TeachersPayTeachers Site-Wide Sale for Teacher Appreciation Week

Super Secondary Appreciates Teachers!

Super Secondary collaborators are eager to "thank you...thank you very much..." for ALL that you do to make the world a better place! So shake, rattle, and roll on over to these TpT stores on May 5th and 6th to get up to 28% off on fantastic resources! Don’t forget to use the promo code: THANKYOU. 

My resources will be marked 20% off. You can see all my latest uploads clicking here: Tracee Orman's Most Recent TeachersPayTeachers Resources

The following sellers will have their stores marked down, as well:

The Classroom Sparrow

Room 213

Darlene Anne’s ELA Buffet

Danielle Knight (Study All Knight)

Michele Luck's Social Studies

Teaching FSL

Juggling ELA

The SuperHERO Teacher

James Whitaker's SophistThoughts

Created by MrHughes

Lessons With Coffee

Leah Cleary

Addie Williams

Linda Jennifer

MissMathDork

Kristin Lee

Lindsay Perro

All Things Algebra

Mrs. Brosseau's Binder

Tracee Orman

4mulafun

Teaching High School Math

Pamela Kranz

FisherReyna Education

Getting Nerdy with Mel and Gerdy

Lovin Lit

ELA Everyday

Teaching Math by Hart

The Creative Classroom

For the Love of Teaching Math

Kesler Science

Live Love Math

To the Square Inch- Kate Bing Coners

A Space to Create

Science and Math with Mrs Lau

Brain Waves Instruction

Literary Sherri

Created for Learning

2 Peas and a Dog

Making Meaning with Melissa

Vistaprint Rack Cards Double as Bookmarks

Are you tired of waiting for Vistaprint to offer bookmarks? I've suggested it many times, but they still do not have that option. Instead of using business cards, I make my own bookmarks. And while I love doing it, the printing and trimming gets tedious. So when I decided to take the plunge and have business cards printed up via VistaPrint, I noticed the dimensions of the rack cards would be a great length for a bookmark. I am sure others have had this idea long before me, but in case you needed to know how to make your own, I created this visual with dimensions. (I use the full bleed dimensions and put those in Photoshop.) I save my images as .tiff files for the best quality.

The great thing about these is that you can have a the back printed in black/white free. I use the back to put the bulk of my information. On my Hunger Games bookmarks I added my favorite quotes from the novel. 

The drawback to the rack cards is that they still have to be cut. I really wish they would offer this option, but until then, I will keep printing with the rack cards. I plan to make additional ones for my students in various themes from throughout the year. 

This can also be something you could do for graduation. I think it would be very cool to have an entire class sign their names (or just use their names in a word cloud, like I did HERE and HERE) and have them printed for your students.

UPDATE: Vistaprint is having a flash sale today (2/20) only until 4 p.m. EST. Fifty percent off everything!

Do you have any Vistaprint tips? Share in the comments below!

Coping with Tragedy

On my Hunger Games Lessons blog, I've written about my free Mockingjay Acts of Goodness download, which has students recording random acts of kindness they see around them each day. It seemed appropriate in light of the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary.

For older students, we've discussed gun control and teen violence many times at school. In fact, we have a Friends of Rachel club and I have shown the movie "Bowling for Columbine" to my upperclassmen. Michael Moore is encouraging people to watch it–free–through his link via Twitter here: Bowling For Columbine

Several years ago I created a "Bowling for Columbine" handout for my classroom. I uploaded it to TpT and promptly forgot about it. Yesterday I downloaded it and was a little embarrassed at the quality; it was an older version and I had since updated my personal file. I added my improvements and then additional information about donating to Sandy Hook School Support Fund. I decided to donate 100% of all proceeds toward the Sandy Hook Fund.

The Power of a Talking Dog

The Knife of Never Letting Go By Patrick Ness

Conversation with a student...

“Is this the book about the talking dog?”

“Yep.” 

“Is it any good? I heard it was good.”

“Oh yes, it’s very good. You should read it. In fact, you should read all three.”

“There’s three?”

“Yep. Here’s the first one.”

“Oh...wow...that’s a lot of pages…”

“Give it a shot. I know you’ll love it.”

A couple of years ago I was in Mockingjay-withdrawal. I had a hard time finding good books to read and was tired of reading one then waiting a year for the next one. Then a fellow Hunger Games fan/teacher suggested I read Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy (all three books were already published!). And at first, I wasn’t really getting into the whole “New World” setting and the narrator’s vernacular was annoying. But after a few chapters, I was once again hooked. You know what did it? Manchee, the talking dog. Well, he doesn’t really talk, but you can hear his thoughts. And they are funny. And real. And exactly what the story needed. Just read the first paragraph and try not to laugh out loud.

Conversation after same student is almost finished with the first book… 

“I hate you for suggesting this book! I refuse to finish it!”

“I know...I felt the exact same way. I threw it across the room, I was so mad.”

“Yeah...that’s what I did, too.”

“It helped me writing about it.”

“Well, I’m not finishing it. I’m done with this series.”

“I know. It’ll be here if you want to finish.”

Next day, student waiting at my door in the morning…

“I need to finish it! I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about it.”

“I know. I know…”

The student came back the next day and checked out the next two books, The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men (yep, funny titles. But they make perfect sense in the books.). She read over 1,200 pages in a couple of weeks. More than she had read the previous year. 

