The Parent-Teacher-Child Connection

STEM and History - Unlikely, but effective, companions

2020-12-29T09:56:00.003-05:00

Look around your classroom or home office. What STEM innovations do you see? Maybe you have a printer, a microwave, a thermometer, a thermostat, and probably a box of crayons. Each of those items was influenced by an innovator who saw the need and filled it with scientific exploration and experimentation.

If we want to prepare children to be future scientists, we need to inform them about the past. The TV series Impossible Engineering shows viewers how the innovations we see today, like high-tech airplanes, were influenced by inventions achieved by historical engineers. Show students that most of the things they take for granted were originally just an idea in a scientist’s mind.

Hundreds of books show students about the history of STEM. Certainly, technology history is fascinating for kids, but there are also books about biological, chemical, and physical achievements to interest your young readers. For younger readers, consider the fascinating story of Eugenie Clark in a biography entitled, Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist. For your middle school readers, Black Stars: African American Inventors, is an outstanding exploration of twenty-five innovators like George Washington Carver, an agricultural scientist, and Benjamin Montgomery, who invented a propeller that improved steamboat navigation.

Many movies and videos also document the achievements of inventors. One of my favorite series is Inventions that Shook the World. This is a 10-part series available on Amazon Prime Video that includes nuggets of STEM information during the 20^th century. From wireless radios to the Hubble telescope, viewers see how technology has exploded and lives have been changed as a result of advancements in the world of STEM. And your students will surely enjoy Modern Marvels - Walt Disney World, which explores how Walt Disney built his mega-kingdom of entertainment.

Every area of your history unit can be packed with STEM topics if you know where to find them. Consider the math that you can include in your unit on The Great Depression. The architecture in your Ancient Civilizations unit. Or the train technology during your Western Expansion unit. STEM can be a valuable and interest-inducing adjunct to any topic in your required curriculum.

According to Ainissa Ramirez, a materials scientist and the author of The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another,“Once students are more engaged with how STEM is part of a larger fabric, they will have the skills to see the world more clearly and the lens they need to start posing tough questions.”

To jump-start your students into the world of STEM history, consider posting a STEM question as a DO-NOW to begin your day, as a filler for students who finish early, or as extra credit to boost a less-than-stellar grade. Use STEM STUMPERZ for every day of the year. They are keyed to an event that happened on that day! CLICK HERE to get started with STEM STUMPERZ for February Check out the bundles if you want seasonal or yearly packages.

2020-11-23T07:41:00.001-05:00

Get ready to join the HUGE sale at Teachers Pay Teachers! Visit my store: All-American Teacher Tools and search on the left column for a variety of teaching aids - free and inexpensive! Stay safe and stay sane, teacher friends!

When was the last time you took time for YOU?

2020-11-16T09:31:00.003-05:00

You've been creating virtual lessons, implementing virtual rewards and discipline procedures, and possibly keeping up with in-class separation shenanigans, as well. It's overwhelming and not what you signed up for, right? But we teachers are both strong and resilient. We can cope with any educational emergency, all while taking care of our homes, spouses, and children. That would drain the energy from any person.

Once in a while, it's okay to take time just for yourself. I don't mean leaving it all behind and traveling around for a while to clear your head, although that's not a bad idea. I mean actually doing something meaningful just for yourself. Because you know what, folks? If you don't do something for yourself, you may find that nobody else is going to do anything for you.

Here are some ideas to help you relax and enjoy a small part of your day or week so you tell yourself that you are special (channeling Mr. Rogers here!)

Take a walk around the YARD. This can be your own yard, a nearby field, or a city greenspace. While there, immerse yourself in sensory stimulation. Listen to the birds, smell the flowers, look for unusual shapes or colors, touch something soft, hard, and even scratchy. And if there is a food truck in the area, indulge yourself in one of their treats. If not, bring along a peppermint or caramel candy to suck on. Every time you pop another one in your mouth, you’ll remember the peaceful stroll around the "YARD."

OBTAIN a journal. Make it your own style – colorful, leather, or simply marble-covered! This is more than a this-is-what-I-did-today journal. This is a gratitude journal. Take some time to list the things that make you happy, that are good in your life, that help you to feel fulfilled. List the people in your life and how they help you to become a better person. Recall all the pets you have had and how much fun you had with them. When you do this, you validate your own existence by validating the existence of a beloved item, a person, or a pet.

UNPACK your mental suitcase. You say you don’t have a mental suitcase? Everybody does! It’s where you store your negative thoughts – those nagging grudges, unhappy memories, and general worries about what will happen tomorrow. It's also where you store your happy memories of better times. Get rid of the negative items in your suitcase and keep the positive. To help you with this task, draw a picture of a suitcase in the middle of the paper. On one side, list all your negative thoughts. On the right side, list all your positive thoughts, perhaps those you listed in your journal. Now rip (yes rip – don’t cut – it makes this exercise so effective!) the negative contents off your paper. Rip them into smaller pieces and throw them away. Now you’re left with a wonderful image of wonderful things in your wonderful mental suitcase.

I’m sure your have your own ways to make time for YOU – find them, use them, and enjoy them until you are re-energized to tackle the demands of your job, your home, and your family.

For ideas on how to handle your mental kingdom, read my workbook for life, Be the Master of Your Mental Kingdom. This online resource is great for you, for your colleagues, even for your middle and high school students who may be having a difficult time adjusting to remote learning. Comment on this blog and let me know how YOU are doing in your everyday life as you take care of your own needs as well as others’ needs.

