Monday, April 30, 2018

Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway - April 30, 2018


Teacher Giveaway!

Teacher Giveaway - Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card giveaway

$25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway


Every week one lucky teacher gets to go on a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree!  Will it be you this week?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 


Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 5/7/18 and is open worldwide.  


Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 




Monday, April 23, 2018

Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway - April 23, 2018

Teacher Giveaway!

Teacher Giveaway - Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card giveaway

$25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway


Every week one lucky teacher gets to go on a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree!  Will it be you this week?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 


Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 4/30/18 and is open worldwide.  


Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 





Sunday, April 22, 2018

Epic! App Review

Thank you to Epic! for sponsoring this post.  While this was a sponsored opportunity from Epic!, all content and opinions expressed here are my own. I only promote brands and products that I love, and we have truly loved using epic! in our classroom! I hope you enjoy today's post and discover some great ideas for using epic! in your classroom!


epic! app review

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  

A few years ago I had a student in my class who came into fourth grade as a non reader.  He barely knew his alphabet.  

When I conference with my students at the beginning of the school year, I always ask them, "What kind of reader are you?"

He answered, "I'm the kind of reader who reads chapter books."  My heart broke for him knowing his current level, but I made a promise to him that he definitely would be by the end of the year.  

At Christmas time we started his first "chapter books" the Fly Guy books.  By the end of the school year he was devouring the Mercy Watson series.  I had kept my promise, and I couldn't have been prouder of him!

He recently stopped by to say, "Hi!" to me, so of course I asked, "Are you still a chapter book reader?"  

He said, "I don't read books anymore."  My heart sunk... then he added, "Now I read Epic!"


epic app

I had of course heard of Epic!, and had even used it a few times in my class, but his saying this made me check out the app a bit more.  I am always on the look-out for anything that will help my reluctant readers LOVE reading!

Even though the app has been on all of my students' iPads already, I hadn't really seen any of them use it.  So, I decided a mini-lesson was in order to introduce it to them. (If you haven't already signed up for Epic! you can sign-up here - it is FREE for teachers)! 


epic sign-in page

When your students sign-in to your account, they will see this screen, where they can press their names to find the books they would like to read or to continue reading the books they were already reading.



Epic interests survey

They can choose interests and Epic! will suggest titles for them, or they can just search the over 25,000 titles that are available.

This student searched for Lego books (his current passion) and was able to find just the right book.


epic book search


Epic non fiction book

This student chose a chapter book series she had been reading.



Students can even listen to books.  The only thing I feel is missing with this feature is the text - students really benefit from following along with the text as they listen.  I have figured out a work around though, I started matching books from my library with the books from Epic! so they can listen to them as they read.



Some other features that I love as a teacher are the content collections, their Epic! for Educators resource page, and the parent accounts.



They have a wide selection of content collections that you can search through for various themes.  Our school uses the Lucy Calkins units of study and I have had a difficult time with the American Revolution Unit because I honestly don't have enough books in my library for it.  But, Epic! to the rescue because they have this collection ready made by another teacher, and I can even make my own.  All of my students can access these resources at the same time using Epic!

The teacher resource page includes these 10 creative ideas for using Epic! in the classroom as well as many other videos, tutorials, tips, and more.



Parents can sign-up for an account for their child to use at home.  It is only $7.99 and gives them access to over 25,000 books!  No more excuses about having nothing to read at home!  I will be sending home flyers at the end of the year to make sure that my students continue to read over the summer.  I can't wait for them to come back and visit me in a few years to tell me how excited they still are about reading because of Epic!

If you want to instantly increase your library by over 25,000 books, sign-up for Epic! now!

If you are already using Epic! in your classroom, I'd love to hear the ways you use it!  Leave a comment below so we can all benefit from your great ideas!

Thank you to Epic! for helping to make reading even more enjoyable!  You can learn more about Epic! and discover even more ideas for using it in the classroom at the Epic! Website, as well as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and  Twitter.

If you are interested in having An Apple for the Teacher review your innovative product or book, please contact me at kellys3ps@sbcglobal.net









Monday, April 16, 2018

Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway - April 16, 2018

This giveaway has ended :(  Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.


Teacher Giveaway!

Teacher Giveaway - Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card giveaway

$25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway


Every week one lucky teacher gets to go on a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree!  Will it be you this week?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 


Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 4/23/18 and is open worldwide.  


Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 



Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Green Highlighter Activity for Peer Tutoring

I have mentioned before how I like to give my students immediate feedback with self grading.  Another way I like to provide feedback AND encourage peer tutoring is with this green highlighter activity.

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  





I give my students a small number of problems to solve (usually no more than 5).  

As the first few students finish work, I check their work.  If they solved the problems correctly, I give them a green highlighter.  If not, they try their problems again.

The students who have green highlighters are then tasked with going around to help other students.



My only job during this process is to check completed work, my students with the green highlighters are tasked with tutoring and assisting other students until everyone is done.




If we have more time, I assign a few more problems.

A few things that I like about this process are:

* My fast finishers have something to do instead of sitting around waiting for other students to finish.  

* Students who peer tutor learn the concept even deeper as they teach it to others.  

* I am freed up to collect data regarding which students understand the concept and which students might benefit from re-teaching.



I also got to observe this activity in use during my visit to the Ron Clark Academy which re-affirmed my love for this method! 

Have you tried a method similar to this?  I would love to hear about it in the comments below!




Monday, April 9, 2018

Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway - April 9, 2018

This giveaway has ended :(  Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.


Teacher Giveaway!

Teacher Giveaway - Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card giveaway

$25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway


Every week one lucky teacher gets to go on a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree!  Will it be you this week?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 


Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 4/16/18 and is open worldwide.  


Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 





Friday, April 6, 2018

Monthly $100 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway - April 2018

Teacher Giveaway!


$100 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway

Every month we spoil one lucky teacher gets to go on a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree!  Will it be you this week?

Teachers Giveaway - $100 Teachers pay Teachers gift card giveaway An Apple for the Teacher


GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $100 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card

Giveaway Organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher)



Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 4/13/18 and is open worldwide.


Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 




Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Ron Clark Essential 55 Poster: A Must-Have for Effective Classroom Management



This post is part of a series on my visit to the Ron Clark Academy, where I learned about the importance of classroom management using the Essential 55 Rules from Ron Clark. 

As an experienced teacher, I know that classroom management is essential for student learning and growth. That's why I was blown away by Ron Clark's classroom management system, which is based on the Essential 55 Rules outlined in his book of the same name.




This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  


Ron Clark Essential 55 poster

After visiting the Ron Clark Academy, I realized that I wasn't always following through, and I hadn't explicitly taught them all of the behaviors and skills that I wanted to see in my classroom. Ron Clark's classroom management is amazing!  If you have never had the opportunity to see him in action, check out this video. You will see that the students are engaged, on task, and problem behavior is managed in seconds!



Ron Clark Essential 55 Poster for Effective Classroom Management

The Ron Clark Academy has a huge banner hanging above the stairs with the Essential 55 Rules, showing just how important they are. These rules cover a range of behaviors and skills that students need to succeed, from respecting others to taking responsibility for their actions.





At first, I was intimidated by the sheer number of rules (55!), but after seeing them in action at the Ron Clark Academy, I knew I had to incorporate them into my own classroom. That's why I purchased the Ron Clark Essential 55 poster from the gift shop and hung it up right away.



Ron Clark Essential 55 poster


I printed out this version of the Essential 55 for each of my students to keep in their binders.


Ron Clark Essential 55 poster Printable Pdf


I bought the Essential 55 Rule Workbook to help practice each of these rules with my students.  



We take time each day during our morning meeting to complete the suggested activities and go over each rule individually.





Why the Essential 55 Rules from Ron Clark Are Key to Classroom Success

All of the teachers at the Ron Clark Academy have the same expectations and procedures.  I think the students thrive under these conditions, because they know the routine, and they know exactly what is expected of them throughout the day.

Because my students are with me the entire day, it is easy for me to be consistent with my expectations.  I do tell my students that they are expected to follow these same expectations with specials teachers and substitute teachers even if they aren't explicitly told to do so.

If you're looking for an effective way to manage your classroom and set your students up for success, I highly recommend getting the Ron Clark Essential 55 poster. It's a visual reminder of the rules that will help your students thrive. You can buy one for yourself here.


If you would like to buy the book, The Essential 55 to use in your classroom, you can find it on Amazon here.









The Essential 55 has been updated!  Check out the newest version here:



Have you implemented Ron Clark's rules, the Essential 55 in your classroom? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below or tag me on Twitter or Instagram.


And before you leave, head on over to our Giveaway page to enter our current giveaway!




Monday, April 2, 2018

$50 Teachers pay Teachers Giveaway!

