Want to guide your Ss through writing activities? T @jjkeigher's "transitions" sentence stems give learners vocabulary for starting, continuing and concluding their essays: https://t.co/E2U4EsaCWr

Learn about punctuation the easy way. With an infographic of course.

What student doesn't like choices? This TicTacToe board has nine extension activities based on map skills that will extend students' content knowledge while they work independently. This works very as an independent project for early finishers or can be used in conjunction with stations. Activities included are designed to hit on many levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and encourage creative thinking. I have used this in my classroom for students who need more structure than a center, but enjoy showing their knowledge in creative ways. The activities also work really well in a small group where the group can actually decide what they want to do and complete the task together with you. The varied activities and structure allow all students to be successful. Other map skills and geography products include: Maps Vocabulary Match-Up Geography Vocabulary Match-Up Map Skills Fan and Pick Map Skills PowerPoint Map Skills Task Cards Map Skills TicTacToe Geographic Terms I Have Who Has Contents Jigsaw Activity Maps Find Someone Who Or get them all and SAVE with this bundle. **Updated July 2016

Need some extra verbs? Here you go! ~Mia Via Marta Torán

Do you use CNN Student News in your classroom?! I LOVE it! It's one of my most favorite memories of being a 5th grader! My teacher used to record it nightly on the VCR and play the recording for us every morning before we started our day. When I became a 5th grade teacher 3 years ago I knew I wanted my students to have the same memory! Obviously in 2014 it's played online and no recordings or VCRs required! ;) Sometimes I get flack from co-workers about spending 10 minutes of my day watching the news with my class; which inspired me to create an accountability component to the news. Each morning students grab their clipboards and news tracker and come to and around the carpet. I show CNN Student News (previewed by me the night before to make sure the content is appropriate...sometimes not all of the news can be watched). Students then watch the stories and choose one story to complete the chart for. At the end of the week I collect them for an informal Social Studies grade. Occasionally, our Time For Kids magazine aligns with CNN Students News and then we discuss how the stories are similar/different in presenting the information using a Double Bubble Thinking Map. You can grad your free copy of the the news tracker by clicking the picture above! If you download it, I would appreciate feedback on how you use it in your classroom. Until next time...

We've just finished our unit on special quadrilaterals, and before our test, I thought I would try to drill home the value of marking up your figure with pertinent information to help you solve problems. I also made them cover up their previous attempts with jokes about their wandering eye that may do them harm. I decided to do it in a "race" type format. I wanted the kids to compete against themselves and make progress between attempts, so I said that they would be timing themselves and grading themselves and being consistent with how they marked mistakes. I put an online timer on my computer and the document camera (this one was nice). I just set the start time for 0 and end time for 2 minutes just in case. At each attempt, in one color, the student was to mark up the figure with useful/correct markings that represented the figure. I reminded them to QUIETLY lay down their pencils at the end (by being goofy and demonstrating the jerky contestant who makes tons of noise at the end). Then when everyone was done (all eyes up), we graded in a different color. We did 3 attempts for each shape, and I kept asking for hand raised if they made improvement. I said they could do the 4th attempt on the night before the test. Helpful? Don't know, but it was a chance to drive home the importance of marking and knowing the properties. Here's the document:

