The PMI has released a new edition of its Project Management Body of Knowledge. What are the major changes you'll find in the PMBOK 6th Edition?

Habits have a profound affect on your life and can define your success. PM expert Mike Clayton offers seven good habits that you can adopt to become a better project manager.

Dance Formations made easy!

Hello all! I just completed a fun and fabulous item! For the next 24 hours the item will be 50% off! Check it out here!!!!

Social Stories about Friendship Ah, friendship. I had a mom once say to me, 'I want my child to have a friend, not a buddy.'

Many of the people and companies I talk to about Design are grappling with applying design at scale. They want to hire designers like crazy, and they are open to change, or as open as you can be…

"As always, your book selection, target skills, activity ideas and materials are ideal for addressing speech and language needs in the school setting. The kids also stay motivated! Thank you so much for helping to add this valuable resource to my SLP toolbox." Use with upper elementary during science units on wind energy. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Picture Book Edition is based on a true story about a boy named William and his village in Malawi. Find out if William can build a windmill out of junkyard scraps to help his village. Who: For Speech-Language Pathologists working with 3rd – 5th grade level students and targeting language, articulation, and pragmatics goals: Synonyms Antonyms Multiple Meaning Words Figurative Language Grade-Level Vocabulary Character Choices (Pragmatics) Story Elements Middle & Late Developing Sounds Compound sentences Subordinating conjunction – “so that” Reasoning What: This is an 31 page download (86 total pages with title, instructions, answer keys, and credits). Included are 8 narrative-based PRACTICE & PASTE activities and 17 later-developing speech sounds to be targeted with The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Picture Book Edition by William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer. This product is designed to be used as a companion to the book, not as a stand-alone product. When: During student science unit on wind, electricity, renewable energy, etc. or spring time. Where & How: Use in individual or small group speech sessions. Can be used across 7-8 thirty-minute sessions, not including the book reading time. ACTIVITIES INCLUDED Activity 1 & 2: Synonyms and Antonyms Practice & Paste Sheets COMMON CORE L.3.5.C Distinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty (e.g., knew, believed, suspected, heard, wondered). L.4.5.C Demonstrate understanding of words by relating them to their opposites (antonyms) and to words with similar but not identical meanings (synonyms). L.5.5.C Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, homographs) to better understand each of the words. Activity 3: Multiple Meaning Words Practice & Paste Sheets COMMON CORE L.3.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. L.4.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 4 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. L.5.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 5 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. Activity 4: Figurative Language Practice & Paste Sheets COMMON CORE L.3.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings. L.4.5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. L.5.5.a Interpret figurative language, including similes and metaphors, in context. Activity 5: Vocabulary Practice & Paste Sheets COMMON CORE RL.3.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language. RL.4.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean). RL.5.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes. Activity 6: Character Choices (Pragmatics) Practice & Paste Sheets COMMON CORE R.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. RL.5.1Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. Activity 7: Story Elements Practice & Paste Sheets RL.3.3Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events RL.4.3Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions). RL.5.2Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. Activity 8: Conjunction Writing Sheets COMMON CORE L.3.1.h Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. L.4.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. Language 5.1.a Explain the function of conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections in general and their function in particular sentences. Activity 9: Middle & Later Developing Sound Articulation Practice & Paste Sheets COMMON CORE SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. SL.4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. SL.5.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. Similar Listings: Sam and the Lucky Money: Speech/Language Companion A Chair for my Mother: Speech/Language Companion

This is a great activity for a cooperative learning group! I put students into teams of three to four and gave them the challenge of creating a "Life Size Person" using quadrilaterals, triangles, semi-circles and quarter circles. I helped them cut the shapes with my paper cutter. All they had to do was tell me where to cut and give me dimensions. I did this so that the cuts would be straight and easier for them to measure. Yes! Measure! They did that also! They had to find their dimensions and then use the correct formula to find the area. All of their work was shown on the back of their "Life Size Person". (Next time, I will have them show it on the front.) All pieces were taped together on the back. Great conversations took place as students were creating. I heard one team even say something about using numbers that were easier to divide by two for the triangles, so that they wouldn't have a decimal answer! That is a pretty clever observation! Students also discussed which formulas to use, how to use them and my favorite, "you don't have to divide by two because there are two congruent semi-circles that make a whole circle when put together". Students also discussed the attributes of the shapes used. The final product had the total area of the composite figure. Click HERE for a free copy of the directions sheet!!! Here is another activity on Area of Composite Figures that will get your students walking and talking about math! Click here! If you use this activity in your classroom, I would love for you to share the amazing creations your students come up with on this post. Thanks for looking and have a great day!!!

