Free printable Groundhog Day lesson plans, groundhogs worksheets, coloring pages

Okay, who's sick of winter? Hopefully Punxatawney Phil or one of his groundhog cousins is as well. Don't know who those guys are? They're the official Groundhog Day rodents whose shadows determine how much winter is left. Groundhog Day is Feb. 2 and you know people must be desperate for a holiday if they'll celebrate an animal getting out of his den for a stroll. Here are free printable Groundhog Day lesson plans, crafts, games, activities and worksheets with groundhogs.

A-Z Teacher Stuff has a collection of free printable Groundhog Day worksheets and activities. Use groundhog themed lesson plans to teach calendar skills, math, sorting, graphing, writing and counting. Preschool kids love it when teachers incorporate holiday themes into lesson plans. Use free printable groundhogs worksheets for a booklet of activities. Perhaps it could be used as homework?

Groundhog Day is the homepage of the Punxatawney Phil groundhogs club. There are many cute free printable Groundhog Day worksheets and interactive activities for teachers for Feb. 2. Print cut-outs of groundhogs. Learn the science of shadows with lesson plans. Make thumbprint groundhogs. Let kids enjoy coloring pages of groundhogs. For fun hands-on lesson plans, do tracings of groundhogs, which are kind of like shadows. You could throw a Groundhog Day party for preschool, special needs and younger elementary age kids. Serve "groundhog food"(aka trail mix). Give kids bags with dried cereal, raisins, M&Ms and pretzels. Or set out a veggie tray hungry little groundhogs. Use free printable Groundhog Day stories and songs for a snack time sing-a-long. Follow up with some fun practice worksheets to reinforce learning.

Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day lesson plans, Holocaust Remembrance Day activities

Remember, remember the 17th day of Shevat. This day, which is January 27 on western calendar is one of days of yom hashoah "days of remembrance." It isn't a holiday, but it is a holy day and commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day, said International Business Times on Jan. 27. Jews observe Yom Hashoah, Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day, on the 27th of Nissan (April to May in the Western calendar). January 27 is the day the world remembers (or should) when it stood by while millions died--Pole, Slav, Catholic, Russian, red, disabled, dissident, gypsy, gay, and many, many Jewish--in the World War II Nazi genocide. The theme for International Holocaust Memorial Day 2016 is "Don't Stand By" and it comes from a confession of Pastor Martin Niemoller.

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me."

"Don't Stand By" if you see injustice, persecution, bullying or marginalization. Speak out, whether you identify with those you are speaking out for or not. Don't stand by because an injury to one is an injury to all, says the union slogan. On Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day and all year long, fight against acts of anti-semitism, anti-life, anti-humanity. Don't stand by and let a great injury be repeated. Talk about it and educate yourself. Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has a free activity pack for educators and individuals, to remember.

Don't stand by--share the love. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum offers ways to share stories online and in person. Oral tradition is a time-honored way of preserving memories. Don't stand by and let the flame die. On Yom Hashoah, let the the voices of the dead speak. Most everything that remained of those horrible days are gone. Many holocaust survivors have passed on. But memory is enduring voice, if it's not shushed. Let Holocaust Remembrance Day be a song that keeps on playing your head, long after the music has died. Look at the Holocaust Remembrance Day poster from 2012. It shows, in shadow, the loved ones lost. It's evocative and eerie. It makes you wonder who these shadows were. Don't stand by and let them be forgotten.

Don't stand by--watch movies and read books for Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day. "Sarah's Key" is a translation of "Elle S'appellait Sarah" by Tatiana de Rosenay. It tells of a little girl taken in the Jewish Vel' D'hiv roundup in France and the journalist who uncovers her story. Read or watch "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"--that will put a face on Holocaust for you. Or how about "The Book Thief?" Children can watch this one and empathize. Don't stand by--teach your children that untold numbers of other children perished in the Nazi holocaust and stories like this are their voice. For a non-fiction Yom Hashoah read, try "Night" by Elie Weisel. But be prepared to be haunted for the rest of your life. Read Viktor Frankel's "Man's Search for Meaning"for a Holocaust Remembrance Day you'll never forget.

Free printable Catholic Christian activities, Lenten lesson plans, Bible crafts

The Catholic liturgical year heads into Lent on Feb. 10, 2016. In this most solemn and meaningful season, Catholic school teachers, religious education instructors, homeschool parents will enjoy these free printable Catholic crafts, Christian games, religious puzzles and activities. Use these for lesson plans, party games, holy day activities and family fun.

