Hurricane Sandy affected many businesses. Many were forced to close their doors, and those who served the entire country were greatly affected, and greatly affected others. For instance, I worked in a stationery store for a few months this past winter. Several major stationery companies were forced to close during the winter months because they were based in the Northeast. There was no way to call about questions, and production time was increased due to these closures. Another example involves a friend of mine here in North Carolina, who works in the marketing department of a major supplier of electronic supplies. When Japan was hit with the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, many plants were forced to rebuild their machinery, and she noticed a drastic spike in sales. So companies can be affected in two ways, by weather where they are located, as well as by weather to their suppliers.

Challenge your students to make other correlations. How will they use other skills in their future lives? How do politicians use history? How do marketing analysts use science and math? In the end, why are your students learning this information?

Blog: http://visual.ly/how-storms-affect-businesses

Most people who remember SPUTNIK and America’s landing on the moon are retiring, so in order to get a first hand experience, most teachers will have to speak with parents or grandparents. But the goal is to get first hand memories of this momentous event that can be related to your students today. For instance, what was someone doing when they found out about these momentous events, what were their thoughts? What did children play with and what were children excited about?

Then have your students imagine what it would be like to walk on Mars. Write a news article about the first Mars landing, or a diary entry as though they were the first person to walk on Mars. Have students discuss what landing on Mars would mean, and what they think will be the next goal after we do land on Mars.

Infographic: http://www.distancetomars.com

These construction projects take these into consideration, and a great deal more. Do research into various construction projects your students find interesting and find out how these ideas were factored in. For instance, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, what could have been done then, and what can be done now to prevent a building from leaning.

What other things must be considered during construction? What simple machines are used during construction? How is the climate and the soil under the building a factor when choosing a location? How do people finance the building of these massive projects?

Blog: http://visual.ly/most-amazing-construction-projects

Infographic: www.rockanddirt.com

First of all, the infographic shows that North America and Antarctica share a similar temperate trend, and the five remaining regions share an opposite trend. On top of this, the arctic regions are experiencing a warm up and the other regions are showing a cool down. What could cause each of these phenomenon?

Share this with your classroom while studying global warming and other long term weather changes. This is a good example of what global warming can lead to. However, it can also be noticed that the major changes in temperature in North America and Antarctica began around 1200, long before the modern chemicals that are blamed for these changes. What are other explanations?

Blog: http://goo.gl/MFlTU

I have been working on the history of my home town, and the book I am using is organized by subject and time, making it a little difficult to keep track of events as they occurred. I just came across this great website that easily allows you to create a timeline. It can be useful for both you and your students.

This will allow you to create both events and time periods, categorizing items by color, and by creating new layers. This is a great way to organize history for your students, and it can be accessed at home as well.

www.preceden.com

Littering is a big problem in our country. A single cup may not make a difference, but if everyone threw away a single cup, it would add up very quickly. At the same time, seeing someone recycle may make someone else recycle. So you recycling your one can make make someone else do the same.
We are overflowing our cities, states, countries, and planet with trash that could easily be recycled, or reused. Neighborhoods are having to be built beside landfills because there is not enough space for people and trash. It is just as easy to recycle as it is to throw things away. Keep a recycling bin outside of your back door, or in the same place as your trash can. Usually recycled materials can be taken to the same places as trash. Many landfill have a place to add recycling, and for those who live in cities and get your trash picked up, recycling can also be picked up. In addition to this, recycling bins are often beside trash bins in public places. So there really is no reason for you to not recycle. Check out these statistics, and contact your local recycling center for statistics on your areas trash problem.
Blog: http://visual.ly/eye-opening-statistics-littering

This infographic shares some things that make successful students. It includes curiosity, passion, and discipline. Introduce these ideas and have you students brainstorm ways to incorporate these ideas into their education. Have them come up with ways to become curious about even the most boring subjects. Have them find something to become passionate about. Teach them to have discipline in their studies, even on the most stressful days. If they are willing to put in the work, any student can succeed.

Blog: http://visual.ly/teaching-learning-essential-mindsets

This infographic is a great example of a timeline with small illustrations to help bring the reader in. It dictates the history of heating inside the home. While wood and coal have been the classics with fire, it is now most common to use electricity.

Use this infographic to give your students an idea as to what it was like without heat. Have them create stories or solutions for the problem about heat. Those with money have always been able to heat their homes, but what could have been done several hundred years ago to help the masses stay warm? Also use this infographic as an example of a timeline.

It is very interesting to see what Dem and Rep are connected, and which vote independent of their party. For instance, during the current session, Senator Susan Collins voted with two Democrats and four Republicans 75% of the time. It is important to know how your representatives vote, and this is a great tool to see who votes without influence.