Best opening lines. Ever.

It's a powerful series and one that I will be talking about later this week on my other blog, Hunger Games Lessons. There are many comparisons to The Hunger Games--both being a dystopia about teenagers who must fight for survival. And I just completed my teaching unit for The Knife of Never Letting Go, so look for some great teaching materials that go along with it in my teacher store, as well. I correlated everything with the Common Core State Standards, which is why it has been a work in progress for almost two years now. 

I highly recommend the trilogy. It's geared more toward high school, but mature 8th graders should be able to handle the language and violence. If you teach younger students, you MUST read A Monster Calls by Ness. Once you do, I think you will see why I love everything he writes. He has a way of bringing you into the story and feeling exactly what the characters feel. 

You can find both books on Amazon here: Author Patrick Ness

And his website: http://www.patrickness.com/

And...The Knife of Never Letting Go has been selected as one of the books that will be given out on World Book Night (April 23, 2013)! Are you convinced now it may be worth the read? :)

Celebrate Reading Today & Every Day

In my previous post I wrote about celebrating reading in secondary classrooms. I also uploaded a writing/discussion prompt on my Hunger Games Lessons website that links Dr. Seuss characters to the Hunger Games (yes, what if your favorite characters were reaped? Who would survive?). 

 

These are just reminders that you are never too old to enjoy Dr. Seuss.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Mmmmm....Cake!

Last week I felt a little like Homer Simpson every time a student brought in their creative project to wrap up our Hunger Games unit. I couldn't help drooling a little, and uttering, "Mmmmm...more cake!"

Yes, cake can be educational. Just like replicating the arena or a scene from the novel in a diorama, recreating it on a cake takes thought and creativity. Students have to brainstorm what edible objects they'll use to represent the scenery. I witnessed students rereading scenes to make sure they got the details exact. I overheard an argument about Peeta being hidden near the stream by Rue's body (which was further in the woods), and one student replied, "It's symbolic!" I love it.

Yes. Frosting. The final defense of English teachers everywhere...

Weekend Sale Ends With Huge Cyber Monday Super Sale!

 

Happy Holidays! 

 

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and did not get trampled in the crowds at your favorite stores today. 

If you are tired of being pushed around, why not do some ONLINE shopping? 

There's no long lines to wait in, no driving around looking for a parking spot, and what you want is ALWAYS in stock!

 

To thank you for your continued support of your fellow teachers, please enjoy my sale all weekend (Saturday & Sunday) on my digital downloads. 

 

Just click {HERE} to find some wonderful lessons for your students!

 

Then on Monday, Paul from TeachersPayTeachers is hosting an additional 10% off (if you use the promo code CMS28 at checkout), for up to 30% off! Don't miss out on these awesome deals on great English/Language Arts lessons, powerpoint presentations, novel units, clip art, and frames and borders!

Plus, as always, I have a great assortment of FREEBIES you can find {HERE}.

And one more bonus: Anyone purchasing a shipped good from my store this weekend will get a FREE Hunger Games handmade (by me) ornament! Ornaments will vary by style; most are two-sided and will look like one of these:

For instructions on how to make these ornaments, use The Hunger Games Examiner Sara Gundell's instructions found {HERE}.

Twilight? The Hunger Games? Top 10 Challenged Books of 2010

This week is Banned Books Week, sponsored by The American Library Association. I wrote a post on my other blog about it, but thought I would add this link to The Huffington Post's InfoGraph with the Top 10 Challenged Books of 2010, and the reasons why. It is amazing to see many of my students' favorites on the list. But some of the reasons for why they were challenged are baffling. I think it just goes to prove that many of the people who challenge these books read only small parts rather than basing their objection on the book as a whole.

The interactive InfoGraph can be found here on "Huff Post Books" page.

APPLYING THIS IN THE CLASSROOM
To educate our youth on censorship and freedom of speech, I ask them to journal their thoughts on censorship. I show them the lists of censored/challenged books (and another visual aide, found here, which shows some surprising banned books). Then I start asking them some specific questions, such as:

1. Do you believe in freedom of speech? Explain.

2. Do you believe in censorship, or removing materials from the library or classroom if someone opposes them? Why/why not?

3. Are there any books that should not be allowed in schools? Explain.

4. Are there any books that should not be allowed in libraries? Explain.

5. Are there any books that should never be printed? Explain.

After they write, I ask them some discussion questions to reflect on their answers, such as:

-If you answered "no" to number 1, but "yes" to numbers 4 or 5, then you need to change your answer to number 1 to "yes."

I bring up one of my favorite quotes by Noam Chomsky:

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." 

This always makes them stop and think. If they wish to have freedom of speech for themselves and their beliefs, it is only fair to allow it for all. It ceases to be freedom of speech when we limit others' rights.

Do you have a discussion with your students about censorship and/or banned books?

Don't forget to download my FREE banned books bookmarks, found on my Teachers Pay Teachers website:

FREE Bookmarks - "I Read Banned Books"

FREE Bookmarks - "President Snow's Panem"

Student Resources

Here's a link to sqworls of resources for students. They can bookmark the sqworls for easy access:

GENERAL STUDENT LINKS: http://sqworl.com/t515fu

POETRY RESOURCES: http://sqworl.com/4th0mt

THE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY RESOURCES: http://sqworl.com/augt49