My Zettelkasten workflow is the basic Zettelkasten method, but modified to work for me as a fiction writer.

Are you teaching writing in Spanish? If so, I've got a BIG freebie for you!

Author Tricia Goyer shares Free Printables for Writing Your Novel. Do you want easy-to-use worksheets to help novel writing? Grab these!

Linking up AGAIN with Collaboration Cuties for their Must Read Mentor Text Linky. The topic again this week is mentor texts for back to school... Personal Space Camp by Julia Cook is a great text to use toward the beginning of school when teaching kids what it means to respect each others' personal space. When my kids brainstorm their classroom responsibilities (rules), keeping your hands to yourself is ALWAYS shared, so that is when I choose to use this text as a read aloud. Amazon Synopsis: Louis is back! And this time, he's learning all about personal space. Louis, a self-taught space expert is delighted to learn that his teacher has sent him to the principal's office to attend personal space camp. Eager to learn more about lunar landings, space suits, and other cosmic concepts, Louis soon discovers that he has much to learn about personal space right here on earth. When Louis is at Personal Space Camp, he is asked to sit inside of a hula hoop. The area inside the hula hoop represents a person's personal space. I bring in hula hoops so students can stand inside and actually have the same experience Louis did in the story. This is a creative read aloud and results in wonderful discussions with the kids... If you have not heard of Julia Cook's wonderful books, click here to check out Amazon's Julia Cook Page. If you have, you just might find a new one you like... :0) On to my fabulous stumbled upon finds... Well, as I as writing this post, and got online to find a cover image of Personal Space Camp, I stumbled upon an image that then led me to a Pinterest board with a focus on counseling bibliotherapy (by Dianne Loyd). This then led me to another text that I had never heard of and immediately caught my eye... Which led me to another book by Linda Kranz (and the plush fish)... Which led me to oodles of art projects and another AWESOME art site... There's a Dragon in My Art Room AND this wonderful art project to accompany Linda Kranz's books... Which made me want to see if Linda Kranz had a website... Which is where I found these FREE goodies to use with the kids... (also available for You Be You) Needless to say, these fabulous stumbled upon finds caused me to order both of the books and the plush fish. HOW HAVE I NEVER COME UPON THESE BOOKS BEFORE TODAY???? I am REALLY looking forward to using these inspiring books this fall and seeing my kids unique fish masterpieces! Fly on over to Collaboration Cuties to read about more back to school mentor texts... Wishing you a wonderful week!

I love teaching letter writing in the classroom. Students love writing friendly letters to each other. I've got 6 ideas for making teaching letter writing easier for you including sample anchor charts, picture book ideas and extension activities.

I’ve been spending some serious amounts of time this summer leading conversations around the country focused on the integration of social studies and literacy. And for the last few years, I…

