Craft a new wonder of the world with a FREE printable! This Colosseum craft is perfect for igniting kid's imagination.

Fun and interesting facts about Italy for kids and curious adults: perfect for homeschooling, educational travel, travel planning or kid-friendly trivia!

Learn about Italy with this fun unit study...the food, the music, and so many famous people. Check out the resources below and grab the FREE printable portion.

Our road trip to Italy was amazing! Not because we didn't run into any problems, but because we were well covered by our travel insurance.

Kids will have fun learning about Italy with this FREE Printable Italy Coloring Page. Great for children hearing about Italy on the news. Toddler, Prek-4th.

Ready for a new approach to main idea? Here's one that integrates technology AND helps visual learners! Using online word clouds helps students clearly see the most commonly used words so they can better understand main idea. Find out more here!

Have you heard of the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo? He was an Italian painter in the 1500's. Arcimboldo art is so interesting! They all look like optical illusions are are so cool for kids! We

Michaelangelo is an incredible artist that children study at school or as part of a homeschool curriculum. We spent all our art lessons in the month of March this year...

Geography of Rome, Italy Scavenger Hunt activity using a physical world map. This Middle School (6th, 7th, or 8th grade geography curriculum) Geography Exploration Map Activity and Scavenger Hunt is fun, student-centered, and inquiry-based! Students and teachers have approved this Rome and Italy Geography lessonwith an overwhelming thumbs-up!  It embodies all of Google Maps and Google Earth's cool geography capabilities in a digital South America geography interactive notebook format, complete with a Google Forms physical geography assessment at the end. In this inquiry-based learning activity, students research how geography shaped the lives of Ancient Romans through a scaffolded Google Slides, Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Forms geography investigation. Here’s what students get to do: ⭐A Satellite Map Investigation- Students preview the continent and make predictions about a focus question using outstanding, visually rich satellite maps that provide the big picture. ⭐A Virtual Field Trip Google Slides Presentation - Students take a closer look at a visually rich key physical feature Google Slides presentation. ⭐ A Label the Feature Google Slide Presentation- Key physical features for the unit are labeled upon each click. ⭐A Google Slides Interactive Fill-In-the-Blank Geography Activity – Students fill in the pre-made label spots after they study using the map provided. ⭐A Drag and Drop Pile of Features Interactive Activity – Students drag the physical feature label to the appropriate spot on the satellite map. ⭐A Google Maps Close Reading and Interactive Activity – Students click on the highlighted civilization and read about how they adapted to their geographic location. Then, students use the words provided in a Google Slides word bank the summarize the reading. ⭐A Google MYMAPS Scavenger Hunt – Students are given coordinates to research in Google MYMAPS. Then, students identify and describe the location after they have “flown there”. ⭐A Google Forms Physical Geography Quiz – Students answer multiple-choice questions based on the same physical features map they studied and labeled earlier. Use the same lesson over and over until students earn geography content mastery! ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ ⭐ BE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON: TPT to receive notifications of new products, sales, and notes to followers. Just click the “follow me” button next to the ⭐ ✅ Check out our website & blog ✅Pinterest for creative classroom ideas, lessons, and more. ✅Instagram for laughs and to see products at use in the classroom. ✅Facebook for interesting articles, posts, & tips! ❤️ABOUT MR. AND MRS. P, THE TEACHERS BEHIND INSTRUCTOMANIA❤️ We are a Middle School teacher duo with over 40 years of experience in the Middle School classroom! We strive to create history and science lesson plans that inspire teachers and engage students, focusing on history activities for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. Our Ancient History and Medieval History curricula include no prep worksheets and Common Core lessons that have been tested and polished in the classroom. World History activities are created with visually rich graphic organizer worksheets and fun thematic assignments. We hope you and your students love our products as much as we did making and using them in our Middle School classes! ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ Terms of Use ☺ ©Instructomania, Inc. All rights reserved by Tony and Erika Pavlovich. This product is to be used by the original downloader only. Additional teachers must purchase their own licenses. TPT now offers multiple license options if you are a teacher, principal, or district interested in purchasing several licenses.

