Interested in Elephant Conservation?


I wrote a document for the Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC), funded and operated by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus, on the state of Asian elephants in the world:

This is a PDF file. Elephants Without Borders (169.3KB)

My research into Asian elephants led me to the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Click the picture to visit the CEC website.

Book Review: Inventors and Inventions


From a homeschooler:
This book was very comprehensive. It sparked interest in my children to invent something that the world could use. Excellent reference to inventors and inventions throughtout the years! Excellent activities to get the kids thinking. I just ordered one for my sister, who is a homeschooler as well. We loved doing a unit study with this book as our guide. We highly recommend it.

Just a Joke


Spy Humor:
Q. Why do beetles always whisper?
A. Because there's a bug in the room.

Roman Humor:
Q. Why were the last Roman senators great college basketball players?
A. They went to the final forum.

EMAIL LORRAINE
EMAIL LOUISE (Readalicious! blog)

Social Studies Games and Activities

Great American History Games


I teamed up with my sister Louise Hopping, a veteran middle school social studies teacher, to create and classroom test these American history games. All the games include easy–to–copy and assemble boards, cards, rules, and other components. There's also a two-sided poster with a colorful Courageous Colony game board and historical photo game. For grades 4 to 8.

Students keep asking to play these games:

Passport to America Immigration Guessing Game
Famous Quotation Bingo
State Capital Map Search
West Quest Timeline Game
Hear Ye! News Story Relay (Revolutionary War)
North or South? Civil War Fact Game
Courageous Colony game (based on early Virginia colonies), including a poster-sized, full-color game board
Muckrackers Game (progressive era), also including a poster-sized game board

15 Primary Source Activities


Louise and I wrote this second activity–packed American history book by starting with primary sources—narratives, eyewitness accounts, photos, statistics, maps—and weaving them into 15 creative, ready-to-go activities, including plays, readings, a TV broadcast, movie story boards, graphing activities, and more.

A few of our favorite activities:

Freedom in a Box News Broadcast (based on a slavery narrative by Henry "Box" Brown)
Coming to America Dramatic Reading (immigrant stories)
Tea Party Story Boards (Revolutionary War eyewitness accounts)
Factories on Trial Simulation and Reenactment (using actual transcrits from three child labor hearings)
Connect the Depot Dots Map Study (transcontinental railroad data)
Million Mile March (using data to map and calculate slavery escape routes)

Find out more about "Primary Source Activities" at Amazon!

Inventors and Inventions


This jam-packed, cross-curricular activity book explores inventors and inventions of the past and present, inventive thinking skills, and how inventions are made and marketed. I was thrilled when the book received a rave review from Scope, the social studies teacher magazine. For grades 4 to 8.

Buy a used copy of INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS.

Polar Regions: A Geography Kit


Kids love extremes! The top and bottom of the Earth are about as extreme as our world gets. These engaging activities cover history, geography, science, language arts, and math. For grades 3 to 6.

All the material on this website is copyright © 2000-2010 by Hopping Fun Creations. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to visitors to download, print, and use the "Freebie" reproducibles free of charge for educational use only. Reproduction, reposting, or distribution in any form or media is prohibited without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Featured Books and Games

Children's Books
Read the sad, moving tale of a peace-loving leader who lost his land, many of his people, and his life-long fight to keep the peace with settlers and soldiers. (FREEBIE history puzzles.)
Is it possible to fall in love with bones? Try not to, after you read about Diane France's true-life science adventures, searching for and examining skeletons. A 2006 Outstanding Science Trade Book "Selector's Choice" (NSTA/CBC). Starred review in Booklist. 2007 Finalist, SB&F "Young Adult" science books!
How did a young Argentine with an endless imagination make her dream of exploring space come true? Adriana Ocampo found her path to science adventure through space-traveling robots and crashing asteroids and comets! (FREEBIE science quizzes, FREE ebooks.)
Autopsies/The Body as Evidence and Crime Scene Investigation!
Venus and Serena, Peyton Manning, Michelle Kwan, and others for ages 6-9. (FREEBIE sports quizzes.)
Outdoor fun for 6 to 9 year olds.
Tornadoes! and Hurricanes! are my two best-selling books with 1.6 million sold!
Games
Seeking an educational game publisher: It's a must-have card game set for English and language arts teachers and tutors. (FREEBIE English materials.)
This is my top seller for teachers. (Click for "Freebie" puzzles.)
Packed with ready–to-go, lively games and activities about grammar, vocabulary, and dictionary skills. (FREEBIE word puzzles.)
A collection of Great American History Games and 15 Primary Source Activities (plays, scripts, games, readings, and more)
Race from Earth to Mars, an orbiting target, by fixing malfunctions and answering intriguing science questions. Endorsed by astronaut Jack Lousma.