• Tests & Worksheets
• Online Lessons
• Test Maker™
• Printable Games
• Worksheet Generator
• Plans & Pricing
• Blog

We expect our students to use higher level thinking skills, but too often we don’t explain to them what that means. Words such as “analyze” and “interpret” can sound a bit daunting. However, if we take time to show students how easy these tasks really are, they will find it much easier to use them throughout the school year.

1. Analyze: separate a whole into its component parts

Analyzing material asks students to break down information into pieces in order to better understand the overall meaning. To show them the importance of understanding the parts to explain the whole, take apart a spring loaded pen and ask them the purpose of each of the components in making the pen write properly. Then, have them summarize each stanza of poem and use them to analyze the meaning of the poem as whole or ask a series of questions to analyze an informational text.

2. Interpret: to explain or tell the meaning of

Bringing out the true meaning of a resource entails a deeper explanation than the definition indicates. If a student is asked to interpret a map of the Atlantic Slave Trade, he or she may simply explain that it is a map showing the Atlantic Ocean and four continents. But a true interpretation of that map would connect each continent’s role in the trade.

3. Describe: discourse intended to give a mental image of something experienced

Description is not typically considered a higher level thinking skill, but the ability to use detail properly is lacking in many students. Giving a proper mental image, as the definition suggests, requires descriptors related to emotions, sights, sounds, and smells, as well as the prudent use of adjectives. Have your students describe the school cafeteria’s ambiance and food quality and watch the description flow. Ask them to describe the Invasion of Normandy scene from Saving Private Ryan. Then have them describe a print document. The skill of description can be honed, but they have to see the simplicity in it first.

4. Infer: to derive as a conclusion from facts or premises

Students often miss context clues in a reading and get bogged down in minutiae unimportant to comprehending the document. I sometimes use children’s books (my favorite is “It looked Like Spilt Milk” by Charles G. Shaw) as a way to show how you can build an educated guess about what you are reading without having all of the information that you think you need to fully understand it. Hand out a written prelude to an important historical event and ask what do you think happens next and why so they not only make an inference but explain what facts led them to that conclusion.

5. Evaluate: to determine the significance, worth, or condition of

In their real lives, students deal very much in a black and white world, but academically they love to hedge their bets. If asked to evaluate something, students will inevitably ask, “Can I say it was good AND bad?” Taking a position is a difficult proposition for them, mostly because they fear being wrong or not having enough to say about a topic. But once they understand the simple tenets of critical thinking explained above, opinions should be firm and explanations should be lengthy. Always begin with a simple evaluation that has greater weight in their private lives. For example, you could evaluate the social importance of Facebook in the lives of teens.

The best part about spending valuable class time teaching higher order thinking skills is that they will always be a part of your lessons throughout the year. You teach the skills in September, and you reinforce them every day until June. They will be better students for it, and you may even enjoy reading their work!

For more information about essential skills, check out our social studies lessons which cover the historical thinking skills of contextualization, corroboration, multiple perspectives, and source reliability.

Every year, people make New Year’s Resolutions and every year they fail to keep them. The most popular resolution every year is to lose weight, but some of the other top resolutions may surprise you. Regardless of what resolutions are going to top this year’s list, you only need to make one – resolve to better yourself. How are you going to do that? We’ve got you covered with a few skills that will lead to a better you this new year.

Handle Your Stress

Now that the craziness of the holidays has died down, it’s time to get back into your normal everyday routines. For high school students, this often means prepping for finals. For others, it means dealing with the stresses that come with work and other daily activities. Rather than letting stressful moments get the best of you this year, take some time to learn to handle your stress.

What are some ways to keep stress from getting the best of you?

• The American Heart Association recommends using positive self-talk as its number one tip for handling stress.
• The American Psychological Association encourages you to take a break from the stressor.
• The Anxiety and Depression Association of America suggests taking a timeout by doing yoga or listening to music and notes the importance of eating healthy, balanced meals.

