3 Online Resources for the Modern High School Teacher

In the world of online teacher tips, high school educators often get the short end of the academic stick. For whatever reason, many of the lesson ideas tend to be geared towards younger students. Secondary educators, this article’s for you. Read more

Learning Centers on the Cheap: Clothespin Math

Need a basic math center activity for multiple grade levels that will cost you next to nothing? Try this affordable idea that requires nothing but clothespins and index cards. Read more

Select a Different Classroom Craft Supply and Save the Planet

A situation came up at The Lesson Machine / Lesson Mag office recently that put us in a bit of a conundrum. It got me thinking about how many of us might be contributing to serious environmental problems in spite of all our classroom recycling efforts. Read on to find out what happened, how we responded, and join in the discussion of how you can address the same issue in your own classroom. Read more

Classroom Advent Calendar on the Cheap

As December approaches, many teachers are looking for ways to celebrate the Christmas holiday that keep both classroom discipline and budget in check. Read more

Physical Education: Seven Pieces of Equipment for a Frugal Program

With tight budgets and position cuts the norm in many school districts, physical education often ends up being on the classroom teacher’s list of responsibilities. How do you implement a sustainable physical education program without diverting valuable classroom budget dollars on supplies? Here are seven simple suggestions to get you started. Read more

10 Free Resources for Learning and Technology Professionals

There are many free resources online designed to help learning and technology practitioners design curriculum, plan lessons, advance their career, and engage students in the learning experience. Read more

How To Work Around Paper and Copy Limits: Guest Post from Tom DeRosa

Teachers are used to working with limited resources, but few issues impact your daily instruction as much as limits on paper, the number of copies you can make, or both. Read more

Free Classroom Fitness Program for Teachers

Trying to find time to honor any type of fitness program in the classroom when PE has been virtually stripped from your school’s curriculum? Lucky to fit in one group activity per week along with all of the unexpected assemblies, special ed integration consults, math reviews and more? Kathy Kaehler, healthy living expert and personal trainer to the stars, has a great free program on her site that provides physical fitness activities to do with your students in workouts as short as one minute. Ready to read on? Read more

Back to School Ideas for the Classroom: What to Do for the First Day

We all scramble every school year to find balance between getting our classroom management and discipline procedures up and running and providing those first day of school activities that go the extra mile in style. This article covers both in detail. Read more

Inexpensive Classroom Supplies for Teachers on a Budget

Times are tight for schools everywhere. Teachers who do have a classroom supplies budget with their school or PTO are needing to pare things down as much as possible. Most are still dipping into their own monies to make ends meet in the classroom. With the economy as sluggish as it is, purchasing classroom supplies with take home pay is getting harder and harder to justify on the home front. Need some ideas for teaching on the cheap? Here’s a list of articles on supplies, resources and project ideas for saving money in the classroom.

• Shoestring portable puppet theater.
• DIY whiteboard with homemade cleaner.
• Three cheap classroom hacks using traditional bandanas.
• Cheap ways to go green in the classroom.
• Torn scrap paper mosaics.
• A homemade multipurpose game board.
• Affordable paper bag review game.
• Cheap classroom lessons using index cards.
• Using inexpensive glue sticks to your home court advantage in the classroom.
• Multiple project ideas for file folders.
• Using old fashioned clothespins in the classroom.
• Rock your management style with paper clips.
• Wooden craft sticks as an affordable instructional supply.
• Explore the power of using free newspapers as an instructional tool.
• Creative classroom uses for rubber bands.
• Get more use than expected out of those donated phone books.
• Turn garbage into gold with empty cardboard beverage flats from the school vending machine.
• Use binder clips as a cheap organizational aid.
• A list of great cheap classroom supplies for struggling school teachers.
• An interesting freebie resource for ESL teachers.
• A simple DIY classroom calendar project for cheap.

Other ideas would include checking out the classroom cheapies at Dollar Tree, or using the inexpensive suggestions in this article for art smocks and hula hoops. Do you have a great idea for affordable classroom supplies or resources posted on your blog or web site? Our goal is to turn this page into a comprehensive resource for teachers searching for cheap teaching ideas. Contact us with your site’s URL, and we’ll be in touch about a link exchange. In the meantime, please feel free to post a comment below. We love to hear from readers.

Photo Credit: Pink Sherbet

Free Middle Eastern Studies Resource: The Doha Debates

Those educators serving junior high through high school students who are looking for a quality media resource to study Middle East issues and current events have a fantastic freebie available to them at the click of a button. Read on. Read more

Spelling Activities: Twenty-Seven Ways to Practice in Style

Spelling lists are a necessary part of our weekly routine. We all want our students to do well, but still need to spend time creating exciting lessons for the rest of the curriculum. So how do we keep the spelling activities familiar enough to allow for self direction, yet fresh enough that the students won’t balk at the idea of doing them? Here are twenty-seven tips for primary through high school to help get you started. Read more

Eight Simple Ways to Reduce Plastic in the Classroom

OK. We all know about the plastic bag dilemma. Additionally,  most of us are trying to use at least a few cleaning and personal care products that are less toxic. The recycling gig is also familiar to many. But when I recently read about the Pacific garbage patch (North Pacific gyre) on Beth Terry’s web site, Fake Plastic Fish, I found myself completely overwhelmed. Read more

Bulletin Boards: Twelve Ideas for Older Classrooms

 

Educators of older students ask me all the time for ideas that are low on “cutesy” and high on sophistication. This request holds true for bulletin boards and classroom décor as much as curriculum and lesson structure. Want some ideas on how to pull this off? Read on. Read more

Eco Trash Bags for Classroom and School

Trying to fight the plastic bag dilemma? Still need to get your classroom trash to the curb? I recently came across a product that is as helpful for schools as it is for office and home. Read on. Read more

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