How a writing journal can help with your writing, your creative ideas and your writing business. My notebooks or journals have been instrumental in turning around my attitude to writing. It has increased my focus, encouraged my ideas and helped me turn one sentence into a fifty thousand word workbo
Thought Clouds blank worksheet. Fill in the clouds with all your thoughts and emotions throughout the day.
Today I woke up in a panic. It was already 8:00 and I thought it was Monday, which would have meant that I was late for an exciting day of professional development. It took me about 30 seconds to get my head together and realize that it was in fact Sunday. This was further confirmed with the TpT weekly email of 10 free downloads waiting in my inbox :) Oi vey- my body is completely freaking out at the idea of waking up for any kind of work! Following my little morning mix up, I whipped up this delish dish for breakfast to celebrate my wonderful, lazy morning: Holy moly guacamole. That, my friends, is an egg beater omelette with caramelized onions, mozzarella and the star of the show: guacamole. I know avocados weird some people out, but they are pretty much at the top of my favorite foods list these days... right after all the unhealthy stuff like DQ blizzards and ravioli :) If you are a fan of guacamole tho, you should definitely try it for breakfast! I use a mozzarella cheese stick for the cheese because it keeps me from dumping on large amounts like Paula Dean adds stick butter. Side that little tasty baby with a Tazo iced green tea in my Starbucks tumbler and I'm a happy camper. This is NOTHING like what I eat for breakfast during the school year! My 5:15 breakfast is usually bran flakes and coffee at my computer desk as I check email and weather. Anyway, I do have a quick freebie for you! I've been trying to stock up on miscellaneous lesson materials for next year to save myself the time later on. I whipped up some quick themed-writing pages that I can use for pretty much anything, but many of them have a "back-to-school" kinda feel with some school supplies borders. Here's a few preview pictures, but there are more pages in the whole pack: Some page borders from Scrappin Doodles License #45285 Clip art from Creative Clips Digital Clipart If you wanna grab these paper (and more) to stash them away for quick go-to's during the hectic school year, they are yours for {FREE} if you {CLICK HERE}. Alright, this girl needs to get moving. I'm on a hunt for all things zebra, lime green and blue today for my classroom decor- so stay tuned for classroom updates and pictures. Also, tomorrow (Monday) I am so excited to be guest blogging over at Marie's fabulous blog: The Hands On Teacher in First! I will post a link and reminder tomorrow because I have some great freebies and a {FLASH} giveaway that you won't want to miss out on! Enjoy your Sunday!
Greek and Latin roots are sometimes the evil stepsister of vocab. Middle schools that use the Common Core (or any variation of it) must teach affixes, but high schools aren't required to, even though it’s valid vocabulary building. Affixes don't initially look glamorous to students, either; at first glance, affixes seem boring (a.k.a. memorization), and teachers are wary of how to teach them well (without just lecture and flash cards). Therefore, instead of viewing affixes as literary molecules - the building blocks to like, everything - classes often just go through the motions (or worse, ignore them completely). But what if you could teach prefixes, roots, and suffixes in a small amount of time, with higher student buy-in? Truth be told, I’ve done the full spectrum of bad to good with affix instruction: not enough of it, too much of it, successful flipped classroom, unsuccessful flipped classroom, too much in isolation, etc. Finally, I’ve got a balance that I’m happy with and that is starting to raise student awareness of the words they encounter while reading. Here's what that process currently looks like in our classroom. Yes, pretests are dry, but here’s the fun part: when my seventh graders bombed their pretest, they realized that they really DO need this instruction, and now they’re open to learning more about it. There are no egos in the way, and more students are willing to learn. (Steal my editable pretest here.) Side note: No, I don’t want students to fail or take a hit to their self-esteem… but many older teens and tweens assume they know or remember content that they do not. Next, we built flip books that contained essential lists of affixes AND practice for EACH chunk of them. Students rotated through stations to do things like… Complete the pages in their flipbooks Practice listing words that USE each affix Talk through how they could remember each one Play with a premade Quizlet set Pick up pre-made flash cards and start quizzing each other Yes, repetition is necessary, but practice can come from more than just index