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Happy April! In addition to being famous for its flower-growing showers, April is also National Poetry Month, Financial Literacy Month, National Kite Month, Math Awareness Month, World Habitat Awareness Month, and the Month of the Young Child -- among many others.
In April 2009, we also will celebrate Easter, Earth Day, Arbor Day, and Library Week. And whatever the occasion might be, youre sure to find appropriate lessons and activities in Education World.
This week, for example, we feature Why All the EGG-citement About EGGS?, as well as a couple of poetry slam resources from teachers who have actually held one -- successfully.
We also introduce a new GoFigure! puzzle this week. Challenge your PreK-2 students to create new patterns with fun shapes. Dr. Ken Shore answers a parents question about science education, and Ruth Sidney Charney suggests that the last six weeks of school are a good time to review the past school year and reaffirm your accomplishments. You are, as hard as it is to believe, heading into the home stretch of this teaching year. Make the most of it!


Why All the EGG-citement About EGGS? Eggs-ploit the egg with an eggs-plosion of across-the curriculum egg-tivities for all grades.

A Poetry Slam Cures the Blahs Educator Brenda Dyck reflects on how she uses a poetry-slam event to focus her students, and shares how they took the art form and turned it into an opportunity to connect with their peers and teachers.

Rainforest Rescue:
The Earth Foundation Project
Laura Candler explains how you can save a rainforest -- and maybe even visit one.

Poetry Slam Blend poetry and theater to create a fun event that emphasizes creativity while developing students' thinking and presentation skills.

Teaching Self Control: A Curriculum for Responsible Behavior Martin Henley has created a curriculum for teaching 20 self-control skills all children need. The Teaching Self-Control curriculum includes role-plays, simulations, learning center activities, and children's literature that can be used to teach those skills.

Signaling an End to Classroom Chatter Some teachers find that mini traffic lights are as effective at regulating student conversation levels as the real signals are at controlling traffic flow. Devices such as the teacher-created Yacker Tracker tell students when to put the brakes on classroom noise.

Choose Em or Lose Em

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Competition The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes


What can you do with SchoolNotes? Check out Emmott Elementarys fifth grade page.

Dr. Ken Shore Im not pleased with the science education my sixth grader is receiving and I want to provide what the school is not. What can I do to encourage her interest?

Ruth Sidney Charney When we take the time to review and record the work of a school year, we see the power of hopes and dreams." We see the evidence of much learning and the value of our teaching.

Eric Baylin Oh, no...teenagers in love.

Professor Joe Martin We have three choices when it comes to responding to change: we either can get up (do something about it and learn from it), give up (throw in the towel), or shut up (accept it for what it is).

Ms. Powells Tips for Organizing Your Classroom Create an organization station at the front of the room next to where you do most of your instruction.

Meet the other members of Education Worlds Columnist Team.

Puzzling Columns Rearrange the shapes to create a new pattern. Whats the trick?

Kids Fill Passports With Practical Math The success of Reading Night at one Wisconsin school prompted the family-school-community team to design a similar math-focused event. Students' math "passports" were stamped as they and their families "traveled" among activities.

Springtime Math In spring, you and your students might like to explore math in the great outdoors. Wendy Petti offers a number of creative ideas for teaching math outside the classroom.

Math Mnemonics Factoring Binomials

From the Math Machine Operation Order Put the numbers into the equation in proper order to move closer to pyramid perfection. (Grades 6-10)

Look for more math resources, lessons, and activities in our Math Corner and on our Lesson Planning page.

This week’s featured tip is from our Homework Help Library.
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Engaged Reading: Turning Reading Into an Active Experience Engaging all students in active, thinking, reading is vital. Centering reading around student interests, motivation, and self-concept is how we give every student a reason to read.

How the Camel Got Its Hump At the beginning of the world, there is much work to do, but the camel refuses to help. So the magical Wizard of All Deserts teaches the lazy animal a lesson.

Reading Tips Encourage students to reflect on their reading with these "favorite book" activities.

From the Reading Machine Tinas World: Real or Make Believe? Listen to the stories, and decide whether each story is real or imaginary. (K-1)

Best Books for Teaching About
Art Weather

Using Micro-Text to Teach Writing In education, micro-texts refer to small, targeted bits of a book, essay, poem, newspaper, online publication, or other text. A micro-text can be a single phrase, sentence, or paragraph. Its selection for teaching writing depends not only on brevity, but also on its content.

Letters to Home Alicia Harmans letter-writing lesson opens lines of communication.

What a Pair! A Cross-Grade Writing Activity Older students interview younger students and then each writes a short story featuring the youngster. (Grades K-12)

Guide Word Sentences Creative writing: write sentences using guide words on a dictionary page. (Grades 3-6)

A Seasonal Story Spring, summer, fall, or winter -- which season do you like best?

A Backward Day Write a story about what happened to you yesterday -- reversing the order of events.