For students, teachers, and parents alike, few events bring more hope and nervousness than the start of a new school year. As the summer winds down, many teachers begin to have conflicting feelings about the year ahead. We’re at once curious about our new students and daunted by the challenge of working with a new group. We have high hopes for a year filled with learning and growth, but the unknown blocks our view of the specifics of this future.
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APR
01
2005
News and Announcement Charts
Question: What’s one activity you’ve found effective for the interactive part of the Morning Meeting News and Announcements chart?
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APR
01
2005
Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences Keep the Focus on the Child
On a sunny October afternoon, kindergartner Chloe welcomes her mom into her classroom for a conference. Together they review a map Chloe had created with symbols representing the activities that the class…
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FEB
01
2005
Buddy Teachers
It’s language arts time in Mr. Jeffrey’s third grade class. The children have settled into their writing assignments. Mr. Jeffrey is working with a small group when he notices Lucia across the…
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FEB
01
2005
Power in Speech
One of the most valuable things we can teach students is how to assert themselves in respectful ways. In spontaneous and planned moments throughout the day, teachers can work with students to…
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FEB
01
2005
Classroom Rules Q&A
In many classrooms, after the children and teacher create classroom rules during the first weeks of school, they revisit the rules at various points during the year. When do you do this…
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FEB
01
2005
Calm, Friendly Hallway Behavior Is Now Part of the School Culture
A whistle blows, signaling that the day is about to begin. The children scamper to organize themselves into grade-level lines. On an adult’s signal, one line moves toward the building, pausing at…
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NOV
01
2004
Teacher-Child Problem-Solving Conferences
Derek was a fifth grader who was avoiding writing. Whenever we had writing time, he would ask to go to the bathroom, and there he would linger. After observing this for a…
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NOV
01
2004
Wonderful Wednesdays
Morning Meeting is over and writing workshop is underway. The children are scattered around the room sketching and then writing about objects that “called out to them.” Erin's dad is leaning against…
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NOV
01
2004
Problem-Solving Conferences That Worked
Question: Think of an instance in which you used a teacher-child problem-solving conference. Why did you choose that strategy? A: Edward often clowned around during work times, keeping everyone from getting work…
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NOV
01
2004
Lunch Staff Learn Communication Techniques to Help Children Improve Behavior
“They’re fine when they’re with me. But when they step outside the walls of my classroom, their behavior falls apart,” says a fifth grade teacher. It’s a common lament. Many teachers have…
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AUG
01
2004
Guided Discovery in Action
The fifth graders and their teacher, Mr. Lomax, sit in a circle. In front of Mr. Lomax is an array of five dictionaries. The largest dictionary has a worn leather cover and…
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AUG
01
2004
Bridging Home and School
Learning about patterns is one of the first things we do in math in my primary classroom. We create patterns with our bodies, sing them, build them, clap them. But I never…
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AUG
01
2004
Favorite Guided Discoveries
Question: Guided Discovery is a strategy for introducing materials in the classroom. The primary goal is to generate interest and excitement about classroom resources and help children explore their possible uses. “What…
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AUG
01
2004
Student-Led All-School Meetings Bring the School Community Together
In a school with over 500 students and more than eighty staff, it can be difficult to get to know one another. At K.T. Murphy Elementary School in Stamford, Connecticut, the staff…
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JUL
31
2004
Opening Soon!
An exciting way to introduce classroom materials and learning areas slowly, safely, and with a sense of ownership and fun As eager kindergarten students enter the classroom on the first Read More…
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JUN
30
2004
A Teacher’s Rules
July 2004In the school where I taught for many years, students and teachers worked together in the first weeks of school to create classroom rules that were based on everyone's hopes and…
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APR
01
2004
Lively Learning
When I was in elementary school more than fifty years ago, I struggled with geography. I found it very hard to keep all those place names and locations straight. The only thing…
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APR
01
2004
Building Empathy for a “Trouble-Maker”
Chris was a student who struggled socially. He was in Sarah Fiarman’s mixed-grade class for two years, first as a fifth grader and then as a sixth. Of all the points working…
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APR
01
2004
Speaking Up
Question:Every year I have students who seldom or never speak up in a large group. Often, but not always, these are children from non-mainstream cultures. Do you think it’s important for all…
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FEB
01
2004
What is Responsive Classroom Time-Out?
When used calmly, consistently, and respectfully, Responsive Classroom time-out can be a valuable strategy for helping students develop self-control while keeping the classroom calm, safe, and orderly.Santiago is at the interactive whiteboard,…
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FEB
01
2004
Keeping Connected
It’s sharing time during Morning Meeting in Ms. Roberts’s first grade classroom. Jarrod is enthusiastically telling his classmates about the photos they will see when they look at his “family album.” The…
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FEB
01
2004
Child Development
Question:What are your goals in sharing knowledge about child development with students’ families, and how do you go about it?
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NOV
01
2003
The Power of Language
A teacher's language is a powerful teaching tool. Our language can build children up or tear them down. It can model respectful and caring social interactions or just the opposite. Effective language…
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NOV
01
2003
What Did You Say?
Joey, a second grader, returns from a doctor's appointment in the middle of a math lesson. "Welcome back, Joey," his teacher says with a smile. "We're working together to solve the problem…
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NOV
01
2003
Homework Blues?
Question: For some children, doing homework is a way to show their growing sense of competence and independence. But for other children, homework is a constant source of frustration and discouragement. How…
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AUG
01
2003
Nice Work
As first appeared in Education Week, April 30, 2003. Adapted and reprinted with permission.The children in Jessica Kimmel's fifth grade class at Hyde Elementary School in Washington, DC, are gathered in a…
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