The Tortoise and the Hare is one of Aesop’s fables, also done by Jean de La Fontaine. You can read it, and admire one of Rackham’s illustrations for it, here. A shorter and easier version is online here. Jerry Pinkney has done a beautiful picture book version. Janet Stevens created a… Continue reading
Sharks are fascinating creatures, very different from us and from fish, and they offer just enough scariness to make an exciting classroom study. Here are two of our favorite approaches to the topic. Basic background: National Geographic has several lesson plans about sharks, including Are Sharks as Dangerous as We… Continue reading
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in your classroom! Hold the margaritas, obviously, but otherwise it’s fiesta time! The first thing is to be sure not to call May 5 “Mexican Independence Day.” Mexico has an Independence Day in September. Cinco de Mayo is a day to celebrate the victory of a… Continue reading
Think of all the people involved in taking care of your teeth! Here’s a lesson plan that works for career day, community helpers lessons, or dental health lessons. It’s intended to help students move beyond the most obvious career choices (such as dentists) and realize how many different jobs… Continue reading
Poetry is an art form, and poets like Shakespeare, Yeats, and Dr. Seuss bring pleasure to millions. Poetry is central to songs, too, from ballads to rock. But there’s another use of poetry which might be more familiar to your students: commercial jingles. Study them as a fun diversion… Continue reading
A KML (Google Earth) file of Civil War Battlefields to download: Battles of the U.S. Civil War. Each map point has a link to a description of the battle that took place there. Clarence Woodcock is the author. https://youtu.be/bsbvTWFdnQY More resources on the Civil War in Google Earth: A Google… Continue reading
We went to Pea Ridge National Military Park to learn more about the Civil War. We have a couple of battlefield parks here where we live, and we find it sobering to stand where so many lost their lives. It’s also very interesting. Pea Ridge has excellent interpretive exhibits examining… Continue reading
Novels are a wonderful way to get a deeper sense of a time period, and there are some excellent novels for kids and young adults set during the Civil War. Here are some of our favorites: Pink and Say, by Patricia Polacco, is a very touching book, and very sad.… Continue reading
April 2018 marks the 157th anniversary of the American Civil War. The American Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865, and was for much of the nation a turning point in history. More than 600,000 American soldiers died, more than in any other war we’ve fought, and the total… Continue reading
St. Patrick’s Day is an extremely popular holiday in the United States, in part because such a large number of Irish people immigrated to the U.S. More than 45 million Americans can claim Irish heritage, making this group the second largest in the nation. And yet the chances are good… Continue reading
