Key Stage 1 courses
Scroll down for Science, Geography, History, Literacy, Numeracy, Art and RE.
Checklist of CEES Courses for pupils at:
Stibbington (S), Burwell (B), Wisbech (W) Vine House Farm (V) workshops in schools (X).
Click on the letter in the table under "centre" to view full details about each course.
|Subject||Course Title and Description||Centre|
|Science||Exploring our environment Observing and recording the variety of plants, animals and materials in the natural environment using the senses and a variety of practical activities.|
|Exploring minibeasts Exploring, observing, collecting, describing, sorting and recording the variety of minibeasts to be found in different habitats.|
|Exploring materials Exploring materials in the natural environment, and the uses of materials in the built environment, plus workshop activities involving describing, sorting and grouping sets of materials|
|Exploring plants Finding out about the parts of plants and using practical hands-on activities to explore different habitats where plants are found.|
|Geography||Teddy bears' treasure trail Introducing map work skills using a series of activities including a photo trail and a teddy bears' treasure hunt. A course designed to help KS1 pupils understand and enjoy using maps and thus reinforce work in a wide range of geographical study units.|
|Exploring a locality Exploring the rural locality (or urban at Wisbech) around the Centre and using photographs and a map to collect information and data about the locality, including buildings, traffic and land use.|
|History||Step back in time Step back in time to re-create life in late Victorian Stibbington. The course involves role play in costume, playing with period toys, singing games, observing buildings, handling domestic artefacts and sampling lessons in the Victorian classroom|
|Exploring change in Fenland past Exploring the history of the Fens and the impact of Fen drainage on land use and peoples' way of life. Original artefacts including Fenland tools and implements are used and compared with their modern equivalents.|
|Work, rest and play the Victorian way Re-enacting life as a servant in the Castle and hands-on “chores” such as washing, polishing and laying tables. Playing with reproduction toys and looking at Victorian buildings.|
|Literacy||Literacy through the environment Using story and the environment to inspire literacy and language development|
|Numeracy||Numeracy through the environment Practical activities designed to apply and develop numeracy skills in the outdoor environment|
|Art||Art through the environment Exploring, observing closely, and collecting from the environment, and recording using a variety of media.|
|RE||Christmas Nativity A re-enactment of the nativity story in the environment with role play, costume and singing, including following the nativity trail, registering at the census point finding no room at the Inn and ending in a “stable”.|


In a study of male zebra finches, researchers found that teenage male songbirds tweet better in the presence of a female. The study, suggest the researchers, can provide clues to human learning.
Scientists have learned that young male songbirds who babble trying to learn their song perform better in the presence of a female bird. University of California - San Francisco scientists say when a female songbird comes around, teenage males working hard toward perfection become better vocalists, sounding almost like mature adults.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have implications for understanding social cue and learning in humans that might be applied to rehabilitation of people with motor skill disability and brain injury.
Bird watchers and scientists have thought young birds could only produce immature sounds, just like human babies. Researchers studied the male zebra finch song, using recordings, to find young male finches sang better when a female was around.
"We were very surprised by the finding," said senior author Allison Doupe, MD, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and physiology and a member of the Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience at UCSF. "The birds picked the best version of the song that they could possibly perform and they sang it over and over again. They sounded almost like adults. It turns out that teenagers know more than they're telling us."
Doupe says there is much to be learned from the social cues seen in the male songbird, the brain, learned behaviors and how language is acquired that also could apply to humans.
"We know that variation by trial and error is an important part of the learning process," said Doupe. "But discovering precisely how social cues influence motor production during song learning in birds could shed light on the brain mechanisms that underlie similar processes in humans learning how to speak, and potentially allow scientists and clinicians to harness these mechanisms when learning is not progressing properly."
Researchers explain adult zebra finches sing two different types of tunes. Their songs are at times undirected and at other times more precise and favored by females.
For the study, scientists coaxed the young songbirds to sing to females as they would during courtship, then used computer software to analyze their sounds. The undirected tweeting was variable, but when directed, became more like an adult song.
Doupe says when songbirds learn they first need developed motor neurons to mimic what they're hearing, generated in the basal ganglia of the brain. It's through experimentation that they learn.
He adds it's social cues that improve learning, found in the study. The young male birds performed better when females were around, showing how learning develops. The study highlights the importance of songbirds for teaching scientists the underpinnings of language and motor skill development that could be applied to helping humans.
PNAS: doi: 10.1073/pnas.101050210


KinderCare Early Foundations® Prekindergarten Program
Prekindergarten is a time when children are making connections between what they know and what they are learning. As they leave the world of preschool and head towards kindergarten, children are learning to participate in routines, demonstrate ability to make decisions, and plan ahead.
Daily activities at KinderCare are designed to help children continue to make decisions on their own and in the classroom. We prepare them for the next stage of their education while giving them a place to feel comfortable and safe to explore their interests.
According to a statewide assessment, more students that attended prekindergarten at KinderCare tested fully ready for kindergarten than their non-KinderCare classmates.* A higher percentage of KinderCare children ranked as top performers in Language/Literacy (14% more), Mathematical Thinking (18% more), and Scientific Thinking (11% more).
KinderCare creates its programs to align to approximately 140 learning standards that progress sequentially across six developmental domains. These include:
- Cognitive Development
- Creative Expression
- Executive Function
- Language and Literacy Development
- Physical Development and Wellness
- Social and Emotional Development
Common Core State Standards as well as early learning standards from several states helped inform the scope and sequence of our learning standards, and they’re backed by experts in each domain/content area.**
You see, our holistic approach in the classroom engages young minds with the early learning fundamentals they’ll need as they continue on to kindergarten, with a rich blend of skills, interests and a love of learning.
Our Prekindergarten Program Features
- Activities and lessons that help prepare your child for kindergarten and school success
- Small-group lessons focused on mathematics, Spanish and literacy
- Whole-group activities that help your child build an awareness of others and a sense of community
- Hands-on experiences that encourage independent, creative learning
- Classroom activities and design features that help your child build literacy and numeracy skills
- Regular teacher-family communication, including ways to connect your child’s learning at home
KinderCare Early Foundations Prekindergarten Program
A guide to your child’s early education
Discover how our six areas of focus give your child endless opportunities to learn and grow.
Communicating with Others
KinderCare helps your child improve important language skills.
We use daily journal activities to practice writing skills; help your child's early reading skills by connecting sounds to letters through picture and word collages; teach basic sight words in fun and engaging ways; and develop phonemic awareness through literacy-based games, books, and puzzles.
Building Brain Power
We prepare your child to reason and analyze.
We encourage the use of the senses to explore different materials; create opportunities to ask and answer open-ended questions; experiment with spatial relationships; and promote an understanding of sequencing such as first, next, and last.
Making New Friends
We provide opportunities for your child to practice social and emotional skills.
We use character-building activities to help identify emotions; have group discussions to practice sharing ideas, thoughts, and feelings; and provide opportunities to cooperate, negotiate, problem-solve, and make independent choices.
Growing a Healthy Body
We help your child refine motor skills.
We use lacing cards, stencils, and writing activities to enhance fine-motor skills; strengthen coordination and gross-motor skills through running, jumping, and throwing activities; improve balancing skills using hula hoops and balance beams; and offer healthful food choices for snacks and meals.
We encourage your child to think and create.
We provide numerous opportunities for your child to represent ideas through drawing and writing stories; invent unique dance moves; use props to dramatize stories; and express independent thinking and expression through art and music.
Developing Lasting Life Skills
We help them find the answers for themselves.
We encourage your children to think through and solve problems by investigating, estimating, and testing solutions; build daily outdoor activities into the schedule designed to get your child thinking and moving; and give your child many choices to participate in activities that interest and challenge them.


