Meet the Teacher Monday

I'm joining Trina over at The Ordinary to Extraordinary Classroom for her weekly linky, Meet the Teacher Monday. For this week's installment she asks that we choose this or that about Thanksgiving. As you can see from my choices, I'm pretty much a traditional gal when it comes to this holiday. What about you? What would you choose?

Come and join in the fun! Add your blog to Meet the Teacher Monday so we can get to know each other a little better!

Thankful for Mind Boggling Monday (Quick Giveaway)

This is one of those weeks, you know the kind... the week before the holiday week. Students' excitement is rising in anticipation of the holiday break, and we have a GREAT break- FOUR whole school days! Yee haw! Don't get me wrong... I LOVE my kids and I LOVE teaching, but this old teacher is ready for a few days to herself, days without lessons, grading papers, and even thinking about teacher related STUFF!

Fun, engaging word games and activities can help tamper student excitement and keep them focused and learning! Here's a holiday related boggle board to share with your students. Just download the image and project it for all to see.

Not sure how to play Boggle? Click HERE for the original game rules.

Need a Boggle board that you can edit yourself? Click HERE for a free editable board.

Want a blank boggle board template for your students to use with classroom boggle? Click HERE.

How about a variety of editable boards to change with the seasons? Click HERE for a bundle of fifteen.

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Another fun, engaging word activity to help your students focus during the excitement of the holidays is mystery pictures. Based on the concept of the 100 board, students can practice identifying parts of speech or other grammar skills while "coloring a picture," typically a relaxing, recreational activity. There are over 50 mystery pictures available in my TpT Store, many of them holiday related, the newest a bundle of three Thanksgiving Mystery Pictures that help your intermediate and middle schoolers practice identifying parts of speech, a rather drab and ho hum activity turned fun with these hidden pictures.

Set Three Thanksgiving Mystery Pictures

Each of the three mystery pictures in the bundle is available separately in my TpT Store as well, but by purchasing the bundle you save money... it's like getting one of the pictures FREE!

Speaking of FREE, would you like to own this bundle without having to purchase it? Leave a comment below with your favorite way to deal with student excitement before a break, and I will select one commenter at random on Thursday evening, Nov. 19th sometime after 6:00pm EST to receive the bundle. Be sure to leave your email address in your comment if you are a no-reply blogger.

Mind Boggling Monday will take a break next week and return on Nov. 30, 2015.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Teaching Tuesday: Thankful for The Tuesday Writing PaWs

One of the best things that ever happened to my teaching was Paragraph a Week (PaW). This simple weekly writing program provided a framework for building student fluency in writing, reinforced the writing process, and established a homework routine. Although my students mumbled and grumbled each week as I passed out the topic instruction sheets, they also could see improvements in their written compositions. I can't tell you how many students that I have seen in the past few years who have commented about Paragraph a Week, stating that it really helped them learn how to write. What more can a teacher want?

You can download this week's FREEBIE PaW topic instruction sheet HERE just in time for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Be sure to stop by HoJo's Teaching Adventures for more Tuesday Teaching ideas!

Meet the Teacher Monday

I'm joining Trina over at The Ordinary to Extraordinary Classroom for a weekly linky she's trying to get started. I just LOVE linky parties, especially those where we get to meet teacher bloggers. Trina's linky is entitled Meet the Teacher Monday. For this installment she asks that we share five things we like about fall.

I enjoy colorful fall foliage and where I live in NE Ohio there is never a shortage of it! Fall ushers in cooler temperatures so I can enjoy my favorite food-- soup, especially chicken soup and chili... YUM! I love the pumpkin and cranberry flavors that are everywhere and in everything during the fall. I gobbled down a pumpkin and a cranberry English muffin for breakfast just this morning, and my Scentsy pot is churning out spiced pumpkin bread right now! With fall school is in full swing; the first grading period is over, parent conferences have been completed, and we are learning GOOD STUFF!!!! Fall even has great holidays: Halloween, All Saints' Day, Veterans Day, my birthday, and my favorite: Thanksgiving. I just LOVE fall!

What are your five favorites for fall? Hop on over to Trina's blog and add your own to Meet the Teacher Monday!

