development of children,” says Notre Dame psychologist Kristin Valentino, who specializes in the development of at-risk and maltreated children. Valentino conducted the research with Notre Dame undergraduate Taylor Thomas.
“This research is important because it identifies a mechanism through which we can understand how maternal trauma history relates to her ability to effectively interact with her child. This finding also has implications for intervention work, since avoidance that is used as a coping mechanism is likely to further impair psychological functioning,” says Valentino, the William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families Assistant Professor of Psychology.
In a related study published recently in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect, Valentino found that maltreating parents, many of whom had experienced childhood trauma, could successfully be taught to use more elaborative and emotion-rich reminiscing with their preschool-aged children, which has been linked to a children’s subsequent cognitive abilities in a number of areas including memory, language, and literacy development.
- Department of Psychology
- Kristin Valentino faculty page
- Related research profile on undergraduate Taylor Thomas
- Related study in Child Abuse and Neglect
Originally published at news.nd.edu.


The Status of Instruction in Composition in Elementary General Music Classrooms of MENC Members in the State of Maryland
Phelps, Kerry Bowman
MetadataShow full item record
The purpose of this study was to examine the status of composition activities in elementary level general music classrooms in the state of Maryland. Participants (N=60) completed an online questionnaire with questions in the areas of teacher demographics, beliefs about composition, and frequency of composition activities in the classroom. Responses indicated that composition was present, at a low frequency, at all student grade levels. Relationships were found between student grade level and structure of composition activity and student grade level and group structure of composition activity. Implications of the frequency of composition activities as well as relationships found for music education are discussed. Suggestions are made for increasing the frequency of composition activities by building upon the most common practices identified by this study.


Research Paper On Physical Education In Schools
Click on any of the term papers to read a brief synopsis of the research paper. The essay synopsis includes the number of pages and sources cited in the paper.
Academic Curriculum and the Importance of Music Education
A 5 page research paper that discusses the importance of music education in public school. In recent decades, there has been an emphasis on academics in the school curriculums while art and music have gone by the wayside as "luxuries," yet many experts feel that these subjects are important. Reasons supporting music in school curriculums are discussed. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Online Education
A 10 page paper discussing the emergence of the learning management system (LMS) for online education. Initially within the domain of business training only, online schools have begun to use many of the techniques that the LMS promotes. The LMS has come into being concurrently with a return to proven approaches to education, bringing the best of all worlds to online learning. The focus of the paper is that of higher education, but the principles apply to training in the workplace as well. Bibliography lists 13 sources.


International efforts to promote literacy development for young adult readers are improving outcomes for many out-of-school youth—particularly those living in extreme poverty or post-conflict environments and with low literacy skills. But there is an urgent need for easy-to-use literacy assessment tools in many low-resource communities to help determine just how effective these programs are.
EDC is helping ministries of education document the literacy skill levels of out-of-school youth through the electronic Out-of-School Youth Literacy Assessment (eOLA), a research-based, one-on-one reading assessment that measures the functional literacy skills that youth and adults may have acquired without formal literacy instruction as well as the skills that are gained through direct instruction. The assessment can be administered using either laptops or tablets.
EDC partners directly with ministries of education to support the implementation of eOLA. Activities include:
- Providing assessment data to program staff, stakeholders, and beneficiaries in implementing countries
- Using data to support curriculum and materials development, design educator trainings, and inform policy
- Providing professional development and capacity building on using eOLA for ministry of education officials in implementing countries
Since 2011, EDC has used eOLA to document literacy skill levels in Liberia, Rwanda, Mali, Guyana, and Ethiopia, in projects that are designed to improve the literacy and livelihoods skills of youth.


Band Expressions™ is a full-band curriculum that provides music educators at all levels with easy-to-use, exciting tools to meet daily classroom challenges and bring new vibrancy and depth to teaching music. The lessons were written based on the National Standards for Music Education — not retrofitted to the Standards. The program is both music literacy-based and literacy driven — based on music literacy while satisfying reading and writing mandates in band class.
Each student book features an attractive full-color interior with easy-to-read notes and includes: -A 96-track accompaniment CD that spans exercises throughout the book -Historical notes on some of the most notable composers of band music -A thorough glossary of musical terms -An introductory unit focused on instrument care, correct posture, and hand positioning.
Future reprints may be printed with black and white interiors.
This title is available in SmartMusic.


by NOW Grenada
- 1 March is Peace Corps day
- Peace Corps established by US President John F Kennedy in 1961
- Over 400 volunteers have served in Grenada since 1967
1 March 2018 marked the 57th anniversary of US President John F Kennedy’s Executive Order establishing the Peace Corps in 1961.
Peace Corps Associate Director for Grenada, Eugene Gittens said that the first Peace Corps Volunteers to serve in Grenada arrived in 1967 – 6 years after the birth of the programme. Since then, over 400 volunteers have served in Grenada. Gittens wrote, “Currently we have 15 Peace Corps Volunteers on island attached to primary schools across the country assisting with literacy development. Over the years Peace Corps has served in the areas of teaching, special education, youth development, community development, social development, HIV awareness and prevention and literacy.”
A release from the Peace Corps office follows:
“During his presidential campaign in 1960, President Kennedy (JFK) floated the idea that a new ‘army’ should be created by the United States. This force would be made up of civilians who would volunteer their time and skills to travel to developing nations to assist them across many sectors.
To fulfill this plan, JFK issued an executive order on 1 March 1961 establishing the Peace Corps as a trial programme. Kennedy sent a message to congress asking for its support and made clear the significance of developing nations to the USA. The people of these nations were desirous of ‘economic and social progress,’ stated the President. “Our own freedom and the future of freedom around the world, depend, in a very real sense, on their ability to build growing and independent nations where men [and women] can live in dignity, liberated from the bonds of hunger, [lack of education], and poverty.”
Many Americans were sceptical but the events of the time, including conflicts in Southeast Asia, Central/Northern/East Africa, Central America and the Middle East, along with the Cold War, inspired congress to make Peace Corps permanent in September of that same year.
JFK first spoke of the Peace Corps on the steps of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor at 2 am, the morning after he had engaged in the 3rd presidential debate with Vice President Richard Nixon. Over 10,000 students were waiting for him when he arrived at the university. JFK issued the challenge to them and all Americans to serve their country and the cause of freedom by living and working in the developing world for years at time. The response was immediate. Literally thousands of letters poured into Washington from young Americans hoping to volunteer in the week right after JFK’s executive order.
The very first volunteers went to Ghana and impressed their hosts when they gathered on the airport tarmac upon arrival to sing the Ghanaian national anthem in Twi, the local language. The Eastern Caribbean also hosted one of the first 3 groups of Peace Corps Volunteers, in 1961.
Today over 260,000 Americans of all demographics have answered the call to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers and work to promote world peace and friendship. We salute our current EC PCVs, their counterparts, our EC and Peace Corps Staff around the world, and all PCVs/RPCVs, for we are all part of the life-changing, world-improving Peace Corps effort and experience.”
NOW Grenada is not responsible for the opinions, statements or media content presented by contributors. In case of abuse, click here to report.


