The Coalition for Music Education, Music Canada and MusiCounts believe in the importance of music education for all young people in schools. We are joining our voices together to urge the Vancouver School Board (VSB) to withdraw the proposal to cut elementary band and strings programs. Don’t take instruments out of the hands of children. Keep providing a comprehensive education that includes quality music instruction for all students, taught by individuals with a background and training in music. Music is not an expendable area of study. We strongly disagree with any reduction to music in schools and ask – what is the VSB’s vision and plan to maintain quality music programs in VSB schools for all students?
Research has proven that music education provides far-reaching benefits to the lives of young Canadians, to our communities and to our culture. We believe that decisions minimizing any aspect of the VSB’s music program will have a long-term negative impact on the lives of Vancouver students and on the community.
Music is essential to education and to life.
- teaches students to think creatively and critically,
- develops skills that are essential in the 21st century workforce,
- opens students’ minds to diverse perspectives and thinking,
- bridges languages, cultures and generations,
- unites us through shared experiences,
- enriches our sense of beauty and imagination, and
- supports student success.
The Coalition for Music Education annually celebrates the importance of learning music in our schools through a national event titled Music Monday. Last year’s Showcase Concert included a live link with Commander Hadfield in the International Space Station and this year’s Showcase will include a special event in Vancouver. “Everybody should be learning music. Music opens doors. And music stimulates the brain. Music helps organize and even wire your brain…Music education is really important in life. It’s a wonderful and applicable skill that only makes you a more capable human – We should all learn music.” – Chris Hadfield
Music Canada has identified music education as one of five critical components for the development of the music industry in Canada and an essential stimulant for a vibrant music scene which leads to great community impacts including increased tourism, job growth and business investment. “There is vast evidence that music education contributes to the broader development of young minds and more well-rounded citizens,” says Graham Henderson, President of Music Canada. “Music is a great equalizer, bridging all cultures, and languages.”
MusiCounts is helping keep music alive in our schools. MusiCounts has awarded nearly $7 million in grants and scholarships to schools and communities in Canada. MusiCounts’ mission is to ensure that children in Canada, regardless of socio-economic circumstances or cultural background, have access to a music program through their school. “Every child deserves the opportunity to experience and benefit from playing an instrument.” says Allan Reid, Director, MusiCounts “Music can and does change lives.”
We urge decision-makers to maintain elementary band and strings programs in the VSB.
About the Coalition for Music Education:
The Coalition for Music Education works to raise awareness and understanding of the role music education plays in Canadian Culture, and to promote the benefits music education brings to young people. We envision Canada as a country where the lives of all children are enriched by quality school music programs, and where their active participation in music is valued and supported in our communities.
For more information contact:
Holly Nimmons, Executive Director
(416) 371-6486 | email@example.com
About Music Canada:
Music Canada is a non-profit trade organization founded in 1964 that promotes the interests of its members as well as their partners, the artists. Music Canada is a passionate advocate for music and those who create it. Music Canada also works closely with recording studios, live music venues, concert promoters, awards programs and managers in the promotion and development of the music cluster.
For more information about Music Canada, please visit Music Canada
Amy Terrill, Vice-President, Public Affairs
(647) 963-6044 | firstname.lastname@example.org
MusiCounts, Canada’s music education charity associated with The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), is helping to keep music alive in schools across Canada. MusiCounts’ mission is to ensure that children in Canada, regardless of socio-economic circumstances or cultural background, have access to a music program through their school. MusiCounts includes Band Aid musical instrument grants, the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, Scholarships, and other music education initiatives.
For more information about MusiCounts, please visit MusiCounts
For more information, contact:
Allan Reid, Director
(416) 485-3135 ext 228 | email@example.com


Italian Barnabite and astronomer, b. at Carignano, near Milan, 17 July, 1752; d. at Milan, 12 November, 1832. After receiving an elementary education in his native town, he studied at the College of San Alessandro, Milan, where he was educated and supported by the Barnabites. He later joined the Barnabites, and, after studying the humanities, physical and mathematical sciences, philosophy, and theology, was ordained priest at the age of twenty-three. Specially interested in astronomy, he was shortly after his ordination (1776) appointed on the staff of the Observatory of Brera in Milan. He became assistant astronomer in 1778, and director in 1802. In 1778 he began to publish the dissertations on astronomical subjects which form an important part of the original memoirs appearing in the "Effemeridi di Milano" during the next fifty-two years. His work soon attracted considerable attention, and in 1785 a notable memoir containing his calculation of the orbit of Uranus and a table of elements for that planet won for him a prominent place among the astronomers of his time. He was admitted to membership in numerous learned societies, and offered the position of professor of astronomy at Palermo, which, however, he did not accept. In the following year he travelled throughout Europe at the expense of the state, visiting the chief observatories. When Napoleon set up the republic in Lombardy, Oriani refused absolutely to swear hatred towards monarchy; the new government modified the oath of allegiance in his regard, retained him in his position at the observatory, and made him president of the commission appointed to regulate the new system of weights and measures. When the republic was transformed into the Napoleonic kingdom Oriani received the decorations of the Iron Crown and of the Legion of Honour, was made count and senator of the kingdom, and was appointed in company with De Cesaris, to measure the arc of the meridian between the zeniths of Rimini and Rome. He was a devoted friend of the Theatine monk Piazzi, the discoverer of Ceres, and for thirty-seven years cooperated with him in many ways in his astronomical labours. Besides his constant contributions to the "Effemeridi di Milano", he published a series of important memoirs on spherical trigonometry (Memorie dell' Istituto Italiano, 1806-10) and the "Istruzione suelle misure e sui pesi" (Milan, 1831).
The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.
Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.
No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.
Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912
Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online


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DaMath is a boardgame which can be used for basic numeracy exercise. The invention of DaMath contributed techniques for educators to improve numeracy skills among students, specifically on primary and secondary education in the Philippines.
Included in this file are the following:
A.Background of DaMath
D.How to Score (with sample entries)
F.DaMath Board (size: 9.6"x9.6")
G.Whole Number Chips (size: 1"/chips)
H.Blank Chips (Red & Green)


In addition to Tom Au's answer on the Meiji Restoration above, is the break down of the central coordinating mechanisms of the Tokugawa or Edo Era that preceded the Meiji Era. In ca 1600, Japan was unified under a military regime (bakufu or Shogunate) led by the supreme military leader, the Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu who had his castle in Edo (now Tokyo). The system set up by the Tokugawa regime functioned for ca 260 years as a strict caste society. There were four castes (with the shogun and his top leaders above all four): samurai, peasant, craftsmen, merchants. There was one caste below, the untouchables or eta, who dealt with anything related to death including tanning.
Peasants comprised the vast majority of the population (ca 80%) and owned the land; the economy was based on rice production. Other commodities (barley, millet, soy, etc) were traded but rice was like gold today. Merchants were essential to moving goods around the country (including seeds and new technology for improving harvests) and developed skills in handling / storing commodities (including sake, silk, soy sauce, dried fish and items made by the skilled craftsmen). A money economy developed in the merchant caste and many of them became skilled in banking and a small futures market developed in Osaka. Over time, merchants accumulated wealth while many a high-class samurai went hungry. The Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa's 1956 film) depicts some aspects of the life at that time including the rigid caste system and masterless samurai (ronin).
By the mid-1800s the Edo system was increasingly strained: the top samurai caste (and those above them) owed massive debts to the bottom caste (merchants). In today's world, it is not unlike the power (that is money) that multinational corporations have/control vis-a-vis many national governments. In short, the Edo Period was ready to breakdown, and the arrival of Matthew Perry's Black Ships from the USA helped it along that path.
During the Tokugawa / Edo Period, high-ranking samurai became skilled at bureaucratic management of the complex rice economy. At the same time, many low-ranking samurai seized opportunities in the money (gold and silver) economy such as schemes to create more land through landfill so they then could become land owners and gained the option to become wealthy peasants. Some of the more impoverished samurai relinquished their samurai status altogether and became bankers and traders. Some of Japan's early zaibatsu (financial cliques organized as family-owned holding companies) were founded with a strict code of honor, such as the House of Mitsui, patterned on samurai society.
Skilled samurai and merchants became essential to the early organization of the Meiji Era. (In the mid-1800s, educated males were ca 50% of society, females ca 15%.) Many former samurai with bureaucratic knowledge created the new government and naturally the modern military. Many leading merchants helped create a modern financial system including a new central bank, the Bank of Japan. Edo Period Japan had been closed off to trade and influence from outside, and so to remedy that gap, various missions to learn about the world were initiated. The most famous of these was the Iwakura Mission lasting from Dec 23, 1871 until Sept 13, 1873. The main aims of the missions were to renegotiate the unequal treaties that Japan had been forced into with the US and many European countries and to learn about the technology, science, social and economic structures of those modern countries. The learning that was brought back to Japan influenced how the country was modernized over the coming decades. By 1900, for example, 90% of the population was enrolled in elementary education.


