I became hopeless addicted to Phryne Fisher, the saucy, sensitive, savvy Jazz Age Aussie lady detective of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. She's part tart, part humanitarian, part intelligentsia, all tough cookie. She's a motherly vamp, if that makes sense. And can she hold her Mother-of-Pearl revolver...and gin! Tres elegante! And this show would make superb lesson plans for history. Anticipating Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries Season 2
free printable lesson plans on alphabet to zoology and everything in between
Free archaeology activities, earth science printables
I was going to major in archaeology and minor in anthropology in college. Then my over-cautious self said (in best yente voice) "Bones, schmones. Pick something mahketable. You can't eat history." (That last part could have been my pragmatic Dutch grannie head voice). So I picked teaching. Ahahahaa, marketable. Such irony.
Till I can find a dig that accepts volunteers and is close enough to be doable, I have to get my archaeology fix elsewhere. Here are free printable lesson plans on cave-related subjects of fossils, bats, archaeology, paleontology, habitats, geology, spelunking and earth science.
Till I can find a dig that accepts volunteers and is close enough to be doable, I have to get my archaeology fix elsewhere. Here are free printable lesson plans on cave-related subjects of fossils, bats, archaeology, paleontology, habitats, geology, spelunking and earth science.
The
National Parks Service has free printable lessons on the U.S. national park at
Carlsbad Cavernsin New Mexico. There's
curriculum for elementary school in the free printable booklet
About Bats, Caves and Deserts. For middle school students, the NPS Carlsbad Caverns website features
free printable archaeology lessons on Caves, Canyons, Cactus and Critters. High
school students explore geology, spelunking, Global Positioning Systems and
orienteering in the Chihuahuan Desert Lab school. Materials are designed to be
used with interpretive visits but some may be used as stand-alone lessons in
class. Check out the cool activities on fossils, bats, paleontology and other
cave phenomena.
Also
from the NPS, are free printable materials on Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. There are free coloring
pages, word games, puzzles and lesson plans in the Junior Ranger section. Kids
will love the printable Trog Tour booklet (trog is short for super cool fossils
called troglodytes) The Making Connections series from Mammoth Cave National
Park features books for grades K-3, 4-5 and 6-8. There are 83 pages of free printable
paleontology lesson plans for teachers and homeschool parents. And be sure
not to let young archaeology students miss the free printable Fossil
Identification Guide with
coloring pages of fossils to label.
Free Printable Disney Crafts for Book Party
Yes, I know, Disney isn't exactly haute education. Nor are movies the best material for lesson plans. But preschool children (big kids too) LOVE Disney. Since the 1960s Disney has been a rite of passage. So why not capitalize on that mojo? Host a Disney story party in your preschool or elementary classroom or homeschool. Springboard from reading and watching with these foods, games, crafts and free printables. Lots of potential for learning activities. T
Start by gathering a pile of toddler appropriate books from your Disney book collection. Or visit the library. Now's a great time to teach youngsters library protocol and maybe get him his own library card. Select a few companion Disney cartoons or films. Make a list of Disney book party or birthday party food ideas from with children. Make Disney book party or birthday party snacks together. Here are some suggestions. Serve animal crackers for any animal themed Disney books.
Start by gathering a pile of toddler appropriate books from your Disney book collection. Or visit the library. Now's a great time to teach youngsters library protocol and maybe get him his own library card. Select a few companion Disney cartoons or films. Make a list of Disney book party or birthday party food ideas from with children. Make Disney book party or birthday party snacks together. Here are some suggestions. Serve animal crackers for any animal themed Disney books.
The
Jungle Book--tropical fruits, coconut
The
Aristocats--Creme de la Creme ala Edgar (don't put sleeping potion in this
one--just use vanilla pudding)
Lady
and the Tramp--spaghetti
Disney
princesses--tea party, wedding cake (or just fancy cupcakes or Little Debbie
cakes)
The
Princess and the Frog--gumbo
Winnie
the Pooh--honey and peanut butter finger sandwiches
Toy
Story--pizza
Frozen--ice
cream sundaes.