Of course, if none of those strategies work, you can also spend some time popping virtual bubble wrap as a way of calming yourself down. When you learn how to handle your stress you’ll be more productive, healthier, and better able to interact with others.

Value Your Time

People have been saying “if only there were more hours in the day” for centuries. Despite that fact, there are still only 24 hours in a day and you determine how to fill them. This year, start valuing your time by learning how to manage it and making sure you’re devoting your time to things that are important.

Think it’s impossible to create some order in your crazy schedule? Try a few of these tips:

• Make a to-do list every day so you know what’s on your plate. Use a piece of paper, the notepad on your phone, or even a fancy online tool such as Remember the Milk.
• Assess your time to see where you’re spending the most time and then prioritize your activities to make sure you’re spending time on what matters.
• Learn how to say no so that you can avoid taking on too much and focus on what’s most important.

As you learn to value your time, you’ll find that your stress levels will also decrease and that you enjoy what you do much more.

Care for Others

When you’re feeling down or stressed, one of the best things you can do is go care for someone else. Not only do you get to help someone out, but you also take the focus off of yourself and your problems. Caring for others involves more than just helping people out though. It also involves developing empathy, or the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and begin to understand their perspective. You can do this by…

• Volunteering for a local charity
• Learning how to be an active listener
• Practicing the Six Habits of Highly Empathic People

When you develop empathy and learn to care for others, you will find yourself better able to deal with others, thereby potentially reducing stress. You’ll also discover some valuable ways to spend your time, making your busy days a little more meaningful.

Take Care of Yourself

People who think about themselves all the time are often thought of as self-centered and shallow. While you can focus on yourself too much, you can also focus on yourself too little. As you learn to care for others, you also need to learn to take care of yourself. If you don’t take care of yourself you can become stressed out and experience other negative emotions. You can also experience health problems, both as a result of those negative emotions and as a result of not treating your body the way you should.

Thankfully, we have a few simple ways to take care of yourself:

• Eat balanced meals and exercise regularly
• Get plenty of sleep every night
• Learn how to relax

When you start to take care of yourself, the other parts of your life start to fall into balance too.

Educate Yourself

Knowledge is the solution to many problems. It can help you build empathy as you learn more about others. It can help you manage your time as you learn ways to complete tasks in a timelier manner. It can also reduce your stress by helping you build new skills to help you advance in your career, do better in school, or allow you to take on activities that you enjoy.

Educating yourself doesn’t have to involve enrolling in an expensive course. A few easy ways to educate yourself include:

• Learning to ask effective questions
• Taking free online courses from top universities
• Being willing to fail and learning from failure

The more you learn, the more confident you’ll feel about yourself and your abilities and our Top 100 Free Education Sites is a great place to start.

How are you going to better yourself this new year? Share your resolutions in the comments or provide some other tips to help others manage their stress, value their time, care for others, take care of themselves, and educate themselves this year.

In 2016, Help Teaching, once again, shared blog posts about a wide range of educational topics. We started the year off with our annual Top 100 Free Education Sites. In September, we updated our Ultimate Guide to Teaching Science. Throughout the rest of the year, we shared posts related to social studies, language arts, and general education. We even included some test-taking and teaching strategies. To round out the year, we’d like to take a moment to highlight some of the posts HelpTeaching users found most useful. You might discover a few you missed or a few you want to share with friends.

#1 25 Ways to Show Kids You Care About Them

At the end of the day, kids just want to know you care about them. We’ve come up with 25 ways to help you make that happen. Everything on the list can be done right away, without a lot of thought or planning. Watch for more posts in 2017 to help you develop a better relationship with your children and your students.

#2 Guide to Quality Screen Time for Babies, Children, and Teens

When it comes to technology, it’s important to pay attention to what type of content and how much content your children are consuming. We break down what you need to know about the AAP’s guidelines for screen time and provide you with some quality educational apps and video series you can feel safe letting your kids interact with.