Back to School FREEbies

2020-08-15T07:32:00.000-04:00

Back to School FREEbies at Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Back-to-School-Lessons-By-The-Best-of-Teacher-Entrepreneurs-MC-2020-5791699

A Retired Teacher's COVID-19 Journey

2020-08-13T09:49:00.000-04:00

When I retired as a teacher of high school child development in 2009, I started a journey. No, not a journey to see every state in the union, although that would have been rather interesting! It was a journey of self-fulfillment to help the teachers who were still teaching, still over-worked, and still struggling to balance home and school. Don’t get me wrong – I took plenty of time for my own retirement endeavors, which included sewing, writing, painting, and all the other little things I never had time to pursue when I was teaching. However, I also did two things that helped me to help the teachers I left behind.

First, I began posting resources on Teachers Pay Teachers. Initially, I posted many of the resources I had used while I was teaching. Then, my “store” expanded to include resources that my teacher daughters asked me to create for them. That included a PowerPoint of state history, which expanded into PowerPoints of every state history! Then my daughter needed a learning packet for Ancient Rome. You guessed it, that expanded into Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and I now have plans for Ancient China. The list goes on and on. Some resources were at the request of my daughters. Other resources were from my own interest in a variety of topics. See all that I have done at my store: All-American Teacher Tools. I am especially proud of the games I came up with to energize those kids who have been sitting in front of a screen all day. Check out my Socially Distant Games for Grades 4-8.

Second, I started donating to Donor’s Choose. I began to plow half of my earnings back into a different way of helping currently teaching educators looking for help. (The other half goes to supporting my retirement habits – buying paints, fabrics, and sewing supplies!) Each month I looked for projects that I felt most deserved my support. First, I started looking for fellow Family Consumer Sciences teachers who were looking for supplies. I also searched for teachers who wanted sustainable resources, not consumable resources that would only last a year. Finally, and this is a personal preference, I wanted to be the donor who put those teachers “over the top” by being their last donor to complete their request. I have always wanted to be wealthy enough to have my own foundation, like Bill Gates. Since that’s never going to happen, Donor’s Choose is my next best opportunity to give back to those who need my money the most.

So how does this teacher’s journey retrospective relate to COVID-19? When the schools closed and teachers scrambled to prepare remote resources for their students, I wanted to learn what they needed to carry their classes through to the end of the year. (I had no idea at the time, that those needs would continue into the next school year!) My daughters showed me new and interesting platforms I never knew existed, and gave me new vocabulary that I never thought I’d use. Words like Google Classroom, Slides, and Docs became my best friends. They were easy to understand. By the way, I found that it’s very easy to transfer Google Slides into PowerPoint, but the reverse is not so easy! Next came Google meet and Zoom and screencasting! Our family used the Google meet app to link up two states and four families into a family chat when travel was not an option. Thank you, Google! Then came my newest addiction – Bitmojis and their insertion into the virtual classroom. What fun that is to help create a background, insert posters, add a Bitmoji character and develop a virtual classroom that is the next best alternative to the real deal.

So that’s the story of my journey to today. I began teaching in 1971 when purple dittos were still the accepted means of reproducing tests and worksheets. And blackboards still created chalk dust all over the front of the classroom! Now I know how to develop a Google doc with a form insertion field so students can fill in the blanks. What fun!!

Teaching is a never-ending journey of learning. I hope I can continue to provide assistance to other teachers who need my limited expertise in remote learning. I say “limited” because my daughters who are developing classes, schedules, and assignments in their remote formats are far more experienced than I will ever be. I wish them and the rest of you the best that the new school year has to offer – both remotely and in the COVID-19 adapted classroom.

If you are a retired teacher, I'd love to know what you are doing to help your fellow teachers struggling to cope with remote/hybrid/classroom education. If you are a current teacher, please let me know how I can help. I'll give you a resource (if I can!) for free and then post it on Teachers Pay Teachers for a fee! Its a win-win for everybody 😉

The Ultimate Parent Guide for Protecting Your Child on the Internet [Updated for August 2020]

2020-08-06T17:54:00.004-04:00

Updated on 7th July 2020

Introduction

So many Online Child Safety guides are just scaring parents, without telling them what they can actually do; and this is why we came together, a group of cybersecurity experts and parents, to create a different guide. It’s updated for August 2020, and it’s all about steps you can take to protect your child from Sexual predators, Cyberbullying, Mobile phone addiction, and hurtful content. While we don’t think you should panic as a parent, you do need to be aware of the risk’s magnitude, as every kid could be affected.

What can we do as parents? Instead of using technology to just to keep kids occupied, we need to educate them about it. Instead of sticking phones in their tiny hands at younger and younger ages, we need to tell them about the dangers of online life. And instead of hoping everything will be just fine, we need to take action, check our kids’ activity, and make sure it actually will be fine.

This comprehensive guide will show you how. In it, we’ve outlined eight areas that you should pay attention to as you navigate this complex online world – from mobile devices to social media, gaming, cyberbullying, and information security.

The usual challenge is that most parents don’t really understand platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and even Twitter – not to mention 4Chan and gaming communities. But for their kids, the online world is more real than the real world. It is crucial for our children’s sake that we understand what they see online, what is out there, both good and bad, and how it impacts their physical and emotional well-being.

The good news is that it’s not that difficult to put certain technical controls in place to protect your children online. Far more importantly, the best thing you can do to protect your children is to talk to them. This guide will help you set clear boundaries for what and when they access online, but also to be there for your children when they make a mistake, or when they have gone too far. Isn’t that what parenting fundamentally comes down to?

1. Mobile phones and apps

According to research by SellCell, the average age that children get their first smartphone is 8 years old and it seems to keep dropping. The average was 10 in 2015 according to 000. While giving a child a smartphone comes with some benefits, it’s easy to forget they’re no less than a Pandora’s Box.