Make crafts using free
printables. Visit Disney Family crafts and Disney books
printables for different activities from Disney books. Sing and dance to
songs from Disney books! Play games from Disney movies using the Disney
printables. Recycle Bin Crafts, Lesson Plans: Paper Houses, buildings with Printable Patterns
I'm a trained special education and Montessori teacher. I'm always looking for (or creating) hands-on lesson plans to boost higher-order thinking skills. I also like to save money and care for the earth. So my lessons feature recycled materials instead of bought ones. Today's recycle bin trash craft is paper houses. I got the idea from an article I read in which a child had made a paper house and displayed it in a tea shop. Lesson plans include free printable paper house models, miniatures and patterns. This would make a great lesson for design, CAD, art, history and science.
Collecting dollhouse miniatures and scale model trains are
passions shared by men and women, young and old alike. Designing scale model trains and dollhouses and
making dollhouse miniatures can be a form of art therapy. And like many
hobbies, dollhouse miniatures scale model trains and doll collecting can be
very expensive. If you enjoy doll collecting, dollhouses, and dollhouse
miniatures and you want to save money, here are links for free printable miniatures and doll house furnishings.
Each
link explains how to print the dollhouse miniatures for dollhouses. The doll
house furniture is typically printed on card stock, so that the furniture can
stand up. You will also need a sharp Exact-O knife to score and cut out the
dollhouse miniatures neatly. Jennifer's printables is a comprehensive website
with many free printable dollhouse miniatures and dollhouse furniture. There are free
printable household products, rugs, curtains, pictures, decorations and much
more. Print Mini also has gobs of free printable dollhouse miniatures and even cut and paste paper models of
dollhouses and scale model trains and scale model buildings,
About
Miniatures has free printable
dollhouses and scale model trains and scale model buildings for model train
collecting and doll collecting. Scroll around for links to free printable
dollhouse furniture in many styles and periods. Print chairs, settees, sofas,
love seats, shelves, cupboards, tables, what-nots, end tables, lamps and dozens
of other free printable furniture pieces. Paper toys has free printable scale model buildings for model trains and dollhouses.
Back to School Lesson Plans Fibonacci Number Patterns in Nature
Looking for back to school lesson plans that pop? How about a number pattern walk? Here are some materials to guide you. One of the most challenging aspects of teaching is demonstrating principles in action--not because concepts don't occur outside the printed page. The problem is that educators tend to be textbook-bound. "Growing Patterns," by Sarah C. Campbell, makes the concept of Fibonacci numbers visual, even hands-on for students. For adults, too. Campbell's book was featured on Fox's show "Touch , " in which a non-verbal, emotionally impaired boy, Jake, connects to his father using Fibonacci patterns.
One of the most challenging aspects of teaching is demonstrating principles in action--not because concepts don't occur outside the printed page. The problem is that educators tend to be textbook-bound. "Growing Patterns," by Sarah C. Campbell, makes the concept of Fibonacci numbers visual, even hands-on for students. For adults, too. Campbell's book was featured on Fox's show "Touch" in which a non-verbal, emotionally impaired boy, Jake, connects to his father using Fibonacci patterns.
Shows like "Touch" are important in helping non-handicapped people understand the world of handicapped people, from the inside out. But it goes far beyond this. Instead of a "normal" person helping an "impaired" person, we learn that everyone has gifts. They're just not be as readily visible. Each person can reach out if one understands the language he speaks. In "Touch," Jake who is deemed "disabled," uses the Fibonacci sequence to express his vision of the world. He communicates using the language of pattern and touch.
The Fibonacci sequence, in which the two preceding numbers are added together to form the next number, is 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21, and so on. The principle was named for the mathematician Leonardo of Pisa who first demonstrated the it. Fibonacci numbers occur in nature as a spiral pattern. Campbell's book shows the phenomenon in pine cones, pineapples, flowers, nautilus seashells, galaxies and other natural objects.
Fibonacci numbers are closely related to the algebraic "golden ratio" (referred to by the Greek letter phi or "golden number") and "golden string" described by Euclid and Pythagoras. These concepts are used in diverse applications from architecture to market analyses. Shown numerically, the concepts may be arcane and confusing. Observed in nature, they are easily grasped. As in Jake's enigmatic world, nature often makes the mysterious clear.
