Sunday, March 30, 2014

Language Arts Lesson - "Poetic Devices: How a Poem Sounds"

"Poetic Devices: How a Poem Sounds"

by Dianne Mason
9th-12th Grade


April is National Poetry Month. Give your students a solid foundation in the ways a poet uses sound to enhance meaning with the activities in this lesson. The editable Power Point presentation provides definitions and examples of poetic devices such as alliteration, enjambment, onomatopoeia, free verse and many others. Fun-filled activities give students practice in recognizing the poetic devices presented and allows them to try their hands at writing poems using those devices. Included is a worksheet with answer key that could be used as a quiz instead. Have fun, Dianne.

This lesson can be found by clicking on the link below.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Poetic-Devices-How-a-Poem-Sounds-1165355

Visit my TpT store at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Dianne-Mason
Visit me on Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/diannehmason/

Misc. Lesson - "SmART ART!"

By: TheBeezyTeacher

Grades K-2

Click on the link below to view this item!


This product includes art activities that will allow students to have fun and appreciate one of the most popular subjects in school. It includes templates for: a stain glass, a writing activity about art, math activities, a portrait, and more!
Templates come with pictures of what finished products may look like. Templates may be run off in any color or in white so the children can color before cutting. This product would be great for a substitute subbing in the art room!

Check out my blog post on Youth Art Month:


http://thebeezyteacher.blogspot.de/2014/03/artsy-fartsy-you-bet.html  

Check out my pinterest board on Children's art!

http://www.pinterest.com/thebeezyteacher/children-art/







FREE LANGUAGE ARTS LESSON - Mental Picture Moment: Make Every Word Count

Mental Picture Moment: Make Every Word Count

by: Connie Casserly
Grades 6-12


Mental Picture Moment: Make Every Word Count cover
A word picture showing the magnificence of the Grand Canyon can be as awe-inspiring as viewing this nature's wonder in person. On the other hand, a mass of vague words will create a foggy and forgettable Kodak moment.

Writing that includes generalities instead of be-Be-BEING Specific bugs me. That's why I created this activity based on bugs- a cockroach- to be exact. 
I copied the poem, "Roaches", by Peter Wild,  and replaced all of the specific nouns, strong adjectives and vivid verbs with weak, bland words. I titled this variation of the poem, "Bugs." 


Students are to rewrite the poem turning my foggy word picture into a one as sensory-explosive as the original- and maybe even one that is more captivating. To accomplish this, they must consider the following when creating their Mental Picture Moment:
1.       Replace all general nouns with specific ones. Example: cardinal for bird.
2. Replace all vague verbs with vivid ones that show emotion as well as action. Example: strutted for walked.
3. Appeal to the reader’s sense of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. Example: crunch for chew.
4. See that some of the format used for the Bugs version, such as putting words and phrases on separate lines emphasizes specific thoughts. They should do this, too.
5. Make every word count by removing any unneeded words. Students should make their point in as few words as possible but still keep their word picture sharp and focused.
6. Show the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How completely, yet concisely.

Staple the final of drafts of the students’ original poems to a bulletin board so they can analyze the focus and clarity of their peers' work. When all of this work is finished,  hand out copies of Peter Wild’s poem. This always inspires lively discussions of the “Best Word Picture”.


Mental Picture Moment: Make Every Word Count
This activity encourages students to get the bugs out of their writing by being specific and appealing to readers' emotions instead of hiding their thoughts in the dark crevices of their minds.



For a springtime of Mental Picture Moments, let this exercise show your students how to exterminate the bugs in their writing.

Happy Teaching,


Teach it Write
Building Powerful Academic Homes


FREE MATH LESSON - “FREE Spring into Subtraction! for Kindergarten, First, and Second”

by Teacher Tam
Pre-Kindergarten - 2nd Grade



This FREE center activity has students practicing their subtraction skills, writing numbers, and celebrating spring! It includes eight pages of subtraction problems with differences of less than ten. A sheet of directions and counters are also included. 

This product addresses the following Common Core Standards for
kindergarten, first grade, and second grade math:

K.CC.A.3 Write numbers from 0 to 20.
K.OA.A.1 Represent addition and subtraction with objects, equations,etc.
K.OA.A.5 Fluently add and subtract within 5.
1.OA.C.6 Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10.
2.OA.B.2 Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies.

I hope you and your students enjoy this one! 


The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative

Phonological Processing for Spring

by Daria O'Brien
K-3

I am so over winter!  Although the calendar says that spring is here, the weather here in the northeast does not seem to have received the memo!  I'm happy to finally share my spring packet with you!
This packet contains three no-prep activities, all with spring-related vocabulary.


Activities include:
1. Syllable War: compete by counting syllables (1-4 syllables) in a version of the classic card game
2. Flower Sounds: gather cards from other players to complete sets of flowerpots with matching initial sounds
3. Butterfly Sound Garden: get the butterflies to the garden by segmenting words into sounds (1-4 phonemes)—try to avoid the bees!

