Monday, April 2, 2018

$50 Teachers pay Teachers Giveaway!

$50 Teachers pay Teachers Giveaway!

Would you like to win a $50 Teachers pay Teachers gift card?  Some friends of mine and I are giving you the opportunity to not only win a Teachers pay Teachers gift card, but also some fabulous teaching resources!



Spring into April with these fabulous resources!  We have ideas for butterflies, plants, mystery math, mental math, spring clothing lessons, telling time, character traits, end of the year school awards and more!  You have the chance to win the $50 Teachers pay Teachers gift card and ALL of the resources below.

The first resource is from Heart to Heart Teaching and is all about plants! 


Spring Activities: All About Plants | Life Cycle of a Plant | Photosynthesis

Plant Life Cycle
Students will love learning all about plants and the plant life cycle with this hands-on activity pack! In this unit, there are reading passages, comprehension questions, fun activities, vocabulary posters, and a flip book!
Spring Activities: All About Plants | Life Cycle of a Plant | Photosynthesis

Our second resource is all about butterflies! 


Spring Activities: Butterflies | Butterfly Life Cycle | All About Butterflies

Students will love learning all about butterflies this Spring! This fun unit includes:

*Reading passages all about butterflies

*Monarch butterflies
*Comprehension questions
*Life Cycle of a Butterfly
*Parts of a Butterfly

Spring Activities: Butterflies | Butterfly Life Cycle | All About Butterflies

Our next two resources come from Mrs. J's Resource Creations.  They are both fun math mysteries for your students to solve!




(Available in versions for 1st - 6th Grade)
 Engage and motivate your students with this fun Math Mystery. NO PREP, just print and go!  Students will need to answer a variety of math problems that will help them solve who the Bee Bandits are! 

This packet comes with an optional video hook to set the stage to engage before the paper part of the activity. View video here



(Available in versions for 1st - 6th Grade)
Your students will be engaged and motivated by this fun detective story, which also encourages critical thinking as they must reason their way through eliminating litterbug suspects. These NO PREP worksheets are challenging, yet fun to use as part of your regular math sessions, sub-tubs, early finishers, or for enrichment (go a grade level higher to increase difficulty). 


An optional video hook is also provided to set the stage to engage. View the video here

Angie S. has so many amazing resources for special education needs and this one is no exception!

Spring Clothing - Adapted Book for Autism

What Do I Wear in the Spring Interactive Book for early age, pre-K and Special Education students can be used in March, April and May. The resource uses real life pictures that works great with students with autism. 


It is great for learning the spring clothing as well as the body parts they should be used on. You can view a video of this resource here.

Mrs. Hansen's Helpfuls has the provided the next two resources.

Character Trait Cards and PDF Presentation plus Activities
Spring is a time we can start to dive deep into characters. I use these character trait cards to help students recognize different traits for characters in the books they are reading, class read-a-louds, etc. Many times using these cards we even get to debate which trait fits a particular character the best! 


This product has many different activities you can use year round. 

Telling Time with Differentiated Levels

No better time than Spring TIME to work on telling time. This product has many differentiated levels to help your students improve their telling time, elapsed time, adding and subtracting time, and understanding time with missing variables skills. 


The last two items come from yours truly!  

Mental Math - 100 problem cards that encourage your students to solve math problems in their head quickly! 

You can watch a video of this resource in action here: Mental Math Tiles.

You can use these mental math task cards as a math warm up to begin your math lesson, or use as a time filler throughout the day.

Students each have ten digit cards on their desk as you read each card. The students use the digits to keep track of the math tasks they are computing in their head. They love being able to follow along with each task and eventually end up with the correct answer.

I use these cards for whole group, small group, and even partnership lessons.

These mental math problems will increase your students' listening, problem solving, and computation skills. 



In this set of end of year awards you will receive 50 different awards with a boy and girl version for each one (a total of 100 certificates!). I have also included black and white versions of all 100 awards for your printing preference.

This is a zip file that includes a PDF file that you can print and write the student names, as well as a PowerPoint file that you can customize to include the students’ names and even to add a new category that I may have forgotten.

Several of the awards could be used throughout the year as monthly or quarterly awards such as Attendance, Math Wizard, Super Speller, etc.

I love to celebrate my students with end of the year awards! It gives me a chance to recognize their talents and their growth throughout the year! 

Now, to enter to win all of these items AND a $50 Teachers pay Teachers gift card, enter using the Rafflecopter below.



Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway - April 2, 2018


Teacher Giveaway!

Teacher Giveaway - Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card giveaway

$25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway


This week I am out for Spring Break!  I am ready for a much needed vacation!  
For those of you also on Spring Break as well, I hope you get some much rest and relaxation!

For those of you returning back to school today, take time to enjoy your students!

Either way - Monday means a chance for you to win a $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card! 

Teacher Giveaway - Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card giveaway


GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 


Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 4/9/18 and is open worldwide.



Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway




Monday, March 26, 2018

Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway - March 26, 2018


This giveaway has ended :(  Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.


And this month is already almost over!  We have Spring Break next week, and then it's time for that final push until the end of the year!  You can get a few resources to help you power through the end of the year or even get ready for the year ahead if you are the winner of our weekly giveaway!  




GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 


Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 4/2/18 and is open worldwide.


Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 






Monday, March 19, 2018

Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway - March 19, 2018


This giveaway has ended :(  Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.

