tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55784435455471112012024-03-28T08:39:01.267-07:00Middle School MobCaitlin Mitchell 86http://www.blogger.com/profile/14813546238326886942noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-62246773296783940152018-03-24T04:53:00.002-07:002018-03-24T04:53:16.244-07:00Let's Celebrate National Poetry MonthSpring is just around the corner -- and as April arrives, we have the perfect opportunity to share fantastic poems with our students during National Poetry Month.<br />
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I've asked a few of the Middle School Mob to share their favorite poetry resources. Here are four great ideas for engaging your students with poetry:<br />
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A Poem that is Worthy of Missing Recess??
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Caitlin and Jessica from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Eb-Academic-Camps-By-Caitlin-And-Jessica" target="_blank">EB Academic Camps</a> want to share their students' love for Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Annabel Lee."<br />
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<a href="http://www.ebcamps.org/2017/07/the-poe-poem-our-students-love.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target=" blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkZd_rW918AKMK89HSxkdRsGdAJo5N9wCEmQ0bCrTuqZ0ofDVTUUq7N649pHHl20OQjOihf9gKAQvp_OERWFlbVvWM4LT9pzIiNLpEqoKSiA_pZc74nbeIOV2YGKc7nIfMI4EVkFaLr2Fv/s320/EB+Poem+Image.png" width="320" /></a>"You know it's an effective poem to teach when your students continue analyzing and talking about the content long after you have finished your lesson plans!" They say. "We just never thought it would be a poem from 1849 that our students would become obsessed with. They honestly want to spend recess time with us to continue discussions, and we've even had a few students who have asked for their parents' thoughts about the poem. Year after year, Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee" does just that! It is the PERFECT spooky poem to use around Halloween (but we've also taught it in April during National Poetry month, so honestly, it really doesn't matter!)<br />
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Click the link below to learn more about Caitlin and Jessica teach this spooky poem:<br />
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<a href="http://www.ebcamps.org/2017/07/the-poe-poem-our-students-love.html" target="_blank">The Poe Poem our Students Love</a></div>
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Powerful Read Aloud</h2>
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<a href="http://mrsspanglerinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2016/04/poetry-pick-3.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="576" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6nA4yZTW-OUoRVP-yJZ2NFLntnS3G5yGK1eJ0XRmzlbAKUOviGSgrx1AYURxZ2ldBm_bH70-snaxg34txwYVLI1g0HuglXU4wBWrPGj7YPl1_TMSihwCznGKSHj3nHWEUiz-f7vH68pe/s320/Love+that+Dog+2018.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Lisa from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Spangler-In-The-Middle" target="_blank">Mrs. Spangler in the Middle</a> offers this great idea for introducing poetry to students.</div>
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<i>"Love That Dog</i> by Sharon Creech is a poem that is also a book," Lisa says. "It's a free verse piece that gives voice to students' general aversions to poetry (it's "just" for girls, there's "nothing" to write about, poems are confusing and hard to understand, etc.) but then goes on to show that writing and reading poetry is not only enjoyable, but can also be a good way to deal with painful emotions and memories. It's a very powerful read that includes other famous poems along the way, but makes them relevant to today's middle schoolers. It's so powerful when read aloud, and I can't recommend it enough!"</div>
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You can click the link below to read Lisa's blog post on her top 3 poetry picks:</div>
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<a href="http://mrsspanglerinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2016/04/poetry-pick-3.html" target="_blank">Top Poetry Picks</a></div>
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<a href="https://http//classroominthemiddle.com/poetry-month-in-the-classroom/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ8VULy1-InV34asIPfO8KU-yDLkNswhhN_fuMfA2RYemc7C2bj0wHazs25KBUX7hlgU1Ji-0pN72HWe9FfZGBL5dOzfjrmWe5_qgGcqFLynsSw8_wY2bk-gioOtlyH-_D8y3QsPpBPuCD/s320/Poetry+Month+in+the+Classroom+fb.png" width="320" /></a>Need Ideas?</h2>
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Sharon from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Classroom-In-The-Middle" target="_blank">Classroom in the Middle</a> says, "One of the great things about April is the month-long celebration of all things poetry known as poetry month. At this time of year, teachers can always use more poetry ideas and resources -- whether is it new poems to teach, fun poetry activities, or sites for kids to check out for an author study. </div>
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Check out the links in this post for some great resources:</div>
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<a href="http://classroominthemiddle.com/poetry-month-in-the-classroom/" target="_blank">Poetry Month in the Classroom</a></div>
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30 Days of Poetry</h2>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/30-Days-of-Poetry-a-Digital-Writing-Notebook-for-Google-OneDrive-3083672" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="760" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdoc6qVxwqVwru6X1edJy9A46EUihRq5bFY8cpw5g6qqSMPsYuJm3PyJMaP2-0R9JfIisdgPFQF3di2AHqAjVlSFMRbU8EzgjhODV_dYnTfpZjir_z8Sgoa45akK1W5uvoK2ZHw5ZkxByU/s320/30+days.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Marypat from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Just-Add-Students" target="_blank">Just Add Students</a> loves providing students with opportunities to write their own poems. </div>
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"Students love writing a variety of poems," she says. "from the simple to the complex. And when they have a mentor poem to pattern their own writing after, the entire process is less scary and intimidating. From an acrostic to an ode -- students can play with poetry forms to express themselves and practice using language in new ways!"</div>
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Click on the link below to check out her 30 Days of Poetry resource:</div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/30-Days-of-Poetry-a-Digital-Writing-Notebook-for-Google-OneDrive-3083672" target="_blank">30 Days of Poetry</a><br />
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What will be happening in your classroom to celebrate National Poetry Month?<br />
How do you share poetry with your students? <br />
Let us know in the comments!<br />
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Here's to a month filled with great poetry!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-40327269858275580082018-02-13T16:57:00.000-08:002018-02-13T17:55:32.166-08:00Love is in the Air!<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">And your friends at the Middle School Mob want to share the love with you by offering you a chance to win $70 worth of Teachers Pay Teachers gift cards to spend at the sale!</span></div>
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Mrs. Spangler in the Middlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137268748395471302noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-64912196412476859572017-08-22T14:51:00.002-07:002017-08-22T19:47:15.499-07:00Nine Back-to-School Ideas for Middle School Teachers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDCr_xoialA33zljWIWF1o8JsKJKWly5tr4Xo_sZRCoah-9DpAXearbIqR7czjHNAb7Gk6MF1GbJONBCwY3BcPuANKkC7K9vMueCwZ9p2jmQhY7YG3ITsIh4lRI2FR9PcXCqzJJTakVETC/s1600/fb+image+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="940" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDCr_xoialA33zljWIWF1o8JsKJKWly5tr4Xo_sZRCoah-9DpAXearbIqR7czjHNAb7Gk6MF1GbJONBCwY3BcPuANKkC7K9vMueCwZ9p2jmQhY7YG3ITsIh4lRI2FR9PcXCqzJJTakVETC/s320/fb+image+2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Heading back to school after the summer is exciting! There are so many fresh ideas to try and ways to recharge your classroom and teaching.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Middle School Mob has pulled together nine of our favorite back-to-school hacks, tips, and tricks. We hope you'll find a few here that will get your year off to a great start!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Getting organized </span></h2>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Classroom-Organization-Management-BUNDLE-1905519" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="735" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZbbjaz859Hksg5mWHde_ewnToFSEMu7vr8EwgkpI24Js9cB1ogbiy3IBEnKV2t7ohQtmOYTeFlkcRuQuH6z_bQoPPiIxSkO8e99Zi6bSIxlGPsr3CQGQkwb2V7LIUaX0of2rTgLQztuWK/s320/Back+to+School+Bundle+michele.png" width="213" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Michele of <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Michele-Lucks-Social-Studies" target="_blank">Michele Luck's Social Studies</a> says that this is a</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> must for new teachers. <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Classroom-Organization-Management-BUNDLE-1905519" target="_blank">This bundle </a>includes everything to get the year started and to keep it moving in the right direction! It walks you through classroom organization and helps you be prepared for dealing with classroom management, teacher evaluations, lesson planning, and more!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Do you need a seating chart?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Classroom organization is one of the first things that come to mind at back to school time. Desk or seating chart arrangement, along with ideas and planning for behavior management are priorities. A good seating chart template can be the saving grace for the middle or high school classroom. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Michele of <a href="http://www.tptsocialstudies.com/" target="_blank">Michele Luck's Social Studies </a>shares <a href="http://alessonplanforteachers.blogspot.com/2017/08/seating-charts-in-secondary-classroom.html" target="_blank">some ideas about how to best use a seating chart.</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Creative mini books</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lisa from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Spangler-In-The-Middle" target="_blank">Mrs. Spangler in the Middle</a> says, "</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a middle school teacher, I have to make 130 copies any time I need all of my students to have something. So if my syllabus is a couple of pages, that really adds up and I only get 2 cases of paper per year!</span></span></div>
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"This mini-book is just ONE sheet of paper for each student! And it gives the students something to do with the syllabus instead of just pretend to read it. ;) Not to mention it's creative and gives off a warm, fuzzy feel. :)
"It's also completely editable so you can pre-print all the information from your syllabus on it or have students record the important information on it. Finally, it comes with a video to show you and your students how to assemble it."</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can find her paper-saving mini book <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Meet-The-Teacher-Mini-Book-EDITABLE-3273653" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span></div>
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<a blank="" href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Meet-The-Teacher-Mini-Book-EDITABLE-3273653" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target=""><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1068" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHuJLU4f6MwoTmTCPtyG79nkUEXA_5fIaOqKKQBR6x_6Q2MhPocTh9_uQWFUse4cJSQz90lGsWCnLFSxOXEU3lVh3S4JVnMmQmt48eWwZ8Ewd6nBIZAzD3RmbiH0Sd3GAbO1JJpoaLrYWq/s320/lisa+spangler.jpeg" width="213" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Poetry anyone?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sharon from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Classroom-In-The-Middle" target="_blank">Classroom in the Middle</a> says, "</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Poems make great short readings for the first days of school, and poems about school are a classic choice for beginning of the year activities in language arts classes. <a href="http://classroominthemiddle.com/back-to-school-poetry/" target="_blank">Here is a list of ten good titles,</a> as well as a few links where you can find even more. The poems range from funny to serious. Some are about school and others are about perennial middle school topics."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Create an Escape!</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Looking for a novel way to keep students thinking? Lyndsey from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lit-With-Lyns" target="_blank">Lit with Lyns</a> describes how she uses a <a href="http://litwithlyns.blogspot.com/2017/07/back-to-school-digital-escape-room.html" target="_blank">digital escape room</a> to engage her students at the start of the school year.</span></span></div>
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<a blank="" href="http://www.helloteacherlady.com/2017/08/12-benefits-of-using-google-classroom.html/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target=""><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="654" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZb8T2NrONhsJjx6COw7QinBVSZVVcLrF0gz6K2JhKP07ooMV5XG7whs8d8xIxxjwCxykjAxCn0dVaWqYCFvBckvnNyVfT-Qe7FvAtXtPM-9vbslWpK1sjxaH0sl5sU7-em2egnVXaG1F/s400/Shana.PNG" width="195" /></span></a></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Are you going digital?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">If so, </span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shana from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hello-Teacher-Lady" target="_blank">Hello, Teacher Lady</a> has some great tips for you. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shana says, "</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Classroom has been the organizational hub of my classroom for the past few years, and I'm on a mission to share the love with as many teachers as possible. Since we're in the midst of back to school season, there's no better time to start saving time, paper, and sanity. If you've been wondering about the benefits of using Google Classroom, I've rounded up the <a href="http://www.helloteacherlady.com/2017/08/12-benefits-of-using-google-classroom.html/" target="_blank">top 12 reasons why Google Classroom should be your new BFF</a>."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Flipping for this flipbook</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stephanie from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Marvelous-Middle" target="_blank">The Marvelous Middle</a> has a great idea for helping students keep track of their syllabus. </span></span></div>
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<a blank="" href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Editable-Flipbook-Syllabus-Template-2698145?utm_source=MSMobBlog&utm_campaign=BTSRoundup" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target=""><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYEnnzEROOLa_YcSZD5uPwkLSYqz-ODn8cAunjpSEnmGxXfPg93iQfrVObBfz05f8CRHqQAVm36ZPwfipLH0VHaKOFeNd0majLFbXpgi8ECeM02mG4KD1KDk0opO13u5uTcETF3utOItF/s320/stephanie+flipbook.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The school year starts off smoothly with detailed classroom policies and procedures. A classroom syllabus explains how my classroom runs and the curriculum covered during the school year," Stephanie says. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"But, my students always seemed to lose this syllabus a few weeks into the school year. <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Editable-Flipbook-Syllabus-Template-2698145?utm_source=MSMobBlog&utm_campaign=BTSRoundup" target="_blank">This flipbook syllabus</a> solved this problem because it is sized to be glued right inside an interactive notebook. My students no longer lose this important information. It is always at their fingertips."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Building routines with task cards</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Susie from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Anchored-In-Reading" target="_blank">Anchored in Reading</a> shares this idea for how to use task cards to create routines in the classroom: </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ELA-CC-Bell-Ringer-Back-To-School-Themed-Task-Cards-Upper-ElMiddle-School-1933722" target="_blank">This back to school resource</a> proves valuable in many ways. Used as a bell ringer, these task cards help you build a routine while starting each class with students on-task and working. In addition, some of the concepts are review which may be beneficial for our students getting back into the swing of things! You could also use these task cards as exit slips or informal assessment." </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a blank="" href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ELA-CC-Bell-Ringer-Back-To-School-Themed-Task-Cards-Upper-ElMiddle-School-1933722" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target=""><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwkH59UTrIHY0Wl9xGptljF6XmTqnFwNYVDUhntQdHeETF6OatYbulG1XP1ci0u4iI_l-vDXuMHTKeW6Nis4hM2qvUjsVyFitSeK34Z5Bv71Sx6-o9BsRqtjCPkHQkZw3woDRyUHRoH597/s320/susan+anchored+in+reading.PNG" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Creating a yearlong plan</span></span></h2>
