Fall Frenzy

Fall festivities abound, and let Tchr2Tchr help you tackle Fall Frenzy! Sit back and enjoy the change of season with these great Fall Frenzy resources from Tchr2Tchr admins and readers:

Lucky Day!  FREE!
Five Paragraph Theme Outlines  FREE!
Thanksgiving Miniature Chocolate Candy Bar Wrappers $1.49
Monster Attendance File $1.50
Fabulous Fall Activities for Grades Pre-k-4th $2.00
Pumpkin Predictions  $2.00
Eerie Writing Prompts $2.00
Simple Machines Hot Spots for Smartboard $2.00
Folktales: Fairytales, Fables, Tall Tales, Legends & Myths $2.25
Fly Fishing with Grandpa Vocabulary Quiz  $2.25
Owl Moon Writing Workshop Mini Lesson on Sound Images $2.49
Four Season Word Web Writing Lesson  $2.50

Thanksgiving Cornucopia Pairs Fall/Autumn $2.75
Jack-O-Lantern Ordered Pairs Halloween $2.75
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Poem of the Week Activities $2.95
Homecoming Activities Packet for Pre-K-6 $3.00
Space Alien Polygons $3.00
Columbus Day Celebration: Writing Activities and Games to Celebrate the Holiday $3.00
Every Holiday and Season BINGO Boards $3.00
Weather Tracking in Excel  $4.00
Mad Lib Activities--20 pages of fun  $4.00
Measuring Monsters $4.50
Happy Howl-A-Days! Short Vowel Partner Games $5.00
Poetry Writing Unit (37 pages of activities!)  $6.50
Literature Enrichment Experience: A River Ran Wild $6.95
Fall/Winter Ordered Pairs Halloween/Thanksgiving/ Christmas $8.00

Have a wonderful Fall from Tchr2Tchr

Teachers Pay Teachers Link Up: Fall Fun!

Free Online Resources for Students and Teachers

By Beth Hammett

Teachers Pay Teachers Storefront: Beth Hammett

With school starting, the demand for free resources is high! School districts have tightened budgets and eliminated programs but implemented many new standards. What's a teacher to do? Thankfully, there are lots of websites that offer freebies to teachers.

Here are four free online learning programs that students and teachers will love:

1 . www.storylineonline.net Want to read with students but short on time? This site is promoted by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation and features many popular children's books with free lesson plans. It transforms the book into an on-screen experience that all ages will love!

2. www.starfall.com The site helps children learn basic reading and writing skills. They can read comic books, non-fiction works, plays, and more... Students can practice letters and numbers recognition through games. There's activities for holidays, as well.

3. www.abcya.com This website aimed at grades K-5 offers basic concepts for lower learners of higher grades, too. The sections are divided by grade levels and skills, so finding appropriate materials is easy. The games are educational and fun, and children will enjoy interacting with it.

4. www.pbskids.org Most teachers are familiar with the quality of materials produced by PBS, and the website has excellent resources for parents and teachers of early learners. It's well organized, uses popular characters, and is easy to navigate.

If in need of Common Core materials, there are many government funded sites. One such site, www.corestandards.org, has handouts, questions and answers, and webinars. Another similar site is www.coreplanner.com, which makes lesson writing and aligning to common core standards easy. Simply download the free program, fill out the lesson plan templates, and it searches for alignment of standards. It's run by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. A site funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is www.commoncore.org. Although it was unclear if all the resources were free, by clicking on the Digital Resources tab, teachers will find tons of freebies.

Of course, for varieties of free lesson plans, browse Teachers Pay Teachers! New categories and thousands of free items are updated daily, so there's something for everyone regardless of subject matters taught. There's also the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at www.rockhall.com, which incorporates music into all subjects with its free lesson plans and resources. Another bonus, it offers teacher scholarships to its summer programs.

If looking for professional development, use Edweeks free webinars at www.edweek.org. Subjects are unlimited and include everything from understanding new common core standards to using social media in the classroom. Sign-up is free, and webinars are archived so that teachers can access them at their convenience.  

Finding free resources can be overwhelming, so follow the links above to save time and to make learning accessible and fun for all students. 

Related Teachers Pay Teachers Products:

Bodies of Water - a Touch it Learn it Interactive Mini-lesson FREE!
Reading Comprehension Map $1.00
Homecoming Activities Packet for Pre-k-6 $3.00
Spelling Task Cards: 40 Activity Cards for Any List $3.25
Who's the Tallest in the Land? Prince and Princess Measurement $3.50
Grammar Fail! Bulletin Board or Literacy Center $5.00
Reading Workshop Task Menu & Recording Sheets-Grades 4 & 5 $5.95

Featured Teacher: Heather, HoJo

            1. What is your most memorable field trip experience?

Our state Capitol hosts a Christmas tree decorating competition each year. When I taught Kindergarten, I took my class there to see it. It was so neat watching them be in awe of all the trees! They were saying, "Ooooo - look! This one is like Candy Land!" and "Wow - that tree is taller than anything I've ever seen!" and so many other adorably cute things!

         2. What is something you have learned from your time on Teachers Pay Teachers?

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. :-)

         3. What book inspired you as a student?

The only books I remember reading as a student were horse books. I was that "difficult child" that only read about horses. I didn't want to read anything else!

4. What is something you would like to see in the future, for education?

I would like to see education valued again. It seems like this has gone down over the years.

         5. What is something fun about you that teachers don't know about you?

I live in a state that has more cattle than people. South Dakota! True story!! (Ok, that's not really about me personally, but it's about where I'm from. Does that count?!)

