The Activity Idea Place - preschool themes and lesson plans

Early Childhood Learning: Activities and Articles for Birth to Age 5 Easter & Passover Get ready for fun classroom crafts: Easter and Passover are both approaching! Passover begins Friday, April 14 and Easter is Sunday, April 20. Poptropica Teaching GuidesPoptropica is one of the Internet's most popular sites for kids—and now it's available as an app for the iPad! It's not just a place to play games; each of the islands featured on the site provides a learning opportunity. Check out our teaching guides to four of Poptropica's islands: 24 Carrot Island, Time Tangled Island, Mystery Train Island, and Mythology Island. April Calendar of Events April is full of holidays and events that you can incorporate into your standard curriculum. Common Core Lessons & Resources Is your school district adopting the Common Core? Videos Do your students love videos?

PopSci While the body sleeps, the brain is busy filing away the day's activities, processing memories so they can be recalled later on. Under the influence of Ambien, sleep has been shown to improve recall of bad memories. But new research shows that what sleep giveth, it can also take away: Fearful memories can be extinguished through naptime exposure to a scary stimulus. A recent study from neuroscientists at Northwestern University's medical school found that the fearful memories brought up by a specific odor could be reduced by exposing participants to that odor repeatedly as they snoozed. "If it can be extended to pre-existing fear, the bigger picture is that, perhaps, the treatment of phobias can be enhanced during sleep." "We showed a small but significant decrease in fear," lead author Katherina Hauner, a neurology post doc who studies odor and fear extinction, said in a statement.

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