As a teacher, I'm always looking for object lessons that make abstract concepts approachable, especially in nature. I once designed a unit on how symmetry appears in orchids. Several children's authors base their books on hands-on applications. Tana Hoban's picture books show how patterns occur around us. Jerry Pallotta uses nature patterns to teach math. Campbell's book is another excellent resource.
As a special education teacher, I'm also looking for ways to help special needs kids connect with their world and express themselves. Fox "Touch" is an excellent vehicle to do that. Here are other free printable lesson plans using Fibonacci number patterns.
One of the most challenging aspects of teaching is demonstrating principles in action--not because concepts don't occur outside the printed page. The problem is that educators tend to be textbook-bound. "Growing Patterns," by Sarah C. Campbell, makes the concept of Fibonacci numbers visual, even hands-on for students. For adults, too. Campbell's book was featured on Fox's show "Touch" in which a non-verbal, emotionally impaired boy, Jake, connects to his father using Fibonacci patterns.
Shows like "Touch" are important in helping non-handicapped people understand the world of handicapped people, from the inside out. But it goes far beyond this. Instead of a "normal" person helping an "impaired" person, we learn that everyone has gifts. They're just not be as readily visible. Each person can reach out if one understands the language he speaks. In "Touch," Jake who is deemed "disabled," uses the Fibonacci sequence to express his vision of the world. He communicates using the language of pattern and touch.
The Fibonacci sequence, in which the two preceding numbers are added together to form the next number, is 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21, and so on. The principle was named for the mathematician Leonardo of Pisa who first demonstrated the it. Fibonacci numbers occur in nature as a spiral pattern. Campbell's book shows the phenomenon in pine cones, pineapples, flowers, nautilus seashells, galaxies and other natural objects.
Fibonacci numbers are closely related to the algebraic "golden ratio" (referred to by the Greek letter phi or "golden number") and "golden string" described by Euclid and Pythagoras. These concepts are used in diverse applications from architecture to market analyses. Shown numerically, the concepts may be arcane and confusing. Observed in nature, they are easily grasped. As in Jake's enigmatic world, nature often makes the mysterious clear.
As a teacher, I'm always looking for object lessons that make abstract concepts approachable, especially in nature. I once designed a unit on how symmetry appears in orchids. Several children's authors base their books on hands-on applications. Tana Hoban's picture books show how patterns occur around us. Jerry Pallotta uses nature patterns to teach math. Campbell's book is another excellent resource.
As a special education teacher, I'm also looking for ways to help special needs kids connect with their world and express themselves. Fox "Touch" is an excellent vehicle to do that. Here are other free printable lesson plans using Fibonacci number patterns.
Free Printable Summer Reading Activities, Book Crafts, Literature Games
March is National Reading Month, kicked off by "Read Across
America." Schools abound with reading opportunities. But what about those
long summer months? Here are summer reading
enrichmentactivities
to keep kids' noses in books year-round! Included are interactive reading
response activities, ELA (English language arts) lessons, book-based crafts and literature response lessons. Use these multi-sensory, cross-curricular
Montessori-based lessons for Readers Workshop, special education students,
reluctant readers and divergent learners too.
Entrepreneurial reading. Research, plan and organize summer
money-making or nonprofit fundraising ventures: yard sale, babysitting, lawn
and pet services, knitting and craft sales, housecleaning. Host a lemonade
stand. Lemonade Day shows how.
Book-based crafts. Scholastic has free printable book crafts, games and literature
response activities. Access Scholastic publishers' vast data base of children's
literature. Get games, crafts and printables from favorite kids' books.
DIY summer
reading camp. Have kids start their own summer
reading club. Education.com has free printable reading activities. Utilize materials and
your local library. Host book club activities in your backyard! Discuss
favorite books, make crafts, play games, act out stories and enjoy book-themed
snacks!
Book recipes. Make foods described in books. Look for companion
cookbooks to favorite books: American Girls, Little House on the Prairie,
Haunted America, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs have cookbooks with recipes
from the stories. Invent recipes based on books. We made Winnie-the-Pooh "haycorn"
(pecan) pie and honey cookies.