$50 Teachers pay Teachers Giveaway!

Would you like to win a $50 Teachers pay Teachers gift card?  Some friends of mine and I are giving you the opportunity to not only win a Teachers pay Teachers gift card, but also some fabulous teaching resources!



Spring into April with these fabulous resources!  We have ideas for butterflies, plants, mystery math, mental math, spring clothing lessons, telling time, character traits, end of the year school awards and more!  You have the chance to win the $50 Teachers pay Teachers gift card and ALL of the resources below.

The first resource is from Heart to Heart Teaching and is all about plants! 


Spring Activities: All About Plants | Life Cycle of a Plant | Photosynthesis

Plant Life Cycle
Students will love learning all about plants and the plant life cycle with this hands-on activity pack! In this unit, there are reading passages, comprehension questions, fun activities, vocabulary posters, and a flip book!
Spring Activities: All About Plants | Life Cycle of a Plant | Photosynthesis

Our second resource is all about butterflies! 


Spring Activities: Butterflies | Butterfly Life Cycle | All About Butterflies

Students will love learning all about butterflies this Spring! This fun unit includes:

*Reading passages all about butterflies

*Monarch butterflies
*Comprehension questions
*Life Cycle of a Butterfly
*Parts of a Butterfly

Spring Activities: Butterflies | Butterfly Life Cycle | All About Butterflies

Our next two resources come from Mrs. J's Resource Creations.  They are both fun math mysteries for your students to solve!




(Available in versions for 1st - 6th Grade)
 Engage and motivate your students with this fun Math Mystery. NO PREP, just print and go!  Students will need to answer a variety of math problems that will help them solve who the Bee Bandits are! 

This packet comes with an optional video hook to set the stage to engage before the paper part of the activity. View video here



(Available in versions for 1st - 6th Grade)
Your students will be engaged and motivated by this fun detective story, which also encourages critical thinking as they must reason their way through eliminating litterbug suspects. These NO PREP worksheets are challenging, yet fun to use as part of your regular math sessions, sub-tubs, early finishers, or for enrichment (go a grade level higher to increase difficulty). 


An optional video hook is also provided to set the stage to engage. View the video here

Angie S. has so many amazing resources for special education needs and this one is no exception!

Spring Clothing - Adapted Book for Autism

What Do I Wear in the Spring Interactive Book for early age, pre-K and Special Education students can be used in March, April and May. The resource uses real life pictures that works great with students with autism. 


It is great for learning the spring clothing as well as the body parts they should be used on. You can view a video of this resource here.

Mrs. Hansen's Helpfuls has the provided the next two resources.

Character Trait Cards and PDF Presentation plus Activities
Spring is a time we can start to dive deep into characters. I use these character trait cards to help students recognize different traits for characters in the books they are reading, class read-a-louds, etc. Many times using these cards we even get to debate which trait fits a particular character the best! 


This product has many different activities you can use year round. 

Telling Time with Differentiated Levels

No better time than Spring TIME to work on telling time. This product has many differentiated levels to help your students improve their telling time, elapsed time, adding and subtracting time, and understanding time with missing variables skills. 


The last two items come from yours truly!  

Mental Math - 100 problem cards that encourage your students to solve math problems in their head quickly! 

You can watch a video of this resource in action here: Mental Math Tiles.

You can use these mental math task cards as a math warm up to begin your math lesson, or use as a time filler throughout the day.

Students each have ten digit cards on their desk as you read each card. The students use the digits to keep track of the math tasks they are computing in their head. They love being able to follow along with each task and eventually end up with the correct answer.

I use these cards for whole group, small group, and even partnership lessons.

These mental math problems will increase your students' listening, problem solving, and computation skills. 



In this set of end of year awards you will receive 50 different awards with a boy and girl version for each one (a total of 100 certificates!). I have also included black and white versions of all 100 awards for your printing preference.

This is a zip file that includes a PDF file that you can print and write the student names, as well as a PowerPoint file that you can customize to include the students’ names and even to add a new category that I may have forgotten.

Several of the awards could be used throughout the year as monthly or quarterly awards such as Attendance, Math Wizard, Super Speller, etc.

I love to celebrate my students with end of the year awards! It gives me a chance to recognize their talents and their growth throughout the year! 

Now, to enter to win all of these items AND a $50 Teachers pay Teachers gift card, enter using the Rafflecopter below.



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