The partner to the Groups poster is this one: Group Roles. The roles were “borrowed” from the cooperative learning groups information I saw on Pinterest. Besides printed large scale p…

Well I did it again! I started the first day of school with a project, this one a little different than what I have done the last few years. I like to start the first day off with a bang. I asked t…

How many times have you heard people arguing about which one is better - Kanban vs Scrum? Our infographic synthesizes the argument and compares the differences between Scrum and Kanban.

Have student choose questions from sheet or laminate the individual questions and have them “draw a question” for discuss with their partner

I actually meant to upload this post awhile back, but then State Testing madness and prep hit... so I didn't get a chance to post this. My...

Shape: Classic Round Stickers Create custom stickers for every occasion! From special mailings and scrapbooking to kids’ activities and DIY projects, you’ll find these stickers are great for so many uses. Add your own designs, patterns, text, and pictures! Dimensions: Available in 2 sizes: Large: 3" diameter, 6 stickers per sheet Small: 1.5" diameter, 20 stickers per sheet Printed on white acid-free paper Vibrant full-color, full-bleed printing Scratch-resistant front, easy peel-and-stick back Available in a matte or glossy finish Choose between 7 different shapes

In these early weeks of school, it's so important to enforce the idea of teamwork among your classroom. I feel that if you have a classroom that functions as a community, everything runs more smoothly. My teacher and I discussed the importance of team-building exercises among the students this week. She told me that she loves to incorporate them into the classroom and that they usually produce wonderful results! I was more than excited to see it with my own eyes. For our team-building exercise, we "saved Sam". ( idea found on Pinterest) You will need: Gummy worms (Sam) Life-saver Gummies (Life vests) Clear plastic cup (Boat) Cocktail stirrers (Oar) Paper clips Poor Sam is a worm that has found himself in a rather unfortunate situation. His boat has capsized and his life jacket is trapper underneath it! Poor Sam can't swim! His oar, his only means of movement, has fallen into the rocky waters as well! He now sits perched on top of his capsized boat and he needs our help! It is the students job to SAVE SAM! they will be responsible for flipping Sam's boat over and getting him back inside. He needs his life jacket ON him this time, and his oar laying horizontally across the top of his boat. Here's the catch: You can't touch Sam with your hands. You may only use the two paperclips supplied. Keep in mind we wouldn't want to hurt poor sam by stabbing him or popping his life jacket by stabbing it! Also, we cant let him touch the water (the floor or desk) because he can't swim! It was so enjoyable to watch the students problem solve! Our little engineers were hard at work. It was interesting to see how they utilized the materials given. Some bent the paperclips into tweezers, while others snapped them in half to create more tools. This fun exercise really got our students excited to work together. I loved seeing their wheels turn as they asked "are you sure this is possible?". I loved seeing the proud looks on their face when they figured it out!

Explore sunni.brightspot.brown's 4051 photos on Flickr!

My grade 8s chose a chapter from the novel to summarise in comic strip form. This assignment required them to review the chapter, identify the important events, create a “shot” list of …

Whenever I teach freshmen or sophomores, I always begin the school year with a short story unit. I use this unit to introduce literary elements to my

After reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio, students worked in small collaborative groups to create character posters about each of the characte...

Make 7th grade geometry standards engaging with this real world design project! Students explore scale drawings and surface area with an imaginary classroom makeover. The PBL activity gives students practice working with scale drawings to answer questions, measuring their own classroom to create a...