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Ethnomusicology, or comparative musicology, is an academic discipline that focuses on the unique ways in which music has evolved in cultures across the globe. Combining archeological, sociological and musical study, this field involves becoming adept as describing the musical traditions of numerous cultures as well as an expert on certain foreign cultures. To become an ethnomusicologist, one must complete an advanced degree and have an interest in learning as much as possible about the many ways that people make and enjoy music.
To become an ethnomusicologist in 2011, you must first acquire an undergraduate degree in a related field. This could be a general music education or even a performance degree. Other ethnomusicologists come to the field by way of undergraduate learning in cultural anthropology, sociology or even psychology. In 2011, a long list of reputable universities within and outside the United States offer ethnomusicology as master's and doctorate degree programs. To be accepted in the academic circles of this field, one must typically achieve this ranking.
In order to achieve an advanced degree and become an ethnomusicologist, you will need to write and publish field studies. Not only do students need to exhibit the knowledge of music and the way it is made across cultural divides, but also the ability to express those differences in papers that will further illuminate the discipline. This writing could involve holistic analyses of musical differences among various cultures, or it could delve into the specifics of how a particular people express themselves through music and even dance.
Teaching could be part of a student's quest to become an ethnomusicologist as well. Teaching basic components of a subject is often a prerequisite of achieving any advanced degree, ethnomusicology included. Posting yourself in front of a class of music history undergraduates just might inspire young ethnomusicologists with the desire to become a true expert in the field.
Researching the origins of ethnomusicology will help students know whether they truly want to become an ethnomusicologist. Though an interest in the world's different musical traditions likely has existed for nearly as long as music has been made, many credit the advent of advanced recording technology in the mid-20th century for the academic need to catalog that music in a way that accentuates its cultural significance. One of the first official ethnomusicologists was the Dutch music expert Jaap Kunst, who coined the term based on the Greek words ethno, or state, and musico, or music.


Volume 40, Issue 2 (2011)
Measurement of Kindergarteners' Understanding of Early Mathematical Concepts
Amanda M. VanDerHeyden, Carmen Broussard, Patricia Snyder, Jamie George, Sara Meche Lafleur, and Candace Williams
Abstract: Early measures of mathematics skill and development have focused on early numeracy skills like counting, number identification, and sequencing of numbers. This study attempted to expand early mathematics assessment. Six new measures of early mathematics skill competence were developed and evaluated. Four existing measures also were examined. Measures were developed to directly assess kindergarten children’s understanding of concepts including number sense (ordinality, subitivity, cardinality), shape recognition, and patterning. Technical adequacy estimates were examined including test–retest reliability, concurrent and longitudinal correlation with criterion measures, and sensitivity. The Pattern Completion, Set Comparison with Unequal-Sized Items, and Subitivity measures performed best. Existing early numeracy measures performed comparably to or better than the new measures.
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LTS Education is closely monitoring the progress of both the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College & Careers Consortium (PARCC).
As we learn more about question types and rigor for both consortia, LTS Education will continue to transform our content to fully align to the Smarter Balanced and PARCC exams. Our content and development team is working daily to create new material aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and integrate a variety of item formats that these technology-based assessments will deliver.
Our new content will include more complex literary and inferential passages with evidence-based selected response questions requiring close reading, more conceptual and multi-step mathematics problems, as well as new item types such as drag-and-drop and gridded response formats. We are committed to building other question formats as the CCSS consortia release them for public review.
By closely mirroring the PARCC & Smarter Balanced exams in both content and delivery, LTS web-based curriculum and assessments can provide valid preparation and learning experiences so that students will be prepared for either the PARCC or Smarter Balanced assessments, and for the increased rigor that the Common Core standards require.
LTS Education’s value for students and teachers
Rigorous expectations… more complex texts… higher order thinking skills….deeper, more critical understanding… these are the kind of descriptors we consistently hear about the Common Core State Standards.
While teachers and students are certainly feeling the pressure to rise to these ambitious expectations, LTS Education offers confidence and support as you refocus for the shift to Common Core State Standards and the new assessments.
Allow our Common Core resources to help you ease the transition. Equipped with a self-paced, self-directed adaptive learning program like Stride Academy, every student can be successful in mastering Common Core standards — even those who are several grade levels behind on foundational skills. Best of all, they’ll have fun and stay motivated while receiving differentiated instruction and skills practice.
LTS Education offers an array of Common Core resources for teachers who are making the instructional transition in their classrooms, while anticipating the PARCC and Smarter Balanced assessments.
Our Common Core-aligned Tools for Teachers include:
- Common Core-aligned Math and ELA online skills practice automatically differentiated for individual learners by our Stride adaptive engine.
- Math and ELA video lessons created by experienced teachers to address clear learning targets and foundational knowledge outlined by the Common Core. Lessons integrate engaging tasks and activities, thought-provoking and realistic problems and scenarios.
- Common Core-aligned Math and ELA printable study guide pages appropriate for individual student practice or as classroom lesson plans.
- Online formative assessments (four per academic year in Math and ELA) to assist in building strong standards outlined by the Common Core and monitoring progress on CCSS skills from one assessment to the next.
- Online diagnostic assessments (pre- and post-tests in Math and ELA) to identify mastery or non-mastery of specific CCSS skills at grade level and help teachers know which students to group together for optimal instructional impact.
- A custom online quiz builder, allowing teachers to select from our entire database of Common Core standards in Math & ELA to reinforce weekly lesson plans and unit plans, or create interim assessments.
- Real-time data reports with detail on specific Common Core standards to inform instructional decisions for individual students and the classroom as a whole.
At any given time, teachers and administrators can know exactly where their students are performing on CCSS.
Every one of us is in a learning mode.
We recognize that everyone participating in the shift to the Common Core State Standards is in a learning mode. LTS will remain alert and nimble to ensure that we maintain our fidelity to this bold move in American education.


What's all the buzz about S.T.E.M. (or S.T.E.A.M.)?
see it in action... learning in the real world in real time... applied
Science ~ Technology ~ Engineering ~ Art ~ Math
For the past five years I've been doing quite a lot of learning in action...
Here you'll find links to innovative programs in schools and communities, good reads, good ideas and great people I've been finding along the way. Created as a place to toss what I discover, it is here to spark conversations... check it out, let me know what you think, and share your own inspiration!
New learning added daily! Visit often :)
Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.
Aprovecho is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to living, learning, organizing, and educating, to inspire a sustainable culture. Aprovecho specializes in hands-on, experiential education programs for youth and adults.
1: Children who study music tend to have larger vocabularies and more advanced reading skills than their peers who do not participate in music lessons.
2: Studying music primes the brain to comprehend speech in a noisy background. *Children with learning disabilities or dyslexia who tend to lose focus with more noise could benefit greatly from music lessons.
3: Research shows that music is to the brain as physical exercise is to the human body. Music tones the brain for auditory fitness and allows it to decipher between tone and pitch.
4: Children who study a musical instrument are more likely to excel in all of their studies, work better in teams, have enhanced critical thinking skills, stay in school, and pursue further education.
5: In the past, secondary students who participate in a musical group at school reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs).
6: Schools with music programs have an estimated 90.2 percent graduation rate and 93.9 percent attendance rate compared to schools without music education who average 72.9 percent graduation and 84.9 percent attendance.
7: Regardless of socioeconomic status or school district, students who participate in high-quality music programs score 22 percent better on English and 20 percent better on Math standardized exams.
8: Much like expert technical skills, mastery in arts and humanities is closely correlated to high earnings.
9: A study from Columbia University revealed that students who study arts are more cooperative with their teachers and peers, have higher levels of self-confidence, and are more equipped to express themselves and their ideas.
10: Elementary age children who are involved in music lessons show greater brain development and memory improvement within a year than children who receive no musical training.
11: Learning and mastering a musical instrument improves the way the brain breaks down and understands human language, making music students more apt to pick up a second language.
Research in the science of learning shows that hands-on building projects help young people conceptualize ideas and understand issues in greater depth. If we want more young people to choose a profession in one of the group of crucial fields known as STEM, we ought to start cultivating these interests and skills early.
Last year we published a list of 14 high schools worth visiting. We’ve visited and profiled some great new schools this year so it was time to update our list. Following are 35 schools that personalize and blend learning; they challenge students with real work and ask them to show what they know. Time to hit the road!
Founded more than 70 years ago, Plan is one of the oldest and largest international development agencies in the world working to ensure a better future for communities and its children. Make a donation or sponsor a child today.


