Fun with Phonemes

What We Do | Global Partnership for Education

What We Do | Global Partnership for Education



Message from Tina:
My goal and vision is to get more involved with educational programs which promote childhood development throughout the world.  The Global Partnership for Education supports children and families all over the world.  I like this site because its members collaborate to help provide an education for children who have had a difficult time in life.  For example, this organization invites the public to get involved or invest in children who have be abused, violated, homeless, and living in poverty. With help from The (GPE) and other organizations, all children who are in need, now have a better opportunity to obtain to a quality education.  I am also interested in this site, because it offers me an opportunity to become a member and join in to become an agent for social change.  Members of The Global Partnership for Education have been activity involved with engaging stakeholders and policy makers to make decisions which positively affect children and families everywhere, especially in the rural areas of underdeveloped countries.  n Please click on the link to learn more from articles and videos sharing more information about the (GPE).  Have you ever considered joining aorganization which promotes social change.  What visions do you share with the (GPE)?  
Thanks, Tina
  




The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education. /

Global Partnership for Education. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.globalpartnership.org/partners

The Word Bank Group. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org/

Multimedia Archives - Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

Multimedia Archives - Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

Please use this link to review interesting topics related to childhood development.  Here you will find short videos that give you visual of new innovative child related ideas in education, science, and more.  I posted this resource simply because it provides inspiring information which can help to promote children and families.

Simpson's Geometric Craft Challenge

I posted this video simply because there were parents involved with their children's geometric task assignment.  So often, parents really need to hear something positive about their children in order to be supportive to the teachers throughout the year.

Part 2 - High-Quality Kindergarten Today - The Classroom Environment

The children in this center are actively engaged in learning through play.  I am impressed with the teachers who provide the children with so many valuable ways and opportunities to learn.  The small group centers also provide teachers an opportunity to work with each child on a one-to-one bases, in order to see how each child learns through differentiated instruction.

Healing Trauma, Building resilience: SITCAP in Action

Steele, W., & Kuban, C. (2014). Healing trauma, building resilience: sitcap in action. Reclaiming Children And Youth, 22(4), 18-20.

I just read that one of the most important factors that educators can do is to provide a safe environment and relationship for children dealing with trauma.  One way to do this is not to pry and get children to talk about an area that they simply are not ready to talk about yet.  If a child says “No,” then that will empower them to feel safe around the educator who accepts the child’s answer.  In addition, allowing children to draw pictures about their feelings is also empowering, in that when needed, children can draw in a positive picture, or perhaps gain more from a detail added to the picture, (Steele, & Kuban 2014, p 19).


How can adults become more caring, supportive, and useful in the lives of children who suffers from trauma?  

When Home Is Tough, Making Students Feel Better At School

News, N. (2015, September 12). When home is tough making students feel good at school. Retrieved from Newscast Weekend Addition : http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=439155605&m=439727459&live=1

This is a news cast from NPR News Saturday Edition.  It offers insight as to how professional development helps teachers when working with children dealing with trauma.  Do you think that all positions where children are involved, should require this type of professional development?

In a classroom in the Bronx borough of New York City on a recent school day, a little boy in a green shirt got very frustrated. He was sitting on the floor with his fellow second-graders as they were going over a math problem with their teacher, when he suddenly turned away from the group and stamped his feet. It seemed like he was mad that she had called on another student. But instead of reprimanding him, the teacher asked him to chime in.

"You agree?" she asked him. "Do you want to take a look at it?"

The boy said yes and continued taking part in the lesson.

Like a lot of his classmates at Mott Haven Academy Charter school, this 7-year-old boy is in foster care. Two-thirds of the school's 330 or so elementary students are in the child welfare system, meaning they're in foster care or getting preventive services to keep them at home.

These are kids who have witnessed domestic violence or experienced abuse. Principal Jessica Nauiokas says her teachers know the cases and receive training in trauma to watch for any signs of behavioral or psychological problems.

"We try to respond in a way that keeps the kids engaged and keeps them in the classroom," she explains. "Where in other schools, if a student got up and walked away from the circle, pouted or stamped their feet and kind of acted defiant, those teachers might escalate that" and send the child to the principal's office or to detention.

A New School For Underserved Kids

There are roughly 400,000 children in foster care in the United States. Because they move around so much and lead such unstable lives, these kids are the very definition of students at risk. Studies have found they have lower test scores and graduation rates.

Haven Academy's approach is shaped by its partnership with The New York Foundling, one of the country's oldest agencies for children and families. CEO Bill Baccaglini said he wanted to build a new school for the type of kids served by his agency, because their academic outcomes are so bleak.

"Kids in the system, so to speak, usually by grade eight or nine are three grade levels behind their general community counterparts," he explains.

The entire setting at Haven Academy is geared toward making kids feel safe enough to learn. The schools is housed in a bright and colorful new building, every classroom has two teachers, and classes never have more than 26 students. Art, music or dance is offered every day. There are two social workers — a behavioral specialist and an outreach worker.

