Fall Freebies and Back-To-School

 Hi, everyone! Have you been getting back into the swing of things at school? Maybe you are still enjoying your summer vacation!! I'm back full force now, and I cannot believe how fast the summer came and went. (Then again, it usually does...) I guess you could say I've spent my vacation doing things totally unrelated to school or teaching, like focusing on that never ending to-do list for around the house. Making progress, slowly but surely.
Nevertheless, once school starts back for me, it seems like its Fall (A VERY HOT ONE) instead of Summer. That brings me to the Fall Freebies I wanted to share today. 

    

 Maybe these items can help get your room off to a good start. I like to use the Class Library Check Out with my students so that they can enjoy the novels I have in my classroom library while I easily keep up with who has what checked out at the time. Another is one of my resources for organization-Classroom Organization Labels. We all love to start out the year organized, right? And the third item contains borders to use--Fall Harvest Frames. 

Each of the three above items is in my TpT store. So, if you head on over to grab these freebies, be sure to stock up on teaching resources for the remainder of the semester or year during the fabulous back to school sale!! 
Teachers Pay Teachers' Back to School Sale is August 18th and 19th, with tons of stores putting items on sale in addition to TpT's 10% off at checkout. I'll have the majority of my store on sale for 20% off too!

Sweet Secondary Teaching Blogs and Pinterest!!

Are you a pin addict? Are you a blog addict? Are you a Secondary Teacher? If you answered yes, I'd like to share some awesome teaching blogs with you. If you like pinning awesome teaching ideas, these are just for you!

You will find all subject areas in this crew. We follow each other on Pinterest and thought you might like to too.  Ready to meet them? Okay:

Bio:  Hi!  I'm Adrianne from The Tutor House.  I love tutoring and creating engaging lessons for math in reading for grades 3-8!  If you've ever thought about starting your own tutoring business, you should come on over to The Tutor House!

Follow Adrianne of The Tutor House on Pinterest.

 

Bio: Welcome! I am Connie from Teach it Write. I am a retired English teacher and I’m thrilled to now write curriculum full time that I love to share on my site http://teachitwrite.blogspot.com. My book, The House of Comprehension, shows how the elements of literature form the structure of any fiction or non-fiction text. Check it out on my blog site or on www.teachitwrite.com.

Follow Connie of Teach it Write on Pinterest.

Bio:  Hi Everyone! It's Kristy from 2 Peas and a Dog. I am a Canadian middle school teacher who loves to pin and blog about things related to Grades 6 and up.

Follow Kristy of 2 Peas and a Dog on Pinterest.

Bio:  Hiya there!  I'm Jamie but you may know me as MissMathDork! I am a lover of all things mathematical!  Patterns, sequences, geometric shapes, if it's mathematical, I'll find a way to make it fun!  Want to see some of my ideas? Check out my ideas and pictures at www.missmathdork.com!  You won't be disappointed!

Follow Jaime of Miss Math Dork on Pinterest.

Bio:  Hello, there. I’m Charlene Tess from Simple Steps to Sentence Sense. Grammar is my specialty. I have always loved taking sentences apart and putting them back together, and I successfully taught my students using the simple steps method for over three decades. Visit my blog to get helpful tips on grammar, usage, and writing.

Follow Charlene of Simple Steps to Sentence Sense on Pinterest.

Tammy Manor!

Bio:  Hi my name is Tammy and I've been teaching high school English for 13 years now. I know that teaching can be very stressful. My school is constantly changing the book list and I've taught every grade 6-12 as well. As a result I have unit plans for a large variety of novels, plays and memoirs. Come check out my store on TpT for a variety of ELA materials. Follow my blog for teaching related posts.

Follow Tammy on Pinterest.  

Bio:  Meet Sabrina, author of A Space to Create.  Find teaching resources for art teachers and classroom teachers alike. My art lessons teach students the creative process enabling them to build confidence and have amazing results.  Come visit my blog A Space to Create! (K-12)

Follow Sabrina of A Space to Create on Pinterest.

Bio: Hi there!  I'm Gina from All Things Algebra.  I have taught Algebra and Pre-Algebra for seven years and have a passion for creating activites and games that engage my students.  If you are interested in finding ways to have more fun in math class, head on over and check out my blog!

Follow Gina of All Things Algebra on Pinterest.

