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.