It's back-to-school time, you're crazy busy, and your brain is being stretched in a million different directions. We want to help! In partnership with The Curriculum Corner, VariQuest® presents a cross-curricular free lesson plan unit for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students titled, "Explore Your World."

Engage students in learning the parts of a plant cell with a variety of teaching tools and fun activities using your VariQuest Cutout Maker 1800 and VariQuest Perfecta Poster Design System!

The National Association for Elementary School Principals (NAESP)'s annual conference kicks off in two weeks in Long Beach, CA (June 30-July 2). Each year the conference, designed for educators on the "front lines," challenges leaders to think, what's next? Attendees can choose their conference focus from several tracks:

The beginning and end of the school year is often a time of reflction. We have compiled five writing activities that can double as the ultimate classroom display - the bulletin board!

This lesson plan is part of our partnership with two creative educators from The Curriculum Corner, bringing you free Common Core aligned lesson ideas, teacher resources, and templates you can easily print with your VariQuest® Perfecta® Series Poster Design System - just be sure you have the latest VariQuest Software!

April is Mathematics Awareness Month! This year's theme is "Math Drives Careers." Math can be an engaging and intuitive subject for some students, but often it is a dry subject for others. These students ask, "When will I use this in real life?" One way to answer that question and engage learners is to demonstrate that math is all around us.

"The trouble with Women’s History Month—with all these special months—is that they encourage people to think that problems have been solved. The female heroes of yesterday are acknowledged, the debt paid and the slate wiped clean." -Maureen Costello, "The Trouble with Women's History Month" Use this quote and the resources below to discuss the past, present, and future of women's history in the context of Women's History Month.

March is Women's History Month! While the month is half over, there is still plenty of time to engage students of all ages in the history, struggles, and triumphs of women. Below is a brief, customizable lesson using images from Smithville Elementary Library's public blog. Images of notable women in history paired with one actionable word provide groundwork for biographical research and discussion leading into the contemporary.

In this lesson, students will explore the animals that are symbolic of the Chinese Lunar Zodiac Calendar, then use what they have learned to write a poem.

Looking for resources for the 2020 Chinese New Year? Check out our blog post here. The Chinese New Year falls on February 19, 2015. In this lesson, students will read about Chinese New Year traditions, compare them to American traditions, then celebrate by practicing one of the Chinese New Year traditions.