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Elementary Education: Most Popular Articles

These articles are the most popular over the last month.
Veterans Day Lessons
Veterans Day lessons for elementary school teachers.
Lesson Plan Template
Use this blank 8-part lesson plan template every time that you need to write a lesson plan for elementary school teaching.
Write an Effective Lesson Plan
The perfect lesson plan includes 8 parts - Objective, Anticipatory Set, Direct Instruction, Guided Practice, Closure, Independent Practice, Required Materials, and Assessment/Follow-Up.
Sample Behavior Contract
Use this sample behavior contract to work on improving student discipline for your most challenging students. The sample behavior contract can be modified for use in your classroom.
Thanksgiving Journal Prompts
Use these Thanksgiving journal prompts as inspiration for your students' journal writing work in the month of November.
Thanksgiving Vocabulary
Use this Thanksgiving Vocabulary word list for a variety of classroom uses, including word walls, word searches, lesson plans, puzzles, Hangman and Bingo games, crafts, worksheets, story starters, poetry word banks, and so much more!
Creating Behavior Contracts
Challenging students require customized behavior contracts to help them comply with your classroom discipline plan. Here's how to create behavior contracts for challenging students.
Thanksgiving
It's important to be thankful all yearlong, but November is an irresistible time of the year for celebrating Thanksgiving with your students through crafts and turkey time lesson plans!
Thanksgiving Acrostic Poem
Need a quick Thanksgiving lesson plan? Combine poetry and character-building with this Thanksgiving Acrostic Poem Lesson Plan.
Impromptu Speech Topics
A list of speech topics that can be assigned for impromptu oral presentations in the elementary school classroom. These speech topics are fun for your students to write and present to the class.
Lesson Plan Objectives
Setting lesson plan objectives is the first step in writing lesson plans. Learn how to write clearly-defined objectives and goals.
Anticipatory Sets
Anticipatory sets are the part of lesson plans that activate background knowledge for your students as you begin a lesson plan and get ready to enter the direct instruction. Anticipatory Sets are the second step of a well-written 8-step lesson plan.
Merit Pay Pros and Cons
The issue of Merit Pay for teachers is one of the most controversial issues in the field of education. Elementary Educators have a lot to get off their chests when it comes to this issue. Here are the main pros and cons so that you can educate yourself and join the discussion, too.
Educational Philosophy
Design an educational philosophy to guide your decision-making and to help remind you why you entered teaching in the first place.
Teaching Reading Comprehension
Teaching Reading Comprehension with Mosaic of Thought and Reader's Workshop
Organize Classroom Files
Tips to help you organize your classroom files into proper categories, specifically Elementary School teachers.
Journal Prompts for Students
Journal Prompts offer focus and structure to your Journal Writing Program. These Journal Prompts are perfect for your elementary school students to use during writing time.
Writing A Lesson Plan
Lesson plans are the bread and butter of good elementary school teaching. Here are some quick tips for writing a solid and clear lesson plan.
Teaching the Scientific Method
Through teaching the Scientific Method, students learn how to address a problem methodically. Teaching the Scientific Method is key for introducing critical analysis skills.
Interview Questions
Before you show up for your job interview, use these common interview questions to prepare your answers and calm your nerves.
Lesson Plans
WHAT ARE IDIOMS? Grades 4-6 Language Arts Lesson Plan
Scientific Method Worksheet
Using this Scientific Method worksheet, students learn how to address a problem methodically. The Scientific Method worksheet is easy and effective for almost any science lesson plan.
Teaching Writing
Strategies for Teaching Writing in the Elementary School classroom. Teaching Writing is one of the most important parts of the Elementary curriculum.
Sample Classroom Rules
Are you having trouble thinking of a comprehensive set of behavior rules for your elementary school classroom? Here's a set of sample classroom rules.
What Makes A Great Lesson?
What Does a Great Lesson Look Like? For elementary school educators.
Bloom's Taxonomy
Use Bloom's Taxonomy To Move Your Students Through The Learning Process.
Kick It Up a Notch
How to guide your K-6 students' creative writing from ho-hum to wow!
