FREE printable Symmetry drawing activity for preschool and kindergarten kids. A fun art and math activity in one! Kids will complete the symmetrical pictures by drawing the other half.
What your Stem Story Challenge will have: 3 Illustrated Stories, Teacher Guide, Vocabulary Cards, Rubric, and a Journal!
Learn about fingerprinting for kids & play detective! Fun ideas for a CSI or spy party or science activity for preschool & elementary ages!
Here are 50 sensory spelling activities for kids. A great way for students to interact with their spelling words using their senses.
This blog post explores innovative and engaging lesson plans for any novel unit... ranging from task cards to book instagram pages to a novel podcast project. Student choice is key here, and students can find something they would like to complete in order to convey their reading, comprehension, and
Developing a growth mindset for kids may require that adults shift the way they talk to students about abilities, intelligence, effort and strengths.
Try these easy sound experiments -- Elementary & Middle School kids will LOVE testing the science of sound with this fun wave experiment to create a 'gong' and explore how sound waves travel!
This month we are focusing on Careers at our school. At the elementary level we help children become aware of the many opportunities in t...
Looking for a fun vocabulary activity? This extension is perfect for middle and high school to help encourage critical thinking and associations.
This is a cute activity where ESL students have to draw monsters based on the description of the body parts on the worksheet.
Have you tried the egg drop project yet? This was our 4th year in a row taking part this super fun STEM activity for kids! Check out how to do it with your children or students, and be sure to print out our two free printable recording sheets. Follow our STEM and STEAM Activities for …
Kids and young adults need extensive practice in strengthening their executive functioning skills. Executive functions are the processes in our brains that help us accomplish all tasks from beginning to end. We use them when we plan our day, organize our materials, begin a chore, focus on important
We are a Leader In Me School and talk a lot about using the 7 Habits of Happy Kids in our everyday lives. I love the idea of encouraging kids to act as leaders in the classroom and beyond. What I have noticed, however, is that sometimes "leadership" comes off as "bossypants" and that is not the route we want to take! I know you've probably heard of Sheryl Sandberg (of Facebook fame) and her campaign to end the word "bossy" (read or listen to an NPR story HERE), but I was hesitant to come straight out and use that word in our class. Instead, I wanted them to think on terms of "boss" and "leader" to recognize the differences between the two and to think about their own language choices in the classroom, in small groups, on their sports teams, and more. We first looked at this picture and talked about what we noticed: (source) This led to some discussion about leadership versus boss behavior. While the kids were discussing, I was passing out example cards to their table spots. Before I dismissed them, I shared this leadership quote from John Quincy Adams: They were then given instructions about our activity. I had printed example cards on two colors: blue for boss and green for leader (although they didn't know that yet) and they needed to read their card and find someone with an opposite color card and opposite example (good time to incorporate the word antonym, too!). I dismissed them to their tables and first had them converse with students in their table group to ensure they understood the word or phrase on their card. When they gave me the thumbs up, I told them to find their match and them meet to discuss why they went together and be able to give examples. We then began assembling our Anchor Chart. Each pair would come to the front of the class and would explain which card was descriptive of a "boss" and which was descriptive of a "leader" and why. They gave examples and I elicited a lot of help from the classroom for additional examples and language that both a boss and leader may use during that example. I would tape the cards to the Anchor Chart and we continued through each pair. There were two groups of three (with two leaders to one boss) and that worked out perfectly with my class (definitely feel free to adjust if you have lower numbers). Our completed anchor chart looked like: It was so powerful to see how often kids may think they are helping, but instead find themselves on the "boss" side of the chart instead of the "leader." I know several of the examples are repetitive, but we really talked through these and used examples from our own lives to recount when using "leader" words and language set us up for success. I also explained the "me vs. you" mentality of bosses versus the "we and us" mentality of leaders. Overall, it was a very powerful lesson and I look forward to referring back to this Anchor Chart this year, especially when "bossypants" behavior leads to conflict. I think these concrete examples can help guide the naturally strong leaders in my class to make better language decisions that can help grow them as leaders and really inspire others, just like the Adams quote! If you'd like a copy of these cards and quote, you can download this as a *freebie* HERE. How do you address bossy vs. leader behavior in your class? Share in the comments, I would love to build on this lesson!
The Summer Olympic Games have begun! It's so fun watching people who are so amazingly talented and who love what they do! Since the games started, we've been watching them together as a family in the evenings and really enjoying it! So far my son loves the swimming and is mesmerized by the gymnastics. I think it's great for our kids to watch these athletes achieve their dreams. I also love that they get to hear some of the athletes' stories and learn that their lives haven't always been all that easy and that hard work and dedication can take you so far in life!
Teachers like starting the school year feeling well-prepared and confident. Read about 5 Strategies for a Solid Start to Your School Year
Teaching empathy is important. In the simplest of terms, empathy is the ability to notice, understand, and share the emotions of others. It is a critical social skill for all people to have. In many ways, empathy is the social skill that paves the way for all other social skills. It helps us to take
Download this free and easy-to-use positive self-talk journal for kids (and adults!) who need a boost of confidence and positivity.
Looking for a fun way to teach 2D shapes? This marshmallow geometry activity will do the trick - and fill your tummy!
