I love summer storms, especially if I’m inside a cabin watching from a safe place.  Students can use this KIDSTORM website to get information about thunder and lightening.  There are no interactive activities, but the information is clear and concise with a few simple diagrams.  National Geographic has a very fun interactive page on lightening. [...]

I found this fun list of amazing and unusual pets.  I like the categories – smartest, most talkative, most springy and most rolling. This is just fun information, but you could use it for a pay attention to details lesson.  Pick a few of the pets and read their descriptions to the class.  Then have [...]

Since today is my daughter Erin’s Golden Birthday, I decided to google Golden Birthday and see what came up.  There were some interesting ideas in this list of family birthday traditions, from giving birthday insults to having a birthday elf. For ideas and information about golden birthdays, read this ad for a $12.97 Golden Birthday Book. [...]

My daughter just pointed out that it’s the birthday of my blog.  I started writing one year ago and just kept going, taking out a little time out to pack up a house and move into an apartment.  Dealing with my teacher stuff was probably the hardest part of the move.  I still have trouble [...]

If you are interested in creative problem solving, you might want to read this somewhat academic article that defines the terminology of problem solving and describes thinking patterns.  I like the diagrams that accompany the article.  This is not something you would use with students, but rather something to help you understand the theory behind [...]

I was reading the I Love Libraries blog and came across this inspiring article about a girl who set a goal of reading all of the Newbery Medal winners before middle school and reached that goal.  Not only did she read all the books, but she created a blog where she reviews many of them. [...]

I gave my kids a wide variety of toys – cars, building blocks, dolls, science kits, crafts, athletic equipment.  I wanted my daughters to love cars as much as dolls and my son to love playing house as much as playing cops and robbers.  Well, my daughters loved dolls and dressing best and my son [...]

I came across Teacher Tap when I was looking for more articles on creativity.  If you want to review Bloom’s Taxonomy without digging out your old textbook, this is the place for you.  I like the easy-to-use list of verbs that go with the six levels of the cognitive domain.  The Teacher Tap is an excellent [...]

Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown is an insightful well-written young adult book that deals with the emotional upheaval of having a bipolar parent.  It is both very sad and very uplifting, giving a very real picture of a young girl whose bipolar mother leaves, forcing the daughter and father to recreate their own [...]

New York Giants wide receiver Sinorice Moss wants high school students to set goals and achieve them.  His program Dare to Dream encourages goal-setting by inviting students to write letters to him expressing their goals.  The idea is that he will then work with classes to provide support in accomplishing the goals.  Students will receive [...]