We describe how a modified version of an emergency survival strategy led our team in addressing problems of practice identified in two second grade classrooms. We attended to the urgent needs of students by enacting the curriculum with integrity, doing what was most important and effective, while accommodating their classroom context (LeMahieu,…

Evidence is mounting that children have decreasing exposure to the natural world, which makes sense as the population of the planet urbanizes and many interests and assignments involve digital technology. According to the United Nations, 54% of the world's population now live in cities (2014), and a 2010 study by the Kaiser Health Foundation found…

Nancy White Carlstrom's children's book, "Northern Lullaby," conjures through poetry the beauty of the Alaskan landscape in the evening. The book provides an opportunity for music teachers to help their students transform text and visual images to music. The author describes connections for reading comprehension in the general music…

One of the greatest challenges of any K-12 teacher education program is providing pre-service teachers opportunities to work with students who are culturally and linguistically different from themselves. Despite best efforts of selecting texts and facilitating discussions, new teachers recently interviewed report that coursework just did not help…

This is the second edition of a curriculum guide for elementary school mathematics. It is one of a series intended to serve as a model for Alaskan school districts as they develop and review their curriculum documents. Listed are topics and concepts, learning outcomes and objectives, and sample learning activities. The learning activities are…

This curriculum guide lists mathematics topics and concepts, learning outcomes, and sample learning objectives (in three columns) for grades 1 to 8. Topics/concepts, in the first column, describe the major parts of the subject under consideration. They define broadly the content to be included in the study of each subject area. Learning outcomes,…

This curriculum guide was designed to give students at the primary level an awareness of Alaska's wetlands and the fish and wildlife that live there. This guide is divided into 13 sections consisting of learning activities covering the following topics: (1) wetland areas in Alaska; (2) water cycles; (3) plants and wildlife found in wetlands; (4)…

This unit of study is designed to teach the science of wild animals to students in the primary grades. Included are a list of materials for the unit, a discussion of the use of process skills, a list of unit objectives, vocabulary, teacher background information, 13 lessons, 3 quizzes, and a unit test. Lessons are oriented toward hands-on process…

The 1995 National Teacher of the Year, Elaine Griffin, teaches on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Her experiences reinforce her belief in the importance of strong school-community ties and close relationships between teachers and families. Shared staffing in this remote rural environment has allowed the teachers time away for travel and other experiences.…

This document is the fifth educational packet in the Alaska Wildlife Week Series. This unit emphasizes forest wildlife, ecology, and conservation and includes: a teacher's guide with information, interdisciplinary activities, games, and worksheets; a wildlife poster; forest wildlife cards with illustrations and text describing over 100 organisms…

Developed as part of a curriculum revision series, this guide outlines curricula for art, music, drama and dance for Alaskan elementary grade levels 1-3, 4-6, and 7-8. The format for each curriculum contains the following components in three separate columns: (1) topics/concepts, which define the major parts of the subject under consideration and…

This unit contains 15 lessons on Alaskan plants for fourth graders. It describes materials, supplementary materials, use of process skill terminology, unit objectives, vocabulary, background information about five kingdoms of living things, and a webbing activity. Included are: (1) "Roots in Action"; (2) "Chlorophyll"; (3)…

This unit includes 15 lessons on Alaskan plants and trees for third graders. It describes materials, supplementary materials including books and films, use of process skill terminology, unit objectives, vocabulary, background information (including the information source), field trip organization, succession, and major plants. Included are: (1)…

Wildlife is often described as one of Alaska's most important and valuable resources. Helping wildlife can take many forms. In this educational packet, a variety of activities are included to help primary students understand which human activities help wildlife and which harm wildlife. The activities included in this packet represent adaptations…

Wildlife is often described as one of Alaska's most important and valuable resources. Helping wildlife can take many forms. In this educational packet, a variety of activities are included to help intermediate students understand which human activities help wildlife and which harm wildlife. In addition, suggestions on planning hands-on projects to…