Struggling with blog post ideas? Generate endless content to attract your audience. Say goodbye to writer’s block with these practical tips!
Sticker Stories are a fun way to get kids excited about writing! They are not only a great tool for the classroom, but also for at home, motivating your own children to practice their writing skills. How Sticker Stories are done: The Child….. 1. Chooses ONE sticker and places it anywhere in the picture box […]
This Grammarly review will show you tips on writing proper English. Learn tips and rules of Grammar so you can focus on other activities
Keep your students' published writing pieces from throughout the year and bind them into a finished book. It will be a great keepsake for your kiddos to remember the year they spent with you. Blog post includes a freebie table of contents, dedication page, and about the author page.
Want to know how to interlink your posts like a pro? Here are few proven ways to use internal links to increase your SEO and user engagement.
This blog post features five free idiom activities, like a free idioms PowerPoint, game, task cards, and an engaging anchor chart!
How to writing is such a fun one to do in first grade (and kindergarten and 2nd grade) because most 5-7 year olds I know LOVE to teach you how to do things. I really like to express to my students that we all know how to do something that we can teach others! I […]
Does your child have difficulty remembering to put spaces between words when they write? If so, here's a little trick that may help!
ALL ABOUT EARTH Get ready for a month filled with so many fun activities to teach your kiddos all about our planet Earth . I teach this unit in April so it coincides with Earth Day. I’ve loaded up this blog post post with read aloud book ideas, free videos you can share with your students,
Written communication at work is sometimes more important than how you interact in person.
Teaching students to write dialogue can be tricky. Use this quotation marks anchor chart and worksheet freebie to introduce the concept to your students!
I can't tell you how excited I am to be adding this post about how to actually create the life cast masks which decorate the book covers for my students' showcase portfolios! If you'd like to know more about these special keepsakes created each year in my Rainbow City classroom, click here! Making the masks does require some advance preparation, but I can promise it will be worth it! I kept a sample book each year to show to my class on the first day of school and kept it on display all year as an additional motivator for writing and for polishing writing pieces to be portfolio-worthy. The "mask books" were an enticement as well as a goal for so many students, even the most reluctant of writers. I came up with the idea of creating a mask book while attending a conference on portfolios long ago. I attended a session on the "showcase portfolio" and was surprised to find that the definition of "showcase" meant summative assessments in plastic sleeves housed in a plain black binder. My inner art teacher was frantically searching for the nearest exit when my mind started to wander. Instead of bolting from the room, I began sketching out my ideas for my own interpretation of "showcase". The word showcase, to me, conjures up a sparkling celebration of the journey each student makes in our year together. That celebration deserves a home that shows the joy to be found inside! If you try this for even one time, be prepared that it becomes the stuff of legend. Students will show them to other students who will then want to be in your class! Also be prepared to have your teammates ask if they can take your class so you can create masks with their students. Of course! By following the easy steps listed below, you can recreate the magic of mask book making in your school! Supplies For each child, a blank hardcover book, such as this one from Treetop Publishing. PP14 on page 9 of this catalog is the one I use. Plaster-infused cloth strips 8" wide. One 20-lb box per class. (I bought these at local art supply stores, and in recent years was able to order them from Amazon.) Large foil food prep pans - One for every three students (Purchased at Gordon's Food Service, but also available at super markets and party stores. Think turkey-sized!) Non-latex gloves (One box is fine. Only the adults need them to protect gel and acrylic nails!) One pair of large adult scissors for every three students. One bottle of baby oil. Small paper cups - one per student. I use the tiny bathroom cups from Costco. Two or three large trash bags, cut horizontally in strips. (Or ask each student with long hair to bring an old stretchy headband.) Clean empty Cool Whip containers (or similar plastic containers) for water Oversized old T-shirt or button down shirt for each student to wear as a coverup Lots of old sheets to cover chairs and the floor Acrylic Paints and Acrylic Glaze, star wire, hot glue, markers, crayons, (optional: glitter, feathers, ribbons, crystals, sequins) Permanent glue sticks to glue pages into book. Volunteers and Permission Two to three weeks before your mask-making event, send a letter home to parents/guardians to explain the project, asking for help, and also asking for a donation to cover the costs. There are many ways to fund this project. More suggestions will be offered below. I always found one or two moms who loved the project so much that they continued to volunteer even after their children had moved on. The