The Joy of Teaching

Sharing creative ideas and lessons to help children learn

August 23, 2023
by Heather Foudy
0 comments

Sight Words: Unlocking Reading Success

Sight words play an important role in building a strong reading foundation for beginning readers. These frequently used words, similar to high-frequency words, cannot be easily decoded using phonics rules alone. Sight words are words that appear frequently in written text and often do not follow regular phonetic patterns. They are typically short, common words such as “the,” “and,” “is,” and “to.” Due to their high frequency and irregularity, it is crucial for young readers to quickly recognize these words on sight, without needing to sound them out. Being able to read sight words quickly and correctly helps children increase their fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.

Frequent practice is the best way to help children learn and master sight words and high-frequency words. The printable worksheets, reading activities, and hands-on projects can be found in Evan-Moor’s TeacherFileBox, an online lesson library that provides an all-inclusive reading resource.

Here are a few strategies for mastering sight words.

  • Repetition and exposure: Incorporating sight words into daily activities such as reading aloud, writing sentences, or playing word games is a great way to help children learn and recall important words.
  • Contextual reading: Seeing these words in meaningful context reinforces recognition and comprehension simultaneously.
  • Chunking and word families: Chunking helps children identify common patterns and word families within sight words. This approach helps them recognize new sight words more quickly by focusing on familiar letter combinations. Example: Plant would be split into Pl-ant

Fun games and activities are a great way to help children learn sight words and high frequency words! 

Sight-Word Concentration Game: This fun sight-word game from TeacherFileBox printables focuses on sight words on a game board. 

Word Machines Video

Word Machines for Sight Words: These fun sight-word activities from TeacherFileBox printables instruct children to create a word machine to help them practice and remember important sight words. 

Choo Choo Cover Up Sight-Word Game: This fun vocabulary game from TeacherFileBox focuses on matching sight-word cards on a game board.

Word Scavenger Hunt: Hide word cards or objects with printed words around the room or outdoors. Provide children with a list of words to find. As they locate the words, they can read them aloud or match them to corresponding pictures. You can demonstrate chunking on each card to help children sound out the words. 

Sight-Word-Relay Writing: Divide children into teams and set up a whiteboard or a large piece of paper for each team. Call out a sight word, and one member from each team races to write the word on their team’s whiteboard. The first team to correctly write the word scores a point. This game reinforces spelling and recognition of sight words.

Building Reading Fluency Passages: These reading fluency activities from TeacherFileBox are an easy way to provide children with frequent reading practice to increase their sight word recognition with meaningful context.

Little Phonics Readers with Sight Words: These little phonics readers from TeacherFileBox incorporate beginning sight words into their stories for reading practice in context.

Mastering sight words is an essential step in developing strong reading skills. By recognizing these high-frequency words instantly, children can enhance their reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. With a combination of repetition, contextual reading, and engaging activities, children can develop a solid foundation in sight-word recognition.

 Evan-Moor’s TeacherFileBox printables are a great tool to help children learn to read. The diverse reading activities and games provide engaging reading experiences for kids. With thousands of reading activities, parents and teachers can create a reading curriculum around every child’s abilities and interests.

With over 80,000 lesson units available across PreK–6 grades, TeacherFileBox makes it easy to build your reading curriculum. In addition to reading lessons, TeacherFileBox also includes lesson units across the curriculum for grades PreK–6 in math, language, writing, science, geography, social studies, STEM/STEAM, SEL, and more! Save your favorite printables in your personal account—and print lessons, project them onto a screen, or share lessons in your Google Classroom! 

Try TeacherFileBox for free for 14 days and browse reading printables and activity ideas.

 

 

 

For more reading lessons from Evan-Moor’s TeacherFileBox printables, see Helping Children Learn to Read with Phonics, Sight Words, Reading Comprehension and More!


Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

July 31, 2023
by Evan-Moor
0 comments

Culturally Responsive Teaching and SEL: Your Roadmap to a Positive School Year

In the world of education, creating an optimal learning experience for students extends far beyond textbooks and lesson plans. It begins with building the foundation for a positive classroom environment that nurtures students’ growth, enhances their engagement, and allows them to thrive academically and personally. When students feel safe, supported and valued, their emotional well-being flourishes, paving the way for effective learning.

Build a harmonious and thriving classroom community all year long with activities that are not only ideal for the “first week of school,” but can be used throughout the school year to help with classroom management.

