Articles written by Alex Sharp
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Anne Frank and Gifted Teen Writers
When teens discover Anne Frank, they usually find a friend across the years and distance. Her private diary and short stories hold special meaning for gifted writers.
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How to Create Holiday Trivia Questions
Gifted kids love to reveal their treasure trove of little known facts. Break out the quiz bowl buzzers and prepare for a fun day of holiday trivia!
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Magic Tree House Moonlight on the Magic Flute
Mary Pope Osborne's 41st "Magic Tree House Book" is one of her best offerings for gifted readers. Music and toys can complete an enrichment center based on the book.
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Online Court and Trial Games
Three online games can be used for both mock trials and studies of the Bill of Rights. Students get to use critical thinking in a fun framework.
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Teaching the 3rd Amendment to Gifted Students
Unlike other amendments, the third amendment has little chance of going to court, so teachers can use it as a history lesson to show how the United States grew up.
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Veteran's Day Essays for Gifted Advisory Classes
An advisory class can increase student understanding of issues facing veterans who are returning home from war by listening to or reading about interesting experiences.
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A Requiem for Baby Mozart
Sure, the marketing department went too far, but across the decade that spanned Baby Einstein's rise and fall, a lot of families were exposed to art and music.
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Teaching the 2nd Amendment to Gifted Students
When teaching a controversial topic, teachers should allow students expansive room to draw their own conclusions.
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Halloween Competition for Middle School Advisory
Advisory teachers feel lucky when they stumble on a cheap activity that appeals to everyone in their group. This newspaper costume contest fits the bill.
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Teaching the 8th Amendment to Gifted Students
As gifted students learn the concepts powering the Bill of Rights, no where is there a greater chance to see how far civilization has evolved than with the 8th amendment.
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Teaching the 1st Amendment to Gifted Students
When teachers bring the Bill of Rights into the classroom, gifted students are often enchanted by the abstractions of the first amendment.
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Teaching the 4th Amendment to Gifted Students
Understanding personal rights is important for every citizen, but some amendments feel more distant than others. The 4th amendment has direct protections for students.
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James L. Swanson's Options for Gifted Readers
Gifted teachers should hope that James L. Swanson will start an adaptation trend. His bestseller, Manhunt, is now available as a book for students.
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Finding High Interest, High Ability Books
Instead of looking for books by grade level, students might be better served by looking for books at the Lexile reading level.
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Looking at American and Chinese Education Ideas
Using President Obama's Back to School speech and Ying Ying Yu's "This I Believe" student essay, gifted students can see how similar messages vary between cultures.
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Hand Washing Videos for Students Who Know How
As schools face the daunting task of keeping H1N1 and other diseases out of the classroom, gifted kids get bored with the same annual message. Some videos make it fun.
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Using The Man in the Well in Gifted Advisory
It is amazing how many issues are packed into one short story. Students can have some deep talks about responsibility and identity.
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How to Play Common Differences Game
Students can use the problem solving skills they learn in enrichment to get better acquainted in this fun ice breaker that takes pairs about 20 minutes.
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Kaleidoscopic Mirroring Activity
Back to school is often the favorite part of a gifted student's year. An activity that involves thinking, measuring, drawing, and writing has something for everyone.
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How to Play Eenie or Meenie Game
Gifted kids already know each other from class; Eenie or Meenie helps them learn more about each other in 20 minutes.
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Learning to Adjust to Feeling Average
Transitioning into 6th grade can be sailing into rough seas for some gifted kids. The top dogs of elementary school are moving to a bigger porch.
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What Professor Garfield Can Teach Students
Garfield - yes, the chubby cartoon cat - has an amazing collection left and right brain resources through the Professor Garfield website, as well as a teacher section.
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Inventive Activities From Wallace and Gromit
Every gifted class has different personalities, but there are, guaranteed, kids who wants to invent. The Wallace and Gromit Invention Lessons are written for many ages.
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Activities to Enhance an Art Museum Visit
Reading two books, giving kids notebooks, and providing photos and art supplies will help make a follow-up activities that are worthy of putting in a museum!
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Which Night at the Museum Exhibits are Real?
Night at the Museum is a perfect movie: kids love it, parents like it, and teachers endorse it. A fun follow up activity is to discover which exhibits truly exist.
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Great Music for Gifted Classroom Centers
Music can break concentration, but students need and enjoy musical exposure. The right time for music in the gifted classroom is during self-directed learning.
