CLASS MATTERS is Launched!

Just in time to be ready for a new year, but still kick back and enjoy summer.  Check it out!

CLASS MATTERS: Planning, Teaching, and Managing Secondary Classes includes handouts and printables to meet teachers' wants and needs in these three focus areas, and also offers posts that suggest how, when and why the various  focuses will be most useful to them.  Although some of the information here is self-explanatory to rookie and veteran teachers, other ideas become clearer with short discussions. And sometimes …sometimes we just need a heads-up on how to use a new item-especially during Teacher Week because of all of the meetings- when we just. don’t. have. a. free. brain. cell. to. think. about. it.

This 100-page teacher resource bundle is divided into sections: PLANNING, TEACHING, and MANAGING CLASS MATTERS. Within each segment I have interspersed blogs to show teachers how to efficiently create flexible lesson plans, classroom rules, and behavior standards. Numerous teaching ideas, handouts and classroom management forms will meet many of your wants and needs in ONE PLACE to save you searching time. In the final pages, I invite you to take a break from all of your planning and organizing, and to kick back and relax with two posts: A Labor Day Lesson: A Contemporary Tale, and In Defense of Teenagers.

This bundle includes Freebies and paid products from my TpT Store, posts from my website, and many new ideas and printables. Here is a summary of the planning, teaching and managing secondary classrooms that comprise this 100-page teacher resource:

PLANNING pages 3-22

·        Let's Begin- Classmart Lifesaver List

·        When Planning- The Rule of Three Rules

·        Plan Up! Getting Started

·        Common Core Anchor Charts Grades 6-12

·        Bloom's Taxonomy Wheel

·        Class Matters- Keeping Track: Assignments Form

·        Class Matters-Keeping Track: Grades Form

·        Plan Up! Creating the Agenda (Using Animal Farm, George Orwell)

ü  Teacher Notes

ü  Student Calendar-Animal Farm

ü  Unit Structure Sample Form

ü  Unit Structure-Blank Form

ü  Unit Structure Activities Plan-Blank Form

ü  Response Letters: Alternative Animal Farm Activity

TEACHING IDEAS pages 23-55

·        Quartet of Ideas – 4 Freebies from my TpT Store

ü  Ten Sentence Format

ü  Analyzing Novels using the Elements of Literature

ü  Reel in Readers with Magnetizing Hooks

ü  Just say, NO!" to Dull Writing

·        First Day Activities- 3 Freebies from my TpT Store

ü  First Day Writing Assignment

ü  First Day Activity- Four Corners

ü  Writing Activities (First Day)- What About Me?

·        Friday Night Lights- Hook Students with a football and fall Non-fiction Unit

·        Teaching Ideas- Teaching Tip #1

·        Teaching Ideas- Teaching Tip#2

MANAGING CLASS MATTERS- Proactive Prevails pages 56-93

·        Five Teaching Tips That Eliminate Classroom Chaos

·        Managing Student Behavior: Obligations & Expectations

·        Managing Student Behavior: Alleviating Off-Task Behavior

ü  UhOh Bag

ü  UhOh Bag Writing Consequence Form

ü  General Incident/Consequence Form

·        Managing Classroom Behavior: Proactive Prevails: 3 Teacher Survival Lessons

·        Managing Class Matters: Form, Function and Flexibility

ü  Getting to Know You: A Teacher's Back To School Assortment of First day Forms and Activities

ü  Teaching Lifesavers: Twelve Classroom Management Forms

1.      Lesson Launch: Writing Warm-Ups (Teachers)

2.      Lesson Launch: Writing Warm-Ups (Students)

3.      Honor Statements

4.      Book Sign-Up Sheets

5.      General Essay Grading Rubric

6.      Late Homework Request

7.      Tardy Sign-In Sheet

8.      Restroom Pass

9.      Hall Pass

10.   Completed Assignments/Graded Assignments Folders

11.   Incident Form

12.   Closure: Exit Pass

·       Class Matters: Oh No! I Need a Sub

Relax and Enjoy-Two Posts

·        A Labor Day Lesson- A Contemporary Tale

·        In defense of Teenagers

CLASS-MATTERS-Planning-Teaching-and-Managing-Secondary-Classrooms-Bundle-3935206

I sincerely hope that you are thrilled with these PLANNING,TEACHING and MANAGING CLASS MATTERS posts and printables. For more ideas, check out my products for the basic secondary English curriculum as well as for two of the most important electives –in my opinion- journalism and creative writing in my TpT Store -  Store/Connie. 

