Looking for non-spooky Halloween lesson plans? How about a look at the origins, history, and traditions of Halloween! This is a great cross-curricular way to incorporate social studies into your celebration. Your students may go trick or treating, carve pumpkins, and dress up in costume, but do they know how these traditions started? Halloween did not originate in America, yet we celebrate it annually. I created a fun and informational slide show that covers the origins of th

When studying Ancient Egypt I believe that it is important to recognize that the pharaohs and queens were instrumental in nearly every aspect of life, religion, architecture, economics, and more. When I taught Ancient Egypt to middle school students, I decided that it only made sense to learn about this subject through the lens of the pharaohs and queens. I started with an introduction lesson on Ancient Egypt with a look at civilian life, and geography . We looked at the imp

My first year of teaching, the very thought of communicating with parents gave me nightmares. As an introvert, this was something I just...

Do you have a class that will not.stop.talking? You've probably tried the "I'm just waiting" trick and literally waited, and waited, and...

I recognized that my students really didn't have a solid understanding of the difference between continents, countries, and cities and that placing locations geographically on a map was a struggle. I was brainstorming ways for my students to gain a broad overview of all the countries of the world, but knew that I had limited class time (don't we all!). That's when I came up with this idea for a daily bell ringer. I also knew that using the internet appropriately for research