Part of the series Reading Comprehension Games.
Help children to become fluent readers with this excellent set of 6 board games. They teach a range of reading comprehension strategies and encourage students to reflect on their own understanding and learning. Topics include context, inference, narrative text, non-fiction text, predicting outcomes and vocabulary. Suitable for pupils aged 9 - 11 and older children with special needs. Contains 6 games made from durable cardboard (297 x 420mm), counters and a die.
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|Year Level||Year 2, Year 3,|
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This episode features a “flipped learning” video that I made for Key Approaches in Music Education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the first year course that I mentioned in episode 2. For those wondering what “flipped learning” means, it’s when you take a part of a class that you’ve traditionally chalked-and-talked, and “flip” it so that it comes before the class, often in the format of a video to watch in the same way we sometimes set readings before classes.
In past iterations of the course, while students told us they enjoyed the content, they felt it was too chopped up into many topics. So this year, as mentioned in episode 2, the theme for the second half of the course is “learning a new chord-playing instrument”, and it’s the music education history bits that I’ve flipped. Students watch the videos (and do a quick funny quiz to confirm they got the basics) online before the class, and in the class our guest lecturer, Brad Fuller, can provoke some discussion around those ideas as he sees fit.
In the next episode, Brad and I will be discussing how the class actually went… so stay tuned to find out! Music in this episode included excerpts from:
- Music from their worlds composed by James Humberstone, performed by Julijana Sarac (check out the video, it’s beautiful! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gMikfEGgaM)
- Cycles & Circles composed by James Humberstone, performed by Ensemble Offspring https://ensembleoffspring.bandcamp.com/album/cycles-and-circles
- Shoreditch Experimental School, from somewhere on YouTube…
Please let me know what you thought about this episode on its webpage, https://humberstone.org/2019/09/24/music-zettel-ep-6—the-creative-music-movement/.


In order to build upon the learning opportunities that occur within a child’s school day, at home and community involvement is essential for student success and ensuring 3rd grade readiness for SCS students. The purpose of the Community Resource Toolbox is to provide resources and ideas for community stakeholders to #Commit2Literacy and get involved with the 3rd Grade Commitment.
The resources contained in this toolbox will aim to provide guidance for community organizations in supporting the early language and literacy development of children in their care, and it will provide opportunities for volunteer/sponsorship engagement. The Community Resource Toolbox resources will be drawn from both internal and external sources and will evolve over time. We encourage you to check back regularly for updates.
Volunteer for Team Read
Team Read is a very simple easy way for volunteer tutors to teach second graders a set of words using flash cards and fun word games. The National Institute for Literacy said, “Having a bank of sight words releases a reader’s attention for comprehension and for figuring out more difficult and less frequent words.” Volunteers will be asked to serve a minimum of one hour a week for the entire school year.
#Commit2Literacy by becoming a 3rd Grade Commitment Sponsor
Shelby County Schools is making a commitment to reading readiness and we want you to join us!
Studies have shown that by the time students reach the 3rd grade they should be reading to learn, not learning to read. SCS is launching a new campaign to improve our students’ literacy skills and prepare them for the next steps in their educational journeys. Show your support by BECOMING A SPONSOR today! Becoming an official Sponsor of the 3rd Grade Commitment will allow Community Organizations to get involved with addressing some of the disadvantages and disparities around literacy in our district. For example, we know 61% of low-income households have no children’s books in their homes, and we want to address that. Check out our great sponsorship opportunities above or contact [email protected] to learn more.


