The following tips are provided by retired elementary teacher and current abcteach staff member, Nancy Elton. A teacher of 30+ years, she used these opportunities to engage parents and other classroom helpers and to provide students (and herself) needed support throughout the year.

Sign Them Up
Anytime there is a classroom or school function with parents present, have a sign-up sheet with areas where parents or other adults can assist.

• • Meet & Greets
• • Parent/Teacher Conferences
• • PTA/PTO nights

Activity Options

• • Class – Creating bulletin boards (inside the classroom and out), cutting out letters, putting up borders, preparing student work to be displayed, etc.

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  • Individual Students – Providing editing and revision help, assisting with computer work and tutorial needs

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  • Small Groups – Assisting with learning centers, tutorials, games, and field trips

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  • Teachers – Sorting & collating, photocopying work, organizing classroom books/games, creating portfolios, cutting materials needed for classroom activities, etc.

Anywhere parents can be of assistance, embrace the help. Many of the activities can be done from home, as our parents are frequently not available during the school hours. Every child benefits from added support, both in schoolwork and emotionally.

As a teacher, I could not have provided the degree of positive educational experiences for my students without the ongoing participation of parents.

Posted by Nancy Elton, abcteach staff

Lesson planning is imperative, but sometimes it’s fun (and necessary) to step away from traditional plans in order to recharge your students’ interest in learning. An easy way to do so is by simply following the momentum of your calendar year.

January has a plethora of monthly, weekly, and daily observances as well as famous birthday anniversaries that you can tie into curriculum practice. Studying the Southern Hemisphere? Incorporate Australia Day games and activities. Working on measurements? It’s National Soup Month. Why not practice those skills with recipes? And how about famous authors? Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19th, 1809.

In addition to well-known holidays, here are a handful of January dates and observances to use when looking for a creative alternative. abcteach has materials that adapt to many of these special times, so take a look around and find what suits you best!

Birthdays

• Betsy Ross – January 1st
• Louis Braille – January 4th
• Elvis Presley – January 8th
• Stephen Hawking – January 8th
• Lewis Carroll – January 27th
• Jackie Robinson – January 31st

Holidays

• Chinese New Year – January 23
• Australia Day – January 26th

Special Observances

• Inauguration Day – January 20th
• National Handwriting Day – January 23rd
• National Puzzle Day – January 29th
• National Thank You Month
• National Mentoring Month
• National Soup Month
• 100th day of class for some schools

The new year is always exciting. It’s fresh, optimistic, and offers a clean start to achieving all of the things put off in years past. Unfortunately, after a couple months, or even a couple weeks, some of the most well-intentioned goals have given way to the same old routine.

The good news, as you know, is that this trend doesn’t have to continue. Achieving goals is all about preparation and planning. It’s creating a game plan and putting steps in motion to make it happen. This is a crucial lesson for students to learn, and is especially applicable in the classroom. Research projects, term papers, group presentations… they all seem daunting at first. But take them in small doses and the project quickly comes together.

Here are some tips to help your students succeed in larger projects:
• Talk about planning the project; have students vocalize their personal plan.
• Define the larger goal.
• Brainstorm materials necessary for the project.
• Set a general timeline (it’s been helpful to start with the due date first and then work back, but organize how you see best).
• Break the larger goal down into smaller weekly goals based on your timeline. Discuss with students where they should be at each point in the timeline.
• Have students make note cards of facts and ideas so that they can be easily arranged when organizing concepts.
• Set concrete times for students to review the plan and their progress. Have them do a personal review and one with you.
• Conference with students/groups to give them feedback along the way.

abcteach has a number of resources to support project management, including: graphic organizers, KWL forms, Venn diagrams, and research help. Help your students achieve their goals (and in a less stressful manner), by teaching them how to plan ahead.

Good luck!

Hello, January! And a warm welcome back to all educators. No matter where you’re at on the globe, a new month means a new opportunity to incorporate creative materials in your lesson planning.

Where the colder temps abound, we have a great supply of winter and snow-themed activities. And while you’re perusing, don’t forget to view other “cool” sections, such as the tundra/arctic, winter calendar activities, seasonal book units, weather, and indoor crafts and activities.