#3 Everything Your Students Always Wanted to Know About Electing the President…

In the United States, 2016 will go down as the year of one of the most talked about elections in history. All of the attention around the election likely raised a lot of questions in students’ minds. For example, what is the electoral college? This post seeks to answer students’ most pressing questions about the presidential election. Now that the election is over, in 2017, we’ll bring you facts about the inauguration and more posts to help you understand U.S. and world history.

#4 Brain Breaks: Helping Students Refresh, Reset, and Get Moving

Do you use brain breaks in the classroom? Brain breaks are one of the latest trends to help improve student performance. They give students a chance to recharge so they can focus on learning. If you’ve never used brain breaks or are looking for new brain breaks strategies to use in your classroom, this post will help.

#5 How to Become a Champion Speller

Can you spell hippopotamus? How about ambidextrous? Using the strategies found in our post about becoming a champion speller, you can help your students improve their spelling skills. We include advice from pros and other tried and true spelling strategies.

#6 Why I Review With Students and How You Can Too

Review is an important component of the learning process. Without regular review, students are likely to forget the material they’ve learned throughout the year. We’ve listed some reasons to make review a part of your classroom routine, as well as strategies to use with students as they review. Don’t forget, you can find plenty of worksheets to use for review on our site.

#7 10 Ways to Help Students Avoid Procrastination

Some students love to procrastinate. However, procrastination rarely leads to a quality learning experience. Use these tips to help your students learn to manage their time and avoid the pitfalls that come with procrastination.

#8 Social Studies Reading List

If you’re looking for quality social studies texts to use with students, check out our social studies reading list. The texts on the list are designed to spark students’ interest in social studies and help them learn the basics before heading into class.

#9 10 More Fun Facts for Geography Awareness Week

In 2015, we brought you 10 Fun Facts for Geography Awareness Week and in 2016 we brought you even more. Did you know that the wettest city in the United States is Mobile, Alabama or that China shares its border with 16 nations? Find these facts and more in our post.

#10 Science Activities You Will Want to do with your Kids

Science can be a lot of fun. Instead of letting your kids have all the fun, why not enjoy some activities with them? We’ve come up with a list of experiments and other science activities that you can do with your kids. When you’re finished with the activities on this list, check out our Ultimate Guide to Teaching Science for even more fun science activities and resources.

Stay tuned to Help Teaching’s website and blog in 2017 for even more quality content to help you both in the classroom and at home. Is there anything in particular you’d like to see us cover? Share it in the comments. Who knows? It may become the next topic featured on our blog.

In October 2016, Microsoft released the long-awaited Minecraft: Education Edition, making it easier for teachers to bring Minecraft into the classroom. However, you don’t need a computer or even Minecraft software to make Minecraft an integral part of your classroom. We’ve come up with some great ways to help you engage your Minecraft-loving students offline too.

Develop a How-To Guide
For students it’s often easy to play a game and much harder to show someone else how to play again. Get students to stop and think about what it takes to play Minecraft. Then have them hone their expository writing skills by developing a how-to guide or video to help other students learn how to play the game. You can have students create a brochure outlining Minecraft’s key features or create a video focused on a more specific element of the game, such as how to make a hidden doorway in a staircase.

Create a List of Rules
Before setting students free to explore the world of Minecraft, teachers often lay out a list of rules students should follow while in the game, such as not destroying others’ structures. Once students have interacted with Minecraft a bit on their own, have them come up with their own list of rules for the online community. Rules can be serious, such as using kind words, or silly, such as banning all purple structures. Developing rules will help students learn about concepts related to citizenship and developing a healthy community.

Write a Minecraft-themed Story
A quick internet search will result in a ton of Minecraft stories written by authors hoping to capitalize on Minecraft’s fame. Chances are your students know more about Minecraft than many of those authors. Put their knowledge of the game to the test by having them write stories centered around their own Minecraft worlds. If they need help getting started, check out some of our own Minecraft-themed story starters to help spur the creative writing process.