Readers theater or puppet show. Make book character puppets. Have
kids retell story. Or let them write their own stories using homemade puppets.
My kids wrote a puppet show using puppets from Mercer Mayer's "There's a
Nightmare in my Closet", Mike Mulligan's steam shovel (from Virginia Lee
Burton's book) and "Word Bird" (Jane Belk Moncure).
Reading response journal. Have kids track reading and complete
activities. Check my blog Free Lesson Plans 4U and Free Printable Lesson Plans and Kidz Literature for tips to make literature response journals and activity
suggestions. Here's a free printable reading calendar from PBS.
Rewards and incentives. Participate with Pizza Hut Book-It program. The first week of March
is the "Let's all Read" program, partnered with One
More Story. Kids read and get pizza, plus they donate to RIF by reading!
Double good! Incent reading with books. Join Scholastic--get free books for
ordering. Give as prizes for completed reading.
Free printable outline maps for Geography Lessons
Remember the cute little Disney song, "It's a Small World" where children dressed in traditional costumes of their country danced around? I'm trying to re-create that feeling of inter-connectedness using social networking. And you can with students, too. Kids spend a lot of time online, in social networks like Facebook. They blog and useTwitter, Instagram, Pinterest. All these avenues can be used to teach geography. When I connect with someone on any social network, I always check to see where they are from. I'm building a virtual friend map. Here's how students learn mapping and global skills online.
Here are free printable outline maps as well. Use these to practice for the eNational Geographic National Geography Bee is heating up! Kids from all over are
honing their geography skills to hopefully qualify. Teachers and homeschool
parents, here arefree printable world maps for social studies lesson plans and geography bee activities. Eduplace has over
sixty free printable outline maps for use in social studies class and
geography lessons. Have students make free printable world maps for social
studies homework and to study for tests.
There
are about ten different world maps for geography lessons. There are also
outline maps from each continent, country and region. Use free printable
outline maps for world and local geography. There is one page with free
printable historical maps to help students understand how areas were labeled at
different times in history. US History also offers free printable world history maps from famous times and places.
All
free printable world maps are outline maps, meaning that they're drawn as
outlines of the country, continent or region. Free printable outline maps are
labeled with cities and major landforms. You can print the maps with labels for
students to use for practice and memorization. There are also printable maps
without labels. Use these for practice, study guides, quizzes and tests. With
or without labels, outline maps are identical so that there is no confusion
between the two. Check the homepage for more free printable geography lessons, social studies activities and American history
worksheets.
Assign
students to trace and color code world maps for social studies. Coloring and
tracing maps are great geography lessons for visual learners and special needs
students. Tracing maps helps students conceptualize size, proportion relative
area and distance. Teachers can laminate outline maps after students have
colored and labeled them. Student can cut out different regions, states,
countries or continents and reassemble pieces like a puzzle. Teachers can also
laminate blank world maps for practice tools. Label the back with answers for
self checking geography lessons.
Free printable colonial America Crafts and early American history printables
I'm
a teacher, homeschool veteran and American history reenactor. I teach a 1700s-era dame school(here's a model one at Thursley in Surrey,
England) at our local history museum "Feast of the Strawberry Moon"
encampment. Here are free printable
hands-on early American history lessons and historical crafts and free printable colonial America lesson plans.
Teach
about school history. Explain that education wasn't compulsory in the U.S. colonies till 1852 and then
only in Massachusetts. Kids might be taught in "dame schools." Then
only basics. Women weren't deemed capable of teaching boys. They taught
handicrafts, reading, writing and ciphering. Higher education was taught by men
to families who could afford it. Here are free printable history lessons and historical
crafts from Kidipede
linked to the main page for the whole collection.
Reading
in Colonial America. In 1647, reading, writing and Bible was
mandated, under the Old Deluder Satan Act. The New England Primer was used
starting in 1760. MacGuffey Readers came out in 1836. But that was the
colonies. The Michigan territory was settled by Catholic French. Education came
from missionaries, like Quebecois Ursuline nuns under Marie del Incarnation.
