Volume V of ""The Handbook of Research in Middle Level Education"" highlights action research in middle grades education. As a method of inquiry, action research compels educators to take action and think reflectively about those actions in order to effect positive educational change (Mills, 2000). Teachers, administrators, university professors, and other professionals conduct action research in different ways to examine classroom practices and school issues. Educational action researchers initiate their inquiries in various contexts: alone, in small peer teams, or larger faculty groups (Zeichner, 2001). Using individual and collaborative approaches, educators gain insights into teaching and learning processes. As evidenced throughout this volume, action research in the middle grades occurs in a variety of configurations. This volume examines the dynamic ways that preservice and inservice teachers, school administrators, university faculty, and educational consortia use action research.

A collection of 150 unique games and activities to help support your teaching of phonics in the primary classroom. Following on from the success of their first gem 'Games, Ideas and Activities for Early Years Phonics', Gill Coulson and Lynn Cousins have written a companion gem 'Games, Ideas and Activities for Primary Phonics', introducing more advanced activities and offering a natural progression from the basic sounds introduced in the first book. The 150 activities in this new book will apply to children throughout the Foundation Year and Key Stage 1, but are equally useful for children who have moved into Key Stage 2 but are not yet confident with spelling and still need to reinforce their skills. As with the first book, the ideas provided are not fully-developed lesson plans, but provide a wealth of ready-made lesson ideas to supplement and support your teaching of phonics. Designed with busy teachers in mind, the Classroom Gems series draws together an extensive selection of practical, tried-and-tested, off-the-shelf ideas, games and activities guaranteed to transform any lesson or classroom in an instant. Easily navigable, allowing you to choose the right activity quickly and easily, these invaluable resources are guaranteed to save you time and are a must-have tool to plan, prepare and deliver first-rate lessons.

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Literacy and popular culture are intrinsically linked as forms of communication, entertainment, and education. Students are motivated to engage with popular culture through a myriad of mediums for a variety of purposes. Utilizing popular culture to bridge literacy concepts across content areas in K-12 settings offers a level playing field across student groups and grade levels. As concepts around traditional literacy education evolve and become more culturally responsive, the connections between popular culture and disciplinary literacy must be explored. Disciplinary Literacy Connections to Popular Culture in K-12 Settings is an essential publication that explores a conceptual framework around pedagogical connections to popular culture. While highlighting a broad range of topics including academic creativity, interdisciplinary storytelling, and skill development, this book is ideally designed for educators, curriculum developers, instructional designers, administrative officials, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.

Comprehension Ninja Workbooks are ideal for supporting your child's learning at home. With bespoke non-fiction texts and hundreds of questions, they're packed full of comprehension practice with strong links to the National Curriculum. Created by teacher and bestselling author of Vocabulary Ninja, Comprehension Ninja and Write Like a Ninja Andrew Jennings (@VocabularyNinja), they're perfect for developing those all-important literacy skills at home and for boosting children's confidence in reading comprehension. Key features of Comprehension Ninja Workbook for Ages 6-7: - Covers popular National Curriculum topics currently taught at Key Stage 1, such as Rosa Parks and animal habitats - Features a variety of question types including true or false, fill the gap and multiple choice - Contains illustrations throughout and a fun ninja theme to engage children - Includes advice for parents and answers at the back of the book

What are the beliefs that influence your professional practice? Have you ever thought about why you make the decisions you make as a teacher? What influences your teaching style? Beyond the technical skills and knowledge aspects of education, teachers and student teachers face questions which challenge their beliefs and approaches to their teaching and learning. This book contains a series of short articles which not only offer guidance on key topics but encourage the reader to engage in reflecting on their own practice. Questions explored include: - Is learning through practical work worth the effort? - What can we learn from comparisons with education in other countries? - Is there a smarter way to use digital imagery in your teaching? - What's the point of theory? Isn't teaching just a craft?