Learn Minecraft Vocabulary
Minecraft has its own set of terminology and skills. See how much your student know by pulling out Minecraft-related words and using them as part of a spelling or vocabulary test. You can also download and print our Minecraft-themed Word Search and Bingo games to introduce students to some key Minecraft vocabulary words.

Build Minecraft-inspired Structures
When students play Minecraft, they’re immersed in a pixelated world. Everything is designed using cubes, which means creating objects with triangular or rounded edges is a bit more challenging. You can explore the same concept by having challenging students to build 3D sculptures outside of the game. Sugar cubes and square blocks make great building tools.

Design Paper Plans
Before creating in Minecraft, students can also create paper blueprints of the worlds they plan to create. Using some basic graph paper, kids can shade in different grids to represent the elements of the landscape. Then they can try to recreate their drawings within the game.

Study Perimeter, Area, and Volume
The pixelated world of Minecraft offers a great way to help students learn about perimeter, area, and volume. Using their paper plans, sculptures, or groups of blocks, have students determine the perimeter and area of a structure. They can do it easily by measuring the side of one block, and then counting the number of blocks that make up the length and width of the structure. They’ll also build their multiplication skills at the same time.

Solve Minecraft-themed Word Problems
Help build students’ addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills through the creation of some basic Minecraft word problems. For example, how many apples does a character need or how many ink sacs and bone metal are needed to make enough gray dye? We have a few Minecraft-themed word problems to get kids started.

Create Minecraft-inspired Mosaics
Cut construction paper into squares or pick up a bag of tissue paper squares at the craft store. Glue the squares onto a piece of white construction paper to create different Minecraft-inspired mosaics. For example, students could design self-portraits or glue the squares onto a box to create full-size Minecraft-inspired versions of their heads.

Design a Color by Number Worksheet
Similar to Minecraft-inspired mosaic, design a color by number worksheet for students to complete. Have students color every square with a particular number, letter, or word a certain color. Once all the squares have been colored correctly, students will have a fun picture. You can also challenge students to create their own color by number worksheets using graph paper. Then they can give them to a classmate to solve. We’ve created a few color by number worksheets to get you started: Color by Number Parts of Speech and Color by Number Addition and Subtraction.

All of these activities incorporate the principles and ideas of Minecraft without requiring students to play the actual game. Whether you already use Minecraft in the classroom or just have students who enjoy the game, you can use these activities to help engage students throughout the school year.

Do you have any fun Minecraft-inspired resources that you use in the classroom? If so, we’d love to know about them. Share them in the comments!

The first day of a new school year is right around the corner! Ease back into learning mode with these social studies book offerings that will be sure to spark interest and prepare your elementary or middle schooler for another school year.

Browse Our Social Studies Reading List

Geography

Geography is an oft overlooked, but essential component of learning. It crosses over into other subject areas, and provides a basis for learning about historical and modern events, particularly relating to their causes and effects.

The 50 States by Gabrielle Balkan (grades 2 – 5)

This fact filled atlas devotes an entire spread to each state, including an oversize map and tons of trivia. It even has an accompanying activity book that includes stickers and games!

When on Earth? (grades 3 – 7)

This compilation uses illustrated and annotated maps from around the world to explain major historical events across four distinct and chronological eras. The bright colors, historical facts, and connections across places and time makes this a wonderful primer for the impact of geography on history across time.

Primary Sources

Every social studies classroom uses primary sources to teach about historical events, while integrating the thinking skills of interpretation and analysis. Primary sources come in many different forms, as indicated by the list below.

A Primary Source History of the American Revolution by Sarah Powers Webb (grades 3 – 4)

This books uses newspaper articles, personal accounts, and other primary sources to put the reader in America as they fight for their freedom from the British in the late 18th century.

