Teachers Pay Teachers 3 Million Strong Sale - Up to 28% off!

Teachers Pay Teachers is having their 3 Million Teachers Strong sale starting tomorrow, 2/27-2/28!! You can get all items up to 28% off! Many teachers will be offering 20% off their items for these two days and additional 10% off is given by Teachers Pay Teachers. Just use code TPT3!

Both Etc and I will be offering our items at 20% off. Follow these links to see our stores:
Lesson Lady
Etc

Here are some of our best selling items that are on sale:

 

My fast finisher art activities packet has 50 printable drawing pages that encourage creativity. They are perfect for the fast finishers in your classroom and has been rated 4.0/4.0 by more than 100 people!

This Spanish centers packet contains eight stations for reviewing Spanish vocabulary and is a best selling item.


Check out more of the lessons here:

- Fun Art lessons for K-12
- Math & Literacy centers
- Educational Games
- Spanish products
- Upper level language arts lessons


For more stores offering sales, check out this TPT store linky party.

Writing Across the Curriclum: Art Writing Prompts

Writing across the curriculum has something that has always been popular in every school I have taught at and it makes complete sense since writing is such a crucial part of everyday life and a necessary skill for our students.

Sometimes it can be tricky to make writing interesting in every subject. This is especially true of art since sometimes students can tend to think art is all about creating or getting messy when it is really also about learning.

To help combine writing and art I put together a packet of art focused prompts. The prompts are divided into three categories - easy, medium and hard so you can pick and choose the level you want for your class.

Check out the preview if you want to read some example prompts for each level.

These writing prompts are also great discussion starters and can be used in many other ways including materials for sub folders, exit tickets, bell ringers and more.

It's an easy to go packet with little to no prep work, just depends on if you want to make the prompts on transparencies or just read them out loud to your class!

If you're interested in this pack, check it out at my TPT store.

Fabulous Freebies: National Tell a Fairy Tale Day

On February 26, 2013 is National Tell a Fairy Tale Day. This could definitely be a fun incorporation into your classroom or spark some interesting writing activities! I haven't ever had a chance to celebrate this in my classroom but now that I know about it I would definitely consider celebrating it in the future.

Here are some freebies to help you celebrate National Tell a Fairy Tale in your classroom.

 

Find lots of resources related to fairy tales perfect for students in grades 4-6 at this site. There are PowerPoints, flash cards, vocabulary, fables and more. This website really makes it easy to incorporate fairy tales into your classroom.

Jump Start also has fairy tale printables for elementary age students. The sheets are easily downloadable and are very colorful and filled with nice graphics. 

Arts Edge has a nice website plan for exploring American tall tales geared towards grades 5-8. The lesson plan is thoroughly written out step by step. Some tall tales include Davy Crockett and Paul Bunyan. 

High school students might enjoy analyzing the stereotypes in fairy tales using the lesson plans and printables available at Thirteen Ed Online. I like that it starts with a pretest before comparing your answers to fairy tales. 

Have fun if you decide to celebrate this day at school!

Using American Sign Language: Top 10 Signs To Teach Your Class

One of the best pieces of advice I received as a new teacher was to use nonverbal cues to direct students.  The veteran teacher leading my professional development session said that it commanded students' attention to teachers gave them a stern look and told them what to do by pointing or gesturing.  I have found over the years that my students tend to respond really well to it.  It actually is a very effective way to direct students without being verbally confrontational.  Students who struggle with auditory instructions or speaking clearly appreciate the visual and kinesthetic form of communication.  Plus, teaching them American Sign Language comes with the added bonus of teaching them another real language while making them more aware of how people communicate when they can't hear.

Many of the signs I use don't even need to be taught; my students seem to just know what I'm saying.  Even if they don't at first, the nonverbal signs seem to peak their interest and they reflect for a moment on their behavior in order to interpret the sign.

Here are ten that I think can come in useful in any classroom.  If your students take to it, there are online dictionaries that can teach you and your students how to say much more.

1) pay attention
2) toilet
3) sit down
4) look
5) wait
6) calm down
7) finished
8) yes
9) no
10) understand

Ask Our Readers

Heather wrote to me on my Lesson Lady Facebook page and asked for some suggestions to help a student of hers. I gave her some ideas, but I know that our readers will give her many more options and suggestions than I could come up with on my own. Here is her question:

 

"I am desperate for some ideas. I have a 3rd grade student who is struggling with multiple step directions or more than one assignment at a time. What type of tools would you recommend to assist this student? Any ideas, thoughts, or anything would help." 

 

Thanks for the help!

 

 

Fabulous Freebies: African American History for the Upper Grades

With two weeks left in February and the Valentine's Day excitement behind us, now is a great time to find (new) ways to celebrate African American History month in your classroom.  PBS has created some great multimedia lessons to teach students about the history of social justice struggles in this country through the experiences of African Americans.  The history lessons are powerful and the themes are universal.  There are six of them:

African American History Lessons Since the Civil Rights

It Takes Courage To Be Weak

Life After the Emancipation Proclamation

Civil Disobedience and Social Change

Causes and Effects of Abolition

Resistance to Slavery

The lessons are most overtly linked to social studies, but there are ways to link them to so many other content areas.  For example, the lesson on Resistance to Slavery talks about French ruled St. Domingue and Spanish ruled Florida.  It also has students identifying causes and effects, thinking critically about pros and cons of various approaches to problems, and writing journal reflections.  Math teachers could easily create a lesson where students calculate the distances between territories that did have slaves and free territories.  Music teachers can look at creative form of resistance and tie it to a lesson on the use of spirituals in resisting slavery.  Science teachers can discuss the climate changes between west Africa, the Northeastern U.S., Florida and the Caribbean and the adaptations that people would have had to make to survive in each territory.  

If nothing else, bookmark this cite as a something to look at in the future.  The lessons are thorough and tied to the common core. 

Learning Values from Olympic Athletes

Besides the Olympic themed lessons on math, science, and more, students can also learn a lot from the Olympic athletes themselves. The values that are behind the Olympic athletes are great values that students can use in a classroom as well. Here are some values students can learn about from the Olympics:

1. Pride 

Students can take pride in themselves and their accomplishments just like the Olympic athletes do. Each country present at the Olympics also models pride in the way they celebrate their athletes at each event.

2. Sportsmanship

Many of my students over the years have had a hard time losing a game and being good sports. Seeing the Olympians cheer on their fellow athletes and lose gracefully is a great example for children everywhere.

3. Persistence

Many of these athletes overcome great barriers before making it to the Olympics or at past competitions. Seeing these athletes overcome these challenges is a great motivation for students to overcome their own challenges and succeed.

4. Responsibility

Athletes take care of many responsibilities including training, working and some also go to school. The way they handle these responsibilities and fulfill their duties is a great example for our students who also have many responsibilities.

5.  Health

Athletes are a naturally a model of health to our students. Most of them eat very healthy meals and have a great exercise routine. Striving to be healthy will help students in and out of the classroom!