CLASS MATTERS

AND

CLASS MATTERS ALWAYS MATTER!

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day Every Day,

Connie

Add Spring to Students' Learning with this Quartet of Activities

My goodness I have been away for awhile!  Maybe Punxutawney Phil saw his shadow, but my Writing Muse didn't. She has been hibernating sense the beginning of February.

While she snoozed, I spent the time revising product covers which led to updating some of my activities. Why the cover makeovers? A former teaching colleague and still a good friend started a store on TpT, and I love, love, love his frames and graphics.  DO check out Keith Naquin's store https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Keith-Naquin.  Here is a collage of a few of his awesome products.

Now that Spring has Sprung and the enticements of sunshine and warm breezes are creating havoc with students' attention spans, some fresh activities will bring pull them back to the classroom and the love for learning you all create.

Here are a quartet of ideas to wash away winter's cobwebs, dust  and musty atmosphere from  their brains. 

Geoffrey Chaucer knew that people liked to make pilgrimages in April.  Students will enjoy a trip to Chaucer's Middle Ages, too where they will meet some fascinating people. This 51-page unit plan for The Canterbury Tales includes all of the material from my various products for Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterfully satirical piece depicting the people and society of the Middle Ages, plus added activities, projects and material offering teachers and students multiple ways to study this text. A five-page satire section offers information on satire, as well as vocabulary that is prevalent in satiric works, both written and visual. A fun closure activity invites the class to view The Knight’s Tale movie and then, to compare and contrast it to Chaucer’s work.Check out the Product description and Preview on https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Literature-The-Canterbury-Tales-PowerPoint-and-Unit-Plan-81293 ($)

April is National Poetry Month.  It is the perfect month for teachers and students to take an excursion on the Lesson-Up Express. This posting offers two tickets:

Option 1. A Literary Connections Tour:
This ticket offers students the chance to find poems, poets and lyrics that fit the themes of any novel or narrative non-fiction book that they are studying. To complete this trip, students will work individually or in teacher-chosen groups to analyze a poem.

Option 2. A Poetry Camp Trip
If students choose this ticket, they will create five original poems from the types written on the cover of this offering and/or types they choose with the teacher’s approval. After they have composed the poems, they will put them in a literary magazine that they created, and will illustrate each one with original or found images.
3.(Required) Poetry Performance Buffet:
All students will present either the results of their Literary Connections Tour or two poems from their Poetry Camp Trip at the Poetry Performance Buffet at the end of the month. See the download for complete details on how to manage this aspect of the project.

Find more information in the Product Description and see the ticket for the Poetry Performance Buffet in the Preview on https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Poetry-Activity-April-Excursions-Poetry-in-Motion-639372 ($). April will be the coolest, not the cruelest month with this packet.

With this activity, "Write Right! Time for Spring Cleaning," students will spring clean their writing homes. This posting focuses on three aspects of writing:

1. Writing Hang-Ups
2. Making Sense out of Scents, and

3. Musty Memories 

Although each seems like a separate entity from the others, it is not. Students need to expel the roadblocks that stymie their chances for writing success before they can mine their hearts and minds for ideas where they can incorporate sensory imagery. 

You will find more details on https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Write-Right-Time-for-Spring-Cleaning-656412 ($)

And finally, who couldn't use a road trip- even if it is a mental one?  Send your students on one with, "Character Analysis Activity - Road Trip Time".  This language arts lesson for Middle and High School students, allows students to live vicariously through the character that they select. These characters may be from:

1. The teacher's pre-made list using stories they have studied in class
2. The student's choice from stories they have studied in class, or
3. Students' choices from their independent reading.

