Playing instruments is really like riding a bike. Playing an instrument is a physical, highly demanding, and coordinated activity. Nothing in playing instruments is neater than being able to get a hold of an older instrument and trying to make music out of it. One of the most important things when playing instruments is when you have just enough skill to be able to produce the music that you want. People who play instruments don’t understand why people who don’t play think its difficult, because it really isn’t.
Your child explores the world of music through singing, playing instruments, moving, and listening. Students in the early stages of music education learn by doing. Persons with almost any disability have ability when it comes to music. Experiencing music involves the creation of the following: playing instruments, dancing and singing. Creating, responding to and performing music are the fundamental music processes. Student’s experiences music through playing instruments, song and listening which makes playing music enjoyable and spontaneous. People have learned in many different ways about music and playing instruments, it definitely changed over the past 100 years. The making of music, musical intelligence, arises within the process of listening and playing.
All children derive a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction from playing instruments. In the history of human race we have been writing playing instruments, songs and singing for thousands of years it is a way we express ourselves.. Playing instruments is a physical, highly demanding, and coordinated activity. Studying music is accomplished through many different methods, some of them are playing instruments, singing, and listening to music are just a few of the methods we use in our everyday lives. Since the beginning when musical instruments were invented, for some reason people have strived to convert them into automated self-playing instruments. Young people who continue playing instruments following the transition to secondary school have greater confidence in their own. Singing, listening, playing instruments, moving, performing, and creating enable them to develop artistic skills and knowledge.
For many people the experience of purchasing instruments and playing instruments has been signified by financial constraints. It is always important to consider value when buying an instrument. There are many choices when faced with buying a professional quality instruments.
Singing and playing instruments is actually a sign of being highly intelligent. Nobody know why people think playing instruments is difficult, it’s not. The more you practice and the more time you put into it the easier it gets.


At Meridian Primary School we deliver a curriculum based on the framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.
We cover seven areas of learning and development which are implemented through planned, purposeful play, both outdoors and in. This learning is developed through rich, challenging learning experiences, which offer opportunities for the children to to explore and take risks, learn through first-hand experience and to gain greater independence, supporting their natural curiosity, and motivation to learn.
As the children cover the areas of learning, we respond to their individual emerging needs and interests, guiding their development through warm, positive, skilful interactions, which we develop daily.
Areas of learning
The seven areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum are:
Communication and language development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
Physical development involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
Personal, social and emotional development involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.
Literacy development involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
Mathematics involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures.
Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
Expressive arts and design involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.
Underpinning and running through all seven areas of learning are the characteristcs of effective learning. These represent fundamental processes rather than outcomes. They play a central role in the children's learning and in becoming an effective learner.
The characteristics of effective learning are:
Playing and exploring - engagement
Finding out and exploring
Playing with what they know
Being willing to have a go
Active learning - motivation
Being involved and concentrating
Enjoying achieving what they set out to do
Creating and thinking critically - thinking
Having their own ideas
Choosing ways to do things
The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework
The EYFS framework sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well, gain the knowledge and skills which they need and are kept safe and healthy.You can download and read the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework here. [EYFS Framework]
The Foundation Years website contains a great deal of useful information for families with children up to the age of 5. Click here to visit the website. [Foundation Years Website]
The booklet 'What to expect, when?' has been developed to help parents and carers to find out more about how their children are learning and developing during their first five years, in relation to the EYFS. To download the booklet, click here.


Common Core Standards
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts and Literacy for grades K–5 specify what students should understand and be able to do by the end of each grade.
The Second Edition of Fundations® was published in the summer of 2012 and includes significant updates to thoroughly and specifically address the rigorous standards presented by the Common Core. In particular, it offers specific, measurable learning objectives that are aligned to the CCSS.
Fundations and CCSS Foundational Standards
Fundations thoroughly teaches the Foundational Skills of the CCSS, and strongly supports the reading, writing, and language standards, providing mastery instruction for many of the goals in each of those areas. Students learn through explicit instruction:
- Fundamentals of reading, including systematic phonics (such as phonological awareness, phonics, and word recognition) and the study of word structure.
- Rules of the English language, including the six syllable types, digraphs, blends, vowel teams, prefixes, roots, and suffixes.
- Recognition of words that do not follow predictable patterns.
- Decoding mastery through many engaging activities. Emphasis is on the application of skills so that students read with sufficient fluency to support comprehension. Differentiation for the amount of practice is achieved through Unit tests, and bi‐weekly progress monitoring for students in Tier 2 small groups.
Fundations and CCSS ELA Language Standards
Fundations provides direct and systematic instruction in:
- Uppercase and lowercase letter formation, which is linked to the foundational skill of letter sounds for both reading and spelling.
- Conventions of standard English spelling for common spelling patterns.
- Spelling of irregular words and frequently confused words (e.g., their, there, they’re).
- Conventions of standard English capitalization and punctuation.
- Reference skills, including application of skills through extensive dictionary work.
- Multiple meaning words and affixes.
- Production and expansion of complete sentences of varied kinds in response to prompts.
Fundations Second Edition Meets the CCSS Quality Standards for Instructional Materials
Significant features include:
- Each level of Fundations has a teacher’s manual for its year-long curriculum, with a detailed scope and sequence for all Units.
- Each day has fully developed lesson plans with a comprehensive two-page presentation, including a quick-glance for the day’s activities and materials to be used by the teacher and student.
- A free companion website provides teachers with additional resources and support, including printable material, animations and video demonstrations, and discussion boards.
- A Home Support Packet provides teachers with a letter to parents and accompanying material for each Unit in each Level.
- Differentiated instruction is provided for advanced and struggling students, ELL students, and students with language-based learning differences. Suggestions appear in learning activities sections and Unit introductions in the Teacher’s Manual, and on the web-based Prevention/Early Intervention Learning Community.
- Fundations provides assessments of student mastery with weekly diagnostic checks and Unit tests. At-risk students receiving small-group Tier 2 Fundations instruction are assessed with the Fundations Progress Monitoring Tool, a curriculum‐based measurement to monitor progress.
For more a more detailed correlation for grades K-3, please see click here.


This post is in response to the recent Guardian opinion piece “Music education is now only for the white and the wealthy”, by Charlotte C Gill, and the reaction it generated.
In her article, Gill claims that traditional music education concentrates too much on music theory. She suggests that a shift towards a more practical form of music education could open up the subject to a wider audience. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her article generated a lot of criticism, with over 700 people signing an open letter denouncing her conclusions as “simple anti-intellectualism”. At OpenScore, we believe music theory to be an important skill, one that is essential to developing a full understanding of music history and culture. However, we agree with Gill that music theory sometimes serves as a barrier to music appreciation. Fortunately, OpenScore can help to remedy this situation.
OpenScore will create digital editions of famous classical pieces, allowing students to listen and follow the score.
We find it hard to disagree with Gill’s assessment of music notation as a “cryptic, tricky language […] that can only be read by a small number of people”. Her critics object that this “flies in the face of countless initiatives [to make] musical literacy available to those of many backgrounds”, but one cannot help but wonder why these “countless initiatives” were necessary in the first place! OpenScore is able to provide students and educators with something they have not had access to until now; a free set of digital tools to make music notation fun and easy to understand. By offering scores as digital files, students can actually hear how the music sounds as they follow along in the score.
The fact that standard music notation is difficult to learn is borne out by the prevalence of alternative forms of notation, such as guitar tablature and chord symbols, which provide a shortcut to making music. Video games like SingStar and Guitar Hero aim to give players the “musician experience” as they perform on a virtual stage. These games proved massively popular despite (or because of) the fact their makers chose to substitute real music notation for a simpler notation-like interface. These days, many amateur musicians skip notation altogether and learn to play piano pieces by copying hand movements from YouTube videos. These developments should not be seen as a threat to traditional music practice. Rather, they should be seen as an opportunity to engage with an audience that would not otherwise have been interested in learning music. As these people progress, some of them will undoubtedly become interested in learning proper notation and the theory behind it. By providing standard notation along with the alternative forms they are used to, OpenScore can make the transition as easy as possible.
Of course, not all students struggle with notation. Advanced students with an eye for composition can take OpenScore’s digital scores and edit them with notation software to produce their own arrangements and orchestrations. OpenScore files are free from copyright restrictions, allowing students to publish and share their arrangements under their own terms. The files are compatible with all popular music notation programs, including MuseScore, Finale and Sibelius. Students at the University of St Andrews have already used OpenScore resources to produce a translation of a French opera.
OpenScore's digital scores are free from copyright, accessible, and can be edited with music notation software.
Now that our Kickstarter campaign has reach it's funding goal, OpenScore stands ready to provide free music notation to suit everyone. Our ever-expanding collection of digital scores makes it easy to listen and follow along with standard notation, and our accessible scores provide specialist notation for those who are physically unable to read standard notation. We can even provide alternative forms of notation for those who are not yet ready to face the challenge of standard notation, and we can ease the transition when they are.


