Elementary Archives

A Rhythm of Gratitude

We Are Grateful: OtsaliheligaBy Traci SorellIllustrated by Frané LessacCharlesbridge Publishing, 2018 My preschool-age children collect treasures from the ground that end up on our table. Bits of moss, Douglas fir […]

We Need to Ask Our Students to Dream — and to Dream Big

Back in the 1980s, I taught an elective class at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, called Literature and Social Change. It centered around the questions “What is a good […]

Heroes or Cultural Icons? Of Thee I Sing : A Letter to My Daughters

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My DaughtersBy Barack Obama Illustrated by Loren Long(Knopf, 2010) On the title page of President Barack Obama’s picture book, Of Thee I Sing: A […]

Ordinary Heroes

A review of The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter (Harcourt, 2004)

Writing for Justice

An elementary school teacher takes us inside his classroom to see how he builds on his students’ lives and passions to help them create persuasive essays.

Testing Our Limits

First graders, three at a time, use classroom computers to take standardized tests. Their teacher explains the impact on the students and herself.

Sin Fronteras Boy

Fourth-grade English language learners use wikis to study border issues and gain literacy skills.

Talking Back to the World

Student poetry about what raised me is woven into graphic art.

Reading First, Libraries Last

In these bleak NCLB days of regimented

The Scripted Prescription

Testing mania reaches the pre-K classroom. It saddened me to think that my daughter’s first impression of school was based on taking a test and failing it.”

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Think Less Benchmarks

Thanks to the folks at the Discovery Channel

TV Selfishness and Violence Explode During ‘War On Terror

Six years into the ‘War on Terror

Polar Bears on Mission Street

San Francisco fourth graders learn about global warming and take action to save the polar bears.

Continent Ecology

Children’s books that promote environmental education in the primary grades.

The War in Iraq and Daily Classroom Life

Suggestions from a 5th-grade teacher on bringing the War in Iraq into the curriculum.

‘I Just Want to Read Frog and Toad’

Another child’s love of reading runs smack into No Child Left Behind.

A Little School in a Little Chinatown

One of the founders of a folk arts-based school slated to open in Philadelphia this fall hopes small schools can create possibilities for reclaiming communities.