Oh, the Places You’ll Go! has become our traditional graduation keepsake, but it’s great for any age. It’s an encouragement for life, beginning with “Congratulations! Today is your day” and ending with, “Kid, you’ll move mountains!” In between, the book alternates between the elation of, “Wherever you go, you’ll top… Continue reading
Everyone needs to study plants at some point. Here are lesson plan ideas for elementary students. K-2 Tops & Bottoms is a very fun book by Janet Stevens. I sort of want to read the whole story to you, and I think you’ll feel the same when you see the… Continue reading
The Last King of Angkor Wat is a beautiful book by Graeme Base. Younger students will enjoy the story, a fable about a group of animal friends. Older students will get a good introduction to a study of Cambodia, where Angkor Wat — the largest religious structure in the world… Continue reading
Peter Pan was written by James M. Barrie a century ago as a play and then as a novel. You can find the text online at The Literature Network, but there’s also a beautiful book illustrated by Michael Foreman, or a Little Golden Book version based on the Walt Disney… Continue reading
The Gingerbread Boy is a popular folktale, and makes a great classroom theme at this time of year. In the story, a Gingerbread Boy (or a Gingerbread Man) is baked and runs away. As he is running off, he meets various animals or people, all of whom try to catch… Continue reading
“Stone Soup” is a fun story to read and to act out, and it presents a classic message. In the story, three soldiers traveling through a town ask for food, but in vain. The villagers feel too poor to share, and they decide together to hide their food and refuse… Continue reading
Theodor Seuss Geisel was a children’s author and illustrator whose special style makes a great classroom theme! His inspirational books can provide a good starting point for upper grades, and little kids love his goofy easy reading books. It’s easy to set up a Seuss classroom, because there are plenty… Continue reading
Mt. St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. I was living in Northern California at the time, and we had ash falling on us from the sky. For so many of us, volcanoes are something we think of as having happened long ago and far away — the eruption of… Continue reading
The story of Paul Bunyan is an American folktale. It may be more proper to say that the stories of Paul Bunyan are American folktales, because there are quite a few of them, sometimes gathered together into a single long story, but sometimes not. Paul Bunyan is a folk hero among… Continue reading
Ladybugs make a cheerful theme for a summer classroom. Once you establish the theme, it’s easy to carry through, just by using red and black. You can make a bulletin board with red background paper and black paper spots and you’re set. There are ready-made bulletin boards with ladybugs: The… Continue reading
