Summer Homework

I have a quick freebie for you.  I created this for my class to give them a few simple activities to keep them busy this summer.  Students will need a bit a paper, pencil, and crayons.  I hope you can find it useful for your students this summer.  You can find it here.

Pin It

Freebies!

This site is dedicated to sharing free resources for all teachers.  Resources are geared for pk-12th grade.  There is something for everyone!  I hope you will check often and enjoy all the freebies!  Happy summer!

Pin It

Wow! Look what I found!!

I wanted to share a new artist that creates amazing clipart and she has a very special deal for teachers.  She has 2 types of clipart in her store: cutesy stuff for primary and realistic animals that would work for all grade levels. Aisne at Clipart Club 4 Teachers is working really hard to make teachers happy.  She has a special deal for all teachers.  You can buy a membership to her graphics for only $35 and is good for an entire year.  There are currently over 400 graphics available in her store and she is adding new graphics daily.  She is also taking special requests, so let her know what you need.  All of her graphics can be used in your classroom AND in the products you make to sell on TeachersPayTeachers. Hop on over there and check out her store. She has a few freebies for you to try out.  Let her know that I sent you over!

Pin It

Teacher Appreciation Jackpot!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day!!  Make sure you hop from blog to blog (Sunday, May 6th only.)  There will be a total of over 130 freebies offered!

Because so many bloggers are participating, this event will be divided into three grade level groups. Each of those smaller events is being coordinated by one blogger as shown below:

• PK - Grade 2 - April McNair on A Modern Teacher
• Grades 3 - 6 - Laura Candler on Corkboard Connnections
• Grades 7 - 12 - Adrianne Meldrum on The Tutor House

And the freebie is........




Pirate Pete's Treasure: Math and Literacy Centers.  




I hope you LOVE it!   My entire store is also on sale 20% and if you use the coupon code, you will get an additional 10% off anything on the site.

Thanks so much for all you do! We appreciate your commitment to your students and your dedication as an educator!

Pin It

What do you teach? Linky Party

I absolutely LOVE the students I have the privilege of teaching. I believe that all children are capable of learning and growing into productive members of society.  In my class, as in every special education class that I know about, the children MUST be explicitly taught skills that other children learn naturally.  I thought it would be interesting for all of us "special" teachers to make a list of skills we teach on a daily basis that will never be on any standardized test, but are essential for our kids to grow.  (General ed teachers, you are welcome to participate as well!)  I have many good friends who are general education teachers, but many of them truly do not understand what goes on in my class on a daily basis.

Here's my list:

1. how to tie shoes (all students up through 5th grade)
2. how to walk up and/or down steps so you don't fall/trip/step on the person in front of you
3. how to walk in a line
4. how to use the bathroom independently
5. how to shower/bathe at home so the other kids do not harass them because of body odor
6. when it is appropriate to scratch/adjust your underclothes
7. how to brush your teeth
8. how to ask for help
9. look at the person who is talking to you
10. how to make friends
11. how to have an appropriate conversation with peers/adults
12. how to blow your nose
13. how to move through the building and find where you are going
14. following directions
15. how to wait for your turn
16. how to handle frustration
17. how to handle disappointing situations
18. how to handle changes in schedule
19. what is appropriate behavior in special programs/field trips 
20. how to maintain appropriate behavior when mad/sad/happy/excited
21. how to handle new situations
22. how to deal with people in costumes and other super scary people
23. how to handle fire drills/tornado drills/ and any other unexpected drill 
24. how to stay with the group during a field trip
25. what to do when you get lost on a field trip 
26. what to do when you get lost in the school building
27. how to let others know they are annoying you in an appropriate manner
28. what clothing is appropriate for the weather 
29. what clothing is appropriate for your age/body/gender
30. what to do in an emergency at home/school/in public places
31. how to call 911 and when it's appropriate
32. how to pay attention to what is going on around you
33. look in front of you when you are walking so you don't run into doors/walls/people
34. table manners
35. fine motor skills
36. gross motor skills
37. using logic and reason to figure out common problems
38. understanding that other people have feelings
39. understanding other people's perspective
40. why we have to keep working when everything is so hard
41. 
    