Bio:  Hi there!  My name is Amy Brown and I write a blog called "Science Stuff."  I am a 29-year teaching veteran of biology, chemistry and AP biology.  I love science and I love kids, so I have the best job in the world!  Hopefully, I have passed my love of nature and the environment on to many students.  My blog has tips and tricks for teaching science as well as a lot of free science teaching materials.  I hope to see you there!

Follow Amy of Science Stuff on Pinterest.

Bio: Hi! I’m Krystina from Numbers Rule My World. I love incorporating hands-on activities and technology into the classroom for Math: grades 7-9. If you’re looking for great ideas about math then you should come on over and check it out at Numbers Rule My World!

Follow Krystina of Numbers Rule My World on Pinterest.

Bio:  Hello, my name is Jennifer Smith-Sloane. I am a Middle School Math and Special Education teacher. I have a strong passion for differentiated instruction to meet the needs of each learner in and out of my classroom. I love seeing the light in a student's eyes when something finally clicks and I do everything that I can to make that happen as often as it can.  Visit my blog 4mulaFun!

Follow Jennifer of 4mulaFun on Pinterest.

Bio:  This is Madame Aiello, author of Teaching FSL. Although I've taught other subjects as well, French as a Second Language has always been my passion. My focus is the higher grades, since I taught high school originally but teach grade 7 & 8 since six years ago. I share lots of resources, blog about second language teacher specific topics as well as those that apply to all teachers.

Follow Madame Aiello of Teaching FSL on Pinterest.

Bio:  Bonjour! Hola! I'm Liz from Liz's Lessons. Languages are one of my passions, and I love teaching with technology. I create fun lessons for teaching secondary French, and Spanish. I also make formative assessments and technology activities in English, that can be used in any secondary classroom. If you are looking for some engaging activities for your classes, be sure to stop by Liz's Lessons!

Follow Liz of Liz's Lessons on Pinterest.

Bio: I'm Andrea Kerr from For the Love of Teaching Math. It is my mission to change traditional math classrooms one game and activity at a time. If you like to incorporate hands-on, group activities and games into your classroom, check out For the Love of Teaching Math!

Follow Andrea of For the Love of Teaching Math on Pinterest.

Bio:  I'm a middle / high-school teacher and I love to create ELA, Social Studies and Geography related resources.  I blog at Addie Education - Teacher Talk... come on by and see some of the fun things I do with my students.

Follow Addie Education on Pinterest.

Bio:  I'm a high school English teacher in a 1:1 school who loves books and fostering creativity. My blogs are Mrs. Orman's Classroom and Hunger Games Lessons. I share my teaching resources on TeachersPayTeachers.

Follow Tracee Orman on Pinterest.

Bio:  Hi! I'm Kim from Teaching Math by Hart. I am forever planning and thinking of new and innovative ways to teach math to my students. Why, you ask? Believe it or not, I think learning Math should be FUN and it should be REAL! If you are looking for some ideas to engage your students in math class, come check out Teaching Math by Hart - in the middle years classroom!

I hope you enjoy visiting these blogs and finding lots of great pins to add to your boards!
Have a great day!!

Dry Erase Pocket Folders...They're Fantastic and So are Teacher Appreciation Sales!

Heads up: Be sure to see all of today's post...hint, hint.

Visit MyBinding Blog!

Dry erase pocket folders are great for a multitude of things. And, thanks to MyBinding, I have them!!! 

They are fantastic tools to have for getting students' blood flowing too! 

In my mailbox about a week ago was a nice surprise...a set of 9 x 12 reusable dry erase pockets to use in my classroom...THANKS TARRAGON! ;) You rock!
Visit MyBinding to see more about them, or just go ahead and order them...you know you wanna...Check out what I did when I received my pocket folders from MyBinding!

So, since I just finished creating a new resource for pronouns, I decided to try it with the new folders I got this past week! It was great!

I just slipped them right into the pockets! Of course, to create a little twist, I tied some yarn on them, hung them in "stations" around the room, and had my students pair up and work each set while I played music...when the music stopped, they shifted to the next station. It was fun for them and such an easy way to get middle school busy bodies up and moving --trust me, they need it.  
(I didn't use pics of actual students while they were doing it since they were moving station to station/standing up--I didn't want to worry about photos of students and such.)
Anyhoo, there are 101+ things I can think of to use these handy pocket folders for, so I am looking forward to utilizing them more and more and more. ;) They are universal...great for all subjects, grades, skills, students. And, honestly, what student doesn't love to play with your dry erase markers? Mine always do!

