Trade in that girls shopping trip for a little autumn face time like this shindig from Chrissy McDonald and Torrey Fox.

Paul Klee was an important painter in the history of modern art. I have always been drawn to his colorful, abstract pictures. Children can relate to the simple geometric shapes and bold colors. His art has been related to Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism. Swiss artist Paul Klee painted the Castle and Sun with simplified shapes, but viewers can easily see the way the shapes form a castle or city-like scene. For this lesson, we are going to paint colorful swatches … Read more... →

I like to teach about rainbows and the colors of the rainbow around St. Patrick’s Day since part of the lore of the leprechaun is that he sometimes hides his pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Here are a few of my favorite rainbow activities. Rainbow Science Experiment This simple experiment helps students […]

WeWork, the $10 billion coworking platform that rents office space to small businesses and promising startups shared with us photos of its new coworking

Dialogue journals are a powerful tool for building trust with your students. Learn how they work.

We've got a great selection of grade level worksheets for kindergarten & first grade. Includes sight words, reading, math, science & social studies.

Here is a sample of our ever changing Data Wall. The kids add a sticker every time they get a 100% on their spelling tests. As you can se...

Jeremiah and Amanda are not used to sharing anything, and when they get to kindergarten they must share everything. Jeremiah and Amanda are having a hard time with sharing, they each throw a bit of a fit when the other won't share. The teacher continually comes prancing over to them to explain that in kindergarten "we share everything". Finally, Jeremiah and Amanda have a great idea, they decide to share their clothes. They share their shirts, pants, shoes and socks. This "sharing" shocks the teacher and delights the rest of the class. Once again Robert Munsch writes a story that your students will find quite funny and at the same time it is a great story to segue into what it means to share. Listed below are the reading skills and strategies and ideas you can use to create a meaningful lesson. Below you will also find a freebie I created to go with this book. Reading level: 2.5 Theme/subject: school, behavior Genre: humorous Reading skills and strategies: Asking questions - {possible questions before} I wonder if they really will share everything. {possible questions during} I wonder if Jeremiah and Amanda will ever share. I wonder if Jeremiah and Amanda will get their clips moved down. {possible questions after} I wonder why Jeremiah and Amanda got in trouble for sharing their clothes. **Remember to have your students answer/reflect their questions. Author's point of view – Third. Be sure to find 3 pieces of evidence to support this (he, they, the teacher). Author's purpose – Entertain {evidence} The illustrations of the teacher floating around with flowers and birds around her head are silly. It was funny when Amanda stuck the book in Jeremiah’s mouth. Jeremiah and Amanda looked silly wearing each other’s clothes. All these things make a very entertaining story. Beginning, middle, end - {most important event from beginning} Jeremiah and Amanda started kindergarten. {most important event from middle} The teacher told Amanda and Jeremiah that in kindergarten they are supposed to share everything. {most important event from end} Jeremiah and Amanda decided to share their clothes. Cause and effect – Why did Amanda put the book in Jeremiah’s mouth. Because Jeremiah yelled when Amanda wouldn’t share the book with him. Why did Amanda kick down Jeremiah’s block tower? Because he wouldn’t share the blocks with her. Why did the teacher come running over to Jeremiah and Amanda after Amanda kicked the blocks down? So she could tell them that in kindergarten they are supposed to share everything. How come the paint went flying all over the room? Because Amanda and Jeremiah wouldn’t take turns painting; they tried to both be first to paint. How come Jeremiah and Amanda decided to share their clothes? Because they were told they had to share everything. Character analysis - describe Amanda. Describe Jeremiah. {looks like, feelings, thoughts, character} Character changes – at the beginning of the story both Amanda and Jeremiah didn’t know how to share. At the end of the story Amanda and Jeremiah were sharing their clothes. Classify & categorize – Classify things – things that are good to share and things that shouldn’t be shared. Compare & contrast – Amanda and Jeremiah. You and Amanda or Jeremiah. Your class and Amanda and Jeremiah’s class. Your teacher and Amanda and Jeremiah’s teacher. Connections - {possible text-to-self connections} Not wanting to share what you have. Having someone not wanting to share with you. Sharing your clothes with a friend. Drawing conclusions & inferencing – Why did the author draw the teacher with birds and flowers around her head and to look like she was flying? {text clues} The teacher has a smile on her face and looks really happy and nice. {what I know} I know that flowers, and bird and smiles are all nice happy things. {my conclusion} I think the author drew the teacher to look like she was flying to show that she is a really nice teacher. Main idea & details - {main idea} The story is mostly about Jeremiah and Amanda not sharing. {details} Jeremiah yelled when Amanda would not share her book. Amanda kicked down Jeremiah’s block tower when he would not share the blocks. Plot - the turning point or climax in the story is when Jeremiah and Amanda decided to share everything. Predict – What do you think the story is about. What do you think Amanda is going to do after Jeremiah yells in his face? What do you think Amanda is going to do to Jeremiah’s block tower? What do you think will happen to Jeremiah and Amanda after they made a mess with the paint? Do you think Jeremiah will ever share anything? What do you think Amanda and Jeremiah will end up sharing? What do you think the teacher will do when she sees Jeremiah and Amanda in each others clothes? Problem & solution - {problem} Jeremiah and Amanda are not sharing. {solution} Amanda and Jeremiah finally decide to share their clothes. Sequencing – Amanda and Jeremiah start kindergarten. Amanda won’t share her book. Jeremiah won’t share his bocks. Amanda and Jeremiah both want to be first to paint. Amanda and Jeremiah decide to share their clothes. The teacher faints and all the kids share their clothes. Story elements - list title, author, characters, setting, beginning, middle, end, or problem & solution. Strong thought – It looks like Amanda and Jeremiah don’t know how to share. How would you explain to them how to share? Summarize - {someone} The teacher {wanted} wanted Amanda and Jeremiah to share {but} but they never did {so} so the teacher had to keep telling them that in kindergarten they are supposed to share everything. {then} Then Jeremiah and Amanda decided to share their clothes. Theme – It is important to share. There are some things that you shouldn’t share. Happy Planning!