get the InLinkz code

Pin It

Comparing Numbers Math Workstation Freebie

I have a great freebie for you today!   This is a dice game that can be used in math workstations. Students practice greater than, less than, and equal to numbers 0-999. A list of teacher tips on how to modify so that all students can participate is included. It includes a student recording sheet.  You can pick it up here.
You can also find more great math freebies here!

Pin It

Earth Day Trees

Kandinsky is one of my favorite artists.  I saw a wonderful idea on another blog (I wish I could remember where to give her credit!) of using Kandinsky's concentric circles to create colorful leaves for a tree.  After a lesson on why we have Earth Day and when it was created, we used our knowledge on Kandinsky to create this great tree!
First, we painted the background.  We used our brushes in a patting motion to create a implied texture.

We gave it some time to dry and everyone got to paint their own concentric circle leaves on the tree.  It turned out amazing!  I'm so glad that I read that blog post!  (If you know where the other blog post is, please link it in the comments.)

Here is our finished painting!

Pin It

Borrowing....

Do your kids have a hard time with subtracting larger numbers when a zero is involved?

Problems like this makes my kiddos nuts!  I have finally figured out a simpler way to help them subtract
accurately without any "magic" numbers showing up!  Maybe you all have already figured this out, but just incase there are others who were struggling with this as I have been, I thought I would share a teaching strategy.

My kids know they need to borrow from the zero, but they cannot figure out how or what number that silly zero turns into.  I started asking my kids to look at the next number beside the zero and make it a double digit number.  In this case, we would look at 30 instead of just 0.  Then, I ask my kids, "What number comes just before 30?"  It takes some of them a few seconds to think of the answer, but they can count backward and figure out that 29 comes just before 30.  So we cross out 30, make it a 29, and add the "1" in front of the number in the one's place.

So simple!  The kids get it, remember it, and are using it without prompting!!  I hope this helps some of your struggling kiddos!
 You can find more great teaching tips from Charity at the OC Blog here! 

Pin It

Jackson Pollack Earth Art

To celebrate Earth Day, we made Jackson Pollack inspired art.  We looked at several of Pollack's paintings and discussed them.  We discussed how Pollack loved to throw himself (literally and figuratively) into his work.  The kids got REALLY excited because they thought I was going to let them throw paint!  Well, they had a momentary let down when they realized that wasn't going to happen!  We made these super cute earth art by putting white circles in a box lid, put several drops of blue and green paint on the circle, add in a few marbles, and roll them around. Presto!  Pollack inspired art without the mess!

Pin It

Flat Stanley

I LOVE teaching at an arts integrated school.  We have so much fun!  This week while reading Flat Stanley, I thought it would be fun to make flat versions of ourselves for our Arts' Festival.  The kids had so much fun!  They really got into the project.  Here is my flat class!

 It was really interesting to see how the kids thought of themselves.  They added lots of wonderful details to their art.

I especially love the details this 3rd grader gave himself!  I was really amazed at how they all turned out!

Pin It

Pirate Pete is up for Grabs!

Valerie over at All Students Can Shine is hosting a giveaway to celebrate 200 blog followers and the arrival of her little one.  It is 5 days of giveaway madness!  Hop over and enter! Make sure you stop by each day, because there will be a new giveaway each day.  Pirate Pete will be one of her featured products!  Good luck everyone!

Pin It

Split Class & Multi-Age Linky Party

Mrs. Bainbridge's Class is hosting a linky party for tips on how to teach a multi-age class.  Head over to her blog and check out all of the link-ups!