As an ESL teacher, I often hear from classroom teachers that they don't always know where to start when it comes to working with beginning English language learners (ELLs), or newcomers, in small group instruction. In this post I'll share a typical "guided reading" lesson that I would give to my beginning ELLs, as well as a glance of at what a typical week would look like. Let me start by saying, the very first thing I do before I start instructing my newcomers is, I assess what they already know. First, I see if they have literacy skills in their native language...can they read and write? Then, I see if they know alphabet letter names and sounds. Next, I assess their reading level. Since they don't have English literacy skills yet, their reading level typically starts at level "A" (emergent). I can say that most students do have some literacy skills in their home language, and often times, many know some letter names and sounds. So now I've got my starting point! When I first begin working with my newcomers, the main components of reading that I typically focus on are building vocabulary, phonological awareness/phonics and sight words. So a typical week would encompass all three of these skills. Down the road I add comprehension skills, but they are not ready for that yet. Step 1 - Choose an appropriate book. I carefully select books that have relevant vocabulary. For the most part, my main focus is to build their vocabulary. The literacy skills in their native language will transfer to their new language, however, they have an extremely limited vocabulary, so... vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary! I chose this book because I wanted to teach my students the word "big." It's also about animals, and I know that most kids are interested in reading about animals! I used gestures to SHOW them what "big" means. It's important to be mindful of your students' age when picking out books. You don't want to give 4th-6th graders books about bunnies or teddy bears. Try picking age appropriate books; which I know can be a challenge if the selection is limited, but you don't want your students feeling embarrassed. Step 2 - Preview the book. Point to and say each animal's name and have the students repeat the names back to you, keeping in mind to speak clearly and to enunciate the sounds in each word. It's important for them to hear how to pronounce the names. A side thought...Think about "A" level books... they are not created with English language learners in mind. "A" level books have repeated sentences, which are GREAT, but they also have very specific vocabulary that students are expected to decode using picture cues. In the book my students read last week, the repeated sentence was, "We go to the _____." The pictures show the family in different locations like the pool, park, library, soccer game, etc. In one picture the family is standing in front of a large fish tank. If I asked English only students where the family is, some might say a fish store or they might even guess aquarium, depending on their background knowledge. Then they'd cross check their thinking with the word and see that it begins with the letter "a" and hopefully they'd say, "It's an aquarium!" But our newcomers don't know what a big fish tank place is called in English, so it's important for us to support our students by saying the names of each vocabulary word. Step 3 - Choral reading! Newcomers feel more comfortable in a choral reading setting. They need help pronouncing the words. They need to hear YOU pronounce the words. Choral reading helps to keep anxiety levels low. (In a few weeks, the choral reading decreases and I will start focusing on decoding.) Step 4 - After reading, review the animal names. Point to an animal and see if they can remember the name. Perhaps make a matching activity with animal pictures and names. Support as needed. Encourage a LOT! Step 5 - I always provide a guided writing activity based off of the book we just read. I use sentence frames to support their thinking and writing. Sometimes I create my own, like the picture below, and other times I'll use a graphic organizer as a follow up activity. On this day I wanted them to understand the meaning of "big," so their writing supported this goal. As they finish their writing activity, I'll ask each student to read some of their writing to me. Then they'll draw a quick picture, which I always ask them to label. I know that my newcomers don't understand every word in the book, and that's OK! They are being exposed to new words and ideas in a repeating format. I want them to get used to the structure of our lessons so that they know what's expected. So, here is what a typical week of small group work entails for my newcomers. Knowing what the focus is each day helps me to zone in on their learning goals. The variety keeps it fun and interesting, yet it's consistent so they know what's expected. As you can see, on Tuesdays I include direct vocabulary instruction, either using the vocabulary from the book, like the animals, monthly themed vocabulary, or content area vocabulary. October Themed Vocabulary (along with sight words and phonics review) One vocabulary activity I have my students do is called the K.I.M. Strategy. In their notebook they write the key word (K), important information (I), sketch a memory clue (M) and write a sentence (S). For my newcomers, I leave out the (I) portion. They are not ready for adding "information." Right now the goal is for them to learn the names of things and simple sentence structure. My higher ELLS definitely include all components of the K.I.M. Strategy in their notebooks. This is what the K.I.M. Strategy looks like. And this is how it looks modified for my newcomers... On Thursdays, I focus on building sight words. When teaching sight words, it's important to teach them in context. Your beginning ELs need context in order to make meaning of the words. I pull a sight word from our books and I include an extension activity with that word. (A link to this resource is provided at the bottom of this post.) I do teach sight words throughout the week, but on Thursdays we always have an extension activity for one of them. As an "exit ticket" I have them orally use the sight word. Today, I asked each student, "What can you do?" And they responded with "I can _____." Then they get a high five, a sticker (big kids like stickers too!), or some encouraging praise. I also include Word Study activities in my small group work. I like using the sorts from Words Their Way. Each Monday they receive a new spelling pattern. Remember, I assessed my students to see what they already knew. Most already knew initial sounds, so I started them with word families. If they did not know initial sounds, I would've started there. I do have one student in this group who does not know many initials sounds, so I spend a little extra focus with him on initial sounds. This resource is from "Words Their Way." My newcomers use this activity to learn spelling patterns AND vocabulary. They are introduced to their new word list on Mondays, then they have independent activities to do with their word list throughout the week in their gen ed classrooms. (It's so important to set newcomers up with meaningful activities that they can work on independently during Reader's Workshop.) Below is their Word Study Activities list. It gets glued into their Reading Notebook. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays they work on their independent activities. Friday is Word Study Quiz day! FREEBIE - Click Here And that's what small group instruction looks like with my newcomers. To recap, assess what students can do to evaluate your starting point. Focus on building vocabulary, sight words in context, word spelling patterns and choral reading to start. My guided reading lessons usually looks like... preview the book, front load main vocabulary, choral read, and end with a guided writing activity with sentence frames. Here's a TIP: Many times I make my own guided writing activity based on what I want the students to learn from the book. I'll write the activity in my notebook, make copies, cut them to size, then have students glue it into their notebook. Keep this notebook! You may get a newcomer next year, and when you do, many of your guided writing activities will already be made. You'll just need to find the book that goes with the activity. My notebook where I write out the guided writing activities. I know that many school districts lack ESL resources and often times the classroom teacher is the only one providing instruction. Knowing where to start with beginning English learners is probably the biggest challenge. I hope that this post gives you some ideas about where to start and what to focus on with your new students. To read more about the K.I.M. Strategy, click here. Affiliate links below for Sight Words and Word Study.