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<a blank="" href="https://http//justaddstudents.com/yearlong-plans/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target=""><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="728" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj85nietOzxqQ_CIDfvg4s7WP1v97HBMSY74WFNbkMRIdjAcJMfX_hyD5ff45fxGMPNHksRnRCJQavwUTcyGTzi_Gm6sVscmX9sn1WlhZZfXQOlMEQw6Lx0xvA5E3dMfABIMSmSnsgVDTpt/s320/pin.png" width="145" /></span></a><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Marypat from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Just-Add-Students" target="_blank">Just Add Students</a> shares <a href="http://justaddstudents.com/yearlong-plans/" target="_blank">this blog post </a>with ideas of how to set up, create and use a yearlong plan for your ELA standards. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">She says, </span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white;">A yearlong plan will help you teach (all the) writing; it will save you time and energy — and help you remain accountable for what you’re expected to teach this year. When Sunday night rolls around and you're planning your week, a ylp is a lifesaver! The lessons plans practically write themselves! An additional bonus? Great for Meet the Teacher night as well!" <a href="http://justaddstudents.com/yearlong-plans/" target="_blank">You can find her free editable yearlong plans here.</a></span></span></div>
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So, what do you think? What new ideas are you implementing this year? Let us know in the comments below!</div>
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Here's to a fresh, new school year!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-63787947380602251752017-08-20T07:44:00.000-07:002017-09-06T13:07:00.552-07:00Making YOUR Classroom THEIR Classroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaaHzg_vDeRk156tJZqJgziuglQwgkszTCDkncrW_-eMWh20w3-G0RojXh-r3BR210_PiVIouXf6ztLFrQYGUCUj0xzWlJlmL3qeE7NSkFT1dhVc3_plShu3jQFdITFGWCPL8OStZhGUPd/s1600/Making+Your+Classroom+Their+Classroom+fb+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Making Your Classroom Their Classroom" border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaaHzg_vDeRk156tJZqJgziuglQwgkszTCDkncrW_-eMWh20w3-G0RojXh-r3BR210_PiVIouXf6ztLFrQYGUCUj0xzWlJlmL3qeE7NSkFT1dhVc3_plShu3jQFdITFGWCPL8OStZhGUPd/s640/Making+Your+Classroom+Their+Classroom+fb+copy.png" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Setting
up a classroom before the kids arrive is fun – getting ready for the promise of
a new year. But whether you go for the all-out look of a new theme with lots of
new decorations brought from home, or whether you go for a the more basic,
functional look, what really makes a classroom come alive is when you personalize
it with little touches representing each individual kid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
doesn’t have to be anything fancy; just small elements spaced around the room
that refer specifically to this year’s kids can make all the difference in
providing a room where kids feel at home and take ownership of the space. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here
are a few favorites that I’ve seen many teachers use:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Banners or Pennants<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
like the long skinny triangular ones that look like old college pennants. The kids can each choose a pennant
(construction paper) in their favorite color, add a “logo” that they design for
themselves, and add their name (in their choice of fancy lettering). If they have trouble coming up with a logo,
show the class some examples such as logos from pro sports and nearby school
teams.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Team Names and Logos<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If
you’re starting the year with groups, for their first assignment have each
group come up with a team name and then design a team logo or choose a mascot. The team names and logos can be used on
charts about group assignments and group progress throughout the year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Student Work Display<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Classrooms
have included a bulletin board displaying good student work forever, and for
good reason. Not only does it recognize
students as they do well on specific areas, but it also provides good examples
for the other students in the class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brag Tag Display<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brag
tags work best when classmates see them. So a wall display where each kid can hang their collection of tags is
not only a handy organizational tool, but also a positive motivator.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chores Chart<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We
mostly think of a chores chart as purely functional, but some chores are especially
popular, and seeing their name posted next to a coveted position can be rewarding
for many kids.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ongoing Contest<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If
you’re using any kind of reward system, such as awarding points or tickets that
students save to spend on a prize or to enter in a drawing, post it on the wall
too! Add some positive language and imagery
to make the contest appealing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Photos<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If
you have time to take a snapshot of each kid at the beginning of the year, kids
will love looking at the pictures of their friends, and themselves. And the display of photos will be a nice
touch for parents when they come in for visits too!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As
the year progresses, photos of individual kids and groups at work on class
projects are great to post too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Door Decoration<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some
schools do lots of door decorating and others don’t. But if door decorations are a thing at your
school, who not make one featuring the kids who study behind that door! Team names, logos, photos – all can work here
too. Or maybe have your kids come up
with a class slogan for everyone to see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For
more about personalizing a classroom space, check out this blog post with more
ideas especially for the language arts and reading teachers:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341239946175398876noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-26815484827394188022017-05-14T00:00:00.000-07:002017-05-14T00:00:23.477-07:00Fun and Engaging End of Year Test Prep<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDWE4v8CKrp-jrIE3oY9S4qw0H2VJprNpPj0ky_9YFsxHnx5iVeVg4SOVGU1Ufnqp2pmgCp7oWsQ3sHA2SU-1-WJvIsQ7zDLhWu5XGfAxxuBoKiGaVqjVuhmU9NTW7Q0UShs5O8v2j7M/s1600/testing+meme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDWE4v8CKrp-jrIE3oY9S4qw0H2VJprNpPj0ky_9YFsxHnx5iVeVg4SOVGU1Ufnqp2pmgCp7oWsQ3sHA2SU-1-WJvIsQ7zDLhWu5XGfAxxuBoKiGaVqjVuhmU9NTW7Q0UShs5O8v2j7M/s200/testing+meme.jpg" width="154" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm Lyndsey from <a href="http://litwithlyns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lit with Lyns</a>, and I'm excited to share some fun activities that you can use for end of year test prep. I know you have all been looking forward to testing just as much as I have (yeah, right!). Each year, right before test time, I start obsessing over what I can do to keep my students engaged, while also reviewing all of the objectives necessary to prepare for testing. I have found 3 things that have proven to do this for my students: digital escape rooms, task cards, and technology.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWyizvNbYQjoM8Uz0yPig9n0kcj-AdBBF4Ie-i8JjVa7HoI-blIuc2Qfx_fAZpsmn71cFqiLPrzS-ql4GysvJth6skwHiQJW3Rf8Q0F7hxrilwuUmtAQ2tG0FDdMvB4QXuHP4SWYsUHv4l/s1600/output_zHwDud.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWyizvNbYQjoM8Uz0yPig9n0kcj-AdBBF4Ie-i8JjVa7HoI-blIuc2Qfx_fAZpsmn71cFqiLPrzS-ql4GysvJth6skwHiQJW3Rf8Q0F7hxrilwuUmtAQ2tG0FDdMvB4QXuHP4SWYsUHv4l/s400/output_zHwDud.gif" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Escape
Rooms have been the latest buzz in education. I kept hearing teachers
talk about them on social media, and then I had students come to school
talking about how much fun they had going to them over the weekend. </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Since
I try to keep my classroom paperless, I decided to combine the two and
create a Digital Escape Room for ELA Test Prep! Kids dread nothing more
than end of year testing...so why not make reviewing for these dreaded
assessments something the kids will remember??!? And how perfect that
they can remember skills we need them to know for the test!!! Check this out <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Digital-Escape-Room-ELA-Test-Prep-3133480" target="_blank">here</a>!</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Another resource I use are these <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Vocabulary-Task-Cards-1457172" target="_blank">Common Core Task Cards</a>
to teach students vocabulary they may come across, in order to enhance
their understanding of terms. I also use videos when teaching the vocab
words, as this is a great way to introduce them, while also keeping the
students engaged. You can find a freebie sample of these <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Core-Literary-Terms-with-Videos-Sample-2255478" target="_blank">here</a>!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">I
also feel that it's important for students to be able to determine the
correct type of text structure, which can often be challenging to do.
Because of this, I try to begin teaching students this towards the
beginning of the year. I see such an improvement in reading
comprehension and students' ability to learn more specific content
information once they grasp this material.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Point of
view is another important component that help students comprehend what
they're reading more easily. Understanding the point of view from which
the story is being told allows them to have a better idea of the
characters in the story, and also enables students to think more in
depth about how the characters change throughout the story. Students
who have a strong understanding of the literary vocabulary, text
structure, and point of view typically do better at comprehending the
material they read. This is why I created this bundle- <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ELA-End-of-Year-Test-Prep-Task-Cards-1798158" target="_blank">E/LA End of Year Test Prep</a>!
This product includes: 20 Point of View Task Cards, 13 Text Structure
Task Cards, and 36 Common Core Vocab Task Cards. For a <b><span style="color: magenta;">FREEBIE </span></b>sample of this, please click <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ELA-End-of-Year-Test-Prep-Task-Cards-Sample-2444539" target="_blank">here</a>!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTDY_49tOoiT0_XHArvSUnZQrAZplTJGj5aL04zR622s6jjljUH6skoBenEJYzzWanAEdrwbuoGmPXUVmrZTcTTsQwbDOmRDno4Bu14Sk5XPjLr4sFZdlHo_U-tWTSF0vAyUWu8nRi3o/s1600/test+prep+gif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLTDY_49tOoiT0_XHArvSUnZQrAZplTJGj5aL04zR622s6jjljUH6skoBenEJYzzWanAEdrwbuoGmPXUVmrZTcTTsQwbDOmRDno4Bu14Sk5XPjLr4sFZdlHo_U-tWTSF0vAyUWu8nRi3o/s640/test+prep+gif.gif" width="492" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Digital, Paperless Review </u></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">This year, I've decided that the majority of our review will take place digitally, since we're lucky enough to have a class set of laptops. At my school, we use
Google Classroom, but there are many programs that can be used if you
don't have this (Edmodo, Canvas, Schoology, etc.). In order to do this, I created a digital version of my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ELA-Test-Prep-Task-Cards-for-Google-Drive-2484518" target="_blank">ELA Test Prep Task Cards- Google Drive Edition.</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS572KXWMrP3QyHSmL775vaXdPGk92yDaVva5btXlk2zCKQa3LmWXVZiLWpx4cgeIXr-YmjLdKQwwltYlhFzsuhiFWajBnC4_s2SIB-2cdD6EtHIGW8ZrqPB6It1mSPGw_WO7lbJkS7p8/s1600/Slide1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS572KXWMrP3QyHSmL775vaXdPGk92yDaVva5btXlk2zCKQa3LmWXVZiLWpx4cgeIXr-YmjLdKQwwltYlhFzsuhiFWajBnC4_s2SIB-2cdD6EtHIGW8ZrqPB6It1mSPGw_WO7lbJkS7p8/s640/Slide1.PNG" width="494" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">I would love to hear how you review for end of year testing! Share your ideas in the comments below.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI0ynKLNYnPq4T88vZrQVvM-IRJq0Tv_iR4pBxoaSlbMIigzggEbQeCLqQFSqaS_FzDX8Zywb3UgZWiiTdjdweTKBPWSjp45AUBuDFPHzLpRTh8mZ0ikFKKRaDWWnISwPhZ_j9y5FHftE3/s1600/Lyndsey+Sig.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI0ynKLNYnPq4T88vZrQVvM-IRJq0Tv_iR4pBxoaSlbMIigzggEbQeCLqQFSqaS_FzDX8Zywb3UgZWiiTdjdweTKBPWSjp45AUBuDFPHzLpRTh8mZ0ikFKKRaDWWnISwPhZ_j9y5FHftE3/s320/Lyndsey+Sig.png" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
Lyndseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04388627384748100451noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-62902554803990557912017-04-23T20:25:00.000-07:002017-05-09T14:40:06.297-07:00Five Ways to Create a Strong Finish for the School Year<div class="MsoNormal">
As the school year draws to a close, we’re all looking for
fun ways to keep our middle school students engaged and learning– right up to
the last day!<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Middle School Mob has come up with a list of five
activities that are sure to help you make the most of these last weeks…and keep
you sane at the same time! <o:p></o:p></div>
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1. Sharon from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Classroom-In-The-Middle" target="_blank">Classroom in the Middle</a> uses <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Practice-Task-Cards-2522841" target="_blank">Summer Practice Cards.</a> Summer Practice Task Cards are designed to provide a review of language arts skills for middle schoolers or students in upper elementary grades. The 30 half-page cards include five each on six summer topics: At the Beach, Life on the Pond, Low-Tech Fun, The Ball Game, Picnic Time, and Vacation and are perfect to use with a fun classroom game or activity. A coloring page cover and a checklist of assignments completed are also included so that the cards can be sent home for a summer practice booklet.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiJjqPO0jR1jPEVT-uonIX2gXOtB7TgtV5WIanH5XQMo9P1m8v6yfGlJuB9rXZniJQ213Ih_GLQ7p5J3mz3VrbgIGiXulhju2mRNlW5QO5f-JFedAhJ2-VWGXF1oQWzEmlEYGTwWJlr57f/s1600/Summer+Practice+Task+Cards+-+square.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiJjqPO0jR1jPEVT-uonIX2gXOtB7TgtV5WIanH5XQMo9P1m8v6yfGlJuB9rXZniJQ213Ih_GLQ7p5J3mz3VrbgIGiXulhju2mRNlW5QO5f-JFedAhJ2-VWGXF1oQWzEmlEYGTwWJlr57f/s320/Summer+Practice+Task+Cards+-+square.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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2. Shana from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hello-Teacher-Lady" target="_blank">Hello, Teacher Lady</a> says that no school year is complete without a little reflection! <a href="http://www.helloteacherlady.com/2017/04/end-of-year-student-reflection-feedback-Google-form.html?m=1" target="_blank">This End-of-Year Student Reflection & Feedback Google Form</a> encourages students to reflect on their year while providing teachers with valuable student feedback and insight. The responses are automatically stored in a Google Sheet for easy viewing from any device, so no need to worry about collecting paper or wonder where you're going to store all those paper stacks.<br />
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Shana says, "I love using this digital form with my students not only because of its ease and convenience, but also because the thoughtful responses have helped me reflect on my year and improve my own teaching for the following year. (Psst - you can download the form for free in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!)"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMTAdnR06f6f5FdeJGUlaMD8KNTVVXI3Q-z8-cnk1Y8lxtVwnER1BXI6NZ3BJKrx7QMS9qhAHzcrO4q-NFZDv6VB5qUnXxEH_zbLkhl07XKRbmyMhC12nNpxQpo7e_R8DbTMeslkZz3rLa/s1600/Student+Feedback+Form+Cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMTAdnR06f6f5FdeJGUlaMD8KNTVVXI3Q-z8-cnk1Y8lxtVwnER1BXI6NZ3BJKrx7QMS9qhAHzcrO4q-NFZDv6VB5qUnXxEH_zbLkhl07XKRbmyMhC12nNpxQpo7e_R8DbTMeslkZz3rLa/s320/Student+Feedback+Form+Cover.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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2. Lisa shares <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Spangler-In-The-Middle" target="_blank">Mrs. Spangler in the Middle</a>'s <a href="http://mrsspanglerinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2016/05/finishstrong-with-show-and-tell-tuesday.html" target="_blank">top 3 ways to finish the year strong!</a> There's an inspirational video, a positive reinforcement system that culminates on the last day of school and even a daily motivator for those tough classes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEZe5AHqAl19JpO2JVviOVNCn8CQqYAwYbiBvfCb5cZ4lUAubBxRX8Gy9MhEX1577GssSmAEyLdLZCBraAy_CH2lGIrc4YwxYcOkpxfVsOk-LSwhGwskuRAd5jVa2NcFxY92i4VEFjlz3f/s1600/Finish+Strong+BINGO.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEZe5AHqAl19JpO2JVviOVNCn8CQqYAwYbiBvfCb5cZ4lUAubBxRX8Gy9MhEX1577GssSmAEyLdLZCBraAy_CH2lGIrc4YwxYcOkpxfVsOk-LSwhGwskuRAd5jVa2NcFxY92i4VEFjlz3f/s320/Finish+Strong+BINGO.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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4. <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lit-With-Lyns" target="_blank">Lit with Lyns</a> recommends this <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/End-of-Year-Student-Reflection-Google-Drive-2538429" target="_blank">Digital End of Year Student Reflection</a> as a great way to give students the opportunity to reflect on their year. It also allows them to provide feedback on what they thought worked well, as well as what they would like to change in specific classes.<br />