- Developing relationships with key stakeholders including state oral health and public health organizations;
- Promoting oral health education; and
- Increasing access to oral care.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Get a Head Start: Prioritizing Our Kids’ Dental Care
By Ralph Fuccillo, MA, President, DentaQuest Foundation
As Dr. Luther mentioned in his post last week, February is National Children's Dental Health Month. I’d like to highlight an oral health program for children that is seeing some exciting results, which could serve as a leading best practice when it comes to prioritizing our kids’ oral health. In this collaboration between Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, called Building Successful Collaborative State Oral Health Consortiums, we are addressing oral health disparities and promoting access to care for children.
Most infants and one year-olds in the U.S. have seen a physician, but a mere 2 percent have ever visited a dentist. Surprising to many, children who wait until age two or three to see a dentist actually experience more dental issues than those who visit a dentist on their first birthday, or when the first tooth comes in, as recommended by the American Dental Association. In an effort to change this trend, the DentaQuest Foundation and Head Start Association worked together to encourage early childhood oral health care.
Head Start offers a comprehensive preschool program to low-income children, and also provides families with relevant health information and ensures that children in the program receive regular physical and oral health check-ups.
Through a grant from the DentaQuest Foundation, the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Head Start Associations created a three-pronged approach to encourage early childhood care for oral health, which includes:
Now in the third and final year of our initiative, our Head Start partners have experienced promising successes to share in both states.
The Pennsylvania Head Start Association has done a great job of getting the word out about early childhood care. They developed effective oral health coalitions through multiple forums, which had more than 175 participants. Additionally, they've trained more than 250 individuals in the “Cavity Free Kids” curriculum, which helps children practice good oral health habits. Of these trained individuals, many are teachers, infant/toddler specialists, family advocates and more. Furthermore, to date, more than 335 Pennsylvania dentists have been educated on the importance of treating one year-old children.
The Massachusetts Head Start efforts successfully connected children to dentists, giving them a “dental home”. At the start of the initiative, only 19 percent of dentists said they treated children age one or younger. Massachusetts Head Start implemented a program called “Connect the Dots”, to help dentists and primary care doctors understand the importance of starting a dental home at an early age. At the end of the first two years of the initiative, the number of dentists in Massachusetts reporting the treatment of children at age one grew from 19 percent to almost 40 percent.
We're proud of our work with the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Head Start Associations, but we still have more work to do if we want to meet our national goal of 75 percent of children to reach age five cavity-free. From a national perspective, Head Start programs offer a great opportunity to reach our youngest children at a critical time in their development. We are looking at the lessons learned from the work done in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and sharing these tactics with our community partners across the U.S. By training the next generation on best practices, we are mobilizing communities to be sure all children receive the dental care they need, when they need it.
For more information on Head Start, visit http://www.nhsa.org/ (National Head Start Association) and https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc (the Office of Head Start’s Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center).
Posted by DentaQuest


- Schools need to embrace new technologies, such as iPads, and use this resource to enhance meaning making in early childhood literacy
- Incorporates ‘child initiated play’ into literacy learning
- Effective alternative to text based literacy learning practices, specifically in contexts of low SES and high ESL student
- Oral language is critical and will have an impact on reading comprehension
- Young children have an invisible backpack filled with a wide range of multiliterate practices
- Literacy development is a social and cultural practice
- “Making texts talk means learning to speak a texts thematic patterns” [Lemke, 1989, cited in Jones, M. 2012, p.55] In other words, students learn about language structure by actively creating texts.
- iPads provide explicit scaffolding
- Increases engagement and motivation
Jones, M. (2012), ipads and kindergarten- students literacy development, SCAN, 31(4), 31-40.


How Parents, Music Teachers Can Create a Homeschool Music Curriculum
By supporting music education and creating opportunities for homeschoolers to play together, parents are helping to pass on the joy of music. Check out this great article entitled "Music Instruction For Homeschoolers"
Not all parents can teach music to homeschoolers, but they can help. Work with music teachers to design a creative music education curriculum with other families.
Music can be a problematic subject for homeschooling parents. Beyond the very first basic concepts, many non-musical parents have difficulty trying to teach musical concepts that they don't understand themselves. Adults who don't have prior musical training quickly realize that they are just as confused as their children, and need a professional music teacher to show the way.
In part, this is because of lack of familiarity with the complex skill levels involved. Unlike math or science, which most parents have studied previously in school (although maybe in the distant past), music may be totally foreign territory. And music is a difficult subject: It takes between three and four years of study and consistent practice before an average adult student is able to play intermediate-level classical music, fluent church hymns, or arrangements of popular songs that are labeled "easy" by the publisher.
Learning to play an instrument is also cognitively complex: It requires that students take in and process information aurally, visually, physically and intellectually – while performing tasks that require coordinating all of these elements. The pedagogy involved in teaching students to put all of this together is complex, and the solutions to specific technical and learning issues are often not intuitively obvious.
As a result, while it is certainly possible for non-musical parents to play an important role in their child's musical development, most non-musical parents choose to find an outside instructor for their children, especially as students become more advanced.
Creative Music Lesson Ideas for Parents and Teachers
Get a home-school group together. Sometimes, a group of homeschool families agree to host music lessons at one of the families' homes. A music teacher who normally doesn't travel to students' homes might be willing to make the trip if it means teaching four or five students back-to-back. The requirements are that the families involved must commit to the schedule and agree to the teacher's lesson policies, and that there must be a quiet distraction-free space where the teacher can teach. If piano lessons are involved, the family that hosts should be able to provide a good acoustic piano, it doesn't have to be a Steinway concert grand, but it should be well-maintained and regularly tuned.
Coordinated home-school lessons might include a regular group lesson, where students play for each other, discuss each other's pieces, and learn about performance and audience etiquette.
It's also important to communicate to children that music is a lifelong, enjoyable creative activity. Parent-child lessons are an excellent way to share the music learning experience and communicate to children that learning and enjoying music is a way to express and share their emotions,. Similarly, attending concerts broadens a child's exposure. Take groups of homeschoolers to local performances. The music teacher can provide advise on what concerts would be appealing to kids ("Carnival of the Animals," yes; Wagner's "Ring Cycle," no.).
Finally, host an ensemble event once a month. Many music teachers can coach groups and ensembles, even if they only play one of the instruments. Whether it's a rock band or a chamber music ensemble, music is fun to play in groups. Poll other homeschooling families for a list of instruments their children are studying, and then see if the music teacher can put together an ensemble program, whether it's a formal performance group or an informal jam.
By supporting music education and creating opportunities for homeschoolers to play together, parents are helping to pass on the joy of music.
Source: Sep 3, 2009 Karen Berger


Literacy and Numeracy for Adults website
The website presents quality information and resources to support those engaged in strengthening the literacy and numeracy of adults in New Zealand. Created by the University of Waikato as part of its work to establish a National Centre of Literacy and Numeracy for Adults which is funded by the Tertiary Education Commission.
Commissioned by The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), Te Amorangi Mātauranga Matua, to support the professional development of educators and other professionals involved in the delivery of literacy and numeracy education for adults. It is intended as a Professional Learning Hub that extends and complements the work of the National Centre of Literacy and Numeracy for Adults. It supports and provides a gateway to other initiatives within the TEC’s literacy and numeracy infrastructure including:
- The Assessment Tool
- Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy and Numeracy
- Pathways Awarua
New Zealand’s approach to improving literacy and numeracy levels for adults
In 2006, New Zealand and other countries participated in the international Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALL) and the results indicated that 1.1 million New Zealanders (43 percent of the adults aged 16–65) have literacy and numeracy skills below those needed to participate fully in a knowledge society (over 80 percent of these people are in work).
A key mechanism for addressing adult literacy and numeracy, and a key component of the government’s strategy, is to embedliteracy and numeracy education in foundation level provision. This means that courses and qualifications include teaching the literacy and numeracy skills needed for the New Zealand workplaces and for specific industries. This research-based embedded approach allows literacy and numeracy training to be contextualised, and therefore relevant and accessible to learners.
ma to ora ka mohio. through life there is learning!


