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

Teacher 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! 

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!

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!"

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)! 

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.

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.

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. 

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!

$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! 

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!

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!

$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! 

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?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $100 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card

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

Co-hosts:   An Apple for the Teacher,  TheBeezyTeacher, Kim Heuer, Digging Deep to Soar Beyond the Text, It's Kinder Time, The Froggy Factory, Roots and Wings, Jackie Crews, Sliding into 1st, The Chocolate Teacher, thejoyweteach, Samson's Shoppe, Little Owl's Teacher Treats, Learning Inspired, 180 Days of Reading, It's a Teacher Thing, Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten, Mickey's Place, Sarah Griffin, Right Down the Middle with Andrea, and A Plus Kids.

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! 

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.  

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.

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

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!