Smartphones give kids unprecedented freedom: The ability to communicate with people without supervision, to consume whatever content they desire and even act forcefully towards other kids online with ease. If they don’t know how to behave with their phone, follow basic ethics and caution, and be aware of the risks – they could fall victim to online harassment, Malware and money theft, get exposed to violent or sexual content and far worse. Since smartphones are personal devices, we don’t often know what our children do with them, how they use them, and what threats they encounter.

If you’re considering giving your child a smartphone, it’s critical to have some clearly outlined guidelines in place beforehand, so that everyone is on the same page. If your child already has a smartphone, it’s not too late to review the family rules. Demonstrate to them that having a smartphone is a big responsibility.

Implement smartphone rules with your child. Making sure your kids involve you on their phone activities with help keep them safe.

There are many precautions you can take to implement phone safety:

Have your kid sign a smartphone contract before you give them one. Print out a list of cellphone rules and stick it in a public place in your home.
Download parental controls. Parental control apps for younger children enable you to limit your child’s usage, determine their location, and monitor their calls and messages. Apps also allow you to shut off certain functions at different times. For example, disabling text messaging on dinner times.
Set limits when your child can use a smartphone and for how long each day.
Set a personal example for your child. Don’t bring your phone to the dinner table, and don’t text and drive.
Set up a charging station in a central location in your home. Phones should stay out of your child’s bedroom so they won’t be in use late at night.
You can install an app to monitor your child’s texting. Keepers is one type of app that alerts parents about harmful, abusive, or suspicious messages, and it includes a tracking device to show your kid’s location in real time. This is especially important, as 19% of youth report having received a sexually-explicit text message.

2. Streaming content and smart TVs

Streaming content has shot up in popularity, and there are more TV shows and movies available at our fingertips than ever before – much of it not particularly appropriate for kids. While there are great educational shows on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+, BBC iPlayer, and others, children will always be drawn to popular shows everybody’s talking about – without knowing how violent, sexual or disturbing they could be for a kid. And there are a lot of opportunities: According to 2019 JAMA pediatrics research performed in the UK, Children aged four to six consume 89 minutes of television every day on average.

How can you make sure your kid won’t be exposed to unwanted content?

Most of the big streaming content providers have parental controls, some more robust than others. Netflix allows you to set up separate profiles for you and for your children.

Using these tools, you can ensure that your kids only have access to age-appropriate content. Because Netflix’s children’s menu features a different color scheme than the regular menu, you can easily see whether your kids are accessing the content permitted to them or not. However, this doesn’t stop kids from moving over to your profile, so you still have to be vigilant.

iTunes and Apple TV allow parents to set rating levels for the content their children watch. By contrast, Amazon Prime features no parental controls, so the only thing to do is to logout of your account and not share the password.

All of these tools, however, do not replace having frequent conversations with your children about what they watch. They need to know that even if a show’s name is mentioned all the time, it doesn’t mean it’s right for them.

Monitor TV time by limiting the number of hours they watch per day, incorporating parental settings, talking to your child about the content they watch, and spending TV time as a family.

3. Gaming consoles and online games

21% of all video game players in the US are under the age of 18. With so many games featuring violent or sexual content, and so many platforms to play on, it is important to be careful about the kinds of games your children play.

In addition, many games that have a multiplayer component, or are just entirely based online, which makes them open to abuse from other players, harassment, and sexual advances through the game’s chat system. Kids may also form relationships with other players and may give away their personal information.

But not all is bad: Games are also a great way for kids to develop a variety of skills. They help children develop problem-solving skills, learn how to commit to long-term goals, and how to work as part of a team. They can also be a great opportunity for family bonding. In order to make sure our kids will enjoy the benefits of gaming and not suffer from its risks, we need to monitor their gameplay.

Encourage your children to discuss the games they play. Make sure your child profile is set to private. Consider keeping the gaming console in a shared, social space. Study the age rating of the games. Use parental controls to set up profiles. Limit the type of people your child can speak to online.

Social media usage is now ubiquitous among US teens; 71% use more than one social platform. Children nowadays also spend an enormous amount of time on social media. A survey by the non-profit group Common Sense Media showed that 8 to 12 year-olds were online six hours per day, much of it on social platforms, and 13 to 18 year-olds a whopping nine hours!

According to a recent Harvard study, even though most social media platforms require users to be 13 years of age to sign up, 68% of parents surveyed had helped younger children set up an account.

Social media can be particularly addictive for tweens and teens. It opens the door to a variety of different issues, like cyberbullying, inappropriate sharing, and advances from sexual predators (more on those below).

Access to social media is also central to teens’ developing social identity. It’s the way that they connect to their friends, and it can be a healthy way to hang out. The key is to set boundaries so that it remains a positive experience.

Enforce a safe environment. Do not let your kids on social media until they’re old enough. Keep the computer in a public location. Limit the amount of time spent on social media. Block location access to all apps. Adjust the privacy settings. Monitor your child’s online activity.

5. Cyberbullying

Our children’s lives have moved online. Unfortunately, their bullies have moved online, too.

Cyberbullying is frequently in the news, with reports of child suicides due to online harassment. Cyberbullying starts at younger ages and could have disastrous effects on your child, ones that will require psychological and psychiatric treatments. Young cyberbullying victims are 1.9 times more likely to commit suicide than those who do not experience online bullying.

Cyberbullying occurs across all of the platforms we have outlined above, and it comes in many forms: spreading rumors and sending threatening messages via social media, texting, pretending to be another child and posting embarrassing material under their name, forwarding private photos without consent, and generally posting online about another child with the intent to humiliate them.