St. Anne's Helper has links for hundreds of free printable Catholic saints coloring pages. Some are vintage prints and others are styled like stained glass windows. Subjects include: advent, Bible, Christmas, devotions, Easter, holidays, first communion, sacraments, confirmation, saints, rosary, lent, Palm Sunday, prayers, novenas, Our Lady the Blessed Virgin Mary and many more. The Bingo Maker has free printable Bible bingo games and cards for Catholic crafts, Christian games, religious puzzles and saints coloring pages on women of faith, Christian symbols, holy places in the world, Noah's ark and more. DL-TK has a customizable bingo card creator. You can add more or fewer options to Bible bingo games cards and choose from images or text. Some appropriate themes for Catholic include free printable Veggie Tales, Christmas and Bible bingo games.

For more free printable Catholic crafts and Chrisitan games, visit Bingo Card Creator to get free samples of premade and customizable Bible bingo cards. Create your own list or use those in the data bank. Bingo Card Creator has free printable Catholic crafts, Christian games, saints games, prayers, devotions. seasons, holy days and other liturgical bingo cards. Catholic Mom has a free printable Catholic activities index related to Sunday mass and gospel readings. There are Catholic saints coloring pages, Christian games, religious puzzles, mazes, word searches, jigsaw puzzles and Bible bingo. Themes include holidays, saints, Bible and prayers.

Waltzing Matilda has hand-drawn free printable Catholic saints coloring pages arranged according to the church liturgical calendar. There are saints for each month of the year. These are free to print but must not be sold. You could make them into religious puzzles or games for your family, homeschool or CCD. Just don't use them for profit. Become What You Are contains links to dozens offree printable Catholic crafts, Christian games and saints coloring pages. There are holiday and holy day images, plus mysteries of the rosary, Eucharist and general Bible themes. These images are quite intricate and would make good coloring activities for older children who like more challenging crafts. JC Kids has more Catholic printables that could be used for crafts or games.

Print these images to help children respond to religious teachings. When little ones can are actively engaged, in such as by coloring, they find it easier to focus. If you give children's artwork to a senior friend to enjoy, then the child can feel like his coloring is helping someone else, too.

Free printable Chinese New Year, Spring Festival, Lantern Festival lesson plans

Chinese New Year begins late January to late February in the western calendar. It's also called Spring Festival. CNY ends with a lantern festival. Each year, a different animal of the 12-year Chinese zodiac is featured. In 2015, it's Year of the Sheep (also referred to as Year of the Goat). CNY 2015 began Feb. 19. Lantern Festival is March 5. Here are free printable lantern festival craft activities to celebrate.

Visit First-Palette for an easy lantern craft download. The site gives instructions on how to make it. Next, hop on the Craft Train blog for free printable lantern templates. These are super easy to make with preschoolers. Even toddlers can get some early scissors cutting practice in.

Dream Home Decorating has elegant lantern craft printables. DL-TK has loads of free printable lantern patterns and crafts. But don't stop at that page. Visit DL-TK's China page for printable lesson plans, worksheetsts, maps, games, recipes, crafts, coloring pages and party activities on China and Chinese New Year. There are Chinese zodiacs, animals of the zodiac crafts and themed CNY printables.

Print CNY jigsaw puzzles with whimsical animals of the zodiac. There's a whole page on dragons as that magical beast is one of the Chinese zodiac creatures. There are fireworks and lantern activities (light is a theme of Chinese New Year). For more Lantern Festival printables and crafts, hustle on over to this website devoted to Chinese New Year. Here are printable Chinese New Year greeting cards.

You could teach an entire unit on China in elementary school or preschool using these printables. The Lantern Festival is called Yuan-Xiao Festival in China and is celebrated the 15th day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar. To wish someone Happy New Year, say Kung Hei Fat Choy! or Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Free printable New Year's Eve party decorations, New Year crafts, games, lessons | Examiner.com

Planning a New Year's Eve or New Year's Day party? Are you finding it hard to keep kids happily productive and as you prepare for the party? Why not involve children in the holiday decoration making? Here are free printable New Year crafts, party decorations, games and activities. For the most economical printing, set your printer to "draft" and "black ink cartridge only." Printing activities in black and white turns them into coloring pages which kids can color--value added! You can save lots of money on printing ink and still get a nice quality print-out.

