Tag: Learning Through Play

Authentic Project Ideas – Weather Impacting Airports and Air Travel

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

My fascination with airports continues. I am also fascinated with weather. So here is my hopefully fascinating blog about authentic ideas for airports, air travel, and weather!

There are so many ways that weather can impact airports and air travel. If you just brainstorm a list of ways that snow and cold weather can be a problem, you will probably have a long list. (Think about flight crews/passengers not being able to get to the airport, temperatures too cold for workers to get the plane loaded and ready, de-icing planes, clearing the runways…)

An authentic project for older students could be creating a handbook of ways to deal with weather issues, charts, graphs, displays… Actually even young students could work on this, at their academic level. That is the beauty of authentic teaching and learning. Not only is it real and interesting, but it can be used for almost every age group, and all (hopefully) the different academic levels that you may be working with at one time.

*My husband likes to try to book flights based on possible weather issues based on location and time-of-year. This means that in the winter, he tries to avoid airports like Chicago, and instead books a southern route, like flying through Houston. This usually guarantees that at the time of his flight, Chicago will be having wonderful weather, while Houston will be closed for fog. Just sayin…

Authentic Teaching – Do What Works for You!

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Books for Parents, Books for Teachers, Uncategorized

When working on this blog, I sometimes feel that I am straying from how we defined and implemented authentic teaching in the books I wrote with Peggy (my former and forever principal). Then I remember that in keeping my blog authentic, it is going to evolve over time!

When we originally started to work with authentic learning, we were focusing on Project-Based Learning literature. Our school counselor then made the case that what we were really striving for was authentic teaching and learning. In reality, it is semantics.

The steps to achieve authentic teaching and learning, in my opinion, are also semantics. It is what works for you, your beliefs as an educator, your environment, and your student’s needs.

So, don’t feel that this won’t work for you, if you want/need to approach this differently. That’s the point. What you do should be authentic for you. Your approach to teaching needs to work for you. Take any of my ideas that you like and modify them any way that you want to. Don’t get bogged down in semantics. Take what makes sense to you, and run with it.

Shameless promotion here: I am still really proud of One School’s Journey, Further Down the Path by Eleanor K. Smith and Margaret Pastor.

Authentic Project Ideas – Valentine’s Day

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Social Awareness and Responsibility Skills, Uncategorized

The holiday season has barely ended, and now we approach Valentine’s Day. (I was actually in a store right before Christmas, and they already had the Valentine’s displays out.) This can be another hard/lonely holiday for many people. What a great time to work on an authentic project for others.

If Valentine’s Day is not celebrated where you live, what similar holidays are? Actually, this is a great research idea, how/where is Valentine’s Day celebrated around the world? What ideas can we use from other countries for ideas for our project?

Even young children can brainstorm ideas for how to remember others on Valentine’s Day. Start with an age appropriate introduction to the holiday, and go from there! Research/Brainstorm/Vote/Implement! Authentic!

Parents Teaching Authentically

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Uncategorized

I love winter! I love snow! Which may seem strange as I grew up in South Florida. I have just always loved the colder weather. (My mother won’t visit me in Pennsylvania, except during the summer months, so she definitely does not agree with me!)

However, snow does present problems for parents, especially during snow days when the schools are closed. If you are at home with your kids during a snow day, this is a golden opportunity to do some authentic teaching.

Plan and write a schedule for the day. Bake and have your kids read the recipes and measure everything. (Even little ones can find numbers in recipes and count out cups, etc.) Trouble shoot how to walk the dog. Discuss how the snow may be impacting an eldelry neighbor, and make plans to help. Read/research/study some meteorology – why does it snow? Watch the weather on tv – great teaching tool.

Most importantly – practice thinking out loud. We are constantly making decisions, and our thought processes/problem solving skills can be taught authentically by thinking out loud. Talk through what you are thinking, in front of your kids.

And, see ya in June, Mom!

Welcome 2025!

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

How in the world is it 2025? I remember the turn of the decade/century/millennium like it was yesterday, and now a quarter of a century has passed!

Once again I would like to thank all of my readers for giving me the opportunity to continue to write about my passion – authentic teaching and learning. This gives me a chance to continue to participate, in a small way, in the profession of education that I am honored to still be a part of.

Staying engaged makes me happy, and is good for my mental health and growth. As we start the new year, a great authentic project would be to somehow engage older folks in your community with your students. This could be a project in itself, or they could assist with another project. Most likely, it would be a combination of both. Older folks are a wealth of information and fantastic volunteers. Win, win for everyone!

Happy New Year!

Spreading Joy – Giving Back

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Blog, Social Awareness and Responsibility Skills, Uncategorized

This is my favorite time of the year! I love all of the decorations, celebrations, giving, sharing…

This is also the season where I always share a family story…

When I was 12-years-old, my great-grandfather gave me Avon face powder for a holiday gift. Needless to say, I was disappointed by this gift. Instead of lecturing me about being ungrateful, or exchanging the powder for a different gift, my mother agreed that this was not a great gift for a girl my age. She suggested that perhaps there was a woman somewhere, that might not be getting gifts for the holidays, who would appreciate this gift.

