National Handwriting Day is celebrated on January 23rd each year. It is a day dedicated to promoting the importance of handwriting and encouraging people to embrace the art of writing by hand. This day was established to honor the birthday of John Hancock, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, known for his prominent and stylish signature on the Declaration of Independence. Handwriting is considered a personal and unique form of expression, and National Handwriting Day aims to celebrate and preserve this traditional skill.

Articles on handwriting from Ask a Tech Teacher:

Check these out:

Is Handwriting So Last Generation

Is Handwriting So Last Generation–Redux

How to Create a Handwriting Workbook to Help Improve Penmanship

Handwriting vs. Keyboarding–from a Student’s Perspective

When is Typing Faster Than Handwriting? (more…)

Here are some Winter activities to share the joy of winter (click here for updates to list):

1. 5 Videos to teach about winter
2. Winter Facts and Worksheets
3. The Winter Solstice, from PBS–a video for youngers
4. Winter Vocabulary–a video
5. What is a Solstice, from National Geographic–a video
6. What is the Winter Season–a video
7. Winter Coloring Pages, Printables, and more
8. Winter Games–digital

(more…)

Since we started Ask a Tech Teacher fifteen years ago, we’ve had almost 6.3 million views and 3300 comments from about 11,500 followers who read some or all of our 2,454 articles on integrating technology into the classroom. This includes tech tips, website/app reviews, tech-in-ed pedagogy, how-tos, videos, and more. We have regular features like:

• • Weekly Websites and Tech Tips (sign up for the newsletter)
  • Edtech Reviews
  • Lesson plans

If you’ve just arrived at Ask a Tech Teacher, start here.

Here are our top 10 lists of most popular posts and tips for 2024:

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Here are the most-read posts last month:

1. T

Here’s a preview of what’s coming up: (more…)

Every month, subscribers to our newsletter get a free/discounted resource to help their tech teaching.

January 8th-11th

the 53-page PDF, “25 Digital Tools for the Classroom”

for free!

“25 Digital Tools for the Classroom” is a thorough discussion on which are the most useful tools in a K-8 classroom. This includes popular digital tools such as blogs, backchannel devices, vocabulary decoding tools, avatars, digital portfolios, digital notetaking, as well as others you may not have thought of. Here’s what you do:

• Sign up for our newsletter, Weekly Websites, Tech Tips, and Tech Ed News. If you already subscribe, qualify by purchasing one of our resources on the Structured Learning website. Any product, any price qualifies.
• Email us the welcome message or receipt you receive (we’re at askatechteacher at gmail dot com). Make the subject line read, “Please send free ’25 Digital Tools for the Classroom'”.
• We’ll send you the collection.
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Also on January 1st: It’s Public Domain Day! Every year, January 1st is Public Domain Day. This is an observance of when copyrights expire and works enter into the public domain–free for all to use. According to Public Domain Review, here are some of the newly-available artistic works you might like a/o January 1, 2025:

The picture above is interactive on the website. If you click it, you enter Public Domain Review’s website and can then explore each of these new sources of inspiration, free to use.

A few recently released that caught my attention:

Copyright ©2025 askatechteacher.com – All rights reserved.

Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm

“The content presented in this blog are the result of creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

Click to enlarge lesson plan

A Holiday Calendar

Kids love making this calendar. They get to talk about their upcoming vacations and hear what their friends are doing. It’s simple enough for third grade with advanced tools that satisfy a fifth graders growing intellect.

Here are the most-read posts for the past month:

1. Tips for Supporting Students With Special Needs Using Technology
2. 26 Online LMS Resources
3. 7 Ways to Evaluate Websites
4. National STEM Day Nov. 8th
5. A Day to Remember Veterans
6. Geography Awareness Week: November 11-15, 2024
7. How to Put Kindness in Your Classes
8. 4 Critical Pieces of Every Lesson and How to Gamify Them video
9. 14 Apps and 2 Projects for Thanksgiving
10. Thanksgiving Activities That Keep You in Charge of Learning

Here’s a preview of what’s coming up:

1. What’s happening on my writer’s blog
2. Three projects to kick off the holidays
3. 7 online resources about Maker Spaces
4. 14 holiday websites and 5+ projects
5. We’re closed for the holidays!

–image credit to Deposit Photo

Copyright ©2024 askatechteacher.com – All rights reserved.

Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm

“The content presented in this blog are the result of creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”

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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

Every month, subscribers to our newsletter get a free/discounted resource to help their tech teaching.

December 2-5, 2024

Copyright ©2024 askatechteacher.com – All rights reserved.

Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm

“The content presented in this blog are the result of creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”

---

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

Create a holiday card for Thanksgiving or Christmas in KidPix or another drawing program and reinforce early writing skills while teaching mouse skills, toolbars and tool use: (more…)