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)

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 ideas to help elementary teachers encourage their students to discover the excitement of doing descriptive, historical, or experimental research by seeking new information, testing hypotheses, gathering data, drawing conclusions, and using appropriate vocabulary. The article includes questions for children to investigate and words used by…

Creating a class book can be an effective way to stimulate early elementary students' creativity and self-expression. The six steps are to: introduce the project; create the story; decide who does what; get it down on paper; put it all together; and share the experience. (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)

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.…

Presents a collection of activities to help elementary students study ocean ecology. The activities have students investigate ocean inhabitants, analyze animal adaptations, examine how temperature and saltiness affect ocean creatures, and learn about safeguarding the sea. Student pages offer reproducible learning sheets. (SM)

When older and younger students are paired, motivation, cooperation, friendship, and self-esteem flourish, and extra learning takes place. The article describes how to match students, presents five cross-grade projects, discusses project evaluation, and offers the option of cross-grade tutors. (SM)

Provides ideas for elementary school math activities which include ways to connect math with daily life, Michael Jordan basketball math games, and warm-up activities. (SM)

A fourth grade teacher commemorated Black History Month with a study of African culture and geography. Students were assigned to make a chosen African country come alive through an oral presentation. Finger puppets, which students outfitted in traditional tribal attire, were used to enhance the project. (SM)

Presents a group of 21 innovative science activities from teachers nationwide designed to sharpen elementary students knowledge of science. The article is part of a package of 100 creative ideas for keeping elementary students enthused about learning in language arts, science, social studies, and math. (SM)

An activity book presents arts and crafts projects for the special events and holidays occurring during November and December. The section includes class activities, student activity pages, and directions for making several kinds of bird feeders. (SM)

Presents a collection of inexpensive autumn science activities for elementary students. A full moon activity encourages observational and critical thinking skills. A pumpkin activity teaches physics. A spider activity teaches biology and alleviates unnecessary fears. A student page has children create a bookmark that shows faces in the full moon.…