Minds in Bloom

SCOOT Solutions for When You Have More Students than Cards

2012-01-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

If you use task cards to play the game SCOOT with your class, one problem you might have is having more students than cards. Here are some easy ways to solve this problem while also giving your students' brains a little break. If you don't know how to play SCOOT, it is a game that both teachers and students love. Scroll down for instructions.

Add Mini-Break Cards.
I created this set of free Mini-Break Cards that will work great with any task card set for almost any grade level. Just intersperse the number of Mini-Break cards you need with the task card set you are using and have students do the activities on individual white boards or scratch paper.

Play Boggle
Use this free Boggle template to create a boggle game. Copy it for the number of extra stations that you need for your SCOOT game. When students get to a Boggle station, they use the back of their answer sheet to record the words that they find. Since the same Boggle board is at each station, students can continue their list of words. If you think this will give them too long looking at one Boggle board, you could use several or even a different one for each station.

Do Word Searches
Copy enough different word searches to cover the extra stations you need. When a student gets to a Word Search station, he or she works on that word search for the allotted time, making sure to cross off the words that he or she finds. By the end of the game, everyone will have contributed to solving each word search.

Do Puzzles
There are all kinds of fun little manipulative puzzles that you could put out at extra stations. Consider Tangrams, a Soma cube, or pattern blocks. You only need one or two puzzles per station since the time is short.

Work on a Class Art Project
Maybe you are making one of those projects where students use a finger to make little cups from squares of tissue paper and glue them onto a picture. Maybe you are making a banner with bubble letters that need to be colored in. You could label your extra stations, "Art Project" and when students come to those stations they go to the back table and work on the project for that rotation, a few at a time. You could even group the Art Project stations so that students have a decent period of time to work before they rejoin the SCOOT game.

Instructions for SCOOT:

Give each student a pre-made answer sheet or have them number a piece of notebook paper for the number of cards in the set you are using. Distribute the task cards so that each student has one card on his or her desk. Students begin by answering the question on the card that is on their own desk. After an appropriate amount of time (perhaps 2-3 minutes, depending on the age of your students and the cards you are using) the teacher says, "SCOOT," and all of the students move to the next desk where a new card awaits them. Continue until every student has completed every card (or until you run out of time).

Get FREE Mini-Break Cards Here

Find out more about using Task Cards with your class here

Check out the Task Cards in my
TpT Store here

Special thanks to Randy who inspired these ideas as well as the SCOOT Mini-Break Cards.

Free Chore Noun and Verb Printable!

2012-01-22T12:37:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I posted this fun little freebie about chores. The goal of the activity was to practice using verbs and nouns but someone on my facebook page worried that the activity might be too hard for her students because many of them do not have to do chores. This led to an interesting discussion about how few chores many kids are doing these days.

One teacher suggested that the activity could be used as a teachable moment, so taking off on that idea, here are some ways to extend the freebie and possibly get kids to take on a little more responsibility.

After completing the worksheet:

Ask students to put a star next to every chore they have done and put two stars after chores that they do regularly.
Create a class bar graph of the results (how many students do each job)
Ask students to number the chores from easiest to hardest.
Brainstorm a list of chores that are just right for the students in your grade.
Brainstorm a list of reasons why it is good for kids to help around the house.
Ask each student to choose new one chore that he or she will complete this week. This could be a homework assignment that students would complete by writing a paragraph about how doing the new chore went. You might also want to require a parent signature.
Have younger students write "I can..." statements. For example: I can make my bed. I can set the table. You could have them write them on stars or another fun shape and post them on a bulletin board.

Do you have an idea to add? Please comment. And don't forget to download your Free Chore Confusion Printable!

Free Pensee Poem Activity

2012-01-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

Kitten

Soft and fluffy

Meows until I pet her

There on my favorite pillow

Purring with contentment.

A Pensee Poem is a five-line, non rhyming patterned poem that is both fun and easy to create! Like many other poem patterns, it is a great opportunity to practice syllables.