first year will be the most challenging one to recruit volunteers. After you do this one time, parents may be lining up to have a chance to help! I found that the $10.00 fee covered the cost of the materials plus one or two extra students who may not have been able to afford the fee. Here is a sample text of the letter you may want to send: Before the Event Assemble all materials and begin to cut the plaster strips. Students love to help with this. Can be a guided center activity, or done after school with helpers. Spread a sheet under your working table to catch extra plaster dust. Cut plaster strips in the following approximate dimensions: 8"x 2", 8"x1", 4"x2", 4"x1", and cut triangles from some of the 8"x2" strips. Place the strips in one of the large foil pans. Prepare a similar pan for each group of three you plan to have for your class. If preparing for multiple classes, you can use the same pans and replenish them between sessions. Do a demonstration.I like to do this the day before and invite the parent volunteers. With parent permission in hand, select a volunteer to be the model for a sample. Remove all jewelry from your hands or wear gloves. Student model dons old shirt and sits on chair or stool. (I prefer a higher stool for this because I have some, and because it's easier on my back when I sculpt!) Student, seated, receives a small amount of baby oil in paper cup, and applies it as if it is sunblock. Hair should be held back from face with either a headband or a strip made from a garbage bag tied to hold hair back. Have a container of water and the foil pan of plaster strips nearby. Enlist a student assistant to hand you the bandages.You dip each bandage in the water and get rid of excess water by sliding two fingers along the bandage over the bowl. Begin by outlining the model's face with four long wide bandages. Place an additional bandage between upper lip and nose. (Agree to call the bandage sizes "long thick", "long thin", "short thick", "short thin" and "triangle" for ease in communication between sculptor and assistant. Working from outside in, add a strip covering the top of the nose, stopping at the nostrils. (Eyes, mouth, and nostrils should remain exposed throughout. Students will be more comfortable if they keep their eyes closed.) It is an absolute MUST that the model does not make any facial expressions through talking or smiling or expressing any other emotions during the mask creation and drying time (about 40 minutes total). Expressions or talking will weaken the masks and it will not stand up on the book. Continue adding strips of moistened plaster until one layer is complete. Add a second layer.BE sure to smooth as much as possible with your fingers until the plaster blends and the tiny holes disappear. Move student to a chair to dry. This child can also act as an assistant for the new sculptor and model in his/her group of three as long as the mask is not dripping around the eyes. (Shouldn't be, as long as the excess moisture was removed before each strip was applied.) After the mask has dried (so it sounds hollow when you tap it with a fingernail - you'll quickly get used to this sound), gently remove it by gripping both sides and asking the student inside to "make monster faces", scrunching and unscrunching his/her face until the mask loosens. Write the name of the student in pencil inside the mask and set on table or drying rack to completely dry overnight. Mask Making in Groups Assign students to groups of three: Sculptor, Model, and Assistant. This will be the most efficient model for you to work with if you are the lone adult in the room. Parent volunteers, depending on how many are available, can stay with one group or can travel between groups. Parents can also assist students who are making hand masks. (For hand masks, apply to top of hands only and smooth on in two layers. allow to dry as for face masks before removing. This is, by the way, a great option for some of the ASD kids who may be part of your class. Kids are different, so of course all should have a choice!) The assistant has an important role: keeping the plaster strips dry until needed, handing each strip to the sculptor, and cutting additional strips to place in the foil pan. The role of the sculptor is detailed above. Don't forget the baby oil as your first step! The role of the model is to stay still and quiet during the process.(You will love the quiet spa-like atmosphere during mask-making. Try playing some soft music in the background!) Only adults should be the ones to remove the masks, and they must be dry before attempting this. Remind the models to scrunch their faces for an easy removal. Finishing Masks can be easily trimmed with scissors at any point after drying. I trim some of them just to even them out, trimming some a little more to make them contact the book surface when gluing on. Students can begin decorating blank book covers and gluing in their special pages days or even weeks in advance of the actual mask making. I keep all of these in a special file in our writing center so students can get to them when they have a moment to work on them. They shouldn't be kept in desks. (I'm sure you know why!) Pages are best glued in by covering the perimeter of the page with glue stick and then making a giant X from corner to corner on the page. Masks are painted with acrylic paints. Glitter is best added while the paint is wet. Allow to dry overnight and apply a coat of acrylic glaze. Allow to dry overnight again. Masks are glued