The spring to me is all about flowers, first leaves and... cats! To create depth and dimension in this Pocket Letter I have added some elements inside the pockets and some on top of a plastic sleeve. The VIDEO TUTORIAL shows the whole process step by step. SUPPLIES: Memory Box PINPOINT RECTANGLE LAYERS Open Studio Craft Die MB30065 *Memory Box SMALL MADISON WINDOW POPPY STAMPS Craft DIE 816 *Memory Box SMALL MADISON WINDOW SHUTTER POPPY STAMPS Craft DIE 833 *Memory Box PICKET FENCE POPPY STAMPS Craft DIE 827 *Memory Box GRASSLAND BORDER POPPY STAMPS Craft DIE 825 Memory Box WEEPING WILLOW BRANCHES POPPY STAMPS Craft Die 1194 Memory Box EXQUISITE BRANCH FRAME POPPY STAMPS Craft Die 1341 Memory Box COZY KITTIES POPPY STAMPS Craft Die 1204 Memory Box STROLLING KITTIES POPPY STAMPS Craft Die 1213 Stitched Main Street Tags Memory Box DOGWOOD BLOSSOMS POPPY STAMPS Craft Die 1436 Memory Box ADVENT CALENDAR SET Craft DIE 98642 Tim Holtz Sizzix INK SPLATS & WOOD PLANKS Texture Fades Embossing Folders 658726 *Memory Box Garden DELPHINIUM Mini Designer Stencil 88571 *Memory Box Garden STEMS Mini Designer Stencil 88570 Tsukineko Memento Ink Pad LONDON FOG ME-901 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad WEATHERED WOOD Ranger TIM20257 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad BUNDLED SAGE Ranger TIM27102 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad PINE NEEDLES Ranger TIM21476 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad TATTERED ROSE Ranger TIM20240 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MILLED LAVENDER Ranger TIM20219 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad DUSTY CONCORD Ranger TIM21445 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad FRAYED BURLAP Ranger TIM21469 *Ranger Inkssentials INK BLENDING TOOL Applicator Foam IBT23616 Ranger Inkssentials CRAFT NIB HOLDER CND32915 Holmes In Love Royal Lace Paper Doilies: 4 Spellbinders Grand Calibur Die Cutting Machine Craft Scissors Bosch PKP 18E GN Hot Melt Glue Gun / PKP 18E GN Ultra Pro Silver Series 100/9 Pocket Page Protectors McGill - Paper Blossoms Collection - Tool Kit InLinkz.com

