Easy Icons

Click on any of these icons and you will see every activity in that category. Each category is explained to benefit your search.

Stimulating Conversation
Stimulating Conversation is a forum for discussing current education, family values, societal pressures, teaching strategies, learning methods, and anything that effects what and how people learn.  Click the icon to see the various discussions that are on going.  Please feel free to agree or disagree or to offer a different viewpoint.

Activity Book
An activity book is a downloadable book that contains educational activities about a specific topic and usually designed for a particular age level.  There are times when the activities are to develop a special skill set.

Audio File

Audio File – An audio file is a sound file.  It may be a story being read or a sound that is not normally heard.  It is information not presented any other way.

Books Online

Books need no explanation.  Reading helps develop and improve reading skills and increase the reader’s knowledge.  These books can be read online or downloaded in a PDF file to be enjoyed over and over again.

Careers

Every teacher and parent is looking for ways to motivate students.  Studies have shown where teachers provide career or “real life” experiences students are more motivated in the classroom. Students become more aware of their world and are able to see “where they will use this.”  Career exposure also helps break down occupational and gender stereotypes and enables students to make better higher education plans.

Coloring Pages

Coloring boosts artistic creativity and special coloring topics aid learning more about a specific matter. Coloring is regarded as the perfect way for a child to express the way he or she perceives the entire world. Children will also learn about shapes, colors, textures, develop fine motor and coloring skills, and build an appetite for future knowledge.  These activities can be rich in educational value and capture the imagination for a lifetime.

Curriculum

Each curriculum is tagged by the time needed to present the material, either a year or a semester, or for short curricula, by weeks.  Each curricula is tagged by subject and/or topic.  Every curriculum contains a variety of materials to teach the desired topic and may be presented in a PDF file, multiple files, or on its own web site.

Education Tools

Everyone needs a few good tools when creating education material.  When we find things that work.  You will find them under Education Tools.  There are pictures and posters, worksheets, lesson plans, interactive online tools, and so much more.

Flashcards

Study after study has shown that spaced repetition is the most effective form of learning, and nothing beats flashcards when it comes to making repetitive learning fast and fun.  Flashcards enable you to study small, digestible bits of information that are easier to learn and give you exposure to more question types and concepts.

Full Lesson

A Full Lesson contains everything the author of the material has determined is needed to present, teach, and learn this lesson.  A lesson may contain any or all of the following: visuals, animations, print outs, assessments, answer keys, video, audio, and other features.

Mnemonic Device
A mnemonic device is a memory aid. Commonly used mnemonics are often verbal, something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something, particularly lists, but may be visual, kinesthetic or auditory. This is based on the principle that the human mind much more easily remembers spatial, personal, surprising, or humorous or otherwise meaningful information than arbitrary sequences.

Online Game

Online games are played online on the computer.  Read the abstract to determine the age appropriateness of the game.  Check the skills that you need to play the game and the skills that will be advanced by playing the game.  On line games include Drill & Practice, Concentration, Hang man, and many others.

PowerPoint Presentation

PowerPoint Presentation is a special software that is widely used by business people, educators, students, and trainers and is among the most prevalent forms of persuasive technology. PowerPoint presentations consist of a number of individual pages or “slides”

Science Activity

These are activities that deal with one or more of the basic sciences; Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, or Physics.  Carefully check the Level of the activity to determine its age appropriateness.  Do an Advanced Search by topic to more closely find exactly what you need.

Short Story

A short story is a powerful learning tool.  Whether read aloud to someone or read to yourself, a very few words can make a lasting impression.

Spelling List

For spelling, repetition and review are crucial to making sure your students truly learn the material and that it is permanently stored in their long-term memory.  Bad spelling habits or even low literacy skills cause children to become frustrated and discouraged and may end up falling behind.  These lists are by grade level, topic, or special needs.

Thinking Skills

Thinking Skills are a variety of practices that aid a person’s ability to think and reason.  These skills include concept maps, sequencing, observation, synthesizing, logic puzzles, and many more.

Video

Videos have two uses on our web site.  First, when the icon is on the right, the video goes with the activity and is part of the learning experience.  Second, when the icon is on the left, the video is the activity.  Usually this is a “teachable moment”, or some event, or a visual of something that has to be seen to be understood.

Warm up
A Warm up is an activity that students can do in just a few minutes.  The warm up is to give the instructor a moment to take role and other housekeeping duties and to get children’s minds  engaged in the day’s learning topic..  The activity must be something that pertains to today’s lesson, or thematically deals with the current topic or over arches the course.

Web Site

When there is just too much content on a web site to break down by specific activities, we will just reference the entire site.  The site must be very well organized, easy to use, and deal with a prime educational theme to be cited.

Word Wall

A word wall is a systematically organized collection of words displayed in large letters on a wall or other large display place in the classroom. It is a tool to use, not just display. The word wall may contain pictures to help in word identification.

Worksheet

Worksheets are great for many situations.  Practice, extra credit, home school, work for a sub to supervise are all reasons to have this icon designation.