Real-world-application learning is where learning takes real flight! We're so proud when our students master a concept, but even more proud when they can apply it to their everyday lives. In this lesson plan, designed for students in grades 3-6 and created in partnership with Cathy Henry, educator and founder of The Curriculum Corner and Free Word Work, students will study, plan, and create their own restaurant menus based on their own family foods and cultural traditions - plus create and solve multi-step math problems in "running" their restaurant. They will use creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills - making this a very useful interdisciplinary activity!

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 2024 Chinese New Year will occur on Saturday, February 10th, and is the Year of the Dragon. 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 updated our collection of fun, hands-on and Common Core-aligned lessons and activities, classroom decorations, and craft projects for this year's holiday so you can explore and enjoy with your class, and we want to share them with you!

While everyone has different holiday traditions and celebrates this time of year in different ways - we can all agree that spreading kindness and joy is one of the best! We've put together some printables to do just that! Maybe you remember a time of doing "Secret Santa" - or maybe you've done "You've been BOO'd" during the fall months - this fun holiday activity for your classroom or school building is appropriately called, "You've been SOCKED!" For this activity, you'll put together door hangers and a fun little Christmas surprise (made more fun if it's an actual sock ;) ) and secretly deliver them to another classroom to hang on a door, or you can have students gift them amongst each other on lockers, cubbies, or desks. Inside the sock or delivered bag can be treats, prizes, or simply a hand-drawn card or picture - anything to spread a little cheer!

We ask Google, we ask Alexa, we ask Siri...but what questions and answers do we need to find, ourselves? The skill of writing a research paper doesn't just develop writing skills or focus on learning more about the subject at hand. It also teaches students to gather proper information to make informed decisions when faced with options in their lives. To catapult these critical thinking skills into play, we at VariQuest have put together a substantive lesson plan unit, split into two parts (to make it easier to digest and teach!) and this second and final portion focuses on the writing (and editing) portion of the process. Get Part 1: The Research Process here! From writing introductions and conclusions to proofreading to publishing, these lessons are designed in a writers'-workshop-style to guide students through all the important steps in writing a research paper. Using the example of The Great Barrier Reef, all lessons come paired with a handful of helpful printables - including anchor charts, discussion cards, reference pieces, and more!

Research-writing has changed a lot over the years, and with the prominence of artificial intelligence, those changes are only going to continue. As students learn the important skill of responsibly researching for their writing, we at VariQuest have put together a 42-page booklet, split into two parts (to make it easier to digest and teach!) and this first part focuses on the research portion of the process. From choosing a topic, to learning to paraphrase, to writing a thesis, these lessons are designed in a writers'-workshop-style to immerse students in every important step of writing a research paper. Using the example of The Great Barrier Reef, each lesson is paired with a handful of helpful printables - including anchor charts, discussion-prompts, and more!

There are so many questions when it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it will affect humankind in the future. At its best, it can help us learn and understand even more about the world around us - making tasks easier, helping us remember important appointments, and simplifying the search for information. At its worst, it could take away our jobs, our creativity, and our critical thinking skills to rely (too much) on technology. Of course, one area we're all very concerned about is - how will this impact the lives of young people, who are growing up in an AI-focused world? Because it's unrealistic to ignore AI technology and the fact that students will be navigating this option with or without adult supervision, helping your students in the classroom make responsible decisions about how to use AI is a great first step.

When the season of fall arrives, you're celebrating being done with the first few weeks of the school year, and outside the colors of the environment are changing. What better way to celebrate the new season and fall holidays - than with coloring inside the classroom as well? We've put together some fun classroom activities for the fall season and holidays, to be used as class or group discussions, hallway displays, or just as coloring pages for bell-ringers or brain breaks. Download them free and put them in your calming corner or use them in your lessons - the possibilities are endless!

Trying to figure out how to best spend your Career & Technical Education funding - or use other funding for career & technical education programs? Let's take a look at some options.

Sensory paths are not only fun for elementary education because they help get the wiggles out, but they help with learning too! At VariQuest®, we feel passionately about visual and kinesthetic learning - and a sensory path is a great way to get "a-movin' and a-groovin'" while learning something too! In partnership with Cathy Henry of The Curriculum Corner, we've put together not only printables to build your own sensory path(s) on your school floors, but paired them with lesson plan activities to teach common curriculum-based concepts. Check out and download these great booklets, featured below!

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.