Grin and Grab These Friday Freebies!

Grin and Grab it Freebie Day

What is Grin and Grab it Freebie Day? Today only, several TpT sellers are offering one priced product for free. Please see the product cover pictures and links, below, to Teachers Pay Teachers to get your freebies. This promotion ends tonight, but please leave feedback while the products are still free as it can't be added after the products are priced again.

We are having a give away of a $25 dollar gift certificate for Teachers Pay Teacher for our first Grin and Grab it Day! See the Rafflecopter information, below.

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th,7th, 8th, 9th, 10th	Tiny World of Insects Magnified by a Scanning Electron Microscope This Powerpoint slide show and PDF printable file includes images of insects and insect parts.
7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, Homeschool	Persuasive Speech & Visual Aid Project with Rubric Argumentative Oral Presentation Project, Rubric for Grading, Argumentative Speech
Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, Student PDFs includedThis product is updated each year with more calendar years, so check back and re-download each fall.	Calendar Math, Birthdays 2013-2016 and Printable Student PDFs For 2013 thru December 2016 SMART Board, Power Point, and PDFs
	Breakfast, Lunch, Desayuno, Almuerzo Vocabulary Practice Cloze“Cloze” sentences give clues to breakfast and lunch vocabulary words in Spanish.
6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th,Adult Education, Homeschool	Three Ways Authors Reveal Characters Authors reveal the physical descriptions and the personality traits of the characters they create by using either direct or indirect characterization.

Thank you for reading!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spring is Around the Corner!

With SPRING right around the corner (HURRY UP SPRING!!), are you 

ready for some Spring cleaning--cleaning out your bookshelves that is? 

I have enjoyed doing a little book swap with my students for the last two years!! Download it for free.

And, have some fun with these bright colors used in your SPRING activities:

And, Saving the Best for Last...

Announcing a Sale Celebrating THREE MILLION TEACHERS STRONG!!!

Almost every single item in my store will be 20% off during this two day event, including a few hard goods (such as used novels and teaching resources)!

Don't forget to enter the PROMO CODE TPT3 to receive up to 28% off at checkout!

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!

Exchanging Positive Comments with Classmates on Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day! 

Along with Valentine's Day comes the exchanging of little "love tokens" ("love tokens" especially in middle school...) between those who "like" each other, have boyfriends/girlfriends, crushes, admirers, etc. But, we also know plenty of people (children, teens, adults too) who like to receive sweet little notes on this fun day! (Cupid does not absolutely have to be involved, right?) Sending a sweet note, positive comment, or smile someone's way is a great idea for the students (teachers too ;) ha!) 

That's why I ended up making this resource to encourage my students to exchange little notes with positive comments to each classmate--there's something positive in all of us and those positives should be acknowledged. It's a way to lift spirits, put a smile on a face, or just to let someone know you've "noticed" something good in him/her. 

So, why not have your students do the same. It's an inexpensive way to exchange "valentines" or "kind thoughts" on Valentine's Day! Grab the free resource in my TpT store! 

I'd love to hear your ideas for encouraging and promoting a positive environment in your classroom--for Valentine's Day as well as any other normal day at school!

We can all use these kinds of tips/ideas to boost the morale and warmth surrounding us each day at school. 

Happy Valentine's Day! (early..)

Teaches Third in Georgia- Innovative Teacher-Author and her Groundhog Freebie!

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while (like a really, really long while) since I've posted the Innovative Teacher-Author post, but this year has been nuts! So much to do all the time...you know how it goes. You're teachers! So, I'd like to share a little bit about Randi Smith of Teaches Third in Georgia! 

Teaches Third in Georgia

How many years have you been teaching? Grade levels? Subjects? 

I have been teaching for seven wonderful years in North Georgia. I teach every subject, all day, every day. 
Right now, I am teaching a fantastic group of third graders. I have also taught second grade and fourth grade as well.

What do you find most challenging as a teacher-author and in what manner have you chosen to tackle this challenge?

As a teacher-author, it has been time consuming and disheartening at the amount of time it has taken to build a store with quality products and lessons that others will find useful and enjoyable. 
I feel like the best bet for managing is to set a goal each week/month for something that you would like to create and then create the time to meet that goal. 
Spend time on one or two quality products and then enjoy the rest of your time with family! 

At what online marketplaces or vendors do you currently sell educational resources?