Social worker Gabriella Cassandra teaches a weekly class on social and emotional skills. She says it's about "how to focus, how to recognize how they're feeling, what to do when they're having what we call 'big feelings,' how to calm down, how to self-regulate."

Cassandra works with the teachers and students. She said she also spends an hour or more each day at the beginning of the school year dealing with the city's various social service agencies.

In some ways, Haven Academy is a more intensive version of what's called a community school. Upstairs from the school, in the offices of New York Foundling, there's a clinic for students and the neighborhood that provides physical and mental health services. The agency can host meetings there with biological and foster families so the kids don't have to travel.

The cost per student is slightly less than the citywide average at $18,000, according to New York Foundling. Baccaglini says that the charter is able to provide more services by limiting its overhead, and that it doesn't have unionized teachers.

Stability For The Homeless

The school is used to working with homeless students, too. This year about 20 percent of its kids are either doubled up with other families or living in a shelter. Child homelessness is rising in New York City — and around the country.

A recent study found that approximately 8 percent of city public school students are homeless, but only about 5 percent of charter students are. Experts believe it's harder for such students to get into charter schools because the lotteries for entry and application processes are more onerous for families in crisis. But Haven Academy is already in contact with the agencies that serve these children.

One fifth-grader living in a shelter, whose family doesn't want us using her name, says she was worried about telling other kids about her situation. But she says she loves coming to Haven Academy.

"When I come to school, I'm always ready to learn — and learn new things," she says. "I feel free when I'm at school."

Feeling good at school seems to have also contributed to good academics. Despite the stress these kids are going through, they've been scoring higher than the citywide average on their state math and reading tests.

Nauiokas, who helped launch the school, attributes that to high-quality teaching — but she also credits her partner, New York Foundling.

"I think opportunities to help develop a young person's character and develop a young person's coping skills and perseverance abilities, and their habits of mind — that to me is the responsibility of a school environment," she says.

This fall Nauiokas will get to share her experience with the U.S. education secretary and his team: She is one of four principal ambassadors to the Department of Education, and she wants to help schools throughout the country learn more about working with at-risk children.

It all adds up: Learning early math through play and games: EBSCOhost

It all adds up: Learning early math through play and games: EBSCOhost

The Best Kindergarten You've Ever Seen!

PLAY!
I have never seen anything like this playground / kindergarten classroom.  What a great place for children to grow and learn mentally and physically.  The  architect Takaharu Tezuka, suggested that although the nose level is high, children in this center show great concentration.  Every child seemed to be engaged and happy.

How will these kindergartner's learning be affected by not having walls (boundaries), desk and chairs, or traditional playground equipment?  

Listen:  NPR News Educational Topics 

I love listening to NPR News on my ride to and from work.  NPR as several interesting topics for educators to listen to.  

Every Kid Needs a Champion

This TEDTalk video is a great one to watch during pre-planning.  Prepare to get even more excited and energetic about the new school year!  "Must view!"

Who was the champion in your life?

Positive School Culture 

Although we are studying early childhood in 8851 and most likely working with children in K-5, this video was helpful to me with tips, suggestions, and ideas that I needed for the adolescences, teens, and young adults in my family and neighborhood.  (Fast forward as needed).

How could early childhood educators promote a positive school culture?
What will you do differently after viewing this video?  

Alphabet Knowledge and the Importance of Literacy

I have been challenged by McLachlan & Arrow (2014) after reading their article on Promoting alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness in low socioeconomic child care settings: A quasi experimental study in five New Zealand centers.  The authors raised my level of thinking about my own personal development needs in teaching reading.  McLachlan & Arrow (2014) reiterated what Nuttall (2005) shared as important things for teachers to consider:  “Three main things shape curriculum decision making: teachers’ initial training; their awareness of different curricula and theories; and their conception of their own role” (p. 820). 

As you read through this article, you will be reminded of a few Early Childhood Courses that exclusively taught on the importance of literacy.  Yet, as this article points out, many certified preschool teachers are not properly skilled in the alphabet principle in literacy acquisition, phoneme and phonemic awareness, (McLachlan & Arrow, 2014 p. 821).  This article suggests more time is needed for professional development in order for teachers to teach reading properly.  Are you confident in your ability to teach reading considering its importance in cognitive child development?  List curriculum and personal development training that has helped you to become confident in teaching literacy in primary grades.

McLachlan, C., & Arrow, A. (2014). Promoting alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness in low socioeconomic child care settings: A quasi experimental study in five New Zealand centers. Reading And Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 27(5), 819-839.

Early Childhood Education In 13 Steps

This article touches on the key benefits of Early Childhood Education. If we instill these lessons into children when they're young, children will reap the educational and social rewards as they get older. What do you think about the 13 "benefits" listed in this article?

“Philosophy for Children” Aids Student Math and Reading Levels

Could philosophy-based discussions led by students be the key to improved math and reading levels. A year-long trial within UK primary schools suggests that this may be the case.
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jul/10/philosophy-for-children-pupils-maths-literacy