More than ever, it seems that our world is deeply divided. Gifted children may feel especially passionate about areas of social justice and/or enjoy debating current affairs.  However, our society seems to have forgotten the art of respectful debate, and often resorts to hurling insults and opinions to shut down conversations. 2020 has given us a lot to talk about, whether it’s the American election, or coronavirus protocols, give your class some tools to have these tough conversations.  Remember, problems need to be discussed before they can be solved! Identify Bias (Theirs & Yo ..read more

TRY THIS:  Originally, Thanksgiving was a day to celebrate survival in the “new world.” What should New Thanksgiving celebrate? New Thanksgiving worksheet ..read more

Anti-Racist Art Teachers https://sites.google.com/view/antiracistartteachers/home You can use the resources from their site and even subscribe to their monthly newsletter!  Full of ideas to explore with your students ..read more

More / Less List Originally published in the New York Times, a More / Less List is a great illustrated way to look back at the previous year and look forward to the new year. What would you like to see more of in 2022? What needs to drop away? There could be some great discussions around the idea of resolutions, but also the imperfect idea of perfection.  Before / After Questions What comes after a funny joke?  What comes before you say, “I’m sorry.”  What comes before the Nobel Prize?  What comes after the new year?  What comes before the feeling of pride? Before / Af ..read more

There: A Philosophy and Ethics Discussion Guide  A little girl pictures the future as a different place—a place called “There”.  Her questions echo many of the worries that all children have.   This discussion guide is one of more than 200 offered by the Prindle Institute to introduce philosophy  and ethics using popular children’s books ..read more

A Japanese tale tells of a young man who was asked to tend a garden. He cleaned and raked, removing every fallen leaf and twig.  Then, when the ground was completely clear, he shook one of the cherry trees.  He wanted the few flowers that fell randomly to demonstrate wabi-sabi,  or the beauty in imperfection.   Robyn Griggs Lawrence, Wabi-Sabi: The Art Of Imperfection, Utne Reader, October, 2007 Beyond the comfort offered to avid gardeners in the depths of winter, we think that this story is most vital as a counterpoint to the tradition of  the New Year’s Res ..read more

Why Differentiate? A differentiated classroom provides various avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products.  It means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, format/products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.  Differentiation for the Highly Able Who is the student in your class that will progress the least this year?…  It may actually be your enrichment student.  For them ..read more

Money Management Competition  This competition is an opportunity for Canadian middle and high school students to become more confident about money management and budgeting while having fun competing for their school. This competition will be based on the new bilingual Money Management and Budgeting Module by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC).  Use this form to download the info pack. Who: All middle school and high school students nationwide (both languages) Dates: Feb. 9-16 Prizes: A total of 22 top ranking schools on our four leaderboards will receive a piece of the ..read more

Lateral Thinking Puzzles  Thinking outside of the box takes practice. You’ll find students get better at creative problem solving after practicing their lateral thinking skills. Here are some good riddles to start with.  Try them in small groups so students can share their thoughts.  Lateral Thinking Puzzles 31 Tricky Lateral Thinking Puzzles (with Answers) – IcebreakerIdeas ..read more

Twosday Math Challenge https://mathequalslove.net/twosday-challenge-activity/ Twosday is the name being given to Tuesday, February 22, 2022 since the date will be written as 2/22/22 in the US and 22/2/22 in much of the rest of the world. On top of the date being composed of all 2’s, the day of the week (Tuesday) sounds like the name of the holiday (Twosday). Twos to Nines Challenges (PDF) Twos to Nines Challenge (Google) Slides ..read more