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In Building Background Knowledge For Academic Achievement: Research On What Works In Schools, author Robert Marzano investigates the relationship between background knowledge and student achievement. According to the author, background knowledge is one of the strongest indicators of how well students will learn new content. Marzano cites numerous studies that suggest that prior knowledge has a strong positive correlation with academic achievement. Furthermore, he cites research that indicates prior knowledge gaps can affect individuals well into adulthood and can serve as an accurate predictor of occupational choice and income.
It makes sense that prior knowledge affects student achievement. After all, how can students reasonably be expected to excel when they lack the basic knowledge and foundational skills necessary to successfully master the content that is presented to them? They cannot, of course. Varied factors such as students’ prior exposure to content (or lack thereof) in previous grades and schools, access to resources, parental support and poverty can all affect students’ background knowledge.
Marzano advocates leveling the playing field by providing students with rich learning experiences, exposure through field trips and the support of mentors—all of which are effective strategies. Unfortunately, opportunities for participating in both field trips and mentoring may be limited due to lack of resources, lack of funds, red tape and/or lack of administrative support—all of which are factors beyond your control. Fortunately, scaffolding instruction, providing rich learning experiences and other effective strategies for building background knowledge are completely within your control.
Try the following instructional strategies to help your students acquire the knowledge they will need to master new concepts.
Give students information and supports that will help them to understand the concepts you are presenting. For example, if you are beginning a novel study of Number the Stars, provide students with historical maps, photographs, artifacts and background information about World War II, Hitler’s regime and the persecution of Jewish people during that time.
Providing Relevant Pre-Learning Experiences
Provide students with relevant pre-learning experiences to help them acquire the background knowledge necessary to understand concepts you are planning to introduce.
Provide students with the supports, resources and guidance they need to grasp and master new concepts.
- Marzano, Robert Building Background Knowledge For Academic Achievement: Research On What Works In Schools. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. August, 2004


Where are we now? Is there a problem with K-12 Earth Science?
Written by Char Bezanson, Science Teacher, Eastview High School, Apple Valley, MN and Instructor in Education, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN.
More than any other secondary school science, Earth science is contextually homeless. How and when it is taught varies significantly around the country and from school to school. Earth science is most commonly taught at the eighth or ninth grade, either as a separate course or as part of a "general science" or "integrated science" course. At the high school level, Earth science topics may be included in courses such as Environmental Science, or in electives such as Astronomy. For these reasons, data on the number of students taking Earth science and the qualifications of their teachers can be difficult to find and interpret. Although biology, chemistry, and physics education are undergoing changes, most American high schools do offer year-long courses in these three areas, and most science teachers have a major in one of these subjects. The situation is different in Earth science, where most teachers have only introductory coursework in the geosciences.
Secondary school administrators must usually hire science teachers who can teach two or more science subjects in order to balance class sizes. In 2002, (CCSSO, 2003) two-thirds of the states reported having a broad-field certification that covered teaching in biology, chemistry, physics, and "other science" subjects. One-third of all high school science teachers are broad-field certified. In many states, science teachers have a major in a specific science field, but have introductory courses in other fields that qualify them for the broad-field science certification. In some states, the broad-field certification qualifies a teacher to teach any science at the "introductory" level, usually 9th grade or lower.
At the high school level, 15% of science teachers are assigned to teach one or more sections of Earth Science, about the same percentage as physics. Of those 15% of science teachers, 72% are certified to teach Earth science, with a major or a minor concentration in the Earth sciences. This percentage declined eight-points from 1994 to 2002 (CCSSO, 2003).
At the middle school level where most Earth Science is taught, 58% of U.S. science teachers are certified to teach science (life science, physical sciences, earth science, or broad-field science), while the remaining 42% are split between teachers with elementary education certification and those with no teaching certification, who may or may not have science training. Less than 19% of those teaching middle school science have an Earth science major (NAEP, 2000, in CSSO 2001). Middle school science is hardest to staff with science specialists, so middle school teacher qualifications are a key indicator of teacher preparation and supply.
Earth science at the elementary level is highly variable. Nationally, 2-3 hours per week are devoted to science. Some schools have science specialists, but the science taught in most classrooms depends on the teacher's training and comfort level with science content and methods.
Summary and Implications
Some Earth science teachers have a college major in an Earth science area, and more would be better. Most Earth science teachers, however, have a major in another science area and are assigned to teach Earth science either full- or part-time. Introductory and "non-major's" college courses in geology, meteorology, and astronomy are critical for the Earth science literacy of K-12 students, since these are the only earth science courses that most of their science teachers take. Elementary teachers, many of whom are licensed K-8, also rely on introductory courses for their Earth science content and for the modeling of "best practice" Earth science teaching.
While most science teachers have majors in other science areas, a significant number are assigned to teach Earth Science once they get a teaching job. These teachers are often highly motivated to increase their knowledge of earth science, and need appropriate professional development opportunities such as summer institutes and graduate courses designed for teachers.
ReferencesState Indicators of Science and Mathematics Education, 2003 (more info) , R. Blank & D. Langesen, CCSSO, 2003. (PDF 2.4 Mb)
State Indicators of Science and Mathematics Education, 2001 (more info) , R. Blank & D. Langesen, CCSSO, 2001. (PDF 1.3 Mb)
National Assessment of Educational Progress (more info) , 2000.


Literacy refers to the ability to read and write effectively, fluently, and with understanding. Reading comprehension worksheets
are essential tools which help students master the literacy skills necessary to become competent readers and writers.
When used as part of a balanced literacy program there are many student benefits to using worksheets in the classroom. They can be used to reinforce previously taught concepts and provide instant remediation when a student is struggling with a specific skill. Worksheets can also be used to compliment lessons targeting specific reading comprehension strategies. After a whole group lesson a reading comprehension worksheet can be used as a quick assessment to see which students have not grasped the concept presented and need more practice. They can also be used during small group time to extend the day’s lesson. The condensed nature of the passages in reading comprehension worksheets allows English language learners and struggling readers to realize success. The Content areas like Science and Social Studies can also be presented in a bite sized manner using worksheets to compliment key information students are learning in the textbooks and reinforce content area vocabulary. Besides valuable practice their format prepares students for standardized testing.
Reading comprehension worksheets are also an excellent communication link between home and school as they provide parents with the opportunity to work with their children to further what they are learning in the classroom or to remediate their child at home. When used as homework teachers can assign one sheet to each student or differentiate based on individual student need and reading level.
Creating worksheets can be quite time consuming. Thankfully, the Internet provides a multitude of free reading comprehension worksheet resources for the busy teacher or parent. Many educational websites allow the user to search based on student grade level and target skill. There are also many unit focused reading comprehension worksheets based around specific themes, picture books and chapter books.
When the reading comprehension worksheets must be teacher created it is best to choose a specific focus skill or reading strategy before writing the passages. The passage is then written around the skill or strategy. A balanced reading comprehension worksheet will include multiple choice, short answer, and extended response questions. Questions should focus on the areas of vocabulary instruction and text comprehension. Older students will benefit from vocabulary questions requiring them to use context clues. Primary students need phonics and word work practice as well to help them obtain their desired literacy objectives. Questions should be carefully scaffolded using key words selected from each of the following Bloom’s Taxonomy categories: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. It is important to remember reading comprehension worksheets are most effective when they complement whole group instruction and objectives.


This is for Diane and her request for her k-6 elementary art education
Flexibility (able to work with many different personalities on many
different levels, from the classroom teacher to the students)
Sequential lesson planning (for individual classes as well as grade levels).
One lesson should build on another. Suggest that teachers curriculum map for
each grade level. Suggest that curriculum map be wrapped around
state/national standards. Aim high.
Scaffolding (lessons should be bolstered with knowledge from other sources,
i.e. math, literature, history, art history)
Sense of adventure (for pushing carts, for low budgets, for traveling
between buildings, for living out of closets, for 'suggestions' from
Public relations (for bulletin boards, art shows, PTA meetings, Board
meetings) Be very visible, positive and vocal. Teach the world what art
education is all about.
Stay focused and organized so that you do not become overwhelmed. Reach out
to other educators for suggestions. If you are lucky enough to have other
art teachers in your 'school system', bond with them. Have monthly
information meetings. Share lessons. Share laughs. Don't try to reinvent art
education your first year teaching. Stick with tried and true until you have
your rhythm, confidence and reputation.
For what it is worth, from a non elementary school teacher,


National concern exists regarding the math performance of women and minorities. It is a common concern that the current educational system is not meeting girls' needs. Girls and boys enter school equal in measured ability, but years later, girls have fallen behind their male counterparts in key areas such as higher-level mathematics. A critical step in correcting the inequity is to adequately prepare those responsible for the education of children: the future teachers of America. Educational excellence in America's schools is dependent on educational equity.
Martin '92, Jane, "A Comparison of Personality Type and Learning Style of Elementary Education Majors, Math Majors, and Math Professors: Cultures in Conflict" (1992). Honors Projects. Paper 2.