Teachers Pay Teachers

Teachers Notebook

What is something cool, weird, funny, or just plain quirky about you? Hey, we are here to "get to know" our fellow teacher-authors! ;)

Something I am probably notorious for is my inability to pay attention to things that are not interesting to me. Reading is interesting, but not textbook stuff. Writing is interesting, but not grading papers. Teaching is interesting to me, but not staff meetings. I probably couldn't count the number of times I've been caught doodling on my handouts at staff meetings!

(lol, we won't tell on her... ;)

Please suggest 1 or 2 educational blogs that are STAR BLOGS and would benefit fellow teacher-authors to visit?

 Clip Art Collaborators and Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas! 

Do you have your own blog? 

Freebie to Share with Fellow Teacher-Authors:

Groundhog's Day Multiplication Mosaic

Helpful hint in the areas of classroom management, grading, or organization:

Don't let being a teacher stress you out! Yes, it is a very stressful job. But at the end of the day, just remember that you are making a difference in this big ole world-one child at a time.

How would you like us to connect with you?

Find me on...

Pinterest

or

Facebook

Be sure to check out Randi by visiting her blog or other links above! If you like her freebie (JUST IN TIME FOR GROUNDHOG'S DAY!!!), leave her a note in the comments below! 

Thanks for reading and HAPPY FRIDAY!

A Christmas Stocking Freebie and Teacher to the Core Giveaway Galore!

I just wanted to share the news of an amazing "Teacher to the Core Giveaway Galore" going on at Katie Knight's blog Teacher Core! (OR REMIND THOSE THAT ALREADY KNOW)
12 Days of Giveaways!!!

Be sure to swing by and see if you can snag some cool teaching resources!! Tell her I sent you! ;)

(Oh, I'm participating in her giveaway too (along w/ many amazing bloggers, so be on the lookout!)She's got TONS of items lined up to dish out to YOU! Congrats to Teacher to the Core on the "200 Followers" milestone!


AND FOR AN ADDITIONAL FREEBIE FROM ME...
In case you've missed my primary freebie in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, I wanted to share it with you (being perfect timing and all...)--It's a quick little activity you can do with your kiddos to instill the magic of "GIVING" during the Christmas Season! I call it "Fill Someone's Stocking with Cheer..."
We all know it's more important to give rather than receive, so without any further rambling, check it out:

Homemade Ornaments to Match Our Winter Poetry!

I love doing this activity with my students. The beauty of this lesson is that you can assess students on use of vivid language but on their appropriate levels! So, this fun and festive assignment is great for a variety of ages!

Should you be hunting a writing activity to go along with the Christmas or "Winter" season, this is a great one!! 

You'll find guidelines, suggestions, a grading rubric, a pre-writing template, and a rough draft handout to help guide the students through the very important writing process!

Pre-writing Handout! 
What I hear, see, etc...

The focus is on writing, obviously, so an ornament is included in activity only to serve as a visual supplement. So, the ornament creations are left entirely up to the students -HOWEVER they choose to make them should be JUST PERFECT. 

Grading Rubric &
 Rough Draft Handout

Eliminating any limitations leaves the doors wide open for creativity and imagination, encouraging students to utilize available materials they have at home. I discourage store bought items in order to cater to student imagination and it helps with those who are unable to go buy materials to make ornaments. The purpose of the added craft is to create a visual supplement that is totally homemade by gathering items lying around the house...the result being a creation representative of the child's Christmas/Winter term assigned! 

Guidelines/Suggestions

A super festive idea is to string some colored lights across the top of the dry erase board, a tree, or just across your classroom wall, hanging the ornaments on the lights (or hang them on fishing line if you are afraid to hang them from light strands... lol). 

Poof! Automatic Christmas/Winter display, student work display, and festive fun all crated by the students...no work on your part! 

In addition to the ornaments on display, you can put their poems up too, under the lights/ornaments or on wall around a tree, depending on which way you'd like to display it all! 

Oh, just a little tidbit...I use the terms "Christmas" and "Winter" because many students in my classes over the years have different beliefs and/or religions and I do not want to single anyone out or offend anyone--so if considering it our "Winter Poetry" writing assignment handles that issue.