cards. Once students start to have a handle on some affixes, it’s time to do something creative (alongside your method of memorization) to make sure these meanings really stick. Start with an intermediate activity like this FREE puzzle challenge! The application level will look different, depending on your grade level and the extent of your students’ mastery. Here are a few ideas: Mixed Levels of Readiness: My 10-pack of application activities for affixes contains easier activities for students who are still acquiring roots AND more challenging ones for students who are ready, including pages about test prep and Harry Potter! (Try one for FREE here.) Embedded into Vocabulary: Start noticing the roots, prefixes, and suffixes in the vocabulary you assess elsewhere in your class. For example, in my Word of the Day program, we identify at least one affix and/or the language of origin for each word. Delve into REAL Latin: Don’t run from this idea! Do your students know common “English” phrases that are actually Latin, such as ad lib, per se, nota bene, pro bono, pro tempore, and status quo? If not, then maybe it’s time to build literacy with these common phrases. The REAL payoff... ...will come in that cute moment when a student raises her hand because she’s just noticed an affix in the text… or when a reluctant reader correctly zeroes in on what “agribusiness” means in a nonfiction article because he knows that “agri” means “farming”... or when a class tells you that they saw a root in their Science class and knew what the word meant. If students don’t get these affixes from us now, they never will, and it’s one of the best literacy graduation gifts we can give them. You Might Also Like... Tips and Activities for Teaching Vocabulary by Presto Plans Word Up Vocabulary Graphic Organizers by Tracee Orman
Have you ever had the vibes of your story figured out but no plot? This post gives you an easy process to find out what actually happens in yor novel
Motivate students with independent reading by adding engaging reading sprints...turn the traditional reading log upside down!
How to manifest something by writing it down. The secret about how to manifest by writing with a powerful yet simple 5 step process.
Writing your wedding vows requires careful thought and reflection. If you’re looking for some wording inspiration, check out these great examples!
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Get an outline for teaching all the reading and writing standards in your Middle School ELA class.
This graphic organizer can be used to teach and reinforce the RACES strategy. It gives an explanation of each step as well as sentence starter to support students in their extended response. This really helps my students organize their thoughts before writing their final response. I give this to a...
Your students are bright, but they don't always sound like it. Help improve student vocabulary with these 600 ways to say common things.
Journaling is a powerful tool for depression relief but it can be difficult to get started. Save this list of journal prompts for depression and you'll never be short of things to write about!
These line awareness activities include strategies for using writing lines in handwriting and resources for alignment in handwriting.
No more excuses! Starting a journal with your preschooler is easy and helps develop early writing and fine motor skills.
Writing, I believe, is one of the most vital skills we can teach our kids, whether we homeschool or not. It is so poorly taught in modern education, yet
Ready to write that novel but don’t know how to organize your thoughts? Are you a planner/plotter? Do you need meticulous outlines before you start drafting? Are you working with multiple timelines that you need to keep track of? This simple, minimalist four-page Novel Planning Template will help you organize your plot, alongside the timeline and POV for each chapter/section of your novel. You can instantly download the digital print files after your purchase. Both .png and .pdf files will be provided. These files can be printed on A4, regular size printer paper (8.5" x 11" paper). If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message.
These emotional writing prompts will help you dive into your feelings, challenge you, and bridge the gap between your experiences & the page.
This graphic organizer assists students in collecting their thoughts of what they learned and turn into a 5-6 sentence summary. ...
Learn how to teach students the RACE writing strategy (Restate, Answer, Cite, Explain), which helps students write better constructed responses. Teachers can use the I Do, We Do, You Do method to teach this skill. The post also includes anchor charts and free RACE strategy posters. By using this str
Looking for appropriate words for a serious illness card? See our lists of comforting words for a serious illness & encouraging words for a serious illness.
