Elementary science is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable course to teach, but it is also the most time consuming. To save some time plan out units ahead of time instead of the week of. Gather all of the materials needed and put in kits, so when you come to an experiment, you already have everything in order.

Never put a child on the spot in an embarrassing situation. It is agonizing for a child to be asked to come to the board and try to solve a problem they don't know how to do. To avoid this, have several children workout the problem on the board while other students work at their seats.This will enable you to monitor and evaluate students' work and progress, without singling out particular students. Additionally, the group effort will allow both students at the board and at their seats to see how to work out, correct and evaluate the problem.

A well ordered, focused classroom atmosphere is very important to a good learning environment. That can be achieved by using many different approaches. Every teacher has to find what their teaching style is. However, it is always important, no matter whatever style is used, to always respect your students. Without that, teaching becomes more of a chore, learning becomes stifled and students become sullen.

Time management is one of the toughest things for a teacher to learn about organization of the day. When you and the kids are really into a subject or experiment, it is easy to let time get away. And then, at the end of the day, you find you haven’t covered all of the curriculum material you needed to cover. To help with this, set a timer to five minutes before a class should end. When the timer goes off, you have five minutes to wind things up and set things in motion for the next class.

Elementary teachers often teach in a self-contained classroom, that means that students are in that room without a bathroom break for sometime. To manage this effectively, keep a marker board by the door on which a student going to the restroom, writes his name and the time he or she left the room. Then, when they return, they erase their name and another student who needs to go can go. Only one student at a time. After students become accustom to this, they do not attempt to abuse the privilege. After all, who wants to mess around in the bathroom or hall if they are the only ones out there.

Students love to question and be questioned or challenged. The Socratic method of teaching and questioning is a very effective teaching tool. Be careful with it though or classrooms can dissolve in chaos. When asking students what they think about a concept, never just ask the question in general, “what do you think,” if you do you’ll get every student trying to tell you at once, instead ask specific students, as in “George, what do you think?”

Great teachers, especially those who teach elementary students, have the sense of wonder and joy of life that is the province of children. They also have a great love of learning and a thirst for knowledge themselves. If they have that, they have also the fullness of the proverb “find work you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”