Blogs

Tips for Building Confidence in Students

By Roy G.
Please check out this insightful article from Wabisabi Learning:  6 Ways of Building Student Confidence Through Your Practice Set Goals Together "... self-confidence is largely based on our past experiences and is gradually reinforced by successes of all natures—social, emotional, intellectual, and more." Encourage Self and Peer Assessment "...giving them that responsibility for helping both themselves and others improve learning by encouraging ownership of it is a huge step toward building student confidence." Give useful Feedback "Learning without getting actionable feedback for improvement isn't ...
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Getting Started with Crayola Thinking Sheets

By Roy G.
Here are some exciting new Crayola Thinking Sheets and prompts to help you integrate them into your day-to-day learning. Thinking Sheet: Seek the Artist’s Intent Artists communicate messages through the use of composition, colors, patterns, and symbols. Respond to these questions to reveal the artist’s intent and the messages the art conveys. How can students use their visual voice to convey messages that spark positive change? Explore this question and more using this thinking sheet.  Thinking Sheet: Points of View Around Public Art Public artwork can convey meaning and emotion that brings communities together. Using ...
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Helping Build Persistence

By Roy G.
“If we want students to be more persistent, we should create academic challenges that are much like creative challenges – experiences that require effort, but also allow choice, are relevant and meaningful for students’ goals beyond school and are intrinsically interesting.” Learn more about how creative experiences enhance the persistence necessary for learning and achievement via How to Get Students to Persist @PsychToday Here are some great resources for connecting growth to creative challenges. Growth Mindset and Change: Game-Changing Opportunities Emotions Alive - Design Thinking Activity Reinvesting in Arts ...
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Random Acts of Kindness & COLOR Calendar

By Roy G.
This Random Acts of Kindness Day, let's create a kindness calendar! Students write a list of things that they can do to help their family, neighborhood, or people around the world—then with a flip up of a flap, this calendar reveals a random act of kindness! Use this Good Deeds Calendar Lesson Plan   to align standards and explore adaptations. Here are some great ideas of colorful ways to make a positive impact. What are your favorite ways to show acts of kindness. Share in the comments below. Bake cookies for the elderly Pick up litter Let someone hop in front of you in line Give a stranger a colorful compliment Make ...
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Seven Women Scientists who have Shaped our World

By Roy G.
Creative and tenacious women and girls are pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge and seeking solutions to complex global challenges every day. Have students learn about these 7 women scientists that are shaping our world in honor of International Day of Women and Girls in Science . Our team found this piece, Devoted to discovery: seven women scientists who have shaped our world , a stunning reminder of the beauty and strength in our diversity.
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Using Social Emotional Learning Activities to Promote Global Citizenship

By Roy G.
We found 9 SEL Activities that Promote Global Citizenship & Global Learning, by Andrea Moran, Population Education, January 2020 to be a valuable resource in the current environment.  Use this Global Citizenship Thinking Sheet to help highlight Global Responsibilities; how to care about people, the planet, and set goals for its protection. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a hot educational trend, and it’s one that  provides an array of benefits . Not only can it increase students’ academic achievement, but SEL activities can build students’ self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision ...
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Winter Activity Ideas

By Roy G.
We stumbled across this great list of 31 Days of Winter Activities for Kids from the Artful Parent and we love the way it's categorized. As we head into the holidays in this difficult year, hopefully, You can some additional color and joy to your season by bringing these great creative ideas and activities to life! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Outdoor Snow Play Winter Art Activities Snow & Ice Activities Indoor Play Ideas Construction Ideas Winter Books #2020 #Article #Resource #craft #creativeteachingstrategy #Project-basedLearning ...
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Using Volunteering to Support Social-Emotional Learning and Creative Teaching Opportunities

By Roy G.
Lessons You Learn from Giving Back Volunteering and giving back helps increase gratitude , reduces anxiety , and may even increase productivity . But did you know it could also help students in their future careers? Five lessons you AND your students can experience by helping others.  1. How to speak up when you disagree 2. How to be a follower 3. How to tackle problems others are afraid of 4. How to defer to experts 5. How to accept defeat and play the long game Read more about the 5 Unexpected Career Lessons You Learn From Giving Back via Forbes.
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Family Project: Remember Our Veterans

By Roy G.
Remember Our Veterans Investigate the roles brave men and women have played in your nation's history as you learn about patriotic holidays. SUPPLIES NEEDED Brushes Cup Or Bottle Paper Towels Recycled Material Washable Fine Line Markers Washable Watercolors GRADE 3 GRADE 4 GRADE 5 30-60 Minutes Directions   Invite students to find out about the roles of veterans in the country's history. Why are their contributions significant to your country today? When are their historic roles celebrated? How? Organize appropriate text and electronic resources for students ...
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Boston Nonprofit Gives Back to Children in Their Community with At-Home Learning Kits

By Roy G.
Nicole DaSilva and Bobby DeDominicis hand out Crayola Create-to-Learn Family Project kits at the Boston Centers for Youth & Families center on Paris Street in East Boston, to families with children in kindergarten up to fifth grade  With a goal to distribute supplies to encourage creative expression among all students while schools are teaching remotely, the nonprofit Edvestors partnered with Crayola’s education team to distribute Create-to-Learn Family Project kits to 4,000 families whose children attend Boston Public Schools in kindergarten up to fifth grade. The STEAM kits were given out to students in need who were picking up meals at 17 sites ...
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Drawing on Art and Math for Colorful Community Connections