Fast and fun Halloween learning craft for preschoolers and toddlers.
A great way to shake up learning activities is to tie them into a theme. As it is October, Halloween makes perfect sense for learning activities for preschoolers and toddlers! Some of my favorite easy learning activities for kids are fast, customizable, and get your kids excited about learning.
These fun learning ghosts do all that. Let’s create a fast and fun Halloween learning craft!
What's In This Post?
- Fast and Fun Halloween Learning Craft for Preschoolers and Toddlers
- Haunting Fun!
- Halloween STEM and Learning Activities
Fast and Fun Halloween Learning Craft for Preschoolers and Toddlers
My kids thought this was a ton of fun. And it is totally okay if a cotton ball fight breaks out. You can blame the ghosts. (If you are looking for some fun Halloween STEM with pumpkins, try these—> Oozing Pumpkins: Halloween Pumpkin Science for Kids)
Here is what you need to get started.
Ghost Learning Activity Supplies
- Cotton Balls
Ghost Learning Activity Set Up
All this prep can be done ahead of time by you so you are ready to go with your kids. Or you can include them in the fun! (Prepping this on my own took 5 minutes.)
Cut Out Your Ghosts
Start by cutting out ghosts from the paper. If you have preschoolers working on scissor skills this is perfect for them. Ghosts are pretty free-form, so they do not have to be perfect. Feel free to trace some on the paper for your child to cut.
I cut ours out to save time, and because Ali and Sammy were doing this project too. They want to do everything Ben does and I am not ready for them to have scissors. So this just was mine.
Don’t stress about perfection! My ghosts look like the ghosts in Pac-Man. Yes, Pat teases me about it. Nope, I’m not trying to make them any better. These work. In fact, the bigger the body of the ghost the better. (Get in the Halloween mood with a great playlist too—> Halloween Kid Friendly Playlist)
Scissor Skills: I don’t know about you, but handing my kids scissors freaks me out a little. But cutting practice is important for hand-eye coordination and more. Learn why these skills matter and get activities where your child’s tiny fingers aren’t actually anywhere near the blades here: Cutting Activities for Preschoolers.
Add a Spooky Face
This part isn’t entirely necessary, but it is fun. I drew some Boo faces on our ghosts. If you have a crafty kid let them add their own face! Personalizing them is a lot of fun.
Add the Learning Element
This part is best for you to do. Draw some circles on the ghost. Make sure they are big enough for a cotton ball to cover. Then add in whatever you are working on learning! Numbers, letters, sight words. Anything can work.
The Learning Fun
Now hand your ghosts over to your child to create and learn! We glued the cotton balls onto the letters and numbers to create a 3D Halloween decoration. Here are a few fun ways to work on the learning.
You can just count together if you are working on numerical order. Another option is to roll a dice and fill in the number that comes up. You can roll two dice and work on adding skills. Or just call out numbers. This is great for number sense. (Learn more about why number sense is so important and get activities to try—> How Number Sense Sets Your Children Up for Success)
I like to use letters from our letter puzzle to do this one. I put the letters into a bowl and pull them out bingo style. You can call out words and challenge your child to find the letter the word starts with. And you can also work on alphabetical order, singing the ABC song as you go.
Add shapes to your circles and practice finding them one at a time. For older kids have them find the shape with 3 sides, then one with 4, and so on. You can also hold up shapes from a shape sorter and have them supply the name. (Learn why learning shapes is so important—> Why Children Need to Learn Shapes and the Best Activities To Help)
For your older kids, you can put sight words into your circles. Have your child find them as you say and spell them out.
Your imagination is the limit with what you put on your ghosts for learning purposes. And your children’s creativity is the limit of how decorated they are. They make super cute decorations to enjoy Halloween all month long.
Here are some more learning activities to try!
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Broad General Education
Pupils begin to develop their musical skills on a keyboard, drum kit and voice. Topics covered include: Instruments of the Orchestra and Music Technology. Within these topics, pupils will develop listening skills, performing skills and composing skills.
Pupils further their musical skills on keyboard, drum kit and voice and begin guitar and ukulele. Pupils are given opportunity to personalise their music education and choose two instruments to study further. Music Literacy knowledge and understanding is extended through practical composition activities. Topics covered are contemporary music and Music technology which extend listening , performing and composing skills.
Pupils have the opportunity to further personalise their learning in music by choosing music performing and or music technology.
Performing lessons include advancing their skills on their chosen two instruments and covering topics such as Scottish Music, Blues and Vocal music. Within these topics, pupils excel at improving their listening, performing and composing skills through group performance and team work.
Music technology offers a different angle to the performing arts. This ICT based subject teaches pupils about the basics of recording and sound production. Pupils complete projects using our ICT suites and recording studio which prepare them for outcomes at National 5 level.
Homework Link for Focus on Sound
Through this you can access the Focus on Sound website. You should use your logon give to you by your class teacher, and the password which has been set up.
You can change your password if you’d like, just make it one that you can remember! Click on the image below to access the site.
Nationals/ Higher/Advanced Higher
Performing, Understanding Music and Composition are three elements to the senior phase building further on from Broad General Education experiences. These are integrated into lessons in a holistic approach ensuring all learning styles are catered for and pupils are immersed in the content.
Performing is the most popular element in music. The purpose of this performance is to allow learners to demonstrate their performance and musical skills on either two selected instruments, or on a selected instrument and voice, in a timed prepared programme of music. Understanding music means listening to music from different eras, styles and genres and, not only identify what the musical concepts are, but, apply them to social context.
Finally, composition is a personal piece of work that is led by the pupil, using whatever inspires them and setting this to music using the literacy and technology skills they have developed over the years.
Download the documents below for more information.
National 4 Music Information
National 5 Music Information
Higher Music Information
Home Learning Links
Focus On Sound
My Music Online


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Learn Area With Angry Andrew Area (9-12 years)
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Learn 'Area' With Angry Andrew Area
This pack includes learn area with Angry Andrew Area and a look at metric measurements with Katy Kilogram, Megan Millimetre and Thomas Tonne.
A series of fun maths work packs, to teach basic numeracy skills for 9-12 year olds.
Comical cartoon characters,such as Felicity Factor and Max Multiple are on hand to help children with maths concepts they struggle with.
These packs can be used at home to reinforce work down in school and as a support material to use in school alongside other schemes.
Each pack includes exercises with answers, to enable the teacher or parent to assess if the child has understood the math's concept learnt.


Music is fantastic! There is a whole world of music out there – it is easy to get involved and it challenges us to draw upon a huge range of skills.
Encouraging music-making as part of your child’s life is important. Here’s some information that will help every parent answer the question ‘Why music?’ with confidence!#LearnMusicLDN
There are opportunities to learn all sorts of music in and out of school (reggae, jazz, classical, grime, etc). The world of music is rich, varied and surprising and the component parts of pitch, time, tone, shape and performance are the same for all.
As of 2015, the O2 Arena is the busiest music arena in the world in terms of ticket sales, handling 1,819,487 tickets over the course of the year.
Music is about singing, playing an instrument, performing, listening, being an audience member, creator, composer, DJ, mixer or producer.
In 2015 there were over 17,000 people employed full time in the music industry in the UK – the vast majority of whom were individuals composing, creating, recording and shaping the future of music.
There are lots of opportunities and many are free. Check out your local Music Education Hub.
Over 8,000 free tickets are available for school children at the London Primary Prom concerts organised by Music for Youth at the Royal Albert Hall, providing children aged 4-11 with the opportunity to experience live music making in one of the world’s most famous concert halls. The charity Music for All gave 12,000 free lessons in 2015.
Like anything else, getting good at music can be hard work. It takes time, patience and perseverance, and it’s rewarding.
Laura Mvula, award-winning singer-songwriter, began her career studying classical piano and violin as a child (progressing from Grade 1 through to Grade 8). Skepta’s 4th album, Konnechiwa, took two years to produce and won him a Mercury Prize. His debut album was in 2007, 9 years earlier.
Music helps with confidence and self-esteem, playing an important part in a positive attitude to life.
After 15 months of musical training in early childhood, structural brain changes associated with motor and auditory improvements begin to appear.
It’s not just about the music. Music helps with learning in lots of other subject areas. Music also helps develop team and organisation skills as well as qualities such as commitment, resilience and reliability.
Children who learn music are 18% more likely to attend university than those who don’t.
You can listen to, learn about and make music at any time of life. Depending on what you want to do, this guide will help connect you with the right people at the right time—nice!
In 2015, the charity Music for All had over 129 venues put on events enabling people who have never played (and people who used to play) a chance to try an instrument.
Show an interest, encourage your child and create space —as you would with any subject. For fun you could have a go at learning an instrument yourself—music is a great family activity.
None of the Beatles could read music.
Getting involved in music helps you to meet new people, and makes it likely you’ll see new places—in and out of school.
Each year, 40,000 young musicians perform at 50 different festivals to their peers and supporters as part of the Music for Youth Regional Festival Series. In July each year, 10,000 young musicians gather in Birmingham for the incredible five day Music for Youth National Festival.


