Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Presidential Experts

Make each of your students an “expert” on one president. Put together a living museum with five students speaking as the commander in chief per day. Use a simple Web Diagram worksheet to dictate which aspects of the president’s term should be emphasized.

Presidential Bingo

Give students a list of 24 presidents and instruct them to fill one in each box of a Bingo card (Don’t forget to leave the middle space free!). Then read a brief description of one of the 24 presidents. Students will check off the president they think you are describing. The first student with five checked off presidents in a row on the Bingo card wins!

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Repost from We Are Teachers

Monday, February 27, 2017

Dr. Seuss Book List

The books in the Dr. Seuss Book List are categorized according to Dr. Seuss’s publishing company,

Random House’s divisions.

BEGINNER BOOKS in the Dr. Seuss Book List
(Ages 4-8)

Beginner Books were originally created by Dr. Seuss in order to encourage children to read all by themselves. He took a list of 223 easy-to-read words, found the rhyming ones and created a fun and

simple blend of pictures and words. All Beginner Books have a picture of one of Dr. Seuss’s most

famous character creations, the Cat in the Hat, on their cover.

The Cat in the Hat, 1957,
The Cat in the Hat Comes Back! , 1958
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, 1960
Green Eggs and Ham, 1960
Hop on Pop, 1963
Dr. Seuss's ABC, 1963
The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary, 1964 written with P.D. Eastman
Fox in Socks, 1965
I Wish that I had Duck Feet, 1965 Illustrated by B. Tobey
Come Over to My House, 1966 Illustrated by Richard Erdoes
Wacky Wednesday, 1974 Illustrated by George Booth
Because a Little Bug Went Ka-choo, 1975 Illustrated by Michael Frith
Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!, 1975
The Cat's Quizzer, 1976
Please Try to Remember the First of Octember, 1977 Illustrated by Art Cummings
I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!, 1978
Oh Say Can You Say?, 1979
I Am Not Going to Get Up Today!, 1987 Illustrated by James Stevenson

BEGINNER BOOK EXTRAS in the Dr. Seuss Book List (Ages 4-8)
These Dr. Seuss books are not part of the main series of Beginner Books, but are still considered to

be part of the Beginner Book Category by Random House.

And to Think That I saw it on Mulberry Street, 1937
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, 1938
The Cat in the Hat Song Book, 1967
My Book About Me, 1969, written with Roy McKie
I Can Draw It Myself, 1970
Maybe You should fly a Jet, Maybe You Should be a Vet, 1980 Illustrated by Michael J. Smollin
Hunches in Bunches, 1982
Daisy-Head Mayzie, 1994

BRIGHT & EARLY BOOKS in the Dr. Seuss Book List (Age Preschool)
Dr. Seuss created these books for the “beginning beginners”. With few, simple words and colorful,

telling pictures the stories are fun and brief for the youngest of kids.

The Foot Book, 1968
The Eye Book, 1968 Illustrated by Joe Mathieu & Roy McKie
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?, 1970
In A People House, 1972 Illustrated by Roy McKie
Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!, 1972
The Shape of Me and Other Stuff, 1973
There's a Wocket in My Pocket!, 1974
Great Day for Up, 1974
Would You Rather be a Bullfrog?, 1975 Illustrated by Roy McKie
Hooper Humperdink…? Not Him!, 1976 Illustrated by Charles E. Martin
The Tooth Book, 1989 Illustrated by Joe Mathieu & Roy McKie
The Pop-Up Mice of Mr. Brice 1989 Illustrated by Roy McKie
I Can Write, 1993 Illustrated by Roy McKie

BRIGHT & EARLY BOARD BOOKS in the Dr. Seuss Book List (Ages Baby to Preschool)
As you can see, some of the titles here are the same as in the two categories above. They are the

same Dr. Seuss stories published into sturdier books for the youngest of the young.

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Ten Apples Up On Top, 1961
Hop on Pop
Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book!
The Foot Book
The Eye Book
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?
The Shape of Me and Other Stuff
There's a Wocket in My Pocket!
The Tooth Book

HARDCOVER CLASSICS in the Dr. Seuss Book List (Ages 4-8)
While these books don’t fall into the Beginner Books category they do retain their value to children

and parents. Many of these Dr. Seuss books contain moral or ethical messages embedded in the funny stories.

