If you are on the lookout for the best new winter picture books, “The Littlest Yak” by Lu Fraser is your read. With a beautiful winter setting, Fraser’s story is perfect for teach…

Teaching middle school is like no other teaching assignment - like no other task on Earth for that matter. As a teacher, you need to be just the right mix of cool and strict - but most important, calm. You need to have a good relationship with your students overall based on mutual respect. But that's much easier said than done. Here's the thing about middle schoolers in particular: They want to look good in front of their peers. What their peers think of them is of utmost importance to them (whether they are in touch with that reality or not). Therefore, they will "save face" if they think you, the teacher, are criticizing them or making them look bad in any way. (Meanwhile, you meant no harm; you were simply calling them out on a behavior they clearly exhibited). The thing is you can't call them out in front of their peers. I mean you can, but you shouldn't. Whenever possible, call out their less-than-stellar behavior one-on-one, without their peers hearing it. This could mean going to their desk and whispering, or waiting for a good time to call them to your desk ever so calmly. It's easier to call them out from wherever you are, but if you want your class under control and to maintain respect, somehow arrange a private convo instead. The Goal is this, which is my #1 Rule for Teaching Middle School: No Power Struggles Have you ever noticed how some kids act so differently when their peers aren't around? Let's say a kid in your class before lunch was really pushing your buttons and disrupting class, but then he forgets his lunch in your room. He comes back to get it. You two talk. He's really nice and respectful! You have a pleasant conversation. You're wondering if this is the same person or perhaps a twin brother you weren't aware of. What is going on? IT'S BECAUSE HIS PEERS AREN'T THERE! I'm using a boy as an example, but the same thing applies to girls. Do NOT try to address a student's behavior in full view of his or her peers (a.k.a. the audience). You could get yourself into a full-blown power struggle before you know it. At first, by drawing attention to his or her behavior in front of his or her peers, you may inadvertently say something or suggest something that makes the student, from his or her perspective, look bad or uncool or different in some way. If you're not careful, you might find that the child you're disciplining escalates the situation, essentially trying to look good at any cost, even if that means receiving a negative consequence. For some kids, receiving a negative consequence is just more attention (and even negative attention is attention) and the whole situation will most likely make most of the students in the class think you're the bad guy and he or she is the good guy. You don't want that. There should not be a bad guy or a good guy, just you the teacher calmly in control. What you want to do is simply find a way to calmly speak to the student one-on-one. Keep your voice calm, logically explain everything, follow through on a fitting consequence OUT OF VIEW OF THEIR PEERS and most likely you'll avoid the full-blown power struggle. And, whenever possible, DO POINT OUT POSITIVE BEHAVIORS IN FRONT OF THEIR PEERS. Give them the good attention they want deep down inside. Say something like "Hey everyone, I really like how Alex is using his notes to write his essay. Wow, he's almost done." I heard you are supposed to give five praises for every one disciplinary comment. I say I heard that, because I need to work on that lol. GOOD LUCK! Here's another trick I learned. When you provide your students with high-interest learning resources they feel are relevant to them and interesting in some way, they will actually behave better. They will get sucked into whatever you are trying to get them read, write, or do and forget about misbehaving. So, that's why I created these high-interest informational texts and tasks. I went out of my way to make the articles super interesting to middle schoolers by writing about things that interest them. And, guess what? It worked. I keep hearing from teachers how kids get so into these passages. They actually want to answer the questions. They even want to discuss the articles as a group. And teachers keep reporting how much time and hassle I have saved them. I did that by aligning every text and task to a specific Reading Informational Text Standard and did that 10 times to cover all 10 of them individually. Now teachers don't have to go searching for the right articles that bring out the right skills. Try both volumes and use them all year long! Your students are actually going to behave better because they won't be bored! I even made them in both PDF and interactive Google Slides in case you want the easy distance learning option! And don't forget to pin this so you can read it again or share it with a friend. Best wishes to you this year! You got this!

Get everyone onboard for exploring their reading life and creating a display for all to see.

How do you assess? Do you go by how much time it takes to grade? Do you make your students write an essay because you need a writing sample for data? Do you give them a project you can glance at, use a rubric, and assign a grade? Full Disclosure Full disclosure- in my 19… Continue reading It Only Takes One Page- Assessing English Students with a One Pager

P-I-E is a classic but limited way to teach author's purpose. You need receipts! Teach students to "get the receipt" to determine author's purpose.

