The post An Educator’s Perspective: Carmen Alvarez, Early Childhood Director, Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District (HCISD) first appeared on Age of Learning.

Age of Learning began its relationship with Digital Promise in 2020 with the launch of My Math Academy, our adaptive, personalized digital program designed to help PreK through second grade students master foundational math concepts and skills. The program is based in research and education best practices. Together with Digital Promise we worked to obtain their product certifications for Research-Based Design and Learner Variability. These endorsed My Math Academy as an effective solution that is based in research about how children learn and supports the unique needs of learners, and they serve as a guide to educators and administrators looking for reliable edtech to bring into their classrooms and schools.

As we enter this new chapter with Digital Promise, we will be working with the League of Innovative Schools to develop an early learning cohort to collaborate on an action research agenda centered around PreK through third grade teaching and learning. Additionally, Age of Learning will offer select League districts the opportunity to pilot My Math Academy and My Reading Academy programs.

To kick off our new partnership, the Age of Learning School Solutions team will attend the League of Innovative Schools Fall Convening October 20-22 in Washington D.C. This event brings together district and education leaders and features a packed agenda of nation-level policy and action meetings, notable guest speakers, and networking opportunities all intended to chart innovative new paths for League schools.

On November 10, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m., we will be hosting a virtual Lunch and Learn event. In partnership with League members, this Lunch and Learn will present Age of Learning School Solutions and bring to life our approach to early learning, personalization, equity, and mastery. This webinar will be a kickoff to our Early Learning Cohort and action research projects throughout the school year.

We thank Digital Promise for our growing partnership and are honored to be supporting the League’s impactful work.

The post Age of Learning Partners with Digital Promise’s League of Innovative Schools first appeared on Age of Learning.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of My Math Academy, a personalized, adaptive math program for pre-k through second grade. This is the first product offering from Age of Learning’s new Schools Division, which provides schools and districts with standards-based early education programs proven to help teachers differentiate instruction and accelerate learning while helping students achieve mastery.

An independent study of over 1,000 teachers and administrators shows that educators are focused on critical priorities that emerged from school closures in March of 2020, including addressing learning gaps and learner variability among students in the areas of math and reading. Furthermore, the same study found that schools and districts are in need of resources that individualize instruction alongside an experience that is engaging for students to use.

Multiple randomized control trials have shown that students using My Math Academy for as little as 45 minutes a week over a twelve-week period experience significant learning gains, and the children have increased engagement, interest, and confidence in learning math. In fact, the skill levels of students using My Math Academy in the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District (HCISD) in Texas have more than doubled since implementation of the program during the 2020-2021 school year.

“Our student body in Harlingen is largely economically disadvantaged and our administrators and teachers care deeply about providing each child the high-quality education they deserve. Our district was focused on addressing math deficiencies with our early learners. When we discovered My Math Academy, we were confident that it would be a powerful tool for both our students and teachers,” said Carmen Alvarez, Director, HCISD Early Childhood. “We have seen tremendous results across our classrooms with students fully engaged in math and developing a love of learning, and our teachers have been able to utilize the rich data from this program to differentiate instruction for each child and to track learning growth. Despite the pandemic, our students have been positively impacted, whether they have been learning remotely, in the classroom, or both.”

Powered by learning science and adaptive technology, the program continuously monitors students’ knowledge through embedded assessments, customized direct instruction, and formative feedback. This combination creates individualized learning paths toward mastery of foundational math skills. My Math Academy has earned both the Research-Based Design and Learner Variability product certifications from Digital Promise and is STEMworks certified by WestEd.

My Math Academy provides educators with real-time insights on student progress, accomplishments, and points of struggle, as well as actionable instruction recommendations and guidance on student groupings. These features enable teachers to spend more time teaching and less time assessing.

“Our curriculum and product teams spent six years developing My Math Academy, a truly unique program backed by research and learning science that has been proven to reduce the learning gap,” said Paul Candland, CEO of Age of Learning. “When millions of students began learning at home more than a year ago, we made it a priority to make our flagship products ABCmouse and Adventure Academy available to families in need of high-quality educational resources. We are now extending that effort by getting My Math Academy into the hands of students around the country as quickly as possible to help mitigate the impact of school closures.”

