Explores factors to consider when implementing cultural awareness activities with young children in schools. Discusses considerations regarding children's awareness of differences and ways in which we can be similar to and different from each other. Play is discussed as a vehicle through which children can learn about others in a natural context.…

Outlines seven essential questions to guide critical thinking. Provides a rubric for assessing student thinking, sample critical thinking learning activities, and a list of teaching principles. (SK)

Discusses Children's Book Week and the winners for 2002 of the Newberry Award, Newberry honor books, Caldecott Award, and other book awards. Suggests activities for the various books that were recipients of the awards. (LRW)

Presents learning activities for occupations in construction technology, designing a beam, and simple machines. (JOW)

Describes a 7-step 10-second previewing technique designed to increase reading comprehension of textbooks. Notes that the technique is adaptable to students at all levels. (RS)

Shares how students in one school created book jackets and wrote summaries for school library books. (MG)

Reviews two approaches to critical thinking and shares seven steps from one approach which promote critical thinking skills. Shares an example of an activity showing how this approach can be used in many areas of the curriculum. (MG)

Offers 12 activities based on Mother Goose which lend themselves to various content areas and are easily adaptable to any grade level. (MG)

Describes various kinds of games for one and two players. Provides the diagrams and rules for the games and puzzles. (YP)

Argues that introducing preschoolers to the kinds of formal basic skills instruction they will receive in elementary school fosters "learned stupidity" and merely teaches the ability to memorize concepts that have no meaning. Advocates that preschool programs focus on play, motor skills, and that which is visible, tangible, and audible. (DMM)

Several across-the-curriculum activities, with a penguin theme, are described. Research, discussion, science, writing, math, and art activities are listed. Included is a list of resources which gives sources for books and posters. (IAH)

Reviews the literature on classroom structure and student and teacher behavior. Argues that genuine invitations for students to think what they want and to share what they think about classroom content will soon lead to individual and small group inquiries that enrich unit themes and subject matter. (RS)

Teachers of students with visual impairments share teaching ideas, including a high school student's quilting project (the quilt included raised Braille alphabet letters); development of a ball-tipped cane for travel on nonpaved surfaces, grocery shopping by students for a local food bank, and development of an in-school television news program.…

A birding program developed as part of the leisure-time instructional program at the Greater Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind is described. Visits to the local aviary and field trips in which birds were identified by sound made this a particularly suitable activity. Sample activities conducted to involve participants are described. (DB)

Presents an overview of an interdisciplinary animal behavior unit on wolves, including aspects of science, social studies, and language arts. Includes sources of wolf information. (MKR)