Learning Our Lessons about Early Learning
Lewis, Anne C., Phi Delta Kappan
Those crib mobiles with their dancing colors and those kaleidoscopic cloth book, s that are meant to be a baby s first are not what my very young grandchildren enjoy. For these babies, the world is like a television from the 1950s - strictly black and white.
What seems like a rather bland way to begin life (and a burdensome restriction on grandparents' gift buying) has been deliberately chosen by my highly educated (sometimes, perhaps, overly so) daughter, who reads the research about babies. "Black and white is what stimulates their coordination," she tells me emphatically.
Such nuggets of information, as reluctant as older generations may be to accept them, are evolving into momentous breakthroughs for parents, schools, and scientists in understanding how young children learn. By the end of this month, the whole country ought to know a lot more because of the events surrounding the broadcast of a documentary directed by award-winning filmmaker Rob Reiner.
Scheduled to be shown on the ABC network on April 28, Reiner's film takes advantage of both brain research and a growing number of national reports on the importance of the early years. If new research continues to build in the direction already outlined by previous studies, the impact on the use of resources and on education in general will be profound.
Reiner put the issue starkly in speaking to the National Governors' Association (NGA) at its winter meeting in Washington, D.C. By age 10, he told the governors, "your brain is cooked." In other words, the brain's elasticity, its capacity to put structure around the process of acquiring and using knowledge, is pretty well set before the elementary grades are over.
What's more, the period of greatest brain development comes very early. It is not third grade, when last-chance efforts to learn to read are what's most important. It is not even age 3. A more propitious time for learning is age 3 months. In light of this understanding, it should not have been surprising when the late Ernest Boyer reported in 1991 that almost all kindergarten teachers across the country (88%) believed the children entered their classrooms with moderate to serious problems related to the richness of their language. And 43% of the teachers believed that children were less ready to learn than their counterparts had been five years earlier.
Boyer's report, Ready to Learn, was followed in 1994 by the Carnegie Corporation's Starting Points, which focused especially on the first three years of life. It was the first national report accessible to a wide audience (i.e., not a researcher's tome) that explained clearly the nature of brain growth and the importance of early stimulation.
Brain cells are in place at birth, Starting Points says, but the interconnections between them have, by and large, not been made. These connections, or synapses, form the brain's physical "maps" that allow learning to happen. In the fast few months after birth, the synapses develop at a tremendous rate, a rate that slows down later. Reiner's reference to the "cooked" brain of a 10-year-old is a way of saying that the process of forming synapses has slowed considerably by then.
Scientists know that nutrition, both prenatal and immediately after birth, can significantly affect brain growth. In addition, they now have evidence that nurturing - the development of an infant's secure relationship with an adult - stimulates the brain to develop physically. Children who experience this nurturing and the corresponding changes in brain chemistry show "far less aggressive behavior later on," Dr. John Constantino of the Washington University School of Medicine told a recent seminar on early childhood learning, sponsored by the Education Writers Association (EWA).
This message was delivered even more dramatically to the NGA by Dr. …


Expectant Mom and Daughter Reading Together
This is a video of an expectant mom reading to her daughter and baby before birth. The auditory system is
fairly developed by month six of pregnancy. Studies show that after birth babies recognize specific books, rhymes,
or music heard in the womb before birth.
Mother adds her own words to text to further explain or respond to baby
Mother talks about the illustrations, pointing to them
Mother asks questions and waits for the child to respond
Mother acknowledges and echoes what child is seeing even though child not quite speaking yet
Child understands the words (receptive language) and attempts to say them in her own way
Fourteen Month-Old Toddler "reading" the Caldecott Honor book, Freight Train, by Donald Crews
This fourteen month-old toddler demonstrates typical behaviors of a child who has been read to every day since birth. He knows what reading-aloud looks and sounds like. He takes his turn as the one doing the "reading." This is a major step in literacy development. He knows that book language sounds different from every day talk. This child has already absorbed read-aloud's basic behaviors, including turning pages from left to right and using a variety of voice inflections, sounds, and rhythms. He is well on his way to becoming a reader when he enters school in a few years.
The focus of attention, never distracted from the book
How he points to an illustration as he "reads," just the way his parents do when reading to him
The variety of sounds articulated. At around ten months babies are able to articulate the many sounds heard in the stream of speech (known as phonemic awareness)
How he turns the pages from left to right, and once turns back to check on a page (even some kindergartners, who have not been read to, don't know which way to turn the pages)
How at the end of the book, the page with the smoke billowing from the engine (kids love train engine smoke) he makes enthusiastic "sh" and "ch" sounds that could echo choo choo that his parents probably have chanted in repeated readings of this book
This beautiful fourteen-month-old's "reading-like" behaviors are a joy to observe. Our hope is that all babies and toddlers will be fortunate enough to have parents and caretakers who read to them every day starting at birth.
KUSI News Interview
Authors Caroline Blakemore and Barbara Weston Ramirez are interviewed on the KUSI News Morning Show.
Channel 10 Morning News — Website Review
Two local teachers (Caroline Blakemore and Barbara Weston Ramirez) wrote a book and created this Web site to show parents that they hold the key to their child's future academic success.


American History and Music Education: A Summary of the 2008 Ohio Music Education Association Research Forum Presented by Dr. Michael L. Mark
Power-Huhtala, Emily M., Contributions to Music Education
The Research Committee of the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) sponsored a lecture by Dr. Michael L. Mark during the 2008 OMEA Conference. Professor Mark presented an enlightening discussion of historical events and trends, and their relationship to the field of music education. This summary highlights key topics from his lecture.
Many readers are familiar with the texts Contemporary Music Education and A History of American Music Education, often required reading for those studying music education. The Graduate Research Forum at the 2008 OMEA Professional Development Conference provided the opportunity to experience an enlightening lecture and question-and-answer session with the author, Dr. Michael L. Mark. Organized in a linear format according to selected topics, Mark highlighted connections between trends in American history and trends within the field of music education. He asked the group to think of the history of the United States as a colorful tapestry containing different threads, of which music education history was one essential part.
Agrarian Society: Utilitarian Music
Utilizing a PowerPoint presentation with numerous visual and musical examples, Mark began the examination through the lens of agrarianism and its relationship to American cultural life. Many people lived in rural areas and musical practice was unrefined by European standards. "It usually violated the rules of traditional harmony...the melody was in the tenor with two harmony voices above the tenor." Music of this era was mostly religious and included The Bay Psalm Book (1639) and The New England Psalm Singer (1770). Mark used the listening example of Chester by William Billings and placed it within the European context as being popular in the time of Haydn and Mozart. Amity, a fuguing tune by singing schoolmaster Daniel Read, was played to demonstrate the influence of the Singing School movement. It was composed as an imitation of European practice, but the composer had no formal study in European theory. Another important movement during this era was shape-note singing. A contemporary example of shape-note singing was Amazing Grace, as performed by the congregation of the Old Regular Baptist Church in Jeff, Kentucky. A later movement of this era was Sacred Harp Singing. A slide displaying an embroidery piece from 1876 depicted a visual rendering of a Sacred Harp Sing. The listening example, a later, more refined performance of Amazing Grace, highlighted the impact of solmization on the improved quality of singing compared to earlier times.
The Industrial Revolution: Increased 'Sophistication'
The Industrial Revolution brought many changes to American culture. "By 1830 [the industrial revolution] had transformed American cities into manufacturing centers that brought workers from rural areas into the cities." The changes influenced music education. "The fast-growing middle and upper classes demanded a higher level of American culture." Lowell Mason (1792-1872) was an advocate for replacing American music with music based on European models. Traditional American music came to be seen as old-fashioned. In Boston, Mason achieved tax-supported music education within the public schools in 1838. Wild Wood Flowers is an example of music employed to persuade the school board to approve music as a permanent subject for study in the Boston City Schools. The song is based on a European model, which Mark critiqued as "bland, insipid, and boring" when compared to the previous American music. Arguments based on the work of Swiss theorist Pestalozzi helped to convince the board of the moral, physical, and intellectual benefits of music. Also convincing was the notion that music in European styles was "scientific, meaning modern and improved." Mark noted that these arguments seem familiar to music education advocates today.
Evolving Beliefs and American Music
Mark proposed that American beliefs continued to evolve and were influenced by a diverse group of thinkers. …


