Bring Mardi Gras fun into your classroom with three easy lesson plans combining art, social studies, critical thinking, and physical education. Mardi Gras is a largely secular celebration with a religious history . If you want to explain the background of the day, you’ll need to begin with Lent. Lent… Continue reading
Valentine’s Day is a great classroom holiday; it might have started as a religious observance of St. Valentine’s Day, but by now it really has no religious connotations and no controversies surrounding it that are relevant to the classroom. It is one of the best holidays for school observation,… 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
Horton Hears a Who was written by by Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, in 1954. Cartoon versions were released in 1970 and 2008. You can watch the entire 1970 TV special on this video: In the picture book, Horton hears the sound of someone calling for… 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
We don’t mourn the days when teachers handed out candy as bribes or rewards. Still, there are some times of year when it makes sense to have candy around, and it can always be an interesting subject of study. We suggest beginning with a book. Depending on the age… Continue reading
Pecos Bill is a great example of a tall tale hero. Bill was raised by coyotes and rejoined human society to become a sort of Western superhero. In a collection of stories, he outdid everyone in tales of derring-do that explain the origins of the Rio Grande and the… Continue reading
Elephants lend themselves to lots of classroom themes: circus, jungle, zoo,the letter E… Enjoy some elephant learning and elephantine fun in your schoolroom. Make elephant handprints by having kids dip their hands into gray paint and then, with fingers spread, press their hands onto paper. Turn the handprint over when… Continue reading
Do you observe Columbus Day on October 12 at your school? Some schools, cities, and even states have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day. We’d say that you still need to study Columbus in your American history lessons, even if you don’t observe Columbus Day. Whether you consider Christopher… 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
