Education Resources Blog

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.

At a time when our world and nation are struggling with division and conflicting ideology - empathy and compassion are important concepts to teach our future generations, so they can make the world a better place than how we leave it. Emotional intelligence, or understanding your own emotions and the emotions of those around you, is an important skill to develop and refine. The middle school years, where students are rapidly developing their sense of self, are obviously an important time to provide tools and exercises to work on this skill. In these social-emotional learning activities, designed for students in grades 5-7 and customizable for the needs of your classroom, students will view photo examples and answer discussion questions to recognize emotions in others. Created in partnership with Cathy Henry, educator and founder of The Curriculum Corner and Free Word Work, these activities will explore empathy, emotional regulation strategies, problem-assessment, and more.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

Here at VariQuest, many of our education consultants were once teachers themselves, and all of them have credible voices that they bring to the table thanks to their backgrounds. Not only that, but almost all of our employees in every department are well-connected in the education world - through family, friends, or the wonderful educators our children are taught by, in their schools. And we know that every educator has a unique story to share, and deserves as much support as we can give them. Recently our Director of Sales, Jason Butts, sat down with his friend Anna, a Moderate-to-Severe High School Life Skills Special Education Teacher at Prior Lake High School in Minnesota, to learn more about her unique story.

Do you love listening to podcasts in the education space? Are you looking for more information and resources on Social-Emotional Learning and Teaching in schools? We've got something great just for you! The Common Ground Education Podcast, hosted by Charles Barr, a licensed social worker in the state of Illinois with 15 years of experience in serving schools, is focused on progressive education, mental health resources and multi-disciplinary collaboration. Its goal is to provide needed information to professionals in the educational domain. Recently our very own expert Education Consultant Howard Shaw, a 20-year teaching veteran, sat down with Charles to discuss his experiences in the classroom and school community with developing a supportive social-emotional learning environment, and how visual aids are important in these programs to reinforce and help students.