Borders/Backgrounds-- Freebie for You!

Hey all! Hope your October is lovely!

I meant to load these a long while back and forgot I had them.. HELLOOO! ;) Anyway, these are just a few backgrounds I drummed up one evening when creating my own agenda books for the week. I thought I may as well load them on Google docs and share with you guys!

Download these swirly corners frames/backgrounds for FREE--either from pic or google docs link above!

They work great for backgrounds in power points, smart notebooks, promethean flipcharts, pdfs, and all sorts of documents/files! 

Hope you enjoy!

A. Smith

You Simply Must Read This Book...Bulletin Board Kit and Product Swap!

Jessica Stanford of Mrs. Standford's Class is having her awesome Product Swap, and I'm delighted to be participating again! 

Today, I'm want to share this cute bulletin board resource I got the opportunity to implement in my class this week!!

"Recommended Reading Bulletin Board Kit"

A Language Arts Reading Activity Created by Laura Ellison of Will Grade for Coffee

Check it out in her TpT Store. 

You Simply Must Read This Book! {Bulletin Board Kit}

Words in different Fonts!

Three different frame designs!

How many of you stumble upon the issue of students not being able to find a good book to read...or, at least student who think they can't find one? This bulletin board kit takes care of that situation!
Each time a student reads a great novel, one the student would like to recommend, he/she fills out a book recommendation to tell something enticing or fascinating l about the book.
Included are the bulletin board title words "You Simply Must Read This Book!" on individual pages, each word in a different font. So cute! There are also three different designs of frames included to provide as student printables.
This activity sparks fellow classmates' interests and provides a handful of suggestions to your students for picking out their next novels. Or, if your board turns out like mine, they will have a board full of suggestions!!

See the pictures of my students' awesome new bulletin board!!! 

 I'm LOUD and love COLOR, SOOOO, my title is on PINK paper! 

I love this idea. I actually have students read an independent novel each nine weeks. This week, they completed the activity about novels they really enjoyed reading and wanted to recommend to other students!

When a student is hunting a book of interest, I can direct him/her to this bulletin board to read some of the recommendations from fellow classmates. Awesome! Now, when we go to the libarary, students will be getting in there and checking out books they've been anxious to read instead of spending too much of library time trying to find a book that interests them. 
Hopefully, you have your readers that seem to never have trouble finding a great book, but many of us have just as many or more that fight reading. This could change their minds entirely!
Another cool thing about it is being able to have students contribute to the board throughout the year...
When you've filled it up, replace new recommendations with some of the older ones that most students have already had plenty of time to see! That's my plan... ;) 

Getting students to read is easy breezy if they are reading material of high interest to them. This cool idea not only delivers multiple suggestions, but suggestions are from peers. If students recommend books to other students, as opposed to the teacher recommending books to students, many are more inclined to check them out...I teach middle school, so if one kid thinks something is cool, we all know that another --or two or three--are going to think it's cool. 
So, be sure to get your own bulletin board kit! This is not just for language arts classes either...It's great for any class that incorporates novels/reading into their classes AND---A "SUPER DUPER" bulletin board idea to use in the school library! 
I am actually pondering ideas as I write this post...One thing that comes to mind is asking students to recommend novel titles of particular genres in connections with a new unit or theme in class. For example, we begin a new unit next week that is my FAV! It's our mystery/fantasy unit. Oh my goodness, there are tons of great titles to recommend!! 
Can you tell that I'm excited about my new bulletin board? Um, duh!  
The kiddos finished it yesterday! On Thursday, they wrote recommendations and decorated their frames.  On Friday, we put them on our totally cute bulletin board! Each student did his/her own thing. I tend to get picky about writing, but I let that go with this activity. No "blue/black ink or typed" requirements. For their first time recommending book titles to others, I asked them to think of a book they have read this year or last year (since it's only October) that they REALLY liked. Hopefully, students will add to the board as they come across novels they "really like" and want to recommend! I told them the recommendations should spark student interest and should reveal what was so enjoyable. AND, I did tell them to make it "CUTE"---lol, my kiddos are not exactly used to coloring, so they JUMPED on this! (Okay, so I did throw some tiny guidelines.) Allowing student choice goes miles with my 8th graders. However, it's a plus for all ages. No need for limiting creativity, right? Anyway, some students trimmed excess white paper around the frame; others cut out frames entirely. Ahem, my girls were more particular. Students wrote in pencil, pens, markers, and colored pencils---quite a variety. The activity was an opportunity to say, "Look What I Read that was Totally Awesome!" 

Visit Laura's Blog!

Anyhoo, there you have it! Bet you're wanting your own "You Simply Must Read This Book!" bulletin board, aren't ya? I mean, look at the cute bulletin board my awesome students ended up creating! Swing by Laura's blog to tell her how cool her activity is! I very much enjoyed creating this board with my students and feel it will be a helpful tool throughout the year! FYI, Laura is getting married SUNDAY (Tomorrow)! Deliver Best Wishes when you swing by her blog! 
If you go to the "My Classroom" page on Laura's blog, she has lots of pics of different areas of her classroom---I thought it was insightful and cool to see! It's nice to see how other teachers organize/set up rooms, and a "special page" for it on her blog is a nice feature---hmmm, now I'm pondering ideas for mine! ;) There is also a page/tab especially for 6th grade blogs, so be sure to add yours to her link up if you are a 6th grade teacher-blogger!

Laura happens to be featuring my Writing Adventures Combo Pack resource for the product swap. So, the first 4 peeps who comment below and on Laura's blog can get it for free! BUT, be sure to leave me email address in your comment on my blog if you want it sent to you!!! 
You can connect with Laura via Facebook and find other resources of Laura's in her TPT Store.
THANKS to Jessica for getting this swap together! And, THANKS to Michelle, The 3am Teacher, for the awesome graphic! You can visit Jessica's blog, from the graphic at the top, to see her fab post for the swap and all the link ups of blogs participating. Hope your Saturday is SPECTACULAR! I'm watching a little SEC Football today/tonight! :) 
OH OH OH---For the MAGICAL Product Swap, my TpT Store is 20% off (Most Products...)
A. Smith