Government-Hosted and -Supported Art
Art Displayed on Government Property
While the government cannot regulate what type of art is posted on private property, it may be able to regulate art that is displayed on public – that is, government-owned – property.
Traditional public forums – publicly owned spaces such as a street, park, or sidewalk that have typically been open to public discourse – are open to all expression protected by the First Amendment. The government may also create a designated public forum by opening up a space that isn’t a traditional public forum to be used for general public discourse. Limited public forums are non-public places such as meeting rooms in libraries and other government buildings that the government has opened for specific groups or discussions.
The government cannot place content-based restrictions on speech that occurs in traditional public forums. At most, they can enforce what are known as time, place, and manner restrictions, which regulate when and how someone may speak. Time, place, and manner restrictions on speech in public forums must be reasonable, which the Supreme Court has interpreted as meaning that “the manner of expression is basically incompatible with the normal activity of a particular place at a particular time.”
Some government property, such as jails, military bases, and courthouses, are nonpublic forums. In this type of forum, the government can restrict speech based on content if it demonstrates that it has a “legitimate interest” in doing so. The government still cannot discriminate against particular viewpoints, however. So, the government could prohibit all posting of religious iconography or other religion-themed art on military bases, but it could not permit the display of one religion's symbols while prohibiting those of another.
It may be possible for the government to create a public forum online. Most government websites are not forums for public discussion; rather, they are examples of the government's own speech, which the government can regulate to whatever degree it chooses. And while websites are clearly not traditional public fora, if the government provides a website as a place for public discussion, the website may take on the characteristics of a designated public forum — a non-traditional space that the government opens up for public discourse. In that case, the government's ability to regulate the speech that occurs on that website would be significantly limited.
Additional information is available at:
Public Funding for the Arts
Under the First Amendment, the government may choose to provide funding for the arts, which can include supporting the creation of specific works and making more general contributions toward art education or museum maintenance. But the government cannot distribute this funding based on whether the government agrees with the message of a particular work, or use funding in an attempt to exert editorial control over a museum's collection.
Because the government has a limited amount of funds, however, it must be able to make some determination about which artists receive funding. The National Endowment for the Arts is one of the largest sources of government funding for art, and Congress has tried several times to put restrictions on the grants that the NEA awards. While the restriction forbidding the NEA from funding to art that “may be considered obscene” was struck down as unconstitutionally vague, the Supreme Court upheld a later requirement that the NEA “take into consideration general standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the American public” in the case National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley. The Court reasoned that, because “the very assumption of the NEA is that grants will be awarded according to the artistic worth of competing applications . . . absolute neutrality is simply inconceivable.” And, because Congress's requirement merely directed the NEA to “take into consideration” decency as a criterion and specifically encouraged “respect for . . . diverse beliefs and values,” the requirement was not an unconstitutional restriction on speech.
The Court did note that “if the NEA were to leverage its power to award subsidies on the basis of subjective criteria into a penalty on disfavored viewpoints,” then the funding provision could be found unconstitutional. “[E]ven in the provision of subsidies, the Government may not aim at the suppression of dangerous ideas . . . and if a subsidy were manipulated to have a coercive effect, then relief could be appropriate.”
Additional information is available at:


In multiple workshops on the second floor of the Sorensen Center, teachers and education majors were taught by other educators about ways they have implemented arts into lessons within their classrooms.
In an Elementary Drama focus workshop, teachers were taught to pantomime folktales to music and narraration.
Workshop instructor Joe Rogan, previous theatre specialist at Glendale Middle School and Wasatch Elementary, explained that by incorporating music and movement to tell a story “theatre can be used as a tool to teach other subjects.”
This is also true for integrating dance into the curriculum at William Penn Elementary, where Jana Shumay said she teaches dance involving all core subjects including science, math and social studies.
According to Shumay, the integrated arts curriculum “is all about getting kids out of their seats and letting them learn in a different avenue.”
Her school’s program allows every student from kindergarten to sixth grade the opportunity to dance once a week for 40 minutes.
Through the program, she and other teachers at her school have seen a greater push for creating and independent thinking.
“They’re not just doing rote learning or copying their neighbor, but they’re trying to create and problem-solve,” Shumay said. “It helps them retain information. Retention is huge. When I integrate dance with science, even six months later they remember it a lot better than if a week later if they just sat there and heard a lecture.”
For Nancy Kertamus, a conference attendee and teacher at Daybreak Elementary in South Jordan, using the arts to teach core subjects has made a noticeable difference in average test scores compared to last year’s students.
“I had a 15-point jump in CRT scores in science because I put dance and music into my curriculum,” Kertamus said. She said the increase from 78 percent to 93 percent worked “because my kids were moving, they paid attention better.”
In Rogan’s concluding remarks of the Dramatizing Literature workshop, she said teaching art as an integrated subject is not only effective, but essential to its survival.
“If [in the school system], there are theatre teachers teaching just for the sake of theatre, eventually theatre will cease to exist in schools,” Rogan said.
Kertamus said this is partially due to people thinking art and music are goofy. She is saddened because this attitude causes them to remove the subjects.”
Incorporating more art and music activities didn’t take any additional funds. Kertamus simply had to get creative.
“I didn’t have to buy anything,” Kertamus said. “Everything I did was with supplies I already had, and I didn’t spend any of my own money, which is hard because you only get about $150,000 a year for 24 kids and it doesn’t go very far.”
Regardless of the challenges, Brianna Frederick, junior elementary education major, was excited to attend the conference to learn from other teachers in hopes to “change kids lives and so that they can understand that they can actually succeed, even if they are told they can’t.”


Before anchors are raised on the kind of post this was
, the kind many folks disagree with, I set sail with this in the hold:
- NCLB says test kids, report what happens, and if you blow, feel the pressure to pick it up. If that makes educators stressed or sad, that level of stress is nothing compared to the stress of being a young person without the skills to be successful.
- The pass-rate is incredibly low, and it's absurd for us not to meet them, and absurd to complain.
- NCLB does not dictate how students are taught, what they are taught, what happens on a Wednesday at 10:36, and if schools and districts make poor choices in their response to the legislation, we ought to critique those poor decisions, and not the context in which they are made, especially given the nature of that context (see 1. and 2. above).
- Basic skills are not basic. They are fundamental, foundational, and critical. In their absence, almost all other leanings are undervalued and under-realized.
- Instruction in basic skills is not necessarily mind-numbing and awful. This manner of instruction, in these settings, undoubtedly exists, and it is the reason so many fail so mightily to acquire these skills.
- There is a difference between using the arts in instruction, and providing instruction in the arts. The former is right on; the latter can be right on, but I'm always reminded of a line from the West Wing: "If the government were in charge of science, we'd have the best iron lung, but no polio vaccine."
- If we acknowledge that there are twin problems in education, one being a so-called "narrowing" of opportunity for high achieving kids, and the other being an inability to provide huge numbers of primarily Black and Latino skills essential, foundational skills, I'm always going to advocate for our efforts to be directed toward solving the problem of how we get more kids learning at a level commensurate to their abilities and the requirements of future life. Always. I'm not denying the existence of the former problem, or that it is a problem, but that it's incumbent on us to fix problems of survival -- and yo, it's diplomas or jail in our cities -- before problems of enrichment.


Children drinking their free milk at school in 1955.
The Education Act - or 'Butler Act' - of 1944 promised 'secondary education for all'. The act attempted to achieve this goal by raising the school leaving age and dividing the all-age elementary education into primary and secondary schools.
Search using Butler Act Education Bill Controlled schools Raising the School Leaving Age
- Jones, K., Education in Britain 1944 to the Present (Oxford: Polity, 2003)
- Gosden, P., The Education System since 1944 (Oxford: Robertson, 1983)
- Simon, B., Education and the Social Order (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1991)


Early intervention is essential to help struggling readers develop the skills to read successfully. 95 Percent Group’s phonics products meet the needs of students receiving Tier II instruction to help address the targeted gaps in their skills.
Our Phonics Screener for Intervention™ (PSI™) is a tool that ascertains exactly where in the Phonics Continuum that the student is experiencing difficulties. Our phonics products (Blueprint for Intervention:® Phonics and the Phonics Lesson Library) were designed to help teachers address difficulties their students are having with phonics skills.
Because phonics instruction is complex, phonics lessons must be well-designed and systematic in order to help students progress. Our products provide the materials needed for explicit, systematic, and sequential phonics instruction.


Learn something new every day
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An oil pastel is a crayon made of pure pigments bound with wax and oil that is available in scholastic, student and professional grades. Oil pastels can be used on a wide variety of surfaces, without the need for priming. They also are more convenient to use than oil paints and can be manipulated to create many of the same effects.
The first oil pastels were developed in the 1920s. They were designed to encourage Japanese children to express themselves with colors and shapes. This type of oil pastel was more deeply colored than a chalk pastel and behaved more like a crayon. Its use in art education became widespread.
In the late 1940s, Pablo Picasso and fellow artist Henri Goetz approached a French art supply manufacturer with their ideas for developing an artist-quality version of the oil pastel. Picasso was intrigued by the possibility that these pastels could be used on many types of surfaces, including unprimed canvas. Goetz wanted a medium that could be directly applied to a painting surface without the use of tools such as brushes or palette knives.
As demand grew for artist-quality oil pastels, a number of other art supply manufacturers began producing their own oil pastels. Artists can now choose oil pastels that are soft and creamy or more like a crayon in consistency. The harder ones can be warmed in the hand to be more pliable when desired. Artist-grade pastels are acid-free and contain pure pigments that are archival quality.
Oil pastels can be used on glass, metal, canvas, art boards and many grades of paper. They are applied directly to the surface in a variety of different techniques. Some artists apply the oil pastels and then use brushes for blending.
Many of the techniques used by oil painters can be transferred to their work with oil pastels. They can layer on color and mix oil pastels with turpentine, mineral oils or other solvents to create glazes. Oil pastels can be used over dried oil painting. They also can be used in mixed-media paintings with watercolors or acrylics.
These pigment crayons are very convenient for using outdoors. An artist needs only to bring his or her oil pastels, drawing surface and any pencils or tools that he or she uses. There is no need for brushes or solvents. The wax and oil binders produce a surface that is never totally dry, enabling the artist to continue working on the picture in his or her studio.
A finished oil pastel piece generally is covered in glass to protect the surface. Oil pastels never dry to the hardness of oils or acrylics. Some people use varnish as an alternative to glass framing.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK!


