Needed: Guest Blog Article Writers

Reaching out, it’s what a teacher does every day.  It doesn’t matter what you teach or who your students are, educators are always looking for ways to make that connection.  Which is probably why there are over 300,000 users on Teachers Pay Teachers.  We’re all just educators reaching out to make connections and help out other educators.  And that’s exactly what we, Tchr 2 Tchr, want to do too.

And so, we are reaching out to you.  Our members, viewers, colleagues, and friends.

Each Monday we are going to have a weekly article featuring a different area of education.  And, to make this more of our blog, meaning our as all of TPT, we’d like to have you be a guest writer for the Tchr2Tchr blog.

So here are the parameters:

- At least 100 words but not more than 500.  

- Being okay with knowing that we may need to edit 

- Has to be on the subject, NOT just what products they have

-  Seeing how you are writing the article you won't be able to include a separate product; however, you will be able to include a link up to your TPT store, or website/blog of your choosing.

-  It needs to be in at least five days prior to the post date, which gives ample time to edit.  

If this sounds like something you would like to do, please send an email to tchr2tchrblog@gmail.com  If you have a particular area you are interested in writing about, tell us that too – we will do our best to incorporate everyone!

Now get writing!!!

TpT Thursday Round Up #2

Sale, Sale, Sale! Everything listed on the Thursday Round Up is on sale! But only for 3 days, so if you see something you like, you might want to get it quick. There are resources for every grade level, across the curriculum, so you are sure to find something you can use. If you like the style of a particular product, but it isn't quite what you are after, check out the seller's store. He or she might have just what you need!

Valentine's Day - Candy Hearts Writing for grades 4-8
A fun writing activity based around the words found on Candy Hearts around Valentine's Day.  Students incorporate the words into either a poem or a short story.  If you can use real candy hearts, I've made 40 "candy hearts" for you to print out.  Includes lesson plan, assignment sheets and "hearts."
by Addie Williams

Valentine's Day Critical Thinking Activities for grades 3-6
Here are 12 ready-to-use, challenging and fun Valentine's Day Activities (with answer keys) that will get your students to use their head in this time of the heart. The focus is on Critical Thinking Skills, but there is also some Math and Language Arts as well. Great for bell work, homework, or enrichment.
by Rachel Lynette

Valentines Day Wheel of Fortune Smartboard Lesson for grades 2-6
This smartboard lesson is a (Valentine's Day Wheel of fortune type) lesson that I made up for the smartboard. This activity would be a great activity for anytime, but works especially well around Valentine's Day. Your students will enjoy earning points as they try to figure out each puzzle.
by Smartboard Smarty

Valentine's Day Multiplication / Division Diagram Problem Solving for grades 3-5
Add some love to your math lesson when you practice multiplication and division diagram problem solving.  This 4 page packet for $1.50 will reinforce this math skill in a simple, Valentine's Day themed way.
by Beverlyteacher

100th Day of School Activities and Learning Games Set for grades K-3
It's time to celebrate those first 100 days of learning with an assortment of six activities/games that your students will love. You can plan a fun-filled day of learning around these activities that your students will never forget. To make it easier on you I have also included a complete and thorough set of directions to help you implement the activities in this set.
by John Blake

Learning Logs Parent Student Connection Year Long Activities for grades 3-6
This is an amazing tool for your students to take home and practice the basic concepts that they learned in school! Each month a new learning log will be sent home and the students will be able to practice skills learned in school in subjects such as: reading, writing, math, and social studies. This is geared for 5th grade,but can easily be changed to fit grades 3-6.
by Wise Guys

Lord of the Flies Literature Guide for grades 9-11
This Literature Guide for Lord of the Flies contains 88 pages of student coursework, quizzes, tests, and teacher resources aligned with 9th- 11th grade English / Language Arts content standards. Includes study guide questions, quizzes, tests, pre-reading, post-reading and extension ideas, essay prompts, and more with complete answer key.
by Secondary Solutions

Bug Ya: A Math Computation & Fact Game for grades 3-8
Bug Ya provides motivation for the learner to practice addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts. Three games are included in this short resource packet.  All the games have been developed to extend the recall of facts through playful and intelligent practice. 
by scipi

Valentine's Day Vowel Sorting Center for grades PreK-1
This Valentine's Day reading activity focuses on medial vowel sounds in CVC words. Students have 15 valentine cards to sort and 2 activity sheets where they can cut and glue the pictures under the appropriate mailbox.
by Teacher Tam

