Teacher Appreciation & Idea Blog -

Kid Inventors’ Day

January 17^th is marked on the calendar as “Kid Inventors’ Day.” The ingenuity of kids can be astounding. Not scared to think outside the box, historically kids were a leading force behind many inventions still used today. Through STEM education in schools, kids today continue to change the world with their innovative minds. Here’s a list of 5 inventions, some old and some new, made by kids:

Toy Truck: First patented by 6-year old Robert Patch in June 1963 and a favorite toy of kids everywhere today, the first play vehicle could be taken apart, rebuilt, and transformed into other types of vehicles.
Ear Muffs: In the winter of1873, 15-year old Chester Greenwood was out trying to enjoy a new pair of ice skates. Frustrated that his ears were getting so cold, the teenager tried tying a scarf around his head but found that was too itchy and bulky. His solution: Chester bent wire into two round loops and asked his grandmother to sew fur on them. Connected by a steel headband, Ear Muffs were invented.
Braille: After an eye injury at the age of 3 caused sight loss in one eye and a disease at age 5 left him completely blind, French-born Louis Braille invented his own reading and writing method using raised dots arranged in specific patterns at the age of 15. Although not a method widely used upon it’s initial invention, after Braille’s death at the age of 43, the sophisticated method for communication for the blind was widely adopted and is still used today.
Smart Wheel: “Safe Motorist Alert for Restricting Texting, Tweeting, Typing, Touch screens, and Touch ups” was invented by a group of teenagers some even too young to drive themselves with the intention to help curb distracted driving. The Smart Wheel is a steering wheel cover that contains censors and LED lights that determines when a driver no longer has two hands on the wheel.
Sign Language Translator: After watching a translator verbalize a fast food order for a group of dead people in 2002, Ryan Patterson, then 17, invented a glove that contained sensors to translate the motions of American Sign Language on a digital display. Later added was an audio feature.

Jan 17, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

100th Day of School

A hundred days of school is a milestone worth celebrating in a student’s education, particularly at the younger grade levels. Students new to the school arena by now have successfully gotten through the rough adjustment period of being out of the comfort of their home with their parents and in an environment where rules and expectations are most likely different. A hundred days earlier, students embarked on a learning adventure and have made it to the halfway point enlightened and eager to continue learning. Here are a few ways to celebrate learning achievements on the 100^th Day of School:

100-Day Edible Necklaces: Have students count out 100 pieces of ring or donut shaped cereal like Fruit Loops, Cheerios, etc. With a being of yarn or bakers twine, string the cereal together. For a little touch of added sweetness, use candy such as Gummy Life Savers. Ask students to create a pattern using the cereal and candy. Suggestion, limit the candy to 10 pieces per student otherwise you’ll be peeling kids off the wall!
100 Years Ago Essay: Ask students to research what life was like 100 years ago. Topics could include the President and moments in political history during that year, inventions, fashion, methods of transportation, etc. For this assignment, get as general or specific as you would like. Have students do a comparative essay of “Then and Now.” If you want to make the assignment more personal to students, ask them to interview the oldest person in their family. While not everyone has someone in his or her family that has lived to 100+ but it is likely everyone has someone that has heard a story from something that occurred 100 years ago from their elder. For example, a student’s Grandparent may be able to share stories they heard while growing up from their own parents. The history in the stories will fascinate students.
Word Scramble: Ask students to make as many words as they can out of the letters used in “One Hundred Days.” Award a prize to the student who makes the most.
“If I had $100…”: Ask students to finish the sentence “If I had $100…” Have them draw an image depicting what they would do with the money and create a bulletin board display using their answers and drawings.

Jan 09, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

Don’t Be Tricked…Drugs are No Treat!

Keeping kids healthy and safe is our top priority. That’s why we encourage you to combine the drug prevention messages stressed during Red Ribbon Week with Halloween fun and safety. Here are lists of drug prevention and Halloween safety tips for kids to keep in mind when out Trick or Treating and every day to lives from becoming ‘frightful!’

Don’t Get Caught in the Web of Drugs!

If someone offers you drugs, tell them to “bug off!”
Help others be drug free by telling them how scary drugs are.
Be Yourself. You’re great the way you are!
Choose Your Friends. Real friends won’t ask you to do things that are bad for you.
Stay away from all drugs, including medicines. Only your parents or doctor should give you medicine when you’re sick.
Ask for help. When you have a problem, talk to someone you can trust.