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it! Things are being shaken up (at least, in the umpiring world!) at FIH this week with the announcement of the new FIH international umpiring pathway being released (read the FIH news article here). I had a chat with FIH Officials Committee Chairman, Henrik Ehlers, about the new pathway and what it means for the future of international umpiring. The change in the pathway aims to: Reflect current performance and availability, and therefore allowing for movement between panels to serve hockey in the best possible way. Introduce education & training through the FIH Academy, directly linked to panels as a mandatory requirement to maintain status. Significantly increase the talent development of younger officials in partnership with the continental federations. Allow fast-tracking of high potential officials. Slightly lower the criteria for entry-level officials making it possible to celebrate international status for more officials. So let’s step into the world of international appointments… The new FIH Umpiring Pathway – The Inside Scoop Interview with FIH Officials Committee Chairman Henrik Ehlers Firstly, can you tell us a little about your role as Chairman of the FIH Officials Committee? The FIH Officials Committee, which I chair, has the objective to educate, develop, promote and appoint officials across all categories (Umpires, Umpire Managers, Technical Officials/Tournament Directors, Video Umpires, etc.) in order to support the FIH 10 year strategy: ‘The Hockey Revolution’. How did you move into working with FIH after your own world class career as an umpire and then umpire manager? Well, the role is a voluntary one of which you are invited to take on by the FIH President and the FIH CEO. For me it was quite an exciting step after a 20 year career umpiring and a 7 year career as an Umpire Manager at top international level. (Henrik was, amongst a list of many other prestigious appointments – including 4 Olympic Games as an umpire – one of the Umpire Managers at the 2016 Rio Olympics!) So the FIH grading pathway is changing – what the reasoning behind the shift? Our sport is investing enormous amounts of resources to grow our game globally, both with more players and with our fan base. This has led to the development of the soon-to-launch (2019) Hockey Pro League. 72 matches for each the men and women over 6 months in a “home & away” set-up, with huge and loud crowds in the stadium. Adding to the challenge is that the officials will operate outside of the, normally very protected, tournament environment. This certainly raises the bar for our officials as far as professionalism and performance pressure is concerned. Also, for years we have had our categories of officials in different panel structures. Some of these seemed very rigid and didn’t allow for fast tracking of high potential talents. This situation lead to the Officials Committee developing a new panel structure that is similar for all categories. That allows fast-tracking of officials and includes education and training under the umbrella of the FIH Academy. The new panel structure introduces, for the first time in FIH history, a dedicated, non-internationally badged panel that focuses on our youngest officials that show significant talent in order to develop them for an international career. Can you explain to us how the new pathway works? The new Panel Structure has its primary focus to increase our quality of officiating as well as offering officials a transparent structure. The new panels are: Talent Development Panel – The panel for the younger talents in all categories of officials. Should be able to reach Pro League Panel within 6 years. A special education program is dedicated to this group of officials at Continental Federation level. International Panel – The entry-level international panel. Mostly used at continental level. Advancement Panel – The panel for the high potential officials with potential of reaching the Pro League Panel or International Elite Panel within 3 years. This would be even more talent-focused than the old Promising Umpire List. International Elite Panel – The panel for the very experienced official that can operate at both continental and global level. Pro League Panel – Our very best officials. High performance. Serving the Hockey Pro League. The Pro League Panels consist of maximum: 40 Technical Officials 20 Umpire Managers 30 female umpires 30 male umpires The World Cup Panel – Populated by the best Pro League Panel Officials to serve the FIH World Cups. Only populated from appointment to the World Cup and until the tournament is over. The officials then return to their original panels. The Olympic Games Panel – Populated by the best Pro League Panel Officials to serve the Olympic Games. Only populated from appointment to the Olympic Games until the tournament is over. The officials then return to their original panels. How will umpires move through the new pathway? What will be the requirements for promotion to the different levels? Each panel will have criteria to pass. And there are specific qualifying tournaments to reach each panel. For example, to get onto the Pro League Panel, it will have to be quite high level events that has to be the “qualifier”. The criteria will be performance and fitness. If an umpire shows consistently strong performances and passes the fitness test, the FIH will upgrade to the next level. We will possibly be a little bolder with our promotions, or movements as we call it. The new panel structure allows movement in all directions, both up and down based on the CURRENT performance. The idea is that the panel should indicate, as much as possible, where your current performance level fits best. With the Pro League Panel (PLP), we will only evaluate once a year. So basically, every year around July, after the completion of the Hockey Pro League, we will evaluate if any new umpires are coming up. There are only a limited number of seats on the PLP and some will have to come off for others to come up. We believe in the FIH Officials Committee that this competition amongst umpires will be a great asset for our sport and a […]

Explore kmuhtaris' 89 photos on Flickr!