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- Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2011; US$ 99.95
The use of computers and associated compositional software in music education is frequently decontextualized from cultural and social relationships, thereby ignoring the fact that new technologies are used and developed within existing social spaces that are always already delineated along gender lines. Armstrong suggests these gender-technology relations... more...
- R&L Education 2009; US$ 23.99
This is a collection of addresses from the Centennial Congress of MENC: The National Association of Music Education. Noted leaders in music education_including Paul Lehman, Bennett Reimer, Samuel Hope, and Michael Mark_joined Brenda Welburn and Anne Bryant in addressing the challenges and opportunities faced by music educators today. more...
- Indiana University Press 2014; US$ 42.99
Written by Joan Benson, one of the champions of clavichord performance in the 20th century, Clavichord for Beginners is an exceptional method book for both practitioners and enthusiasts. In addition to detailing the historical origins of the instrument and the evolution of keyboard technique, the book describes the proper method for practicing fingering... more...
- University of California Press 1998; US$ 36.95
This indispensable manual for present-day players of the one-keyed flute is the first complete method written in modern times. Janice Dockendorff Boland has compiled a manual that can serve as a self-guiding tutor or as a text for a student working with a teacher. Referencing important eighteenth-century sources while also incorporating modern experience,... more...
- The Edwin Mellen Press 2010; US$ 159.95
This book documents the impact of democratization, globalization and European integration on the Romanian music education system since the Revolution in 1989. Particular emphasis is placed on government deregulation of public music education. more...
- Taylor and Francis 2002; US$ 49.95
This project makes a unique contribution to research on human memory and music cognition. It will be of interest to psychologists interested in memory and music cognition, musicians, researchers, educators, and professional pianists. more...
- R&L Education 2010; US$ 38.99
This book provides personalized case studies of music programs that are engaging in alternative approaches. The diversity of these real-world case studies will inspire questioning and curiosity, stimulate lively discussion and innovation, and provide much food for thought. more...
- Skyhorse Publishing 2011; US$ 14.95
Skyhorse Publishing is proud to revive Playing Piano for Pleasure . With the wonderful writing one would expect from a longtime New Yorker reporter, Piano aficionado Charles Cooke, offers concrete routines for improving your piano performance. A pleasant and constant cheerleader, Cooke asks readers to practice every day, suggesting that they work... more...
- Oxford University Press 2002; US$ 18.99
Drawing from his highly praised French work, Une simple flute, distinguished flutist and teacher Michel Debost has compiled a useful and imaginative introduction to playing the flute. This alphabetically arranged compendium of advice and insight covers essential topics such as breathing, articulation, and tone, but also explores "jawboning," "finger... more...


What is it like for children in India to access education? 206 Trained community journalists, using digital video cameras, will capture the reality of the implementation of the Right to Education Act. Are schools easy to get to? Is the student-teacher ratio correct? Are there toilets and drinking water in the schools? Are the School Monitoring Committees functioning properly? These, and more are the questions we are asking. >> more Read a detailed blog here | Video Volunteers playlist of videos
There are no universal definitions and standards of literacy. The most common definition - the ability to read and write at a specified age. Low levels of literacy, and education in general, can impede the economic development of a country in the current rapidly changing, technology-driven world.
India: Definition of literacy and Census Bureau percentages for the total population, males, and females.
definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 61% male: 73.4% female: 47.8% (2001 census)
Global Citizen: Primary Education
Access to education is not a privilege, it's a right.
No one teaches us how to dream. We just do. But dreams can only carry the 67 million children not in school, mostly girls, so far. Educating child no matter where they are is one of the biggest steps we can take toward ending extreme poverty.
The Tragic Lives of Child Brides
Child marriage is still the fate of many of the world's girls, forcing them into a life filled with harmful outcomes.
1 In 9 girls marries before age 15, and this infographic shows what happens to them.
Download Infographic by Jan Diehm for the Huffington Post.
December 10 marks the anniversary of the presentation of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognizes that there are "equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family." But, because of the widespread practice of child marriage, 14 million girls under 18 are denied those rights each year. This infographic shows some facts about the lives of child brides.
8 million children are not in school. Choose to speak up for their right. It's time you raised your voice too. Let's together show these children the way to school.
An Uneducated Girl is a Girl in Darkness
Two-thirds of the world's 880 million illiterate adults are women. Girls are more than 70 percent of the 125 million children who don't have a school to attend. Significantly more girls than boys enrolled in the first grade fail to complete the first cycle of primary school.
Social traditions and deep-rooted religious and cultural beliefs are most often the barriers to expanding girls' educational opportunities in undeveloped countries around the world.
Did you know that:
In parts of the Horn of Africa girls are abducted for marriage, causing them to be reluctant to walk the far distances to get to school?
Throughout the Sahel region of Africa and parts of the Middle East, a dowry system, often promoting that girls leave their studies, is still in place?
The AIDS crisis in Southern Africa and Asia drives many young women, little more than children themselves, to become heads of families, become involved in child trafficking and drop out of school?
In parts of Latin America, girls and women from indigenous areas have little opportunity to learn to read and write?
Despite these conditions, there is much desire for change: Parents in even the poorest circumstances everywhere hope that their children will receive an education. Even though the barriers to education for girls in these countries are many, they are not insurmountable.
Understanding the barriers to girls' education in particular is key to launching our innovative approaches. Educating girls and women results in:
Healthier, better educated children and grandchildren;
Fewer maternal deaths and reductions in the under 5 mortality rate;
Delayed marriage and better parenting skills;
Improved literacy and numeracy skills leading to greater economic opportunities;
More skills and knowledge enhancing women's self esteem and the well being of families.
In Nigeria, where 10 percent of the world's deaths to children occur, literate mothers are much less likely to see their children die before their fifth birthday than their illiterate peers. While in the United States, Los Angeles mothers' reading skills are the greatest determinant of their children's academic achievement.


Our willingness to listen to music is biological trait and related to the neurobiological pathways affecting social affiliation and communication, suggests a recent Finnish study.
Music is listened to in all known cultures. Similarities between human and animal song have been detected: both contain a message, an intention that reflects innate emotional state that is interpreted correctly even among different species. In fact, several behavioral features in listening to music are closely related to attachment: lullabies are sung to infants to increase their attachment to a parent, and singing or playing music together is based on teamwork and may add group cohesion.
In the study of University of Helsinki and Sibelius-Academy, Helsinki, the biological basis of music listening was examined. Data consisted of 31 Finnish families with 437 family members. The participants of the study were 8 to 93 years old from professional or amateur musicians to participants with no music education. To dissect listening habits further, active and passive listening of music were separately defined and surveyed using a questionnaire. Active listening was defined as attentively listening to music, including attending concerts. Passive listening was defined as hearing or listening to music as background music. All participants were tested for musical aptitude using three music tests and a blood sample was taken for DNA analysis.
In the study the participants reported weekly average active listening to music of 4.6 hours and passive listening to music of 7.3 hours. It was noted that music education, high music test scores and creativity in music tended to add active music listening.
Recent genetic studies have shown familial aggregation of tone deafness, absolute pitch, musical aptitude and creative functions in music. In this study, willingness to listen to music and the level of music education varied in pedigrees.
This is one of the first studies where listening to music has been explored at molecular level, and the first study to show association between arginine vasopressin receptor 1A (AVPR1A) gene variants and listening to music. Previously, an association between AVPR1A and musical aptitude had been reported. AVPR1A gene is a gene that has been associated with social communication and attachment behavior in human and other species. The vasopressin homolog increases vocalization in birds and influences breeding in lizards and fishes. The results suggest biological contribution to the sound perception (here listening to music), provide a molecular evidence of sound or music's role in social communication, and are providing tools for further studies on gene-culture evolution in music.
The study belongs to the larger research project where biological basis of musical aptitude is investigated. The leader of the study is Professor Irma Järvelä from the University of Helsinki. The principal investigator is MSc Liisa Ukkola-Vuoti. The experts in statistical analyses are docent Päivi Onkamo and BSc Jaana Oikkonen from the University of Helsinki. Experts in musical aptitude are Doctor of Music Pirre Raijas and docent Kai Karma from Sibelius-Academy. The study has been published in the Journal of Human Genetics.
- Liisa Ukkola-Vuoti, Jaana Oikkonen, Päivi Onkamo, Kai Karma, Pirre Raijas, Irma Järvelä. Association of the arginine vasopressin receptor 1A (AVPR1A) haplotypes with listening to music. Journal of Human Genetics, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/jhg.2011.13
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What is education, Education Reform and what is education reform
Education reform is something that has been evolving for many years, and it is a way in which to make education better for everyone regardless of economic status, race, sex, or age. Reform of the education system has taken on many faces throughout the years and under different political administrations. The fact is that education is always progressing and one administration will add to its reform to better the current educational system for everyone.
Under President Obama’s education reform, or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, there is quite a bit of monies that are investing in education to make it a better overall system. The very high dollar amount is an estimated $5 billion dollars that are being invested in early childhood learning programs, which includes programs such as Head Start, and programs that are specifically for special needs children.
Moreover, this new Act gives $77 billion to reform and strengthen both elementary and secondary educational programs. Of this amount, some $48 billion is to help with state budgeting as a way of helping states stabilize their educational systems. These provisions are a way to help attract and train highly qualified teachers as well as preparing students to continue on to college. Moreover, those schools that have been notoriously low performers will have money to help improve their performance through training and other necessary interventions.
In addition, the new education reform provides a whopping $30 billion dollars in order to make college more assessable and affordable to all students. However, the focus of the new Act is on early childhood education because this is the time in a child’s life that is very formative and without the proper education to guide them, they can easily fall by the wayside. However, with stronger education in the early years, it sets the stage for students to succeed in higher educational programs because it lays a good foundation to continue education.
In addition to the monies set aside by the new Act, the education reform of the 21st century is a way to create curriculum that makes education a time of critical thinking, problem solving, and other preparatory measures to help younger students prepare for college. The reform will also include top assessment tools and as well as accountability systems that can quickly gain information in the progress of each student.
Education reform is nothing new and under most presidents’ administration in America, there is always a need to help shape and reform the education system in American. One of the reasons for this is that America falls short in areas of math and science, which is an area where students need to excel, and by offering a more challenging curriculum, it can begin to bring about children that embrace these subjects rather than running from them for fear of failure. Setting the foundation of education with younger children in the key to seeing more of them attend college in the future.
what is education reform
News about what is education reform : Wyoming education reform bill up for haggling Billings Gazette