Age of Learning’s new Schools Division, headed by General Manager Sam Bonfante, is responsible for helping administrators and teachers implement My Math Academy in their districts and classrooms. Bonfante joins Age of Learning with 20 years of senior sales management experience within leading media and education publishing companies, most recently at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

For more information on My Math Academy, visit www.ageoflearning.com/schools/mymathacademy.

The post Age of Learning Enters Schools Business — Launches Personalized, Adaptive Early Learning Math Program, My Math Academy first appeared on Age of Learning.

As in a real classroom, each week focuses on what curriculum experts call a “Big Idea,” such as community, responsibility, change, communication, and cooperation. Students are thoughtfully instructed in reading, math, social studies, and science explorations tied to each week’s Big Idea.

Each daily class encompasses more than an hour of high-quality, engaging, concentrated learning as part of an expertly designed curriculum that addresses standards-based educational objectives. After a teacher-student video segment, students complete independent learning activities including interactive games, art, puzzles, and offline activities.

“At a time when it’s more critical than ever to support children’s individual learning at home, My ABCmouse Classroom Live! meets kids and their parents in the moment with these valuable classes,” said Paul Candland, CEO of Age of Learning. “Experienced teachers make it feel like real in-classroom instruction, right in the home, and their expertly designed classes follow the pattern that young children are used to in school.”

My ABCmouse Classroom Live! is available for free exclusively on the ABCmouse mobile app.

Visit www.ABCmouse.com to learn more about this interactive, structured, daily learning experience designed to help children learn independently at home.

The post Announcing the Launch of My ABCmouse Classroom Live! first appeared on Age of Learning.

The list below includes some of the early academic indicators of kindergarten readiness. It’s by no means comprehensive, but it will provide you with an understanding of what will be expected of your child as well as offer tips to help you prepare him or her for a successful transition to kindergarten.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child listens to and understands stories.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Begin to read board books to your child as an infant.
• Read the complete story first, for enjoyment, without interruptions.
• During additional readings, ask questions about the story, and encourage your child to ask questions.
• Let your child turn pages, showing that he or she knows it’s a story.
• Gradually introduce longer books that require more patience and focus.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can retell stories that have been read to him or her
or tell original stories.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Have your child reread a familiar book and try to retell it.
• Read nursery rhymes together, and encourage your child retell them.
• Provide puppets or flannel board cutouts that your child can use in retelling the stories.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can find matching objects.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Have your child practice matching objects, such as:
  • socks from the laundry,
  • pencils or pens,
  • earrings, and
  • food cans in the pantry.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can sort objects by their attributes: color, shape,
size, and function, such as things that roll and things he
or she can write with.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Once your child can match objects, encourage him or her to practice sorting them into categories like these:
  • Color: Find all the blue shirts, silver coins, and red blocks.
  • Size: Put big bath towels in one stack and small face towels in another.
  • Shape: Find all the round objects in the room.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can identify words that rhyme.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Talk about how some words rhyme: that is, the last part of the words sounds the same.
• Have your child find the rhyming words in nursery rhymes; for example,
  • Jill and hill rhyme in Jack and Jill;
  • Humpty and Dumpty rhyme in Humpty Dumpty; and
  • dock and clock rhyme in Hickory Dickory Dock.
• Play rhyming word games, such as “I know a word that rhymes with house. . . . It is a little animal. . . . It is a . . . mouse!”