I have, Who Has Science Flashcard Bundle 9 Topics for grades 3-6
This Science packet "I have, Who has" flash cards are a fun activity to get the kids to learn vocabulary. This is a combo packet and has nine sets of flash cards! It covers Electricity and Magnetism, Matter and its properties, Weather, Food web and food chain, Habitat and Ecosystems, Renewable and Nonrenewable resources, Animal Classifications, Rocks and Minerals, and Weather.
by power point maniac

Introduction to Literature Circles for grades 5-12
This presentation explains how to use the strategy of Literature Circles. It prepares students for the many roles and responsibilities they will have throughout the unit.  I also have several other Literature Circle resources to use with any book in my store - check it out!
by Melissa Soeltz

Music Puzzle Pack 1 for grades 5-10
12 fantastic puzzles for your music students in One Puzzle Pack. Puzzle topics include composers, elements of music, music styles, common music terms and many more. An answer key is provided for each puzzle
by Aussie Music Teacher

Test Prep Tournaments For Any Grade and Any Subject for grades 1-12
Students will have fun reviewing for your state’s standardized tests, district tests, and classroom tests with these 11 test prep tournaments. The 70 pages include football, baseball, and tic-tac-toe game boards & specific directions for 11 tournaments.
by Victoria Leon

Graphic Organizers for Reading Response and Everyday Learning for grades 2-8
This is a 78 page book filled with various types of graphic organizers for reading response and more!  You can find KWL charts, questioning pages, concept webs, chain of events, character maps and much more!
by  MeMimi

Scientific Notation Powerpoint, Notes, and Worksheet Bundle for grades 6-10
Scientific or exponential notation is a MUST HAVE skill for science and math students.  This product has it all:  A powerpoint presentation, teacher notes, student notes, and a worksheet to use for follow up practice.  Students will learn to write numbers in scientific notation and in standard form, as well as learn to  add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers that are in scientific notation.
by Science Stuff

Literature Activities Bundle for grades 7-12
Includes many creative activities you can use with any novel, short story, play, etc., such as Facebook Character Sketch, Character Tags, Creative Book Report Ideas, Playlist Activity, and so much more!
by Tracee Orman

Facebook Myspace Profile Description Project for grades 7-10
Students will create their own 'Facebook' profile page that describes themselves in Spanish. This 'perfil' will include students writing about themselves, giving: name, origin, birthdate, favorite activities, hobbies, movies, tv shows, comments from 'friends' and more. Includes list for common vocabulary used by Facebook.
by Justin-B

Decimal Number SenseWarm-up Activities for grades 4-6
Here are 7 one-page sets of decimal warm-ups designed to build students' number sense related to decimal fractions with 10ths and 100ths, that are powerful without being time-consuming. Skills include mental addition and subtraction, comparing to 1/2, comparing/ordering decimals, skip counting by 10ths and 100ths, finding "in-between numbers, & more. Normally 2.00, but 1.50 through Saturday.
by Patrick Shaffer

Balanced Literacy Graphic Organizers for Novels for grades 7-9
These graphic organizers are for middle years balanced literacy novel studies. There are 45 activities within the balanced literacy categories of vocabulary, summarizing, connecting, questioning, inferring and synthesizing.  These graphic organizers can also be used in book clubs and independent reading.
by Terry-Lynn McLeod

Using Dice to Teach Addition for grades K-1
I use this every year in my classroom to assess if students can do the following skills: identify numbers, write numbers correctly, count dots, and add numbers correctly. Your students will have fun rolling dice, making dots, adding the numbers, and then writing numbers, and you can use the activity as an assessment tool!
by Mrs Bucket

Reader Response Journal:  Questions, Prompts, and Assessment for grades 4-10
This file contains over 100 reader response prompts organized into sections for different comprehension strategies and text elements so you can match the response questions to your minilessons. These questions could also be used as comprehension questions for any novel. The document also contains a set of success criteria that could be made into an anchor chart, or reproduced for students to glue into their response journals, and a reader response rubric is also included.
by Runde's Room

 Plagiarism and Integrity Internet Activity Project for grades 6-9
Great Activity to learn about Plagiarism!
by Tech girl

Did you find a great product? Feel free to comment and tell us about it. Be sure and come back next week for a whole new set of specially priced products!

Round Up Participants: Please check your links! If something doesn't work, drop me an email at: tchr2tchrblog@gmail.com  with the correct link (and your user name) and I will fix it ASAP. Please tweet and link the Round Up on your blogs, facebook pages etc.

TpT Sellers: Want to participate in next week's Thursday Round Up? Just fill in this Handy Dandy Form. The Round Up is open to all TpT sellers. However, it will be limited to 20-25 entries, first come, first serve, so get your form in quick.

