Our students have always needed our support, but recent events have brought to the forefront the challenges K-12 schools face in supporting their mental health. Now is the time to transform schools into safe and healthy places that enable students not only to learn but also thrive. Based on decades of research and proven examples from education…

The early school years provide critical opportunities for children to develop foundational skills and positive attitudes toward learning. This book, the first in the "Classroom Insights from Educational Psychology" series, gives current and prospective PreK-3 teachers valuable insight into how young children feel, think, and learn. Denise H.…

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), amended in 2008, is a federal law intended to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities. It applies to employers, state and local government agencies, places of public accommodation, transportation facilities, telephone companies, and the U.S. Congress. Under Title II of the ADA,…

This book explores the ways in which pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties can be effectively engaged in schooling -- either in school or at home. It explains the social and emotional underpinnings of learning and presents practical strategies for aiding engagement. "Nurture Groups", originally devised and implemented in the…

Strategies to help students transition to a new school year include emphasizing that everyone is in it together, discussing everyone's progress, visiting next year's classrooms, meeting students individually, discussing change, maintaining an open-door policy, reviewing the year's plan book, making memory books, and planning to visit old teachers.…

The author offers teachers suggestions for dealing with hyperactive children in such areas as reducing distractibility, controlling impulsivity, and promoting interpersonal skills and adjustment. (SW)

The author describes three "icebreaker" activities she uses to help a class of students get acquainted with one another--learning names and personal information--during the first days of the school year. (SJL)

Presents (1) information to help teachers evaluate how well the physically handicapped child and his/her family have adjusted to the child's disability and (2) guidelines for handling associated practical issues that arise in the classroom. (Author/RH)

Discusses applying psychological principles to modify behavior of open enrollment students in introductory psychology courses. Open enrollment students frequently are inadequately socialized in the requirements of the student role, lacking in study skills, and poorly motivated to achieve academically. Procedures are integrated into the formal…

The author suggests children's books and interdisciplinary activities that deal with the changes and adjustments that children face at the beginning of a school year: learning names, meeting new people, and overcoming the fear of being different. (SJL)

A new type of gifted underachiever, the child who excels in regular education but becomes discouraged and withdraws from challenges in special gifted programs, is described. Coping and self-evaluation strategies to help the child are discussed. (MSE)

Discussions regarding young children and secure schools often focus on children's physical safety and external stressors such as chaotic families, dangerous neighborhoods, and terrorism. Less attention is given to the emotional security of children in schools, a necessary prerequisite to learning and healthy development. The most effective way to…

A collection of ideas developed by teachers to help children get acquainted with each other and their new teachers during the first few days of school are suggested. Included are ideas about: (1) a giant grid which shows how each child's personal attributes fit in with those of other classmates; (2) a "personality-in-the-box"; and (3) a…

Because the transition from home to school can be upsetting for kindergarten children, the author suggests an interdisciplinary unit for the first week of school that centers around something familiar and comforting to a five year old, the teddy bear. (SJL)

A collection of back-to-school ideas helps elementary school teachers facilitate their students' adjustment to new class environments with across-the-curriculum activities. The suggestions focus on getting acquainted, learning class rules, discussing topics of study, building self-esteem, working with parents, learning cooperatively, thinking…