Create a Little Panda-monium!

It's about time, teachers, for a new product!

I just launched Panda Pockets Classroom Jobs and I'm so excited that I'm making it free for the weekend!!  

Here is a little glimpse:

There are 17 labeled pockets, plus 7 more that are editable. 30 pandas are provided with numbered ball caps to represent student numbers. That will save you the time and energy needed to reprint the pandas each year.

I recommend printing the components on heavy cardstock. Attach a 3.5" craft stick to the pandas to give them more stability and to make stuffing the pockets easier.

If you grab this weekend freebie, please leave a comment on TPT. Your feedback is very important to me. TYIA.

I have more panda themed decor coming, so stay tuned!

These panda products are ready to go:

Pi Day

It's about time, teachers, for ...

Just a little humor for 3.14.

I loooooove lemon meringue pie.  What's your favorite flavor?

Black History Month

It's about time, teachers, for Black History Month. Are you looking for some curricula? Have you tried teaching through poetry?

Black History Month Poetry Possibilities offers 14 poems (copy ready for their anthologies) about these notable African Americans:

• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Harriet Tubman 
• Garret Morgan
• Granville T. Woods
• George Washington Carver
• Matthew Henson
• Jackie Robinson
• Leontyne Price
• Muhammed Ali
• Guion Stewart Bluford, Jr.
• Rosa Parks

While each poem provides important information about each of these people, the teaching possibilities extend the learning in myriad ways.  For example, this poem about the astronaut, Guion Stewart Bluford, Jr., provides lots of information about the man and his accomplishments.  But the poem provides many more opportunities for learning.  Note the unusual form of the poem.

That form is quite effective in presenting information.  So, why not have your students apply it to another subject?  It could focus on another notable African American, or it could be applied to something closer to home - mom.  

This teaching possibility is described in #2 below.

As you can see above, the Poetry Possibilities provide suggestions for other subject matter, as well.

Each poem has a teaching point that applies to poetry.  After all, students should learn to appreciate poetry as a literary form. 

That teaching point leads to another teaching possibility:

A quick review of basic grammar is always a good idea.

The teaching possibilities need not be limited to language arts and history.  The 3rd possibility for this poem invites students to employ a Venn Diagram in comparing the astronaut to another man of science, George Washington Carver.  A template is provided:

By using some or all of the Poetry Possibilities provided for this collection of poems, you will have plenty of curricula for this special month.

Life teaches us to make good use of TIME, while TIME teaches us the value of life.

You may also be interested in these poetry units:

Alphabet Letter Associations

After several decades of teaching first grade, I became a Reading Recovery teacher. Best. Training. Ever!!!! And, oh so, humbling. It was through that training I came to realize some of the mistakes I had been making as a teacher of emerging readers. And, now, it's about time I share some of those revelations--

Chief among them is the realization that the traditional, alphabet letter associations are fraught with pitfalls, especially for reluctant readers. The first problem comes with the letter e. Common picture & letter associations are elephant and egg. Neither is representative of the letter sounds, despite the fact that they bear an initial e.  

As accomplished readers, we know that there is a short e sound of the beginning of elephant.  For emerging readers, however, it sounds for all the world as if the first sound is L.  

(Elephant was at the zoo.)

Similarly, egg sounds like it begins with a long a, at least here in the midwest. I am fortunate to have an easy solution for this "e dilemma;" my students learned to associate the letter e with Evans, my last name!  That will not likely work for you, however. 

So what's a teacher to do?  My kiddos have grown quite fond of these alternatives:

In RR, we let the child provide the association, which is most likely to be the long sound of vowels.  Of course, if s/he supplies elephant, envelope, egg, elbow, ear, or any of the other "confusing" words, it is just fine. As a classroom teacher, you may want to consider such potential confusions when you select your display posters.

Another consideration when choosing vowel associations, is to avoid r-controlled examples. In my experience, however, this is far less problematic for young learners than the above examples.

With regard to consonants, hard consonants are easier for building associations. Think cow vs. circus; game vs. giraffe. Similarly, consonant blends are less clear than simple, initial consonants. Think grapes vs. gorilla; ship vs. sun; chip vs. cap; three vs. tent. You get the idea.

Time is not measured by clocks, but by moments.

You may be interested in these alphabet posters:

5 Things to Do With Your Class While You Test Individuals

It's a common problem: what can I do with the other students while I test individuals, especially the first few weeks of school? You are still creating your class atmosphere; still figuring out the range of abilities; still learning their names! So what in the world can you do to keep them busy without using copious amounts of coloring sheets? Here are some suggestions --

1. Challenge their critical thinking with Autumn Square Puzzlers. There are 3 levels of difficulty; even the brightest students can be occupied for a very, long time.  No reading is required.

And if your students love square puzzlers as much as mine do, you can satisfy them with LOTS of the puzzles available here.

2. Give them Latin Squares. Like the square puzzlers, these challenges will take time and stamina to complete, but do not require reading. Monkey Squares are also differentiated, giving you lots of options.

3.  Provide tangram puzzles. They are great brain exercise, even for non-readers. My tangrams have multiple puzzle pages that students can share and swap.  And, they are differentiated.

4.  For students who can read, provide Triads. You will need to spend a little time introducing these critical thinking challenges. Then get back to testing as your students take off with Triads. Kiddos LOVE them. These critical thinking cards can be used in small groups for cooperative learning or given to individuals.

5. Combine word work with computation, individual effort with competition, when you engage your students with Scrattle. This FREE product initially challenges students to create words with a specific set of letters. Then they calculate the value of their words using Scrabble™ letter values and linear equations.  Finally, they engage a friend in a battle to see whose words are the most valuable. [Scrattle = Scrabble + Battle] This activity, too, is differentiated, providing recording sheets with equations that require only addition, to complex, multiple operations.

Time is more valuable than money.  You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.

--Jim Rohn

Calling All Forest Friends, Classroom Campers, and Woodland Wanderers

Calling all forest friends...

If you are creating a forest/woodland/camping themed classroom, this set of alphabet and color posters is just what you need.

You may also like this companion product of number posters.

If you would like even more forest friends resources, click here.

Here's to a fun and furry school year!

Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters.

Back to School Poetry Possibilities

If you follow me at all, you know that I'm passionate about poetry.

I want my students to share that passion, so I start teaching with poetry on day 1.  

All of those new school supplies are quite exciting!  So, we write concrete poetry about them.  For example:

Ask your students to choose one of their supplies or an object related to school.  Then instruct them to draw the object.  To make a concrete poem, they should write their thoughts about the subject around the shape or fill it with words and phrases pertaining to it.  If you work with young children, provide simple pictures of school related objects like these:

My concrete poem example with the glue bottle rhymes.  Depending on the ages and abilities of your students, you can decide whether or not to require rhymes.

This idea comes from 

Cheers to the new school year!

You may be interested in joining my collaborative board, 

If you'd like to join, follow the board, then leave your pinterest ID in a comment.  I'd love to add you!