In a previous post, I’ve shared about the “science of happiness,” and with the Thanksgiving holidays approaching in the U.S., it’s a great time to inspire kids to engage in creating their own scientific experiments related to having a gratitude attitude. SHARING THE SCIENCE Below are a few videos about gratitude experiments and studies done … Read more
Here are three brain breaks I’ve used when I sensed the need for a little stress reduction. They help kids relax and usually induce some laughter, always a good thing in the classroom. QUESTION CONVO In this game, student pairs compete to keep a conversation going the longest. The catch is that the conversation must … Read more
A little over a decade ago, an advertising team working for Volkswagon was hired to increase sales of eco-friendly automobiles. Their theory was that if people could be shown that the eco-friendly cars were just as much fun to drive as any other car, it would encourage them to test drive and purchase them. They … Read more
The closer we get to the holidays, the higher the noise level in the classroom it seems! Some days everyone in the room is relieved to have some quiet moments. Here are some ways to facilitate dialogues and discussions with added benefits for you, the teacher: (1) everyone is engaged 100% of the time; (2) … Read more
In Part 1 of this topic, I discussed five ways puzzles can be incorporated into lessons and activities. In this post, I’d like to share some creative ways to reimagine puzzles or invent your own! I hope this will encourage you and your students to do some creative puzzling! PAIRED PUZZLES A paired puzzle is … Read more
Kids love to code! But they’re also fascinated by what goes on inside the computer- the circuitry and language that make transmission of so much information happen in the blink of an eye. Here’s an outline of how you might introduce the language of computers and some fun “crack the computer code” activities and other … Read more
Have you ever heard of a question trail or tried one with your students? It can be a high-interest activity and a great way to review content, vocabulary, or get students ready for a test. That’s because it’s really just a multiple-choice test with the questions posted around your classroom room at stations. Students move … Read more
Little kids love BIG WORDS. I remember learning to spell the word poinsettia in kindergarten. It was December, and my amazing teacher (aren’t all kindergarten teachers amazing?) had squeezed every bit of learning out of that flower incorporating science, language, and art! After teaching us all about the flower, our teacher challenged us to learn … Read more
Here is an idea that is fun to do at the end of October and there is so much you can do with this! If you’ve always wanted to introduce your young scholars to Shakespeare but didn’t know how to get started, I hope this will encourage you to try! Choose from all or just … Read more
In this second post of a series, I continue to promote the wonderful lessons in 10 Things All Mathematicians and Scientists Must Know by Ed Zaccaro (see also Occam’s Razor, Critical Thinking, Big Foot, and Aliens). The lessons in Chapter 7, “Don’t Be Fooled By Statistics” are so important for our students today. The scenarios, … Read more