Create a welcoming classroom culture with these practical ideas to help you kickstart the year on a positive note.

Cultivate positive classroom relationships with social and emotional learning activities that provide students with the necessary tools to understand and manage their emotions, develop empathy, build positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

  1. Morning check-ins are one way to help transition students into the school day. 

These activities from Social and Emotional Learning Activities for grades 1-2  help students reflect on their feelings and work well as a morning check-in activity.   

2. Social and emotional collaborative learning activities help students to get to know their classmates and think about how to foster positive classroom relationships.

These activities from Social and Emotional Learning Activities for grades 3-4 provide opportunities for students to discuss rules for having positive conversations.

Get free activities from Social and Emotional Learning Activities for grades 1-6 here! These creative and cross-curricular SEL activities keep children practicing important skills all year long.

Promote a growth mindset by creating a “mistake friendly classroom.” Encourage students to embrace challenges, view mistakes as learning opportunities and believe in their ability to improve. Redefine the word “mistake” in your classroom as an “opportunity” and highlight it on the board so students can see what you value most in your classroom!

One strategy to reinforce this belief is to think ahead about why a student might make a mistake on a task. Brainstorm and prepare ahead of time so that you can help students deconstruct their answer and celebrate the learning process! Embracing all mistakes as positive, teachable moments can transform students’ fear into curiosity and encourage them to take chances. You can also turn the question over to your class and ask them to think about possible mistakes that could be made on a task.

Cultivate a respectful and inclusive classroom with activities that honor the diverse identities and experiences of all students in your classroom. Listed below are five ways to create a safe learning space for all students.

  1. Build authentic connections between your students and cultivate positive relationships with activities that provide opportunities for them to share their unique experiences and learn about others.
  2. Encourage student voice and choice by incorporating opportunities for students to share their thoughts, ideas, and questions. Offer choices in assignments and activities to promote autonomy and ownership over their learning.
  3. Foster collaboration and cooperation with creative opportunities for collaborative learning, group discussions, and peer support. Emphasize the value of teamwork and respect for diverse opinions, fostering a sense of belonging and unity.
  4. Establish clear expectations with consistent rules for behavior, academic performance, and classroom routines. When students understand what is expected of them, they feel a sense of security and are better equipped to succeed.
  5. Address bullying and conflict promptly by establishing a zero-tolerance policy for bullying and addressing conflicts impartially. Teach students conflict resolution strategies and promote empathy to ensure a safe and inclusive classroom for everyone.

Culturally Responsive Lessons & Activities Grade 3 Culturally Responsive Lessons and Activities for grades 1–6 includes inspirational stories and activities to help students build connections between their experiences and the classroom. The robust units include individual, whole class, and partner activities to help students practice working together in groups and allow them to explore different ethnicities and cultures. Also included are project menus that support student choice and creativity by allowing students to choose the project they would like to complete. These activities are a great addition to your back-to-school activities, with topics and lessons that encourage student voice and foster collaborative learning experiences.  

 Get free activities and printables for grades 1–6 to try in your classroom.  Click here for your Culturally Responsive Lessons and Activities sampler.

 

 

A positive classroom environment lays the foundation for optimal learning experiences, fostering emotional well-being, respect, and engagement among students. By nurturing positive relationships, embracing diversity, and promoting active participation, we create a space where students feel supported, empowered, and motivated to reach their full potential. Let’s embark on this journey together, transforming our classrooms into vibrant communities where every student can thrive and succeed.

 Get access to all the resources mentioned in this article with a subscription to TeacherFileBox printables, Evan-Moor’s digital lesson library. TeacherFileBox includes 80,000 activities and lessons for grades PreK–6 and simplifies the lesson planning process with easy search options and diverse resources. Try TeacherFileBox for free for 14 days (no credit card required). Learn more about TeacherFileBox here!

School discounts are available on 10 or more classroom subscriptions, saving 60-75% off the total cost! Learn more here


Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

May 26, 2023
by Heather Foudy
0 comments

Best Phonics Printables to Help Children Learn to Read

Phonics instruction plays a key role in teaching students to understand the sounds of letters and that certain letter combinations make specific sounds. Practicing phonemic awareness helps students decode words and increases their word recognition, which ultimately increases their reading fluency. Phonics supports new readers and language learners and helps them understand the predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds.