Here is the pattern for writing a Pensee:

Line 1: Subject (2 syllables)

Line 2: Description (4 syllables)

Line 3: Action (7 syllables)

Line 4: Setting (8 syllables)

Line 5: Final thought (6 syllables)

One way to use this pattern (or any poetry pattern ) is to give the students a broad subject such as "animals," "grandparents," or "Valentine's Day" and then have each student write several Pensee poems on that subject. Students can choose their favorite ones to illustrate for display. Poetry patterns can also make a terrific enrichment activity. Great for subs too!

The free two-page pensee activity below is part of a larger packet of 21 different poem patterns. It will work beautifully as a stand alone activity, or you can get the whole poetry writing unit here.

Download your Free Pensee Poem Activity Here

Rachel Lynette

Or Get the Whole Poetry Writing Unit Here

Happy writing!

NO SOPA, please!

2012-01-17T23:56:00.000-08:00

On January 24 the senate will begin voting on two bills PIPA (The Protect IP Act) and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) that could result in Teachers Pay Teachers as well as other internet open market/content sites (including Pinterest) to be shut down forever. Piracy needs to be stopped but these bills are not the way to do it. Join Google, Facebook, Wikipedia and many others by asking congress not to pass these bills.

Ways to Use Task Cards in the Classroom

2012-01-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

Task cards are a great option for reinforcing skills and offering enrichment because unlike worksheets, they can be used again and again. You can make your own to target specific areas and of course there are many for sale, including mine (pictured above). Print on card stock, ideally in color, but grayscale will work too. If you laminate them, they will last for years. You can set them up at a center in your classroom or put them in a baggie for students to take to their desks. Another option is to punch a hole in once corner and put them all on a ring. Then you can store them by hanging them on hooks.

For Reinforcement
Task cards are great for students who need a little extra practice in a given area. Students often prefer them to a worksheet because there is only one task per card, which helps the student not feel overwhelmed. Students can complete as many or as few cards as are needed to master the skill. One option is to have students working on task cards while you are working with a group. Consider sending sets of cards home as homework for an evening with specific students who need a little extra.

For Enrichment
Task cards are great for fast finishers as long as the cards are challenging. Ideally, the tasks on the cards should either explore a subject more deeply or extend it into related areas. More of the same is not a good use of a bright student's time.

In Groups
There are several ways to use task cards in small groups. Using individual white boards, everyone can work on the same card and then compare answers before moving on to the next card. Another option is to give each student a different card, allow a specific amount of time to complete the task and then have each student pass his or her card to another student for a new round. You may also be able to make some types of cards into a game. For example, students can ask each other the questions and take turns answering.

Use short answer task cards with the whole class by having students answer on white boards and then holding up their boards for you to check. Another option is to use them in the game Scoot. If you don't know how to play, here are instructions (as well as a freebie!)

Tracking Progress
The way students record their answers will depend on the kind of cards you are using. For cards that require a short answer, an answer sheet may fit the bill perfectly. Students can record their answers and then turn in the answer sheet for your to check, or check their own answers with a provided answer key.

Some task cards require longer, open-ended answers. You may want students to answer on notebook paper or in a task card journal specifically for task card responses. It may take several days for a student to complete one set, or you could have students pick a specific number of cards to do. It can be helpful to provide a recording sheet for students to keep track of which cards they have completed.

If you want to go completely paperless, students can work at a computer and record their answers electronically. Another paperless option for short answer cards is to have students write their answers on individual white boards and then use an answer key to self-check.

I have gone a little Task Card crazy and have made cards for figurative language, dictionary skills, coin puzzles, critical thinking, and more. You can get a set of free Friendship Cards here. Or you can see all of my cards in the task card section of my TpT store here.

Do you have anything to add? How have task cards been working for you?

FREE Social Skills Friendship Cards!

2012-01-09T08:55:00.000-08:00

Knowing how to make friends comes naturally to some children. However, others really struggle. These 24 friendship cards can help those struggling students to learn social skills that will help them to make and keep friends. Use them as discussion prompts in small groups or as writing prompts. Another idea is to combine the two by first having students answer the question on the card in writing and then discussing responses.

These cards are offered free because I feel that social skills are so very important in the lives of children (and adults!) Please share them with your friends and colleagues. Even one friend can make a world of difference in the life of a child.