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Help Students Create Personal Belief Statements
NPR's secondary school "This I Believe" curricula is well-suited for gifted kids. The series offers abstract, contradictory beliefs by a variety of voices across history.
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Using Board Games as Creative Springboards
Kids love board games. Teachers love pushing students in new directions. Take a page from Lewis Carroll and Hollywood by expanding board games into something gifted.
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Using Until I Met Dudley In Enrichment Classes
It is exciting to find a book that lends itself to creative thinking, simple research, and logical reasoning. This picture book allows students to think and create.
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David Sedaris Announces Fall Tour Dates
David Sedaris spends a lot of time away from his native America - England, France, Japan - but he is continuing his U.S. tour in the fall with new dates.
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2009 Summer Reading Programs for Students
Parents can keep kids out of the comic book trap by involving their high-ability readers in free and easy summer reading programs from Scholastic and Barnes and Noble.
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Gifted Teachers Can Learn from Justin Chapman
Every enrichment teacher eventually meets the parent who seems too focused on whether or not a child qualifies for the gifted program. Handle these parents with care.
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iD Summer Technology Camp for Gifted Kids
iD technology camps offer technology minded students professional exposure to gaming, film, and programming. Some financial discounts are available.
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Should Mensa Have Accepted Elise Tan Roberts?
Elise Roberts is a London child who appears to have startling memory abilities and strong processing skills, but highly gifted toddlers are still just toddlers.
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An Interview with Author B.J. Daniels
Forget Fabio covers and pretty people overwhelmed with passion. B.J. Daniels is a Harlequin writer who brings depth and adventure to the line through Harlequin Intrigues.
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Host a Classroom Book Exchange on Earth Day
Gifted and talented readers will love getting high-ability, recommended books on Earth Day. Book exchanges do not have to be limited to science or gifted ed classes.
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NAGC's Legislative Action Network
Gifted children are blessed with parents and educators willing to advocate for them. The NAGC combines those powerful forces into a strong voice.
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Mad Libs are Fun for Gifted Kids
Gifted students love words and laughter; one of the hallmarks of a gifted child is a clever sense of humor. Kids can create Mad Lib games online.
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Learn and Play on Earth Day
Indoors or outside, quiet or loud, teachers can make Earth Day special (without headaches) by finding enriching activities for students.
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Online Games and Reading for Earth Day 2009
Save paper and school resources on Earth Day by having students use computers. It's green, it's fun, and gifted kids can choose activities from Eco Kids and Scholastic.
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Free Earth Day Resources for Teachers
The Federal Resources for Educational Excellence has free collections available for education, and the climate change units allow for differentiated programming.
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16 Free Harlequin Romance Novels for Download
A varied Harlequin romance collection is now available to everyone as Harlequin celebrates 60 years of "pure reading pleasure".
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Become a Bzz Agent and a Secret Shopper
Companies are beginning to accept that experience leads to Twitter tweets, and tweets lead to sales. Enter word of mouth marketing and real experience reporting.
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Keep Calm and Carry On
"Keep Calm and Carry On" has suddenly started appearing on posters, T-shirts, and coffee mugs, comforting people as the economy and environment struggles along.
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Oklahoma's School Deregulation Bill Battle
The Oklahoma Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers are working to prevent the Oklahoma senate from turning public schools into charter schools.
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March is Hug-A-Teacher Month
Kids love teachers and teddy bears, and teachers love kids and innovative projects. Build-A-Bear and Donors Choose are working together make a difference for teachers.
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The Four Types of Rooms in Webkinz World
The online educational game site Webkinz offers kids increasing options to design, decorate, and furnish rooms.
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An Overview of Three Different Romance Novels
The romance novel genre has a reputation of silly naughtiness. Books often provide easy and superficial characters, but romance genre has a wide range.
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Free Kindle Book Downloads from Amazon
Unless Kindle owners check Amazon's Kindle Blog daily, they may miss free book offers. Keep up with offers through an RSS feed, and grab these books while they are free.
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Pi Day Lesson Plans, Activities, and Games
March 14 is Pi Day. Gifted classrooms are the perfect place to take advantage of the creative classroom ideas that teachers have been collecting for two decades.
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Celebrate Square Root Day with Fun Activities
Square Root Day is more rare than Leap Day because it only occurs nine times every century. Teachers can use the day as a fun way to have goofy fun with square roots.
