Since elementary school children learn math, language arts, science and social studies, these are classes you will take as part of your teaching preparation. Additionally, you will likely take music, fine arts and physical education classes to round out a typical elementary school curriculum.
Understanding how children learn, develop and grow will make curriculum development easier. Also, you must appropriately match classroom activities with the skill and knowledge levels of your students. Typical classes in this category are child development and learning, child psychology, educational psychology and classroom management.
Reading fundamentals, teaching methods, special education, curriculum design, cooperative classroom techniques, lesson planning and others are classes that would fall into the category of instructional methods. These classes train you how to teach and how to handle the administrative duties you will have as well.
Many teaching schools require an opportunity for student teaching. This usually involves classroom observation, practical assignments like activity or lesson planning and internships. For example, Northwestern School of Education and Social Policy requires a student teaching internship in which students complete a 10-week experience with at least 10 consecutive days of teaching.