How can you use fossils as a teaching tool? In my classrooms over the years, fossils have never failed to spark fun and enthusiasm for learning about earth sciences. I have seen students, otherwise disengaged in activities of learning, become totally captivated with the process of uncovering the fossil hiding beneath the surface of soft rock.

Fossils connect students to the history of our planet. They can simultaneously imagine the situation of ancient life, while examining current habitats and species that could become the fossils of the future.

Perhaps you are looking to bring this sort of enthusiasm to your classroom or your children at home. Fossils inspire all sorts of questions. Consider these possibilities :

How old is this?- (Leading to the study of the Earth’s history.)
What kind of animal was this?- (Leading to zoology and species classification.)
Where did it live?- (Leading to habitats past and present, including botany.)
How did it live?- (Leading to a study of vital functions—more zoology.)

How did it form?- (Back to a study of geology and earth science.)

The list seems endless. Fossils are not only attention-getters; they are also incredibly versatile as a teaching tool. Fossils make a great theme for integrated curriculum studies.

If you get creative, there are all types of stories to be written: factual, imaginative, and even poetry. Imaginations run wild when you hold the fossil of a long-extinct species in your hand. You could write tales of life on the ancient sea floor, or how that particular animal met its demise and became the fossil you are holding today. You could create an entire language arts curriculum around it!

If it’s math you’d like to kick into gear, working with the geologic time periods offers opportunities for scientific notation, exponents, scale (when placing them on a timeline), and comparisons between lifespan lengths. Then there are the geometric qualities of the shells and chitinous exoskeletons. You could study fractals or tessellations, just to name a couple possibilities.

The biology-related curriculum is obvious. Classification, developmental changes and adaptation to environment, vital functions, and predator-prey relationships are just a few of the possibilities for further in-depth study.

Likewise, geology takes on a new meaning when seen through the fossils’ eyes. The stone containing the fossil may have once been an ocean floor, a swampy bog, or a boulder-filled riverbed. As students look at the quality of the matrix that contains their fossil, they are inspired to think about the material and situation that created it.

It seems that using fossils as a teaching tool a creative teacher, parent, or student would find an endless promise of topics to study, limited only by the personal interest and creativity of the student.

There is truly nothing like a fossil to inspire! Your students will show you the way…and love you for letting them reach deep into their creativity to do it!

Autism Teaching Tools

Teaching autistic children reading through skills can be a daunting task. Some children might never read, but many better functioning children can learn to some extent and can end up being happy readers. Teaching autistic children to read has a very unique set of challenges that requires a parent or teacher to have a lot of patience.

It can be like teaching children without autism but with the problems magnified. Sometimes they can be very cooperative, but for the most part, autistic children have huge problems with attention span, lack any type of motivations to learn to read, and they have problems with figuring out the rules of reading and grammar when compared to children who do not have autism.

Learning to read should be fun for any child, but when it comes to autistic children, you have to reach them on their level, so make sure you chose a method that meets their needs. Autism Teaching Tools

For some children sounds are important and using music as a tool to teach musically inclined autistic children to read is a very good move. There are some programs out there on the market that will use music and singing to help a child with autism learn many things.

Some also employ the use of games. These interactive methods usually help with attention span and interest, two of the biggest obstacles in this endeavor. One important thing to remember when teaching an autistic child to read is that most reading requires creative thinking and this is something that many children with autism struggle with. This means that when learning, it is best to focus on materials that are based in reality.

Stories about children like them going through their day might be a good place to start. Steer clear of stories that are full of fantasy people like princesses and talking animals. Don’t let your child suffer anymore! Lead your child out of his world through Autism Teaching Tools program now!

Peter Jacobsen was quoted as saying, “one of the most fascinating things about golf is how it reflects the cycle of life. No matter what you shoot, the next day you have to go back to the first tee and begin all over again and make yourself into something.”

My father was an avid golfer and absolutely respected the game. Etiquette was a priority; the rules of the game were to be adhered to; and integrity was paramount. To dad it was the integrity of the game that took precedent.

Dad lived life the way he played golf. Whether it was in his job, serving the community, or raising a family, dad lived by those same principles. He worked hard; he treated everyone with respect and in everything he did it was with the utmost integrity. And he lived each day the same way. He knew that each day he had to “go back to the first tee and begin all over again…” – A golf teaching tool.

Obviously he was a great model to follow. I would spend time with him on the golf course where he played at a very high level having won many amateur events over the years. I was always struck by his level of quiet confidence. He was always in the game and never “out of the hole”. But this came with years of practice and tournament seasoning since like he said “nothing comes easy in golf just like in life. You have to be realistic in your expectations and there are no short cuts to success.” – A golf teaching tool.

Dad seemed to always have a purpose on the golf course. He knew what he wanted to do and what stood in his way and played accordingly knowing full well that there is going to have to be adjustments along the way. He knew that frustrations and disappointments were a part of the game and he managed those since just like in life you can’t let those things control you – a golf teaching tool.

Dad built his golf game on a solid foundation. He practiced all of the shots so that he knew what to do once on the course. While everyone else was hitting drives and long iron on the practice tee he was hitting 8 and 9 irons. Then he spent time chipping the ball around the practice green. He knew that the game was won or lost from 150 yards in – a golf teaching tool.

Dad knew the golf swing and he knew his strengths and weaknesses and built his strategy around that. He also knew that just as important as the golf swing and feel was his mental attitude. He would spend time before each round in some quiet time thinking and envisioning what he was going to do and review the strategy he had planned out the night before to get his mind into the game – a golf teaching tool.

He had a pad of paper where he had laid out his game-plan for each hole. Nothing elaborate, just a short sketch of each hole and a general layout of what he intended to do with a few notes on the hole-subtleties which he needed to be aware of in case he wasn’t hitting the ball quite as crisply as he would like. And let’s face it; golf like life always has surprises. So by having a few notes and having a plan, although there may be some adjustments, he would take a moment or two on each tee to get refocused and back on the game-plan – a golf teaching tool.

He used to tell me about Ben Hogan who often would walk a course the evening before a tournament to notice and learn all of it’s subtleties and as he stated “tricks and traps”. This was Hogan’s way of getting mentally prepared and focused on the golf round. So preparation was a big deal with dad whether it was in golf or adding a patio to the back yard.

Dad loved this wonderful game and played respectably till he died in his sleep at the age of 76. In fact, that morning he had done what he had done virtually every day in his later years; have coffee with the “guys” and play a quick nine. In fact, I like to believe that he was planning tomorrow’s round when the good Lord said, “it’s time to come home.”