---AFTER ALL, the purpose is to write a poem about an assigned word, stay on topic, and dazzle the reader with vivid language in connections with an assigned term. And, the visual display (craft) is supposed to represent the student's term! So, it hardly has to be dedicated solely to Christmas, which allows us all to take part in the fun writing/craft activity! You can find this item in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store or in my Teachers Notebook Shop! (Those links are on the top right of blog--or click images to go straight to the TPT product!)

I ASK YOU...

What do you incorporate as seasonal fun into your lessons? 
Please share some ideas below!! Who knows, if enough ideas are out there, we could keep the kids involved in seasonal fun until we are on Winter Break!

Happy Writing,

Woot! Woot!! CYBER Monday Sale!!

Super brief but important post...

WAIT for it... WAIT for it.....  :)

CYBER MONDAY PLUS TUESDAY SALE 2012!!

We are throwing a huge Cyber Monday Plus Tuesday Sale on Teachers Pay Teachers November 26-27th! 

You can get up to 28% off 1000s of products. 

Have you decided what different things you might need for December? January? Maybe now is a GREAT time to stock up on cute and fabulous activities and lessons for your classroom!

Thanks to Michelle (The 3am Teacher!!) for creating our OH SO CUTE graphic for a linky! If you'd like, check out all the other great stores linked up too!
HAPPY SHOPPING!!!

My Binding: Paper Monster Laminator Giveaway!

Guess what???
I have been playing with my new toy!! Yes, a laminator! In terms of toys, it's a favorite among teachers today!
You can see in the pics that I've been busy, and I keep thinking of new items to laminate. Oh no.....How will I get caught up on things? Some way, it'll all come together. In the meantime, I'm laminating! Just know this....it is addicting. (This is your warning!)

These are some of my literary elements I have in my store...
I printed them on colored paper!
I <3 how these are working out in my room!

Love these character trait word cards by Rachel Lynette! 

So, the fabulous news I have to share is-----
MyBinding is going to give one of my lucky followers a laminator. 
Along with my 12 in. laminator, I received a package of 25 --11 1/4 x 17 1/4 pouches and a package of 100 --8x11 pouches. 
See this video regarding the product I've been fortunate enough to use for my classroom and visit the MyBinding web site--

Paper Monster 12 in. Laminator

After you browse the MyBinding site, come back and leave me a comment and tell me how you would use a laminator for your classroom! Also, "like" MyBinding's Facebook page. Simple!

It would be great if you would become a follower of my blog if you aren't already... Then, enter via Rafflecopter! 
Now, for some pics....

Another item I love and was pumped to laminate---Check out these subject/verb agreement sentence parts---Again, I'm a LOUD one, so I printed them on BRIGHT, colored paper! Laminated in these pouches I got, they are super durable--thicker than the lamination used on our school laminator! ;)

  Don't get me wrong, there are tons more pics, but I am trying to keep this brief and to the point...as if you don't already have pictured what you would be laminating.... ;) 

You guys have 3 days to enter this giveway! 

Be sure to enter through Raffecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A HUGE THANK YOU to MyBinding, and Tarragon from MyBinding, for making this possible!

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

Definite Value in Students Working in Small Groups and Pairs in the Classroom

Do you take advantage of cooperative learning? 
As a middle school teacher, I've learned that small groups and pairs both offer so much! That being said, I even let them pair up and do various reading/writing assignments together, in class rather than at home. In this manner, critical thinking and  applying reading/writing skills tend to be more fun for them---less "work" in their minds anyway.
By implementing small group tasks, I'm also eliminating chances that a student goes home to no help or no art supplies needed to create that brilliant something in his/her brain. (But, yes, when it is outside of class and individually, my kids know upfront that they can come to me for materials if they need them.) Additionally, it's very TRUE that kids learn from each other, and when they pair up for any assignment, they learn even more from one another without even realizing it. That's invaluable in itself.

Snapshots of Partner/Group Assignments in Class:

These are a few instances of small group activities "After Reading" assignments for The Call of the Wild. Students are easily engaged in discussion. After completing group tasks, we usually share with the whole class, which is why I love the big bulletin board paper! I go through so much of that stuff. Throw out the BIG PAPER and the MARKERS, and they will work! :) It's another way to get them moving some, as they have to get materials, many stand as they are writing/drawing and sharing...and, if you have a block schedule like we do, then you understand their need to move around some! 