The Essential 55 by Ron Clark
A discussion of how to use Ron Clark's book The Essential 55 in the elementary classroom. The Essential 55 describes the top 55 rules for being a student in Ron Clark's classroom.
Halloween Word List
Use this Halloween Vocabulary Word Bank for all types of activities and crafts in the elementary school classroom.
Common Teaching Mistakes
Are you committing a teacher faux pas? Review these must-not-do rules and make sure you're not going astray.
Journal Writing Program
Journal Writing is a fun and effective way to teach your students good writing habits. Journal Writing is also fairly easy to implement in you elementary classroom.
Guided Practice
Guided Practice is the fourth step in writing an effective and strong lesson plan for the elementary school classroom. In Guided Practice, you give the students a chance to practice the skills they've acquired.
Scaffolding
A definition of the education glossary term Scaffolding.
self_reflection
Why should teachers pause engage themselves in self-reflection on the successes and shortcomings of the past? Simply because it improves their teaching and is a key part of a strong professional development strategy for growth.
Quiet Classroom Strategies
Do you want to teach in a quiet classroom? Use these student discipline strategies to get a quiet classroom without losing your voice or repeating yourself all day long.
Direction Instruction
Direct Instruction is the meat and potatoes of a well-written lesson plan. Here, you'll find the definition of Direct Instruction and how you can write this section of a lesson plan effectively.
Math Story Books
Math lesson plans don't have to be boring and dry! With these math story books, students will be further down the path towards true comprehension of various math concepts.
Independent Practice
Independent Practice is the sixth step in writing an effective lesson plan for the elementary classroom. In Independent Practice, you let the students work independently so that you can assess their progress in meeting the learning objectives.
Elementary Educators - Online Project Center - Transportation - from About.com
Online Project Center for Elementary Educators, from your About.com Guide.
How To Substitute Teach
How to have a pleasant, productive day as a substitute teacher and be asked to return.
Lesson Plan Closure
Closure is the fifth step in writing an effective lesson plan for the elementary school classroom. Closure provides a conclusion and context for the learning achieved during the lesson.
Map Skills Lesson Plan
Teach your students Map Skills with this Geography Lesson Plan. Map Skills are an important skill for your students to learn.
Scaffolding Instruction
Techniques for scaffolding instruction to support student learning in the classroom.
ProperAttire
Even though "clothing doesn't make the man," every profession has attire guidelines and teaching is no exception - even when the standards aren't explicitly written down.
Thanksgiving Math Word Problem
Use these ideas for Thanksgiving Math Word Problems to inspire your math worksheets in the month of November.
Start Tutoring From Home
Have you ever considered starting a tutoring business? Tutoring can be a lucrative and personally rewarding venture that combines the best of teaching with the convenience of designing your own schedule.
Behavior Management Hub
Every teacher must enter the classroom armed with comprehensive and well-though-out rules in order to have an orderly and effective school year. Here's everything you need to know to strategically design and enforce the classroom rules that will work for you all year long.
Teaching Fractions
A Delicious Way to Teach Fractions. For elementary school educators.
Classroom Rewards
Should you offer your students extrinsic rewards in the classroom? Every teacher needs to consider this issue when setting up her behavior management program.
Story Starting Ideas
Teaching Tips for Helping Your Students to Begin Their Writing in a Strong and Effective Way
Classroom Jobs
Classroom jobs are an easy and fun way to teach kids about responsibility.
Assessment
The Assessment and Follow-up section is the eighth part of writing an effective lesson plan. During Assessment, you measure to what degree your students have met the lesson plan's learning objectives.
Back To School Ice Breakers
Help your students break the ice and get to know each other with this quick and easy selection of First Day of School ice breakers for elementary school classrooms. Perfect for Back to School.
Parent Teacher Conference Tips
Teacher Do's and Don'ts for Parent Teacher Conferences. How to make the most of our meeting with parents.
Lesson Plan Headquarters
A Science lesson plan using The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Teach your students a science lesson plan using children's literature by Eric Carle.
