In 1779, the country that would become the United States of America included British, French, and Spanish colonies. The British colonies had declared independence from England, and the other colonies sided with their fellow Americans. One of the people who helped was General Bernardo de Gálvez, Governor of Louisiana. Louisiana… Continue reading
There are more than 50 million people in the United States who trace their family origin to a Spanish-speaking country or territory. The list below shows the percentage of people from each of the most common locations of family origin. 63% Mexico 9% Puerto Rico 3.5% Cuba 3.3% El… Continue reading
Classic toys have been losing market share to video games, electronic toys, and tablets throughout the 21st century. There are plenty of reasons for this, but it’s not a good thing. Classic toys provide learning opportunities. Without them, kids miss out. Here are half a dozen of the classic toys… Continue reading
You pack a healthy lunch for your family to take to work or school… but what about the way you wrap up that delicious sandwich? The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released guidelines on food additives that had some strong things to say about food packaging. Specifically, they recommend avoiding… Continue reading
“The Bremen Town Musicians” is one of my personal favorites among the tales of the Brothers Grimm. In this story, four old farm animals, in some versions having heard that their masters were going to have them — umm… put to sleep, decide to go to Bremen to apply for posts… Continue reading
Eureka has come out with a full collection of Star Wars goodies for the classroom. With bulletin board sets, posters, “Go Arounds” to trim your doors, and more, you can load up your virtual shopping cart, get your decoratives delivered to your classroom, and have your room ready in no… Continue reading
“The Fisherman and His Wife” is a Grimms’ fairy tale, though it is also reported in much the same form in Russia and in Central Europe. In the story, a poor fisherman catches a fish, usually a flounder, who claims to be an enchanted prince. The fisherman lets… Continue reading
“Toads and Diamonds” is another story from Charles Perrault. Picture books of the story are hard to find, though DK’s A First Book of Fairy Tales includes it. Read the story aloud and then have students retell the tale. For the class retelling, we like to divide the story into… Continue reading
“The Twelve Dancing Princesses” is a story collected by the Brothers Grimm. Andrew Lang also collected a French version of this story in his Red Fairy Book, and you can read it here. Marianna Mayer has done a beautiful picture book of The Twelve Dancing Princesses and Rachel Isadora has… Continue reading
Mother Goose rhymes are the ideal first experience of poetry for young children. One Mother Goose rhyme that many young kids will not have heard already — and which actually has sophisticated enough vocabulary for elementary kids as well — is The House that Jack Built: This is the house… Continue reading