Early Childhood Preparation Policy
The state should require early childhood teacher candidates to meet appropriate academic requirements. Starting in 2020, this goal is now graded.
Virginia requires that candidates for the early childhood education PreK-3 earn a bachelor's degree and have "completed coursework that covers the early/primary education preK-3 competencies." However, it is unclear whether this constitutes an early childhood education specialization. Candidates for the PreK-6 license are required to have a bachelor's degree, but the coursework requirements mentioned above are not required.
8 VAC 20-23-150, -160
Require preschool teaching candidates to complete a content specialization in early childhood education or otherwise demonstrate competence in this area.
Virginia should require that preschool teachers have a specialization in early childhood or demonstrate that they have the knowledge needed to teach preschool-age children. Narrowly targeting a candidate's preparation to the early childhood grades is more likely to provide the specific content knowledge and skills needed by preschool teachers, including emergent literacy, oral language, and developmental stages of children birth through age eight.
Virginia indicated that individuals seeking an Early/Primary Education PreK-3 endorsement are required to meet the competencies for the endorsement in a program. The focus of the preparation is early childhood education through grade 3. For both the Early/Primary Education PreK-3 and the Elementary Education PreK-6 endorsement, the requirements/competencies must be covered for the endorsements. In addition to the content requirements, professional studies in the area of early childhood are required.
The available research finds mixed results on whether having at least a bachelor's degree makes preschool teachers more effective. However, these conflicting results may be more indicative of the fact that current training programs that certify teachers to teach preschool (and often cover a wide span of elementary grades as well) pay too little attention to the requirements for teaching preschool. Despite the inconclusive research, the National Academies of Sciences, the National Institute for Early Education Research, and a number of other organizations support requiring at least a bachelor's degree for preschool teachers for several reasons. These reasons include that teaching preschool should be considered a career as important and complex as teaching K-12 classes, and so this role is deserving of the same educational requirements; this degree requirement would create greater consistency between the preschool and K-12 workforces; and preschool teachers would benefit from a foundation in liberal arts coursework that gives them a firm grounding in a range of content that they will teach, much like what elementary teachers need.
However, to make a training program meaningful, it needs to be narrowly targeted to the early childhood grades. As the grade span of a teaching certification broadens, training programs are less likely to provide the specific emergent literacy and oral language skills that preschool teachers need.  To support this focus and to make training for teachers more meaningful, the state should require that preschool teachers have a specialization in early childhood (rather than, for example, a bachelor's degree in K-6 teaching), or can demonstrate that they have the knowledge needed to teach early childhood.


California Arts Council
State resources include standards, professional development, model
programs, grants, etc.
Endowments for the Arts
Angeles County Arts Commission
Pasadena Arts Council
California Alliance for Arts Education
SMARTS: Bring Back the Arts
State PTA wants to bring the arts back into our schools and back
into the lives of our children.
This site contains news, teaching materials and professional resources.
Arts Education Partnership
The California Arts Project
Museums of San Francisco: Resources for educators
Teachers' Guide to the Art of the United States 1760-1900: American
History through Artists' Eyes An online version is available.
Museum: Teacher Resources
Online art tours and interactive games, lesson plans/activities,.
Includes Egypt, Impressionism, Korea, Northwest Art, multicultural
your Legislator that You Support the Arts ·
Contact the Governor
the California Senate
· Contact the California Assembly
On-Line Arts Education Resource Center
for Music Educators
The Art Teacher
Includes searchable lesson plans
A resource guide from the National PTA
Visual and Performing Arts: California Department of Education
The Getty's Arts Education website
On line communication for the Arts.
ArtsEdge: The National Arts and education information network
California's subject matter project in Visual and Performing Arts
created to improve teacher knowledge of dance, music, theatre,
and visual arts, and to enhance instructional strategies
The Grammy Foundation
Arts education resources for children and teens: Bay Area
Provides a comprehensive list of art resources http://www.theartcouncil.org/io/artsresources/links.html
Art Education for K-12
The Internet School Library Media Center (ISLMC) Art Education
page, a searchable meta-site for teachers, librarians, parents
and students to preview selected links.


We use as many cross curriculum opportunities in the teaching of the New Curriculum.
The children in our school are given experiences to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in school and outdoors. Our school follows a 2 year cycle of teaching the New Curriculum.
Below are the new progression documents for Numeracy, Reading, Writing and Science. Children are now assessed without levels. They are now taught and assessed according to the year in which they are working.
At the moment, Frosterley School is introducing these and parents will be kept up to date with these changes.
Curriculum Details and Maps
Further information about our curriculum is available to view or download including our long term planning documents and British values for Frosterley Primary School.
We have provided a detailed overview of the Frosterley Primary School Curriculum for children in Years 1 to 6. including Maths, English, Science and other subjects.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
At Frosterley Primary School, we believe that inclusive education means providing all pupils with appropriate education and support alongside their peers. The Curriculum is all the planned activities that the school organises in order to promote learning, personal growth and development. Further information can be found in the SEN Information Report. If you have any questions about your SEND requirements please contact the school and we will try our best to help you.
You may need a product like Adobe Reader (free download) to view our PDF documents on our website.


FIVE DOLLAR GROUND SHIPPING ON ALL ORDERS*
*SEE SHIPPING & PROMOTIONAL DETAILS FOR RESTRICTIONS
Schools and PE
Download the k-12 curriculum
Why Futpong for P.E.?
Futpong is a wildly fun skills-building game that is
adaptable to a range of abilities and fitness levels.
P.E. Objectives of Futpong include:
- Movement/physical activity. As your students play Futpong, they will get vigorous exercise.
- Motor skill development, particularly hand to eye and foot to eye coordination
- Mental and physical speed development (making decisions and reacting)
- Body control and restraint. To excel at Futpong requires a soft touch.
- Developing and learning the importance of court position, footwork, and game strategy
Please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.org for educational discounts and bulk orders.


