Educators know that an achievement gap exists between students of low-income and middle-income families, a gap that is especially evident in fourth grade and beyond. This essay explores issues related to this gap, including primary-level children being immersed in narrative text and, therefore, unprepared for the challenges of informational text…

This article presents an interview with Prue Mason about her book "Camel Rider." Prue Mason has written articles for a children's magazine in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and for "The School Magazine" in Australia. Mason also serves as the science and technology editor for an Australian children's magazine. She discusses what…

The school curriculum addresses issues of structured environmental education; however, what informal opportunities are afforded to children at school to interact and expand their knowledge of the world around them? This small case study attempts to elucidate children's experience of the school playground environment. The findings suggest that…

Sharing poetry with your students will lead to a lifetime benefit of appreciating the written word If you're an early riser and listen to public radio, you've probably heard Garrison Keillor, the host of "Prairie Home Companion," sharing a reading from the latest edition of "Pretty Good Poems." Each poem invariably evokes a reaction; whether it's…

Over forty years ago, Howard Zinn identified the problem as not one of civil disobedience, but of civil "obedience". He confronted the problem of remaining obedient to laws and rules even "in the face of the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war and cruelty." Framed in an early childhood context, this article explores the value of…

Developments within education, psychology and the neurosciences have shed a great deal of light on how we learn while, at the same time, confirming for us all that learning is a profoundly complex process and far from understood. Against this background, and in this position article, we consider the recent rise in interest in the concept of…

This article argues for the development of a framework through which to describe children's multimodal texts. Such a shared discourse should be capable of including different modes and media and the ways in which children integrate and combine them for their own meaning-making purposes. It should also acknowledge that multimodal texts are not…

This brief article describes how a teacher whose credo is "Explore Your World, Empower Yourself and Those Around You, Excel in Everything You Do," created a museum in his classroom. Why should you start a collection of artifacts? The author says for starters, your students will look forward to coming to your class each day. They will never know…

The author of this article describes her week observing a Montessori class in the Adam Vesviva School at Kibbutz Ga'ash, located on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. The headmaster of the school, Yariv Ya'ari, had previously been associated with Democratic Schools, an alternate to the public educational system, whose philosophy was established at Adam…

Special education teachers working in intermediate grades and in middle school grades face many challenges as they teach both developmental reading skills and subject matter material. Not only must they deal with the increased vocabulary and domain demands of teaching informational text, they must also handle the needs of students who have not yet…

In the author's experience, a significant source of reading difficulty for many beginning and struggling readers are misconceptions about print concepts so basic teachers assume their students are aware of them. Many children fail to grasp implicit principles of print such as the following: the reader cannot make up the words, the order of letters…

The article offers tips on introducing percussion activities in elementary music class. Percussion equipment should be treated as musical instruments and not toys, teaching correct names, playing techniques and notation for the instruments. Active listening experiences for students should be planned, including band music. Band music incorporates…

This paper describes the impact of an oral retelling of Homer's "Iliad" on pupils' learning in Key Stage 2 classrooms (children aged 9-11) in schools in East London. We argue that the oral nature of the retelling and responses promoted high levels of engagement and inclusion, leading to enhanced understanding by the pupils. The use of a…

A poet's narrative describes the role of educators in turning an enthusiastic kindergarten student into an alienated elementary school student. (RH)

In an interview, Reggie Jackson, baseball superstar, gives children advice on getting beyond first base in school this year. (CM)