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"Not only did this help my students to reflect," Lyns says, "it also allowed me to do the same. After reading their suggestions, in addition to what they liked, I was able to implement some of their ideas into different activities and strategies I used the following year. This resource is truly a WIN-WIN for both students AND teachers!!!" It comes in both digital AND printable format!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPkem3_VDFpSNRWsC9mzCpB5K7X3G3rmJvG1aPp2XzlhiLskD-yYiGnsnakiu7Jbgijkor2X3JTLh0-88JrgATaHQ1sU0dvOmi83tFUdVDGay1QmYebQTBo_wKoy0Y-loUdjD8SlopfBM/s1600/blog+pic+reflection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPkem3_VDFpSNRWsC9mzCpB5K7X3G3rmJvG1aPp2XzlhiLskD-yYiGnsnakiu7Jbgijkor2X3JTLh0-88JrgATaHQ1sU0dvOmi83tFUdVDGay1QmYebQTBo_wKoy0Y-loUdjD8SlopfBM/s320/blog+pic+reflection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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5. Marypat from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Just-Add-Students" target="_blank">Just Add Students</a> recommends having your students create a <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/End-of-the-Year-Reading-Activity-241633" target="_blank">Reading Legacy Project.</a> This is a fun way for students to reflect on all the great reading they’ve done through the school year. Students create a resource for next year’s class that includes book reviews, scrapbook pages, “best of…” awards, and signature pages for notes of encouragement to the upcoming class. Great resource for next year when your students ask, “What should I read?”<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIkKNXk5E5OORoo0pI_30dke2vJQTQ9T8hK6bMhueM7KvPNV69UTWU_U74y8sDRA2isFX0-7CHTj4QJwAM4mvYA6I-QiTzvvOyDTFXAEUMlkJ3dKH9FcTG0VbRoV0X0vKbeYwSeTcT2GOv/s1600/image.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIkKNXk5E5OORoo0pI_30dke2vJQTQ9T8hK6bMhueM7KvPNV69UTWU_U74y8sDRA2isFX0-7CHTj4QJwAM4mvYA6I-QiTzvvOyDTFXAEUMlkJ3dKH9FcTG0VbRoV0X0vKbeYwSeTcT2GOv/s320/image.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Give one of these ideas a try and let us know what you think... or
offer an idea of your own that makes the end of the school year a breeze!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-32173425378554056742017-04-02T06:34:00.000-07:002017-04-02T06:34:06.453-07:00Building and Remodeling Sentences<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxInWm4-cce7FVWvVg28xaAvjmNJUfv7C1eDWlFwQGaqAolfuj0LDXRJJ8uWBmsmIEWR5CDwH9RJN_FoeuNsbvq9qYx03D-sRs3LylAB1k3luS9V6h4p1ZjcrNEdcTbNw0npT-D5CH-az/s1600/Building+and+Remodeling+Sentences.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxInWm4-cce7FVWvVg28xaAvjmNJUfv7C1eDWlFwQGaqAolfuj0LDXRJJ8uWBmsmIEWR5CDwH9RJN_FoeuNsbvq9qYx03D-sRs3LylAB1k3luS9V6h4p1ZjcrNEdcTbNw0npT-D5CH-az/s640/Building+and+Remodeling+Sentences.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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In the early
grades, students use word cards to build little sentences. In this way they learn about the parts that
sentences are made of and how those parts fit together. It’s an elementary school thing, but the
concept of a sentence as building blocks fitted together in a precise way can
be applied to activities at any grade level.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the
middle grades, the building blocks are all the parts that make up well-written
sentences – the eight parts of speech as well as sentence elements such as
phrases and clauses. The tools for
fitting them together into well-crafted sentences are the rules of
grammar. Incorporating these rules
specifically into writing assignments, starting at the individual sentence
level, helps students become experts at their job of writing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are
lots of ways to incorporate sentence writing practice into daily language arts
lessons with a variety of short assignments used either as bell ringer
activities or as individual practice. Students
can begin with these practice activities, and then apply the specific skill
they’ve learned in each one to a short sample of their own writing. Here are some of my ideas, starting with
activities that focus on nouns and verbs and moving on to other parts of
speech, phrases, and clauses. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Nouns and Verbs<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]-->At the simplest level, students can fill in the
blanks in sentences with nouns and verbs of their choice, either from a word
bank or from their own ideas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]-->Students can identify the nouns or verbs in
sentences and then replace them with more interesting ones. To apply to their own writing, students choose
a few sentences with overused nouns or verbs in a piece of their writing and
then replace those overused words with better ones, maybe using a thesaurus for
ideas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>More Parts of Speech<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]-->To illustrate a sentence, have students first
identify whichever sentence elements you want to work on, and then draw an
illustration that shows that particular element (adjective, prepositional
phrase, etc).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Do a “refrigerator magnet” activity in which
students choose and combine words to write sentences as directed. To focus on parts of speech, include in the
directions just which parts of speech they need to use in each sentence.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->First, students identify the parts of speech in
a mentor sentence; then they write a sentence of their own following the same
pattern. Start with a short simple
sentence so that they get the idea, but as their skills permit, the sky’s the
limit with this one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Phrases and Clauses<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Picture prompts are great for writing sentences,
not just longer essays. Give students a
set of small pictures, and instruct them to write a sentence with particular
elements (for example – a prepositional phrase and a dependent clause) for each
one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Give students a paragraph made up of very short
sentences. Instruct them to revise the
paragraph by combining sentences with coordinating or subordinating conjunctions,
or to imbed the important detail from some of the sentences into other ones by
using adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Activities such as the refrigerator magnets can
also be done with phrases and clauses.
So can the mentor sentence activity; just substitute a longer text in
place of the mentor sentence, maybe a part of a classic story or a page from a
science textbook. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="text-indent: 0.25in;">These are some of the ideas that I used in preparing my new writing resources
for building and revising sentences.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.25in;">If
you are interested in some new, ready to use activities, click on the image
below to view a preview.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.25in;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-and-Revising-Sentences-Package-3031709"><img alt="Writing and Revising Sentences, Activity Sheets and PowerPoint" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhthogTUWpT7uzr79dZqpDNCnUQsPFl075mouANoZYsBVMRxy1Iz6OujxSm7UeFxwc6PW3c4LI5fzh0sMaL6HETkn5__phX10nBVHK97nL4I0TajKtjjaOTCHfbxeUzlsLiUfF67id7M71f/s400/Writingand+Revising+Sentences+Package+pin.png" title="Writing and Revising Sentences Package" width="283" /></a></div>
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<b>Pin to save:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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If you enjoy reading about activities for middle grades language arts, stop by my own blog, Classroom in the Middle!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341239946175398876noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-3651476435014239112017-03-26T03:00:00.000-07:002017-05-09T16:57:26.302-07:00Top 3 Test Prep Ideas<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfbpz4vKfQjZ9rR0Q_vopwN2Tm8fGMNqLYFM9BHVhcVxCoQK247IXrefOdTMcb0pZrV8SiSMRbq8SJkbijhiEGGBOkSFkd8G5S5JXv0OBEq9QTX0L8Tv5yFRmwP2TPJ22PqtAwevtE04x3/s1600/Top+3+test+prep+ideas.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Top 3 Test Prep Ideas from the Middle School Mob!" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfbpz4vKfQjZ9rR0Q_vopwN2Tm8fGMNqLYFM9BHVhcVxCoQK247IXrefOdTMcb0pZrV8SiSMRbq8SJkbijhiEGGBOkSFkd8G5S5JXv0OBEq9QTX0L8Tv5yFRmwP2TPJ22PqtAwevtE04x3/s320/Top+3+test+prep+ideas.png" title="Top 3 Test Prep Ideas from the Middle School Mob!" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We have two weeks after Spring Break before our State Testing begins. That means we have two weeks to drive those final concepts home. How might we do that without the drill and kill? Well, here's my top 3 ideas:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>1. Start with vocabulary</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "josefin sans"; font-size: medium;">Academic vocabulary is comprised of the words that are most often used in informational texts (such as textbooks) and literary texts (such as novels), but <u>not likely used in everyday speech</u>. This is the vocabulary that our students will find embedded in test passages and test questions. That means that this vocabulary has to be explicitly taught. What I did is recorded here: </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "josefin sans"; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://middleschoolmob.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-secret-to-top-scores-on-state-tests.html" target="_blank">http://middleschoolmob.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-secret-to-top-scores-on-state-tests.html </a> It involved me going through my state's test item specifications and pulling out the key vocabulary and then making games to help students learn the words. Which brings me to #2...</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. Use games.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "josefin sans"; font-size: medium;">May I suggest Kahoot? It's a FREE, online quiz game. Students love it and it is super easy to input test questions from your state's practice tests. You could also make much more low-tech games like Tic-Tac-Toe. Here's how I have used this game:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1.Divide the class into two teams. One is the “x” team and one is the “o” team.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.25in; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: -0.25in; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2.Draw a tic-tac-toe board on the whiteboard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">3.Ask a question to the first member of the “x” team. If he/she is correct, then he/she places the x on the board! If he/she is incorrect, he/she simply lose the chance to place the “x” on the board.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">4.Now repeat #3 with the “o” team. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">5.Continue with each member of each team until you have a winner with 3 in a row! You might even give bonus points as a prize!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "josefin sans";"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. Use centers.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "josefin sans"; font-size: medium;">Even big, bad middle schoolers like centers. I would suggest that you look at your data, pinpoint the areas of need, and then set up centers or ahem, stations, around your room. Here's a list of possible activities for centers:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "josefin sans"; font-size: medium;">1. Playing skill specific games on quia.com</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "josefin sans"; font-size: medium;">2. Reading a picture book and then drawing the main idea.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "josefin sans"; font-size: medium;">3. Completing a cause/effect graphic organizer on a picture book.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "josefin sans"; font-size: medium;">4. Making a poster of text features based on a non-fiction text.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "josefin sans"; font-size: medium;">5. Making a foldable for a picture book that uses compare/contrast.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "josefin sans"; font-size: medium;">I have done this type of thing without setting up formal centers but instead using a menu. I used the picture book Miss Rumphius because of its great message for students.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ELA-Test-Prep-Miss-Rumphius-Choice-BoardMenu-2439505?utm_source=Mob%20blog&utm_campaign=Test%20Prep%20March%2026" target="_blank"><img alt="Have you ever tried using menus for test prep? " border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ar0JoCleWJt8i9Sd84zNIPPC-6w13oytgNV0fFTYLgKQgVpUDwp_nHxizctIGXVxLsls3OitlbrXchTIgr-OQ4vdWUkQgK-Mz_EiSm4koiXXt8Pz6B1scCY8T8JrvT20qhM7rMfqs4aT/s400/Miss+Rumphius+Pinterest+template3+free+sample.png" title="Have you ever tried using menus for test prep? " width="220" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ELA-Test-Prep-Miss-Rumphius-Choice-BoardMenu-2439505?utm_source=Mob%20blog&utm_campaign=Test%20Prep%20March%2026" target="_blank">Click here or on the image above to be taken to this great freebie!</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you'd like to read more about Test Prep, stop by my blog for my latest installment on a reading "boot camp" my fellow teachers and I are conducting by clicking here:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_1698776328"><br /></a></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #edf4ff; color: #888888; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://mrsspanglerinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2017/03/test-prep-reading-boot-camp.html">http://mrsspanglerinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2017/03/test-prep-reading-boot-camp.html</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thanks for stopping by!</span><br />
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Mrs. Spangler in the Middlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137268748395471302noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-61978776772648530642017-02-05T17:00:00.000-08:002017-02-05T17:00:07.396-08:00Super Bowl Sunday $130 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!It's Super Bowl Sunday! While you spend time catching the last part of the game, why not hop through our Teachers Pay Teachers Giveaway Loop? We're giving away a $130 Amazon Gift Card!<br />
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<script src="https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11474652946596895518noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-37971003161988643852017-01-29T06:00:00.000-08:002017-01-29T06:00:19.479-08:00Fun Classroom Activities for the Winter Months<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9KIsSBpHKiRLClAY5aK-Z11DGEX7xNgxNQFgIx46-6xJEZmvuvTBzr8Lr_D8k4PPeNBQhQr1U39NJ_aNkCGp6QwbnVbgDxaAs1ZZ1ZQ6UCuJYz87floHMwuNQ8kYCVnEIrJlUAlzIsMg/s1600/Fun+Classroom+Activities+for+the+Winter+Months.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9KIsSBpHKiRLClAY5aK-Z11DGEX7xNgxNQFgIx46-6xJEZmvuvTBzr8Lr_D8k4PPeNBQhQr1U39NJ_aNkCGp6QwbnVbgDxaAs1ZZ1ZQ6UCuJYz87floHMwuNQ8kYCVnEIrJlUAlzIsMg/s640/Fun+Classroom+Activities+for+the+Winter+Months.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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It’s January,
and teachers are deep into that long winter stretch in the classroom. Meanwhile, what the kids (and teachers) are
actually thinking about is snow holidays and how much fun they could have with
a few of those! <o:p></o:p></div>
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With the
major winter holidays behind us, it can be difficult to think of fun classroom
activities to keep everyone interested and engaged. With that in mind, I’ve collected some links
to ideas for the smaller winter holidays still to come and just for winter in
general. I’ll mention just a few below,
but you can see more on my <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/shfabian5/winter-and-winter-holidays/">Winter and Winter Holidays </a>Pinterest board.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Groundhog Day<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I’ve listed
a number of ideas in a <a href="http://classroominthemiddle.com/groundhog-day-treats-and-activities-2/">Groundhog Day</a> post that I wrote recently for my own
blog, but I’ll just mention one favorite here.