Your Opinion Counts!

We have started a Weekly Poll. You can check it out on the sidebar. The question will change each week, so please let us know what you think. If you have suggestions for future polls, please leave them as comments to this post.

Elementary School Learning

Ahh elementary school.  It’s the formal beginning of our education; the foundation upon which each child starts to learn.  There are no more important years for our students, then that of their elementary years.  And there is no time of greater growth in our learning.

For the most part, elementary school years consist of Kindergarten to Fifth grade.  And with our students being so young, little kids to older children, there’s a great opportunity to integrate creativity into our day-to-day.  One aspect of elementary school that I love the most is being able to do fun  arts-focused activities; drawing/painting/coloring, acting out a play or reader’s theatre, dressing up as historical characters whilst doing re-enactments.  Plus, I can take my science and social studies lessons out of the classroom.  How many of you have explored your school campus to see the leaves, grasses, or trees?  Or maybe you’ve had your students see how many different bugs they can find and then draw their own versions?  Really, being an elementary school teacher allows for versatility in the learning; which is the appeal to educators.

As our students start their learning in Kindergarten, play is a huge element; and showing them that playing can also mean learning.  Our 1^st and 2^nd graders are like little sponges soaking up that learning and everything it means to be in school.  Their joy at knowing something is a wonder to see.  For 3^rd and 4^th graders, it’s a different type of joy that we get to experience, we see their personalities develop, along side their strengths and weaknesses.  As their teachers, we have the chance to encourage those strengths, and assist with their weaknesses.  And our 5^th graders, still so young, but like baby birds leaving the nest – they are ready to stretch their wings and find those new opportunities that await them in middle school.

Ahhh elementary school.  The building blocks to our children’s education, the start of it all.  And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

*This article was written by Rosshalde Pak, an admin for the Tchr2Tchr blog.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Rosshalde-Pak-4/Products

www.educationshortlist.com

Here are a few resources that are specifically designed for elementary school classrooms.  We’ve gone through and looked at them individually and highly recommend them for teachers.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Learning-Logs-Parent-Student-Connection-Year-Long-Activities

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/American-Revolution-Enrichment-File-Folder-Activities-Centers 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/PE-Stations-New-and-Improved

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Transition-to-Quiet-with-Sign-Language-Power-Point-4-Minutes

Want to Be in the Next Thursday Round Up?

Hey sellers, would you like your product featured in this week's Thursday Round Up? Just fill out this handy dandy form.

Hey buyers, looking for some great products? Check out last week's Round Up. Come back this Thursday to see a whole set of new products, all on sale!

Articles on teaching, a poll, featured TpT seller spots, and more special deals are coming soon, so keep checking back!

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Just copy and paste this code into your site.

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You'll get this:

thursday_roundup.mp4

A fellow TPT teacher made this really fun and short video about our new blog. How could we NOT give the Teched Out Teacher a shout out too?

Thursday Round Up #1!

Welcome to the very first TpT Thursday Round Up! The Thursday Round Up is a collection of TpT products, all from different sellers and all on sale for three days; from now until Saturday evening. There is something for everyone so go ahead and click a few links. You may find exactly what you need!

Literature Guide for A Sick Day for Amos McGee for grades 2-4.
This 16 page literature guide accompanies the 2011 Caldecott Medal Winner -A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead. Included in this guide: comprehension questions, vocabulary activity, reading response, animal research, story guide, and verb tense worksheet.
by Lisa Frase

Ready to Use Dictionary Worksheets for grades 3-6
Here are 20 worksheets to help your students learn how to use the dictionary effectively. Some of them focus on specific skills and can stand alone, while others require the use of a dictionary. Worksheets that are used with a dictionary can be used with any English language dictionary. Answer keys included when appropriate.
by Rachel Lynette

Family and Me Bundle for grades 2-5

This is a family tree questionnaire with a lesson plan attachment.  The questionnaire starts with the student, then parent, then aunt/uncle, grandparents, and ends with great-grandparents.  It's a fun lesson to learn about family history, countries, traditions, and history in general.
by Rosshalde Pak

Groundhog's Day Power Point Lesson and Quiz for grades 2-5

This 30 slide Groundhog Day Powerpoint has everything you need to learn about and celebrate Ground hog day!! It includes information about the groundhog, the holiday and many traditions, information about Punxsutawny Phil and the small town in Pennsylvania, and has an interactive quiz at the end. I've also included as an added bonus some fun links, a short video on groundhogs, and two coloring sheets!

