Charles Dickens turned 200 years old on Tuesday February 7, 2012. To mark the bicentenary, the Guardian Teacher Network created materials to help you bring his work to life for children
An illustration from Dickens’s novel The Pickwick Papers. Dickens’s most vivid personalities are celebrated in the Guardian’s resource Charles Dickens’s Characters in Pictures.
Charles Dickens’s Characters in Pictures is a guide to some of the most vivid personalities in Dickens’s novels. Created by the Guardian, the resource contains illustrations of characters including the Artful Dodger and Ebenezer Scrooge, along with extracts about them from Dickens’s work. It provides inspiration for activities including role play, descriptive writing and costume design.
What the Dickens? is a website for students and teachers containing creative-writing lesson plans, activity sheets and an outline for a Dickens-themed assembly. There are also short videos from children’s authors celebrating the work of Dickens and an interactive story-writing competition open to 9- to 14-year-olds. Continue reading
There is no better lifetime achievement than to teach your children or grandchildren to be curious. One of the greatest examples ever written is in the biography of Albert Einstein.
The Republican-led House voted to pass its Parents’ Bill of Rights on Friday with zero Democrat votes after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called it ‘fascist.’ The controversial bill, which gives parents a stronger role in what’s taught in public schools, is not expected to be taken up by the Democratic-majority Senate.
Now is often the time of year when parents begin looking into other learning options and schooling alternatives for their kids. The new school year has been in session for several weeks and some parents may be finding that bubbling issues may have reached a boiling point.
Last week, students at small Christian college in Kentucky gathered for their regular Wednesday chapel service. Ten days later, it has not ended. People from around the country and the world continue to join in. No matter your religion or lack thereof, THIS is an exceptional happening. More exceptional even, is that this spirit has spread to other colleges and universities. 
It is very important that parents, grandparents, and teachers teach discipline, thinking skills, and motivation, plus help children get good grades in school. Today, we will continue on this very important critical motivation, learning skills, and educational journey. 
It’s every teacher’s dream to implement a lesson plan that makes their students truly excited to learn. But in the busy life of an educator, it isn’t always easy to come up with fresh ideas that both engage and educate. If you feel like you’re in a teaching rut, you’re not alone. Here are a few ideas for shaking up your curriculum.
It’s that time of year again… as families return from vacations, they start thinking about sending their kids back to school (if they’re not back already). But in the post-pandemic era, there’s an increasing likelihood that some parents aren’t sending their children back to the same school. In particular, data suggest that 
Parents, Grandparents, and teachers should do everything they can to inspire and teach children to exercise their brains and get good grades in school. There are many reasons why children need help and inspiration to be taught thinking exercises, creativity, curiosity, and learning. There is an increasing need to face the increasing obstacles that will need to be overcome as they get older. Many parents, grandparents, and schools are lacking in preparing children for the many thinking and learning skills that create a curious and mentally active mind. A big challenge awaits them as they face technology and political problems as they got older.
…there’s a CHANGE a’ comin’ Don’t need no baggage – ya’ just get on board – and it is FINALLY happenin’!
Because their exam answers are so far out there, these youngsters must have had some intriguing instructors! One thing is sure: These kids have a great sense of humor. Whatever the case may be, the professors who created these assessments could not have anticipated such responses, and we are thrilled at such brilliancy.
As the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to unfold, the rhetoric surrounding the war seems to get stronger by the day.
Why not? Whether you’re experienced or inexperienced, whatever your situation, you already know why you want to homeschool your kids through high school. Now, what about how?
Anyone who has read any of my work knows where I stand on the public school system. That is no secret. I remember, many years ago now, one of my main mentors, Rev. Ennio Cugini, made the comment to me that the public school system was a place to keep students up to date on the latest propaganda produced by the communists. When you look at what is being promoted today in these so-called institutions of learning, things like Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project, it is difficult not to agree with Pastor Cugini’s assessment of public schools. 
A recent study released from the National Centers for Education Statistics revealed that public schools have been experiencing a decrease in enrollment. Almost 4% of students were pulled out of public schools in the 2020-2021 school year. This was especially evident in the younger grades. According to the report, “Preschool enrollment dropped by 22 percent, and enrollment of kindergarteners fell by 9 percent.” 
According to Tami Forman at