When small groups come together to share, students end up sharing/gaining multiple perspectives, depending upon the task, about novels, story elements, inferences, etc. It's a quick way to informally assess comprehension too!
What is your take on small groups/pairs and cooperative learning activities? No matter the subject, share what you like/dislike about it!

Ultimate "Middle Years" Back to School Giveaway/Blog Hop!

ARE YOU READY?  Krystal Mills, Lessons from the Middle, and I have teamed up for The Ultimate 

"Middle Years" 

Giveaway  
and Blog Hop! 
GOING BACK FULLY STASHED!

$300 worth of donations will be given away! 

You're going to love what we have put together for you!!! It's great to connect with such a great group of middle grade teachers and bloggers, gaining new ideas, activities, lessons, tips, etc.! After you see what all has been offered below, you'll find our Rafflecopter Giveaway widget to enter for your chance to win a collection of awesome resources for your new year! Below are the "OH SO SWEET AND GENEROUS" Teacher Bloggers who have helped make this such a spectacular giveaway!

  

$15 to Spend in Addie's TpT Store!

EVERY PRICED item in Elizabeth's 
Fun in Room 4B TpT Store for FREE! 

$5 Spree in Heidi's TpT Store

Kristen Bowers' 101 Writing Prompts for Fall!

$10 Shopping Spree in Madame Aiello's TpT Store!

SciPi's Halloween Fraction Riddles

Homophones: Lessons, Homework, Tests, Writing Shopping Spree in Andrea's TPT Store for $10
$15 Shopping Spree in Hojo's TPT Store

$10 shopping spree to TPT store Liz's Lessons


 $20 shopping spree in Tracee Orman's TPT Store

Adrianne's Integer Elevator Game

$10 Shopping Spree in Michelle's Making It Teacher's TPT Store

Loriana Romano, Elita Saulle, and Lisa Papa have donated
 "Your Essential Teacher Binder" 
Classroom Organization Kit (of choice)

Michelle's Dear Mr. Henshaw Comprehension Question Packet

Lacie's Data & Probability Scoot Game Jennifer's Survival of the Fittest Bear Hunt Game 1 Item of Choice from Joy's TpT store!

Any 3 Items from Lori's TPT store!

$15  Shopping Spree in Amy's TpT Store!

Your Choice: 1 Item from Science Penguin's Store!

Kim's Making Numbers-Warm Up Math Activity

E-Motive Teaching! Winner's Choice: 1 of Deborah's Free 

TED Talks Viewing Guides!

Kristine's Classroom Procedures to Teach!

25 Frames Clipart from Oxana's Store!! 

$10 Worth of Products from Teresa's TpT Store!

$15 Shopping Spree in Lauren's TN Store!

Pre-Teen School Friends Clip Art Set by The 3AM Teacher

$25 Shopping Spree to Innovative Connections' TpT Store!

$25 Shopping Spree to Lessons from the Middle's TpT Store!

____________________________________

Visit my Blog Buddy and ULTIMATE "MIDDLE YEARS" GIVEAWAY/BLOG HOP PARTNER at Lessons from the Middle! Let Krystal know you stopped by and entered this ultimate giveaway!! 

You will love her blog anyway, if you are not already familiar with it. Be sure to subscribe via email and networked blogs so you don't miss out on awesome posts regarding middle grade classroom ideas, tips, activities, lessons! You can bet she'll provide her readers/followers with valuable information to take to the classroom!

____________________________________

AND THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN SELECTED!!!!
NOTE: THOSE HAVING COMPLETED BLOG HOP CHALLENGE NEED TO WATCH EMAIL INBOX OR SPAM BOX FOR YOUR VIRTUAL GOODIE BAG!!!!! THANKS SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS A SPECTACULAR EVENT!
Winners will be contacted via email! ;)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In addition to the giveaway, this is also a BLOG HOP!! Every blog you hop to will be featuring another fabulous middle grade blog! You'll have quite a list of "FAVS"  when you are done checking them out! Don't you love a good excuse to blog stalk?

For those eager to take on and complete the BLOG HOP CHALLENGE, we've put together a pretty cool stash of resources to give you--THANKS to the outstanding bloggers who have been SO gracious to donate to this event! I hope you are pumped. I am!! If you like incorporating new and exiting ideas and resources into your daily lessons, or just like to find out about other great teaching blogs, I challenge you!! 

Blog Hop Challenge Form 

Below are all blogs in the blog hop! Now, get to hopping!!