Teaching Content is Teaching Reading (Willingham D 2009) YouTube
Daniel Willingham argues that comprehension relies on prior knowledge as well as vocabulary and other reading strategies. Prior knowledge is usually necessary to understand a text and this knowledge needs to be built in to lessons so that students learn about the world throughout their schooling.
The Usefulness of Brief Instruction in Reading Comprehension Strategies (Willingham D 2006)
Daniel Willingham surveys the research literature on the effectiveness of teaching reading comprehension strategies. While such strategies are often useful, Willingham cautions against over-generalisation. The level of detail with which he summarises research is excellent.
This summary of effective approaches also has suggestions for teaching comprehension strategies explicitly while gradually moving towards more independent, implicit application. It is a valuable resource for reflective practitioners.
This article argues for the needs of older students to have access to age-appropriate and evidence-based interventions to improve their reading comprehension skills.
An exhaustive summary of the research in each of these fields. This is essential reading for those who wish to grasp the depth and complexity of effective reading instruction.
This exhaustive article by Kerry Hempenstall examines the practical issues around thorough assessment in each of the NRP “pillars” of reading. Comprehension is seen as a complex interaction linked to vocabulary, knowledge of how texts work, and wider knowledge, facilitated by accurate decoding with fluency.
Concisely outlines the main problems that older struggling readers have with comprehension, and identifies important strategies for assisting them (see p.21 ff). An invaluable resource for the classroom teacher.
Clear, highly relevant summaries of research findings on a range of issues including how reading comprehension can be taught explicitly. This web page has a useful excerpt from p 96, with a link to purchase the book.


In an ever increasingly competitive world, in which employers demand good numeracy and literacy skills, it is vital that our students leave Le Rocquier School with a good grasp of these basic skills. English and Maths are essential for any further education, job or career path that students might want to follow.
At Le Rocquier School we recognise the fact that we are all teachers of the basic skills, regardless of the subject we teach. It is our responsibility to provide students with literacy and numeracy skills that are portable and functional, ensuring that they have every chance to become engaged, motivated and independent learners who are eager to access the curriculum and who go on to fulfil their potential and achieve economic well-being in later life.
In this section of the website you will be able to access a wide range of information about basic skills to support your child and that you can use to refresh your memory if necessary.
Mrs A Banks
Whole School Literacy Coordinator


Centered around the famous painting on special loan from the Terra Foundation of American Art, A New Look: Samuel F. B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre tells a dynamic tale about art education, mentorship and practice, and learning from historical art. On view through April 14, 2013 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
, the Morse installation sets the artist's work into an environment echoing what is shown in the picture. The exhibition is a collaboration between PAFA's Senior Curator and Curator of Modern Art, Robert Cozzolino, and PAFA's Curator of Historical American Art, Anna Marley.
Known today primarily for his role in the development of the telegraph and the Morse code, Samuel F. B. Morse began his career as a painter. One of his most important works, Gallery of the Louvre (1831-1833), depicts masterpieces from the Louvre's collection. On a visit to Paris in 1830, Morse first conceived of his monumental Gallery of the Louvre's an art lesson for Americans. He reasoned that most Americans could not travel to Europe to see original paintings by Renaissance and Baroque artists so he would bring their masterpieces to them.In this painting, Morse imagines an exhibition of his favorite paintings from the famed museum installed in the grand Salon Carré at the Louvre. Morse meticulously copied 38 paintings spanning five national schools and three centuries, including works by Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci,Titian, Caravaggio, Rubens and Poussin. The artist himself is shown in front, leaning over his daughter in a space where visitors study, sketch and copy from the masters.
In PAFA's installation, the Morse painting is on one side of the gallery with objects that help provide a broader context for the themes of artistic practice and identity, while the other half of the gallery is hung salon-style with paintings from PAFA's collection that highlight the academic genres taught and exhibited at PAFA in the first half of the nineteenth century. The effect is that of walking into a room mirroring the one depicted in Morse's painting.
The exhibition coincides with the demanding copy class taught at PAFA where students are encouraged to select works installed in the Morse room. "Not only will visitors encounter a gallery resembling the one depicted by Morse, " says Marley, "but they will witness artists copying historical pictures in the gallery as is represented by Morse."
By making copies next to Morse's painting, PAFA's students will show audiences how American artists - whether professional and famous, or emerging, or still in school - operate on a continuum of history that traces lessons and knowledge back to the Renaissance and ages beyond.
The painting recently underwent extensive conservation and has been on a three-venue national tour. This is the second time the Morse painting has been shown at PAFA; it was exhibited in the summer of 1985 shortly after Daniel J. Terra acquired the painting in 1982. Terra, who amassed an important collection of American art, was born and grew up in Philadelphia before attending Penn State University. He eventually moved to Chicago which is where the foundation that bears his name is based,


Physical development is the process that starts in human infancy and continues into late adolescent concentrating on gross and fine motor skills as well as puberty. Physical development involves developing control over the body, particularly muscles and physical coordination. The peak of physical development happens in childhood and is therefore a crucial time for neurological brain development and body coordination to encourage specific activities such as grasping, writing, crawling, and walking. As a child learns what their bodies can do, they gain self confidence, promoting social and emotional development. Physical activities geared toward aiding in physical development contribute significantly to a person’s health and well-being, according to the Surgeon General’s report.
Gross Motor Control
Moving the large muscles in the body, specifically the arms and legs consciously and deliberately, increases gross motor skills. Gross motor control involves balance and stability with such movement as kicking, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, throwing, catching and galloping.
Fine Motor Control
Achieving fine motor control involves using and coordinating the small muscles in the hand and wrists with mastery. During the development process, children have the ability to self-help and manipulate small objects such as scissors and writing tools. Fine motor skills generally follow gross motor development.
Forms of Gross Motor Dysfunction
Some signs of gross motor dysfunction among children are difficulty perceiving the location of the body in a static position, keeping track of movement while engaging in a motor activity, difficulty following directions, trouble translating verbal inputs into the appropriate responses, and poor coordination of muscle groups.
Diseases and disorders that affect gross motor skill development and skills among children are developmental problems such as genetic disorders, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and some neurological conditions. In addition, gross motor skills can become impaired due to injury, illness, stroke and congenital deformities.
Fine Motor Dysfunction
Signs of fine motor dysfunction among children include trouble mastering basic self-help skills such as getting dressed or putting on shoes, difficulty drawing, tracing objects with a pencil, manipulating scissors and frequent frustration when learning new activities.
A child's fine motor skills should have developed sufficiently by the age of six enough to complete writing, dressing and feeding tasks. Adequate dexterity, bilateral coordination and eye-hand coordination to complete writing and cutting tasks are also evident. After the age of six, children continue to develop and refine these skills with continuous activities, including play with toys and games during early childhood.
Play is the most beneficial activity for promoting early childhood physical development. The most significant factor children need from play with parents is to have fun while doing it. However, it is important not to turn play into lessons. The most efficient way to play with your child is to provide interesting and exciting environments like pretend play at home as well as frequent visits to playgrounds, children’s gyms, and/or other community facilities designed just for children. Parents must have time to play and follow the child’s lead. Parents should also encourage children to talk about the details of the activities completed and places they have been.


The importance of the arts in the classroom
Fine art (Encarta, 2004) is defined as "is a form of art, painting, sculpture, architecture, engraving, an image or a pure aesthetic value" in the Encarta dictionary. Although this definition is used in connection with the art in the world, in terms of teaching, the art is defined as the issue of profits, not essential to the learning process and is often due to lack of time, the potential for learning a little and no money was running out. Art as easy as learning to paint and draw, it doesn't matter a scholar. Author Victoria Jacobs explains, "Art in the elementary school that is often separated from the core curriculum and vice versa is offered as an enrichment activities regarded as beneficial but not required" (Jacobs, 1999, p. 2).
What's missing in the classroom that the teacher shortage to know the benefits of art-based curriculum. The teacher has "very little understanding of art as a discipline of study. Think who used to amuse art lessons as a teacher-oriented project or to teach other disciplines "(Berghoff, 2003, s. 12)." Art push the boundaries of learning for students and promotes creative thinking and deeper understanding of the theme of the talk-and literature education, mathematics, science and social studies. Teachers must include all genres, including theatre arts, Visual Arts, dance and music into their lesson plans, because the art is to open the extra motivation of students to a deeper understanding of their education. The art of teaching is the most powerful tool that teachers in their classes were present, because this way the student can learn at their highest level.
From 1977 to 1988, there were extraordinary Reports only Show three advantages of artistic training. These reports three come to our senses, culture, and education (1977), we may be United to save the arts Explosionproof American children, sponsored by the American Council for the Arts (1988), and the prestigious studies toward civilization, from the National Endowment for the Arts (1988). This study three transformed art education was very important for our students to attain higher education. Although this study proved to be learning the art of healing, it was not until 2002 when the research analysis of critical links: learning in the arts and student academic and social development "provide evidence for learning and performance, as well as the positive social results, if art is an integral part of the learning experience" is by legislators (Burns ernst genommen2003, p. 5). A study in the analysis is focused on teaching the keyboard to determine if a student gateway to spatial reasoning can be increased training in the classroom. It's getting the training students, involved no hampel computer components. It came to the conclusion that learning through the arts enhance the core curriculum notes subjects such as math and science, where spatial reasons most used (Swan Hudkins, 2003).
This study shows how small changes in the way that students through art as a powerful effect on their learning achievements and agreements can have. Another study shows a vulnerable pupil, for one year, participated in arts-based curriculum standard tests of their language by an average of eight percentile points if thrown two years listed, 16 percentile points. Students, not in the form of an abstract activity showed no change in percentile (Swan Hudkins, 2003). While this may not seem like a huge boost, students are able to learn to use this type of risk, to their learning styles thereby mending learn their patterns. The most interesting case studies in the analysis it took Sampson, North Carolina schools where increased for two consecutive years only their standard test scores in schools, arts education in their school district (Swan Hudkins, 2003). Teaching art must be included in every teacher's daily lesson plans in these studies, students are taught through the arts, increased testing and learning levels.
Due to the high amount of attention President Bush abandoned children Act, has required in school, teaching, art left behind. Another reason for the lack of art to the author class Victoria Jacobs explains "the budget shrank from the school district in the State of the art professionals and art programs have disappeared from many school" (Jacobs, 1999, p. 4). Fine art is seen as non-educational or extracurricular AK


