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Whether you’re looking for a part-time job or a full-time position, you know there’s one thing you need to help you make it past the first cut – a stand-out resume. Even fast food restaurants have begun to request resumes for part-time positions. No matter the job you’re applying for, a resume is a way for you to make a good first impression. Even a tiny mistake could cost you the job. Whether you’re writing your first resume or looking to spruce up an existing resume, we’ve come up with some tips to help yours represent you well.

1. Keep it Short

Potential employers don’t have time to read through tons of lengthy resumes. Keep your resume to one or two pages. If it is two pages, print your resume on a double-sided piece of paper rather than stapling it together. Keeping your resume short means you may have to remove that detail about being president of the drama club in high school or highlight only your most relevant job experience. It doesn’t mean that you should decrease the font size so you can fit everything. A potential employer shouldn’t need a magnifying glass to read your resume.

2. Make it Skimmable

Many employers aren’t going to read every single word you include in your resume. Instead, they’ll skim your resume for relevant information. Use headers to highlight each section and put the most relevant sections near the top. Most resumes will start with an objective and move straight into job history. However, if you’re applying for a job that values education or volunteer experience more than job history, put those sections first. Within each section, use bullet points rather than paragraphs to add pertinent information. If your resume is more than one page, the most important information should all appear on page one.

3. Customize your Resume

While it may not be practical to create a new resume for each position you apply for, you should make sure your resume fits the job you want. You may want to have a few versions of your resume to fit different positions. For example, you may have one resume for part-time employment in a retail or fast-food establishment and another resume for managerial positions.

4. Use Action Words

Fill your resume with action words. Instead of saying “was responsible for” or “worked to provide,” start your main points with verbs that show an action. For example, “Developed a 30-second commercial that aired on 10 networks” or “Compiled a 20-page research report.”

5. Incorporate Buzzwords

If you’re applying for a job in a particular industry, try to incorporate buzzwords into your resume. For example, instead of saying “rang up customers at the register,” you might say, “skilled at using a POS system.” Make sure you know what the buzzwords mean and that you use them correctly. Otherwise, your resume won’t be taken seriously.

6. Include Specific Details

Rather than saying things like “managed funds” or “headed a team,” try to include specific details. For example, “managed a $10,000 account with 100% customer satisfaction” or “headed a team of 25 people and improved productivity by 20%.” These small details provide a clearer picture of what you actually did.

7. Highlight Your Accomplishments

When you’re describing your position at a past company, think beyond your job description and focus more on what you accomplished in the position. What did that company lose when you left? For example, were you just someone who filed papers or someone who improved office efficiency and organization?

8. Add Awards and Accolades

You don’t need to include every award you won in high school or college, but if there are awards you’ve won that are relevant to the job position, include them on your resume. For example, if you were named Miss Congeniality, you may want to include that on a resume for a customer service position. You can also include awards for volunteer service or honors such as becoming an Eagle Scout.

9. Tell the Truth

This point shouldn’t have to be made, but many people embellish the truth on their resumes. Potential employers can often see through those embellishments. If they can’t and you land an interview, any lies you told on your resume are likely to come out very quickly. If they do, you can guarantee you won’t get the job. It’s okay to make yourself look good, but don’t do it at the expense of being truthful.

10. Leave Off Negative Experiences

There’s no rule that says you have to include every job you’ve ever held or every experience you’ve ever completed on your resume. If you have a job you’d like to forget or a degree you didn’t finish, then leave it off. Your resume is designed to highlight your best self, so it pays to be selective in what you choose to include. By the same token, if a job you held isn’t relevant to the position you’re seeking, don’t include it. The only exception is if you don’t have any other job history.

11. Include Unique Details

If you have room, you can use space on your resume to include a little more about your interests and hobbies. The more quirky those interests and hobbies, the more likely you are to gain someone’s attention. For example, instead of “listening to music” as a hobby, you may want to say you’re a “connoisseur of modern hip-hop.” As with everything, make sure the interests and hobbies will not turn off a potential employer in your field. You should also be sure not to include anything illegal or in poor taste on your resume. For example, “attending frat parties” is not an interest that will impress a potential employer, although something like “participating in service activities with Sigma Chi” might.

12. Double-Check Your Contact Information

If a potential employer likes your resume and wants to contact you for an interview, they’ll look for a phone number or e-mail address. If even one number or letter is incorrect, you could miss the opportunity. Verify all of your personal information, from the spelling of your name to the area code in your phone number, to make sure the employer can reach you to request an interview.

13. Look for Typos and Grammatical Mistakes

Employers want to see a resume that is free from errors. Read over your resume multiple times to look for errors. Try reading it aloud to catch even more errors. Then ask a couple friends or family members to look over your resume too. The more eyes you have look at your resume, the more likely you are to catch any errors hiding within.

14. Tighten it Up

Once you’ve been over your resume, look for ways to tighten it up. For example, did you write in full sentences? Remove words like I, we, am, was, and that. Instead, use short, focused statements to get your point across. Make sure you weren’t redundant too. Instead of saying something multiple times, say it powerfully the first time.