onto the book covers using hot glue. This will make them stay put for years! Add star wire. sequins, ribbons, etc. as you wish with hot glue for the star wire and craft glue for all else. Making It Happen If you have read this far, I think you can see that this is not a print-and-go, ready in a snap kind of activity. Those certainly have their place in all of our teaching lives. This one, though, creates a keepsake treasured by students and their families for years to come. It occupies a special place of honor in many homes while the print-and-go sheets may be in dusty attics or basement folders or long since recycled. I so hope you'll give it a try. I realize that it's a pricy project, and for many years I just paid for it myself. (What? A teacher paying herself for classroom supplies? Oh come on! You know that you do it yourself. I won't even ask you the amounts.) When I finally got brave enough to ask parents for help with funding, I was so happily surprised at their willingness to pay for this experience. Several even paid double or triple to help a family who truly couldn't afford it. Here are a few fundraising ideas for you in addition: Ask your PTA for help in funding. Have a Poetry Coffee House. Invite parents and other community members to come and have a cookie or two while they listen to your amazing young authors read aloud from their files waiting to be glued in. If you are still lucky enough to have a local book store in your area, they might love to host this. If not, try an ice cream shop. Write a grant. Ask your students to offer extra chores at home for pay until they earn the price of their book. Sponsor a car wash. Try Donors Choose. You might be pleasantly surprised at how many people would like to help you keep the arts in our children's lives. If you are considering making mask books with your class next year, the summer might be the perfect time to start! Try making face or hand masks with your own children outdoors this summer. You can purchase just one roll of plaster cloth on Amazon pretty inexpensively. If you are expecting a baby, here's an idea I saw in the news from a baby photographer. She makes a life cast of the mom's pregnant belly, later fills it with a blanket and lays the newborn inside for a spectacular newborn photo session! Okay, teacher friends, you have all summer to think about this one and get an early start on keepsake portfolios when school begins again! I would love, love, love to hear from you if you give it a try! Just comment below! For other June and beyond ideas, please visit my Teacher Talk blogging buddies! An InLinkz Link-up
When I think about my experiences in school, I remember being bored during reading class. The stories in our reading book were always so boring. I remember rushing through my work so I could read the things that I wanted, which were books about sports! My best memories of school came during the Scholastic Book … Continue reading Paired Texts That Will Have Your Students Begging for More
Visualizing the text is such an important strategy used for building your students’ reading comprehension. It is very versatile as it can be used in different ways with students of all ages and reading levels. I
Here are 10 blogging goals to help you turn your blog into a full time career in 2019! How to crush your blogging goals this year!
Hi Folks!! Hope everyone is well. My family has been plagued with the stomach bug for almost two weeks now. We are just starting to emerge from the haze and put ourselves back together again. (I've had to miss two days of school, and as you know, there is nothing worse than unplanned sick days when you are a teacher!) Phew!! It was a tough one. I can't ever remember being THIS ready for spring to arrive!! Anyway, I've got a quick one for you today, but trust me when I tell you that this lesson is a HOOT! This is second year that I've done this with my students and we all have such a blast. The idea is for the students to write a parody of a song. I start by showing Adele's "Hello." Next, I show them this AMAZING parody done by third grade teacher, Mary Morris, from Tennessee. Then, we discuss the meaning of "parody" (an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect) and I show BOTH videos again while we note the parts of the performance Mary Morris parodied. Finally, the FUN part! The kids write and perform their own parodies! Now, you can allow them to select their own song, but in order to keep this lesson short (we spend three class periods total), I have them all use "Hello." For students who struggle with this, have them select a topic and then brainstorm some vocabulary associated with their topic. In the picture above, the girls wanted to do a song about softball, so they made a list of words that go with sport to help them while the compose. Last year, each and every kid SANG their parody to the class! This year, only about half sang... the other half read theirs like they were at a poetry reading while the "Hello" instrumental music played in the background. Unfortunately, I didn't record our performances so I don't have any to show you (blogger FAIL!!) and I don't collect their papers because this is a speaking/listening grade (so I grade them on the spot while they perform). So, you are just going to have to trust me that this lesson is a blast! And it served as the perfect little "break" in between our compare/contrast and argument units :) Let me know if you give this a try and how it works out! I'd love to hear from you!