Compensations of playing an instrument
Playing a musical instrument has many advantages which may be musical as well as non-musical. But overall it can bring joyeveryone around the world. Learning and playing an instrument can help children a fine tune as well as enrich skills needed for Education business franchise and social interaction. There are some musical compensations of playing an instrument:
- Music encourages social skills:group classes necessitates interaction and communication with your friends which encourage teamwork. As we know children work together to create a crescendo or an accelerando. A philosopher says, if children playing their instrument too loudly or speedy up to quickly, they will need to adjust and understand their individual part in a larger cooperative. Music enthusiasm offers general music education classes, in which teachers split students into different groups and assign each child a task. A crew is responsible to choosing an instrument or creating a tune for students to work on a common goal.
- Enhances discipline and patient: learning an instrument teaches young children a sense of patient about delayed gratification. Take an example of violin, as violin is a step learning arc. Before childrenmake a single sound, first children must learn how to hold the violin, how to hold the bow and where to place their feet. So, playing an instrument teaches children to reservation through hours, months or sometimes may be years of practices until they reaches their specific goals. The process of learning an instrument is skills aid to children for developing patient and discipline.
- Boost self-esteem and contentment:lessons which are given to children through different opportunitiesthat can help them to accept and also give criticism on different issues. This will help them by tuning negative response into positive change to build self-confidence and high morale. Music lessons can also help children to understand that nobody, as well as themselves is perfect and everyone has room for improvement. When music skills are developed, students feel a strong sense of satisfaction in their progress.
- Persistence and commitment:offering yourself in public is an important skill if you become a professional musician or not. The demand of music study will teach children to develop a pledge to project and follow them through completion.
- Coordination with friends: music study will provide opportunities to young children for interaction with their friends to create new friendships and coordination with their fellow beings.
- Increase inventiveness and self-expressions: playing a musical instrument provides your children anopportunity for communicating feeling and using imagination for innovative ideas. So that children develop a sense of pride in their abilities through musical achievements.
- Amusing and relaxation of mind: No doubt, music is a way of fun for young children. Playing a musical instrument can provide hours of entertainment, amusement and relaxation of their mind throughout their entire life. Music develop the confidence and dignity, self-assurance and poise in children that will be useful for them in dealing with many situations in life as well as for their bright


Cubans are incredibly creative people, and most Cubans enjoy making music in just about any setting.
For Cubans, music has a physical dimension as the mastery of a craft but there is also a metaphysical dimension that is a cultural connection to an eclectic blend of histories and influences stretching back hundreds of years. Turn any corner in a Cuban city and you will likely encounter musical Cubans unleashing their gifts, paying no attention to the oily puddles and rusty rebar that surrounds them.
It was recently announced that Sony Music International struck a deal with EGREM (Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales) to release decades of state-owned Cuban recordings. It’s the largest catalog of its kind, dating back to 1959 when Fidel Castro nationalized the music industry following the communist takeover.
Things changed after the Cuban revolution. The regime wanted to cut ties to the past, and favored classical music to its creole counterpart.
The Afro-Cuban culture and the religious practices that had played such a role in the musical history of the country took the brunt of the new regulations.
Night clubs were closed. Radio stations and record companies became state institutions.
To put it mildly, there was a lot of state intervention when it came to music and artists, leading to a mass exodus of musicians, among them Celia Cruz, who some now refer to as the most influential female figure in the history of Cuban music.
For the musicians who stayed, the state paid their salaries. Young players were given conservatory training.
Composers Harold Gramatges, Juan Blanco, and Guitarist Leo Brouwer succeeded during the era because they had the support of those in charge – Alfredo Guevara and Fidel Castro.
Gramatges founded the Havana Chamber Orchestra, and transformed music education in the country. As a composer, his style slickly blended contemporary classical with modern Cuban music. Meanwhile, Blanco put a progressive spin on tradition and made history in 1961 as the first Cuban composer to write an electroacoustic piece. “Musica Para Danza” was produced with an oscillator and three tape recorders.
Along with Blanco and Brouwer, Carlos Farinas was also a key player in the Cuban avant-garde movement.
(Side note: Blanco’s music is part of the EGREM catalog.)
The strength of the country’s music and its ability to make changes shown once again with the birth of salsa.
In places like New York, salsa was rooted in Cuban Son and big band jazz.
But in Cuba, they took the genre one step further, mixing in Afro-Cuban folklore and American funk. It was written in the streets and often well-seasoned with sociopolitical commentary.
The group Los Van Van is perhaps the most recognizable group out of this era, with their song “Soy Todo (Ay, Dios Ampárame)” considered a Cuban anthem by many.
In the mid 90s, musicians were given the ability to work freely inside and outside the country. Those who were successful were among the best-paid professionals on the island.
The beginning of the 21st century saw the popularity of another genre: hip hop. Imported from Miami, Cuban musicians added their own flavor. Orishas being on the forefront of the movement with their album A Lo Cubano.
Because music and media were censored, those with messages took their songs to the streets.
The method of making hip hop music made it easy to do outside of the government-controlled concert venues, meaning not even the government could stop it from going mainstream.
It also put music once again into the hands of the people, showing that while modern Cuban music is a combination of many styles and genres, its roots remain in Son and on the streets where they first were heard all those years ago.


Here at The British School of Guangzhou, we want your child to have fun and be happy, safe and secure at all times. We want to inspire them to become purposeful and lifelong learners.
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage framework in our Guangzhou Kindergarten, which covers children’s development from Toddlers to Reception (1 to 5 years old).
There are four themes within the EYFS Curriculum:
- A Unique Child - Every child is a competent learner from birth and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
- Positive Relationships - Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and carers.
- Enabling Environments - The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending a child’s development and learning.
- Learning and Developing - Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. All areas of learning and development are equally important.
These themes are used to underpin the learning and development that your child will take part in during their time in the EYFS.
How your child learns in preschool
Children learn in a variety of ways: by watching others, talking, asking questions, listening, exploring and investigating.
During play, children are supported and encouraged to find out more and explore; to play with what they know, and be willing to ‘have a go’; to be involved, concentrate, keep trying, and enjoy achieving what they set out to do; and to have their own ideas, make links and choose different ways to do things.
Areas of our kindergarten curriculum
The EYFS curriculum is organised into seven areas of learning and development:
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Mathematical Development
• Understanding of the World
• Physical Development
• EAD - Expressive Arts and Design
• Literacy Development
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
We provide children with experiences and support which help them to develop a positive sense of themselves and of others, as well as respect for others, social skills and a positive disposition to learn.
Communication and Language
Children’s learning and competence in communicating, speaking and listening is constantly supported and extended.
We develop children’s understanding of Maths in a broad range of contexts in which they can explore, enjoy, learn, practise and talk about their developing understanding.
Understanding the World
We support children in helping them to make sense of the world by offering opportunities for them to use a range of tools safely; to encounter creatures, people, plants and objects in their natural environments; to undertake practical experiments, and to work with a range of materials.
The physical development of students is encouraged by giving them opportunities to be active and interact and to improve their skills of coordination, control, manipulation and movement. They are always supported in developing an understanding of the importance of physical activity and making healthy choices in relation to food.
Expressive Arts and Design
Children’s creativity is encouraged by supporting their curiosity, exploration and play. Our pupils are provided with opportunities to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of art, music, movement, dance, imaginative and role-play activities, design and technology.
Children’s learning and competence in beginning to read and write is constantly supported and extended.
The Early Years programme at our kindergarten in Guangzhou enables your child to develop their personalities, talents and abilities. This enables them to develop a strong sense of self, to feel positive about their abilities as a learner, to form constructive relationships and become confident communicators.