Quality phonics activities help to engage young learners, struggling readers, and English language learners in practicing important phonics skills. Listed below are phonics printables and activities from Evan-Moor’s TeacherFileBox, a digital lesson library that allows you to design your lessons around your students’ needs. With over 2,000 phonics worksheets—including minibooks and games—the TeacherFileBox lesson library provides teachers, homeschoolers, and parents with engaging phonics practice and instruction to foster reading skills.

Phonics Readers

Phonics readers give children their own minibook and engage them in reading and practicing word families. Perfect for the classroom or home, phonics readers provide consistent practice and can be read over and over. TeacherFileBox provides over 120 phonics readers for grades PreK–3! Simply cut out and fold the phonics page, then give children the phonics minibook to color and read!

Phonics Printables and Worksheets

Practicing phonemic awareness helps children decode words and increases their word recognition, which ultimately increases their reading fluency. These engaging phonics activities in TeacherFileBox provide important practice of letter combinations. The phonics activities begin with grade PreK and progress by grade level to increase the skill practice.

Beginning sounds

Consonant Blends and Sounds

Vowel Digraphs and Word Families

 Weekly Phonics Units

Weekly phonics units provide systematic instruction, practice, and application over 32 weeks. Perfect for morning work, small group instruction, or review, these in-depth units help students review and practice important phonics skills. Each week focuses on one phonics skill, and the daily lessons progress through scaffolded listening and speaking activities to reading and writing activities.

Hands-On Phonics Games

These colorful games are a great way to reinforce sound and letter correlations.

Additional Phonics Activities

The fun activities listed below are creative ways to keep students practicing important phonemic rules.

Alphabet Hunt: An alphabet hunt is a fun and interactive way to teach letter and sound combinations. For beginning readers, matching objects with the same beginning and ending sounds reinforces this concept. Assign a letter of the week and have students find objects within the classroom that have the same beginning sound as the weekly letter. Depending on your class, you could assign more than one letter per week. (Students could also bring objects from home to share as well.)

Rhyming Phonics Game: Gather sets of rhyming objects to play the game “rhyme in a bag.” Split the sets, so half are placed in a paper bag and half are placed on a table. Have students reach into the bag, pull out an object, and match it to an item on the table that rhymes.

  • Pen, hen
  • Sock, rock
  • Fan, can
  • Boat, coat

Rhyming can help children understand that words that share common sounds often share common letters.

Phonics Flip Book: Phonics flip books can be a fun way to teach sound and letter combinations. All you need is a wire-bound index card notebook, scissors, tape, and markers. You may design your flip book to practice three-letter words and sounds, blends, or word families. Word families help children identify common spellings and sounds in words.

To make a blending flip book:

  • Divide and cut the notebook into three sections.
  • Label the first, second, and last paper with letters A–Z.
  • It is OK if your combinations don’t all make words. The purpose of this technique is to teach blending of sounds.

To make a word-family flip book:

  • Divide and cut the notebook into two sections.
  • Write your word family in the last section.
  • Choose letters that form words with your word families.
TeacherFileBox: Your Evan-Moor Lesson Library

Find these phonics printables and more in TeacherFileBox! Simplify your planning process and find the resources you need for every student in every subject area. TeacherFileBox includes 80,000 activities and lessons for grades PreK–6 and simplifies the lesson planning process with easy search options and diverse resources.

TeacherFileBox provides teachers and parents with over 80,000 printable lessons across the PreK–6 curriculum. Try TeacherFileBox for free for 14 days (no credit card required). Learn more about TeacherFileBox here!

School discounts are available on 10 or more classroom subscriptions, saving 60-75% off the total cost! Learn more here

For more reading lessons from Evan-Moor’s TeacherFileBox printables, see Helping Children Learn to Read with Phonics, Sight Words, Reading Comprehension and More!


Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

May 18, 2023
by Evan-Moor
0 comments

Handmade Father’s Day Gifts and Cards: Free Printables

FREE Handmade Father’s Day Gifts and Cards

Homemade Father’s Day Card Ideas for Kids

These creative Father’s Day cards make the perfect and unique Father’s Day gift! Create a picture card or a thoughtful gift box and poem with these free templates.

Download these free DIY Father’s Day gifts here.