15. Make it Clean

When you give your resume to a potential employer, you want it to look nice. If the ink is smeared or words run together, it’s likely to fall to the bottom of the stack. Print your resume on high-quality paper and make sure it’s free from wrinkles and other negative issues before handing it to an employer. Buy a nice folder to carry your resume in when you go to drop it off to an employer and give your resume a recognizable file name if you’re e-mailing it. Instead of resume.doc try LastNameFirstInitialResume.doc.

16. Align it with Online Profiles

Take some time to align your resume with your online profiles. Your LinkedIn profile or profile on another job search or networking site should not be an exact copy of your resume. Instead, consider your resume the overview and those sites as an opportunity to enhance your resume by adding more specific or colorful details and experience. An employer who looks up your LinkedIn profile after reading your resume will want to see something different in the hope of learning more about you. At the same time, your online profiles should not contradict any of the information on your resume.

Need some help writing your resume? Check out Help Teaching’s resume writing worksheets found in the Life Skills section of our website.

Between work, school, and extra-curricular activities, family time is at a premium. Take advantage of your free time on the weekend or during school vacations and try one of these science activities. Spend some quality time as a family, learn some science, and even get a bit messy!

Each activity focuses on a key scientific concept, yet can be done with basic materials. Encourage scientific thinking by asking your child to predict what will happen before doing each activity. Focus on the reasoning behind the prediction, rather than accuracy. Remember, the scientific method is a process designed to be repeated. If the prediction is not correct, that is fine, it’s science!

Pre-K – Grade 2

Young children as natural scientists. They continually experiment with the world around them. Has your toddler ever thrown food from her highchair? Perhaps she was really experimenting with gravity and projectile motion!

http://www.science-sparks.com/

Fun with Shadows – Get creative with your child while exploring light and shadows. Extend this activity by making puppets from translucent materials (see what is available in your recycling bin) and comparing their shadows with those of the opaque cardboard puppets.

Sink or Float with Nature – Although he most likely hasn’t studied density or buoyancy, your child probably has a good grasp of what floats on water. Don’t worry if it’s winter, gathering materials for this activity doubles as a good excuse to bundle up and head outside for a while. A large mixing bowl set on a towel will work well if weather requires that the experiment takes place indoors.

Walking on Eggs – The potential for an activity to go spectacularly wrong and end in a slimy mess always adds excitement to a science project. Thanks to physics, cathedral arches hold up and so should raw eggs under your child’s feet. Once your child masters the art of walking on eggshells ask her to predict the minimum number of eggs that will hold her weight. Of course she will have to try it! As an extension, this may turn into an assignment on finding the best household cleaner.

Grades 3 – 5

Older elementary students have been introduced to a wide range of science concepts. They have begun to study the various branches of science and are ready to extend learning by developing scientific questions. Challenge your student to ask follow-up questions after an activity, then design a way to test one of the question.

https://sciencebob.com/

Coloring Flowers – Flowers brighten a home no matter the season, so why not color them your child’s favorite colors? This activity demonstrates how water is pulled through plants by transpiration. White flowers work well for this, but celery acts as a good substitute. Ask your child what will happen if the stem is split and placed in different colors. Then, try it with her!

Balloon in a Bottle – Air is all around us, but understanding that this invisible gas takes up space is not necessarily intuitive. Ask your child to predict what will happen before trying to inflate the balloon each time. Be sure to use latex free balloons if any household members have latex allergies.

Discovering Sound Matters – The idea that sound requires matter can be a difficult one to grasp.  Take the opportunity to learn about sound as a vibration through matter by demonstrating the abstract with this simple and fun project.

Diaper Science – Who doesn’t love a little potty science? Disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrylate, a superabsorbent polymer. This property allows diapers to absorb and hold liquids. Maybe your scientist wants to experiment further by testing how well the diaper absorbs different household liquids.

Middle and High School

At this level, science students have a solid understanding of the scientific method and have conducted experiments at school. Perhaps they have even designed and presented experiments at science fairs. Ask your child to explain the science to you as you work on these activities together. You may be amazed by what she teaches you!

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/

Strawberry DNA – This activity is a great introduction to DNA for students studying life science or biology. It takes an abstract concept and yields a visible result. High school students can follow-up this activity with our self-paced lesson on DNA Structure and Replication.

Build a Roller Coaster – What tween or teen doesn’t love a roller coaster? Okay, this one is a bit smaller than the ones they are used to riding on, but it is a good model for discussing transformations of mechanical energy. Add on tubes and have an all ages, family-friendly competition to see who can construct the longest track that works or the one with the tallest uphill or most loops.

Mini Snow Machine – Combine the studies of electronics and fluid dynamics by simulating a blizzard with this mini snow machine activity. See if your student can draw a electrical schematic diagram for the machine. Then, try changing the sizes of the pieces of paper to see if it impacts the blizzard.

Cleaning the Air – If your student is interested by environmental science or enjoys tinkering and building, this is the project to try. Use the engineering design process to create, build, and test an air filter to capture particulate matter. Redesign is a key step of the engineering process and should be in this activity as well!

Visit Help Teaching and utilize our growing collection of K – 12 science printables and lessons. Read The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Science for our favorite science resources for teachers and homeschooling parents.