[Update] Thank you so much to everyone who donated! The Louisiana school project has just been funded, but there is another teacher that urgently needs your help buying music instruments for her students at a high-poverty school in Ohio.
Mrs. Batdorf's middle school students have a passion for music, but are stuck using old, worn-out instruments. While there is much support in the community for music education, funding is not adequate. Students share instruments, most of which are over 20 years old, and the little budget they have is spent on reeds and repairs.
You can purchase a new trombone for her students through DonorsChoose:
In Ms. Tabitha Rojas’ first-grade class, students often come in at the beginning of the school year with worn out shoes and dirty uniforms, missing basics such as pencils and crayons.
Since many families in the high-poverty area cannot afford school supplies, it’s up to Rojas to supply the many pencils, pens, notebooks, school bags and other items her students need during the year. She estimated that $30 to $50 of her paycheck each month goes to school supplies.
With DonorsChoose, you can help her purchase these much-needed writing supplies:
Rojas’ school Hopkins Street Elementary sits in the middle of New Iberia, a small city in Louisiana, where most residents do not attend or graduate from college and the median household income is $35,000.
As the Louisiana teacher explains it, her students have “more challenges on a daily basis than some would care to believe.”
From violence and crime to sickness and family problems, Rojas notices there are issues in her students’ lives that make it far more difficult to concentrate on something like learning your ABCs.
“Many often move from place to place, never really having a true place to call home or even a bed to sleep in,” Rojas says. “Can you imagine having to come to school to learn after having all of this to deal with?”
Rojas is cognizant of the challenges her students face outside the classroom, and she loves being able to watch them grow. During a field trip to a local plantation museum, she saw her students eagerly exploring the plantation and answering the impressed tour guide’s questions.
“I was so proud that they were able to ask questions and have conversations with our guide,” Rojas wrote. “It taught me that my students do not get to experience things like this. It is an important part of my job to expose my students to as much as I can and make everything they learn relevant to them.”
As far back as Rojas can remember, she has wanted to be a teacher. Struggling with math class in high school, Rojas worked with one memorable teacher until she understood the material.
“I wanted to be the teacher that provided support to my struggling students,” Rojas says. “I knew how horrible I felt when I felt like I couldn’t succeed and I never wanted my students to feel this way.”


Elementary Music Teachers: Education Requirements and Career Info
Elementary music teachers work with children in kindergarten through fifth grade to enrich their knowledge in the world of music. Like all teachers, elementary music teachers are responsible for creating lesson plans for classroom instruction, administering tests and assigning homework and projects to students.
Elementary Music Teacher Job Description
Elementary music teachers are responsible for providing an introduction to technical musical concepts such as beat, rhythm and pitch to primary school students. They expose students to musical scales, musical notation, the art of singing, different types of musical instruments and different styles of music. Elementary school music teachers also teach students about the history of music, as well as introducing them to the music of many legendary musicians and composers. Additionally, a music teacher may be required to prepare students for public performances, as the director of a school band or chorus and give private or group music lessons.
All states require teachers to hold a teaching certificate and to be licensed, if they wish to teach in a public school. Those interested in teaching music in an elementary school must be certified in elementary education and elementary music education. A Bachelor of Arts in Music Education is preferred; however, a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education with a minor in music may be satisfactory.
During a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education program, students might take classes on such topics as music literature, music history, child development, applied instruction and elementary music methods. Those who wish to conduct student orchestras and choirs may take courses on ensembles, voice methods, string methods and conducting. Elective courses in music education might include music technology, music for special needs and jazz studies.
Meanwhile, a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education will give students in-depth instruction on different teaching strategies, child and adolescent development, and education technology. Elementary education majors interested in teaching music will be required to take additional music-related courses, which may include music theory, composition, music history and music performance. Since proficiency in at least one musical instrument is also a prerequisite, participation in orchestra, band or chorus is also advised.
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DIET is the most significant educational intervention in the country, while the NCERT came up in the 1960,s and the state councils of education research and training came up in 1970,s, the need for a third tier of training and resource support structure, right at the district level was genuinely felt in order to improve the quality of Basic education. As a result DIET’s were set up in almost all the districts of all the states in the country.
Govt. of India gave top priority to elementary education.Different education Commissions were constituted which submitted their reports and on the basis of their findings, Govt. made drastic change in the education policy. In the beginning education was a state subject but through an amendment in the constitution in 1976 the subject of education was put on the concurrent list. As a result Central Govt. as well as State Govt. now collectively frame a particular education policy viz; National education policy-1986 introduced a new pattern of education known as 10+2+3 system. Establishment of DIET’s is based on the recommendations of National Education Policy 1986.
District Institute of Education and Training, Palakkad was established in 1992 by converting Swaminadha Vidyalaya Training School. The sole purpose of DIET is to conduct different kinds of trainings programmes to improve the quality of Basic education and create a desirable environment within the district in regard to enroll more and more children of school going age and pave the way for retention of those who are admitted in the school and to ensure the high literacy percentage of male and female as whole.
DIET,PALAKKAD has an academic faculty of highly qualified teachers who simultaneously work as Block Academic Co-ordinators or Mentors too, specially to supervise the on going different schemes of Basic Education and guide the teachers to implement the scheme in an effective way through the seven departments as categorized below:
- Faculty of Pre-Service Teacher Education (PSTE).
- Faculty of Educational Technology (ET).
- Faculty of Work Experience (WE).
- Faculty of District Resource Unit for adult and non-formal education (DRU).
- Faculty of In service programmes, Field Intervention, and innovation Coordination (IFIC).
- Faculty of Curriculum, Material Development and Evaluation(CMDE).
- Faculty of Planning and Management (P&M).
All the above faculties are working with various academic interventions
regarding Training,Research activities,Material development and monitoring.


Much of the confusion about the “reading wars” (“Reading wars pit literacy instruction methods against each other,” May 14) is a confusion of terminology.
What the article calls “phonics-based instruction” is actually “intensive systematic phonics instruction,” a view of phonics that insists we teach all children all the major rules of phonics in a strict order.
Whole language is NOT look-see (or look-say). It is firmly based on the hypothesis that we learn to read when we understand what is written, when we understand the text. Some knowledge of phonics can be helpful in making print more comprehensible, but there are severe limits on how much phonics can be directly taught and consciously learned: Many of the rules are very complex with numerous exceptions. They cannot be taught but are gradually acquired, or absorbed, through reading.
Research supports whole language: Published scientific studies show that intensive systematic phonics is effective only for performance on tests in which children pronounce lists of words presented in isolation. It has only a microscopic influence on tests in which children have to understand what they read — tests of reading comprehension given after first grade. Prof. Elaine Garan concluded that this was the case in The National Reading Panel Report, and other studies show this as well.
Study after study has shown that performance on tests of reading comprehension is heavily influenced by the amount of self-selected free voluntary reading that children do, strong evidence for whole language.
The whole language position described here is very similar to the position of authors of "Becoming a Nation of Readers," a book widely considered to provide strong support for phonics instruction: “...phonics instruction should aim to teach only the most important and regular of letter-to-sound relationships ... once the basic relationships have been taught, the best way to get children to refine and extend their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences is through repeated opportunities to read. If this position is correct, then much phonics instruction is overly subtle and probably unproductive.”
Stephen Krashen is a professor emeritus at the University of Southern California. His research is in linguistics, including language acquisition and reading.


Play for Success
The primary focus of childhood is development – physical, social, cognitive and emotional – and we use "play"-like activities to help children in this process.
|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!


Teachers in the truest sense of the word . . .
Jesus was a carpenter's son. This means that he too was, by trade, a carpenter. Socrates was a stonemason's son, and hence also a tradesman himself. Basic education for these men, as for most in their times, consisted of being trained in their fathers' crafts and family morals, along with perhaps elementary literacy and numeracy skills. Beyond this, they would have listened to or read what they could, when they could, compelled primarily by their own desire to learn.And . . .
A teacher is a man who places knowledge above power and upholds the quest for the true and the good in a world forever endangered by coercive schemes that would demand deference to the false and the evil. In other words, education, in the sense defined for Western civilization by Jesus and Socrates, is the spiritual realm in which, in defiance of all demands and dictums of temporal authority, individual men are free to seek truth. The fight to preserve Western heritage against today's encroaching authoritarian hordes is, at its base, the battle to save education from the clutches of government.
How simple yet how profound. More to come on this topic later.