The teacher chooses when this activity will enhance lesson content and will develop reading comprehension as well as writing and higher level thinking skills. Students are to complete all three of the Teacher Required Components - 
1. Travel Agent Survey - See handout
2. Road Trip Itinerary- See handout
3. Character’s Road Trip Journal- See requirements
as well as one Student Component Choice- See explanations
1. Facebook Road Trip Fan Page
2. Road Trip Tweets
3. Road Trip Scrapbook
4. Road Trip Slide Show
5. Student’s Idea
Note: helpful links for free templates, etc. are given for both the Character's Road Trip Journal and for the Student Component Choices. Check it out on https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Character-Analysis-Activity-Road-Trip-Time-1256981
I bet on spring Friday's or rainy Mondays you could use an, "AHHH, I needed that moment," while students take a road trip with a literary character. This quartet will entice students to learn and keep them on task, giving you a fresh spring in your step.

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day Every Day,

Melt February lethargy with mesmerizing activities

Are your students sinking into hibernation mode like the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, does when he sees his shadow?

Is their attention and motivation yawning them into the recesses of their minds for another six weeks of sleep?

Has your Planning Muse become a victim of the February Fickle Flu, that insidious malady where your creativity mirrors the frigid one day, balmy the next weather?

Fret no further. These lessons will have you covered, no matter the weather- meteorological or personal. With each activity in this post, I suggest how you might use the individual lessons throughout the month.

GROUNDHOG DAY - FEBRUARY 2nd

Writing Activities - FABULOUS FIVE PACKET $

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Activities-FABULOUS-FIVE-PACKET-2349040?aref=ghdtrfus

Here are the Fabulous Five activities and ideas for incorporating them into your plans.
Teaching Ideas for the activities
1. Then and Now Prewriting Activity

Use this as a Warm-up at the beginning of the month.Have each student use this information for writing a personal narrative about him/herself later in the month. or,
Follow the suggestion above, but ask students to complete the activity, and later in the month-a personal narrative as one of the characters in the story you are currently studying would do. 
2. Playing With Color Worksheet
On twelve days of February, have students complete one of the activities on this sheet for a Closure activity. Give them about 5 minutes to do this.  After they complete the last activity on the 12th day, explain that they now must write a poem that shows as many aspects of their color as they can.  In the poem, they must use as much information from this worksheet that they need to in order to paint a vivid word picture about this color.3. Brain Bumps: Twenty Writing Suggestions to End Idea Vacuums
February has 20 class days, if  president's Day is a school holiday in your district.  Brain Bumps offers 20 activities, but many, many more writing possibilities as many of the numbered suggestions offers multiple writing ideas. Ask students to choose any one of the ideas as a Twenty-Minute Writing Warm-up topic each day.  Do have students  date each entry and include the topic number, and letter, if necessary, such as 12F.  A good length requirement is 250 words.  For MArch, APril, May and June Warm-ups, ask students to re-visit these entries and then expand on them.  They may choose to stick with one for a few days to fully develop the topic.
4. This is What I’m Hungry For!: Thirty Discussion/Writing Topics for Literature
Choose one of these ideas each day as  the focus for part/all of the discussion for the story that the students is studying.  Some of these ideas are better for individual work, while others work well if the students are in pairs or groups up to four students. 
5. Friend or Foe?
This is a  great topic to hook students attention for a review of the story and to evolve into a lively discussion. Students need to include details from the story that they must analyze to complete the work. It hits on four main core areas-reading, writing, critical thinking and speaking/listening.

SUPER BOWL - February 7th

Comprehension Activity: Score With the Literature Super Bowl  FREE

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comprehension-Activity-Score-With-the-Literature-Super-Bowl-1058494?aref=lxzcnwns
Use this prior to the Super Bowl on February 7th to tap into the Football Fever that tamper with students' on-task behavior, or use it after the finale by offering it as a review activity for a literature study and as closure to six months of pro-football.

VALENTINE'S DAY - February 14th
All three of these activities offer students a chance to use Valentine's Day as the theme  for an in-depth  study of  a character or characters from the story they are currently studying or those that they have read as a class assignment previously.   Choose one for each student to complete individually or in pairs, or divide students into pairs and give each pair one of the activities, repeating the activities as needed. Note: the activity, LOVE NOTES includes 6 activities, so you have a total of 8 ideas to incorporate into your lessons.  Be sure to set aside time for students to share their completed projects. To really get into the Valentine's Day spirit, and to make sure that all of your students are remembered on this day, if your districts allows, have a Presentation Party. Have students sign up to bring in decorations like red and white lights, red paper placemats, other paper products, food, drinks, etc. This should be voluntary as some students might not have any money to spare on extras.  A few days before the event, set up a table with red and white construction paper, as well as any glitter, glue etc. for students who would like to make decorations.