These <a href="http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/982437/pop-up-groundhog-cookie-recipe">groundhog cookies</a>, from <i>Sheknows</i>,
are so cute. They’re made from no-bake
cookie dough. You could make the cookies
ahead and have the kids just add the groundhog for a quick, edible craft.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Valentine’s Day<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=531&CategoryID=13">“Today I Got a Valentine,”</a> by Kenn Nesbitt, is one of the many funny kids’ poems that you
can find at one of my favorite poetry sites, <i>Giggle Poetry</i>. Explore the
site a little further, and you’ll find a whole section of silly love poems that
might also be perfect for the holiday.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>President’s Day<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i>The History Channel</i> has good
informational text and a video for <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/presidents-day">President’s Day</a>. The text tells about the origins of the
holiday and holiday celebrations, and the fast-paced two-minute video is full
of facts about the White House.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Saint Patrick’s Day<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Saint-Patricks-Day-Riddles-1664316">“Saint Patrick’s Day Riddles”</a> is a FREEBIE from my own store, Classroom in the
Middle. With this PowerPoint, students
reveal clues one at a time to solve Saint Patrick’s Day Riddles.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For a Saint
Patrick’s Day treat, these little <a href="http://qbeesquest.blogspot.com/2013/01/hersheys-shamrock-tutorial.html">shamrocks</a>, from a blog post at <i>Qbees Quest</i>, look really great. They’re made from Hershey’s Kisses and heavy
paper (green, of course).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Winter<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->The <a href="http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/winter_storms/index.htm">“Winter Storms”</a> web page, from Scholastic
includes informational text, a vocabulary cloze activity, and an
experiment. Students will also enjoy the
“interactive weather maker” where they can manipulate temperatures and humidity
to create weather changes. There are related pages about volcanoes,
earthquakes, and other types of severe weather.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]-->Recently, I found these directions for making
sparkly snowflake window clings from puffy paint, glitter, and plastic freezer
bags at the blog <i>One Little Project at a
Time</i>. This project looks like one
that can be enjoyed by any age.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span> <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Close-Reading-Wild-Winter-2314144"> "Close</a></span></span><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Close-Reading-Wild-Winter-2314144"> Reading – Wild Winter”</a> is a resource
available in my store. It includes four
informational text articles, and everything needed for a full three readings of
each. The image below shows all of the
activities for one of the readings. </div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><a href="http://artprojectsforkids.org/sticker-snowmen/">Sticker Snowmen Cards</a>, a project from <i>Art Projects for Kids</i>, looks like a fun
activity. Kids make a number of snowmen
using round white stickers, mailing labels, and markers, and then change the
expressions on each one and even give them a sense of movement by altering just the facial features and the snowman’s
buttons.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do you have
favorite lessons, treats, or fun activities that you like to pull out
mid-winter? If you would like to share,
please leave a comment!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341239946175398876noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-82468449107316638582016-12-09T06:00:00.000-08:002016-12-09T06:00:37.318-08:00Novel Study Format<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGIygl3EjasPSxhZGAelRA1JRGW9rj4JjZ0D3ZFSdx9UN7iJNUj772iV-HJBAXFHnZ2bNKWeDuiVIlnC27U-FYv4BRUt9ZqsF7apEVL4HdFD18Hw9CG1Kgklk4zFxIgdiOk7nC6nPal2m/s1600/Best+Idea+-+Novel+Study+Format+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Novel Study Format" border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGIygl3EjasPSxhZGAelRA1JRGW9rj4JjZ0D3ZFSdx9UN7iJNUj772iV-HJBAXFHnZ2bNKWeDuiVIlnC27U-FYv4BRUt9ZqsF7apEVL4HdFD18Hw9CG1Kgklk4zFxIgdiOk7nC6nPal2m/s400/Best+Idea+-+Novel+Study+Format+copy.png" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
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After experimenting with various ideas of what to focus on
with my novel studies (There are so many possibilities!), I finally decided to
concentrate on a few key elements:
common core skills, using text based evidence, and higher level
thinking/reading skills. Now I have a
format that I really like, and in fact I think that my novel studies were one
of my best ideas this past year!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Two of the elements
that I include – using text based evidence and using higher level thinking/reading
skills – can be difficult to write questions for on the quick, and I thought that
good novel studies with plenty of these types of questions would be the most
useful for busy teachers. And from
comments that I’ve received, it seems that other teachers think so too – always
great to hear!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here is how I combined these elements for each set of
chapter questions:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Key Ideas and Details<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Getting key ideas and details correct is at the top of the
list in several grades’ reading/literature standards, so I wanted to be sure to
include questions and activities about those elements. With novels, that means making sure that
students get the story elements correct, and straight from the text. Characterization, setting, plot elements,
themes – students need to be clear about these before they can go on to more
complex, inferential questions. And when
they can back up their answers with details from the text, they know they’re
getting them right.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Context Clues<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Context clues are another great place to start kid looking
for text based evidence. Whether they
are working on practice exercises or vocabulary from a novel, as kids learn to
look for and use more types of context clues, they get more out of what they
read. Kids can go back to the text of a
novel to define important story vocabulary, to choose among multiple meanings
of a word, to decide why an author chose a particular word to describe a
character, or to complete a cloze exercise such as a chapter summary.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Inferences<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Making inferences is the biggie, the complex reading skill
that kids can improve on throughout their years in school. It’s the basis for coming up with really good
responses for many comprehension activities such as predicting, answering the
harder chapter questions, determining character traits, stating themes,
summarizing, and evaluating. Requiring
kids to provide text based evidence for their inferences gets them in the habit
of using evidence for all of their inferences later on even when they may not
always have to spell out the evidence.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In my novel studies, I now include all three of these
sections – Key Ideas and Details, Context Clues, and Inferences – in every set
of chapter questions. These types of
questions keep kids thinking and referring back to the text, and hopefully they
make these novel studies a good resource for their teachers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In addition, I also include separate activities in each of
these three areas, for use after reading the novel or whenever a more
comprehensive review seems appropriate.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Sides<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I now also make two “side items” every time a do a new novel
study. These are two smaller resources
that I list separately in my store. One
is usually an I Have . . .Who Has . . ? game.
These little whole-class activities make a nice quick review of the
“facts” before testing or other final activities for the novel.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The second thing I like to make separately is a little
freebie, something that just seems to go with the specific novel. For example, for the football-themed novel
CRASH, my freebie is a yearbook activity.
For the novel SCHOOLED, it’s an activity about metaphors in the
novel. You can find the freebies for
each of my novel studies in the <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Classroom-In-The-Middle/Category/Novel-Study-Assignments-149172">novel
study</a> section of my Teachers pay Teachers Store.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span id="goog_1938205518"></span><img alt="CRASH novel study" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl0thlL1QG85qmEcT1e1ap5F_-uDHpvuVnif3oo7ZdOOBcn8XSNONotjgDpO9IqOjBTgEkq5Sp6wjI2DUArVFJjk0UUm6tIg4_ORJJRWVEur9dFtyOW1FyiBbKCZJ4LyYEig6PLt9iFf92/s320/Crash+Freebie.jpg" title="" width="320" /><span id="goog_1938205519"></span><span id="goog_1938205510"></span><span id="goog_1938205511"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Schooled-Novel-Study-2248838"><img alt="SCHOOLED novel study" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXH2CE2hg2Bo2CyPsqiYdmShLmhqPzZHLc9j0VEEKH0-sVGJsDovoDIiW6BWUk36aVZiBXMt7A9wRv1jO7Ki_tRfi455iTmDv2NXjU2JWysQD-2IAnE7DRqZTJ-24bkyyz9pS5IoiZmcS/s320/Schooled+Freebie.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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So what’s next? Next
year I’ll probably try out a few new types of resources, and for sure I want to
do more novel studies. Now I just have
to decide which novel to work on next.
Any suggestions?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341239946175398876noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-55542552510658392962016-11-21T00:00:00.000-08:002016-11-21T00:00:03.701-08:00Activities to Use Around the Holidays in ELA<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdpTe8-lFN7SZe1odrworYuvy4hw8DBsw14mAAvrVRj1ZDTrk6nOVikMn7XCpVsYwOJNwq9OzOnXaRCnmMG__DizckQ58HI44VAUZu1oPo0C8qpYrM9UoqYPW_eUzlytDHzV20WYE7_dYl/s1600/christmas+teachers+meme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdpTe8-lFN7SZe1odrworYuvy4hw8DBsw14mAAvrVRj1ZDTrk6nOVikMn7XCpVsYwOJNwq9OzOnXaRCnmMG__DizckQ58HI44VAUZu1oPo0C8qpYrM9UoqYPW_eUzlytDHzV20WYE7_dYl/s200/christmas+teachers+meme.jpg" width="175" /></a>Hi Everybody! This is Lyndsey from <a href="http://www.litwithlyns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lit with Lyns</a>, and I'm going to share some activities I use with my students right before the holidays! <br />
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We all know that the last couple of weeks before the Christmas holiday break can be, well.... <gs class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c8c52375-a36e-45c3-ac16-ef75a7d6e367" id="f804bb8e-99e2-4129-b5a7-585c5b569f54">interesting</gs> to say the least (that's why I thought this meme by<a href="http://www.prestoplans.com/" target="_blank"> Presto Plans</a> was so fitting). Every year I try to come up with ways that I can continue to teach my students things that are Common Core aligned, but will also keep them engaged.<br />
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Last year, I decided to use these <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Figurative-Language-ReviewAnalysis-of-Twas-the-Night-Before-Christmas-1576270" target="_blank">Holiday Task Cards</a> to review figurative language, and my kids LOVED it! <br />
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Then we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clarke Moore, because we all know that students at all ages still love to hear this. We read this as a class to begin with, and then students worked with a partner to analyze all of the figurative language and sound elements that they could find. Once we were finished, they asked if they could find more Christmas-themed figurative language on their own, which I thought was great!<br />
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What activities do you use right before the holiday break? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.<br />
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<br />Lyndseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04388627384748100451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-27778552241943966222016-11-20T00:00:00.000-08:002016-11-20T00:00:01.221-08:00Giving Thanks in Middle School<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In my district, we have to come to school on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I know that many of my students will be absent due to holiday travel plans. So I know I can't teach anything new. So instead, I'm going to use the time to review main idea with a twist!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">My idea is to read The Important Book to them using this video I made:</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6l0NxPrdL9M/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6l0NxPrdL9M?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">We will discuss how it relates to main idea in that main idea is the very important part!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Then, I will ask them to brainstorm all the words they would use to tell why they are important by describing themselves and their friends. I will record these on the Smartboard.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Next, I will hand out turkeys and ask each student to write their name on it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Last, students will pass their turkey to the left and each person will write one word from the Smartboard on another student's turkey and then pass it again. When each person gets their own turkey back, we will look at all the reasons why each student is important and give thanks for these important words. :)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qAmI86szS18l91jlmC1K_RkH_KcaSQ79fZ1ICMEW4lBsvHhb4e-FNIaFuKPvyrjKLS31DLi7xHur50IRSr1H1T1yvaK8uSRD-_QnvbIK-LGo6OszBA5CvumpJwAzOP74D1VTtQoX2N0Q/s1600/turkeys.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Combine Thanksgiving and Main Idea with this Quick and Easy Activity!" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qAmI86szS18l91jlmC1K_RkH_KcaSQ79fZ1ICMEW4lBsvHhb4e-FNIaFuKPvyrjKLS31DLi7xHur50IRSr1H1T1yvaK8uSRD-_QnvbIK-LGo6OszBA5CvumpJwAzOP74D1VTtQoX2N0Q/s320/turkeys.png" title="Combine Thanksgiving and Main Idea with this Quick and Easy Activity!" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">This activity meets the need for a middle school student to be valued and helps to create a community of learners where everyone is important. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">And that is how we will Give Thanks in Middle School! :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Get a free copy of some "Thankful Turkeys" that are ready to go by clicking <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8mRtiaSJ828NVpWLWtOUnZWRUU/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Thanks for stopping by!</span><br />
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Mrs. Spangler in the Middlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137268748395471302noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-36235662693414554122016-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:002016-11-16T06:00:05.598-08:00Fifteen Favorite Stories, Poems, and Non-fiction Readings for the Christmas Season<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There are so
many fun holidays coming up, but for this post, I’m sticking to the one I know
and love the best – Christmas! One of my
favorite parts of the Christmas season is all the preparation in the weeks
leading up to the holiday. So in the
classroom, as well as at home, Christmas for me always started early.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Today I’m
posting with ideas of stories and other readings for this holiday season. There’s something of a mixed bag here – classic
stories, funny poems, informational articles, and a play. I’ve included some links so that you can go
right to the stories to check them out.
