Describes Math Safari, a mathematical, scientific, geographic, informational adventure for fourth grade students. It integrates all curriculum areas and other skills by using information children must find in books to pose math problems about animals. It encourages cooperative learning, critical reading, analysis, and use of research skills. (SM)

Students can explore temperature and heat conductivity by examining materials that make good cups for hot cocoa. Using temperature probes from computer-based science packages, students can measure gradual change in the liquid's temperature, watch as data are plotted on the computer, and explain why they chose a specific material. (SM)

Describes one elementary school's "Living the Dream" award program named in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Students read and reviewed books and presented the award to the author of a recent picture book that focused on multicultural awareness. A list of suggested titles is included. (SM)

Elementary level math activity helps students learn averages, percentages, and mathematical predictions using candies and a computer spreadsheet. Students estimate, collect data, and compare actual counts against their predictions. (SM)

Two articles discuss changes that are making technology useful to teachers. After examining computer uses in education, the articles describe new research and educational technology trends, and products and projects that got three teachers hooked on technology. (SM)

Explores how teachers at the Creative Arts Centre in Calgary (Alberta) create, maintain, and nurture aesthetic learning in their classrooms. The Centre, opened in 1997, has chosen to value the creating process, primary to the arts, in the school curriculum as a whole. During 1997 to 1998, 55 volunteers (primarily students and parents) explored…

Describes nontraditional, creative teaching methods that celebrate differences among students. Contrasts these classrooms with programs that force teachers and learners into mediocre sameness using teacher-proof approaches that have been proven wrong for both teachers and learners. Uses personal examples from kindergarten and first-grade…

Two hands-on science activities for K-6 students teach them how to determine if something is an acid or a base. The activities require acid/base indicator juice, testing strips, and a base solution. A recipe for making them in the classroom using red cabbage and baking soda is provided. (SM)

Presents phonic activities based on brand names for teaching primary students basic reading. The first uses familiar brand-name products with rhyming elements in their names. The second has teachers write longer words that rhyme with and have similar spelling patterns to product names. Both activities help students use patterns in familiar words…

One way to give students a firsthand feel for other cultures is to turn them into sleuths who investigate authentic artifacts from various cultures. This article explains how one teacher borrows artifacts from a local museum, then creates a mystery to solve that provides hands-on learning. Suggests ideas to use instead of artifacts. (SM)

Electronic field trips allow students to visit far away places via the computer, at the same time enhancing their academic skills and learning about inquiry, research, and how to ask questions. The article describes several electronic field trips that are available and provides contact information. (SM)

Educators who want to make movement a part of their teaching must teach students the basic steps that comprise movement. This involves expanding students' range of locomotion, teaching spatial relationships, and exploring different body shapes. Literature references for teaching movement, a list of resources, and six teaching tips are included.…

Reflects on one educator's experiences teaching high school students and student teachers, suggesting that teaching was made meaningful, and learning against oppression was made possible, only when the group, consciously or unconsciously, made use of non-normalized or perverted forms of desire and crisis. Notes the teacher's realization that…

This K-6 social studies activity teaches students about the flag's origin while reviewing literacy skills. Students perform a poem entitled "The Flag We Love," which, in rhyming verse, explains the history and symbolism of the flag. Over eight days, students prepare for the performance, and on the ninth day, they perform a choral reading…

Describes a science activity in which students make a non-Newtonian fluid (slime), which has both solid and liquid properties. After reviewing the shape and volume of solids and volume of liquids, students make the slime using glue, liquid starch, and food coloring. They can experiment by rolling and dropping slime balls and by pulling the slime…