What’s the difference between main idea, central message, and moral of the story—and how do we teach those differences to first graders without making it complicated? In this episode of The Education Connection, we’re breaking down all three skills and looking at simple, developmentally appropriate ways to teach each one. Using The Tortoise and the Hare as a familiar example, we’ll look at: • Main Idea: What is the story mostly about? • Central Message: What does the author want us to unders

Summer Week 5: Summer Learning and Cars - FAAF 274 In this 274th episode, I share my reflections from August 24-29, 2026. Check out the WHOLE SPOTIFY PLAYLIST I put together with all the listens mentioned below: >>> bit.ly/E274FreshAirAtFivePlaylist <<< 25th: 10 Minute Teacher Podcast E976 “AI Agents Explained: What Teachers Need to Know”; The Easy EdTech Podcast E385 “10 Classroom Book Study Ideas for Any Subject”; Teach Lab with Justin Reich “Jessi Dukes on Teaching Through Emotions” 26th: T

Meet Yankee Todd--the awesome Todd Bloomer--school leader, speaker, and 2x author--out with his newest book, Finding Your Red Bench! A month-by-month guide, a coach, and a trusted friend offering advice from the bench, the book focuses on campus operations, campus culture, and your own self-care, which look different each month. It also provides a look ahead to each month to allow leaders not to constantly be in a game of whack-a-mole!Filled with structures, supports & advice that can help any g

SOLO Podcast with the host Andrew Marotta- opening the school year, ABRACADABRA, and dealing with conflict! #BAM! Looking for high-performance leadership coaching? Let's connect--PPC coaching: https://andrewmarotta.com/ppc/This podcast is sponsored by IXL Personalized Learning. IXL is used by more than 1 million teachers each day. It is also the most widely used online learning and teaching platform for K-12. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/ELBIXL

Supporting students with disabilities requires more than following a plan. It requires trust, communication, and strong partnerships between families and schools. In this episode, I talk with Youness El Fehdi, author and parent advocate, about his experience navigating the education system as the father of a child with autism. We discuss the importance of collaboration between parents, teachers, and school leaders, how to approach IEP conversations from a place of partnership rather than blame,

How to Teach Problem and Solution in First Grade In this episode of The Education Connection, we're continuing our Writing About Reading series by looking at how to introduce problem and solution to our youngest readers and writers. First graders are expected to understand plot, retell stories, and identify important events. Learning to recognize a story's problem and how it is solved can help build that understanding. And first grade doesn't always have to be about mastery. Sometimes we're pl