I've read about choice menus forever, but never tried it until just recently. I decided to created a menu to use during social studies review when students finish with stations early or we have a few extra minutes in class. I introduced the menu a week ago and you would've thought I'd given my students gold! They were thrilled!! I asked if they'd seen a menu before and we talked about a fast food restaurant menu. Then I asked what they would buy if I told them they had $5 to spend at the fast food restaurant. We played around with that a few minutes and then, with great drama, I introduced the social studies menu. I told them they had 50 points to "spend" and they were beside themselves - some even wanted to know if they could "spend" more! As we were going over the points values for different items one students even said, "All the fun stuff costs more points, but the boring stuff doesn't cost as much." I really had to pinch myself! How did this happen?!?! We've had a week to work on the menus and they have really been successful so far. I've been amazed at the creativity my students have shown. It's also been really interesting seeing which people and time periods they choose to work with. I think this is a strategy I will try to use again. Maybe next time I'll try something with reading - after a class novel or maybe even for their self-selected texts. You can click on the picture to download a copy of the menu. It is specific to 4th Grade Virginia Studies, but it might be a good place to start for a menu specific to your social studies standards. I'm linking up with Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for another great Tried it Tuesday linky.

Check our list below to find 7th grade engineering projects that your student can do with common materials to make their ideas into ground-breaking innovations.

Last week it happened… I had a team that completely went off the deep end. I tried my normal ways to draw them back in and it didn’t work. They seemed completely dysfunctional, always r…