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The Kiwiland Teaching Blog

Classroom ideas, seasonal plans and sub-day lifesavers from pre-K to high school. New posts every month.

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$Christmas math and reading activities for the last three weeks before break: Kiwiland Teaching Blog cover on candy-stripe wrapping paper with Santa's Sleigh, Christmas multiplication and Christmas Around the World covers$ Sub plansOct 23, 2026

Christmas Activities for the Last Three Weeks Before Break

December is long but keeps getting interrupted. A three-week plan for Christmas math and reading that still teaches: one self-checking case a day, a...

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$Thanksgiving math and reading activities for the short week: Kiwiland Teaching Blog cover with The Missing Turkey and Thanksgiving multiplication worksheets$ Sub plansOct 22, 2026

Thanksgiving Week Activities That Still Teach: A Three-Day Plan

Thanksgiving week is two or three days. Spend them on review that checks itself: a math case, the real history of the holiday, and...

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Halloween math and reading activities for grades 1–10: Kiwiland Teaching Blog cover with The Haunted Hallway, The School Witches and Zombie Run worksheets under a full moon

Sub plansOct 22, 2026

Halloween Activities That Are Still a Real Lesson

Most Halloween activities pause the lesson. A mystery only resolves if the math or reading is right. Real cases, real reviews, Grades 1–10.

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Self-checking emergency sub plans for math: Kiwiland Teaching Blog cover with order of operations and decimals detective worksheets

Sub plansAug 11, 2026

Emergency Sub Plans That Teach Themselves: The Self-Checking Trick

The best sub plan corrects itself: how suspect elimination lets a substitute run a real lesson cold, in the words of teachers who've left...

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Science mystery reading comprehension for grades 3–8: Kiwiland Teaching Blog cover with fossils and photosynthesis worksheets beside an atom

Sub plansAug 10, 2026

What Is a Science Mystery? A Teacher's Guide for Grades 3–8

Students read a nonfiction science passage, answer questions to unlock clues and eliminate suspects. How Science Mysteries work. Grades 3–8.

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