Kids will love learning about the components of blood with this fun and memorable activity - make a blood model!
This is a fun worksheet about adjectives and their antonyms. Students match each word in Twin Tom with its opposite in Twin Tyrone.
Tips for Primary Teachers.
Basic vocabulary, like knowing prepositions, is necessary for beginning readers. Teach prepositions with this simple game.
Free Anger and Feelings Worksheets for Kids
I-statements (I-messages): Examples and fun worksheets to help your family develop an assertive communication style and improve conflict resolution
Free instructions and printable cards for the Taboo ESL game. This is a fun speaking activity for English learners that will get your students involved.
Free printables for kids, including social stories, I spy games, visual schedules, calm down cards, autism printables, emotion printables, and more!
Sunday School Printables and Christian crafts and activities for kids to memorize scripture and learn the Bible in creative and artistic ways
Are your students disinterested and tired of the traditional ways of learning characterization? Have you been searching for a really fun, student-centered, interactive way to eliminate their boredom? Well, look no further! I present to you a wonderful student-collaboration activity that will get your students involved and excited for a character analysis for any novel, […]
5 Activities to Teach Angles
Get your students outside this school year! We have some tried and true ideas and teacher tips to help you teach your students outside!
This easy science experiment is a fun way to demonstrate the concept of gravity to young children. You’ll just need a few supplies, including paperclips and magnets, to take part in this cool science activity! This activity correlates with NGSS: Disciplinary Core Idea PS2.B. Follow our Science for Kids Pinterest board! Here’s a fun …
Toen Ewan in de kleuterklas zat, heb ik deze speciale sudoku’s voor kinderen gemaakt voor zijn meester. In zijn klas waren namelijk enkele slimme kleuters...
Fairy Tale STEM Activity - Goldilocks and the Three Bears Try a hands-on STEM challenge with Goldilocks and the Three Bears! This STEM activity is designed for lower elementary kids. I am so excited to share some details about it! STEM tales introduce the youngest budding engineers to STEM, by taking a familiar story and using it to walk through the engineering design process. Do you love telling and re-telling stories with your kids? Do you ever change the ending to spice it up a bit? That's exactly what STEM tales is all about! Integrate Literacy and STEM with Fairy Tales The 8-page book provides an alternative ending to this story. Your students need to help make a bed for Goldilocks. Goldilocks is simply a printed out figure, which you can add weigh to with either small masses, pennies, or washers. Using whatever crafting materials you have handy (index cards and tape are really all that is needed, but feel free to use other supplies as well), create a new bed for Goldilocks. The Testing Phase of the STEM Challenge Is the bed large enough? Will it hold the weight of the figure? You will be surprised at the designs your students come up with! Designing and creating a bed for Goldilocks is a way for students to bring the fairy tale alive. After you have tested out the beds, it's time to introduce the bear family to the challenge (mama, papa, and baby, who is the same size as Goldilocks). You will add heavier weights to mama and papa bear, and then test the designs again. This is a great way to demonstrate why it's important to know your design criteria before starting a STEM challenge! Mama bear may fit on some and not others, or papa bear may fit but weigh too much and collapse the bed. Get the Goldilocks Fairy Tale STEM Challenge Here is the link to the full resource. In addition to all the steps above, the 8-page story book guides students through the engineering design process and also includes a self-evaluation check list. Or pin the idea for later: How to Conduct a STEM Tale Challenge To read more about how to conduct a STEM challenge, visit this post: To see all posts in this series, click here:
Teamwork in the classroom is essential in order to have a high functioning and welcoming environment for students. Check out three easy ways to build teamwork with your students.
The game is on with these 100 fun icebreaker questions for kids. With these open-ended questions, kids can get to know each other in no time.
This is a fun animals exercise for beginner ESL students focusing on the verb can and can't.
I LOVE saving figurative language until June - it's such a fun language unit ... and perfect for our "dreaming of summer brains". We finished up our EQAO testing mid week, and this onomatopoeia activity was the perfect break from testing. How fun is that??? Students chose two contrasting colours - one for the background and one for the word and border "bursting out of the page". They also needed newspaper (cut just a fraction smaller that the "bursting out of the page border" and glued the newspaper on top. They glued their word on top of that (we had brainstormed a lot of onomatopoeia words, but for some reason most of them chose SPLAT for their word). I also had them do a little shading under their letters for that little extra POP (see, I know some onomatopoeia words, too). ;) I had seen this awesome idea on Pinterest and followed it back to Artisan des Arts. Her examples are FANTASTIC!! We also wrote simile poems this week. I found a little template HERE for the students to use for their rough copies. When students were finished their templates, I had them write out their good copies, and illustrate a few lines with a small image. I hung these up, too ... LOVING our bulletin board switch up ... even this late in the school year!!! (I have two of these "smART class" bulletin boards side by side in the classroom. 15 more school days left ... I think I can ... I think I can ... Happy Friday!!!
The best way to learn about science is by performing your own experiments, but not every family has a full science lab in their garage. These static electricity activities are fun to incorporate into homeschool or do as an after school activity.
Implementing icebreakers on the first day of school is neccessary for building classroom community. Check out these easy first day icebreakers . . .