You are already a musician, now it’s time to read like one!
This six-hour workshop will meet in two Thursday evening sessions.
Part 1 on July 7th and Part 2 on July 14th. Both sessions will be from 7:00 to 10:00 pm.
CENTRE OF EDUCATION AND THEATRE IN MONTRÉAL (CETM)
2205 Rue Parthenais, Montréal, QC H2K 3T3, Canada
$100.00 (Reduced registration costs are available if needed. Inquire here: http://sarawunsch.ticketleap.com/howtoreadmusic/contact/)
When you sing with your community choir or musical theatre company, do you learn your music by listening to a recording over and over and memorizing what you hear? When you look at the sheet music given to you by your director, are you only following the lyrics and paying little to no attention to the notes above and below? When your accompanist corrects you by saying “it’s a dotted eighth sixteenth note, not two eighth notes,” do you stare back at them wondering what they actually want you to sing differently? If so, keep reading…
You’re already a musician, performing and inspiring those who hear you sing, but you have the potential to learn new music much faster and to understand and appreciate the rhythms, melodies, and harmonies of the songs you perform. You just need to learn to read music!
Unfortunately, too many methods on how to read music begin something like this: “This is a music staff. It has five lines. The notes on the lines are EGBDF. A handy way to remember these notes is… [you know the story].” But humans were making music hundreds of thousands of years before any of them ever thought to write it down, so learning to read music should begin by understanding how sounds are organized into rhythms, melodies, and harmonies, then learning what music notation is used to represent them!
Once you can recognize the notes, you will be able to look at the sheet music for a new song and already know how the rhythms should feel and the melodies should sound. In short, you’ll be reading music!
Sara Wunsch has a master of music in music education from The Boston Conservatory. She is currently singing with the Lyric Theatre Singers and writing a musical.
Official workshop website link: http://sarawunsch.ticketleap.com/howtoreadmusic/details
Official Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1725757221005233/


Neuroplasticity: New Research Challenges Our Ideas About the Brain
I’ve been posting recently about the new approach to math. This approach is based on what researchers have been learning about the brain and how it works. In the past, many believed we were born with certain abilities and after childhood, our intelligence was pretty much set. This idea, that some of us were born with higher than normal intelligence than others, fueled at boom in IQ testing during the 70’s. As you might expect, this interest in assessing innate intelligence, had some negative effects. While some students benefited by being identified as “gifted”, many students were unfairly labeled as a result. Later, in the 80’s and 90’s Howard Garder’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, broadened our understanding of intelligence to include more than one way of thinking: students could be visual, kinesthetic, or interpersonal learners (among other categories.) Gardner’s theory definitely expanded our collective understanding of intelligence. Nonetheless, is still limited when we consider the findings of recent research.
As an educator, I will never tire of learning how the brain works. To this end, I recently came across a video series. The video I’ve posted below is about neuroplasticity, which refers to the ways the brain changes in as a result of new thoughts, behaviors, feelings or experiences. Researchers are learning the brain has a lot more plasticity than we ever thought possible before.
Basically, we can rewire our brains. In fact, it’s happening all the time…
Check out the video and let me know what you think in the comments below.
How does this inform your understanding of how we learn? How might we use this information to support our childrens’ or students’ learning? How might this affect our own ideas about what we can or can’t learn ourselves?
- Common Core Math is Changing with Way we all Think about Math
- Investing in Music Education Is Smart!


CALS (Community and Life Skills) is held fortnightly on a Tuesday afternnon. Students are allocated into a group of students from grades 3—6 and participate in an activity with each teacher supervising a different activity. Some of the activities include: Science experiments, 3D printing, robotics, community groups and gardening.
Students will also participate in a peer support program. This is a peer led program that empowers young people to support each other and contribute positively to society.
Students attend three specialist lessons per week. These are; Science, Physical Education Music and Performing Arts.
Instrumental Music classes take place on Mondays.
Reading: We will continue to build upon our reading comprehension strategies, spelling and grammar. We are focusing upon the CAFE Reading strategies and the author’s purpose
Writing: Students will be learning how to write a coherent explanation text and poetry. Students participate in the Big Write every Monday morning.
Students have individualised spelling lists and should be practiced at home as well as nightly reading.
Aldercourt Primary School employs a speech therapist. He is currently screening all Aldercourt students.
This term students will be learning their long vowels, suffixes and will continue with digraphs and trigraphs as part of the Multi-Sensory Structured (MSL) spelling program
Students visit the library every Tuesday. They are able to borrow a book to take home.
This term grade 3 will be focusing on Place Value
Please ensure to have your student practice their 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables.
The Digital Technologies curriculum enables students to become confident and creative developers of digital solutions through the application of information systems and specific ways of thinking about problem solving.
This term students will be learning how to source appropriate material on web based programs.


Studies show that summer brain drain can be a formidable force, setting kids’ progress back over the long break from the classroom. But you can help kids avoid losing their academic mojo. Here’s how.
Take a Hike
Not all learning has to happen indoors or while sitting still. Take a family nature walk and ask kids to pay special attention to the plant and animal species you encounter on your journey, as well as any special rock formations or other geological features you see, taking notes and photographs as you go. Once back home, do some research about the most interesting things that you saw.
Music education is important for budding minds, and learning music at home in summer can be easy and affordable. Stock your household with a portable keyboard designed for students in mind. For example, the CT-X700 boasts a high-quality sound system, as well as features that are perfect for student musicians, like a six-track recorder, a library of 100 built-in songs, and the Step-Up Lesson system, which allows students to learn the songs with the display showing proper fingering and notation. Its USB-MIDI port connects to any Mac, PC, Android or iOS device with no drivers or installation needed. The included music rest is designed to support tablets, and the built-in smartphone shelf holds your device as you use the keyboard with favorite music apps.
Summer is the perfect opportunity for students to delve deep into what interests them most. Make a day of it. First stop: the library or bookstore, where kids can find reading materials dealing with their favorite topics. Then, pack a picnic lunch and find a shady spot in a local park or your own backyard, to read outdoors. At the end of the day, everyone can discuss what he or she read.
Make math more fun with a free, all-in-one web-based mathematics resource like Classpad.net, that allows users to draw geometry figures freehand and input calculations as they would on real scratch paper. Geared for K-12+ mathematics students, the app is designed to be equally usable by keyboard/mouse and touchscreen-based platforms, so that students can keep up their math skills wherever their summer adventures take them.
Take a Vacation
Going somewhere new and interesting? In advance of your trip, have kids spend some time learning about the history and culture of your destination. If you’re going abroad, they can even learn some basics of a foreign language.
To keep minds active all summer long, be sure to combine learning and fun.