How do you post your objectives? #satchat #satchatwc

Never forget that walking away from something unhealthy is BRAVE - even if you stumble a little on your way out the door.

Personalized learning is on the rise for learners in our schools. Redesigned schools include personal learning plans, playlists of content tailored to ...

Seeing how much you liked our "Sea Bunny" and "Sea Sheep" post, we decided to dive deeper to see what else is hidden beneath the sea. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the ocean is full cute slugs!

Some of you may already know this, but I have been working on finishing up my Masters Degree for some time now. Almost 2 years being "some time". I am ready to be finished, and thankfully, I almost am! But I have been BUSY finishing up assignments for my classes, closing down my classroom for the summer, doing report cards, awards, and a whole plethora of other things that have kept me away from blogging and pretty much anything else that is fun. I've been stressed out to the point that I have had this nagging stomachache for like 2 weeks now, and I know that's what it is from. I also managed to hurt my wrist doing so much typing! Crazy, huh? One of the assignments for a class I was taking was to do some "action research" in my classroom. Then I have to write a huge research paper on it. Ugh. However, doing the research itself was interesting and kind of fun. :-) I have a small group of students I have been working on with fluency, mostly because they were struggling with comprehension. They were word callers- they didn't even pay attention to punctuation, they just read the words. I knew this was an area I could help with. So for another class, I did some lessons on fluency and presented those findings to my class. But for this class, I wanted to switch gears and work on something else. So I chose comprehension strategies. Specifically, retelling. I have been interested in using retelling gloves in my classroom for awhile. Long enough that I stocked up on clearance winter gloves from Target last winter and stashed them in my closet. :-) So I dug them out and created a retelling glove. On my retelling glove, I have the character, setting, problem, events and solution. I found it kind of difficult to decide on a picture for the problem, events, and solution, but I was able to come up with something I think works. The picture for the problem is a thundercloud, and the solution is a sun. The events picture is a clock. The kids didn't seem to pay any attention to my little pictures anyway. Many of the retelling gloves I've seen also have something in the middle, like a heart for self to text connections. You may notice that I didn't include this in my retelling glove. This is because 1. I wanted to focus on the retelling strategy, and 2. I didn't want to mess up my gloves by drawing crooked hearts all over them. I will most likely go back and add something to the middle of my gloves later. Most likely when I make my class set. So now you may be wondering how I used these retelling gloves. Well, first, I did a pre-test, to determine a baseline score for their retelling ability. Then I modeled doing a retelling. I read a book out loud to the students, then I modeled retelling using the glove. I even showed them how I could go back and look in the book if I forgot something. Then I let them try with the book I had read. In the next few sessions, we just read books and practiced retelling. I noticed improvement right away. By the third sessions, one of my students said, "The first event was..., The second event was..." when retelling his story! I was so excited to hear him use that language and use the glove to help him! One of my students was still really struggling, so I worked with her to remember to use the text when she needed to. By the end of our sessions, even she had made some progress! So then it was the moment of truth. I had to assess their use of the retelling gloves. I had them individually read a story, then they used the glove to retell the story. And guess what? They did GREAT! Two of my students hit every part on the rubric. Even the girl who was struggling made significant progress. The last student in the group moved in the middle of the lessons, so I didn't get a specific measure of his progress, but I know from my field notes that he made progress as well. I gave one of my students a retelling glove to practice with over the summer- I hope that she will! And the best part? When I was doing a CRI on one of the students (my little struggling girl) after completing these lessons, there was a retelling piece. I asked her to retell the story, and she started giving me this very vague retelling- until I told her "Remember the glove." She immediately began telling me the basic story elements! Though she required a little prompting to use this strategy outside of our lessons, when she was prompted, she began to use it! Now that I'm finished with these lessons, I think it would be important to help the students remember to use the glove outside of just our group. For example, when doing a DRA assessment, the student has to retell the events of the story. I would like to see them use what they learned during the DRA. Or when they read a story on their own, they can practice retelling it to a friend using the glove. Eventually, I would like for them to not need the glove anymore, of course! But I will definitely be using these again next year, maybe even with my whole class! Sorry this post was very text heavy! I hope to be back sometime (probably next week) with more picture friendly posts of our Derby fun and a really fun activity we did with one of our big books.