This really is probably going to be the most disjointed blog post ever! There were a few different education and non-education topics s...
When it comes to complex sentences, things quickly become... well... complex. At the mere mention of independent clauses, dependent clauses, and subordinating conjunctions, many young eyes immediately glaze over. One year, when I was about to introduce the topic of complex sentences to my fifth graders, I decided on a whim to use an image of a nurse helping a patient walk. I was amazed by how much this simple image helped my students. I told them that the nurse in the picture was like the independent clause. Just as the nurse can stand alone, so also can an independent clause "stand alone" as a complete sentence. Then I told my students that the patient with the crutch leaning against the nurse was like the dependent clause. The patient could clearly not stand on his own, just as a dependent clause cannot stand alone, either. A dependent clause depends on the independent clause to help it be part of a complete sentence. This idea resonated so well with my students that I've used this explanation ever since. As you can see, I discarded the nurse/patient image I had previously used. (Although it did the trick, it wasn't very visually appealing.) When I ran across the image below when I purchased a clip art set by Educlips, I upgraded my image to this one. A FREE PARTNER ACTIVITY As you can see, there is a lot of information on this anchor chart. Students will only retain these concepts if they get an opportunity to interact with the various elements of complex sentences. Therefore, I created an interactive exercise where students can manipulate each clause and then write complex sentences using the clauses. Personally, I would have students complete this activity with a partner, but students can also do it independently, if you wish. (CLICK HERE if you would like to download this free activity to use with your students.) First, give each student the two worksheets and the writing mat. (This photo shows only the first worksheet, and the writing mat printed on yellow paper.) They follow the instructions written at the top of the worksheet: 1. Read the clauses in each pair. 2. Underline the dependent clause with a green marker. 3. Underline the independent clause with a red marker. 4. Circle the subordinating conjunction with a blue marker. 5. Use the two clauses to write a complex sentence that starts with a dependent clause in the first box of the writing mat. 6. Use the two clauses to write a complex sentence that starts with an independent clause in the adjacent box. **Don't forget to use capital letters and punctuation! Although it's not written in the directions, if you want, you can add a step between Step 4 and Step 5 where students cut out the strips. This might be helpful for students who would benefit from physically moving the dependent clause directly in front of the independent clause before they write the first sentence on their mat. Then, students can move the independent clause to the front before they write the second sentence. Once students are done, they will have eight complex sentences written in both formats. I recommend checking all of the sentences to make sure students used commas in the first column, and that they refrained from using commas in the second column. If you are looking for additional resources for teaching about compound and complex sentences to your upper elementary students, feel free to check out the following resource. I have placed my bundle image here, but all of these items are also available for individual purchase in my TpT store. Finally, I wrote a related blog post at my own blog about compound sentences. Click HERE to check it out! Thanks for stopping by today! FREE Newsletter! Blog TpT Store Instagram Facebook Pinterest My YouTube Video Pin for future reference:
Generalizations Anchor Chart! After using the anchor chart to teach students about generalizations (and warning them of faulty generalizations), students complete the FREE generalizations worksheet!
Note: Friends, this is a long post. And, in it, I am promoting a resource... something I've mentioned before that I don't like to do!! However, I feel so passionate about this product, that I
There are quite a few things to remember when creating a blog post. To help me remember everything, I created a blog post checklist!