Dreams of Freedom: In Words and Pictures by Amnesty International (grades 2 – 6)

This collection lists basic freedoms that all should enjoy, accompanied by a quote from famous human rights champions, such as Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai. There is also an illustration depicting the freedom and the quote. Pairing words and accessible art is a terrific way to encourage analysis and thoughtfulness in young adults.

Biography

Accessible biographies are not always easy to come by, but those that integrate learning with easy to read text engross young readers in magical stories of those who dared to make a difference.

Heroes of History by Anita Ganeri (grades 2 – 4)

More than a simple retelling of history’s fascinating figures, this book aims to educate though entertaining. Fictionalized diary entries combined with important historical facts take young readers on an adventure with every page.

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hammer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford (grades 6 – 12)

Hammer’s fascinating struggle is told in verse and in the first person. A seminal civil rights figure, her story should be read by many, and the unique storytelling model used in this book will surely hook young readers.

Aaron and Alexander: The Most Famous Duel in American History by Don Brown (grades K – 4)

For students aware of the Hamilton craze gripping the country, this picture book gives some further historical meaning to Alexander Hamilton and a score that was settled many years ago.

Taking Action

The social studies classroom aims to not only teach about the people and cultures of the world, but also to ingrain a sense of community among our students. Building better citizens is just as, if not more important than the facts, years, and events that so many of us cling to. The books below enlighten students to those who go above and beyond to help others, and hopefully, will encourage them to embrace service and good deeds.

Can We Help? Kids Volunteering to Help Their Communities by George Ancona (grades 1 – 4)

Many schools are instituting service learning requirements, while other encourage students to be more community minded. This book chronicles real life kids helping the less fortunate in their own communities. An inspiring and educational look at those who make our world a better place.

The Great Depression for Kids: Hardship and Hope in the 1930s by Cheryl Mullenbach (grades 4 – 7)

Well organized account of the Great Depression with a special focus on how neighbors helped each other through extremely difficult conditions. This puts a historical spin on community service and service based learning.

As the beach and vacation filled days of August come upon kids, it’s important to subtly integrate learning into their lives. Finding the right way to do that is often a fool’s errand, but the books above will grease the wheels of learning as September approaches without destroying the joy of the last days of summer.

When you’re done, don’t forget to check out our library of thousands of social studies quizzes, tests and assessments to save yourself hours of preparation and grading time!

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.

Every year, the nation’s best junior spellers descend upon Washington D.C. They come to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee where they spell words like scherenschnitte and nunatak (2015’s winning words).  While not all kids will become national spelling bee champions, they can become better spellers. Follow these tips to help kids learn how to spell hundreds, if not thousands, of common words (like hippopotamus).

Read the Dictionary

In the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, one of the contestants sings a song about how much she loves her dictionary. While most kids won’t have the same fondness for their own dictionaries, they should take some time to familiarize themselves with the dictionary and learn the words it contains. For children in elementary and middle school, consider purchasing one of Merriam Webster’s Elementary or Intermediate dictionaries so they can find words that are more appropriate for their level.

Reading through the dictionary may seem boring, but it doesn’t have to be. Make it fun by playing one of these games:

– Race to see who can be the first to find and define a word
– Try to find a word that no one has heard of before
– Make up a fake definition for a word and have someone guess which definition is real.

Learn Common Spelling Rules

You’ve probably seen some version of the poem above before. The English language is definitely very confusing and doesn’t always seem to follow the rules. However, there are some spelling rules that kids can learn. A few good rules to learn include:

1. i before e, except after a long c like in receive or in words like neighbor or weigh
2. When adding -ing, -ed, -est, and other suffixes, double the consonant when the word features a vowel + consonant at the end or when the last syllable is stressed. For example, hop becomes hopping and regret becomes regretted.
3. Drop the final e when adding a vowel suffix to a word, unless the word ends with ce or ge. For example, write becomes writing and manage becomes manageable.
4. The letter y, when preceded by a consonant, becomes i when a suffix is added. For example, happy becomes happiness.
5. Silent e helps a vowel say its name. If a vowel sound is long, it often has a silent e at the end. For example, you can see the difference in rat versus rate and hop versus hope.

