VariQuest Blog

The VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite Blog contains resources on classroom ideas, lesson plans, industry news, events, and offers throughout education.

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Lessons/Activities/Templates | Student Engagement | Grade Level: Primary (PK-2) | Grade Level: Secondary (7-12) | Grade Level: Intermediate (3-6) | Featured Topics: Lessons and Activities | social-emotional learning | classroom management

[Lesson Plan] Building Community With Kindness

By: VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite
August 16th, 2023

In the 1960s, The Beach Boys scored a hit with the song, Be True to Your School about being proud of the school you go to and defending it to others. Are you proud of the school you represent? School pride might come from belonging to a group, or defending your choice to go there, but pride can run deep within the culture. When you build a culture of kindness, you're building a community of pride stemming from everyone feeling safe, involved, and supported. With this in mind, we partnered with Cathy Henry, educator and founder of The Curriculum Corner and Free Word Work, to create this Building Community With Kindness Lesson Plan for K-8 teachers. It is designed to help students and staff work together to build classrooms of individuals that strive to help others and spread kindness throughout their schools and communities.

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Lessons/Activities/Templates | Perfecta | Student Engagement | Academic Subject: English Language Arts | Grade Level: Secondary (7-12) | Grade Level: Intermediate (3-6) | Featured Topics: Industry News and Trends | VariQuest Tools: Design Center Software | Featured Topics: Student Engagement | Featured Topics: Lessons and Activities | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400STP | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 3600STP | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400PRO | Engage Every Learner Content

Writing Prompts for Students: Using ChatGPT

By: VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite
June 22nd, 2023

You can't escape reading about Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancements and how they are changing the world every day. From self-driving cars to robotics to digital assistants and language processing tools, technology is quickly infiltrating every aspect of our lives that our minds used to control themselves. How long can you go without utilizing the technology to ease tasks in your day? "Hey Google, ______" And this means that our children and students are using the technology, too - and are probably better at it! Growing up with the instant gratification of using a search engine to find an answer and asking Alexa to play any song in the world, it's no wonder they're using the tools in their immediate toolbox to "learn" and get things in the quickest and easiest ways. BUT...what does that mean in terms of cultivating critical thinking in the classroom?

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How to Write a Grant eBook

How to Write a Grant eBook

This helpful guide includes an explanation of the grant process, including a checklist (with samples!), and useful links and resources to find funding!

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Lessons/Activities/Templates | Academic Subject: English Language Arts | Featured Topics: Templates for FREE download | VariQuest Tools: Motiva 400 | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400STP | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 3600STP | free posters | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400PRO | Engage Every Learner Content

[Download] Writing With Caution Classroom Poster and Activities

By: VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite
June 15th, 2023

THERE (not their, or they're) is no way around it - homophones are tricky...and the English language is full of them!

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Lessons/Activities/Templates | Featured Topics: Lessons and Activities | VariQuest Tools: Motiva 400 | social-emotional learning | free posters | classroom management

[Printable] Don't Keep it Bottled Up Compliment Cards

By: VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite
May 17th, 2023

What does a compliment cost? Nothing! When you give someone a compliment, not only are you making them feel better, you get a little happiness boost from the good deed as well. Teaching our students about spreading kindness is an invaluable life lesson, and this activity is an easy, fun way to do it!

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Lessons/Activities/Templates | Special Education | Grade Level: Primary (PK-2) | Featured Topics: Lessons and Activities | prek | VariQuest Tools: Motiva 400 | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400STP | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 3600STP | social-emotional learning | free posters | classroom management | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400PRO

[Printables] When I Feel Upset I Can...

By: VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite
April 4th, 2023

When big feelings take over, it's tough to take a step back before exerting an emotional response to a perceived issue. As students learn and grow in their social-emotional development, the best help we can provide as educators is giving them the tools and tips necessary to work through these big feelings in a productive way. As adults, we have all heard the "count to 10" or "sleep on it" suggestions to prevent reacting irrationally when we're angry, but there are lots of coping mechanisms that are great calming techniques. And because many students are visual learners, and repetition is key for retention, we've got some visuals for you!

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Lessons/Activities/Templates | Special Education | Grade Level: Primary (PK-2) | Featured Topics: Lessons and Activities | prek | VariQuest Tools: Motiva 400 | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400STP | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 3600STP | social-emotional learning | free posters | classroom management | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400PRO

[Printable] What Can I Control? Coloring Activity

By: VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite
March 15th, 2023

Regulating emotions is tough - for all of us. And understanding (and accepting) what's in and out of our control is a powerful tool to help. In our students, learning to control feelings is an important lesson that will guide them through decision-making, personal relationships, and cause-and-effect consequences - both now and throughout their lives. And because we at VariQuest want to continue to help you fill your teacher toolbox with valuable learning - and in this case, social-emotional learning - supports, we've designed this fun coloring activity as a picture diagram of recognizing things both in and out of an individual's control - to help with this learning process!

