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22 Simple Ideas for Harnessing Creativity in the Elementary Classroom

22 Simple Ideas for Harnessing Creativity in the Elementary Classroom
Here's an experiment you can conduct in many schools, maybe even the school where you teach. Look through the door of one classroom and you might see the students hunched over, not engaged, even frowning. The teacher looks frazzled, tired and wishing he or she were somewhere else. You might think, "Well, everyone has a bad day." But you might witness this scenario in this teacher's classroom no matter what day you look through the door. For the second part of the experiment, look through the door of another classroom, and you might see a room full of lively students, eager, engaged and participating. What is the second teacher doing that the first one isn't? Creativity is innovation. Creativity is thinking outside the box. Creativity is improvisation. Creativity is professional growth. Creativity is being a risk taker or mold breaker. Creativity is passion. Suggested Activities: The Game of Learning 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Suggested Activities: The Artsy Side of Creative 9. 10. 11. 12.

Special education needs / Fact sheets / Key information / National Standards / The New Zealand Curriculum Online - NZ Curriculum Online Individual Education Programmes and plans (IEPs) Individual education plans (IEPs) will continue to be the basis for planning learning programmes for most students with special education needs. Those who know the student best, including parents, family, whānau, and communities, will continue to work together to support students through an IEP process. A very small group of students have very significant learning disabilities and are likely to learn within level one of The New Zealand Curriculum for most of their years at school. Teachers will continue to use a range of valid assessment and IEP approaches to ensure they are supporting all students to learn within The New Zealand Curriculum. Board reporting for students with very significant learning disabilities Boards will report school-level progress and achievement for all students, including those with special education needs, in relation to the National Standards.

5 Proven Ways to Engage Students In Your Classroom The eyes roll back, the mouth scowls, the fingers grip the not-so-secretly hidden cellphone, and the brain checks out. These are, as teachers everywhere can attest, the surefire signs of a disengaged student. And these symptoms are ravaging the educational system. Teachers know that student engagement is the key to learning retention and having a great overall classroom experience, but they often don’t have the time or energy to come up with some of the outrageous things that they see other teachers doing online to keep kids’ interest. Some of us just can’t plan a flash mob for every lesson. Disengaged students are unmotivated to complete their work, apathetic about learning outcomes, and resistant to participating in classwork. Everyone has suggestions for improving student engagement. Strategies and Tools for Student Engagement Use 1:1 devices: We know, this isn’t a cheap option, but it is a legitimate way to increase engagement and participation in the classroom. In Short

Briefs | autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu Evidence-based practice (EBP) briefs have been developed for all 24 identified evidence-based practices. Select a practice in the list below to access the overview of the practice and downloadable PDF files for the EBP brief and the individual components. An evidence-based practice brief consists of the following core components: Components of an Evidence-Based Practice Brief Overview: A general description of the practice and how it can be used with learners with autism spectrum disorders. Step-by-Step Instructions for Implementation: Explicit step-by-step directions detailing exactly how to implement a practice, based on the research articles identified in the evidence base. Implementation Checklist: The implementation checklist offers a way to document the degree to which practitioners are following the step-by-step directions for implementation, which are based on the research articles identified in the evidence base. Evidence Base:

Actively Engage Students Using Hands-on & Minds-on Instruction Contrary to popular belief, “active engagement” involves more than “hands-on” instruction. Years ago, I discovered this when I realized that hands-on teaching didn’t always result in student learning. Yes, my students had fun, but follow-up activities showed little grasp of essential concepts. How could that be? My students appeared to be actively engaged, but apparently only their hands and their mouths were active! My “ah-ah” moment came when I realized that both minds and hands are necessary for active engagement. Luckily, there are dozens of active engagement “tools” you can use to spark excitement and add rigor to your lessons. These classroom games... Use these teaching strategies to ensure feedback is maximized in your classroom. Here are a few classroom activities that will help students develop habits that... Use these teaching strategies to stress the importance of comparing and... Active Engagement Tools Random Student Selection Learn more about The Hat here. Hands-on Instruction

Autism Internet Modules (AIM) | autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu Our center is in the process of developing online modules for each of the 24 identified evidence-based practices. These modules are available on the Autism Internet Modules (AIM) website hosted by the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI). The Autism Internet Modules (AIM) website features content from experts on ASD across the nation on topics including assessment and identification, characteristics, evidence-based practices and interventions, transition to adulthood, and employment. How do I access the Autism Internet Modules? To access the online modules, you must register for a free account. After logging onto the AIM website, the easiest way to locate a specific module is to select an alphabetical view of all modules, and then scroll through and find the module of your choice. Are the online modules different from the briefs that are posted on the National Professional Development Center website? What modules are now available on AIM?

25 Clever Classroom Tips For Elementary School Teachers Learning Port - List of Featured Resources Bringing resource based education to our local partners Welcome | Sign up for Email Updates » 9 Results 38 results found for Featured Resources | Showing 1-20 of 38 Achieve, Inc. Topics: common core, common core state standards A Strong State Role in Common Core State Standards Implementation: Rubric and Self-Assessment Tool To assist states in gauging the strength of their implementation plans and to illustrate how to improve them, Education First and Achieve have partnered on the development of a new Common Core State Standards Implementation Rubric and Self-Assessment Tool. Read More » National Mental Health Information Center, SAMHSA Topics: early childhood, infants and toddlers, mental health, pre-K, preschool A Training Guide for the Early Childhood Services Community: Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders Read More » Interactive Collaborative Autism Network (ICAN) Read More »

7 Apps for Teaching Children Coding Skills It's hard to imagine a single career that doesn't have a need for someone who can code. Everything that "just works" has some type of code that makes it run. Coding (a.k.a. programming) is all around us. That's why all the cool kids are coding . . . or should be. Programming is not just the province of pale twenty-somethings in skinny jeans, hunched over three monitors, swigging Red Bull. Not any more! If you're concerned that that a) elementary school students don't have the ability to code, b) there's no room in the curriculum, and c) you don't possess coding chops to teach programming skills, throw out those worries. In no particular order, we have listed all the coding apps that are appropriate for young learners. GameStar Mechanic Platform: WebCost: $2 per student GameStar Mechanic teaches kids, ages 7-14, to design their own video games. Scratch Platform: WebCost: Free! Tynker Platform: WebCost: Free! Move the Turtle Hopscotch Platform: iPadCost: Free! Daisy the Dinosaur Cargo-Bot

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