What’s a rain garden? It’s a lowered garden bed planted with deep-rooted plants which will enjoy being watered by the standing water that pools when it rains hard. They can be planted in areas that already form puddles, or rain that collects on a roof or a paved area can… Continue reading
Combine research, art, and writing to create a great classroom project that can be anything from a quick classroom activity to an organizing system for a major science unit. The basic idea is to have each student create a labeled picture that shares information, then put them all together into… Continue reading
If you want to use linoleum blocks, check out the Speedball Super Value Block Printing Starter Kit. Meat trays and pencils? Try a scrapbooking brayer like Making Memories Brayer, poster paints, and fingers to push down the paper. Continue reading
Writing can be a pleasure, especially with fun, highly motivating writing assignments. How about superheroes for a writing theme? Check out our list of great superhero writing prompts: The most obvious writing assignment for a superhero theme is writing a comic book or, less ambitiously, a comic strip. have students… Continue reading
Math and superheroes go together like Batman and Robin. If you’re using a superhero theme for your classroom, take advantage of that. Math class? Make it your ongoing theme. There’s a ready-made bulletin board set: Math Superheroes Bulletin Board Set has 8 lively posters with captions like, “Probability woman says there’s… Continue reading
“The Emperor’s Nightingale” is a story by Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author, set in China. In the story, the Emperor of China discovers a nightingale, a bird which sings so beautifully that its song restores the ailing Emperor’s health. The Emperor of Japan sends a mechanical singing bird to… Continue reading
Mars is our neighbor in space, and it has thrilled Earthlings for centuries. We offer three great lesson plans for getting to know this neighbor. Online resources: Look at Mars. This is a project of Google Sky, and you should look at it if nothing else. NASA’s Mars page NASA’s… Continue reading
Too often our English books present poetry lessons with doggerel intended only for the classroom. Fingerplays are fun and we want our students to write their own poetry, but there’s no reason not to introduce the works of great poets to kids. These are the works that will stay in… Continue reading
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess, a perennial favorite, was written on a bet with Bennet Cerf that Suess couldn’t write a book with only 50 words. Obviously, he could. For small children, learning the 50 words in Green Eggs and Ham is a worthwhile accomplishment. Here are the… Continue reading