The King's Stilts, 1939
Horton Hatches the Egg, 1940
McElligot's Pool, 1947
Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose, 1948
Bartholomew and the Oobleck, 1949
If I Ran the Zoo, 1950
Scrambled Eggs Super!, 1953
Horton Hears a Who!, 1954
On Beyond Zebra, 1955
If I Ran the Circus, 1956
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 1957
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, 1958
Happy Birthday to You!, 1959
The Sneetches and Other Stories, 1961
Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book, 1962
I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, 1965
I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! And Other Stories, 1969
The Lorax, 1971
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?, 1973
The Butter Battle Book, 1984
You're Only Old Once!, 1986
Oh, the Places You'll Go!, 1990
My Many Colored Days, 1996 (posthumous)

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Story Jar

Give students the opportunity to learn more about their classmates with a story jar. Write personal topics, such as My favorite place is..., or After school, I…, on slips of paper and place in a jar. At writing time, let each student pick a slip from the jar and write a personal narrative on the chosen topic. Let students share their stories, then return the slips to the jar. Have students periodically pick new topics from the jar.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Tax Season Is Here! These Are the Teacher Tax Credits & Deductions You Need to Know About

Dave Grant

Don’t do your taxes without reading these tips.

It’s that time of year again—time to file your taxes. We all know people who can’t wait to file so they can get their refund, and others who drag their feet until April 15^th, then on extension until October 15^th and just can’t get it done.

But as a teacher, you’ve got some unique advantages when it comes to tax time. Some tax benefits are only available to educators, and other general tax benefits can be used by educators to save even more money. By utilizing these lines in the tax code, you can lower your tax bill and, potentially, receive a larger refund.

Educator Expenses Deduction

For those who do not get reimbursed on their purchases for the classroom, $250 can be deducted from your income. This reduces the amount of your income that is taxed. This deduction is limited to $250 in classroom supplies, but if you are married to an educator, it can be doubled-up to a maximum of $500. You need to have proof that you have spent money on these things (i.e. receipts), but even if don’t spend $250, you can use whatever amount that you did spend.

For those of a technical nature, this is known as an “above-the-line deduction”, so even if you don’t itemize on your taxes, you can still use this deduction. In order to use this deduction, you do need to have spent 900 hours in the classroom that tax year.

Unreimbursed Employee Deductions

If you do spend over $250 on classroom supplies, don’t worry. If you itemize on your tax returns, then the amount of unreimbursed expenses above $250 can be deducted. One thing to note about this is only the amount that exceeds 2% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) can be deducted—the amount below this is not counted. So, what can be included in these unreimbursed purchases?

Books and Newspapers—for the classroom or personal development.
Mileage—for time spent traveling to teach in other locations or to sports events for which you coach. It does not include mileage spent on commuting.
Software & computer equipment—if it is mandated that you purchase software to teach your lessons, this can be deducted. If you spend time in your home office researching and sending emails for work purposes, track the time and then this can be deducted.
Professional Development—if you pay to attend conferences or development days, you can deduct the expenses associated with this. This can be parking, food, enrollment fees, mileage, and accommodation.
Work Clothing—if your class requires you to wear safety gear that you have to purchase yourself then, you guessed it, it can be deducted when you itemize on your return.

Student Loan Interest

Regardless of if you itemize, the interest you pay on your student loans can be deducted. It’s another “above-the-line deduction”, so it’s more powerful in reducing your tax bill than some others mentioned here.

Education Credits and Deductions

For those who are gaining further education and having to pay for it out of their own pocket, you can either use the Education Tax Credit, American Opportunity Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit. However, only one of these can be used at a time and are subject to income requirements—you’ll need to do the math to determine which one you’re eligible for and is most valuable for you.

Education Tax Credit – this reduces the income subject to taxation by $4,000, and is for expenses paid for undergraduate and post-graduate It doesn’t include room & board, but does include most other expenses paid to acquire the education. As an item that can be used even if you don’t itemize, it’s the most powerful deduction from a dollar perspective.
The American Opportunity Credit is a tax credit of up to $2,500 on tuition, fees and course materials for an undergraduate You earn the credit on 100% of the first $2,000 paid, and then 25% of the next $2,000. For example, if you paid $5,000 to attend a class (or if your child did), then the full $2,500 credit would be available. However, if the class cost $2,750, then $2,000 would be available for the first $2,000 spent, but only $187.50 credit for the $750 spent thereafter.
The Lifetime Learning Credit is available for each student in a household, regardless of what level of post-secondary schooling they’re in. It is used to reduce the overall income subject to taxes by a maximum of $2,000. Therefore, if there are four students in the household, only $2,000 of credit would be applied, not $8,000.