Learn Frequently Confused Words

Do you know the difference between principal and principle? How about their, there, and they’re? These words frequently trip spellers up. Learning the difference between them and practicing using them correctly can help kids improve their spelling skills. Help Teaching’s Vocabulary page is full of printable worksheets designed to help kids learn the difference between these confusing words.

Learn Common Prefixes, Suffixes, and Word Roots

Take a look at the word antidisestablishmentarianism. This word is often considered one of the longest words in the English language and, upon first glance, it seems impossible to spell. However, if you break it up, you’ll realize it’s composed of many different roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Being able to recognize these word parts can be the key to becoming a good speller and figuring out the meaning of confusing words. So instead of having hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, kids can embrace those monstrously monosyllabic words and spell them with ease. Help Teaching’s online lessons portal features many lessons to teach kids about the basic prefixes and suffixes.

Visualize Words

Have you ever written a word and said, “That doesn’t look right?” Good spellers tap into the visual sides of their brains to help them learn to spell. For little kids, that may mean using a program like Word World or Bembo’s Zoo to help them visualize the words. For older kids, it may involve writing the words multiple times or breaking the words into chunks. For example, they may see the word conscience as con-science. You may also come up with funny images, such as a picture of a wig (hair) on a chair to remind kids that words are spelled in similar ways.

Read… A LOT!

When kids read, they often see words spelled correctly. The more they see a word spelled correctly, the easier it is for them to remember how to spell it on their own. So, encourage kids to read, read, read. Keep in mind, however, that some books for kids, such as the Captain Underpants series, intentionally misspell words. If you see that words are misspelled, point them out to kids and encourage them to look up the correct spellings as a learning activity.

Use Mnemonic Devices

Mnemonic devices such as Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally and Never Eat Soggy Waffles are great for helping kids remember key math and geography facts, but they can also be used for spelling. For example, kids may remember “pull apart to separate” or “there is a place just like here.” While it may not be practical to come up with a mnemonic device for every word, you can use these clever tricks to help kids remember particularly frustrating words.

Play Spelling Games

Games like Boggle and Scrabble are great ways to help kids improve their spelling skills. For a simple version of Boggle, print out a word scramble worksheet and have kids see how many words they can create. Word searches offer another way to help kids improve their spelling skills. Pick up a cheap word search book at your local dollar store or create your own using Help Teaching’s Word Search Generator.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The best way to become a better speller is to practice spelling. If there are particular words kids want to learn, encourage them to make flashcards and study them or to write a story using those words. You should also have kids write regularly and read what they write aloud. When they read through the paper, they may find that misspelled words are difficult to pronounce.

By following these steps, kids can vastly improve their spelling skills. Want to put your own spelling skills to the test? Try your hand at the same testcompetitors take during the preliminary round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Share your results and any additional spelling tips you have in the comments.

Spring is here and chances are your students are bubbling with energy. Why not put that energy to great use and start a school garden? April is National Garden Month and, thanks to the farm-to-table movement, school gardens are more popular than ever. Gardens are an excellent way to get kids moving, encourage healthy eating, and incorporate project-based learning into your curriculum. A school garden takes time and commitment, but in planning and raising a garden, you will sow seeds that will help your students reap a lifetime of rewards!

Our List for Why You Should Have a School Garden

1. Plant the Seed

Every good garden takes careful planning. The same is true for school gardens. In these times of tight budgets and resource allotments, you must first make your case for a garden before the administration or a school committee. School Garden Wizards offers resources to help you prepare and present your proposal. Once you gain approval, the work really begins! You will need community buy-in for labor and materials. This includes school staff, parents, local community partners, and most importantly – your students! Work with your students to develop a clear vision statement for the garden. Doing so will encourage students to take ownership of the garden and generate excitement for the project.