Celebrating Pluralism: Art, Education, and Cultural Diversity
"Educational trends will change and research agendas will shift, but art teachers in public institutions will still need to educate all students for multicultural purposes," argues Chalmers in this fifth volume in the Occasional Papers series. Chalmers describes how art education programs promote cross-cultural understanding, recognize racial and cultural diversity, enhance self-esteem in students' cultural heritage, and address issues of ethnocentrism, stereotyping, discrimination, and racism. After providing the context for multicultural art education, Chalmers examines the implications for art education of the broad themes found in art across cultures. Using discipline-based art education as a framework, he suggests ways to design and implement a curriculum for multicultural art education that will help students find a place for art in their lives. Art educators will find Celebrating Pluralism invaluable in negotiating the approach to multicultural art education that makes the most sense to their students and their communities.
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Ethno and Egocentrism in the Art Curriculum
Pluralism and the Content of the Art Curriculum
Designing and Implementing a Curriculum for Multicultural Art Education
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aesthetic American Ann Robinson Ansford approaches to art art across cultures art criticism art curriculum art disciplines Art educators need art forms art history art production art teachers artists attitudes British Columbia Celebrating Pluralism centrism chapter common concepts Courtesy cultural diversity cultural groups cultural pluralism curricula DBAE decoration defined develop different cultures discipline-based art education discussed diverse cultural dominant educa ethnic ethnocentric Eurocentric European example Faith Ringgold focus functions and roles functions of art Gallery Getty Center Getty Education Institute Girard Foundation Collection goals individual International Folk Art issues Judy Baca learning styles lenses materials McFee meaning monograph multi multicultural approach multicultural art education multicultural education multicultural society murals Museum of International National Art Education Oxfam Pankratz particular pluralistic programs Quilt racial racism roles of art Sleeter social reconstruction sociocultural study of art teaching themes tion tive tural understand variety of cultures visual arts Western Western canon Zerffi


Cri du chat syndrome
Newborns with cri du chat (cat's cry) syndrome have a characteristic mewing cry believed caused by abnormal development of the larynx (the organ containing the vocal chords). The syndrome arises from what is known as a deletion--the absence of genetic material from a missing portion of a chromosome. In cridu chat syndrome, the deletion is in chromosome 5. The disorder is also called 5p- (5 p minus) syndrome, in reference to the area where the deletion occurs. Children with this syndrome have physical abnormalities, language and motor skill difficulties, and varying degrees of mental retardation.
Although all individuals have two copies of chromosome 5, the normal chromosome does not compensate for the genetic material missing from the flawed chromosome in cri du chat syndrome. The deletion can be inherited through generations of a family or may appear at random. It is estimated that the syndrome occurs in 1 in 50,000 births. According to the 5p- Society, approximately 50-60children are born with cri du chat syndrome each year in the United States.
The deletion on chromosome 5 has several indicators. The primary sign is theunusual high-pitched mewing cry during the first weeks of life. This is accompanied by low birth weight, slow growth, and a small head (microcephaly). Muscle tone is poor (hypotonia) and possible medical problems include heart disease and scoliosis (curvature of the spine). Children with cri du chat syndrome have language difficulties, delayed motor skill development, and mental deficiencies that vary in severity. Behavioral problems, such as hyperactivity,may become apparent as the child matures.
As the child matures, the cat-like cry is lost. A definitive diagnosis is based on karyotyping--a laboratory procedure that separates chromosomes from theinfant's cells and demonstrates that genetic material is missing. Cri du chat syndrome can be detected before birth if the mother undergoes amniocentesistesting or chorionic villus sampling. Samples of cells are collected from the fluid surrounding the fetus and are analyzed for genetic defects (amniocentesis) or from the outer membrane (chorion) of the sac that holds both the fetus and the fluid (chorionic villus sampling).
Cri du chat syndrome is a very rare disorder with no cure or known prevention. Treatment consists of supportive care and developmental therapy.
The extent of mental retardation and other symptoms depends on the size of the chromosomal deletion--larger deletions generally translate into more serious symptoms. With intensive early intervention and special schooling, many cridu chat children can develop adequate social, motor, and language skills. Most individuals with cri du chat syndrome have a normal lifespan.


Gibbs, Graham R. (2007) Mathematics and statistics skills in the Social Sciences: dealing with deficits. In: Addressing the Quantitative Skills Gap: Establishing and Sustaining Cross-Curricular Mathematical Support in Higher Education, 25th – 27th June 2007, University of St. Andrews, Scotland. (Unpublished)
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The quantitative/numeracy skills issues for social scientists are somewhat different from those affecting many of the natural sciences and technology. In general students do not need a facility with abstractionism and symbolic systems (the equations) but they do need a good sense of number (scale, size etc) and an understanding of some of the logical principles and thinking that underlie mathematical proofs. The main area of application of these skills is in research methods and statistics.
Dealing with the quantitative part of research methods is always a struggle for teachers, but there is a range of different approaches that have been adopted: teach statistics with formulae; teach statistics using step-by-step instructions and teach statistics use without calculations and formulae.
QAA benchmarks, the BPS and the ESRC Training Guidelines for postgraduates are very clear about the importance of methods and statistics in the subjects. These guidelines will be outlined and their implications for student teaching and student recruitment examined.
Such numeric and statistical skills are important for work after graduation. A survey of recent graduates in sociology and psychology undertaken at Huddersfield in the 1990s showed that the topic from their degree that they found most valuable after graduating and in work was the research methods and statistics.
The paper will conclude with a look to the future, first in terms of possible impacts on the nature of the disciplines and secondly on some of the ways that students may be supported to overcome the hurdle of poor maths and statistics skills.
|Item Type:||Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)|
|Subjects:||H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)|
Q Science > QA Mathematics
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
|Schools:||School of Human and Health Sciences|
|Depositing User:||Graham Gibbs|
|Date Deposited:||19 Oct 2009 10:36|
|Last Modified:||28 Jul 2010 19:48|
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Three to Four Years
• The child can hear and understand at increasing distances from the source of a sound.
• He or she understands questions such as “who,” “what,” and “where.”
• Social interactions with other children become more important.
• The child listens to longer stories.
• Attention span increases at this age.
• The child can now link two separate pieces of information into one.
A three- to- four-year-old is a very busy little person. Children of this age get involved with other children more as play becomes increasingly interactive, especially outside at the playground. They also like “helping” around the house. Because she is around other children more, your child will hear and say things she’s never heard or said before and begin to tell stories. Her fine motor skill development has progressed, so she can play games with smaller pieces. Simple board games and drawing and coloring become favorite activities.
Next Childhood Development Stage: Four to Five Years