Study about shoes through these shoe themed activities and worksheets for primary grades. These shoe theme activites and worksheets will spice up your unit.

Are you faced with a endless stack of papers and tests to grade? These tips will help you get through them faster.

You only need a few classroom discussion strategies to have a good class discussion! Learn how to lead deep group discussions in your class.

Goal setting is helpful for students to reflect on their learning. Students can set goals at any point in the year. Setting language goals for ELLs is particularly beneficial at the beginning of the school year, at the beginning of the calendar year, and before beginning WIDA or other language testing. For English Language Learners,

Organize your classroom stations with these editable small group rotation slides! This product was designed to compliment the Language Live curriculum. Perfect for groups of 2 - 5 and for stations with 3 and 4 rotations. Product includes: Timers (5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, 25 min, 30 min, 40 min, 45 min, 50 min and 60 min) Station icons of commonly named stations available in black and white or in color Editable text boxes for you to include your own station title or student names Note: Directions on how to use the timers are included. They operate like a video, meaning you would just hover over the icon and press the play button to start countdown. When time is up, you will hear a chime.

{Please Read My Terms of Use} and grab my Store Button! This activity is a great way to help students practice using prefixes and suffixes. There is also a creative writing piece. Students will roll a di or number cube 3 times to find a prefix, suffix, and activity. On the third roll, the activity can be created individually, with partners, or even whole group to model the skill. I created this to use with my 4th graders during literacy centers. All you need is dice or create your own. Included in this purchase: -Directions -Materials -Prefix and Suffix Game Page -Example -Answer Sheet (2 on a page) -Additional writing piece with lined paper I hope you can use this to help you students practice important literacy skills! Please leave a comment and let me know how it worked with your students. :) ****SEE SIMILAR PRODUCTS: SUBJECT AND PREDICATE ROLL AND WRITE CENTER! READING SPIN AND WRITE CENTER! READING ROLL AND WRITE CENTER! MAKE YOUR OWN TISSUE BOX DICE FOR CENTERS! EDITABLE CHOICE BOARD FOR EARLY FINISHERS!

Top Secret! The Case of the Missing Girl is yet to be solved. Students will learn the mystery of the missing girl and will read to draw inferences in order to solve the case. ...

Use this resource to help support/guide student learning about imagery. 7 worksheets groups: each has imagery guided notes, 5 senses table, and 1 of 7 passages from Hatchet that contain imagery. They will highlight/underline based on which sense the writing appeals to. Last, students have a blank frame where they will draw the picture they visualized following the passage. They need to include specific details and label them with text evidence! Hatchet by Gary Paulsen Common Core Aligned! Print and ready to use!! Can be done as a group or individually!! ** ANSWER KEYS INCLUDED*** IF YOU PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT PLEASE GIVE A RATING AND SUBSCRIBE! :)

Who doesn't love reading workshop?!?! This is my take on it. :) This file includes the files needed to make a sleek and adorable reading workshop bulletin board. All the directions for the centers are editable, however to protect the rights of the clip artists, images have been flattened. Center titles: Respond to Reading, Enjoy a Book, At Your Seat Practice, and Develop Your Writing.

You can find the products found inside this bundle independently over here: Those Shoes Book unit https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Those-Shoes-Book-Unit-5342200 History of Shoes https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/History-of-Shoes-5342148 Comparing Expressions Shoe Theme https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comparing-Expressions-Math-Activities-5342292 Shoe Writing Prompts https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Shoe-Theme-Writing-Prompts-5342329 Be sure to follow my TpT store by clicking on the green "follow me" next to my seller picture to receive notifications of new products and upcoming sales.  Don't forget to leave feedback to earn TpT credits that can be used for future purchases!  Are you taking advantage of FREE TpT money?  Leave feedback on your purchases! How do you know if you’ve left feedback?  All you need to do is log into TpT, go to My TpT > My Purchases and then click on “Sort by: Needs Feedback.” Rate and comment your heart out, and you will earn your credits. How do you redeem these credits?  “When you check out, you will be given the option of applying your TpT Credits to your purchase, thereby discounting your purchase price accordingly.”

