Author: sanjay

Internet safety is the ability to recognize a risky situation, make a safer choice, and get help when something goes wrong. For students, that might mean questioning a login request, leaving an uncomfortable conversation, or telling an adult that someone is threatening them. These decisions happen in school accounts, games, group chats, search results, social platforms, and AI tools. Knowing how to use an app does not necessarily mean knowing when to trust a person, message, or request inside it. This guide focuses on those decisions. It fits within the broader practice of digital citizenship, which also includes how students…

Finding the right books for students who have graduated from leveled readers and decodable texts but aren’t quite ready for traditional, longer chapter books can be tricky. These kids are often interested in reading chapter books but still need support as they build confidence and stamina. That’s why 2nd grade teacher Katie Tracy was excited to introduce Simon & Schuster Star Chapter Books to her students. Katie, who teaches 2nd grade in Lockport, Illinois, says the series immediately won over her class with its engaging characters, bold two-color illustrations, and short, approachable chapters. From laughing along with the Dog Meets…

Is a flashlight a want or a need? Can wants and needs change based on the situation? These are the types of questions students explore in Spend, Save, Decide! This interactive Google Slides activity is designed to help elementary learners think critically about spending and saving money. Through a series of realistic, engaging scenarios and budgeting challenges, students learn how different situations can influence their financial decisions while practicing teamwork, problem-solving, and responsible money management. What’s Included in the Spend, Save, Decide! Resource We Are Teachers Teacher’s Guide Lead meaningful discussions about wants, needs, and smart decision-making. The Teacher’s Guide…

by Terry Heick Update: Berry passed away August 31, 2026. You can read more from the Berry Center. The influence of Berry on my life–and thus inseparably from my teaching and learning–has been immeasurable. His ideas on scale, limits, accountability, community, and careful thinking have a place in larger conversations about economy, culture, and vocation, if not politics, religion, and anyplace else where common sense fails to linger. But what about education? Below is a letter Berry wrote in response to a call for a ‘shorter workweek.’ I’ll leave the argument up to him, but it has me wondering if…

A phone full of photographed receipts and old paper documents is not the same as having them organized. Loose images scatter across camera rolls and email threads, and nobody wants to open six separate photos to read one contract. Turning them into a single PDF fixes that. It keeps pages in order and opens the same way on any device. That’s the difference between a document and a stack of snapshots, and it takes only a few extra minutes to get there. Why a PDF Beats Sending Raw Photos Photos taken with a phone camera vary in size, orientation, and…

Someone sends over a PDF, and all that’s needed is a quick look, not a permanent copy sitting on the device. Downloading it anyway means one more file cluttering a folder, and on a shared or borrowed computer, downloading anything at all can feel like the wrong move entirely. A library computer, a hotel business center, a coworker’s laptop borrowed for five minutes – none of them need a new file added to the downloads folder. To skip all that, you might as well opt for a PDF reader; online, it is even simpler to do: just open the file…

In many math classrooms, mistakes in math classrooms have been seen as something to avoid, hide, or quickly fix. Mistakes are something students try to avoid, hide, or quickly erase. Red pen corrections, crossed-out work, and the quiet embarrassment of a wrong answer often reinforce a simple message: mistakes are bad. But what if we viewed them differently? What if we reframed that idea? What if mistakes became one of the most valuable tools for learning mathematics? Shifting the narrative around errors—from something to fear to something to explore—can transform not only how students approach math, but how they see…

The recommendations below prioritize instructional value rather than downloads or popularity alone. We considered the quality of the mathematical experience, available evidence, accessibility, usefulness to teachers and families, age appropriateness, and whether an app encourages students to think rather than merely enter answers. None of these apps should replace mathematical conversation, hands-on experiences, teacher feedback, or opportunities for students to explain their reasoning. Used purposefully, however, they can give students additional ways to explore ideas, practice skills, receive feedback, and build confidence. Zearn is a nonprofit K–8 math program offering more than 1,000 adaptive digital lessons. Lessons combine fluency practice,…

Recognizing Early Expression in Multilingual Young Children contributed by Iryna Liusik Early Childhood Educator — Linguistics & Emotional Development Series note: This is Part 1 of a two-part series: Part 2 offers a one-minute classroom observation routine that helps teachers notice comfort that makes early expression visible before assumptions become records. In early childhood classrooms, the fastest mistake we make is treating silence as a single thing. This piece offers a clearer interpretive lens for “quiet” in multilingual learners — not to delay support, but to choose the right kind. A Quiet Moment That Isn’t “Nothing” During art time, a…

contributed by Chris Sadler, Creator, Board to Desk A phone comes out in the second row, nine minutes into the lesson. You have seen it. So have half a dozen others, and the ones who missed it can tell from the change in the room that something is happening. Everyone is now waiting to find out what you do. Whatever happens in the next ten seconds will be discussed at lunch. Not the rule. You. This is the part of a phone policy that no policy document covers, and it is where the whole thing is actually decided. The rule…