Use Escape Rooms in ELA to promote collaboration and critical thinking. Here's how to develop and set up a successful escape room for your students.
Before I give you some new free downloads [big smile!], I would like to share a bit of my current History homeschooling journey with you: I am re-using my Sonlight American History curriculum for m…
I have so much to share with you about writing interventions, but first things first: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW BLOG DESIGN?!?!? Please share your thoughts! Every year, I meet lots of middle schoolers who struggle with writing. And every year, I play around with lots of different interventions to meet their needs. Last year, I made establishing sound writing interventions one of my big goals. I spent lots of time (and money!!) on resources that I could use, and by about March, I had something that I thought I was pretty happy with. This year, I'm starting off with those interventions that worked so well last year and I couldn't be happier with the results! In fact, I'm so pleased with how they are working, I feel confident enough to share my practice with my blog readers. I can say that these are definitely KID TESTED, TEACHER APPROVED!! Creating a Time and Space for Intervention within your Classroom I teach by myself. There are no aides, special ed teachers, BSI teachers... just little, ol' me! So, when I want to create and manage small groups, I'm on my own. This is hard. It would be so much easier if there was another adult in the room to help, but there is not, so I just have to deal! It's work, but it absolutely can be done! A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Power of Bell-Ringers. Establishing a quiet and smooth transition into writing class is a great way to get started, but it also provides me with a window of time where I can pull a small group! By mid-October, my bell-ringer time gets extended to 15 minutes. The kids get started immediately and are clear on the expectations during this time. Now the environment for working with small groups is set: the room is quiet and engaged, allowing me to focus my time on the handful of kids in my group. I pull my kids to a table that I have set up in front of our classroom library. I have a "teacher station" at one end where I do my instruction. I usually stream some jazz or piano music during this time so my group doesn't distract the rest of the class. Establishing Interventions In my district, by middle school, there are no longer district-mandated interventions in place. There are no clear resources for teachers to use or personnel to help. So, when we have a struggling reader or writer in 7th or 8th grade, it's the job of the classroom teacher to meet their needs. In my tenure of working with middle schoolers, I've found that there are two types of students who need more support than my writing curriculum provides (and please remember... I am not a researcher/specialist/writer of books/etc. I'm just a teacher, like you, who loves my job, tries to do the best by my kids, and is compulsively reflective about what I see happening... to me, teachers are the best EXPERTS, but I know that we are hesitant these days to trust a "lowly" teacher and rather find ourselves relying on big publishers and educational researchers to show us best practices... I don't have lots of "data" to support what I'm sharing with you... just my actual observations I've made while working with real, live kids in an average classroom setting!!). Type One: Students Who Struggle with Structure The first type of students who need intervention are those who struggle with structure. These are the kids that can't organize their thoughts in a way a reader could follow. They simply write whatever their brain thinks at the time. They can generally stick with a broad topic, but because they are just writing whatever pops into their head at the time, there are lots of places where their writing veers off track and becomes confusing. Here is an example written by a former student struggling with structure: My dog Henry is my most special treasure. He is always there for me whenever I need him in sad times and happy. In many ways, he's my best friend. He has brown fur and a white chest. He is such a good dog to have around when you are sad because he always knows just how to cheer you up. His eyes are brown, like a Hersey bar. His favorite toy is a yellow tennis ball. Once he almost got hit by a car chasing the ball down the street. I have loved him ever since he was a puppy and we first got him. I was only 4-years old when that little ball of fluff was brought home by my parents to be best friends. His soft fur is always so smooth and warm when you pet him while watching TV on a cold night. He is my best friend and that is why he is my special treasure [sic]. This student is clear about his topic - his dog, Henry - but he cannot organize his thoughts. He is thinking about his dog and writes down everything he knows about his buddy exactly as it comes to his mind. Clearly, he has mechanical and conventional skills, and you can see evidence of where he is practicing what we learned in our mini-lessons and from