Hot air balloons make a great classroom theme. Lighter than air flight seemed a lot more plausible than heavier-than-air flight and was more popular for a long time. Even now, balloon travel is in many ways more exciting than airplane travel. Enjoy a hot air balloon theme as a symbol… Continue reading
National Geographic aerial photos of animals and people in Africa can be found in Google Earth by clicking the National Geographic icons, and there is a kmz file you can download that has the groups of animals labeled. The video above shows how it looks, but you can find them… Continue reading
A dragonfly was flying along through a jungle in the Philippines, and stopped to rest on the branch of a tree. The monkeys who lived in the tree ran over, chattering, and told her to leave. “This is our tree!” they jeered. “You can’t sit here!” “I am so… Continue reading
The Tortoise and the Hare is one of Aesop’s fables, also done by Jean de La Fontaine. You can read it, and admire one of Rackham’s illustrations for it, here. A shorter and easier version is online here. Jerry Pinkney has done a beautiful picture book version. Janet Stevens created a… Continue reading
Sharks are fascinating creatures, very different from us and from fish, and they offer just enough scariness to make an exciting classroom study. Here are two of our favorite approaches to the topic. Basic background: National Geographic has several lesson plans about sharks, including Are Sharks as Dangerous as We… Continue reading
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in your classroom! Hold the margaritas, obviously, but otherwise it’s fiesta time! The first thing is to be sure not to call May 5 “Mexican Independence Day.” Mexico has an Independence Day in September. Cinco de Mayo is a day to celebrate the victory of a… Continue reading
Think of all the people involved in taking care of your teeth! Here’s a lesson plan that works for career day, community helpers lessons, or dental health lessons. It’s intended to help students move beyond the most obvious career choices (such as dentists) and realize how many different jobs… Continue reading
Poetry is an art form, and poets like Shakespeare, Yeats, and Dr. Seuss bring pleasure to millions. Poetry is central to songs, too, from ballads to rock. But there’s another use of poetry which might be more familiar to your students: commercial jingles. Study them as a fun diversion… Continue reading
A KML (Google Earth) file of Civil War Battlefields to download: Battles of the U.S. Civil War. Each map point has a link to a description of the battle that took place there. Clarence Woodcock is the author. More resources on the Civil War in Google Earth: A Google Earth… Continue reading
We went to Pea Ridge National Military Park to learn more about the Civil War. We have a couple of battlefield parks here where we live, and we find it sobering to stand where so many lost their lives. It’s also very interesting. Pea Ridge has excellent interpretive exhibits examining… Continue reading