Many teachers struggle with motivating students to do more independent reading, especially when that reading happens at home. Whether students don’t like reading, or simply would prefer to play their favorite video game, it’s a head scratcher for even the savviest teachers.

However, you don’t have to take “Ehh, I just don’t feel like reading” for an answer any more. Use these strategies to motivate students to read more at home.

Make the Process More Fun

Students love video games and social media because they’re fun—and there’s no reason why reading shouldn’t be fun too. Use these websites to motivate students to read more at home without you pushing them to do so.

Bookopolis: The best book recommendations for students come from their peers. The website Bookopolis aims to give students the recommendations they’re looking for, with thousands of student-written book reviews. With the whole class signed up, students can recommend specific books to their friends and browse pre-made book lists to discover their next favorite read.

Whooo’s Reading: This online reading log platform motivates students to read more with extrinsic rewards. Students earn Wisdom Coins for logging reading, answering open-ended, reading comprehension questions and interacting with peers in their private newsfeed. These coins are used to “buy” accessories for their Owlvatar—students want to have the coolest Owlvatar in their class, motivating them to read and log more. You’ll be surprised how quickly these extrinsic rewards help develop an intrinsic desire to read more.
Storyline Online: This website provides audio books, with a twist. Rather than simply listening to the book, students watch a video of the person reading the book, so they see the actual book while listening. Some stories are even read by famous people, like Betty White.

Give Them a Greater Purpose

If students know they’re reading for a greater purpose—like helping impoverished children—they may want to read more. Here are a few worthy programs to join:

Read to Succeed: This program, offered by Six Flags, gives students free tickets to the nearest Six Flags after completing at least six hours of recreational—not assigned through school—reading. This program is free for teachers and schools to participate in.

Students Helping Students: Room to Read offers a fundraiser read-a-thon, where students read to raise money that goes toward helping impoverished children around the world gain access to schools and books.

Give Them Access to New Books

One of the reasons students cite for not reading more is not having a book or not knowing what book they want to read next. Luckily this is an easy battle to win—there are plenty of ways to get more books in the hands of your students.

Here are a few options:

Epic! Books: This service gives students, ages 12 and younger, access to more than 10,000 digital books. The program is free for elementary teachers and librarians to participate in, and provides students with a wide range of popular titles such Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See and the Goosebumps series.

First Book Marketplace: If you work at a Title 1 school, you’re eligible to purchase books through First Book Marketplace at 50-90 percent off below retail price. Books are available for children up to 18 years of age, with a variety of popular and classic titles available, along with STEM resources and college-prep materials.

Thrift Books: This online bookstore honors the work teachers and educators do with a 15 percent discount on book sets (20 or more titles). If you’re looking to stock your classroom, this is a great way to do it.

Reading Resource Project: Use this website to give your classroom library a complete overhaul. Educators can order a collection of 100 books—you choose the collection, whether it’s a mix of titles and genres, or books about specific things, such as animals, food, science and more—and then simply pay shipping, which comes out to $.88 per student. Books are distributed many times a year, including on Read Across America Day, National Drop Everything and Read Day and Children’s Book Week.

Free Audio Books: There are dozens of sites available that offer free audio books. Check out Ambling Books and Librophile. Get a full list of free audio book websites here.

Once you have all of these books in your classroom, you’ll need to implement a book lending process so students can take them home, if you haven’t already. Use these tips to create this system and making your classroom library more interactive.

Motivating your students to read more at home can be a difficult process. However, with multiple strategies at play, it becomes easier to get every student in your classroom reading more every single day.

Bio: Jessica Sanders is the Director of Social Outreach for Whooo’s Reading, a San Diego-based education organization that motivates students to read more every day. It’s available to teachers, schools and districts. Jessica grew up reading books like The Giver and Holes, and is passionate about making reading as exciting for young kids today as it has always been for her. Follow Learn2Earn on Twitter and Facebook, and check out their new ebook, How to Bring Technology Into the Classroom, just $2.99 on Amazon.com.

Don’t forget to read more articles on books and reading lists to consider at your school!

When parents first consider homeschooling, they often start by wondering if teaching their own children is actually legal. The answer is yes. Homeschooling is legal in every state of the United States. (It is, however, outlawed in two dozen foreign countries.) That said, however, it is important to realize that homeschooling is governed by the individual states, rather than the country as a whole. The legalities of homeschooling differ widely from one state to the next.  Some states are incredibly lenient and some are quite strict.

Notice of Intent

Commonly the first law that is referenced with homeschooling is whether or not parents have to contact the local school district to let them know they are planning to homeschool. Some states do not require this notice, while others require a simple parental notification—and that is it. Some parents elect to simply turn in a letter of intent with their names, addresses, and child’s name to the state and to the school district in which they live. Others may choose to include additional details about what subjects they will be covering.