As you can see, there are many resources that are available to educators to reduce their taxes. However, some of them do get complex and it can be easy to make mistakes when filing your own return. If you have questions about which of these items apply to you, please contact a tax professional.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Crafts: Hat Trick

Celebrate all things Seussian (March 2 is both the good doctor’s birthday and Read Across America Day) with a craft that really lets students score reading points. Just choose a word family and watch the words stack up.From Scholastic.

Things You’ll Need:

Word family cards (Links to an external site.)
Top hats (red, if possible)
White paper (large sheets)
Red construction paper
Rulers
Scissors
Glue sticks

What to Do:

1 | Print and cut out several copies of our word family cards (Links to an external site.). Have each student pick out one root word and its six accompanying rhyming words.
2 | Have each child measure and cut out a rectangle of white paper that is 14” tall and wide enough that it can be wrapped into a cylinder around a top hat. Next, have them measure and cut out three strips of red paper that are each 2” tall and the same width as the white sheet.
4 | Using a glue stick, children should adhere the red strips to the white rectangle in 2” increments, and then secure the red-and-white-striped rectangle into a cylinder by gluing the ends of the paper together.
5 | Slip the paper cylinder over the top hat. Kids can now glue a word family card to each strip of paper. Each student should have a total of seven words.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

For every school day, you will find a different prompt to get your students thinking of creative ways to tell a story. Get your students thinking and writing creatively!

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Online Colleges, A School Choice

Parents check out these resources created specifically for students, their families, and educators to help them understand the online education landscape as well as breaking down and assessing the top online programs across the United States. (Permission to post was granted by Kimberly Hayes, www.bestcolleges.com).

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Black History Tributes

Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae star is born. - 1945

Jail-in movement started in Rock Hill, S.C., when students refused to pay fines and requested jail sentences. Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee urged south-wide "Jail, No Bail" campaign. - 1961

Tennis player Arthur Ashe dies. Ashe was the first African American to win at Wimbledon. - 1993

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Oriental Trading

Grab those popsicle craft sticks and get ready to make some adorable Halloween characters for everyone's favorite Fall holiday! Create a few fun Halloween characters from Oriental Trading's craft sticks. This is an easy craft, suitable for kids of most ages. Using craft sticks, craft foam, googly eyes and sharpies, you will be able to make a witch, frankenstein, pumpkin, monster and black cat. Get ready to make Halloween memories at home with creative costumes, playful twists and activities galore for all ages. Shop now!

Spring is a season. There are four seasons in a year, spring, summer, autumn and winter. Each season is marked by different weather and hours of daylight.

We have seasons because the earth takes a year to move round the sun, which gives us light and warmth, and because the earth tilts at an angle of 23.5 degrees. In winter we tilt away from the sun and in the summer we tilt further towards the sun. However, on the first day of spring the sun shines equally on both the north and south hemispheres of the Earth. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Spring/WhatIsSpring.aspx?age=ks2

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving

Happy Halloween

Halloween is the one of the oldest holidays still celebrated today. It's one of the most popular holidays, second only to Christmas. WHICH I LOVE! While millions of people celebrate Halloween without knowing its origins and myths, the history and facts of Halloween make the holiday more fascinating. Some people view Halloween as a time for fun, putting on costumes, trick-or-treating, and having theme parties. THIS IS THE WAY I CHOOSE TO VIEW HALLOWEEN. Others view it as a time of superstitions, ghosts, goblins and evil spirits that should be avoided at all costs. As the Christian debate goes on, celebrating Halloween is a preference that is not always viewed as participating in an evil holiday. Halloween is often celebrated with no reference to pagan rituals or the occult. THIS CAN EASILY BE DONE!!! https://www.halloween-website.com/history.htm

Each year, on the first Monday in September, Americans observe a national holiday called Labor Day. Canadians celebrate the holiday on the same day, although the spelling is slightly different, and known as Labour Day. For some, the Labor Day holiday is a long weekend that marks the end of summer, with backyard barbecues, a final summer getaway, or shopping. Federal, state, and local governments close their offices. Banks and post offices also shut down for the day. However, the foundation for observing Labor Day is to pay tribute to working men and women in the U.S. and Canada.

