What happened in our world? December 20th, 2015 is TWO crosswords based on last week's news events. Better for improving spelling than a dictionary. Better for improving handwriting than any app and way better for managing attention-span issues than gummy bears (and let's be honest, there aren't many things better than gummy bears).. These crosswords are good for starting interesting discussions and debates. They can be used for homework activities. Or, in class, allocate students into groups of three, let them use their smartphones, and say very loudly, 'ready, set, go'. Strongly encourage discussion about the clues and the stories behind each one. In this week's puzzles… Ukraine's not paying its gas bill and a Ukraine minister threw water into another Minister's face (what bad role models for Ukraine's children!) Some Russians want a cat as their mayor. Some Brazilians want their football officials sacked. Chelsea sacked Jose. A speed skater cycled around the world in 123 days. (I can only wonder how he cycled across the Pacific and Atlantic.) There was an avalanche in Norway. And finally, FINALLY, at long last... the UN wants peace in Syria. Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague when the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready for a vibrant class discussion. (Someone, and I'm not saying who, told me she prints the crosswords and does them during staff meetings.) This week's BONUS puzzle is called Authors and asks 'Who wrote this book?' The answers will be with next week's puzzle, so don't forget to come back next Sunday. Thank you for the positive feedback with the previous puzzles. If you have suggestions for the way other teachers can use the puzzles, please post a comment.

What happened in our world? December 13th, 2015 is TWO crosswords based on last week's news events. Good for improving spelling, handwriting, attention-span and good for learning about our world. Good for interesting discussions and debates. Good for a homework activity. Good for a rainy and cold lunchtime activity. Put students into groups of three, let them use their smartphones, and say very loudly, 'ready, set, go'. In this week's puzzles… Women got to vote in Saudi Arabia. Ford announced a big investment in electric cars. Justin Trudeau greeted Syrian refuges arriving in Canada. Did anyone leave their 747 at Kuala Lumpur airport? Russia sent a puppy to France. And almost 200 countries signed a legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Oh yes, and Australia's former prime minister bought a second-hand fridge off Gumtree. Seriously - it was in the world news and so it should be in this week's crossword puzzle. This crossword is ideal as a research, writing and reading activity. It can be completed individually or in small groups or as a week-long homework activity, or even as a time-out activity. Samsung and Apple spend a fortune convincing our students to use smartphones so now we can make good use of that. Maybe you could start up a lunchtime news and current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics. Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague when the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready for a vibrant class discussion. This week's BONUS puzzle is called Where in the world? Where is Uluru? And Machu Picchu? And the Okavango Delta? And the Camino Trail? And Dubrovnik? The answers will be with next week's puzzle, so don't forget to come back next Sunday. Thank you for the positive feedback with the previous puzzles. If you have suggestions for the way other teachers can use the puzzles, please post a comment.

What happened in our world? December 6th, 2015 is TWO crosswords based on last week's news events. In this week's puzzles… Prince Charles and French cheese. Galleons of emeralds off Colombia's coast. NASA's holiday snaps from Pluto. No smart-alecs allowed in Chinese schools. Justins Bieber and Trudeau. A one and a half metre lizard on the side of an Australian man's house. (This week there is a bonus puzzle based on contemporary trivia. Perfect for filling in a few minutes at the end of a lesson, or when substituting for a colleague.) The document is a simple PDF so it is quick to download and print for your class (and the solution is included). This activity is suitable for middle and high school students and will encourage students to discuss and learn about their world's current events. These crosswords are ideal as a research, writing and reading activity. They can be completed individually or in small groups or as week-long homework activities, or even as a time-out activity. They are an excellent excuse for students to make good use of their smartphones. Maybe you could start up a lunchtime news and current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics. Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague when the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready for a vibrant class discussion. Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's 'What happened in our world?' puzzle - ready and waiting for Monday morning.

What happened in our world? November 22nd, 2015 is a crossword based on last week's news events. It is a simple PDF so it is quick and easy to download and print. (The solutions are included, of course.) This week though, there are TWO crosswords with different clues. So where was the biggest diamond found - Botswana or Canada? What did the boy in Australia sing the national Anthem with and why did Youtube go silly about it? A volunteer firefighter from Mississippi got a new what? And the Swiss cherry orchardist picked up 4000 of what? (You just know it wasn't cherries, right?) New Zealanders began voting for a new what? And the United Nations issued a strongly worded condemnation about what? These crosswords are ideal as a research, writing and reading activity. Better than that, these crosswords will stimulate very interesting discussions. The puzzles can be completed individually or in small groups or as a week-long homework activity. Samsung and Apple spend a fortune convincing our students to use smartphones so let's have our students use their smartphones for a positive learning activity. Maybe you could start a lunchtime current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics. Or maybe you can hand them out to colleagues and have a ready, get set, go! competition to see who's the smartest in the staffroom. This week there's a BONUS crossword called, 'Which Sport?' Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague when the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready for a vibrant (that's good-noisy) lesson. Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's puzzle, ready and waiting for Monday morning. Please feel free to post feedback about the puzzles. How did you use them with your students? What discussions followed? Who was the smartest teacher in your staffroom?