Cyberbullying is particularly harmful because it is so public. In the past, if a kid was bullied on the playground, perhaps a few of his peers saw. Now, a child’s most private information can be splashed across the internet and is there permanently unless reported and taken down.

Cyberbullying can negatively affect the online reputation not only of the victim, but also of the perpetrator, and have a deep impact on that child’s future, including college admissions and employment.

It is also extremely persistent. If a child is the target of traditional bullying, his or her home is more often than not a place of refuge. Because digital platforms are constantly available, victims of cyberbullying struggle to find any relief.

It’s often very difficult to tell if your child is being bullied online. It happens digitally, so parents and teachers are less likely to overhear or notice it. Fewer than half of the children bullied online tell their parents or another adult what they are going through, according to internet safety organization i-SAFE. In fact, according to the Cyberbullying Research Center, 36.4% of children aged 12 to 18 have experienced cyberbullying in their lifetime.

The best way to prevent cyberbullying or to stop it in its tracks is to be aware of your child’s behavior. A number of warning signs may present themselves.

A child who is bullied may shut down their social media account and open a new one. He or she may begin to avoid social situations, even if they enjoyed being social in the past. Victims (and perpetrators) of cyberbullying often hide their screen or device when other people come into their vicinity and become cagey about what they do online. They may become emotionally distressed or withdrawn.

Talk to your child about cyberbullying.

6. Privacy and information security

As parents, we are most concerned about the effect of the online world on our children’s emotional and physical well-being. It’s easy to forget that children are susceptible to information security threats that can cause significant financial harm.

Threats such as malware and viruses, phishing scams, and identity theft can have a much better chance of hitting a child – being so much more trusting and less experienced than us adults. To kids, sharing their personal details, such as their full name or where they live, may not seem like such a big deal. They may even be tricked by a malicious third party into sharing your own credit card details.

There are a number of ways that hackers and thieves can get information out of children. Free downloadable games, movies, or even ringtones that market themselves to children can place viruses onto your computer and steal your information.

Hackers posing as legitimate companies, like Google, send emails asking for your child’s password.They may also pose as one of your children’s friends or even a relative.

What should you communicate to your child?

Have a discussion with your kids about the big threats online today. Make sure they know what a phishing attack and a disreputable games website looks like, so they know not to fall for these scams. Also, emphasize the impact that a virtual cyber attack will have in the real world.
Make sure they keep all of their information private and that they never publish their full name, phone number, address, or school they attend in a public place.
Talk to your kids about passwords. Having a strong password is the first and best measure to prevent hacking and identity theft. Using a secure password generator like the one we created is great for this occasion, and trying out passwords together is a fun way of ensuring your child’s password is as strong as possible.
Tell your kids to avoid using public wifi – this is an easy way for hackers to get into their devices.
Talk to your kids about identity theft: once a cybercriminal has their data, they can do things in their name and even hurt people – and it will be extremely hard to stop.

What you can do to create a safe environment:

Install a strong antivirus program on your home computer and the devices of all family members.
Install a VPN (virtual private network) on your computer. This is a software that encrypts your connection and anonymizes your web browsing. It will make it far harder for hackers to access and steal any private information.
If you and your kids use a lot of different devices around the house, consider installing a VPN on your router. That way, all internet traffic that goes through the router will be protected, without having to install the VPN on every device.
Install an ad blocker so your children won’t have to face deceptive advertising that encourages them to download malicious programs onto your computer.
If your kids have smartphones, make sure that their security settings are set to maximum.

Teach your kids the importance of keeping their information and devices safe and secure when going online.

7. Viewing inappropriate content online

Because the internet is so open and public, it is also a place where kids can stumble upon content intended for adults – content which they may find upsetting, confusing or distressing. “Inappropriate content” can mean many things to many different people, from swearing to violence to sexual nature. Also, our kids might be exposed to political or religious ideas we don’t see fit for them.

It’s not easy, but eventually, every parent will need to have a conversation with his children about what they might see online. Many children don’t go to their parents when they see something they perhaps shouldn’t have seen, for fear that their parents will be angry at them, and take away their devices or internet access.

If your child comes to you with this type of issue, the best thing to do is to respond calmly and be open to discussion. If the content under discussion is sexual, your child will likely be embarrassed already, particularly when talking to their parents about these kinds of issues. Let them know you are there for them and are ready to answer any questions without judgment.

Young people may see sexual content online for all kinds of reasons. They may have seen it by mistake, a friend might have sent it to them, or they may have sought it out themselves out of natural curiosity.

It helps a great deal to talk to your kids honestly and frankly about sex, and a discussion about online pornography is a crucial part. A lot of research has shown that pornography can have a detrimental effect on young people, giving them distorted and unhealthy notions about sex. Pornography can also lead people to think of others as objects, rather than people with thoughts and feelings. At the same time, it’s totally normal to be curious about sex and relationships. This conversation is a great opportunity to direct your kids to positive resources about sexuality.

There are also a number of steps you can take to try to prevent your kids from being exposed to content they’re not ready for, like setting up parental controls on your internet connection. Remember, though, that technical fixes can’t replace open communication with your child.

Communicate with your child:

Let your kids know that they can always come to you if something is bothering them, or if they have questions about anything they have seen online.
Let them know that it’s totally normal to be curious about sex. Direct them to positive online resources like Brook and Thinkuknow. Thinkuknow is particularly good for younger children, and it includes different, age-appropriate sites for different age groups. You may find it helpful to look through the site together and discuss some of the issues.

Steps you can take to block inappropriate content:

Set filters to block inappropriate content like pornography. Your ISP (internet service provider) should provide free parental controls, as should most gaming consoles. These are usually pretty easy to set up.
Set Google to “safe mode,” so that your children won’t inadvertently see inappropriate content in search results.
Install an ad blocker to prevent viruses that might have inappropriate content.
Make sure your streaming services have active child protection profiles, so your kids won’t stumble upon rough content while browsing Netflix for cartoons.