States that do not require notification of intent to homeschool:

• Idaho
• Alaska
• Texas
• Oklahoma
• Missouri
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Michigan
• Connecticut
• New Jersey

States that require only notification of intent to homeschool:

• California
• Nevada
• Montana
• Wyoming
• Utah
• Arizona
• New Mexico
• Nebraska
• Kansas
• Wisconsin
• Kentucky
• Mississippi
• Alabama

Beyond the Basic Notification

Many states go beyond requiring notification.  In addition to a notice of intent, they want to see student test scores and expect a professional evaluation of each student’s progress at the end of the year.  The level at which these tests are administered depends on the state. Some states expect homeschooled students to be tested once at the elementary school level and once at high school. Others expect it as often as grades 4, 6, 8, and 10.

Moderately strict states:

• Washington
• Oregon
• Colorado
• South Dakota
• Minnesota
• Iowa
• Arkansas
• Louisiana
• Tennessee
• Ohio
• Georgia
• Florida
• South Carolina
• North Carolina
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• New Hampshire
• Maine
• Maryland

The strictest homeschooling states in the country are found on the east coast.  These states require parental notification, in addition to professional evaluation (by an objective third party), and often curriculum approval from the state, parental teaching certification (minimum high school diploma or GED), and even, in extremely monitored states, home visits from state officials.

Most restrictive states:

• Vermont
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Massachusetts

As an example, New York homeschoolers are required to submit a very detailed home instruction plan that lists the curriculum materials, textbooks, and other resources that will be used. In addition, parents must keep detailed attendance records to indicate that each student has been instructed at the legal equivalent of 180 days per year. (This breaks down to 900 hours for grades 1 through 6 and 990 for grades 7 through 12.)  New Yorkers are also expected to submit annual homeschooling plans, plus quarterly reports with grades in all subjects. Here, standardized tests are administered in grades 4, 6, and 8, as well as every year of high school.

It is important to note that state homeschooling laws are not written in stone. They can—and often do—change with enough parental and organizational involvement. In recent years, Utah, Iowa, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota have significantly reduced their requirements for homeschoolers.

Finding Additional Resources

Knowing what rules each state has in place to govern homeschooling is essential for all new homeschoolers, as well as for teachers whose students are leaving the system to be homeschooled. There are many online sites with this information, such as The Homeschooling Legal Defense Association, A to Z Home’s Cool and the Coalition for Responsible Home Education.

In addition to researching online, parents should connect with local and state homeschooling support groups and associations. Attend conferences. Go to the library and ask about homeschooling resources. All of these places can help parents and teachers better understand the laws in place and what they do and do not entail.

Deborah Stevenson, Executive Director of National Home Education Legal Defense (NHELD) stated in an interview with Home Education Magazine, “If citizens are not informed about the law and the facts affecting their rights under the law, they cannot effectively retain their freedom.” Stevenson encourages parents to not only read their state laws regarding homeschooling, but also read the U.S. and state Constitutions, and all state Department of Education and local Board of Education policies that focus on the right to homeschool. The key is being informed, so that if any family is questioned, they know their rights.

Larry and Susan Kaseman, authors and columnists for Home Education Magazine, write about how parents can maintain their homeschooling freedoms. In one column, they advocated having copies of state homeschooling statutes and regulations, but to rely heavily on speaking with experienced homeschoolers as well. “The best source of information is knowledgeable, experienced homeschoolers who live in the state you’re interested in,” they wrote.

The right to homeschool is one that is upheld in every state of this country. What parents need to do to keep and fulfill this right varies, however, so taking the time to do “home-school homework” is essential.

To learn more about homeschooling, check out Homeschooling 101: Most Important Questions to Ask Before Deciding to Homeschool and Sports and Other Extracurricular Activities.

Tamra Orr is the author of six books on the topic of homeschooling, including Homeschooling FAQs: 101 Questions Every Parent Should Ask, The Parent’s Guide to Homeschooling, and After Homeschool: Fifteen Homeschoolers Out in the Real World. In addition, she homeschooled her four children from Kindergarten through high school graduation.

Image source

When it comes to reading a novel, many students shrug off the reading and just watch the movie version instead. Well, two can play at that game. Teachers can give students a little of what they want by incorporating the movie versions of books into their discussion and activities, but that’s not the only way movies play a role in the ELA classroom. A movie is just another type of text and it can be analyzed just as easily as a novel, a short story, or a poem.

Our Advice for Teaching with Movies

The Movie Version

The easiest way to incorporate movies in the ELA classroom is simply to have students watch the movie version of the novel or short story they are reading. While many teachers typically show the movie version after students read, others choose to show the movie before they read. This may be particularly helpful when it comes to reading more difficult texts such as Shakespearean plays or ancient texts such as The Iliad and The Odyssey. Watching the movie first provides students with a context and general overview of the book, making it easier to understand and recognize key details as they read.

If students watch the movie before they read the book, chances are they will notice that the movie version failed to include many details they find in the book and will begin to make comparisons between the two. To ensure students actually read the book, teachers should pay attention to the differences between the book and movie, not only giving students a chance to compare and contrast, but also testing their knowledge on facts and details they know were not included in the movie version. Help Teaching’s Comparing a Book and Movie Worksheet can give you an activity to start with.