Handmade Father’s Day Crafts for Kids

Create memorable Father’s Day gifts with these handprint DIY ideas.

Helping Hands T-Shirt Personalized Father’s Day Gift

You can use these instructions to create a fun t-shirt or apron.

Items needed

  1. T-shirt in adult size or apron
  2. Paint
  3. Paper plate
  4. Fabric marker
  5. Cardboard

Instructions

  1. Put paint on paper plates.
  2. Place cardboard between the front and back of the t-shirt to prevent paint from soaking through.
  3. Dip hands, one at a time, into the paint and press on the t-shirt or apron. (Press and lift straight up to prevent smearing.)
  4. Let the t-shirt dry and add the words “Dad’s helping hands” to the shirt with a fabric marker.
  5. Add the child’s name and the date to the t-shirt.

Helping Hands Card Father’s Day Gift

This creative card or picture frame is a thoughtful gift that captures a cherished snapshot in time.

Items needed

  1. Fold construction paper in half. (If you are using a canvas frame, follow instructions for painting.)
  2. Dip the left hand into paint and press onto the front of the folded card or frame. (The little finger should be lined up with the folded edge.) Let the paint dry.
  3. Leave the card folded and cut around the hand print. Do not cut around the fold. (If you are using a canvas frame, this does not apply.)
  4.  Add a message to the inside of the hand print. (If you are using a canvas frame, add the message on the inside of the hand print.)
    Wanted to give you a hand.
    You’re a great dad!
    Happy Father’s Day

For more holiday craft ideas check out:

May 4, 2023
by Evan-Moor
0 comments

Mother’s Day Free Activities for Kids

Celebrate mothers, grandmothers, and caregivers with thoughtful, homemade Mother’s Day gifts this year. From flowerpot art to creative writing, these memorable crafts will create thoughtful and treasured Mother’s Day gifts that are easy for kids to make.

Explore these Mother’s Day gift ideas and inspiration for celebrating moms everywhere.

Fingerprint Flowerpot Grades PreK–K

This colorful art project is the perfect way to say thank you.

Click to access Fingerprint-Flowerpot.pdf

Magazine Article Grades 4–6

Create a memorable magazine article filled with pictures and fun facts about a special lady.

Click to access Magazine-Article.pdf

Mom Pick Me Ups Grades 1–6

Fill this thoughtful jar with ideas to help make a mom feel special.

Click to access Mom-PickMeUps.pdf

Superhero Mother’s Day Grades PreK–K and 1–3

This special art project lets moms everywhere know that their superhero powers are noted and appreciated.

Click to access Superhero-MothersDay.pdf

For more Mother’s Day free activities, check out these articles!

 

Handmade Cards for Mother’s Day

 

 

 

Poetry Gifts for Mother’s Day

 

 

 

 

 

May 4, 2023
by Evan-Moor
0 comments

Celebrate Korea’s Harvest Moon Festival, Chuseok

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Chuseok is a three-day Korean festival that celebrates the harvest. This holiday is typically celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. During Chuseok, people eat special foods, play fun games, exchange gifts, sing and dance. They also honor family members who have passed away with memorial services.

This free Evan-Moor Chuseok activity for grades K-3 is a great way to share this treasured Korean holiday with children. Download the free activity pages here.

Songpyeon Cakes

Songpyeon is a traditional rice cake eaten during Chuseok. It incorporates various ingredients such as sesame seeds, black beans, mung beans, cinnamon, walnuts, honey and more. The Songpeyon has a distinct half moon shape is tied to Korean history and folklore.

Songpyeon Cakes

Learn how to make songpyeon here.

Korean Celebrations by Tina Cho includes information on important Korean holidays as well as popular recipes

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April 28, 2023
by Evan-Moor
0 comments

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Your Classroom and Home

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Cinco de Mayo, or the fifth of May, is a holiday that celebrates the Mexican armies’ triumph over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. Also known as the Battle of Puebla Day, this holiday has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage in the United States.

Celebrate Mexican heritage in your classroom with these free activities.