Download your FREE friendship cards here

Make Your Own Subject Specific "HedBanz" Game

2012-01-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

This year while Holiday shopping I kept running across the game HedBanz. It seemed to be pretty popular and in fact my boyfriend's eight-year old got one for Christmas. What I thought was interesting is that this is basically just a version of a game we used to play at birthday parties when I was a kid. An adult would put the name of a famous or fictional person on your back and you would mingle with others, asking "yes" or "no" questions to figure out who you were. That is pretty much the gist of HedBanz as well, except that the game comes with pre-made cards and plastic headbands to put them in.

Why not make a version of the game to use in your classroom? How hard could it be? Write the words from something you are studying on cards (animal sight words, state names, types of land forms...whatever), stick them on your student's backs and let them go to town. If you want to get really fancy, you could even make construction paper headbands and slide the card between the band and the student's forehead, or maybe use a large-sized paperclip to put the card on the band. However you do it, Hedbanz (despite it's incorrect spelling) can inspire some great learning!

20 Back from Winter Break Writing Prompts

2012-01-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

Two whole weeks without school...what have those kids been doing all that time? What are they looking forward to in the new year? One great way to find out is to have your students write about it! I got a little help from some of my friends on facebook to compile this list of 20 interesting prompts to start your writing year off right!

Write about the best gift you gave to someone else. What made it so special?
How would you fill your vacation time if you did not have any screens (no computers, video games, or TV)? -contributed by Emily Watts McGrady
Describe in detail a person you spent a lot of time with over break.
Write about something you did with your family over break.
Write about a place that you went over the break.
Write about a positive or negative emotion you felt that had nothing to do with gifts. -contributed by Liz Leon
How did your bring joy or happiness to someone else this season? -contributed by Addie Education
Make a pie chart that represents your entire Winter break. Create sections for the different things you did over the break. Be sure to make the sections proportional to the amount of time you spent doing each activity. Label your pie chart.
Write about something that happened last year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life.
How would you like to change your life this year? -contributed by Michelle Callie Higgins
Write about a way you can help to make your community a better place to live this year. -contributed by Lisa Travis
Write about the best New Years Eve party that you can imagine.
Make a different New Years wish for ten different people in your life.
Write about something you are looking forward to doing this year.
Write about something that you are worried or nervous about this year.
Write about something you hope will get invented this year.
Finish this sentence in ten different ways: This year I hope...
Start your writing with: This will be the best year ever because...
Make a list of at least ten ways that your life is different now than it was a year ago.
Make a list of at least ten ways that you think your life will be different a year from now.

You can get 252 more terrific prompts in fun Tic-Tac-Toe grids right here!

FREE New Years Reflection Printable

2011-12-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

Great for the first day back! Just click on the image to download yours.

Making New Years Resolutions with Kids

2011-12-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

Every New Years I resolve to be perfect. It must not be a very good resolution because I usually fail pretty quickly. Some years it only takes a few minutes. Obviously, making your goals attainable is a big step in the right direction for both children and adults. Learning to set effective goals is an important skill for children to use, not only when they are young but throughout their entire lives. Here are some tips for writing goals and resolutions with kids.

Ownership
As parents and teachers, we have many goals for our kids. However, in order to be successful, the resolution must belong to the child, not the parent or the teacher. A resolution that is generated by the adult and unwanted by the child is not a resolution at all, it is just another teacher or parent command. Suggestions are fine, of course, but there is much more empowerment when the child comes up with the resolution him or herself and when he or she is fully invested in the process and the outcome.

Attainability
Whatever the resolution, unlike my goal to be perfect, it should be attainable. The flip side of attainability is challenge. The goal must not be too easy or there is not much point. Try for a goal that is both challenging and attainable.

Be Specific
Another problem with my resolution to be perfect is that it is a bit unclear as to exactly it means to be perfect. Help your child to refine his or her resolution into a specific goal. Here are some examples:

Instead of: I will be more polite, try I will remember to say "please" and "thank you."
Instead of: I will keep my room neat, try I will make my bed and pick up my clothes and toys each day.
Instead of: I will get better at playing the piano, try I will practice for one hour each day.

Make a Plan
Brainstorm some ideas for success. For example, if the goal is to pick up clothes and toys each evening, perhaps a reminder sign on the door is in order, or a chart for marking the tasks off each evening. If the resolution is a big one, you may want to make a list of steps to follow.