Worksheets are an effective and practical tool for individuals seeking to enhance their understanding of certain subjects or entities. Specifically designed to guide and stimulate personal discovery, worksheets offer a structured approach to organizing thoughts and exploring specific topics. If you are interested in exploring deep-rooted beliefs, emotions, and behaviors, worksheets can provide a valuable avenue to delve into the principles of Rational Emotive Therapy (RET).
Recognizing the work efforts of employees is important to keeping them happy and motivated. A message of appreciation is a great way to do so. Here are a few ideas of what you can say.
I had a great day taking care of the hubby! He's doing great and not too much work. I should be able to get back to my little firsties on Monday. By then he should have mastered the crutches and being able to get around without help. Meanwhile, I'm getting lots done in between the "honey come here" and "babe I need this". I made a little Writing Summary sheet for my team yesterday and want to share with everyone. We went to a district training last week getting us ready for the new common core. We liked the idea of getting the kiddos to respond more to their reading. Click on the picture to download a PDF. Oh, you will want to go over to Oh My Little Classity Class blog spot. You know the cute LEFT RIGHT game I blogged about last time from Swamp Frog First Graders, Deb made some for math. Cute stuff. Check it out. I also started a TpT shop over on Teachers Pay Teachers. So you can check out my stuff HERE. I hope everyone has a great FRIDAY. I know I'll be having a great time taking care of hubby!
So embarking on this new grade, I didn't imagine quite fully all the new material I would be teaching. Dialogue in writing and how to punctuate it - certainly wasn't something I was expecting. I found these awesome ideas to be very helpful to introduce the concept to my students! First up the Balloon Stickies App: It used to be free, so look for a similar version ( my Ipad is at school so I will try to get the one I used) I got the original idea to use this app from the post over at Finally in First. Basically you use pictures and add text bubbles over the top then add dialogue or wording to the picture! I love the creativity involved and how easy it was to do. Never mind that my picture looks like word vomit :( It was fun to play around with it, and get the grammar mechanics straight so it would help with our writing. Students had a great time exploring this app! Next up, I showed my students this picture I then had them free write a conversation between these 2 animals! We wrote for a designated amount of time using proper grammar rules when using quotations. This also led to an opportunity to talk about "said is dead" and what other words we could use in its place. They thought the picture was HILARIOUS and then I played them the short funny video clip below afterwards (it was Friday....) The video could also easily be tied in with health, cause and effect, and many other reading strategies honestly all while getting a good chuckle. Just cracks me up! What other fun ways do you introduce and teach dialogue for either punctuation or in writing?! What other funny pictures could you use? There has to be tons! I just completed these Halloween Jokes after seeing a similar idea on Pinterest. We turned the jokes into dialogue and then used macaroni for the commas, and quotations marks - GENIUS! it was such a hit! I call that Macaroni Magic right there :) The kids loved the tie in of the jokes and the holiday and it brought a quick close to our activities on dialogue. Such fun practice!!
Sentence writing ideas for kindergarten & first graders. Engaging ideas for students to learn to write basic sentences.
What is Scripture writing and How to Get Started? Bible verse writing is the discipline of writing out Topical Bible verses or books in the Bible.
This is - hands down - my most favorite writing project that I've ever done with my firsties. They did such an amazing job and I am so proud of how far they have come this year. We read "The Best Part of Me" by Wendy Ewald and then created our own bubble maps to organize our thoughts. I
Ten fun writing activities for kids of all ages. Low pressure, creative ideas to help students practice their skills and get writing!
Struggling To Come Up With Ideas For Your Next Short Story Or Novel? Here Are 25 New Love Story Ideas To Inspire You Today.
Use these FREE and fun 3rd grade writing prompts and give your students a chance to write about the things that inspire them.
