Lessons and Ideas

  A recent Harvard Business School study found that when people build their own products, they tend to love them more than if they just purchased them. The study called this the "IKEA Effect" after the ubiquitous chain's line of furniture that is (relatively) easy to assemble. If you put in the splinters, sweat and tears putting together your own dinky IKEA table, you'll end up thinking that it is worth more than it really is. In other words: People care more about stuff they create. In the world of education, these findings shouldn't come as a surprise. The "IKEA…

I Want Action Action verbs characterize our every movement and every thought. Do you need a list of action verbs to jumpstart your stories or writing? Here we go: jump sing think dance sleep race giggle watch nap study An easy trick to recognize action verbs is by asking yourself, "Can I do this?"  Can I sing? (Yes, but poorly.) Can I sleep? (Yes!) Can I giggle? (Yup, all the time!) Action verbs can also tell time by changing verb tense. For example, if you nap in the past, present or future, you could say, "I napped," "I am napping,"…

Uncle Sam wants YOU to learn about World War One Propaganda Propaganda can be defined as information, ideas or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation etc. During World War One, propaganda posters were rampant. Propaganda spanned different countries, military branches, genders and ages. Use today's lesson, which includes many examples of World War One Propaganda, to start a discussion in the classroom. Would War One Propaganda Lesson Plan   Brush up on World War One by listening to Flocabulary's World War One song. The song explains key causes and events of the war, from the…

When you recognize a word's prefix, you can make a better guess at the meaning of a new word. Or as our new prefix video says, "Prefixes...It's like a remix, it changes things." By the end of this prefix lesson plan, students will be able to recognize the meanings of common prefixes, use the prefixes to determine meanings of words, and then play a prefixes game where they invent new words using prefixes.

Review the Biggest Buzzwords of the Week! When you follow national and worldwide affairs, you get access to natural disasters, alleged crimes, social media controversies and more. Each week, we’ll highlight the top buzzwords or terms that your students might not have known or even heard until now. All these words are featured in the most recent edition of The Week in Rap. And once students beef up their vocab, the news will make a lot more sense. THIS WEEK radioactive (adjective)-- emitting or relating to the emission of ionizing radiation or particles. Why it matters: After last year's destructive earthquake and subsequent…