Comprehension Ninja Workbooks are ideal for supporting your child's learning at home. With bespoke non-fiction texts and hundreds of questions, they're packed full of comprehension practice with strong links to the National Curriculum. Created by teacher and bestselling author of Vocabulary Ninja, Comprehension Ninja and Write Like a Ninja Andrew Jennings (@VocabularyNinja), they're perfect for developing those all-important literacy skills at home and for boosting children's confidence in reading comprehension. Key features of Comprehension Ninja Workbook for Ages 5-6: - Covers popular National Curriculum topics currently taught at Key Stage 1, such as minibeasts and healthy eating - Features a variety of question types including true or false, fill the gap and multiple choice - Contains illustrations throughout and a fun ninja theme to engage children - Includes advice for parents and answers at the back of the book

Young Children and the Arts: Nurturing Imagination and Creativity examines the place of the arts in the experiences of young and very young children at home and in out-of-home settings at school and in the community. There is great need for development of resources in the arts specifically designed to introduce babies and toddlers to participatory experiences in the visual arts, dance, music, and storytelling/theater. This book presents valuable guidelines for early childhood teachers, families, caregivers and community organizations. Young Children and the Arts presents a comprehensive approach to the arts that is aligned with early childhood developmentally appropriate practice and that combines an exploratory, materials-based approach with an aesthetic-education approach for children from birth to eight years of age. It addresses both how the arts are foundational to learning, and how teachers and parents can nurture young children's developing imagination and creativity. The models presented emphasize a participatory approach, introducing young children to the arts through activities that call for engagement, initiative and creative activity. Additionally, Young Children and the Arts addresses the intersection of early childhood education and the arts-at points of convergence, and at moments of tension. The role of families and communities in developing and promoting arts suffused experiences for and with young children are addressed. Young Children and the Arts examines the role of innovative arts policy in supporting a broad-based early arts program across the diverse settings in which young children and their families live, work, and learn.

This info-packed book is bursting with over 250 mind-blowing facts and illustrations on a range of fascinating subjects, from prehistoric animals and Ancient Romans to curious inventions and foody trivia. Did you know ... Buzz Aldrin was the second man to walk on the Moon, but the first man to wee on it. He weed into his suit and it leaked into his boot. At Spain's Tomatina festival, over 20,000 people hurl over a million tomatoes at each other in one hour. What a food fight! Every fact is accompanied with a hilarious illustration by artist Andrew Pinder to bring the information to life. With tons of awesome things to discover, this book will keep curious kids laughing and learning for hours on end. Also available in the series: 9781780559254 Awesome Facts for Curious Kids: 6 Year Olds 9781780559278 Awesome Facts for Curious Kids: 8 Year Olds

This twenty-third ICMI Study addresses for the first time mathematics teaching and learning in the primary school (and pre-school) setting, while also taking international perspectives, socio-cultural diversity and institutional constraints into account. One of the main challenges of designing the first ICMI primary school study of this kind is the complex nature of mathematics at the early level. Accordingly, a focus area that is central to the discussion was chosen, together with a number of related questions. The broad area of Whole Number Arithmetic (WNA), including operations and relations and arithmetic word problems, forms the core content of all primary mathematics curricula. The study of this core content area is often regarded as foundational for later mathematics learning. However, the principles and main goals of instruction on the foundational concepts and skills in WNA are far from universally agreed upon, and practice varies substantially from country to country. As such, this study presents a meta-level analysis and synthesis of what is currently known about WNA, providing a useful base from which to gauge gaps and shortcomings, as well as an opportunity to learn from the practices of different countries and contexts.

Animals make learning the ABC's fun The amazing animal instructors are clever characters as they make use of items available and associated with them to create the ABC'S A to Z. From the ape using his favorite food bananas and turning them into the letter A to the zebra painting the letter Z similar to stripes. Come and join the rest of the animals to learn their letters of the alphabet. They are entertaining and full of surprises.

Creative Activities for Teaching Pupils with English as an Additional Language is a unique collectionof 150 enjoyable and inspiring games and activities to help support learners of English as an Additional Language (EAL) in the inclusive classroom. This bank of ideas will support you in helping newly arrived pupils settle into their class and school, and are easy to integrate into your planning to support your learners across the curriculum. Designed with busy teachers in mind, the Classroom Gems series draws together an extensive selection of practical, tried-and-tested, off-the-shelf ideas, games and activities, guaranteed to transform any lesson or classroom in an instant. Easily navigable, allowing you to choose the right activity quickly and easily, these invaluable resources are guaranteed to save you time and are a must-have tool to plan, prepare and deliver first-rate lessons.