ANXIETY AND MATHS TEACHING
Teachers anxiety has knock on effect on pupils
According to research published by the University of Chicago (25 Jan) female elementary school teachers can pass on their anxiety and stereotypes about maths to female students, and girls who adopt this outlook and perform worse at maths.
“Having a highly maths-anxious female teacher may push girls to confirm the stereotype that they are not as good as boys at maths, which in turn, affects girls’ math achievement,” said Sian Beilock, Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Chicago. She is lead author of a paper, “Female Teachers’ Math Anxiety Affects Girls’ Math Achievement,” published in the Jan. 25 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Beilock is an expert on anxiety and stress as they relate to learning and performance. The findings are the product of a yearlong study of 17 first- and second-grade teachers and 52 male and 65 female students, which found that a teacher’s maths anxiety affected the maths achievement of girls but not boys.
Other authors were University graduate students Elizabeth Gunderson and Gerardo Ramirez as well as Susan Levine, the Stella M. Rowley Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. More than 90 percent of elementary school teachers in the country are women, and often they get their teaching certificates with little mathematics preparation. Other research shows that elementary education majors have the highest rate of mathematics anxiety of any college major. At most US colleges and universities, the mathematics requirements for students majoring in elementary education are minimal .As a result, students can successfully pursue a career as an elementary school teacher even if they have a propensity to avoid maths. Yet, fears and anxiety about maths may have more widespread consequences than merely having an impact on the achievement of maths-anxious individuals themselves. If people who are anxious about maths are charged with teaching others mathematics—as is often the case for elementary school teachers—teachers’ anxieties could have consequences for their students’ maths achievement too.
So Teachers’ anxiety might undermine female students’ confidence in learning mathematics but also may decrease also their performance in math-dependent subjects such as science and engineering. To determine the impact of teachers’ mathematics anxiety on students, the team assessed teachers’ anxiety about math. Then, at both the beginning and end of the school year, the research team tested the students’ level of mathematics achievement and their gender stereotypes.
To assess stereotypes, the students were told gender-neutral stories about students who were good at mathematics and reading, and then were asked to draw each type of student. Researchers were interested in examining the genders of the drawings that children produced for each story.
At the beginning of the school year, student maths achievement was unrelated to teacher math anxiety in both boys and girls. By the end of the school year, however, the more anxious teachers were about maths, the more likely girls, but not boys, were to endorse the view that “boys are good at math and girls are good at reading.” Girls who accepted this stereotype did significantly worse on math achievement measures at the end of the school year than girls who did not accept the stereotype, and than boys overall.
Other research has shown that adults’ attitudes strongly influence elementary school children, and that this relationship is strongest for students and adults of the same gender. The authors suggest that elementary teacher preparation programmes be strengthened by requiring more maths as well as addressing attitudes and anxiety about the subject. What is also interesting about this study is the revelation that so few teachers in elementary school in the States are men in common with the UK. Importantly the authors believe that, maths anxiety can be reduced through maths training and education .This suggests that the minimal mathematics requirements for obtaining an elementary education degree at most US universities need to be rethought. The report concludes that if the next generation of teachers—especially elementary school teachers—is going to teach their students effectively, more care needs to be taken to develop both strong maths skills and positive maths attitudes in these educators.


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Preschool Music General Information
Susie or Phil are available to teach music sessions at your Preschool centre. These sessions take place once a week for 30-40 minutes for a maximum group of 15 children. For children to receive an age appropriate and developmental music program it is ideal to have them grouped according to age.
Here’s an example of possible groupings – babies 3 months to 12 months; toddlers 12 months to 2 years; 3 yr olds; 4 yr olds. Preschool music programs can be anything from a minimum of 5-8 weeks to a whole term or year.
Preparation for Preschool Music Activities
Susie or Phil arrive approximately 10 minutes prior to the lesson each week.
Ideally, please clear one fairly large space for Susie or Phil to work with all the groups to enable movement and dancing to occur free of distractions. They will need one large table, as well as easy access to a CD player. If there is a piano available that is reasonably in tune she would like to make use of it.
As this is a program that can be implemented during daily activities over the week and throughout the year at the Centre, it is most important that staff support the program and happily participate
in each weekly lesson. As well as giving children a wealth of musical experiences, the program aims to equip staff with techniques to use to teach the material to their children and therefore it is vital that staff partake actively in all the sessions.
Please talk to your staff about these points. In the future you may consider a Professional Development Workshop with the staff at your centre as a follow up to the program.
Children have a natural love for singing, chanting rhymes, moving and dancing, clapping and tapping etc. Even a young baby will instinctively respond to a soothing lullaby or a favourite musical toy. The child’s early fascination and love for music and movement can be channelled into a life-long enthusiasm through an involvement in an enjoyable and active music program!
Why begin with young children?
Children begin to learn at a very young age. The foundations for a successful lifetime are built during these young formative years, and therefore the earlier children can be involved in music activities, the better. By beginning music education at a young age the child has more chance of being meaningfully involved with music in later life as a listener, performer and a creator.
The facts about music education
If we hear, feel, think and do - we will remember and understand.
Musical Aims of the Program
Musical activities promote:
Phil, we really enjoyed your music program this year and I know that I received a great deal of positive feedback from the parents as their children would ask every morning; “Is it Thursday today? Is it a Phil day?” I think it is a sad thing these days that we haven’t more men in the industry as men bring a different dynamic to the program.
We woman can be very sensible and expect law and order yet men are so much more relaxed and just want more fun! So although I sometimes worried about the children getting out of control and unruly as you had jokes with them and made them laugh you were able to stop it when you thought they had had enough and bring them back in control. And the children just loved laughing and being just a little bit silly!
I know that you were with us for such a short amount of time when we look at it in perspective and there are so many possibilities to include in the program, however I felt that you presented some of the most appropriate and gave enough repetition that the children were familiar with the music and songs and what was expected of them. I know that preparation beforehand also helps a great deal. They truly love Funkey Monkey and singing to him at the beginning of the sessions. Fuzzy is a personal favourite of mine and the anticipation of him popping out of his box is exciting.
Dianne Goodall,Director Surrey Hills Pre-School, Melbourne
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Welcome to Music is a great music education resource for teachers and students alike!
teaching music resources and music resources for primary teachers. primary music resources
If you would like us to run a music workshop at your school then get in touch! We have great music lesson plans.
for preschool music we have great preschool music activities and programs and early childhood music.
musical professional development


About the Contents:
The Elementary Education (K-6) Competencies
Language Arts and Reading
Science and Technology
Music, Visual Arts, Physical Education, and Health
Types of questions
Part I: Competency Reviews for Each Subject
Competency description and key indicators
Checkpoint questions and answers
Sample questions with detailed answer explanations
Part II: Two Full-Length Practice Tests
Each practice exam includes the same number of multiple-choice and constructed-response questions as the actual exam
Complete with answers and explanations for all questions
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|Short Name:||L. C. Everett|
|Full Name:||Everett, Leonard C., 1818-1867|
L. C. Everett's largest and most popular collection was The Wesleyan Hymn and Tune Book (1859), published by the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The denominational dedication page in that collection says it was "prepared by Mr. L.C. Everett, of Virginia, a gentleman well-known through the South and Southwest, as an author and teacher of sacred vocal music." In his own introductory remarks, Everett's instincts as an educator are clear. He advised churches to offer a weekly congregational singing class "for the purpose of meeting together frequently, say one evening each week, to practice the tunes under the direction of a suitably qualified chorister or leader, and ... that the entire congregation be invited to attend the rehearsals of the class and join in learning the tunes." For Everett, musical worship was not just the duty of a choir, it was the duty of everyone.
Leonard’s brothers were Asa Brooks Everett (1828-1875), N.E. Everett, & Benjamin Holden Everett. Leonard and Asa developed a successful music education system called "The Everett System," and together with R.M. McIntosh they formed the L.C. Everett Company, which employed approximately fifty music teachers throughout the American south and middle Atlantic.
see also J.H. Hall, Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1914), pp. 96-100.