The symphony orchestra is a type of music ensemble that has lasted and evolved throughout centuries. Classical musicians have been studied for years, thanks to their many contributions to the symphony orchestra and music history as a whole. The instrument classes of the orchestra include brass, woodwind, string and percussion. The composition of the orchestra has been largely unchanged throughout the centuries, making it a staple in music education.
The stepping stones of the orchestra date all the way back to Ancient Egypt. By the 17th Century, the writing and composition of music became more organized, which gave way to instrument groups, with a variety of sounds, tones and pitches. It was during the Baroque era that a number of pioneers began advancing the techniques and styles that shape the symphony orchestra. These pioneers throughout Europe created instrumentation technique that shape many of the sounds heard today. Some of the most famous symphony orchestras in the world include the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra. The latter is also part of the "Big Five" orchestras of the United States; others included are the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Typical, symphony orchestra instruments include the violin, viola, bass, oboe, trumpet and percussion instruments. A number of orchestras are still widely recognized throughout the world, selling out large indoor and outdoor venues. Students in grade school are taught about the history of the symphony orchestra, and those who learn musical instruments often learn pieces from the most famous orchestral composers. The orchestra is an art form that is highly respected amongst music historians and students, and the legacy continues today. People who want to become more familiar with the symphony orchestra should look into composers and musicians who helped create and shape the culture. They should also learn about specific traits of the art form, and how it has changed throughout the course of a few centuries.
Readers will enjoy the following information on the symphony orchestra:


Sing Your Way to Reading Success
Help your preschooler get ready to read by filling her life with music.
Hover over each Learning Benefit below for a detailed explanation.
Memory and Memorization
There are plenty of scholarly studies that show a strong relationship between singing and literacy development in preschoolers — and there is plenty you can do to help cultivate this connection.
Beyond the Alphabet Song
Linda Page Neelly, associate professor of music at the University of Connecticut, has done extensive research on the links between music and literacy development. As your child sings, she explains, he "begins to explore, sequence, and order sounds, which are critical skills for reading."
Neelly cites the familiar song, "A You're Adorable," which has been adapted as a book by Martha Alexander. While reading and singing this book, you are introducing or reinforcing letters in the alphabet. Meanwhile, your child is noticing letter/sound relationships and matching sung words with written ones.
By singing with your children, you're not just providing academic building blocks. You're also providing emotional ones. When you think of your mother, father, or favorite grandmother, does a song come to mind? Songs have a way of implanting themselves in our brains and planting us firmly in time, whether in early childhood or at that school dance where you had your first kiss.
Whether you’re sharing nursery rhymes, folk tunes from the 1960s, or songs by Raffi or Dan Zanes, there's no such thing as too much singing. And if after the 16th consecutive playing of "Baby Beluga" you wish Raffi had never left Canada, remember that preschoolers love and learn through repetition.
Don't Be Shy
You can't sing, you say? Can't carry a tune to save your life? News flash: your child doesn't care. He won't greet your singing with withering put-downs, like Simon on American Idol.
Our experts offer these tips on how to use songs and singing in everyday life, making music a joyful part of emerging literacy:
- Make up silly songs about everyday activities, like brushing teeth, getting dressed, or cleaning up. Use a familiar melody or invent your own.
- Explore your family's roots and traditions when looking for songs to sing.
- Go to the library to find books based on songs (e.g., There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Baby Beluga, Old McDonald), and/or music CDs based on books — then go home and sing them together.
- Have grandma or grandpa make a recording of a favorite song or book to send to your child. Preschoolers are fascinated by the sound of their voices, and this provides a memorable connection around music.
Recommended Products for Your Child Ages 3-5


What would a day be without some news from the neo-liberals…
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Think, Create, Inform
The PBS NewsHour Extra Student Reporting Labs connects high school students to local PBS stations and news professionals in their community to produce original, student-generated news video reports. Student Reporting Labs provides an innovative journalism curriculum and an online collaborative space for students to develop digital media, critical thinking, and communication skills while producing original news reports for PBS NewsHour Extra. The young people who participate in the project learn how to report, problem-solve, synthesize information, and investigate important topics; they use journalism as a form of learning.Student Reports
- What Role Does Fashion Play in Politics? Fashion choices can affect the way voters see candidates, as student reporters from Fort Mill High School in South Carolina find out in this video.
- In Las Vegas, Sports Keep Kids in School. According to this report from Desert Pines High School, many kids stay in school because of extracurricular activities.
- Young Reporters Explore Music Education Cuts. Student reporters from Fraser High School in Michigan look at the consequences of cutting funding to school arts programs.
- Detroit-Area Teens Gather Viewpoints on Staying in School. Teens from a Detroit-area high school talk to a legislator, a former dropout, and a school administrator about the importance of staying in school.
To see more student reports, visit the Student Reporting Labs.
For More Information, visit our website at digitallearningday.org
or our social media sites
©Copyright 2012. Alliance for Excellent Education


Baby Tummy Time: Safe Play for Healthy Development
- Rock 'n' Roll: Tips to Get Your Baby Rolling Over
- Baby Classes: Which Are Right For Your Child?
- Why Is Play Important? Cognitive Development, Language Development, Literacy Development
- Sports and Kids: Pathway to Healthy Development or to Unhealthy Competition?
- The Value of Play for Emotional, Intellectual, Physical Development
- Language Play and Language Development
While it might sound strange at first, your baby's tummy holds the key for much of his head, neck and shoulder muscle development. That's because encouraging your baby to get down on his tummy and lift his head works those muscles that are later responsible for head and neck control. If you want a strong baby, assume the position and squeeze in some baby tummy time by following some simple safety rules and playing a few games to engage your tiny Superman.
Tummy time works to help prepare your baby for other areas of development, including:
- Muscle development.
- Neck control.
- Sitting up.
- Bonding time between you and your baby.
Magdalena Oledzka, pediatric physical therapist for the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York warns that "babies who don't spend time on their bellies have been shown in the research to achieve their developmental milestones at later time (as compared to babies who spend time in prone position (belly time), and they are at higher risk to develop head flattening in the back of their heads and may develop torticollis secondary to the flattening (tilted appearance of the head)."
Baby tummy time is most important around the two-to-four month range. That's when your baby's neck muscles are strengthened to the point where he has some beginning control and can lift his head off of the ground. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies get three to five minutes of baby tummy time at least two or three times each day. Try doing tummy time at least 30 minutes after your baby has eaten, or it could be spit-up central.
Unfortunately, tummy time can go awry if its practiced improperly. Since the AAP recommends that babies always go to sleep on their backs, it's vital that you never allow your baby to fall asleep while on his tummy or walk away while your baby is having tummy time. Both habits could result in asphyxiation, especially if your baby lacks head and neck control, a common cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Instead, try these simple steps for safe tummy time:
- Find a place on the floor that is stable and solid. Never attempt tummy time on an elevated platform or soft surface, like a bed.
- Spread a blanket over the area and move away any small objects that your baby could grasp and place in his mouth.
- Lie your baby on the blanket by propping his arms underneath his body. Don't lie your baby flat on the floor, since he'll lack the strength to prop himself up on his own.
- Stay nearby as your baby enjoys a few minutes of tummy time so you can monitor his movements and encourage him.
- Pick up your baby when he starts to show signs of discomfort or fussiness. You want your baby to enjoy tummy time and associate it with positive feelings so it becomes a common occurrence in your routine.
Once you've gotten the hang of basic tummy time, you can start introduce games and activities which serve to help develop your baby's reflexes and muscles while providing you the perfect opportunity to have some baby bonding time. Try some of these simple games to entice your baby to engage his muscles and show off some of his latest skills.