Language, Ineffability and Paradox in Music Philosophy
Despite the direct communication that language may allow for in various art forms, it can be both help and hindrance when combined with music. Similarly, philosophical writings on music can be "mixed blessings." They can negatively influence the choices of music in music education by prescriptive, sometimes censorious opinions and personal tastes. The educational institutionalization of band, choir and popular music demonstrates neither the desire nor the capacity to genuinely value the music or the individuality of the musicians involved. All music, despite the genre, may have profound individual meaning to us, as evidenced by Gilles Deleuze's concept of the "refrain". These meanings are frequently incapable of satisfactory explanation through human utterance but can express the inexpressible. Just as the absence or avoidance of language to describe music often spawns ignoble treatment by those who rely upon it almost exclusively, such is the frequent response to music lacking traditional notation.
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Archaeological and other evidence shows swimming to have been practiced as early as 2500 BC in Egypt and thereafter in Assyrian, Greek, and Roman civilizations. In Greece and Rome swimming was a part of martial training and was, with the alphabet, also part of elementary education for males. Among the ancient Greeks there is note of occasional races, and a famous boxer swam as part of his training. The Romans built swimming pools, distinct from their baths, and in the 1st century BC Gaius Maecenas is said to have built the first heated swimming pool.
In Asia swimming dates back at least to the 1st century BC, there being some evidence of swimming races then in Japan. By the 17th century an imperial edict had made the teaching of swimming compulsory in the schools. Organized swimming events were held in the 19th century before Japan was opened to the Western world. Among the preliterate maritime peoples of the Pacific, swimming was evidently learned by children about the time they walked or even before.
The lack of swimming in Europe during the Middle Ages is explained by some authorities as related to fears that swimming would spread infection and cause epidemics. There is some evidence of swimming at seashore resorts of Great Britain in the late 17th century, evidently in conjunction with water therapy. Not until the 19th century, however, did the popularity of swimming as both recreation and sport begin in earnest. When the first swimming organization was formed there in 1837, London had six indoor pools with diving boards. The first swimming championship was a 440-yard race, held in Australia in 1846 and annually thereafter. The Metropolitan Swimming Clubs of London, founded in 1869, ultimately became the Amateur Swimming Association, the governing body of British amateur swimming. National swimming federations were formed in several European countries from 1882 to 1889. In the United States swimming was first nationally organized as a sport by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) on its founding in 1888. The Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA) was founded in 1909.


Musical learning and early language development go together like a newborn and a swaddle or a toddler and the words, “I do.” Young children rely almost exclusively on what they hear in order to acquire language. Scientists now know that our brain processes music similarly to how we process language.
In early language and literacy development, young children need to understand that words—like music—are made up of discrete sounds. In early language development, this is called phonemic awareness. Later children use that knowledge of sounds to build words and read. Research shows that children with strong phonemic awareness are more successful learning to read than others.
Ability to move to a steady beat linked to language skills
Under the leadership of Dr. Nina Kraus, a new research study published in The Journal of Neuroscience found that teenagers with more musical training experienced enhanced neural responses to speech sounds when compared to others.
“We know that moving to a steady beat is a fundamental skill not only for music performance but one that has been linked to language skills,” said Nina Kraus, of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Illinois in an article for the BBC, “Moving to the rhythm can help language skills.”
In the study, participants were asked to tap their fingers along to a beat while their accuracy was measured. Their brainwaves were also measured to observe how the brain responded to the sound.
“It turns out that kids who are poor readers have a lot of difficulty doing this motor task and following the beat. In both speech and music, rhythm provides a temporal map with signposts to the most likely locations of meaningful input,” Dr. Kraus told BBC News.
Musical learning and language development in Kindermusik
Kindermusik provides many opportunities for children to discriminate similarities and differences in sound. So, while children gain musical skills participating in our early childhood curriculum, they also make gains in phonological awareness and early language and literacy development. For example, when parents lift their children high “up, up in the sky” or “twirl around like a leaf” while singing the songs in class, children learn the word and understand the concept. Or when we recite nursery rhymes together or tap out the beat to a song, children hear the music of language. Children’s brains make a connection based on what they experience (being lifted high or twirling around) and hear (“up” or “twirl”). Later, children will discover those words correspond to marks on a page which eventually leads to letter recognition and reading.
Kindermusik is the world’s leader in early childhood curriculum development and musical learning. Find a class near you and experience the many benefits of music on a young child’s development.


Review by: Brian A. Goldstein, Temple University
"A rare broad and deep treatment of the myriad issues surrounding language and literacy development and disorders in bilingual children . . . an indispensable resource."
Review by: Geva Eshter, Professor, Chair, Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
"Balanced and useful . . . synthesize[s] in an accessible, well-informed, and practical manner what is known about typical and impaired bilingual and second language learning in children."
Review by: Jeff MacSwan, Arizona State University
"[The authors] expertly review and integrate current research on bilingual language development . . . informing the critical perceptions and decisions of SLPs and educators working with a wide variety of bilingual child profiles."
Review: The Midwest Book Review - California Bookwatch
"From making decisions on schooling options to applying assessment strategies to diagnose language issues, this is packed with real-world answers to common problems."


In "Picturing Learning," Karen Ernst introduced teachers to her classroom's artists workshop, revealing what a valuable role the visual can play in children's literacy development. Now, with the publication of "A Teacher's Sketch Journal," Ernst takes teachers one step further as she focuses on the thinking and meaning behind the pictures and the words.
This book provides a unique glimpse inside Ernst's sketch journal, in which readers can watch her teach, reflect on her observations, and see samples of her students' pictures and writing. Beginning with the understanding that children have stories to tell and to picture, she shows how to link art with reading, writing, and learning in the classroom, takes art into the writers workshop and across the curriculum, and establishes an important partnership with classroom teachers and parents.
Readers will discover how to use a picture as a springboard to writing, build a classroom community, form teacher study groups, introduce student sketch journals, take trips to museums, set up classroom and school galleries, establish routines, and organize the classroom studio. But Ernst does not provide prescriptions, she invites you to translate the ideas into your own. She also lets you in on some of her solutions to difficult questions: how to offer children choices, how to achieve a balance between writing and drawing while teaching the skills and techniques of each, and how to integrate the curriculum authentically.
Ernst believes that teachers must engage in the literacies they are teaching, collaborate with their colleagues, and create ideas for change, not merely facilitate someone else's. This book will help preservice and practicing teachers, curriculum specialists, special education professionals, researchers, and parents do the same.
Dispatch: 3 to 7 business days, stock levels permitting
View other Karen Ernst titles like "A Teacher's Sketch Journal: Observations on Learning and Teaching"


Secondary school education lasts four years and is divided into two areas: scientific-humanistic and technical-professional.
Scientific-humanistic education is divided into two cycles and includes general education subjects which aim to prepare students to enter university.
The first cycle is ninth and tenth grade, while the second cycle is eleventh and twelfth grade. Technical-professional education aims to prepare students for the workplace. The same is made up of different categories: commercial, industrial, agricultural and maritime: these are chosen starting in tenth grade.
After completing a high school education under any category, students receive a high school diploma and are ready to enter university. Likewise, those graduating from technical-professional institutions are awarded a technical degree in the specialty they have studied.
Up until 2003, only elementary education was obligatory. Starting in 2003, a constitutional reform established that high school was free and obligatory for all Chileans under the age of 18. The State thus became responsible for guaranteeing access to twelve years of elementary and high school education.
Students graduating from high school and planning to enter state-owned and private universities are required to take the university placement test (PSU). According to their scores on this test, these students will be allowed to enter different careers at the different universities throughout the country.
Additional information is available at the Educational Establishments Directorate.
This post is also available in Spanish


Psicologia Escolar e Educacional
Print version ISSN 1413-8557
GUIMARAES, Patricia Maria Costa Santos; EMMERICK, Thamires de Abreu; VICENTE, Aline Lacerda and SOARES, Adriana Benevides. Diagnosis of text comprehension: a study with students in 4th and 5th year of elementary school. Psicol. Esc. Educ. [online]. 2012, vol.16, n.1, pp. 95-103. ISSN 1413-8557. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-85572012000100010.
In this study we aim at evaluating the performance of students in 4th and 5th year of elementary school in the task of comprehension. The participants were 126 students of both sexes enrolled in a public school in Rio de Janeiro. We used two instruments to evaluate text comprehension: children should read the text and then answer questions related to it. It was observed that the students in 5th grade performed better than students in years 4 ° at all levels of text comprehension in the two instruments. Based on these results, we can say that students in the 5th year of elementary school reveal a better comprehension of texts than the students of 4th year. We perceive the importance of reading activities, in the school, since kindergarten. Besides, it is important to note the importance of teaching strategies necessary for proficient reading comprehension.
Keywords : Reading comprehension; elementary education; academic achievement.