by Power Point Maniac

Groundhog Glyph with Questions for grades PreK-4

This glyph has the children coloring or putting different items on a groundhog using eight different categories.  A printable outline of a groundhog is provided. This handout also contains a page where the students are asked to identify the characteristics of someone who did their own groundhog glyph. Kindergarten and Preschool teachers can easily adapt this activity since pictures are included in the student instructions.

by scipi

Valentine's Day Writing Activites for grades 6-8

This is a collection of nine middle years writing activities with a Valentine's Day theme. The activities follow the six traits of writing - Word Choice, Ideas, Voice, Sentence Fluency, Organization and Conventions.

 by Terry-Lynn McLeod

Pizza Wheel Beginning Sounds Activity K-1

Who doesn't love pizza? In this fun activity, students use a pizza wheel to find out beginning sounds based on looking at pictures on the pizza wheel. Once they find the correct sound, they pick the clothespin (teacher provided) with the correct letter.

by Mrs Bucket

Word Problem of the Day - 200 Word Problems & Charts for grades 2-6

Teach the “Word Problem of the Day” to reinforce problem solving and review addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  There are more than 200 word problems and the answers. 

by Victoria Leon

#1-4 Magic Tree House Novel Study Set for grades 2-4

25% off Novel studies for the first 4 Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne. Each Novel study includes chapter questions with answer key and extra novel worksheets. The novel studies can be used as a whole class study or for smaller guided reading groups.

by tchrBrowne

Cause & Effect Smartboard Lesson for grades 1-3

Introduce, practice, and review Cause and Effect with this colorful and interactive Smartboard lesson. Just pull the tab on the slides to show the instructions. There are 3 different cause and effect activities to engage your students with. This is a good companion to my Cause and Effect PowerPoint.

by Dijobaker

Dichotomous Key to Classify a CRAZY Animal Kingdom for grades 3-7

Students will look at cartoon pictures of some crazy looking animals to learn how to use a dichotomous classification key.  This is the type of classification key that is used in most field guides.  After practicing with these "crazy" animals, your students will be ready to step up and try a classification key that is more scientific.

by Science Stuff

Divisibility Rules (2,3,4,5,6,9,10) Math Activity Pack 9pp. plus keys for grades 4-6

 This is an 9-page activities pack for teaching rules of divisibility. Covers rules for dividing by 2,3,4,5,6,9, and 10. Includes 4 mazes, 2 discussion starters, 2 division practice pages, and a "Divisibility Stew" practice page. Use as part of a lesson, review worksheets, homework, or math centers.

by Patrick Shaffer

Dolch Sight Word Checkers Set  for grades K-4

Check out this great collection of seven checkerboards that contain the 219 Dolch words (minus "I") from the Preprimer to Third Grade lists. Your students will have a blast playing checkers and they won't even realize that they are building their sight-word vocabulary at the same time. The boards progress from easiest to most difficult and are numbered for easy tracking.
by John Blake

Guided Reading Worksheets and Activities for grades 3-6

This is Wise Guys best-selling activity. 38 pages of guided reading worksheets and activities to use immediately in your classroom!

by Wise Guys

Math Games for Middle School 2 for grades 5-9

A fantastic collection of 10 math games (including one Halloween-themed math game) that will have your students out of their seats, laughing, working together, and practicing their math skills. This collection includes a power point game, a game that can be used as a math project, and numerous games that can be used as learning centers as well as whole-class games.

by Meghan Mathis

Reflexive Verb Unit Lesson Plan Packet for grades 8-11

Lesson Plans to teach Reflexive Verbs (los verbos reflexivos) in Spanish. This 22 page packet contains a Guided Notes packet (12 pages) which explains reflexives in detail and gives many examples. Also included are worksheets, pronunciation assessment, quiz, and a student project.

by Justin-B

Area and Perimeter Worksheet Packet for grades 3-5

This 3 page packet focuses on area and perimeter math skills.  Reinforcement practice working with formulas for rectangles, parallelograms, and triangles.  Practice finding perimeter and area of polygons.

by Beverlyteacher

I Have Who Has (animal studies version) for grades 3-6

This quick vocabulary review game is a favorite among my students. It matches National Science Content Standard 4 - Life Sciences. Students take turns reading their card while others listen to see if they have the vocabulary word that matches the description.
by techedoutteacher

Everyday Math Grade 1 CD for grade 1

This CD includes all the Grade 1 Units 1-10 reviews for Everyday Math , Everyday Math lessons for 6.1-9.5, the Gr. 1 Everyday Math year end review, and CGI files in Word and PDF formats.  Special lessons include:  Number Grid World, Data Day, What is a Unit?  Calendar Math, Holiday Slides to greet your class, Birthday and Star of the Week slides, and more.

