Teachers of Our Younger Students Will Find Plenty to Explore at #NCTE25
From incredible authors and illustrators to the leading experts and innovators in our field, every hour is packed with sessions designed just for elementary teachers. And every session will find you sitting next to other teachers who are just as passionate about early literacy as you are.
What If I Work in Early Childhood? Will There Be Something for Me?
Absolutely! The latest and greatest in early literacy education can be found in the Early Childhood Education strand. These sessions (marked with an icon in the full Convention program) are specially curated by the Early Childhood Education Assembly of NCTE and focus specifically on issues and strategies for teaching and advocating for preschool and early elementary-age children.
New This Year: New & Early Career Teacher Strand
Search the Convention app and see the Convention program for sessions in the New & Early Career Teacher Strand. These sessions focus on highlighting issues for new teachers and celebrating those in the early years of their profession. Recognizing that teachers today take various paths to the classroom, these sessions will answer questions and offer strategies specifically curated for new and early career teachers and those who support them.
What Kinds of Sessions Can I Attend?
Over the course of the Convention there are more than 400 sessions designated for the elementary level, but you might be surprised at the ideas you can glean from sessions at EVERY level. Here are just a few of the topics:
- Not Just Comic Books: The Importance of Early Reader Graphic Novels in the Elementary Classroom
Engaging Young Writers in Revision through Found Poetry - Dreaming Boldly through Picture Books: How Illustrations Ignite Early Literacy Development
- Classroom Corridors: Building Community by Telling the Stories of Our Elementary Classrooms
- The Classroom That Cares: Honoring Black Students and Families through Picture Books
- Dreaming beyond the Bans: Championing Black Joy through Children’s Books
- Feed a Dream: Food as Catalyst for Imaginative Storytelling
Count on It! Math-Themed Books That Will Ignite Math Lovers and Entice Math-Averse Students
How Children’s Books Can Inform, Inspire, and Nurture the Bold Dreams of Young Environmental Advocates - Dreams Are Made of Stories: Children’s Book Authors and Education Leaders on Why Story Is the Heartbeat of Literacy
- Media Specialist, Author Collaboration: Using Author Visits to Inspire Student Reading, Writing, and Dreaming
Using Historical and Informational Picture Books across Grade Levels to Spark Dreams - Bold Talk with HBCUs: Turning Possibilities into Action for NCTE and the Literacy Education Community
10 Ways to Nurture and Nourish Nonfiction Readers - Lesson Planning Personified: Incorporating Movement and Performance to Engage Elementary Students and Curriculum
- Important Topic, Tricky Questions: How to Handle Religion in Books for Children
Literacies and Languages for All (LLA)
There is a strand of sessions at #NCTE25 chosen by leaders of LLA, an NCTE Conference of holistic educators who believe that ALL children deserve personally meaningful learning contexts in which their languages and cultures are valued and recognized as assets for learning. LLA sessions focus on whole language theory and practice. They push understandings of critical literacy, inquiry, and collaborative learning, and integrate literacy with other sign systems and knowledge systems situated in social, historical, political, and cultural contexts. Learn more about LLA.
Elementary favorites:
ELEMENTARY SECTION GET-TOGETHER: Hear from NCTE’s elected leaders who represent the NCTE Elementary Section and from the winner of the 2025 Outstanding Elementary Educator Award. Read more about the award.
Thursday, Nov. 20, 5:30–7:00 P.M.
CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS LUNCHEON: The 2025 winners of the Charlotte Huck Award® for Outstanding Fiction for Children, the Orbis Pictus Award® for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, and the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children will be honored: authors and illustrators Antwan Eady, Jarrett & Jerome Pumphrey, Dan SaSuWeh Jones, and Charles R. Smith Jr. Then, the 2026 award winners will be announced live! Read more about the awards.
Saturday, Nov. 22, 12:30–2:30 P.M.
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE ASSEMBLY BREAKFAST: Hear from children’s book author Jason Chin during this popular Convention event! Read more about the Assembly.
Sunday, Nov. 23, 7:00–8:45 A.M.