Teaching Strategies blog

Mixing Physical Activity and Literacy with Bears in the Night by Tim Reed

There is a particular physical education activity from kindergarten that has somehow stuck in my memory after all of these years. I have often wondered why this is, and I realize it is quite simple—the activity was fun, it challenged emerging physical skills, and it referenced spatial awareness and word recognition. Most importantly, this physical activity linked directly to a great book, Bears in the Night, by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

The Role of a Coach by Breeyn Mack

As the school year comes to an end for many of you, now is a great time for both teachers and coaches to reflect on and discuss their coaching relationship. I recently had a couple of training sessions with both teachers and coaches, and asked them to think about the roles and responsibilities they expect from and commit to in a coaching relationship. It was an impactful exercise for coaches to hear what their teachers were looking for in a coaching partnership, and it was clarifying as well for teachers to have an understanding of their coach’s commitments and expectations.

Big News: Partnership Announcement! by Kai-lee Berke

Sesame Street

For months, we’ve been sitting on some incredibly exciting news at Teaching Strategies, which I’m thrilled to finally be able to share with you. But before I do—first, some background.

The Weather Outside is... by Breeyn Mack

Frightful? Delightful? Depends on who you ask?

When reading over the new Next Generation Science Standards that were recently made available, I was excited to see the breadth of science topics and ideas that were included for the kindergarten year. One of the topics mentioned is children’s understanding and exploration of weather concepts. There are so many strategies to help you incorporate weather throughout the day in meaningful ways that also allow children to use and share weather observations, and begin to describe patterns over time.

Here Come the Science Standards! by Tim Reed

The education world is abuzz with the news of the final release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These standards break new ground in the integration of content and application. Many states are considering adopting them to join the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and the Common Core Standards for Mathematics to form a comprehensive set of standards shared across states. Underscoring all of the excitement is the question of how these new science standards will integrate with current assessments. While we wait for the National Research Council (NRC) to come out with a framework for assessments, kindergarten teachers using Teaching Strategies GOLD® can already see the link between the Science and Technology objectives for development and learning in Teaching Strategies GOLD and the new NGSS.