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December 27, 2018

New Year Countdown

I have teamed up with some fantastic TPT sellers to bring you 5 days of fabulous savings, starting on December 27th!!! 

Add these days to your calendar to make sure you don’t miss out. Each deal will be available for 1 day only. 
Search for these hashtags and ring in the New Year !!
#NYcountdown5 Dec 27th $5 deals
#NYcountdown4 Dec 28th $4 deals
#NYcountdown3 Dec 29th $3 deals
#NYcountdown2 Dec 30th $2 deals
#NYcountdown1 Dec 31st $1 deals

October 11, 2018

Fantastic Fall Giveaway Part 2

Time to celebrate autumn just a little more! 
A wonderful group of teachers and I have teamed together to host a TpT gift card giveaway. Just enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win a 75 dollar TpT gift card. The more entries that you complete, the better your chance of winning the card.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway







September 21, 2018

Fantastic Fall Giveaway!

It's Fall y'all! To make the transition to this season just a little easier this year, a team of amazing teachers and I have joined together to provide ONE awesome, lucky teacher with a Teachers Pay Teachers gift card! Just complete the Rafflecopter below for your chance to receive the gift card. The more entries you complete, the better your chances of receiving the card!





a Rafflecopter giveaway




August 20, 2018

BTS Bonus Sale on TpT




Ready your wish list: 
a TpT bonus sale is coming tomorrow!
Feeling the back-to-school crunch? There's still time to give your planning a fresh boost! Tomorrow (Tuesday, August 21st until 11:59pm ET), TpT is giving you one more chance to stock up on all your last-minute back-to-school needs. Just use promo code BTSBONUS18 to save up to 25% sitewide on A+ back-to-school resources.


Just click HERE to start choosing great teaching products to help your students learn as much as they can!




August 17, 2018

Back to School MEGA Giveaway No. 2


It's nearly that time! Time for a another BTS giveaway 😊

I hope that you have enjoyed your summer! To make the back-to-school season a little easier this year, a team of amazing teachers and I have grouped together to give ONE awesome, lucky teacher a TPT gift card and an Amazon gift card! Just enter the Rafflecopter below the giveaway graphic to be considered for the random drawing. The more entries you complete, the greater your chances of winning. Good Luck! Happy Back-to-School!


a Rafflecopter giveaway



August 9, 2018

Back-to-School MEGA Giveaway


It's nearly that time! 😊

I hope that you have enjoyed your summer! To make the back-to-school season a little easier this year, a team of amazing teachers and I have grouped together to give ONE awesome, lucky teacher a TPT gift card, a Target gift card, and an Amazon gift card! Just enter the Rafflecopter below the giveaway graphic to be considered for the random drawing. The more entries you complete, the greater your chances of winning. Good Luck! Happy Back-to-School!



a Rafflecopter giveaway


July 31, 2018

BTSFRESH TpT Sale... WOO HOO!

YIPPEE! It's that time of the year again! The time that teachers await patiently! 
Get ready, get set, and GO!


TpT teacher creators have set their stores to deep discounts to help you save on your back to school shopping. EVERYTHING in my store is set to be on sale! Tons of terrific teaching items are available to you at up to 25% discount. Just remember to use the code BTSFRESH during the checkout process. While the sale doesn't being until August 1st, you can shop right now, emptying your wish list and filling up your cart in anticipation, Click HERE to get started searching for BTSFRESH sale items.




July 23, 2018

Hashtag Fun

Hashtags can be loads of fun! This week many creative teacher-authors and I are having fun with some hashtag sales on Teachers Pay Teachers, and we invite you to join in the fun! AND SAVE LOADS OF MONEY, TOO! Just click on the links below the graphic to shop and save with hashtags!


Click HERE to shop #HotDealsInJuly.



Click HERE to shop #ChristmasInJuly.

Happy Hashtag Shopping. Just be sure to watch the dates for each sale in order to shop the dollar deals.




July 11, 2018

BTS30 Hashtag Sale

A group of talented Teachers Pay Teachers creators have joined to offer you a special BACK TO SCHOOL SALE. From now through July 15th hundreds of terrific teaching items are discounted 30%. You can find these sale items HERE or by searching using #BTS30 on Teachers Pay Teachers. Stock up now and grab some great savings!