Catholic or Protestant, instruction was religious and moral. Here are free printable selections from the New England Primer. Teach kids the famous alphabet poem beginning:
"In Adam's fall." Here are morecolonial early
American history lessons.
Colonial
America ladder school. Teachers grouped students by age and ability. In math,
the first row, the youngest, worked on counting. The next row, basic addition.
The next, subtraction and so on. Spelling, reading, and handwriting would be
taught this way, too. D emonstrate this with students. If students are
agemates, assign some to play older kids and some younger. Arrange seats or
benches in rows (ladders). Here are sample free printable early American history
lessons like those teachers would
have used.
Make
homemade books. Vellum was a costly paper-like material made from animal
membrane. This could be scraped down and reused. Few could afford it. But they
would have saved and reused everything. Teach kids colonial America frugality.
Make books from paper grocery bags (similar to parchment or butcher paper). Sew
pages by punching holes and weaving with pieces of twine, rope, yarn or leather
cording. Have students write the New England Prime Bible poem and illustrate.
Here are other free printable colonial early
American history lessons and historical crafts.
Hands-on
math games: Give children pebbles for counting. Kids transfer one pebble from
hand to hand as they count. Demonstrate simple operations: addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division. I've used beans, but tell kids these
were food stuffs and wouldn't have been wasted. Shells, feathers, sticks would
likely have been used.
Writing in early American
history. Make slate pencils. Children in early American history used slates and
a stylus made of rocks. Gather rocks. Scratch on pieces of rock tile. Ask local
rock or tile dealers for samples. See which kinds write best. Make quill and
ink. Cut the end off the feather at an angle. Heat in flame to make a nib. Ink
would have been too expensHands-On Homemade Reading Crafts, Book Activities, Literature Games
March
is National Reading Month, starting with the NEA's "Read Across
America." Looking for ideas to inspire a life-long love of books? Here are reading response activities,
interactive ELA (English language arts) lessons, book-based crafts and literature response
lessons. Book activities are hands-on, multi-sensory, cross-curricular
Montessori-style. Use for interactive Readers Workshop, special education
students, reluctant readers, divergent learners and summer reading enrichment.
Reading
response journal. Have kids create personalized reading logs, respond to
literature and complete book-based activities. Check my blog Free Lesson Plans 4U and Free Printable Lesson Plans for tips to make literature response journals
and activity suggestions. Here are free printable reading activities and calendar tracker from PBS.
Homemade
books. Cut book covers from cereal box. Cover with scrap wrapping paper or
wallpaper. Cover with magazine picture collage. Decoupage by painting pictures
with watered-down school glue, front and back. Cut lined paper pages (for text)
and blank paper (for illustrations). Or use scrap paper and draw in text lines.
Book-based
promotional materials. Have kids play marketer for their favorite book or
author. Make posters, book covers advertising literature. Create 3-D
sculptures, models or dioramas based on books. Make book-based merchandise:
toys, snacks, food, games. In homeschooling, my 6th grade son designed a
"Hobbit Holes" cereal box designed on his favorite J.R.R. Tolkien
novel.
Book
diorama. Create scenes from books using recycled products. Arrange scene in
shoe box. Use small dolls (Lego, Fisher-Price, Little Tikes, Polly Pockets) as
characters.
Story-reading
audio/video presentations. Make audio recordings of kids reading books. Covert
to mp3 files for iPod. Videotape students reading and story-telling. Upload
videos to Youtube.
Story-telling.
Students read aloud to younger students. Students act out children's books and
present to younger or special needs classes. In high school, our oldest
daughter acted out a Shel Silverstein's poem "Noise Day" for special
education kids. They loved when she skateboarded across the stage!
Book-music
connections. Create music playlists based on books. Select metaphorical songs.
Kids will love choosing modern songs to represent story themes. Our family saw
a production of "Macbeth." The play was set to Lady Gaga's "Bad
Romance," "The Decemberists "This is Why We Fight" and
"Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" by Cage the Elephant. It really
resonated with students and helped them understand and relate to Shakespeare.For
more reading response activities, visit my blog Kidz Literature.
