Punch or Stamp Cards A Reward System that Works!

On April 24th I announced a surprise that I'd be posting on my blog. Unfortunately, there is a delay and the surprise won't be announced until the beginning of June. 

Stay tuned!

Hey! It's that time of year when kids believe they're on summer vacation or they're thinking of the beach, playing with their friends or going to summer camp, instead of focusing in school.

When a student is in need of reminders to stay on task, to complete work or anything else that's distracting, I use my punch/ stamp cards. 

This free packet has complete instructions of how to get your students back on track!

Try it! You'll be amazed!!

May TeachersPayTeachers HUGE SALE!!

 HI EVERYONE!!

It's coming! It's coming! TpT's  next two-day sale is May 7-8 (beginning at 12:01 EDT on Tuesday morning and ending at midnight in Hawaii on Wednesday night). 

I love the sales  because it's a time when I can give back! I have many free downloads and would love you to take a look at my store.

PLEASE don't forget to enter the Promo Code when you check out. It's TAD13 and you'll get an extra 10% off all sale items. 

Even though the TpT official sale ends at midnight, Hawaii time, I'm going to keep my entire store on sale on Wednesday too. :)

Here are some of my best sellers! Click on the covers to view them! I didn't include the cover for my NonFiction Find It and Check It packet because I wanted to show you the page from the packet that has had more repins on Pinterest than any other pins.  I've had such incredible  feedback about this packet because it can be used with any nonfiction text.

                                    

         Check out my Nonfiction Find It and Check It! 

                                                                                                                                                                                       

Here are a couple of FREEBIES

Looking for new journal                     How many times have I been asked
prompts? Read the comments             how to spell the plural of lady? Too
teachers have made about my             many times!  These six rules about how to make
FREE prompts!                                   nouns plural will help. Great
                                                            student reference sheet with an activity!

                      

HOPE TO SEE YOU TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY! 

RUTH

                       

Similes, Metaphors and More!

I know many people are waiting for the surprise announcement, but I wanted to post my figurative language packet that's been a HUGE hit with many teachers. 

I'm an avid writer and teaching children how to write is fun! For students who say they don't like to write, I tell them that writing is like playing a sport or musical instrument. It takes practice, practice and practice. 

These ready to print worksheets can be used with any fiction book. Each page has an example of the type of figurative language. When completed, it's a great packet to send home. 

Coming Soon! 

A Surprise!

I've been working on a project with an award winning author and incredibly talented artist for the last four months and the project is almost finished!  It's been hard keeping this project a secret! 

I'll be posting more information soon so please check back.  You can also sign up to get email notifications of when I do post more information about it. 

Okay.. Here is a little information about the book, but I'm not going to tell you the name of it YET :)

 The book has already won the Connecticut Press Award for Children's Literature and is in Barnes and Noble stores. 

The author and I discussed putting activities on a CD that would be made available for  classroom teachers, school Media Center teachers, librarians, homeschool parents and basically EVERYONE! 

WHAT'S ON THE CD??

~ A copy of the book in PDF format  for grades 3 and up. (ALL AGES love this book!)

~ An audio recording (MP3) of the book, Read by an NPR classical music radio show host from Chicago, who is also a well known opera star and who sings with symphonies around the world.

~ My packet that includes activities for all learners. I created a packet of 87 activities for the book. The genre of the book is included in the Common Core Standards. All student worksheets are ready to print and in PDF format. 

There are fun hands on activities, art activities, a game and much more.  The majority of all the activities align with the Common Core ELA Standards, Informational Standards and Common Core Math standards! Also included are map skills activities that align with states' social studies curriculums. It's a great way to integrate math and social studies into an ELA project! 

Why the MP3 recording of the book?  We're providing the recording of the book so children can read along with the audio recording. It's a great way for them to associate words with oral language.  

The audio recording also provides way for visually handicapped people to "visualize" the story as it's being read. And don't forget our reluctant and non-readers. They can hold the hard copy of the book in their hands and turn the pages to look at the pictures, as they listen to the story. 

The PDF of the entire book, on the CD,  is perfect for small groups of children who can view the book at centers and work on the fun activity sheets together.  