July 1, 2018

#4onthe4th

Happy Independence Day!


Let's have a little #hashtag fun on Teachers Pay Teachers!
A wonderful group of teacher creators and I have joined together to offer four products from each of our Teachers Pay Teachers Stores at fabulously reduced prices. One item is offered at $4, one at $3, one at $2, and one at $1. 
These are the items that I am offering in my TpT Store.

$4 Back to School ELA Bundle (SIX items for one low price)
$2 Easily Confused Words SWITCH, ELA Card Game

Click HERE to be whisked away to sparkling savings on hundreds of teaching items, 
 or simply visit Teachers Pay Teachers and search using #4onthe4th.


June 29, 2018

Independence Day Giveaway

Happy Independence Day! 


A team of amazing international teachers and I have joined together to award an awesome teacher a 150 dollar Teachers Pay Teachers gift card to show them how appreciative we are for their service as a teacher! Enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to receive this terrific TpT gift card. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway



June 26, 2018

Fantastic Favorite Freebies Collection

Everybody LOVES freebies! Especially teachers, right? I have a brand new freebie and an invitation that I would like to share with all of my bloggy friends.


Task Cards and ZAP!

Task cards are VERY popular in many elementary and middle school classrooms. I think that I use task cards at least three out of the five school days each week. Easily adapted to any content area and grade level, they make for a welcome change from just completing a worksheet for skill practice. This pack of 42 task cards (40 skill cards and two ZAP cards) may be used in a literacy center, as part of a scavenger hunt, or for a game of scoot or ZAP. Each card requires a student to read a sentence and identify its verb. The cards contain sentences taken from Lauren Tarshis’s popular I Survived Series books, my students' favorite books overall. This pack of cards can be used by an individual student, for small group instruction, or with an entire class. They are extremely versatile, easy to implement, and best of all...reusable.



To prepare this set of task cards…
1.Print the Playing Cards found on pages 4-10.
2.Laminate the pages for durability if you choose.
3.Cut apart the cards.
4.Print the cover page and glue it onto a large envelope.
5.Print a copy of the Answer Sheet found on page 11.
6.Place the Playing Cards, ZAP cards, and Answer Sheet in the envelope for safe storage.


To play a game of Scoot…
1. Place the cards (minus the ZAP cards) around the room face down in front of each student. Use as many cards as you like. If you wish to use all the cards, simply double-up cards in front of some students if necessary.
2. Have each student number a sheet of paper from 1-40 (or however many cards you choose to use). You might consider playing two separate rounds, using cards 1-20 for round one and cards 21-40 for the second round.
3. Students begin by answering the card(s) in front of them, writing their answer(s) on their paper next to the matching number.
4. After an appropriate amount of time, call “SCOOT!” and students turn the card(s) face down and move to the next place where they answer the question on that card.
5. Play continues in this manner until all items have been answered or time runs out.
6. Collect the student papers to assess yourself or check them together in class.





To Play a Game of ZAP (My students' FAVORITE game):
•Divide your class into several teams depending on the number of students.
•Determine how long you will play or how many rounds you will complete.
•Place the task cards and the two ZAP cards in a container (coffee can, paper bag, etc.).
•Have a student draw a card from the container without looking inside
•The team should read the words on the card, then confer to determine the answer.
•If the team answers correctly, it keeps the card. If it answers incorrectly the card is returned to the container.
•Teams take turns drawing/collecting the cards. However, there is a twist. If a team draws a ZAP card, it must return ALL of its cards to the container. Return the ZAP card to the container after each turn.
•The winner is the team that collects the most strips. You may want to award them with a simple prize such as a piece of candy, bonus points on an upcoming quiz/test, 5 minutes of free time, etc.

To Use as a Scatter (Scavenger Hunt) Activity:
•Distribute the task cards around the classroom, hiding some in plain sight while others place out of sight.
•Have students number a paper from 1-40 or however many cards you have decided to use.
•Students should meander around the classroom in search of hidden task cards. As they locate a card, they should read it and record its answer.