Ok. I L.O.V.E the clip chart. I've tried several other behavior management systems and none compare. Seriously. I was first introduced to it by a good friend (and colleague) a couple years ago. She got it from a mentor teacher, who got it from... who knows. Anyway, it spread through our school like wildfire. Why? Because it works and reinforces positive behavior. The real source of the clip chart is Rick Morris. I want to kiss him for it. Click here for the eBook which gives you lots of details. For those of you new to the clip chart concept, here's a run down: Make a chart (see the various examples below) Students start out on Green each day (ready to learn) Good choice = clip up one color Bad choice = clip down one color Another bad choice? clip down Another good choice? clip up They can go up and down throughout the day. "What's that you say Ashley?" They can move up AND down. They aren't stuck on a stupid yellow or red light once they make a poor choice (don't get me started on the red, yellow, green light / 123 magic system). They also don't get three warnings before I actually make them clip down. They know the rules. If they break them, then they know the consequence. However, they have a chance to redeem themselves if they had a bad morning. I'd be towards the bottom too if I came in without my coffee. Non-verbal signals work easily with this. No more interrupting class or making a public scene. Thumbs up = clip up; Thumbs down = clip down Easy to understand and you don't have to even touch the chart. The kids can move the clips on their own and a student can have the job of moving everyone back to green at the end of the day. Parents get it and LOVE it. They appreciate that their child's day isn't ruined by being stuck on yellow at 8am and not being able to turn the day around. Easy to communicate daily behavior (you need 7 markers and some sort of recording sheet... see below). It promotes POSITIVE behavior. It's awesome. More proof of it's awesomeness: I am teaching here in Switzerland and all of my international students 'get it'. I have Swiss, Russian, Italian, French, German, Dutch, and Austrian kids. It took one day to get the hang of it. They love it and they HATE clipping down. I rarely have any behavior problems and when I do it's something minor. Want to make your own? Great! Step 1: Make a chart There are endless ways to do it. Just make sure it will be durable and the kids can easily use it. My two versions are below. The first was in my kindergarten classroom (stool next to it) and I made it from page protectors stapled/taped to the wall (so they could get the clips on) and regular sheets of paper. Here's my mobile clip chart below. It's about 2' tall and I have two different sets of names (for each class). I bought a piece of white plastic/board from the hardware store (not sure what it was for) and painted it, let it dry, then wrote the words with permanent marker (tried painting words, but it looked like I'd been drinking all day so I stuck with black marker). The clips are painted white because I'm a type A person and wanted white. I can paint over them for my next class. I'm pretty proud of myself for accomplishing this in Switzerland because everything seems like a challenge. More examples... What Happens in 2nd Grade Miss Lak's 2nd Grade Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten Finally in First Teach-A-Roo Mrs. Grant's Kinder Gators Reflections from Within Tales of a 3rd Grade Seriously cannot figure out where I found this one. Let me know if you know the source. Babbling Abby First Grade Fever Mrs. Bukovan's Class Step 2: Introduce it to your students (AND parents). They'll get it. Parents might not at first because they're not the ones using it, but they will because their kids will talk about it. Have students practice moving their clips up and down. Make a chart of good and poor choices. Use the rules you already have in class. Don't make up new ones. It's easy to integrate! Step 3: Let it be awesome You will quickly fall in love with it and you'll hardly touch the thing. It will do what it's supposed to do... as long as you're not a crazy and horrible teacher who delights in kids clipping down. Improvements & Adaptations: If a student gets to the top and they're just having an outstanding, super, amazing day, then let them clip up even more. Clip up to the teacher's shirt? What about clipping it to your hair? I know my kids went insane when one of them got to clip up to my pony tail or shirt. Crazy. If my kids got to the top (purple in my room) then they got to spin a wheel. The wheel had special 'prizes' on it: computer time, sitting at teacher's desk, reading to another class, eating lunch with a friend from another class, etc.... not candy and toys. I don't believe in rewarding good behavior with diabetes. Halloween is enough. Make one of your class jobs the "clip manager." The clip manager gets to reset all of the clips to green at the end of the day. Top of the chart = a jewel (you know those sparkly ones at craft stores?) OR you could give them a different color each time they reach the top (which is supposed to be rare). Things to be aware of: Clips will break/come apart.... at the. most. inconvenient. times. Be prepared. Have new ones handy or be ready to fix them. Really young ones (< 5) might have trouble using the clothespin. Give them a week. They'll get it. Kids will start asking you to clip up. All. the. time. Tell them "asking doesn't work." You have to catch them in the act. Once you tell one kid to clip up then you'll have 20 other students copying the behavior. It's great, but be prepared to respond to this: "You let Katie clip up and I did the same thing. That's not fair. Why can't I do it?" Some students might need their own mini clip chart at their desk. You know the ones who have severe control issues. Giving them a mini version serves as a constant reminder. They can even take it to their specials classes (art, PE, music, etc.). You know that sneaky student? They will try to clip up double spots. Beware. I made a rule that if they got caught clipping up double, then they clipped down double. It never happened again. "Piggy-back clipping" - the act of clipping your clip on the end of another clip, thus making a long ridiculous chain of clips. This WILL happen. You know what? Who cares?! Let them piggy-back clip... unless it becomes a distraction. Here's the form I sent home each day. Click it to download! This form was in each student's folder. The circle is to be filled with whatever color the student ends the day on. You need 7 colors and maybe a pen to write an explanation for 'parent contact' students. So easy. I made a ton of copies of this at the beginning of the year and replaced it at the beginning of each month. It's very visual and I even let the kids color in their circles the last quarter of the year (with supervision).... they loved it. SOOO thankful that my friend S introduced me to the clip chart. Thanks S!!! Go make a clip chart. Now. Do it. {ashley}lllllllllllllll

How to write chapter outlines or chapter summaries for your memoir book proposal, including examples of how long they should be.

