Picture files are an easy addition to any child’s learning experiences. This file is capable of being used in every phase of teaching from phonics to math. The ease of constructing and using the box is not complicated and definitely adds to any child’s learning abilities.
The first item needed to assemble a picture file box is an appropriate box or file in which to store the pictures. This may be an accordion file, a file box, or a filing cabinet. File folders will be needed if using the file box or cabinet.
Label each section with a phonic sound:
Short a
Long a
Short e---(continue through the vowel sounds).
Create a series of sections with consonants, blends, digraphs, compounds, and other sections of phonics that are needed.
If one is adding sections other than phonics, label and search accordingly for those pictures.
Begin a collection of pictures to fit into the categories. Anywhere a correct picture can be found, collect it. In the local grocery brochure, there will be a picture of an apple for short “a”; a grape for the “gr” blend or a long “a” sound. The picture of a cake will yield the “c-v-c-v” pattern.  Old catalogues and magazines will fill your file quickly!
Seeing reinforces phonics lessons for the child in need of tactile learning. If a sound that is needed is particularly difficult to find, search for the appropriate picture on the internet. Be sure to notice the copyright laws before printing! As the child becomes familiar with this collecting process, he/she may want to add their own drawings to the group.
This picture file can be used to introduce letter-sound correspondence through a variety of sorting, classifying, matching and identification games. The file will provide a visual stimulus for writing and art activities as well as supplying visual aids for science and social studies. Often you can add the paintings of the great masters to add more art lessons. Graphs are often found in magazines as well. Many math skills can be incorporated into the picture file.  Check the weekly sales brochures for many math activities.
If possible, laminate pictures, and they will last forever.
The second step with which you can assist your student is to create a second box using the same labeling system. As the child proceeds and is successful with one concept, move those pictures to the second box. This second box may be used as review box, a testing box, or a re-teaching box.
This is a teaching aid that is easy to make and that provides useful resources for almost every subject area. It requires very little maintenance. The best aspect of the picture file is that it can grow to meet more needs. As the picture file grows, it will become more useful.

The 2009 results of the OECD's PISA exam released in November 2010 are a clear indicator that the current state of education in the US is dismal. President Obama touched on the subject in his State of the Union address last night. A Google search using the keywords us students falling behind brings up 493,000 documents. Obviously the subject is on a lot of people's minds. Amidst all of the handwringing and angst over what is wrong with US students, it's hard to believe that at one time students in the United States were the best educated and highest achieving in the modern world. What happened? How did we fall so far behind? And most importantly...how will we ever catch back up? The change occurred when educational systems stopped looking at students as individuals with unique academic strengths and weaknesses and began to regard them as a herd that, for efficiency's sake, needed to be pushed down the educational path en masse.

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There is a trend across the country to provide students the opportunity to study in single-sex environments at the secondary and even elementary levels in our public schools. Proponents of single-sex classrooms state the obvious...that boys and girls are different...and use this as a primary reason for single-sex classrooms. Chief among these differences are:

1. Both boys and girls will learn better when they are not 'distracted' by students of the opposite sex.
2. Students will perform better if their teachers use gender specific teaching techniques in the classroom.
3. Boys and girls have different learning styles and perform better under different temperature conditions.
4. Gender specific stereotypes will disappear in single-sex classrooms.
5. Patterns of brain development and processing in boys and girls are different.
6. Hearing sensitivity is different.

OK...girls and boys are different.

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It is generally understood that well educated citizens provide many positive impacts for a nation including strong economic growth, higher incomes, and a distribution of success across the population. The sad fact that US students are quickly falling behind their peers around the world in academic success is also no secret. The March 2008 Fact Sheet published by the Alliance for Excellent Education reports that US students ranked 15th of 29 countries in reading literacy; 21st of 30 countries in science literacy; 25th of 30 countries in mathematics literacy; and 24th of 29 countries in problem solving. It is obvious that the US educational system is doing something wrong. When asked, most people will parrot the widely held belief that large class sizes are the major contributing factor to our students’ dismal ranking and that reduction in the number of students per class will somehow magically improve our students’ performance.

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Culture is defined as "the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another." Culture is the process of civilization where people strive to bring order to their world within the confines of their belief system.

History, on the other hand, is defined as "a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period or person." By studying history, or the events of the past, we also learn how to interpret the present and what to expect from the future. History teaches us to hope.

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