Challenge your students to come up with reasons why Senators may be influenced to vote a certain way. Maybe the promise of a vote on another bill, or because there is something deeper inside the bill than is evident. Also, research a few bills and try to figure out why certain Senators voted a certain way, and others voted the other way.

Blog: http://visual.ly/senate-social-network-diagram?view=true

According to this infographic, America has spent half of it’s existence in war. Based on my knowledge of history, this is not terribly uncommon. Most countries have been in war in defense or offense over borders, money, or even love. Challenge your students to research some of the minor wars and find out the reasons behind them.

This infographic is also a great example of how to create an infographic. It uses a gun as a timeline, and a bulls eye to show lives loss. It is a great example of how to use implements from the subject to who information in an infographic.

Blog: http://visual.ly/wars-us-fought

In todays infographic, three major cities were surveyed based on the job skills employers in the cities seek. A lot of what was found was collaboration, project management, and internet skills. Well why not encourage your students to harness these skills in middle grades, upper grades, and even elementary grades, and reward them when they exhibit these skills.

This can be done in multiple ways. By having your students come up with their own marketable skills they already have and give them a confidence booster by rewarding them with these. You can also compile a list of marketable skills with you students, and have each student choose a few to work on, and then later assign them to students to give the students something to work on.

During assessments, if the students choose to go for this extra credit, have them outline how they used these marketable skills to complete the task. For instance, with collaboration, how did the students divide the work evenly based on each students skills? How did the students then come back together to share what they learned and put it together. Offer this explanation as extra credit. Many curriculums are teaching these marketable skills, but taking this extra step allows students to realize that this is a marketable skill and share how they used it, as well as receive feedback from you the teacher. Possibly even bring in professionals to give feedback.

Blog: http://visual.ly/employers-identify-top-5-job-skills

Take a look at this infographic and see who puts the highest price on ice cream, and who the lowest. Compare it to other favorite commodities of Americans and your students. Try to find information on the prices of milk, skateboards, and other items. See how different countries compare, and what would be the best country to live in based on price. But don’t forget to factor in the income of the residents of these countries!

Blog: http://visual.ly/ice-cream-currency-calculator

Share with your students the reasons why we want to conserve water. Talk about the impact on the environment, and what is going on with various species if we use too much fresh water. Also, talk about the amount of fresh water we have access to, and what will happen if that runs out.

This infographic goes over how much water we use in a year in the average household. Explore with your students ways to cut down on water use. Also, brainstorm and research ways to turn salt water, or contaminated water, into fresh water for drinking. Discuss with your students ways to get salt water in for things that fresh water isn’t needed for, such as the toilet. Get your students thinking about their future!

Blog: http://visual.ly/amount-water-wasted-your-home

Go over this infographic with your students, and help them destress in order to be more productive. Brainstorm with them on ways to destress and encourage them to come to you for assistance.

Blog: http://visual.ly/stress-workplace

This makes me wonder where this infographic got their information (although it does have a list of sources at the bottom). According to this infographic, we will be eating bugs and wearing billboards in 10 years. What do your students think about this? Do any of your students wear Hollister and American Eagle now? They are now walking billboards. What about the delicacies of the future? Have any of your students traveled? What things have they eaten that would be considered strange by American standards? Maybe this infographic isn’t too far off. Challenge your students to make their own guesses as to what the future will be like, with references.

Blog: http://visual.ly/future-10-years-now

What about for you? Depending on where you live, you may remember other storms. I don’t remember Hurricane Katrina very well, except for deciding to drive home from college that weekend and there not being any gas Charlotte and West. But I’m sure those along the Gulf remember things very differently.

This infographic shares information on how devastating storms were each year. Some may not have affected you at all, and you may have been in the heart of others. For those that you didn’t experience first hand, ask you students to find before, during, and after photos to get a better idea of the devastation. I did this for Hurricane Fran when I was in college. I found photos of flooded streets and had my father back home drive around and take photos of the same streets today, to show how busy the streets are. Everyone was very impressed and this particular project stands out in my mind.

Blog: http://visual.ly/extreme-weather-extracts-heavy-toll-across-states-1992-2012

This infographic shares the major ways germs are spread, through touching, eating, drinking, breathing, and bites. It is important to be careful with everything that you do, from cleaning your home regularly, to drinking clean water. One thing one teacher did once was to put glitter glue all over her hands, and we watched how many things she touched. Everywhere the glitter was, we could pass germs.

Post this infographic in bathrooms, by doors, and in eating areas. Make sure you get the word out so that your students can stay in the classroom and not constantly be out sick. Teach your students that we aren’t trying to waste their time by making them wash their hands, it is truly for their own good.

