Presents ideas to help elementary educators teach their students thinking skills through word splashes (collages of words and pictures that help students think and make connections). A student page offers a word splash activity. (SM)

This list of practical and useful ideas is compiled from veteran teachers for motivating students, making a dull subject more interesting, or making a difficult subject easier to understand. (MT)

Ideas to help teachers develop motivating lessons that use information from nature for outdoor learning include getting comfortable with the outdoors, choosing familiar sites and subjects, studying several items at once, having a back-up plan ready, choosing open-ended activities, not worrying about students' questions, and listening to common…

Presents 50 hands-on, amusing math activities to inspire elementary students to enjoy learning such math concepts as estimation, linear measurement, weight, volume, time, and temperature. Each activity is typed on a 5x7 index card and has an answer sheet. Following a minilesson, each student receives a card activity to complete. (SM)

Presents activities to help elementary students learn to interpret history. Using the voyage of Columbus, students can learn how history is written, what a historian's job is, and why it is important to analyze more than one point of view. The activities also teach students to understand historical symbols. (SM)

Presents an inexpensive class activity to teach elementary students about light reflection off various surfaces. The activity involves aluminum foil, waxed paper, magazine pages, newspapers, overhead transparency film, construction paper, fabric, and a hand lens. A student page includes questions to make students think about reflection. (SM)

Students of all ages can apply what they have learned about symmetry by creating quilts on the computer using LOGO. The paper explains how to complete a computer quilting project. (SM)

Notebooks and journals can help interest students in writing. A sample activity suggests that teachers begin the year by reading a poem about notebooks then discussing school supplies and writing. Discussions can examine creative things to write on, creative word choice, creative use of notebooks, and turning favorite words into art. (SM)

Presents a group of 24 innovative social studies activities from teachers nationwide designed to bring the world to the classroom. The article is part of a package of 100 creative ideas for keeping elementary students enthused about learning in language arts, math, science, and social studies. (SM)

Describes a project in which elementary school students create a computer-generated time line of milestones in their lives, noting such an activity can give them a good start on writing autobiographies. (SM)

Creative ways to motivate students to read and report on books include having them retell the stories differently, invent products related to the stories, share snacks like those the characters ate, illustrate action from the story, write imaginary conversations between themselves and the characters, and turn the stories into short skits. (SM)

Elementary teachers offer their ideas for enhancing the final days of school. They help students review material, highlight achievements, fill spare time, and create summer plans. Suggestions include making class diplomas, producing action news, making friendship trees, writing letters to their future selves, and preparing summer activity guides.…

Choral speaking is one way to introduce elementary students to poetry and the performing arts, providing a quick and easy way to foster precise diction and voice projection. The article explains how to select poems, direct the activity, get started, and be creative. Includes several poems to help teachers get started. (SM)

Presents 20 suggestions on how to keep students interested in their classroom learning logs and to make the logs an effective classroom tool. The list notes different approaches students can take when writing about what they have learned. (SM)

Describes how to boost elementary students' confidence and nurture responsibility by making students resident experts at review stations. Students rotate from station to station where the experts are learning at their own pace, spending more time on material they do not understand, and receiving personal attention and immediate feedback. (SM)