Making Friends is a charming website offering free printable paper crafts, templates, patterns and craft activity how-to guides for children. Print New Year's Eve party decorations that kids can make. Make party noisemakers, party hats, banners, a time capsule and journal covers. There's even a make-your-own New Year's Eve ball craft project.

Apples 4 the Teacher is a great website for parents, teachers, homeschoolers, librarians and activity coordinators. Apples 4 the Teacher has free printable New Year lesson plans and worksheets for students. Print New Year's Day crafts, calendars, games, word searches, jigsaw puzzles, history activities, coloring pages, trivia games and party decorations. Homeschool families might use these for New Year's Day lesson plans. Teachers, print New Year worksheets for fun back-to-school activities after winter vacation.

Free Kids Crafts has a whole page of links for free printable New Year's Eve party decorations, crafts, games, lessons and activities for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day parties. Free Kids Crafts also has an interactive calendar that is updated daily with a new craft for the day. You can access the archived crafts for days past, also. This is definitely a craft website to bookmark and check daily.

The Toymaker has two free printable vintage New Year paper craft activities for kids to color, cut and paste. There is a free printable New Year resolutions penny box to make. Children can use it as a piggy bank and practice the value of saving. There is a also a New Year booklet to print, assemble and read together.

Disney Family is an excellent resource for free printable Disney crafts, games, greeting cards, party decorations and activities for any holiday. The New Year activities are listed under Winter printables. There are New Year's Day coloring pages and holiday decorations to print, color and assemble. For more fun with printables for holidays, visit Free Printable Holiday.

Free printable Christmas crafts stencils, holiday patterns, seasonal templates for art lesson plans

Inexpensive Christmas crafts are pretty cool. But guess what's even neater? Free Christmas crafts. For those of you who like free holiday stuff, here's a Santa-sized sleighful of free printable Christmas stencils, seasonal templates and holiday patterns. Print free stencils and make your own greeting cards, wrapping paper and Christmas crafts. To use make reusable holiday patterns and seasonal templates, laminate stencils and then cut them out. You can also transfer printables onto recycled cardboard, such as cereal boxes and cut them out with an X-acto knife. You might also transfer patterns onto recycled sheet plastic or Myler stencil plastic available at Hobby Lobby, Jo-Anne Fabrics, Michael's (but recycled is cheaper!)

Fashion Era has free printable Christmas crafts stencils with seasonal templates for religious and secular holiday patterns. Templates are arranged in a countdown to Christmas Advent calendar, one pattern per day. There are stencils for nativity (birth of Jesus), winter and general holiday patterns. Free printable stencils include reindeer, stockings, manger scene, wreath, holly and ivy, winter scene, snowman, ornaments, Merry Christmas banner,candles, presents, Mary and Joseph, Baby Jesus, bells, carolers, teddy bear, Christmas pudding, Christmas trees, angels, wisemen, Santa Claus and more. The art is nostalgic Dickensian England Christmas.

There's another page of free printable holiday patterns and stencils for another Christmas countdown. Seasonal templates include Jewish Chanukah menorah, Christian Madonna and Child, candle, camel, wisemen, star, a holiday choo-choo train, snowflake, dove, stocking with toys, wreath, Christmas tree, rose and for Easter and Christmas, a lamb and cross. About Painting offers links for many more free printable Christmas crafts stencils, holiday patterns and seasonal templates. Print a gingerbread man, patterns for snowflakes, ornaments, Santa Claus, Father Christmas and more. Christmas printables has even more Christmas stencil printables. Altogether Christmas features free stencils of animals dressed in Christmas-y outfits, like a cat in a Santa Claus hat! 

Free printable Bible Christmas nativity scenes, Advent manger scene

Are you looking for religious Bible Christmas crafts for children to make during Advent? You'll want these free printable nativity scenes. Children can color Bible characters and assemble an Advent manger scene. Here's a free printable Bible Christmas manger scene with cut and paste coloring pages to put on paper towel tubes. Catholic Icing has eight coloring pages that you can click and print directly from her blog. Each page features Mary and Joseph, donkey, angel, wisemen, shepherds, Baby Jesus, camels. Download the set from the website.