Journal Writing Checklist
A Journal Writing Checklist is a list of qualities that you hope to see in your students' creative writing. Use a Journal Writing Checklist to Assess Writing Progress.
Averages and Medians
A quick and easy worksheet that helps students practice their skills at figuring out the averages and medians of a given set of numbers.
Classroom Desk Arrangement
An examination of the various ways that teachers can arrange students desks in the classroom.
Bingo Across the Curriculum
Bingo for teachers - Here's how Bingo for teachers can work across the curriculum to assist your students in learning a wide variety of skills, vocabulary, and material.
Sample Biography Poem
Biography Poems are a fun and novel way for your students to tell their life stories. Have them illustrate their poems, too, and you'll have an easy bulletin board for Back to School Night.
Parent Conference Preparation
How to Prepare for Effective Parent Teacher Conferences
8understand
While teaching is a rich and rewarding profession, there are some unique challenges involved that non-educators could never comprehend. Here, a real classroom teacher confesses some of the aspects of the job that make her wonder if summer vacations are really worth it after all.
Christmas Vocabulary
christmas vocabulary word lists banks use games winter december lesson plans poetry games words
Avoiding Teaching Burnout
Teacher Burnout is a major problem in the field of education, often resulting in a high turnover rate for new teachers. Address teacher burnout issue with these stress management tips.
Classroom Jobs List
Use this list of classroom jobs to assign jobs to your students in the elementary school classroom.
Veterans Day 2001
Veterans Day resources for elementary school teachers.
Biography Poems Lesson Plan
Biography Poems are a fun and easy way to ease your elementary students into poetry. This activity is especially great for the first few days of school.
Miss Nelson Is Missing
Use the book Miss Nelson Is Missing to teach your students a Language Arts lesson. Miss Nelson Is Missing was written by by Harry Allard and James Marshall.
How To Make a Professional Portfolio
a simple how to on making a professional portfolio. just for elementary school teachers.
Tutoring Business Plan
Once you've planned to start a tutoring business, it's then time to implement a tutoring business plan and start meeting with clients.
6 Traits of Successful Teacher
Successful teachers share these 5 key traits. Cultivate these attributes in yourself to maximize your effectiveness in the classroom.
Ban Words in Creative Writing
It's easy to improve your students' creative writing in one easy step. Ban boring, overused words and watch your students' creative writing skills soar.
Language Arts Lesson Plans (K-6)
Your Headquarters for Free Lesson Plans for Elementary Educators.
Elementary Education - Articles
An index of articles for the Elementary Education guide site.
Christmas Lesson Plans
Ideas for Christmas Lesson Plans (Hanukkah and Winter, too).
NCLB - No Child Left Behind
Definition of the education glossary term No Child Left Behind.
Design a Pen Pal Program
How to Design a Kids Pen Pal Program for the elementary school classroom.
Tongue-Twisters
A Tongue-Twisting Language Arts Lesson for teaching creative writing.
Standardized Testing Pressure
A look at the enormous pressure mounting for teachers when it comes to Standardized Testing.
Scientific Method
The Scientific Method defined. Teach the Scientific Method in your elementary school classroom.
Motivating Students
Motivating students can be a challenge. But it doesn't have to cost any money. Use these free rewards for motivating students without spending a cent.
Elementary Education - QuickTips
An index of QuickTips for the Elementary Education guide site.
Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving Lessons Ideas, Activities, Crafts, History, and Lesson Plans for Elementary Educators from About.com
Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving Lessons Ideas, Activities, Crafts, History, and Lesson Plans for Elementary Educators from About.com
Halloween Poetry Lesson Plan
Need a quick Halloween activity? Combine poetry and the October spirit with this Halloween Acrostic Poem Lesson Plan.
How to Plan Fun Field Trips Online
How to Plan Fun Field Trips Online. For elementary school educators.
Clearing the Clutter
Ask yourself these questions to clear out your cluttered, counterproductive classroom. You'll love the peace of mind that comes with an organized classroom.