Hello there! It’s about that time Kate and I get together for another Write About It Wednesday! If you’re new to this series check our our previous posts here and here. This Wednesday’s topic is Student Portfolios. I have to admit that this particular topic had me confused for years as a teacher. At my school we have student portfolios that move with our students from year to year and they must contain three writing samples from each grade. For the portfolios that follow students, I use The Teacher Wife’s Friends Assessment. I give it to my class 3x a year, and after scoring it with a rubric I make, it goes straight into their student portfolios. With the exception of these portfolios, there are no other guidelines for writing portfolios in our school. This gives me anxiety. Do I keep every writing they ever do? Do I send every writing home as soon as I read it or score it? Do I hold on to sloppy copies? What about that writing we did about that assembly that I never really looked at or reviewed or went over or collected? Does that go in a portfolio? Where are my Snickers bars? What kind of folder do I use? Should it have pockets? What about a file folder? What if the papers fall out? Where are my Reese’s? I could go on and on. The truth is, at least in place where there are no set rules, that you should do what works for you. Despite the lack of writing curriculum or guidelines in my school, I have taken the time to educate myself on Writer’s Workshop. And through various workshops and readings, {plus 4 years of trial and error} I’ve figured out a few things: *It is important to hold on to important writings. {In my case these are Common Core Aligned and have been edited or revised in some way. I shoot for about 1 a month}. *It is important that the writings in the portfolios show growth. *It is important that writing portfolios are easy to organize and this is the kicker… *it is important that STUDENTS CAN ACCESS THEIR PORTFOLIOS easily or at any given time. It’s important for students to be able to read over past writings to be able to evaluate their own work as they grow as well as for self-reflection. They love to see how far they’ve come. They love to see how they would take a writing from earlier in the year and “make it better”. In fact, that’s something we will do before the year is up! I’ve tried quite a few systems throughout the years and while they all had their pros and cons, ultimately they weren’t working. Then I saw this pin: {Click picture for source} I was inspired!!!! I loved how the magazines {in this case} were easy to get to but didn’t take up valuable shelf space and I liked how you could immediately see what was inside {as opposed to rifling through a file folder}. So this is what I ended up with: How I did it is pretty self-explanatory, but allow me to explain anyway! I staggered command hooks underneath my board. I gave each student a portfolio cover and a sheet protector. Then I handed back their work {we didn’t start these portfolios until around Christmas time}, and they inserted it back to back {in order}. I called them by group to hang up their portfolios. Now they add it as they get it back, or I do it, or whoever has the job of teacher’s assistant. It’s so easy! But the best part is that they can access their portfolios at any time! Many students choose to read their work during Daily 5, and they even read each others! It’s pretty awesome! Since I took the pictures above, I’ve added key rings for easy page flipping {without getting anything out of order}. {“Apple” Writing here} {“Community” Writing here} {“Other Reindeer” Writing here} I can honestly say that giving my students easy access to their writing portfolios {as well as encouraging them to read them!} has changed my writing program for the better this year. I hope I’ve inspired you to make your portfolios easy to access! Not to mention the display looks adorable in the classroom! We get compliments on our hanging portfolios all the time! I’ve uploaded a copy of the portfolio cover I used to Google Docs. You can grab it for free by clicking the picture: {Yours will not have our blog button on it! Promise} We’d love to hear how you manage portfolios in your classroom! Feel free to link up with any writing portfolio tip {it can even be an old post!} If you link up please keep the following guidelines in mind: *be a follower of both of our blogs. *use the provided button {just save the image above and link it back here, or provide a link in the picture caption}. *link to a post related to today’s topic. *make sure you link to the specific post and not just your blog. You can also leave a tip in the comments as well! While your there, let us know of any topics you’d like featured in future “Write About It Wednesdays”. We’d love some suggestions! Click here to read Kate’s post on portfolios. I can’t wait to read what she has to say. {She always says the BEST stuff!} Happy Writing! Halle

Alphabet Posters includes alphabet posters to display in your classroom! There are 44 posters altogether. Please Note- I have also included 1 optional poster for the following letters- A, E,G, I, O,P, T, U, X and now all vowel posters come in black and red letters.I have now added 2 Alphabet Char...

