Thanksgiving Bookmarks - FREEBIE

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” 

― Marcel Proust

I love this quote!  Often we forget that, in the stresses of everyday, we are lucky to have the family, friends, coworkers, students...special people in our lives...who are able to make our hearts smile by just being near.  I am so thankful for my "charming gardeners" and their influence on my life.  

For Thanksgiving, why not share with our students some quotes that may serve as reminders about the significance  of an attitude of gratitude, not just for this week, but everyday?  These bookmarks are more than just a reminder of the last page they read, but a visual cue to be thankful for the little things...which they will find someday to be the most important.

(Click the image for this Thanksgiving freebie.)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Grammar At a Glance

(image from funny-pictures-blog.com)

Yoda is not the only one who struggles with using correct grammar. :) Check out my store for Grammar At a Glance and some quick, basic review of parts of speech and sentence structure.  My I have...Who has...? game is a great CCSS aligned activity (grades 5-8) for the days just before or just after Thanksgiving break! 

Here is what's included:

- Grammar At a Glance: This is a 1 page (front and back) reference sheet with basic parts of speech and sentence structure terms and definitions. This sheet can be given to each student and placed in their binders for review and a quick reference when needed.

- Teacher Guide: CCSS alignment, directions, suggestions for use of the game AND an answer key

- I have...Who has...? card game: 24 cards 

Please consider visiting my stores and taking a closer look:

Teachers Pay Teachers

OR

 Teachers Notebook

I hope that you'll find to be a great resource and review tool for your students!

Friday Favorite - The First Thanksgiving

Happy Friday!! I've been looking at lots of great teaching resources this week, but my favorite find is what I share with you today. I happened to see a preview for this on Scholastic Teachers' Facebook page. Scholastic has a whole series focusing on virtual field trips with The First Thanksgiving as a theme. It's fantastic!! For anyone looking for resources to use for supplementing any thanksgiving reading or writing lessons in the next week or so, please take the time to check this out:

The First Thanksgiving Student Activities for Grades PreK-12 
 http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/

You'll find a variety of different resources, including high-quality videos that recreate the events that transpired in the creation of that very Thanksgiving so many years ago.  In my search, it looks like the newest video about the Mayflower is coming soon, and if the preview is any indication, I can't wait to see it.  I know that students in middle school would love it!

Take a look and let me know what you think.  I hope you find it helpful!  In the comments below, please consider sharing any ideas you may have for using it in your lessons next week.

Have a great weekend!

CCSS Aligned Close Reading Activity

Aside from the focus on nonfiction, the Reading for Literature standards within the Common Core State Standards encourage close reading of classic literature that is at a grade-appropriate level of rigor.  Close reading is the act of really reading like a detective.  It requires a careful reading, and often rereading, of a given text with the purpose of analyzing the structure of the text and the author's choices for writing as he/she did.  My newest product is an example of this type of reading using a classic poem.

"The Cremation of Sam McGee" is a poem written by Robert Service and is located in the Public Domain. It is a classic ballad telling the story of two prospectors as they make their way through the Arctic North looking for gold. A promise is made while on their journey, and to fulfill it is a challenge that is almost too much to bear. The mysterious ending of the tale makes this a fantastic poem to share for Halloween, but it is fun to read and analyze any time of year!

(Click the image to see a preview.)

This product includes:

- a PowerPoint prezi giving background information about Robert Service and includes slides of the poem itself to be used in close reading with the class

PLUS:

- a student packet that contains the poem, vocabulary and space to write responses to questions

-a Formative Assessment Sheet to be used for the "Do Now" activity, 2 focus questions that direct students to support answers to questions with details from the text AND the "Ticket Out" activity (This will be handed in at the end of class.)

-complete lesson plan with Teacher Directions section

-alignment to Anchor Standards and specific grade level standards as well

This contains all that you will need to roll once downloaded. I hope that you enjoy using this lesson with your students. My students truly love this poem every year! Any feedback that you can provide on this resource is greatly appreciated.  Once again, I hope this is a useful resource for you and your students.


***UPDATE:  I've had some great feedback on this lesson and I'm so happy that colleagues are finding it helpful!  Here's what some teachers are saying:

- "This was a very helpful resource to refer to while teaching this poem."

-"Great resources for a wonderful poem."

- "I've taught this poem for YEARS! Thank you for the fresh approach!!!"



Thank you so much for the kind comments!

Independent Reading Bookmark - FREEBIE

FREEBIE ALERT! :)

Today I am adding my Independent Reading Bookmark to my collection of free resources for you to print and use.

This is a great tool for students to use to practice their "during reading" skills that we know improve comprehension - and they have one place to put their thoughts that stays with the book...so they can use it anywhere they are reading.  The bookmark includes space for:

• Information about the book and author
• Specific information pertaining to fiction and nonfiction reading.  The first focuses on genre and the elements of fiction.  The next section provides space for information about a nonfiction text.
• Once folded, the inside of the bookmark provides space for questions and predictions the student may have while reading and a space to answer or validate their thoughts with details from the reading.  There is also space for new vocabulary.