What happened in our world? November 8th, 2015 is a crossword based on last week's news events. It is a simple PDF so it is quick and easy to download and print. (The solutions are included, of course.) These activities are suitable for middle and high school students and will encourage students to discuss and learn about their world's current events. In this week's puzzle… Russia condemned Charlie Hebdo. Planes crashed in South Sudan and Sinai. The US unemployment rate fell and Candy Crush's parent company sold for $US5.9 billion (which is crazy). This crossword is ideal as a research, writing and reading activity. It can be completed individually or in small groups or as a week-long homework activity, or even as a time-out activity. Samsung and Apple spend a fortune convincing our students to use smartphones so we teachers don't stand a chance! Here though is something more educational than Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja (and Candy Crush) for the students to use their smartphones for. Maybe you could start up a lunchtime current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics. Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague when the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready for a vibrant (that's good-noisy) class discussion. This week there are TWO bonus puzzles. The first simply reworks the same clues with a different grid and different answers. Have the students do this puzzle later in the week as a 'what did you remember?' activity. The second bonus puzzle asks questions about the news items, for example, Where is Burundi?, What is Charlie Hebdo?, and What competes for the Melbourne Cup? These can be given as a follow-up activity to either of the main news crosswords. Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's 'What happened in our world?' puzzle - ready and waiting for Monday morning. Please feel free to post feedback about the puzzles. How did you use them with your students? What discussions followed?

A pdf booklet containing 10 crosswords based on microeconomics topics. Suitable for GCSE, IGCSE, A Level, IB Diploma, or AP Economics. One puzzle per page so they are simple and quick to print and have ready for an emergency review / revision activity or for when a colleague is absent. Solutions are included. Topics: Introduction Demand Supply Equilibrium 1 Equilibrium 2 Equilibrium 3 Elasticities Government intervention Summary 1 Summary 2

What happened in our world? October 25th, 2015 is a crossword based on last week's news events. It is a simple and quick to download and print and the solution is included. This puzzle is suitable for middle and high school students and depending on the way it's used could take 30-60 minutes to complete. It will encourage students to learn about their world's current events. In this week's puzzle… the huge storm off Mexico, Joe Biden's decision about running for presidency, Robert Mugabe's prize, heated tents in Calais, and the United Nations announcement that all teachers must receive free morning tea including chocolate cake (wait, I may have made that one up). This crossword is ideal as a Monday morning writing and reading activity. The crossword can be completed individually or in small groups, as a week-long homework research activity, or even as a time-out activity. Samsung and Apple are spending millions convincing our students to use smartphones so we teachers don't stand a chance. Here though is something more educational than Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja for the students to use their smartphones for. Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague and the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready. Maybe you could start up a lunchtime current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics. This week's BONUS puzzle is another news-based crossword, but it's made up of news stories that did NOT happen. So it's a little bit of fun, perhaps for Friday afternoon. Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's 'What happened in our world?' crossword - ready and waiting for Monday morning.

A 50 slide presentation taking the students through demand, supply, equilibrium and disequilibrium. Many of the slides are animated to show the step-by-step analysis of how the price mechanism creates the market price. Suitable for (I)GCSE Economics, A Level Economics, IBDP Economics, AP Economics. Teaching idea: print the 50 slides as a handout (in the print function), three slides per page and have the students paste these pages into their workbooks and then write their own notes on and next to the slides. This will leave plenty of time for students to ask questions, discuss sections of the presentation and of course allow time to practise drawing neat supply and demand graphs. The presentation ends with a review and several questions / tasks to give students the opportunity to practise drawing the graphs (and for teachers to evaluate the students' learning_.

A 26-slide presentation that explains and demonstrates the effect of a subsidy on a market. Includes a slide that shows click-by-click the steps of analysis of the effect of a subsidy on the market for milk. The presentation also includes slides showing the effect of a subsidy on consumer and producer surplus and therefore the social cost / deadweight loss of a subsidy. Print the presentation as a handout, with 2 slides per page and have your students paste the pages into their workbooks, with their own handwritten notes attached.

What happened in our world? October 18th, 2015 is a crossword based on last week's news events. It is a simple PDF so it is quick to download and print for your class. (The solution is included.) This activity sheet is suitable for middle and high school students. It will encourage students to learn about their world's current events. In this week's puzzle... Typhoon Koppu, the UK man who cut off his ears to make himself look more like his five pet parrots (really!), Barbie dolls, The Man Booker Prize, heavy rainfall in California, the 5.9 earthquake in Argentina, what did Nick Kyrgios do last week? And more. This crossword is ideal as a Monday morning writing and reading activity, individually or in small groups, as a week-long homework research activity, even as a time-out activity. Samsung and Apple spend a fortune convincing our students to use smartphones so we teachers don't stand a chance! Here though is something more educational than Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja for the students to use their smartphones for. Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague and the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready. Maybe you could start up a lunchtime current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics. This week's BONUS puzzle simply reworks the same clues with a different grid and different answers. Have the students do the bonus puzzle later in the week as a 'what did you remember?' activity. Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's 'What happened in our world?' puzzle - ready and waiting for Monday morning.

What happened in our world? October 11th, 2015 is a crossword based on last week's news events. It is a simple PDF so it is quick to download and print for your class. (The solution is included.) This activity sheet is suitable for middle and high school students. It will encourage students to learn about their world's current events. What did Naughty Nick Kyrgios (the tennis player) do in the Japan Open? What did the angry Air France workers do to their bosses? (No! Teachers should not do this, even if they're angry.) Who won the Nobel Prize for Physics? And what was John West accused of doing (again)? This crossword is ideal as a Monday morning writing and reading activity, individually or in small groups, as a week long homework research activity, even as a time-out activity. Samsung and Apple spend a fortune convincing our students to use smartphones so we teachers don't stand a chance! Here though is something more educational than Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja for the students to use their smartphones for. Ideal for Language and Social Studies classes, this week's resource includes a BONUS puzzle called 'In what country am I if I am standing on or in...?' Lake Van? The Seine? Madison Square Garden? Mt Ruapehu? The Atlas Mountains? It's quick and simple. By the way, crosswords are a good way for children to practise writing neatly. Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's 'What happened in our world?' puzzle - ready and waiting for Monday morning.