Help Teaching also offers worksheets to help you quiz students on popular novels that have been turned into movies. Many of our worksheets can be used with either the book or the movie, particularly those that focus on characters because they can lead to discussions about how well the movie portrayed the characters in the book. Some character worksheets you’ll find on Help Teaching include:

• Characters in Twilight
• Characters in A Christmas Carol
• Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird
• Characters in The Great Gatsby
• Characters in The Hunger Games

If your students get excited about new releases, such as The Hunger Games, incorporate their interests in the classroom with some of our other Hunger Games worksheets:

• The Hunger Games
• The Hunger Games Basics
• The Hunger Games – Catching Fire
• The Hunger Games – Mockingjay

Analyzing a Movie

Instead of watching the movie version of a novel, the movie itself can be the text. After watching a movie, students can still answer many of the same questions they’d be expected to answer after reading a book. In fact, Help Teaching’s General Movie Analysis worksheet has students analyze the theme, characters, and other literary elements found within a movie. The same can be done with the General Documentary Analysis worksheet to help students analyze documentaries and other informational films.

Learning through Movies

Teachers may also choose to use movies to introduce themes or introduce students to various literary concepts. For example, when teaching about the hero’s journey, teachers can have students watch the movie Hercules to familiarize themselves with what the different stages look like before tackling a book such as The Odyssey. Instead of having students read a book about a particular period in history, teachers could have them watch multiple movies that tackle the subject. For example, when studying The Holocaust, instead of reading The Diary of Anne Frank, students could watch Au Revoir Les Enfants, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and a movie version of the popular diary, comparing how they portray that specific event.

Incorporating movies in the curriculum also helps when teaching students about specific elements of literature or writing and teachers don’t always have to show an entire movie to do it. Want to help students understand the importance of public speaking or how to write a great speech? Show them a clip of an actor delivering a truly moving speech during a movie. Having trouble getting students to understand the concept of a flashback? Help them see it done in movie form. Movie clips can be used to teach about characterization, conflict, setting, symbolism, and other key elements of literature.

Teachers who need help getting started incorporating movies in their classroom can find a wealth of ideas through Teach With Movies, which offers lesson plans, and lists of movies and the skills they cover. For more information on how often to include movies in the classroom, also check out How to Use Movies in the Social Studies Classroom. While it is not focused on the English classroom, it may provide English teachers and teachers in other classrooms with ideas about how to get started showing movies in their own classrooms.

Watch Help Teaching’s literature section for more worksheets aligned to movies as they come out.

In the world of education, there’s nothing a teacher loves better than the word FREE and every teacher knows the internet is full of free content to use in the classroom. However, not every teacher knows how to find that content. Whether you teach early elementary school or are trying to keep seniors from checking out, many of these sites have been designed to help you.

Elementary School

Language Arts

1. Funbrain Reading offers games to help students brush up on their grammar and reading skills. Teachers and students will also find digital graphic novels and excerpts from popular children’s books.

2. Scholastic Student Activities feature lesson plans and interactives for multiple grade-levels and subject areas. While the site covers multiple subject areas, many of the lesson plans are text-based, making them ideal for use in a language arts setting, particularly when it comes to introducing students to informational or non-traditional texts.

3. Merriam-Webster Word Central is designed to help kids practice their spelling skills. The site uses games, a build-your-own dictionary feature and lesson plans to help accomplish that purpose.

4. Paragraph Punch helps students learn to write a basic paragraph. This site is ideal for students in upper elementary school.

5. Storyline Online features videos of members of the Screen Actors Guild reading popular children’s stories. It is a great site for getting students to read and also offers a new way to present books to students in the classroom.

Math

6. Math Playground is full of games designed to help kids practice their math skills. Activities feature a range of problem types and many are aligned to the Common Core State Standards.

7. Figure This encourages families to get involved in learning math skills by offering fun challenges for them to complete. Teachers can also adapt many of these challenges for use in the classroom to help students build some real-world math and problem-solving skills.

8. Math Cats offers a fun math fact every day, as well as numerous activities designed to help kids learn and explore more about basic math and problem-solving skills.

9. Funbrain Numbers contains multiple games for students. They can solve math problems while kicking soccer balls, racing cars and playing other arcade-style games.

Science

10. Wonderville helps kids learn about science by answering questions kids may have and exploring unique topics in science. The site also offers a section on “Neat Jobs,” helping kids see some of the ways science is put to use in the real world.

11. Science Kids is full of fun science facts, experiments and other activities designed to help get kids interested in science. Teachers can also find lesson plans, videos and project ideas to bring science into their classrooms.

12. The Electronic Zoo allows kids to take a trip to the zoo without leaving the classroom. The site features information on all types of animals, from invertebrates to primates and many more.

13. Kitchen Chemistry shows kids how they can perform science experiments in their own homes. Teachers can adapt many of the experiments for use in the classroom as well.

Social Studies

14. BBC History provides games and activities to help make history fun for students. Special animations help students see what life was like during certain periods in history and interactive activities allow them to participate in history.

15. Geosense test students’ knowledge of world geography. Kids can play by themselves or compete against each other.

16. Xpedition Hall is an online interactive museum from National Geographic. Students can learn about geography as they explore the museum and teachers can download a special guide to help them use the content in their classrooms.

