Using a telescope and exploring the skies can be a hugely rewarding, enjoyable and fascinating experience for kids of all ages. With a huge selection of telescopes for beginners out there, it’s sometimes hard to choose the right one that will bring the moon, stars, and planets up close and personal. Don’t worry! You’ll find our picks below, along with a list of the items to watch out for when you are buying a telescope for kids. Best Beginner Telescope […]
Category: Educators
Top 11 Musical Instruments for Kids With Rhythm
Music teaches kids lots of skills. Learning to play music requires commitment and discipline and if you splash out on an instrument, you need to know your child is going to put time and effort into practicing their skills. Children can learn rhythm, beat, pattern recognition and even math from music. Musical instruments for kids can also help to cultivate social skills while collaborating to make music together. Parents rarely have to be convinced of the merits of teaching their children the alphabet […]
The Supermuch Classroom For A Supermuch Life
#Supermuch started by accident in January, 2018 at a CUE Rockstar TOSA camp in Agoura Hills, California. As two of my co-presenters (Ann Kozma and Cate Tolnai) and I were getting into the car to head to the event, I attempted to say, “I am super excited for this weekend!” What came out of my mouth was, “I am supermuch excited for this weekend!” We shared a good laugh and started describing everything about the rest of the car ride as #supermuch. We determined […]
Equity Maps for Effective Group Work
I recently attended an Apple Educators’ Institute in Texas and there are always a few things that resonate with me post conference. One in particular was the spotlight session by Stephanie Thompson on the use of Equity Maps. As an English teacher, I am constantly getting my classes to work in groups. But at the back of my mind, there is always the question of equity. Who is participating fully? Who is being excluded? Who is overlooked and has given up trying […]
Learning In, Learning Out
I like to learn. That’s a vague and simplistic statement, but true, nonetheless. I’ve been learning my entire life. I love to eat so trying new foods is always a fun learning experience. Learning how to grow different fruits and vegetables, and prepare different dishes is also fun. My family lives in the country and has had outdoor cats for years, but within the last couple of years, I had to learn what it was like to be the owner […]
7 of the Best Ant Farm Options for Your Eager Entomologists
Ants are amazing creatures. They scurry around all day long, searching for food, building the nest, caring for their young and protecting the queen. In many ways, an ant colony is like an industrious human city: everyone has a job to do and they get on with it. Older ant farms were very simple. They consisted of sand between two pieces of glass. Newer ant farms use brightly colored gel to create a stable ecosystem for the ants, so they […]
Our Soft Glow Silent Timer and Light Review – Hands-on Experience
Most people hate the sound of alarms. I’m one of them – it’s why I evangelize the use a light simulation alarm clock that usually wakes me up with light before the alarm goes off. But for some people, loud noise is a problem anytime of the day. Buzzers and loud bell rings can cause anxiety and worse in this part of the population. There are other times where you want a timer, but it’s just not appropriate to have […]
Backpack Full Of Burden
I caught him. I felt like some character from a mediocre cop show. I had sleuthed it out. But, that feeling stayed with me for an instant. Less than an instant, if that’s possible. The feeling that immediately took its place and stayed with me for quite some time was burden. Knowing something you didn’t want to know. And at the same time understanding that you sort of knew it all along anyway. There is sometimes a great chasm […]
15 Websites To Inspire Creativity in Your Writing Students
I’ve always wondered what would have happened if I discovered NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) when I was still at school. If you ever desired writing a book but aren’t sure if you could, then NaNoWriMo is something to consider. Each November thousands subscribe to reach the goal of writing 50,000 words. The goal is to get your first draft written—no editing. It’s to motivate you to transform the idea in your head onto paper. You win if you reach […]
Diving Deep: Going Beyond Test Scores to the Heart of the Matter
Creating a thriving After-School program means we look beyond the externals—beyond academics, beyond behavior control, and beyond maintaining attendance. Going below the surface will keep your finger on the pulse of your site’s culture and your children’s actual experience within your facility. Everything bubbles up from the core values of each individual within the site. How we interact with every single child matters—whether with family, friends, or within an organization. When we get down to that level, we come to […]
12 of the Best Classroom Projectors for Schools – HD, Presenting, Gaming and Video
