Now that we are 17 years into the 21^st century, it is interesting to note that thus far, our 21^st century learning skills are still very relevant. When looking through the four elements of the Framework for 21^st Century Learning, we see the skills listed that our students continue to need through the first two decades of our century.

Within the first element, civic literacy is an area that many schools continue to need resources for. From kindergarten to high school, it is critical for students to have exposure to the role we play as citizens in the various governmental structures. There are some resources listed on the framework page, but what could a school do to move toward real-world, application-level learning for civics and citizenship?

February may be the shortest month, but it’s also filled with fun celebrations, fascinating history, and notable events. Here is our collection of lessons and content to help you engage your students all month long:

February Calendar and Activities: Fill your students’ hearts and minds during the month of February with our Valentine-themed calendar and morning meeting lessons. Use this daily calendar to engage your students with meeting, graphing, and math activities, and track attendance with the included chart.

5 Resources to Make the Biggest Game of the Year a Learning Touchdown

With football’s biggest night coming up, how can you turn the event into a learning opportunity? Turns out, there’s plenty of science to be found in this popular game! From Newton’s laws and Deflategate to health and injuries, football offers plenty of opportunities help improve student engagement in the classroom.

The holiday season is in full swing, so we’re sharing some of our favorite lesson ideas for this time of year. Whether you want to incorporate winter weather or global celebrations into your classroom, we’ve got you covered.

Interactive whiteboards are fantastic tools, providing educators with a more engaging way to teach. With so many features to choose from, how can you best put these tools to use in the classroom? Here are some of our favorite resources with ideas and recommendations to help you use interactive whiteboards effectively in order to increase learning and engagement with your students.

I love my job. As an elementary computer teacher/media specialist, I have lots of freedom in what I teach and how I teach it. The standards I teach can be met in a variety of ways, so my job never gets dull. I get to be a help desk, search engine, science teacher, reading coach, typing instructor, social studies teacher, and more. As the 2016 presidential election approached, I was given the task of conducting a mock election for my school. I was nervous. I was fearful that all the vitriol in the media would spill over to my students, and I truly didn’t want to foster any more hate, fear or disrespect.

So before preparing for our mock election, I thought hard about what I could do to avoid negative election talk. I decided to prepare a lesson in library class ahead of time and teach a few ideas to my students. Here’s what I came up with.

November is here, and we have two things on our minds: elections and Thanksgiving! We have plenty of resources to power you through the crisp days of late fall—including new election- and Thanksgiving-themed content packs to inspire you in a month filled with current and historic events. We also have valuable training classes to help you refresh your skills or learn some new ones.

In our state, we have spent a great deal of time over the past five years reading, learning, unpacking, and then teaching the common core standards. In order to ensure that schools teach the “whole child,” our state Board of Education also adopted Social, Emotional, and Character Development Standards, which were the first of their kind in the nation.

As a child, I was a good student. I paid attention in school, did my homework, and generally managed to get As in my classes. School was fun and mostly easy for me from kindergarten into college, and I could usually score an A without much effort. However, things changed during my junior year of college when I took a Spanish class that sent me reeling, testing me in ways my other courses had not. I couldn’t understand my fast-talking instructor, and when she handed out an article written in Spanish for us to review, I didn’t know most of the words. I was astounded that a class could be this difficult.

Those of you who aren’t social studies teachers may be inclined to skip over this blog post, thinking it doesn’t pertain to you. Still others may be saying, “Why bother teaching current events at all?” After all, with the 24-hour news cycle, nothing stays “current” for long! However, research indicates that a regular dose of current events has a multitude of benefits, even in classes outside of social studies.