2. Stake Out a Curriculum

A school garden offers a rich project-based learning opportunity. Students can research the types of plants that grow well in your climate region, calculate garden area and soil volume, and journal about the garden growth. Plus, don’t underestimate the benefits of cooperative learning that a garden project brings! Like any other topic you teach, the school garden project will require careful lesson planning and implementation. Fortunately, there are some excellent curriculum resources available. Here are some to help you plot out your curriculum:

• Whole Kids Foundation and the American Heart Association offer an extensive School Gardens Activity Guide that aligns to national education standards.
• The Edible Schoolyard Project has a searchable database of teaching resources.
• Growing Minds maintains a database of Children’s Literature perfect for incorporating ELA standards with your gardening project.
• Life Lab offers downloadable Garden Science Exploration Units for grades 1 – 4.
• Eat Think Grow provides lesson plans for grades K – 5 for fall, winter, and spring.
• The National Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix is a searchable database of agricultural lesson plans for K-12 teachers.
• The Great Garden Detective Adventure by the USDA is an eleven lesson curriculum on school gardening for students in grades 3 and 4.
• Farm to School offers a searchable resource database that includes a large select on school gardens.
• HelpTeaching.com offers life science and botany worksheets and plant related self-paced lessons including: The Fairy Tulips, Plant Reproduction, Vascular Plants, Plant Nutrition, and Photosynthesis.

3. Plot the Garden

Once you have support from the school administration and the excitement of your students, it’s time to plot the garden! Get your students outside and walk the school grounds before selecting the garden location. Students can work in groups to develop proposals on where the garden should be located. They should consider the types of plants the class would like to grow, average amount of daily sunlight, proximity to a water source, space requirements, and soil quality. Groups can then present their proposals to the class and others involved in the project. Once a location is selected, students can use free online planning tools from Gardener’s Supply Company or Garden Planner to design the garden.

4. Consider Growing Small

A school garden can be decorative plants located by the school entrance or a full-grown vegetable garden. Don’t be intimidated by scale. Plan the type and size of garden that is right for your school and students. If you are tight on space and low on funds, start small and plant bulbs in the fall – the students will enjoy seeing them bloom in the spring. Herb gardens are wonderful for small spaces and produce a savory variety of flavors that can be shared with your school’s food service department. Likewise, if a full-bloom garden is too much to tackle, consider small container gardens or potted plants. Have your students cultivate potted gardens that sit by classroom windowsills. A bonus of small container gardens is students can take home and care for potted plants over the summer, eliminating the need for summer garden maintenance on school grounds. KidsGardening.org offers resources on container gardening to get you started.

5. Apply for Grants

Although gardening is a reasonably affordable educational activity, there are still start-up and maintenance costs. Strong community buy-in at the school and local level should help bring in donations and minimize expenditures. However, there are grant opportunities and seed donation programs to help offset costs. These organizations offer or have offered grants or seeds in the past for school garden programs. Grant terms and deadlines vary, so read guidelines and eligibility requirements closely.

• The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation
• Annie’s Grants for Gardens
• Whole Kids Foundation US School Garden Grant Program
• Growing Minds Farm to School Program
• KidsGardening.org
• Captain Planet Foundation Grants
• Seeds for Education Grant Program
• Peaceful Valley Organic Seeds for Schools
• Seed Savers Exchange Community Seed Donations

You can also look for local grant opportunities, companies that donate seeds, and consider fundraising projects like selling seedlings grown by your students. A local hardward store or landscaping company may be willing to donate materials or labor to help make your garden a reality, but you’ll never know if you don’t ask. Happy gardening!

Looking for more green activities for your students or children? Read 10 Engaging Earth Day Activities for Kids and America Recycles Day Activity Guide.

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!