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Lessons/Activities/Templates | Student Engagement | Grade Level: Primary (PK-2) | Grade Level: Intermediate (3-6) | Featured Topics: Classroom Celebrations/Holidays | Featured Topics: Lessons and Activities | classroom management

[Download] 100th Day of School Activities for Elementary Teachers

By: VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite
January 27th, 2023

As an elementary teacher, when you reach that 100th Day of School, you may be thinking about it being the halfway point in the year, as well as a good time to reevaluate and set new goals for the remainder of the classroom days with your current students. But reaching that halfway point - also deserves a celebration! Often students will be asked to bring 100 of something, complete a scavenger hunt, make shirts, or otherwise to commemorate the event - but because we at VariQuest want you to have endless options in your toolbox, we've come up with a few more ideas - and we'd like to share them with you.

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Lessons/Activities/Templates | Special Education | Student Engagement | Grade Level: Primary (PK-2) | VariQuest Tools: Cutout Maker 1800 | Featured Topics: Student Engagement | Academic Subject: Special Education | Featured Topics: Lessons and Activities | VariQuest Tools: Motiva 400 | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400STP | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 3600STP

[Download] Sensory Path for Elementary Students: Dinosaur Discovery

By: VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite
January 18th, 2023

Whether students are learning by doing or learning while doing, keeping them engaged during a lesson provides for maximum learning potential. And what kid doesn't love learning about dinosaurs? Enter our latest sensory path for elementary students: Dinosaur Discovery. Designed for grades K-3 and special education, this sensory path combines learning about dinosaurs with writing and reading activities to incorporate English Language Arts (ELA) with science for a truly engaging and fun activity. Increased focus and expended energy are just two of the benefits of a sensory path - but they can also be a great break from traditional instruction. Using this free downloadable activity kit, you'll have all the resources, printables, and tips you'll need to carry out and try this lesson in your classroom!

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Lessons/Activities/Templates | VariQuest Tools: Cutout Maker 1800 | Featured Topics: Classroom Celebrations/Holidays | Featured Topics: Lessons and Activities | VariQuest Tools: Motiva 400 | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400STP | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 3600STP | VariQuest Tools: Perfecta 2400PRO

[Videos] Classroom Supports for Vision Boards, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Valentine's Day

By: VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite
January 13th, 2023

When you return from winter break and begin a new calendar year with students, you might be looking for new ways to start fresh with your lessons and may even make resolutions to create more hands-on projects. Often outdone by the commercially celebrated holidays at the end of the year, setting New Year's goals, honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and celebrating Valentine's Day provide for lots of fun ways you can celebrate and discuss social-emotional and historical concepts with your students in those first few months of the year. We at VariQuest® are always brainstorming to come up with fun, new ways to teach lessons in your classroom, and because many of us are visual learners, we'd like to not only tell you about them, we'd like to show you how easy it is to create all of these visual and kinesthetic learning supports - with videos!

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Lessons/Activities/Templates | Academic Subject: English Language Arts | Featured Topics: Classroom Celebrations/Holidays | Featured Topics: Lessons and Activities | Academic Subject: Mathematics

[Lesson Plan] Celebrate the Chinese New Year 2023!

By: VariQuest Visual and Kinesthetic Learning Suite
January 5th, 2023

Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, has been celebrated for thousands of years. It is one of the most important holidays widely celebrated in many Asian countries and territories including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, Thailand. Usually falling between January 21st and February 20th, this year's start of the 2023 Chinese New Year will occur on Sunday, January 22nd, and is the Year of the Rabbit. The celebration lasts for about 15 days. Gung Hay Fat Choy is a common Chinese New Year’s greeting in Chinese Cantonese, which means “wishing you great happiness and prosperity.” On Chinese New Year, the themes of happiness, wealth, longevity, luck and good fortune are celebrated. Some of the traditional celebrations include family gatherings, visiting friends and relatives (baai nin), exchanging “lucky money” contained in red envelopes (lai see), decorating homes with paper decorations and scrolls, lion dances, and fireworks. Chinese New Year is a special holiday to celebrate with your class while teaching them others’ cultures and comparing them to American traditions. We have put together a collection of fun, hands-on and Common Core-aligned lessons and activities, classroom decorations, and craft projects for you to explore and enjoy with your class, and I want to share them with you!

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