Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is an American holiday (though celebrated world-wide by different names) dedicated to the achievements of workers. Take today to think about it. Me, I’ll take it literally–labor! I enjoy labor, the good feeling of finishing, meeting goals, working hard.

“I learned the value of hard work by working hard.” — Margaret Mead

“You always pass failure on your way to success.” — Mickey Rooney

“Hard work keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and spirit.” — Helena Rubinstein

“Dedication, hard work all the time, and belief.” — Cristiano Ronaldo

If you’re devoting Labor Day to your writing (rather than teacher prep) but need a kick start, here are suggestions for favorite labor-saving tools for writers:

1. Reedsy’s Best 23 Writing Tools of 2024
2. 25 Top Tools for Writers to Crush it in 2024
3. The 14 Best Writing Tools for Writers in 2024
4. The 30 Best Tools for Writers
5. Plot Generator
6. AI Plot Generator

A few Labor Day websites to enjoy for teaching: (more…)

Like every year, I exuberantly celebrate America’s birthday. I’d say times are tough here in the US, but that seems to be true everywhere in the world. So, I won’t complain. I will enjoy the love of America as all of my international friends love their homeland.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke4gRMowvQg]

 

This one–Chris Stapleton–10 Million views since Super Bowl 2023:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcs6HLKz_aQ]

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4OsP4BsATw]

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4kJ9sMDhaY]

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ds3MvMUdNk]

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I’m taking Memorial Day (the last Monday in May here in the USA) to honor our soldiers. Hang the American flag and call my two soldier children. Say hi, how are you. When are you coming home to visit? (more…)

 

Mother’s Day in the United States is annually held on the second Sunday of May. This year, that’s May 11th. It celebrates motherhood and it is a time to appreciate mothers and mother figures. Many people give gifts, cards, flowers, candy, a meal in a restaurant or other treats to their mother and mother figures, including grandmothers, great-grandmothers, stepmothers, and foster mothers (click for updates to the list):.

1. Mother’s Day activities
2. Mother’s Day Activities from 
3. Mother’s Day cards
4. Mother in different languages
5. Mother’s Day Quotes
6. Mother’s Day Sayings
7. Mother’s Day Templates from Canva

Anyone have some favorite websites to share? My list isn’t terribly robust.

Enjoy your day with your children! (more…)

Tech Teacher Appreciation Week

If you wonder what’s so hard about being a teacher, look at this list of challenges they faced the last few years: (more…)

Many Christians celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. To non-Christians (or non-traditional Christians), that event signifies a rebirth of spring that is filled with joy and gifts — and chocolate! Overall, it is America’s most-popular holiday with Christmas a close second. Here’s a good mixture of games, lesson plans, stories, and songs that can be blended into many academic subjects (for updates on Easter-themed websites, click here):

18+ Interactive Easter websites

Preschool-2

This website includes a colorful collection of Easter (and Spring) games and information that is visual and enticing to youngers. Games are Easter Math, Easter Egg Hunt, Easter Egg Dress-up, Easter Word hunt, complete-the-sentence, and more. Also, viewers will find websites about the history of Easter around the world.

ABCYa Easter Egg Hunt

Preschool-Kindergarten

Like all of ABCYa’s games and activities, Easter Egg Hunt is a colorful and intuitive educational game for young children.  It is easy-to-understand, playful, with favorite Easter symbols and energetic music that will engage children. The five Easter-themed games are easy-to-understand (no directions required) with a countdown clock to motivate activity. Nicely, it also aligns gameplay with the national standards met.

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A few spring websites, lesson plans, printables, activities:

1. 7 Science Experiments that Teach About Spring
2. Books from Scholastic about Spring
3. Spring Puzzle
4. Spring Garden–click to find flowers
5. Spring Games
6. Spring Vocabulary (video)
7. Spring Word Scramble
8. Spring Word Search
9. What Happens in Spring (video)
10. What Happens in Spring–PS (video)

Life Cycles

1. Life cycle of a snake
2. Life Cycle Lesson Plans
3. Life Cycle resources
4. Life Cycles
5. Life Cycle Symbaloo
6. Plant life cycle

Click for ideas from TeacherVision:

Printables

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities Booklet
2. Butterfly Life Cycle Worksheet
3. Baseball Fun
4. May Day
5. Butterfly Facts and Questions
6. Butterfly Life Cycle Quiz
7. More Spring Printables

Lesson Plans

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St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated in America on March 17th to honor St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, credited with bringing Christianity to the country. The day is marked by parades, wearing green clothing and accessories, traditional Irish music and dance, feasting, and the symbolic consumption of foods and beverages like corned beef, cabbage, and Irish stout. It has become a global celebration of Irish culture and heritage.

If you’re getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day, try these fun websites with activities for different grade levels (click for updates on this list):

1. Puzzle–St. Pat’s Puzzle
2. Puzzle–St. Pat’s drag-and-drop puzzle
3. Puzzle–St. Pat’s slide puzzle
4. Puzzles and games
5. St. Patrick’s Day history–video
6. St. Pat’s Day songs–video
7. Tic tac toe
8. Wordsearch

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Two math celebrations are coming up: Pi Day and World Maths Day

Pi Day

Pi Day is an annual celebration commemorating the mathematical constant π (pi). It is observed March 14 since 3, 1, and 4 are the three most significant digits of π in the decimal form.

Daniel Tammet, a high-functioning autistic savant, held the European record for reciting pi from memory to 22,514 digits in five hours and nine minutes until 2015 when Rick de Jong of the Netherlands recited pi to 22,612 digits in five hours and 34 minutes. His record was then broken by Rajveer Meena of India, who recited 70,000 digits in 2015 blindfolded. It took over nine hours. That remains the world record to date.

. Here’s how you can memorize the first 100 digits of Pi:

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Presidents’ Day is an American federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February–this year, February 17, 2025. It was originally established to honor George Washington, the first President of the United States, and expanded to also celebrate the birthdays and legacies of other U.S. Presidents, particularly Abraham Lincoln whose birthday is February 12th.

Here are great ways to celebrate in your classroom including websites, games, activities, printables, quizzes, audios, songs, interactive maps,  crafts, flashcards, videos, webquests, books, posters, trading cards, lesson plans, word searches, puzzles, speeches, articles, animations, biographies, and more (click the titles for the link): (more…)