Hart of the Mountain has free printable nativity scenes with Bible character finger puppets. Activity Village offers free printable Bible Christmas nativity scenes that kids can color, cut out and assemble. Make a shoebox diorama stable. Scroll down for more manger scene crafts including a nativity mobile. words cards, and games.

Prudent Baby is a blog with a complete set of free Advent manger scene printables. Cute Bible characters people these nativity scenes. Love to Know has free printouts of Bible Christmas nativity scenes to color, cut and paste and assemble. Scrapbook Scrapbook has a darling free printable Advent manger scene with Mary, Joseph, Jesus, angels, animals, wisemen and shepherds. There's even a printable stable and manger.

To celebrate a Bible Christmas, allow children to color and make one character each day before the holiday as a way to count down to Christmas. This makes and excellent Advent devotional. Add a piece each night or move Mary and Joseph closer to the stable nightly. Save the Magi camels for Epiphany season. Have kids color while reading Advent calendar Bible stories. I suggest adding manger scene pieces in this order: stable, palm tree, manger, hay, cow, star, shepherd, sheep, angel, donkey, Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, 3 wisemen, camel.

Free printable Jesse Tree ornaments and Bible coloring pages for Advent

Advent is the Catholic Christmas liturgical season leading up to Christmas. For four weeks, we pray, fast, read Bible passages on the gospel Christmas story and give alms to the poor. The theme of Advent is to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus. One way is to pray an Advent calendar. Another, related to the Advent calendar is to follow a Jesse Tree.

The Jesse Tree is an ancient visual aid the shows the lineage of Jesus. The basis comes from the Old Testament Bible passage "a root shall spring up from the stump of Jesse's lineage." This Bible foretells the birth of the Messiah and that He will come through Jesse, King David's father. . During Advent, symbols are hung on the Jesse Tree to represent Bible characters and people in Jesus's family tree.

Here are free printable Jesse Tree devotional activities. Each night, have children color one symbol place it on the Jesse Tree. Do this as you light candles on the Advent wreath and candles and read and pray from the Advent calendar. The Jesse Tree ends by adding images from the O Antiphons, another ancient Advent to Christmas series of prayers.

Life Your Way has a set of free printable Jesse Tree ornaments with Biblical symbols. ERIERCD has several pages of Jesse Tree coloring pages to print free. Print in black and white and have kids color. Jesse Tree ornaments include apple tree (Adam and Eve). Ark and rainbow (Noah), tent (Abraham), cradle (Sarah), coat (Joseph), stone tablets (Moses), Harp (David), ladder (Jacob), tambourine (Miriam), crown (Solomon), anchor (Ruth) lion and lamb (Isaiah), mallet (Deborah), trumpet (Joshua), lion (Daniel), well (Rebecca), house (Elizabeth), lily (Mary) hammer (St. Joseph) Chi Ro (Jesus). The Reformed Church in America has more free printable Jesse Tree symbols to color. Catholic Icing has more printable Advent Jesse tree crafts. 1+1+1=1 has a free printable Jesse Tree booklet with devotions, prayers and crafts to make.

The Jesse Tree can be made in many ways. In times past, it was a Christmas tree. Some families use a tree made of paper or a cloth banner with detachable ornaments. In our family I use a small table top tree with child-made ornaments and symbols. We add one each day.

Free printable totem pole crafts, Thanksgiving Native American Indian lessons for fall, Thanksgiving

 When I was six, my father, mother and I moved to Haines, Alaska. We lived with a clan of the Tlinget Native American Indians. I was adopted into the tribe and my Tlinget name is Dok-du-Yik. I totally enjoyed the cultural immersion experience. I fondly remember the various Pacific Northwest native designs, especially the Totem poles.

Totem poles are an important part of Pacific Northwest American Indian tribes like the Tlinget. and Chilkat that I lived with and also the Kwakiutl, Haida and Tsimshian. Autumn always reminds me of them. As a teacher and homeschool parent, I explored Native American culture in fall units. Here are free printable totem pole design templates.

http://www.papertotempoles.com/ Paper Totem Poles  is a bright, colorful website devoted to the making of totem pole designs. This site is full of historical information about Native American Indians, cultural details and information on religious observations of which the totem pole plays an important part. This website is loaded with free printable Native American Indian totem poles designs, templates, how-to-draw, images and explanation. Teachers, parents and homeschoolers will find not only many great free printable totem pole crafts, but information about the totem pole. This resource will be very helpful to the teacher planning a unit on native American Indian culture.

