Elementary Education

Elementary education is what we call that phase of schooling that begins with kindergarten and ends with fifth grade before children enter middle school or junior high.  There is much that needs to be taught in these years as this learning builds the foundation for so much more education and indeed the future of all children.

While much of this site has been aimed at the traditional (well, for the last hundred and fifty years or so) elementary education teacher and lessons to be taught, it will also contain elementary education tips for those parents who wish to teach their younger children at home.  There are pros and cons to either method but the decision is a personal one based on many different options.

While in these early development years, children not only learn the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, these days there is so much more.  Children learn art and music and computer and different sports while at school.  They also learn their social skills as well and there are many who say this is the biggest advantage of the traditional elementary education in a public or private school where children attend classes with others their own age.

Wherever a child attends elementary school, the elementary teacher is a big influence upon his or her life.  Upon entering kindergarten, the teacher can actually become a bigger influence than even the parent given the hours children are in school.  This means the elementary education teacher has a big promise to fulfill.  How well he or she teaches and how well he or she relates to the children plays a big role in how well the children will learn.  It takes a lot from the teacher to provide the encouragement and support these young children can need.

The elementary school teacher also faces the challenges of on going requirements for certification and the ever changing face of the classroom.  Used to be all children in school talked the same language which made it easier to teach all that is required.  Now a teacher may be faced with several students who do not speak English as a first language or even at all.

Furthermore, there are requirement put out by most states as to what a teacher must teach at each grade of elementary school.  These curriculum have been determined as the best way (by some state or county group) to teach the skills needed for a child to progress onward in school.  Even homeschooling parents cannot escape the curriculum demands in some states so they need to know the requirements too.  Besides, parents everywhere want their children to learn what is needed and to excel in their education.

Along with parents, the elementary education teacher has to instill good citizenship within the children.  The children need to know how our country and how our world work and their place within it.  These lessons can start with just learning how to work with and get along with the other students within the class.

Elementary school can very easily be the first time children start interacting with groups of other children on such a scale and this can make such interactions rife with possibilities.  There are the bullies or bossy ones who now have so many new targets.  Others have to learn to share in a way they may never have had to before.  The social lessons go on and on and it is the teacher who has the responsibility for making sure this education happens as well and to minimize the potential for harm.

It definitely takes the right kind of person to become an elementary school teacher or to decide to educate their elementary age children at home.  Within this site you will find articles on what it takes to become a teacher education wise and about the different lessons to be taught in different topics as well as some tips for the home education parent of elementary school children.  Just take a look through the articles in our sidebar and over time you should be able to find some good elementary education notes to help you with whatever you are seeking.