•You can have the entire class scattering around the room or just a few students at a time. This can be a station activity, small group enrichment, or whole class assessment. Anyway you present Scatter is great for students since they are able to get up and get moving around the room a bit.

You can download your free set of I Survived Various Verbs HERE or by visiting my TpT Store and downloading the featured free product.

Looking for MORE freebies? I've listed several more below.

And now for the INVITATION...

TpT friends, I invite you to include your favorite freebies in the list below. We can create a tremendous warehouse of fantastic products that are easy to locate. In the process, we can share our talents with each other and with blog visitors who might not have been able to find us before.

FANTASTIC FAVORITE FREEBIES COLLECTION




June 25, 2018

May the Force Be With You: Maker Lab Star Wars

There is no doubt that the Maker Lab series of books published by DK Books are among my favorite nonfiction materials for my sixth grade science students. I've blogged about these books on three separate occasions, celebrating each new addition to the Maker Lab series:

     Maker Lab, the original book
     Maker Lab Outdoors
     Maker Lab Out of the Box

Today's blog post is featuring another Maker Lab book, one that I predict might become the most popular thus far.

by Liz Heinecke and Cole Horton

Containing the perfect amount of science, science fiction, and movie lore, this edition enables readers to create wonderfully futuristic, fun projects. While this book is not available until July 3, 2018, Amazon already has it listed in anticipation of its popularity, and says this about Maker Lab Star Wars:

Ever wanted to move things without touching them like a Jedi can? Or grow your own kyber crystal? Or maybe explode a balloon with a beam of energy, just like the Death Star? Now you can! 
With 20 amazing projects, Star Wars™ Maker Lab teaches your budding Padawan how to become a Master of science, in both the real world and the Star Wars galaxy. Using clear step-by-step instructions, the book guides home scientists and makers through each exciting experiment–from making Jabba's gooey slime or a hovering landspeeder, to an Ewok catapult and a glowing Gungan Globe of Peace. Each experiment has fact-filled panels to explain the real-world science as well as the Star Wars science fiction from the movies. 
With projects that are out of this world, this fantastic Star Wars book can keep children entertained for hours, making use of many household items such as cardboard tubes, baking soda, cornstarch, straws, balloons, and food coloring. There is also plenty to keep more adventurous scientists enthralled, with instructions to make your own bristlebot mouse droid, lightsaber duel, and Mustafar volcano. Star Wars Maker Lab supports STREAM topics and helps children to learn the basics of science by traveling through the Star Wars galaxy. May the (static) Force be with you!... Amazon.com
Among those 20 fun, futuristic projects are:




Each project's difficulty level is represented by a series of Yoda heads, ranging from simple to most challenging. Full color photos describe the household materials needed to complete a compete and illustrates the step-by-step instructions. Movie scenes spark the interest of the Star Wars fanatic and draws them into that galaxy far, far away! 

If you already own the Maker Lab series, you will definitely want to add this volume, and if you haven't added a Maker Lab book to your library, this is one to start with! May the Force be with you!





June 20, 2018

It's Time to SWITCH #2sale

Isn't is time for you to SWITCH how your students practice ELA skill work?

There is no more engaging way to practice ELA skills than by playing a game! SWITCH is a card game played similarly to Uno. Every version of SWITCH requires students to practice a particular ELA skill before they can play a card. Mixing fun with needed skills practice is definitely a WINNING combination! 

Each SWITCH game contains 72 cards (four of which are programmable by you) and is appropriate for 2-8 middle school aged players. An answer key and detailed directions are included with every game. 

There currently are seven SWITCH games available in my TpT Store: Pronouns, Sentence Structure, Sentence Type, Prepositional Phrases, Verbs, Direct Objects, and a Make Your Own SWITCH game

I've joined Nikki from Oceanview Resources and several other talented TpT teacher-creators to offer you a special hashtag sale of awesome TpT products each priced at just two dollars. Six of my SWITCH games are featured in our #2sale occurring now through this coming Sunday, June 24th. That's a 33% savings on each game. Stock up now for the next school year and grab some terrific teaching products in the process.

