3-5 Upper Elementary
Explore and share tips, strategies, and resources for helping students develop in elementary school grades 3-5.
Capturing Covid Learning Through Poetry: Things I Learned This Year
An assignment that focuses on learning gains rather than losses can get the new year off to a good start.332The Sensory Room: Helping Students With Autism Focus and Learn
Imagine a safe space where students with autism can go to calm their bodies and then get back to the business of learning.1M
4 Common Classroom Management Mistakes New Teachers Make—and How to Avoid Them
New elementary teachers, take heart: Classroom management is hard, but not impossible. Keep these ideas in mind as you get started.1.5k
8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom
Educators share their best synchronous and asynchronous strategies to boost student participation during online learning.42.5k
9 Brain Breaks for Elementary Students
To boost creativity and productivity, take time out for movement, calming exercises, and a healthy dose of fun.
Is it Time to Drop ‘Finding the Main Idea’ and Teach Reading in a New Way?
Some schools are changing the way they teach reading—based on research that shows background knowledge is more critical to comprehension than general skills like ‘finding the main idea.’38.4kMaking Students Feel Safe
A trauma-informed approach ensures that students feel safe, supported, and nurtured—to improve their chances of academic success.128.8k
Teaching the Concept of Equity Through Gardening
Plants can illustrate how different people need different things to be nourished—and how equality and equity differ.9.3k
How to Introduce Lessons on Disability
Disability should have a place in schools’ anti-bias work along with race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion.A Daily Support System for Students
Students who need extra social and emotional support have a quick check-in with an adult at the start and end of each day.89.2k
Why Learning at Home Should Be More Self-Directed—and Less Structured
On March 18, 2020, Simone Kern tweeted that simply “recreating schools at home” passes up a golden opportunity to engage kids in authentic, self-directed learning.31.2k
Using Origami to Teach Children About Endangered Animals
As elementary students turn squares of paper into animals they’re studying, the age-old Japanese art form makes lessons more memorable.533
What Doesn’t Work: Literacy Practices We Should Abandon
The number one concern that I hear from educators is lack of time, particularly lack of instructional time with students. Although we can't entirely solve the time problem, we can mitigate it by carefully analyzing our use of class time.116.7k
13 Virtual Games to Play in Your Elementary Classroom
From scavenger hunts to Pictionary, we’ve gathered a batch of virtual games to get students talking, laughing, and engaging with peers.12.3k
Bringing a Dog to School
A veteran teacher and administrator makes the case for having a therapy dog in elementary school.60.1k