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)

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 crafts projects to accompany the discussion of African tribes and their ceremonial items. The article describes how to create a ceremonial mask, ceremonial shield, goodbye cloth, and necklace. Background information is included for each item. (SM)

A close involvement with the arts helps students develop skills useful for any area of the curriculum. Techniques are suggested for making the arts more than just extracurricular activities. (DF)

Describes one elementary teacher's strategies to help students learn spelling using cooperative learning groups. Mixed-ability groups of four children are established, and students take turns being the caller, recorder, reader, and checker. Students retain more because of the amount of repetition. A weekly classroom spelling schedule is presented.…

Presents an excerpt from a play that can be used to help students learn about Black history. The play focuses on an African-American town, Boley, Oklahoma, that outsmarted the most feared bank robbers of the 1930s. It emphasizes Black triumphs. (SM)

Guidelines for teaching about the relationship between African and American houses include an activity in which children unravel a trail of clues, moving from a West African house to a "shotgun" house in America. A student activity page on houses in Nigeria, Haiti, and New Orleans is included. (SM)

Presents low-cost learning activities to help teach elementary students about the earth's magnetic field. One project has students make a model of the earth's magnetic field. Another has them experiment with magnetism. (SM)

Several across-the-curriculum activities, with a penguin theme, are described. Research, discussion, science, writing, math, and art activities are listed. Included is a list of resources which gives sources for books and posters. (IAH)

The pumpkin is the theme for a collection of classroom activities which teachers can integrate into the language arts, science, social studies, math, and art curriculums. Many activities were suggested by classroom teachers. (IAH)

This article proposes a system for developing lesson plans which accommodate differences in student learning styles without jeopardizing the pace of learning. Four teaching styles (direct teaching, practice, reflection, application) are identified, and activities that work well with these styles are suggested. A sample lesson plan is included.…

Presents a list of class activities for Black History Month to help students study African heritage. The activities listed, with appropriate grade levels, are storytelling, dances and games, crafts, posters, live-in history, movers and shapers, and a play. Each activity is explained in the pages that follow in this issue. (SM)

Presents storytelling as a way to teach students about African societies. The article explains how to teach storytelling and how to branch out into other related educational activities. A tale from Ghana suitable for bulletin-board use and a student activity page on African proverbs are included. (SM)

Presents guidelines for teaching students about African culture via dances and games and for developing related activities to expand student learning experiences. Student activity pages describe how to do the Ghana national dance and how to play Mankala, a popular African game. (SM)

Teachers do not have to be musicians to help their students learn basic musical concepts. Activities are suggested that provide experiences with visualizing sounds, conducting, performing, and composing. These lessons can start a foundation on which to build more formal studies. (DF)