This article discusses how math skills, teamwork and higher-level thinking come together when students create strategic board games. In this article, the authors provide a glimpse of what it was like to be part of "To the Sun!," a game designed by students in the fifth-grade class at Olive Martin School in Lake Villa, IL. Students combined a math…

This brief article describes one teacher's experience moving to a new school and the lessons learned from that experience. It touches upon: finding a sense of belonging as a new, yet experienced teacher; creating a balance; and the moment of breakthrough.

In Hilliard, OH, administrators, teachers, kids and parents make a school a "community." Visualize, if you will, a symphony orchestra. The violins play as one, led by the concertmaster in the first violin section, who is first among equals. As the music builds, the cellos add their glorious tone while the woodwinds may introduce the theme.…