From learning the sounds that make up words, to figuring out what the words mean and determining how to combine them into syntactic strings that have meaning within a culture or environment; mastering language use is a major achievement for such young children.
Children will be exposed to a variety of language experiences. Teachers will provide opportunities for them to express themselves freely and to participate in real life experiences that include reading and writing.
The following are the skills that children will have achieved by the end of Kindergarten:
Listening & Speaking Skills: In Kindergarten children begin to participate in collaborative conversations; they use strong communication skills including verbal expression of emotions as well as descriptive language to express their ideas. They express curiosity and share their feelings and thoughts. They enjoy listening to stories and retelling them especially ones with interesting characters and easy-to-follow plots. They role play, create and make up songs and stories. They successfully follow multi-step instructions
Reading & Writing Skills: At this age children recognize the letters of the alphabet in written form and are able to connect sounds with the letters. They start to blend sounds into words. They try to read in everyday situations for example signs and labels etc. Children moving on to primary master more advanced phonics skills like forming CVC words, words with blends and long vowels to prepare them for reading & writing in their primary years.
SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Children over the preschool years start to develop a better understanding of who they are, as well as beginning to understand and relate to others. At Kindergarten, teachers create an environment to foster a child’s social and emotional skills. They begin to play games, where they learn turn-taking and sharing, as well as how to adhere to the rules. What children learn through these playful interactions is many-fold!: They learn to interpret others’ perspectives, to regulate their responses and interactions, manage impulse control, increase both their ability to wait and to demonstrate patience, as well as their ability to share an object or event.
Here are some of the developmental social-emotional milestones for our Kindergarten age group:
They will express their needs, wants and feelings clearly with confidence
They will understand cultural and religious diversity
They will recognize the importance of self-respect, confidence and interpersonal skills
They will demonstrate ways in which they can enhance their health and well-being
They will develop an awareness about their environment
In preparation for children to be ready for a wider education, there is a gradual shift from ‘free play’ to a more ‘structured learning’. At Kids Kingdom child-guided as well as adult-guided learning within a play-based environment are used to enhance children’s numeracy skills. At this age children are counting up and beyond 40; they understand the concepts of more than, less than, what comes next, which number is missing in a sequence, ordinal numbers and so on. For shapes, measurements & patterns; children are able to identify and draw 2-D shapes, repeat a pattern, create a pattern, compare objects in regards to size, weight, length and volume. Spatial awareness & time are also important skills that children learn at this age. Children also begin to understand statistics & probability (likelihood or chance of an event happening) and data handling (collect and compare data of themselves and the environment).
MUSIC & MOVEMENTS
Music & movements is incorporated into our early childhood education as it plays a big role in development, social interaction and language growth in young children. Playing music and moving to a beat provides fun and stimulating experiences for young children.
Children will participate in a variety of hands-on science projects related to the theme of the month; through which they are able to use their senses to learn more about their world. Children will be motivated to become naturally inquisitive about the world around them and teachers will help enhance their knowledge and thinking skills. Children will identify living and non-living things, classify different kinds of seeds, develop an awareness of dinosaurs and fossils, identify forces like push & pull and objects with magnetic properties and lots more!


The Limestone District School Board operates Parenting and Family Literacy Centres in three elementary schools with the support of the Ministry of Education. The Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board operates one site within the Kingston region.
The Centres are free of charge and are open to parents, grandparents and caregivers of children from birth to six years of age. Each Centre provides play-based activities within a school setting. These activities help prepare children for school and offers parents an opportunity to learn ways to support their children in their learning journey.
The purpose of Parenting and Family Literacy Centres is to:
provide play-based activities within a school setting to help prepare children to learn upon entry in Kindergarten;
offer a family literacy program that develops early literacy and numeracy skills to prepare children for school;
help increase parents’ knowledge, involvement and comfort level with schools;
provide opportunities for optimal child development through positive parent-child interaction;
assist in the early identification of children with special needs; and,
help children transition more easily into kindergarten by allowing Centre staff and kindergarten teachers to work together.


What does art education do for the individual and for society? Why do we teach art? How does art contribute to education at all levels? There are many good answers to these questions, but three stand out as crucial in today’s social and economic climate. We believe that art-and therefore art education-means three things that everyone wants and needs.
Art Means Work
Beyond the qualities of creativity, self-expression, and communication, art is a type of work. This is what art has been from the beginning. This is what art is from childhood to old age. Through art, our students learn the meaning of joy of work-work done to the best of one’s ability, for its own sake, for the satisfaction of a job well done. There is a desperate need in our society for a revival of the idea of good work, work for personal fulfillment, work for social recognition, work for economic development. Work is one of the noblest expressions of the human spirit, and art is the visible evidence of work carried to the highest possible level. Today we hear much about productivity and workmanship. Both of these ideals are strengthened each time we commit ourselves to the endeavor of art. We art dedicated to the idea that art is the best way for every young person to learn the value of work.
Art Means Literacy
Art is a language of visual images that everyone must learn to read. In art classes, we make visual images, and we study images. Increasingly, these images affect our needs, our daily behavior, our hopes, our opinions, and our ultimate ideals. That is why the individual who cannot understand or read images is not completely educated. Complete literacy includes the ability to understand, respond to, and dtalk about visual images. Therefore, to carry out its total mission, art education stimulates language-spoken and written-about visual images. As art teachers, we work continuously on the development of critical skills. By teaching pupils to describe, analyze, and interpret vis states it wual images, we enhance their powers of verbal expression. That is no education frill.
Art Means Value
You cannot touch art without touching values: values about home and family, work and play, the individual and society, nature and the environment, war and peace, beauty and ugliness, violence and love. The great art of the past and the present deals with these durable human concerns. As art teachers, we do not indoctrinate. But when we study the art of many lands and peoples, we expose our students to the expression of a wide range of human values and concerns. We sensitize students to the fact that values shape all human efforts, and that visual images can affect their personal value choices. All of them should be given the opportunity to see how art can experss the highest aspirations of the human spirit. From that foundation we believe that they will be in a better position to choose what is right and good.
From the Davis Publications Art Education Advocacy Guide, 2009-2010 posted on http://blog.dearbornschools.org/artdepartment/benefits-of-art/


eLearning and the notion of assessment for learning
An ebook for artists = a rationale
e-teaching – the use of interactive whiteboards for conceptual presentations
e-tools – the use of small, low cost portable, wireless / blue tooth peripheral devices
e-learning – enhancing / developing existing knowledge and understanding in two and three dimensional studies and timebased studies through the integration of ICT.
exhibiting - Presenting / curating and assessing coursework in e-portfolio / sketchbook formats. Designing interactive multimedia and creating new art spaces through websites
e-communication – building art education networks through establishing a creative culture of e-collaboration and exchange
e-media histories - understanding the context in which the current technologies have evolved to date and may develop in the future
Infrastructure – redesigning studio / gallery spaces to site new media practices for different purposes – information, interaction, education.


I was very disappointed that the 2005 National Review of School Music Education did not have as part of its brief what occurs in music education prior to so-called formal schooling.That is, what happens in pre-schools, childcare centres and with private music education providers for the Under 5s?
It is essential that this aspect of music education in Australia be addressed, as little is known about the content and practice of early childhood music programs. However, research does tell us that early childhood teachers do not feel confident about teaching music, believing they lack requisite musical knowledge and skills. Some early childhood researchers are critical about the delivery of music instruction in early childhood settings, noting that day care and early childhood programs are often lacking in musical direction, with an absence of planned music lessons. Others have criticised early childhood music programs for being teaching, rather than learning, oriented and advocate for more child-initiated music activities.
In her 1998 survey of childhood music education programs in Australian music centres and private music studios, Nita Temmerman provides the most comprehensive examination of music instruction in the nation's early childhood music settings. Forty music education programs were surveyed, indicating 'that early childhood music programs in Australia attempt to include what music educators agree are the essential elements of a music program for young children. These are active participation in a variety of music-making experiences aimed at fostering children's enjoyment of music'. Aims of such programs focus on enjoyment of music, rhythmic games, proficiency in singing and singing games, along with listening, creating, moving and aural activities.
Although research points to the important role carers can play in these settings and music skills that childcare workers value, the focus of research in these centres has tended to be on children's free musical play, sidelining the role childcare workers play in providing music-making opportunities for the children in their care. That is, there has been little focus as to what childcare workers actually do when it comes to providing ongoing music-making opportunities for young children (there are exceptions, namely the work of Susan Young in England.
In Australia, childcare is viewed as being in a state of crisis, with an absence of nationally recognised measures that explore early education issues (ABS, 2002). In a 2001 report to the minister for Family and Community Services, the Commonwealth Child Care Advisory Council recommended the formulation of a national agenda for childcare, focusing on professional development issues in childcare settings, and aiming to retain and attract skilled workers in centres. In terms of music programs in childcare centres in Australia, there is little guidance for staff in terms of state or national standards, unlike America, where MENC (The National Association for Music Education) has formulated Prekindergarten Standards for Music Education, under the content standards of singing, playing instruments, creating music, responding to music and understanding music.
In order to be accredited, childcare/daycare centres in Australia have to provide programs that foster creative and aesthetic development using movement, music and visual-spatial forms of expression. However, there is little guidance from the Council as to how this should occur.
With so much unknown about the delivery of music in childcare centres and preschools in Australia, I am surprised - and disappointed - that the 2005 review did not include this in its brief.
Peter de Vries Originally published in Music Forum, August-October 2006. Entered into knowledge base 7 April 2008.


