Research shows that keeping animals in classrooms can have profound effects on student well-being and success in school. In this practical guide, Dr. Brady Barr offers a step-by-step process for reintroducing nature-based learning experiences into 21st century schooling. Discover how to select a classroom pet, introduce it to your students, and design carefully thought-out lessons centered around the animal. Use this resource as a comprehensive guide toward the reintroduction of nature into the classroom: Become familiar with the numerous benefits that having animals and class pets in the classroom provides. Study the various obstacles that might prevent educators from keeping animals in their classroom and learn how to overcome those obstacles to achieve hands-on learning. Discover a step-by-step process for bringing animals into the classroom in a way that enriches students' lives through experiential learning. Learn the biology and life sciences of certain classroom pets, pertinent state laws regarding the use of classroom pets, and the process of keeping and caring for the animal. Contents: Acknowledgments Table of Contents About the Author Introduction Chapter 1: The Need for and Benefits of Animals in the Classroom Chapter 2: Hurdles to Animals in the Classroom Chapter 3: How to Select the Perfect Animal Chapter 4: How to Locate Animals Chapter 5: How to Write Lesson Plans Epilogue Appendix A: Tips Appendix B: How to Create Self-Sustaining Food Sources for Your Classroom Animal References and Resources Index

Describes the characteristics that make turtles good classroom pets and discusses how to create a suitable environment for keeping a pet turtle.

The optimal state for learning is one of safety, connection, motivation, and engagement. Every student and teacher is different, but there’s one thing each has in common: a responsive nervous system ready for action. Whether it’s a fight breaking out on the playground, a difficult conversation with a parent, or an impromptu fire drill, understanding how the nervous system responds can help keep teachers and students on an even keel. Polyvagal Theory (PVT) has had a tremendous impact on the mental health field, shedding light on how the nervous system predictably moves between different states in response to changing situations. School consultant Debra Em Wilson introduces PVT to educators and shows how using PVT-guided strategies can help create optimal learning environments. When school staff understand the role of the nervous system in learning, they can better help students develop the skills leading to increased resilience, adaptability, and flexibility: essential qualities for social, emotional, and academic success.

Assisted by a herpetologist, Ms. Robb introduces her students to their new pet, a box turtle named Franklin, and teaches them how to take care of turtles.

This book offers pre-school teachers, kindergarten teachers, daycare workers, and parents ways to help young children begin to read and write, by placing stories at the very center of the early childhood curriculum. The book includes an in-depth discussion of the crucial pedagogical and developmental roles that stories can play in early childhood education, as well as a practical guide to having children tell their own stories and perform them with their classmates. The book also discusses the use of videos, and the uses and misuses of Whole Language, invented spelling, and the writing process. Chapters in the book are: (1) Stories in Search of Classrooms; (2) Lessons from Home; (3) What I Had to Learn about Stories in Classrooms; (4) When Young Children Dictate and Dramatize Their Own Stories; (5) Portraits of Young Storytellers; and (6) A Guide to Storytelling in the Classroom. Appendixes present sample stories dictated to teachers, sample transcripts of dictation, a list of books and stories children like to dramatize, and brief descriptions of related classroom literacy activities. (RS)

Full of intervention strategies, this resource helps teachers understand ADHD, make accommodations, promote appropriate behavior, and deal with impulsivity, attention problems, hyperactivity, and more.