Stay Safe on Halloween:

Don’t get stuck in dangerous places. Visit only well-lit areas and homes of people you know.
Use a flashlight so you won’t be surprised by things that creep and crawl in the night.
Make sure your costume lets you see and hear perfectly. You need to be able to watch and listen for cars.
Wear brightly-colored clothing. Put glow-in-the-dark patches or strips on your costume so drivers can see you.
Have your parent or guardian check your candy before you bit into it.
Make this and every Halloween a safe and happy one!

Oct 10, 2013 | 0 comments | View Post

On the Rise: Prescription Drug Use Among Kids

Prescription drug use kills more children than car accidents. Take a minute to let that sink in. It’s a really hard thought to swallow, isn’t it? As educators, that is why it is so important that we celebrate Red Ribbon Week – to promote a clean, drug-free lifestyle among students. The ever growing, extremely alarming statistics of drug use in America’s youth can be brought to a halt with your help. By highlighting the dangers of prescription drug abuse in the formative years, more students will have the knowledge base to make smart choices; to skip the “rite of passage” experimental phase as many youth see it that could eventually take hold as a full blown addiction.

In the past year, non-medical use of prescription drugs in youth between the ages of 12 and 17 years-old was at 7 percent. A main reason it has become so prevalent is because prescriptions drugs can be easily attained even at a young age. They are finding the very drugs that can kill them right in their own medicine cabinet. Without understanding the dangers of taking prescription drugs when they are not prescribed to them, kids will misuse what they can get their hands on to give them the high they are seeking. Drugs like amphetamines, sedatives, ADHD medication such as Ritalin, and even over-the-counter cough medications are some of the top drugs being abused by our youth.

Our youth need us to help open their eyes to the imminent danger they put themselves in when they participate in recreational prescription drug use. Their future is bright if there are no drugs in sight. This year as you celebrate Red Ribbon Week, remember you could be making all the difference in the future of your students.

*Save 10% on Red Ribbon Week incentives and educational resources with promo code PLEDGE10

Oct 04, 2013 | 0 comments | View Post

Guest Blog: Kathryn Everest of the Fort Worth Independent School District on Disrespect

“Disrespect: it’s not okay!” is about the most exciting thing on the planet for us right now. This is an initiative that allows kids control and is thriving! Kids thriving, excited about their world is the greatest reward for an educator.

When adults turn kids loose to choose activities that promote respect, civility and integrity – they will be amazed. Last year our INOK projects included a high school campus creating a day of “Hunger Games” designed as a fun day of games and activities between classes that raised enough money to feed 200 orphans for one year. They are planning on doing it again “Catching Fire”. Why? “Hunger: it’s not okay!” Another campus teamed with AT&T to support “It Can Wait” because “texting and driving: it’s not okay!”

Students are teaming up with Kelly Clarkson and State Farm Insurance and the Celebrate My Drive campaign because “reckless driving: it’s not okay!”

Kids learn so much when they are the beginning and the end. They identify issues requiring them to listen to each other. They have to evaluate the data of student needs assessments. They are in control. They choose what matters to them, design a project and then they can be the change they want to see in the world.

Disrespect: it’s not okay is the underpinning of everything. The concept holds up a student code of conduct, classroom rules, every discipline interaction – it is genius because it is simple, easy to follow and consistent. It is genius because it is the work of kids!!!

This year our students have been asked by the City of Fort Worth do to the Diversity Forum for all city employees. The students plan to encourage adults to create workplace environments that foster collegiality, creativity and productivity by embracing each other – and saying “disrespect: it’s not okay!” Different is not better or worse – it’s just different!” We all matter!

Oct 01, 2013 | 1 comment | View Post

Avaste Ye! Learn like a Pirate

Arr Mateys! It’s National ‘Talk like a Pirate’ Day! In honor of the engaging and quite humorous day, we wanted to provide you with a couple of classroom activities to put kids in the pirate spirit of looting ‘treasure’ for their brains …otherwise known as learning.

Elementary/Middle School:

Transform a Poem, Lyric, or Riddle to Have ‘Pirattitude!’

Give students a list of commonly used pirate words and phrases along with their definition. Review them together so students know the audio translation of each word.
Have Students choose their favorite nursery rhyme, song lyric, or poem to give ‘pirattitude’ by adding in and replacing some of the original words with pirate terms. Student should consider which part of speech the word is and use it appropriately.
Finally, have students present their work with ‘pirattitude’ to the class. Encourage them to read it with as much pirate gusto as they can muster up, being as loud and proud as pirates can be!