Click HERE to see all of the sale products, or simply visit Teachers Pay Teachers and search using the hashtag #2sale.





June 15, 2018

Father's Day Giveaway and Hashtag Sale

Happy Father's Day! 
A team of amazing teachers and I have come together to give an awesome teacher a TPT gift card to show him/her how appreciative we are for his/her support!


Just enter the Rafflecopter below before midnight June 23, 2018, for your chance to receive a $200 gift card from Teachers Pay Teachers!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Once you've entered our Rafflecopter, hop on over to TpT to check out the special hashtag sale being offered for the next few days, from now through June 18th. Click HERE or visit TpT and use #celebratedeals as your search term.






May 21, 2018

#Summer2018 Juicy Deals

I've joined together with some AWESOME Teachers Pay Teachers product creators to bring you a fun two day event that will let you get to know us and try out some JUICY teaching items at super low prices! Just click HERE to be whisked away to #SUMMER2018.


Click HERE to read my profile. There you can learn more about The Teacher's Desk 6 and view more than 500 quality teaching products geared for intermediate and middle school students. Of particular interest, you might like to check out ELA mystery pictures (a fun and engaging way for students to practice grammar skills) or ELA and Science ZAP games (the heart of my store featuring a game that students BEG to play). Need a quick and easy activity to support the study of a novel, check out these I Have, Who Has Listening/Comprehension cooperative learning sets. Finally, if you're looking for something to motivate your students to acheive their best, check out these brag tags (mini-awards).

Happy #Summer2018!




May 6, 2018

#ThankYou18 TpT Sale

May 8th is Teacher Appreciation Day. 

Thank you to all my bloggy friends, followers, and customers! I truly appreciate your presence in my life.
Thank you for your kind words, comments, suggestions, sharing of ideas, and support of my TpT Store. 
You have challenged me to be a better teacher in so many ways: through sharing LOADS of new ideas, new techniques, suggestions for books to read, new technology to try, and SO MUCH MORE!

As a thank you for all that you do, TpT and I are hosting a special Teacher Appreciation Sale. Everything in my TpT Store is discounted by 20% while TpT is offering an additional 5% discount during checkout IF you use the promo code THANKYOU18. Please don't wait too long to take advantage of this special offer since this sale only lasts two days.




April 16, 2018

YeeHaw! It's Time for Bonanza...

... #BundleBonanza, that is! Search TpT using #BundleBonanza for 50% savings on selected bundles. Don't wait too long, however! #BundleBonanza only lasts through April 17, 2018! Click HERE to see all the great bundles being offered.







March 25, 2018

An EGGcellent TpT Gift Card Giveaway

I am thrilled to announce this special Easter giveaway 
hosted by an awesome group of TpT'ers.

Don't hesitate! 
Hop to it and enter the Rafflecopter below. 
The giveaway will be over before you know it.
The more entries you complete, the better your chance of receiving the TpT gift card.





a Rafflecopter giveaway


March 19, 2018

#SpringIntoSavings Sale

Spring is in the air... FINALLY...
and it's a great time to #SpringIntoSavings on TpT!
Just click HERE to #SpringIntoSavings or visit TpT and use the hashtag search term to locate your savings.






March 16, 2018

#LuckyDeals Sale

I am so LUCKY to be teaming up with a group of wonderful TpT creators to offer you LUCKY dollar DEALS on some awesome teaching products. Click HERE to be taken to the sale items or simply do a search on TpT using the #luckydeals as your key word. Hurry though, this special hashtag sale is only valid on March 17th and 18th.





March 10, 2018

Teacher Book Talk: Maker Lab Outdoors

What a wonderful surprise when I arrived home from school yesterday! I found this waiting for me in my mailbox...


