Wikki Stix
Wikki Stix are a powerful, interactive teaching and learning tool, as well as a creative, open-ended toy and craft resource.
What are Wikki Stix ? Wikki Stix are patented, fun, safe, colorful strands of acrylic hand-knitting yarn enhanced with a microcrystalline, food-grade non-toxic wax . They do not contain latex, peanut or other nut products. They are twistable, stickable, buildable, playable one-of-a-kind creatables!
How do they work? Simply stated, they stick! No glue, no paste…no mess. Just press them down with fingertip pressure and they will adhere to virtually any smooth surface. They are also easy to peel up and reposition, so mistakes virtually disappear, which helps build self-confidence. Press ’em down, peel ’em off…it’s that simple. Taken from Mailbox

Bloom’s Taxonomy Planner for Teachers

This is a handy higher level thinking skills planner that teachers can use when writing lesson plans. Click here for a copy.

African Americans

Until the study of black history, blacks were absent from history books. Carter G. Woodson established the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915, and a year later founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History. Negro History Week was intended to bring national  attention to black people's contributions throughout history.

Here are some categories of famous African Americans:

Business People

Entrepreneurs

Government and Politics

Historical

Military

Science and Mathematics

Singers, Musicians, and Opera

Sports

Sports Executives 

Use this worksheet with your students.

Writing Prompts

Martin Luther King Jr. is a man to remember and teach on Martin Luther King day. Let's honor MLK’s memory by boldly being and believing who we are, then acting on it. Let's us also celebrate on MLK's Day with writing.

I have attached some writing prompts to get you started. A Writing Prompt is a short entry that generally contains a question to help you pick a topic to write or think about. Writing prompts are used to kick-start your creativity. See the prompts.

 

Point of View

  Point of View (lower-middle elementary)

Imagine an apple and orange having an argument over who is the best fruit. Write some dialogue on what they might say (e.g., Apple: “I am red, that’s better than orange!” Orange: “No, it is not.”). 

Have you learned about a famous person in history? Imagine you are that person and write a letter to your teacher about what great things you did in your life. 

If you were your best friend, what would you say to you? Write a short paragraph that describes the conversation. 

Imagine you are a meteor headed for earth. Write a short paragraph about what you might be thinking or what you might want to say to the earth or the people on it. 

Who is your favorite character in a book or movie? Pretend to be that character. Get yourself in a difficult situation that you have to solve. Write a short story  about it.

Point of View (Middle-Secondary) 

Imagine you are the president of the United States. Write a public address about how you plan to improve education for everyone in America. 

Think about the last fiction book you enjoyed that was told in first person. Now, pick a secondary character and write from his or her point of view about something that happened in the story. 

What person in history has impressed you? Pick an event that the person played a role in to write about. Now, from his or her point of view, write an editorial for the newspaper explaining your thoughts and actions on that event (e.g., Rosa Parks refusing to sit at the back of the bus). 

Research a famous inventor or scientist. Pick one of his or her greatest discoveries or inventions and write about the moment of the discovery from that person’s point of view.

Challenging Christmas Tree Puzzzle

Challenge your children to count how many triangles they can find in this Christmas tree puzzle picture!

 Answer: 58 Triangles

Colorful Candy Science

 

Key concepts
Chemistry
Molecules
Diffusion
Gradient
Solutions

Introduction
Here is a fun project you can try with leftover candy you have. You will make some amazing art using nothing but colored candy and hot water—and a little bit of science. Save some of your candy and get started!

Background
Many of the foods we eat are colored with artificial dyes. Some of these dyes will easily dissolve in water. This means that when foods containing the dyes are placed in water, the molecules that make up the dye will break away from the food and start to spread out in the water. The process where molecules spread out like this is called diffusion. The molecules tend to spread from areas where there are a lot of that type of molecule (a high concentration) to areas where there are fewer of that type of molecule (a lower concentration). Eventually the molecules all spread out enough that the concentration is equal everywhere. This is called equilibrium. The molecules, however, do not stop moving completely at that point. They will still bounce around randomly, and diffusion will still occur—but much more slowly.

Science Buddies

Move More at School During Thanksgiving

Turkey Pokey (similar to Hokey Pokey)

• Instead of putting your right arm in and out, put your right wing in and out and

gobble all about.

• Continue with your left wing, your drumstick, your tail feathers and so on.

Freezing Turkey

• Play music while students strut and gobble around the classroom like turkeys.

• Pause music.

• When the music stops, turkeys should freeze in place until music begins again.

Veteran's Day Articles

Honor America's military veterans with Veteran's Day articles from readworks.org.

                        

Kindergarten 1st Grade

2nd Grade 3rd Grade

4th Grade 5th Grade

6th Grade 7th Grade

8th Grade 9th-10th Grade

11th-12th Grade

Family Volunteer Day

 

Be inspired by the power of helping others! Family Volunteer Day is coming up on Saturday, November 18. This is a day to volunteer as a family, creating deep bonds in your family and with your community. It doesn’t take a lot of time to make a big difference, so  find a local volunteer project.

This is one powerful video.

Rainy Days

When rainy days keep students inside for recess, use the extra time for science! Keep easy-to-do science activities and experiments together with any necessary materials in resealable plastic bags. Then hand them out and have students work with partners to complete the activities. It's a great way to squeeze in a little more science time, plus your students will look forward to indoor recesses.

Chemical Reaction Experiment - Bobbing Raisins

Steps

1.  Pour the carbonated drink into the glass/jar. 2.  Drop the raisins into the glass/jar. What to see what happens to the raisins!!! The bobbing up and down works because the bubbles of carbon dioxide gas in the drink are much less dense than the drink or the raisins. Once the raisins start bobbing up and down, they will continue to rise and fall for about an hour. - Raisins are denser than the carbonated drink, so they will sink. - Gas bubbles attach to the wrinkles on the raisins. - When the raisins are covered with the bubbles they become less dense than the drink, so they start to rise. - The gas bubbles start bursting and then the raisins become denser than the drink, so they sink again.

http://www.lovemyscience.com/bobbingraisins.html

What a great idea! I saw this on a blog that I was reading.
Jodie Rodriguez shared this image of how she gives her students a white board marker and eraser. Buy a cheap set of hair rollers from the dollar store, cut them in half and slip on the top of a skinny Expo marker! Genius!