Sarah Helmer

Sarah Helmer is a classroom teacher and co-author of Engaging Literate Minds: Developing Children’s Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Lives, K–3, a professional resource on creating literacy-rich, socially and emotionally supportive classrooms for young children. In this work, she collaborates with fellow educators Peter H. Johnston, Kathy Champeau, Andrea Hartwig, Merry Komar, Tara Krueger, and Laurie McCarthy to document classroom practices that nurture children’s social, emotional, and intellectual development through reading, writing, and discussion.

Helmer earned her teaching degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and has taught kindergarten as well as first- and second-grade multiage classes in southeastern Wisconsin. Although she has written many books within writers’ workshop settings, Engaging Literate Minds is her first published book, reflecting her passion for emergent literacy and possibilities for the youngest learners.