Spring is here! The sun is shining, new growth is sprouting, and warmer temperatures are right around the corner. Celebrate spring with eBooks, videos, and activities from INFOhio that will engage students and revitalize your classroom.
March brings the return of Daylight Saving Time and well-known events such as St. Patrick's Day and Women's History Month. Start off spring by observing these days and other celebrations.
Music in Our Schools Month
The month of March is Music in Our Schools Month® . For the past 40 years, the National Association of Music Education has celebrated this to raise awareness of the importance of music education for all children. Support music in schools using the grade level instructional. materials shared below.
Grades PreK-3
Musical Max and Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin are engaging eBooks from BookFlix. Each video storybook has a paired nonfiction text about the topic.
Share these stories with students and use the already created lesson plans under Resources and Tools within BookFlix that include Before Viewing the Video, After-Viewing Activities, and Paired-Text Activities.
Grades 4-8
Check out this trivia eBook, Music Trivia. Share a daily fun fact with students during Music in Our Schools Month.
Look through this eBook, Get Noisy with Science! Projects with Sounds, Music, and More, and find step-by-step directions on how to create musical instruments like a fancy flute, stellar xylophone, or box and band guitar.
Grades 9-12
Use this History of American Music choice board to provide resources for high school students to learn more about musical artists and musical genres from American history.
National Puppy Day
National Puppy Day is Sunday, March 23. Who doesn't love watching puppies play? Watch and learn more about some adorable puppies and their journey to adulthood in this video from Kids Discover. These videos include visual reminders to pause for discussion. Use the Pause Point in the video to stop and share the similarities and differences between caring for puppies and caring for humans.
Are you trying to decide what breed of dog is right for you? Read about many different breeds of dogs in this Dogs choice board recommended for students in grades 3-6.
Students can explore dogs with World Book Kids, Student, and Advanced. These webquests provide students with a reading activity that introduces them to the resource and supports background knowledge on dogs.
Here is an example from the World Book Kids Webquest.
National Crayon Day
Remember getting a brand-new box of crayons at the beginning of the school year? Celebrate National Crayon Day on March 31 with your students and bring back the nostalgia of fresh, new crayons. Share with students how crayons are made in these eBooks, From Wax to Crayon and The Story of Crayons.
Students can use their crayons to draw something of their choice from this Learn How to Draw! choice board.
April showers bring May flowers, or so the saying goes. The month of April includes a lot of celebrations, starting with April Fool's Day and continuing with International Children's Book Day on April 2 and Earth Day on April 22. In addition, April is National Financial Literacy Month and National Poetry Month.
International Children's Book Day
International Children's Book Day began in 1967 on Danish fairy tale writer, Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, April 2, and "is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books."
To celebrate, offer students a digital library of books so they can make their own reading choices.
Or read aloud a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen to continue to inspire a love of reading. Share these retold classics originally written by Hans Christian Andersen and recommended for students in grades K-2, Princess and the Pea and The Ugly Duckling.
Earth Day
Celebrate Earth Day on March 22. Introduce Earth Day to students in Grades K-5 with this video, Learn About Helping Our Planet with Peter Planet. Discuss ways to take care of the Earth, as shared by Peter in the video. There is also a series of five videos featuring Slim Goodbody. Have students complete the "deskercises" every day throughout the week while learning more about making good decisions about the Earth.
Share the video, The Origin of Earth Day with students in Grades 6-12 to learn about the history of this modern celebration. Encourage students to think about what they can do to help the Earth. This eBook shares ways that students can create an environmental club and the projects that can be completed.
May brings the countdown to the end of another school year. Keep the learning going and students engaged with May events and celebrations.
National Photography Month
Share this Photographs that Changed History choice board with students in grades 9-12. Ask students to use the Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Technique with students as they teach others in their class about what they learned.
National Military Appreciation Month
National Military Appreciation Month is a month-long observance in the United States, dedicated to people who are currently serving in, and veterans of, the United States military. Provide students with eBooks on the different branches of the military so they can learn more about being a member of the military:
Also, share this Careers in Military Services choice board to support career exploration.
National Paper Airplane Day
National Paper Airplane Day is celebrated every year on May 26. Learn to build a perfect paper airplane with these eBooks that show you step-by-step directions. The eBooks range from beginner to advanced. See who can throw their airplane the farthest.
Do you need additional texts and eBooks to support your curriculum? Use Educator Tools to search by keyword and use filters to narrow search results to your needs. In this example, a keyword search for water cycle was completed and the filters Grade Level: 3rd and Item Type: eBook were added.
Need some tips on how to add INFOhio's digital text into your teaching? Explore these on-demand professional learning classes and webinars designed to teach the strategies and best practices needed to bring eBooks, videos, and digital text into the classroom. Webinars range from 30 minutes to 1 hour. Classes take 2-4 hours to complete. Earn a passing score on a quiz after each webinar or class to generate a contact hour certificate.
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Sarah Mowery is a Professional Instructional Specialist with INFOhio. She has worked in education for 16 years as a school librarian and technology coach in elementary and middle school settings. While in these roles, she's been an integral part of the building leadership teams working as a curriculum connector and integrating web-based tools. She earned a BA in Sociology from Bowling Green State University and an MLS with a specialization in PK-12 schools from East Carolina University. Sarah was one of the original INFOhio ICoaches when the program first began in 2013 and has a passion for sharing how INFOhio resources can transform teaching and impact learning for students and educators across the state of Ohio.
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