17. Archiving Early America provides teachers with videos and images to use as they teach students about early American history. Some documents and biographies are also available.

Middle School

Language Arts

18. Essay Punch takes students through a series of exercises designed to help them learn how to write an essay, a crucial skill for all middle school students.

19. Scholastic News helps get upper elementary and middle school students interested in the news by providing them with news stories geared towards their interests and reading levels. This is a great site for finding informational texts for students as well.

20. VocabularySpellingCity gives students a place to practice their spelling and vocabulary words. While the free options on the site are limited, students and teachers can build vocabulary lists and take quizzes to help them learn the words.

21. Sheppard Software’s language arts games help students brush up on their grammar and punctuation skills, as well as learn new vocabulary words and play fun word games.

Math

22. Aplusmath.com features flash cards, games and worksheets designed to help students brush up on their math skills. While the site covers elementary and middle school skills, the way its content is presented is better for middle school students.

23. AAA Math offers math lessons for students at multiple grade-levels. Teachers at the middle school level can find lessons and interactive activities on topics such as measurement, exponents and geometry.

24. CoolMath is not just for elementary students. Middle school students can also brush up on their basic math skills and practice basic algebra and geometry skills through these fun games and interactive lessons.

25. MathMovesU is full of activities, games, information and lesson plans designed to help get middle school students interested in math.

Science

26. Learner.org offers numerous interactives designed to help students understand complex scientific topics. While content is able for all grade-levels, some of most engaging interactives are geared toward students at the middle school level and cover topics such as DNA and divergent boundaries.

27. NASA Quest is focused on helping students learn to think critically and engaging them in scientific inquiry. Many of the activities found on this site are geared toward students in grade 5-9, making it an ideal resource to help students at the middle school level solve real-life scientific problems.

28. Physics Central offers a free comic book series called Spectra to help students learn about physics. The main character is a middle school student.

29. Exploratorium is a science museum that has filled its online site with websites, videos and other resources to help students learn more about science. Students can also view and interact with many of the museum’s exhibits online.

Social Studies

30. Eyewitness to History provides teachers and students with lesson plans and media files designed to help them experience history. Students can access a wide variety of primary source materials to see history as it really was.

31. Teachable Moment helps take current events and use them to teach students valuable lessons. These lessons are especially beneficial in the middle school years when students are learning to think beyond themselves and develop their understanding of how they fit into the world around them.

32. Mr. Donn’s Social Studies Site is full of lesson plans, quizzes, worksheets and other activities related to various countries, cultures and periods of history. Many of the resources are ideal for middle school students and their teachers.

33. Virtual Tourist helps students learn about geography by taking them on a behind-the-scenes tour of many different countries. This is not typical textbook information; instead, it is designed to help students actually see what a visit to these countries would actually be like.

High School

Language Arts

34. Grammar Bytes helps students brush up on their grammar skills by going through sets of interactive activities. Students are then rewarded with off-the-wall virtual prizes.

35. Project Gutenberg features thousands of public domain texts in the form of free eBooks. Teachers can find numerous fiction and non-fiction texts to use with high school students. Students can also find texts to use for book reports or to help them explore specific subject areas.

36. Purdue OWL is the online writing lab for Purdue University, but it also features a lot of information that can be helpful to high school students. This should be their go-to resource when writing papers, citing sources and learning how to avoid plagiarism.

37. A Word a Day provides students with a new vocabulary word each day. Teachers can use this site as an opening activity in the classroom or just to help students build their vocab skills. Archives of previously featured words are available as well.

Math

38. S.O.S. Mathematics offers over 2,000 pages of lessons and worksheets designed to help students improve their skills in high school math. Subjects covered include algebra, trigonometry, complex variables and matrix algebra.

39. Math Bits features tutorials related to high school math and computer programming. Students can also find information on how to operate graphing calculators.

40. Math Planet brings math to students through video lessons. Teachers can use these lessons in the classroom or students can watch them at home to help learn more about complicated math processes.

41. Analyzemath.com contains numerous free questions for math teachers to use in the classroom or students to use to brush up on their skills.

Science

42. PBS LearningMedia features a wealth of videos, audio files and lesson plans related to science. Students can see the scientific principles they are learning about in action. While an account is required to view most of the materials, creating an account is free.

43. ScienceGeek.net was designed by a high school science teacher to benefit his students. Students can find review sheets, worksheets and problems related to high school chemistry, A.P. Chemistry and biology.

44. NSTA: The Science Teacher allows high school science teachers free access to some of the articles from its magazine designed just for them. Some of these articles, such as those about careers in science, can be used with students in the classroom.

45. PhET offers a variety of interactive simulations to use with science students. Simulations are organized by topic and grade-level, making it easy for teachers to find simulations to use to help bring science to life for their students.

Social Studies

46. PowerPoint Palooza contains numerous PowerPoint presentations for teachers to bring directly into the classroom. Topics cover a wide range of history and include collections designed to be used in A.P. European History and A.P. American History courses.

47. Teach with Movies helps engage students, especially high-schoolers by helping teachers find movie clips that relate to core topics. Social studies is only one of the many subjects covered on this site.