By Nancy Meyer
I am very excited to announce an update on this Project idea and Funding request from @Fiona Nichols , Coordinator of Mathematics Education, at Portsmouth Public Schools in Virginia. ICYMI: Fiona and her colleague Endia Hatcher-Watkins wondered how the district’s students might use the online calculator Desmos to do a collaborative project.  They devised a plan for students to create coloring book pages utilizing math functions and formulas in Desmos, creating a project that integrated math and art for their students. Once students had designed the coloring book pages, each high school would design a mathematical process to select ten pages to be included ...
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Inspire Innovation: New Solutions for Common Challenges

By Roy G.
Tackling obstacles requires out-of-the-box thinking. Sometimes, solutions stem from unlikely sources, such as using everyday items. Any new invention starts with an observation and identifying the problem. Then, all it takes is a little innovation and imagination. Encourage innovative thinking in your students with these lesson and activity ideas, in collaboration with our partner, Follett! Each lesson pairs with a relevant book and features activities that foster creativity and offer the opportunity for reflection. DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE ACTIVITY PLANS BELOW For Grades PreK-2 – Hats off to Innovative Solutions For Grades 3-5 ...
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Community Partnerships Enrich Teacher and Student Learning Experiences

By James Wells
With 100+ years of serving educators in the classroom and beyond, Crayola has a legacy and commitment to education. With our professional learning programs , we’re dedicated to providing an engaging experience, opportunities for all learners, imaginative STEAM learning, and the tools educators need to build a vibrant, creative school culture and strong family partnerships. In order to make these experiences even more meaningful and connected to real-world applications and skills that students and educators need to be successful in this new era, we’ve established impactful partnerships with leading education and community organizations, like the Georgia Aquarium ...
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Making a “Grand” Difference in Tennessee

By James Wells
Crayola creatED has partnered with four districts across the state of Tennessee— Bartlett City Schools , Hamblen County School District , Maury County Public Schools , and Shelby County Schools —to support the implementation of creative arts integration strategies. These professional development days have taken place everywhere from school cafeterias to district offices, to local foundation board rooms to cultural institutions like the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art ! With at least one district in each of the three grand divisions, Crayola has worked with multiple schools in each of these districts to build creative leadership teams of educators committed ...
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Imaginative Connections: GA STEM/STEAM Conference Recap

By Cindy Kerr
Recently, I had the pleasure to attend the annual Georgia STEM/STEAM Forum (Oct. 20-22). It was my first experience at this or any STEAM conference, so I didn’t know what to expect. Guess what? It was a fabulous group of educators, all gathered to find new ideas in the world of STEM and STEAM.  Everyone shared remarkable project outcomes that their students had created, and all the teachers were excited to be teaching and learning. To kick off the event, Crayolians spoke to first-time attendees about our exciting new partnership with the Georgia Aquarium . They briefly described the STEAM professional learning opportunities that will be available to Georgia ...
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Hamblen County Uses Creativity to Spark Change!

By James Wells
It’s Learning and Development Month, so we’re showcasing incredible districts that have embraced creativity and the arts as a way to learn and grow as leaders and teachers, and in turn help their students to grow and succeed. Hamblen County Schools in Morristown, TN worked with Crayola to establish very clear goals and objectives from the start. These goals emphasized academic performance and outcomes, a focus on creativity within the core curriculum, increasing collaboration within schools and within the district, and integrating arts-based activities into lesson plans, curriculum, and core content standards. Together, we partnered to establish our next ...
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Resources for Teacher Inspiration

By Donald Spellman
Educating children requires an enormous amount of drive and energy. You might make it look easy to everyone around you, but teaching takes its toll on you. Somehow, every day, you find the strength to get up and keep going. You can’t pour from an empty jug, so you need to find ways to keep yourself inspired to continue to shape the lives of our future leaders. Go back to the beginning When you come home from a tough day in the classroom, you feel like giving it up forever. The job is hard, and you might start thinking that there are less stressful ways to make money. Teaching is a calling. The profession attracted you for a reason. Go back and ...
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More Content Doesn't Mean More Learning

By Donald Spellman
As a teacher, you can’t expect your students to learn new information if they don’t understand the basics of a subject. Simply providing them with more content won’t make them more knowledgeable. Instead, it will most likely result in a lack of motivation on their side, as they’ll struggle to understand the lectures. You may feel some pressure when it comes to deciding exactly what you’re going to teach your students. After all, if you do only a bit of research at home, you’ll surely find a lot of interesting stuff you can present to the class. However, more content usually won’t lead to more learning. There are always a few students who are well above average ...
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Tips, Tricks and Ideas for Classroom Supplies and Organization

By Donald Spellman
Keeping your classroom organized and looking good will have a positive impact on the productivity of your students. As an educator, you should always be working to create a more positive learning environment. This will motivate your students to reach various academic achievements. Keep in mind that classrooms are where students spend nearly all of their time while they’re at school. Therefore, the way these spaces are organized has an impact on how much they will learn. Organize Your Desk Before you even start planning how the rest of the classroom will look, it’s important to first organize your desk. Know that since it represents the heart of the classroom, ...
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Guidelines for Building a STEAM Curriculum

By Donald Spellman
Many people are aware that STEM refers to a push within the education community to place more emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in curriculum , even for younger students. This was driven by the idea that our students were falling behind in those fields, making the U.S. less competitive with other industrial countries.  According to  Edutopia , an influential blog for K-12 educators, the idea of STEAM came from the realization that STEM is not enough and likely was not spurring enough creative thought in order to help our students compete in a world-wide village of other potential employees and workers. In fact, when the Great ...
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