Both those inside and outside of the education community are becoming increasingly familiar with the STEM acronym and the extensive efforts underway nationally to develop integrated PK-12 STEM programs that promote critical thinking, problem solving, 21st Century skill development and authentic learning experiences (Ingram, 2019). However, for…

The Common Core State Standards for English language arts expect that teachers will use narrative and informational texts to teach content area material across the curriculum. However, many teachers at all grade levels struggle to incorporate both kinds of text, especially given the vast amount of specialized content they are required to teach.…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS); the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS); and the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social State Standards are bringing many changes to schools and classrooms across the United States. This article suggests using the power of questions to make connections across seemingly disparate…

Environmental studies provide an ideal opportunity for gifted children of any age to build critical and creative-thinking skills while also building skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas. Exploring issues related to sustainability and environmental concerns permits gifted learners to identify problems, develop…

Through the study of The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, pre-service art teachers learn the about interdisciplinary design and the importance of using discipline-specific literacy strategies alongside the materials and methods of their craft. The creativity and enthusiasm with which these preservice teachers approached the work convinced us that…

Many elementary schools across the nation are scaling back or cutting arts curriculum altogether. This article presents classroom teachers with an activity for integrating art with mathematics. Through a three-phase exploration of reasoning with shapes and their attributes, students will get to know a classmate better, work with defining and…

To serve children with language impairments (LI), speech language pathologists and other educators need approaches supported by evidence (Hoffman et al., 2013). In evidence-based practice (EBP), educators integrate children's needs, strengths, interests, and preferences with research and expertise (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association,…

While social studies educators suggest that social studies instruction can and should be taught both through literacy-integrated delivery as well as independently from other subjects, many elementary classroom teachers often find that school expectations or district mandates leave little instructional time for any subject that is not specifically…

Alarmed by the possibility of social studies being overlooked in this context of new national disciplinary standards, National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools convened a meeting of 15 national organizations representing civics, economics, geography, and history, to begin a conversation about…

This guide outlines teacher preparation, professional association, and Common Core State Standards aligned to an "interdisciplinary collaborative mathematics" approach using Junior Achievement educational programs within a Math Methods course to train pre-service elementary teachers to teach math.

The result of a three year state-led collaborative effort, the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards was developed to serve two audiences: for states to upgrade their state social studies standards and for practitioners--local school districts, schools, teachers and curriculum writers--to strengthen…

Communication is a critical skill for students to possess in preparation for college and their future careers. One way for students to communicate their ideas in all content areas is through writing. The English language arts portion of the Common Core State Standards (CCSSI 2010a) specifically states that students need to understand perspectives…

With states and districts across the country implementing the Common Core State Standards, teachers have more opportunities than ever to collaborate around the shared goals of strengthening curriculum design, classroom practices, and student learning. Building from this premise, the Common Assignment Study (CAS) has brought together teams of…

Many teachers who educate students with significant intellectual disabilities struggle with the requirements for teaching academics linked to the Extended Common Core State Standards (ECCSS, 2010) while also balancing the need to teach functional skills. This article provides a practical way of creating thematic units that focuses on functional…

In a project-based learning approach, students work over an extended time period for a purpose beyond satisfying a school requirement--to build something, to create something, to respond to a question they have, to solve a real problem, or to address a real need. For example, students might work to plan, plant, and cultivate a garden to help feed…