Michael Rosen’s Chanukah Lights Everywhere is a sweet book, and very good for the classroom. It follows a young boy through preparations and celebration of Chanukah with his family. The book doesn’t ignore the religious nature of the celebration, but is certainly suitable for public schools. The structure of… Continue reading
Turkey is so much a part of Thanksgiving that many people call it “Turkey Day.” Why not bring some turkey ideas into your classroom? Read A Turkey for Thanksgiving. This charming story tells how Mr. Moose sets out to get a turkey for Thanksgiving. He is surprised when the turkey runs… Continue reading
Introduce combinatorics with sandwiches. Continue reading
The Hendrix Flying Squirrels and Sugar Gliders are the Ultimate Frisbee teams of Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. They came to Fayetteville, home of FreshPlans, for a tournament, and they fueled up for the day’s games with a good breakfast. This gave us an excellent opportunity to practice combinatorics.… 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
If you have a pumpkin, you can have a quick, seasonal lesson. And, really, at this time of year there’s no reason not to have a pumpkin. Pumpkins are a variety of squash, related to cucumbers. They are natives of North America, but now are grown on all six inhabited continents.… Continue reading
Chocolate is worth studying, and it can be a great classroom theme all year round. The very first thing to do, when you first start thinking about using the theme, is to write off to the chocolate companies explaining that you plan to do this in your classroom. They… Continue reading
Many of us get hazy when numbers get big. I once heard the number 300 terabytes tossed out, and had a hard time envisioning it. An engineer calculated it down to a comprehensible level for me: you’d need 300 terabytes of data space for 15,360 power users, about 62,000… Continue reading
The stock market is an important part of American economic life, and affords lots of teachable moments. It’s a terrific long-term study, which makes it good for the beginning of the school year, and for encouraging responsibility and consistent work habits. It can also be exciting, as you watch “your”… Continue reading
