#Primary School

[one-time-i-dreamt]

George Bush Jr. was the new primary school teacher.

[nando161mando]

This is happening in Louisiana.

[reasonsforhope]

The global number of children not attending school has declined by nearly 40% since 2000

Note: Some definitions, though this varies by country and there does not appear to be a universally agreed-upon definition. Primary school = roughly 5 to 10 years old = elementary school Lower-secondary = roughly 11 to 14 years old = middle school Upper-secondary = roughly 14 to 18 years old = high school

"The chart shows the global number of children and adolescents who are not in school across primary and secondary education.

According to the most recent UNESCO data, this number has fallen from 390 million in 2000 to 244 million in 2023. That’s nearly a 40% reduction. The global population of children has grown during this time, making the decrease in out-of-school children even more significant.

Many more children are getting an opportunity to learn now than 20 years ago, but progress has stagnated in the last five years. [Note: A significant amount of that no doubt due to the pandemic.]

Historically, more girls than boys were out of school, but this gap has nearly closed. Unfortunately, the global aggregate data split by gender has not been updated by UNESCO since 2019. This makes it hard to track recent progress between boys and girls."

-via Our World in Data, July 29, 2024

[incognitopolls]

Line leader was a classroom responsibility where one child stood at the front of the line when walking down hallways and led the rest of the class. Many classrooms gave this privilege on a rotational schedule, though some had other non-changing bases like alphabetical order of names. This responsibility made anon super, super anxious as a kid, so please tag why you liked/disliked!

–

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[lackadaisycal-art]

This is a deck of Happy Families cards I drew for my mum / myself, since it's a great game to teach kids "Have you got?"/"Do you have?" "Yes, I have."/"Yes, I do." in EFL classes, and her old deck from the 90s was in tatters

[3png]

Kindergarten Classroom. (2000s)

[intothestacks]

Adventures in Librarian-ing

Context: I've been using my spare laptop at work due to some computer issues, so my computer when checking stuff out has stickers on it.

Kindergartener: I like your axlotl sticker! :D

Me: Thanks!

Teacher: ...Your what?

Me: Axlotl. This guy here. It's a type of salamander, the kids have all been crazy over them the past few years. Not sure why.

[nostalgicbunnii]

[miss-shirley]

24.02.23 - Day 52/103

Can't believe there's so little of my break left yet still so much left to do 🥲 I did get a good chunk further today though which means I can at least relax a tiny bit on the last weekend off (still need to study for the exam tho). Comfort mug and nice scented candle were excellent supplies.

did some laundry

finished summarising all the Sachunterricht seminars

planned most of the lessons for next week and prepared some of the materials

took a walk to school to tidy up my corners of the classroom and check out the supply room for my upcoming unit on air

copied some worksheets while I was there

got some loose-leaf tea to make my own mixture since I seem to be coming down with a cold 😢

[obsessedbyneon]

Primary school 'De Dapper', Amsterdam. Designed by Jelles

Scan

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I got trapped in my primary school gym by some feral/zombified garden gnomes.

[rainn-dropz-world]

[reasonsforhope]

"Parents of tweens will likely be aware of the daily battle over when to give their child a smartphone. They are probably forced into discussing it over breakfast, on the school run, at bedtime – after all, no kid wants to be left out if their friends all have one.

Which is why a town in Ireland came together to devise a solution.

Parents and teachers in Greystones, County Wicklow, launched a town-wide ‘no-smartphone code’ in May, when headteachers from the town’s eight primary schools wrote to parents asking them to sign up to the ban. By coming together en masse, the thinking went, parents could do away with the peer pressure around smartphone ownership.

Now, ministers in the Irish cabinet have approved new guidelines on the banning of smartphones in school, which were brought by education minister Norma Foley on 7 November. The proposals would help parents to collectively implement smartphone bans, with government support. Ministers are also considering outlawing the sale of smartphones to all children of primary school age.

“We can already see smartphones creeping into our primary schools,” explained Rachel Harper, headteacher at St. Patrick’s school, which led on the initiative. “Parents, even at the junior end, were already getting worried about what age their kids were going to be asking for smartphones.”

Parental concerns around the dangers of smartphones are justified, according to the latest scientific research. In 2020, a systematic review of academic studies investigating smartphones, social media use and youth mental health found that, in the last 10 years, mental distress and treatment for mental health conditions had risen in parallel with the use of smartphones by children and adolescents...

There’s also a desire, said Christina Capatina, a Greystones parent whose daughters are aged 11 and nine, to prioritise face-to-face interactions over digital ones for as long as possible. “Childhood is getting shorter,” she said. “It’s really important for them to be in a place where they can be happy and enjoy being out, just being children.”

Parents in Greystones are now empowered to hold off giving their kids access to the devices until the age of 12, when they transition to secondary school in Ireland.

Eight months since the ban came in, what has its impact been? “It has completely solved the problem,” said Capatina. “Instead of having long conversations about it, this is so simple.”

The code is voluntary, so some parents have chosen not to take part, but enough have signed up to create a sense of phoneless-ness being the norm. While some in the media have argued that the code demonises technology, Harper refutes this: “We’re not against technology. We’re not against phones. We’re just simply asking them to wait till secondary school.” [Again, that's age 12 in Ireland.]

She said the launch of their no-smartphone code led to school principals all over the world getting in touch with messages of support, an indication it seems of how universal parents’ fears over childhood smartphone use are.

And with ministers now working on guidelines for communities that wish to follow in Greystones’ footsteps, Harper is proud of all she and fellow parents have achieved. “It’s nice to be an ambassador in a positive way,” she said.

-via Positive.News, November 17, 2023

[arc-hus]

Allenmoos Pavilion II School Renovation, Zurich - Roger Boltshauser

[lackadaisycal-art]

Some classroom cue cards I've made for one of my uni courses