The Second Edition of Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs offers updated accounts of music educators' experiences, featured as vignettes throughout the book. An accompanying Practical Resource includes lesson plans, worksheets, and games for classroom use. As a practical guide and reference manual, Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs, Second Edition addresses special needs in the broadest possible sense to equip teachers with proven, research-based curricular strategies that are grounded in both best practice and current special education law. Chapters address the full range of topics and issues music educators face, including parental involvement, student anxiety, field trips and performances, and assessment strategies. The book concludes with an updated list of resources, building upon the First Edition's recommendations.

Games, Ideas and Activities for Early Years Literacy provides a wealth of activities to supplement and support the teaching of literacy in a fun and appealing way in any early years setting. The learning objectives identified within each activity will help any early years practitioner integrate the activities into their planning and are based on the principles of the EYFS curriculum. Each of the 150 activities contained within this book focus on a specific element of the Communication, Language and Literacy area of the EYFS. Clear learning objectives and step-by-step instructions for each activity All activities based on the principles of learning through play and draw on familiar early years themes Easily adapted to suit different topics and scenarios Activities need few additional resources or organisation and are easy to fit into a busy timetable Instant ideas to brighten up your classroom!

The book compares the standardized test scores of both elementary and high schools charter schools with the scores for regular public schools located nearby. It examines the position supported by charter school advocates that charter schools should be supported because they outperform regular public schools. Given that charter schools in Chicago have enjoyed a great deal of support from the past two mayors, and that they make up some 20% of all public schools in the city, Chicago is the perfect location in which to examine this critical issue. Charter schools siphon money and in theory better students from regular public schools at a time when public schools in almost every big city faces financial difficulties. Teachers unions oppose them, as do most liberal scholars. Conservatives and big business support them, as do most conservative scholars. The existence of charter schools is a most divisive issue! Yet, little real data exist to allow us to properly judge the effectiveness of charters. The current work changes that by examining test data in a sophisticated manner that allows comparisons between charters and regular schools. This work should move the debate forward, but will no doubt generate controversy as well.

Make teaching reading comprehension simple, enjoyable and impactful with this proven mastery approach. Learn what works and why it works, take ownership of your teaching practice and meet the demands of the Key Stage 2 (KS2) National Curriculum with outstanding results. This book provides many different strategies for teaching reading comprehension in a way that gives all pupils access to a rich variety of texts and boosts able readers' potential. Expert consultant and teacher Kala Williams uses clear explanations of the different mastery methods and why they work, as well as easy-to-follow classroom strategies, such as 'read around the word' and the 'processing chart', that are accessible to all teachers. This book is the perfect guide for any primary teacher looking to solidify their reading comprehension practice and maximise their pupils' abilities.

Owens provides a historical analysis of the ideological movements and reform efforts leading to the Common Core State Standards, beginning with conservative criticism of public schools in the 1930s and culminating in a convergence of the political right and left in efforts to systemically reform education based on free market principles.

A volume in Family-School-Community Partnership Series Editor Diana B. Hiatt-Michael, Pepperdine University (sponsored by the Family School Community Partnership Issues SIG) This volume focuses on research to practice issues related to partnering with families of children ages birth through 5. It analyzes family involvement practices aimed at improving child and family outcomes across a variety of early childhood settings and programs. Collectively the chapters address five themes related to principles of family-centered partnerships: 1. Recognizing and respecting one another's knowledge and expertise; 2. Sharing information through two-way communication; 3. Sharing power and decision making; 4. Acknowledging and respecting diversity; and 5. Creating networks of support The monograph supports the accomplishment of these goals as a whole by providing important insights about exemplary programs and promising practices, informed by current research. Also it highlights policies and theoretical perspectives relevant to these aims.Individual chapters offer a variety of practical strategies and recommendations that families, preservice early childhood students, early childhood practitioners, teacher educators, policymakers, and researchers can use to enhance their knowledge and strengthen their skills for partnering effectively.

- Offers a wealth of practical suggestions on how to support 5-11 year old children with speech, language and communication difficulties - Fully updated with new strategies and sections focusing on working with parents, identification, and supporting children post-pandemic. - First edition won the NASEN/TES Teaching and Learning Award in 2005. - Both authors provide training for practitioners working with pupils of all ages with SLCN and manage the ‘Language for Learning’ project based in Worcestershire. - Like the previous two editions, the book will be printed in full colour.