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can identify patterns.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Point out patterns as you go about your day, such as patterns in clothing,
  in plants along a street, and in books you read.
• Play pattern-guessing games by arranging objects in a pattern
  (for example, two red, one blue; two red, one blue), and ask your
  child to identify the pattern.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can name colors.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Discuss the names of the colors; show how some colors can be made by combining other colors (For example, red and white makes pink.).
• Read books about colors, such as The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown and A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni.
• Use watercolors to paint, and ask your child to mix colors and name them.
• Ask your child to name the colors around him or her, such as in his or her room, on his or her clothes, and in the crayon box.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can identify some letters and numbers.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Help your child start to distinguish letters in simple words that he or she often sees written. Begin with the letters in his or her name.
• Point out numbers on everything, such as on money, clocks, signs, phones, and the TV remote.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child begins to understand that letters stand for the sounds
he or she hears in words.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Talk about sounds for some of the letters in your child’s name, in books, and in other words that he or she often sees during the day.
• Write your child’s name and other simple words on a piece of paper or a dry-erase board to show how letters form words.
• Use magnetic letters on a refrigerator to make real and nonsense words, and sound them out with your child.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child recognizes some signs.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Ask your child to “read” words seen during his or her daily routine, such as stop on the stop sign, walk at a crosswalk, gas at a gas station, and the names of favorite stores or restaurants.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child begins to recognize some sight words.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Have your child point out words, such as the, a, an, and, I, me, is, was, are, go, and stop, that he or she sees often as you read books together.
• Write sight words on index cards, and play word games, such as a memory matching game, with your child.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child begins to “write” by scribbling; drawing; or imitating letters, numbers, forms, or shapes.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Give your child paper and writing tools in a shoebox that he or she can use to begin to write, draw, or create shapes.
• Give your child a paintbrush and a bowl of water to “paint” on the sidewalk or driveway. (Talk about evaporation as his or her creations disappear.)

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child understands how numbers are used.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Show your child how numbers are used in everyday life, such as:
  • to count items;
  • to keep track of money, distance, weight, and length; and
  • to measure amounts used in cooking.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can count to 20.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Look for opportunities to count items out loud for and with your child, such as:
  • setting the table,
  • sorting clothes,
  • measuring ingredients, and
  • organizing toys.
• Encourage and help your child to count objects he or she sees during the day, such as:
  • stairs,
  • cups of water, and
  • streetlights

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child understands how some words are opposites: up and down, big and little, tall and short, quiet and loud, as well as light and heavy.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Point out examples of opposites that you see.
• Play an opposite-guessing game: “The opposite of day is . . . night!”

Remember, while kindergarten-readiness skills are important and will contribute to a strong foundation for future academic success, the activities that lead up to kindergarten readiness should be enjoyable for your child. Make them fun family times and part of your daily routine so that your child begins to view learning as a positive and natural experience.

The post Kindergarten Readiness: Academic Indicators first appeared on Age of Learning.

A small bin full of water placed on a table can provide young children with hours of learning. I found that when my class of four-year-olds was involved in water-play experiences, there was no such thing as a limited attention span!

Creating this kind of experience is a simple three-step process:

1. Provide objects for your child to use to explore with, like these:
   • plastic measuring cups that float
   • ceramic cups of similar sizes that do not float (non-fragile)
   • tubes
   • small PVC pipes
   • sieves
   • boats
   • plastic bottles
   • measuring spoons
   • feathers
   • rocks
   • funnels
   • small plastic toys
   • wooden blocks
   • an old-fashioned hand mixer
2. Join in the fun:
   • Fill up and pour out the containers.
   • Use the measurement lines on the measuring cups to help teach words and develop language, such as: full, empty, half-full, 1 cup, and 2 cups.
   • Compare objects that float with those that sink.
3. Talk about what you and your child are observing, as in these examples:
   • Since water is a liquid, it changes shape to fit whatever container it’s in.
   • Some things float on water, and some things sink.
   • The way an object is shaped can help determine whether it floats or sinks.

Sometimes, step 3 is difficult to do in the midst of the activity, because your child can become so engrossed that he or she doesn’t have time for you! That’s a good thing, so in my classroom, I would take a few pictures of the children as they played; then I showed them the pictures afterward and posed questions about what they were doing or what they observed. Having a discussion like this will help your child construct understandings and learn to describe ideas, including liquid, density, buoyancy, measurement, matter, and weight—all of which are physical science concepts that he or she will need to understand in later grades. Your child won’t necessarily be able to use or understand these words yet; but through exploration, he or she will have gained experience with the concepts that the words stand for.

Of course, these days, you don’t have to limit yourself to still pictures—you can capture and present short videos that illustrate the things you want your child to observe and discuss. You also don’t have to do this activity with a bin or water on a table; it can be perfect during bathtime, followed by a conversation at bedtime.