You can find the packet here at my TPT store.  Happy Spring!

Daria


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Featured Seller - Connie Casserly

Tell us about yourself.
In 2011, I retired from 30+ years in the most honorable profession-Teaching. My career started in a boys reform school where I taught reading to 13-18 year old court-sent young men. After a break when my husband and I started our family-a daughter and then a son- I taught in a variety of learning environments: a residential facility for emotionally disturbed adolescents, a school for between-the-cracks adolescents (not ED or LD but failing in school for a variety of reasons), and then a middle school. For my last 19 classroom years, I taught high school: English 9, 11 or 12 (or a combination of these grades), Creative Writing 1-4 and Journalism 1-4. While at this school, I sponsored the literary magazine and the monthly newspaper.

Connie Casserly and "Warding Off the Wolves"Due to my mother’s suggestion to, “Share my creative teaching ideas,” I found Teachers pay Teachers. I have been creating and selling my curriculum there since 2006.  An educational publisher, Compass Publishing, liked one of my products enough to ask me to turn it into a complete teaching program, ergo, The House of Comprehension was created and released in 2013. It was featured in the Northern Virginia Magazine in November of that same year. 
http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/entertainment/faces/2013/11/30/warding-off-the-wolves/ and was reviewed in the Virginia English Journal Fall 2013/Winter 2014 edition.

Other reviews and comments about The House of Comprehension may be found on

Numerous educational articles and lessons that I wrote have been published in various National Council of Teachers of English publications .

A Fine Line YA Novel
My young adult novel, A FINE LINE - about teen dating abuse - was published in 1993 by May Davenport, Publishers. When the publisher’s sons changed the business’s focus last year, they sent me the remaining 80 unused copies I also have a unit plan for it, if anyone is interested in a book about teen dating abuse.  A number of schools used it for conflict mediation, also. My copies sell for a tenth of Amazon’s New versions. http://www.amazon.com/Fine-Line-Constance-D-Casserly/dp/0943864712/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395854190&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Fine+Line+by+Constance+Casserly


In my teaching, I used my writing to show my students that my expectations and goals for them were the same ones that I set for myself.

What do you like best about teaching?
The absolutely best part of teaching is the students. 

Could teens be irritating? Just ask my hair stylist, Theresa, who has made my gray hair disappear for twenty years.

Could teens make me gnash my teeth at yet another excuse for not having an assignment done?  Just ask my dentist about my teeth grinding habit.

Could teens make me wish that I had a magic spell to freeze their eyes into permanent eye roll positions even though my optometrist said this was not probable? Oh, many a time, even though I often made audacious comments to precipitate the eye rolls. I did have to grab their attention, after all.

But…but…most importantly, they never failed to make me laugh when I was so frustrated with the darts flung by the job and life that I wanted to crawl under my desk. Their own quest for answers-about what we were studying and life in general- forced me to question my own thoughts. They always challenged me to see life from their side of the desk.

Describe your favorite TpT product.
Oh, must I pick just one?

My favorite FREEBIE is Language Arts Comprehension Check: Ten Sentence Format http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Language-Arts-Comprehension-CheckTen-Sentence-Format-16081






Grammar: Banish Those Dialogue Demons

My favorite priced Language Arts lesson is Grammar: Banish Those Dialogue Demons http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grammar-Banish-Those-Dialogue-Demons-664964

Journalism: Analyzing Newspaper Leads and Articles

My favorite priced Journalism Lesson is: Journalism: Analyzing
Newspaper Leads and Articles Worksheets 


The Great Gatsby Unit Plan









What advice would you give to someone who may want to become a seller at Teachers Pay Teachers?
To borrow Nike’s slogan, “Just Do It!” Selling the lessons that you create and that you so believe make you the kind of teacher to turn your students into life-long learners is very rewarding. The positive comments justify your teaching efforts, and the not-so-positive feedback challenges you to push yourself to find your academic best.  Both fortify you in as you walk the walk and talk the talk of Teaching- the most honorable profession.

What have you done or hope to do with your TpT earnings?
My TpT earnings allow my husband and me to take extra trips, to spoil our grandchildren – but within our children’s guidelines… most of the time, and to have a more stress-free retirement.

What do you like best about being a member of The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative?
Since my passion for teachers and teaching still burns so strong, I love the chance to share my materials. Best of all, though, are the lessons that I read about on this site. They are so exciting, so engaging and so inspiring, that I have found myself wistful, at times, about my teaching years. The students of the teachers who post on TBOTE are very, very fortunate to spend a year-or more, depending on the grade level- with these talented curriculum creators and classroom leaders. I am honored to be included with them.

Happy Teaching,






https://twitter.com/TeachitNow                                                                     



                                                                   Teach it Write
Building Powerful Academic Homes

teachitwrite.blogspot.com








FREE LANGUAGE ARTS LESSON - “Writing Concluding Sentences Lesson”

by Mrs Martin Learns
2nd - 5th Grade 



A short lesson on writing concluding sentences using color-coded paragraph strategies. I used this in my intervention class of 7th grade students but it could be used as a whole class lesson. The lesson includes guided practice and independent practice. An optional printable student response sheet is included, to be used as a formative assessment either as an exit ticket or entrance task following the lesson.