WASHINGTON, D.C. — Television for children has always generated controversy and debate. A new Reading Rockets webcast will examine the current state of children’s growing use of television, video games and computers, drawing upon the expertise of a researcher, an education journalist and a teacher in the field.
“Young children are using technology more than ever,” says Noel Gunther, executive director of Reading Rockets. “The question is how to harness the power of screen time to help children learn.”
The new webcast, “Educational Media: Screen Time and Literacy,” will premiere November 30, 2009, on www.ReadingRockets.org. The webcast will examine the questions raised by the new and growing field of educational media and discuss the latest research findings, cover practical solutions and explore lingering questions. Experts include:
• Deb Linebarger, Ph.D., is assistant professor of communication in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the director and principal investigator of the Children's Media Lab. Linebarger’s research focuses on the relationships among children's developmental status, their use of media, and their larger social worlds. Her work has been presented at numerous conferences and published in psychology, communication, education, and pediatric medicine books and journals.
• Lisa Guernsey, the author of "Into the Minds of Babes: How Screen Time Affects Children From Birth to Age 5." She is also a senior policy analyst at New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank and incubator for explanatory and investigative journalism on pressing policy issues, and a regular contributor to the Early Ed Watch blog. Guernsey has been writing about education for nearly 15 years and has worked for various publications including the "Chronicle of Higher Education," the "New York Times," and "The Washington Post."
• Marnie Lewis, the Instructional Technology Coordinator at Tuckahoe Elementary in Arlington, Virginia. Lewis evaluates educational sites and software to enhance instruction and works directly with staff to integrate technology into lessons. She received a B.S. in elementary education from Northeastern University, completed graduate work in instructional technology through George Mason University, and has taught in classrooms for over 10 years. She is also a PBS Teacher, a Smart Exemplary Educator, and a Discovery Star Educator.
Children are watching more TV than ever, according to the latest Nielsen figures. A recent article in the "Los Angeles Times" pointed to new statistics that show screen time is at an eight-year high. The figures indicate kids ages 2 to 5 watching the screen for more than 32 hours a week on average and those ages 6 to 11 watching more than 28 hours. Besides television, kids six and under are increasingly using computers and video games.
Reading Rockets is a national, multimedia initiative that provides information on teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle. The project is a service of public broadcasting station WETA in Washington, D.C., and is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
The 45- to 60-minute webcasts are available for viewing anytime on ReadingRockets.org. “Educational Media: Screen Time and Literacy” is the 17th webcast in the Reading Rockets professional development series.
Reading Rockets is a part of a bigger Learning Media project at WETA. Sister sites include LDOnLine.org, the world’s leading website on learning disabilities and ADHD; ColorinColorado.org, the first major, comprehensive bilingual website for Spanish-speaking families and teachers of English-language learners; and AdLit.org, a literacy website for educators teaching adolescent children from fourth through 12th grades. The latest project is BrainLine.org, a new resource for preventing, treating and living with traumatic brain injury.
WETA Television and Classical WETA 90.9 FM are public broadcasting stations serving the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia with high-quality programming. WETA Television produces the "PBS NewsHour"; "Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal"; history films by Ken Burns such as "The National Parks: America’s Best Idea"; and performance specials from the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO of WETA. For more information on WETA and its programs and services, visit weta.org.
# # #


The state Board of Education on Thursday unanimously approved the Common Core State Standards for English language arts and math.
The standards for K-12 were developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.
They are based on the idea that all elementary and secondary students should learn certain skills and information no matter where they live.
States are on the fast track to adopt the standards to increase their chances of winning competitive federal money. The draft of the standards was released this spring and the final copy was made public June 2.
States can add an additional 15 percent to the common core standards. Pennsylvania may make some additions later.
The English language arts standards cover reading -- literature, information text and foundational skills -- as well as speaking and listening, writing, and language.
At the high school level, the standards address reading history and social studies as well as science and technical material. However, they don't address particular content students should master in those areas.
The math standards are divided by grade level from kindergarten through eighth grade. For high school, the standards cover six areas: number and quantity, algebra, functions, modeling, geometry and statistics and probability.
In addition to grade-level standards, the common core includes a section called "Standards for Mathematical Practice."
That includes five practices: making sense of problems and persevering in solving them, reasoning abstractly and quantitatively, making viable arguments and critiquing the reasoning of others, modeling with math and using appropriate tools strategically.
Education writer Eleanor Chute: email@example.com or 412-263-1955.


› Canada › More News
According to new OECD data, Canada has a highly educated population, due in large part to high attainment rates at the college level. Furthermore, Canadian adults rank near the OECD average on foundational skills development, while Canadian youth rank above average.
English, PDF, 163kb
Canada did not suffer as much during the 2008-2009 global recession as most other countries and its economy has since rebounded sharply. The employment rate among workers aged 15-64 stood at 72.2% in the second quarter of 2014, 1.4 percentage points below its level at the start of the global financial crisis compared with 2.5 percentage points deficit at the worst point of the crisis.
House prices have increased significantly in Canada over the past decade, driving household debt and residential construction activity to historical highs.
English, PDF, 662kb
The ability to measure innovation is essential to an improvement strategy in education. This country note analyses how the practices are changing within classrooms and educational organisations and how teachers develop and use their pedagogical resources.
Skills shortages have developed in certain fields and regions in recent years. Earnings premiums for people in some professions, notably health, engineering and skilled trades have increased.
Specific country notes have been prepared using data from the database OECD Health Statistics 2014, June 2014 version. The notes are available in PDF format.
Canada has experienced solid economic growth since the global crisis, allowing it to reverse recession-induced job losses and put federal public finances on a sound footing, says the OECD. Growth is expected to accelerate from 2.5% this year to 2.7% in 2015.
As advanced economies struggle to consolidate recovery from the deepest financial crisis in modern times, promoting innovation becomes critically important to develop new products, new services, and new ways of doing thing, said OECD Secretary-General.
To tackle rising inequalities we need to reassess the way in which our economies grow. By placing inclusiveness at the heart of the growth debate we can open up opportunity so that every citizen can realise their potential, to contribute to, and benefit from, more equitable economic growth, said OECD Secretary-General.
Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Montreal to attend the International Economic Forum of the Americas, where he will present the 2014 OECD Economic Survey of Canada, and the OECD Review of Employment and Skills Strategies in Canada.


The perfect companion to my Second Grade Word Work program, these centers offer skill posters and seven word study activities that are perfect for whole group, small group or individualized instruction or centers.
Included: Unit 10 Word Work Centers
Sound of Y
Make It Plural
Guess My Rule
Sound of Y Word Sort
The Amazing Race Game
Sounds of Y Order Up!
The Y Slide
Sounds of Y Dominoes
Candy Land: The Game of Plurals
This has been a long time coming and I have been thinking for months about creating phonics centers that serves as a companion to my 2nd Grade Word Work. I feel like I have been drawing at straws every week with my phonics instruction and I believe that those straws have all ran out. This may take some time, but it is my plan to create a mini-unit for each of the 28 units included in the 2nd Grade Word Work Program. So, if you enjoy these activities and feel that they are beneficial for your students, check back regularly to pick up the up and coming units.
In each unit, you will find skill posters to introduce the weekly skill and word study activities that are perfect for whole group, small group, or individualized instruction or learning centers. I just know that these activities are going to strengthen my students' knowledge of word skills and spelling patterns.