A Warner Music Bros. Company
Did you know that music can help you create a powerful link between your school and community, while improving your students’ overall performance?
It’s true. Music education actually improves students’ academic performance in other subjects while teaching vital lessons about discipline, teamwork, and self-respect. In fact, countless studies have confirmed the connection between music training and enhanced academic performance. In the year 2000, the College Entrance Examination Board reported that music students scored 93 percent higher than average on their SATs. Studies have also recorded 26 percent more measurable brain activity in musicians.
To help students develop the broad set of literacy skills they need to perform effectively in an increasingly global and complex world, today’s educators must choose instructional techniques that interconnect subject areas.
Setting the standards for music education
Music education plays a critical role in child development — academically, socially, and spiritually. At its most fundamental level, music is vital to humanity, so it is important for us to find the most dynamic, effective educational tools to share the gift of music with our children.
We believe in the inspiring power of music. That’s why Warner Bros. Publications developed Expressions Music Curriculum?, a program that takes music to a whole new level. We collaborated with musicians, composers, educators, and other industry experts to create this curriculum. It was designed for master teachers, beginning teachers, and everyone in between. With diverse multi-cultural content and authentic recordings, this curriculum helps today’s teachers make music a vital part of every child’s life.
Expressions Music Curriculum is the first literacy-driven, interconnected K-12 curriculum that is built from the Nationals Standards of Arts Education (Music). This program begins with Music Expressions?, the general classroom component that builds a solid foundation for continued learning. It continues with a middle school component and methods such as Band Expressions? and Orchestra Expressions?.
Music has the power to transform young minds, and we must work together to ensure that music instruction becomes an important part of every child’s education. When we accomplish this goal, we will have taken a giant step toward helping our children achieve success in the complex world of the 21st century.
Fred S. Anton, CEO, Warner Bros. Publications
For more information about Expressions Music Curriculum, please call 800-327-7643, ext. 1778.


Head for maths ... leave financial decisions to the most numerate member of the household.
If you're OK at maths, you're more likely to be well off.
That's the conclusion of a study by the US think tank Rand Corp, which found that couples who scored well on a short test of math skills accumulated more wealth by middle age than couples who scored poorly.
Researchers found that when both spouses correctly answered three math questions, family wealth averaged $US1.7 million ($1.72 million). That compared with $US200,000 ($202,531) for households where neither spouse answered any question correctly.
Household wealth increased sharply as scores of either the husband or wife rose, the study said.
The study found "a simple test that checks a person's numeracy skills was a good predictor of who would be a better family financial decision maker", said James Smith, distinguished chair in labour markets and demographic studies at Rand and co-author of the study.
Choosing the wrong person as a family's primary financial decision maker can have negative consequences, researchers found.
"While families choose the less-numerate spouse less than 20 per cent of the time, when this does happen, total household wealth is lower," the study said.
The study relied on a sample of married couples from the Health and Retirement Study, a national survey of Americans at least 50 years old that is funded by the National Institute on Ageing.
Skills needed to make successful investment choices are among the most cognitively demanding that a family has to make, especially as people age and assume greater control of decisions about their wealth, pensions and health care, Rand said.
The study also examined the impact that memory, mental status and other cognitive skills may have on household finances, finding that they had far less influence than maths skills.
Among other findings:
- As the maths score of each spouse rose, the per cent of a family's portfolio held in stocks rose.
- A man was the financial decision maker in 62 per cent of the households studied.
- Even when a husband scored zero (out of a possible three points) in his numeracy test, there essentially was a 50-50 chance that he was the financial decision maker. The male bias was smaller among younger couples in the study's 50-and-up age group.


Transition to Kindergarten: Need for Teacher Assistance Beyond That Typically Provided in General Education Kindergarten Classrooms for Language and Literacy Development by Preschool Programs and Services
The less intense the preschool special education service, the less extra assistance was required from general education teachers on kindergarten language and literacy tasks.
|Related Services Only||SEIT Services Only||Related Services and SEIT||Special Class in Integrated Setting||Special Class Program|
|No Extra Assistance Required||0.45||0.1||0.2||0.22||0.16|
|Requires Periodic Assistance||0.31||0.62||0.35||0.4||0.32|
|Requires Frequent Assistance||0.18||0.28||0.26||0.22||0.32|
|Requires Continuous Assistance||0.06||0||0.19||0.16||0.19|
The external advisory panel that helped plan the study and look at results requested that the study look at the impact of placing students with disabilities in general education classrooms. The checklist that was developed and added to the study asks teachers to rate each child regarding how much teacher assistance above and beyond that provided to nondisabled peers was required with key learning tasks such as developing language and literacy skills, personal and social development, cognitive and academic development and physical development.
This slide charts differences in the degree of assistance beyond that typically required by kindergarteners for language and literacy development, based on what preschool programs and services the students formerly participated in.
Preliminary summary of findings
Source: independent research by MGT of America, Inc.
NYSED VESID, DVJ
Oct. 3, 2007


Phonics Awareness, 1st Grade
iOS Universal Education
Phonics Awareness is a comprehensive, low cost educational app based on the pre-reading skills 1st graders must have as they move from hearing sounds, into seeing the letter as a representation for the sound. This is the beginning of true phonics learning. Teachers can easily integrate these lessons into their lesson prep in the Common Core. All instructions are given verbally, and students receive immediate feedback, thereby helping students to achieve grade level.
The Common Core Foundational Skills 1st Grade states:
Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds
a. Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
b. Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes),
including consonant blends.
c. Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in
spoken single-syllable words.
d. Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of
individual sounds (phonemes).
All of these foundational skills are covered in this Phonics Awareness app, making it very usable in any first grade school core program. Over 400,000 people agree. Phonics Awareness is an app any teacher or parent can trust! The check yourself section allows the parent or teacher to see the child’s progress on these skills, allowing them to catch up or keep up with their peers. Using this section as a pretest will target the student’s individual needs.
updated Login link to be behind the Parent Gate


Connecticut (i/kÉ™ËˆnÉ›tÉ¨kÉ™t/) is a state in both the New England and metropolitan New York regions of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south (with which it shares a water boundary in Long Island Sound).
Named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state, Connecticut's capital city is Hartford. Much of southern and western Connecticut (along with majority of the state's population) is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut's eight counties are statistically included in the New York City combined statistical area, the same area is widely referred to as the Tri-State area. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, which is also located within the Tri-State area.
Connecticut is the 29th most populous state, with 3.5 million residents, and is ranked 48th in size by area, making it the 4th most densely populated state. Called the Constitution State, Nutmeg State, and "The Land of Steady Habits", Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States.
Connecticut's first European settlers were Dutch and established a small, short-lived settlement in present-day Hartford at the confluence of the Park and Connecticut rivers, called Huys de Goede Hoop. Initially, half of Connecticut was a part of the Dutch colony, New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers.
The first major settlements were established in the 1630s by the English. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers overland from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded what would become the Connecticut Colony; other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony. Both the Connecticut and New Haven Colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders, considered the first constitutions in North America. In 1662, the three colonies were merged under a royal charter, making Connecticut a crown colony. This colony was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution.
The Connecticut River, Thames River, and ports along the Long Island Sound have given the state a strong maritime tradition, which continues today. Connecticut's other traditional industry is financial services; for example, insurance companies in Hartford and hedge funds in Fairfield county. As of the 2010 Census, Connecticut features the highest per capita income, Human Development Index (0.962), and median household income in the United States. Although Connecticut is a wealthy state by most measures, the income gap between its urban and suburban areas is striking, with several of Connecticut's cities ranking among the nation's poorest and most dangerous.
Matching Connecticut Colleges
Four or more years; Private not for profit; $40,500 average out-state tuition; $40,500 average in-state tuition
University of Connecticut
Four or more years; Public; $25,152 average out-state tuition; $8,256 average in-state tuition
Four or more years; Private not for profit; $34,710 average out-state tuition; $34,710 average in-state tuition
University of New Haven
Four or more years; Private not for profit; $30,500 average out-state tuition; $30,500 average in-state tuition
University of Hartford
Four or more years; Private not for profit; $29,440 average out-state tuition; $29,440 average in-state tuition
Southern Connecticut State University
Four or more years; Public; $13,346 average out-state tuition; $4,124 average in-state tuition
Sacred Heart University
Four or more years; Private not for profit; $32,474 average out-state tuition; $32,474 average in-state tuition
Connecticut College Scholarships
|Jane and Clem Werner Scholarship||$5,000||February 15, 2016|
|Shaw-Worth Memorial Scholarship||$2,500||March 25, 2016|
|Milton Fisher Scholarship for Innovation and Creativity||$5,000||April 30, 2016|
|Marion Maccarrell Scott Scholarship||Varies||February 18, 2016|
|TSI Inc./Arthur J. Abrams Scholarship||Varies||February 27, 2016|
Popular Majors in Connecticut
- Business Administration and Management
- General Studies
- Nursing - Registered Nurse Training (RN, ASN, BSN, MSN)
- Liberal Arts and Sciences
- English Language and Literature
- Speech Communication and Rhetoric
- Political Science and Government
- Elementary Education
- Electrical and Electronics Engineering
- Social Work
- Mechanical Engineering