Some of the stories can be copied for class use directly from that site,
but not necessarily all of them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Snowball (poem)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://allpoetry.com/poem/8538951-Snowball-by-Shel-Silverstein">Snowball</a>
is a very short, funny poem by Shel Silverstein about a snowball that does what
snowballs do when they’re brought indoors.
It’s not strictly a holiday poem, but it’s a fun read at this season.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>A Cowboy’s Letter to Santa (poem)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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This poem by
Eric Ode is one of the many funny, kid-friendly poems on the <a href="http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poemcategories.aspx">Giggle Poetry</a> site,
in the Holiday Poems section. It’s about
a cowboy letting Santa know that what he really, really wants is a horse.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Christmas Truce (informational text)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Different
versions of the story of the World War I <a href="http://www.ducksters.com/history/world_war_i/christmas_truce.php">Christmas
truce</a> are available in various places.
The article on this site, Ducksters, is short and easily readable with
the information divided up under subheadings, and there is a quiz at the end.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (story)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I couldn’t
write a list of favorite Christmas stories without including this Dr. Seuss
classic picture book, and popular Christmas movie. The Grinch steals all the presents but can’t
stop the Whos from singing out their Christmas joy. Finally like Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch
undergoes a Christmas Day transformation.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (poem)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://americanliterature.com/childrens-stories/twas-the-night-before-christmas">‘Twas
the Night Before Christmas</a>, by Clement Clark Moore, has been published in
numerous picture books and seems to be readily available online. If you plan to project it directly from your
computer to read to the class, this version, from the American Literature site,
includes nice illustrations.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>National Guard Flies to Remote Arctic
Village (informational text)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The <a href="http://tweentribune.com/">Tween Tribune</a> site from National Geographic
has several interesting Christmas articles. This article, from 2014, is about
an Operation Santa Program that brought toys, treats, and other gifts to
children living in poverty in an <span style="background: white; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Inupiat Eskimo community. You can choose among four lexile levels
ranging from the 800s to 1200.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Polar Express (story)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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This picture
book, by Chris Van Allsburg, is another story that I just couldn’t leave off my
list, even though everyone has probably already read it! It’s about the Christmas bell that can only
be heard by those “who truly believe.” There’s a movie, too.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Must be Santa (poem/song)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/mustbesanta.html">Must Be Santa</a>,
a Christmas song, originally written by <span style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks, includes poetry
elements like rhyme and repetition and a call-and-response format. Bob Dylan’s version, on a YouTube video, is
fun to listen to and seems to include the names of a few US presidents mixed in
with the reindeer!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree
(story)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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This is a
lovely picture book – both the story by Gloria Houston, and the illustrations,
by Barbara Cooney. The story takes place in the Appalachian Mountains and
features a brave little girl and a dad who’s a soldier and returns just in time
for Christmas.<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>The Elves and the Shoemaker (story)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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This
traditional story by the Brothers Grimm is also available from the <a href="https://americanliterature.com/author/the-brothers-grimm/fairy-tale/the-elves-and-the-shoemaker">American
Literature</a> site. The elves secretly
help the shoemaker; the shoemaker returns the kindness. Everyone lives happily ever after.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>A Christmas Carol (story/play)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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In Charles
Dickens’ classic holiday story, Ebenezer Scrooge mends his miserly ways after receiving
Christmas Eve visits from three ghosts. You can read the story <a href="https://americanliterature.com/author/charles-dickens/book/a-christmas-carol/summary">here</a>,
but there are also versions written as a play, and in simpler, more modern
language, that kids seem to have fun with year after year during the Christmas
season.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Christmas Song (poem/song)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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“Chestnuts
roasting on an open fire . . .” <a href="http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lonestar/thechristmassongchestnutsroastingonanopenfire.html">The
Christmas Song</a>, written by <span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Mel Torme and Bob Wells</span> and made famous by Nat King
Cole, is a good example of a poem with
(mostly) four line stanzas and rhyme schemes ABAB and AABB. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Christmas Bells (poem)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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There’s a
Civil War connection to <a href="https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/christmas-bells">Christmas Bells</a>,
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and you can find lessons online that expand on
that connection and incorporate both English and history. This poem, too, is commonly encountered as a
Christmas carol.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Gift of the Magi (story)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html">The Gift of the
Magi</a>, by O. Henry, is widely available online, but I especially like the
picture book version illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger. This is a story set at the turn of the
twentieth century and about a young couple who each sacrifice their most prized
possession to buy a special Christmas gift for the other.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>A Child’s Christmas in Wales (story)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://americanliterature.com/author/dylan-thomas/short-story/a-childs-christmas-in-wales">A
Child’s Christmas in Wales</a>, by the poet Dylan Thomas, is told as a
nostalgic remembrance of a wonderful Christmas in the past when the speaker was
a young boy. At various times, readings of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” were
recorded for radio and TV. It’s not an
easy read with its complicated and old-fashioned language, but for a class that
could appreciate it, this would be a great holiday story.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hope you’ve
found a Christmas reading that you enjoy here!
And if you have stories to add to the list, I would love to hear about
them!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Happy holiday
season! <o:p></o:p></div>
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From Sharon,
at <a href="http://classroominthemiddle.com/">Classroom in the Middle</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341239946175398876noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-49912969979321385012016-11-11T12:14:00.003-08:002016-11-11T12:14:27.250-08:00Classroom Management Before Break? No Problem! Use Incentives!The time between Halloween and Winter Break can be so difficult! Build in positive reinforcement incentives to keep lessons moving forward and classroom management under control.<br />
<br />
<h2>
What's the problem?</h2>
<div>
You don't really need me to answer that do you?! There might not be a more frustrating period of time to teach content than November and December. Students are distracted by school programs, secret Santas, decorations, countdown to break, social events, more school programs, time off for Thanksgiving.... Okay, we know what the problem is!</div>
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<h2>
What's a teacher to do?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoTJZB3tshTa8Nt7IBoC-11km0C8NnWQsaY9jJj0hXW3wZjPjLZtVWhggKnyei5sHWa5EkX47zoooMyUjt1GAALZnpMNWu3crwyGaF6kYRry4Efvkwpj4Z1yIBaT_s-0xdpHLsMI6YTD_P/s1600/blog1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoTJZB3tshTa8Nt7IBoC-11km0C8NnWQsaY9jJj0hXW3wZjPjLZtVWhggKnyei5sHWa5EkX47zoooMyUjt1GAALZnpMNWu3crwyGaF6kYRry4Efvkwpj4Z1yIBaT_s-0xdpHLsMI6YTD_P/s320/blog1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div>
Build incentives into your teaching that will motivate students to stay on track and work for you. Incentives also provide students with a positive reward that will help improve your classroom management.</div>
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<h2>
1. Find what they like</h2>
By this time of year, you know your students. You know what activities they've delighted in and have begged for more of. Maybe you had a cool art project that went with a novel study. Maybe your students loved the "pass back" story activity or had a blast with your bingo vocab game.<br />
<br />
Choose an activity you think your class will work for. It can be a bit of a trial and error process, but that's the great thing -- you can do something different every time.<br />
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<h2>
2. How can you incentivize it?</h2>
Take you idea to your students. I wanted to have a "game day" every other Friday. I proposed the idea to my students. What if we had a "game day" if we finished all of our scheduled work? My students loved that idea. <br />
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<h2>
3. Get organized</h2>
My students formed groups and chose what game they wanted to play. I discovered that many of my students had board games at home that they have never played! I made sure I had information from each group: who was in the group (making sure it was a reasonable number for the game and that everyone was in a group), what game they were playing, who was bringing in the game, and if they knew how to play the game or not.<br />
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<h2>
4. Working toward a goal</h2>
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I let my students know what we needed to complete before we were eligible for the game day. For ELA, it included writing goals that I posted on my board each week and broke down for each day. </div>
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The daily goals for the class helped reduce student talking and off-task behavior that wasted class time -- students used peer pressure to work for their goal.</div>
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While I originally wanted to stretch out the goal for two weeks, the first time we tried this, I had the game day at the end of the week. This gave students a taste of what game day looked like and why they wanted to earn it.</div>
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<h2>
5. Keeping it fresh</h2>
<div>
Having a game day every Friday would quickly lose its novelty for middle schoolers -- no matter how much they try to convince you it wouldn't! </div>
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After the first week, I stretched the reward out two weeks. I also asked students to change games and groups. </div>
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I also kept a few games in my closet. Students would forget to bring in a game, or they became bored with the one they brought. You could also have a whole-class game day to play that Bingo game you have stashed in your cabinet.</div>
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<br /></div>
<h2>
6. Kicking it up a notch</h2>
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My original game day evolved into an annual Scrabble Tournament. Even my principal was impressed! Words! What could possibly go wrong?!!</div>
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<div>
If you're interested in hosting a Scrabble Tournament, here's how I did it <a href="http://justaddstudents.com/how-to-host-a-scrabble-tournament-for-your-class/" target="_blank">Scrabble Tournament.</a></div>
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Give it a try! Lots of fun!</div>
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<h2>
What do you think?</h2>
<div>
What incentives would work for your students? Share your ideas in the comments below! </div>
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Happiness always!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-15331360283922387942016-10-28T13:52:00.000-07:002016-10-28T13:55:41.030-07:00Using Higher Level Vocabulary in Math<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We all know that in order for students to be as successful as possible, we need to be using higher level and academic vocabulary in our classrooms on a constant basis. I want to be perfectly honest here. I think that math-minded people, those that went to college <b><i><u>just </u></i></b>to study math, have an easier time with this. I was not such a person. I majored in education, and even though I was always really good at math, using higher level vocabulary was tough for me. I had to teach myself to develop very purposeful and strategic ways to make sure it was occurring often in my classroom.</div>
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One of these ways was to make sure I was using very precise academic vocabulary in my lesson planning. By thinking about it well in advance, I could prepare my mind to use the correct terminology. This made it easier for me to remember to use higher level vocabulary when my actual lesson was taking place.<br />
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Another way was using higher level and academic vocab in all of my anchor charts. I had all of my anchor charts hung up on the walls once we learned about the concept. They were laminated for use year after year. By having them always hanging on the wall, it enables the students to also be reminded about the correct terminology when they need a little assistance. Plus, it adds just that much more support for student higher level thinking.<br />
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Lastly, I always tried to keep up with a word wall. This one was probably the one I kept up with the least. It got tough to maintain constantly adding to it as the school year got busy. If I could go back and redo, I would definitely have a word wall setup like this one from <a href="http://www.notsowimpyteacher.com/2014/07/monday-made-it.html">Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher</a>. This one can be done all in advance and easily changed out to fit the current lesson.<br />
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Not sure where to start? Pinterest it!! There are so many amazing ways to accomplish each of the above on Pinterest that you will surely find one that fits your needs.<br />
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Mylie Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06270943296580594703noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-77283347399880037922016-10-21T14:56:00.003-07:002016-10-21T14:59:35.389-07:00Teaching Vocabulary with Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This month, the Mob is focusing on vocabulary. There's no doubt that introducing, teaching, and reinforcing vocabulary is vital, but what is the best way to do it?<br />
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<h3>
Umm, Don't Try This</h3>
<div>
Yes, you guessed it. Giving students word lists, vocabulary word finds, and even crossword puzzles are not going to build their vocabulary. Rote memorization doesn't work -- not in any real, meaningful way.</div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
But What Works?</h3>
<div>
I'm not sure there is one perfect way to teach vocabulary. (That's the good news!)</div>
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<div>
Since students all learn in different ways and at different rates, it's important to practice vocabulary in a variety of ways. We know that repeated, meaningful interaction with words helps students learn, understand, and use them.</div>
<h3>
<br /></h3>
<h3>
Try This: Generate Word Interest</h3>
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Help raise your students' awareness of the importance of word use by getting them out of their seats to play games! Gather up your Scrabble board and borrow several others and play scrabble. Even though your students aren't technically studying content vocabulary, they are searching their minds for words that contain high value letters and words that will fit on the board. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Make a word wall -- or at least an "Interesting Words" wall. Encourage students to add words to a blank piece of butcher paper on your classroom wall. What words do they notice from their reading? Allowing students to illustrate the word's meaning or initial their word finds can help generate interest and enthusiasm for word collections.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Subscribe and use Merriam Webster's "Word of the Day." While I wouldn't recommend trying to keep up with a new word a day, you could choose a word of the week. I love this resource because it provides an audio pronunciation and a bit of etymology for the word.</div>
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<h3>
<br /></h3>
<h3>
Try This: Vocabulary Collector</h3>
<div>
When your students are reading, provide them with a vocabulary collector. It can be as simple as a sheet of paper folded into thirds. Ask students to jot down words and phrases that they come along in their reading. These words could go on your "Interesting Words" wall or into a Vocabulary Catcher (see below). Again, you are encouraging your students to become more aware of words and how they are used.</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Vocabulary-Games-Fortune-Teller-Cootie-Catcher-2841237.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRpinVwdMUG8miZhSc8T82uIvGGz5i59D_FvACrhSjLPOovGN9rQba8kaPUHARUjQA8L8y_EaFkyG0wxGieU4bAkS9hjHCH9SuyViU8e0p0Z1N3uGSaJl-iYMJHG1uAfKoPSdsI1C6NIAp/s320/square+cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Vocabulary collectors are also helpful in practicing using context clues.</div>
