Prior to a curriculum unit on European exploration of the New World, a class of fifth grade U.S. history students stated what they knew (or thought was true) about the discovery of America and what they wanted to learn about it. After the unit, they reported what they had learned about the general topic of European exploration of North America. In…

The purpose of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a simple, teacher-friendly, environmentally-based anxiety reduction intervention for fourth-grade students. Review of related literature indicates that children are often victims of stress due to academic and sociological variables which exist within the school environment.…

This guide is intended to assist in the evaluation of elementary science curriculum materials for use with high ability learners, in the light of calls for a "new science" which stresses depth of conceptual understanding. It presents a curriculum review process and two evaluation instruments. The process is intended to balance sound practices of…

The purpose of this manual is to provide teachers and other instructional personnel with an understanding of disruptive behavior and effective techniques to use in dealing with children who are disruptive in the classroom. An introductory chapter describes and defines disruptive behavior, explains possible by-products of disruptive behavior, and…

This handbook contains a variety of activities to help teachers of middle school students implement an Advisory Program. It notes that teachers in other middle schools have reported that students, through advisory experiences, have become more interested in school, better at communicating, better behaved, more cooperative, and more productive in…

Often students have the option to choose topics to write about during creative writing sessions. Increasingly, however, state mandated tests do not give students options of writing topics. The state mandated test specifies the topic. "Three B's and a C" is an integrated creative writing/social studies program that teaches students…

This manual outlines crisis policy development, specifically targeting students at risk for life threatening behaviors. Its stated intent is to present a consistent message to all school districts so that they can create adequate and prudent standards for the care of their young people. The materials in this manual are intended to help school…

Based on the belief that effective literacy assessment is an integral part of literacy instruction, this book provides information about the aspects of reading and writing that can be assessed and how assessing them can aid in planning instruction. Each chapter of the book includes a "reflection" section intended to encourage readers to consider…

The Kids in Dispute Settlement mediation program for grades 3 through 12 recognizes that conflicts are a part of everyone's life and that students can responsibly and constructively solve their own conflicts. Mediation uses the help of a third party to facilitate the conflict resolution process by working out differences non-judgementally. Student…

Presenting the full range of students' writing, this paper provides administrators, teachers, and students with samples of students' writing that exemplify the criteria used to score responses to the June 1992 Grade 6 English Language Arts Achievement Test. After an introductory section, the paper presents a general commentary; the writing…

These supplemental teaching resources promote awareness about health, family life, and cultural diversity for children in kindergarten through third grade, and offer a variety of concrete, visual activities to help young children understand how life begins for all living things. The format of each lesson is designed to help classroom and daycare…

This set of three books includes a leader manual, primary workbook, and intermediate workbook designed to help children learn about feelings. The leader manual presents a rationale and orientation, discusses the structure and orientation, and provides instructions for the 10 group sessions for primary grades and the 10 group sessions for the…

This report analyzes the longitudinal effects of schoolwide Chapter 1 initiatives on student reading achievement in 40 elementary schools in a large urban school district. The analyses find that, compared to control students, first-graders in schoolwide projects showed no achievement effects, second-graders showed positive significant effects,…

This book provides guidelines for teachers and parents in helping high-risk students to succeed academically by developing the skills and behaviors necessary for successful learning. It focuses on creating practical applications of the new discoveries being made in the neurosciences and demonstrates techniques for teaching to the whole brain.…

It is impossible to divorce oneself from geography. Students at an early age need to see how much a part of their lives geography is. This document offers teachers, students, and parents an exciting opportunity to discover the geography in themselves. The program explores the many ways geography affects people starting right from birth.…