Join The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative at
http://www.thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.com/2014/01/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs.html
and get THOUSANDS OF PAGE VIEWS for your TpT products!


Go to http://www.pinterest.com/TheBestofTPT/ for even more free products!






Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Language Arts - "Baskets Of Eggs - Identify and Sort Nouns and Verbs"

Baskets of Eggs 
 Identify and Sort Nouns and Verbs

By:  Educating Everyone 4 Life
Grades 1-4



Easter - Sorting Nouns and Verbs

This Easter activity will be great for students to use during the month of April. This product allows students to sort nouns and verbs and was created using the Easter theme. I have included both a copy of this product in color and in black and white. Click on the link below to view this item in my TpT store. Happy Easter!



Let's be blog buddies!
I would love for you to visit my new blog at the following website:










Sunday, March 23, 2014

Danielle Knight Featured in the TpT Newsletter!

The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative's member, Danielle Knight, was featured in the TpT Newsletter on March 23, 2014.  Try Danielle's lesson, Solar System: Planet Shaped Flip Flap Books Bundle.


Solar System Planet Shaped Flip Flap Books Bundle

Once assembled your students will love that they will actually look like each planet! All ten are in this product, priced to ensure the TpT buyer saves money.

The flip flap books are proportional to each in size. Lines up perfectly with numbered pages, dashed guidelines for cutting, and engaging pages with activities. 

requires 8.5 by 11 paper 
Includes: 

A cover page if you want your students to compile their flip flap books into a collection. Just print, color, label, and fasten.

The Sun
3 pages 
Dotted lines to cut along that will guide you
Facts and background about the sun 
Coloring activity (cover)
Short answer questions, multiple choice 

Mercury
7 page flip flap book (use all 7 or pick pages you want to eliminate) 
Dotted lines to cut along that will guide you
Facts and background about Mercury
Coloring activity
Writing Prompt
Multiple choice questions
Words to know for Solar System Unit

Venus
6 page flip flap book (use all 6 or pick pages you want to eliminate) 
Dotted lines to cut along that will guide you
Facts and background about Venus
Coloring activity
Writing Prompt about living on Venus
Short Answer Questions
Words to know for Solar System and Venus 

Earth and the Moon
total of 16 pages in both flip flap books (use all or pick pages you want to eliminate from the bottom) 
Dotted lines to cut along that will guide you
Facts and background about Earth and the Moon 
Coloring activities (cover, travel brochure, moon phases) 
Writing prompts about living on Earth and traveling to Earth
Short Answer Questions and multiple choice
Words to know for Solar System, Earth, and the Moon Phases 

Mars
7 pages (use all or pick pages you want to eliminate from the bottom) 
Dotted lines to cut along that will guide you
Facts and background about Mars 
Coloring activities (cover and thermometer)
Writing prompts about going to school on Mars
Short Answer Questions
A blank page with lines for you to add your own prompt, words to know, or information 

Jupiter
5 pages (use all or pick pages you want to eliminate from the bottom) 
Dotted lines to cut along that will guide you
Facts and background about Jupiter 
Coloring activities (cover, Jupiter, and thermometer)
Short Answer Questions and gravity math problem
Jupiter terms to know

Saturn
7 pages (use all or pick pages you want to eliminate from the bottom) 
Dotted lines to cut along that will guide you
Facts and background about Saturn
Coloring activities (cover, Saturn Rings)
Writing prompt about Saturn
Short answer questions, true or false, multiple choice, and a math problem
Saturn terms to know

Uranus
5 pages (use all or pick pages you want to eliminate from the bottom) 
Dotted lines to cut along that will guide you
Facts and background about Uranus
Coloring activities (cover)
Short answer questions and multiple choice
Uranus Moon Facts

Neptune
5 pages (use all or pick pages you want to eliminate from the bottom) 
Dotted lines to cut along that will guide you
Facts and background about Neptune and dwarf planets (Pluto)
Coloring activities (cover, King Neptune, and mini picture Neptune’s dark spot)
Short answer questions, multiple choice, and writing prompt

Great for ELA or science. CCSS Reading Informational Text, Writing, and Language. Recommended for grades 3-5. You know your students best. 

For Differentiated Instruction: Give students alternative ways of exploring and expressing key ideas.
--allow students to work independently or collaboratively. As the teacher...YOU choose!
--Gives credit for artistic/creative expression, written responses, and effort. 
--Great for a choice or alternative assignment 

With Early Finishers
--Many students develop more positive on-task behavior by attempting an assignment of their choice. 

Display in your classroom on the wall...better yet, hang them in the hall in a showcase.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Please don’t forget to leave me feedback! ENJOY!

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