Presents anecdotes describing teachers with strong points of view on moral and social issues. (CM)

Presents short followup interviews of seven elementary school teachers who were teachers of the month a decade ago, and are still enthusiastic, practicing teachers. (CM)

Ideas for establishing a mathematical menagerie with puppets to facilitate mathematics instruction in the elementary school. (CM)

Three articles focus on elementary school literature education. The first reviews children's books that celebrate the winter. The second presents a holiday letter to students from writer/illustrator Marc Brown. The third examines how the seasons can inspire imagery in children's poetry. (SM)

Presents hands-on science activities using inexpensive, hand-held microscopes and slides made from simple, readily available materials. The article describes how to introduce students to microscopes and presents directions for using the microscopes and making slides. A student page investigates fingerprints with microscopes. (SM)

Presents an elementary level hands-on science activity designed to teach students about shadows. The activity helps students draw conclusions about shadows by experimenting with different materials and determining which will make a shadow. A sidebar explains what a shadow is and offers further resources. (SM)

Describes how to start a student writing festival to motivate children to write, presenting the experiences of one elementary school where students published what they wrote, then attended a banquet where they read their works to the crowd and received a copy of the final publication. Suggestions for starting the festival, publishing student…

This cross-curricular primary unit helps teachers and students get to know one another. Students collect information about their families, then create bulletin boards, class albums, graphs, and art projects. One activity is for students to invite their families into the classroom to share their projects and feast on traditional family foods. (SM)

Seventy-one ideas for learning activities in the elementary school classroom are described. Activities are included in the areas of fine arts, mathematics, language arts, history, writing, listening skills, and science. (CJ)

Across-the-curriculum articles focus on four areas. A math activity describes optical illusions and the properties of shapes. A hands-on science activity presents the chemistry of secret messages. A writing lesson helps students capture the essence of character. An art lesson presents a project on medieval castles. (SM)

How can you arouse and maintain active interest in health? Author offers a number of intriguing ways. (Editor/RK)

This article described a miniature throwing course for grades three, four, and five. (Author/RK)

Students learned the crafts of spinning, weaving, netting, wood carving, and candlemaking in a small town with no recreational facilities. (Editor/RK)

Described how personification can help children begin to develop healthy emotional responses. (RK)