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

Other Corwin 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 Corwin

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

MORE best practices for elementary classrooms: what award-winning teachers do / editor, Randi Stone.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4129-6345-9 (cloth.)

ISBN 978-1-4129-6346-6 (pbk.)

1. Elementary school teachersUnited StatesCase studies. 2. Elementary school teachingUnited StatesCase studies. I. Stone, Randi. II. Title.

LB1776.2.M67 2009

372.1102dc22 2009014368

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

09 10 11 12 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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 forElementary 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, MORE Best Practices for Elementary Classrooms: What Award-Winning Teachers Do will give you an inside view of education practices and exemplary lesson plans.

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.

Frieda Taylor Aiken, Gifted Teacher, Jackson Elementary School

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Maranda Alcal, English Language Development Specialist, Salish Ponds Elementary School

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