April 2018 marks the 157th anniversary of the American Civil War. The American Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865, and was for much of the nation a turning point in history. More than 600,000 American soldiers died, more than in any other war we’ve fought, and the total… Continue reading
“18 Wheels on a Big Rig” was produced with permission from Trout Fishing in America and composer Heywood Banks, and you have our permission to use this in your classroom, too. Animation by Sean Sallings of Silver Fox Design Group. Continue reading
Pi Day is 3/14, and I’m sure you’re planning to celebrate it in your classroom. I’ve got a collection of links for you, all of which can be used spontaneously, without prep, in some little snippet of time left over during the day. Then, when you’re home with the family,… Continue reading
“Why are we doing math in writing class?” a student complained this morning. “Because we’re working with information, and this information happens to have numbers in it,” I explained. That’s why it makes sense to do math in health class, too, or health in math class, as the case… Continue reading
The term “DNA” is likely to be familiar to students from TV crime dramas and news reports. Use that familiarity to bring some real-world science into your classroom with a study of DNA and its use in forensic science. The DNA molecule pictured above has two long strands joined… Continue reading
Sometime in January or February, you’ll reach the 100th day of your school year. Celebrate it, whether your students are just learning to count to 100, or ready to debate the 100 most influential people in history. Read some suitable books. Use our free 100th day bookmarks to keep your… Continue reading
Eve Bunting’s book The Valentine Bears is a fun readaloud for young students, with lots of good teaching points. In the story, Mr. and Mrs. Bear have never celebrated Valentines Day before, since they are always hibernating at this time of year. This year, though, Mrs. Bear has planned… Continue reading
Here are our favorite online resources for math, including games to play in the compauter center: Absurd Math: Pre-Algebra from Another Dimension MIT’s free online math courses for high school Mathbun, a sort of free-floating celebration of geometry and other cool math concepts Create a Graph is an excellent… Continue reading
Integrating writing into math lessons, and vice versa, can be challenging. After all, the main point of equations is to avoid having to put complex things into words. On the other hand, for many people, one of the great things about words is that they allow you to avoid… Continue reading
Here are some of our favorite ideas for Christmas Around the World lessons for England. The Jolly Christmas Postman is the holiday version of Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s famous The Jolly Postman. As in the first book, we follow the postman as he delivers the mail on his bicycle. And… Continue reading