“Cinco de Mayo 5 Senses,” Grades 1-6

Learn about Cinco de Mayo through the five senses and create a fun minibook. Download this activity here

“Cinco de Mayo Fiesta,” Grades 1-6

Learn about the history behind Cinco de Mayo with a free reading activity, art projects and recipes. Build a set of maracas, make delicious aguas frescas and create colorful décor! Download these activities here

“Cinco de Mayo: Find the Differences,” Grades 1-6

This critical thinking activity is perfect for early finishers and a fun Friday lesson. Download this activity here

“Cinco de Mayo Recipes,” Grades 1-6

Learn about Cinco de Mayo through traditional recipes. Perfect for classroom prep, these easy-to-make dishes will add a little spice to you school day.  Download these activities here

Check out these additional holiday freebies. 

Handmade Cards for Mother’s Day

 

 

Culturally Responsive Lessons for Hispanic Heritage Month

 

 

Culturally Responsive Lessons & Activities Grade 3Incorporate Culturally Responsive Lessons and Activities into your curriculum and provide meaningful learning opportunities for students to connect their learning with their cultural traditions and those of their classmates.

 

Subscribe to our e-newsletter here for more free activities each month! 

 

 

 

 

 

April 12, 2023
by Evan-Moor
0 comments

Free Culturally Responsive Lessons and Activities for the Classroom

Build a sense of community in your classroom with culturally responsive teaching units. This teaching approach helps to connect students’ cultures and life experiences with what they are learning in school. Some studies have shown that students’ ability to learn improves when their experiences are linked to information they already know. (Neuroscience Research) Our cultural traditions influence how our brains process information and assimilate new information.

Culturally responsive teaching is a great tool to help all students build a sense of belonging in their classroom as they process the curriculum and academic content. Inviting students to share their unique perspectives and cultural traditions makes their learning more meaningful and engaging and helps teachers learn about each student’s world view. The free activities below strengthen students’ ethnic identities and promote a sense of belonging with open-response questions. The lessons focus on learning about oneself through the lens of culture, family traditions, and peoples’ similarities and differences.

Get free activities and printables for grades 1–6 to try in your classroom.  Click here for your Culturally Responsive Lessons and Activities sampler.

 

Scroll through to see sample activities from Culturally Responsive Lessons and Activities grade 3.

Culturally Responsive Lessons & Activities Grade 3

Culturally Responsive Lessons and Activities for grades 1–6 includes eight inspirational nonfiction, informational fiction, and realistic fiction teaching units. The units included are about people from diverse backgrounds with different abilities, ethnicities, and origins. Theme-based activities inspire children with realistic stories of how individuals have persevered despite facing challenges and encourage students to think about how these examples can inspire them in their own lives.

With individual, whole class, and partner activities, these robust units are designed to engage students’ interest and create open-ended response opportunities. Every unit includes Choose Your Own Project activities so that students can choose which project they would like to complete.

Create a welcoming and safe space in your classroom with activities that invite students to share their unique experiences and learn about others.


 

April 6, 2023
by Heather Foudy
0 comments

TeacherFileBox Writing Printables and Teaching Units

Writing is such an important skill that begins with developing good sentences and paragraphs. As a classroom teacher, it can be challenging to find writing activities that fit the needs of your students’ diverse abilities. With everyone writing at different levels, how do you give them basic writing practice while also keeping them motivated to write?

Listed below are suggested resources that range from expanded sentence writing to real-world persuasive writing prompts and activities. All these Evan-Moor writing printables can be found in TeacherFileBox, Evan-Moor’s digital lesson library. These printable resources make it easier to meet your students’ learning needs.   TeacherFileBox lessons can be printed, projected onto a screen or shared to your Google Classroom.

Browse these writing lessons from TeacherFileBox!

Learn more about beginning writing practice activities for grades 1-3.

Draw Then Write Elephant Grades 1–3

Inspire beginning writers with drawing and writing activities that practice foundational writing skills.

 

Writing Super Sentences Grades 1–3

Help student expand their simple sentences with trait-based writing sentence organizers and writing prompts. 

Take It to Your Seat Writing Center: Story Puzzles Grades 1–2

These hands-on story puzzles help beginning writers practice identifying important parts of a story.   

 

Learn more about paragraph writing structure and persuasive writing techniques for grades 3-6

Real-World Writing: Meal Review Grades 3–4

Motivate students to write with creative, real-world topics that apply to them. This meal-review writing activity prompts students to review and rate a restaurant meal. Included in this unit are writing prompts for beginning and advanced writers.

Writing Fabulous Sentences and Paragraphs: Main Ideas and Details Grades 4–6

Identifying a main idea can be tricky. Provide students with opportunities to practice identifying the main idea and supporting details of a paragraph with these activities.

