The topic of the "colour of the dress" took social media by storm yesterday!
A picture of a dress went viral online when people couldn't agree on the colour of it (original dress below, what colours do you see?)

I'm sure the topic came up in lessons all over the world! So why not take something that's relevant to the current world (the whole theme of my teaching!), and bring it into your classroom?

Here are a few ideas of how to incorporate this crazy phenomenon into your lessons/homework activities and keep your students engaged! 

1) Do a poll of how many students see blue/black and how many see white/gold in class then get students to make graphs or work out percentages out of the results.

2) Ask students to do a research assignment on why people see different colours when looking at the dress.

3) Create their own poll and research by seeing if they can determine any particular trends in which colours people see, such as gender or age etc.

4) Write an article/essay on what they think makes a picture go viral online.

5) Design a funny meme based on the blue/black v white/gold debate! (See examples below):

So there you go, some ideas for having some fun in your lessons with #TheDress!
P.S. What colours do you see? I'm #TeamWhiteAndGold ;)

A few weeks ago I was playing around with some html coding, and I figured out some cool ways to jazz up my TpT store page!

As you can see, I have a cool new banner where my "quote" used to be, and I have added some great visuals to my profile page too which link to some of my products, but these images can be of anything you like! Read more if you want to learn how to do it!

QUOTE BANNER:
1) Design your banner using any program you are comfortable with, I suggest making your banner maximum 8cm long. I have made a free template you use to make your own HERE!

2) Save it and upload it to anywhere you can access it online (I personally like to use Pinterest).

3) Go to your image, wherever it is online, and right click to 'copy image URL'.

4) Go to your accounts page where you edit your quote:
My TpT >My Account > Store profile > Edit

5) In your 'personal quote' section, type in the following:
<img src="https://whereveryousavedyourimage.jpg"/> 
(Replace the website address with the one you copied in step 2!)

6) Hit save and then have a look at your store front! If your banner doesn't fit, go back and resize your image then repeat the steps again. If it does, do a happy dance and admire your new store!

PROFILE PICTURES:
This is really unique and I've not seen anyone else do this yet! You're the first to hear about my little secrets!

1) Go to your accounts page where you edit your profile:
My TpT >My Account > Store profile > Edit

2) Simply copy your image URL in the same way as indicated above, and paste it within the <img src="....."</> link! (If you want to add an image of a product in your store, you won't need to upload your image to a website like Pinterest, as it is already online in your store! Simply copy image URL straight from TpT).

3) If you want your image to be 'clickable' so it links back to that product in your store, simply use this code:
<a href="https://teacherspayteachers.com/Product/YourProduct">
<img src="https://teacherspayteachers.com/YourProduct.jpg"</a>

P.S. This will also work with your banner if you want to make that clickable too! You should then get something that looks like this:

Pretty neat, huh! So there you have it, how to jazz up and add awesome images to your TpT store page to take it up to the next level!
If you have any questions or need some help, please leave me a comment below!

I have some great resources to share that you can use to teach your teens about the theme of inventors and their inventions!

Seeing as it is National Women of History month coming up, I thought what better time to talk about some of the most fantastic women inventors who have improved our world!

Books:
There are some fantastic books you can use with your teens out there on women inventors, check them out below by clicking on the images:

Activities and Ideas:
This resource highlights some of our amazing women inventors, to show our young students that anyone can achieve great things, regardless of gender.

There are 2 parts to the resource: a PowerPoint presentation with information to teach them about the inventors and what inspired them to invent their products. The second part comes with worksheets that students can use to summarize their learning and reflect on the achievements of these women. Alternatively, students could also do their own research to complete these sheets for homework! 

The women mentioned in the resource include:

Mary Anderson (1866-1953) Inventor of Windshield Wipers
Marion Donovan (1917-1998) Inventor of Disposable Diapers
Bette Nesmith Graham (1924–1980) Inventor of Liquid Paper
Ruth Handler (1916-2002) Inventor of the Barbie doll
Ruth Wakefield (1903-1977) Inventor of the Chocolate Chip Cookie
Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919) Inventor of Black Hair Care

Links:
Here is a link to a short video on 10 awesome things that women invented! This would make a great lesson starter:

I hope this has given you some ideas for National Women of History month on the topic of Inventors. So, inspire your girls and educate your young boys on the power of women!