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Try This: "Vocabulary Catcher" Games</h3>
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Remember fortune tellers? Cootie catchers? Use them for vocabulary. The great thing is that students can create several throughout the school year and use them for impromptu games. I also like them because each one only has eight spots for words -- a manageable amount of words to gather and understand.</div>
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I have a <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Vocabulary-Games-Fortune-Teller-Cootie-Catcher-2841237" target="_blank">Vocabulary Catcher freebie</a> on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Be sure to check it out!</div>
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<h3>
The Bottom Line</h3>
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Vocabulary, whether it's content vocabulary or not, is important. Getting students interested and engaged with new words is the first step!<br />
<br />
So, what innovative ideas do you use to teach vocabulary? Share your ideas below!<br />
<br />
Happiness always♥<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-44302368871856981012016-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:002016-10-18T06:00:28.485-07:00Teaching the Vocabulary of Language Arts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In any
English classroom, there’s a lot of vocabulary that has to be covered
throughout the year. In addition to the
vocabulary from the stories and articles that you read, there is the vocabulary
that is specific to our subject – and there’s a lot of it! There are the story elements, poetry terms,
genres of reading, types of writing, figurative language terms, terms about
vocabulary itself, and more! <o:p></o:p></div>
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No matter
how you divide it among the different units that you teach, it’s a lot of terms
that your kids need to understand as they progress in their language arts
skills. The good thing is that, like
with other language arts elements, these literary terms tend to come up again and again
throughout the year so your kids will get a lot of chances to practice. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Story Elements<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Characterization,
setting, plot, conflict, and theme. What
else? Maybe types of conflicts, plot elements, examples of themes – nearly
every main story element can be broken down into its own list of more literary
terms to teach! <o:p></o:p></div>
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But to me,
story elements are the easiest terms to teach because every story that you read
is a ready-to-use mentor text. Each time
your students complete a story map, plot map, or other story organizer they are
practicing using these terms. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Poetry Terms<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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You might
include types of poems here, or sound elements of poetry, or figurative
language, or maybe all three! Of course,
figurative language will fit just as well with fiction readings, and it can
also be found in non-fiction, although this may be more for the older
kids. <o:p></o:p></div>
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For types of
poetry, I like to have kids make a collection of their favorite poems of each
type, maybe by making a booklet with their own hand-written copies of the
poems, or a chart with a description of each poem and an illustration. Sound elements are fun to search for, too,
but can be a little difficult to find, so it might take a little time to set up
this lesson.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Genres of Reading<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Genres of
fiction, genres of non-fiction, and oh yes, types of poems could be included
here too! My dilemma was always just which
genres, and how many, to include – any suggestions?<o:p></o:p></div>
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One thing
that comes to mind in this area is a library activity about finding different
types of books on the shelves, along with suggestions from your friendly
librarian for some good books in each genre.
Another idea would be to have the class, maybe one small group at a
time, sort through the classroom library and organize your books by genre.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Types of Writing<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Once I
started to look at this group at a whole, the list turned out to be longer that
I had thought, too. Even a basic list
might include: narrative fiction,
narrative non-fiction, biography, autobiography, personal essay, descriptive,
informational, expository, explanatory, opinion, argument, and persuasive,
prose, and poetry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But in addition
to these basic types of literature, kids also do plenty of daily writing, and
so do many adults, that is more in the form of lists, charts, forms, social
media comments, and writing combined with graphics. Maybe these types aren’t as necessary to teach,
but they could be used as a bridge into more sustained writing activities.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Figurative Language Terms<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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These are
the fun ones, but they’re not easy! How
many times have you had to remind a student of the difference between a simile
and a metaphor, or explain that all exaggerations aren’t automatically
hyperbole? And isn’t it fun to teach a
word like “onomatopoeia,” – who but an English teacher would even try?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The fun part
is when kids begin to really get the concept and appreciate the figurative
language in stories and poems that they read.
To introduce each literary term, find a few great examples that kids can
copy in their notebooks. It will help
them to remember the terms much better than just a definition. The example that
has stayed in my mind all these years for the term <i>simile </i>is a line from “Old Friends,” an old song by Paul Simon
about some elderly people passing the time by sitting in the park. These “Old friends, Sat on their park bench
Like bookends.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Vocabulary Terms<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Yes, there
are even terms about vocabulary itself that middle graders will still need to
learn. Connotation and denotation, for
example. And don’t you know of a few
kids who still get synonyms and antonyms mixes up? Many kids already know prefix, suffix, and
root, but how many of them know the term affix?
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Altogether,
it’s a lot to teach. Oh well, English
teachers can handle it. Anyone who can
teach a term like “onomatopoeia” to middle grade kids can handle just about
anything!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve found
it useful to have one big resource that I can go to as needed to introduce or
reinforce each little set of terms as needed, and so I’ve collected all of my
little bits and pieces of literary terms information and combined them into one
big, organized PowerPoint presentation. <i><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Literary-Terms-for-Middle-Grades-Reading-2761660">Literary Terms</a> </i>includes definitions and
examples for 77 literary terms, and it includes student review slides at the
end of each section as well as student note pages to print out with definitions
for all 77 terms. Check out the preview
for more details if you think this is something that might be useful to you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Literary-Terms-for-Middle-Grades-Reading-2761660"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJV13m7iekGVvsWgk8oZ38qf53meQCEQSqThEZ3F9P1CuFv3k5oiPbgdpJXT5KOMB7cDcibTXoAWAeEuKWyKWY1BBroIturpfj9JTqnm7zMRac2moBSqyQTmyzPTQ40mkVrbNmNgHsEIJr/s640/Literary+Terms+for+Middle+Grades+Reading.png" width="640" /></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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I would be
interested in hearing which literary terms teachers at various middle school
grades include. Are there any categories
that I could add to my lists? Or any
that don’t seem necessary? Click on the
comments below and let me know what you think.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Pin to save for later:</div>
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Blog post by Sharon from<a href="http://classroominthemiddle.com/"> Classroom in the Middle</a> where you can read more about teaching language arts topics like reading skills, the writing process, and vocabulary in the middle grades,</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341239946175398876noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-224232981871164452016-10-03T08:00:00.000-07:002016-10-03T08:00:20.625-07:00Using Digital Tools to Teach Vocabulary<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXCku4qa6_h8nAbBj5AFY1t_aiM2umVn6ypRgCNcxr_BxkEshNmmh48S6dCv961nM9uCvRVBbs7iphNqxGagwzf7-afXDKjlkYc_OpeYVGqdM3AddAo4H_TExwCPXjYdhJSguWmFciNwf/s1600/vocab+meme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXCku4qa6_h8nAbBj5AFY1t_aiM2umVn6ypRgCNcxr_BxkEshNmmh48S6dCv961nM9uCvRVBbs7iphNqxGagwzf7-afXDKjlkYc_OpeYVGqdM3AddAo4H_TExwCPXjYdhJSguWmFciNwf/s320/vocab+meme.jpg" width="320" /></a>Hi Everyone! This is Lyndsey from <a href="http://www.litwithlyns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lit with Lyns</a>, and I'm going to be sharing how my I teach vocabulary using digital tools. I typically teach our content area vocab as I'm introducing that particular skill, but there isn't always enough time throughout the year to teach all the words that students need to know.<br />
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When looking for ways to ensure my students comprehend multiple words at a time, I came across this amazing website, called <a href="https://www.boomwriter.com/wordwriter" target="_blank">BoomWriter.</a> BoomWriter is a FREE collaborative and interactive writing program that features 3 separate tools: StoryWriter, WordWriter, and ProjectWriter.<br />
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The feature I use for vocabulary is WordWriter. As the website says, "WordWriter lets students apply, share, and assess their vocabulary knowledge in a new, fun, and interactive way." It's a great way to let your students practice the vocabulary words you assign them. You can sign your students up yourself by entering their names one by one, or you can save time and have them do it by going to the following link: <a href="http://www.boomwriter.com/registration/">http://www.boomwriter.com/registration/</a>. Here, they will type in the name of their school, which will then display your name, as well as the name of your school (you'll have to register first, of course). Once they have registered, then they can begin the activities. <br />
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I use WordWriter to have students practice the vocabulary that we're working on. To set this up, you will "create a new WordWriter Project." Then enter the name you want to call it and the subject area.<br />
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Next, you will select the students you want to participate. I typically choose them all, but this is also where you could differentiate, creating different vocab lists for different students, depending on their needs. Then you will add the vocab words you want your students to use, in addition to your instructions.</div>
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After you have done this, you will see your word bank, which is all the vocab words you entered for this activity. If everything looks correct, you will click, "I'm Finished." </div>
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When students go in to complete the activity, they will see the words that they are required to use, and then must write a paragraph, story, etc. (whatever you specify in the assignment instructions) using all of the vocab words. As students use the words, they are highlighted within the passage and turn green in the Word Bank. </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>The pic below is an example of what students see when they first open the assignment.</i></span></div>
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BoomWriter has been a huge hit in my classroom, and is a terrific way to spice things up a bit. It's also a great way to incorporate technology. What digital tools do you use to help your students to master vocab words? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.</div>
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Lyndseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04388627384748100451noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-76837810345182628072016-09-30T08:00:00.000-07:002016-09-30T08:00:20.708-07:00Keeping Up with Multiple PrepsThe dreaded multiple prep. If you are lucky in the secondary world, you will only have 1 subject area to have to prepare for every day. However, there seems to be a whole lot of us that have 2+ preps that we teach. Having multiple preps can make it very difficult to get everything accomplished in a timely manner. A big part of this is just being ORGANIZED. If you are not organized, then something will inevitably slip though the cracks. Below are a few ways that I keep organized myself when having multiple preps.<br />
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One of the biggest for me is having everything typed up in a spreadsheet. It is not the full lesson plan, but a general overview so that I can thought process and remember what I need to do at a quick glance for each class. This helps me stay focused on where I am going as the day progresses. It also make changes a breeze. And, as cute as all of the lesson planners are out there, most do not give me enough space to thought process as fully as I could like. By having it digitally saved, then I can use as much room as I need. An example of what a day might look like with multiple preps is found below.<br />
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Another great way to stay organized is to keep a daily list of schedule changes or to-do's. This planner is from Blue Sky and it is hands-down my favorite. I can plan out what I need to accomplish for classes for each day as well as any schedule changes I need to be made aware of. This lets me focus a day at a time and not get completely overwhelmed with everything that needs to be accomplished before I leave on Friday.<br />
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Lastly, I keep a binder with my full lesson plans in it. As much as I love online lesson planning websites, there are times when I do not have the ability to look up each class to remember the small details within the 5 minute passing period. By printing each lesson plan out and having a copy at my fingertips by keeping them in a binder on my desk, I can be better prepared for each class in case an emergency arises. It also lets any administrator that walks in to quickly see what this class is doing today.</div>
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Do you have any strategies that help you stay organized with multiple preps? If so, please share them below so that others can find new ways to help out their own classroom.</div>
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<br />Mylie Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06270943296580594703noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-17043105283817968722016-09-27T02:00:00.000-07:002016-09-27T05:51:39.976-07:00Organizing Vocabulary Instruction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Vocabulary lessons – where do you even
start? </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you’re a new teacher, you’re
probably already thinking of a long list of skills that you’ll need lessons and
materials for.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you’re an experienced
teacher, maybe you have a big collection of resources, but the task of
organizing them for a new year can still seem huge!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I think that’s because vocabulary covers so
much ground, and so many details.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I know
that I have arranged, and rearranged, my vocabulary lessons numerous times over
the years!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just a few of the things you’re sure
to be touching on at some time during the year – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Basics</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> – prefixes, suffixes, Greek and
Latin roots. This could be a full year
of vocabulary lessons in itself!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Word Meanings</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> – understanding specific meanings of
words in their reading, and choosing vocabulary for their own writing – synonyms
and antonyms, denotations and connotations, using context clues, understanding
multiple meaning words, symbolism, and figurative language. Another tall order!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Content Vocabulary</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> – poetry terms, literary terms, and
even terms related to vocabulary itself! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Story Vocabulary</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> – interesting words from the stories
and articles your class reads.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some people have a strict order they
follow to keep it all organized. Others
prefer to introduce vocabulary topics as they come across good stories to use
as mentor texts. I usually started with
a few specific topics at first, probably prefixes and synonyms/antonyms. Then things tended to get more flexible after
that!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wherever you decide to start, having
students keep an organized vocabulary notebook can be a great help. Students can set it up with sections for the
various topics you want to cover, and then add to each section bit by bit as
you add information and new words throughout the year. In fact, I used this idea when revising my
prefix, suffix, and root PowerPoints over the summer. At the end of each presentation, I added a basic
note sheet for students to complete as they viewed the slides, along with a
completed sheet for students who need that.