Nonfiction Writing: Writing a Persuasive Essay Grade 5

This in-depth lesson unit includes teaching directions and practice pages to help students identify important components of persuasive writing and build their own arguments!

Get students excited about writing with scaffolded lessons and real-world writing activities in TeacherFileBox! This online library makes it easy to differentiate your lessons with just the click of a button. With thousands of PreK–6 printables across subject areas, TeacherFileBox provides scaffolded learning resources that meet the needs of every student. Choose from in-depth teaching units, hands-on center activities, bulletin boards, art projects, and more! Save your favorite printables in your personal account, print lessons, project them onto a screen, or share them with your Google Classroom! Choose from reading, math, language, writing, science, geography, social studies, STEM/STEAM, SEL and more!

Try TeacherFileBox for free for 14 days here!

 

 

 

 

Discover more great TeacherFileBox Printables with Get Students Excited About Learning with TeacherFileBox

 

 

 


Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

March 21, 2023
by Evan-Moor
0 comments

WHEN THE SAHARA DESERT WAS OUR CLASSROOM

The vast road in Morocco stretches before us for hours – a black rocky desert of unforgiving terrain. Wild camels graze in the desert in search of tasty leaves for nourishment. One camel steps close to the road, savoring a rare olive branch in the middle of all this – nothingness.

He seems to smile at the four little girls in our car as we pass by.

Then suddenly, we see something in the distance. It looks like a mountain painted the color of a golden sunset, and it’s rising above the black desert like a beacon of hope.

Is it? Could it be?

SAND!

Our children cry out with delight, “The Sahara!”

We’ve made it to the village of Merzouga on the westernmost edge of the sandy part of the Sahara desert at long last. We left the city of Marrakech in the small hours of the morning to drive nine hours across the beautiful Atlas Mountains, through scores of tiny Moroccan villages and alongside many ancient ruins, all to reach this incredible place.

The Sahara Desert.

We’re on a Journey Into Wild as a family this year, and we are traveling to 15 countries as we study the world’s biomes and their current environmental challenges. We want to learn how we can become change agents in our world, and we’re capturing it all in blogs, photos, and a 10 episode, full format TV show.

This month, we want to study the desert biome, and where better to study the desert than in the largest desert in the world? We want to learn from one of the most prominent nomadic Saharan tribes, known to us as Berbers, though they call themselves the Amazigh.

We approach the edge of the great desert with awe – sand mountains shimmering and shifting in late afternoon sun.

INTO THE DESERT

We trade our wheels for Morocco’s native dromedary camels – still the transportation mode of choice for those living in the desert. There are no roads here, only sand for as far as the eye can see. Giddy with expectation, we clamber atop these tall, friendly animals, their sheer bulk exuding steadfast confidence for the multi-hour journey to our desert camp.

We cross one sand dune.

And another. And another.

Before long, we are surrounded by sand on all sides.

EMBRACING THE DESERT

After an hour of riding into the desert, our guide stops at the halfway point and slowly coaxes each camel down into a sitting position for a rest. Once safely on the ground, the children run up the highest sand dune, arms open and hearts full.

They are running, rolling, tumbling, laughing.

The sand is a sea of delight and they are fully present in it.

Soon the sun begins to set and we watch from the peak of a sand dune, cuddling close as a family. We grow quiet as the sun makes its graceful journey.

It’s magic.

This is real.

This is wild.

This is learning in its fullest form – immersive.

THE CAMP

An hour more of camel riding and we find ourselves with the first look at our new desert home – a pretty line of white tents surrounded by golden sand.

SETTLING IN

We are greeted by one of our Berber hosts, Abrahim, who is dressed in traditional garments including an elegant Berber head wrap.

“Welcome to the Sahara,” Abrahim beams, “This is your desert home. Come, let me show you the camp!”

He asks the children their names, and then scoops little Peyton up onto his shoulders and smiles at the girls with a twinkle in his eye. “I have hot Moroccan mint tea for you in the dining tent. Yala!” he says. (Let’s go!)

Our family tent is luxurious with a large queen-size bed for the parents and smallest child, and three single beds for the older girls. We have a nice bathroom and a private shower with hot water. I’m impressed. Moroccan rugs cover the floors and I spot an electric blanket on the bed. YES!