Mind Boggling Monday: Celebrating Veterans Day

This week we celebrate Veterans Day, a day to remember veterans who served our country. I am grateful that men and women feel the call to serve our country and keep us free.

My students and I will be learning about the history of Veterans Day and how it is celebrated in other countries. We will also be reading a famous poem associated with it, "In Flander's Field."

Here's an easy, quick way to add a little about Veterans Day to your busy day- play a game of boggle. The words "veterans" and "day" are hidden away on the board. Simply download the image and project for your students to play. It can serve as a conversation starter and is great word work!

Not sure how to play Boggle? Click HERE for the original game rules.

Need a Boggle board that you can edit yourself? Click HERE for a free editable board.

Want a blank boggle board template for your students to use with classroom boggle? Click HERE.

How about a variety of editable boards to change with the seasons? Click HERE for a bundle of fifteen.

Looking for another quick, simple way to add a little Veterans Day to your studies this week? Do you teach Language Arts to intermediate students? Here are three low prep activities suitable for students in grs. 3-6.

 

Mystery pictures are a fun way to practice the ho hum skill of identifying parts of speech. In this Patriotic Mystery Picture students practice identifying singular and plural nouns and past, present, and future tense verbs.

 

 

Veterans Day Scoot is an extremely versatile item. The cards can not only be used for a round of scoot but also in a literacy center, for small group instruction, a classroom scavenger, or a game of scatter.

Veterans Day Zap is a fun, engaging game to help students practice identifying complete sentences while learning about the holiday.

 

Since Veterans Day is all about remembering those who have kept us free, here is a fun little FREEBIE to give to your students, parents, veterans, and all to remind them of this important holiday.

 

Celebrate Veterans Day with this set of Veterans Day Brag Tags!

 

 

 

November Pinterest Pick 3 plus FREEBIE

It's that time... time for a pinterest party!

 

The pins that I selected for you this month all deal with reading and writing; some even have a holiday/fall flair to them. At the end of this blog post, after the link up you'll find a little pinterest FREEBIE that I created several years ago (I am a pinterest fiend so I had to get my students pinning also). If you teach middle school language arts, you'll want to be sure to find it.

 

 

Just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this pin brought to you by Third Grade Thinkers. Isn't this a fun, clever way to utilize autumn leaves?

 

 Click on the pic to view the pin.

 

 

 

 

I really enjoy using poetry with my middle school language arts students. I try to include some type of poetry each week, whether I read to them or they do the actual reading. It is a quick and engaging way to teach MANY language arts concepts, particularly figurative language. This pin features the Thanksgiving poems of Jack Prelutsky (which I was able to find online with a quick search, no need to purchase a book) and is a FREEBIE offered by Jessica from Notes from the Portable.

 

Click on the pic to view the pin.

 

 

 

 I am really excited about this last pin. It features a video by Musings from the Middle School with great ideas for teaching writing to middle schoolers. 

 

Click on the pic to view the pin.



 



An InLinkz Link-up

 

 

Remember I said that I was a PINTEREST FIEND? I can get lost on Pinterest for DAYS HOURS! My kiddos make fun of me, knowing that many of my new ideas that I use in class I found on Pinterest. SO.... I had to involve them with Pinterest also. Here's a fun little way to incorporate reading, citing text evidence, and Pinterest all in one! You can download your FREEBIE HERE.

Tuesday Writing PaWs on Mind Boggling Monday

The Tuesday Writing PaWs is a day early this week. I wanted to sneak this topic in soon enough so it coordinated with the actual date that it references. Many PaW (Paragraph a Week) topics celebrated notable historical events. The originators of the topics wanted our students to make connections to content area material in their compositions in English class; integrating material was all the buzz back in the 90's (it was the Common Core of its time). You can download your FREE weekly writing topic instruction sheet HERE. If you are interested in additional PaW topics, simply click the PaW tab at the top of this blog post where you can find all of the available topics.

Even though I am sharing the Tuesday Writing PaWs today, I just can't skip Mind Boggling Monday. My kiddos look forward to playing boggle each week so here's a fun board that coordinates with this week's PaW topic.

Not sure how to play Boggle? Click HERE for the original game rules.

Need a Boggle board that you can edit yourself? Click HERE for a free editable board.

Want a blank boggle board template for your students to use with classroom boggle? Click HERE.