Happy Fall

The season of autumn is largely associated with harvest time. Various harvest festivals are celebrated during fall. One of these is the Thanksgiving holiday that is widely celebrated in the United States and Canada. The Jewish Sukkot holiday is also celebrated during autumn. Moreover, Chinese people celebrate the lunar Mid-autumn Festival. Some common autumn harvests are pumpkin, apple, and corn. Other autumn holidays include Labor Day, Remembrance Day, Veterans Day, Columbus Day, Halloween, and Patriot Day. https://kidskonnect.com/holidays-seasons/autumn/

Why does the date of Easter change each year?

In Western Christianity, Easter Sunday must always fall on the next full moon after Spring Equinox. Easter can fall as early as March and as late as April or May, depending on the year and calendar used. Christians in the east who use the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar may have a different date. The date of Easter changes because the full moon can fall on different days in different time zones. The Sun

The first Saint Patrick's Day parade (March 17, 1762, was held in New York City before the American colonies declared their independence from England and established themselves as the United States. Historically, St. Patrick's Day was only celebrated by the Irish. Now it is celebrated worldwide - celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green.

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner, so I thought I'd give you a couple of suggestions for St. Patrick's Day activities.

Historically St. Patrick's Day was only celebrated by the Irish. Now it is celebrated worldwide - celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green.

Activities:
1. Go outside and search for a shamrock.
2. Sing or listen to an Irish tune - When Irish Eyes Are Smiling or Danny Boy
4. See how many words you can create from Irish words; example, leprechaun.
5. Interview someone who is Irish.
6. Write a story about a leprechaun.

Looking for a leprechaun this St. Patrick's Day? Build the anticipation of the hunt by singing the song below. As you sing, be sure to keep your eyes open for those little green fellows.
(sung to the tune of "Mary Had A Little Lamb")
I'm looking for a leprechaun,
Leprechaun, leprechaun.
I'm looking for a leprechaun.
Do you know where he's gone?
He wears a suit that's made of green.
Made of green, made of green.
He wears a suit that's made of green.
Do you know where he's gone?
If you see a leprechaun,
Leprechaun, leprechaun;
If you see a leprechaun,
Please tell me where he's gone!
Collected from varies websites

Valentine's Day Facts

St. Valentine's Day falls on February 14th of each year. Although the name is Saint Valentine's Day, most people refer to the day as Valentine's Day. It was originally a day to celebrate Saint Valentinus, who performed weddings for soldiers who were not allowed to marry. He was imprisoned for this, as well as for ministering to Christians. Saint Valentinus wrote a letter to the daughter of his jailer before he was executed. His letter was signed ‘From your Valentine'. He was buried on February 14th. Valentine's Day was not associated with romantic love until the middle ages. After St. Valentine was buried, Julia, the daughter of his jailor, planted an almond tree with pink blossoms near his grave. The almond tree today is a symbol of lasting friendship and love.

In 1537, King Henry the Eighth declared that February 14th was a holiday. King Henry the Eighth had most of his wives executed because they did not give birth to a son. By the 1700s in England it began to resemble the Valentine's Day we know today. At this time lovers began to express their love with gifts of flowers, candy and cards, which were called 'valentines'.

Interesting Valentine's Day Facts

The first Valentine`s Day candy box was invented by Richard Cadbury in the late 19th century.

On Valentine`s Day every year, there are at least 36 million heart shape boxes of chocolates sold.

There are enough candy hearts made each year to stretch from Valentine, Arizona to Rome, Italy, and back again. The number of these candy hearts produced is approximately 8 billion.

There are approximately 50 million roses given on Valentine`s Day around the world.

There are approximately 1 billion Valentine`s Day cards exchanged every year in the U.S. alone. Valentine`s Day is the second most popular day of the year for sending cards, second only to Christmas.

Cupid is the son of Venus. Venus was the god of beauty and love.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day in the United States is traditionally a holiday to give thanks for the food collected at the end of the harvest season.

George Washington, the first president of the United States, proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789. Thanksgiving Day has been an annual holiday in the United States since 1863. Thanksgiving is observed on the fourth Thursday in November.

