March may be fickle as far as weather goes, but it’s a month full of great teaching ideas. Of course there is Dr. Seuss’s birthday, Johnny Appleseed’s birthday, the first day of Spring, and St. Patrick’s Day. We figure you have those covered. But if you want some new inspiration, we’ve got some other fun things for you to think about too!
Did you know that March 13 was the day the planet Uranus was discovered? How about some interesting facts about this planet? For example Uranus is the coldest planet in the Solar System. It also makes one trip around the Sun every 84 Earth years. During some parts of its orbit, one or the other of its poles point directly at the Sun and get about 42 years of direct sunlight! The rest of the time they are in darkness. http://space-facts.com/uranus/
Or how about celebrating Albert Einstein’s birthday on March 14? Have a “no socks day.” Part of Einstein's charm was his disheveled look. In addition to his uncombed hair, one of Einstein's peculiar habits was to never wear socks. Whether it was while sailing, or to a formal dinner at the White House, Einstein refused to wear socks. To Einstein, socks were a pain because they often would get holes in them. Plus, why wear both socks and shoes when one of them would do just fine?
Did you know the third week of March is American Chocolate Week? Try the Quirkles’ “Vinnie Volcano’s Chocolate Meltdown.” Not only does this illustrate how rocks melt, it also allows for a tasty way to measure different melting times. Try dark chocolate, white chocolate and milk chocolate. Graph the results.
Not healthy enough? (We’d beg to differ!) It’s also broccoli month. Read Botanist Bert and learn how Bennie Bear confuses broccoli for a very bizarre basketball. (Yes, you can tie in some Johnny Appleseed activities to this lesson too!)
And if that’s not enough, March 30 is National Pencil Day. Like so many technologies we take for granted, imagine life without the pencil. Do you know your pencil trivia? Beloved author Roald Dahl used only pencils with yellow casing to write his books. He had six sharpened pencils ready at the beginning of each day and only when all six became unusable did he re-sharpen them. Speaking of yellow, do you know why most pencils are yellow? Check this out and other trivia here: http://nationaldaycalendar.com/days-2/national-pencil-day-march-30/
As for Quirkles activities, we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity St. Patrick’s Day offers. How about a lesson in color mixing (Colorful Caroline) to come up with St. Patty’s favorite color green? Or take a look at our water absorbing “Pot of Gold” activity. And of course we had to make a leprechaun’s potion for you to share! These and all our other fun experiments can be found via our e-newsletter/website resource pages or on our Quirkles® YouTube channel!
Happy March teaching!