studying our mentor pieces. But, because there is no organization, it is too difficult to follow and all of the skills he has are lost to the untrained, teacher-eye. Kids who write like this need an intervention that focuses on structure and organization. Typically, I LOATHE teaching step-by-step process writing, but in cases like this, I'm left with little choice. The lessons that I put together for kids in need of this intervention consist of learning how to write a well-organized paragraph. Together, we will work on writing topic sentences, creating strong and clear supporting sentences, and finish up with writing a closing that sticks with our reader. My favorite plans for this type of writing come from Michael Friermood. His Fact-Based Opinion Writing products are geared toward teaching elementary students (grades 3-5) how to write a good opinion paragraph, and they are PERFECT for my struggling 7th graders. They also lack a lot of the "cutesy" images that you find with products for this age group, so my big kids don't feel like I'm making them do "baby stuff." (I do not use the stationary he provides for the final writing piece... it's adorable, but it would be pushing in with my kids! So, we just do our paragraph writing in our intervention notebooks!) My plan is to pull the intervention group for one week (at 15 minutes a pop, this comes to 1 1/4 hours of learning). Long before I ever pull a group, I work hard to make sure that my lesson is broken down into five succinct 15-minute increments. Since time is so precious, you need to make sure not one minute is wasted! I can say that it takes me much longer to plan for a small-group lesson than a 50-minute whole-class lesson because efficiency is so crucial. The first few times you plan a small-group lesson, don't be surprised if your timing is mess. It definitely takes practice to be an effective small-group instructor! After their week is up, then I send them back to completing the bell-ringer at the start of class. I will watch them closely and conference with them lots to make sure that I am seeing a transfer of skills. If I don't, then it is likely that I will put them back in an intervention group in a few weeks to practice again. This intervention model will continue all year. Right now, I have 8 intervention students in one writing class, and 6 in another. By the end of the year, those number should reduce to 3-4 and 2-3. Never in all my years of working with small groups, have I had 100% of my intervention students "graduate" from small group. Don't be frustrated if this is the case! If you can improve 50-60% of those kids, then consider that a huge success!! Type Two: Students Who Struggle with Motivation The next group of kids that I work with are those who struggle with motivation. These are the students who complain a lot about not having anything to write about, spend more time doodling or coloring in their notebook than writing, and who will write the absolute bare minimum for any writing assignment. Many times, these kids produce too little for me to gauge whether or not they also need help with structure. But typically, once I can get them writing, they will likely find themselves in a small group for structure work :) Come October, after we've spent lots of lots of time list writing, the kids who are still struggling to get their pencils moving find themselves using a very special Interactive Writer's Notebook called "Musings from a Middle Schooler." This product contains loads of interactive writing pages that will motivate even the most reluctant writers. The pages can be printed out and glued into a marble notebook. (Most often, I'll have the kids create their own... I don't always have them use all the pages, rather I let them pick and choose the ones they like!). Cover Table of Contents page Table of Contents cont. and an "All About Me" page "My Life Story in Two Pages" My Favorite Thing Comics I created this project just last school year and it's been an absolute smash! The kids (especially my boys!) LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! In absolutely no time, they are writing like crazy. And once I can get their pencils moving it doesn't take me long to get them producing some actual pieces. I don't necessarily pull these kids and work with them in a small group. The first few days, we will assemble our books all together at the back table, but then they go right back to the big group. Rather than do the bell-ringer with the rest of the class at the start of the period, they will work in their "Musings" notebooks. Fifteen minutes of that is usually enough to get them into writing mode for the rest of class. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * So, that's how I make writing intervention work in my classroom. Phew!! That was long, folks!! I apologize for my wordiness and I am grateful if you stuck it out until the end! Also, I'm sure that I've left out some crucial details of my practice, so please do not hesitate to ask me any questions you still have! Do you have any good intervention tips or strategies that work for you? I'd love to hear about them. Drop me a comment and share! Happy Teaching!!