Free Printable Super Why Coloring Pages, Reading Worksheets, Games
Super WHY! is an animated PBS preschool learning cartoon for kids ages 3-6. This interactive television show teaches children language arts, reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary and word skills. Use these free printable Super Why lesson plans, games, crafts, coloring pages and worksheets at home, in day care, at school or in summer enrichment. I've included companion activities.
* There are 44 pages of free printable Super Why games , coloring and crafts on the website. It's laid out similar to Webkinz, but doesn't cost anything to play. The activities page features videos and music. Kids learn best when they can see and do. I homeschooled my kids and they learned phonics using simple, repetitive songs set to motion and dance. Encourage preschoolers to memorize songs, sing along, dance and play with Super Why characters. Scroll throught for the Free Printable Super Why Coloring Pages, Reading Worksheets, Games and check out free printable Super Why coloring pages on Parents magazine.
* There are 44 pages of free printable Super Why games , coloring and crafts on the website. It's laid out similar to Webkinz, but doesn't cost anything to play. The activities page features videos and music. Kids learn best when they can see and do. I homeschooled my kids and they learned phonics using simple, repetitive songs set to motion and dance. Encourage preschoolers to memorize songs, sing along, dance and play with Super Why characters. Scroll throught for the Free Printable Super Why Coloring Pages, Reading Worksheets, Games and check out free printable Super Why coloring pages on Parents magazine.
Free Printable Super Why Coloring Pages, Reading Worksheets, Games
Super WHY! is an animated PBS preschool learning cartoon for kids ages 3-6. This interactive television show teaches children language arts, reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary and word skills. Use these free printable Super Why lesson plans, games, crafts, coloring pages and worksheets at home, in day care, at school or in summer enrichment. I've included companion activities.
* There are 44 pages of free printable Super Why games , coloring and crafts on the website. It's laid out similar to Webkinz, but doesn't cost anything to play. The activities page features videos and music. Kids learn best when they can see and do. I homeschooled my kids and they learned phonics using simple, repetitive songs set to motion and dance. Encourage preschoolers to memorize songs, sing along, dance and play with Super Why characters. Scroll throught for the Free Printable Super Why Coloring Pages, Reading Worksheets, Games and check out free printable Super Why coloring pages on Parents magazine.
* There are 44 pages of free printable Super Why games , coloring and crafts on the website. It's laid out similar to Webkinz, but doesn't cost anything to play. The activities page features videos and music. Kids learn best when they can see and do. I homeschooled my kids and they learned phonics using simple, repetitive songs set to motion and dance. Encourage preschoolers to memorize songs, sing along, dance and play with Super Why characters. Scroll throught for the Free Printable Super Why Coloring Pages, Reading Worksheets, Games and check out free printable Super Why coloring pages on Parents magazine.
Free Printable Father's Day Crafts
What do you get for dad on Father's Day? Children may find themselves with little cash to buy something. Teachers, here's where we can help. Here are free printable Father's Day crafts and greeting cards that you can make. Homeschoolers use these at home. Easy, cheap and fun. Dad will love your creativity and thoughtfulness.
PBS
Sprout has free printable crafts for children. Print free Fathers Day cards from Chica, Caillou and Fireman Sam. There
are free printable cards and coloring pages featuring dad-themed activities like
sports, music and fishing. There are craft printables from: Angelina Ballerina,
Barney & Friends, Bob the Builder, Caillou, Chloe's Closet, Good Night
Show, Noodle and Doodle, Pajanimals, Sesame Street, Sprout Sharing Show, Sunny
Side Up Show, The Chica Show, The Wiggles, Thomas & Friends and Wibbly Pig.
The
Toymaker has free printable Fathers Day crafts in vintage themes. but they look vintage. You'll
love the hand-made greeting cards and crafts. The Toymaker has two free printable
Father's Day greeting cards that can be designed to say "to husband"
also. Click around the site for free printable paper crafts and toys.