Middle School/High School:

X Marks the Spot! Teaching maps, landmarks, and legends

In good pirate tradition and their sea faring ways, teach students about maps. How to read them, latitude and longitude, tools located on a map such as the compass, and the geography of the ocean and land.
Create a lesson based on different landmarks discussed in pirate legends. Discuss things like the real location of Treasure Island and the history behind its buried treasure. Also, highlight the area of the Caribbean, a place commonly associated with pirates. Give students a comparison of what life was like for a pirate then and what it is like for the people of the Caribbean now.

Other Quick and Easy Activities for Varying Grade Levels:

Color your own pirate ship. On the mast have students fill in each sail with a positive character trait as antithesis to the commonly thought character traits of a pirate. Use this coloring page printout.
Pirates had to find their way at sea but sometimes ran into trouble if they crossed the path of enemy pirates when they sailed in haste without a plan. Have students complete this maze with a focus on thinking before they move so they don’t come to impassable waters.
Lastly, every student loves to walk into class and discover they are watching a movie. Give yourself a break and watch the blockbuster movie, Pirates of the Caribbean starring Johnny Depp. As non-historical as parts may be, there is some intrinsic value to the overall legend of the pirates. (Note: This is only recommended for older and more mature students as the language and content at parts could be questionable.)

Sep 19, 2013 | 0 comments | View Post

Enter our 1st Annual Welcome Back to School Bulletin Board Contest

Aug 27, 2013 | 0 comments | View Post

Fun Ways to Increase Parental Involvement in the Classroom

For most teachers out there, if it hasn’t already, the summer is coming to a close and that means it’s time to go back to school. You’ve probably been planning what your Welcome Back bulletin board will look like, the way your classroom will be set up, and what you will do with students that first day back but have you given much thought to the parents?

Meet the Teacher night is often within the first week or two back to school. This is the time you get to express the standards you will hold your students to but also importantly, this the time to engage parents in the classroom that will continue throughout the year.

There is a huge importance to parental involvement that often goes understated. Meet the Teacher night is the perfect opportunity to highlight to parents that learning isn’t something that takes place strictly outside of them. Their involvement is one of the most important components of student achievement and success.

Here is a list of 10 events and activities that will encourage parental involvement in the classroom:

Host a “Discovery Night” where parents, students, and teachers learn together, in an interactive way, about a topic that is of universal interest
Hold a “Family Reading Night”
Have PTA meetings that include students so parents and students can learn together
Organize book sales and other fundraisers
Arrange an “International Day” where students and parents showcase their culture through food, facts, and/or dress together
Offer parent mentoring programs to students including events like career days
Organize a “Community Day” which families volunteer their time together
Have a “Parent of the Month Club” as well as a “Student of the Month” club to recognize those parents and students who contribute to the school community
Host parent workshops on how to support student learning in specific subject areas
Invite parents into the classroom to read to classes, be guest speakers, chaperone field trips, and work with students to help plan extracurricular and curriculum-related events.

Meet the Teacher night is not only a great night to stress the important role that parents must take in the class but it’s an opportunity to have parents sign up and commit to events lined up for the early fall. Have sign-up sheets laid out on a table or desks that give parents a place to pencil in their choice ways of participating. Of course, there needs to be an understanding that while parents are signing up, they cannot foresee the future. Situations may arise whether it involves work, another child home sick, or some other unforeseeable event that the parent cannot attend as they would like. Flexibility and understanding needs to be a part of parental involvement. Make sure you are covered for each event by requesting a couple more parents than you will actually need. The possibilities are endless to get parents involved and if you haven’t done many integrated activities with parents and students in the past, you will see how truly enjoyable and educationally rewarding they can be!

Aug 20, 2013 | 0 comments | View Post

Celebrate Black History Month

Black History Month is a time to remember the people and the events that shaped the present-day situation of African-Americans. It is a situation filled both with hope and lamentation for the difficulties experienced on the roads into and out of slavery. If you intend to speak about Black History Month or teach a class to young children about the subject, we recommend these items to help illuminate the events and people that changed history.

People

• Frederick Douglass – His story of life as a slave and his emergence from slavery was one of the first to move American hearts prior to the Civil War.

• Sojourner Truth – She escaped slavery and told her story to amazed audiences in the North.

• Harriet Tubman – After escaping slavery, she went back and brought others to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

• Nat Turner – His slave rebellion was one of the sparks that brought on the conflagration of the United States Civil War.

• Rosa Parks – Her refusal to take the back seat helped to bring about the culmination of the Civil Rights movement.