Safety in the Workplace for the Hearing Impaired
Hearing loss often increases risks in the workplace, particularly in industrial environments with machinery or heavy equipment. Regardless of the industry, accommodations help prevent injuries in hearing impaired workers. Many of the accommodations create an overall safer work environment for every employee. Employers should assess potential risks for the hearing impaired and look toward technology to make the environment safe.
Accommodations for those with hearing impairments potentially reduce the risk of workplace injuries. The employees are better able to perform their tasks with the safety precautions in place. The other staff members learn about helping co-workers with hearing impairments and how they can play an active role in improving safety for those colleagues.
Written standards and expectations provide a greater sense of workplace safety for all employees. A policy should set forth what steps the company will take to improve the workplace and handle emergency situations. The business should set specific standards, particularly in companies with heavy machinery or other mechanical processes that increase the risk of injury. Procedures for alerting employees with hearing impairments about fires, tornadoes or other immediate emergencies should be in place.
An emergency alarm system with visual indicators, such as blinking lights, allows employees with hearing impairments to recognize when they need to react. Flashing exit signs during an emergency help workers find the exit when they cannot hear voice commands or directions. A text message system to relay emergency information and directions can save lives and prevent injuries, as well. Assigning at least one other employee as a buddy gives the hearing-impaired staff member aid in an emergency. In settings with heavy machinery, such as forklifts in use, establish clear driving areas with colorful tape on the floor. Use mirrors to aid the drivers and employees on the floor to avoid collisions with a hearing impaired person.
Staff members with hearing impairments serve as a valuable resource when establishing workplace safety procedures. Invite those employees to review your plans for workplace accommodations and policies before you implement them to determine if they are feasible and useful. Once you finalize the details, distribute a written copy of the policies and procedures to all staff members. Training sessions will help ensure that all employees understand their responsibilities in implementing the policies.
Based in the Midwest, Shelley Frost has been writing parenting and education articles since 2007. Her experience comes from teaching, tutoring and managing educational after school programs. Frost worked in insurance and software testing before becoming a writer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education with a reading endorsement.


While the Philippines has achieved remarkable progress in raising the education level of its labor force, the standard proxy for educational attainment—years of formal schooling—is increasingly inadequate as a measure of workforce skills. About one-third of employers report being unable to fill vacancies due to lack of applicants with the requisite skills. Most of these “missing skills†? are socioemotional skills,†? also known as “non-cognitive skills†?, “soft skills†? or “behavioral skills.†?Emerging international evidence suggests that socioemotional skills are increasingly crucial to the types of jobs being created by the global economy. The following study presents new evidence from employer and household surveys on the role of socioemotional skills in the Philippine labor market. The analysis reveals that:• Two-thirds of employers report difficulty in finding workers with adequate work ethics or appropriate interpersonal and communications skills. Firm-based training increasingly focuses on socioemotional skills.• The more educated and employed workers tend to score higher on measures of grit, decision-making, agreeableness, and extroversion.• Socioemotional skills are associated with an increase in average daily earnings, in particular for women, young workers, less-educated workers, and those employed in the service sector. • Higher levels of socioemotional skills are also correlated with a greater probability of being employed, having completed secondary education, and pursuing tertiary education.Studies suggest that primary school is the optimal age for shaping socioemotional skills, but the Philippines’ elementary education curriculum devotes limited resources to their development. Schools continue to be judged solely by students’ performance in cognitive achievement tests, but not on soft-skills competencies, and teachers are not appropriately trained to foster the development of them. Finally, interventions targeting workers entering the labor force can also effectively bolster their socioemotional skills, complementing effects to improve labor-market information and vocational counseling.


At the age of twelve, Alonzo Chappel (1828-1887) was selling his portraits on the streets of New York City for the price of $10 and within only two years was able to raise his price to $25. With no formal art education, Chappel went on to paint hundreds of portraits specifically to be steel engraved as book plates.
Among the books Chappel designed and authored (although the caption writers usually get the credit) were Jesse F. Schroeder’s Life and Times of Washington (1857), Jesse A. Spencer’s History of the United States (1858), Evert A. Duyckinck’s Lives and Portraits of the Presidents of the United States (1865) and National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Americans (1861-1862), as well as plates for the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, edited by William Cullen Bryant (1888).
Many of these portraits were done after existing paintings rather than from life, with the original sometimes noted on the print and sometimes not. The many talented engravers hired to complete the prints after Chappel’s paintings are not identified.
Princeton has several copies of the two volume National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Americans (E176 .D98 1862) and the Graphic Arts Collection holds a number of unbound sheets from this project. Seen here are portraits of John James Audubon (1780-1851), Franklin Pierce (1804-1869), James Madison (1751-1836), and George McClellan (1826-1885).


