Celebrate Games Day!

 Celebrate Games Day on December 20th by stocking up on some new games for your classroom! With winter upon us, it may be starting to get a little bit too cold out. During this time of year, staying indoors for recess may be necessary. What better way to spend recess than building brainpower through the playing of games. Here are our top picks for mind growing games:

Boggle

The original 3-minute word search game! Just shake up the lettered cubes, drop them into the grid and start the timer. Then race to see who can list the most words - with the highest point value - among the random letter assortment in the grid!

Buy It Right Shopping Game

Teach kids the importance of money recognition, adding and making correct change through interactive game play. Kids can set prices, buy and sell items and learn the value of money as they move throughout the game board. Includes calculator, game pieces, 40 paper play bills and 100 plastic coins. Game board measures 19"x19". For 2-4 players.

Sequence Numbers

The cards have the equations....the gameboard has the answers. Each card has an addition or subtraction equation. Match a card to it's correct answer on the board, then place your chip there. Groups of numbers are color-coded to help with number recognition. When you have 5 of your chips in a row, you've got a SEQUENCE! Learning math is fun when you play by the numbers... SEQUENCE NUMBERS!

Clusters

This exciting word-building game includes 98 plastic tiles in 10 bright colors representing the most common letter groupings found in English. Unique two-tiered tile holders provide up to four players with workspaces to create their own words in preparation for play. Tiles include double vowels, digraphs, blends, silent letters, and more. A great way for children to learn to spell and read.

 Words Galore

Students expand their vocabulary by combining prefixes, common roots, and suffixes to form words horizontally or vertically. In Level One, players use prefixes and roots to make two-part words. In Level Two, players make three-part words with prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Offers a list of meanings for roots and affixes as well as additional suggestions for using the tiles beyond the board. Addresses state and national standards for the English Language Arts. 2-4 players or teams.

Follow & Tweet us on Twitter #TSHolidayPrize

Hey Social Media Lovers! 

 We have a holiday contest starting today! All you have to do is 'Follow' TeachersSquare on Twitter and Tweet us with #TSHolidayPrize to be randomly selected to win our holiday prize-pack of teacher supplies. Let's be honest here, you are probably on Twitter already so this contest should be an easy, fun, maybe even new experience for you! The prize-pack will include several goodies so don't miss your chance to WIN! Contest ends 12/26/12, tweet us as much as you like!

So, get 'Tweeting'!

New Christmas Tree Craft!

Click Here to Download

Looking for a fun activity to get your kids excited about Christmas? Our new Christmas tree craft is just the answer! With just a few supplies and a lot of imagination, your kids can create a great holiday decoration.  Here’s what you will need:

• Construction paper

• Glue

• Scissors

• Stapler

• Glitter and other decorations

• Tape

• Toilet paper or paper towel rolls

Our easy to follow instructions can be found here. 

Click the images below to find your supplies at TeachersSquare.com.

                         

Our Top 20 Christmas Movie Picks for Kids!

T'is the season for some Christmas movie classics! Around this time of year we all gather around our living rooms to cozy up with our kids and watch our favorite Christmas movies. We have chosen our Top 20 Christmas Movies for kids and would love to share them with all of you. See if your favorite made our list. If not, give one of these a try and let us know what we should be watching this season!

Top 20 Christmas Movie Picks for Kids
1.) The Santa Clause
2.) Elf
3.) The Polar Express
4.) Home Alone
5.) A Christmas Story
6.) Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
7.) Miracle on 34th Street
8.) The Nightmare Before Christmas
9.) A Charlie Brown Christmas
10.)  It's A Wonderful Life
11.) Shrek the Halls
12.) The Muppet Christmas Carol
13.) Mickey's Christmas Carol
14.) Frosty the Snowman
15.) White Christmas
16.) Elmo's Christmas Count Down
17.) Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
18.) Santa Claus is Coming to Town
19.) Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas
20.) The Night Before Christmas

So, grab some freshly made popcorn, comfortable blankets and snuggle up with the family this season to watch a Christmas Classic! We let you know our favorites, so what movie is your family's favorite?

Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa!

The month of December is a time that calls for celebration for many people. Although Christmas seems to be the most dominate celebration in the United States, it is certainly not the only. Now is a great time to teach your students about other important celebrations going on this month that they may not be aware of.

Although there are many celebrations in the month of December, we are concentrating on Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa in this blog.

Christmas Bulletin Board Set
from TeachersSquare.com

Christmas

Every year on December 25^th Christmas is celebrated around the world. Christmas is a celebration that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. Although the exact date of his birth is unknown, December 25^th was chosen by the Romans to coincide with the winter solstice.  This time of year was a time of festivity for Pagans and it was hoped that the Christmas celebration would convert Roman Pagans to Christianity.

To celebrate, Christians attend a Christmas Eve mass where they worship and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and sing Christmas carols honoring the occasion. Although Christmas is often celebrated as a sacred holiday, it has also become a secular celebration. In celebrating Christmas, Christian and non-Christian families share meals, exchange gifts, decorate their homes with Christmas trees, candles and lights, and wait for Santa to arrive.

Hanukkah Bulletin Board Set
from TeachersSquare.com

Hanukkah

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day celebration that occurs every year beginning on the 25^th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev. The story of Hanukkah dates back to the second century B.C. During this time, the Jewish Army recaptured the Second Temple in Jerusalem from the Greeks. In order to rededicate the Holy temple, the Menorah had to be lit. In the temple there was only enough scared oil to last one day. However, when the Menorah was light the oil lasted eight days, giving the Jews time to produce more oil. 

Each year in celebration, Jewish families light one candle each night to commemorate this event. In addition to lighting the Menorah, families celebrate by giving blessings and gifts each night and preparing foods such as Latkes, a potato pancake.

Kwanzaa Bulletin Board Set
from TeachersSquare.com

Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa, which means “First Fruits" in Swahili, is a holiday celebrated by African-Americans. Kwanzaa is a celebration that has families focusing on their heritage and the strength of black families. Created in 1966, by Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, Kwanzaa occurs each night during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. In celebration, families exchange gifts and light black, red, and yellow candles each night. Each candle symbolizes one of the seven values of the African American family. These values are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. On the last day of Kwanzaa, families gather for a feast of traditional African foods, ceremonies honoring their ancestors and lots of music and dancing.

Between Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa there is a lot to celebrate this season!   What holidays are you planning to celebrate this December?

Celebrate Red Planet Day!

Red Planet Day is celebrated every year on November 28th. This celebration was created to commemorate the launch of the Spacecraft Mariner 4 on November 28th, 1964. Mariner 4 went on a 228-day mission that brought the spacecraft within 6,118 miles of Mars, the Red Planet, on July 14, 1965. This mission was the first successfully flyby of Mars and supplied us with the first close up pictures of the martian planet.

Since that first successful mission, we have come a long way! Many attempts have been made to explore Mars with some of them being successful. We currently have three orbiters surveying Mars that provide information every day. There have also been several successful rover landings on the Red Planet, including the most recent landing of the Mars Science Laboratory named Curiosity.

With Curiosity exploring and providing information everyday on the fourth planet from the sun, now is an exciting time to study Mars and our solar system. Check in on the Curiosity Rover on Twitter or get more information on past, present and future Mars missions at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/.

Facts about Mars

• Mars is named after the Greek God of War, Ares.
• Mars is called the Red Planet because of it’s iron-rich soil and air.
• The Red Planet is the seventh largest planet in our solar system.
• Mars has a wide temperature range. It can be anywhere from  -225 to 70+ degrees Fahrenheit.
• Gravity on Mars is only 38% of Earth’s gravity. A 100 pound person would only weight 38 pounds on Mars.
• Mars is home to the largest mountain in our solar system. The mountain, Olympus Mons, is 17 miles high. That’s three times as tall as Mount Everest!
• The diameter of Mars is half the size of Earth or twice the size of Earth’s moon.
• Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. 
• A year on Mars is 687 days – 322 days longer than a year on Earth!
• A day on Mars is about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth.