The Official Blog of Scholastic Teacher Express

Dedicated to providing teachers, parents and administrators with essential resources to reach every child.

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October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Take some time this month and talk to your class about bullying. Teachers can make a difference by giving children the tools and skills that will help them feel more confident dealing with bullying situations.

We have some great resources that can help you address bullying in the classroom!

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Celebrate Christopher Columbus' famous journey to the New World today with these fun activity pages!

Before Christopher Columbus dropped anchor in the new world, these lands were unknown to Europeans. Use this map to follow Columbus' journey, then have student's imagine their own story!

After learning about Christopher Columbus' discovery of the new world, students can practice their spelling skills of new vocabulary with this fun word search.

Engage your students about Christopher Columbus with this catchy, rhyming poem that shares the story of this explorer's discovery of the New World.

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We're so excited for these adorable little readers! Perfect to teach young learners the alphabet with bright, colorful books that reach the Common Core State Standards. Too cute!

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"The only surefire way to induce a love of books is to invite students to select their own."

Celebrate National Book Month this October by encouraging students to read and share books of their own choice.

Veteran teacher and Scholastic author Nancie Atwell writes "students have shown us that opportunities to consider, select, and reconsider books make reading feel sensible and attractive to children right from the start—and that they will read more books than we ever dreamed possible and more challenging then we ever dreamed of assigning to them."

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Guiding Principles for Teaching Reading in Kindergarten

Randee Bergen, author and 17-year veteran of the elementary school classroom, shares best practices regarding the kindergarten emergent reader.

These are the keys to maximizing your teaching and helping students become confident and independent readers.

1. Make every effort to help struggling students learn to read at a Level 3/C, but expect and teach the majority of students to read beyond that mark.

2. Establish and remain committed to a balanced literacy approach that includes read-alouds, shared reading, small-group and individualized instruction, and true independent reading.

3. Use preplanned, whole-group engagements to teach “in front of” students’ reading experiences and individualized instruction to teach “into” a child’s experiences.

4. Procure a variety of high-quality texts that complement a balanced approach to teaching literacy, including read-alouds, shared-reading texts, quality leveled books, and a wide assortment of texts for independent reading.

5. For the first six weeks of the school year, provide direct and explicit instruction to develop concepts of print and the notion of reading. Establish three rotating centers: Teacher Center (direct instruction), Assistant Center (guided practice), and Independent Center (independent practice).

Excerpt from Bergen's new book, Teaching Reading in Kindergarten.

Read more for her complete list of key strategies.

[teeducationblog]

Practice, A Key Component of the Teaching and Learning Cycle

Practice makes perfect—or at least permanent. Indeed, this saying has been around for a long time. In teaching, the key is to make sure the practice is meaningful, authentic, and fun for your students. The idea of practice in the learning cycle is an important one:

• first, the learners see you model the desired skill or competency

• next, with your support, students try the skill

• eventually, students try the skill on their own.

It is by practicing skills and strategies on their own, over and over, with a gradual release, or fading of support, that helps learners gain ownership of the process and build competencies.

Best practice in reading instruction includes teaching in multiple contexts—whole group, small group, and individual.

Read more.

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Parent-Teacher Conferences

The parent-teacher conference is recommended by expert elementary teachers as a critically important way to communicate with parents. Parents of grade-school children report that they want regular conferences with their children’s teachers.

The basic purpose of a conference is to inform parents of their children’s progress and school performance. They get to ask questions, and you gain valuable insights into students’ home lives. The conference also provides a great opportunity to solicit classroom volunteers.

As with teaching, planning is critical to an effective conference. Here are some important steps to include:

1. Decide upon the goals of the conference

2. Plan questions to ask, points to makes, and suggestions to offer.

3. Take a moment to note some positives such as the child’s strengths and recent accomplishments. Beginning the conference on a positive note immediately takes parents off the defensive and helps them listen to your concerns.

Click here for more helpful planning tips.

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We've collected some great tips for Back to School over on Scholastic Teacher Express. Find great ideas, activities and so much more from veteran teachers!

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5 Reasons Why Guided Reading is a Powerful Tool for Meeting the Common Core

With all the buzz about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the emphasis on complex text, many teachers are wondering how guided reading fits into this new landscape.

It’s important to remember that the CCSS lays out the end goals we want our students to achieve; they do not specify how to get there.

We're sharing 5 reasons why guided reading is a powerful teaching context for scaffolding students to read and understand increasingly complex text.

[npr]

How Scholastic Sells Literacy To Generations Of New Readers

Scholastic began as a four-page magazine for high schoolers in 1920. Today, the publisher of Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Magic School Bus, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, has grown into a $2 billion business, and one of the biggest children’s book publishers in the world.