The Arthur Miller Foundation has chosen to specifically focus our attention on theater education for several key reasons:
- Theater teaches essential soft skills that foster empathy and effective interactions with others, aiding in human development regardless of the career path one chooses to pursue.
- Theater is the most comprehensive art form, enveloping all other forms of art, including music, dance, fine art, film and visual art.
- Theater arts must be recognized as an integral part of a well-rounded public school education.
An evaluation of the Arthur Miller Theater Education Program, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, was conducted during the 2018-2019 school year by Hunter College School of Education’s Urban Center for Assessment Research and Evaluation (UCARE).
Findings revealed that theater teachers view the program as transformational & central to their development as theater educators.
THEATER TEACHERS learned effective strategies for:
- encouraging active learning
- literacy development
- meeting the needs of diverse learners
- creating a sense of community
- fostering student engagement & collaboration
THEATER STUDENTS demonstrated improvement in the following areas:
- social and self-awareness
- interpersonal, decision-making & self- management skills
- empathetic, supportive & respectful peer relationships
- sustained focus & concentration
- positive communication & commitment to group activities
Arts Education: The Facts
The arts support PERSONAL, ARTISTIC, CIVIC, and SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
The arts promote growth in SELF-CONFIDENCE, EMPATHY, and increased SOCIAL TOLERANCE
Teenagers involved in the arts have better grades and higher rates of college enrollment & attainment
Arts students SCORE HIGHER ON THEIR SATs than peers
Students with access to the arts in high school are 3x more likely to earn a bachelor's degree
Low-income students highly engaged in the arts are more than 2x as likely to graduate from college
At-risk students with access to the arts do better academically, aim higher in their career goals, and become more civically involved
72% of business leaders say that CREATIVITY is the # 1 skill they seek when hiring
Language proficiency scores increase more than 10 x with arts engagement in schools for English Language Learners
Top Skills Children Learn From The Arts
Being able to think on your feet, approach tasks from different perspectives and think ‘outside of the box’ will distinguish your child from others.
The skills developed through theater not only train you how to convincingly deliver a message, but also build the confidence you need to take command of the stage.
Artistic creations are born through the solving of problems. How do I turn this clay into a sculpture? How do I portray a particular emotion through dance? How will my character react in this situation? Without even realizing it kids that participate in the arts are consistently being challenged to solve problems.
When a child picks up a violin for the first time, she/he knows that playing Bach right away is not an option; however, when that child practices, learns the skills and techniques and doesn’t give up, that Bach concerto is that much closer.
The ability to focus is a key skill developed through ensemble work. Keeping a balance between listening and contributing involves a great deal of concentration and focus.
Through experiences in theater and dance education, children learn to breakdown the mechanics of body language.
Receiving Constructive Feedback
Receiving constructive feedback about a performance or visual art piece is a regular part of any arts instruction. Children learn that feedback is part of learning and it is not something to be offended by or to be taken personally. It is something helpful.
Most arts disciplines are collaborative in nature. Through the arts, children practice working together, sharing responsibility, and compromising with others to accomplish a common goal.
When kids get to practice following through with artistic endeavors that result in a finished product or performance, they learn to associate dedication with a feeling of accomplishment.
When children practice creating something collaboratively they get used to the idea that their actions affect other people. They learn that when they are not prepared or on-time, that other people suffer.


This is a partnered post.
Board games can be more than a fun way to pass the time. Certain games could also be a way of educating your kids by teaching problem-solving, literacy and numeracy skills. Here are just a few popular board games that can be educational.
Chess is one of the oldest board games in existence and is fantastic for boosting brainpower. Having to think multiple moves ahead teaches analytical skills and improves memory retention. Studies even claim that chess can boost IQ and improve focus in kids with ADHD. All in all, it’s worth getting out that chess board.
Scrabble revolves around building words and accumulating points. It can be great for expanding one’s vocabulary – by seeing other people’s words and using a word unscrambler, you can discover new terms. It can also teach mental math skills as players are required to add up and multiply points. Above all, it teaches problem solving skills by getting players to weigh up various moves much like chess. Scrabble is available in other languages too (the letters are given different values), which could be a fun challenge if you want to test your knowledge in a foreign language.
This trusted board game encourages players to buy up property until one player owns all the property on the board. The main lesson it teaches is how to manage money – especially how to invest it and keep a good cashflow. It’s also a game of patience – sometimes you have to wait a number of turns just to land on a property. There are lots of different versions of monopoly that you can try to vary this game up once you know the basic rules.
Qwirkle is a game of forward thinking and strategy that can be played by kids of a young age all the way up to adults. It involves placing down tiles to build patterns – the ultimate aim is to create rows of six tiles of the same colour or shape. It’s great for boosting problem solving skills by encouraging players to look at things from different perspectives.
Ticket 2 Ride
This easy-to-learn game encourages players to claim railway routes across America. The longer the railway route the more points you gain. It teaches problem solving whilst also teaching kids geography by getting them familiar with where cities are in the US. There are lots of different versions of Ticket 2 Ride that can also teach geography of other locations in the world.


Elizabeth City, N.C., reaches out to help young readers
By: Brad Rowland
There are several important developmental stages for any young person, from infancy to middle and high school. In Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the focus is on a specific age group, and a burgeoning program is in place with an eye toward addressing key needs.
The Little Readers Learning Academy began in November 2017 to help local third graders in their growth toward full-fledged literacy. The program, spearheaded by Captains Kenny and Julie Igleheart, corps officers, partners with Sheep-Harney Elementary School to bring as many as 20 young people to the local corps three times per week for supervised, targeted reading instruction.
Students are supervised by corps staff and three teachers who generously donate their time, after working a full day, to invest further in the lives of their students. Young people are provided with three 30-minute segments of instruction in specific areas of literacy development. The program is designed to lead children from the “yellow” stage of challenged literacy to the “green” stage, signifying a student is on track with local and national progress standards.
“I’m excited about it,” Captain Kenny Igleheart said. “It’s going to be an obvious winner for the kids. It’s a life-changing thing.”
The Salvation Army is covering most of the peripheral costs for the program, with students expected only to invest $5 per week in a program that also includes a daily snack. In addition, plans exist for potential development into other academic arenas including mathematics, though only when the initial need is fully met.
Ultimately, Captains Igleheart believe that links will grow between the literacy program and other corps programming and character-building classes, but the need for increased focus on literacy is evident in the community, and the Army is springing into action as a result.


Preschoolers love learning about Community Helpers.
Here are 10 preschool ideas for supporting your early learners enthusiasm for these important citizens!
February is a National Children's Dental Month! This is a great time to talk about Dental Health with preschoolers. My Dental Health Activity Pack is a great addition to this topic. This pack extends learning to include math, social, literacy, and motor skill development.
Most preschoolers love to engage in role playing. My Dental Health Dramatic Play Pack makes it a breeze to create a Dentist office anywhere kids play.
Role playing is a fantastic way for children to learn more about the community they live in and practice important cognitive and social skills.
When children are role playing they are learning to read, count, socialize, problem-solve, building confidence, displaying creativity, refining communication skills, learning to take turns and play cooperatively, and oh so much more!
This Post Office Dramatic Play Pack makes it easy to set up a
Post Office anywhere you play!
Learning about Community Helpers is an important part of a preschooler's social development. Preschoolers are learning what it means to be part of a community and about the different roles that citizens play in the community.
Children love to learn about the helpers in their community. The 12 activities in this pack focus on The Post Office, Mail Carriers and Mail. These easy to assemble activities can be placed in your learning centers, turned into file folder games, or turned into tot tray activities.
These preschool activities support preschoolers in developing important literacy, math, and motor skills to prepare for kindergarten.
What can I help you find?