Click on the image above to get a closer look. You will also find that there is a page that gives direction for how to copy and fold the bookmark as well.  I hope this is a useful resources for you and your students.

  

November Currently - Awesomesauce!!

I saw so many of these posts over the last month and wasn't really sure how it worked...until now. Turns out, each month Oh' Boy 4th Grade hosts a really sweet linky party.  This is such a fun way to get involved in the teacher-blogger community and learn about other teacher-authors!  Thanks for the opportunity, Farley...and heeeerrrreee's my November:

Listening:  It's funny how kids really subscribe to the "out of sight - out of mind" principle.  We've had some old toys in a box for several months now, and our son has not mentioned them once.  Today I brought the box up from the basement to go through some more things that we can donate to those who have lost everything in the wake of Sandy...and now everything in the box is his favorite.  Lesson learned.

Loving:  I so adore the first few snowflakes that fall from the sky and blanket the muddy fall ground in a blanket of white.  My adoration wanes shortly after the holidays...but for now, Yay!!

Thinking:  Fall Back Day (what our family calls it) had once been of my favorite days of the year.  That has changed since having our son.  There is no sleeping in anymore.  It is 6am every morning...except for Fall Back Day when it is 5am.  I always have great hopes and seem to forget the previous year's lack of sleep.  I worked on some projects a little later than usual last night knowing I had the extra hour, but this morning our son informed us that though he knew what the clock said, his brain told him the clocks were wrong.  Oh well, nothing a little extra java can't fix.  And the flip-side is we have an extra hour that my hubby and I are spending with our greatest little love! :)

Wanting:  Nothing like roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and biscuits to accompany the first snowflakes!

Needing:  Added to my to do-list ASAP...Teachers Help Teachers is a link for anyone who can help those teachers who have lost so much - including teaching resources - as a result of Hurricane Sandy tearing through the East Coast.  Here is the link if you would like to learn more about this and would like to help:

I plan on linking a product donation today. 

Music: I know.  Christmas music already.  Crazy...but it makes me SO happy!  Our son has been singing "Frosty the Snowman" since Tuesday when he had his first "snowday" from Kindergarten.  It was actually a hurricane day (Who knew in upstate New York?!) without snow.  He was a little confused, perhaps, but it put me in the spirit nonetheless.  

That's what I'm doing currently.  That was so much fun!  Click on mine above to check out the link for Oh' Boy 4th Grade to share what you're doing currently, too.

Friday Favorites

So I'm trying something a little different.  As I've been learning more and more about blogging and all of the great teaching resources that are out there in the blogosphere, I'm realizing there is just SO much to see and so little time to really dedicate to exploring. This, my friends, is a great problem to have!  I'm adding more and more items to my Pinterest boards, but I also want to share with you some of my REALLY favorite finds and keep them in one place for you.

Each Friday I plan to share a link to a favorite blog post or resource that I happen to come across.  I'm hoping that you may also be inspired by my lucky finds.

To start, this week has been an unbelievably difficult one for so many of us.  Whether we are experiencing for ourselves the devastation that is occurring as a result of Hurricane Sandy, supporting friends and family who are in the midst of the disaster, or looking for a way to help as we see image after painful image of the desperate situation unfolding in the Northeast - many of us are physically and emotionally exhausted.  Courage is just one of many character traits that we are seeing so much of these days...and many are digging down deep to find it within ourselves.

With this in mind, I was so happy to stumble upon:
 

This blog, written by Maria Dismondy, is filled with all kinds of resources, including book trailers and teaching guides to books that she has authored.  My favorite part of this blog is her monthly linky party.  It focuses on a character trait as a theme for the month...and as luck would have it, November's theme is courage!  Her hope is that each month bloggers will link up ideas on how to teach these traits to children so that, as more ideas are shared, more children will be able to recognize these traits in others and develop them within themselves.

Talk about teachable moments - tons of them have blown in with Sandy!  I find that, in middle school aged students, it helps guide their understanding of concepts like this when they are given a chance to make personal connections.  If it relates to them...then it's valuable to consider it, read about it and write about it!  I love using current events for this purpose, and especially with the shift toward using nonfiction resources with the Common Core State Standards, collecting several news clips of true stories of courage to show as writing starters would be fantastic.  As in any natural disaster that brings communities to their knees, media coverage of Sandy has provided us a plethora of images and true stories of courage.  Gathering a few of these and showing them as a starter for students explaining what courage means to them, or describing an example of courage, would be very helpful.

For another idea, we've all seen the Values.com advertisements and billboards that promote character traits like courage.  On their website they have a page dedicated to courage and a space for students to design their own billboards.  Whether you choose to use this resource as it is, or develop a lesson around creating a "Courage. Pass It On." type advertisement, this would be a fun way for students to explore their own definition of courage and to share it with others.

Here is the {LINK} to her post explaining Maria's monthly themes and how her linky party works. You'll find other opportunities to link up as well.  I just couldn't wait to share the link with you as November is starting already and I'm sure that there are so many of you who have ideas that you could use right now.  Be sure to check out Maria Dismondy's Make a Difference Monthly Linky - my 1st Friday Favorite!