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For her sabbatical a professor of teacher education at Emporia State University returned to the elementary classroom after a 20-year absence to teach in a third/fourth combination classroom in the Emporia, Kansas Public Schools. The return to elementary classroom teaching provided the professor with the opportunity to utilize some of the social studies strategies she shared with her classroom management, social studies methods, and curriculum students at the university. These strategies included: building classroom community and promoting student ownership; focusing on a daily historical or current event; encouraging critical thinking and problem solving; planning for instruction using the multiple intelligences identified by Howard Gardner; and improving student understanding of geography. The elementary classroom the professor taught in, rich in cultural and economic diversity, consisted of 22 students, 10 third graders, and 12 fourth graders. A group building activity, "Getting To Know You," promoted student ownership of the classroom, while a daily "Parrot Puzzle" focused on different thinking skills and different areas of the curriculum. To make the best use of the limited time available in the classroom, teachers need to build community and ownership, integrate learning so connections are clear to students, and teach for the diverse learning needs of students. (Contains a resource list.) (BT)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert