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

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!

Students Back Full Force, and a Humorous Read!

So, it seems like I was just freaking out that school was about to start! Now, we are full force with lessons, daily activities, etc.!
This past week we spent some time reviewing the parts of speech. Well, okay, so we've been working for a week and a half and will continue with this next week! :) Gotta learn those parts of speech, ya know???
Anyway, I wanted to share what we did Friday. I do not know where the idea came from. Had I invented it myself, it would be a freebie I'd share with you. However, I'm sure many language arts teachers have done something similar!

Parts of Speech Poem:
1st: Give the students the Parts of Speech Poem Framework they will use to compose their own poems.

2nd: Provide an example. Here's one for you if you want to use it...

3rd: Let their imaginations create some creative poems that follow the framework given.

4th: Of course, encourage them to make it visually creative! That's always a nice addition and it takes away from the humdrum of a parts of speech practice. Plus, creatively displayed poems make for perfect wall hangings....you know you want to plaster their awesome work on your walls!
I'll have to share the results with you come next week!
I searched and searched for my poems from last year that I kept for samples!! What do ya know...I can't find them! And, to top it off, one sample featured my Alma mater's  mascot that one of my boys did! Go Dawgs!! Gotta find them. Until then, hope you can incorporate this into your parts of speech lessons/reviews.


Now, for a little something funny...for the teacher! Not the student! :)
Cheryl Thurston's Hide You Ex-Lax Under the Wheaties: Poems about schools, teachers, kids, and education---Check it out, you might like it!

What's a funny moment you can recall? We ALL have them! Tell us a quick and funny moment that's perfect for adding to your own book about teachers, students, etc.


Happy Saturday!