So it’s about that time for a lot of you out there. You know, Back to School Time! I have a little less than a month before I need to report for duty, but come August my brain pretty much switches from Summer Brain over to Teacher Brain. One of the things I love about going back to school is that it’s my opportunity to try out new ideas, to change up the decorations or furniture placement in my room, and to become a better version of my teacher self. I have last years mistakes and successes under my belt. I know what works, what really, really works, and what I won’t do again. Heading into my 6th year of teaching {{gasp}} I’m starting to finally feel like I know a few things :) I decided to round up some pins and products that I am really excited to put to use come September. Hopefully you will find some new ideas too. And if you’ve already tried an activity, tip, or product, I’d love to hear what you think about it! All the pictures are linked to the original source so you can read up on what makes them so fabulous! There are so many cute ideas listed here. It’s an especially awesome pin if you are also a parent with kids heading back to school. I especially love this adorable binder from Thirty Handmade Days… I’m loving the idea of individual trash cans so my kiddos aren’t up and down every time we make a craft or do a project. The ones pictured are from the adorable Michelle over at Fabulous in First. Speaking of Michelle… I am really excited to use her “Second Grade Helper” this year. This is going to be such a great resource for my kiddos to have in their desks. I can already hear the words, “Use your Helper.” Love it! {The link to this one is not a link to the specific post. I couldn’t find it on there! I’m also Tumblr-Illiterate so that might be part of the problem} I’m on a never-ending quest to be more organized and I love this idea. It lays it all out there for ya! When I make a big long list the important stuff sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. I might have to make a cutisfied version of this one but I love the inspiration! Speaking of being organized I am so loving this awesome InFORMation Kit by none other than the awesome, amazing Kelley Dolling. She’s seriously thought of everything, made it cute, and even better…editable. I wish I thought of it myself. This is a MUST DO for me. I love the “More Time” Bin. Instead of papers getting hidden in classwork folders, students put unfinished papers in the basket. They can go back to the basket whenever they have extra time AND I always know who is still working on what. Genius! I don’t have a classroom bathroom anymore, but I’m going to put these in the hallway bathrooms. They’re cute and they get the point across…don’t you just love when that happens?! I love, love, love all of these Parent Resources for Back to School. Consider them printed and prepared for the first day of school and/or Open House. They’re attention grabbing but have really important and relevant information and tips for parents. Creating a tightknit classroom community from day 1 is so important to me. I organize plenty of activities year after year that have worked wonderfully and I am excited about adding this one to the mix. I bought the frame to make this today and I can’t wait to have my kiddos sign it the first day. {The print is a FREEBIE by the way :)} This class list idea is oh-so-cute and perfect for a sub-binder or student teacher. Or those first few crazy days where you don’t even remember your own name, much less those 28 little people running around your room. Okay, so I kind, sorta, cheated with the second image because it’s a product of mine, but really, between Alisha’s totally awesome, super-fabulous “Savvy in Second Grade” pack and my “Back to School MEGA Book Pack” my lessons and activities for the first two weeks of school are completely covered. Alisha has compiled some of the cutest crafts and activities into this pack. I am seriously obsessed. Seriously. I’m lovin’ it. I am also a HUGE book lover and I want my kiddos to have the same love for reading that I do. I try to incorporate as many story-based lessons as I can {outside of our regular curriculum}. I start off right away with my Back to School MEGA Pack. It has tons of lessons to go with your favorite Back to School books including… *Stripes *Chrysanthemum *The Recess Queen *The Juicebox Bully *Hooway for Wodney Wat *Dear Teacher *How I Spent My Summer Vacation I’ll be back soon to show off a few of the activities! The above are only a few of my Back to School Pins. You can check out my Back to School Pinterest Board by clicking below. Don’t forget…my Favorite Things Linky is this Thursday! The category this week is Back to School Faves for the Kids. I’ll be back with even more Back to School goodies! There’s also still time to scoop up this fabulous BUNDLE from educents. There are so many great products included in this bundle by so many of my favorite 2nd and 3rd Grade bloggers. This is good stuff, people! Have a great night everyone! Halle

As the school year comes to a close, you might be looking at your calendar thinking, what on earth am I going to do with these random extra days? Or maybe you have room on your calendar for a final unit, but no idea what to do with your students. I’ve got your solution right he

It’s no secret that I’ve been writing free functional programs for several years, and I’m regularly asked in what order they should be performed. This ... Read more

Goal Setting - This 4th grade teacher uses post it notes to remind children of their goals upon entering the classroom. I love that her method to this has

If you're looking for inspiration to write, we’ve got you covered. In the guide, you’ll get strategies and prompts to get ideas for things to write about.

Social Stories are a great tool to help kids manage difficult or confusing situations. It’s a way to give information about those situations, including what is expected or what might happen in a simple, supportive and reassuring way. Carol Gray initially defined and refined the process of creating s

Use these catchy number formation rhymes to teach children how to write numbers!

So you’ve taught your students to write sentences. Now what? In the beginning of my career, we worked HARD on writing sentences. When it came time to take the next step into writing paragraphs, I found this was even harder for my students. We were able to write 2-3 sentences about a topic or picture, ... Read More about How to Scaffold Paragraph Writing for Special Education