Many traditional physical education lessons focus intently on movement or motor skill development because these are seen as the building blocks of improved performance. However, teachers of these lessons usually assume that the students can see the connections between these skills and the games they are playing; they also often assume that this connection is so obvious that the students will put effort into developing their skills in drills and other small group activities before they have even played a game. However, in these typical situations, there is little or no team affiliation, and there is no season; thus many students see this form of skill development as something they just have to do for the teacher in order to stay out of trouble.
When team performance in the game is analyzed, a key area that is usually identified for improvement, apart from tactics, relates to skills. Students should be given the time to think about which skills are important to the game via the Game Skills Review. The skills that the teacher deemed must be included in the game when it was created should be amongst these. Other skills will, of course, also emerge as important in relation to the design of the class game.
Game Skill Analysis and Feedback
When students realize that they, as a team, need to develop a particular game skill in order to improve their team’s performance in a season of games, then they are usually much more motivated to engage in the effort required for practice. But improving performance of a game skill usually involves more than just doing it repetitively. It requires developing a better understanding of how the skill works (the techniques of the skill) and receiving feedback on how the student is actually performing the techniques.
The basic techniques or parts of a game skill are usually fairly obvious to students, and yet they are often conveyed to students as if they are teacher-derived facts to be learnt. This situates these techniques outside the everyday experience of young people. However, these techniques are familiar to many of them although many would not have stopped to observe and think about them.
Thus the first task in helping students to develop a game skill is to have them observe each other executing it in a controlled setting, such as throwing a ball to a partner to catch and return (or passing and receiving for older students). In this early analysis, the situation they observe will be fairly static: standing still. As their understanding progresses, these observations may be more accurately contextualized in mini-games and eventually in the season games. You will probably find that when the skill is contextualized in the game it changes subtly (or even significantly). This is why we have called them game skills rather than fundamental or foundational skills.
When students are observing each other, they should be watching the main parts of their teammate’s body for what is going on:
Eyes—where are they looking or what are they looking at?
Arms and hands—what are their arms and hands doing?
Legs and feet—what are their legs and feet doing?
Torso—what is the main part of their body doing?
These observation activities can involve experimentation; they shouldn’t simply be aimed at somehow determining the right answers. Trying different ways to perform the skill by doing different things with eyes, arms and hands, legs and feet, and torso, involves much more thought. Students will recognise amongst their teammates and classmates a range of techniques from which to choose. And for older students especially, it should become apparent that different techniques, even though part of the same skill, may be better used in different parts of the game. For example one type of throw may be important when scoring, another type when passing.
Drawing stick figures to portray the movement can be helpful. This is a task that could be supported by teams using their whiteboard and then sharing these drawings in class, for instance by the teacher taking photographs of the whiteboards and displaying them on a large screen. Multiple versions of this sheet can be used for the same game skill as students refine their understanding of this skill as it is used in the game.
Once the skill has been analyzed in a basic way, students in their teams can be asked to develop ways of practising this game skill. These activities may be drills or mini-games. The important thing is for the activity to involve repeated use of the skill in ways that are similar or identical to those of the class game. During these activities, students can be watching each other perform the skill.
Curriculum Integration Activity
Students can use a technology tool such as a digital camera, flip camera, video camera or something similar to record each other performing the game skills. Create a checklist of all the steps required in the skill and rate each other on each performance against those steps.


Desire to SUCCEED
Each child has an intrinsic motivation to explore their environment, and through careful guidance we strive to instill a passion for learning and relating.
|What is Early Intervention?|
Any therapy for children between birth and the age of three for developmental delays or a medically diagnosed disability is called Early Intervention. This is a critical time in a child's development as neurological pathways are formed and the foundational skills for all future learning develop, therefore therapy focuses on a child's deficits and delays in the six areas of development.
The state funded program for Early Intervention is administered by Regional Centers, however children have to qualify under stringent guidelines. Therefore many parents elect to have additional supports and services provided by an experienced therapist.
What causes developmental delays?
A delay in development during the early childhood years can be caused by medical conditions, prematurity, and/or environmental factors. Whereas the exact reason may not always be known it is important to follow the developmental sequence for building skills to avoid missing links in neurological pathways.
How do we address Early Intervention at OT Children?
We believe that it is not just important to reach the next milestone but to look at the 'quality of movement' as that determines all future learning of motor patterns. Children often compensate for weakness with 'fixing patterns', which impact fine-tuning for balance and bilateral integration (e.g. on playground equipment, scooter, jumper). Parent education is a major focus to incorporate motor learning in everyday activities, engage the 'whole' child and develop an inner drive to move and learn.
We customize the program to fit you and your child, sometimes it just takes a few sessions to be on the way or get your child to be comfortable on his/her tummy!


Technology Strategies for Music Education - 2nd Edition book. Softcover. 120 pages. Published by TI:ME Publications (Technology Institute for Music Educators) (HL.331267).
ISBN 0634090607. 8.5x11 inches.
TI:ME is a non-profit organization whose goals and objectives include the development of in-service teacher training and certification in the area of music technology. This upated edition is an essential resource for all K-12 music educators. It contains hundreds of ideas to assist teachers in integrating technology into the music curriculum, the areas of competency leading to TI:ME certification, and a description of the Technology Institute for Music Educators. These “strategies” are organized around seven essential areas of competency in music technology as they apply to the National Standards for Arts of Education.


ERIC Number: ED451039
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 2001
Reference Count: 0
Elephants and Their Young: Science and Math Activities for Young Children. Teacher's Guide.
Echols, Jean C.; Kopp, Jaine; Blinderman, Ellen
This book contains a series of playful activities in which young children actively learn about the African elephant's body structure, family life, and social behavior. Children make model elephants out of paper and cardboard, then devise elephant puppets with sock trunks as well as create models of elephant's ears, trunks, tusks, make elephant sounds, and sing the elephant song. Students gain insight into how elephants live in the wild as they role play using their trunks while foraging for food and searching for water. Children are also introduced to elephant conservation efforts. The activities introduce developmentally appropriate concepts in mathematics and science to young children, building a solid foundation for future learning. Mathematics is strongly integrated throughout the unit as children compare themselves to baby elephants in body size, foot size, and weight. Basic physical science learning takes place as children weigh objects and explore several water-related activities. Dramas and role playing encourage vocabulary development and oral and written communication skills. (SAH)
Descriptors: Anatomy, Animals, Conservation (Environment), Ecology, Elementary Education, Habitats, Handicrafts, Lesson Plans, Mathematics Activities, Mathematics Education, Science Activities
University of California, Berkeley, GEMS, Lawrence Hall of Science #5200, Berkeley, CA 94720-5200 ($18); Tel: 510-642-7771; e-mail: email@example.com; Web site: http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/GEMS.
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Sponsor: Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (ED), Washington, DC.; National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA.
Authoring Institution: California Univ., Berkeley. Lawrence Hall of Science.
Identifiers: Elephants; Great Explorations in Math and Science
Note: Written with Kimi Hosoume. Inside cover title: "El


Educational Games or quizes for students aged 5 to 15 or years
K-10. These interactive games provide a fun way to achieve some learning outcomes.
Activities are designed to provide an interest in maths, english, science,
art and general knowledge. Although many students place high value on video games,
online games and downloadable games for relaxation, pleasure or something to share with their friends,
we believe these games need to have a much greater educational value.
English Games K- 3 Online educational games to improve literacy and numeracy skills. Homophones, antonyms, puzzles, typing skills, attitudes and values, observation kills, spelling, alphabet, excellent for gifted students or dyslexic children.
English Games Years 4 and 5 Educational games for ages 9 and 10 to improve spelling, grammar, plural and singular forms, learn about work places, homophones, antonyms, and gender.
English Games Years 6 to HighSchool Learn about collective nouns, homophones, antonyms, improve spelling, grammar, singular and plural, improve dictionary and research skills.
Mathematics Games K-3 Challenge mental mathematics, practice addition, subtraction, number flash cards, learn about decimals, improve skills in mixed equations.
Mathematics Games Years 4-5 Clock reading skills, decimals, fractions, times tables, multiplications, division, addition, subtraction, roman numerals, mental mathematics.
Mathematics Games Years 6 to HighSchool Positive and negative calculations, fractions, flash cards, multiplication, division, roman numerals, clock reading skills, measurement conversion game.


In the Pre-Kindergarten readiness program and in the full-day Kindergarten class, we address the child's needs for a strong phonics instruction.
Our highly qualified teachers develop important phonics awareness skills that will lead to a good and strong reader.
We begin with initial consonants, final consonants, all 5 vowel sounds, 3-letter c-v-c phonetic blending, onto simple phrases then sentences, reading according to the ability and development of each student. Learning to write is the start of reading.
Every classroom environment is equipped so phonics, phonemic blending of alphabet sounds and upper/lower case letter recognition is available to all levels (from preschool to kindergarten class).
In the Kindergarten Class, phonics and workbooks are a part of our daily reading, language arts and lessons. We offer individualized instruction too.


The students of St. Lawrence have created the first comprehensive collection of the history of St. Lawrence School and Parish. This collection is filled with stories, legends, and tall tales as well as artifacts, props, and creations. The collection captures memories of the past and the traditions of today along with many hopes and dreams for the future.
Oral history involves interviewing a person or group to get an inside perspective into what it was or is like to live as the member of a particular group within a society. Interviewing a group of people can create a picture of that experience, and an oral history project can be a way of preserving a piece of history.
In Spring 2007, two USF faculty members, Jenifer Schneider, Ph.D. and James King, Ed.D., brought a group of 33 elementary education pre-service teachers to work with students to develop an oral history of St. Lawrence Catholic School and Parish. The St. Lawrence students conducted, produced, and disseminated the oral history project. They used research and writing skills to create multi-media projects such as digital storybooks, podcasts, and movies. The USF pre-service teachers guided the students through the oral history project using various technological media and instructional strategies such as modeled, shared, and guided reading or writing.
Oral history is the systematic collection of living people’s testimony about their own experiences. Oral historians attempt to verify their findings, analyze them, and place them in an accurate historical context. Oral historians are also concerned with storage of their findings for use by later scholars.
Oral history depends upon human memory and the spoken word. The means of collection can vary from taking notes by hand to elaborate electronic aural and video recordings. You may read more about oral history on the following websites: Step-by-Step Guide to Oral History, UNC Oral History Handout.