Here's the resource I used with my new pocket folders-- Working with Personal Pronouns-Cases and Functions: Nominative, Objective, and Possessive Cases
I just uploaded it in my TPT store and in my TN shop too, just in case you want to grab it there. See my post about it on Blog-K-12.
And, last, BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST, I'd like to mention  shout out about is the big TpT Sale going on May 7th-8th! TPT APPRECIATES YOU! 
Don't forget to enter the promo code at checkout: TAD13

(Don't you just love the cute graphic, designed by Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs)

I'll have the majority of my digital resources on sale for 20% off both days. TPT will be throwing in another 10% for a total of up to 28% off all sale items! Happy Shopping!

Have a great week, FABULOUS TEACHERS!!! 

YOU ALL ROCK, and you are appreciated!

Teachers Notebook Teacher Appreciation Week Sale!

News Flash, Friends!

Teacher Appreciation Week!

It's a Week Long Sale at my Teacher's Notebook Shop! 
Running from May 4th to May 10th, you'll find numerous resources for language arts...reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar items of many sorts. 
Tons of shops are offering big discounts, so you can get up to 55% off while you save an additional 10% on sale items that Teacher's Notebook is giving all customers! 

And that's not all...

Oriental Trading will be giving away a $100 Oriental Trading Gift card EVERY DAY! 
Don't miss the Oriental Trading Sweepstakes! 

So, head on over and stock up on great resources for your classroom by TN teacher authors!



I hope you enjoy!
Have a great week and we are nearing the summer....yay!

Cooperative Learning with Reading Response and Writing Activities

Busy, Busy, Busy...   

I wanted to share some student samples from a couple of cooperative learning tasks involving reading response and writing. 

We are in the midst of our final unit of the year called "The Spirit Within" and I wanted to share some of our work. 

So, here is what we've been up to lately...

 Literature Circles: Sequence of Events Map-

A "During Reading" Group Task for Night...

After reading a section of Elie Wiesel's memoir, students created flow maps in their literature circle groups. These are just two of the creative ideas they came up with to show the sequence of events. I like to have them work in groups because they learn so much from each other. 

Partner Allegory Writing after Reading "Terrible Things" by Eve Bunting...

I gave them the option of working independently or with a partner to compose their own allegories based on the idea presented in "Terrible Things" and, to my surprise, I had a good handful choose to do it independently. Either way, the originality and imagination that came out was amazing. 

Students read their allegories to the class after taking a couple of days to compose allegories and then illustrate them--in the form of a children's book. They really had fun with the project.

We thoroughly enjoyed hearing the different avenues taken to present the same idea!

As you can see, my kiddos have been busy with various hands-on tasks, in addition to getting ready for our upcoming state test! 

(I won't even yap about state testing...lol)

What have your students been doing in class these last couple of weeks. Please share your fun ideas and cooperative learning activities with us.

Recycled Materials - Great for Organization Tools and Storage!

Hello all...Recycled materials - Are you a fan of organization tools and storage containers??? I am!

For those of you who enjoy scrap booking or tend to have lots of little "scrap" pieces of paper you keep to decorate items with (photos, collages, scrapbooks, classroom decor, art activities, student crafts, etc), I found myself looking for a perfect-sized container to keep all of mine in-nice and neatly... 

What I came up with was a FOIL WRAP BOX---just your every day foil wrap box from the kitchen. Instead of tossing it, recycle it!

1. I had a roll of white masking tape (not the manilla colored tape, but white) that I happened to find for under $1 at Hudsons...one of my favorite stores (LOL)! 

I covered the box with this white tape...

 

2. After covering inside and outside box with the tape, I put all of the scrap booking pieces in it.

 3. Afterwards, I wanted attached a piece of Velcro under the flap to keep it closed--instead of tucking in the top flap. I guess you could tuck it in, but I had the Velcro and decided just to use it!

4. Last, I had to decorate the box with some of my scrap booking pieces because I just couldn't stand to leave it plain white! Ha...

Inside (and Velcro pieces)

Outside

That's it! Just wanted to show you because I just recycled items lying around! Possibilities are endless for classroom organization!! This is great also for colored pencils, skinny markers, grading pens, and all sorts of art supplies  (pipe cleaners, straws, Popsicle sticks, etc.)

Have a great Thursday!