To make a paper totem pole craft with students, print paper totem pole templates and have kids color them. Then they can glue the colored pictures on recycled cardboard paper towel tubes.

The arrangement and order of the animals on the totem pole is important in Native American Indian culture. The animals form a hierarchy. The animals also represent the guiding spirits of each native clan or tribe. http://www.papertotempoles.com/ teaches students how to arrange animal images on the totem pole. While animals are important totem pole elements, Paper Totem Pole has other categories of native designs: celestial, birds, spirit, people, water, elements and insects. Please enjoy your exploration of Native American Indians; I have more happy memories of my time in the Tlinget tribes than I could ever relate in words.

Free printable Halloween activities, crafts, coloring pages, worksheets, games

Halloween is creeping up and children of all ages, even the young at heart are getting ready for the fun. In many schools, activities are planned around Halloween. Educators know that when children enjoy something and have fun with a lesson, they learn better. Here are free printable Halloween activities for school classrooms, homeschool or scout troop. Use with old folks in nursing homes or anyone who needs some Halloween printables.

Count down the days to Trick or Treat with dozens of free printable Halloween activities, coloring pages and crafts from Making Friends.com. Print free craft projects for all sorts themes. Making Friends has a really holiday activities, coloring pages, cut and paste, paper dolls, Trick or treat wrappers, worksheets, Halloween puzzles and mazes. Print word searches, crossword puzzles and word games, perfect for Halloween language arts lessons. Print Halloween card games, flash cards, dioramas, masks and pumpkin carving patterns and stencils.

Here free printable Halloween lesson plans, worksheets, games, coloring pages, activities and puzzles. Use for Trick or Treat themed math, reading, writing, literature, science, language, social studies and crafts. All Free Printables has free Halloween crafts, greeting cards, party invitations, decorations, cut-outs, coloring pages, masks, party invitations, name tags, treat bags, pumpkin cut-outs, book marks, picture frames and lots more. Puzzlemaker lets you create templates for printable Halloween worksheets, puzzles, mazes, jigsaws, dot to dot, Soduku, crosswords and activities galore.

Print Activities is another mega site for all your school and family activity printing needs. Look for unitprintable worksheets and lessons focused around Halloween and trick-or-treat. Disney Family offers a plethora of free printable Halloween Disney activities, crafts and coloring pages. Coolest Holiday Parties has free printable Halloween party supplies. You'll find cards, invitations, treat and punch bowl printables, banners, place cards, name tags, wall hangings for a ghoulish party.

Free printable tree identification charts, leaf patterns fall science diagrams

 A popular autumn lesson plan is to assign students to make a leaf identification booklet. Here are free printable tree identification charts and leaf patterns and fall craft stencils. Parents, homeschoolers and teachers, make flashcards with these tree and leaf patterns. Use in hands-on Montessori style games for nature science study. Make tree and leaf books. Assign students to collect leaves, press them or make leaf rubbings. Students should label leaves and trees using identification diagrams.

About Forestry has free printable leaf patterns for tree and leaf identification from common trees around the country. The site also has textbook-quality, beautifully detailed free printable leaf coloring pages taken from naturalist Charles Sprague Sargent's leaf plate illustrations. Each page features a different leaf with its corresponding tree, berry, nut and foliage. These printable illustrations include cut-away drawings and other helpful identification data, plus the Latin classification for genus and species of the tree. The website gives the leaf and tree names in their American variation. Use these printables for taxonomy lessons on KPCOFGS (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family Genus and Species) as developed by zoologist Carolus Linnaeus.

Arbor Day offers several printable nature science resources and online tree and leaf identification activities. Here's a link for About Forestry's leaf and tree identification homepage. From here, follow the links for different information about conifers, deciduous trees, hardwoods, and other assorted trees from different biomes and habitats. Don't miss these free printable forest map activities showing location and region of different types of trees. Scroll down to find the region and tree type you are looking for. Here's a free printable tree and leaf matching game. Print as coloring pages of leaves. Here are websites with free printable fall leaf patterns for autumn crafts. Here are free printable leaf stencils for decorations and children's activities.