As with many science topics, there are some wonderful children’s books about water; one of my favorites is Water’s Way by Lisa Westberg Peters. Share this book with your child to help develop his or her understanding about evaporation, condensation, erosion, and how water flows—through text and pictures designed for a young child’s reading level.

Here are some more ideas for water explorations:

• Place a small amount of water in a plastic bowl. Give your child a thick paintbrush and tell him or her to “paint” with water on the sidewalk or at the park or on the concrete slab in your backyard. Talk about the “disappearing” pictures or letters, which can be a wonderful introduction to a discussion about evaporation!
• Buy an eggbeater or hand mixer at the dollar store. Have your child play with bubbles not just by blowing bubbles, but also by placing dish detergent in a large bin and using the beater to make lots and lots of bubbles. This will also provide hand coordination practice for your child!
• Place ice cubes on a napkin, and have your child watch the ice melt. Have him or her hold the cube for a minute or so, and discuss how his or her warm hand makes the ice melt faster.
• During bathtime, talk about sponges and how they absorb water. Compare and contrast the sponge with a bar of soap, which does not absorb water. Compare whether both can float. Try floating and sinking other objects. Ask questions about why your child thinks this happens and how weight and shape can make a difference.

Remember, you don’t have to be a science teacher to teach concepts like these to your child. All you have to do is create an environment with interesting things to explore and objects to explore with. Put your child in the environment, and become curious and interested in what he or she sees, hears, and touches, and explore right along with him or her. As you do this, you will be planting seeds of understanding about physical science concepts that your child will formally encounter in school before too long.

The post Learning Through Water Play first appeared on Age of Learning.

Reaching this 4-billion milestone demonstrates the power of highly engaging educational activities to bring learning to life for children. It also represents a meaningful contribution to improving educational outcomes at scale. A growing body of researchassessing ABCmouse’s effectiveness shows that the program accelerates learning and helps children make significant gains in early literacy and math skills, with as little as 45 minutes of usage or 15 learning activities completed per week.

Developed by education experts and launched in 2010, ABCmouse is the leading and most comprehensive digital learning resource for children ages 2–8 and has won numerous top awards from education, parent, and media organizations. With a research-validated curriculum for preschool, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and 1st and 2nd grades, ABCmouse has more than 10,000 individual learning activities. ABCmouse is available to families on a low-cost subscription basis for use on computers, tablets, and smartphones.

To support children who are furthest from opportunity, Age of Learning makes ABCmouse available for free in classrooms, public libraries, public housing authorities, and other community centers. Cumulatively, these initiatives have helped educate more than 6 million children across all 50 states, at no cost to families, teachers, or libraries.

“From the beginning, we have strived to help educate children everywhere by making high-quality learning easily accessible to families and educators,” said Doug Dohring, CEO and co-founder of Age of Learning. “We are thrilled to see so many kids engaging with ABCmouse in a meaningful way. We couldn’t be more excited to build on this milestone as we continue to enhance and expand our educational programs.”

ABCmouse is available at www.ABCmouse.com and on all major smartphones and tablets via the Apple App Store, Google Play, or Amazon Appstore.

The post first appeared on Age of Learning.

Indeed, 85% of those polled say that ensuring that children get a strong start in life is one of the nation’s top priorities.

We’re pleased to see this issue is now getting the attention it deserves, as the early years are so critical to a child’s development and prospects for success in school and in life.

Over the past few years, states as diverse as Oklahoma, Georgia, Illinois, Florida, West Virginia, and Maine have adopted statewide preschool or pre-kindergarten programs, and several others are working toward that goal.

Many of the largest cities around the country, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Denver, and Washington, D.C. are actively working to increase access to high quality early childhood education.

This broad public support is consistent with economic analyses of the benefits of early childhood education. For example, according to a research project of the First Five Years Fund, investment in early childhood education yields a 7-10% annual return, greater than the average rate of return for either the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&sd;P 500 Index over the last 40 years.

At Age of Learning, we’ve been pleased to see early childhood education gaining support across the U.S. As we look beyond our borders and make high-quality early learning resources available globally, we’re hopeful that countries throughout the world will increasingly recognize the critical importance of—and take action to advance—early childhood education.

The post Early Childhood Education Increasingly a Nationwide Priority first appeared on Age of Learning.