Valentine's Day Comprehension Activity: You Sent What??? Cards $

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Valentines-Day-Comprehension-Activity-You-Sent-What-Cards-522845?aref=1ozg2lne

          

Valentine's Day Comprehension Activity: Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match $

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Valentines-Day-Comprehension-Activity-Matchmaker-Matchmaker-Make-Me-a-Match-199326?aref=pjrfab0g

LOVE NOTES - 6 Activities to show, “I love you,” or “I love you not” $

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/LOVE-NOTES-6-Activities-to-show-I-love-you-or-I-love-you-not-1667231?aref=dsi4zxp0

PRESIDENTS' DAY -  FEBRUARY15th

President's Day Comprehension & Writing Activity: Hail to the Chief $

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Presidents-Day-Comprehension-Writing-Activity-Hail-to-the-Chief-192533?aref=cu2ycbdx
This is another project that ties the characters from books students are studying to the real world. Here, students choose a character from the piece that they are reading together, or from one that they have read independent does this project fit into today's headlines-but it is cross-cultural, especially with Government or Civics classes. Maybe students could earn Extra Credit if they share their projects in their Government or Civics classes.  How do you fit this project in with all of the others in this now filled with lessons month? Introduce it on February 1st, and have it due on February 29th- Leap Year Day. Students would work on it as a Home Assignment or in  class, only if all other class work is completed.

As a final tactic to rouse your Planning Muse from its  desire to burrow under a pile of quilts, here is a February calendar that shows how to coordinate these ideas with those you already devised. Other than hooking in these activities, the agenda items are general so you can adapt this calendar to meet your plans and your students' needs.

You will see that not including the quick Closure Activity, I follow the Rule of Three teaching concept to coordinate lessons and activities with students' attention spans...but more on that in another blog.

All too often, February is a forgotten month, or one to just get through.  I hope that these activities will make it a Fun and Fabulous month in your classroom.

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day Every Day.

Teach It Write - Build Powerful Academic Homes

Secondary Smorgasbord - All Treats & No Tricks for Teachers Blog Hop

Secondary Smorgasbord - All Treats & No Tricks for Teachers

Teachers Resource Goody Bags must always be reviewed, and updated with fresh material. The problem is- by the end of the day, or a non-stop week- who has the energy to mine their exhausted brains for engaging, challenging, and inspiring new ideas? 

The solution is nearer and easier than you can imagine.  Present the issue to your students. 

One late October day in my not-so-far-away past,  when my brain was clogged with fog that threatened to settle in and hibernate for a while, I asked my Creative Writing 2,3,4 students to, "... brainstorm some  ways that we can mine the buried creative veins in our minds for writing ideas." Their eyes started to ping and glow as their brain-gears chugged to life.  "And," I continued, "Figure out a way we make them easily accessible to the class."

The Lost & Found Idea Box was born.  Very simply, the students and I could add as many writing ideas to the box whenever we remembered a forgotten idea for a story, poem or personal narrative, concocted a fresh one, or found an idea from a printed/published source.

Kseniya, whose creative brain was always conjuring up -out-of-the-box (yes, I really wrote that) breakthroughs, led the class's planning session. Here are their results:

1. Ideas or hooks had to fit on a 3" x 5" Index Card- either written, glued, stapled or taped.
2. If the brainchild was not from their own minds, they had to cite the source.
3. All items had to follow my class rules- No Swearing, No Graphic Violence, No Direct, Indirect or Implied Sex, No Drugs. Also, no text abbreviations or slang that promoted any of the above Nos. that I might not be aware of without interpretations from a kind but probably snickering, eye-rolling, How can she not know this? student.
4. I would provide them with an empty copy paper box that they would all decorate whenever their creative muses inspired them.

Within a week, the Lost & Found Idea Box perched on top of a bookcase stuffed with novels donated from years of bookaholic students and my own collection. Multilayered with pieces of scrapbook paper, colored tissue paper, newspaper headlines, personally created and Internet found graphics and images, foam letters, feathers, mirrors and other local craft store purchases,etc., its very presence boldly lured students to explore its treasures.