Free printable Columbus Day lesson plans, navigation activities, historical maps, coloring pages, exploration worksheets, medieval crafts

Columbus Day is observed on the second Monday in October in the U.S. Columbus Day is October 12 in 2015. Schools typically mark the holiday with Columbus Day activities Here are free printable
Columbus Day lesson plans and worksheets to create history and social studies units. Print free Christopher Columbus themed games, coloring pages, lessons, puzzles, crafts and cut and paste activities.
Columbus Day honors the 1492 landing of Columbus's ships on the Caribbean Islands, which he named the New World. Columbus isn't the first European to see the Americas, but he did provide the
earliest records and maps. Use these free printable lesson plans to explore medieval history, science,
math, navigation, travel, exploration and culture surrounding Columbus's voyage. Lessons suit special and general education and homeschool students in all grades.

The Holiday Zone has pages of free Columbus Day printables for preschoolers and lower
elementary students. There are coloring pages, crossword puzzles, mazes, word searches, printable
readers and more. Teachers will love the free printable Columbus Day vocabulary cards with
illustrations. Print vocab words on card stock, laminate and use each year for pocket charts and word
walls.
The Mariner's Museum offers free printable exploration history lesson plans for older students. High
school students usually get left out when it comes to hands-on activities. But not here: they can study
exploration, navigation, cartography and medieval scientific equipment. Make an astrolabe, sextant,
quadrant and compass using free printable templates. Print, color and label diagrams of ships and
navigational tools. The teacher link has lesson details and answer key. Student links contain printable
activity pdfs.
Coloring.ws has free printable Columbus Day coloring pages. There are realistic images of
Columbus, ships and map activities to color and There are two world maps plus one map each of Italy
(Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy), Spain (Columbus sailed under the auspices and flag of Queen
Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain) and San Salvador (first place Columbus's ships landed). DL-TK has more Columbus Day printables. Here are more coloring pages of ships and boats.

Apples 4 the Teachers has more free printable Columbus Day worksheets. Enchanted Learning has more interactive Columbus Day lessons on maps, navigation, history and more.
Assemble these printables into a booklet to use as homework or for projects. Special needs students
who sometimes need more structure and direction might use these activities to demonstrate

Free printable September 11 lesson plans, 9/11 social studies printables

 As Britain commemorates Guy Fawkes Day on November 5, Americans "remember, remember the 11th of September." On the 14th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, how can we commemorate in a proactive way? A nonprofit called My Good Deed, suggests making it a National Day of Service and Remembrance reports the International Business Times. But how do you teach children why September 11 is so important? How do you explain what happened to the World Trade Center, Flight 93 and Pentagon? How can you help them understand war, violence and terrorism? Here are free printable September 11 lesson plans to help.

Scholastic has a free printable September 11 unit filled with activities, titled "9/11/2011: The Day that Changed America." There are dozens of social studies, history, government and civics lessons. Resources include primary sources (original pictures and documents), timelines, graphs, charts and maps. There are critical thinking and writing prompts, memorial activities, movie and book connections. There are September 11 units for preschool up to grade 8.

Education World presents a compendium of 9/11 printables and activities for teaching about tragedy, terrorism and tolerance. There are resources on Islam and its perspective, too. Lessons cover not just the who, what, when, where and how of the September 11 attacks, but the why, as well. Children learn why the U.S. was attacked, what we can do about it, what's been done, and why we must not forget.

PBS has a collection of free September 11 lesson plans geared primarily at students in middle school and high school. These lessons explore 9/11 in the larger world context and how the September 11 attacks affected the world. ABC Teach has a package of printable 9/11 lesson plans for younger children. There are coloring pages, writing prompts and vocabulary puzzles. These activities help kids who didn't experience September 11 understand why it's so important to those who did. Children see destruction and violence on television and video games all the time. 9/11 can seem unreal.

9/11 Memorial is museum, archive, repository and exhibition built at the site of the World Trade Center. This website offers virtual tours, photo walls, and features twin pools at ground zero, inscribed with the names of the victims. If children can't visit the 9/11 Memorial, a virtual classroom tour will help them explore. Here is the page with free printable 9/11 Memorial lesson plans .

Kids might make a memorial drawing quilt. Ask children to draw or color a picture reflecting the 9/11 attacks. Don't set boundaries. Let kids express feelings in any way that they need to. Collect the drawings and tape them together to form a September 11 "quilt." The quilt may be a thank-you for National Guard or public safety officers, too. Send it to a victim, rescue worker or veteran memorial group or display in your school.