Last year I set a goal to have Brooklyn be able to get her Good Canine Citizen award. Well if you spend more than two minutes around my dog you will instantly know we didn't reach our goal. She is a catalyst of bad behavior. So this year my goal has been for her to walk in Nashville's Christmas Parade with other Nashville Pitties. I always do a lesson on goal setting, but what good is a goal if you aren't organized enough to ensure the steps are in place to meet it? My goal for Brooklyn was a lofty one, in fact it was too big. So we are reorganizing to reduce the stress of dog and mother. This reorganization made and the stress I put on myself to accomplish made me think about how I could change my lesson on organization. After a lot of brainstorming and about 5 drafts here is my new lesson for 4th Grade on responsibility and organization: Lesson 1: We started with a scavenger hunt. I gave teams either an organized back pack or a messy back pack and a list of items. I started the timer and they were off. Most of the teams with organized back packs finished the scavenger hunt within 2-3 minutes and the teams with messy backpacks anywhere from 4-8 minutes. They really got into this, especially because I hid stinky socks, cereal, stuffed animals, and toys in the messy backpacks. Next we discussed that if you were organized that would save you about 2 minutes per day, just enough time to recheck your work, 14 mintues in a week, enough time to read a chapter or two in your new favorite book, and about 56 minutes a month, enough time to watch an entire episode of their favorite Disney show. We ended with a pre-test of work habits so they could identify what they specifically need to improve on. Lessons 2/3: We talked about responsibility and what it means. We watched the video "I Can Do It! Taking Responsibility" which shows the students different scenarios and allows us time to stop and discuss each one. Next we charted what kinds of responsibilities they had in 4th grade. We then role played different responsibilities (the examples are from AIM Education) and in teams practiced what we would do. For example: A new movie you and your best friend are dying to see has just opened up, and your friends wants the two of you to see it this Saturday. The trouble is, your science project is due on Monday, and you and your project partner agreed you would spend Saturday gathering plants in the park. What should you do? At the end of each skit we talked about the different feelings that come with responsibility: stress, disappointment, frustration, etc. That lead us to the postcard activity. I laid several postcards around the room each with a different picture on it. I asked the students to (in silence) find a card that represented how they feel about starting fourth grade and the new responsibilities they are taking on. When everyone had a card we broke into small groups and shared the card we choose and why. Next I asked everyone to set 3 goals for themselves: 1) Something they could accomplish this week. 2) Something they could accomplish in the next 2 months. (I like to remind them of their work habits pre test here) 3) Something they wanted to accomplish by the end of this school year. We then shared our goals with our small group and then with the entire class. I collected the cards and will give them to our students in two months with a personal check in note written on each. **In the past I have done this icebreaker with my faculty and with 6th grade. They filled out the card like an actual postcard and I mailed it to their homes half way through the year. Lesson 4: We continue our talk of responsibility and stress. First in groups they draw what it feels like to be stressed. Then each group shares and we look for similarities that we all have. Next we watch the Brain Pop on stress and at the end they go back to their drawings and surround themselves with things they can do to help alleviate their stress. To finish our series we take the same work habits post test and see if we have improved! Since I only see this grade once a month this 4 part series starts in Sept and ends at Christmas break. Before I know it the sleigh bells are ringing!

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Hello Everyone! One wonderful perk about the 15 hour drive home? I was able to put the finishing touches on my Landforms unit. This unit is coming up in our curriculum, so I'm glad I had time to organize and put everything together. This mini unit includes almost 70 pages of learning centered around exploration of landforms. There are some social studies activities (of course), some ELA (abc order, vocabulary, antonyms, written expression), some math, and a couple of craft connections. I hope you can use even a small part of this. Here are a few pics of the unit. Landforms book inspired by AIMS curric. Unit includes patterns! mystery picture includes clues with mixed math practice If you are interested, please click here for your free unit! Well, spring break is almost over. I have missed my kids so much!! Can't wait to see them! But that's going to have to wait one extra day as I have jury duty tomorrow. Thank goodness for a wonderful substitute teacher who just so happens to be a dear friend. My kids are in good hands!! Next up? Natural resources and geometry units! Stay tuned!! As always, thanks for taking time to take a peek! I appreciate each and every one of you!! Take care! Joyfully! Nancy

Need a creative idea for teaching money to kids? The Money Game is a fun hands-on way! Inspired by the Beth Kobliner Book- Make Your Kids a Money Genius

Back to School is right around the corner for us and I am SUPER excited to kick of this school year with some fun, hands-on and engaging resources for The

Many United States teachers may not have heard of the term "hot seating" yet, but we envision this creative teaching idea jumping across the pond from the U.K very soon! Overview “Hot Seating” is a teaching strategy in which either the teacher or student takes on the role of a character from a book or real person and sits in the hot seat. Then the other classmates ask questions and the person in the “hot seat” must answer the questions the way the character or historical figure would have answered. Background Knowledge For “Hot Seating” to be effective, students involved must have background knowledge of the character/person. This will need to take place during normal classroom instruction or outside of school. In order for students to acquire the background knowledge, they must do the research/read the book. Acquiring background knowledge can be accomplished through a variety of ways: Classroom textbook/or literature book Books from the school or public library Online resources (Encyclopedia Britannica, Explora, Kids Discover, etc.) Questioning At the center of “Hot Seating” are the questions that the students will be asking. It is highly recommend that you model the questioning process. You want the questions to focus on the personal feelings and observations that the character would be familiar with. It is important that you are the moderator during the questioning period so the questions stay on topic. Grouping Hot Seating can be structured a few different ways: Whole Class- This is where the entire class takes turns to ask another student(s) in the “hot seat” questions. Small Group- This is where a small group of students (5-6) ask one another student in the “hot seat” questions. Partners- This is where one student is in the “hot seat” and the other student asks the questions. Debate One interesting twist that you could do with your class is to have opposing viewpoints as part of a debate. There are two ways to do this. The first way would be to give a student in the hot seat a specific amount of time to answer questions from the audience. Then his/her “opponent” would do the same. The second way would be for both students are in front of the class taking turns answering the same questions (back and forth). This can really help students understand different perspectives. Extension Ideas During “Hot Seating”, you could have your students take notes on how the character/person answers the questions. Once the “Hot Seating” session has ended, have each student choose how he/she would like to display what he/she learned. Some choices could be: Make a poster Write a news article Create a timeline Perform a news show Write a song Teacher Tips: Decide how you want the hot seat to look in your classroom. In other words, decide if you want to do it as a whole class, small groups, or partners. Decide which student(s) will be on the hot seat. Choose the role/figure that they will portray. Find a "hot seat" for the person. It can be a simple student chair, or a special one for the activity. You may also want to show the students how to write a bibliography if students are doing a historical figure and are taking notes from various media. When the research is complete, or the literature book is finished, organize your class and figure out how questions will be asked. Make sure to help facilitate between the character/person and the audience asking questions. Check out our Hot Seating resources here. We hope you can try "Hot Seating" in your classroom. Your students will love it! Follow us on TPT. Find us on Pinterest.

In Texas, 3rd Grade Social Studies is ALL about communities. When I first started teaching 3rd, it seemed like every unit was another "Communities Unit"

Support exploration of 'Beowulf' with StoryboardThat's lesson plans, summaries, and vocabulary. Activities on plot and Scandinavian themes for students.

• SPARK IMAGINATION & PROMOTE SELF-EXPRESSION – Let kids choose their colors and watch their creativity take flight as they create their own geography study aids.• IMPROVE FOCUS & CONCENTRATION – Coloring encourages spatial awareness and helps kids focus on boundaries and lines.• BOOST CONFIDENCE – Completing a coloring page, big or small, will give kids a great sense of accomplishment and improve their self-esteem. • ENHANCE HAND & EYE COORDINATION – Coloring involves a variety of actions including holding crayons or markers, choosing colors and sharpening colored pencils. All of these tasks help children build their hand and eye coordination.Product Description:Our Color Your Own All About My State Posters are perfect classroom supplies for your geography study! Students can show off everything they know about their state as they use their own markers to make these paper posters bright. Perfect study aids, brightly colored posters help youngsters retain information long after the course is over. The finished posters are wonderful classroom decorations!Size: 22 x 17Quantity: 30Material: Paper© OTC”These posters are wonderful for researching information about a state. Provide each student with a poster and then each can be researching a different state. The information is appropriate and can be used as an assessment in a classroom.”Amy, Educational Product Development Specialist, Nebraska

This is my 8th logic game. It´s about the TV programmes and ´be going to. It´s good to have some fun before or in the Summer Holiday. Some cliparts are from Philip Martin. Thanks for them. Hope you like it. Hugs, ZsuzsapsziIf you don’t know how to solve this kind of game, you can look at the Einstein riddle on the net or have a look at my 33rd logic game, called Best friends where I wrote down the solution step by step. - ESL worksheets

Hi Everyone! Happy 3 Day weekend! :) This will be a quick post... I will be diving into inferencing next week. (although I've dabbled in it here and there) I LOVE to start with this book: It is quite a simple read with MANY opportunities for the children to use their inferring skills. I first start off by reading it orally and talking about what inference really means- Use the text clues + Use what I know (schema) = Inference The kids catch on pretty quickly! Then on the second day we use an organizer to fill in our thinking. I find that this helps those that need a visual, will understand more clearly after practicing it this way. (click above to get a copy) The sample is filled in with references to "The Stray Dog," but it could be used with any book! I also found this website that has a inferencing game!! It will give clue by clue and then allow the children to make a guess. It is super cute and VERY appropriate for young children! I have also discovered that there are TONS of people that have created inference boards on Pinterest. Oh Pinterest, what would I do without you ;) If it works... click HERE to see all the boards!! Finally, I end my unit with this AMAZING activity!! This is so fun for the kids and it pulls our "unit" together. There is a lot of prep to this, but once you have it all put together it is so much fun. If you bought this, I added a new recording sheet to it and also made a final "what really happened" story. I'd be happy to share! Just leave a comment or shoot me an email! :) Thanks to those that entered my Narrative Writing giveaway!! Amanda and Kathy were the big winners!! :) Don't forget my buy one get one offer ends tomorrow night!! Just email me for details or to tell me of your purchase!! I leave you first with my mustachey class :) (this was part of my valentine to them... BIG HIT!) ...and a tiny sneak peek at my upcoming product...