Elementary School Students Sat Primary School Examination
Monday, March 23, 2015.GWEN NUNEZ GONZALEZ Reporting: Approximately 7, 343 students weathered anxiety and excitement to recall their English Language Knowledge and Science Knowledge to sit the Part 1 of the Primary School Examination administered by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports Examination Unit.
The Paper 1 of the Examination involves Multiple Choice (English Language) and Science.
Paper 2 includes Letter Writing and Narrative Writing.
High Schools across the country are in charge of coordinating the administration of the Examination.
Day two of the exam will be May 4th at the same centers.
According to the Ministry of Education Examination Unit “The PSE assesses achievement of curriculum content and skills in the four (4) areas of English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science of the National Primary School Curriculum. The examination is criterion-referenced meaning that performance of “each individual is compared with a preset standard for acceptable achievement…The performance of other examinees is irrelevant.”
In this way, the examination seeks not to rank students in comparison to other students (as in norm-referencing) but to report what each student has achieved for individual subjects.
This is expressed as a percentage score.
The results of the examination are intended to be used for two main purposes: 1. Certification of Students at the completion of primary school in four content areas of the primary curriculum; and 2. Educational decision-making to inform policy, planning and practice at national, district, school and classroom levels.
The PSE is not and was never intended to be used as the sole criteria for entrance into secondary schools”.
It is also important to note that Special Arrangements are made for qualified students including Reader/Scribe, Extra Time, and enlarged font size booklets.
This arrangement is coordinated by Exam Unit and National Recourse Center for Inclusive Education (NaRCIE).
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Those of us interested in serious education reform so often bump up against intense opposition, enough to make us feel there’s little we can do as educators or citizens. Thankfully, some people are not left discouraged but take action.
Introducing, The Chicago Wisdom Project and founder Theodore Richards who is also a writer and activist. My conversation with him in a Chicago tapas joint inspired me to profile his mindful and creative approach to educating at risk youth in this week’s True Community, my weekly column about men and education. I hope you’ll check it out and share. This provocative project, which teaches permaculture and art education, deserves wider attention. I feel it’s a model for serious education reform, particularly for inner city schools and urban community colleges.
From the article:
The creative process, of course, is natural. It is not an artifice we impose on ourselves. To create, one must allow ideas to come, let them take their course as we also guide them. Creative ideas grow. Sometimes they’ll be attacked by weeds or insects. They’ll dry up in the sun or get washed away. People will taste them and like or hate them. They are born, ripen, rot and die, yet they are never “finished” completely; they lead to other ideas in endless cycles. The most valuable lesson of exploring one’s creativity, especially for a young person, is that we wish to perfect things but can never be perfect. Creating—cultural participation vs. cultural consumption—is a process. Its purpose is to journey, not to arrive.


Music has been proven to be a very influential tool in engagement and enhancements of other equally beneficial activities. Hallam (2012) studied music education and the possible impact it may have on intellectual development, general attainment and creativity, and personal social development.
One study conducted by Hurwitz et al. (1975) found significant enhancements in sequencing and spatial tasks after only seven months of music lessons for five days a week. Another research conducted by Rauscher et al. (1997) found that active engagement with music impacts spatial recognition by assigning children in preschool to 30 minutes of daily keyboard and group singing lessons.
Morrison (1994) used the data from the National Centre for Educational Statistics to report that high school students had higher grades in english, math, history, and science because of their engagement in musical education. Music education is also seen to enhance creativity especially through activities like improvisation.
Research has indicated significant enhancements in social and personal development through music education and participation. Broh (2002) found that music participation actually increases the level of communication between child and parent and child and teacher. Music participation is seen to directly increase motivation and self-efficacy due to the higher self-esteem children develop through music participation.
Overall, music education and participation has been proven to be an extremely beneficial tool in a child’s life. Mere exposure to music is proven to lead to positive enhancements in all areas especially intellectual and social development.
Broh, B.A. (2002) Linking extracurricular programming to academic achievement:who benefits and why? Sociology of Education,75, 69-95.
Hallem, S. (2012). The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people, International Journal of, 28(3)
Hurwitz, I., Wolff, P.H., Bortnick, B.D. & Kokas, K. (1975) ‘Non-musical effects of the Kodaly music curriculum in primary grade children’. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 8, 45- 52.
Morrison, S.J. (1994) Music students and academic growth. Music Educators Journal, 81(2), 33-36.
Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L., Levine, L.J., Wright, E.L., Dennis, W.R. and Newcomb, R. (1997). Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial- temporal reasoning abilities. Neurological Research,19, 1-8.


Musical education is an important part of the curriculum at Shu Ren. Kindergarten through 5th Grade students enjoy music class each week, led by Jeff Luna-Sparks, aka “Jingle Jeff.” The school puts on three performances each year: a Holiday Concert, a Lunar New Year celebration, and an all-school musical. Pre-school students also have music as part of their curriculum and participate in the Lunar New Year celebration. For students who wish to gain additional experience in musicianship and performance, Jeff conducts an after-school chorus called The Shu Ren International School Chorus.
The music classes incorporate the Kodály philosophy of music which originated with the Hungarian composer and educator, Zoltan Kodály (1882-1967) (click here to hear his name pronounced). We believe that everyone is born with musical aptitude which should be developed as early as possible. The aim is to instill a love of music in each child.
Singing is the foundation of children’s musical development. The singing voice is the musical instrument of children that accompanies them wherever they go. Singing in-tune is a skill that all children can learn.
The Kodály approach is a dynamic, exciting way of teaching and learning based on the developmental readiness of the child. The process involves a sequential layering of skills and concepts designed to build success for every child.
Music education also develops the child’s intellectual and social faculties. When a child plays music games based on the Kodály method she learns to express her feelings with confidence using mime and gesture. Learning the words, melody, and movements of a song help develop the child’s memory. Understanding beat and rhythm develops through the use of movement activities. The development of singing in-tune comes by hearing the song at seven different times sung within the child’s range, joining in the singing, and by isolating the intervals in songs. Furthermore, the duality of learning music and developing intellectually promotes the simultaneous use of the right and left sides of the child’s brain.
As the children grow, music classes change to meet the developmental levels of the children. The classes incorporate the use of puppets, visual aids, interactive materials and song games. The focus of each class will be to develop the singing voice and each age-appropriate music concept.
As the elementary children learn to read and write musical rhythms and melodies in a sequential/developmental plan they are able to create their own songs. Children who study the Kodály method will be able to read or write any piece of music whether they have seen or heard it in the past. When Kodály students begin to play instruments, they learn two or three times as fast as students with no musical background. Typically, these students reach the advanced level of study after one year of instrumental study on wind instruments and after two years on strings. The Kodály method encourages children to learn rhythms, melodies and music reading and writing as separate skills that are then combined when instrumental or advanced vocal studies are attempted. This method lowers frustration and stress for students in advanced studies and creates a feeling of success and accomplishment at every level of study in ages one to ten years of age and beyond.


