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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
Looking for a presenter for your next conference or workshop? Check out these engaging, innovative sessions that address a wide variety of topics.
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“Fact in My Pocket†is a novel, effective strategy that students can use when they are trying to commit some piece of academic content to memory. We can recommend this strategy to our students when they are trying to learn such things as math facts, spelling words, vocabulary words, and science terms.
To incorporate this strategy, students will need two index cards or strips of paper, along with two pockets. Assume, for example, that Jordy needs to learn her multiplication facts. She begins by identifying the two facts that she finds most difficult. She then writes the facts on the strips of paper, one fact per strip. As she heads to school in the morning, she puts one strip in her left pocket and the other in her right.
This week’s tip concludes our current theme: establishing an effective morning routine that prepares students for a great day of learning. Every morning my students and I participate in a four-part morning movement warm-up. Executing these movements helps my students achieve what I consider to be an ideal mindset for learning: calm, relaxed, focused, and confident. During this four week period I describe the four movements, one per week. This week I describe the final part of our warm-up, hook-ups.
After students have had the opportunity to energize themselves during the first two parts of our routine, our goal for the third and fourth parts is to help them become calm and relaxed. Hook-ups are an important part of that effort.
This week’s tip continues our current theme: establishing an effective morning routine that prepares students for a great day of learning. Every morning my students and I participate in a four-part morning movement warm-up. Executing these movements helps my students achieve what I consider to be an ideal mindset for learning: calm, relaxed, focused, and confident. During this four week period I describe these four movements, one per week. This week I describe the third part of our warm-up, deep breathing.
After students have had the opportunity to energize themselves during the first two parts of our routine, our goal for the third and fourth parts is to help them become calm and relaxed. Deep breathing is an important part of that effort.
This week’s tip continues our current theme: establishing an effective morning routine that prepares students for a great day of learning. Every morning my students and I participate in a four-part morning movement warm-up. Executing these movements helps my students achieve what I consider to be an ideal mindset for learning: calm, relaxed, focused, and confident. During this four week period I describe these four movements, one per week. This week I describe five “Movement Choices†that I learned a few years from Jeff Haebig, a dynamic presenter who spoke at the annual Cal Poly Elementary Physical Education Workshop.
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