Discusses how to create classroom study areas and presents ideas for including game tables, magic carpet areas, and media corners. (JMB)

Presents 20 ways to think about learning centers in the classroom and suggests ideas for developing and using such centers. (JMB)

Nine elementary teachers explain how they design their classrooms to match and support their instructional styles. The teachers focus on whole language programs, student portfolios, science activity set-ups, technology transformation, learning center strategies, and space utilization. (SM)

Offers tips on creating interactive bulletin boards and displays designed to help elementary students develop thinking skills and number concepts and to help teachers with such daily tasks as taking attendance, keeping track of birthdays, doing lunch counts, maintaining job lists, and exploring individual student characteristics. (SM)

Asks whether the common practice that has been termed "Circle Time" and its variations are a useful classroom practice. Analyzes the ways teachers employ circle time. Critiques the practice of circle time. Argues that the quality of learning is dependent on the quality of reflection by teachers concerning their practice, not on gimmicks.…

Defining a learning center as a classroom area containing several learning stations where students may work independently with materials which teach, reinforce, or enrich their skills, this guide presents essential considerations for designing such a center. Among the items discussed are scheduling, time management techniques, and record keeping…

In order to determine what programs and practices in teaching reading were being used by the elementary schools in Saskatchewan, a survey was carried out in the winter of 1973. Eighty-two percent of the questionnaires (630) were returned by the schools. The survey shows that elementary schools in Saskatchewan use a variety of plans for classroom…

The author taught in an open-space classroom at Argyle Junior High in Montgomery County, Maryland. Here is a candid look at the inner workings of a room without walls. (Editor/RK)

A literate classroom environment immerses a student in a rich, stimulating, interactive, and purposeful print and language environment which is designed to provide for success in reading, writing, listening, and speaking and the needs of individuals responsible for their own learning in a natural, non-competitive, non-threatening, risk-taking…

Presents 80 quick activities that elementary teachers can use to get to know their students, reward good work, communicate with parents, brush up on basic skills, spruce up the classroom, pamper themselves, or publicize the school. (SJL)

Excerpted from "On Teaching," Schocken Books, Inc., New York, 1976. Deals with losing control, being out of control, fatigue and private spaces, as problems related to teacher productivity. (PR)

Examines the efforts of an elementary school in Iowa to combine Basic School and multi-age instruction. Quotes from teachers to describe how (trying not just to educate children but to teach them how to manage their own education) the school's curriculum is structured around big ideas and broad concepts that provide multiple entry points for the…

AN OUTLINE WITH SUGGESTED TEACHING PRACTICES FOR THE INSERVICE TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM IS PRESENTED. A GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE OVERALL PROGRAM INCLUDES INFORMATION ON THE STAFF OF THE DEMONSTRATION SCHOOL, THE CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS AND DEMONSTRATIONS PERFORMED, AND THE CONFERENCES HELD WHICH RELATE DIRECTLY TO INSTRUCTION. THE MATERIAL USED IN…

This manual suggests ways to informalize and individualize the classroom through a transitional approach. It is organized by subject matter and in the order in which the classrooms may be changed from traditional to individualized. Trust is the basic premise on which the informalized classroom operates, and an effort is made to show how to develop…

Describes how a teacher used planned observations of classroom interactions to lead to role playing, class discussion, and changes in seating arrangements. The strategies resulted in marked improvements in classroom interactions and in academic work. (SKC)