- Cello and Music Theory
- Skill Levels
- Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced
- Classical, contemporary
- Lesson Duration
- 30 minutes
- Age Groups
- All Ages
Learning to play an instrument is an integral part of learning to appreciate and enjoy classical music on a deeper level. I believe it is important that my cello students not only learn about the technical aspects of playing, but also the reasons why those techniques developed and their importance. A musical education should be accessible to everyone, not just those who live in areas where teachers are plentiful.
Currently teach 6 private students in the Omaha, NE area ranging in age from 12 years to adult. I have previously taught students as young as 6 years old. Additionally, I am an active performer in the area and run a professional chamber music ensemble that regularly engages in music education and outreach.
B.A. Oberlin College and Conservatory
M.M. University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Graduate Teaching Assistantship Awarded 2007-209
Chamber Music America member
Book a Free Trial Lesson
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What came first, the chicken or the egg? In this adorable working including dot to dot numbers 11-20, it seems to be the chicken.
Help the chick hatch from his shell, while his mom watches on, by encouraging your little one to connect the dots! While helping him hatch, your child will unknowingly practice critical counting and numeracy skills!
This worksheet will help your child:
Creating pictures by connecting the dots is fun for kids, giving them the confidence to draw great pictures. What they don’t realize is that while connecting the dots, they’re also practicing important math skills. Print this joyful worksheet for dot to dot fun!
See More Worksheets


With more children spending the greater part of their waking hours in preschool settings today than they did years ago, teachers play an even more critical role in providing daily literacy experiences that many children of earlier generations received at home. The article focuses on the critical role that preschool teachers play in supporting children's early literacy development and presents an instructional framework to help guide early literacy teaching. The framework is based on Vygotsky's learning theory, which emphasizes the nature and importance of social interactions in instruction, particularly between adult and child. We present activity‐embedded assessments that preschool teachers can use to observe and document children's emerging literacy concepts and skills, and describe key teaching actions that scaffold learning of new concepts. In closing, we offer five principles to guide preschool teachers in planning and implementing appropriate activities to promote young children's literacy development. Sample documentation forms are included in the appendices.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/catherine_rosemary/13/


I remember working years ago as an ergonomic consultant for Milco Industries (transferring principles of motion efficiency — learned at the piano keyboard — to industrial application). During the course of the day, the CEO told me that his best employee had a music background. She was the one who found the most creative solutions to problems and didn’t stop until a project was fully completed. She never needed supervision and often exceeded his expectations. It was then that I began thinking about the wider implications of a music education: could it be used to teach specific concepts and skills to people preparing for non-music professions? Could a new teaching pedagogy develop from such an idea and be used in both K-12 and college levels? Yes! (I am working on one now – and will post more about it as it develops.) Here are a few quotes of people from a wide range of disciplines speaking to the benefits of music training.
“The theory of relativity occurred to me by intuition, and music is the driving force behind this intuition. My parents had me study the violin from the time I was six. My new discovery is the result of my music perception.” Albert Einstein.
“Music has shaped my life from an early age. I think of my life as a series of increases in personal discipline. It started with piano lessons.” Jeremiah Brown, Olympic medalist in rowing.
“I owe it all to my bassoon teacher.” Thomas Südhof, neuroscientist, bassoonist and 2013 Nobel Prize winner for his work in the Physiology of Medicine field.
“Most corporate CEOs will tell you they would love to have experts who can find creative ways to solve problems, who have the self-discipline and self-motivation to improve their own work skills while mastering skills to collaborate and cooperate with others to get the job done. Sound like a musician who learns to practice on his or her own and then merge his or her skills with others to produce an orchestrated performance?” Lawrence E. Bethune, VP for Student Affaires and Dean of Students, Berklee College of Music.
“Our data have confirmed a rapid transfer of cognitive benefits in young children after only 20 days of music training. The strength of this effect in almost all of the children was remarkable.” Dr. Sylvia Meoreno, Rotman Research Institute.
“Musical activity involves nearly every region of the brain that we know about, and nearly every neural subsystem.” David Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music (book).
The evidence is overwhelming: music teaches life skills amazingly well. Let’s harness this knowledge to push the music field further. We have new frontiers to explore!


Tuesday, Dec. 10
4-5 p.m. ET
In this program, you’ll learn about assessment techniques, including techniques for beginning writers of all ages, as well as how to use a multilevel language assessment model for students who are more advanced but still struggling. The speakers will discuss how to use assessment data to identify goals and plan individualized interventions.
After completing this program, you will be able to:
- Use assessment results from classroom writing probes to set goals to promote language and communication for students with a wide range of cognitive-linguistic strengths and needs
- Compare and contrast uses of writing probe and analysis techniques to plan individualized goals to fit diverse students’ needs.
Janet Sturm is a professor in the department of Communication Disorders at Central Michigan University. Dr. Sturm's research and clinical interests include developing writing instruction for students with developmental disabilities, computer-supported literacy, tying together literacy assessments and instructional strategies, and classroom communication.
Nickola Wolf Nelson
is a professor in Speech Pathology and Audiology and Director of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD program at Western Michigan University. Dr. Nelson conducts research in language-literacy development and disorders. She is Editor of Topics in Language Disorders
, an ASHA Fellow, and recipient of the Kleffner Clinical Career Award and Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.


Anteaters – A Silky Giant
Most animals are messy eaters, but not the anteater. He’s about as tidy as they come. Anteaters eat –you guessed it—ants. They never destroy ant hills, but carefully take off the top portion of the hill. Then they stick their long snouts into the ant hills and lap up thousands of ants with their sticky tongues.
Anteaters have to work quickly because those ants have stings that hurt. Anteaters spend just a minute or two in an ant hill before moving on. Because they don’t destroy the ant hills, they can come back for another snack later. Now that’s smart thinking!
Fun Facts about Anteaters for Kids
- Ant eaters live in Central and South America.
- There are four species of anteaters.
- Silky anteaters are the size of a squirrel; giant anteaters can be 7 feet long.
- Anteaters are “edentate,” which means they have no teeth.
- Mama anteaters usually have one baby each year. Sometimes the babies go for a ride on mama’s back.
- Tidy: Neat
- Destroy: Ruin, break
- Snout: Long nose
- Edentate: No teeth
Learn More All About Anteaters
Watch this interesting video about anteaters:
A video documentary about an anteater’s life and the uses of its claws.
Question: How long is an anteater’s tongue?
Answer: An anteater’s tongue is about 2 feet long and very thin. It looks like a long piece of spaghetti.
Question: Are anteaters dangerous?
Answer: They are peaceful animals, but they rear up and fight against their enemies, jaguars and pumas.
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Fun Anteater Facts for Kids ." Easy Science for Kids, Aug 2017. Web. 23 Aug 2017. < http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-anteaters/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2017). Fun Anteater Facts for Kids. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-anteaters/
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Phonics help can be an intrinsic intervention strategy for beating dyslexia.
Watch this video as an alternative to reading the page.
The phonic alphabetic code chart is such an important tool for literacy development. It was created by the wonderful people at Phonics International.
This chart shows you which sounds go with which combinations of letters. Every person dyslexic or not should have a copy of this chart.
As you know, there are 26 letters in the alphabet. However the English language is made up of 44 sounds (speech sounds called phonemes). When we break a word down into its smallest units of sound these are its phonemes. For example the word ‘blue’ can be broken down into three sounds (see graphic).
With this simple example you have a four letter word with three sounds (phonemes).
The same example is also made up of three graphemes. The graphemes are the letters used to represent each sound. They can be a single letter or a combination of letters. Click here for Phonic Spelling Help.
In the English language there is usually several ways of writing each sound. To give you an example let’s compare (see graphic):
With these two words you can hear they have the same sound (phoneme) at the end of both words. However it is written
in two different ways (graphemes).
This is what the phonic alphabetic code chart is all about. There are only 150, or so, graphemes used to represent the 44 sounds in the English language. Using the 150 graphemes you can spell any word. Click here for The Truth about How to Spell.
Each line of the chart shows you the different ways to write a single sound. The most common way of writing each sound is on the far left of the line. They become less common as you move right.
The problem is there is almost always several different ways to write each sound. Once you start using the code chart you will realise there is no sound you can't match up to the letters. Click here for Why I Hate the English Language.
The phonic chart gives you the foundations to spell sound by sound. You will realize that the language is simply sounds represented by letters or combinations of letters.
Treat it like you are learning the basics again, going right back to the start. Click here for more treatments and interventions.


