Instructor (1990) articles from May 2004

Instructor (1990) archives from May 2004

Meeting the standards.(Illustration)
May 1, 2004... ARTICLE PAGE LANGUAGE ARTS GRADES 31 Flavors of 20 Uses reading skills and strategies to K-8 Reading understand a variety of texts (e.g., fairy...

Books gave me peace.(Editor's Note)
May 1, 2004... "BOOKS PULLED ME IN." "BOOKS CARRIED ME TO NEW PLACES." Are these the words of schoolchildren? They could be, but in fact they're comments from Instructor staff members who spoke with me about their early experiences with reading. Dana...

200 words a year.(News & Trends)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Marie Anderson has met many students resistant to reading and learning new vocabulary--and she has managed to transform nearly every one of them into a word enthusiast. A sixth-grade language arts and reading teacher at Aki Kurose Middle School...

Road warrior!(News & Trends)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Jared Polis has taken tech to the streets. A member of Colorado's State Board of Education, Polis transformed a bus into a high-tech mobile classroom. The bus, called the Education Station, can accommodate 12 students at a time and meets...

Overseas care.(News & Trends; foreign troops)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Victory may have been declared, but war is far from over for the soldiers who are still stationed overseas. Engage your students in current events by encouraging them to send a care package to a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan. Through a special...

Ms. frizzle's Reading Magic Sweepstakes.(Giveaways)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Free to students: Scholastic Book Clubs are giving away complete Magic School Bus Libraries to 20 lucky winners. Each winner will receive one library for home and another for their classrooms. Grades: K-3 How to get it: Students should...

Chet Gecko Classroom Kit.(Giveaways)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Free to teachers: To celebrate the release of Bruce Hale's ninth mystery starring Chet Gecko, Harcourt is giving away a classroom kit with a full-color poster, reproducibles with classroom activities, and a set of stickers and notepads. ...

CESL games.(ESL Teacher's Board)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Free to teachers: The ESL Teacher's Board offers a collection of free, fun, and purposeful games on their Web site, including "The English Spy Code," "The Mystery Box," "Small Words for Small People," and "The Piano Game." Grades: K-6 ...

No Child left Behind professional development sessions.(Giveaways)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Free to teachers: See sessions of the 9th annual K-12 School Networking Conference via streaming video. This year's topic: Personalization and Empowerment: No Child left Behind and Technology. Free to teachers, video participation in the...

Ezra Jack Keats minigrants.(Grants)
May 1, 2004... In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the publication of Whistle for Willie, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation will award $40,000 in minigrants to public and school libraries that have developed programs designed to combat illiteracy. ...

Learning in the arts grants.(Grants)
May 1, 2004... This new NEA grant recognizes programs that promote advanced arts learning for young Americans. Awards range from $5,000-$150,000. Deadline: June 14, 2004 To apply: Go online to www.arts.gov/grants. RELATED ARTICLE: JUST FOR OUR...

"My fourth-grade girls are diet-obsessed. They avoid lunch, drink diet soda, and talk about calories. What can I do?".(Can You Help?)
May 1, 2004... Explore the Underlying Reasons. Consider doing some small group work with the girls, starting with journal writing. Ask them: Why are you dieting? How do your friendships, peer relations, and experiences outside of school influence you to diet?...

Dr. Brodkin says ...(Can You Help?)(about child's adoption of a dieting lifestyle)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... It is difficult, but not impossible, to take on a culture that lives by the slogan, "You can never be too thin or too rich." And this is what teachers are up against in trying to help girls who flirt with anorexia. There are always multiple...

Thank you, teacher.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... As teachers, the best thanks we get are from children. Here are a few end-of-year notes from students to their beloved teachers. Save them as a tribute to all your hard work and successes! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

31 Flavors of reading.(Celebrate Books)(Bibliography)(Cover Story)
May 1, 2004... Summer is just around the corner, conjuring up images of cloudless afternoons, the clink of ice in a tall lemonade, and warm breezes riffling the dog-eared pages of a favorite book. As the end of the school year draws near, Instructor is...

