This book, found at kidstype.org, provides answers to some of the questions that teachers should think about when choosing books for children:

* are some typefaces better than others?
* are serif and sans serif types easier or more difficult for children to read?
* do children find infant characters easier to read?
* how much space should there be between letters, words and lines?
* does typography affect children’s motivation to read?

It also includes children’s comments:

* What do they think about typography?
* Do they notice differences in spacing and typefaces?

Available from National Centre for Language and Literacy, The University of Reading, Bulmershe Court, Reading RG6 1HY, UK

EDUCATION FOR ALL BY 2015: WILL WE MAKE IT?

“A mid-term assessment of where the world stands on its commitment to provide basic education for all children, youth and adults by 2015.

What education policies and programmes have been successful? What are the main challenges? How much aid is needed? Is aid being properly targeted?”

“The number of children starting primary school has increased sharply since 2000, there are more girls in school than ever before and spending on education and aid has risen. That’s the good news, according to the sixth edition of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, released by UNESCO today. But on the down side, poor quality, the high cost of schooling and persisting high levels of adult illiteracy are undermining the chances of achieving education for all* by 2015.”

How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections
by Amanda Blake Soule

“Between work and school, music lessons, and sports practice, there is less and less time to connect as a family. Those few moments together are often spent making meals, doing homework, or watching TV. In this inspiring book, Amanda Soule, a young mother of three, presents simple ways to use arts and crafts and other forms of creativity to deepen family connections.

For parents of all backgrounds, The Creative Family offers unique creative activities for the whole family. The range of projects includes: imaginative play such as dress-up, home theater, and parlor games; arts and crafts such as family drawing time and knitting with children; nature explorations such as creating garden journals and using natural toys; and family celebrations that include making music and displaying children’s art. These fun and engaging alternatives to television, video games, and the computer are meant to captivate children’s imaginations, celebrate their achievements, and express love and gratitude as a family.”

Read more about the book, preview the interior pages, and find reviews on my website: Amanda Blake Soule aka soule mama.

Ordered!

The following is a post by Allie Pasquier, an innovative Early Childhood Educator, to her blog
Bakers and Astronauts titled Creating Art, Conserving Materials.

“How do we encourage children to create with care? How do we teach children about the value of art materials while getting them to continulously create, make, and try? This is something I have been struggling with since beginning to teach.

Everything can be used to make something new, I think, and with that theory in mind I am always accepting balls of yarn, toilet paper tubes, ceramic flower pots, basically anything. We can use things like this from time, and the random donated/found item can become something great in the eyes of a child.”

…continue reading …

“In a style that is both positive and accessible, Big Ideas helps students and educators explore questions, such as: Where does our food come from and how it is produced? How does culture shape our food choices and behavior? What is the relationship between food choices and health? And what are the links between our food and the environment?”

SAMPLE PAGES

The vision for this World Environmental Education Congress is

Caring for this household, in which all life exists, calls for strong ecological identity, solidarity, and sound action at this critical period of the Earth’s history when we need to profoundly and urgently realign human endeavor within the capacities, limits, and systems of our home.

Issues like climate change remind us that environmental matters are complex, controversial, and global. They affect this entire common home of ours. Other issues such as globalization, water supply, food sovereignty, poverty, violence, and war affect all lives on earth. We expect concern to grow as pressures upon Earth’s systems increase and as socio-ecological conflicts intensify.

Environmental education is on the cusp of an opportune moment, when environmental awareness has gone beyond the concerned minority to reach many people in all parts of the world. It has a crucial role to play. Prevention and resolution of environmental issues will require thoughtful, informed, and well-educated citizens to place pressure on political leaders and to make changes in their own lives and by taking action in their own communities.

Together we will celebrate the courage, creativity, and successes of environmental educators working in diverse settings. However our task remains great. This international gathering will allow participants to identify new and persistent challenges for taking our work further.

This Congress is for all educators: professors, researchers, teachers, university students, community leaders, civil servants, museum and park interpreters, consultants, journalists, artists, and all other actors in environmental education. Together, we seek to strengthen education in our neighbourhoods, villages, cities, and regions—to better inhabit Earth, our common home.

Small “is a magazine of creative work on a small scale and for the small sized. Although primarily for children’s products and designs it is also about small-scale productions.”