On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law, making No Child Left Behind obsolete. Aside from an out-of-place posthumous pardon for the first black heavyweight champion boxer Jack Johnson, the ESSA is full of changes to the way schools operate. How does ESSA differ from NCLB and will it radically change education in the United States? We’ve pulled out the key pieces of information you need to know about this major education law.

Goodbye Common Core, Hello…?

Under ESSA, the federal government will no longer require states to follow the Common Core or any set of standards for that matter. The decision of what standards to use in a particular state is, like it used to be, left up to the individual state.  That doesn’t mean Common Core is gone for good. States still have to adopt challenging standards that prepare students for higher education or career/technical education programs. Aside from the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards the pickings for standards that meet those requirements are slim. After spending millions of dollars to implement the Common Core, many states may opt to stick with the Common Core.

New Ways to Test Students

States also get to decide how they want to test students. ESSA requires that districts must annually measure student performance in math and reading in grades 3-8 and once in high school. They must also measure student performance in science once in grades 3-5, 6-8, and 10-12. States can also include other important subjects in their assessments.

The testing requirements are not really anything new, but the types of assessments used may change. States can also incorporate computer adaptive testing, portfolios, or projects as part of their assessments. For high school, some states may opt to use the ACT or SAT as their main assessment. Whatever states choose, these methods focus more on student growth than mastery of standards.

Test Scores are not the End All be All

Do test scores still matter? Yes. However, the language of the ESSA allows states to look at factors other than test scores to evaluate teachers and school performance. This includes factors such as student and educator engagement and school climate. States could still opt to tie teacher performance to test scores, but given the controversial nature of that option, they may opt to implement another evaluation method.

History and Civics Get New Life

While the ESSA does not require states to assess students in the areas of history and civics, it does introduce new programs designed to enhance instruction in the areas of history and civics. This includes Presidential academies that provide advanced professional development for select teachers and allow select juniors and seniors to learn more about the government in a more hands-on way.

Students Become More Well-Rounded

Increasing the focus on history and civics is part of a larger effort to ensure that students are more well-rounded. Rather than simply focusing on math, science, and reading, the ESSA wants to ensure that students get a high-quality education in all areas. The law provides funding and incentives for states and districts that incorporate arts education, technology education, and programs that promote living a healthy lifestyle (including physical education, mental health programs, and drug prevention programs).

School libraries play a role in this too. With NCLB, many school librarians felt left out and saw their funding decrease because specific provisions for school libraries were not written into the law. ESSA brings school libraries back into the conversation and recognizes the role they play in providing a well-rounding education and helping to incorporate technology into the curriculum.

Education Could Become More Personal

Theoretically, the ESSA helps make educational personal by taking away powers from the federal government, particular the Secretary of Education, and handing them over to the states. When it comes to setting goals and improving failing schools, states and districts have more of a say in the areas they choose to focus on. However, ESSA requires that those goals address English language learners, graduation rates, and student proficiency on exams, limiting some of the freedom states gain.

In fact, while ESSA is being hailed as a major improvement over NCLB, it may not produce the grand changes people hope to see. The federal government still gets the final say in a lot of areas as all of the standards, assessments, and other plans chosen by the states must =be approved by the Secretary of Education and a Peer-Reviewed Committee. This means that states may be scared to adopt new or divisive methods.

But Will We Really See Change?

Unfortunately, much of the language included in the ESSA is vague and open to interpretation. Change takes time and money. While some states may make some changes, many will use the vague language to support keeping their current programs in place. They may tweak a few things, but not in ways that are likely to make a huge difference.

At the end of the day, the goal of the ESSA is to provide all students with a fair, high-quality, equitable education and to close the achievement gaps. We hope that all invested in the world of education take this goal seriously so that every student truly can succeed.

Are you a homeschooling family? Don’t forget to check out our Laws and Legalities of Homeschooling: State by State.

ELA & Reading – Most Popular

STEM – Most Popular

Social Studies – Most Popular

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