Why does writing in complete sentences seem like such a grueling task? I'm sure you've heard students say, "Do we have to write in complete sentences?" Learn effective teaching strategies to help even your most reluctant writers. These tips will guide your students to be successful writers. Students are being held to more rigorous standards. Most teachers not only require students to write in complete sentences when writing essays, but also when answering text-dependent questions for reading comprehension, math problems, and content area activities. With this requirement in all subject areas, students need to master the basic tools to writing in complete sentences. Why go back to the basics? A shocking fact: 27% of 12th graders in the U.S. perform at grade level in writing. Many upper grade teachers think students already have the fundamentals of sentence structure ingrained in their brains. They quickly learn this is far from the truth. Although subjects and predicates are introduced in the lower grade Common Core Standards, most upper elementary students need these skills repeated to be successful writers. Middle school and high school teachers also reach out to me for help with the basics to get quality writing out of their students. What are the steps to writing in complete sentences? Taking time to thoroughly explore complete sentences can only benefit your students for future lessons, writing activities, and standards-based goals. Here are 5 steps to achieve one of their writing goals. 1. TEACH Knowledge is power! Explain that every sentence needs a subject and predicate. I like to provide a visual for students to help their long-term memory. The anchor chart below shows a visual of PB and J. Subjects and predicates go together like PEANUT BUTTER and JELLY. Refer back to the PB and J throughout the year for reminders and motivation. A COMPLETE SENTENCE needs a subject and predicate. A SUBJECT is who or what the sentence is about. A PREDICATE is what action the subject does or links the subject by telling what the subject is. 2. MODEL Model examples like the ones below for your students. This will set the foundation for lessons on fragments and run-on sentences. 3. NOTES They can't remember everything! To help students remember the lesson and have a reference for future writing assignments, they should keep a writing notebook. Whether it is written notes, interactive notes, or printed mini anchor charts, students can use them throughout the year to remind them of the lesson. It gives students a permanent record of what they learned. 4. PRACTICE Practice makes perfect! In order to get to the next (most important) step, students should practice what they learned. Practice helps students identify subjects, predicates and complete sentences. Just like learning to ride a bike. You might not get it the first time, but practice will help you get there! It is a step in the right direction. Don't stop at this step! Practicing grammar lessons in isolation has proven to be ineffective! Read on! 5. APPLY Make it real-world! Why shouldn't we teach grammar lessons in isolation? Grammar is best taught in the context of student writing. It is more effective when students learn through writing! On the Pennington Publishing Blog, they list 16 Reasons Why Daily Oral Language (D.O.L.) Doesn't Work. Although it is necessary for the previous steps, students will learn at a deeper level through authentic context. They need to APPLY their knowledge and WRITE! Get your students writing and discuss the complete sentences within their writing. I hope you learned some effective strategies for your students! Resource for teaching complete sentences: Connect With Me! TPT Store Facebook Pinterest My Blog

Do you think writing an outline of your chapters will help you but don't know where to start creating one? Create the perfect chapters outline.

As a writer, you need to have one. Just like you should have a reading journal to help you become a better writer. But, what goes in a writer’s journal?

Open when letters for boyfriend / girlfriend / wife / husband, for your best friend, for your child, mom or dad, for ANYONE! PLUS an example letter that you can use as inspiration.

Over the years I've created and shared more than 500 printables here on the blog. Keeping track of all of them and, more importantly, making them easy for you to find can be a bit

This post discusses the different types of outliners, my experience with outlining, and my ideal outlining process!

If you hate putting a memory book together, then I've got the solution for you! Plus, students are responsible for putting it together throughout the year.

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Sending wedding wishes to the newly wed couple is a charming way to congratulate their life-long affinity and wish good luck...

Wait! Hang on! Don’t click out! 🙂 It’s not THAT kind of Show and Tell, where the kids bring in their half-eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or the lint from the dryer or, even worse, some kind of dead rat or lizard or whatever. I know. I’ve seen those kid-type movies on TV. I’ve ... Read More about Show and Tell {A Speaking and Listening Program}

Short on time? Feel like you need an assistant? I was sceptical at first but in this blog post I'll share 10 ways teachers can use ChatGPT to save time.

Teaching the elements of fiction doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming. See how I break it down and teach through stations!

Teaching students how to identify the theme in literature can be down right difficult. This year I tried something new and it worked great!

If you're writing a book for the first time and you're not sure what the steps to do it are, you can follow these simple tips to start writing your novel.

We are on our 4th week of measurement in my class! PTL the rulers are put away this week because we've moved onto learning about area! After 3

Help the learning process with these simple strategies for making studennt thinking visible. Perfect for middle and high school English classes.

If you hate putting a memory book together, then I've got the solution for you! Plus, students are responsible for putting it together throughout the year.

It's been a while since I've posted a project - it always seems to be that I'll have a couple of weeks where we are "in process", then sudd...

Independent reading is a great way to help students build a love of reading! These 5 strategies help hold students accountable!

Combining directed drawing and writing together provides an engaging literacy activity that targets core skills.

April is National Poetry Month, which is just around the corner. This post includes 25 ideas for teaching poetry to instill a love of poems!

How to find paid work in wildlife conservation? For so many of us, this is the million dollar question! And if you've found this page, chances are you're interested in finding the secret to make your passion your profession and getting paid to work with wildlife. Speaking with countless ecologists about their journey through wildlife