Happy Monday!  A new week means another chance for you to win a $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card!  




GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 


Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 3/26/18 and is open worldwide.


Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 






Tuesday, March 13, 2018

My Visit to the Ron Clark Academy

I had the great privilege of being able to attend the Ron Clark Academy in October, and I must say it was hands down the BEST professional development training I have ever been to!

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  



I have been a fan of Ron Clark since I read his book The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator's Rules For Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child. 

It has been on my bucket list to go to the RCA Academy for their teacher training experience for almost just as long.  You can imagine my excitement when my principal started making plans for herself and several teachers to make the trip. Even more exciting was the day that she sent the email with this:



While I was there I posted several pictures to my Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and since then I have received many questions about the experience. 



 I plan on posting a series of blog posts sharing not only some of my experiences from the training, but also, some ways that I have used what I have learned in my own classroom.  I will post a link to all of the posts as I write them here for easy reference.

Questions I have been asked:


1. Which type of session did you attend, the one day or two day session?


The Ron Clark Academy offers a one day session and a two day session.  You can find the dates of both types of upcoming sessions here.

I was lucky enough to be able to attend a 2 day session.  We experienced so much during these two days, I can't imagine how they would squeeze it into 1 day!  

I would highly recommend going to a 2 day session if you attend, but I know that it depends on your time and travel budgets. 


2. Do they actually provide training sessions or do you just observe classrooms?


The experience provides a mix of both, which is amazing!  You attend some sessions with the instructors where they provide professional development, and then you get to see them in action as you observe actual classes with students.


3. Did Ron Clark provide any of the training and is he as amazing in person?


Yes and yes! Not only does Ron Clark provide several sessions, you get to peek into his classroom and even experience what his students do which is quite a treat!  You can get just a little taste of it in this video below: 

4. If I attend the training, what should I wear?


People wore a variety of different types of clothing from business casual to jeans and school t-shirts.  No matter what you wear, you will most likely be comfortable.  I would suggest wearing pants on the day that you get slide certified!

5. What if my school won't pay for me to attend? 


This experience is so worth it!  If you can't get your school to pay for it, I would figure out how to set aside some extra money each month to get there. You might ask friends or relatives to donate in lieu of gifts for your birthday or Christmas.  You can also apply to Donor's Choose for professional development  including this opportunity.

6. The Ron Clark Academy is a private school, can I really use their methods in my own classroom?


Yes!  Although you may not have slide in your classroom, you absolutely can do things a little differently and bring the RCA strategies into your classroom!



I have been using some of these strategies in my classroom since October and both my students and myself have benefited from them!  I can't wait to share them with you!


Ron Clark Academy Inspired Posts





You can also find some additional Ron Clark Academy style ideas I have found pinned on my Ron Clark Academy Pinterest Board.

More Questions?



If you have additional questions I haven't answered yet, feel free to leave them in the comments below and I will answer them as soon as I can!




Monday, March 12, 2018

Adventures in Problem Solving - Make 37

I recently had dental surgery and woke up in the middle of the night in a bit of pain.  So, I did what every other crazy rational teacher does in the wee hours of the night, and jumped on Twitter for a little PLC time.

I bumped into this Tweet from  @inspiringmaths which featured this What Make 37 math problem:



I shared the problem with a team member and he was so excited to share it with his class, that he gave it to them the first thing in the morning even though that is usually our reading block.  

He came into my classroom with a white board with one of his student's solutions.  I glanced at it quickly and noticed that the student used 10 numbers and that the sum was 37.  

I totally glazed over the fact that they had a 4 in it. (Also, just a note on my teammate's shorthand to write the solution - those dashes apparently represent multiplication - don't ask... LOL!). 




 I was impressed and asked how long it took the student to solve.  He said they had been working at it for a full 25 minutes.  "They were so into it!" He said.

The gauntlet was down, I challenged my class to see if they could solve the Make 37 problem as well!  




Just like my teammate had experienced, my class was super engaged with the challenge as well.



About 15 minutes in, one of my students came up with a similar solution to the student above, (but again, I did not spot her use of the 4) and I sent her over to the other classroom to show my teammate. He somehow spotted her use of the 4 and called Foul.  My students continued to mull over the problem all day.

When I got home, I continued mulling over the problem as well.  I even put together an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my attempts. The pains joys of being a "life-long learner", and a testament to the power of an engaging question.



I struggled, and struggled, and couldn't find an answer.  So, I Googled it.  I found the original problem from NRICH maths (an amazing resource filled with so many rich math problems to solve)!

(*Spoiler Alert*)

What Makes 37 Answer

It said the problem couldn't be solved.  It is impossible to make 37 with the numbers if you add them ten times.  The reason for this is that when you add odd numbers an even amount of times, your resulting sum will be an even number.

I texted my co-worker and asked him what his student's answer was.  He texted me the picture back and that is when I finally saw the 4 the student had used.

I shared the link to the solution with him and mentioned that we should try another activity with the students next week.  We would ask them - "Can you add an even number of odd digits and have an even sum?" Sometimes, Always, or Never?

I will share those results in another post!

If you try this math problem with your students, I would love to hear how it goes! 

This post may contain affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. 











Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway - March 12, 2018

This giveaway has ended :(  Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.

Another Monday means another chance to make a great impact in the classroom!  A new week also means another chance for you to win a $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card!  




GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 


Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 3/19/18 and is open worldwide.


Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 






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