What is Faith? This is an awesome lesson and faith activity! Perfect for teaching the family about faith and how to help your faith grow. Serve some pudding "dirt cups" for dessert and PERFECTION.

We are celebrating Italy this month, with some Interesting Italy Crafts for Kids! Learn about Italian art, architecture, culture, food and much more!

Learn how to teach holidays around the world in a way that makes it magical for your students! Find unique activities and free printables.

Kids will have fun learning about Spain as they color and learn about key things with these FREE printable Spain Coloring Pages for kids of all ages.

Our infographic shows how intertwined food and wine are in Italy, displaying each region's most famous dish along with its most popular wine.

Affiliate Links Creating a paintbrush out of an unusual material, such as pasta, brings an element of fun to this […]

What we can learn about slow living from the Italians: 6 lifestyle habits to adopt now for a healthier, happier life.

Check out this great Pompeii lesson!

All Posts in This Series: Introduction Starting with the Standards Creating Long Range Plans Writing Unit Plans Differentiating Unit Plans Organizing Your Units The Planning Calendar The chicken or the egg? The unit plans or the long range plan? I struggled with which post to type up first. I chose to focus on Long Range Plans next because that's what I start with each year. However, you would have to have at least an "outline" of your unit plans before creating your first long range plan. Since my unit plans are in place from year to year, I create my long range plans for the next year on my spring break each year. Well, usually...I wasn't able to do it this year because my district still hasn't released it's calendar for next year yet. There's a delay because state testing dates haven't been set. You know, let's revolve EVERYTHING around testing. *sigh* But, I will share my Long Range Plans from LAST year with you. These are my lifeline for the year. Not sure how I ever lived without creating these! {Download in PDF Form Here} As you can see, I have ALL of my units planned out for the year - how many days I'll spend on each, when I will teach what, etc - there's no more guess work! Of course, this is just a flexible plan and things DO change. If we need more or less time on a unit, that's fine! It happens and I adjust. But, this really helps me stay on track and know what is coming ahead. I print this little plan out - fitting each quarter on one-page is a must for this OCD girl - and keep it in the front of my lesson plan binder. I refer to it often to keep myself on track. No matter how you end up writing your lesson plans, I would highly recommend creating Long Range Plans for yourself. The more you are planned, the more you can be organized. The more you're organized, the less stress you will feel during the year! You can download the template that I start with for creating my LRP's each year below. It is a Word document, so experience with resizing and merging table cells will be helpful. {Download Word Template Here} Once you download the template, you'll just want to merge the cells to for each unit. For example, if my addition and subtraction unit was 12 days long, I would highlight 12 cells beneath math (see image below) then go to Layout and select Merge Cells. Once I have the cells merged, then I would be ready to add my text. I would simply type the text I wanted there and then change the direction of the text (see image below) by clicking on Layout and then Text Direction. One word of advice - make sure you have your unit timelines ready before beginning and to count your days carefully - it's nearly impossible to "unmerge" or "undo" after you start this process. :( I hope that this post (and/or template) is helpful for you in thinking about Long Range Plans. Seeing your year planned out ahead of time is a lifesaver and will really cut down on your stress during the year! I'll see you again next week for Writing Unit Plans! ** Update** Click HERE to download my 2015-2016 Long Range Plans. UPDATE: For future templates, starting with the 2016 school year, simply search for the year in the search bar on my blog.