by Wise Owl

Response to Literature Essay Unit for grades 7-12

I provide Writing Vocabulary and teach the Detailed Paragraph Structure based on the model by Jane Schaffer. Along with essay assignments and mini-lessons, which also serve as handouts, I provide several PowerPoint presentations, an essay rubric, a checklist of what to turn in with the final draft, and a reflection sheet. All in all, there are 21 documents that are ready to use, or can be easily adapted for your classroom.
by Melissa Soeltz

All About Animal Habitats: integrating balanced literacy and science for grades 1-4

Integrate science and balanced literacy with this animal habitat mini-unit! This product features a full-color shared reading story along with several engaging follow-up activities. Templates are also provided for each student to make his/her own "Habitat Book."

by Shelley Gray

Summarizing Package - Activities to Use for Any Text for grades 4-10

This 26 page resource contains various activities for you to use while teaching the reading comprehension strategy of Summarizing. This resource includes: 3 different mini-posters, bookmarks, a full page of activity ideas, a full page of reading response prompts, 15 different graphic organizers for fiction and nonfiction texts, and two rubrics.

by Runde's Room

Did you find a great product? Feel free to comment and tell us about it. Be sure and come back next week for a whole new set of specially priced products!

Round Up Participants: Please check your links! If something doesn't work, drop me an email at: tchr2tchrblog@gmail.com  with the correct link (and your user name) and I will fix it ASAP. Please tweet and link the Round Up on your blogs, facebook pages etc.

TpT Sellers: Want to participate in next week's Thursday Round Up? Just fill in this Handy Dandy Form. The Round Up is open to all TpT sellers.

Introducing the Tchr2Tchr Blog!

Introducing the Tchr2Tchr Blog!

We are excited to announce a brand-new resource for teachers of all levels and subjects, the Tchr2Tchr Blog! We are a group of educators who met on the Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) website. We have a diverse group of contributors lined up, and we are planning several features which we hope will inspire and empower you as an educator, such as:

· Bi-weekly articles on topics that are relevant to your role and classroom

· Weekly featured TpT sellers and products to provide just-in-time resources you can use right away

· Links to free resources and websites

· Weekly Thursday Roundup with links to great TpT products at special prices

· Regular posts on Twitter and Facebook to keep you in the know with useful links, quotes, news items, and notifications of new blog content

We would love your help in building the blog into a relevant and useful resource for teachers. We are seeking guest bloggers who would like to contribute articles for any of the following upcoming topics. If you have another great idea, please let us know!

· Tips, tricks, ideas, or lessons for elementary classrooms

· Resources for Presidents’ Day, Washington’s Birthday, Lincoln’s Birthday, Valentine’s Day, and St. Patrick’s Day

· Ideas and resources for teachers of special education students in the regular education, resource, or self-contained classroom

· Lessons and ideas for middle grades educators

· Resources, tips, and tricks for high school teachers in any department

· Test prep help and testing sanity-savers for teachers at all levels

· Web 2.0 and education

Please email us at tchr2tchrblog@gmail.com if you would like to contribute to the blog.

Your blog administrators are:

Anna Colley

Dacula, Georgia

Grades 2-6 English / Language Arts, Math, Science, Technology

Anna has 10 years of experience teaching 4^th grade, and has recently embarked on a new venture as a Local School Technology Coordinator at a special needs school in Georgia’s largest district. She is having a blast teaching computer lab to three and four year olds. Anna is also mom to two energetic children, ages seven and three.

Jason Elliott (PowerPoint Maniac)

Adams Center, New York

Grades 2-6 English / Language Arts, Math, Science

Jason has a beautiful wife and an amazing 4 year old son. He teaches 3rd and 4th grade, looping up with his 3^rd graders to teach them two years in a row. He lives in snowy, cold, northern New York, off the eastern coast of Lake Ontario and about 40 minutes from the Canadian border.

Lisa Frase

Texas

4^th Grade English / Language Arts and Social Studies

Lisa is a National Board Certified teacher with sixteen years of teaching experience. She is currently teaching fourth grade, writing a young adult novel, and maintaining a web presence.

Rachel Lynette

Washington State

Grades 2-6 English / Language Arts, Math, Critical Thinking, Gifted and Talented

Rachel has had over ten years of classroom teaching experience and now writes teacher materials and nonfiction books for children full time. She is also the mother of two terrific teens.

Rosshalde Pak

Oregon

4^th grade and ESL

Rosshalde is the owner of a private tutoring company and educational game company. She has experience teaching 4th grade and ESL in both Oregon and California. She resides in Oregon with her husband and two dogs.