We have survived the election and it's time to look into the not so far off future. Veteran's Day is Friday, November 11th. But don't worry if you forgot because I have the perfect easily printed and implemented activity. And it's only one dollar!
It contains a mini book and comprehension questions (print the book and questions on one page double sided per student.) Your students will read the mini book and answer ten questions based on their reading.
The front, back, and inside of the mini book. The comprehension questions are on the back of the book. Just print double sided and fold in half!
Then your students can complete a timeline based on the events from the mini book. There are two timelines you can choose from. The "easier" timeline has the dates listed and students just cut out each box to glue in order on construction paper or the timeline paper provided. The "harder" timeline has blanks for the dates, so your students would have to go back to the mini book to find the dates and write them in, then cut out the boxes to glue them in order on construction paper or the timeline paper provided.
An example of the timeline paper with three of the "harder" timeline boxes cut out and placed in order.
Of course I have included an answer key for the comprehension questions and the timeline!
You may purchase this for $1 from my store on Teachers Pay Teachers. Here is a direct link to the product: The History of Veteran's Day
And please do not forget to thank a Veteran this Friday!
Did you know that five states- Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas- participate in Celebrate Freedom Week? There are laws requiring teachers in those states to recognize Celebrate Freedom Week in their classrooms. This means teaching about the founding fathers and documents that created the United States of America, from memorizing part of the Declaration of Independence to understanding the Bill of Rights.
In Texas and Kansas Celebrate Freedom Week is recognized the week of September 17th, when the U.S. Constitution was signed. Oklahoma celebrates the week of Veteran's Day, and Florida and Arkansas celebrate during the last week of September.
I created some products to help teachers teach Celebrate Freedom Week. Since I'm in Texas I looked at the TEKS- Texas Essential Knowledge & Standards- which outlines the standards that need to be taught for every grade level. The products I made cover every requirement set forth by the state of Texas. You can buy each piece separate, or the bundle is at the bottom (and it's the best value!)
School is quickly approaching if you live in Texas. Maybe it's approaching even faster if you are out of state! In case you missed the sale on Teachers Pay Teachers I am offering my back to school packets for only $1. They are grade level specific and an easy way to keep students busy on the first day of school while you sort supplies, work on transportation passes and other paper work, etc.
If you want to get some things made by your student hung on the wall quickly, the second page is an All About Me page- easily personalized by each student. I put each page on construction paper and then hang on the wall for Open House.
I also have this little bundle of printables and task cards to keep students busy. I use these throughout the first week. The task cards are great to help students (especially those new to the school) to learn important things like your name, room number, the principal's name, etc.
It has been awhile!!!!! TBH (to be honest) I have been out of the classroom, so it has been hard to find inspiration for new products....I was really racking my brain recently because one of my best friends is going back into the classroom this fall as a third grade ELAR teacher. We used to teach second grade together, and what I remember we had the most fun teaching about was Texas!
Every year we took a field trip to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and that whole week we focused on all things Texas. In second grade, the TEKS require you to teach about the symbols of Texas and our students would make these cute little booklet things using paper bags.
So I thought why not start creating a series that focuses on the Texas state symbols? The first product I have made so far focuses on the state small mammal- the nine-banded armadillo.
It includes a non fiction reading passage giving facts about the nine-banded armadillo. There are also ten questions about the reading passage, and if you print the two pages double sided and fold in half it make the perfect little book. When I was teaching we would make stuff like this all the time and let the students work in partners reading their little booklets and answering the questions.
Also included in the packet is a diagram for students to label the armadillo based on what they read in the passage.
I will be making more of these packets focusing on the other state symbols soon so be on the look out! Once I have created a packet for every symbol I will bundle them altogether!
In the meantime I am posting this one for 50% off, so it is only .75 cents on Teachers Pay Teachers! Click on the picture above- or click here- and if you download it please look it over and leave some nice feedback :)
Did you know that five states- Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas- participate in Celebrate Freedom Week? There are laws requiring teachers in those states to recognize Celebrate Freedom Week in their classrooms. This means teaching about the founding fathers and documents that created the United States of America, from memorizing part of the Declaration of Independence to understanding the Bill of Rights. In Texas and Kansas Celebrate Freedom Week is recognized the week of September 17th, when the U.S. Constitution was signed. Oklahoma celebrates the week of Veteran's Day, and Florida and Arkansas celebrate during the last week of September.
