A teacher offers six suggestions for giving students opportunities to exercise their commonsense thinking skills. This allows the teacher to ask rather than tell, listen rather than talk, and allows the children to provide for themselves. (MT)

This column discusses five children's books selected to develop math concepts involving problem solving, reasoning, and communication. The books are "Only One" (Marc Harshman); "The Librarian Who Measured the Earth" (Kathryn Lasky); "Counting Jennie" (Helena C. Pittman); "The Search for Delicious" (Natalie Babbitt); and "The Toothpaste…

Use of a checkbook can hook even the most reluctant mathematics students into learning mathematical and problem-solving skills. (CB)

A variety of techniques for incorporating writing--the writing of letters, the keeping of logs, the devising of word problems--into the mathematics curriculum are discussed. The benefits from using an integrated approach are indicated. (DG)

Pullout pages provide suggestions for teaching elementary students at all levels about the wonders of human ingenuity. The suggestions help students see that great ideas come from the need to solve real-life problems and that one great idea leads to another, so current inventions help predict future inventions. (SM)

Presents suggestions to help teachers who must work with difficult principals, offering 10 ideas for how to make meetings with such principals more effective. The paper also notes what to do if the principal is unreachable and describes how four teachers handled their own problems with difficult principals. (SM)

This paper answers several frequently asked questions about constructivism, including how to define it, how to plan the curriculum, how to assess student understanding, what to do with the information, where to begin, how students work in a constructivist classroom, and why constructivism is important. (SM)

Teachers can prepare themselves for angry confrontations with parents by learning how to cope with parent anger and channeling it into positive action. A five-step process, the I.D.E.A.L. system, is outlined and recommended as an effective technique for converting angry parents into collaborators. (IAH)

A collection of activities and tips for elementary teachers, culled from material the magazine has published over 20 years, includes cornerstones of classroom management, top teaching strategies, and curriculum classics. A new poster offers activities for commemorating student birthdays and for enjoying the first day of school. (SM)

Presents a framework for teaching upper elementary students about assertiveness: teaching them differences between passive, aggressive, and assertive behavior; encouraging role playing; discussing when assertive behavior is appropriate; constantly reinforcing the lessons; and teaching alternatives. Tips for assertive communication are provided.…

The article presents several activities designed to sharpen students' listening and observation skills and help them practice finding and evaluating alternatives to classroom conflicts and conflicts they may encounter elsewhere. Activities include solution skits, role playing, reading and writing conflict stories, and making comic strips. (SM)

This problem-solving activity book offers tools for attacking problems in the classroom and beyond (a reproducible card set explaining problem-solving skills, a math problem-solving grid, problem-solving lessons in science, language arts, and social studies, and a poster following scientists as they fight to reclaim an endangered species). (SM)

The choice theory holds that people can control only their own behavior, and that all people need a sense of belonging, freedom, power, and fun. This article argues that teachers must recognize that these needs motivate student behavior, and describes how a middle school turned its discipline and achievement problems around by using choice theory.…