Celebrate Success
Be sure there are markers for success. Some resolutions are easy to measure. For example, if your daughter has resolved to stop biting her nails, longer, unbitten nails are proof of success. You might consider a new bottle of nail polish or a manicure to celebrate. If the goal is more long term or ongoing, such as practicing piano, it is likely the hard work will pay off without you doing anything, for example, the piano teacher may comment on improvement or offer a larger part in the recital. However, a little extra encouragement is always a good thing! Perhaps going out for ice cream after a piano lesson would be a nice way to celebrate.

Here is a free goal-setting worksheet I have used with my students. It includes space for students to make three types of goals: academic, behavioral/ social, and personal. Feel free to download it and use it with your kids!

Make a Dreidel out of a CD!

2011-12-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

So, maybe in the old days kids made dreidels out of clay (I think there's a song about that...) but not only is that difficult and expensive (a kiln isn't cheap), it would likely result in a dreidel that would break very quickly. Here is a more modern way to make this traditional Hanukkah toy.

You will need:

1 old CD or DVD
Sharpies or other permanent markers
A ruler
2 regular-sized marbles
tack-it putty (usually comes in blue or white, for hanging posters) or a hot glue gun.

Begin by using your ruler and a Sharpie to draw two perpendicular lines across the top bottom of the CD (which will be the top of your dreidel) in order to form four equal quadrants. I'm sure you could get them absolutely perfect if you used a protractor, but I just eye-balled it with a ruler.

Next use your Sharpies to color the quadrants (optional) and to write the four Hebrew letters:

Now comes the part with the marbles. Place one marble in the hole on the bottom side of your dredeil (the part you did not write on). It will not fit through the hole; most of the marble will stick out the bottom. Use tack-it or hot glue to secure the marble in place. Then place a second marble on top of the first one on the top of the dreidel. This marble will the be the handle that you spin. Secure with tack-it or hot glue.

That's it, our dreidel is done! You will find that this is a very efficient top that will spin for quite awhile. If you find that yours always lands on the same letter, you may have to use a bit of tack-it to weight the the bottom of the other side slightly. You could also glam it up with glitter, sequins etc.

Don't know how to play dreidel? Click here for the rules.

Dreidel Fun Fact: One reason that people play dreidel on Hanukkah is that under Greek Rule, Jews were not allowed to study from the Torah. In order to keep from getting caught studying, Jews would post a look-out and whenever a Greek soldier came to check on them, they would take out the dreidel so that it looked as though they were gambling, instead of learning.

Christmas and Hanukkah Activities

2011-12-12T16:45:00.000-08:00

Just in case you missed them, here are some fun and free Christmas (and Hanukkah) activities to use with your students.

Christmas Would You Rather Questions for Kids

Christmas Analogy Fun

Christmas Break Scavenger Hunt

Twelve Days of Christmas Math Word Problems

Christmas Tic-Tac-Toe Journal Prompt Grid

Elf Hunt

Hanukkah Vocabulary Matching and Word Search

Menorah Logic Puzzle

How Many Latkes? Logic Puzzle

And of course the giant TpT Winter Holiday Tips and Freebies Ebook!, which you really, don't want to miss!

Pinterest Tip #1

2011-12-10T10:19:00.000-08:00

Easy and Beautiful Waxed Snowflakes

2011-12-05T07:45:00.000-08:00

Dipping ordinary paper snowflakes in wax will not only give them a subtle sheen, but will also make them durable enough to be used year after year. In addition, it makes them somewhat waterproof so that they will not be ruined by condensation if you put them on a window.

After you have cut your snowflakes (here are some excellent directions on how to make the really cool 6-sided ones), slowly heat household wax in a frying pan or a plug-in warming tray over low heat. Use an old pan that you can dedicate to melting wax, because after this, that is about all it will be good for. Once the wax has melted, lay the snowflake in the wax.

As soon as it is covered, use a tweezers or metal tongs to lift the snowflake out of the wax. Hold it over the pan and shake it gently for a few seconds until the wax stops dripping and is mostly dry. After about 15 seconds, you should be able to put it onto a plate and it can be handled within a minute.

