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This upcoming Friday is the UNICEF day for change in the UK but what a great idea. I can't find anything on the US website about this activity but it seems to be all over UK websites.  I think that it is a great idea to have some sort of "change day" for children's activities in schools whether it is for UNICEF or another cause. Many students have change in their houses and can do something.

Some great lessons to use for science and Engineering week (in the UK but why not bring it over the pond) March 9-18th. If you are promoting STEM here are some fun lessons including the squashed tomato challenge.

These heartbreaking words from a teacher in the UK. As the world tries to improve education by the numbers, the world has forgotten kids aren't numbers. They are precious, individual and unique and deserve education systems that celebrate and encourage that. OK, teachers, it is time to man the media - you are the media now! Are you fed up yet? It might not be you right now, but if you don't speak, it will be, wherever you teach, such stories impact us all and the profession we care for so much. "As a teacher, I vowed that I would work hard to nurture my students, to make each and every student feel valued and for them to know that they have a voice, and a place in the world. However the last two years have made me feel like that insecure 14-year-old again: I have lost my confidence because of the overly-rigid current education system. We are constantly being told we are not good enough and that we are not doing enough: enough intervention, enough rigorous marking, enough sustained and rapid progress. What excited me the most about becoming a teacher was discovering the hidden talents and sparks of genius in my students. However, it breaks my heart to say this, but I feel that I no longer have time, nor am I encouraged to make these discoveries. We are so caught up with data and so many progress checks that we don't give our students the time to shine. I wonder what would happen if the greats of the world like Einstein, Gaudi, Picasso and Martin Luther King were to attend school in 2013, would they be able to cultivate their talents and thrive?"

Another cool tool. This is from a UK site so they call these "plenaries" but they are 140 lesson plan ideas. You'll have to sign up for a free TES account but this is  a cool powerpoint.

Bev Evans is very popular Special needs teacher in the UK who has shared over 500 free resources for teachers that she uses with her students. She has a child with special needs and is just a cool person. @tes_sen is her twitter handle. She is definitely one that special needs teachers want to follow.

I love this conversation from Natasha Devon, body image expert and recovered bulimic. Please read to help get inside the mind of what we're dealing with here and the messages from media (particularly to girls) about how we "should" look, "should" behave, and "should" be so we can be happy and live good lives. So much of it is manufactured unattainable hogwash, but still many of us (including me) struggle with self esteem issues that come from the fact that we aren't the "type" of person we see in the media who is a "popular" person. Criticize as you will, but it is reality for many of us. From Natasha: "I have one hour to convey the message that inspired my business, Gossip School; just one hour to emphasise the importance of self-esteem, to give these young people the tools to recognise negative messages from the media and to convince them that it is OK to be themselves, however they look."

Another lesson with an activity called "agony aunt" that lets students discuss things affecting body image. More materials on this important topic.

If you're planning May and want to see the holidays and events along with lesson plans, you'll want to check out this list. Lots of events including a net one we should bring to the US called "Friendship Funday".

Some of use the fakebook tool at classtools.net but if you need to be offline, this is a template to make a Facebook page for a famous character. It is a .doc (Microsoft Word) file and you can download it and use it for your activity. These are great for looking at famous characters and students enjoy them.

Chinese New Year Collection with many different lessons at all age levels along with downloadables to use. If you are expecting your students to have global literacy, you cannot afford to ignore China. This is a fun time to teach about it - kids love dragons and fireworks!

Here is a great list of ipad teaching ideas and lesson plans across a lot of subjects.

A challenge toolkit. If you are a gifted and talented or teacher of children who have challenges, there are 50 activities in this powerpoint that can you can adapt to any subject.

If you are a parent or homeschooler, you'll have time to use this powerpoint between now and New Year's. This is a lesson about how to design a poster for firework safety.

In the chinese lantern festival (coming up on February 6), children in China and in other areas across Asia, carry lanterns with riddles on them as they go into their temples. Here are some lesson plans and templates for making your own lanterns. You could have students put riddles on them relating to topics you have going in your classroom.

These are complete mini-topics that are a week's worth of activities and lesson plans on each topic for ages 4-11. This pulls together lesson plans, interactive whiteboard resources, and printables and will be helpful for teachers in a tight or who need to quickly emphasize a topic where they know students have problems.

I love this activity finder at TES iBoard. They have more than 700 free activities that you can use with your Interactive white board for ages 4-11. You can search by topic. If you have an interactive whiteboard, you should use this site. A subscription lets you easily share the activities with your pupils and they can access them anywhere without a log on. That is very useful.

Description, on video, how to set up a live streaming video including equipment needed.