8. Online predators

In our last section, we take a look at the darkest and scariest online threat of all: online child predators. According to the US Department of Justice, 13% of young people with internet access have been the victims of unwanted sexual advances, and one in 25 children have been solicited for offline contact; 50% of online victims of sexual exploitation are between 12 and 15 years old.

Predators engage in a practice called ‘grooming.’ In other words, they attempt to form a relationship with a child with the intention of later abusing them.

The internet has made life a lot easier for child predators. Predators target their victims through any and all online mediums: social media, email, text messages, and more.

Predators often create multiple online identities, posing as children to trick kids into talking to them. They discover as much as they can about the children they are targeting by researching their social media profiles – Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and others.

They may contact a number of children at once, but tend to concentrate their efforts on the most vulnerable. These predators aren’t satisfied with merely chatting with children online. They frequently trick or coerce their victims into online sexual activity via webcam or by sending sexual images. They may also attempt to meet and abuse their victims in person.

It’s not always easy to tell if a child is being groomed, particularly because most keep it a secret from their parents. There are a number of warning signs: children who are being groomed by predators may become very secretive because the predator often threatens the child not to share information with their parents or friends. Children can also become sad and withdrawn, distracted, and have abrupt mood swings. It is absolutely crucial to let your child know that you are there for them and that they can talk to you about anything.

What should you communicate to your child?

Have a discussion with your child about the risks of online predators. Make sure they know to be careful about who they talk to online, and not to share any personal information with strangers.
Tell your kids that they can come to you with any problem, no matter what it is.
Think about working through some educational content with your children relating to this topic, like the excellent videos at Thinkuknow.
If you think that your child is at risk, seek support from their school, a social worker, and the police.

Summer Fun (and Learning) for Everyone!

2020-06-25T09:42:00.002-04:00

Check out my resources for fun summer activities.

Summer STEM Travel Fun downloadable booklet - 68 pages of travel fun for everyone - FREE (even if you won't be traveling, there are plenty of ways you can use the activities in this booklet)
Crazy Blanks Skit Starters - Camping Theme - 8 Mad-Libs style stories for fun around the campfire - FREE
Summer STEM Stumpers for journals - One STEM stumper question for every day during June, July, and August - $8.10 bundled sale (Post one a day on your fridge to see if your kids can find the answers!)
Chef Cappy's Kitchen - STEM Facts and Healthy Recipes for Family Fun - Holiday Edition - 100 pages of family recipes arrangement for family cooperation - $10.00
Quilted Story Blocks from "The Quiltmaker's Gift" - Read the endearing book and then make each of the blocks mentioned. Combine them all to create a quilt, place mats, or a lap quilt. $10.00

The crazy school year may have ended, but your children are still going to be looking for something fun to keep them busy. I hope this helps!

Easy-to-Implement Home Instruction Ideas

2020-03-10T08:08:00.001-04:00

When I was in college a bazillion years ago, we were asked to develop a learning packet for home-bound students. It included readings (which can now be a link to an online source!), activities that could be completed at home with readily available materials, written assignments, and miscellaneous other methods for evaluation (which today can be an online test). It took several weeks during my methods class to develop that device and I wondered when I would ever use it. Well, as it turned out, I did have a student who was put on home instruction during my first year teaching. The work I had put into the learning packet in college, sure came in handy when I was overwhelmed with first-year worries like brand new lesson plans, grading (by hand!) all of my students, and preparing what I needed for the day's lesson.

Many schools now are planning for ways to provide home instruction as a reaction to the coronavirus. While that's certainly an effective way to prevent the spread, it places an additional burden on already-overworked teachers to come up with lessons that their students can accomplish at home for days or even weeks until the crisis passes and the students can return to school.

Here are some ideas that may help you:

Look for online versions of your textbooks that are provided by the publisher. You may already have that possibility in place. If so, great! Use it to list daily readings, activities, and assignments that they can return to you by email or in a packet when they return to school. Some companies are offering free subscriptions during the coronavirus crisis: FREE subscriptions.
Search for prepared projects that encompass your curriculum. This will be easy for your students to complete because they would probably have been completing them on their own in the classroom, anyway. No, these are usually not free, but they can come at a minimal expense for the ease of implementation in your remote classroom! For example, I have a few social studies packets at my Teachers Pay Teachers store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/All-american-Teacher-Tools

I have a packet for every state in the union plus the District of Columbia. Each PowerPoint presentation and accompanying activities can be done individually or as a team (in class or at home with friends). They are appropriate for grades 3-6. Here is one example (look for your own state): Ohio History and Project-Based Learning Packet
I also have a complete learning quest for each of the ancient civilizations: Rome, Greece, and Egypt. These, two, can be done individually or with a small group and are appropriate for grades 5-9: Ancient Civilizations Bundle

Look for explanatory PowerPoints that make learning fun and easier for students who need that extra help. Math is particularly difficult if there is no teacher present to steer the wayward student in the right direction. I have developed PowerPoints for each of the topics in the 6th grade Engage New York math modules. Here is the first one on ratios, which is free to show you how I simplify the topics for your students: Ratios. Engage New York does have their own explanatory videos, but I found that they can be as confusing as the topic which was presented in the text.
Use Google docs to coordinate grades, groups, and assignments. Your district may not have this already in place, so encourage everyone to participate in this easy way to communicate with students and their parents. Speaking of parents and other caregivers, make sure they understand that their children absolutely need to complete the assignments you offer while you are separated from them or they will fall seriously behind in their work.
Learn from the Homeschool network how to present the curriculum without a brick and mortar school as a base of operations. Here is one link to get your creative juices flowing: Time 4 Learning. I'm not saying you need to buy into their expensive system, but you can get some ideas from them on possible themes, projects, and independent learning.
Finally, coordinate with other teachers, either in your school or around the country who are teaching the same topics as you are. Look on Teachers Pay Teachers for free resources and download them for you students to access using whatever at-home platform your district is using.