Encouraging Literacy Through Seek and Find Books
One of the best things about seek and find books is their ability to promote conversation between the parent and child as they read together. Let’s explore how seek and find books along with your guidance can enhance your child’s literacy development!
FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
A strong vocabulary increases your child’s reading comprehension and improves your child’s writing, speaking, and listening.
Seek and find books are often saturated with objects in a picture, which means they are also saturated with words. Everything in the picture can be verbally labeled. Chances are there is something in the overall scene that is new to your child. There might be a small thimble, Uncle Sam, or a portrait. If you see an object in the scene that you think your child may not know, point it out and label it. Have your child repeat the word and talk about it a little bit to help cement the new word into his or her vocabulary.
Understanding Prepositional Words and Phrases
Prepositions and prepositional phrases are an important part of grammar. Understanding what they are and how they are used will help your child’s writing and editing.
When my child is having trouble finding an object in a seek and find book, I like to give him hints. I purposefully use prepositional words or phrases to help guide him. For example, I may say that I see the object next to a dog, or behind the rubber ducky, or above the tree. Through this exposure he is hearing how prepositions are used in a sentence. Essentially, this is a grammar lesson. As he internalizes what he hears, he is beginning to understand the concept even if he doesn’t know the term, “preposition”. Once he does learn grammar in a more structured way, he has a foundation to build from. And yes, I just ended that sentence with a preposition.
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have” — Maya Angelou
Creativity is the fuel that will help your child generate new ideas, write stories, and become thoughtful thinkers. In seek and find books, you often see things that are not true to reality. For example, in Look! A Book! by Bob Staake (shown below), there is a picture of a cat wearing clown garments. This could be a great starting point for creativity. You could ask your child, “Why do you think the cat is dressed like a clown?” Your child will likely have a creative answer. You can continue the idea by asking more questions about the cat or thinking up a story using the cat as a character. With so many pictures in a scene and imaginative settings, there is an innumerable amount of opportunities for creative thought. Your child will be practicing his or her speaking skills and use of language as they convey these ideas to you!
Need some book suggestions? I got you covered! I found four books created by well-respected authors and illustrators.
Click on the book covers to see them on Amazon.
Yoo-Hoo Ladybug! by Mem Fox
The Find it Book by Margaret Wise Brown
Look! A Book! by Bob Staake
Look! Another Book! by Bob Staake


Prince Grigory Gagarin was born in 1810 in St. Petersburg in the family of Russian diplomat Prince G. I. Gagarin. He did not have a formal art education, but in 1816-1832 he lived in Italy with his family, as his father was the ambassador to Italy, and there he met Karl Brulloff, who became his teacher. In 1832-1839 Gagarin was in diplomatic service, in 1841-1864 - in military service. In the 1840s, he was in the South of Russia where Russia was fighting a war against the Caucasian tribes. His impressions of the war resulted in many paintings, such as Battle of Akhatle between Russians and Circassians on May 8, 1841 (1841-1842), Trick Ridings of Curds and Tatars in front of the Fortress Sardar-Abbat in Armenia (1840s), Kakhetia. Karaagach. The Headquarters of Nizhegorodsky Dragoon Regiment (1841) and others. Gagarin was a very successful books illustrator, he also worked as an architect.
G. Gagarin. by A. Savinoff. Moscow. 1950. (in Russian)
Russian Water-colour in the Collection of Hermitage, Leningrad. Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1975. (in Russian)
Paintings of the 18th-early 20th centuries from the Reserves of the Russian Museum. by K. Mikhailova and G. Smirnov. Leningrad. 1982. (in Russian)


Music, Movement and Performance
The Lower School music program focuses on developing musically independent students who experience, explore, listen to, perform, notate, and create music. Class activities include speech, singing, creative movement, organized dance, drama, reading, writing, listening, performance, instrumental experiences and instrumental technique. Value is placed on the process of learning and the interrelated importance of imitation, exploration, play, practice, demonstration and improvisation.
Music and movement education begins in Preschool, where music classes present hands-on experiences for students to gain an understanding of musical concepts and to become aware of and increase their individual music abilities. The skill framework for our Lower School music curriculum is developmentally driven by the Orff-Schulwerk approach and the National Standards for Music Education, introducing soprano recorder instruction in third grade and small group strings lessons in fourth grade.
Movement and Performance
In Lower Schooldrama is an integral part of the classroom experience. Lower Schoolers are given many opportunities to hone their performing and presentation skills. Plays, puppet shows and student created skits are happening somewhere in the Lower School daily
Twice a year, a special program combining music and dance, and featuring every Lower School student, is shared with the community.Each child in the Lower School participates in winter and spring programs presented to our community during the school year.
In addition, Lower School students perform in AFS community programs including various classroom presentations, Assembly, Arbor Day, and Commencement.


We know that atoms contain neutrons, which have no charge; protons, which have a positive charge; and electrons, which have a negative charge. Protons and neutrons stay within the atom, but electrons are a little like bumper cars. They race around and can even jump from one atom to another. Electricity is a form of energy caused by the interaction between electrons and protons. Electric charges occur as electrons move between atoms.
- Lightning is a form of electricity.
- Voltage is a type of pressure. It determines the force that electricity flows. Amps are how much electricity is present. To understand this, think of a faucet or spigot. If you have a lot of water pressure, the water flows quickly. Less pressure, the water flows more slowly. If you turn the faucet on full-blast, a lot of water comes out. Turn it down and less water is available.
- Batteries contain a weak form of electricity.
- Power plants use wind, water, or fossil fuels to make electricity.
- Conductors are materials, such as aluminum, that electricity flows freely through.
- Resisters, like rubber, slow down the flow of electrons – and electricity.
- Voltage: a type of electrical pressure
- Amp: amount of electricity present
- Fossil fuel: oil, coal, or gasoline
Q and A
Question: Can I do experiments at home with the electricity in my house?
Answer: The electricity flowing through your home is much too powerful to experiment with. You can do electrical experiments safely with an adult using batteries or an electrical experiment kit.
To learn more about electricity, watch this video from Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Electricity Fun Facts for Kids ." Easy Science for Kids, Aug 2017. Web. 21 Aug 2017. < http://easyscienceforkids.com/electricity/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2017). Electricity Fun Facts for Kids. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from http://easyscienceforkids.com/electricity/
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The basic message of the video is that investing in early childhood pays off in the long run. Here's what economist James Heckman has to say about one of the studies that concluded high-quality early childhood learning is beneficial to a child's performance later in life:
"What did we learn? Many things. It's very successful in terms of the economic performance of the children. For each dollar invested you get back somewhere between 7 and 10 percent rate of return per year over the lifetime of the child. Which is a huge rate of return."
Behind this impressive rate of return are large amount of statistics showing that the children who were enrolled in a high-quality early childhood program performed significantly better in school (and later in life) than those who weren't:
"They found that the children that were in the high-quality program were less likely to be retained in the first grade, were less likely to need "special ed", were more likely to be literate by the sixth grade, graduate high school, get a job, pay taxes and start a family. And the crime rate between the two groups -- the randomized group and the control group -- the crime rate goes down by 50 percent. So those look like pretty good outcomes."
A very smart production.


New music teachers often struggle to find a way to connect the content learned in college classes with the content that will be taught in the classroom, since the nature of their work demands a high level of both musical and educational ability, while also the skills to switch from tuning an orchestra to leading a marching band or practicing voice parts with a chorus. Becoming a Music Teacher: Student to Practitioner focuses on making the connections between the college music classroom and public school music classroom transparent, visible, and relevant. Award-winning music educators Donald L. Hamann and Shelly Cooper have created a versatile text for music teacher education, and one that will provide a significant resource for music education students across the US. Based around an innovative organization and approach, Becoming a Music Teacher is made up of 40 short modules that focus on increasing a teacher's comfort and confidence level when instructing or leading groups.
Each module is broken down into four individual components that demonstrate real life transfers from classes to classroom through the components of Personal Awareness, Personal Musicianship, Pre-Conducting, and Professional Knowledge. The Personal Awareness component gives a lesson on good teaching skills by focusing on body awareness, body language, and communication styles rather than abstract theories of education. Personal Musicianship provides a guided learning approach to teaching sight-singing and opportunities to create both vocal and instrumental accompaniments with the songs that are included in the modules. Pre-conducting discusses ways in which certain gestures or concepts could be used in rehearsing a school ensemble through the development of hand/arm independence, posture, and gestures. Professional knowledge links the module to the real world and places it in the context of the workplace, offering advice on how to work with other teachers and administrators, and includes characteristics of successful teachers, the role of schools in contemporary society, and diverse learners.
When taken together, these components help the student develop a genuinely rounded skill set for the classroom. The lessons are activity-based and interactive, allowing readers to experiment, communicate, and provide feedback. The modules are also flexible and have been designed to be easily integrated into a music education classroom and applied to specific age groups, includingadult learners, a demographic many music education students encounter but one rarely discussed in music education classrooms. Each module stands alone, allowing instructors to customize their lesson plans by selecting or highlighting the modules most relevant to their class. This text also includes exercises that promote reflection on professionalism, collegiality, and legal factors that affect both students and teachers, not found in most education texts.


This Old Man, Hush Little Baby, and Hickory Dickory Dock are just a few of the nursery rhymes that you most likely remember from your childhood. They have lasting power. Not only have they been shared for generations, they serve a very important purpose in literacy development. Rhyming helps to develop phonological awareness which a key predictor of future reading success. Use this list of rhyming games and activities to take your child’s rhyming skills up a notch.
What is a rhyme? Rhyme– a word that corresponds with another in it’s terminal (ending) sound (example: hug/rug)
All of these rhyming games and activities are focused on kids hearing and orally identifying and generating rhyming words. The purpose is to develop phonological awareness. These skills can later be applied to reading words and spelling.
At what age should you use these games and activities? Some of these activities can be used with toddlers. All of them are perfect for preschoolers through grade 1.
Let’s get rhyming.
Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Rhyming Songs/Chants with Activities
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