Students can complete the note sheet for just the prefixes, suffixes, or
roots that you are working on at the moment and glue it in their notebook to
add to later. Here is a picture of the
note sheets and a few of the slides from my Suffixes 3 PowerPoint. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Suffixes-Vocabulary-Boosters-3-141455"><img alt="Suffixes PowerPoint with Student Notebook Page" border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9JAh8I2ZDk87qfG_qfGax82C9gjYZF2hzVYl4tVsPz-F_72G6DlN7kqm_KbhJ99zzMXqfwXWOMGfxSL-QSGQw74NUuaiZojcrEcG84kWAT81TDyDzjBOZht-ZhAzwSpvZxNjOquzBSHG/s640/Suffixes+3.png" title="Suffixes PowerPoint with Student Notebook Page" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of course, mentor texts are great for
introducing something new, and the great thing about vocabulary is that you can
find examples for many of the topics – especially prefixes, suffixes, and roots
– just about anywhere! For more complex
vocabulary topics, like connotations and denotations, there are still plenty of
examples; it just takes a little more advance prep to find a good piece of text
with several examples that you want to use. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you also keep a list of websites
with good vocabulary activities for each topic?
Or maybe a Pinterest board for each?
If you do, be sure to include <a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/">ReadWriteThink</a>, a site where teachers
contribute lessons and other resources.
You can search for a specific topic and narrow your search to either
lesson plans or student interactives. I
searched for prefix lessons for 6<sup>th</sup> grade and found 3 complete
lessons plus one student interactive. My
favorite was the game called Make-a-Word, which is played like the old
fashioned card game, rummy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What about some other vocabulary
organizers? Word lists? A word wall?
Vocabulary cards? Anchor charts? Any or all of these will help keep things
organized as you add more vocabulary rules, words, and examples during the
year!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Why so much organization for this one
topic of vocabulary? Well, as strange as
it may sound, I think it is so that you actually can remain pretty flexible
throughout the year. With basic
organization in place, it frees you up a little bit to incorporate a new idea
or a few new words whenever you come across them. After discussing them in class, just add them
in to one of your existing structures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, to me, these are the basics to
have in place:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Attractive
anchor charts (or plans to create them with the class)</span></li>
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</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Student
notebooks, and a plan for how they should be organized</span></li>
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</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Mini-lessons
to introduce each new vocabulary topic</span></li>
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</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Short
practice activities to review individual skills as needed</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But what do you think? How flexible or how structured do you think
vocabulary instruction should be for middle grade kids? I would love to hear what works best in your
classroom!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Pin to save for later:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Blog post by Sharon from the <a href="http://classroominthemiddle.com/">Classroom in the Middle blog</a>, where you’ll find more articles about teaching vocabulary
and links to more vocabulary resources in my store, also called <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Classroom-In-The-Middle">Classroom in the Middle.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08341239946175398876noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-7532501830240562492016-09-22T02:00:00.000-07:002016-09-22T17:50:39.491-07:00How I Organize Learning with Anchor Charts!<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">As a Middle School <span class="gr-progress">Teacher</span>, who blogs at <a href="http://mrsspanglerinthemiddle.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Mrs. Spangler in the Middle</a>, I am happy to tell you that this year, I am a <b>6th</b> grade Language Arts Teacher! In my area of the country, Language Arts focuses on writing. Sure, we <gs class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6c71a5ed-8d94-4e1f-8712-7313d32edd77" id="d6e19799-570c-44eb-bd8c-9621be85695a">read, but</gs> we use that reading as a springboard for our writing. So, as you can imagine, there are all <i>kinds</i> of things for us to remember. How do I help keep it all organized? I use anchor charts and "anchor walls".</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfEFHz0cEFfxRVZjLdviEYZHVlZeJAIacAJ_DmxM58Sre8gy_SJ5oosTAgTF7jqoRei7I-Upd2PhEynzz_jHqb8fc-hgPVNLd74URndS0Yy3j0oyMZBZhURuhA39xAqsSN2ly6fhpVqSHf/s1600/Embedded+assessment+wall+with+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="I use an "anchor wall" to visually organize all the skills students need to learn!" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfEFHz0cEFfxRVZjLdviEYZHVlZeJAIacAJ_DmxM58Sre8gy_SJ5oosTAgTF7jqoRei7I-Upd2PhEynzz_jHqb8fc-hgPVNLd74URndS0Yy3j0oyMZBZhURuhA39xAqsSN2ly6fhpVqSHf/s400/Embedded+assessment+wall+with+logo.png" title="I use an "anchor wall" to visually organize all the skills students need to learn!" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is my embedded assessment "anchor wall" where for each class we broke down the end of unit essay test to its specific pieces and parts. I had pre-printed all these skills on sticky notes. Then, we ranked our knowledge level to determine what we really needed to focus on in order to be able to successfully write one of the four essays. </span><span style="font-size: large;">So on this wall, since all the skills </span><span style="font-size: large;">in</span><span style="font-size: large;"> the unit are all laid out on sticky notes, as we learn we can move them! This is great for showing growth as well as tracking our learning.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBGIMkICw37EAOAxElefSPHFF7fS8e7ZK4yX7XIyAu1JSRsoefAx00dPbdfHcx51l6h7nmbruTbfO9QPMppUlKMUSnVcz4UK3uZATwY3xWfZr801xGPqQJOQ9YNK9b8BusX-gWWq4vLIj/s1600/pros+wall+with+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="An "anchor wall" for Essays!" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBGIMkICw37EAOAxElefSPHFF7fS8e7ZK4yX7XIyAu1JSRsoefAx00dPbdfHcx51l6h7nmbruTbfO9QPMppUlKMUSnVcz4UK3uZATwY3xWfZr801xGPqQJOQ9YNK9b8BusX-gWWq4vLIj/s400/pros+wall+with+logo.png" title="An "anchor wall" for Essays!" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is my anchor wall for the 4 parts that all essays must have (Polestar Focus, Rules of Conventions, Organization, and Support.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As you can see, I used the doors for my cabinets to display my anchor information and I build it one piece at a time as we learn that piece in class. Students love the idea of becoming writing "pros" and I love having a way to display the key concepts of writing that we have been learning!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For other related concepts, I use anchor charts - some of which we create together in class: </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-3FZnnjEJ6alw6geM61B4rj-COLJ4aI7TjvEcQ86PSNoLnDjaTP7uWmT4BKnVJKXUQ4OWbFJDoneiHFSIfCoJa3KnbzQoZp4DGqS8E1_bl-GERsNw9KrTmBXdNtNJ8tiWCd4TUTUI79w2/s1600/ie+anchor+w+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Informative Essay Anchor Chart with an easy to remember mnemonic for organization!" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-3FZnnjEJ6alw6geM61B4rj-COLJ4aI7TjvEcQ86PSNoLnDjaTP7uWmT4BKnVJKXUQ4OWbFJDoneiHFSIfCoJa3KnbzQoZp4DGqS8E1_bl-GERsNw9KrTmBXdNtNJ8tiWCd4TUTUI79w2/s320/ie+anchor+w+logo.png" title="Informative Essay Anchor Chart with an easy to remember mnemonic for organization!" width="320" /></a><img alt="Argumentative Essay Anchor Chart with an easy to remember mnemonic to help students learn the organization!" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhzRlxeGISOi65R0qBDRIdYsDTnpC6RdWNXe5RKaDYhFbm7-ubKCJSo74qQLBqMnx8xt4jz_qLTKQDDYQKmCzwxLamDH9PX1AuR4KZc4MWmhZtXxtk8lTnbT9DnRCOO_Qf_XE4HSKMnz1K/s320/argue+anchor+w+logo.png" title="Argumentative Essay Anchor Chart with an easy to remember mnemonic to help students learn the organization!" width="320" /> </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I especially like these anchor charts because they give students a pattern to use as a foundation for their writing. Naturally, I hand them near my PROS anchor wall. Of course, I have <gs class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3b815999-d5cf-46d9-b440-5c459e63fb8b" id="cbc28544-0872-40ec-8217-8d6342bf670a">other</gs> anchor <gs class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3b815999-d5cf-46d9-b440-5c459e63fb8b" id="dbe23a7d-d710-41ad-9e5b-3167d470ba89">charts</gs> for things like grammar and parts of speech. I find that I use these instead of commercially bought posters most of the time! Not to mention that they look great for Open House when I am talking about what we are learning and I can reference our charts and walls!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The best part is when the students look at them as we're working on something. I love to see students use their tools! And even though I have to cover them up during state testing, they will still look to where the charts are located as if they can somehow "see" them and remember. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you love anchor "walls" and charts as much as I do, then stop by and visit my <gs class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="34af272f-115f-4e16-b940-310d939ce21b" id="cd05b7af-3529-40ea-81c2-496ad04898d7"><gs class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ecd8ce51-a991-4096-9134-5092ab32dcba" id="57c8d66f-ba74-437f-bf48-a6eee89b9d91">Pinterest</gs></gs> board for them:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How do you visually organize learning in your class? Join in the conversation by commenting below. </span></div>
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Mrs. Spangler in the Middlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17137268748395471302noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-76999730516873376142016-09-19T00:00:00.000-07:002016-09-19T00:00:06.986-07:00Successful Classroom Systems for an Organized Classroom<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizXf-2AaJ1KF8lGfcbp3f1pyVhcEcRrB_FtmTUk0ewsmePzQHDLXl9XMoJoPW3YGPzTP8cXHuLoDfKpkZ3S3A2JkzvFLdsLeAbWO7IJmSzd5iDUa_y9AkNtKngHoLhJtnt0N3V_QEdYB3P/s1600/systems.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizXf-2AaJ1KF8lGfcbp3f1pyVhcEcRrB_FtmTUk0ewsmePzQHDLXl9XMoJoPW3YGPzTP8cXHuLoDfKpkZ3S3A2JkzvFLdsLeAbWO7IJmSzd5iDUa_y9AkNtKngHoLhJtnt0N3V_QEdYB3P/s320/systems.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Hi there! Shyra here from <a href="http://www.juniorhighcorevalues.com/">Junior High Core Values</a> A lot of times, we assume that routines and procedures are
taught and mastered in the younger grades, but that’s not always the case. I
always tell my sixth grade parents at Back to School Night that sixth grade is
like “Kindergarten, the Sequel”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Consistency and repetition are incredibly important at the beginning of the year in order to have a successful classroom system. Here are some systems that I use in my sixth grade classroom to make sure that we are maximizing every moment of learning time. </div>
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<b><u>Build a Classroom
Community<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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A lot of this depends on how much freedom you have at your
school site. However, it can be done. In my classroom we use three classroom
norms: Attentive Listening, Mutual Respect, and the Right to
Participate/Pass Depending on the class,
I may leave off that “pass” part. Throughout the year we participate in several
team building activities to foster a sense of trust and community in the
classroom. Since time is always in short supply, I try to bridge these in to
whatever curriculum we are focusing on in the moment. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Stick to Routines</u></b>.
