We are putting up all new activities. You can find the old activities in our new title www.explorations!

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Click here to go back to the top of the page.

February

National Bird Feeding Month – February is National Bird Feeding Month!  The theme for 2010 is “Hatching Out: An Introduction to Wild Bird Feeding Hobby.”    To learn more about this holiday visit the National Bird Feeding Society web page:  http://www.birdfeeding.org  In order to make the most bird friendly environment on your property you should make sure to provide a variety of foods, types of feeders, and habitat for your feathered friends.  Have students make a variety of bird feeders in groups.  You can make them using many recycled materials.  An orange, a milk carton, pine cones, tin pie plates, and many other ideas can be found online.  If peanut butter allergies are a concern many bird feeder recipes substitute honey as a substance to stick bird feed to your feeder.  After your feeders are made hang them outside a classroom window.  Encourage students to observe the variety of feeders throughout the day.  Which feeders did the birds seem to like the most and the least?  Why was this so?  Make hypotheses about the birds in your area and the type of food they prefer.  To go along with this day check out our new product: Interest Enrichment Center Units: Birds.

Feb 6th – National Pay a Compliment Day –This day could be today or the fourth Wednesday of January.  Either way, during the next two months take time to talk with students  about compliments and the importance of giving sincere compliments to others.  Mark Twain was quoted as saying:  “I can live two months on a good compliment.”  How true it is that a good compliment can help our mood soar for days or even months at a time?  For an exercise in compliments and to help build self esteem use this day to have students pay compliments to each other.  Give each student a piece of paper with their names at the top.  Then let students circulate around the room and write compliments or positive things about that person on each sheet.  Encourage students to write something no matter how minimal on everyone’s paper.  These pages will serve as a good reminder to each student when they might be having a bad day and need a pick me up.  Use these books to support this day and positive attitudes in your classroom:  Journey of Lifelong Learning, Learning to be a Durable Person, Walk in Their Shoes, Adventures in Team Building 1st-2nd, and Adventures in Team Building 3rd-4th.

Feb 10th – Ratification of the 25th Amendment, Presidential Succession, 1967 – This amendment was influenced by the increasing capacity of medical technology and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.   The 25th Amendment helped to address issues if a president was alive but became unable to perform his presidential duties.  It also addressed what would happen if a Vice President dies or has to resign.  This amendment lays out the details of succession:  President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, and then President Pro Tempore of the Senate.  This amendment also laid out details for presidents to temporarily transfer power to a VP in the occurrence that they will be temporarily unable to do their job.  This has happened before when a president had to have a surgical procedure or was put under anesthesia for a medical test.  Take this day to research the 25th Amendment, each section, and the details of Presidential Succession.  Check out these books to go with this topic:  Challenging Puzzles: Social Studies,  Jr. Social Studies Investigator, Fantastic Social Studies Lessons,  and Power or Politics.  Check out this website for more information about this topic: www.historybuff.com

Feb 16th – Do a Grouch a Favor Day – Everyone is a grouch from time to time.  Some people you know may seem grouchy every day, and some people rarely ever show their grouchy sides.  Use this day to make a list of things you could do to help cheer up someone.  Pick a day or week at your school and make an effort to cheer up everyone you see who is in a grouchy mood.  Warning – proceed with caution. Some grouches may like their general demeanor and may not be very open to changing their mood!  Think of any books you have read in the past with grouch characters.  Make a list of those characters and the attributes they possess.  See what characteristics seem always present in a grouch. Then make a list of traits happy people exhibit.  Which traits do both types of people have?  Use a Venn diagram to help organize your thoughts.  Check out these books that go with the study of this topic:  Learning to be a Durable Person, Now What?, and Another Point of View.

Feb 19th – Toothpick patented in 1872 – The first toothpick-manufacturing machine was developed in 1869, by Charles Forster.  Another type of toothpick making machine was patented in 1872 on this day, by Silas Nobel and J.P. Cooley.  There is little information available about Silas and J.P.; however there are more details about Charles Forster and his business sense.  When Charles initially started selling toothpicks he hired local Harvard Law Students to dine in restaurants and ask for toothpicks.  When the restaurant would say they didn’t have any the students would cause a scene and act as if it was something they had to have to dine.  The upper class restaurants quickly started buying toothpicks and then many other places followed suit.  Forster may have not been an engineering genius, but his marketing ideas worked, and his toothpick sales increased.  To learn more about toothpicks and how they are made search online for videos.  There are a variety that show the process from bamboo to a toothpick on your table.  To learn more about inventions and people who helped ideas go from mind to matter check out these books:  Blunder or Brainstorm?, and What is This Thing?.

Feb 22 – Woolworth Opened the First “Five Cent Store” in 1879 – This retail store was founded with a loan for $300, in 1879, by Frank Winfield Woolworth.  Woolworths was one of the first stores to offer items at discounted fixed prices and to have merchandise out so that shoppers could handle and select the items they wanted to purchase.  Up until this time most stores kept merchandise behind the counter, and shoppers presented store clerks with a list of the items they wanted to purchase.  Woolworth grew to be one of the largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th Century.  However, increased competition led to the retail stores’ decline beginning in the 80s with the last store closing in 1997.  If you decided to open a store what type of store would it be?  What would you sell?  What would you do to make sure your store could withstand the test of time?  In groups develop a small business plan with all the details you will need to know to get things started and ensure success.  Use this book to help you make your plan:  Reality Math for Teens.

Feb 27th – No Brainer Day - A “no brainer” is doing something that is simple, easy, obvious, and/or totally logical.  Every once in a while it is nice to have a task that requires little brain activity.  If you have had too many “no brainer” days lately check out these brain challenging books:  Beginning Links to Logic, Brainy Acts, Daily Brain Starters, Think Hard, and Think Harder.  Also check out these sites for some brainy fun!  http://www.theproblemsite.com/default.asp, www.edheads.org, and http://school.discoveryeducation.com/brainboosters/.

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November