That's it! Of course if you are working with children in a classroom setting you will need to be extra careful, but I first learned how to do this in a kindergarten classroom. The teacher used a warming tray and the children knew they had to stay away. You can do dozens of snowflakes with a single block of wax.

10 Ways to Compare and Contrast

2011-12-02T09:43:00.000-08:00

Comparing and contrasting is a higher level thinking skill important across the curriculum. We compare and contrast characters in a story, word choice in writing, equations in math (think < > =, not to mention word problems ), different hypothesis in science, how holidays are celebrated in different cultures, etc. That is probably why comparing and contrasting shows up multiple times in the Common Core Standards. Here are some ideas for comparing and contrasting in your class.

Venn Diagrams. In addition to using them on paper, you can make big ones on the floor with hula hoops and have kids use labeled index cards or Post Its to fill in the variables.

Analogies are great because you can use different criteria and then talk about which criteria was used. For example the analogy: Mountain: Hill : : River : Stream is defined by size while: December : Christmas : : February : Valentine's Day is defined by time. Here is a free Analogy Worksheet.

Similes and Metaphors Like Analogies, students can identify what the criteria is for the comparison. Similes may be easier for younger students because the words "like" and "as" pretty much tell you what the criteria is, while you often have to work a little harder with a metaphor.

Would You Rather Questions present a forced choice between two more or less equal options, which can lead to some terrific discussions. Read more about using Would You Rather Questions with your students here.

Class Polls, Bar Graphs, and Glyphs Good way compare and contrast student's experiences, opinions, traits etc.

Foldables can be used in so many ways for comparing and contrasting! Here are instructions on how to make some of the most common foldables.

Rating and Ranking There are so many ways to use this. Students can use numbers to rank brainstormed ideas. They can use a rating scale to evaluate their own work, peer presentations, the usefulness of a particular lesson etc.

Comparisons over Time Everyone loves to see improvement. Having students complete a variety of tasks at the start of the year and then doing the same ones at the end is a wonderful way to compare then and now. Do this on a smaller scale with a pretest and post test for any unit of study.

T Charts Simple, basic, effective and applicable to so many things. You can put a variable on each side of the chart (eg "Conductor" and "Insulator") or you could put the words "Same" and "Different" on each side and put a the things to be compared at the top (eg: "Mammals" and "Reptiles").

Written Essay No one should leave school without being able to write a solid, well-organized compare and contrast essay, complete with examples from life or literature. They will need these skills for the essay portion of the SAT.

Do you have a tool that has been particularly valuable? Please share!

FREE Winter Holiday Ebook from 50 TpT Sellers!

2011-11-30T23:31:00.000-08:00

Those of us who sell on TpT appreciate those of you who buy our products so very much! Some of us wanted to say thank you by giving you all a special holiday gift. Fifty of us collaborated on this ebook! Each page was contributed by a different TpT seller and each one includes a holiday tip or activity idea and at least one link to a free holiday product. Some of the sellers are well known - names you will recognize, while others are fairly new.

We hope you will enjoy this book and share it with your friends and colleagues!

Download yours here!

Wishing you a joyful holiday season,

I'm in the News!

2011-11-30T09:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was interviewed by the Everett Herald about how I sell teaching products on Teachers Pay Teachers and today I am in the paper! The article is called New Role for Teacher: Selling Lesson Plans. It is mostly accurate, though Deanna Jump has actually made much more than the number given.

If you are interested in giving it a try yourself, you can sign up to sell right here.

Free Winter Holidays Ebook Coming Tomorrow
One of the wonderful things about selling on TpT is that when you do, you join a very supportive community of sellers. 49 of these wonderful folks have joined me in creating a free Winter Holiday ebook full of teaching tips and freebies. I am just putting the finishing touches on it now and will be publishing it on TpT tomorrow. I will of course, post the link here.

FREE Elf Hunt Christmas Week Activity!

2011-11-29T14:18:00.000-08:00

Here is a fun game to play with your students during that last week before the holiday break. Just print and cut out the twelve numbered elves and hide them around your classroom. Tell your students that twelves elves are hiding in the classroom and it is their job to find them. During the week, students can search for the elves whenever they have a few spare moments and record the hiding places on the recording sheet. For younger students there is a separate recording sheet that does not require writing. Be sure students know that they must keep the hiding places secret! Another option is to play this game in one session, perhaps at your holiday party.