This was before the internet, Giving Trees, etc., and it took many phone calls for my mother to find an agency that was collecting gifts for needy families. We ended up “adopting” a family for the holidays. Our whole family picked out gifts for this family. This was a tradition we continued throughout my childhood, and a tradition I continued with my own children, and now my grandchildren.

With the internet, Toys for Tots, Giving Trees… There are so many ways for children to become authentically engaged in the spirit of the holidays. Children can be given examples of ways to make the holidays special for others, can choose to engage in these activities/organizations, or come up with new authentic ideas.

Happy December! Happy Authentic Teaching!

Authentic Teaching vs Authentic Projects

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Books for Teachers, Uncategorized

Every once in awhile, I feel a need to revisit what constitutes an authentic project. An authentic project starts with a driving question, or a photo, a class discussion, a current event… Something triggers discussion. From there, you and the class investigate. This is all part of authentic teaching and learning. It may stop there. Lack of interest, information, motivation…

If you and the class decide to pursue this topic, it can lead to an authentic project. You decide as a group, how to pursue this. What you decide now may change, and hopefully will, that is authenticity. Different students might want to pursue different angles on this project. That is what you want. You are still in charge, you are driving discussion, and even more importantly, listening to and guiding your students.

Meanwhile, you, as the educator, are processing how to tie your curriculum goals into where the class is headed. Sounds daunting, but remember, your students are engaged and motivated, so you have the mental space to look for all the curriculum opportunities. Trust me, take the leap, this works!

This is a very simplified introduction to something I strongly believe in. Just a reminder, I am very proud of my book, written with my former and forever principal, Peggy Pastor. One School’s Journey, Further Down the Path, is an entertaining and easy read (I am not biased – OK I am) that explains authentic teaching and learning. It is available on Amazon, both in print and on Kindle. I am not pushing this book to make money, any money we make from this book, we both donate to The Jared Box Project, another passion of mine. I truly believe in authentic teaching and learning, and am passionate about getting this information out!

One School’s Journey, Further Down the Path by Eleanor K. Smith and Margaret Pastor

Available on Amazon

Tis the Season to Give Back

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Blog, Social Awareness and Responsibility Skills, Uncategorized

From the book Tex the Explorer and The Jared Box Project

Illustration by Eyen Johnson

As many of you know, I am passionate about two things, authentic teaching, and The Jared Box Project. These two things work together perfectly, when you are authentically teaching about giving. It is so important all year, but especially this time of year, to remember to give back.

Jared McMullen was diagnosed with an incurable brainstem tumor in 1999. He carried a backpack full of toys and games to all appointments and questioned why the other children didn’t bring toys to their exam rooms. Jared shared his toys and invited the other children to join him in a game of UNO. At just 5 years old, he demonstrated faith, wisdom and compassion for others.

Jared’s classmates sought to honor his memory and created boxes filled with toys for the patients at their local hospital. What was intended as a one-time project has grown into a nonprofit that reaches into the hearts of children and their families across all 50 US States, and also internationally.

I did a presentation last year at a special education school. These children had a great deal on their plate, but all engaged and enjoyed making Jared Boxes. They already earned credit at their school store (for task completion and behavior), and during the Jared Box Project (the name of the project and a project!) they used their credit to buy items for the Jared Box that they were going to make. The students were all engaged, proud, learning, and eager to share their finished boxes.

For more information about The Jared Box Project visit TheJaredBox.org

Authentic Project Ideas – Zoos

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

One of our young granddaughters is a raccoon fanatic. She loves, adores, lives, and breathes raccoons. Her local zoo just got a raccoon exhibit. Her reaction was akin to suddenly arriving at Disney World!

This got me thinking about animals in zoos. For young learners, zoos are a wealth of authentic project ideas. And many zoos have ways to visit many exhibits virtually. Which reminds me of when my class logged into the camera in the polar bear exhibit in an Alaskan Zoo. It was pitch black when we logged in, which made me think the camera was broken. Bummer. It was actually one of my students who realized that as it was early morning where we were on the east coast of the United States, it was still the middle of the night in Alaska! Authentic Teaching Moment!

But I digress… Zoos are a wealth of authentic topics. Learning about animals and habitats. Protected Animals. Endangered animals. Taking care of different animals. And students can pick an animal of interest to further investigate. My favorite is definitely the giraffe!

Back to the raccoons. I did wonder where the raccoons came from. Turns out they were rescue animals. This would be a great authentic project for older students. Where do zoos get their animals from? What is in place in different countries to protect animals in zoos? What organizations exist nationally and world-wide to protect zoo animals?

And in case you are wondering, I love giraffes, but their tongues are disgusting!

Authentic Project Ideas – Pumpkins

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

Wow, that is a lot of different types of pumpkins!  Or are some gourds?  How many different types of pumpkins are there? What is the difference between a pumpkin and a gourd? Where do pumpkins grow?  Why are they used in “fall holidays?”

What are all the different ways pumpkins are traditionally used in the fall?  Are pumpkins used in different ways in different countries? What are some untraditional uses for pumpkins? (Think pumpkin chunkin.)

Create a booklet about pumpkins.  Write a story.  Create a chart.  Graph pumpkin sizes.  Grow pumpkins! Bake with Pumpkins! Photo journal, scrapbook…

*If you end up baking pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting, please don’t tell me about it. I just lost 10 pounds, and I will gain it back just thinking about those cookies!