This facilitator's guide is designed to assist professional learning communities (PLCs) in applying evidence-based strategies to help K-8 English learners acquire the language and literacy skills needed to succeed academically. Through this collaborative learning experience, educators will expand their knowledge base as they read, discuss, share,…

These handouts, which are meant to accompany the facilitator's guide, are designed to assist professional learning communities (PLCs) in applying evidence-based strategies to help K-8 English learners acquire the language and literacy skills needed to succeed academically. The facilitator's guide uses a five-step process for collaborative…

This teaching unit is composed of six parts: (1) a content outline, (2) unit goals, (3) objectives, (4) activities, (5) evaluation procedures, and (6) an annotated bibliography. The content of this unit focuses on the personal attributes, education, interests and skills which go into choosing an occupation; the types of occupations; education and…

This teaching unit for fourth to sixth grade history students outlines 20 activities aimed at developing an appreciation in students for a particular time in history. The knowledge goals state that students will gain an understanding of a time period or person in history and will infer how the time period or person influenced the future. The skill…

This fifth grade teaching unit covers early conflicts between the American colonies and Britain, battles of the American Revolutionary War, and the Declaration of Independence. Knowledge goals address the pre-revolutionary acts enforced by the British, the concepts of conflict and independence, and the major events and significant people from the…

This booklet on nutrition for grades 4-6 contains classroom activities as well as recipes for easily prepared nutritious dishes, e.g., applesauce, cookies, bread. Information is provided on the nutritional values of items in the basic food groups, and activity sheets are included. (JD)

Describes an art project that relates a fifth grade arithmetic lesson with a drawing assignment. Students first learned to enlarge a drawing on a grid, and then were given a segment of a cut-up reproduction of a Picasso painting and asked to enlarge and duplicate their portion. Completed pieces were combined for the final product. (LS)

The aim of this small-scale study was to investigate the effect of pupil-generated ground rules on peer group learning in a class of 9-year-old boys. The study examined the type of talk used by participants working in a group before the introduction of ground rules and compared this with that used after the introduction of ground rules. It was…

Maintains that creative work is sensitive to the social context of the creator. Reports on a nine-month study of how peer social processes influenced children's creative activity in three fifth-grade classes. Finds that variance appears to be related to the structure of the work process established by teachers and students. (CFR)

Reports on a study of the attitudes of 542 students in grades 3-6 toward singing and choir participation in relation to grade level, gender, classroom singing activities, previous singing experience, and degree of singing skill. Finds that most subjects indicated a positive attitude toward singing, but less than half were interested in choral…

Presents findings of a qualitative study of musical learning processes. Findings are reported in terms of the nature of strategies used by children as they work with peers to solve compositional problems. Also finds that successful students moved back and forth from holistic approaches to segmented activities. (CFR)

Ideas for using children's literature suggest ways to extend and enrich the elementary school social studies curriculum beyond the adopted textbook or scope and sequence developed in a local school district or at the state level. The focus of kindergarten through grade three is the study of family and communities and the acquisition of individual…