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!!

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!

I LOVE Pretty Books and AWESOME Books!

Anyone that knows me personally knows I have a bad habit of collecting books...especially the ones with the pretty covers!! Don't ask...

Anyhoo---I'm forcing myself to declutter my entire home!!! That includes eliminating some of the books in my personal library. 

I'm letting go of numerous books, many of which I have obtained multiple copies of over time!

While I may end up donating them should teachers not end up getting them from my store, I've loaded them on TpT under used goods in the meantime!

Titles include:

The Hunger Games Trilogy

Mockingjay (hardback)

Catching Fire/Mockingjay (paperbacks)

and various others...

Take a look if you are interested!

I know many teachers, like me, enjoy building classroom libraries!

Score Big on Teaching Resources Galore...Sunday Super Sale

Announcing a kickoff of a sale! Teachers Pay Teachers is holding a site wide SUNDAY SUPER SALE! Tons of awesome sellers are putting their stores on sale--including me! Get up to 28% off in my store on lots of digital items and resources in many other stores! 

Be sure to use the PROMO CODE: SUPER 

This SALE is FEBRUARY 3RD! So, go load up your shopping carts and have a SUPER Sunday!!!

Stash your cart with items including these fun resources:

Multiple Grammar Skills
Assessments

Subject/Verb Agreement Cards!

Novel Pack for Mockingbird

Expository Text Structure Cards!

AND---There's a Super Sale at my Teachers Notebook Shop today and tomorrow! All items are 25% off February 2nd and 3rd! Score BIG on Teacher Resources of all sorts!!!
Score with these fun resources and MORE:

Test Prep for English Language Arts

Word Wall for Literature Terms!
Test Prep!!

Vocabulary Pamphlet!

While you are here, join my blog and tell me what you found while browsing TPT and TN! I'd love suggestions for teaching resources you have found in other shops! Sellers are buyers too ya know!

Happy Shopping!

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!!!

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