Back To School Made Easy - Part One

Personally, I'm not even three weeks into my summer vacation, but back to school planning is never too far from my mind. I would rather prepare early and give myself some time to relax through the end of my vacation - a little bit of planning now, makes the return so much easier.

Here are just a few of "The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative" offerings for this week, that will make your back to school planning that much easier. 

Offered by "It's A Teacher Thing"

Back to School Brochures for fourth grade will help you get to know your students. Perfect for the first few days of school and for Back-to-School Night, the brochure is both informative and reflective. Modified versions included for differentiation. Easy to use and great for your sub tub.

You can't get any easier than this! 

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How about some super awesome classroom decor? Who doesn't love Superheroes?!

Offered by: "Teach to Tell"

This is a HUGE 510 page bundle of Superhero goodness.

Make your students feel like Superheroes with this Superhero themed class decor mega bundle comprising of 15 complete individual products.

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Finally for this week, offered up by yours truly...Mrs. Gray's Place.

Although this is marketed at a Grade 3 bundled math unit, it is perfect for grade 4 teachers to use during the first week of school. Task cards and short answer problems for all math strand, will help you get a good understanding of where your kiddos are in their math learning. 

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If you have your own TPT store, don't forget to take a look at...

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!

Free! Halloween Spooky Tales Writing

Make narrative writing fun and S-P-OO-K-Y! 

How many kids love to read and write Halloween stories? Most kids love to read scary stories - as long as they're not too scary! Here's a chance for them to write their own with a little scaffolding. The scaffold is that they have a good start or context to begin writing.

This could be a week's worth of writing lessons if you choose to have students pick a starter per day. The same planner / writing frame and stationery papers can be used again for new stories.

Easy writing process--and easy independent work for class, substitute lesson plan, or homework. Here's what your spooky writers do:

1. First, kids choose a spooky tale starter from five story starters. 
2. Then, they fill in a spooky tale planner/map with pre-writing prompts to scaffold narrative writing. 
3. Alternatively, they can use the prompt cards with the same story starters on them for literacy centers. (Some kids also just need a single prompt in front of them, to help chunk the task into a smaller one!)
4. Finally, they write on either of the two stationery pages provided.

Please stop in and check it out...it's free! Your kids will love scaring each other with their stories!
Thank you!
Karen

Halloween Spooky Tales Writing

Clip art by Scrappindoodles.com

GROWING SMART READERS

Greek and Latin Interactive Notebook

by Fourth Grade Frenzy
Grades 4, 5, Homeschool

Easy!

Find it here:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Greek-and-Latin-Interactive-Notebook-1953578


My TpT store:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Fourth-Grade-Frenzy

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/4thGradeFrenzy

Blog:
http://4th-grade-frenzy.blogspot.com

Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/phillies8/

Mini Grammar Books: Teach the Parts of Speech

Language Arts:  "Mini Grammar Books"
Grades 3 - 6
By Mary Pat Mahoney
Just Add Students


I love using mini books with students.

Besides being adorable, mini books create an easy reference text for students.  Can't remember how to form the progressive form of the verb (or what it is...really, how many adults don't have to look this up!), just refer to your mini grammar book of verb tenses.  There it is!

This product gets students engaged in creating their own mini "textbooks." These are printable, foldable mini books that students can use to take notes on complex grammar concepts like perfect or progressive tenses or pronoun case.

Printed headings on each page guide students in organizing the information they need to know.  An answer key for each mini book will help teachers quickly access information students need to know.

By allowing students to create their own grammar resource, they learn to go back to their notes and look for content.  When students interact with the text, they deepen their understanding.

A great way to teach students the value of note-taking!

To learn more, check out a preview of the product on
Just Add Students -- Mini Grammar Books

Thanks,
Mary Pat
Just Add Students

Fantasy

This is a BUNDLED version of both my Fantasy Reading Unit AND my Fantasy writing unit offered at a discounted price. Buy all your Reading and Writing lessons for a month for the cost of two cups of coffee! Fantasy Reading and Writing Unit

For Writer's Workshop teachers covering the fantasy genre, this writing unit is a must. It is a resource containing 14 lessons that carry students all the way through one of the most challenging genres to write. The lessons fit perfectly with both the old and updated version the Columbia Teacher's College Writer's Workshop fantasy series of mini-lessons. The lessons also encourage students to use an amazing tech integration component resource ( a setting and symbolism database blog). Writing skills specific to fantasy each build from lesson to lesson. There is another content here to cover a a five week unit on fantasy writing. Teaching writing is challenging. This unit in many ways teachers teaches about what to teach in writing!

Content NOT covered in the preview file includes:
Writing that contains symbolism
Writing with dialogue
Proof reading for fantasy specific terminology
Life a line elaboration technique
Distinguishing between summary and action scenes

and much more...

For even expert teachers of the fantasy genre, this unit contains a few twists and turns to add to their portfolio of writing instructional approaches. This unit is also a perfect compliment to my other resource: Fantasy Reading. 

