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Showing posts with label anchor activity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anchor activity. Show all posts

Saturday, July 13, 2024

IT'S ABOUT TIME, TEACHERS, for ANCHOR ACTIVITIES!

It's about time, teachers, for ANCHOR ACTIVITIES! Also known as warm ups or bell ringers, once you implement anchor activities in your classroom, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

Like many educators, I use these activities to engage students upon entering the classroom, thereby settling them while I attend to other tasks. My students are also trained to turn to the anchor activities when they finish ahead of the other students or while waiting for individual help from the instructor. This is why I prefer to call them anchor activities.

Having anchor activities in place gives learners meaningful engagement during transitional or awkward interludes. They provide opportunities to practice multidisciplinary skills. My goal is to challenge my learners without adding to MY workload. Thus, I have created an entire year's worth of brain stimulating pursuits. They are all digital and thus, require no preparation. Designed for upper elementary and middle school students, the tasks are intriguing and entertaining. Learners WANT to do them!

You are invited to try them before you buy them with this FREE set:

Once you fall in love with them, as I'm certain you will, there are 2 sets available in my store:





Wednesday, August 2, 2023

IT'S ABOUT TIME for NEW DIGITAL RESOURCES!

 
Are you looking for an anchor activity that will truly challenge your upper elementary learners?  Would it be even better if it was digital?  Do you love integrating different disciplines with higher level thinking skills?

If you answered YES, then THINKING CORNER is what you need.

Start each day out with these digital, brain exercises.  Included are perennial favorites like Hink Pinks, et al., and Word Ladders.  


If Triads and Word Winkers are new to your students, I assure they will fall in love with them. 


Train your learners in math reasoning with Mystery Numbers and Monster Math.


You can try THINKING CORNER for FREE!


Then you can get a full year's worth of daily critical thinking with THINKING CORNER Vol. 1 & 2.

Thinking Corner is exclusive to TPT Easel.  Easel can be used on any digital device.  




Sunday, June 18, 2023

IT'S TIME TO CHECK OUT MY BIRTHDAY SALE!

For my birthday, I'm sale-ebrating with a sale for you!  Every bundle in my TPT store is discounted 50% through 6/24/23.  

Here's a sample of the awesome deals you can score:

If you haven't discovered HINK PINKS, et al., you are in for a treat.  

WHAT ARE HINK PINKS?
  • Hink Pinks are word riddles.  
  • Hink Pinks are fun, word riddles.
  • Hink Pinks are fun, word riddles with rhyming answers.
  • Hink Pinks are word play.
  • Hink Pinks expand vocabulary.
  • Hink Pinks extend students' vocabulary.
  • Hink Pinks are fun, critical thinking exercises.
  • Hink Pinks are fun, critical thinking exercises that help students learn to interpret data.
  • Hink Pinks are fun, critical thinking exercises that help students make inferences.
  • Hink Pinks are fun, critical thinking exercises that help students draw conclusions.
  • Hink Pinks are fun, critical thinking exercises that teach students to analyze new information.
  • Hink Pinks are serious learning disguised as fun.
HOW DO HINK PINKS WORK?
  • Read the clues.
  • Think of a 2 word answer. The answer words must rhyme.
  • Each answer word must have just 1 syllable.
For example:


Did you figure it out? The answer is barn yarn.

HOW DO YOU USE HINK PINKS?
  • as a literacy center  
  • as a warm-up activity
  • as a sponge activity
  • as an anchor activity
  • as a fast finishers' challenge
  • for differentiation of instruction
  • for enrichment

WHAT ARE HINKY PINKIES, HINKITY PINKITIES, AND HINK PINKS FOR KINDERS?

  • HINKY PINKIES are just like HINK PINKS, except the 2 words in the answer must have 2 syllables each.
  • HINKITY PINKITIES are like HINK PINKS, too, except the 2 words in the answer must have 3 syllables.
  • HINK PINKS & HINKY PINKIES FOR KINDERS are word riddles that do not require reading. Students deduce the 2 rhyming words that answer the riddle by studying the picture. This makes them perfect for kindergarten and 1st graders who do not yet read, as well as ESL and ELL students.






Saturday, August 6, 2022

TRY TRIADS for Critical Thinking


All of my TRIADS products have just been refreshed.  Every set of these critical thinking, word relationships building, task cards is available for digital learning on TPT Easel.  And, even better, the price of each product has been reduced!

If TRIADS are new to you, you are in for a treat.  Your 3rd - 6th grade learners will love the challenge of finding the common word for each TRIAD.


Currently, there are 11 TRIADS units available in my store, as well as 3 bundles. 


Try them before you buy them with this FREEBIE!


TRIADS units have 20 task cards each.  They are provided in color (minimally to save your printing costs), but will print well if you change your printer settings to grayscale.  

If you opt for grayscale printing, I recommend that you print the cards on colorful cardstock.  It will add pizzazz to your task cards.
 This bundle contains the above three products at 20% savings.

Triads are great for center work. I include a critical thinking center in my daily rotations. They exercise the upper 3 levels of Bloom's Taxonomy: analysis, synthesis, and creation.                 

TRIADS are also perfect for an anchor activity or a fast finisher's challenge.

Carry several TRIADS task cards with you when you travel to special classes.  If there is a delay before students can enter, use TRIADS for a sponge activity.

The above 3 sets are available in this money saving bundle.


As a GATE teacher, I created these to challenge my students' thinking.  It was a delightful surprise when my learners begged to do more of them! 
TRIADS were so popular with my classes that I kept making more until I had 180 in total.
 

It was an absolute delight when students began creating their own to challenge each other and me! 


These 3 sets are available in this 
economical bundle.
This set of TRIADS was created to add to my Feet, Socks, & Shoes line of products. It, too, is available in print and digitally on TPT Easel.

What teachers are saying about TRIADS:



You'll love them!