I teach a k-5th grade special ed class (very much like the old one room school house)  I currently have 14 students with one full time and one part time teaching assistant.  I could never do my job without them.  About half of my students take the regular state assessment and the other half participate in the portfolio or alternate assessment.

I begin our day teaching written language as a whole group lesson.  My TA helps my 1st graders who have a more difficult time with writing.  We move into whole group reading.  Again my TA moves around the room and helps those who are struggling.  All three of us take a small group for reading.  Small groups are divided on instructional level, not grade level.  I also teach math whole group and small group.  Again, everyone is divided by instructional level.  I teach science, social studies, and health whole group.  My TA steps in and helps those who need it.  All of my students go to special area classes with their grade level.  The only time my classroom is empty is when go to computer lab and library once a week as a class.  I have "planning" time at the end of the day while my students do learning stations or sensory stations.  It seems like I blink and the entire day is gone!

Pin It

And the winner is....

Thanks everyone for entering!  Since I had so many enter, I decided to give an extra prize to 2 other ladies. The grand prize goes to Ms. Richling!!  Ms. Richling, I will send your email to all of the teacher-authors who have donated a product and they will send you your file via email.  Please let me know which products you want from my store up to $20 and I will email them to you!

For 2nd and 3rd place winners, I will also give you $20 worth of products from  my store.  Congratulations Heather and Shawna!!  Just shoot me an email and let me know what you want!!  (mrs.banks.04 (at) gmail (dot) com)

Pin It

Just a few more hours....

Just a few more hours until a winner is selected in my giveaway!  Head down to the next post for all of the details and to enter!  Good luck!

Pin It

It's Giveaway Time!

I want to thank each and everyone of you out in cyberspace for following my little blog!  When I began this adventure about a year ago, I had no idea that anyone would ever want to hear about what happened in my little corner of the teaching world.  I want to say thank you to everyone by hosting my first ever multi-teacher/blog giveaway.  I have several AMAZING ladies who have offered up some AMAZING teaching resources for one lucky winner.  (If we have a super-amazing turn out, I will offer additional prizes for a 2nd and 3rd place winner!)  Here's what one lucky person will win!

$20 from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

100 Riddles for the 100 Chart $4 by Linda Nelson

Super Sleuths Sentences $2.50 by Michelle Walker

Long and Short Vowel Sort $3 by HoJo

Spring Unit Combo Pack $10 by Valerie Young

Spelling Contract $2 by KnightsTeacher

Awesome Earth Day Activities $4 by Krystal Mills

Bug Ya: Basic Math Facts and Computation Game $2.29 by Scipi

Cootie Catchers-Contractions $5 by Stacy Mickelson

Springing into LiteracyStation $5.95 by Cynthia Vautrot

Nouns Mini Unit $4 by Tessa Maguire

Gumball Hard and Soft C $3 by The Teaching Bank

Monstering Multiplication $6 by A Series of 3rd Grade Events

Dolphins at Daybreak Novel Study $3 by TchrBrowne

Mini Beast Math Centers $5 by Down Under Teacher

Spring Math and Literacy Centers $8 by D Conway

Wow!  That's a lot of stuff!  Over $80 worth of amazing teaching resources ready to use in your classroom!  So, who wants to win it all?  I do!  I do!  Oh well, since I can't win it, here's what you need to do.  Leave a comment for each each blog or store that you follow.  If you follow ALL of the stores, that will count as 2 bonus entries.  (Leave 2 additional comments.)  If you follow ALL blogs that will count as an additional 2 bonus entries.  Make sure you leave your email or blog so that I can contact the winner.  Here's the list of blogs and stores.  Hop over and thank each of these ladies for being so generous while you sign up to follow them!
Thanks to everyone for participating and good luck!  A lucky winner will be selected on Wednesday, March 28 around 5:00 pm!

To Follow each store, click on the product description above.  To follow each blog, click on the links below!

Want to find more awesome giveaways?! The 3am Teacher is having a Giveaway LInky party!

Pin It