For our warm weathered colleagues, we encourage you to visit our summer and seasonal clip art categories, along with specialized sections such as the coral reef, plants, science experiments, and summer sports.

As always, abcteach has a broad supply of holiday and seasonal items, including colorful clip art and interactive games. Please let us know what is working for you or what you’d like to see more of in the coming months.

~The abcteach team

p.s. The photos above are from the abcteach Photo Clip Art section on the member site. If you haven’t been there in a while, check out our new additions!

In a time when the emphasis in education is increasingly on testing preparation, it’s great to take a break and have some “old-fashioned” fun with paper, scissors, and crayons. abcteach’s Paper Roll Pals provide such an opportunity, with dozens of templates that kids can print out, color, cut out, and paste onto paper rolls. We’ve found that kids from Pre-K to 5th grade have a blast assembling these Pals.

How to get started

Head over to our Paper Roll Pals section on abcteach.com. There are a number of free templates to choose from, and even more for abcteach members (learn more). Download the assembly instructions, and print any templates that interest your students or children. Have kids bring in used paper rolls to use for their Pals (you can also roll a sheet of heavier paper into a cylinder if you don’t have rolls to use). With crayons, colored pencils, or water color paints, have kids color the designs. After the designs are colored, cut them out and paste them to the paper rolls.

Once your Paper Roll Pals are decorated and assembled, get creative! Use the characters in a class or home puppet show. Have kids compare two Pals using a Venn Diagram, or write a story using the puppet characters. Use puppets to create math problems (e.g. How many puppets have hats?). Make a board game using the puppets as game pieces. Have kids design and draw a new Paper Roll Pal that represents them.

As you can see, the possibilities are many. When you create your paper Roll Pals, let us know! Send pictures of your students’ creations to spotlight@abcteach.com to be featured on our blog and share your ideas with other educators.

Have fun creating!

To all of our educators near and far… as you bring in the new year, we wish you continued success in all of your endeavors. We thank you again for being a part of the abcteach community.

~The abcteach team

Wishing all of our educators a very Merry Christmas. May the holiday be a safe, happy time for you, your family and friends.

~The abcteach team

Music makes the world go round. And when it comes to the holidays, both traditional and contemporary music add to the magic of the season. Whether you’re in the car, shopping around or feeling merry with family and friends, there’s nothing like a collection of classics to put you in the mood.

If you haven’t visited it yet, we encourage you to check out abcteach’s music section. It has a variety of themed activities, including biographies, vocab, and even a specific category dedicated to holiday carols (found on the member site). These materials are great for home or classroom use, and support any environment with an ear for melody.

Here are additional music-related sections:

• • Theme Unit: Music
• • Clip Art: Music
• • Teaching Extras: Music Extras
• • Reading Comprehensions (select your age group and go!)

 
From Jingle Bells to Auld Lang Syne, we hope these materials add that extra special something to your holiday plans.

~the abcteach team

Just in time for the holidays, abcteach is happy to announce the latest addition to our Family Activity Planner Series. The Holiday Theme, like other themes, was created by abcteach educators and presents a number of embedded learning activities in three age levels. Enjoy a variety of winter-themed activities with your family, along with a helpful resource page with links to more fun games and downloads on abcteach.

Featured activities include:

• • Snowball Shuttle
• • Family Traditions
• • Christmas Cooking
• • Homemade Holiday Cards and more!

With the weather outside getting frightful, there’s no better time to add some merriment to your family’s at-home learning. We hope you enjoy the Holiday Activity Planner and wish you the best during this holiday season.

~the abcteach team

Welcome back, December! Let abcteach help you make the most of holiday learning with seasonal materials that engage any child in school or at home. We have a number of special sections for you to enjoy, including Holidays, the month of December, Theme Units, Seasonal Interactives, and more.

To make the season even more merry, we’ll be adding a special “Holiday edition” of our Family Activity Planner Series later this week! These creative guides get kids (and adults) actively learning by turning everyday moments into teaching opportunities. With 12 themes to choose from, our Family Activity Planners have plenty of activities to keep your family learning all year long.

From our team to yours, we hope you enjoy all the magic this season has to offer, and we wish you the best of luck as you wrap up another successful year.

~the abcteach team