WHAT does fairness mean to you? Everyone getting the same amount of something? Taking money from the rich to give to the poor?
To me, fairness means equality of opportunity. That the circumstances of your birth should not determine your future. That a poor kid in the country should have as much chance of being Prime Minister as a kid born to parents in an elite city suburb.
Many things determine our path in life, but access to quality education is one of the biggest.
Early childhood learning and school education are the cornerstones of our education system.
But going to uni can change your life too.
University graduates earn more than school leavers — about a million dollars more over a lifetime. Uni grads are also less likely to suffer unemployment and ill health.
From an economy wide perspective, investments in education are the most assured path to higher productivity and higher living standards.
Which is why the Abbott government’s budget reforms to tertiary education sit at odds with its broader economic agenda to boost jobs and growth.
More than that, they look like crude cost savings measures that will hit the poor the hardest.
There were two major changes to universities proposed by the Abbott government’s May budget: first, giving unis the ability to increase fees, and second, increasing the interest students would pay on HELP debts over their working lifetimes as they sought to pay back those higher uni fees.
This financial double whammy on students would not only increase the upfront cost of a degree, but the lifetime costs students would incur to repay their uni debt.
Voters heard precious little about these proposals before the last election — the focus was all about reassuring voters that an Abbott government would safeguard Gonski levels of school funding.
Instead, the May budget proposals would reduce public funding of university places by 20 per cent, saving $1.1 billion over three years, while giving unis free reign to recoup the difference from students through higher fees.
As a fig leaf of fairness, 20 per cent of extra fee revenue raised would go to fund scholarships for disadvantaged students.
The reforms are all based on an assumption that the private benefits of higher education, in terms of higher future earnings, are so obvious, that rational young people would still decide to go to uni regardless of the fee. Why should taxpayers subsidise people to do something they would do anyway? Surely we would rather our money spent on other things, or lower taxes.
The problem is, human beings are not rational. We preference current pleasure over future gain. We focus too much on upfront costs. We also suffer from imperfect information — it’s hard to know what difference a degree will make to your future potential earnings. Better to take that job as a truck driver and get saving on that house deposit.
Because for students from lower-income background, university isn’t about swanning around reading poetry in the main quadrangle. The income you forego while studying is significant. For many students, study is undermined by having to do casual work to pay the bills.
A $100,000 price tag for a degree may well prove too daunting a prospect for some students from poorer backgrounds.
In addition to the higher upfront fees, the government’s changes are also unfair because they mean graduates on lower incomes will pay more over time for the same degree. The longer it takes you to rise up the income ladder, the longer your HELP debt will sit there accruing interest at the higher proposed rate of 6 per cent (as opposed to the current system where debts increase only with inflation of about 2.5 per cent a year).
If you haven’t got rich parents to help you pay the fees upfront, you will accumulate significantly higher debts under the government’s proposal.
Is that fair?
Labor, the Greens and the PUP Senators say no. So it’s likely the changes will never pass the Senate, or will have to be watered down.
COMMENT BELOW: Should the university and student proposals be supported?
A wise government would let this particular thought bubble wither on the vine. We can find the money to fix the budget from elsewhere.
The jobs of Australia’s economic future lie in the delivery of highly skilled services, like healthcare and the professions.
We should be doing all we can to encourage students from low income families to go to university and acquire the skills they’ll need to take advantage of those opportunities.
Wrong way Tony, go back.
JESSICA IRVINE IS NATIONAL ECONOMICS EDITOR


Harmonizing music memories as a part of life story
When the meanings of music education are explored, the clear significance of music as a part of civilization and culture is often mentioned. Indeed, music also has a strong instrumental meaning as it offers harmonizing cultural experiences through the memories and imaginings that remain throughout life, reminding the listener of important interactions, people, and experiences. These experiences are interwoven in many ways with identity and its construction. Important music experiences follow everyone from childhood to old age. Songs from childhood can even have an impact on old people’s memories and strengthen their quality of life and feelings of coherence, especially if they are affected by dementia or other memory illnesses. This article is based on 217 stories that respondents wrote about music experiences connected to important experiences in life. The themes of the stories were handled through content analysis and they focus on changes in human life phases and the problems of growing up. These changes are characterized by smooth periods interspersed with traumatic periods where music has significantly helped in the processing of the life problems. From the music education point of view, the results stress the special meaning of experimental music listening as a promoter of pupils’ personality and emotional life.
Volume (Year): 2 (2013)
Issue (Month): 3 (July)
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||Overview of Music
By studying music, you will gain a broad understanding of the music industry. Generally you can study music classes, a music degree, short course or diploma.
Music education is great as you will be able to perform and practice your skills whilst studying and could lead to becoming a professional artist in this highly competitive and rewarding industry.
Often offered as a degree, double degree or diploma, popular programs that students often study include: a bachelor of applied music, a bachelor of arts - music industry or an advanced diploma of music.
Generally, a music course equips students so that they are ready to find employment in the music industry. This can be in the areas of music teaching, music performing or sound engineering.
The entry requirements for a music course often include an audition, an interview and performance of a special admissions test which is equivalent to the AGMED Grade 7 performance.
Of course, if you want to learn music for your leisure, then there are often musical instrument classes, singing classes or other short courses available at many recreational centres.
Careers in Music
The types of jobs in the music industry are really competitive and quite difficult to obtain. However, careers in music are not limited to becoming a musician.
After studying a music course, you could pursue a career as an arts administrator, music therapist, sound technician, a music teacher, or a technical and further education lecturer. The music industry also needs managers and marketers to work closely with musicians.
Skills needed in Music
If you want to become a musician, then you need to be very dedicated and disciplined as practicing is a large part of keeping your skills finely tuned. A creative mind and passion for music are also essential.
Music, Dance & Drama


The Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly : The Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly By Elizabeth Stocker
ED 205-1 Quit The Monarch Butterfly : The Monarch Butterfly Facts
Where does it live? Spot the butterflies
A monarch being born
Summing it up
About the Author
Resources Quit Facts about Monarch Butterflies : Facts about Monarch Butterflies The monarch butterfly is sometimes called the "milkweed butterfly”
The Milkweed plant is the only thing the butterfly larvae can eat!
Adult female monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. These eggs hatch, depending on temperature, in three to twelve days. Quit Monarch Larvae : Monarch Larvae The monarch first hatch as larvae.
The larvae then feed on milkweed plant leaves for two weeks
After two weeks, the larvae develops into caterpillars that are about 2 inches long. Quit Pupa : Pupa The caterpillars attach themselves to a twig and shed their outer skin to begin the transformation into a pupa (or chrysalis). This takes only a few hours. Quit Finally a Butterfly! : Finally a Butterfly! After two weeks, the butterfly emerges from the Chrysalis.
It inflates its wings with astorage of blood that is kept in its abdomen.
The butterfly waits until its wings stiffen and dry. It’s tired after all that work! The monarch then flies away to start the cycle of life all over again. Quit The Transformation in Pictures : The Transformation in Pictures Click on the picture below to see a photo story of the Transformation process! Quit Where Do They Live? : Where Do They Live? The Monarch Butterfly lives in the North during the spring and migrates to Texas and Mexico during the winter. Quit Slide 9: During the migration, the butterflies travel together in very large groups! Can you spot the Monarch Butterflies? Look closely at the picture. What looks like orange leaves are actually millions of Monarch Butterflies! Quit A Monarch Being Born : A Monarch Being Born Click on the link to watch a video of a monarch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis! Quit Summing It Up! : Summing It Up! Quit Click on the image to view a video about monarch butterflies! About the Author : About the Author Hi! My name is Elizabeth Stocker and I will be graduating from Grand Valley State University in 2012. I am majoring in English Language Arts with a minor in Elementary Education. I love working with children and plan on teaching K-2. I have always been interested in butterflies. If you have any comments or questions feel free to email me at LizE0514@aol.com. Quit Resources : Resources http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/monarch_butterfly.htm