I created some products to help teachers teach Celebrate Freedom Week. Since I'm in Texas I looked at the TEKS- Texas Essential Knowledge & Standards- which outlines the standards that need to be taught for every grade level. The products I made cover every requirement set forth by the state of Texas. You can buy each piece separate, or the bundle is at the bottom (and it's the best value!) Since Celebrate Freedom Week is next week for Texas and Kansas, everything is on sale until Wednesday!
Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing their much anticipated Back to School SALE! I have already marked down many items in my store starting today, but the official sale starts tomorrow.
He proposes a public rating system similar to Yelp, that parents can use to rate teachers. The article is lengthy, and I do understand where he is coming from. Not all teachers are the same, and parents have a right to know that. However, for the most part, parents do not have a good understanding of what teachers do. Yes we teach their children, but as the comments to the article point out, we are not miracle workers and there are SO many factors to take into consideration when deciding whether a teacher is "good" or not. Plus, teaching is maybe half of what we do. The other half is disaggregating data, planning lessons, grading papers, creating activities, receiving training (if you're in a good district that actually provides training...), etc.
You can't expect teachers to work miracles if they have not been properly trained in miracle working (ie: how do you teach a class of 25 fourth graders to write a narrative on a fourth grade level when five of them are on a first grade reading level, fifteen of them are on a high second grade reading level, and five of them are above a fourth grade level...and you have no help from anyone.)
Everyone is quick to judge everyone else, and everyone has their own excuses for their shortcomings, etc. but rushing to quick judgement is not going to motivate anyone to do better.
Welcome to the "Deep in the Heart of
Texas" blog hop! Over 40 Texas teacher bloggers have joined together to share what
we love about our state as well as ideas and freebies that we love. You will also have
the opportunity to enter to win TpT products and/or TpT gift certificates by entering
using the rafflecopters included in each post. Down at the bottom, you will see all of
the blogs participating in the hop. Just click and you will be taken to their posts.
We hope you love what you find. Happy Valentine's Day!
I am Vanessa Blandford (Crown) I just got married last summer and moved from the burbs to the big ole city of Houston! I have always lived in a suburb of Houston, but now that I actually live in Houston I look at the city differently...in a good way, because I really see everything that it has to offer.
I love our parks. The Sam Houston statue can be found in Hermann Park. My husband and I took our engagement pictures there. The statue was unveiled August 16, 1925. It was restored in 1996 and is simply breathtaking. The surrounding area has changed somewhat, but the statue remains the same.
The park is humongous and has lots of different areas, and is also home to some of the awesome museums Houston has, like the Houston Zoo and Houston Museum of Natural Science.
I love the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.
There are many aspects to HLS&R, like the World's Championship BBQ cook off weekend and parade downtown to kick off the festivities. And it's run by mostly volunteers. My husband is on the BBQ committee as a contest supervisor. It's also a family tradition to participate in & attend cook off.
My mom and I at my Great Uncle's tent:
I volunteer on the Parade committee.
Here I am with Howdy, the HLS&R mascot.
And a float during the parade, held in downtown Houston:
The rodeo also has concerts every night, a big carnival every day/night, an education center with free field trips and a live birthing center for live stock animals (plus lots of other educational attractions.) HLS&R also gives lots of money in scholarships and does a lot of great things. If you ever visit Houston at the end of February through March you must experience the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo!
In Texas we did not adapt the Common Core. We follow the TEKS: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. A big part of the Social Studies standards in every single grade level focuses on Texas. I always try to incorporate Social Studies into Reading, and therefore choose books about Texas as much as I can. I use the below ideas as more of a weekly unit about Legends, but you can adapt it to fit your classroom very easily.
I LOVE reading "The Legend of the Bluebonnet" by Tomie dePaola since it is about Texas! I usually introduce the book by showing the pages and talking about each page, so my students can make personal connections to the book. The state flower of Texas is the bluebonnet, so everyone can at least make that connection. Then we'll "read" the book on You Tube so I can incorporate technology into the lesson.