Download Elf Hunt for Free Here

I have about a dozen holiday freebies and I will try to get them all posted in the next few days, but you can find them right now in the Holiday section of my TpT store.

Teachers Pay Teachers Cyber Monday Sale!

2011-11-25T23:33:00.000-08:00

Teachers Pay Teachers is having a site-wide sale on Monday. I am marking everything in my store 20% off. If you use the promo code CMS28 you will get an additional 10% off for a total of 30% off!

Just to make things even more fun, if you spend $30 or more at my store* during the sale, I will give you one more product of your choice ($5.00 or under) for free! Here is how to get your free product:

Spend $30 or more at my store on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Email me at reallyrachel@gmail.com. Put "TpT Cyber Monday" sale in the title of your email.
Tell me your TpT user name and which product from my store you would like for free.
I will email the product directly to you within two days.

*In order to qualify for this special deal, you must purchase $30 or more from my TpT store (Rachel Lynette) on Monday November 28. The free product you select must also come from my store and must have a non-sale price of $5.00 or less.

Thank You So Very Much

2011-11-23T09:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Reader,

I just wanted to take moment to thank you for spending some of your super-valuable time here at Minds in Bloom. I love writing this blog and I love creating teaching materials. Those of you who have purchased my products have made it possible for me to make most of my living doing what I love and I can't tell you how much that means to me.

One of the ways that I show my appreciation is by creating free products. You will 65 of them in my Teachers Pay Teachers store currently (and the number is always growing), over a dozen of which are focused on the Winter Holidays. It is my hope that they will make your teaching journey just a little bit easier - and a little more fun!

Wishing you and yours a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving,

The Importance of Arts in Children's Development

2011-11-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

Minds in Bloom is happy to welcome guest blogger Elaine Hirsch! Elaine's article on art in education is an important reminder why we should not let art go by the wayside, even in the current environment of strict adherence to academic standards and over-testing.

Arts education is an important component of any child's development because it teaches teamwork, analytic, and creative skills. These skills are often left out of traditional curricula that emphasize technical skills such as math and science to prepare students for undergraduate degrees, master's degrees and even PhDs in a rewarding field of study. This leaves children little room for individual expression and a chance to work on personal development and concentration. Art can also help children work out any frustrations in their lives by offering a healthy, expressive medium. In addition, exposure to art and the chance to develop their own art provides children with a more diversified experience that can help them in the classroom as well, allowing them for more opportunities for an enhanced learning experience.

In the classroom, art education is a crucial component for a child's personal development. Several studies have concluded that art education is very important at a young age because children are still developing their critical thinking and problem solving skills. Students also have the opportunity to fine-tune their motor skills through art. The cognitive processes involved in learning to draw accurately, choose the right colors and shapes, and create detailed work help children develop the motor skills associated with these tasks. In terms of musical arts, students are able to use their knowledge of musical notes and translate that into math skills. Musical rhythms can provide a way for students to learn fractions, counting, and patterns in a way that traditional classrooms cannot.

Studies have also shown that there is a direct correlation between arts education at a young age and academic achievement later in life. It is much easier for children to learn about the arts and integrate their studies into their daily lives than it is for adults. This is because of the way the brain develops. The child's brain is able to absorb more material and adjust accordingly than the adult brain, which is less dynamic and less able to accommodate for new information. As a result, children who studied arts at a young age achieve more academic success later in life than those who did not.

Arts education for young children is also a way to get students more involved in the learning process. Classes that have hands-on activities such as painting, drawing, building, or designing projects provide students for an outlet for their feelings and thoughts and keep them interested in learning. This is especially true for young students, who often have trouble focusing in the classroom when teachers give lectures or lessons that are not interactive. Through art and other applicable teaching tools that allow students to work on a project hands-on, students are more excited about learning and often take home a more clear lesson than they would otherwise. As a result, students who participate in their own creative art projects are able to focus more and take pride in their work, which motivates them to work harder to achieve their goal.

The importance of art in a child's development is undeniable. Especially for young children who are still developing key cognitive and motor skills, art enables them to work on their own projects that are applicable to daily life. Students who study art at a young age tend to have higher test scores and have more academic success later in life. Art provides students an outlet for emotional troubles as well and helps them to deal with stress and difficult feelings. These benefits clearly show the value of art education and call for its increased inclusion in school curricula for children.

