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If you enjoy the resources in this email, please click the button above and forward it to a friend or colleague. Thanks!
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 February Activities Mini Pack - FREE!
Free download on TeachersPayTeachers!
I know that it's not even the middle of January yet, but some people are already tracking down their February teaching resources. That's why I wanted to let you know that my 25-page February Activities from Teaching Resources mini pack is free from my TpT store! It's almost exactly the same as last year but I did add a snazzy new cover and a cooperative learning problem solving activity. I'm offering it as a free sample of my seasonal mini packs. If you download it and like it, I would appreciate a rating and a comment! You can also follow me on TpT to be sure to receive announcements when I add something new. (Note: You can purchase the February Activities mini pack from Seasonal Page if you prefer, but it's not discounted this month since it's free on TpT.)
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 Power Reading Workshop
Norfolk Workshop
Deadline this Friday,
January 20th!
This is the last week to sign up for Getting Started with Power Reading Workshop! The deadline for registering is Friday, January 20th. Hope to see you there!
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 Celebrate the Chinese New Year!
Chinese New Year begins
January 23rd this year!
The Chinese New Year is right around the corner, and Sam and the Lucky Money is a great book to read for this occasion. I'm giving you a little heads up on this in case you need to track down a copy. It's a wonderful story your class will love!
Last year I created a free teaching packet with a few Chinese New Year activities, and one resource I created is a set of discussion cards for this book. You can download my Chinese New Year packet free from my Seasonal page on Teaching Resources.
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 Fun with Polygon Explorations!
Perfect Test Prep for All Polygon Concepts!
Do you know what I have found to be the absolute BEST way to teach and review polygon concepts? Give each team a set of about 30 assorted polygons and have them sort those shapes in a variety of different ways. For example, they can classify them according to whether they are regular or irregular, whether they have an obtuse angle or not, or if whether they are concave or convex. After creating a special set of numbered polygons for my classroom a few years ago, I decided to put them all together with directions and supplementary activities so others could benefit without having to reinvent the wheel.
 Polygon Explorations was the result of those efforts, and the PDF file can be purchased with or without the Smartboard file that has shapes to accompany the paper patterns. You can preview the PDF file online to see exactly what's in the pack. By the way, a little bird told me that Promethean board users can easily convert Smartboard files to Promethean files. If you don't know how to do it, I'll bet someone at your school does!
Amazing Test Results!
By the way, I used those sorting activities for several days before our state test the last year I was teaching, and we had loads of fun while covering all the essential concepts! Need I mention that my kids blew the top out of the geometry part of the test? It was really amazing, but I knew the results were from all of the activities we had done with our polygons.
25% Price Drop
I just dropped the price on both versions of Polygon Explorations 25% to bring them more in line with the prices on my other Math Mini Packs. Why not take a look at this time-saving resource?
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 Cooperative Learning Checklist for Success
Active Engagement Blog on TeachHub.com
I'm a guest blogger for TeachHub.com and my blog topic is Active Engagement Made Easy. This month I wrote about a few of the challenges I faced years ago when I first started using cooperative learning. Believe me, it wasn't always easy! I created a checklist called Cooperative Learning SOS that you can use if your cooperative learning lessons are not all you had hoped they would be. This list is a series of reflection questions to help you pinpoint the issue and correct it. Please leave a comment on the blog! You can also download the checklist from my Cooperative Learningpage on Teaching Resources.
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BrainPOP and MLK Update
Free Teaching Pack!
Last week I shared that I was working on a teaching packet of materials for the free BrainPOP video on Dr. Martin Luther King. If you follow my store on TpT, you should have been notified when I uploaded that item early in the week. I also announced it on Facebook. However, if you missed it, you can still download it and save it for next year! Just download it from my Seasonal page on Teaching Resources.
 Free BrainPOP iPad App!
By the way, I forgot to tell you that BrainPOP has a free app for the iPhone and iPad! It's called the BrainPOP Featured Movie app, and the featured movie of the day is always free. You can actually watch any movie that's free (like the MLK movie) by searching their database, and if you have an account with them you can log and and watch all of your BrainPOP movies there! I love their daily Featured Movie and if I were still teaching, I would start off the day at least a few times a week by showing the Featured Movie which is usually less than 5 minutes long. You could also use it as the basis of a center activity. Download it from the iTunes store.
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 When It's Too Cold to Go Outside: Ideas from Facebook Fans
Facebook Freebie Question: When the weather keeps your class inside for recess, how do you make sure they get their daily dose of physical activity?
On Thursday I posted the Facebook giveaway question above and the responses were amazing! Sounds like even when the weather is bad, you're finding ways to keep kids active. If you're interested, you can read all the responses to the question by visiting this link on Facebook.
Drum Roll Please.....
I selected Laura Charpentier as the winner for her idea, "Speed Studying," which is like "speed dating", but the kids have to discuss whatever topic is given. Laura can send an email to help@lauracandler.com and tell me which digital item she would like to have worth $20 or less from my Teaching Resources website. Congratulations Laura!
Tattle Tale Solutions
I also have to say that we've had some other great discussions on the Wall, too. Brenda Lynn asked what to do about her kids tattling and over 50 people responded! You can read about it and contribute your ideas by clicking on the direct link to the tattle-tale discussion.
The moral of the story is if you have a question or need advice, ask it on the Teaching Resources Wall! You know know what you might get!
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 January Activities
Mini Pack 2012
$1.00 for Subscribers
Use Discount Code JAN2012MP
You can still download the January 2012 Seasonal Activities Mini Pack. Did you ever wonder why they put salt on the roads in the winter? There's a fun science activity for your students to find out and explore the concept! You can preview the January 2012 Mini Pack online or go directly to the Seasonal page to purchase it. Enter discount code JAN2012MP to take $3.50 off the $4.50 price. |