Guidelines on Sustaining Special Education at the Elementary Level
The Department of Education (DepEd), Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE) through the Special Education Division (SPED), continuously supports the delivery of quality educational services to children with special needs. Now on its 3rd year of providing financial subsidy, this School Year (SY) 2011-2012, the 276 recognized SPED Centers will be given support funds with an aggregate amount of One Hundred Fifteen Million Pesos (Phpl15,000,000.00). An amount proportionate to the enrolment and exceptionalities being served by the SPED Center shall be provided.
The subsidy shall be released directly to the recipient schools with fiscal autonomy or through the schools division offices for those schools without fiscal autonomy pursuant to the provision of the DepEd-Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Joint Circular No. 2004-1 entitled, "The Guidelines on the Direct Release of Funds to Regional Offices and Implementing Units."
The subsidy granted per SPED Center shall be utilized to support the implementation of the following activities of the SPED Program as reflected in the approved School Improvement Plan (SIP): Please see Enclosure No. 1 for the Fund Allocation for SPED Centers.
- Pupil development activities, training, educational visits, camp activities, sports and pupil participation in SPED related activities
- Procurement of assistive technology devices like Perkins Brailler, Braille display, speech synthesizer, canes, magnifiers, writing slate and stylus, abacus, Job Access with Speech Program (JAWS), computers, sports, musical instruments, speech trainer, vestibular balls, sensory integration materials, early simulation devices, adapted P.E apparatuses, sewing machines, stove, cooking wares and carpentry tools for the work centers/transition program, etc.,
- Procurement of instructional and reference materials, psychological tests, early intervention materials, science manipulative materials
- Professional upgrading of teachers and school heads and travel expenses relative to participation/attendance to activities relevant to the implementation of the program, training of classroom parent aides, availment of services of allied Personnel namely: psychologist, occupational, physical, speech, behavioral therapists
Upon receipt of the subsidy funds from the DBM, the DepED Budget Division, Finance and Management Service (FMS), Central Office shall immediately issue Sub-Allotment Release Orders (Sub-ARO) to the concerned schools division offices which will administer the implementation of the program.
The Financial and Physical Accomplishment Report on activities undertaken shall be submitted to the Director, Bureau of Elementary Education. Likewise, the basic data on SPED for the current year and the Regional/Division Development Plan/School Improvement Plan citing the activities for the SPED Center for the ensuing year shall be furnished to the same office. Non-compliance shall result in the suspension of subsidy.
Category: Schools / Universities |
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Times Table Flash Pad
product code: 119396
see more in this range by ELC
A great way to introduce your child to multiplication tables, this set includes a wipable pad and wipe clean pen to practice with. Your child can look through the flip pad at the different times tables, and write their answers on the worksheet pads. They can rub their answers out and re-write them as many times as they like.
Suitable from 5 years.
-Write on the pad with the pen provided and wipe it clean
-Learn multiplication tables
-Teaches number sequences
-Helps hone numeracy skills
-Great for visual learners
-Encourage your child to say the times tables out loud
How does this help my child ?
Problem solvingProblem solving
These toys teach your child to work things out for themselves.
Instils confidenceInstils confidence
This toy helps your child feel secure and happy, and enjoy good self-esteem.
This product is available for:
Normally delivered within 3-5 days (exclusions apply including postcode restrictions and extended timescales). Exceptional delivery circumstances beyond our control such as bad weather or courier delays may cause your order to take longer to deliver.
FREE for orders over £50, otherwise £3.95
Order before 4pm for delivery on the next working day to UK mainland addresses. Regrettably this service is unavailable for deliveries to Northern Ireland.
£4.95 on all orders
ELC are happy to refund or exchange any unused merchandise returned within 28 days of purchase upon production of your receipt, as long as they are returned in an unused condition and in their original packaging. Please see Terms and Conditions for details. This does not affect your rights if the product is faulty or mis-described.


Preschool Language & Literacy Development - Scissor Skills and Fine Motor Skills
- can use hands, wrists, and fingers to reach, grasp, and manipulate small objects and tools.
- child can cut out shapes and is turning the paper
Remember, every child will acquire the fine-motor skills needed for handwriting in a different time table. The more your preschool child uses her fingers in activities that help to strengthen their hand coordination, the sooner they will master these skills.
Fine Motor and Scissor Skills
Fine motor skills are our ability to use our hands, wrists, and fingers to reach, grasp, and manipulate small objects and tools.
To develop and strengthen the fine motor muscles that are needed to manipulate a pencil, encourage preschool children to practice their cutting skills.
Learn about children's development of scissor skills and fine motor skills:
Development of Scissor Skills by Tara Calder, OTR/L
It is important to remember that children will develop fine motor skills and scissor skills at different rates. Choose the skill stage that matches your child’s development and be patient but at the same time, make sure to reinforce the proper hand/scissor position. Tip: Teaching the skills with your hand over your child’s cutting hand can help and speed up the learning process.
The following cutting skills are arranged sequentially from the simplest stage to the most complex stage.
Scissor Skill Stages
1. Picking Up and Holding the Scissors
Provide young children with preschool safety scissors (these scissors are specially designed to fit a child’s hand well) and help them to cut while making sure to put safety first. First demonstrate how to hold scissors. Show children how to place the thumb in the upper hole and the first two fingers (index and middle) in the lower hole. Let children practice picking up and holding the scissors.
2. Opening and Closing the Scissors
Help children to learn the motion of opening and closing the scissors. It can be helpful if you guide their fingers with your own so that they can feel what it’s like to open and close the scissor blades.
Prepare one-inch wide strips of construction paper in different colors. Demonstrate how to snip the paper in one cut. Provide a tray to catch the cuttings. To start, hold the paper for your child and have him/her open his/her scissors. Let your child close the scissors to make a cut. Use saved cuttings to make an artwork by gluing the pieces on a piece of paper.
Change texture of paper strips (newsletter, copy paper, construction paper, etc.).
4. Free Cutting Practice
Have children cut play dough with scissors.
Have children cut magazines and advertisements.
Have children cut straws, yarn, or shredded paper.
Have children make fringe on the edge of a piece of paper.
5. Guided Scissor Skills
Scissor Skill – Straight line
Activity: Lily’s Flower Garden
At this stage, children learn to manipulate the direction of the scissors to stay on a line and to stabilize the paper.
Scissor Skill – Small curved line
Activity: EarTwiggle’s Wood Shop
Children learn to turn and manipulate the paper for the scissors to stay on a slightly curved line.
Scissor Skills – Zigzag line
Activity: Lily’s Vegetable Garden (view free sample)
Activity: Grape Juice
Children learn to turn and manipulate the paper for the scissors to stay on a jagged line.
Scissor Skills – Long curved line
Activity: The Rainbow
Children learn to turn and manipulate the paper for the scissors to stay on a curved line.
Scissor Skills – Large circle
Children learn to turn and manipulate the paper for the scissors to stay on the line around a circle.
Scissor Skills – Circles, square, and triangle shapes
Children learn to turn and manipulate the paper and the scissors to cut out simple shapes like circles, squares, and triangles.
6. Scissor Skill Mastery - Complex shapes and figures
Children are able to cut complex shapes and figures.
For free Samples from our Lily's and Eartwiggle's Scissor Skills Practice Workbook visit KidsSoup.com
More fun scissor skill activities and crafts can be found on our KidsSoup member site.


Summer Reading by Grade Educational and Parenting Articles
Browse summer reading by grade educational and parenting articles. Browse all our articles by topic and grade, or use the search.
Share these articles with friends
- Helping Auditory Learners Succeed
- The Best Kids Magazines for the Elementary School Set
- Types of Reading
- Children Benefit from Modeling, Demonstration, and Explanation
- Literacy Development: Cambourne's Conditions
- The Value of Children's Literature
- 30,000 Words: Is Your Child Getting Enough?
- Play it Up! The Best Games for Grade School
- Reasons to Read Aloud to Children
- Stages of Emergent Reading


I saw this some time ago, probably in The Teaching Professor online magazine thingy. The basic idea is to leave your class alone when they are having a discussion. I have done this a couple of times. Yesterday was the first time this semester. Here is the deal. In this class (Physics for Elementary Education Majors), they collect evidence and build models. For that day, the experiments were giving students evidence about what happens to a fan cart when the strength of the fan changes and what happens when the mass of the cart changes.
When it came time to discuss the ideas, I made sure that everyone collected similar evidence and then I told them to discuss these ideas on their own. The primary reason for leaving is that many students want to base their answers on authority (me) rather than evidence. If I am not there, they will have to base their answers on evidence. What do I want to see in a discussion?
- Build ideas based on evidence.
- Critically evaluate other students’ arguments
- Have confidence that their models agree with the evidence.
When I am in the room, I think there are some that think either I won’t let them go wrong or that I will give in and give them the answers. Anyway, after I left them they came to get me after 10 minutes. I am really not sure what went on in the room, but they commented that it went well. It can be scary to let your students alone. I am pretty confident that they can do it on their own.


Posted on January 10, 2015 by Jon Harnum
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The amazing Dr. Carol Dweck explains how your belief about intelligence profoundly impacts your motivation to learn, the depth of your learning, and your persistence in the face of failure. In music, Dr. Bret Smith discovered similar findings. Lots more in Chapter 6 of The Practice of Practice (free shipping in the US).
Want a free color, high-rez poster to hang in your practice room to remind you of this important (crucial) mindset? Here it is. Hope you enjoy the video.
Filed under: Do This, Free Stuff, How, Motivation, TED, Why | Tagged: Action research, Brain, Carol Dweck, Deprogramming, Developmental biology, Developmental psychology, Elementary school, Feedback, Mindset (book), music practice, practice, practice book, practice research, TED (conference), the practice of practice | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 5, 2014 by Jon Harnum
One of the most important chapters in The Practice of Practice—chapter 6–has nothing to do with practice directly, it has to do with what you think about musical talent. Is musical ability “natural,” a gift of genetics? Is it something you’re born with? Something you either have or you don’t? Or is musical talent earned through exposure and effort? Your answer will have a profound impact on your practice: your motivation to practice, how you approach practice, whether you persist in the face of challenges, and how deeply you learn when you do practice.
This stems from Carol Dweck’s work on how your ideas about the nature of intelligence affects how you learn. Here’s a superb summary of her work by Trevor Ragan. Dweck’s studies have been replicated and expanded since 1986 when Dr. Dweck first began her investigations. She has a wonderful book out that covers the topic in great detail, called Mindsets.
Music education researcher Bret Smith has found similar repercussions for musicians who hold fixed (innate ability), or fluid (talent is grown) ideas about musical ability. The kicker is that it doesn’t really matter whether musical talent is genetic or not, it’s your ideas about its nature that shape how you practice. Want to learn more about this topic, and 45 other chapters of great material? Pick up a copy of The Practice of Practice. Learn more about the book here.
Filed under: Motivation, Research Articles, Why | Tagged: Bret Smith, Carol Dweck, Dweck, Jonathan Harnum, Learning, Mindset, Music education, music practice, practice, practice book, read, The Practice of, the practice of practice | Leave a comment »


