Shaped

A community-driven blog supporting educators, building lifelong learners, and shaping the future of education.* 

 

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29 Back-to-School Writing Prompts for Middle and High School

School's back in session, which means it's time for a fresh batch of writing prompts for the new year. Have your high school or middle school students try these Back-to-School prompts this fall.

Ali Habashi
Former Shaped Editor

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Mayan Pyramids vs. Egyptian Pyramids Lesson Plan Idea

Looking to include ELA instruction in your social studies classroom? This Mayan pyramids vs. Egyptian pyramids lesson plan idea has students discuss the similarities and differences between the two types of structures through writing an essay.

Shaped Staff

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Meet the Teacher Night Ideas: Holding a Successful Event for Students’ Families

Try these Meet the Teacher Night ideas to give students and families a warm welcome to your classroom and start off the school year right.

Katie Risolo Radovich
First-Grade Teacher

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Teaching Product of Prime Factors

In this lesson, use factor trees to teach students the concept that a composite number is written as a product of all of its prime factors.

Richard Blankman
Shaped Executive Editor

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Free Teaching Resources: Fun Classroom Activities and Lesson Plan Ideas

Find free teaching resources. Explore fun classroom activities, lessons plans, downloadables, and videos for Grade K–12 kids to keep learning and growing at grade level.

Shaped Staff

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7 Tips for Introducing Notice & Note Signposts in Your Classroom

Incorporate Notice & Note Signposts into your reading or ELA curriculum with these strategies and tips for teachers.

Zoe Zolbrod
Director, Learning Experience Design, Literature and Language Arts, HMH

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Financial Literacy Lesson Plans and Activities for Middle School Students

Use these financial literacy lesson plans and activities for middle school to teach students about topics ranging from salaries to wages to creating a personal budget.

Shaped Staff

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How to Boost Students’ SEL Skills Using Current Events

Fourth-grade teacher Perry Hollins shares tips for teaching current events through an SEL lens.

Perry Hollins
Fourth-Grade Teacher, Evanston/Skokie School District, Illinois

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Video: Teaching Math with Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Use this video to teach numbers and expressions in math class by investigating how different numbers look around the world and throughout history at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Richard Blankman
Shaped Executive Editor

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5 St. Patrick's Day Activities for Elementary and Middle School Students

Use these St. Patrick's Day activities for elementary and middle school to celebrate and teach your students about the history of the holiday.

Jordan Friedman
Former Shaped Editor

Richard Blankman
Shaped Executive Editor

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Elementary School Learning Activities

Use these educational activities for elementary school to explore different topics in reading, math, and science and add an element of fun into your lessons.

Shaped Staff

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6 Presidents' Day Bulletin Board Ideas for Teachers

Check out these six Presidents' Day bulletin board ideas created by teachers to get your students learning about American presidents.

Alicia Ivory
Shaped Editor

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Science Activities for Elementary Students

Get your kids developing hypotheses, performing experiments, and gathering evidence with these interactive science activities for elementary students.

Jordan Friedman
Former Shaped Editor

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Teaching Impeachment in the Classroom: Q&A With Emma Humphries of iCivics

Dr. Emma Humphries, Chief Education Officer at iCivics, shares how she believes educators can carefully and thoughtfully approach teaching impeachment in K–12 classrooms.

Geraldine Stevens
Social Studies Content Expert

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6 100th Day of School Math Activities: Challenge Your Students

Download these 100th Day of School math activities for your classroom. These printables are suitable for students in Grades 2-5 and beyond.

Richard Blankman
Shaped Executive Editor

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6 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Bulletin Board Ideas

Use these Martin Luther King, Jr. Day bulletin boards as inspiration for your own to teach students about themes such as racial equality.

Jordan Friedman
Former Shaped Editor

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Free History and Social Studies Activities for Middle School

Allow your middle schoolers to explore the past with these social studies activities and lessons covering topics ranging from U.S. Supreme Court cases to ancient civilizations.

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Free English Language Arts and Reading Activities for Middle School

Try free English language arts activities for Grades 6-8 focusing on haikus, metaphors, figurative language, and more curriculum-rich topics.

Shaped Staff

*The views expressed in our blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of HMH.