Above all, make this a fun learning experience for your students and keep in constant contact by providing feedback on the assignments they may be returning to you every day. They probably don't want to be stuck at home, either. And they won't be motivated to participate in a learning program where there is no teacher to direct them back to the task at hand. Offer them interim rewards for finishing an assignment. Show them what might be waiting for them when they return from "quarantine" to offer completion incentives. And remember that your students rely on you for their education, whether you are standing in front of them, or offering remote assistance through written assignments or even a Skype-like platform.

Christopher Ludwick - Revolutionary Baker and Spy

2020-02-08T09:56:00.000-05:00

Christopher Ludwick (sometimes spelled Ludwig) was a German immigrant to Philadelphia who served as Baker General for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was born in 1720 in Germany and became interested in continuing his father's business as a baker. He became a soldier at 17 and served in various European armies.

In 1743, he arrived in Philadelphia and expanded his business as a gingerbread baker and confectioner located in Letitia Court where he became very successful selling his gingerbread and other desserts. Soon, he owned several homes in the Philadelphia area plus a farm in Germantown, Pennsylvania.

By 1774, he had embraced the cause of the American Revolution for independence from Great Britain. On May 3, 1777, to ensure that the Continental Army was well supplied with bread, its most basic staple, General George Washington appointed Christopher Ludwick as "Baker-General". However, he refused to take any payment for his efforts, saying in his own words,

"No, gentlemen, I will not accept of your commission upon any such terms. I do not want to get rich by the war. I have enough money. I will furnish 135 pounds of bread for every 100 pounds of flour you put into my hands."

After the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, General George Washington ordered that Ludwick be responsible for feeding his hungry men. Ludwick baked 6,000 pounds of bread in one day with the help of his wife, Catherine England Ludwick.

In addition to serving Washington as a baker, he also served as a valuable spy. Because his native language was German, he was able to infiltrate a Hessian camp on Staten Island. There he was able to persuade his former countrymen to abandon the British cause and join the Americans.

After the war, Ludwick spent a good deal of his later life in service to others. In 1793, the city of Philadelphia was hit hard by the yellow fever epidemic. Ludwick worked tirelessly at baking bread, for no charge, to feed those who were sick or poor. Ludwick was determined to help relieve the suffering of others.

For more information on Christopher Ludwick, read

Ludwick's gingerbread molds

Gingerbread for Liberty: How a German Baker Helped Win the American Revolution

Also, watch "A Taste of History" with Chef Walter Staib as he explores the bread that Christopher Ludwick would have made for the troops. This is available on demand on most PBS stations.

Finally, explore the many ways that bread has been used across the country to create regional favorites: Chef Cappy's Kitchen - Food from 50 States by Renee Heiss.

Play Stump the Sub

2020-01-26T08:39:00.000-05:00

Granted, not all subs are created equal. Some just want to sit and watch students complete mindless dittos all day long. Others, like I was before I got my full-time position, enjoyed a challenge. Here is how I broke the boredom for both me and my temporary students.

Rules for "Stump the Sub."

1. Let's suppose that the students were assigned Chapter 5 of their social studies book to read, then answer the questions at the end of the chapter. Now, I'm not faulting the primary teacher here - he or she is just trying to make an easy sub plan. So, for argument's sake, we're going with the assigned chapter.

2. The sub explains the assignment rules, then tells the students they have 15 minutes to read the chapter. During that same period of time, the sub will also be reading the same chapter.

3. At the end of 15 minutes, the sub closes the textbook, but the students keep theirs open for reference.

4. Put a score chart on the board - Sub on one side; Students on the other.

5. For the next 15 minutes, students (using any common, random method for choosing a student) will pose a content question to the sub. Remind them that questions are content only - Before I made this rule, I would get questions like, "What is the third word on page 45? 😊

6. If the sub can answer the question, put one point on the sub side. If the sub is stumped, put one point on the student side.

7. At the end of 15 minutes (set a timer, if possible) see which team wins. Feel free to award a simple prize, like stickers to all the students if they won the competition.

8. The last 10-15 minutes of class is spent quietly answering the questions or worksheet provided by the teacher. I can pretty much guarantee that this assignment will now be a romp in the park! And the sub will have complete control over the entire class period!

Note: This also works well at home for homework. Play "Stump the Parent" and see who wins the family bragging rights!

2020-01-20T10:42:00.001-05:00

Are you looking for a fun, educational game to play with your students or children at home?

Creative Connections is a non-competitive, cooperative card game that everyone can play.

Simply print out the cards and directions, and then give a set to each group, or play as a class with all groups participating at once. You'll find yourself having fun while the kids truly enjoy learning about STEM connections.

An added bonus of this game is that after the students make STEM connections, they get to create a prompted story from the connections they made!

Perfect for ages 8 to adult.

Fun for fillers and end of the year!