Elaine Hirsch is a kind of jack-of-all-interests, from education and history to medicine and videogames. This makes it difficult to choose just one life path, so she is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites.

More Thanksgiving Freebies!

2011-11-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

A little creative and critical thinking mixed in with all that turkey is a good thing! Here are some freebies for you to use with your students! Just click on the image to download.

More Thanksgiving Freebies!

2011-11-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

A little creative and critical thinking mixed in with all that turkey is a good thing! Here are some freebies for you to use with your students! Just click on the image to download.

Thanksgiving Challenge! Fun and FREE

2011-11-15T11:27:00.000-08:00

I was surprised and delighted to see how popular the 11-11-11 Challenge was last week, so I decided to create a similar activity for Thanksgiving. Your students will love this fun combination of creative thinking, trivia/research and math. You can use it in class as bell work or enrichment, or send it home for the long weekend. Perfect for grades 3-6.

Download yours for free right here!

Find more FREE Thanksgiving activities
in my TpT store!

Six Tips for Making the Most of Pinterest

2011-11-14T00:23:00.000-08:00

So why is everyone so crazy about Pinterest? Basically, it is a really easy way to share stuff you find or create yourself online. If you have no idea what I am talking about, here is a beginners guide from Megan at SortaCrunchy that will tell you everything you need to know. If you are already pinning, here are some thoughts about how to get the most out of your Pinterest experience.

Get Ideas.
You don't even have to pin to use Pinterest for ideas. Just type your keywords into the search field and suddenly your screen will fill with tons of great ideas! Sometimes a picture is all you need, but if you want more information, just follow the link to the source. You can get ideas on classroom decor, grade specific or subject specific activities, holidays etc. I am even starting to use Pinterest instead of google for some types of searches. If you find a board with lots of ideas, follow it. If you find a person with lots of great ideas, follow her. Then when you log into Pinterest, the latest pins from the boards and people you follow will pop right up. If you decide you don't like a board, just unfollow it.

Share Ideas
Creating a board and adding pins is sooooo easy. The easiest way to add pins is just to repin ideas you find on other people's Pinterest boards. You can also get the the "Pin it" tool for your toolbar so that you can pin almost anything you find on the web. You can also pin your own stuff - pictures of your classroom, blog posts, teaching products, whatever. Just remember that Pinterest etiquette requires that you not use the site entirely for self promotion. A little is fine, a lot isn't.

Be Specific
One of my first boards was called "Teacher Ideas." While everyone loves a good tip or idea, this category proved to be too broad. Consider creating boards devoted to specific subjects such as math or social studies. You could even get more specific. Today I started a board on "Prefixes, Suffixes and Roots." Don't worry about creating too many boards, you can have as many as you want. A specific board will help followers and browsers find exactly what they need.

Go Beyond the Classroom
Teaching Boards are great and you will probably want to have a lot of them, but your life encompasses more than teaching, so your pins can too. It is fine to start a board with pictures of place you want to visit, favorite books, things that make you laugh etc. In fact, Pinterest is a great place to collect ideas. Maybe you need ideas for your child's next birthday party or are suddenly obsessed with crocheting brightly colored socks, or have a strange fascination with hugging salt and pepper shakers. With Pinterest you can keep all of those great ideas in one place - kind of like a visual bookmark.

Keep it Clean
Yes, sometimes something that is really funny has off color language or a picture that is maybe not quite ready for prime time. And yes you are an adult. But Pinterest is very public and you are a teacher. So I would highly suggest that you not pin anything you would not want your students or their parents to see. If your alter-ego, off-duty self really needs to head in this direction, open a new account with a fake profile. Shel Silverstein could write children's books at the same time he was writing for Playboy (true fact) but we live in a different world. Be smart with your pins.

And Finally, Follow Me!
I have a constantly growing set of very useful boards, including several collaborative boards with many amazing contributors. You are sure to get some terrific ideas for your classroom. You can Follow me here.

You can find more teachers who pin and link up your own blog at the Pinterest Link Up Party at Michelle's Math in the Middle!