With St. Patrick’s Day upon us, it’s a great time to learn the geography of Ireland. Any time of year is a great time to improve geography skills, actually, and you can use these ideas with other places, too, but I’ve got some great links for your Ireland study.… Continue reading
This poem, by Irish poet William Butler Yeats, is a beautiful piece of language. Use it as a first introduction to grownup poetry for older elementary and secondary level students. Here’s the poem: Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the… Continue reading
O’Sullivan Stew O’Sullivan Stew, by Hudson Talbot, is a fun choice for St. Patrick’s Day reading, since it’s set in Ireland. The story begins with Kate O’Sullivan seeing the local witch’s horse confiscated by the king’s soldiers. Though she tries to get help from the other villagers, she is unable to… Continue reading
Bring some holiday spirit to your classroom with these fun tech lessons! Google’s Santa Tracker Google’s Santa Tracker has a game for every day till Christmas. Students can choose the clothing colors for Santa’s elves, share a texting conversation between Santa and his reindeer, prepare and send a phone… Continue reading
Enjoy the season while learning about art history! Art History with Snowmen One way to use snowmen in your art lesson plans is to ask students to look at snowmen as famous artists might have and create their own versions of snowmen in the style of a famous artist. This… Continue reading
In the Netherlands, Saint Nicolas comes bearing gifts on December 5th, Sinterklaasavond, or Saint Nicolas’s Eve. December 6th is the feast of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children. Saint Nicolas arrives by steamboat from Spain with his helper Zwarte Piet. Saint Nicolas rides a white horse and there is a… Continue reading
Fractals are fun — and they team up perfectly with a study of snow. To do this activity with your students, you first need to explain what a fractal is: A fractal is a a curve or geometric figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as… Continue reading
Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without a turkey on the table for most families. This gives us a great opportunity to teach our students about turkeys, both domestic and wild, and to have some fun while we’re at it. This activity is great for younger children. Thanksgiving Hand Turkey Art Lesson… Continue reading
Your younger students’ study of Pilgrims isn’t complete without making hats! Dressing up in 17th century clothing would be a challenge, but you can make your own versions of their hats with construction paper. Pilgrim Bonnets Supplies: one 18″ by 12″ piece of white paper Scissors Ruler Pencil Stapler… Continue reading
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a picture book written by Charles M. Shultz, based on the comic strip Peanuts. You can read the book with your class or watch the video and be sure that you’ll have a fine seasonal experience without any scary moments. Here are three lesson… Continue reading