It’s even more fun than I imagined it would be.

I watch the camels being walked to their resting place for the night as the sun says it’s final goodbyes to a day well-lived. The fire is lit in the camp, and we sip warm tea as we explore our temporary desert home.

We are served a warm meal of hot bean soup and freshly made bread, a trio of traditional salads, and a chicken tagine. Our hosts complete the meal by offering a platter of fresh cut fruit and more Moroccan mint tea. We are satisfied and ready for a campfire, drumming, and stories with our Berber friends before settling into the warm bed on this cold winter night.

A NEW DAY

The next day, the sunrise is just after 8am, and we are ready for it, wrapped like locals in colorful Moroccan djellaba’s (long robes worn over clothes for warmth). We stand on a sandy dune and drink in the beauty of a new day while experiencing the desert biome in all its glory.

LEARNING TIME

After breakfast, the girls and I relax into our daily morning learning time. The girls have a set of fun activity pages we printed a few days day before from Teacher File Box.

This is is one of our favorite learning tools because there are over 80,000 pages of printable activities which we have access to on demand anywhere in the world.

Since we can’t carry books with us, much of our learning is on iPads. But the kids LOVE doing activity pages, reading, researching, and coloring, so Teacher File Box is a way we can have these tools at our fingertips without carrying books. We simply print exactly what we need at any given time. This year, we’ll be in 15 countries, and in each of them, I’ll be printing fun activity pages like this for our girls.

We are worldchoolers, which means the whole world is our classroom and everything in it is a learning opportunity.

So as we sit in the warm Sahara sun, the girls enjoy their activity pages. They are learning about Africa’s geography, the Sahara Desert as a biome, the animals that live in the Sahara and how they have adapted to their extreme environment, Moroccan food and more.

The learning is rich and deep.

As we discuss the activity sheet called “Playing it Cool in the Desert,” we talk about how animals adapt to the desert so they can thrive. We discuss how how humans have also adapted to extreme climates like this. The Berbers, for example, wear head scarves to keep the sun off their faces and the sand out of their eyes.

We role play this by putting on our own desert scarves and notice how much better we feel with them on.

The girls ask all kinds of questions about the desert, and I love that I can feel their curiosity running wild. After several activities, I can see they’ve reached their height of excitement, and so we transition to tactile learning. It’s time to get hands-on with the desert.

PLAY TIME – SAND BOARDING

When we finish our activity sheets, we are off to play in the desert and test some of our new found knowledge in the real world.

The kids opt for sand boarding first, and they hone their skills on the sand dunes using decommissioned snow boards as tools, courtesy of our camp.

It takes a while, but the girls soon get the hang of it and before long, they are sliding down the sand with ease, laughing hysterically as they learn.

FAMILY TIME – 4x4s IN THE DUNES

After lunch, we’re ready for a different challenge – taking 4x4s (with two guides) deeper into the Sahara Desert.

We speed along the dunes, making new discoveries every few minutes. We find an oasis and the kids remember the learning on their activity sheets about how important an oasis is in the desert – both for people and for animals.

EVENING

As the afternoon sun begins to cool, our activities slow and we rest, letting the desert calm wash over us.

We spend time napping, journaling, drawing and practicing drumming patterns our Berber friends taught us the night before. Life is beautiful, and there’s no where else we’d rather be.

With the sunset comes a new glow on the ever-changing colors of the sand, and again we find ourselves breathless with anticipation as we pause to wonder at the desert biomes’ extremes.

My twelve-year Reagan volunteers to take the camels for a walk, imagining herself to be a child living in the desert as part of the Berber tribe.

The girls run into the sunset, remembering this day of learning with the Sahara Desert as our classroom.

We have a new-found appreciation for the desert, for its animals, and for the people who live here.  

For more information about the Sahara Desert as a family travel destination or about the Teacher File Box learning tool, please send an email to janelle@adventurefamilyjournal.com and I’ll be happy to support you however I can.

Note: This blog may contain affiliate links, for which I receive a small commission if you click through to check out the product and decide it’s a great fit for you. It’s my joy to share about real products and services that have enriched our lives as a family, and I hope you get to enjoy them too! 


Janelle Schroy, the writer behind Adventure Family Journal is traveling the world to 50 countries or more with her family of six! View their adventures and travels at https://adventurefamilyjournal.com/ 

 

 

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