Early life and education
Crüger was born in Groß Breesen (now part of Guben) as the son of an innkeeper, Georg Crüger. He studied at the nearby Lateinschule (then located in Guben) until 1613, and that school's teaching program included music and singing.
He then traveled to Sorau and Breslau for further education, and finally to Regensburg, where he received musical training from Paulus Homberger. In 1615 he traveled to Berlin, where he studied theology at the Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster. In 1616 he was engaged as a house tutor to the von Blumenthal family; his pupils included Joachim Friedrich von Blumenthal. From 1620 he studied theology at the University of Wittenberg and trained himself further in music through private study.
Crüger composed numerous concert works and wrote extensively on music education. In 1643 he became acquainted with the famous hymn writer Paul Gerhardt, for whom he wrote the music for various hymns. In 1647 he edited the most important German Lutheran hymnal of the 17th century, Praxis pietatis melica.
In 1628, he married the widow of a city councilman. During the Thirty Years' War, Crüger and his family endured many hardships including hunger. He fell ill with plague, and almost died of that disease, losing five children and his wife in 1636. In 1637, having recovered from the disease, he got married a second time, to the 17-year-old daughter of an innkeeper, with whom he had fourteen children, most of whom died at a young age. One of his daughters married a court painter named Michael Conrad Hirt, who did a portrait of Crüger in 1663. Crüger died in Berlin.
|Problems listening to this file? See media help.|
- Nummert, Dietrich. "Mit 24 schon Musikdirektor. Kantor und Lehrer Johann Crüger", Berlinische Monatsschrift, pp. 64–68 (April 1998) (German)
- Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm. "Biografía de Crüger", Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (German)
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johann Crüger.|
- Free scores by Johann Crüger at the International Music Score Library Project
- Free scores by Johann Crüger in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
- Free scores at the Mutopia Project


Growing Language Awareness in the Classroom Garden
For four years, Pat Paugh, a university teacher educator, and Mary Moran, a teacher researcher, collaborated on action research by systematically studying literacy development connected to the latter’s third-grade community gardening and urban farming curriculum. Their goal was to support an existing classroom culture that valued students’ development of literacy as a social practice for contributing to community and society, while also finding pathways for academic language instruction. Two social theoretical frameworks, Critical Pedagogy of Place (Gruenewald, 2003), and Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday, 1978) helped them bridge what was often dichotomized in the urban district as explicit language instruction vs. student-centered and relevant curriculum.
This article from Language Arts (March 2013) illustrates how two aspects of the theory of functional grammar, genre and register, provided linguistic tools that supported Mary’s professional knowledge and her students’ linguistic growth. Together, Mary and her students connected their literacy learning to their involvement in their community.
Access to this resource has been provided by the National Council of Teachers of English, an NCLE Stakeholder Organization.
|Growing_Language_Awareness_in_the_Classroom_Garden (PDF)||1.81 MB|


ERIC Number: ED239430
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1983
Reference Count: 0
Gifted and Talented in Art Education.
Madeja, Stanley S., Ed.
Sixteen author contributed papers focus on exemplary visual arts programs for gifted and talented students. Each program description gives an overview of the program, which includes: goals, student population, location, and a narrative description of the teaching process and course content. Eight papers in the first section review school and community programs: "The Artistically Talented in an Urban Community" (E. Raichle); "Education through Art and Historical Preservation" (L. Sensat, Jr.); "Options for the Artistically Talented" (L. Hanson); "Project Challenge" (S. Sutliff and R. Smith); "CAPP: Creative Art and Printmaking Program" (A. Petrilla); "Extra-Ordinary Art Classes" (C. Jones); "New York City's Music and Art High School" (S. Stember); and "Artistically Talented Program in the Jersey City Schools" (M. Weber and A. Guadadrielo). Section II describes six state and national programs: "The Indiana University Summer Arts Institute" (G. Clark and E. Zimmerman); "Oklahoma's Unique Fine Arts Camp" (J. Nelson); "Seeking the Best: Georgia Governor's Honors Program, Visual Arts" (R. Gassett); "Pennsylvania's Governor's School for the Arts" (C. McGeary and A. Gatty); "The South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts" (P. Dunn and T. Hatfield); and "ARTS/The Program and the Process for Recognition of the Gifted and Talented in the Arts" (C. Dorn); A final section, containing "Serving the Needs of the Gifted through the Visual Arts" (C. Fritz) and "What Happens after the Gifted Program?" (J. Maine and R. Clements), provides commentary on aspects of gifted programming. (CL)
Descriptors: Art Education, Community Programs, Demonstration Programs, Gifted, National Programs, Program Descriptions, State Programs, Talent, Visual Arts
National Art Education Association, 1916 Association Dr., Reston, VA 22091 ($12.50, $10.00 for NAEA members).
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: National Art Education Association, Reston, VA.


5. Assessment must recognize and reflect the intellectually and socially complex nature of reading and writing and the important roles of school, home, and society in literacy development.
Literacy is complex, social, and constantly changing. The literacies of students graduating from high school today were barely imaginable when they began their schooling. Outside of school, students live and will go on to work in a media culture with practices unlike those currently occurring in school (even in the setting of the school media center). Students need to acquire competencies with word processors, blogs, wikis, Web browsers, instant messaging, listservs, bulletin boards, virtual worlds, video editors, presentation software, and many other literate tools and practices. Traditional, simple definitions of literacy will not help prepare students for the literate lives of the present—let alone the future. Consequently, reading and writing cannot usefully be assessed as a set of isolated, independent tasks or events. It is critical to gather specific information about materials, tasks, and media being used with students for both instructional and assessment purposes. In addition, we need to assess how practices are used to participate in the broader media culture as well as to examine how the broader culture assigns status to some practices over others (e.g., texting as contrasted to writing paragraph summaries in language arts class).
Whatever the medium, literacy is social and involves negotiations among authors and readers around meanings, purposes, and contexts. Literate practices are now rarely solitary cognitive acts. Furthermore, literate practices differ across social and cultural contexts and across different media. Students’ behavior in one setting may not be at all representative of their behavior in another. This may be particularly true of English-language learners who may lack the fluency to express themselves fully inside the classroom but may be lively contributors in their families and communities.
In school settings, instruction and assessment should be seen as highly interactive processes. For example, aspects of the learning situation interact with cultural and home environments to influence student learning and motivation. These social situations shape purposes for both teachers and students, influence the conditions and constraints present in the learning context, and affect students’ motivation to engage in reading and writing activities. In the social context of schooling, many factors influence learning and performance. These include types of activities, management efficiency, grouping patterns, teacher and student expectations and beliefs, classroom interactions, and the classroom environment. In addition, factors associated with teaching, such as content, tasks, and materials, all affect literacy learning.
The quality and appropriateness of assessment efforts depend to a considerable extent on the degree to which these complexities have been considered. The quality of an assessment will be low if it yields an incomplete or distorted picture of a student’s literacy. Characteristics of the text, the task, the situation, and the purpose can all have an impact on the student’s performance, and only some aspects of reading and writing will be captured in any given assessment situation. Formal tests need to be considerably more complex than is generally true today. Tests that accommodate multiple responses, different types of texts and tasks, and indicators of attitude and motivation are all essential to a comprehensive view of literacy achievement. Wherever possible, assessments must specify the types of texts, tasks, and situations used for assessment purposes and note whether and when students’ performance was improved by variations in text quality, type of task, or situation.
In order to meet this standard, we must depend less on one-shot assessment practices and place more value on assessments of ongoing classroom performance, assuming that classroom curricula develop the full complexity of literate learning. Finally, when assessment information is interpreted and reported, descriptive information about the assessment tasks and texts and the instructional situation should be included. Given the complexity of the tasks involved, reducing reading and writing performance to a letter or number grade is unacceptable.


