Education Resources Blog

Whether focusing on English Language Learning (ELL) as special education or for new readers working on their site words, it helps to use everyday objects - and a little extra fun! Gamification of English language learning empowers students to engage with reading and vocabulary in dynamic, memorable ways. By incorporating interactive game elements—such as BINGO boards, scavenger hunts, and friendly competition—educators can transform traditional lessons into exciting, collaborative experiences. This approach not only reinforces language acquisition and word recognition, but also builds motivation and confidence among learners of all backgrounds. As students strive to achieve goals, collect points, or find words in real-life contexts, they naturally develop communication skills and a lasting enthusiasm for English language mastery. In this new free lesson plan activity, students will practice words found around the house and words found around school using provided BINGO boards and word prompts!

Can you believe it’s already time to start thinking about back-to-school? The first few days of the school year can be both exciting and overwhelming, so to help ease the transition, we've created a set of engaging activities for you to use right away. These resources align seamlessly with core objectives in reading, math, writing, and social-emotional learning, requiring minimal preparation. Not only are the activities engaging and easy to implement, but your students completed work can also serve as an eye-catching hallway display. Download them now for FREE and start the school year with confidence!

It costs nothing to be kind - but the return on investment is huge! Fostering kindness among students is essential for building a positive learning environment where everyone feels valued and supported. When students practice kindness—whether through small gestures like sharing supplies or larger acts such as including a classmate in group work—they contribute to a culture of respect and empathy. Encouraging these behaviors not only improves classroom dynamics but also equips students with critical social-emotional skills. By modeling and recognizing acts of kindness, educators can inspire students to become compassionate leaders, driving meaningful connections and lasting impact both inside and outside the classroom.

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.

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!

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 this midst of the back-to-school shopping season, teachers, parents, and students alike are purchasing tools they will need to be successful in the coming school year. And using notebooks, folders, and pencil boxes, students will be filling the insides with useful knowledge and creative expressions which will lead them onto paths of success for later in life! So as you fill your teacher toolboxes for the upcoming school year, we've put together some extra inserts that will help everyone - My Logins and References Page Inserts for student notebooks or folders - in both English and Spanish. We know you're busy, so these are designed to be plug-and-play!

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

Reading broadens the imagination, exercises your brain, and is one of the best tools to build learning and understanding of vocabulary. As educators, we aspire to inspire a generation of students who love to read. And as you retain more information when you read, then discuss, then teach others - your reading comprehension exercises are working to do just that. We've once again partnered with Cathy Henry from Free Word Work and The Curriculum Corner to put together a lesson plan that works great for distance or hybrid learning, and helps students in 1st-3rd grade work on identifying parts of a story, or summarizing what they've read. Introducing - our Rainbow Summary Lesson Plan.

In the fall, the leaves change, and so does our content! We just released our VariQuest® Design Software version 9.0 - packed with brand new and updated Engage Every Learner® Content, and we know you'll love all the latest additions around social-emotional wellbeing, health & safety, movement, and more. Along with new functionality adding our new Perfecta® 2400PRO Poster Design System, and shortcuts and options to make using our tools even easier, you'll love having over 22,000 templates, graphics, fonts, collections, cutouts, sensory paths and more to use in your classrooms, hallways, and throughout your learning community.