Over the next few days I will be posting some photos of the recording session that Alex and I were involved in on Friday, at good friend Angie’s studio. Tina, another good friend,  (from The Purple Jam Music Studio – link below) was also there – Tina and Angie have written the music and provided the technical support as we develop a package of goodies to go with our ‘in the Garden’ texts which were published last year. This is an exciting time – the package will be launched in mid-September, so keep watching this space! 

The new learning calendar is up as well, with more training going ahead in July, for teachers, teaching assistants and childcare workers. So take a look if you are interested.

www.thepurplejam.musicteaching.info 

We are so fortunate in the calibre of the people who facilitated the PD as well. Alex is a very experienced Speech Pathologist, with a passion for assisting children, and sometimes we, as teachers, overlook how much speech pathology can offer educators! Lisa, who also presented, is one of the most knowledgeable teachers around, in terms of her professional approach, and developing effective strategies and programs for children with learning delays. Thanks also to Rochelle. Her professional support and her wonderful catering contributed immensely to the success of the workshop. What a fabulous evening of learning, laughter and fun!

*** Come and join the next workshop on perceptual motor development with Alex, Melinda (another super star with dual degrees in education and occupational therapy) and Lisa. The three day workshop covering the ten domains underpinning learning and use of the FILTA has been scheduled for September 2008 and January, 2009. We look forward to your joining us for more fun-filled and interactive workshops!

Term 1 is the term where you get to know the children in your class, and see who works well with whom. Term 2 is the term where you really get engaged in good teaching and learning programs – but it has so many holidays to interrupt the schedule. Term 3? Well, by now, most teachers know who is struggling and who is sailing, and the program gets fine-tuned so much more effectively.

This is the term where referrals happen for those children who are struggling. Most schools have a list of screening and testing tools which offer snapshots of information, but many are not for classroom teachers to use: these are the assessments which guidance officers, speech pathologists or occupational therapists use. There really are limited screening tools which offer value for the time investment within a classroom. It has always been the belief of 5energies© that well-informed teachers are effective teachers and we offer a three day-training program which includes use of our teacher–friendly FILTA© (5energies© Integrated Learning Tool of Australia).

What does the FILTA© do? It gives integrated base-line information about a child across ten key learning domains, such as visual and auditory perception, fine and gross motor skills and receptive and expressive language. It also gives direct information to the teacher about areas of delay for each child, and opportunities to build in skill development sessions to engage and assist those children. Our recent cohort studies (screening of 60 new Prep students starting school) at the beginning of Term 1 raised some interesting results, which have allowed the two schools involved to really fine-tune programs and cater for these students.

The learning community is such a unique one. Teachers give so much of themselves, but operating from a position of greater knowledge is very satisfying. 5energies© will be running FILTA© training in the next mid-term break. Please give us a ring for more information and welcome to term 3. May it be a satisfying term for teachers and their students everywhere.