If you're wondering if the hard cover book will also be available, the answer is YES!

I'm predicting everything will be done in a few days, so please STAY TUNED!! 

Because Boards of Education have slashed their budgets, they aren't giving the money to teachers so they can purchase things for their classrooms. 
Because of this, there will be an incredible offer for the CD and book. 

STAY TUNED! 

Ruth

SPRING SALE MARCH 30 - APRIL 1, 2013

Our first white crocuses blossomed yesterday and there were about nine robins 

in the yard, searching for worms!!  

I WANT to say it's spring, but with the crazy weather we've had, I'm a little leery. 

We've had snow in April, so I keeping my fingers crossed that we won't. 

Most schools in our state lost their winter breaks and part of their April breaks to make up for the hurricane, blizzard and snowy days. 

Many have to go to school until the end of June. 

Needless to say, teachers aren't very happy and the students are even more unhappier!

As a happy spring celebration, I'm running a sale from March 30 to April 1, 2013. 

EVERYTHING  in my store is on sale to show my appreciation to all my followers! 

There are MANY freebies too! 

This is the time of year when testing's over 

and teachers are looking for 

novel packets, poetry worksheets and more!

Don't forget to check out my Poetry task cards! April is Poetry Month!

CLICK ON MY CROCUS TO SEE MY STORE!!

Thanks for stopping by!

101 Book Activities Kids Love!

It's spring! Testing is over or almost over!  It's time to have fun reading some great books, writing poetry or doing some hands on activities! 

When I was in elementary school, my teachers always gave us the same kinds of book reports to do. They were VERY boring and that's when I decided that when I became a teacher I'd NEVER give those kinds of book reports. 

Typical assignment:  Write a report about the book. Remember to include the main characters and setting as you write the plot. 

WHAT?? UH?? 

I wanted to write a short skit about the book, or a poem, or write lyrics for a song. I did NOT want to write a boring old report without pictures or something creative. 

So, when I was in fifth grade, the first book report was....yes you guessed it! The same boring assignment to explain what the story was about and where it took place. 

What did I do? I drew an original cover for the book. I spent hours cutting pictures from magazines that would tie in with the plot. I laid it all out, and pasted everything on colorful construction paper. To me the bright colors livened up the plot, and was visually appealing.  On the last page, I wrote my opinion of the book and recommended that everyone should read it. 

As my teacher walked around, collecting the book reports, I handed it to her with a huge smile on my face. She took it from me, flipped through it quickly and said

YOU DIDN'T FOLLOW MY DIRECTIONS

I remember it like it was yesterday. I cringed, slumped down in my seat and mumbled something and thought to myself, I did follow the directions, I just presented it differently. 

Did my teacher understand that there are kids who like to express themselves using art or music? No.

Did my teacher understand that creating a report with hand drawn pictures and presenting it in a colorful way is a lot of work and demonstrates that I'm artistic? No. 

Would she see that I followed her directions? Probably not. 

When I first started teaching, I decided to give my students book report choices. Over the many years I've been teaching I've been collecting ideas and creating new ones. It was a year or so ago I decided to compile them and offer them for free on TeachersPayTeachers. 

Why? Because I want teachers to have this list at their fingertips, so they can offer their students many different ways to report about books. Give them a list of two or three to choose from and you'll feel their excitement as they talk about which ones they really, really, really want to do!

Have fun!

Ruth

Homophones Are Fun!

Which which is which? I remember my fourth grade teacher writing that question on the board and explaining what homophones are and why it's important to always write the correct spelling of them.

To this day, I remember the important lessons I was taught and still "hear" and "see" my teachers as they stressed important concepts and strategies. 

I had little tricks I used to remember some of them. The word "witch" contains the word "wit" so I thought of a nice witch who had a good sense of humor.  Little tricks like that can make difference. 

Another example are the homophones "bear" and "bare".  The word "bear" has "EAR" in it. Bears have ears! That one is easy. 

As I teach homophones we brainstorm for little tricks like that and I'm always amazed the kinds of clues my students think of to remember the correct spellings of homophones. 

Download my free homophone activities and have fun!