Today is Thomas Edison 164th birthday, or would be if he were alive. It’s also National Inventors Day. This is a great day to invent something. Here’s a fun lesson with minimal preparation: Ask students to talk with their neighbors for three minutes about irritating things that come up… Continue reading
Valentine’s Day is a great classroom holiday; it might have started as a religious observance of St. Valentine’s Day, but by now it really has no religious connotations and no controversies surrounding it that are relevant to the classroom. It is one of the best holidays for school observation,… Continue reading
Adaptation is an essential and miraculous part of the wonder of life. It can be hard to grasp, too, especially if your state mandates the teaching of adaptations before the teaching of natural selection, evolution, DNA, or reproduction. One solution is to teach the concept repeatedly in different grades,… Continue reading
The term “DNA” is likely to be familiar to students from TV crime dramas and news reports. Use that familiarity to bring some real-world science into your classroom with a study of DNA and its use in forensic science. The DNA molecule pictured above has two long strands joined… Continue reading
If you teach biology, or life science, you need to teach evolution at some point — or to decide not to and how to work around it. I live and teach in Arkansas, and I have a lot of sympathy for teachers who decide not to open themselves up… Continue reading
Eve Bunting’s book The Valentine Bears is a fun readaloud for young students, with lots of good teaching points. In the story, Mr. and Mrs. Bear have never celebrated Valentines Day before, since they are always hibernating at this time of year. This year, though, Mrs. Bear has planned… Continue reading
John Chapman, who became known as “Johnny Appleseed,” was born on September 26th, 1774. He left home at eighteen and traveled around the Midwest planting nurseries and doing good deeds. There are a number of good picture books for this American legend, including versions by favorites Steven Kellogg and Carol… Continue reading
Pecos Bill is a great example of a tall tale hero. Bill was raised by coyotes and rejoined human society to become a sort of Western superhero. In a collection of stories, he outdid everyone in tales of derring-do that explain the origins of the Rio Grande and the… Continue reading
