"Leaf Rubbings" Adept, Home School Teacher: Australia

Materials: Leaves, Paper, Pencils or crayons

Method: Place a leaf under a piece of paper. Rub or color crayon over the top of the paper. An imprint of the leaf should form.

"Famous Heads" Jacob Pikel, Middle School Social Studies

"I used the famous head project this year with great success. It can be applied to just about any grade level and/or subject area. The basic premise of the project is that students go on the Internet or other media source to find pictures of famous people included in their studies. Students then cover the picture with a piece of colored construction paper. On the construction paper, the students write at least 5 items that describe the importance of this person. The heads are then passed around the room and other students have to guess who the famous person is. This was a great hit with my students. We used it for review at the end of year as well."

"School Newsletter" Sylvia, Teacher

"My seventh graders did not have much ambition about others and trying to change things. So I asked my principal if we could create a bimonthly newsletter. She agreed. My kids took it from one page the first month to seven pages by the fourth newsletter. They loved it! They worked on it once a week and interviewed others. They found out important events and dates that students had to remember. It was a great success. It boosted their morale and made them stars in our school.

Try it. It really makes them care about their environment and others."

Invent Something For Me! Cheryl Popiols: Middle Level Science Teacher

"I always hold onto this lesson for my rainy days. I arrange students into groups of 3. I give each group a bag of unusual objects and some standard classroom supplies. The students then have to create a craft or an invention of some type that uses all of the items in the bag.

I usually require students to also make a poster and a presentation on the value and use of their inventions."

"The Classroom Pumpkin" Tiffany Hughes, Grade 4

"In October, I always bring in a classroom pumpkin. I center most of my lessons on the pumpkin. Here is a list of some of the activities that involve the pumpkin:

1. An adjective activity that requires students to describe the pumpkin.
2. An estimation unit where students estimate the weight and circumference of the pumpkin.
3. A five senses activity. Students describe how the pumpkin feels, looks, and smells.
4. We compare the pumpkin to various fruits and vegetables.
5. We make pictures with pumpkin seeds.
6. We estimate the number of seeds the pumpkin has and we graph the estimates versus the actual number of seeds."