Hello fellow  classmates  in child development  class  I would  like  to  thank  you  for  your  support  and  helpful  comments  in this  class .  I will  continue  to   follow  your  blogs. A special  thanks  to  Dr.Nagel  for pushing  me  to  expand  my  knowledge  of child  development .

Testing children is a hot topic in the state I live in right now. Indiana testing has been changed because of the length of the test. The teachers and parents felt it was too long and the results have been poor. I do think testing intelligence is not a exact science. I have evaluated tests before and the topics and the criterion used for scoring was ambiguous. In my classroom I do four check points for my children where different objectives is assessed through our curriculum. Our curriculum is called Teaching Strategies . It is curriculum with ideas on lesson planning, assessment for infants to kindergarten age. The objectives focus on predictors for school success. I like the fact the objectives include all aspects of learning for the whole child.

When I was researching the whole child approach to teaching I came across a website that is geared to the subject. It started through the organization called ASCD(Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development), This organization is a global leader in developing and delivering innovative programs, products and services that empower educators to support the success of each learner(www.ascd.org/about-ascd.aspx). The organization provides comprehensive needs assessment that includes emphasis on emotional development, safety and health. They want children to not only have academic success but to have a lifetime of success in varied of areas.

The organization has partnered with some schools in Europe focusing on health which is an issue some of those countries like the Solvenia. This has organized to be called SHE. Schools for Health in Europe. The schools are in about 43 countries that established a network of national coordinators. The schools focused on improving the health promotion and making it an integral part of policy development in European Education and Health sectors.(www.she@cbo.nl).

School health  is a  broad concept  which  promotes activities  for  policies that  relate  to  physical  and  social  environment,the curriculum  and  family  links  to  the community . This  program  is trying  to make  schools  in Europe  better . I  think  this  is  great  to include  all  aspects  of learning  for  children  so they are well  rounded .

References:
www.ascd.org.
www.she@cbo.nl
www?teachingstrategies.com