Christmas Acrostic Poem
Need a quick Christmas poetry lesson plan? Combine poetry and character-building with this Christmas Acrostic Poem Lesson Plan.
Trail Mix Math
Trail Mix Math is a fun way to teach your students how to do math. Use Trail Mix Math to count, classify, and graph.
Class Meetings
By holding regular class meetings, you can help maintain a safe and friendly environment for your elementary school students. Class meetings can also be called Community Circle and they really help with student discipline.
The Excellent 11
A book review of "The Excellent 11," Ron Clark's follow-up to his wildly popular "Essential 55."
Character Counts Lesson
Use this Character Education lesson plan to teach your students how to be better citizens of the school and the world. Character Education is an important part of producing well-rounded, respectful young students.
The Sounds of Great Writing
The use of Sound Effects to help students add power and punch to their creative writing.
Lesson Plans Hub
Are you in the market for free and easy elementary lesson plans? This article shows you how inspiration, structure, and ideas are right at your fingerprints when you know the right place to look for Elementary Lesson Plans!
Descriptive Writing Questions
It's not enough just to tell students, "Write down detail. Be creative and specific!" They're just learning how to write, so we need to show them what exactly to think about and write down. Here are some inspiring questions that get to the heart of descriptive, detailed writing.
Create Rubrics
Step-by-step instructions to help you create a rubric for assessing your students' work.
Weekly Newsletters
By writing a weekly newsletter with your students, you offer a high quality Guided Writing lesson while saving yourself the time and hassle of putting together a newsletter each week.
Oral Presentations: A New Twist on Sharing
Oral Presentations: A New Twist on Sharing. Especially for elementary school teachers.
Classroom Set Up Tips
Step-by-step instructions for how best to set up your elementary school classroom for the first day of school.
Free Lesson Plans
Free Lesson Plans for Teachers! How to find them fast. For elementary school teachers.
Pen Pals - The Incredible Teaching Tool
Pen Pals are a great way to teach Language Arts, Social Studies, and much more in your classroom! For elementary school teachers.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Links, ideas, and lesson plans related to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr holiday.
Answering Questions Lesson
Students sometimes need instruction and practice in how best to answer questions in complete sentences. This set of questions give you an opportunity to train them.
Human Scavenger Hunt Game
Use this Human Scavenger Hunt as a fun Ice Breaker activity for the first day of school.
Green Classroom Tips
Elementary school classrooms can be major hogs of environmental resources, if teachers are not organized, motivated, and diligent. Here are the top tips for setting up a green classroom that minimizes the environmental impact of daily teaching realities.
Two Truths and a Lie Game
Play the Ice Breaker game called Two Truths and a Lie on the first day of school to thaw the Back to School jitters.
Zone of Proximal Development
Definition of the education glossary term Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
Homogeneous Groups
A definition of the education glossary term Homogeneous Groups.
Topographic Maps Lesson
Use this Topographic Maps Lesson Plan to teach your students about geography and maps. A Topographic Maps Lesson Plan is part of your Social Studies curriculum in elementary school.
Creative Writing: How to Kick It Up a Notch!
How to guide your K-6 students' creative writing from ho-hum to wow!
Heterogeneous Groups
A definition of the education glossary term Heterogeneous Groups.
Organizing Messy Student Desks
Teach your students these positive, proactive habits and their student desks will go from messy to organized in no time.
Early Childhood Education
Definition of the education glossary term Early Childhood Education.
Find A Teaching Job
Use these tips and tools to find a teaching job as quickly as possible. Includes help with resumes, potential interview questions, and more!
Rubric
What is a rubric? A definition for teachers interested in assessing student performance with a rubric.
Activating Prior Knowledge
Definition of Activate Prior Knowledge as a teaching strategy.
Bio Poems
A definition of the teaching term Bio Poems, from your About.com Guide to Elementary Education.
How To Write a Lesson Plan
A simple How to on Writing Lesson Plans.
Christmas Journal Writing Prom
Use these Christmas journal writing prompts to support your creative writing program in the month of December.
Top Seven Reasons To Teach
Are you thinking about becoming a teacher? Here are the top seven reasons to become a teacher.