Our schools’ programs, educational approaches, and curricula are designed to maximize the success rate of our students, preparing them for kindergarten and an educational career as aligned with California’s Common Core Standards. To best support a young child’s skills and emergent evelopment, we seek to integrate social-emotional development, physical/motor development, math, science, language and literacy, and visual/performing arts—a constructivist approach to learning that aligns the district’s priorities and goals with the holistic development of the child.
The Early Education Department (EED) uses the California Department of Education’s “Desired Results for Children and Families” framework to support student learning and growth. For more information, please see www.cde.ca.gov. Phonological Literacy Awareness Screenings and reading assessments are given to 4-year-old or 5-year-old PreK and TK students respectively. Additionally, classroom assessments are conducted to support teachers in creating rich educational environments and serve as tools to help parents monitor student growth and progress.
Since prioritizing early literacy development at every site, the EED has been particularly successful in designing curricula that support meaningful and age-appropriate reading, writing, listening and oral language development, while fostering classroom environments that inspire creativity and curiosity. In addition, our Dual Language Learning Program offers space for children who are native or non-native Spanish speakers as well for children who are native or non-native Cantonese speakers. This program celebrates their diversity and strengthens their language skills in both the home language as well as English.
The EED embraces the essential principles of early childhood development aligned with the California Preschool Learning Foundations and the “12 Principles of Child Development” of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. We design our school programs using four district-approved educational approaches as inspiration:
- The Reggio Emilia Inspired Approach: Developed by teacher Loris Malaguzzi in post-WWII Italy, this approach encourages children to learn personal responsibility, respect and resiliency through self-guided curriculum and a strong collaboration between children, parents and teachers.
- The Project Approach: Teaching strategies that encourage students to engage in hands-on learning about real- world topics as a small group or class, while supporting and developing the child’s sense of spontaneity, skill-building capacity, knowledge and feelings through long-term investigations and reporting in a community setting.
- The Creative Curriculum®: Early- childhood teaching strategies that use process-based learning to encourage observation and exploration, organization, communication and the connection of ideas, thoughts and images.
- The Montessori Method: Developed by Maria Montessori over a century ago, this educational approach nurtures a child’s natural sense of discovery and independence by using multi-sensory, hands-on techniques and emphasizing social-emotional skills through meaningful community activities, self- expression and collaborative work.
- The HighScope Curriculum: The HighScope Preschool Curriculum integrates social-emotional learning content with other academic areas and allows children daily opportunities to practice skills such as emotional self-regulation and problem-solving. Children's interests and choices are at the heart of HighScope programs.


LEARNING SERVICES (LS)
Learning Strategies is a support block for students in Grades 8 - 12 and is designed to help students who are experiencing difficulty in one or more academic areas and could benefit from targeted support. With Learning Support, students are taught to self-monitor their learning and to recognize and develop strategies to help themselves. Our goal is to develop students who grow into independent and confident learners who are aware of their strengths and areas for growth.
Students will receive help understanding how they learn best, with academic skills, organizational skills and interpersonal skills. They will be introduced to a variety of learning strategies, including time management, goal setting, study skills, note taking, test taking, memory enhancement and reading, writing (communication) and mathematics/numeracy skills. Students will reflect on their growth in the Core Competencies and be assessed on their engagement and participation, cooperation, attendance, punctuality, organization, listening skills, and work habits. Students can be referred for Learning Services Support by their previous school, teachers or a counsellor.
PEER TUTORING 11 and 12
See the write-ups for these two off-timetable courses under SPECIAL PROGRAMS and UNIQUE COURSES.


Learn From Home for Kindergarten, First & Second Grades
Parents, if you are new to the Henderson County area, you may have a lot of questions about the school system. The following information will provide the answers to many of your questions.
For parents who have lived in Henderson County for a number of years, but have children entering the school system for the first time, this page is also for you!
And, of course, for parents who have been through this before, we have information that will keep you up-to-date on the latest happenings in elementary education.
For our year-round (Flexible Schedule) schools, Bruce Drysdale Elementary and Hendersonville Elementary, the new school year begins in July. For all other elementary schools, the school year begins in August. View our HCPS School Calendars.
The four most common questions parents have are:
1. What Will My Child Learn?
Click to read more about the NC Standard Course of Study.
2. What are the promotion requirements?
Promotion requirements are important for parents to monitor. This helps keep your child on track throughout the year. This is especially important for end-of-grade testing, which occurs in third, fourth, and fifth grades. (See also information about the Read to Achieve Program and the parent brochure below.) In order to be considered for promotion by the principal, a student must:
- Demonstrate proficiency on the grade level state curriculum competencies as measured by designated assessments and each grade, K-5.
- Meet the classroom teacher’s grade level expectations.
Click for the NC School Report Card.
Students in Grades 3 through 5 receive individual progress reports using the same grading scale as students in Grades 6-12.
3. What is the Attendance Policy for Henderson County Public Schools?
The Attendance Policy for HCPS Board Policy #4400
North Carolina law states that a child who is five years old on or before October 16 is eligible for public school kindergarten, or first grade if the child will be six by the same date. It also states that children between the ages of 7 and 16 must attend school.
**Special Note**: The North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation in the summer of 2007 that changes the birthdate requirement for kindergarten enrollment eligibility. Beginning in the fall of 2009, a child must be five years old on or before August 31st in order to be eligible to enroll in public school kindergarten. Click to read more about GS 115C-364.
Read to Achieve
The Read to Achieve Program became law in July 2012. It applies to all North Carolina schools beginning with the 2013-2014 school year. It is part of the Excellent Public Schools Act passed by the NC General Assembly.
The goal of the State is to ensure that every student reads at or above grade level at the end of third grade and continues to progress in reading proficiency so that he or she can read, comprehend, integrate, and apply complex text as needed for secondary education and career success.
For more detailed information, click here for the Read to Achieve Parent Brochure.
More Links and Information for Parents
Immunization Requirements and Information
The following is a link to documents that will be used in the Fifth Grade Growth and Development Curriculum: Materials for Parent Use
How to “Find-A-Book”“Find-A-Book” Web site and information for summer reading