Disney
Family has free printable
Father's Day crafts, greeting cards and games. There are coupons, gift certificates, a
keepsake box, photo frames and a crown for dad. Print crafts featuring Disney
characters: Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Pixar, Nemo and Marlin, King Triton,
Free Memorial Day Lesson Plans: Hands-On Cross-Curricular Lessons
Memorial Day,
celebrated the last Monday in May, doesn't just kick off summer holidays. Also
called Remembrance Day, the holiday honors veterans and those lost in
U.S. wars. It's also referred to as Decoration Day, when family commemorates loved ones lost by putting flowers on
graves. Teachers and homeschool parents, here are free printable lesson plans, worksheets, crafts and games
to teach kids about this national holiday.
*
Memorial Day Printables: About.com lists pages of free printable
patriotic holiday games,
word searches, crossword puzzles, writing activities and coloring pages. Why
not print the packet and use for homework. Or let kids complete it while
listening to stories on American war history. They could also watch one of
these Memorial Day movies. Check my blogs Film Femme Fatale for educational movies for Memorial Day.
*
Free Memorial Day Resource Unit: Homeschool Deals links to several free
resources for Memorial Day
printables and activities.
There are Medal of Honor and soldier coloring pages, history worksheets,
holiday games, reading and writing lessons and patriotic printable crafts.
There are poems and literature-based activities. When I was young, teachers
would have us write out seasonal poems in our best penmanship and create our
own illustrations. Then she'd mount poem and picture on construction paper.
This made a nice take-home project.
*
Remembrance Day Printables: Free printable Memorial Day activities are suitable for 4th of July and Veterans
Day, DL-TK offers pages of holiday printables. There are greeting cards,
coloring pages and crafts. My favorite is a printable mini-book on Lieutenant
Colonel John McCrae's stirring World War 1 poem "In Flanders Field."
The poem is the basis for the poppies worn on Memorial Day. Print the booklet
in black and white so students can color images.
*
Patriotic Coloring Pages at Raising our Kids has dozens of free printable American history coloring pages featuring, military, national memorials
and landmarks, soldiers, historic images, national liberty symbols and more.
Have students use these as greeting cards. Assign them to color images and write
a message on the back. Mail or better still hand-deliver to seniors in nursing
homes. Memorial Day is particularly poignant for elderly who remember wars and
lost so many loved ones.
For
more holiday printables visit my blog Free Printable Holiday. For more free printable lesson plans visit my blog of that name.
Free Printable Memorial Day Worksheets, Crafts, Games
Teachers and homeschool parents, here are free printable lesson plans, worksheets, crafts and games
to teach kids about this national holiday.
*
Memorial Day Printables: About.com lists pages of free printable
patriotic holiday games,
word searches, crossword puzzles, writing activities and coloring pages. Why
not print the packet and use for homework. Or let kids complete it while
listening to stories on American war history. They could also watch one of
these Memorial Day movies. Check my blogs Film Femme Fatale for educational movies for Memorial Day.
*
Free Memorial Day Resource Unit: Homeschool Deals links to several free
resources for Memorial Day
printables and activities.
There are Medal of Honor and soldier coloring pages, history worksheets,
holiday games, reading and writing lessons and patriotic printable crafts.
There are poems and literature-based activities. When I was young, teachers
would have us write out seasonal poems in our best penmanship and create our
own illustrations. Then she'd mount poem and picture on construction paper.
This made a nice take-home project.
*
Remembrance Day Printables: Free printable Memorial Day activities are suitable for 4th of July and Veterans
Day, DL-TK offers pages of holiday printables. There are greeting cards,
coloring pages and crafts. My favorite is a printable mini-book on Lieutenant
Colonel John McCrae's stirring World War 1 poem "In Flanders Field."
The poem is the basis for the poppies worn on Memorial Day. Print the booklet
in black and white so students can color images.
*
Patriotic Coloring Pages at Raising our Kids has dozens of free printable American history coloring pages featuring, military, national memorials
and landmarks, soldiers, historic images, national liberty symbols and more.
Have students use these as greeting cards. Assign them to color images and write
a message on the back. Mail or better still hand-deliver to seniors in nursing
homes. Memorial Day is particularly poignant for elderly who remember wars and
lost so many loved ones.
For
more holiday printables visit my blog Free Printable Holiday. For more free printable lesson plans visit my blog of that name.