Why Choose Social Studies Elementary Education
Social Studies Elementary Education involves the study of history, geography, political science and economics. In today's society. social studies elementary education is especially relevant. Trained social studies elementary educators are able to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world (NCSS, 1994.) These educators are well rounded in the various aspects of Social Studies and will play an important role in helping future generations understand the world around them. These educators can assist students in gaining knowledge in anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, religion, and sociology and to make global connections.
Current employment opportunities in the field of social studies education is based on two key factors. Both on a national and state level there is a common theme of the extreme need for teachers and adequately prepared elementary social studies teachers. Concerns at the beginning of the decade focused primarily on the issue of the retirement for a significant number of educators, in the Michigan Education Report of 2001. Teacher shortages in Michigan are predicted to be most severe at the secondary education level. The issue of teacher shortage due to retirement has been redress a major issue - teachers who teach in content areas where they have little or no formal training. This issue is especially relevant to the field of social studies. With the cuts in funding for education, school districts are relying on hiring teachers who can teach in multiple areas. Social study teachers have broad-based education in multiple content areas which makes them highly marketable in the current economic times.
High school students and transfer students with 29 credit hours or less must possess a high school grade point average of 2.25 (on a 4.0 scale) or an ACT composite score of 15. Transfer students with 30 credit hours or more must possess a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Students transferring into the program with completed majors or minors must have the appropriate GPA as established by each department. Consult individual program description for other admission requirements.
Teacher Certification Requirements
As required by the State of Michigan, to receive teacher certification, all teacher candidates must: 1. pass the Professional Readiness Exam; 2. pass the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification content area tests in their major and minor; and 3. have a 2.50 minimum GPA to receive teacher certification in Michigan. These state requirements are in addition to the FSU graduation requirements of your individual program.
The social studies education program leads to a Bachelor of Science degree through the School of Education, College of Education and Human Services. Graduates must complete all of Ferris State University's general education, social studies and education requirements. Professional education requirements include a semester of directed student teaching. Consult individual program description for other graduation requirements.
College of Education and Human Services
School of Education
Ferris State University
Bishop Hall 421
1349 Cramer Circle
Big Rapids, MI 49307-2737


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Philosophical Foundations of Music Education
The Musical and Aesthetic Foundations of Music
18 other sections not shown
achievement activities aesthetic affective American approach areas art music assessment attitudes B. F. Skinner basic CBTE Chapter characteristics child classroom cognitive cognitivists competencies composers concept content validity creative culture curriculum Educators National Conference employed environment evaluation example experiences expressionism factors formal goals HD D NN human idea identify important individual instruments interest involved J. P. Guilford knowledge learner learning linear programming listening long-term memory Lowell Mason material measure measuring musical MENC music aptitude music classes music education Music Educators National music instruction music teachers musical ability musicians objectives organized outcomes percent performance person philosophical play popular music position problem psychology question Research in Music response scores singing skills social society song sounds specific strategies Tanglewood taxonomy teac teaching techniques theory timbre tion total music type of music understanding validity


Four key features of a high-quality preschool program include: the curriculum, the teachers, environment, and family.
Curriculum: MCSD Preschool Program has adopted the research based preschool curriculum: Houghton Mifflin Pre-K: Where Bright Futures Begin. HM Pre-K is designed to provide young children with a comprehensive integrated program. The program is built around oral language and print activities to enhance children’s language and literacy development. The curriculum also addresses early math concepts as well as science and social studies. MCSD Preschool Program values health education including nutrition. We implement the Harvest of the Month nutrition program with the help of Merced County Office of Education. Physical activity promotion is also imperative and supported through the Sports, Play, & Active Recreations for Kids (SPARKS) curriculum. Special activities and materials from our Positive Behavior Support Program help children learn appropriate social and emotional behaviors.
Teachers: MCSD teachers are responsive to each child’s needs and abilities. They engage in interesting conversations and provide interesting, hands-on experiences for children. Lead Teachers have college degrees and Site Supervisor Permits. Teachers are committed to learning and keeping informed on the latest research in early childhood education. Staff Development is provided on a regular basis.
Environment: MCSD preschool classrooms provide activities and experiences that help develop children’s language, mathematics, social-emotional and problem-solving skills. Guidelines and suggestions in the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale are followed. Class size is kept small with a ratio of 1:8. Low ratios allow teachers to devote more time to children’s individual needs.
Family: MCSD preschool program values the family-school relationship and strives to involve families in the early education of their children. The preschool’s open door policy promotes parent involvement in everyday classroom activities and special events. Communication is supported through family orientation, conferences and daily communication regarding program activities and student progress. MCSD Preschool Program supports parents as the early teachers of their children through information sharing, and with ‘Parents in Education’ (P.I.E.) workshops sharing activities and strategies to promote children success.


Here’s an article from the 2007 NIE Literacy tab. The article "Around the World and Home Again: A Literacy Journey Through the News" was written by Gail J. Price, Multimedia Specialist from the National Center for Family Literacy. NCFL is a nonprofit organization recognized worldwide as the leader in family literacy development. For more information, visit www.famlit.org. The tab was produced by the Newspaper Association of America and funded by Idearc Media.
When it comes to learning about what’s happening around the world and in our own back yards, there’s no better resource than the newspaper. Right at your family’s fingertips is a wealth of information about places, events and people – and opportunities to expand your child’s knowledge and improve his reading skills.
The journey can begin simply with a conversation about something you see or read together in the world news section or maybe something from the Sunday edition. Asking questions is a good way to start the conversation, create a focus for reading and help build comprehension.
Incorporate your child’s interests in the conversation. What does he/she think the national sport of that country is? What kind of music do people there listen to? What are the major industries? Who are the famous people from that country? If the article doesn’t answer these questions, look for more information on the Internet or at the library.
Datelines in newspapers (usually found at the beginning of an article) identify where the article originated. With your child, take a trip using the datelines you find in the world news section. Pick one to begin with and then, using three or four others, plan a trip together.
Consider the best way to get to the next location – train, airplane, car, boat? Talk about how the weather might change from location to location, plus food you might find, places to see, things to do and the different geographic features of each country.
Mark your trip on a map and keep track of the miles you travel. Use each new location as an opportunity to “file a news story” about the country to someone “at home.” Make sure to answer the “W” questions – who, what, where, when and why – in the report. And of course, include the dateline.
Places aren’t the only feature of interest in world news stories. These articles also tie the names of people from all over the world to particular events and countries. Talk with your child about some of the people you read about in the newspaper. Who are they? What jobs do they hold in their own countries? What is an equivalent job in our country: president, army general, member of Congress? How does the writer feel about the person, and why? Why is this person in the newspaper – what events are also reported in the article?Is there a recent U.S. event your child knows about that is similar or connected? Helping children connect world events to their own experiences increases their understanding and deepens their knowledge about what they are reading.
After your tour of the world, you’re probably ready to come home and find out what’s happening in your own neighborhood. The local news section of the newspaper provides lots of opportunities to show your child how learning and reading are relevant to daily life.