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Two Online Games for Kids Who Love to Build
Some students dislike computer models because hands-on manipulation is more intriguing. These websites are perfect for G/T classes low on space and materials.
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Using Sydney Scandal in Elementary Enrichment
Judy Katschke's tween surfer's adventures present a great teachable moment about environmental noise and how it impacts the world that gifted students live in and around.
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Why Pre-Service Teachers Need Gifted Ed Exposure
Because most gifted programs require a teacher with a master's degree, student teachers are not often seen in a gifted classroom or aware of how to get a G/T degree.
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Using Manhattan Menace in Elementary Enrichment
The linguistic patterns of a New York girl's imaginative slang will appeal to gifted readers as they help Zoe solve mysteries and debate some hard questions.
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Emergency Substitute Plans for Gifted Classrooms
Unexpected sick days happen. Avoid worrying about what will happen to students during G/T class time with an untrained sub, by preparing generic lessons in advanced.
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Spring Clean Your Body and Soul through Lent
Think of New Year's resolutions as the opening act for a year of renewal. Resolutions are promises of what will be done; Lent is a time to resolve what will not be done.
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Someone Stole Lance Armstrong's Bike
Whoever is responsible for the missing bike underestimates Armstrong's use of Twitter. Armstrong sent over 100,000 people pictures of the bike in seconds.
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Stephen King Digs Kindles and Hemingway in UR
The alternate universe Kindle of UR is cooler than Amazon's Kindle 2, but being able to read an Kindle-Only Stephen King story is cool enough.
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Easy Prep Lunches Kids Can Cook in the Microwave
Lunch doesn't always have to be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Kids who are old enough to use the microwave make simple healthy-ish lunches on weekends and breaks.
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Conchords 2009 Album - I Told You I Was Freaky
Sub Pop, Apple, and Flight of the Conchords came through for fans with weekly downloads and a decent plan to allow bonus material to be purchased without preordering.
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Easy Breakfasts Kids Can Make in the Microwave
Kids can make eggs and French toast with a few ingredients, a few cooking tools, and a microwave. Walk kids through these simple steps until they learn to cook alone.
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Easy Prep, Easy Cook Dinners for Kids to Make
Children often want to help mom and dad cook in the kitchen. Pre-packaged meals is a fun, once-in-a-while way to include kids in the kitchen.
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Free and Not-So-Free Dr. Seuss Coloring Sheets
Teachers can offer students fun coloring book-type pages to fill in while they celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. Teachers may try to find out-of-print Seuss coloring books.
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Free Books for Kids on Read Across America Day
When classes celebrate Read Across America on March 2nd, teachers can make sure that every child in class has a free peer-recommended book.
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Using Nairobi Nightmare in Elementary Enrichment
The story of a Kenyan girl's attempt to solve an art mystery can be used to learn as a spring board for moral reasoning questions.
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Amazon's Kindle 2 is Not Quite a New Generation
For readers of those old-fashioned books -- paper Kindles? -- the new Kindle 2 is beyond tempting. For early adopters, there is no need to buy a new one quite yet.
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Decorating Desks for Gifted Classrooms
Enrichment classrooms have a wide range of activities that mean desk arrangements and student groups change frequently. With tape and laminated cards, change is easier.
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Internet Church Services
Going to church is a tradition, but it doesn't have to be done in a traditional way. Online churches and service podcasts provide messages and a sense of fellowship.
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The 2009 Stimulus Bill Won't Stimulate Education
While schools cut back on paper, field trips, and entire departments, CEO's are spending their bailout money on bonuses. Guess who is overflowing with taxpayer money?
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The Best Alternatives to iTunes for Podcasts
When it comes to finding, downloading, and listening to podcasts, free open source software is the best alternative for iPod and non-iPod users.
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Multicultural Books - Karito Kids Library Review
Elementary adventure readers will love the Karito Kids girls, and parents and teachers will love the world cultures series that donates to charity.
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How to Complain About Bonuses and Bail Outs
Moveon.org has an online petition, CNN offers Ireporters a voice, and every member of congress has a phone and an address.
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St. Patrick's Day Worksheets, Stories, and Ideas
St. Patrick's Day is a burst of difference for students as winter drags on. Teachers can can help students see the meaning behind the parades with worksheets and stories
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Budget Cuts Affect Gifted Education Programs
Gifted and talented programming is quiet. Teachers and students enjoy the challenges of gifted classes. The programs only gain attention when it is time cut budgets.