Coloring may seem like a superficial way to commemorate a disaster. For children, it's therapeutic. It's like journaling for an adult. Drawing helps children access and express emotions. When a child hears sad news, drawing is a first response because he hasn't learned how to share feelings in words, written or spoken, Children show empathy for suffering people, making cards for them. There is so little anyone, let alone a kid, can do about tragedy. Simple acts of kindness, like drawing a picture, help heal.

Free printable elephant crafts, Babar coloring pages, elephant-themed activities

Happy World Elephant Day on August 12! It's tusks up and trunks waving for elephants, or, as Winnie-the-Pooh would say, heffalumps! Children, do you want free printable elephant crafts and activities? Would you like to print coloring pages of elephants (of course you would!) Well, ask mom and dad to print these so you can celebrate Happy Heffalump Day!

A famous elephant is Babar, and there are free printable Babar coloring pages from Educational Coloring Pages. Looking for children's literature about elephants? Read the Babar books, by Jean de Bruhoff. He introduced Babar to French children 1931 and was so loved the stories were translated. Laurent de Brunhoff continued his father's book series after Jean passed away. Get to know Babar then visit Hello Kids for even more free printable Babar coloring pages

DL-TK is a super awesome educational website for preschool to elementary age kids. Here's a heap of free printable elephant crafts. Print coloring pages of elephants, elephant masks, puzzles, games, puppets and zoo activities. Kids will love elephant themed songs, poems, books and stories. For a safari of elephant printables, coloring pages, puzzles and games, go to Coloring.ws. There are elephant connect-the-dot learning games to count to 10 and practice the alphabet.

First-School is another good education website. There are free printable elephant lesson plans to practice reading, letters, numbers and math. There are stories about elephants, puzzles and simple science lessons. Pinterest has free printable and DIY elephant crafts to make at home. Look for toilet paper tube elephant crafts and paper plate elephant masks. Kids will adore the elephant mask with the party blowout nose! Activity Village has lots of awesome elephant crafts to print as well.

Free printable lighthouse activities, maritime lesson plans, ship coloring pages

Happy National Lighthouse Day! Philly.com says August 7 is "hug a beacon" day! It commemorates the day, in 1789, when Congress took responsibility for building and upkeep of a system of lighthouses to keep America's waters and extensive coastline safe. Here are free printable National Lighthouse Day activities, maritime lesson plans, coloring pages, crafts, games and toys. Side-stepping the less savory aspects of pirate lore, I've included navigation, maritime and marine lesson plans and printable boats and ships.

Boat-Links is subtitled "The Mother of All Maritime Links," and it's rightly named. The site is a comprehensive collection of hundreds of free printable maritime and lighthouse activities, resources about nautical science, navigation, sailing, maritime history, merchant marine, the U.S. Navy, naval history in other countries, naval warfare, maritime museums around the world, nautical music and boat images.

Celestial Navigation offers free printable vintage maritime activities. Before modern navigation, pirates and sailors relied on the sky to guide voyages. Ancient instruments such as the sextant, astrolabe, cross-staff, quadrant, kamal (latitude hook) and nocturnal were indispensable. This site shows how to make old navigational tools.

US Lighthouse Society has free printable lighthouse lesson plans, crafts, coloring pages, worksheets and educational materials. You must create a user Id to access. Boats, Ships and Subs has dozens of links for free printable paper boat models. There are sailing vessels from all periods in history, including clipper ships, Chinese junks, Roman warships, Coast Guard boats, viking long boats, pirate ships and models of the Titanic and Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki.

Disney Experience has free printable nautical toys and crafts from maritime-themed Disney movies. There's a Spanish galleon, Capt. Nemo's Nautilus, Jack Sparrow's compass, dead man's chest, Cortez's treasure chest, a Mark Twain riverboat and several other models. The Toymaker has a free printable puppet theater in which children can act out the adventures of Florimel the Magnificent. Florimel is a rabbit sailor who has adventures on the high seas in a boat that looks very like Sir Francis Drake's "Golden Hind."

Yes, Coloring has has dozens of realistic free printable coloring pages of boats, ships and submarines for many periods in history. There are also coloring pages of pirate ships.