2020-01-19T07:28:00.000-05:00

Since the start of the New Year, I've been thinking about all those people who set unrealistic goals and then get disappointed or depressed when they don't reach them. And I was going to write an article on my own personal philosophy about goals and happiness, when I came across this article. I couldn't have said it better myself. Enjoy being in the moment, my friends! https://sensophy.com/how-to-set-goals-that-actually-make-you-happy/

How to keep your work at school

2020-01-11T09:05:00.002-05:00

Certainly there are professions where, when you leave for the day, the rest of the day belongs to you and your home life. That seldom seems to be the case with teachers, with lesson plans, grading, and posting taking up most of the time spent at home. Here are a few ideas to cut down on that time that interrupts your time spent at home:

Plan to grade while students test. When your students are busy taking a test, you can grade the previous assignment. Post the results during your prep period. Repeat the process, and you'll only be one test behind at all times.
With the exception of the required essay-style tests that seem to need more grading time than other tests, make it easy on yourself when you grade them. Even if your school isn't in the 21st century and uses online testing regularly, learn to place the answer column on one side of the paper so you can line them up and grade many at one time. The one Answer D in a sea of Answer Bs will let you know that there is a wrong answer in the group. And regarding those essay tests, make a rubric that will make your life easier to grade them.
Assign numbers to your students. Then put clear plastic holders on a bulletin board. When the students come in with completed homework, you'll know at a glance which papers are missing. Note the missing assignments and you can enter that later during a prep period. With this method, you'll also be able to tell which students are missing! This can be a system where you put missed assignments for absences.
Now what about those lesson plans? Unless you are a brand new teacher, you'll likely have used your plans in previous years. There's no shame in re-using the plans. If you want to upgrade the plan, do it in small steps so you aren't overwhelmed by a huge plan to implement. If you ARE a new teacher, then have fun making plans that will last for several years. Your first year will be the most difficult and will involve bringing most of your lesson planning home, but in the long run, you'll be able to re-use them for many years to come
Another lesson plan tip: Don't plan for just one day. Plan for a whole week. And plan to let the kids take control of their learning. How? Develop a project-based learning unit where students take control of their education. All you need to do is monitor their progress. You don't have to stand in front of the room all the time!

These are just a few of the ways you can cut down on the time you spend away from your family and friends on weekends and evenings. With a little advance planning and your own ideas on how to cut corners, you can have more time for family fun!

Check out my Middle School Social Studies project-based learning resources on Teachers Pay Teachers on these topics:
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
Ancient Egypt
All state histories - here is an example from NJ

2020-01-08T07:36:00.000-05:00

Great January resources: Weekly 5 under $5 resources

Do you have enough "me time"?

2020-01-02T09:44:00.002-05:00

The holidays were hectic. Your family came to visit. You had entertaining obligations. All of these demands equal a stressful time when you were supposed to be "on vacation" from school work.

Then, on the last day of vacation, you crammed your lesson plans, handouts, and grading into a few short hours before bed.

Do you feel relaxed? Of course not! You didn't plan "me time" - that special period of time that can last from 10 minutes to 2 hours when nobody wants your attention, nobody needs your opinion, and nobody knows where you are. No, the bathroom visit does NOT count!

Here are some ways you can capture some valuable "me time" so you can emerge rejuvenated and ready to take on the demands of home and work:

Maintain a relaxation ritual. That might mean you need to get up 10 minutes earlier when everyone is still asleep to meditate, read a book, give yourself a facial mask, or whatever you enjoy doing by yourself.
Keep a happiness journal. Find a happy little journal, as Bob Ross might say. Then every evening, record the wonderful things that happened to you. Make sure you block out the family by posting a Do Not Disturb sign on your den or bedroom door. When you find yourself getting overwhelmed some time in the future, go back to your journal and relive the wonderful moment when your spouse surprised you, your kids did chores without being asked, or a student gave you a thankfulness note.
Schedule lunch with a friend once a month. Your family will be just fine without you for one meal and you'll feel much better about returning to the daily grind after your enjoyable afternoon.
Look at soothing pictures. Scour Pinterest for beach, lake, or mountain scenes. Picture yourself there, enjoying the sunshine and warmth. It's not as good as being there, but with enough concentration, you can imagine that you are having a fun time there.
Take your "me time" outside once in a while. Hike, fish, swim, boat, or simply sit. The sunshine will help you create valuable Vitamin D, and nature is, well, a natural, healer!
If all else fails, hire a wellness coach to adjust your diet, lifestyle, and other ways to make your life easier to handle.

You're probably wondering where I'm going with this list of ways to relax, rejuvenate, and revive yourself. Check out my book, My Peaceful Place - A collection of stories to comfort and heal. Each of the short stories has a happy ending, but not without a few twists and interesting plot elements. Each story also has a painting or photograph that you can focus on while reading the story. So, give yourself a gift and read one of these stories every week - you'll be glad you did!

2019-12-06T07:40:00.001-05:00

FREE winter resources for teachers: Click HERE

2019-11-21T07:37:00.001-05:00

Who doesn't love FREE! Here are some FREE winter resources from Teachers Pay Teachers (click HERE):

2019-11-20T07:50:00.006-05:00

Most of these weekly 5 under $5 are for little learners, but one is great for Middle School! Happy Teaching! Click HERE.

2019-11-13T07:15:00.002-05:00

Check out this week's resources under $5, including one of mine on grammar for 2nd - 5th grade!

Seaweed in my ice cream?

2019-11-09T07:26:00.004-05:00

Have you ever tried to make ice cream from simply cream and sugar at home? If so, you'll notice that it is a little grainy and icy, not like store-bought ice cream. Some ice cream contains naturally-occurring, non-digestible carbohydrate ingredients like guar, carrageenan, carob bean, xanthan, cellulose, tara gums, etc. These ingredients bind with water and distribute it during freezing, so that the frozen ice cream maintains a smooth texture. These added ingredients all have varied plant and microbial origins, but carrageenan gum itself is truly isolated from red seaweed!

