Hello!
My name is Steve Reifman, and I am a National Board Certified elementary school teacher, author, and speaker in Santa Monica, CA.
SteveReifman.com is a resource for elementary school teachers and parents. My mission is to teach the whole child—empowering students to succeed academically, build strong character, learn valuable work habits and social skills, and take charge of their health and wellness.
Blog
Discover over 100 posts filled with teaching tips, links to YouTube videos, and other useful ideas and strategies for teaching the whole child.
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Teaching Resources
Explore these print books, e-books, courses, and other resources that offer effective, proven ideas and strategies that improve student learning.
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Chase Manning Mystery Series
Each book in this award-winning mystery series for kids 8-12 features a single-day, real-time thriller that takes place on an elementary school campus.
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Workshops
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Last week I shared an idea I recently learned from an inspiring TED Talk by Shawn Achor, CEO of Good Think Inc., entitled “The Happy Secret to Better Work.†A big idea in this 12-minute presentation is that in our society people tend to believe that we should work hard in order to be happy. Achor suggests that this way of thinking could be backwards. He argues that happiness makes us more productive, creative, and successful. In short, happiness should come first. At the end of his talk, Achor shares some ways for people to focus on the positive aspects of their lives and become happier.
A few days ago I watched an inspiring TED Talk by Shawn Achor, CEO of Good Think Inc., entitled “The Happy Secret to Better Work.†A big idea in this 12-minute presentation is that in our society people tend to believe that we should work hard in order to be happy. Achor suggests that this way of thinking could be backwards. He argues that happiness makes us more productive, creative, and successful. In short, happiness should come first. At the end of his talk, Achor shares some ways that people can use to focus on the positive aspects of their lives and become happier.
This week I share photographs of some of the Constellation Paintings my students have created over the past few years. In this art-science integration project the kids painted their favorite constellations in the unique style of Vincent van Gogh. I introduced the project and described the day-by-day unit plan last week.
As I mentioned two weeks ago in Teaching Tip #59, I like to integrate art and science during our astronomy unit to address the third grade California Earth science standard: “Objects in the sky move in regular and predictable patterns.†In Teaching Tip #59, I described how my students painted the planets and the Sun in the style of Impressionist Claude Monet. Last week I shared photos of several of these projects. This week I describe the project we do the following week, Constellation Paintings.
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