Great Resource: I Love That Teaching Idea

When I taught sixth grade, one of my favorite resources for creative ideas to use in the classroom was I Love That Teaching Idea. It is a website where teachers submit their creative teaching ideas for others to use. Some even include printable worksheets and forms! The ideas are divided into categories so you can easily locate an idea for any subject!

Here are a couple of example ideas from the Social Studies category

World Map Skills–For a take-home assignment in my class, I make a copy of a world map for each student. The assignment is to look through the yellow pages of a phone book and make a list of all the ethnic restaurants in our area. Then they are to plot on the map where the country is that this food was originated.

The ABC’s of My Great State–At the beginning of a study of your state, have your students keep an “ABC” book that they can add to thoughout your unit. Simply staple or bind 26 pages, each with a letter of the alphabet placed on the page. As students learn about the state bird, for example, they can go to that page in their book and draw a picture of it. Students continue to add to their books until it is full. Title it, “The ABC’s of My Great State!” Older students could even go and share their books with a younger class.

Ancestor Party-Plan a class party where the students each come as an ancestor of theirs. They can wear costumes, and each will tell the rest of the class a little bit about the person they are dressed as. Previous to the party there are activities that can be done, such as writing about the person they will be. We have had students come as a flapper, Butch Cassidy, an Indian, a mom, etc. It was lots of fun.

When it’s hot outside it’s fun to do any kinds of activities that involve ice, water or anything cold. Check out my water and ice activities here, and read on for sensory and science experiments using and inspired by ice cream, and maybe grab a sweet treat after you’re finished.

In the Playroom has a bunch of ice cream inspired STEM challenges that would be great for older kids. These include things like designing an ice cream cone holder that will hold cones upright, making the highest stack of “scoops” (using cotton balls) and making a cover that can keep ice cream from melting so quickly. The challenges and printable pages kids can use as they work on their experiments individually or in teams are included in a free download.

This ice cream water table from Happy Toddler Playtime doesn’t use real ice cream, but you could try chilling the shaving cream for the fake ice cream base (though cans of shaving cream should not be frozen). Or just throw some ice cubes in there while you play.

You could also make fluffy ice cream slime (not edible) with this recipe from STEAMsational Family and use that in a sensory tray or table if you like.

Happy Toddler Playtime also has an ice cream cone volcano idea, which is the classic baking soda and vinegar project with an ice cream twist.

Turn building an ice cream cone into a lesson about sharing with this idea from Extremely Good Parenting. Read the book Should I Share My Ice Cream? and then make paper into an ice cream ball you can share with someone else (or just make for fun).

Learn about states of matter and sequencing with a melting Popsicle experiment (you could also do with ice cream) from Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station. This is a good one if you have a sunny spot on the playground or in the yard where kids can observe and time the melting of a frozen treat, ideally while eating their own. There’s also a free printable for kids to record their observations if they didn’t get too sticky.

Have you read?

Leave a Reply