Education Resources Blog

Election day is around the corner - and as it is the civic duty of all citizens of the United States when they turn 18 to exercise their right to vote, we've put together a simple set of lesson plan activities to help students learn about the process! Combining social studies/civics and English language arts (with printables in Spanish too!), this interactive activity booklet gives you simple instructions, tips, prompts, and resources to guide your students in running their own classroom election. In this lesson plan, designed for students in grades 2-6 but fully customizable for the needs of your classroom, students will work through hands-on activities and exercises for discussions in learning about the process of nominating the candidates, choosing the issues, promoting the platforms, voting, and more. Created in partnership with Cathy Henry, educator and founder of The Curriculum Corner and Free Word Work, students will explore discussion questions, vocabulary words, and more to better-understand our democratic process.

Trees are good for the air we breathe, the water we drink, and among many other environmentally-beneficial qualities, they are important to many cultures in bringing people together. On the last Friday in April each year, the United States celebrates Arbor Day - with the planting, nurturing, and honoring of trees! First celebrated in Nebraska in 1872 where 1 million trees were planted, the holiday spread across the country to schools, across the globe to other countries, and became a Federally recognized holiday in 1970. In this lesson plan, designed for students in grades 4-6 but fully customizable for the needs of your classroom, students will work through creative activities and writing exercises learning about the history and cultural significance of Arbor Day and trees. Created in partnership with Cathy Henry, educator and founder of The Curriculum Corner and Free Word Work, students will explore reading passages, research trees, and create presentations around their understanding of the Arbor Day holiday.

Circumference, diameter, radius, apple, cherry, rhubarb?! "Pi Day" is celebrated annually on March 14th (Get it - 3.14?!) and we're here to help you celebrate! According to piday.org, the concept of celebrating Pi Day on March 14th was started by physicist Larry Shaw at San Francisco’s Exploratorium science museum in 1988, earning him the title "The Prince of Pi!" Every year there since, a circular parade features each person participating holding one digit in the number pi. In 2009, Congress passed Resolution 224, which designated March 14th as Pi Day hoping to cultivate a higher level of enthusiasm for math and science among American students. In this lesson plan, designed for students in upper-elementary and middle school grades and customizable for the needs of your classroom, students will work through activities coupled with printables to explore the concept of Pi. Created in partnership with Cathy Henry, educator and founder of The Curriculum Corner and Free Word Work, you'll explore common terms and discussion questions related to circles and spheres (and if-you-so-choose, tasty bakery treats!)

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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 Chinese New Year will occur on Tuesday, February 1st, and is the Year of the Tiger. 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!