Activity:
Thanksgiving Dinner Grades 4
A great lesson to apply real-world math skills and Thanksgiving. A lesson you can do with your students is gather food ads from the local grocery store chains around Thanksgiving. First, you can give them a budget and a set number of guests and have them plan a meal. This uses many math skills (especially multiplication, where the prices of turkey are given in per lb.). Also, you can have them compare the meals in two different grocery stores. This is truly real world connections.

The first day of school for many school districts is on the day after Labor Day (first Monday in September) and other of us, mid to late August. Every year students start school and every year parents wonder what to do. Whether it’s your child’s first day at preschool or the start of fifth grade, there are always new challenges. Children as well as parents, often struggle with saying goodbye at the classroom door and hello to the start of a new year. If so, try reading books about starting school like “I Am Absolutely Too Small for School” by Lauren Child and others.

Fireworks Family Activity

Fireworks Family Activities Improve Learning Skills
Go to the fireworks and while you are watching them, be extra observant. Count how may blue, green, red, white, and multi-colored fireworks there are. You can even make a chart for this. Decide which colors were your favorite ones. Was there a style that you liked better than another? This will help you with your observation skills.

You can also look at the different kinds of people that come to view the fireworks. How many little children? How many do you think were school-age? How many teens? How many adults? How many people were dressed in red, white, and blue?Bonnie Terry

On July 5, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers, a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines in Monongah, but it was a one-time commemoration and not an annual holiday. The next year, a Spokane, Washington, woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by a widower, tried to establish an official equivalent to Mother’s Day for male parents. She went to local churches, the YMCA, shopkeepers and government officials to drum up support for her idea, and she was successful: Washington State celebrated the nation’s first statewide Father’s Day on June 19, 1910. Slowly, the holiday spread. In 1916, President Wilson honored the day by using telegraph signals to unfurl a flag in Spokane when he pressed a button in Washington, D.C. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged state governments to observe Father’s Day. Today, the day honoring fathers is celebrated in the United States on the third Sunday of June.

Memorial Day Facts

Memorial Day is a patriotic holiday in the United States. It is celebrated on the last Monday in May each year. It began as a day to honor the men and women who died in the Civil War. On Memorial Day we honor all the men and women who have died in all the wars fought by the United States. Memorial Day is celebrated in many ways. Many businesses, schools, and banks close in honor of the holiday. Often, families go to the cemetery to add flags to the grave sites of war veterans. Parades and picnics are other ways this holiday is celebrated.

Vocabulary
remembrance, admiration, appreciation, battlefield, bereaved, bravery, commemorate, commemoration, cortege, courage,
decoration, defense, democracy, devotion, duty, embrace, emotional, empathize, freedom, gratitude, grave, grieve, hero, heroism, history, invocation, legacy, legendary, liberation, liberty, life, march, memorial, meritorious, military, observance, parade, patriot, patriotic, patriotism, patriotism, pride, reflective, respect, sacrifice, salute, servicemen, solemn, sorrow, support, Taps, tribute, uniform, unify, union, unite, valiant, veteran, waving
Book List
Frost, Helen. Memorial Day (National Holidays). Pebble Books, 2000.
Osborne, Mary Pope. Civil War on Sunday. Random House Books for Young Readers, 2000.
Sorensen Lynda. Memorial Day (Holidays). The Rourke Book Co., Inc. 1994.

Memorial Day Sites
http://www.usis.usemb.se/Holidays/celebrate/memorial.html
Read about how this holiday was created to honor soldiers who fought for freedom for the United States.
http://www.schoolexpress.com/
Click on Social Studies, then Holidays, to find great printable worksheets and color pages about Memorial Day.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1465/memorial.html
This site has great pictures of the military and the Memorial Day celebration.
http://userpages.aug.com/haywire/memday.html
Learn about the origins of Memorial Day and view a picture of the “Unknown Soldier.” This site also contains information about the American Flag.

Maypole dance, with origins in the 18th Century, began as a traditional or artistic dance popular in Italy and France. Eventually, traveling dancing troupes performed it in London theaters, thus bringing this traditional dance to larger audiences. An English teacher training school adopted the maypole dance and soon it had spread across most of central and southern England. The dance became part of the repertoire of physical education for girls and remained popular in elementary schools in both England and the United States well into the 1950s.

