March is finally here, which means we can bid farewell to winter and welcome the warmer weather that comes with spring! While you’re doing your springtime cleaning, why not spruce up your lessons as well?

Here is our collection of engaging themed content for March:

Finding ways to motivate students can be difficult. Finding ways to motivate students when you have a tight budget can be even harder. But with a little creativity, a teacher can find multiple tricks to bringing a free incentive system into the classroom. 

These ideas are separated into four different areas that research has indicated motivates students: adult approval, peer approval, consumables, and independent rewards. The level a student is motivated to obtain one of these will fluctuate from one student to the next, but by a quick survey, a teacher can find the area that calls to each student and then have a list of ideas for engaging them to work for a reward. Most of these are free and take very little effort, but will be greatly appreciated. Here are some suggestions for how to integrate these ideas easily to make them work for you:

Differentiation is both a complex concept and a critical tool to meet the needs of today’s learners. At times, I have seen the complexity overwhelm a teacher to the point of frustration. Teachers will tell me it is just too much, and they are returning to the whole group instruction model that they used before.

While front-of-the-room learning isn’t a bad concept, it is difficult knowing that all of your students are not at the same place and you can’t do anything to help all the differing levels. Technology has helped change this—especially in classrooms with a 1:1 model. With a device in the hands of each student, teachers can more easily differentiate to meet the needs of the individuals. 

So when it comes to math, where is a teacher to start? Here is a list that touches on a few of the major players in the market—each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Some of these are connected to large textbook companies, while some are more independently operated. If you are seriously considering the time and money needed to invest in one of these, here is a starting point for your research:

As a classroom teacher, you may have heard about the recent push to incorporate more computer science and coding into students’ lives. The problem could be—as it is with most teachers I know—that you feel vastly underqualified to teach anything in that realm. Coding seems like an intimidating subject and something that requires a lot of professional learning before jumping in.

February may be the shortest month, but it’s also filled with fun celebrations, fascinating history, and notable events. Here is our collection of lessons and content to help you engage your students all month long:

February Calendar and Activities: Fill your students’ hearts and minds during the month of February with our Valentine-themed calendar and morning meeting lessons. Use this daily calendar to engage your students with meeting, graphing, and math activities, and track attendance with the included chart.

5 Resources to Make the Biggest Game of the Year a Learning Touchdown

With football’s biggest night coming up, how can you turn the event into a learning opportunity? Turns out, there’s plenty of science to be found in this popular game! From Newton’s laws and Deflategate to health and injuries, football offers plenty of opportunities help improve student engagement in the classroom.

As we turn the calendar, we have a new year full of possibilities. Even with all these possibilities, we also know that old habits die hard—this is why listing our new year’s resolutions is a popular practice and can be very profound. The list either helps us to do something new that we have always wanted to try, or start doing something we have known for a while and need to pick up again. 

So for 2017, I have developed my top list of things I would like to do, improve at, or focus on for the year. These resolutions are aimed at improving my knowledge of educational technology (and more!) and are in no particular order—and a few are a little tongue in cheek!

After a long semester of shaping the minds of the next generation, teachers certainly deserve some time to relax and unwind over the winter break. So, just how much do educators love this time off? And how do they spend it?

You’re practically swimming in “must-try” tool lists right now—we know. That’s why we created this unique one for you. These tools can be used in almost every classroom, from kindergarten to high school, and teach students important skills that they’ll need in our modern world, including coding, creativity, and kindness.