Fantasy Writing Unit Workshop Model Complete Set of Structured Lessons

This is an outstanding 13 page unit that supports the Fantasy Reader's Workshop Unit. It is an entire unit of reading skills that can be used by any 4th-6th grade student during a course of study on fantasy. The resource begins as a tic-tac-toe menu of 9 unique reading skills that discuss reading skill related to the genre. Skills include:
Nuanced Characters
Major themes
Multiplicity of Problems
Learning Curve
Symbolism
Elements of Fantasy
Archetypes
Plot lines and backstories
Setting of fantasy
External and Internal Conflicts

A list of I CAN... statements that readers should be able to do with their independent reading books

A list of archetypes for student reference

Video explanation (copy/paste link)
http://www.screenr.com/9QR7 

The idea is that the teacher models these skills using the class read-aloud and then students practice the skills through book clubs, paired reading text, or independently using their independent reading books. Students can select the best 5 or 6 skills that suit their books. Pages are created for note taking and spaces for students to record their thinking. (Students can simply use the sections to categorize their stick note thinking or write directly into the booklet.) Students would be expected to work through the unit towards the creation of the final project - a presentation of their novel in a movie trailer using iMovie (or your preferred piece of technology). Guidelines for this additional activity are also provided. This is NOT a book report unit. Citing evidence is a key component of CCSS. This units forces students to cite evidence from their stories and go further by interpreting this evidence in preparation for their final class presentations. This is perfect for getting students to truly think 'deeper' about the fantasy genre. Advanced 4th grade readers could easily use this unit too. As the reading skills are generic, they are applicable across the 5th-7th grade age range as the complexity of the novels students use should create natural differentiation. This unit is a must for any study of fantasy or for a fantasy book club unit.

Check out these other BEST SELLING UNITS Reader's and Writer's Workshop Units in my store

3rd-4th Grade

Poetry Unit

Realistic Fiction

Nonfiction Reading and Writing

Mystery Reading and Writing Unit

4th-5th Grade

Fantasy Reading and Writing Unit

Upper Elementary Poetry Unit

Historical Fiction 

Historical Fiction Book Clubs 

Following Characters into Meaning

Book Clubs


Get great discounts on BUNDLED UNITS here

3rd Grade Reader's and Writer's Units

Bats, Insects, Owls, Spiders- A Bundle of Interactive Learning

      This ELA/Science bundle (fresh off the press today), might be just the thing to get your young learners engaged in reading and writing informational text! These interactive sets will keep them busy learning for weeks!

 

I find that when kids create their own materials, such as the photo book-tivities included in these sets, they tend to be more eager to write their short reports. A 4-page editable bat report template (not shown) is also included. This money-saving set of interactive activities, vocabulary, picture cards, posters, and writing templates make this bundle worth bagging! Suggested Grade Levels: 2-4

  

 

Bats, Insects, Owls, Spiders Bundle (with Bat Posters)

 

Thanks for checking out this bundle of interactive learning! 

 

Karen at TpT: Growing Smart Readers

 

Growing Smart Readers Blog

MATH LESSON - "The Factor Game"

Middle School Math Moments

Have you played the Factor Game? This is a great lesson - lots of fun for the students, while reinforcing the concept of factors!  If you haven't played the Factor Game before, here's how it works:

Click to download

Players start with a simple game board, with the numbers 1-30 (in the past I've alternated between giving them a pre-printed sheet and letting them write their own numbers on their own paper; sometimes I have them play at the whiteboard).

Player 1 chooses a number, and marks it (they might circle it square it, triangle it, color it etc). Player 2 then marks all of the remaining factors of Player 1's choice.
Player 1 receives points equal to the number they chose, and Player 2 gets points equal to all of the remaining factors of that number.

Next, Player 2 chooses a number (and gets those points), and Player 1 identifies all of the factors of that number, receiving those points.

Play continues this way until all possible numbers have been used.
*Special rule - players may not choose a number that has no factors available for the other player. If they do, they lose their turn, receiving no points.

Student turn - choosing 30

When I introduce this game to my classes, we play it on the whiteboard, and I always allow them to go first (the first time). Often, they will choose 30 as their number, since it's the biggest. When I go ahead and mark all the remaining factors of 30 (my points), they are shocked! After the first turn, they have 30 points and I have 42!

My turn - choosing 27

(I normally have 2 students record our scores on the board, while 2 others keep running totals on a calculator, but points can all be tallied at the end if you want).


For my first turn, my choice would be 27, giving them only 9, since 1 and 3 are already gone.

After their experience with 30 and its factors, they start thinking a bit more. They will often consider 25 or 23, but I remind them that they must leave a factor for me, and 1 and 5 are already taken.  For the sake of showing further steps, let's pretend that they choose 21. That leaves 7 for me.

Student turn - choosing 21

finished game

The game continues, alternating turns, until all possible numbers are used, as shown in the "finished game" picture.

 

The second time we play as a group, I might choose 27 or 25 as my first number (I don't want to choose the best "move,"  because I want them to discover it themselves)

We continue to play the second game, and they get a better idea of what makes a good choice.

After our games as a class, I have the students work in partners, and they normally get one or two games played before we stop to discuss at the end of the period. We always talk about what the best and worst first choices are, and bring the idea of prime and composite into the discussion.

I have been playing this game with students for at least 15 years (I think), and every set of students has loved it! I found the game when I was involved with Mathline, so long ago. If you'd like to see the original lesson plan, with extension ideas, click here.

Have you played the Factor Game? 



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