In this course students will explore the NSW K-6 English curriculum and the NSW K-6 English curriculum incorporating the Australian Curriculum; strategies and resources for programming, teaching and assessing reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing and representing; ways of differentiating curriculum; the role and value of English in the broader school curriculum; the place of English in the K-12 English continuum (particularly the links between Stage 3 and 4 English); and the relationship between English, literacy and numeracy. Students will analyse student work samples to identify areas of literacy need; and learn how to provide accurate written and oral feedback for students in relation to their literacy development.
|Faculty||Faculty of Education and Arts|
|School||School of Education|
Semester 1 - 2016
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
|Timetable||2016 Course Timetables for EDUC6738|


Developing fine motor skills in 3-year-olds
Explore suggestions to encourage and refine fine motor skill development in 3-year-olds.
At age 3, children are developing fine motor control: they’re more able to move their fingers independently, using them in more complex tasks such as holding writing utensils like an adult, cutting with scissors and making more complex and precise drawings. They have also developed more spatial awareness, allowing them to be more intentional in play. For example, they may be able to stack numerous blocks, unbutton buttons, thread beads and eat with a fork. Using their special awareness along with more developed fine motor skills enables them to complete tasks they weren’t able to a few months ago.
Michigan State University Extension suggests the following activities for children to take part in to develop fine motor skills:
- Dressing and undressing dolls
- Playing with blocks
- Threading beads
- Sand play
- Using different size containers for water play
- Tearing paper for collages
- Manipulating zippers and snaps
For parents who are having difficulty getting their children to engage in activities that are helpful in skill building, try putting away some of the toys laying that don’t encourage skill development, only giving your child access to the toys that promote skills your child may need to work on. Children also tend to play longer if parents are active with their children during their play sessions.
You can check out the American Academy of Pediatrics website for more ideas or see these articles on theMSU Extension website:
- MSU Extension educator Elizabeth Gutierrez suggests that parents and children engage in the four types of play to help them refine motor skills, physical skills, learn to problem-solve and regulate emotions in her article “Playing with Children Encourages a Variety of Skills."
- MSU Extension educator Kittie Butcher explains that every area of development – physical, cognitive, communication and social/emotional – can be enhanced when children engage in pretend play or make believe in her article “Childhood Pretend Play Builds Critical Skills for Late Years."


Grade 3The Common Core State Standards call for students in grade 3 to proficiently read grade-appropriate complex literature and informational text (RL/RI.3.10) such that they can ask and answer questions by referring explicitly to a text (RL/RI.3.1).
Students delve deeply into texts to uncover both the central message and supporting details, identifying the logical connections between sentences and paragraphs in a text. They can compare and contrast two or more works with the same topic, author, or character, describing the traits, motivations, and feelings of characters or how ideas relate to one another. Additional Standards for Reading Literature (RL.3.2-9) and Standards for Reading Informational Text (RI.3.2-9) offer detailed expectations for student academic performance in preparation for college and careers.
Helping students understand what they read is a crucial element of grade 3. In grades K-2, children begin to master the decoding skills described in the Standards for Reading: Foundational Skills. Students in grade 3 use these emerging skills to negotiate multisyllabic words, which in turn increases their fluency and confidence when reading new and unfamiliar material. Students emerge from grade 3 with an ever-expanding academic vocabulary that they use in their writing and speaking.
In support of the reading standards, students are taught to ask questions of a speaker or classmate to deepen understanding of the material in ways elaborated in the Standards for Speaking and Listening. Students read aloud fluently and offer appropriate elaboration on the ideas of classmates, building on what has been said before.
Two new Writing Standards (W.3.4andW.3.10) are introduced in grade 3. They call for students to develop and organize writing in a manner appropriate to the task and purpose and to write routinely for a range of time frames and contexts. Gaining expertise at writing narratives teaches students to describe accurately what happened and helps them recognize and select the most relevant information when reading. Students’ readings of history and science texts provide models of connecting and sequencing ideas when writing to inform/explain or to express an opinion. In all student writing, the use of specific facts and descriptive details is emphasized, as is correct spelling and punctuation.
There are two additional instructional priorities to address over the course of grade 3 regarding the foundational skills of reading:
- Grade 3 is a pivotal year for students to build their word analysis skills so that they are reliably able to make sense of multisyllabic words in books (RF.3.3).
- Reading fluency assessments administered at the start of the year (and throughout the year as necessary) should be used to determine a student’s fluency level. Students who have not yet achieved grade-level fluency and students learning English will need direct fluency instruction. Like their more proficient peers, they will need opportunities to build fluency through independent reading and opportunities to analyze closely how syntax and the meaning(s) of the text influence expression and phrasing (RF.3.4).


Online Consultation on Education in Post-2015 Agenda Concludes
3 March 2013: The online consultations as part of the Global Thematic Consultation on Education have concluded. This Global Thematic Consultation considers: lessons learned from reviewing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) Initiative; persistent and emerging challenges and their future implications; and input into the nature of the post-2015 framework.
Online consultations took place from 10 December 2012 to 3 March 2013, on the World We Want 2015 platform, in four key areas: equitable access to education; quality of learning; global citizens, skills and jobs; and governance and financing for education. Summary reports are available online for the first two topics.
According to the summary, the consultation on equitable access to education discussed, inter alia: education access, quality and relevance; poverty as hindering education; the role of education in development and rural empowerment; equal opportunities for girls; and education governance, financing and training. Participants supported a continued focus on free, universal and compulsory education with a shift to focus on quality, retention, enrollment and inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable groups.
The consultation on quality of learning discussed, inter alia: balancing foundational skills with broader outcomes on learning quality; obstacles to the quality of learning, including poverty, political will, shortages of quality teachers and cost; and policies and interventions, especially to support marginalized groups and promote gender equality; and the role of different actors. Participants supported free-standing, specific education goals that recognize education as a basis for achieving human rights and other goals and include qualitative and quantitative indicators.
A High-level Meeting (HLM) on Education, convening on 18-20 March 2013, in Dakar, Senegal, will review the consultation findings, identify gaps and opportunities and examine education policies. The HLM is expected to produce a final summary report to contribute to the UN High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (HLP) and intergovernmental consideration of the post-2015 agenda.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) co-lead the thematic consultation on education, which is supported by the Governments of Senegal and Canada. The Education Consultation is one of 11 consultations on key topics related to the post-2015 agenda. [Education Consultation Website] [Summary Report of the e-Discussion on Equitable Access to Education] [Summary Report of the e-Discussion on the Quality of Learning] [Education for All Initiative] [UNESCO Website on Education in Post-2015]


In Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers to Classroo... Larry Ferlazzo combines literacy development with short and rigorous classroom lessons on topics such as self-control, personal responsibility, brain growth, and perseverance. In this tip, he outlines 7 elements teachers can incorporate into their lesson plans to maximize their success.
There are obviously many, many things that teachers can do to maximize the chances of an individual lesson going well. This tip shares just a few elements that research (and personal experience) tend to say are important. It is not designed as a universal checklist for teachers to ensure that every lesson they do includes every characteristic listed. On occasion, some successful lessons might not include any of these qualities. Other times, some duds might include most of them.
- Strategic Introductions
A strategic introduction to a lesson includes several aspects:
- Novelty: Grab students’ attention by introducing information, a topic, or a lesson in a different way.
- Relevance: Provide explicit suggestions on how students will be able to transfer what they learn into other aspects of their lives.
- Written and Verbal Instructions: When students forget what to do, teachers can then just point to the instructions instead of repeating them.
- Modeling: Explicity model your thinking process, and show students examples of other students' work.
- Activate Prior Knowledge: Remind students of how what they are going to learn relates to what they have previously learned.
- Translating: Ask students to "translate" important concepts into their own words.
Creating opportunities for students to move—at least a bit—during lessons can be successful. Students could move to be with a partner for a quick "think-pair-share" activity, or go to a small group to work on a project for a longer time.
Choices can include being asked for their partner preferences, allowed to choose which reading strategies they would like to demonstrate, invited to choose where they would like to sit during small group sessions, or given two or more options of writing prompts.
- Minimize Lecture & Maximize Cooperative Learning
Studies show that smaller groups work best, with three or four students being the maximum. I personally prefer sticking with pairs for most of a school year, and possibly moving to three near the last quarter after six months of student experience with the process.
- Wait Time
The average time between a teacher posing a question and a student giving the answer is approximately one second. Multiple studies show that the quality and quantity or student responses increases when the wait time is increased to between three and seven seconds.
Games are good tools for review, and can function as a quick three-minute break or transition time.
It has been found that if students are expecting to receive "rapid" feedback—a teacher's verbal or written response shortly after the work is completed—the quality of student work increases.


Being a parent is the most rewarding and yet challenging job we will ever have in our lives.
Knowing that we all share similar issues and being able to share our solutions to them can help each of us as we work to foster our children’s growth.
On this page are links to some wonderful articles that can help us all navigate the problems of parenthood.
Beware of Lead!
Lead poisoning is a danger for babies, children and adults. The best way to protect your children and yourself is to become learn about the causes and prevention of lead poisoning. It is also important to get your young children tested for lead poisoning, just ask your doctor for a simple blood test to ensure your child's health. This is omething we highly reccommend that you have done. And click here for more information about lead poisoning.
Never Shake a Baby!
Each year more than 3000 children are diagnosed with Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). Sadly, 60% of the children diagnosed will suffer lifelong effects and 25% will die. And yet, Shaken Baby Syndrome is 100% preventable. All of our staff members receive training in SBS. It is also important to be sure that you and all those who care for your child are educated about Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Be On Tick Watch for Your Child
While we all look forward to the beautiful weather that we are beginning to experience, we don't enjoy the buggs that are beginning to come out too. One of the biggest concerns are black legged ticks and Lyme disease.
Saying No Is Hard But Important
Sometimes it feels like we are always saying no to our children, but often it is very important. This article can help you to feel better about it.
Being read to and exploring books and stories are essential ingredients to children's literacy development.
Click here for an easy activity to make to go with the book Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom. (And everyone loves this story!)