48. Econedlink offers free economics lessons for students at all grade-levels, but a majority of the lessons are focused on students in grades 9-12. Many feature interactive handouts and quizzes to help test students’ knowledge of economics.

49. Internet History Sourcebook is full of online texts for teachers to use in the classroom. These texts are geared toward major periods in history and ancient civilizations and get help students get a glimpse of history outside of the textbook.

50. Help Teaching offers a wide variety of free printable worksheets and activities that use unique map images.

Looking for more web-based teaching resources? Read Help Teaching’s articles Ten Social Studies Web Resources and Free Interactive Web Resources for Teaching Science.

Teachers have embraced Pinterest, the modern day equivalent of clipping magazine photographs and showing them to your friends, as a source of inspiration for classroom organization, projects, and curriculum resources. Pinterest offers a multifaceted platform for educators to research ideas for their classrooms, follow other pinners, and create boards linking to resources for students. For STEM educators, Pinterest is a visual brainstorm of hands-on science activities, curriculum materials, and the most recent advances in science and technology.

If you are looking for new ideas for your science, technology, engineering, or math classroom, get started by following some of these Pinterest boards:

Best Kids Science Experiments – Steve Spangler fans will enjoy this collaborative board and visual playground of icky activities to engage students in the scientific process.

Citizen Science Programs – Check out these pins and find a citizen science project for your class to participate in.

Earth Science – Kids Discover offers a host of interesting boards for teachers, but geo-geeks will especially appreciate these pins to earth science articles, videos, and images.  

Explore and Get Outdoors – The National Wildlife Federation’s board of ideas on getting kids back to nature.

Explore the Natural World – STEM educators will appreciate this board by PBS, featuring stunning images of nature that blur the boundaries of science and art.

Invertebrate Love – View these stunning images and videos of strange sea critters lacking skeletons.

iPad Landia – With the integration of iPads into more and more classrooms comes the need for finding quality apps and educational best practices. Get started with iPad Landia.

Los Alamos National Lab – Cool collection of boards for those who embrace their inner geeks. Pocket protectors anyone?

NASA EDGE Vodcasts – Engage students with these vodcasts by NASA EDGE. Maybe one of your students will become a rocket scientist.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center – Don’t miss out on any “Wicked Cool Space Stuff.” Follow any or all of these boards from the Maryland Space Center.

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards – The standards are out. Become familiar with them and stay up-to-date with NGSS progress with these pins by The Einstein Project.

Scientific Explorer – An essential collaborative board dedicated to “exploring scientific knowledge”.

Science & STEM – Get your STEM ideas flowing for hands-on, home projects with this resource board.

STEM STEM STEM – In case the name was unclear, this collection of pins by the National Science Teachers Association helps teachers stay up-to-date with trends in STEM education.

STEM Works – The STEM-Works program strives to increase science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills in communities nationwide and maintains this collection of boards including pins about CSI, jobs, lesson plans, robotics and more.

Students Like Tech! – Follow Edutopia’s board for EdTech ideas and trends.

Teaching with Sci-Fi – Even reluctant science students may enjoy a good science fiction book.

U.S. Department of Energy – Get the latest information on everything energy related, from STEM education to green energy.

Video Lectures in Mathematics – Looking for a refresher course on differential equations, a tidbit on the history of math, or a good math joke? Check out this collection of boards with over 1,400 pins to math lectures.

Women in Science – These photos of groundbreaking women in science, courtesy of the Smithsonian Archives, link to further information about these pioneers.

Follow Help Teaching on Pinterest to keep up with our newest free printables, premium worksheets, and blog articles!

It might start by simply hiding behind their mother as a toddler and progress into a sense of anxiety so strong it inhibits everything from classroom instruction to proper socialization.

While many children are boisterous and creative through imaginative play, some struggle deeply with shyness.

Shyness has positive points, but when it is so extreme that it affects their daily life in a negative way, then there may be ways to help.

Group activities for shy kids can be very beneficial when executed correctly. Timid kids can learn to find strength in numbers and to be accepted in ways they previously feared.

It might seem the worst thing you could do is put a shy child in the middle of a team or arranged social circle – but in many instances it can also help.

Classroom Structure

While some kids may never be the spokesperson of the group, they may contribute ideas to a more outgoing member of the team and feel proud where they otherwise would’ve just been silent.

An attentive teacher will recognize a shy student who is struggling, and will often try to help.

One way to help is to arrange the classroom so that desks are in pairs or small clusters rather than individual rows. This promotes teamwork in the classroom – the various clusters of desks work together to come up with an answer, or they brainstorm together for an activity.

Leading the Way

Many shy children tend to be excellent students or independent workers.

Why not tap into these positives by asking them to mentor younger children?

Whether in the classroom or on the soccer field, the opportunity to build relationships with younger kids can make the shy child feel more comfortable and able to speak up more in other life situations.

This works even better if they can be paired with another to assist a handful of younger ones. This mentorship system is the core of the Montessori school structure – it has been known to raise confident and capable children, and in some instances, abolish shyness.

