A scavenger hunt is a good cooperative activity.  Plus you can adapt scavenger hunts to different subjects.  These picture scavenger hunts reinforce letter recognition and basic vocabulary.  There are nature hunts for science class and holiday hunts for special activities.  Once you take a look at these scavenger hunts, you will see how you can [...]

If you want some wake-up movement exercises for students, go to YouTube.  There are a number of sample videos meant to entice you to buy a program, but you just use the sample.  I like these fun dance exercises and the Movin’ & Groovin’ intro gives you 6 minutes of exercise.  This Freddie Fitness video may appeal [...]

You’ve probably already done something for Black History month, but have you done anything with music.  Songs for Teaching lets you download individual songs at a low cost.  You can get the music and lyrics to Craig A. Thompson’s I Have a Dream for $4.98 or to Barbara Klaskin Silberg’s I have a Dream/This is Our [...]

In the current economy, the issue of hunger has been more in the spotlight.  It is a good time to make students more aware of social problems.  If you want some ideas on how to talk about hunger and poverty with your students, take a look at this list of articles.  It has lesson ideas for [...]

Here’s something to make you jealous if your school has the typical cafeteria offerings.  The students and teachers in the Muscato/Amistad public school in NYC get to eat things like chicken wraps and whole wheat pasta made by a 3-star chef.  Bill Telepan has his own restaurant, but also works with the school cafeteria to [...]

Here’s another study about infants and language development.  Two scientists from the University of British Colombia collaborated with a French researcher to study language preference and discrimination in newborns.  Their research found that when babies are exposed to two languages in the womb, after birth they respond to both languages and can distinguish between them. [...]

I find it fascinating that, according to some new research, the cries of newborns mimic the melodic patterns they have heard while in the womb.  We already know that babies learn to recognize their mothers’ voices in the last weeks of pregnancy, but medical anthropologist Kathleen Wermke of the University of Würzburg in Germany has [...]

Some experts believe that within five years one in five classrooms will have an interactive whiteboard.  If you want to learn more using them, try the free webinar offered by eSchool News at 2:00 pm EDT on March 16.  One of the speakers is Dr. Jennifer Brown King who developed the SMART Integration Project, a [...]

eHow has six articles on how to build snowmen, including how to stack the balls, how to build the base and how to build a huge snowman.  Given the amount of snow in the east, maybe you’ll want to check them out.  Maybe you can start a new recess activity or try a new way to [...]

YouTube has added a Safety Mode that allows users to screen objectionable content. It gives teachers and parents a way to limit access to videos that might not be appropriate for children, in particular ones that have excess violence or inappropriate sexual content.  Hopefully this will make teachers more willing to use YouTube in the [...]