Hi everyone! This is Jamie Parker. I am so excited to post my first entry today! I have already gained a lot of new ideas from the other contributors, and I hope you have, too. I have recently been out of the classroom for a few professional development days, and I had to do what most teachers dread: write sub plans. When I have a substitute in my classroom, I have to assume that he/she has no musical experience. I try to keep my plans as simple as possible. I love to incorporate children’s literature into the music room, and I have found that composer storybooks work great for days when I am gone. Listed below are a few of my favorites. They are all wonderfully written and have beautiful illustrations. If you click on the picture, you will be directed to Amazon where you can view the book more closely. You can certainly use these books as an extension of a listening lesson or with a composer study. I just like to save them for those times when I know I will be out of the classroom. 1. Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan I found this book when I was in the gift shop after a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert. I took one look at it and had to buy it. It has beautiful watercolor illustrations and tells the story of creating the ballet, Appalachian Spring. I love how the story shares the importance of collaboration. Aaron Copland (one of my favorite composers), Martha Graham (the choreographer), and Isamu Noguchi (the set designer), had to work together to create their masterpiece. When I was looking at the book online, I also noticed that there is an audio version of the book available. I listened to the sample and noticed that they intertwined the music into the text, which I thought was a fantastic way of presenting the story. 2. I, Vivaldi by Janice Shefelman This biography is told as if written by Antonio Vivaldi himself. He tells how his love of music helps carry him through his struggles. The author and illustrator both do a wonderful job of representing the historical and social atmosphere of the Baroque period. Pair the book with Spring from The Four Seasons for a great listening lesson. 3. Strange Mr. Satie by M.T. Anderson The text and illustrations in this book are just as quirky and entertaining as the music of Erik Satie. Written poetically, the story tells of Satie’s struggle to fit in in a “world of black top hats and stiff, starched collars and gloves and bows and curtsies.” In addition to the great introduction to French culture, I loved how the book mentioned the collaboration of Satie and Picasso during the making of Parade. What a great starting point in discussing the relationship between the arts! 4. What Charlie Heard by Mordicai Gerstein This book introduces another one of my favorite composers: Charlies Ives. It is a detailed biography of his entire life, and the author does a fantastic job of explaining how Ives received inspiration for some of his most famous pieces. The illustrations in this book are simply outstanding! Each page is colored from top to bottom with different sound effects. My favorite part is when Charlie hears two marching bands playing different tunes during a parade—perfect opportunity to listen to Country Band March (one of my favorites from Wind Ensemble). Again, this book can be purchased with an audio version containing the music of Charles Ives mixed with the text of the book. 5. When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky by Lauren Stringer I’ve been looking for a good children’s book on Igor Stravinsky for a while, and I was so happy to find this one. Like Ballet for Martha, this book tells of a great collaboration between a composer and choreographer. I just love when books make it easy for me to be cross-curricular! The book is a very tasteful representation of the Rite of Spring, from its creation to the riot that occurred on opening night. I hope you found some new composer books to use in your classroom! Do you have any other favorites? I would love to hear about them. Please share in the comments below.

Perfect for re-charging and re-focusing, these 10 great Youtube videos will get your kids moving and grooving as they cross that all important midline. Great for brain breaks at school or at home.

Michaelangelo is an incredible artist that children study at school or as part of a homeschool curriculum. We spent all our art lessons in the month of March this year...

This week we're celebrating art! We've got free art lessons, notebooking pages, lesson plans, art history, and even sensory recipes related to art! We also

At home art lessons for kids. Michelangelo art projects for children. Art history. Home school art. Preschool - 6th grade. Elementary art.

See what educators are asking and find answers to EdTech questions submitted by listeners of the Easy EdTech Podcast.

NON-SPONSORED: Click for a full review of the Cinque Terre pesto class we took. This short hands-on lesson takes less than hour and improves your pasta immensely!

We're here to share all the mistakes we made and lessons we learned on our trip to the Amalfi Coast, so you can have your best vacation ever.

What we can learn about slow living from the Italians: 6 lifestyle habits to adopt now for a healthier, happier life.

Here is a fun printmaking project inspired by artist Paul Klee and his painting Castle and Sun. Do your kids watch Little Einsteins? My little girl loves them and was watching them the other day. If you do watch them, you know that they feature an artist and a composer each episode. Paul Klee was […]

This Strega Nona: Retell Song Lyrics Worksheet is suitable for Kindergarten - 2nd Grade. Need a fun way to retell a great story? Here are song lyrics that retell the Tomi De Palo classic, Strega Nona. There are two songs, the first tells the story of Strega Nona (sung to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?") and the second warns Big Anthony about the pasta pot (sung to the tune of "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush").