12 Great Books for Gift-Giving (12/12/12)

Happy holidays! Have you finished your holiday shopping? Or started it? I have to admit we have no presents under the tree yet. This is a busy time at school (as you all know) so I'm always one of those last-minute shoppers. If you have any book-lovers on your list, here's some great books for gift-giving. I included a mix of young adult, contemporary, and a classic thrown in, as well. (Images courtesy of www.Amazon.com)

For The Hunger Games fan:

1. The Panem Companion by V. Arrow

For anyone (especially those that like tear-jerkers):

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

For females who enjoy dystopia love-triangles:

3. The Matched Trilogy Box Set by Ally Condie

For the conspiracy-theory fan:

4. 11/22/63 by Stephen King

For fans of The Giver:

5. Son by Lois Lowry

For those who love suspense-thrillers, with some twisted reality thrown in:

6. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

For Gary Paulsen (a.k.a. adventure, survival) fans:

7. The River by Gary Paulsen

More for The Hunger Games fans:

8. Blood Red Road (Dustlands, book 1) by Moira Young

and the sequel to Blood Red Road:

9. Rebel Heart (Dustlands, book 2) by Moira Young

For the Divergent fan:

10. Free Four: Tobias Tells the Divergent Story (Kindle edition) by Veronica Roth

For Stephanie Plum fans:

11. Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich

For anyone (especially those who appreciate the timeless classics):

12. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Worth mentioning:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (This deluxe pocket edition is so cute.)

The Chaos Walking Trilogy (Kindle edition) by Patrick Ness (Includes The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, and Monsters of Men)

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (Don't expect a book like Harry Potter, though!)

Threat Vector by Tom Clancy

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by James Patterson

The Mortal Instruments Box Set: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Finale (Hush, Hush series) by Becca Fitzpatrick 

For more suggestions, check out my pinboards on Pinterest for book lovers:

Books Worth Reading: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/books-worth-reading/

YA Literature: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/young-adult-ya-literature/

Books for Boys: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/books-for-boys/

Books for Girls: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman/books-for-girls/

Do you have book suggestions? PLEASE post them below! :)

Happy Holidays, Friends!

Day 4 of The Twelve Days of Gift-mas for Teachers

Welcome to The Twelve Days of Gift-mas blog hop for secondary teachers! Each day you'll find a fantastic freebie that can be used in a middle or high school classroom. Thanks for coming by to Mrs. Orman's Classroom and Hunger Games Lessons for Day 4 (I run both blogs, so decided to post both places.)

"Four Calling Birds" is appropriate for my free gifts to you because I have FOUR priced items to fit that theme that will be FREE for 24 hours only, beginning at 6 a.m. (CST) today (Tuesday, Dec. 4th) until 6 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5th.

I teach English/Language Arts, so my special gifts are the following (click on the images of the products to get the free download):

To Kill a Mockingbird Introduction KWL Activity

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/To-Kill-a-Mockingbird-Introduction-Guided-KWL-Activity

To Kill a Mockingbird Trial Organizer and Inferencing Activity for Chapters 17-19

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/To-Kill-a-Mockingbird-Trial-Organizer-Activity-Ch-17-19

One mockingbird + three mockingjays = four calling birds!

Another "bird" related activity is my review activities for The Hunger Games characters, setting, and events in preparation of Catching Fire (you can also use it as an alternative final assessment of The Hunger Games, though it is just a simple review of characters and plot): 

The Hunger Games Review Activities

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Hunger-Games-Review-Lessons-Characters-Setting

And...

The Hunger Games Meaning of Panem Activity

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Hunger-Games-Trilogy-Meaning-of-Panem-Lesson

A fifth calling bird?? What?

Finally, here's a BONUS freebie that can be used with any book or story (fiction or non-fiction), any time! It's my Twitter Tweet Chapter or Lesson Review Activity. Use it with any content area to review a reading passage or lesson for the day!

Twitter Tweet Summary or Review Activity

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Twitter-Tweet-Story-or-Chapter-Summary

Tomorrow you'll be heading to Liz's Lessons for the 5th day of Gift-mas! You can check out all the pages in the link-up (below).

Happy Holidays and THANK YOU for all you do each and every day. You are appreciated! :)

Special thanks to Michelle Lundy from Making It as a Middle School Teacher for organizing and facilitating this blog hop!

Happy Holidays From Your Favorite TpT Teachers!

Last year Rachel Lynette from Minds in Bloom started a wonderful holiday tradition to thank the supporters of TeachersPayTeachers: a free holiday eBook filled with free holiday tips and links to free teaching downloads from TpT teacher authors.

This year the book has been split up into separate books based on grade level. The grades 7-12 was compiled by Addie Williams of Addie Education and can be downloaded here:

My page from the book looks like this:

 There is one broken link to my Common Core Writing PEEL Chart and Graphic Organizer. Sorry about that!

Rachel Lynette compiled the grades 3-6 book, which can be found here:

My page from the 3-6 book is for a free clipart download:

Here are the other Holiday eBooks:

PreK-K and Grades 1-2

And from all the contributors and myself, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season and fantastic winter break!

