In a first-grade classroom at Creek View Elementary School, Linda Ngo turns learning into an experience. Desks can turn into campsites, math lessons are done around a paper campfire, and students can ...

Teacher Leticia Denoya stands at the front of her classroom, at Natchaug Elementary in Windham, Connecticut. Her first-graders sit criss-cross applesauce on the reading rug. "Do you remember last week ...