Starting an After School Club
Tips for starting an after school club for elementary school children. How to enhance the school experience for your students.
Elementary Educators - Online Project Center - Passport to the World - from About.com
Passport to the World, a lesson plan for Elementary Educators, written by Debbie Nelson. from your About.com Guide.
Caldecott Medal Winners
A complete list of the Caldecott Medal Winners from 1938 to present. Caldecott Medal Winners are recognized for excellence in children's picture books.
Same and Different Game
Use this Same and Different game as a fun Ice Breaker activity for the first day of school.
Finding A Teaching Job
If you need to find a teaching job in elementary education, use these specific helpful tips to get on the right track toward employment.
Getting Student Attention
Getting your students' attention is a key first step to meeting your lesson's learning objectives. I recommend using a simple deck of cards to get and keep your students' attention.
Classroom Rights
If you're looking for a quick and easy way to sum up a productive and respectful tone in your classroom, the following Classroom "Bill of Rights" will be useful.
Resources for Future Teachers
Are you thinking of joining the teaching profession? If so, check out this list of resources hand-picked to support your goals.
Hanukkah Lesson Plans
Ideas for Hanukkah lesson plans for your elementary school classroom.
Extrinsic Motivation
A definition of the teaching term Extrinsic Motivation.
Classroom Job Application - How to Assign Classroom Jobs with a Job Application
Classroom jobs are an easy and fun way to teach kids about responsibility.
Lesson Plan Required Materials
Required Materials is the seventh step of writing an effective lesson plan for the elementary school classroom. Make sure you have the required materials for your lesson plan before you get started.
Sentence Circle Game
Use this Sentence Circle game as a fun Ice Breaker activity for the first day of school.
Simple Tips to Help Children Decode Text
How to Get Your Students' Undivided Attention. For elementarty school educators.
Intrinsic Motivation
A definition of the teaching term Intrinsic Motivation.
Elementary Educators - Online Project Center - Bubble, Bubble, Oh How They Bubble - from About.com
Bubble, Bubble, Oh How They Bubble, a lesson plan for Elementary Educators, written by Janice McNair. from your About.com Guide.
What to Do on the Last Day of School
What to Do on the Last Day of School. For elementary school educators.
"I Remember" Poems
Using a set structure for poems is an effective way to offer poetry "training wheels" to your young students. Budding poets will enjoy expressing their creativity through the structure you offer them.
Goodbye Do Re Mi. Hello Elvis!
A Music Education Lesson Plan for elementary school teachers who want to help their students appreciate good, clean, wholesome music with a modern twist.
Motivating Students - Using Whole Group Rewards for Motivating Students
Motivating students by rewarding them with whole group rewards.
Elementary Educators - Online Project Center - Classroom objects - From About.com
Classroom objects, a lesson plan for Elementary Educators, written by Debra Lynn Williams. From your About.com Guide.
Teachable Moment
What is a teachable moment in the classroom? Here is the definition of a teachable moment in education.
Christmas Around the World
Learn how to say Merry Christmas in 100+ languages from around the world, and how to share the international holiday spirit with your students.
Halloween Ideas
Halloween ideas for the elementary school classroom. Includes crafts, costumes, lesson, online activities, and more.
Christmas Tongue Twisters Less
Teach your students about alliteration and they'll have a blast creating their own Christmas Tongue Twisters.
Cooperative Learning
Definition of the education glossary term Cooperative Learning. Cooperative Learning is a method of active learning for your students.
Problem Principals
If you sense growing tension with a problem administrator, you must be proactive. Here's how to do it...
Tax Deductions for Teachers
While the rest of the country agonizes about taxes each Spring, teachers can't afford the luxury of forgetting about taxes even for one day! Here's how to save your receipts and make the most of the deductions that are allowed to classroom teachers.
Halloween Math Lesson
Students spice up their math skills with this Halloween-inspired lesson plan!
CD's for the Elementary Class
Top 5 CD's for the Elementary Classroom.
"I Have a Dream" Speech
Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream Speech
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