Fabulous, fascinating fact books: using informational trade books as models for kids' writing can yield rich results.
May 1, 2004... At Highland Park Elementary School in Grove City, Ohio, the fourth-grade classrooms were abuzz with activity as students conducted research for the informational books they were writing. As they worked, I noticed two boys, Jason and Jamie,...

Thumbs up? Reflecting on your year in books with students is a great way to spark ideas and energize for next year's teaching.
May 1, 2004... I confess that by the middle of May, my energy tank registers empty. I move into tunnel-vision mode: I just want to finish the year and get to the beach with a good book. Many years ago, administrators and mentors would tell me that this was a...

Fresh reads for summer: this season, fill your book bag with a host of professional resources to invigorate your teaching.(Bibliography)
May 1, 2004... For many of us, the long summer break brings reflection, rest, and rejuvenation. It can also be a prime time for professional growth. Reading and learning from new books, either by your-self or with teacher friends, is an excellent way to...

Ancient pottery: spark a study of Ancient Greece and the first Olympics by learning about the arts of the time.(Masterpiece Poster & Lesson)
May 1, 2004... You probably know students who worship professional athletes--but did you know the adulation of sports stars dates back to Ancient Greece? The Greeks glorified strong, graceful bodies. Every four years, the largest of athletic competitions was...

Ring in spring with Shel Silverstein.(Poetry Poster & Lesson)
May 1, 2004... The time is ripe to put a little spring in your students' steps with the zany, exhilarating verse of Shel Silverstein. Although he died in 1999, Silverstein's spirit lives on in his many creative works--folk songs, movie scores, screenplays,...

The ancient Olympics: introduce your students to the fascinating world of Ancient Greece by studying the Olympic Games, then and now.(Activities)
May 1, 2004... Building Background With the Summer Olympics in Athens around the corner, what a terrific time to study Ancient Greece, where the first Olympics were held more than 2,500 years ago! To get started, first gather materials for your classroom...

Sun-sational science: slip on some shades and head outdoors for fun hands-on learning and science exploration.(Activitiesa)
May 1, 2004... Creating Color Spectrums Although sunlight looks white, when it passes through water--such as raindrops or a glass of water--it bends and separates into a spectrum, or rainbow, of seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and...

A field day for math: add some bounce and zing into your springtime math lessons with these fast moving playground games.(Activities)
May 1, 2004... Hop-Skip-Jump Addition This relay race gets children moving--and adding like mad! Have two or more even-numbered teams line up in a row about 25 feet away from a pylon. Call out the first command: "Hop by 2s!" The first players in line must hop...

A month of William Steig: from Pete's a Pizza to Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Steig's stories enchant readers young and old. Use this calendar to share the magic this May and teach important language arts skills.(Activities)(Calendar)
May 1, 2004... Steig Word Bank (Using the Reproducible) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While Steig's stories are accessible to readers and listeners of all ages, they are filled with wonderfully rich and...

Get more from Instructor[R].(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Go online to www.scholastic.com/instructor * Great Web Exclusives We had so many activities and teaching ideas for May/June, we couldn't cram them all inside the pages of this issue! Go online now to access more than 300 additional...

Web sitings: summer reading.(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2004... School may be out, but the learning doesn't have to stop. These sites will make summer reading a time for enrichment and enjoyment. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY: WORLD OF READING www.worldreading.org Send...

CyberHunt: teacher's page; Anne Frank.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... For millions of readers, Anne Frank's diary put a human face on the horrors of the Holocaust. Introduce or revisit Anne Frank with your students using the CyberHunt Reproducible, opposite. Begin your search at www.scholastic.com/cyberhuntkids....

Like magic: in June, as I contemplate my newly-empty classroom, I discover an unexpected gift.(End of the Day)
May 1, 2004... It's a late afternoon in June. The children have gone, and save for a lone cricket chirping from the bug box in a faraway corner, the room is quiet. It's the last day of school, and my desk is a heap of bath beads and oils, plates of candy and...