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It might sound boring, but for the most part, my students
know exactly what to expect from the moment we enter the school building to the
time that instruction begins. Our end of
day procedure is also the same from day to day. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Nonverbal Cues<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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Nonverbal cues are the icing on my cupcake, the ice in my
iced tea, and the chocolate to my difficult day. My students use signs for asking a question,
sharing a comment, asking for the bathroom, showing sympathy/agreement, and
giving support. I, in turn, use signs for silence, for getting in line, for
transitioning, for sitting, and for waiting. Establishing, practicing, and
being consistent with classroom signs saves a LOT of time and makes the
classroom run much more smoothly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Student Buy In<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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One of my favorite ways of maintaining an organized
classroom is to use a classroom economy. Hello, why didn't I start this at the BEGINNING of my teacher career? Students are much more engaged and invested when they own their classroom...and it makes a lot less work for me! There are many ways to set this system
up all over the internet. In fact, Mylie wrote about her system in detail just a few weeks ago. In my classroom what works is having students apply for a job at the
beginning of the trimester. They keep the same job for the entire grading
period. Every student has a job, and every job has a salary that can be used
for our monthly classroom auction. Now of course, there are going to be students who don't/can't remember your expectations. The way I handle that in my classroom economy is a Behavior Log. Entering your name in the behavior log (missing work, talking, not showing mutual respect, etc) is a $25 fine per infraction. The first two weeks of school this year there were over 25 entries in the log. Yikes! Last week, there were <i>only</i> five. Now that's some improvement and organization! <o:p></o:p></div>
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Shyrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11244892313280257068noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-30233176794560551012016-09-16T01:00:00.000-07:002016-09-16T01:00:10.076-07:00The Writing Process: What Students can Learn about ThemselvesStudent writers need to brainstorm, draft, revise, revise, revise some more, and proofread. So how can your students keep their work organized in a way that also helps them reflect on their learning as writers? <br />
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Hello! Marypat here from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Just-Add-Students" target="_blank">Just Add Students</a> to introduce you to BGP. <br />
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<b>Let's start with the problem...</b></h3>
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I ask my students to save all graphic organizers, prewriting, drafts, and revisions for each writing assignment. But there is usually more than one student who struggles with organization. <br />
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Papers always go missing, get stuffed into the wrong binder/folder/book/locker. That student may end up starting a writing assignment several times -- trying to remember what had been written on the graphic organizers or in a draft.<br />
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The writing "process" was more of an exercise in starting over when students couldn't find prior work.<br />
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<b>Then something wonderful happened...</b></h3>
I went to a workshop put on by my hero <a href="http://www.heinemann.com/lessonsthatchangewriters/" target="_blank">Nancie Atwell</a>. I am telling you - she is nothing short of amazing. I learned so much from that workshop! Here is one idea I used with great success. Something that helped all of my student writers, not just the disorganized ones.<br />
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<b>Grab your stapler...</b></h3>
I had my students save, and staple, all of their work on a writing assignment together. Most current work on top. This was what my students referred to as the "big, gigantic pile." The BGP.<br />
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As my students write, I collect and review all of the steps of a draft (that's how I sort and set up mini lessons for the next day). As we work through graphic organizers, intro paragraphs, thesis builders, drafts (D1, D2), revision activities, peer reviews, proofreading and then finally the published piece, the "big, gigantic pile" grows. Always with the most current work stapled on top.<br />
<br />
What the student ends up with is a "big, gigantic pile" of work stapled, marked up, and dog-eared. On the very top, they add their published piece (usually not stapled so it can easily go into their portfolio or on the wall).<br />
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<h3>
And the result...</h3>
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Several really great things happened when I started implementing the BGP:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITiq174-J-pIC0eHigpSPhW56ryaCYNVxUetSP3wFmoky8rwA5JuanLTJEVvo_rsIOyoRsL1zY2m7g68eAmtGF5DAjiWgGTbLOFKbjf7EAQSVE9nTde8jHejLRwdhT1KOLImWOAOLcUdU/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITiq174-J-pIC0eHigpSPhW56ryaCYNVxUetSP3wFmoky8rwA5JuanLTJEVvo_rsIOyoRsL1zY2m7g68eAmtGF5DAjiWgGTbLOFKbjf7EAQSVE9nTde8jHejLRwdhT1KOLImWOAOLcUdU/s320/3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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1. Work was less likely to get lost. All the pages were kept together and kept in writing folders. </div>
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2. Students were impressed at how much writing they had done! I heard students say things like, "Wow, I did a lot of work on this!" and "Look at how bad my first draft is!" and "My ideas really changed as I worked on this!" </div>
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Students were thinking about, reflecting on, and rejoicing in their writing! They could see that their writing was, indeed, a process. (Insert happy dance here!!)</div>
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3. Student self-assessments. Before my students turn in an assignment, I always ask that they complete a simple self-assessment. It consists of three questions: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>What was easy about this assignment?</li>
<li>What was difficult about this assignment?</li>
<li>What would you like me to know?</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
I ask students to flip through their stapled pile and consider what they've been working on, thinking about, struggling and succeeding with over the last few weeks. This gives them a chance to really consider how the writing process worked for them. Plus, it helps build goodwill that they know I care about their experience with this writing assignment.</div>
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4. My grading got easier. Yes. You read that right. Easier. Because I reviewed each graphic organizer, thesis, intro, and draft as we worked on it, I knew what students were writing about. I could quickly see where they were going off the tracks. My comments gave them direction for the following writers' workshop task.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
When I received the final product to assess, I could look through their "big, gigantic piles" already familiar with the topics, direction, and difficulties they had. I could see where students worked on my suggestions and where they chose to ignore those suggestions (time for a conference!).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Usually, I had very little to write on the published text. I'd already addressed issues in the prior drafts. And because I always use a rubric and the students received that when the assignment was given, I could quickly assess their writing on the criteria of the rubric.</div>
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</h2>
<h3>
I love trees...</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9S01liYYnvLDTPz8cdkc6PaXfWH0qADNEJidA02uiaf9jQPwzq2p5N5zJXsBtvhzrmcoJTnj6vqT8rQmIAQihAzMWXrhFccPhtTQ0Gt64zTNCYKEusJFpHWOTw_hGqGKCvSZe6FWd5QHK/s1600/Slide2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9S01liYYnvLDTPz8cdkc6PaXfWH0qADNEJidA02uiaf9jQPwzq2p5N5zJXsBtvhzrmcoJTnj6vqT8rQmIAQihAzMWXrhFccPhtTQ0Gt64zTNCYKEusJFpHWOTw_hGqGKCvSZe6FWd5QHK/s320/Slide2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
I do, I really do! And I often think about how wonderful a paperless classroom would be. However, when teaching middle school students writing, there is a HUGE payoff when they can actually see the writing process. Specifically <i>their </i>own writing process from start to finish.</div>
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When I experimented with paperless writing, my students lost the ability to step back and look at their own writing process -- from where they started to where they ended up. </div>
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Even if you give the BGP a try for one assignment, your students will benefit. It can be used for any writing project -- in any subject. But most importantly, it will help your students think about themselves as true writers.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578443545547111201.post-34518900696922313522016-08-31T05:00:00.000-07:002016-08-31T05:00:13.977-07:00Building Appropriate Relationships in the Middle School Classroom
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<b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">E</span></b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">very
school and every district is different in their desire for you to <b>relationship-build</b>
with your students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While some stress
the importance of <b>relationships</b> and even provide Professional
Development to teach you how to care, others will discourage relationships
altogether.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Considering the recent press
about the idiots that just happen to be in our profession, we do have to be
cautious in the <i>communications</i> we make in our classrooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have to be clear about our <b>intentions</b>,
and we must know our <b>boundaries</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUSlyYIWpwA3WS0x-7qf0Ilclev-Ukp9uWhdxmhTJyTkt0xr9STSru7nt5FqJ3QydB3GxxK1jkkOaIyidxVgTYbX0IYLnJCYEEWl0mWEOefiZWSyNF0PAorDzHVayODLv9bVJUf4oubYk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-08-07+at+11.28.35+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Building Appropriate Relationships in the Middle School Classroom" border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUSlyYIWpwA3WS0x-7qf0Ilclev-Ukp9uWhdxmhTJyTkt0xr9STSru7nt5FqJ3QydB3GxxK1jkkOaIyidxVgTYbX0IYLnJCYEEWl0mWEOefiZWSyNF0PAorDzHVayODLv9bVJUf4oubYk/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-08-07+at+11.28.35+AM.png" title="Building Appropriate Relationships in the Middle School Classroom" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKr0V2P5tOaCFd3bNS4FOTvkhAB37nCMgYW5JERBSVa0wpuawC5OA4JrAZ8zZ35Na4bbTPbylmpXJAvnw4up-38PYqvRoBBgcPmiozXSdykL1wjHy-Xhd1uwqpqwMO8bd3kP6gdN5FZjk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-08-07+at+11.28.35+AM.png"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></a><b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span><b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> A</span></b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">t one district orientation for new teachers, the
superintendent took the stage to warn his new teachers about a great threat
among us…Facebook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went on to discuss
how teacher’s careers could be ruined if they used this site or if any
derogatory information were posted there against them, whether it was posted by
the teacher or not. </span>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A</span></b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">t another district, I was smothered with the
demand that I form <b>relationships</b> with ALL of my students and reach them
in any way possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Home visits,
attending every event, making calls home on a weekly basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just scared me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, when it comes to making <b>relationships</b>
with anyone, and my need for personal space, I prefer moderation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can be done, but it must be learned.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">T</span></b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">eaching at each level opens the door for
different <i>communications</i> with your students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let me give you some examples… I do not given
out my phone number, my home email, or my home address.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I teach kids that would not use them, even if
they had them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have, however, built
strong, professional <b>relationships</b> with many of my students, and have my
own form of <i>communication</i> with each that works.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">O</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ne student had gone through so many life struggles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Too much for a 12 year old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, despite my demanding style with my
classes, and often harsh criticism of my students to get their attention for
learning, it is I that she chose as her “go to” person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wrote notes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>School policy is to take notes away, read
them, and then pass them onto the administration, but for me, it was far more
effective to write on them and pass them back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With this particular student, it started with an attitude marching into
my room on test day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She wasn’t ready
for the test, and I wasn’t willing to post-pone it for her convenience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She sat, the test blank in front of her, with
a smirk across her face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After 5 minutes
passed, I wrote on a tiny post-it note, “You should get started.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She wrote back that she didn’t study and
wasn’t prepared for the test.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After many
more post-its, and a few quiet tears that streamed down her cheeks, she picked
up her test and did the best she could under the circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From that day on, through many traumatic home
events, we wrote notes to get the words out and find a solution.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 18.0pt;">W</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt;">ith students at another
school, the communication and the <b>relationships</b> were far different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were all identified gifted and talented
students in an advanced curriculum middle school program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the first day of school, I introduced
myself and set up the boundaries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Knowing the conscientious work of these students, I knew they would not
be able to sleep at night if they had homework questions unanswered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I agreed to keep my school email account open
at home, up to 9 p.m. to answer questions or concerns, especially on big
homework nights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On leaving the school,
I gave my new email to those I worked with most often, and made the offer to
always help them on their homework if they needed it, even though I was no
longer there…and, still, to this day, I receive emails from those students (and
others) asking for college or career advice, and sometimes help with other life
lessons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From miles away, I can still
give homework advice and they can get busy working instead of feeling
frustrated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">To me, it’s worth it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s my job; <i>I am a teacher</i>.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpHUUFx6EUNcWRWeqqaF5vALl3NUAMmKfFtQgfqR1W4um6QtgW0GpHs8Hx8xlZlkWNm4B5GRx1XbYzO9yzy-UfLSC3wUIHqnExvqFCfRddw-6HATEbuO7f6q7wytE9R6vFaaftrTfY9U/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-08-07+at+11.31.03+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Building Appropriate Relationships in the Middle School Classroom" border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpHUUFx6EUNcWRWeqqaF5vALl3NUAMmKfFtQgfqR1W4um6QtgW0GpHs8Hx8xlZlkWNm4B5GRx1XbYzO9yzy-UfLSC3wUIHqnExvqFCfRddw-6HATEbuO7f6q7wytE9R6vFaaftrTfY9U/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-08-07+at+11.31.03+AM.png" title="Building Appropriate Relationships in the Middle School Classroom" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzURb84fuXfJmcwX11x9NhQEx59EfmRRBjO62ulM-Lo5lOrVdFK7M5D3Lsuj_LIkzckjI6U1if1H-rQNGHjlEDYEGp8-fI-o32RJGyPR4A6cgIoAMR8s5lea74aA5pMRgms-ZceXHsu9k/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-08-07+at+11.31.03+AM.png"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></a><b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">H</span></b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">owever, it's important to keep clear boundaries
and set them early on in the school year. Know what your students need
and know your district policies. </span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Ew7Ijh8CEp0c3ijD4pE7huHfWkDarp6h3U8Wv6rdSf41-Df5pCNRfrCjRBYThG-6lxSnRvSAYUikGQs3gYCClrNRjHVlUlK0iQB9e0qACnWxxo42x0tIvG05GO-a92ssX5PpHP-ELWA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-08-07+at+12.02.19+PM.png"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></a><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Want Ideas?</span></i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZxcZLIwR26q1sSQekA6KE-imiGxOEk0BHDzqA6vQpm4RWnUx22T9e6_FAEdh2AJzp2TN3S9eFoD3oDwA1VPyurqRG3Exzoar7P4kTzFME0DD-q_qZIbVtmoopOd73TAWaW412_YOteM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-08-07+at+12.02.19+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Building Appropriate Relationships in the Middle School Classroom" border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZxcZLIwR26q1sSQekA6KE-imiGxOEk0BHDzqA6vQpm4RWnUx22T9e6_FAEdh2AJzp2TN3S9eFoD3oDwA1VPyurqRG3Exzoar7P4kTzFME0DD-q_qZIbVtmoopOd73TAWaW412_YOteM/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-08-07+at+12.02.19+PM.png" title="Building Appropriate Relationships in the Middle School Classroom" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Here are a few old school suggestions for
building great relationships:</span></u></b><i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<ol start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Write!
Write! Write! </span></i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Write notes
everywhere. Leave comments on their assignments, send them quick
emails to check on progress, and use a dry erase marker on their desks to
welcome them to class.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Make
early contact.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Email, call or use snail
mail to make contact with your students (and their parents) early in the
school year (or before). If your first communications are positive,
you will be a greater trust from all parties.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Be
frequent and sincere with interest or concern.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Meet every students at the door every day. Read
their faces and ask questions about their day, their extra-curricular
activities, and even their personal interests.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Praise
when it is deserved.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Do not
be sappy with your praise; instead create value and appreciation for a job
well done. </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Listen
and learn.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Survey your students on
a regular basis. Use the feedback they give you about content or
your teaching methods to adapt to their learning styles and
interests. </span></li>
</ol>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 18.0pt;">M</span></b><span style="font-family: "Apple Chancery"; font-size: 10.0pt;">ost importantly, be
there! Through consistency in your classroom behavior, your daily lessons, and
your high expectations, students will learn that you care and that you will be
there if they need you. Those are the <b>relationships </b>you want to
build in the middle school classroom!</span></div>
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<br />Michele Luckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15138061226034855643noreply@blogger.com6