Two recent studies report that disadvantaged preschoolers exhibit gross motor delays on the Test of Gross Motor Development - 2. Goodway et. al. reported in the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Science that 86% of Midwestern and southwestern preschoolers were delayed in locomotor and object control skills (< 30 percentile). Boys outperformed girls in both regions. The preschoolers from the Midwest had better locomotor skills.
Woodward and Yun report in Early Child Development and Care that 41% of 138 five years old enrolled in Head Start programs scored below average on the Test of Gross Motor Development. Sixteen percent of the 138 children exhibited substantial deficiency in overall gross motor skill development. The researchers recommend that Head Start curriculum should focus on the development of gross motor skills.
Pediatric occupational and physical therapists need to educate preschool staff in disadvantaged areas of these latest studies. Perhaps run group therapy sessions in the preschool classrooms so teachers can learn new lessons to teach when the therapists are not there. All children benefit from a push in model of pediatric therapy hopefully lessening referrals in the future.
Goodway, Jacqueline D.; Robinson, Leah E.; Crowe, Heather Gender Differences in Fundamental Motor Skill Development in Disadvantaged Preschoolers From Two Geographical Regions Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Volume 81, Number 1, March 2010 , pp. 17-24(8)
Rebecca J. Woodard;Joonkoo Yun The Performance of Fundamental Gross Motor Skills by Children Enrolled in Head Start Early Child Development and Care, Volume 169, Issue 1 2001 , pages 57 - 67


Find the Latest Resources in Education Today
School libraries: A shift to digital
With increased collaboration comes a growing need for expanded resources in libraries
The school library is changing. Instead of a stuffy and silent space filled with books, today’s school libraries are becoming collaboration centers, where teachers and librarians work together to help students develop technology skills and evaluate digital information.
Over the past decade, studies have shown that students in schools with endorsed librarians earn higher scores on standardized reading tests, and those scores are higher regardless of students’ socioeconomic level and despite overall school staffing declines.
A 2012 Institute of Museum and Library Services study that spanned 10 years analyzed library conditions and their impact on learning and literacy development in two Philadelphia neighborhoods. The researchers found that, when comparing a poor community with an affluent community, “children with early access to print and technology continue to build and gain knowledge. Children who don’t have early access enter school far behind and are taught the ‘basics.’”
When computers are readily available to children, those children are able to use technology such as search engines comfortably as they compare information and engage in learning. Children without the same easy computer access are not able to judge the quality of information found online as adequately.
According to the report, public libraries can serve as an extension of school libraries and can support early learning in important ways, including linking new digital technologies to learning and helping children develop “deeper learning” skills through literacy and STEM-based experiences.
A successful working partnership between teachers and librarians is often touted as a sign of 21st-century education, but “evidence suggests that achieving successful collaborative relationships in the field is fraught with challenges,” according to a June 2013 study published in School Library Research, the research journal of the American Association of School Librarians.
(Next page: Digital libraries on the rise)


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for Kindle Fire, Apple, Android, Nook, Kobo, PC, Mac, BlackBerry ...
Thinking and Learning About Maths in the Early Years
How can early years practitioners help young children to become not only numerate but aspiring mathematicians who love numbers, shapes and mathematical comparisons?
The introduction of the Foundation Stage has led to practitioners seeking ways to teach maths which are more in line with the creative and playful ways young children learn other subjects.
Linda Pound draws on current thinking about children's mathematical development to show how you can encourage and enhance the numeracy skills of any child in the early years by linking maths to every-day life situations and making it a playful and enjoyable cross-curricular activity.
This highly practical and engaging text includes chapters on:
- why maths is often seen as 'hard' and what practitioners can do to help young children be more successful
- exploring shapes, space, measures and patterns
- how to make maths more fun and playful, using games, humour, stories and rhymes
- using music and dance to enhance mathematical understanding
- encouraging children to see the connection between maths and everyday experiences through, for example sorting, matching and guessing
- creating an environment for mathematical development, indoors and out
Concluding with a chapter on how practitioners and parents can become more confident in their use of maths, this user-friendly text, packed full of ideas, is essential reading for practitioners in any early years setting. Students on Early Education courses will also find much here to inspire them.
128 pages; ISBN 9781134082292
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The Dominican Study: Public Library Summer Reading Programs Close the Reading Gap [pdf]
The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University received a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for a three year research study to answer the question: do public library summer reading programs impact student achievement?" (pg. 8).
Evaluation of the Summer Library Reading Program: Books and Beyond...Take Me to Your Reader! [pdf]
An evaluation of the 2001 summer reading program in 5 county library systems in Southern California, submitted to the Los Angeles County Public Library Foundation.
Fun, Sun, and Good Books: UT Experts say Summer Reading Keeps Skills Strong
Press release highlighting research conducted by Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen, education professors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
How to Make Summer Reading Effective [pdf]
Research Brief from the National Summer Learning Association highlighting the research of Dr. James Kim, Assistant Professor of Education, Harvard University.
The Importance of Summer Reading: Public Library Summer Reading Programs and Learning [pdf]
Research brief from the New York State Library with an extensive annotated bibliography of summer reading research.
Making a Difference: The 2006 "Guys Read" Book Club Summer Program for Boys, Hennepin County Library
Evaluation of the 2006 summer reading program, based on author Jon Sczieska's Guys Read initiative, designed specifically for boys in grades 4-6 in the greater Minneapolis, Minnesota area. Note: Scroll down the page to find the PowerPoint presentation.
Summer Reading from Reading Rockets
Activities, research highlights, and multimedia presentations about summer reading from Reading Rockets, an educational initiative of WETA, Washington D.C.'s public television and radio station.
The Role of Public Libraries in Children's Literacy Development: An Evaluation Report [pdf]
Dr. Donna Celano (Temple University) and Dr. Susan B. Neuman (University of Michigan) examine and evaluate the role of public libraries in Pennsylvania in helping children develop literacy skills through preschool and summer reading programs.
Take Five for Education: Tips from UT about Children's Summer Reading
5 tips to motivate kids to read over the summer from Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen, education professors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.


Last Friday I attended Channel 4’s launch of a new film looking at how education has failed the young people of today and how the legacy of pre-Victorian education systems is inappropriate for the future of the UK. The film certainly had its shortcomings. Its tracking of a number of students from Swindon in south east London did tend to veer into caricatures and its identification of problems in the UK education system didn’t focus clearly enough on class and the variations of learning opportunities in the UK. It also tended to do something that always annoys me about discussions on education, in that it assumed that decisions made during school years shape one’s career forever (more on this later in this post). And finally, it failed utterly in providing any sense of how we should go about reforming education.
But what the film did well was question the historical framework upon which education is built. From 1870 in the UK (under the auspices of the English Elementary Education Act), there was a clear policy for educating all children, regardless of financial means. Parents still had to pay for education for children aged 5-12 years even under this Act, but the comprehensive education system was designed to ensure that children would reach a minimum education level before entering trade. As time went on, leaving age and the cost of schooling varied under various conservative and labour governments, but several aspects of the education system remained. Specifically, there were curriculum systems developed based on age, rather than ability, and class formats focused predominantly on the chalk-and-talk, ‘empty-vessel‘ teaching strategy.
There is a substantial body of evidence about teaching and learning that indicates that engaged/situated learning, critical analysis and group work is a much more effective means of facilitating learning, and there’s also evidence that both gifted and struggling students are failed by a system which educates on the basis of age rather than ability. But curriculum regulations operating in the UK as well as elsewhere in the Western world are forcing educators to sustain this outdated method of mass education, regardless of the benefits of ability-oriented, and facilitated learning techniques.
We tend to assume that the education system that taught us is sufficient for the purposes of the next generation, but there is absolutely no reason to make such an assumption. As the cultural variance among school aged children broadens, and as the variance in learning styles of people are more readily understood, it is incumbent upon policy makers and society to consider different strategies in education. But this means that there needs to be tolerance of different teaching styles and a reduction of rote learning in curriculum, in favour of critical understanding. As a result, we need to rethink the value of all curriculum content, all teaching styles and all standardised assessment methods. We may need to simply scrap current curriculum and standard testing systems altogether, in order to properly reform the system.
Finally, as I noted above, there needs to be a complete re-education of teachers, parents and the community about the importance of secondary education results. There is still even among otherwise bright people, the perception that if you don’t get certain results at high school, you will never get into certain careers. This is a complete myth. In every course and every discipline I have ever come across, there are multiple opportunities to access courses and careers, regardless of your secondary school results. Indeed, there are clear advantages in some professions of people pursuing alternative courses and careers prior to accessing their areas of interest. Furthermore, young people of the current generation are unlikely to have a single career during the course of their working life. It is highly likely that most new graduates will have at least four different careers in their working lives, and a portfolio education background and working history will only work to benefit these graduates. Specialisation will always exist in various disciplines, but without developing skills across a range of areas, it’s potentially a career-limiting move, rather than a career-development technique as has traditionally been the case.
The value of the C4 film then, is to set a framework for a more detailed analysis of what can and should be done about education in the UK. I’d encourage C4 to support development of four or five other documentaries that look specifically at what can be done in education reform, and to finally debunk the relevance and perceived importance of GCSEs and A Levels for the careers of the next generation of school leavers.