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Although there is a common formula to writing a five-paragraph essay, students soon learn that each teacher has their own unique preferences. I can remember a teacher that didn’t allow students to use the transition, “on the other hand,” unless they had already used, “on the one hand.” Some insist on transitional sentences, others do not. Some want a student’s thesis statement in the middle of the introduction, while others want it at the beginning or even at the end. As a result, students have to adjust their writing to accommodate each new teacher. How can this be done? Help Your Students by Reviewing Your Expectations: At the beginning of the school year, it is important for each teacher to share his or her expectations, preferences and requirements so that each student can prepare for success from the very beginning. Provide a lesson and a handout that reviews the 5 paragraph essay. Make sure to discuss everything you want in your introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusions. Review and define important terms such as: thesis statement topic sentence transitional words transitional sentences supporting details quotes and examples catchy opening 3. Introduce the idea that you will be asking the students to make their own, creative, 5 paragraph essay template. You can even turn it into a contest and let the students vote on their favorite. Help Your Students Create Their Own Essay Template: One of the best ways to help your budding writers is to ask them to create their very own essay template. This can be a fun assignment, and I have found that if my students are a part of the creative process, they will most likely “get it” and “use it.” Steps to Creating a Clever and Creative Essay Template: This activity can be done collaboratively with your students, in small groups, or it can be given as a class or homework project so each student can exercise their own ideas: Ask your students to come up with a fun and creative name for their templates. Thinking up a catchy title always helps to integrate the fun factor. Encourage your students to bring color and images into the project. Click on this image to learn more Explain to your students that they can choose their own format. Then make some suggestions and let the students brainstorm in small groups or independently. Some possible ideas to get you started are: Create a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation Create a web, flow chart or diagram Create an outline. Write a poem, song or rap. What are the Benefits of Creating an Essay Template: Develops metacognitive skills. Permits students to be creative. Helps to uncover misconceptions. Always be sure to look closely at each template to assure that each student integrates all the needed components. Offers a tool or strategy that the students can use through the school year. 5eaches an approach that students can use with each new teacher that they encounter in the future. Your students can always share their template and then make any needed alterations. If you like this writing organizer, you can get this and many more by purchasing Planning, Time Management and Organization for Success. Be sure to download the free samples on the product page! I hope you found this idea helpful. I would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers, Dr. Erica Warren Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator, and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning. She is also the director of Learning to Learn and Learning Specialist Courses.· Blog: https://learningspecialistmaterials.blogspot.com/· YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/warrenerica1· Podcast: https://godyslexia.com/· Store: http://www.Goodsensorylearning.com/· Courses: http://www.learningspecialistcourses.com/· Newsletter Sign-up: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/69400 · Private Practice: Learning to Learn
Over the last few years, I have experimented with many content writing tools -- Some ended up helping me immensely, others were just a waste of my time.
Prime and Composite Numbers Anchor Chart- This blog post also includes a free practice worksheet!
The International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Handwriting Teachers {IAMPETH for short} has an extremely extensive website full of lessons and handwriting examples for all kinds of writing and calligraphy. If you need a reminder on how to make...
Read this blog post for 12 engaging activities for practicing square roots and cube roots. Includes FREE mnemonic devices activity to help students remember their roots.
Teacher burnout can happen when we feel obligated to grade every single piece of paper. This blog post presents an alternative grading theory-- that of auditing. Auditing grades, especially essay writing. is a crucial skills for English teachers to assess key skills without killing ourselves. Essa
Before I get into sharing this activity, I should probably start out by saying that I sort of have this thing for hot air balloons. I’ve always loved them and what they represent: adventure, travels, hopes, dreams. If anyone happens to be a thirty-something like me, they might vaguely remember this movie from childhood in the 80’s about a race around the world in balloons. If not, it was basically the Chipmunks cartoon version of "The Amazing Race."
Seven Strategies to help children remember spelling words - based on brain research, this blog post shares seven strategies to help those kiddos who struggle to remember spelling!
