Randi Stone - Best Practices for Elementary Classrooms: What Award-Winning Teachers Do

More Books by Randi Stone

Best Practices for Teaching Reading: What Award-Winning Classroom Teachers Do, 2008

Best Practices for Teaching Social Studies: What Award-Winning Classroom Teachers Do, 2008

Best Practices for Teaching Writing: What Award-Winning Classroom Teachers Do, 2007

Best Practices for Teaching Mathematics: What Award-Winning Classroom Teachers Do, 2007

Best Practices for Teaching Science: What Award-Winning Classroom Teachers Do, 2007

Best Classroom Management Practices for Reaching All Learners: What Award-Winning Classroom Teachers Do, 2005

Best Teaching Practices for Reaching All Learners: What Award-Winning Classroom Teachers Do, 2004

What?! Another New Mandate? What Award-Winning Teachers Do When School Rules Change, 2002

Best Practices for High School Classrooms: What Award-Winning Secondary Teachers Do, 2001

Best Classroom Practices: What Award-Winning Elementary Teachers Do, 1999

New Ways to Teach Using Cable Television: A Step-by-Step Guide, 1997

Copyright 2009 by Randi Stone

First Skyhorse Publishing edition 2015.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Michael Dubowe

Print ISBN: 978-1-63220-542-1

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-959-7

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Elizabeth Grelle Kruse, Grades K3 (Illinois)

Tony Nichols, Grades K3 + (West Virginia)

Ginger Mendenhall, Grades K4 (Oklahoma)

KJ Bailey, Grades 14 (Florida)

Kendra Jiles, Grades K3 (South Carolina)

Ginger Mendenhall, Grades K5 + (Oklahoma)

Sharla Steever, Grades K5+ (South Dakota)

Brandy Bailey, Grades K5 + (Mississippi)

Kelli Higgins, Grades 25 (Illinois)

Helen Melvin, Grades K5 + (Maine)

Marianne Morin, Grades 34 (New York)

LeAnn Morris, Grades 35 (Nevada)

Michael Flynn, Grades K5 + (Massachusetts)

Karin Huttsell, Grades K2 (Indiana)

Marianne Sipe, Grades 13 (Tennessee)

Carol Brueggeman, Grade 2 (Colorado)

Diana A. Minor, Grades 23 (Missouri)

Wendy Smith, Grades 24 (New York)

Frieda Taylor Aiken, Grades 24 (Georgia)

Nancy Bryant, Grades 25 + (North Carolina)

Amy Nicholl, Grades 35 (Colorado)

Debbie Easley, Grade 5 (Alabama)

Lisa M. Hall, Grades K5 (Virginia)

Barb A. Egbert, Kindergarten (Missouri)

Ganna Maymind, Grades 15 (New Jersey)

Deb Guthrie, Grades 25 (Minnesota)

Kelli Higgins, Grades 25 (Illinois)

Debbie Gordon, Grades 35 (Arizona)

Pam Cyr, Grade 5 (Vermont)

Shari Kaneshiro, Grade 5 (Hawaii)

Peggy J. Billiard, Grades K5 (Indiana)

Jodi Jari, Grades 15, ESL (Wisconsin)

Maranda Alcal, Grades 23 (Oregon)

Reid Nunn, Grades 45 (New Mexico)

Karen Ann Brown, Grades 45 + (Colorado)

Renee Borden, Kindergarten (Tennessee)

Nikki Salvatico, Grades K2 (Pennsylvania)

Kendra Jiles, Grades K5 (South Carolina)

Karen Ann Brown, Grades 45+, Gifted (Colorado)

Andrea Payan, Grades 45 (Wisconsin)

Tammy Spratt, Grades 45 (Kentucky)

Stacy Gardner Dibble, Grades 45 (Minnesota)

Kim Tredick, Grade 5 (California)

Sue Davis Pope, Grade 5 (Utah)

Christopher R. Shadle, Grades K4 (Ohio)

Kim Heckart, Grade 3 (Iowa)

Karen Ann Brown, Grades 45+, Gifted (Colorado)

Luella L. Atkins, Grades 45 + (Missouri)

Heather E. Robinson, Grade 5 (Arizona)

Eileen Biegel, Grade 5 (Florida)

Tammy Spratt, Grade 5 (Kentucky)

Heather E. Robinson, Grades 45 + (Arizona)

Denese Odegaard, Grade 5 (North Dakota)

Susan Menkes, Grades K6 (New York)

Cindy L. Hodgeson, Grades K4 (Arizona)

Tammy Haggerty Jones, Grades K5 (Illinois)

Preface

M y goal of helping teachers has remained the same for over a decade. I have introduced teachers from across the United States to the best practices in elementary schools. The success of Best Classroom Practices: What Award-Winning Elementary Teachers Do has led to MORE Best Practices for Elementary Teachers: What Award-Winning Teachers Do. This book provides teachers with a new smorgasbord of information.

There is endless information out there and it can take hours to find just what you are looking for. This book makes it easy. It is full of valuable lessons from outstanding teachers. These teachers are the ones highlighted in journals and magazines and the ones who win grants, fellowships, and contests. These are the Teachers of the Year, National Educator Award winners, recipients of the Milken Family Foundation award, and ING Unsung Heroesand the list continues. I wanted to talk to them and hear about what they are doing. I wanted to know what makes them outstanding and what they are doing in their classrooms.

This book is the product of sharing at its best and is organized in four parts. Part I highlights classroom practices across the curriculum. Topics include classroom management, creative scheduling, community involvement, differentiating instruction, and using technology in classrooms. A sample of the lessons in Part I are Building the Atmosphere, Differentiation Using Story Cubes, and Technology for a Varied and More Interesting Classroom. Part II focuses on science and math. Lessons include Using Mysteries to Teach Science Inquiry and Math-A-Thon. Part III addresses teaching reading and writing. Nonfiction Guided Reading Lesson and Multigenre Writing are just a few of the practices addressed. Finally, Part IV has a variety of lessons on social studies, music, art, and physical education, spanning topics like Cultural Diversity in Our Community: Past and Present, Inaugural Poetry Through Elementary School Publications, and Celebrating Music.

I hope you enjoy each submission with the same enthusiasm and excitement that I did. Thanks to the tremendously giving educators across the United States, Best Practices for Elementary Classrooms: What Award-Winning Teachers Do will give you an inside view of education practices and exemplary lesson plans.

About the Author

Randi Stone is a graduate of Clark University, Boston University, and Salem State College. She completed her doctorate in education at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She is the author of 15 books, including her series Best Practices for Teaching Reading: What Award-Winning Teachers Do; Best Practices for Teaching Social Studies: What Award-Winning Teachers Do; Best Practices for Teaching Writing: What Award-Winning Teachers Do; Best Practices for Teaching Mathematics: What Award-Winning Teachers Do; and Best Practices for Teaching Science: What Award-Winning Teachers Do. She lives with her teenage daughter, Blair, in Keene, New Hampshire.