Do you know how to teach skip counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s? Learn how to introduce and reinforce skip counting with these fun skip counting activities.

Entertaining kids while they're home during the summer can sometimes be challenging. That's why I came up with this, daily summer schedule to give us something enjoyable we can do together each day!

Another area of my writing center is the poetry center. It wouldn't fit on this little areas, so I have it near the ground which is more accessible to my

Hello Everyone I wanted to share some different ways that you can create your own filler cards to customize your layouts whether you create traditional scrapbook layouts or pocket-style layouts. I created these 6 filler cards with stamps, dies and embossing folder. For the colouring I used Copic Markers. I used Lawn Fawn's 4x6 and 3x4 stitched journaling dies for all my cards on this layout. I will be putting them in the Design F Project Life sheet protector as it's laid down on the last photo here. Even though there are so many different filler cards out there I find that doing my own (and using up some of my supplies that I buy) just makes it that much more personalized and special. My daughter who this layout is about when she turned 3 was very happy with what I had created and the time I put into it (this definitely does take some time). This 3x4 card was created using Lawn Fawn's 3x4 STITCHED JOURNALING CARD die, BIRTHDAY TAGS stamp set, INTO THE WOODS stamp set and dies, and YEAR FOUR stamp set and dies. This 3x4 card was created using Lawn Fawn's 3x4 STITCHED JOURNALING CARD die, STITCHED SCALLOP BORDERS, AMY TANGERINE'S PLUS ONE EMBROIDERY STENCIL KIT and THREAD KIT, RECOLLECTIONS ENAMEL DOTS. This 3x4 filler card was created using Lawn Fawn's 3x4 STITCHED JOURNALING CARD die, BIRTHDAY TAGS stamp set, COPIC MARKERS, and STAMPIN' UP! SMALL HEART PUNCH. This 3x4 card was created using Lawn Fawn's 3x4 STITCHED JOURNALING CARD die, AMY TANGERINE'S PLUS ONE CAMERA EMBOSSING FOLDER, RECOLLECTIONS ENAMEL DOTS and COPIC MARKERS. This 3x4 card was created using Lawn Fawn's 3x4 STITCHED JOURNALING CARD die, BIRTHDAY TAGS stamp set, TAYLORED EXPRESSIONS POCKET & PAGES FAB FRAMES die, HERO ARTS/STUDIO CALICO's STEPPING STONE CLEAR ALPHABET set, RECOLLECTIONS ENAMEL DOTS and COPIC MARKERS. And finally this 4x6 card was created using LAWN FAWN's LARGE STITCHED JOURNALING CARD dies, 3x4 STITCHED JOURNALING CARD die, TAG YOU'RE IT dies, BIRTHDAY TAGS stamp set, TAYLORED EXPRESSIONS POCKET & PAGES CIRCLE WORDS dies, RECOLLECTIONS PASTELS BRADS, and HERO ARTS MID-TONE INK PADS. The 3x4 card was created using stamps and ink pads in three different colours (Bubble Gum, Mint Julip and Butter Bar) and can be used as a stand alone card as well. Here is the finished layout. Hope you have gotten inspired to create some of your own filler cards using these ideas. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY SCRAPPIN'! Mandy Reedyk Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS I love Mandy's idea on creating your own pocket filler cards! I agree with her that sometimes there just isn't the right card to fit your layout, and it gives your layout a more personalized look when you create your own. I love the freedom of expression and creative design which comes from creating my own cards. It feels like I'm creating a layout only on a much smaller scale. Using leftover paper and embellishments, which may otherwise go unused, is also another great advantage. Here are some 3x4 pocket filler cards I created using items from my paper and embellishment stash: I just love how they turned out. I may use some of them on my layouts, inserts for pocket pages, or maybe even for some handmade cards. The possibilities are only limited to my imagination. Thanks, Mandy, for the inspiration! Sandi Chromey Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS

Use stations to set a tone of active learning and get students up and moving on the first day of school. Here's a look at my six stations, some of which included group tasks while others included independent tasks.

2016 SPT SUCCESS GOAL PLANNING SHEETS

6 ways to use data walls effectively set class and individual goals. A focus on anonymity and team building so that everyone wins.

I gave a little glimpse of my other Michael’s project on Instagram, but I also wanted to share it here, because I am super excited about it....