Tips for teachers; helpful teaching tips

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Learning at the Grocery Store

Fun & easy Ways to make this everyday chore a learning experience for both preschoolers and elementary school kids.

Both of these shows make parents cringe, but how do they change the behavior of children who watch them? A simple experiment in child psychology provides an answer, a cautionary warning about how children absorb what they watch on TV.

More Evidence That TV’s
Don’t Teach Tots

Many parents own baby Einstein tapes, but evidence continues to mount that they don’t actually teach toddlers much of anything, despite their name. This article explores recent research into the topic, and outlines differences in the ways that toddlers and preschoolers learn.

Getting Your Baby to Wear Hats, Sunglasses, or
Other Props
You hit the malls and come home with all the latest gear, determined to have more fun accessorizing than you've had in years. You pick out the perfect look, and try it on your baby. Then the first thing they do is yank whatever it is off their head. What do you do? Read and find out.

Child Safety is everyone’s
responsibility!
Child Safety Resources:
Child Safety Books & Information
Child Abduction Prevention
Fire Safety
Water Safety
Child Safety in the Home
Child Proofing Your Home
Gun Safety for Kids
Child Car Safety

TIPS FOR TEACHERS

Weather you're a new teacher just getting started or a veteran with years of experience in the classroom, the following pages are filled with helpful tips and advice that will make your teaching time with the kids run a lot more smoothly. You’ll find plenty of time-saving and stress-reducing wisdom that you can utilize in your own career. Enjoy!

Note to teachers: If you have a helpful teaching tip you’d like to share with others, send us an email and let us know what it is. We’ll add it to the list as soon as we can.

The Classroom Echo

Whenever I inherited any classroom, we would always have the kids vote on a special name for their class: Koalas, Explorers, and so on. It adds a more personal touch for you to refer to them by, rather than simply saying hey kids, or hey you guys, when you want to speak to the class. But you have your name, you can also teach the kids the classroom echo as a means of classroom management.

Take the name and create a sing-song way to say it as if it were a bugle call, such as “Hey-Ko-al-as.” Then sit down with the kids and teach them this call. Model it for them, and them have them mimic it. Practice it several times with you giving the call with them waiting until you’re done, then echoing in unison. It takes a week or two of conditioning before they get in the habit of this, but once you get them in the habit, its a great way to quiet the class down or get their attention without having to raise your voice or repeatedly ask them to listen. Simply give the “Koala call” or whatever name you have chosen, and the kids will stop mid conversation to echo you, giving you their full attention.

A Tip on Classroom Arrangements
Here are a couple things to keep in mind as you structure your classroom: Studies have found that children participate more in classroom discussion when desks are arranged in a semi-circle configuration around a teacher, rather than the traditional rows of desks. A different examination found that organizing furniture in small groupings throughout the room encourages socialization more so than seats lined up facing one another. You might also try to incorporate a combination of these room arrangements; perhaps small desk groupings focused around the teacher. Whatever you decide on, remember that the way you structure your classroom does have a real impact on student behavior.