Read more and listen to the story on All Things Considered. 

[knmajorblogs]

Here it is—the coolest poster I have ever owned, or ever will own.

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Obviously Scholastic was rockin' it in the 90s.

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"A carefully designed room is the first step toward effective classroom management."

Open the door to any classroom, and you enter a unique space, the home away from home for students and their teacher. Each piece of furniture, each bulletin board, every bin and basket has been thoughtfully placed. Teachers pay attention to detail and orchestrate the physical components of their rooms to harmonize with the learning activities they plan.

Here are some practical, easy-to-implement ideas that will inspire you—and perhaps spark new ideas of your own.

1. Meeting Area

The meeting area is the focal point of our classroom. The whole-group lessons and class discussions that take place in the meeting area are vital to student learning; the right seating arrangement can help you make the most of this precious teaching time.

2. Tables, Chairs, and Other Furniture

The way you arrange your classroom reflects the way you teach. In classrooms where students are encouraged to work collaboratively in small groups, tables may be pushed together in clusters where children can sit around and help each other. Teachers who prefer to do direct instruction may position their tables in a traditional U-configuration so everyone can easily see the board and the teacher.

3. Organizing Supplies

How you organize supplies will depend on whether you want them to be easily accessible to children or out of their reach. If you want to foster independence in children, place supplies in a communal area within their reach and at their eye level. Clearly label all supplies with words and graphics to help students return everything to its proper place. Supplies that you want to keep in your control should be stored inside a closet or on high shelves. Make sure children understand which supplies they can use and which ones they can’t.

4. Classroom Libraries

According to Reutzel and Fawson (2002), the classroom library serves five major functions: to support literacy instruction, to help students learn about books, to provide a central location for classroom resources, to provide opportunities for independent reading and curricular extensions, and to serve as a place for students to talk about and interact with books. Some teachers put their library front and center, making it the focus of their classroom. Others set aside a special corner for their library, where students can enjoy some quiet reading time. Either way, the idea is to entice children and foster their love of reading.

5. Classroom Displays

"Classroom displays that celebrate students’ efforts and have a connection to the daily life of the classroom are one of the most powerful— and overlooked—tools for teaching."

Teacher-to-Teacher Tip: On the first day of school, keep displays to a minimum. Instead, decorate the walls with students' work from "getting to know you projects". This is just one way of letting kids know that this is their classroom and that they matter here.

Find more ideas and tips in Maria L. Chang's Classroom Management in Photographs.

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"RTI is not just something that’s nice to know about, it’s something we need to know, and Elizabeth Stein’s book is the best place to start."

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs. It is designed for use when making decisions in both general education and special education, creating a well-integrated system of instruction and intervention guided by child outcome data (via RTI Network).

If RTI has come to your school district and you are looking to learn more about how to implement it, Elizabeth Stein's Comprehension Lessons for RTI is a great place to start.

From Julie McDermody's great review over at MiddleWeb, a great resource for everything middle grades, focusing on grades 4-8. 

Teachers will love this book because:

It’s written in an easy-to-understand format with student scenarios for further clarification.

It includes research-based lessons and when best to use each lesson based on student needs.

It mentions presenting information through multiple representations – visual and auditory, as well as through cooperative-learning activities (especially good for English Language Learners).

It includes web sites for further information.

See McDermody's full review here.

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Independence Day is a significant time for citizens of the United States, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress in 1776. This holiday offers Americans an opportunity to remember the commitment and sacrifice of our forefathers to ensure the freedoms that we enjoy each day!

This Fourth of July, celebrate with these fun-filled activities sure to engage little learners and spark their creativity!

A Great American Symbol

Patriotic Word Find

American Flag

My Freedom Fighter Report

Find these activities and even more ideas in the July/August Monthly Idea Book, a teacher's go-to resource to supplement any curriculum.

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To write is to grow intellectually. Intellect is a tool of protection; therefore, writing is a tool of protection.

Dr. Alfred Tatum is known for his work encouraging and engaging African American adolescent male writers. Teachers can now do the same with his book, Fearless Voices, which features instructional strategies that help students use writing as a tool for learning and personal development.

"This text is for those who have yet to find the power of the pen and the prominent role it can play in the lives of young black men. It is also for those who recognize the power of writing for their students, but are overwhelmed by other demands that squeeze writing out or limit writing instruction to process, mechanics, and grammar. Ultimately, Fearless Voices is for all who are reading to embrace a new national imagination for our Black youth and to explore how these adolescents can engage in shaping that imagination. The lives our students write or re-write may be the very lives that saves us all."