         6. What is an achievement, in education or otherwise, that you have accomplished?

I finished my masters' degree while teaching a multi-grade classroom of ELL students in just 1.5 years. I'm pretty proud of myself for that one!

         7. What was your first 'Free' item that you posted up on Teachers Pay Teachers?  What made you choose that?

The first free item I posted on TpT is long gone! I have slowly evolved as a seller, and many of my first products are no longer available because they weren't the quality I hope my current products are.

8.  Your favorite teaching quote is...   

I love Dr. Seuss' quote - "You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!"

9. What is your 'Go To' time filler?                                                                          

It totally depends on the grade I'm teaching... For my Kinders, we played a lot of "I'm thinking of..." and I'd rattle off a letter sound. Then the students would guess what I was thinking of based on my clues.

For 3rd grade and up, I am a HUGE fan of Rachel Lynette's Mental Math cards (Mental Math Cards). You can do one or ten of them, depending on how much time you have!

With any grade level, I like to just reflect on the day or learn more about my students' lives. It seems we have so much to cover academically that I don't always take the time to cover this like I should."

by Heather aka HoJo

Heather's TPT Store

Heather's Prized Products

Letter Recognition Magic Squares

Long and Short Vowel Picture Sorts

Compound Word Magic, 3rd-5th grade

Book Look: Oscar and the Frog: A Book About Growing, by Geoff Waring

Oscar and the Frog: A Book About Growing

By: Geoff Waring
Review by: Jenna
Visit Jenna's Teachers Pay Teachers Store
Visit Jenna's blog, Diving Into Learning

Recommended for: K-2 

Oscar and the Frog follows the adventures of Oscar as he learns about life cycles and how various things, including himself, grow and change. Oscar is a very curious kitten. While he is visiting a pond, he asks Frog questions about changing. Frog explains to Oscar how frogs grow from eggs into a frog, and then gives other examples of things that grow and change during their life cycles. Frog also explains to Oscar about how he will grow from a kitten into a cat. This is a cute book to introduce change and life cycles to younger students. Also check out the rest of Oscar's series, where he learns about sound and electricity.

Related Products:
Oscar and the Frog Mini-Unit

It's a No-Labor, Labor Day with Lots of Freebies

In honor of the no-labor holiday, enjoy some Labor Day freebies:

Free Resources:

Sentence Type Centers
Bat Ordered Pairs for Fall/Halloween
Reading Smartmarks
Oxymorons 
Elementary Lab Science Safety Contract
Character Trait Words
Steps to a Great Paper
Finding Yuri: A True Tale of International Adoption

My Backpack Emergent Reader and Sight Word Set
My Handwriting Book
Domino Number Freebie
Teacher Newsletter Template
Word Wiz Kids Parts of Speech
Organizational Binders and Labels for Elementary 
Math Surveys and Sign In Questions and Graphs 
Cafeteria Expectations Craftivity  
15 Minute Timer  
Class Book "Who Am I?"
You Can Even Read a Cereal Box! - Cereal Box Activities

Happy Labor Day!

From the administrative staff at Tchr2Tchr

Featured Teacher: Rosshalde Pak

           1.  What is your most memorable field trip experience?

Haha, oh that's easy.  When I was a substitute teacher, I took a class of second graders to the zoo...with only 1 other chaperone...in June...in the L.A. heat.  I'm happy to report that although 2 kids decided to 'make a break for it', everyone made it back to school. :-)

         2. What is something you have learned from your time on Teachers Pay Teachers?

That it takes more time and effort to make the quality lessons that I wish I could make.  And, that there are a lot more educators looking for lessons made my teachers than I had previously thought.

         3. What book inspired you as a student?

When I was younger it was Charlotte's Web - I love animals and nature; and I was a really strong reader, and read that book in 2nd grade (rather than the recommended 4th grade) , so I liked knowing I was good at reading.  In high school, Dead Poets Society impacted me much more than Catcher in the Rye ever did.

4. What is something you would like to see in the future, for education?

Sigh, so many things.  From a passion aspect, I want more of the arts integrated and to become mandatory.  From a teaching aspect, I just want more respect -- I don't even need a higher paycheck (I mean, it would be great); but I know that school districts are hurting for money.  So, I would like to be treated with more dignity and respect from the general public.

         5. What is something fun about you that teachers don't know about you?

I love gardening, and making homemade pickles.  I give them out for the holidays. 

         6. What is an achievement, in education or otherwise, that you have accomplished?

In education, I have invented a two-time national award winning bingo game.  http://standardsrfun.com/.  In my life, I won a theatre award from the Kennedy Center of Performing Arts.  Both make me smile a lot.

         7. What was your first 'Free' item that you posted up on Teachers Pay Teachers?  What made you choose that?

I think I went a little too easy on this one.  I used a set of flashcards of the Fry's 500 sight words.  I broke up the words into sets of 100 and posted it.  I'm currently working on the flashcards into a better format for more teachers.  I think it will be free too.

8. What was your first 'Paid' item that you posted up on Teachers Pay Teachers? What made you choose that?        

I'm pretty sure it was my Caterpillar Game.  Or, it would have to be some of my vocabulary quizzes.

9.  Your favorite teaching quote is...   

I actually don't think I have one...

10. What is your 'Go To' time filler?                                                                          

The Caterpillar Game - Caterpillar Word Game. It's a really versatile word game that can be used with 3rd-12th graders.  I've never not had students want to do it.   The simplest way to explain it is when you take a large word like 'Caterpillar' and see what smaller words you can make within it.  Tons of fun.            

Rosshalde Pak