Use this RAPP Strategy bookmark and graphic organizer to help students develop their answer to Constructed Response Questions(CRQ's) step by step. These are especially helpful for test prep, but can be used year round to help students construct a response. Included: RAPP Graphic Organizer - lined and unlined version RAPP Bookmark - formatted two to a page As always - to ensure your happiness with this product, please ask ANY and ALL questions before purchasing. Thank you so much! © The Fun Sized Teacher

MobyMax and NWEA together allows a teacher to select the lessons that a student practices and fills in gaps that have been identified through NWEA testing. Using the two allows you to use reports to individualize student learning.

Setting up a language arts block to ensure I cover all the needed skills for a complete literacy instruction program with 30 minutes of the allotted time.

There are many benefits to using movie trailers as an alternative assessment in English class. The main one: students genuinely enjoy them!

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.

Do your students know how to think deeply when they are reading? In this post, students use skills in drawing conclusions to think deeply to determine what the author is telling them. These activities include What's in My Bag?, website games and quizzes, videos, pictures, and an editable PowerPoint Game. This is perfect for students in grades 3, 4, and 5.

Looking for techniques to teach visual literacy? Read on to learn about the OPTIC strategy for rhetorical analysis of visual texts and images.

A perfect activity for shared and independent reading during your literacy block! Students work in partners to analyze, respond to, compare, and contrast informational texts. Each student receives an 8.5” x 11” page, reads a different informational text, and reflects upon their learning. The Venn Diagram part is completed together after reading. Each page includes the following sections: Expressing Opinions About Informational Texts: Is this text effective in communicating information to its readers? Explain using specific examples. Understanding Informational Texts: Select one text feature and explain how it has helped you understand the text ... New Information Learned ... Text Features Checklist Venn Diagram To display their completed poster, students trim along the dotted edge and place their pages side by side on a background. Clipart Credit: May Hates Mondays Copyright © Zenful Ziggy Designs By purchasing this resource, you are agreeing that the contents are the property of ZENFUL ZIGGY DESIGNS, and licensed to you only for classroom/personal use as a single user. I retain the copyright, and reserve all rights to this product. Please visit my store to purchase additional licenses for this product.

Prepare yourself for back to school with these "all about me" fingerprints! Each student can showcase how unique and wonderful they are! Choose 1 of the 3 fingerprint templates. (loop, whorl, arch). Students write about themselves on the lines of the fingerprint. This is perfect for the first week of school. This can be used in English, Art, Science, or any other subject. Students can share their fingerprints to find out how awesome their peers are. Bonus: includes 8 writing prompts! UPDATE! There are now 2 digital options! 1) Google Slides - students add text over a fingerprint image 2) Google Slides - students add text next to a fingerprint *Students can choose the font style, size, and color! There is also a fun version of a Venn Diagram to discuss uniqueness with a partner! And as an extra BONUS, there's a link in the PDF for a FREE editable pixel art activity! Let's Stay Connected! Follow me on Teachers Pay Teachers Follow me on Pinterest Follow me on Instagram

Lift your students' comprhension and understanding by integrating art into the classroom in a few easy steps!