When everything works well, classroom projectors are the epicenter of the best digital learning spaces. A shared portal to engaging media where every student can be focused and actively involved. When they don’t work well, classroom projectors are the source of endless frustration, muffled curse words and a hindrance and distraction to learning. Given that even the cheapest projectors still cost hundreds of dollars we want to share with you the most popular and best projectors to help your school […]
67 Essential EdTech Tools To Use This Year
Technology and education is a winning combination that truly helps teachers. These teaching tools streamline the process, help to manage the different aspects of teaching, and create teaching materials that would almost be impossible to do manually. New EdTech tools are constantly launched, or older versions are upgraded with new features. With their busy schedule teacher don’t always have the time to research new EdTech tools. To assist teachers, we’ve created a list of essential EdTech Tools. Lesson Preparing EdTech […]
Houston, We Are Go for Launch
When I was little I dreamed of traveling to space and touching the stars. My father would wake us up in the middle of the night to hike through the woods or walk along the dirt road to see the meteor showers put on a late night show for us. We would come back home and enjoy cups of hot cocoa and either regale each other with how many shooting stars we had seen or slurp our marshmallows in a […]
3 Takeaways from Intentional Reflection
When I was a classroom teacher I tended to reflect “on the fly.” I’d take a quick assessment and make adjustments on teaching materials, strategies, and temperature of the class. I’d either reteach or make notes for changes for the following year. When I attended professional development opportunities, I’d often reflect through the conversations I had with colleagues at the event and/or after I returned to school. I rarely spent any lengthy time during the reflection process. When I moved […]
Setting SMART Goals In Your 2018 Classroom
Dreaming big dreams and desiring to achieve something worthwhile is natural to people. Setting the concrete goals to achieve these dreams is a skill that everybody of all ages needs to learn. It’s not natural for adults; neither is it natural for kids. A study done at Dominican University showed that people who had written goals, were committed to achieving the goals and had an accountability system in place, achieved more than those who didn’t have written goals. Like any […]
SMART Goals Template
The below ‘S.M.A.R.T.’ template is published under Creative Commons. Feel free to share on your own blog, school site or social network. Over a 150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln said “a goal set properly is halfway reached.” However, it’s harder to set a actionable goal rather than express a feeling or dream about the future. The attached SMART Goals Worksheet can be used to help set a goal that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. Utilizing this framework, […]
21 Icebreaker Questions You Should Ask Your Students On Their First Day Back To School
It’s the first day of a new school year, and with it comes an entirely fresh group of students in your classroom. Each of these children have their own story – their own unique dreams, fears and goals. And you know none of them. Over time, you certainly will uncover these nuggets of information. But one way to speed up the process is to have students take some time on the first day of class to answer a series of […]
7 Great Word Games For Your ESL Classroom
Games aren’t only for fun and learning outside of the classroom. The right board game can be a great learning tool in your class this upcoming school year as well. This is true both in ESL (English as a Second Language) and traditional English-speaking classrooms. These following games have all been used reliably by teachers to help English learners master new vocabulary and feel more confident in their speaking skills. You’ll find your students will benefit most if you […]
7 Great Uses For OneNote & Lense In The Classroom
If you haven’t heard of OneNote, it’s time you did. It’s often been described as a “digital 3-ring binder” because it’s a great resource for storing all your digital information. While that is true, it doesn’t capture just how full-featured OneNote has become over the years. When you add the capabilities of Office Lense to the mix, you have a powerful learning framework that can really help simplify teaching in your classroom. Here are 7 ways OneNote and Office Lense […]
9 Sets of Multiplication Flash Cards For Engaging Math Practice
Using flash cards, including multiplication flash cards has long been accepted as a simple, yet effective way to teach children skills that require memorization. Flash cards use repetition to teach a skill and increase recall and therefore, confidence. The idea of flash cards is quite simple. Sit down with a child, show them the problem or question on the front of the card, and then allow the child to think about and provide the answer. As they practice, the repetitive […]