Get Active in the Classroom

Although it may seem a recipe for disaster, one of the best activities for shy kids is group physical activities or sports. They experience victories without having everything rest on their shoulders, but also learn the important lesson of other people counting on them to be confident and do well.

Team activities have proven time and again to be effective in bringing children out of their shell, and don’t include the pressure of individual sports like gymnastics or figure skating.

When Shyness is a Problem

If a child is so shy that they are experiencing anxiety attacks, problems even walking into the schoolyard or signs of depression, encourage the child’s parents to seek the help of a health care provider right away.

While many kids are shy and go through life in a simpler, quieter way, shyness can sometimes lead to more serious issues. Sometimes even a one-time therapy session with a quality counselor can get to the bottom of the situation and help the little one to feel more confident and secure in who they are.

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Sarah Antrim is a blogger and social media manager for ActivityHero, a website that helps parents find, plan and book kids classes and summer camps. She blogs extensively about kids activities, providing parents fun and time-saving tips on how to engage kids. As a mother of two, Sarah firmly believes in the company’s mission to keep kids active & healthy.

Math month is celebrated in April each year. Why? Math has an image problem, a negative reputation of sorts. If math teachers received a nickel for every time a student asked, “When will I ever need to use this after I graduate?” – well, do the math.

At it’s heart, math is a critical tool in solving many problems in the real world. On the face of it, students probably don’t realize that math and statistics are central in ensuring our messaging and internet are secure, that modelling climate change, trends, and other big data is all math-based, and that genetic advancements and medical research has math at their heart. And everyday, the applications of math is widening into ever more sectors, such as biotechnology, energy, business, sustainability, medicine, transport and AI, to name just some. 

Without math, we simply lack a driver of innovation and the ability to either increase or decrease complexity.

Mathematics Awareness Week was established in 1986 with the hope of increasing public appreciation of math. It was later changed to a month-long celebration of math. Take advantage of this math month and explore the wonder of the world of numbers by engaging your students or child with one of the following activities that we think they’ll love.

Math Month Activity #1: Math Poetry

As it happens, the month of April is also Poetry Month, so why not combine the two themes and create some fun math poetry? This can take a number of forms:

• You can create poetry about math
• A poem can be created around a mathematical concept like the Fibonacci sequence
• Or you can use actual math to create a poem or limeric, like this example
  

Math Month Activity #2: Ask Fermi Questions

Quick! How many drops of water are in a gallon? No calculator allowed! Nobel Prize winning physicist Enrico Fermi was known for his capacity to perform rapid mental estimations. The goal of answering a Fermi question is to find an answer on the correct order of magnitude instead of an exact number. For example, I would estimate there are about 20 drops of water in a teaspoon and 768 teaspoons in a gallon. To make it easier, I can round 768 to 800 and guess that a gallon has around 16,000 drops of water. Whether the precise answer is 10,000 or 90,000 does not matter for a Fermi question, what matters is the answer is on the correct order of magnitude (10⁴ in this case). To get started, visit fermiquestions.com.

Another fun variation of this is to have an estimation jar. Fill it with jelly beans, or any other filling like dried beans, buttons, or marbles, and students can take turns estimating (or guessing!) what the answer is. The closest answer wins the prize – or if it’s something like buttons or beans, a better prize 🙂

Math Month Activity #3: Write to Manufacturers about Metric Misuse

Ask your students to make a list of products at home and record the metric labeling for volume or mass printed on the labels exactly as they appear on the products. Then have students compare the labels with the U.S. Metric Association’s guide to “Correct SI-Metric Usage.” Chances are, at least one of the products will be metrically mislabeled. Next, have each student write to a manufacturer and either point out incorrect metric usage (politely!) or thank them for promoting good metric usage. As a bonus, many manufacturers will kindly respond to student letters.

Math Month Activity #4: Explore Math in the Workplace

Dispel the myth that students will never use math once they leave school by inviting professionals to your class to share how they use math in their careers. Take a field trip a local business willing to give a tour and discuss the importance of math in the workplace. Students may be surprised to learn how often math is used outside the classroom. For more information, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics offers a Periodic Table of Stem Careers.

Math Month Activity #5: Watch a Math Movie

What student doesn’t love a movie? From The Theory of Everything to Stand and Deliver to Moneyball to Good Will Hunting, finding a movie featuring math content isn’t difficult. Get started by checking out this list of movies featuring positive math themes. Also, read Test Designer’s article on using movies in the classroom.

Bonus Math Month Activities: Read a Math Book

Who doesn’t love a good book? And if you can get one about math that isn’t  a textbook, all the better. We suggest Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi by Wayne Geehan (or you can check out a reading of it YouTube). Characters with fun names like Sir Cumference and Lady Di Ameter, bring light-hearted fun on an adventure that see’s our hero turned into a fire-breathing dragon and solving riddles and math puzzles to change him back.

Further Reading

Read our articles, “How to Write Higher-Order Math Questions” and “Top STEM Competitions – Could Your Student Be the Next Winner?” for more math education ideas.

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Joe Pizzuto-Pomaco is an educator, writer, and editor who has taught in public and private schools 15 years.