The box was crammed with Index Cards revealing items like horoscopes, obituary clips, stories from any section of online and hardcopy newspapers and magazines. original opening lines from their pieces. quotes from a book that grabbed their interest, headlines, text messages, social media statuses, tweets, doodles in the margins of their notebooks, images from a graphic arts class, to...well...you get the idea- from absolutely anywhere. 

The entries were only limited by the boundaries of the students' imaginations.And that is the key to student brain drain, When students are included in the planning, they are more apt to be hooked into learning because they feel their thoughts and ideas are valued.

Not only did my students allow items from Lost & Found Idea Box to inspire them, but so did I. Many times when my mind froze and I needed a Warm-up Prompt for my English 12, journalism or my Creative Writing 1,2,3 or 4 classes, I would sift through the  Index Cards until my brain pinged, "That's it!"

Here is a Halloween Freebie to add to your  Resource Goody Bag and to start your own classroom Idea Box - Comprehension and Writing Activity - Trick or Treat?  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comprehension-and-Writing-Activity-Trick-or-Treat-1484248

Thank you  Darlene Ann Curran http://meatballsinthemiddle.blogspot.com/  and Pamela Kranz http://desktoplearningadventures.blogspot.com/ for organizing this most excellent All Treats & No Tricks blog hop.

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day, Every Day,

An InLinkz Link-up

ALL Teachers - Need the gift of time? Check out these plans

PLAN IT UP  with these terrific Downloads.

From ELA TpT Teacher/Sellers, and organized by Tracee Orman-Free Back to School English Language Arts Grades 7-12 Sampler

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Back-to-School-English-Language-Arts-Grades-7-12-Sampler-2020179

Tracee's Product Description: 

Free: Grades 7-12 English Language Arts Back-to-School Sampler

Welcome back to school, teachers! The teacher-authors of TpT want to wish you the very best as you enter this new school year. We also want to say thanks for supporting our TpT stores.

As a result, 45 secondary ELA teachers have offered their best tips and freebies for your consideration. We hope that you will find inspiration as you read these pages as well as fantastic teaching lessons and materials that you and your students will love.

Please note: Each page of the sampler features one free item and one paid item.

Have a great school year!

Here are the links to the other back to school samplers:

Grades 7-12 Back to School Science Sampler 

Grades 7-12 Back to School Math Sampler 

Grades 7-12 Back to School Social Studies and Foreign Language Sampler

Grades 7-12 Back to School English Language Arts Sampler

Grades 5-6 Back to School Sampler

Grades 3-4 Back to School Sampler

Grades 1-2 Back to School Sampler

Grades PreK-K Back to School Sampler

Total Pages  45 

From -The Best pf Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative, and organized by Victoria Leon(Founder of TBOTEMC) - Free Back to School Lessons By The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs MC - 2015

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Back-to-School-Lessons-By-The-Best-of-Teacher-Entrepreneurs-MC-2015-2030734

Victoria's Product Description:

Start the new year right with 17 free lessons by members of The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative: 

* Jelly Bean Math 

* *FREE* Apple Orchard Count the Room

* I Found, Who Found FREEBIE

* Apple Math Journal 

* Insert Your Own Pictures On Monthly Calendar Cards

* FREEBIE! Interactive Calendar for SMART Board PK, K, 1st 

* Traceable Calendar Free 

* FREEBIE! Interactive Back to School Flip-Flap Activity 

* Back to School Ice Breaker 

* Back to School Binder Preview FREEBIE for Grades 2-7 & Sp. Ed. 

* My College Application 

* Math Starters 

* Back to School - Personal Narrative Writing 

* Free Sample School Year Scrapbook Portfolio 

* Back to School Ice Breaker Activity 

* Scientific Method Vocab Anchor Chart/PPT Presentation 

* First Day Writing Assignment 

Total Pages 22

IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO OPEN THIS FILE or you have any questions, feel free to email me at vleon999@yahoo.com.

Wishing you the best during the new school year,
Victoria Leon 
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Victoria-Leon



Looking for more?  Check out my store - https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie
175 Products English Literature, Novels, Vocabulary, Grammar, Writing, Bulletin Boards, Teacher Resources and Journalism.

With all of these fantastic ideas, you will...
Enjoy Teach It Now Days, Every Day.