Kids love music! I try to find ways to incorporate it throughout our school day. It is such an amazing learning tool. My Songs for the Year
Reading is one thing that many students struggle with. Some students get the underlying messages right away, while others need a little extra help. By the time students reach the high school level, we hope their reading levels have improved from their elementary years. While the majority of students' understanding have improved by the time they reach high school, there are still many students who get frustrated and struggle to read. Below, I will explain and discuss five important and helpful strategies that teachers can incorporate into their lessons, in any class that they teach. 1. Inference: As we read, we can use inference to further reading comprehension. When we infer while reading, we use knowledge that we already have and combine that with evidence from the text passages to come to conclusions with what we are reading. Students can formulate a question they may come upon while reading. In order to answer that question, they need to first determine what they already know about the subject in the text and then look for evidence in the text that supports their question. This information will help to lead them to their answer. If you're in the neighborhood of trying something different, I have created these FREE Reading Strategies Bookmarks. I thought that these bookmarks would be a great addition to an existing novel study and an opportunity for students to try something new. Simply, give each student a bookmark during various sections of a novel. The bookmarks will give students an opportunity to look at specific elements in the section of the book they are reading one at a time so that students are not overwhelmed by having to examine more than one thing at a time. Students need a bookmark anyway, so this bookmark is a win-win for both students (as they will learn more reading strategies), teachers (as they can use these bookmarks over and over) and the book itself (no more corner-page creases!) 😄 Tip: Consider printing the bookmarks on cardstock paper for more durability! 2. Questioning: While students are reading their text, they can start to create questions as they go along. They need to actively question what they are reading. Questions they have may be about the text, or about what the author means by a specific sentence or paragraph. By questioning, students are now thinking about what they are actually reading and can analyze passages more deeply and thoroughly. There comes a connection between the reader and the text, which also helps to increase comprehension. Due to the fact that many of my students were struggling to come up with effective questions during their lit circle discussion, I created this Reading Response Interactive Notebook Flipbook, as a guide to help their discussions. This flipbook provides students with sentence starters, before, during and after reading questions. It's a handy tool that can be referenced over and over. 3. Summarizing: One of the more difficult types of reading strategies is summarizing, mainly because students don't know what they are supposed to do. Some students end up providing too many details, while others not enough. By doing either, they may miss the main point and end up making no sense at all. With proper and frequent practice, summarizing will help students to write down the main ideas of a longer passage, help them to focus on key points and ideas that the author wants the reader to understand, and be able to use keywords and phrases properly. 4. Main Idea: Finding the main idea of a text is sometimes difficult for students to understand. Students need to first understand the focus of the text, then they can figure out what is so important about that focus. Combining the two creates the main idea of a passage. Students can do this with any text by finding supporting evidence in the text that describes the focus. 5. Synthesizing: Synthesizing is another difficult strategy for students, so frequent practice and modeling is essential for students. Synthesizing works as a reading strategy by breaking down all of the parts of a text into pieces, such as the characters, the plot, the climax, and the setting, while discussing or thinking about how they all come together to create one whole text. As the students read the text, they will begin to think differently about the text. They will learn more information about characters that will promote them think differently. Their opinions will change, as their comprehension increases. I hope one, if not more of these strategies will work with your struggling students. These strategies require repeated practice, so if students are able to continue to use them regularly, they will have a much better understanding of them, as well as the fact that they might be encouraged to read more and challenge themselves with different books! Looking for more reading strategy ideas? Check out these ideas from the other Secondary English Coffee Shop bloggers! Getting Your Teens to Actually Read from Room 213 Editable Reading Guide for Novels from Nouvelle ELA During Reading Bookmarks from Secondary Sara
This template goes with the following blog post from 'Creative Elementary School Counselor'. http://creativeelementaryschoolcounselor.blogspot.com/2016/07/i-cant-imagine-life-without.html The blog did not provide a template for the activity, so I created my own template. This is NOT my original idea.
Simile and metaphor are figures of speech that contrast one thing with another to show that they have similarities. They are often used in poetry, but you can
Learn easy ways to add fun and engagement to your classroom grammar lessons. You can have fun with grammar activities and make your lessons more meaningful to all learners. Check out these easy tips for teaching grammar so kids remember.
Learning about main idea and supporting details is FUN when you use the ice cream cone analogy! This blog post contains a main idea anchor chart activity and a FREE main idea worksheet. Everything you need for one main idea lesson is available here.
How to set up a simple and inexpensive classroom writing center dor your elementary students that they will LOVE!