Blog: http://visual.ly/how-do-germs-spread

This infographic compares the same cars over a series of years to show how they have grown in length and height, as well as weight. What is the benefit of these larger cars? In science class, discuss aerodynamics, and try to figure out which cars have an advantage, cars from the 1950s, or todays cars. Try to find similar sized model cars and make a wind tunnel, showing students the stream of air. Use other things on cars, such as the slant of cars and spoilers to show them the benefit of these.

Blog: http://goo.gl/o5ShI

This infographic shows that the US and Japan have the highest taxes in the world. Why do these two countries need such high taxes? What do each of the countries listed use their taxes on. What is their national debt like? How did they rack up these debts? Make sure your students understand why taxes are necessary, and brainstorm ways for the government to come up with the necessary funds without taxes.

Blog: http://visual.ly/world-tax-comparisons

This infographic gives a great, accurate, demonstration on the speed, size, and distance of each planet. There are three options that can be flipped through, that show how different the planets are. Challenge your students to discover the reasons for these differences. With science as advanced as it has become, challenge your students to use research methods to find out why some planets travel at different speeds, and what made different planets different sizes.

Blog: http://visual.ly/solar-system-0

This infographic, produced by HotelClub, goes on to show what blogging platforms, social media sites, and other technology, such as phones and cameras, are most common among travel writers. It can be an expensive, and lonely, occupation, so one must also have money saved up, the proper equipment, and an ability to make friends anywhere.

Take your students on a trip to another country, via the internet. Have them research a part of the country, as though they are staying there, creating a budget and a plan. Have them write about their trip to a foreign country, and even try to connect with another group of students, or someone who lives over there to be fully immersed in the culture. Also, if food allergies are not a problem, have students bring in food and then present where they went to the class.

Source: http://www.hotelclub.com/blog/?p=25169

Infographic: http://goo.gl/BCkTV

This infographic compares the storms in other ways. It compares the two as far as power, and its affects. Most of them turned out in favor of Katrina, proving Katrina to be the worst storm. But one has to think about the areas that the two hit. The two storms were nearly equally strong, but if Sandy had hit a primarily horizontal population, things may have been different. Also, the temperature may have been a factor. Snow doesn’t cause as many casualties as flooding, and the flooding that did occur can’t reach the tops of buildings the buildings in NYC.

Challenge your students to compare other storms and natural disasters, and discuss the differences between the natural disasters that lead to one being presumed worse than the other.

Blog: http://goo.gl/9rgFd

But until the 1950s with the economic boom, as well as the further development of the Interstate system, and further travel of people, one could simply rely on local time. It didn’t matter what time it was in the next state over, if they followed daylight savings or not. It wasn’t until 1966 that the Federal Government stepped in and enacted a law requiring all of the United State to use Daylight Savings time.

This infographic shows how the time change works. It shows the average sunrise and sunset, as well as actual sunrise and sunset times, and how it changes when we change our clocks. Have your students imagine what it would be like without the time change. What would it be like without the time change. At what times would the sun go up and down. How would that change our lives?

Blog: http://goo.gl/d3FQq

This infographic does a great job of sharing facts about solar eclipses. It shows what a solar eclipse looks like from Earth, and if one was in space, looking at the Earth, sun and moon. It also shows the different types of of solar eclipses and various facts about past eclipses.

Challenge your students to be able to explain a solar eclipse in their own words, and create one using your students and flashlights to better understand the concept. Also, look into history and discovery how they have affected history. Before the phenomenon was fully explained, what were theories. How did regular people explain them, and how did scientists explain them. How did religion explain them?

The four separate parts of The British Isles are the main Island. They include England (the main one), Scotland (the Northern part of the main Island and the smaller islands North of it), and Wales (a small portion to the West of England). Ireland is a separate Island.

The United Kingdom includes the British Isles and about a quarter of Ireland. But just because they are a citizen of the United Kingdom, does not mean they are English.

The infographic also does a great job of showing how these have combined and separated over time. They were first all together briefly in the 1600s, then again in the 1800s and 1900s. Most of Ireland is currently separate, and in 2014 Scotland is going to consider becoming independent.

This is a great visual aide when studying the history of the United Kingdom. It shows the information in an easy to read and easy to understand way. There are more details as far as why the countries separated and why they came together.

Hold a discussion with your students as to the benefits of having separate countries and having one single country. Divide students into groups based on sides. and have them research information to support their side. For instance, if the groups believes that they should all be one country, why have them come together at different points in history.

Blog: http://goo.gl/015mn