Do you need some differentiated project ideas to wrap up your novel unit? Try these 5 final project/assessment ideas that you may use with almost any novel. Task description, assessment grid, planning, rough draft, and final version sheets are included. This resource has been designed for advanced and intermediate/upper-intermediate ESL students. However, it may also be useful in ELA classes below the indicated grade levels. The included evaluation grid may be used to assess the response process and/or writing skills. Lined papers for planning and writing the rough draft and final version are included. ⭐This resource is also available in a bundle here: Reading Journal & Final Assessment Ideas for Independent Reading (Novels) BUNDLE ⭐The downloaded file includes: 5 differentiated Final Project Ideas for novels on a single page (project, writing guidelines, task requirements) 2 slightly different assessment rubrics to assess the response process and writing skills Teacher directions Graphic organizers - planning sheets (outline) Rough draft and final version sheets Editable project template to create your own. (This template is blank.) This resource is available in both PDF and Editable Power Point Presentation files. Please note that this resource is partially editable; only the "Task requirements" section of the project ideas may be edited in the PPT file. ⭐The different writing prompts require learners to produce various text types: Article - Critical book review Comparison essay Chapter (a new ending for the story) Letter Expository essay Listicle Character analysis essay ⭐Each final assessment idea is accompanied by: Writing guidelines Task requirements that can be edited in the included Power Point document. ⭐Assessment of the final product: The included rubric has been designed to assess two of the ESL competencies (Québec ESL program): C2 - Reinvests understanding (participation in the response process/understanding of texts; participation in the response process/connecting with the text) C3 - Writes and produces texts. You might simply use the part which evaluates only writing skills (content and formulation of the message) if you do not wish to assess reinvestment of understanding. You may also use your own assessment grids. ⭐FILE DETAILS: Paper size: 8.5" x 11" (Standard US Letter). Documents are not editable unless otherwise stated. Resources are available either in a PDF or PPT file. ❤️SATISFACTION: Before downloading a product, read the product description and check out the preview document to determine if the resource is appropriate for your students. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. ✨TERMS OF USE: ©️ Versatile Teacher Toolkit - ESL and ELA Resources. All rights reserved. For personal or educational use. You may make copies for your personal or classroom use. Sharing, posting, redistributing, or selling this resource or any part of it on the Internet is prohibited. You can read my full TOU here: Terms of Use ☀ Follow me on TpT ☀ Don't forget to leave feedback to earn TpT credits.

Here are some simple and easy guided math activities you can use in kindergarten. You probably have these items in your classroom!

Are you looking for a fun way to teach describing characters and character traits? Try this! Fold each side of a horizontal sheet of paper to the middle. Have the kids draw a picture of the character on the front. Put words to describe the outward appearance of the character on the outside. This can be things that are obvious from the text. Next, open the page up and write character traits and words to describe the character's emotions on the inside. These are things you have to infer about the character's traits based on the evidence from the text. It's pretty fun and these make a great display!

I have several free resources available at my TpT store. Click on the images below to download your FREE copy! If you do not have access to a printer right away, you can also pin the images to your favorite boards and download them at a later date!! FREE

Does your classroom call for an engaging, active, student-centered game culture? If so, check out these original, creative activities for any middle or high school English class. This ELA games bundle currently consists of 10 grammar, figurative language, poetry, and writing games. These ELA games are perfect for fast finishers, review days, standardized test prep, or final exam review purposes. You can use them in different formats...stations, small groups, partners, whole class, and more. Dice are required for several of the games. Each of the ELA games is also available individually. Some of the games have editable versions, and some have digital versions. Please read the individual product descriptions for each of the following games for more details: Truth or Dare Grammar Game Grammar Games Dice Board Set with Editable Template Please note that the grammar games listed above are also available in a separate Grammar Games Bundle. Truth or Dare Vocabulary and Choice Board The Writing Games Dice Board: Research and Writing Skills Review Truth or Dare Figurative Language Style Get Schooled! Figurative Language Board Game The Poetry Challenge Embedding Quotations and Dialogue Punctuation Game Looking for additional ELA materials? Find them here! Stay in touch: Facebook Pinterest Blog Instagram ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Couple Tips: * Be sure to click the "follow" button that is located next to my picture so that you can hear about sales and new products! * By providing feedback on your purchased products, you can earn points, which ultimately translate into cash toward future purchases...bonus! Plus, I'd love to hear from you. © Reading & Writing Haven All rights reserved by author. Duplication limited to single classroom use only. Electronic distribution limited to single classroom use only.

Study about shoes through these shoe themed activities and worksheets for primary grades. These shoe theme activites and worksheets will spice up your unit.

Digital Adjectives Game for Google Slides is a fun, interactive resource for learning to identify adjectives in sentences. It is presented as a game, so your students will be sure to love it! Each answer will provide immediate feedback, and your students have the opportunity to try again each time they answer incorrectly. You'll receive a Directions PDF that will contain a Click Here Link. This link will take you directly to your own copy of Digital Adjectives Game for Google Slides which will be placed into your Google Drive account. Very easy to do! The link for the game is already set to open to whoever has the link, making it very easy for you and your students to access this resource with one click. *This resource has been updated. You might also like: Digital Nouns Game for Google Classroom and Distance Learning