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Everyone says teaching is a noble profession. What does it really mean to be a selfless teacher? How does a teacher balance meeting state and national standards, the desire to be regarded as a good teacher by your students and colleagues, and actually teaching meaningful lessons that reach everyone in the classroom?As I mentioned in my last post, my cohort and the second-year Elementary Education MAT cohort are in a J-term diversity class together. Officially, the class is called Multicultural Dimensions and Global Awareness. One of the first things our professor said on the first night of class was that teaching wasn’t about us.
This wasn’t a huge revelation, as I never thought of myself going into the teaching profession for bright lights and glory, and I always strive to make sure my lessons meet my students’ needs. However, when she said that, I had to think about what selfless teaching really meant.
Selfless teaching means teaching to the whole bell curve, not just the middle. It’s easy to teach to the students who you know will get it and move on to the next lesson with you. It’s easy to look at those students’ grades and projects and feel like you’ve done your job. What about the students who read two grade levels below everyone else or the students whose parents have them in private lessons and summer programs that are well ahead of the rest of the class? Differentiated lesson planning is important. When I first started learning how to lesson plan, I thought, “How often am I actually going to have to do this?” The answer is pretty much almost every time I’ve taught there have been students either well ahead or far behind who need me to meet them where they are.
Also, knowing that “it’s not about me” in the classroom means forgiving quickly and continuing to teach all of your students, even the one who just did something disrespectful. It’s difficult to be an effective teacher while holding grudges and continuing to exclude someone from the classroom community because of something they did yesterday. Unless something is horribly wrong (i.e. egregious physical violence), I’m a huge fan of restorative justice in the classroom. In a lot of cases, kicking students out only puts them farther and farther behind academically, frustrates them more, and perpetuates negative behavior. It may feel easier to teach without a certain student in class, but adopting an “it’s not about me” attitude means teaching students that may or may not be likable too.
Everyone says teaching is a noble profession. What does it really mean to be a selfless teacher? How does a teacher balance meeting state and national standards, the desire to …


Posted on Thursday 19th July 2012
The production team for the BBC programme See Hear visited the School of Education in July to film an interview with Dr Linda Watson, based around International Literacy Day which takes place on 8 September 2012. Linda’s particular interest is in early language and literacy development of young deaf children, and how this can be enhanced by the use of cochlear implants and/or digital hearing aids.
Linda was interviewed by Clive Mason, who has been a presenter for over 20 years and was the first See Hear presenter to use British Sign Language (BSL) on television. BSL has only been recognised by the Government as an official language since 2003.
In the interview, Linda talked about conditions that underpin literacy learning for all children, such as language development, wide vocabulary and understanding of story structure and how parents can help their deaf child. She stressed the need to remember that deaf children are a heterogeneous group, with varied needs and how these link to learning literacy. She discussed how recent developments in technology, such as digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, have enabled many more deaf children to learn to read and write using spoken language, whilst other deaf children benefit from being taught using BSL to help them to learn to read and write.
The programme will be broadcast on BBC2 at 1.30pm, on Wednesday 5 September 2012.
UNESCO Literacy Portal: International Literacy Day (8 September)


Eight students fidgeted on the classroom floor, taking their time copying a Louis Armstrong quote on their sheets of notebook paper.
“I don’t let my mouth say nothin’ my head can’t stand.”
Joy Harrell-Goff, a music teacher at Estes Hills Elementary School in Chapel Hill, projected a photo of Armstrong onto the big screen, presenting a larger-than-life grin and bowtie, and asked the elementary-aged children what they thought his words meant.
“Don’t say bad things that will hurt someone.” “Don’t say anything bad about yourself.” “Think before you speak.”
“Then you gotta speak on purpose, right?” Harrell-Goff asked.
The students were participating in the first Durham “BUMP: The Triangle” class Saturday. The new nonprofit music education organization teaches children the history and importance of African Diaspora music, using sound clips, dancing and African drum circles to do it.
On Saturday in the little classroom at Duke Memorial United Methodist Church, Harrell-Goff pulled out a talking drum, smoothing her hands over its cords and animal skin, and showed students how to gently clutch the instrument under their arms.
Without texting and phone calls, she asked the class how a Durham tribe would communicate with a Chapel Hill tribe 1,000 years ago. The children had different ideas, ranging from radios (didn’t exist) to a Pegasus (active imagination) to riding horses to the next town over.
Georgiary Bledsoe, who earned her musicology Ph.D. from Duke in 2002, is the founder of BUMP and began the program in Boston almost 9 years ago. She said the “voice” of the talking drums has been carried into blues music and spirituals, and she said the BUMP program is about teaching students the complex structure of African music, its layers, dance and spectacle.
“Music of the African Diaspora is a particularly powerful tool, not only in the lives of African-American students, but in all students,” Bledsoe said.
She said the goal of the new nonprofit is to bring the 6-week program to schools and community centers.
Marta Sánchez, a research scientist with the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, and a UNC student took notes throughout the class, details that would be used to evaluate the workshops.
“Through this direct experience, they’re going to discover the history, the geography, the personal relationships made through these instruments,” Sánchez said.
Durham resident Teli Shabu sat with his 3-year-old daughter, Adefunmilayo, on Saturday, watching as his 8-year-old son, DeLacey, tried his hand at the talking drum.
Shabu teaches African drums on a weekly basis. When asked how long he has played, he pointed to his young daughter and said since he was Adefunmilayo’s age.
He said his son started tagging along to his African drum classes.
“I would like for him to play music for his enjoyment, not necessarily for a career,” Shabu said. “… I believe that music is math, and I believe it’s going to help with academic stuff as well.”
The young students learned about tonal language and inflection, or how they use the pitch and volume of their voices to tell a story or share their mood. The drums also are used for such storytelling. Over the speakers, Harrell-Goff played an African work song, in which drums were used to converse with men working in the fields.
When you hear the drums in the song, stand up, she said.
“If you’re really bold, you can stand up and dance.”
To learn more about the “BUMP: The Triangle” program, visit www.bumpthetriangle.org.


The Healthy Communities Research Centre at UQ Ipswich is calling for a national focus on "health literacy" following the release of findings which reveal that most Australians don't have the basic knowledge to keep themselves healthy.
The recently-released findings are based on the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Healthy Communities Research Centre Director Professor Robert Bush said that for the first time, the survey had included questions on health literacy alongside the usual measures of prose and document literacy and numeracy skills.
“This research has revealed that nine million Australians — or 60 percent of the population between the ages of 15 and 74 years — don't have the basic knowledge and skills to understand and use information about their own health,” Professor Bush said.
“The impact of such a high proportion of Australians without basic health literacy skills should be of major concern to anyone wanting to ensure people and communities are better able to promote their own health and prevent disease.
“Self managing an illness or disease and competently working with a medical or other health practitioner depends on everyone having a basic personal skill level.
"Many of our health promotion initiatives assume a basic level of literacy, such as reading a prescription label, following a basic health promotion guide or deciding when its time to consult a doctor.
“The effectiveness of medical treatments assumes patient competence for carrying out instructions. The information from this survey should send alarm bells ringing.”
Based on the survey information, the Healthy Communities Research Centre estimates that more than 500,000 Queenslanders, between the ages of 15 and 74, would report their health as less than "good". Of these, more than 350,000 people would not have basic health knowledge and skills to support their own health.
“This suggests that two out of every three people in this age bracket aren't able to easily carry out health-enhancing measures following a professional health consultation,” Professor Bush said.
“Our effectiveness to manage health promotion and disease prevention depends on, to a large extent, people having the skills to change their behaviour for better health.
“Achieving even a basic level of health literacy to join in ways to better health would seem a fundamental aspiration for Australia.”
Source: Research Australia
Explore further: Health law enrollment now 7.3M