Don’t Put Out the Trash

During the week leading up to Earth Day, arrange with the custodian not to remove the trash and recycling from your classroom. On Earth Day, have your students weigh the trash and recycling they generated (weigh trash separately from recycling). Over the next week, challenge your students to toss and use less, plus recycle more. After a week, have students weigh the trash and recycling again and calculate the decrease (hopefully!) in trash weight and increase in recycling weight. Extend the lessen for older students and have them calculate percent increase and decrease as well. Help Teaching Blog

Spring Fever

This time of year, many people develop spring fever. Invite each student to think of a cure for spring fever and then write about it. Put the pages together to make a class book.

The windy weather of March makes it perfect for flying a kite. Set out colorful construction paper and a selection of art materials. Invite each student to use the provided materials to create a kite. Have them to write a description of their kite.

In March 1990, President George Bush publicly declared that he didn’t like broccoli and wouldn’t eat it. Have students write a letter to George Bush telling him whether or not they agree with his opinion about broccoli.

Have students write words that remind them of spring. Then direct them to write a poem about spring that uses several of the words.
(Taken from The Mailbox)

About Saint Patrick's Day

Contributed by Leanne Guenther

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated each year on March 17^th. In Ireland, Saint Patrick's Day is both a holy day and a national holiday. Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland as he was the one who brought Christianity to the Irish.

According to legend, Saint Patrick used a shamrock to explain about God. The shamrock, which looks like clover, has three leaves on each stem. Saint Patrick told the people that the shamrock was like the idea of the Trinity, that in the one God there are three divine beings: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The shamrock was sacred to the Druids, so Saint Patrick's use of it in explaining the trinity was very wise.

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/patrick/about.htm

Daylight Saving Time

When people first started using mechanical clocks each town/city would set their town clock by measuring the position of the sun. Every city would be on a slightly different time. This eventually became confusing and the railroad wanted a standard time that all of the towns in a certain area would go by. This led to using a standard time in the United States in the early 1900's.

Daylight Saving Time gives us the opportunity to enjoy sunny summer evenings by moving our clocks an hour forward in the spring.

TIP: Change the batteries in your smoke detectors when you change your clocks because Daylight Saving Time provides a convenient reminder.

Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday, March 12, 2017. People will have an extra hour of daylight in the evening.

When to set your clocks forward: Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday, March 12, at 2:00 A.M. Remember to “spring ahead” and set your clocks forward 1 hour. TIP: Do this Saturday night when you go to bed.

When to set your clocks back: Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 5, at 2:00 A.M. Now, we “fall back” by setting our clocks back one hour.

Class Activities
Have students write about how they will spend their extra hour of daylight.

Have students write an essay about how daylight saving time save energy.

Have students write and explain, in paragraph form, three advantages of DST and three disadvantages of Daylight Saving Time.

Daylight Saving Time Quiz
1. Which month does Daylight Saving Time begin?
a. January
b. February
c. March
d. April

2. Which month does Daylight Saving Time end?
a. August
b. September
c. October
d. November

3. In the year 1895, which scientist proposed Daylight Saving Time?
a. Albert Einstein
b. Sir Isaac Newton
c. George Vernon Hudson
d. Charles Darwin

4. Which country was the first to make Daylight Saving Time a law?
a. America
b. Russia
c. China
d. New Zealand

5. What is the main reason to have Daylight Saving Time?
a. to collect bugs in the late afternoons
b. to avoid going to bed too early
c. to save energy
d. to sleep longer

6. Which popular phrase helps us remember how Daylight Saving Time affects our clocks?
a. “Time is like an hourglass”
b. “Time is on your side”
c. “Spring forward, fall back”
d. “Spring up, fall down”

7. Which way do we move our clocks to begin Daylight Saving Time?
a. one hour forward
b. two hours forward
c. one hour backward
d. two hours backward

8. Which way do move our clocks to end Daylight Saving Time?
a. one hour forward
b. two hours forward
c. one hour back
d. two hours back

9. What is the hour when Daylight Saving Time begins and ends?
a. at two o’clock A.M.
b. at three o’clock A.M.
c. at four o’clock P.M.
d. at five o’clock P.M.

10. Who wrote the proverb, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy
and wise.”
a. Benjamin Franklin
b. George Washington
c. William Shakespeare
d. Dr. Seuss

Key: 1-c, 2-d, 3-c, 4-d, 5-c, 6-c, 7-a, 8-c, 9-a, 10-a (readingfriend.com)

The Educator's Corner

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