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2009 Tour Dates for David Sedaris
When the humorist from NPR and the New Yorker comes to town, tickets sell out quickly.
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What Is Citizen Philanthropy?
"Citizen Philanthropy" is more than just a buzz word. It is a way of combining good-hearted people with far-reaching organizations through meaningful social networking.
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Websites for Gifted Kids after Classwork is Done
When students are done with their work, they often go to the computer. Teachers should guide students tho sites that offer educational experiences.
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Flight of the Conchords Announces 2009 U.S. Tour
New Zealand's fourth most popular dig-folk parody band has announced their spring touring schedule for North America, and they include an impressive list of support acts.
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Review of Jon Meacham's American Lion
If people exchanged gifts for President's Day, this biography of Andrew Jackson would be at the top of everyone's list. Jackson's story offers brilliant winter reading.
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Great Board Games for Gifted Students
Life happens - rewards, flu season, guest speakers canceling. When enrichment students have unexpected time, teachers can reach for their gifted game library!
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Who are the American Girls?
For elementary and pre-teen readers, Samantha, Kit, and Julie aren't just dolls, movie characters, or book heroines. They are friends and mirrors of themselves.
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Snow Day Decisions for Schools and Parents
Transportation is the major factor for snow days decisions. Parents need a plan for their teen drivers on icy days, because "safe for buses" is not "safe for everyone".
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Working Teenagers Must File Income Tax Forms
Even though parents claim teens as dependents, Uncle Sam expects everyone - including people under 18 - to pay tax on all of the money they make.
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President's Day Lesson Plans and Worksheets
Teachers can help students realize that the the President's Day long weekend is dedicated to honoring some important Americans.
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Donors Choose Offers Easy Grant Money
Teachers have great ideas for innovative projects, but school budgets are limited. Donors Choose makes getting funding, ordering materials, and thanking donors easy.
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Casey Anthony Files, Photos, Audio, and Videos
Florida's Sunshine Laws have allowed the public enormous access to documents, videos, photos, and recordings related to a young murder victim and her mother.
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Using Movie Mom's Guide for Teen Movies
Once kids are old enough to go to the movies unchaperoned, parents do not hear detailed reviews of movies from their parenting friends. Movie Mom fixes that problem.
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The Barackmobile: Obama's Presidential Limo
GM created a customized limo that is flashy enough for a parade, impressive enough for a world leader, and secure enough for the 21st century.
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A Comparison of the ACT and the SAT
The ACT and the SAT are not interchangeable. College ambitions begin with taking the right test, because admission and financial aid starts with a score.
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Free Valentine's Day Printables
Teachers and their classes can decorate classrooms, lockers, walls, and Valentine's Day mailboxes, and using colored chalk will make the custodians love the room, too.
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Valentine's Day Games and Activities
Upper elementary and middle school students can enjoy Valentine's Day without eating candy. Teachers can add pizazz to their lesson plans with these fun resources.
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Free Suze Orman Advice and $100 for Saving Money
Between Oprah Winfrey's "Money" segment and Ameritrade's "Save Yourself Account", people can immediately start improving their financial health with two free books.
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Inauguration Lessons Plans and Worksheets
The days leading up to the presidential inauguration can be spent with some fun learning activities as teachers prepare their classes to watch the swearing-in.
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Online Inauguration Resources for Teachers
All classes should watch as Barack Obama's is sworn in as president, and teachers can engage older students with two activities that complement the Inauguration.
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Encourage Teens to Read with Teenage Magazines
Fostering and supporting reading habits are duties teachers and parents share. Magazines that cater to teens are a great way for parents to boost reading at home.
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Watching the Presidential Inauguration in Class
Swearing in a new President is exciting and historic, and teachers can build on the importance of the moment by showing students several different inaugural speeches.
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An Activity to Teach Students to Avoid Cliches
Explaining cliches is tricky; many tired phrases are new to students. Teachers build a list of mis-used and over-used words as they make a final resting spot for cliches.
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Online Tools to Help Teens Get Healthy and Fit
"Losing weight" is a popular goal for teenagers and adults. Fitday.com, livestrong.com, and weightwatchers.com offer tools for heath-conscious teens.
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Review of How to Be a Perfect Stranger
There are some questions that people don't think to ask until they are walking up the steps to an unfamiliar door that will lead to an equally unfamiliar service.
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