How about a variety of editable boards to change with the seasons? Click HERE for a bundle of fifteen.

Be sure to visit HoJo's Teaching Adventures for great teaching ideas with the Teaching Tuesday linky party.

Sunday Scoop and Sainthood Freebie

I can't believe it's Sunday already! I can't believe I almost missed it again like last week! I'm so glad to be joining one of my favorite weekly linkies...

 

Here's my scoop for this week...

 

 

Be sure to stop by The Teaching Trio to find out more Sunday Scoops! And be sure to download this FREE foldable for the steps in the process to sainthood in honor of All Saints' Day.

 

 

My sixers and I have been studying this process as part of our Religion class. We watched this fun little video (there is a bit of unusual humor to it) while taking active listening notes and compiled them on a classroom chart.

 

 

It did take two viewings to get all the necessary information. From the chart my sixers copied the notes under the flaps of the folder. Now they have a terrific learning resource that they can refer to as we study the lives of saints throughout the year.

Tuesday Writing PaWs: A Change of Setting

This week's writing PaW (Paragraph a Week) is a companion piece to last week's PaW. This topic is a fun way to introduce the concept of setting and what happens to the plot of a story when the setting changes. Hey, doesn't that sound a bit like a Common Core Standard?

You can download your FREE PaW topic sheet HERE.

Other PaW (Paragraph a Week) FREEBIES currently available can be downloaded below. This list is arranged in no particular manner and contains single and multi-paragraph topics.

Leprechauns
Earth Day
Mother's Day
Finish the Phrase
Nice
National Pencil Month
Favorite Valentine Memory
Bird's Eye View of Spring
Abe and George
Journey of a Snowflake
Color
A Tribute to Johnny Appleseed
School Uniforms
Chocolate Rain
Good Substitute Teacher
Favorite Relative
Allowance
Best Teacher
Signs of Fall
Making Sense of an Apple
Do You or Don't You Halloween?
Favorite Halloween Activity
Pumpkin Contest Part 1
Pumpkin Contest Part 2


I'm adding this blog post to a brand new linky hosted by one of my favorite bloggers.

Be sure to check out the wide variety of terrific teaching ideas at HoJo's Teaching Adventures.

Let's Celebrate Sale

Happy BD2 me!

Happy BD2 me!

Happy BD!

Happy BD!

Happy BD2 me!

My birthday is fast approaching (no. 49 for the 8th year) on the 26th. To celebrate, I am throwing a huge sale in my TpT Store from Oct. 24th-26th. EVERTHING is marked 20% off!  With Halloween just a week away, it would be a great time to stock up on some fun and engaging Language Arts activities for your middle school classroom. Just click on the pics below to read more about each of them.

Mystery Pictures are a favorite with my students. These holiday themed puzzles make practicing parts of speech actually FUN!

 

Playing a game of SCOOT is always a great activity around holiday time. Getting your students up and moving about the room is guaranteed to help keep them focused on skills. With this bundle there is a new game for each day until Halloween.

If you haven't played ZAP! with your middle school students yet, this Halloween themed game designed to help students practice identifying prepositional phrases is sure to please!

Task cards are a versatile item to add to your Halloween bag of treats. You can involve your students in playing SCOOT, engage them with a round of SCATTER, or have them do a SCAVENGER HUNT while practicing BOO-tiful synonyms. This set is even self-checking with the addition of QR Codes, making it ideal for placement in a literacy center.

Have you ever played I HAVE, WHO HAS? Not only is this type of game terrific for reviewing specific grammar skills, it is AWESOME for practicing much needed listening skills!

 



 

If you still haven't found a HALLOWEEN treat for your kiddos, why not check out a CREEPY, yet cute, zombie activity, like this one that requires your students to practice proofreading skills.

 

 



These are just a few of the holiday activities on sale Oct. 24-26th during my birthday sale! Stop by my TpT Store to check out more Halloween items, zombie activities, and MORE!

 

A birthday celebration just wouldn't be a birthday without a gift.

 

For everyone who replies with a favorite TRICK or TREAT in the comments below (please include your email address in your comment if you are NO REPLY Blogger) during my birthday celebration, I will send you your choice of Halloween or Zombie Grouping Cards.