Pumpkin World
It’s the season when those plump orange veggies are in abundance, and fifth-grade teacher Deidra Sterner of Sanborn, N.Y., has a clever classroom use for them: Make a globe. Have students use bold marker pens to outline and label the Equator, Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, hemispheres, continents, oceans and poles. No need to draw in the longitude lines, she quips. They’re already on the pumpkin!

Doing Pennants
Many inner-city elementary students don’t have any concept of “college” or the impact getting a higher education can have on their lives, says Vivian Breauninger, a teacher from Houston. Staff at her school brought in their college pennants to display in the main hall, near the office. Students became aware of the colleges that faculty members had attended, and parents began to encourage their young children to think about going to college.

Proper Topper
The first time her young students use felt-tipped markers, kindergarten teacher M.J. Higgins of Meriden, Conn., invites them to join the “Click Club.” She shows the children how to put the top on the marker so it “clicks.” Throughout the year, whenever the kindergartners have been using markers, Higgins simply says “Click Club” as the cue for students to snap the caps on properly. No more ink stains, no more dried-out markers.