Dive into a student-engaged framework structured around four learning stations: (1) the minilesson station, (2) the independent work station, (3) the collaboration station, and (4) the digital content station. Using direct and specialized instruction, interactive activities, and digital learning tools, these four stations aim to personalize…

Jennifer Miller is a special education preschool teacher at Grant Elementary School in Muscatine, Iowa. In this article, she describes how she created and implemented a learning center with three-to-five-year-old students in an integrated morning class (nine students; four on IEPs) and an integrated afternoon class (10 students; four on IEPs) to…

Extended school year (ESY) is a summer program available for students with disabilities who meet specific qualifying criteria. Teachers are often hesitant to accept the position of the ESY teacher due to the ambiguities and demands of the position. The purpose of this article is to briefly share the impetus and focus of ESY and give special…

In today's diverse and inclusive classrooms, teachers face the challenge of delivering instruction that is effective and accessible to students with a wide range of needs, abilities, and learning styles. Newly updated for 2014, "RTI & DI: Response to Intervention & Differentiated Instruction," by Helene Hanson, shows teachers how…

The VPK Learning Center Activities included with this guide are aligned with the Language, Communication and Emergent Literacy Domain within the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards for Four-Year-Olds (2011). Although the goal was not to create an activity to represent each and every standard and benchmark, most standards are…

The most pressing challenge in early childhood education today is to find a way to meet the standards within a developmentally appropriate approach. In this book, two active early childhood educators provide teachers with resources to bring content alive and document it in every-day, action-based pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms. The book…

In this science investigation based on the 5E learning model, students moved through four different centers designed to focus their attention on the concepts of mass, volume, and density. At these stations, students encountered discrepant events that heightened their curiosity and encouraged discussion with peers about what they expected and…

With many learning goals to be met, preschool teachers may wonder how to accomplish all of them. This book is intended to show teachers how to maximize the scope and power of instruction through integration across content domains and learning contexts. Focusing on language, literacy, and mathematics, the author introduces strategies to bolster…

The article outlines characteristics of effective learning centers for reinforcing initial teaching, clarifying concepts that have been taught, and providing needed drill and practice. Steps involved in creating a learning center are listed, and a description of a learning center is offered. (SB)

This learning center for six- and seven-year olds presents language, math, science, and study skill activities about peanuts. (SJL)

A number of learning center activities designed to help elementary school students learn to read a newspaper intelligently are presented in this guide. Specific activities deal with newspaper vocabulary, using an index, identifying the five "W's" in a news article, editorials, characteristics of various kinds of newspaper cartoons (advertising,…

This study unit contains suggestions for learning activities in the area of computer science. Ideas are provided for creating a computer-interest center, books and references about computers, and class activities. (CJ)

Development of a learning center designed to aid classroom teachers in meeting the needs of physically disabled children returning to the regular classroom is described. (LH)

Suggests that live plants can brighten up the classroom and can serve as the focus of interdisciplinary learning activities for elementary students. Briefly describes the organization of a "living laboratory" in an elementary school. (SJL)

Suggests that the outdoor environment is often quite separate from "out of doors" in early childhood classrooms and is seldom used to teach about the environment. Provides guidelines and suggestions for learning centers that can help teach about nature. (HTH)