Practical Journals for Classroom Teachers

Where can school teachers get practical information that they can readily put to use in classroom teaching? Besides Web resources, many magazines offer project ideas, lesson plans, hands-on activities, and reproducible worksheets contributed by teachers and for teachers. The following titles, arranged by subjects, are just a few of the practitioner-based journals for early childhood educators and school teachers. The UIUC library has current issues of titles that contain *.

General:

*Childhood Education.
http://www.acei.org/jour.htm (Bimonthly)

Features articles about innovative classroom practices, vital issues affecting education, children and families; child growth and development theory; hands-on classroom activities; reviews of new children’s books, videos, software, and professional resources. Published by the Association for Childhood Education International.

Last 5 years and recent issues in Education Library. Previous volumes in Main Stacks (372.205 CH).

*Instructor
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/ (10 no. a year)

Shares lesson plans, activities, and classroom tips that K-12 teachers have found effective with students.

Last 3 yrs. and recent issues in Education Library. Previous vols. in Main Stacks (372.05 IN1c).

The Mailbox.
http://www.theeducationcenter.com/ (Bimonthly)

Provides curriculum-based activities and skill sheets to engage and motivate students, with separate editions for preschool, Kindergarten-Grade 1, Grades 2-3, and Intermediate levels.

Teacher’s Helper.
http://www.theeducationcenter.com/ (Quarterly)

Provides practical, appealing worksheets and other helpful reproducibles for use in instruction, with separate editions for Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2-3, and Intermediate levels.

*Teaching Pre K-8.
http://www.teachingk-8.com/ (8 no. a year)

Features lessons, best practice strategies, and ready-to-use skill-building activities. It also reviews educational software, recommends web resources, and provides reproducible student guides to accompany the implementation of technology in the classroom.

Last 5 years and recent issues in Education Library. Previous vols. in Main Stacks (372.05 EA1).

*YC Young Children: Journal of the National Assocation for the Education of Young Children. http://www.journal.naeyc.org/ (Bimonthly)

Contains peer-reviewed articles that spread awareness of the profession’s best practices. Issues are organized around topical clusters that devote special attention to topics in the field of early-childhood education.

Last 10 years and recent issues in Education Library. Previous vols. in Main Stacks (372.05 NAN).
Language Arts:

*Language Arts.
http://www.ncte.org/pubs/journals/ (Bimonthly)

Discusses all aspects of language arts learning and teaching, covering both theory and classroom practice, primarily as they relate to children in pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade.

Last 5 years and recent issues in Education Library. Previous vols. in Main Stacks (820.5 EL).

Published by the National Council of Teachers of English, which also offers *Classroom Notes Plus (Quarterly), which is a collection of innovative classroom ideas for middle level, junior high, and high school English language arts teachers, and *School Talk (Quarterly), which deals in practical terms with issues in elementary classrooms.

*The Reading Teacher.
http://www.reading.org/publications/journals/rt/ (Monthly)

Features teaching tips, application of research to classroom practice, book and resource reviews for literacy professionals who teach children up to age 12.

Last 10 years and unbound issues in Education Library. Previous volumes in Main Stacks (372.405 RE).

The Mailbox Bookbag.
http://www.theeducationcenter.com/ (Bimonthly)

Provides reading and writing ideas to get kids on grade level.

Mathematics:

*Teaching Children Mathematics.
http://www.nctm.org/publications/ (Monthly, except June-Aug.)

Offers activities, lesson ideas, teaching strategies, and problems for mathematics education pre-K-6.

Last 10 years and recent issues in Education Library. Previous vols. in Stacks.

Published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, which also offers *Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School (Monthly) and, for high school teachers, *Mathematics Teacher (Monthly).

Science:

*Science & Children
http://www.nsta.org/elementaryschool/ (8 no. a year)

Shares activities, interdisciplinary science experiences, successful partnerships or programs, and themes of current issues in elementary science education from preschool to Grade 6.

Last 5 years and recent issues in Education Library. Previous vols. in Stacks (505 SCCH).

Published by National Science Teachers Association, which also offers *Science Scope (Monthly) for Grades 6-9, and the *The Science Teacher (Monthly) for Grades 9-12.

Social Science:

Social Education.
http://www.socialstudies.org/publications/ (7 no. a year)

Contains techniques for using teaching materials in the classroom, information on the latest instructional technology, reviews of educational media, research on significant topics related to social studies, and lesson plans that can be applied to various disciplines.

Last 5 years and recent issues in Education Library. Previous vols. in Main Stacks (305 SOCE).

Published by the National Council for the Social Studies, which also offers Social Studies and the Young Learner (Quarterly) for K-6 teachers.

*Teaching Tolerance.
http://www.tolerance.org/teach/magazine/ (Semiannual)

Contains replicable projects or activities that teach tolerance in schools. Back issues are free online. Publisher also offers educational kits to educators for free.

Last 5 yrs. and unbound issues Education Library. Previous vols. in Main Stacks (371.705 TE).

For more comprehensive lists of practitioner-based and research oriented journals for educators, see Education: a Guide to Reference and Information Sources (by Nancy Patricia O’Brien, 2nd ed.), which is located on the Education Reference shelf (011.02B983e2000) as well as fulltext online from the netLibrary.com.