Feeling a little antsy for winter break? How about your students? If my girls’ eagerness is any indication, I’ll bet you’re counting the days, hours, and minutes! I’ve found something else you can count on—freebies to keep your students engaged even as the festivities of the season surround them.
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Post a comment to this blog no later than 11:59 pm EST on December 18, 2016, to tell me which of the items below you’d like to take advantage of. From the comments, I’ll randomly select one teacher to win Antsy Ansel, Ansel Adams, A Life in Nature. This picture-book biography features the photographic visionary whose work benefited the National Park Service. (Update: congratulations to Molly, who is the winner of our prize.)
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Fourth-grade teachers, tuck this in a holiday gift. Give each of your students and their families a pass for free access to hundreds of parks through August 31, 2017. First, download free lessons; after students complete the activities, print their passes. Click here to start the adventure.
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When you want to get your students’ attention, turn to the Grinch! Tell them how they can “grow their hearts three sizes” with the fourth annual 25 Days of Grinch-mas. The Grinch-mas events and free activities promote reading and encourage kids to do good deeds. For free games, activities, video clips, and a schedule of storytime events, click here.
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This week is Computer Science Education Week, so how are your coding skills? Get help teaching coding to your students with this brand-new guide that you can download for free. Step 1 caught my attention right away: “Do not feel you have to be an expert.” Click here to get started.
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Don’t forget to post a comment for your chance to win the book!
Counting the days with you,
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| Karen |
PS: You could win a stack of seasonal books for your classroom library! Click here and look under the “WIN” tab.
My class would LOVE the Ansel Adams biography! We are studying this genre after the winter break and this would be a great way to introduce/motivate them as readers and writers!! AWESOME looking book!
I am going to use the Kid in a Park activities. I would love the Ansel Adams book.
Thank you!
A free book would sure beat those winter doldrums!
Definitely going to use the Grinch resource. Looks very worthwhile. Would love the book
A free book and it’s not even Friday! My class would love to hear this story of Ansel. We have a few kids who are kind of “Antsy” themselves!
The Grinch resources look great!
I must say the P.S. at the bottom is my favorite this month hope I win!! Mailbox is a teachers best friend
Antsy Ansel looks great! I think anything Ansel Adams is great for getting students to look at photography as art.
I love the Grinch resources!
I would love the Antsy Ansel. In 4th grade we have a huge unit on biographies and this would be an awesome addition to our unit!!!
I have been an Ansel Adams fan for many years, and I would love to add a copy of his book to my class library.
I think the Grinch activities would be good to use in class to teach about caring and giving to others at this time of the year.
The Ansel Adams book looks very interesting. I didn’t know it was available. I love the idea of the park passes too.
Love the Grinch resources.
We would really love the Antsy Ansel book for our library!
Would love the Ansel Adams book.
The Grinch resources are great! Already printed some off to use in the classroom!
Antsy Adams sounds and looks like a cute book…L’d love to have this book since Yosemite is in our back yard.
My class would love this! And I think it would be a great paired text to Snowflake Bentley.
Thx so much for the chance
Ansel Adams to share with my class would be wonderful.
I love the Grinch-mas activities. Great to use at school and at home! Everyone can benefit from that!
Ansel Adams would be great and using the Grinch activities next week!!
I took advantage of the Parks for every 4th grader. I forwarded it to our 4th grade teacher, along with several other 4th grade teachers. I also took advantage of the Dr. Seuss “grow your heart 3 times bigger activities. We just read “The Grinch Stole Christmas” last week, so perfect timing.
We’re definitely going to try the coding activities!
Our fifth graders camp fo two nights at Indiana Dunes park! I would love to have this book for them! They would appreciate the message since they get to experience the adventure.
I would love to have the Antsy Ansel book in order to teach a cross-curricular science and art activity with my second graders in conjunction with our fabulous art teacher, Miss Fallon! We could combine a nature walk (my science class) with some photography skills learned in art class and create a nature journal and personal narrative with our one-to-one iPads. Doing it this winter would increase the black and white similarities to Ansel’s photographs. 🙂 Please please please consider sending the book to us!
I am looking forward to trying the coding activity. My students are very tech-savvy and I’m always looking for a way to engage them through technology in each subject area. We read a story about Yosemite National Park every year and the “Antsy Ansel” would be a great addition to it. Thank you!
My class just did the Hour of Code so it would be fun to extend that with the coding lessons.
These are some great free resources. I can’t wait to explore them,
My class would love to see the biography of Ansel Adams. This would work great with my biography unit.
Antsy Ansel would be great for my library!
Thank you!
The Ansel Adams book would be a wonderful addition to our Biography shelf in the Library and a wonderful continuation of the 100th anniversary celebration of our National Parks Service!! Also, thanks so much for sharing the parks lesson plans and the Grinch ideas. Love all you do for us working in the schools.
As a fourth-grade Language Arts teacher in Puerto Rico , very few (perhaps none) of my students have been to a national park in the United States. What an awesome opportunity it would be for them to get to know these wonders of nature through Antsy Ansel’s eyes!