Teaching Resources I Use Weekly

I could not live without these resources. That seems like a stretch, but it really isn't. It has taken me years to create and compile them and I always find room for adding and improving them, as well. That's why these two resources are the ones I turn to for so many reasons: when I need a sub, when I want to liven class up, when we have 10 minutes left and I want to challenge my students. I use them weekly and I hope you'll find them as useful, as well.

A Year of Journal Prompts {Common Core Correlated} - Almost 400 writing exercises in all! You won't need to look anywhere else for a writing prompt; I utilized history and popular culture so the prompts are relevant and engaging. Includes handouts to prompt your students.

Each month has 15-20 detailed prompts, for a total of 196. 

In addition, it contains:

• 73 quote prompts

• 88 anytime prompts 

and 45 one-liners, for a total of 402 writing prompts!

Creative Activities for ANY Novel or Story - This packet is still one of my all-time favorite resources. I utilize it often for both shorter creative prompts/activities and for longer project assignments in my classroom. I recently updated it to include even more activities and handouts, plus rubrics for assessment. There's a reason why it has remained in my top three best-selling products of all time.

The file is up to 41 pages, plus it has links to websites with additional resources. If you teach in a 1:1 school, there are several online projects. I incorporated technology into several older ideas. The page above shows the many handouts you can use with your students.

I just finished my Common Core Vocabulary Graphic Organizers tonight, so I'll blog more about those another day. But here's a link if you want to check them out!

Word Up! Vocabulary Organizers Correlated with the Common Core State Standards

Cyber Monday...Need Common Core Resources?

Day two post for sale...

It's shopping time for teachers again: Cyber Monday (& Tuesday) Sale on TeachersPayTeachers! 

Last night I started a post about teaching resources that you'll want to put in your cart. I'm continuing today with additional products--especially those geared for aligning your curriculum with the Common Core State Standards.

Part two of the essential products you'll want to add to your cart include (middle and high school teachers):

Common Core Reading Graphic Organizers for Grades 6-12 - My grades 11-12 bundle contains organizers for all the reading informational & reading literature anchor standards for grades 6-12. The 9-10 bundle contains organizers for grades 6-10, and the 6, 7, 8 bundle has the organizers for those specific grades. Because the 9-10 standards build upon the 6-8 and the 11-12 build upon the 9-10, it's essential to practice the skills but take it to a higher (deeper) level as students age. My organizers are great for daily work while reading, along with formal and informal assessments.




For my elementary friends:

Common Core Vocabulary Organizers & Prompts - Everyone has graphic organizers...why these? What makes mine unique is that they are provided in Microsoft Word and Powerpoint, along with a PDF copy, so you can customize them with words, differentiate for certain students, and make adjustments to suit your needs. Besides being a great resource for vocabulary/language practice, students will practice reading and writing skills at the same time. All the standards work with one another so I designed my handouts to utilize and capitalize on it; while your students are practicing vocabulary skills, they are also building their reading and writing skills. For grades 2-5. Coming soon: a packet for older students!

What will I be buying? (Or perhaps already purchased early!)
My friend Kristen, owner of Secondary Solutions, has awesome literature units. When I was assigned to teach regular English IV this year (I had seniors before, but the general/remedial class, which follows a different curriculum) I knew Beowulf would be one of the units I would have to teach. I must admit I hated reading it in college and was dreading teaching it. Secondary Solutions to the rescue! Here's Kristen's Beowulf unit--aligned to the Common Core, of course--that will save me much time (and agony!): http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Beowulf-Literature-Guide-Common-Core-Aligned-Teaching-Guide

See you tomorrow for some additional finds to put in your shopping cart!
Post below links to your favorite items that you'll be purchasing Monday & Tuesday.

Cyber Monday Sale for Teachers!

It's shopping time for teachers again: Cyber Monday (& Tuesday) Sale on TeachersPayTeachers! 

Stock up on resources for the rest of 2012 and to start the new semester off with a bang. All my items will be marked down; be sure to take advantage of the great savings using the code CMT12 at checkout.

Over the next few days I'm going to be posting about some great products you won't want to miss! Follow my blog to get all the updates. I'll also be posting some new products that I think you're going to love!


Part one of the essential products you'll want to add to your cart include (middle and high school teachers):

English Language Arts Reading Assessment - This is a great packet for teachers looking for Common Core State Standards-aligned reading evaluations. It includes a lengthy non-fiction reading passage, a shorter fictional piece, writing response, and vocabulary in-context assessments. Appropriate for grades 8-10.


For my elementary friends:

iPad Literacy Common Core Creative Writing Activities - If your students have ever had the opportunity to use an application on an iPad, you can use these activities to generate that excitement of technology into writing activities. Practices many Common Core State Standards skills for grades 1 and 2 (though higher grades seem to like it, as well!). Coming soon: a packet for the older students!


For my clip art fanatics:

Mega Bundle of Teachers & Students Clip Art for Commercial Use - The sale is a great time to stock up on my people bundle. And how can you resist those faces? ;)

What will I be buying?

Kimberly Geswein Commercial License for ALL Fonts - I absolutely love her fonts! I've already purchased several individual licenses, but she continues to create gorgeous fonts (that include great high-school friendly scripts) so I know her store-wide license will be more than worth it.

See you tomorrow for some additional finds to put in your shopping cart! Browse my store on TeachersPayTeachers to find additional resources.

In the comments below, post links to your favorite items that you'll be purchasing Monday & Tuesday. 

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? :)