Carrageenan is a soluble fiber extracted from Irish moss, or red marine algae seaweed. It is a mixture of carbohydrates that cannot be digested or broken down in your intestines. It is not absorbed and probably provides no calories.

So, when you buy your ice cream, look to see if you are really eating seaweed!

Find other food STEM tidbits in Chef Cappy's Kitchen family cookbooks at

www.chefcappyskitchen.com

The value of learning about number lines

2019-11-08T11:17:00.001-05:00

In a 2016 study, researchers from the School of Psychology at Queen’s University in Belfast, found a connection between learning placement in a number line and proficiency in math in later years. They found that the effect of number performance skills was dictated by ordering skills. They recommended that any ordering practice, such as learning the months of the year, days of the week, and number line practice would help young students to become more proficient in math as they got older. The researchers also found that spatial representation of item order also relates to ordering and comparison skills. (Source: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2016.1246577)

So what does this mean for you and your students? Since the number line develops learning by giving students another look at number relationships, here are some ideas:

Place a number line on their desks (a ruler will do!)
Post a number line above the whiteboard or chalkboard.
Hopscotch is a fun form of the number line – encourage them to play that outside.
Teach sequencing frequently using shapes, numbers, colored cubes, and other aids.
Use a blank number line (division lines but no numbers) and ask students to develop their own number line that doesn’t need to begin with 1.
Ask students to find number lines outside of the classroom (They may need help recognizing other forms of number lines – like plants in a garden row).
Remind them that number lines don’t always need to be horizontal. A growth chart is a good example of a vertical number line.

Now sift through the Teachers Pay Teachers resources for the use of number lines. But if you don’t want to use worksheets and packets, go to my resource, Ducklings in a Row – a fun PowerPoint were the ducklings must insert themselves between other numbered ducklings to form a complete line from 1 to 10. Also included is a Teacher’s Guide to help with identifying the unique personality traits of each duckling.

Enjoy your number lines throughout the year!

Follow me on Teachers Pay Teachers at All-American Teacher Tools, on Facebook, and this Parent-Teacher-Child Blog.

2019-11-07T08:57:00.002-05:00

NEW PowerPoint on ordinal numbers for young learners in Pre-K to 2nd grade. Watch each duckling struggle to get into the right place in line. The ending will surely please you! Also included is a comprehensive Teacher Guide about character education because each of the 10 ducklings has a different personality trait. Find it at Teachers Pay Teachers

2019-11-06T07:27:00.005-05:00

WOW! New posts for this week from expert teachers! All under $5!
http://www.thebestofteacherentrepreneurs.net/2019/11/wednesday-weekly-5-under-5-116 19.html

2019-10-29T09:59:00.000-04:00

9 Ways to Raise an Optimist

We live in a hectic, stressful, political world that makes it easy to be pessimistic and depressed. However, these attitudes aren’t helpful and can actually be harmful. All parents wants their children to be happy, healthy, and optimistic about their future, but sometimes they can lose sight of how to accomplish that state of mind. Kids who are often sullen and dejected can eventually end up depressed, so it’s important to do what you can as a parent to help prevent that from happening. Here are 10 ways to make sure you are raising an optimist and not a pessimist.

Affection – The first step is to show your children tons of affection. Knowing they are loved and cared for is a big part of helping kids deal with adversity. Failures in life are easier to take when children know they are loved unconditionally and without judgement.
Praise – Always praise your child’s accomplishments and be specific when you do. Give them feedback that links their achievements to what they did to accomplish it. An example would be to state how all the extra studying paid off with a good grade on a test. That is better than simply saying, "Great job, keep up the good work."
Monitor – Pay attention to what your child is watching on television, the games they play, and the books they read. You should monitor their activities to make sure they’re not exposed to too many bad influences. Also, make sure they’re not attempting to accomplish too much, as taking on more than they can reasonably handle can set them up for failure.
Be an example – Children will often mirror their parent’s attitudes, so be a good example. Kids will only learn to be optimistic if you show them how. Parents who are continually complaining or are pessimistic will pass those traits on to their children.
Reinforcement – When your child expresses optimism, be sure to comment on their great attitude. This positive reinforcement will put the emphasis on the desired behavior instead of focusing on the negative.
Accentuate the positive – When something bad happens, always try to find the bright side. If bad weather cancels an event, find something fun to do instead. Accentuate the positive by commenting how you wouldn’t have had so much fun if the picnic wasn’t cancelled. During the 9-11 terrorist attack, the positive people would say, "Look for the helpers" so the children would focus less on the evil in the attack.
Minimize failures – Losing a championship or failing a test may seem like the end of the world, but children don't see it that way. Parents can raise optimists if they are successful at minimizing failures or by putting them into perspective. Show your children that there is always something to be learned from failures.
Promote success – Encourage kids with age-appropriate activities they are able to excel in to promote success. Having unrealistic expectations only sets children up for failure, so make sure they’re not trying to do too much, especially at your request.
Laugh – The best way to encourage an optimistic attitude is with lots of laughter. Teach children how to laugh at themselves and not take everything so seriously. Laughing is the best way to diffuse a troubling situation.

Life is full of challenges and failures, so an optimistic attitude will go a long way to help your children deal with problems as they grow up. As adults, having this optimism will be an important way for them to achieve success and bounce back from failures. A positive outlook will help them in personal relationships and they can lead happy lives with better mental and physical health.

Remember: Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child.

Happy Parenting!

2019-10-27T09:48:00.001-04:00

My TpT site is called All-American Teacher Tools for a reason! I have introductory PowerPoints and a Student-Directed Learning project for EVERY state in the union plus DC. Here is a link to Missouri, but you can search for your state, too! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Missouri-History-PowerPoints-and-Project-Based-Learning-Packet-4841217