TEACH IT WRITE - BUILD POWERFUL ACADEMIC HOMES

First Day Tried & True Linky Party

Ahhhh! As these lazy, hazy days of summer wrap most of the country in humidity,teachers are enjoying a few days to a few weeks of sleeping in, basking in the luxury of traveling to the tick tock of their own clocks, and catching up with months of saved TV shows.

The first teaching-related stress/frustration dream has yet to invade their restful sleep with images of Joey who can't sit still, of Zelda who can't stay quiet and of George who won't wake up. 

That perennial,"What will I teach the FIRST DAY?" question has yet to fuel the first of many Decision Conflicts that will crop up before students strut, shuffle or slink into the classroom. 

And after weeks of flip flops sandals, shorts and tee-shirts, the annual end-of-summer closet Search, Sort, Purge and Shop has yet to happen.

But, as surely as each and every mattress store in the country will hold continual sales, as surely as a good donut will never be local, and as surely as Downton Abbey will fade to black after the last episode of Season 6  in 2016, school bells will ring and teachers must have their alarms set, their lessons finalized and their clothes ready.

Here are 6 Tried and True Tips  to ensure a smooth transition to the 2015-2016 school year

1. As you fill your carts with pens, pencils,  paper (lined, unlined, construction etc.) and push pins, remember to toss in some presents for yourself: Kleenex, paper towels, spray cleanser and hand sanitizer. You will be glad you did about a week into the year when two-thirds of your students are suffering from the Back to School Germfest caused by too many breathing bodies in an enclosed space and the back of your nose is teasing you with its pre-cold tickle.

2. Create detailed plans for the first month- yes, the first month before the Starting Bell.  Why?
Because PLC, department and faculty meetings will consume a good deal of your contract hours.

Because Back to School night information and edicts will start filling your email and snail mail boxes before Labor Day (some BTS nights start as early as the second week of school). These will sap your planning energy with thoughts of how to prepare a welcoming and engaging presentation.

Because your students will demand your full time and attention, which is what teaching is all about in the first place, as they adjust to the new term, and because administrators will want to see how you plan to ensure each one’s proficiency.

3. Ladies- no matter how incredibly chic those new gray Zigi Soho Tasmin Peep Toe Pumps are, or how sophisticated they look with your new dove-gray pencil skirt and purple silk blouse- DO NOT WEAR THEM! Your feet will hate you until December.

4. Gentlemen-do not don your Cool Story Bro tee-shirts until your students and colleagues get your droll sense of humor.

5. Be firm but fair. If you want your charges to join you on the Learning Path, it is more important for them to view you as challenging than easy. The former means that you are poking at their minds and teasing their brains to actively respond-verbally or in writing. The latter might be construed as “I don’t care” when you want it to be interpreted as academically open-ended.

Remember no conflict exists with happily ever after. That’s why Julian Fellows had Matthew die at the end of Season 3 in Downton Abbey. Challenge leads to conflict of the positive or negative variety which leads to thinking and doing which ends in learning.

6. Create First Day activities that engage, inspire and energize discussing, thinking, and writing.  Here are two FREE lessons that have walked the walk and talked the talk of those criteria.

First Day Writing Activity - Four Corners ~ FREE 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/First-Day-Writing-Activity-Four-Corners-45528 

Students love to offer their opinions on just about any topic, to move around and to debate pros and cons with their peers. Getting them on their feet where they can share their thoughts on a variety of contemporary topics is crucial in creating an atmosphere that promotes evaluating ideas and supporting their own assertions with valid points. The Four Corners Activity covers all of those bases.




First Day Writing Assignment-Revised ~ FREE

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/First-Day-Writing-Assignment-16312 
This activity offers teachers a baseline of each student’s writing skills. After analyzing each piece of writing, teachers will have the basic foundation for their year’s writing program.  The ideas are student-friendly, and offer a smooth transition from summer to the classroom because it  awakens students thinking, analyzing and writing skills.

For all of you who will be leading classrooms this year, revel in these last few days/weeks of your time- your way.

And when those school bells ring...

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day, Every Day.

Thank you to Chrissie Rissmiller http://undercoverclassroom.blogspot.com/  and
Sarah Tighe http://educationelectrification.blogspot.com/ for organizing this Linky Party.

An InLinkz Link-up