Join the HFA Community
"If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.
That way, their children don’t have to be slaves of praise.
They will have a lifelong way to build and repair their own confidence."
~ Carol S. Dweck
What is Happy Faces Academy?
Happy Faces Academy is an online learning community for K6 students, their parents & educators.
For many primary public school students there are no FREE curated source of available online educational resources. Many learners readily consume online content but have a limited idea of how to become information users & producers.
(N.B. Currently, we are focused on resources for lower primary learners.)
For many parents, supporting their child's online learning remains a daunting challenge.
For primary school educators who are regularly feeling overwhelmed with a deluge of information but no step by step instruction or modelling; this is your free professional development resource and (PLC) professional learning community.
Happy Faces Academy will serve as a supplemental & central resource for stakeholders who are committed to maximizing their learning.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel - Happy Faces Academy.
Stay tuned as we strive for your satisfaction & success!
When should I use this website?
24 / 7 / 365 Anytime, anywhere.
This website will be updated regularly, as time & our other duties permit.
Users are encouraged to bookmark, explore and share this website with others.
Why should learners use this website?
If you're currently a lower primary student, this site will improve your reading and listening comprehension; help you to transform a potentially stressful situation into a positive one and so much more.
Ease the transition and supercharge your academic future with 21st century skills future-ready skills.
If you're a parent of a lower primary school child, let us help you maximize your child's learning potential and foster a growth mindset.
If you're an educator / administrator, consider sending us a link to your website via email so that our visitors can reach you too !
All education stakeholders are welcome.
I'm not in lower primary, should I use this website?
Yes, you may learn foundational skills and build your knowledge base.
Ease your transition into upper primary.
Prepare for high school and supercharge your academic future with 21st century, future-ready skills.
If you're a parent of a upper primary school student, we are preparing resources to help you maximize your child's potential and foster a growth mindset.
There will be lessons, learning challenges, educational activities, login codes, downloadable & digital resources and so much more.
Lessons are designed to accommodate self-paced asynchronous independent learning for most students and minimal adult supervision for students performing below grade level.
Duration of each lesson will vary based on student's reading level, intrinsic motivation, attention span and interest; approximately 8 - 15 minutes per lesson; approximately 2 - 4 hours per unit.
After completion of each unit, students will be able to check your understanding with the quiz/challenge below each unit / lesson.
If you're an educator / administrator, consider sending us a link to your website via email so that our visitors can reach you too !
All education stakeholders are welcome.
Why was this website created?
We want to offer curated content especially for Caribbean primary students, their parents & educators in a central resource.
Here are 3 tutorials that include rationalizations that are similar to mine. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hjm0CnSLVU
Why is there a HAPPY FACES ACADEMY YouTube channel?
YouTube is where ALL our videos are currently hosted for easy access by all stakeholders.
So, subscribe and share so that others can access helpful information easily!
Did HFA get permission to read aloud those books on YouTube?
We attempt, as often as time permits, to contact authors and publishers to obtain permission to read their books because we believe this is the best path. However, we have not let that course of action restrict our read alouds or other video content.
We believe that our YouTube channel is covered by the fair use doctrine:
It is our understanding that the Ministry of Education, Jamaica signed a contract in May 2021 with JIPO that allows up to 20% of each creative work to be used for educational purposes.
“Fair Use” is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
First, our videos are free; we don’t charge you to view them.
Second, our read alouds are for educational purposes and to promote literacy, love for reading and lifelong learning. And third, our read alouds also constitute a transformative use in that we add commentary, activities, and our original voices to the work as a whole.
However, we do not retain a lawyer, so on the rare occasion when a publisher or author flags our video for copyright reasons, we will not contest it and the video will be taken down.
If you are an author, publisher and you believe that your work was used without attribution or permission, please email us happyfacessacademy@gmail.com
What is the initial goal of Happy Faces Academy (HFA)?
In essence, our initial goal is to help K6 students and other stakeholders gain functional knowledge of 21st century skills while maximizing their potential through access to available online resources.
We hope that they will not only become purposeful information consumers but also information producers who are information literate, productive and fulfilled global citizens.
We aim to support the educational needs of K6 learners by:
building & maintaining a supportive learning community of like-minded stakeholders.
providing information about available online educational resources.
providing single sign on access to curated online educational resources.
providing edutainment while demonstrating best practices and professional standards.
promoting lifelong learning.
Why should I join the public branch library?
Public libraries have more staff, more resources, sponsored competitions and longer opening hours.
Plus they're open during the holidays while schools are closed.
Visit the Jamaica Library Service website to learn more.
How can I join the Book Club?
Lower primary school students who are interested in reading & discussing one book biweekly, please email to indicate your interest & your parent's permission.
A dedicated space will be created soon and linked here.
How can I join the Spelling Club?
Weekly online spelling practice to enhance lower primary students' spelling skills.
We use the official Gleaner Spelling Bee Book which is available at Sangster's Bookstores island wide.
Please email to indicate your interest & your parent's permission.
A dedicated space will be created soon.
“Reading is important because if you can read,
you can learn anything & everything
and everything about anything!”
~ Anonymous