I'll have everyone talk about what they liked or disliked, draw their favorite scene, and explain what characteristics of the story make this a legend. We fill out a story map to explain the problem and solution and the main events of the story. For an art activity we use blue tissue paper and construction paper to make our own bluebonnets. The next day we'll read "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush" by Tomie dePaola.
The lesson is the basically the same as the previous day, only I will also ask questions to compare and contrast the two books.
On the third day we'll complete a Venn diagram to formally compare and contrast the two legends. I'll also ask my students to discuss or write about which book they liked better and why. For the most part, my students like "The Legend of the Bluebonnet" better because it takes place in the great state of Texas! Tomie dePaola also wrote "The Legend of the Poinsetta," which is a great read around the holidays!
This freebie is near and dear to my heart, because it is actually the first product I ever created to be on Teachers Pay Teachers. I intended to sell it, but then realized that you had to post a free product before you could actually sell anything!
I created it using Publisher (now I use PowerPoint to create everything.) All it is is a sentence sort, based on if the sentence has subject-verb agreement or not. I used it in my second grade class, but I know it could be used for other grades. Click here to download it for free from my TpT store!
Every year my school chooses a different school wide theme. One year it was something like "Rockin' our way to success." All I have is this link to show you what my inspiration was, and if this is your blog let me know please! Guitar Inspiration
So my Dad (who has lots of cool and expensive tools in the garage) showed me how to cut out a guitar from wood. I drew it on the wood, and then we sort of took turns using the saws and sander. I say sort of because he did the bulk of the work, but did let me do stuff after watching him do it first. And that, my educator friends, is modeling at its finest. :)
Once cut out and sanded down, we primed it. Then I took it home to paint. I made the first one for myself (this picture was taken today, after using it for three years...)
I made some for my friends at school,
and one for my friend's son:
My most recent one was for a male teacher, so I didn't want to girly it up. He also loves the Houston Texans, so I went with a football theme.
The front and back:
Half way through: I painted the top part of the guitar to look like a football field. I painted it green, then measured out the yard lines. I used a white paint pen with a small tip to draw the lines and write the numbers. Then I traced and painted the Houston Texans logo to the bottom left, and the football in the middle.
The idea is all the students start in the middle of the guitar- where it says "KICK OFF" and then for good behavior they move up towards "TOUCHDOWN" and for not so good behavior they move down towards "EJECTED." The teacher can decide exactly what happens at each interval, but this gives students many chances to correct unwanted behaviors, and rewards those who do well.
Do you use the clip system in your classroom? Is it effective?
I welcome all comments below!
Last year I created my teacher tool box- and I absolutely LOVE it, still, over one year later. So I thought I would resurrect my old blog post about how to make it, and I am putting all of my teacher tool box labels on sale for today only (links are at the end of this post!)
Oh where to start??? I have tried LOTS of things the past few days...but I'll stick with my TEACHER TOOL BOX! I know there's a lot out there....and I was inspired by my friend Jessica over at Literacy Spark...
I bought this from Lowe's:
It is a Stack On 18 Drawer Storage Unit. I wanted to get one like Jessica's but of course the Lowes I was at had a limited supply- and it took me asking three different people and finally pulling up what I wanted on my iPhone and showing it to someone before I finally found the right aisle to go down!
To make this would be long story short (yes- I had other "hiccups" like lack of printer ink, cardstock, etc.) Here is my finished product:
Besides buying the "tool box" from Lowes, I needed a color printer, white card stock, double sided tape, scissors, and the labels. After creating and printing the labels I cut them out:
After cutting, I applied the double sided tape to the FRONT of the label on each end.
I then placed the label into the drawer, pressing the double sided tape inside the drawer so it would stick properly.
Then I put the drawer back into the tool box. Repeat 17 times and then you're done!
If you like what you see and want to make your own let me know! I used orange chevron with a turquoise box around the text, but I can make any color combination you want!
The orange/ turquoise combo is in my TpT store here for fifty cents. You can email me at theeducatedcrown@gmail.com for specific color combinations/ specific labels and I can create them just for you!
Click on the picture below to take you to the product:
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