I immediately began perusing it and couldn't put it down. It is chock-full of colorful pages, photos, and directions for making the coolest kid-interesting stuff. Of course, it's quality material; notice it is a Smithsonian item. I quickly snuck a peak at the publisher's website just to see what they had to say about this beautiful book:
Twenty-eight science projects and experiments to be done outside will spark kids' creativity and help them develop science skills through hands-on learning.
Projects focus on Earth and the environment, plants and animals, rocks and minerals, and space, bringing science learning home and into the backyard. Young scientists can make a cave system and find out about underground rivers, construct a working model of tectonic plates and learn about earthquakes, build a telescope and look to the planets and stars, and more. 
Supporting STEAM education initiatives and the Maker Movement, Maker Lab: Outdoors includes 25 interactive projects to inspire kids' creativity and their scientific side, , and, as the founder of Maker Faire Dale Dougherty says, "to realize with their hands what they can imagine in their minds."
With stunning photography, succinct step-by-step instructions, and detailed explanations, Maker Lab: Outdoors takes readers on a journey of discovery. A must-have for every young scientist curious about their surroundings, and for makers, crafters, and those who enjoy exploring the outdoors.... DK Publishing Company.

Here are a few of those 25 interactive projects mentioned by the publisher:
  • butterfly feeder
  • periscope
  • soil-free planter
  • brilliant barometer
  • cracking rocks
  • a wormery
  • an air cannon
  • a water rocket
  • a paper sundial
  • AND MORE!!!
Let's take a closer look at two of those projects, just so you can see the quality of the text and how fun each project appears. First, a wormery... even the name is great! Each project is displayed in an attractive, inviting photograph followed by step-by-step instructions, complete with sequential photos. Even limited readers can easily re-create the projects independently or with minimal adult assistance. The majority of the projects can be completed with items that most households (classrooms) have on hand or that can readily be collected.



Check out this project, a water rocket! My sixth graders would be all over this one in a heartbeat!


And the best part of this book, what makes this science teacher's heart sing? At the end of each project is the science stuff, how it all works! Gotta love this part!


I can NOT wait to share this book with my class of young scientists. They are going to enjoy it as much as they enjoy the original Make Lab book that I already own.

So, are you intrigued? Want your own copy? To purchase directly from the publisher, click HERE. At the publisher's site, there are links to preferred retailers, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble to name just two. Choosing these retailers may afford you a copy of the book at a lesser price. You can even access a digital copy!

If you really like this Maker Lab book, there is another as I mentioned above. Check out this blog post from July 2017 about the original volume.



February 11, 2018

#TeachersLoveTeachers

We TEACHERS LOVE other TEACHERS!

I am so excited to be joining so many creative teacher sellers on Teachers Pay Teachers to offer you a special hashtag sale for the next two days! Teacher sellers are offering favorite products for sale at just one dollar a piece to show how much we love our teacher customers. Search on Teachers Pay Teachers using #teachersloveteachers or click HERE to find the specially priced items.






January 28, 2018

Let the Games Begin

The Winter Games are beginning soon! If you are like me, I like to include current events and holidays in my classroom lessons, but if you're like me you struggle with time. There is so much that needs to be included in daily lessons that special themes and activities often get shut out. I've found that one of the best ways to include current events is via fun and engaging practice activities like mystery pictures or games of SCOOT or ZAP (my students' favorite). I can squeeze these into morning work, literacy centers, or as time-fillers.

Here are a few that I will be using with my fifth/sixth graders when the Winter Games begin. The activities require little to no prep and are perfect to just pop into your already busy classroom agenda. To read more about each activity or download a copy for use in your classroom, simply click on the link provided below each graphic.

Winter Games Mystery Pictures
Parts of Speech
There's no mystery about it! One of the most fun and engaging ways for students to practice identifying parts of speech is by coloring a mystery picture! This set of mystery pictures adds an additional element of fun in that students can celebrate the Winter Olympic games while doing their English work.

Winter Games ZAP!
Alphabetical Order
ZAP! is a fun and engaging way to have students practice any kind of skill from adding and subtracting to identifying fact and opinion statements. This ZAP! game requires students to alphabetize four Winter Olympics related words per card.

Winter Games SCOOT
Multiplying Fractions

Scoot is a popular game played in many elementary school classrooms. Easily adapted to any content area and grade level, Scoot makes for a welcome change from just completing a worksheet for skill practice. Scoot cards may also be used as task cards in a math center.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!