George Lucas Educational Foundation
Edutopia

3-5 Upper Elementary

Explore and share tips, strategies, and resources for helping students develop in elementary school grades 3-5.

  • A Fun, Experiential Approach to Strengthen Reading and Writing Skills

    Hands-on learning experiences help young learners build their vocabulary while boosting their literacy skills.
    Laura Lee

  • Powerful SEL Is Happening After School, Too

    New research shows that when schools extend SEL lessons beyond the classroom into after-school programming, students’ academic skills and classroom behaviors improve.
    Sarah Gonser

  • Schoolwide Strategies for Promoting a Love of Reading

    A literacy consultant explains how schools can encourage all students to share the joy of reading.
    Laura Lee

  • The 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.

  • What Brain Science Teaches Us About Conflict Resolution

    When a teacher noticed her kids fighting at recess, she turned to neuroscience and mindfulness practice to help them take control of their emotions.
    Sarah Gonser

  • 5 Ways to Support Students Who Struggle With Reading Comprehension

    These strategies can help students who are able to decode well but have difficulty understanding what they read—and they’re beneficial for all students.
    Nina Parrish

  • Making Students Feel Safe

    A trauma-informed approach ensures that students feel safe, supported, and nurtured—to improve their chances of academic success. 

  • How to Make Student Choice Work

    One teacher shares her strategies to address possible student choice pitfalls like accountability and classroom management.
    Lauren Gehr

  • Ditching the Reading Logs

    Tracking minutes wasn’t helping her students, so a teacher asked them to instead discuss their reading every day, making it a social activity.
    Allie Thrower

  • 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.

  • Time to Play: More State Laws Require Recess

    Unstructured playtime is making a comeback in schools as frustrated teachers, parents, and advocacy groups demand legislative action.
    Brittany Shammas

  • Developing a Love of Reading in Students

    Exposing new readers to a variety of genres can help them find the books they love. Plus, reading comprehension strategies to deepen their engagement.
    Kathryn Starke

  • Bringing a Dog to School

    A veteran teacher and administrator makes the case for having a therapy dog in elementary school.
    Shari Feeney

  • 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.
    Nell K. Duke

  • What Teachers Should Know About Dysgraphia

    Students with dysgraphia have an unexpected difficulty with spelling and writing skills. Here are the red flags to look for, and ways to support these students.
    Jessica Hamman