Free Printable May Day, Labor History, Union Organizing Lesson Plans
Spring
is a poignant time in labor history. March 25, 1911 remembers 146 workers, mostly women, lost in the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. April 16 mourns Ireland's Easter Rising of
slain Feinians. April 28 marks Workers' Memorial Day, on which the organized labor movement pays tribute to the fallen in workplace accidents
or in organized labor struggles. May 1 is May Day,
honoring International Workers' Day. May 4 commemorates casualties at Chicago's
Haymarket riot at a 1886 labor rally. May 19, 1920 is a day when the
organized labor movement grieves the Matewan and Mingo County
massacre of coal miners. On May 26, 1937 those who would from unions were assaulted at
Ford's River Rouge plant "Battle of the Overpass" in Detroit.
Organized
labor history is taught as part of American history, but there is no American
(or world) history without labor history. Unions, collective bargaining--the
fight for workers' rights impact every industry, occupation and person.
Teachers and homeschoolers, you can educate students about unions with these
free printable May Day and labor history lesson plans. These links include
websites, activities, worksheets, movies and books on the organized labor
movement.
The
American Labor Studies Center offers a gamut of free printable organized labor movement lesson
plans. It covers history,
events, strikes, lockouts, workplace injuries, child labor, working conditions,
collective bargaining, 8-hour workday, sweatshops, slavery, organizing,
indentured servitude, socialism and labor, women's rights, African American
labor issues, minority discrimination concerns, ULP (unfair labor practices).
Lessons cover the Triangle fire (the worst workplace accident in history), West
Virginia labor, Pullman Strike (1894), Lawrence Textile Strike (1913), Lowell
Strike, Paterson Silk Strike, agriculture strikes and other events. Get free
printable union labor worksheets, fill-ins, puzzles and study guides. There are
links to films and books.
Modern Heroes of the
American Labor Movement explores
famous labor leaders: Noam Chomsky, Joe Hill, "Big Bill" Haywood,
Pete Seeger, Jimmy Hoffa, Caesar Chavez, the Wisconsin 14 and others from
the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), AFL-CIO, Teamsters and more. Here's another
list ofbiographies of union
organizers. This site has
biographies of women labor leaders including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Mary
Harris "Mother"
Jones and more. To use
in lessons, print the list of names on one side and short bios on the other
side (mixed up). Students match person with details. Print photos and pin to a
map at places they are associated with. Or make a time line along the wall.
Plot images in history.
The
National Endowment for the Humanities offers two companion lessons in its
series The Industrial Age in America. "Sweatshops, Steel
Mills and Factories"
and "Robber Barons and
Captains of Industry"
define the problems faced by workers in labor history and the reasons for the
organized labor movement. Use the worksheets and activities with middle school
and high school students.
The
Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University
in Detroit maintains the largest organized labor history archive in the U.S. It
has an impressive collection of images in physical exhibits and digital
archives on The Labor Movement and Organizations. It also maintains a labor history document base. The library is named for the leaders of UAW
(United Auto Workers) and CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) unions
Walter Reuther who was one of several injured at Ford's Rouge factory
"Battle of the Overpass" in Detroit.
The United Farm Workers is the union begun by Cesar Chavez that tends to itinerant
and agricultural labor issues. Along with labor movement, the UFW educates
people about food safety, immigration, deportation, earth and green
initiatives, pesticides and more. An important piece is the youth activism
page. UFW seeks to take union and agricultural awareness beyond the classroom
walls and into real life.
The Wobblies is a documentary about the IWW (the
Industrial Workers of the World). The IWW is a world-wide union that seeks to
organize all workers regardless of occupation. This authoritative video is
engaging and covers a broad labor perspective. It helps students understand the
differences between business, trade and collective unions. The IWW honors May
Day as the real Labor Day.
In
honor of May Day, here's a quote from the Albert Shanker
Institute. "Imagine opening
a high school U.S. history textbook and finding no mention of-or at most a
passing sentence about-Valley Forge, the Missouri Compromise...Benjamin
Franklin, Lewis and Clark. Imagine if these key events and people just
disappeared as if they'd never existed...That is what has happened in history
textbooks when it comes to labor's part in the American story." Use these
lesson plans to keep the May Day stories and message alive.
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