Shaped

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

Latest Posts

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2024 Groundhog Day Activities for Elementary Students

Try these fun 2024 Groundhog Day activities for elementary students in your classroom.

Alicia Ivory
Shaped Editor

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Using Choice Boards for Students to Differentiate Instruction

Try creating choice boards for students. These activity menus are a great way to differentiate learning, which can increase student engagement and improve academic outcomes.

Brenda Iasevoli
Shaped Executive Editor

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Goal-Setting and Self-Management for Students in the New Year

Ring in the new year by teaching practical goal-setting and self-management with your students.

Onalee Smith
Shaped Contributor

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Personal Learning Goals for Students

Learn more about personal learning goals for students and why helping students set them is an important responsibility for educators.

Jennifer Prescott
Shaped Contributor

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Real-Life Math Problems with Solutions

Try these real-life math problems with solutions in your classroom, which are open-ended projects with a range of possible answers.

Shaped Staff

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4 World Kindness Day Activities to Teach Tolerance and SEL Skills

Use these SEL World Kindness Day activities and ideas for the International Day for Tolerance to ensure that every day includes a little (or a lot of!) kindness in your school.

Christine Condon
Shaped Editor-in-Chief

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Breaking Numbers Apart in Math

Breaking numbers apart in math can have many mathematical meanings. See how to break numbers apart using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Alyssa Fuller
Math Intervention Teacher; Learning Experience Designer, HMH

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8 Fall Activities & Lesson Plans for Elementary Students

Try these fall activities for elementary students in your classroom that put a twist on common fall themes.

Shaped Staff

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Lesson on Comparing Fractions: Is 2/3 More Than 1/2?

Find out the solution to "is 2/3 more than 1/2?" along with an investigation into why and when the solution can change.

Richard Blankman
Shaped Executive Editor

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6 Classroom Management Strategies for Elementary Teachers

Get your new school year off to a great start by implementing these classroom management strategies for elementary teachers.

Zoe Del Mar
Shaped Executive Editor

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Space and Constellation Activities and Lesson Plans for the 2022 Artemis 1 Launch

Try these space and constellation activities for elementary school science that are intended to work with the 2022 Artemis 1 rocket launch.

Alexa Dowlen
Learning Experience Design, K–12 Science

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2024 International Literacy Day Activities for All Ages

Get students reading, writing, and learning more about the importance of literacy with these 2024 International Literacy Day activities.

Alicia Ivory
Shaped Editor

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4 Welcome-Back-to-School Activities and Ideas for Students

Try out these welcome-back-to-school activities and ideas for students to usher in the new school year.

Ali Habashi
Former Shaped Editor

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Podcast: Being Bold and Wishing for Change with Kyle Schwartz in Denver, CO for Teachers in America

Teacher and author of "I Wish My Teacher Knew", Kyle Schwartz, discusses how she helps students feel empowered to make a difference.

Christine Condon
Shaped Editor-in-Chief

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7 Back-to-School Science Activities for Elementary Students

Explore these back-to-school science activities and experiments for the first day of science class.

Shaped Staff

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First-Day-of-School Checklist for Teachers

Our first-day-of-school checklist for teachers will help get the new school year off to a great start.

Katie Risolo Radovich
First-Grade Teacher, Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York

First-Day-of-School Get-to-Know-You Activities

9 Back-to-School Getting-to-Know-You Activities for Students

Try these back-to-school getting-to-know-you activities to help students discover more about their classmates on the first day of class.

Alicia Ivory
Shaped Editor

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6 Math Icebreakers: Games and Activities for All Grades

These math icebreakers are games and activities that span all grades to help math teachers get students practicing math while getting to know one another.

Shaped Staff

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