With legislative Decree of May the 15th 1946, the Isle of Sicily with the Eòlie islands, Egadi, Pantelleria, Pelàgie and Ustica
have constituted into an autonomous region, furnished of juridical personality, within the political unity of the Italian State.
The city of Palermo is the chief town of the Region. The Region has legislative power in the following subjects:
Agriculture and Forests; Reclamation, Civical uses; Industry and Commerce; Increase of the agricultural and industrial production; Urbanism; Public jobs of interest for the Region; Mines, Cave, Salt pans; Public waters; Fishing and Hunting; Public charity and good deeds; Tourism; Guardianship of the landscape; Maintenance of the antiquities and of the artistic work; regime of the local
corporate body; arrangement of the offices and of the corporate regional body; Juridical and economic state of the employees and officials of the Region; Elementary education; Museums, Libraries; Espropriation for public utility. Organs of the Region are:
The Meeting,the Junta and the regional President.
The Regional meeting has constituted from 90 chosen deputies in the Region to universal suffrage and hard incumbent 4 years.
The meeting elects in his inside President, two Vices Presidents, the Secretaries of the Meeting and the Errands Permanent. It practice the legislative functions attributes to the Region.
The regional President and the Junta constitute the Government of the Region. The President is Head of the Regional Government and it represents the Region; it also represents in the Region the Government of the State. The components of the Junta (Aldermen) are chosen from the Meeting and provosts from the President to the individuals branches of the Administration:
The Aldermans offices are: Local corporate body; Finances; Public jobs; Hygiene and Healthiness; Public education; Agriculture and forests; Industry and Commerce; Job,Foresight and welfare; Tourism and Show.
|La Regione Siciliana|


About 2.5 million British youngsters have been inspired to progress into 'real' music-making after playing musical console games like Guitar Hero, Singstar and Rock Band.
The new report by the UK's largest music charity Youth Music states that these games are having a dramatic effect on children taking up a instrument for the first time.
The research found that 19 per cent of young people said they now play an instrument because they were inspired to do so after playing a music-based console game.
Of the 12 million young people in the UK, aged between three and 18, more than half play music games on computer consoles.
Andrew Missingham, a music industry expert who carried out the report, said: "The music games are popular because they are family friendly and inclusive.
"And it is this take-up of the games that is credited with the take up of musical instruments, the development of transferable musical skills and even the development of performance confidence.
"This research for the first time shows conclusively that young people are being inspired to make their own music by games that first piqued their interest."
The SingStar franchise hit 12 million unit sales in April 2008.
Playing music games help young people develop confidence in performance, and introduce many of the skills required to play other instruments - such as dexterity, inter-limb co-ordination, hand-eye co-ordination, pitch and rhythm.
The limits of console games means people turn to real instruments.
Christina Coker, chief executive of Youth Music, said: "We have established that there is a huge potential audience of new musicians and music-makers out there playing these games. "Now, we and others in the music education community, should be capitalising on that interest and encouraging young people to take up real instruments. "But we should also be thinking about how we can incorporate consoles and games into 'traditional' music education and be more open to embracing these tools in our teaching."


QTS skills tests
The tests cover the core skills that teachers need to fulfil their wider professional role in schools, rather than the subject knowledge required for teaching. This is to ensure all teachers are competent in numeracy, literacy and information and communication technology (ICT), regardless of their specialism.
Following the Department for Education (DfE) publication, Training our next generation of outstanding teachers: Implementation plan (November 2011), trainees starting an initial teacher training (ITT) course from September 2013 will be required to pass the skills tests before starting their course. The pass mark for these tests will be raised and the number of resits allowed will be limited to two.
The requirements for candidates starting courses in the 2012 academic year remain unchanged; candidates are required to pass the skills tests in their final year of study (with the current exceptions for those on flexible routes into teaching). However, subject to parliamentary approval of changes to the relevant regulations, the ICT test will no longer be a requirement for achieving qualified teacher status (QTS) from April 2012.
Please refer to the skills tests popular questions for more information.
If you are undertaking ITT in Wales, you are not required to complete the skills tests in order to be awarded QTS.
A range of interactive and paper-based practice materials is available in literacy, numeracy and ICT that will enable you to practise tests at home. Practice materials for those requiring special arrangements are also provided.
All trainee teachers are required to pass the QTS skills tests; find out more.
Find out about booking and registration for the tests, which is done exclusively online.
If you previously required special arrangements in a test or public exam you can request the same for the QTS skills tests.
Find first-hand information and further resources to help you prepare for and pass the literacy skills test.
Access information and practice materials to help you prepare for and pass the numeracy skills test.
Find first-hand information and resources to help you prepare for and pass the ICT skills test.
Find out all you need to know about the process of taking the tests.
These questions and answers came from trainee teachers like you.


Whether we are working on education policy or we are teaching Art Education in the classroom we face chaos, frustration, isolation, and uncertainty every day. The statistics for teachers to abandon the profession after just one year are staggering. We are all racing to keep up with the new technologically-plugged-in-student, new tests and standards, and to find the time to actually teach. We feel like there isn’t anyone there to catch us when we fall and yet we have this untapped source: each other.
Collaboration and building partnerships in our field can provide the support system that we need. It has the capacity to end isolation and frustration, and to provide experience and resources. As a collective, we have the capacity for rapid advancement and a more powerful reach. The importance of interaction and interdependence whether in the classroom or a county, a state or a nation, is a simple idea but generally not sustainable – unless we model it on what has proven successful in today’s market.
If we use the concept of the Interactive Approach which includes a shared identity, purpose, vision, and goals, this will help us to have a sustainable and more effective collaboration. These are the basic principles:
1) Shared Cultural Identity
- Recognizes that we are a united diversity and encourages sustainable creative advancement that is built on individual talent, where everyone is considered an asset
- Differences in abilities, experience and resources allow for more objective, more creative solutions
- Understands that people who work in different areas should work together to produce new ideas
2) Shared Purpose
- Focuses on Teamwork
- Respects autonomy and freedom; it must be safe to tell the truth
- Regards flexibility and pro-activity as major instruments and key components
- Celebrates competition as a positive way to further quality work and programs with a spirit of cooperation
3) Shared Vision
- Uses a strategic approach in which the operating norms can be called into question
- Uses a creative approach toward innovation, and adopts the latest technology and tools
- Allow for flexibility in plans. Be open to change.
4) Shared Goals and Objectives
- Fosters learning from each other
- initiates a sense of direction that encompasses and is dictated by the purpose and the vision
Whether these ideas are employed by policy makers or by educators working together, these principals are designed to sustain and enhance our interactions for the common good.
By employing these principals you will be amazed at the resulting partnerships and long term benefits it will have on your organization and community.


The more advanced that preschool children ages 4–5 were at writing their own name, the higher they scored on all emergent literacy measures, according to researchers who will be presenting their findings during the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Convention in Philadelphia this week.
According to ASHA member Cynthia Puranik and her co-presenters, name writing has received a fair amount of attention because name writing is viewed by some literacy researchers as an excellent reflection of children's emergent literacy development.
Research indicates that children who were the most proficient name writers showed superior performance on reading-related tasks including alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, and print awareness. Their research also shows that name-writing proficiency, not length of name, appears to be associated with preschool children's developing emergent literacy skills.
The researchers will discuss their findings on Thursday, November 18, at 8:00 a.m. in Hall C at the Pennsylvania Convention Center (Relationship Between Preschoolers' Name-Writing Proficiency & Emergent Literacy Skills, Session 1220, Poster Board 255).
Their presentation is part of ASHA's Annual Convention, which begins November 18 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The Convention will feature 3 days of workshops, paper sessions, poster presentations, and the Keynote Session by Nancy Goodman Brinker (Founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation),plus the Annie Glenn Award, which will be given to performing artist and "New Kid on the Block" Joey McIntyre. The Convention runs through Saturday, November 20.
These important findings are one example of the research being discussed during ASHA's Annual Convention. Audiologists and speech-language pathologists, as well as other speech, language, and hearing scientists, gather every year at ASHA's Convention to share their research with their colleagues. This sharing of information results in better care for the people they serve.
About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 140,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders.


Fountas & Pinnell's Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) and the Benchmark Assessment System (BAS) have been cited as essential reading and literacy intervention components of an initiative to improve student reading proficiency in Springfield, MA. The Turing The Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success initiative, which is led by the Cherish Every Child initiative of the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, is defined in "Reading Success by 4th Grade: A Blueprint for Springfield" (.pdf). The Springfield school district activities are just a part of a statewide initiative to improve children's language and literacy development in Massachusetts.
Beginning in the fall of 2009, the Benchmark Assessment System was implemented for students in grades K-5. Springfield Public Schools utilize the system because it "provides teachers with detailed, quantifiable assessment of reading comprehension so they can differentiate instruction in small guided reading groups."
While BAS will be used to help evaluate the reading proficiency and comprehension ability of all students, the LLI program will be used primarily with under-performing readers in grades K-2.
During the summer of 2009, Springfield Public Schools [SPS] received a Title One Redesign and Restructuring Grant: Innovation Through Summer Semester Program from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. SPS used the grant resources to pilot the Leveled Literacy Intervention strategy for under-performing children who were entering the first and second grades at the Frederick Harris School. After participating in jjst one half-hour per day of LLI for five weeks, 37% of students made gains of one reading level, 41% made gains of two or more reading levels and 19% maintained their reading level. As a result of these gains over a short period of time, the district added LLI as a Tier 2 intervention. Beginning in fall 2010, every elementary school will have one of each of the three leveles of LLI kits and a minimum of one staff member per building will have LLI training.
The Turing The Page initiative aims to "Increase the quality of children's language and reading environments across the many settings in which they are growing up, from birth to age 9." Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention and Benchmark Assessment System are sure to be an integral part of this important literacy education initiative for many years to come.