Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! A Journey to Support Student Social-Emotional Well-Being Recently, our elementary school went on an amazing journey to help find innovative ways to support the daily mental health of our students. The process was an exciting adventure! As a school […]
elementary students
Keep the Engagement Alive: Start the Year with Purpose
Today’s elementary classroom is an active community. This is a great thing as kids are active learners; however, for teachers, this activity can be overwhelming. It is important to think about organizing your activity to make it through the year successfully. Teaching expectations at the beginning of the year will increase engagement all year long. […]
Seeing Play as Privilege
I was standing at the edge of a large hole, collectively dug by four third-grade students. Two were continuing to dig, while one peered in curiously. The fourth student was collecting some kind insect larvae. “I’m going to take them home as pets!” He proudly proclaimed. With five weeks left in the school year, my school’s […]
Parent Tips: Helping Your Beginning Reader Select Books
When your child begins to read it is a thrilling moment. Then the press to rush their skills begins. We have this desire to move them up the ability ladder ASAP. As parents we want them to be in the highest reading group. We hope for high test scores. We picture Harvard or Stanford in […]
Advice for New ESOL Teachers: Communicating with Home
By: Jon Hardy Dealing with parents is a very intimidating part of being a new teacher and the normal hurdles are intensified with parents who don’t speak English, or who are learning English themselves. These families may need teachers to put in extra effort to reach out to students but be unsure how to ask […]
Making the Most of Book Reports
I require book reports from my students each month. These are projects that are done at home, but could just as easily be done in class. Before school starts I assign a book genre to each month. The crop of kids I have determines the format for the book. This year I happen to have […]
Encouraging Parental Involvement In Reading
We have a seven hour day at my school. All in all I’d say my second/third grade students spend about four of those hours in some type of reading, whether it be science, geography, social studies, math or directed reading groups. We all know that outside reading is a significant part of growth for the […]