• Martin Luther King – He was pastor to his local flock before he became a shepherd for all African-Americans in the 1960s.

• Barack Obama – As the nation’s first black president, he sailed into a second term and proved that improved racial harmony was here to stay.

Events

• 1619 – This year, the first Africans were brought into slavery in the region of North America that would eventually become the United States of America.

• The Boston Massacre – As the American Revolution neared, tempers flared against the British, and some African-Americans, such as Crispus Attucks, stood for independence even in a country that enslaved their brothers and sisters.

• The Civil War – African-Americans fought for and received their freedom in this bloody struggle between a free society and a slave society.

• The Civil Rights Movement – It took nearly a century after the war for African-Americans to make moves against the headwinds of racism in the United States.

Each of these themes can be developed fruitfully. Black History Month is an opportunity to learn from our past to create a brighter future. This February, let our products help you deliver the inspiring messages of Black History Month.

Dec 19, 2012 | 0 comments | View Post

National Parental Involvement Day

From Tiger moms, to helicopter parenting, to the idea “it takes a village,” no matter the parenting style or ideology, parents play the biggest role in their child’s life. Far spread across every phase and area in life, parental influence will impact physical, emotional, and intellectual development. As teachers, it should be no surprise to you that an education fosters the same kind of development in kids. That is why there are so many reasons why it is important that parents be involved in their child’s education.

Parental involvement in a child’s education both in and out of the classroom offers additional support for the good that you as teachers do for your students and their children. For National Parental Involvement Day here is a list of a few ways a parent can get involved in the classroom:

For Younger Students

Be a class reader: Story time for younger students is one of the most looked forward to time of day. Bring in a parent to read to students whether as a group or with select students who may be struggling. Parents reading in the classroom will reinforce reading skills and encourage students to read at home with their own parent.
Be a parent tutor: If available in the afternoons, even if it’s not their own child, encourage parents to spend some time tutoring students in the library for a little extra hands-on help. While most teachers offer extra help themself, sometimes it takes a different perspective for students to understand a lesson.
Work as a “specials class” helper: If a parent has a particular interest in music or art, or is a soccer coach looking to help during that unit in gym class, allowing parents to come in to help in these classes not only assists the teacher but also shows the students that what they are learning can turn into a hobby and passion to last a lifetime. It’s more of a life lesson than an immediate pencil sketching or lesson on the recorder.
Volunteer as class parent: Generally, class parents can be as involved as their schedules make them available to be. Whether it is planning classroom parties, chaperoning field trips, organizing special classroom events like speaker presentations, plays, or book fairs, parents can help bring additional learning resources into the classroom.

For Older Students

Lead a Special Interest Group: Teachers are spread thin enough with most having over 20 students per class and having lesson plans to create and papers to grade with fewer resources than in the past. Parents taking on the after school extracurricular activities such as the drama club, SADD program, or science club could keep many of these beneficial programs running in the schools.
Sign up for Career Day: Parents coming into the classroom to share with students about their career broadens student’s horizons beyond what their mom and dad, aunt and uncle do for a living. Opening their eyes to different careers they may not have otherwise been exposed to offers the endless possibilities for a successful career in something they have a real interest in. A parent sharing with students how they got to be successful at what they do is reinforcement and inspiration for the hard work a student needs to put in to be successful too.
Coach a sports team: Athleticism is a talent but also a critical part to physical and emotional health. Parents with the ability to lead a sports team can help students develop their own skills and offers a safe healthy environment for them to thrive in.
Work as a library assistant: Similar to career day, parents can help students discover and learn about their interests by helping them do research on areas that spark an interest.

How do you get parents involved in their student’s education at home AND in the classroom? Share your ideas with us on our Facebook page or leave a comment below.

Nov 15, 2012 | 0 comments | View Post

Teacher Appreciation & Idea Blog

Kid Inventors’ Day

100th Day of School

Don’t Be Tricked…Drugs are No Treat!

On the Rise: Prescription Drug Use Among Kids

Guest Blog: Kathryn Everest of the Fort Worth Independent School District on Disrespect

Avaste Ye! Learn like a Pirate

Enter our 1st Annual Welcome Back to School Bulletin Board Contest

Fun Ways to Increase Parental Involvement in the Classroom

Celebrate Black History Month

National Parental Involvement Day

Parental involvement in a child’s education both in and out of the classroom offers additional support for the good that you as teachers do for your students and their children. For National Parental Involvement Day here is a list of a few ways a parent can get involved in the classroom:

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