Below is the third blog post in our Teacher Guest Blog Series. Today’s blog post comes from Monica Burns, a 5th grade teacher in NYC. She also runs a website called ClassTechTips, which offers tips to teachers regarding education technology in the classroom! Below is her post about free common core apps!
5 Free Apps that Align to the Common Core: ELA Edition
The App Store can be overwhelming for anyone to navigate. For educators there is the extra challenge of choosing apps that meet the needs of their students and align to the curriculum and Common Core Standards. It often requires one to think outside the box, looking past the original purpose of the app to make it work in your classroom.
Here are five free apps that I love, with lesson ideas that connect to the Common Core:
1. The Perfect Captions app allows users to add text to their pictures. They can use a picture found on the Internet, saved on the iPad camera roll or taken with their iPad camera. I’ll have students take a picture of the cover of a book and write text bubbles that show what the main character is thinking, their predictions for the story, or record examples of figurative language. (Reading:Literature –Standards 3 and 4 across grades)
2. The Idea Sketch iPad app is fantastic for making your own graphic organizers. I love to use it with my students in writing: for creating story maps, brainstorming, planning and taking notes when researching. (Writing Standards 5 and 6 across grades)
3. iPrompt is a free app that turns your iPad into a teleprompter. Add text that students have written themselves – try a persuasive essay turned into a speech. Customize the size of the text and the speed it moves on the screen. (Speaking & Listening – Standard 4 across grades)
4. One of my favorite apps for literacy skills practice is Bluster. McGraw-Hill has lots of app but this one is free (these prices often change so download it sooner than later). Even though it lists grades 2 -4 in my classroom we refer to these “grades” as “levels.” Students can practice skills like: rhyming words, prefixes and suffixes, synonyms, word roots, homophones, and adjectives (Reading: Foundational Skills – Standard 3 across grades)
5. If you’re not familiar with TED Talks these videos are worth checking out. Speakers are given 5 to 20 minutes to wow an audience with their knowledge, perspective and discoveries on their area of expertise. Topics range greatly and can be applied as extension lessons for all sorts of activities. I use them in my classroom most often in small groups to extend guided reading or book club discussions. (Reading: Informational Text – Standard 7 across grades)
Monica Burns is a NYC teacher with a passion for using technology with her students. Check out her website ClassTechTips.com for iPad lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards and more ideas on using free apps in your classroom.


Welcome to the Target Sound ID app. The Target Sound ID app develops phonological awareness, sound order sequencing skills, and auditory attention skills. This app increases the ability to break words down into smaller parts and recognize smaller parts in words. Being able to break words into smaller parts and recognize sounds in words is an important skill that is necessary for early reading and spelling skills. Target sound identification promotes literacy development as well as sound identification during speech production tasks. Memory also plays a small part in this task, as the child must internally hold onto the word in their mind while analyzing the sound in a specific position of the target word. This app was created by Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist Lynn Carahaly, M.A., CCC-SLP.
Phonological awareness provides a beginning reader with an important tool for understanding relations between written and spoken language. A deficit in phonological awareness is accepted as a consistent feature of reading disabilities. Poor phonological awareness is linked to poor reading skills independent of IQ.
Children with deficits in one or more areas of phonological processing abilities may have more difficulty learning to read than those who do not. Phonological awareness describes an individual's awareness of, and access to, the phonological structure of oral language.
The Sound Matching app directly enhances and elevates phonological awareness skills in order for a young child to become a proficient reader and speller.
The child must identify which word out of a field of two either begins or ends with the same sound as the target card. The child is presented with a target picture card and two other picture cards to sound match. For example, the child is presented with target picture card cub. "Which picture starts with the same sound as cub? leaf or coat." The child must then tap on the picture of the coat. The following is an example of an ending sound match: "tub, fan, web. Which picture ends with the same sound as tub?"
You have the ability to choose if you would like to work on initial (first) sound matching, or final (last) sound matching, or initial and final in a randomized presentation.
- Starting Sound
- Ending Sound
The randomized presentation will put more auditory attention demands on the child because they have to really attend to whether the target is asking for the starting sound or ending sound. Selecting "Starting Sound" will always ask to identify the matching first sound. Selecting "Ending Sound" will always ask for the matching last sound.
This app is not intended to be self-guided by the child. The parent, teacher or specialist is to provide support and feedback to the child as needed.
Want more apps to support the literacy and learning development for your child? Check out these other great apps developed by Lynn Carahaly, M.A., CCC-SLP to facilitate phonological awareness, auditory processing, and literacy development: Target Sound Identification, Auditory Word Discrimination, Auditory Blending, Auditory Rhyming, Syllable Counting, and Auditory Figure Ground.


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The National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) has created a comprehensive online database to enhance performance monitoring of primary and upper primary schools across 640 districts of the country under the project known as District Information System for Education (DISE). The project, known as School Report Cards, presents quantitative and qualitative information on 1.3 million schools from 2005 onwards till date at the village, block, district, state and national level; and can be viewed at www.schoolreportscard.in.
Extensive data is collected at the village level, and then through the help of automated software, is aggregated at the state and national level. Data is collected in a uniform Data Capture Format (DCFs) and entered into the DISE for analysis, monitoring and implementing universalising of elementary education at the policy level.
Data validation of all reports is conducted to ensure credibility, and finally it is published on the 30th September of every year by the NUEPA and can be viewed online. These reports have been utilised to identify the gaps existing in the current education system and also used for monitoring Sarva Shikshya Abhayan (SSA)-programme facilitating universalisation of elementary education in all districts. Data on enrolment of students, teachers’ attendance and examination results of both boys and girls in both rural and urban regions is helpful in tracking the progress of educational development without delaying it further. It is also utilised in formulation of policies.


Education is one of the major social areas, where people hold numerous opinions and are willing to share those with others. An education essay is basically a paper, which talks about various aspects of education. An education essay can come in form of a narrative about the experience of one individual or can be an essay describing one’s opinion about the subject of education. People might raise the question of current educational conditions or present possible changes in the educational set up in schools or universities.
Choosing Your Education Essay Topic
There is an abundance of essay topics to choose from when getting down to writing your educational essay. You can speculate on the conditions of contemporary educational processes or choose an education essay topic, which talks about the current status of education. Another education essay topic to consider is the one that discusses the way people can make the best of the education opportunities that are presented to them. There are also a variety of educational essay topics that talk about the philosophy of education or different educational approaches. When choosing your own essay topic, be sure to go for something you are personally interested in and have enough sufficient evidence to back up your argumentation.
The Significance of Elementary Education Essay
Among all the educational essays, elementary education essay is very popular. Elementary education essay talks about the child psychology and the various aspects of the education of young children. These essays can be very useful to the teachers as they are quiet useful in advancing elementary school teaching techniques and practices. There are many professional writers who can save you the trouble by writing good and informative educational articles. Be sure to use a credible one in order to get the most of your elementary education essay writing experience.


The sixth edition of the EFA Global Monitoring Report marks the midterm point in the international commitment to provide a quality education to all by 2015. It assesses progress towards expanding early childhood learning programmes, achieving free and universal primary education, realizing gender parity and gender equality in education, reducing adult illiteracy and improving education quality. It highlights innovative projects and strategies, and underscores the urgency of pushing forward with a common agenda for action.
The 2008 Report notes some real gains, especially in getting more children into primary school. Many governments have taken measures to reduce the cost of schooling and tackle obstacles to girls' education. But great challenges remain. There are not enough schools, teachers and learning materials. Poverty and disadvantage remain a major barrier for millions of children and youth. Policies exist that address both access and quality, but they require much bolder action, from the earliest age, to reach the most vulnerable groups and dramatically expand literacy programmes for youth and adults.
With statistical indicators on all levels of education in over 200 countries and territories as well as an in-depth analysis of international aid to education, it offers a valuable reference and working tool for policy makers and planners, education specialists, development experts, advocacy groups and those working in bilateral and multilateral agencies.
Also available in the Education on the Move series
Education for All Global Monitoring Report – 2013/4 Teaching and Learning: Achieving quality for all
Education for All Global Monitoring Report - 2012 Youth and Skills: Putting Education to Work
Education for All Global Monitoring Report - 2011 The hidden crisis: Armed conflict and education
Education for All Global Monitoring Report - 2010 Reaching the marginalized
Education for All Global Monitoring Report - 2009 Overcoming Inequality: Why Governance Matters
Education for All Global Monitoring Report - 2005 The Quality Imperative
Education for All Global Monitoring Report - 2003/4 Gender and Education for All: the Leap to Equality
Education for All Global Monitoring Report - 2002 Education for All - Is the World on Track?