Two big announcements...

#1: I'd like to introduce our newest munchkin!

He was born 6 weeks early this past spring, but he's doing great now. Needless to say, life has been extra busy lately, but oh so much fun (I  mean, just look at that sweet smile!)...

#2: I have finally updated my U.S. History packets!

While not nearly as photogenic as my first announcement, these packets still make me super excited! My history packets were the very first thing that I created for Teachers Pay Teachers...and while they have always been a best-seller in my store, they were due for a major upgrade.

And you know me: I'm like the mouse and the cookie...once I start a small project, it quickly morphs into a huge one as I come up with more ideas. Sooooo, instead of just an update, you are getting a whole set of newly expanded units with up to twice the number of activities as the original packets.

My goal when I taught US History was to make the story come to life in my classroom. So in these packets, you will find costume day projects, create-your-own-newspapers, and other hands-on activities to put your students right in the middle of history.

And of course, if you give a girl a history packed to update, she might want to expand it...and if she expands it, she might just see all the OTHER units in her store and want to to fix them too...

Mini Books

Nancy over at Can't Stop Smiling in Second Grade shared this fun and simple (and money-saving!) idea that could work for almost every subject area. She takes skinny composition folders- 20 pages or less- and cuts them in half using a paper cutter. Then, they can be used to make mini books about whatever subject they are currently working on. The sky is the limit on what you could have your kiddos put in each one! I may be wrong, but I feel like I've seen these skinnier notebooks at the dollar store. Has anyone else found a place to get them?

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This is just one idea that was pinned to the BEST Teaching Tips & Tools board on my Pinterest page. This is a awesome board full of TONS of creative ideas pinned by other teachers. Check it out:

Wanna join the board?

Do you sell your own teacher-created products? Have a teaching blog? Just love sharing interesting teaching pins with other teachers? Then this board is for you! It's easy- just follow these simple directions.

DIY Classroom Display

Here's another great find from my Pinterest board: BEST Teaching Tips & Tools. The creator just used a paper towel holder, binder rings, and clear page protector sheets to create this simple display.

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Here's how you might use it in your classroom:

• Put each child's name on a label and stick it on a page protector. As students receive back papers that they are proud of (good spelling test, nice picture, etc), they can choose to put it in their sheets. The best part: they decide what goes in there and it's their job to change it out for a new one whenever they wish. Even your most struggling student will have a place to proudly display his or her best work.

• Use the page protectors that are designed for 4x6 photos. Print off class pictures throughout the year and create a class photo display. Parents and administrators can see at a glance what you've been doing all year (plus kids just love to see pictures of themselves!).

• As students read a good book from your classroom library, have them fill out a simple book-report form and present the book to the class in a quick one-minute presentation. The forms can then go in the page protectors and you've created a reading resource that students can use as they try to decide what good book they should read next.

• At the end of each unit- as a review activity- have students draw a picture of one thing they learned in this unit and write a short summary about that fact. Add these pages to the display all throughout the year as a record of what your class has been learning. 

UPDATE: I received an email from a lovely reader named Michelle last week who saw this post. She teaches in the middle/high school setting and had some great ideas for using this display in a secondary classroom. She suggested using it as a quick reference for student data that you could keep on your desk. Here's what she wrote:

"The teacher's desk version could include the following:  
- class rosters
- seating charts
- daily agendas
- standards/benchmarks per unit
- weekly lesson plans
- charts/graphs of class achievement data 
- group assignments/arrangements 
- textbook numbers
- participation tracking sheets.  

These are things that we normally keep in separate binders or plan books.  If student data was coded (to protect privacy!), then the information would all be very helpful for the regular teacher on a daily basis but for paraprofessionals in and out of the room different days/times, substitutes, progress monitors, administrators, and other visitors needing to see class data without interrupting your teaching and students' learning, too!  ELA teachers in middle and high school classrooms could also track books read by students throughout the year for silent reading time without having to dig in a file card box or student notebooks."  

Wow! I love these ideas and I love that she was able to take something useful she found here and think outside the box. Thanks for sharing, Michelle!

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This is just one idea that was pinned to the BEST Teaching Tips & Tools board on my Pinterest page. This is a awesome board full of TONS of creative ideas pinned by other teachers. Check it out:

Wanna join the board?

Do you sell your own teacher-created products? Have a teaching blog? Just love sharing interesting teaching pins with other teachers? Then this board is for you! It's easy- just follow these simple directions.

Great Sites: Put Your Flashcards Online

In the last twenty years, the internet has drastically changed the way we do daily life, from how we shop to how we stay informed and connected. As teachers, the web can be an incredible source of great ideas and helpful sites....but it can also be very time-consuming finding the sites that are the most helpful. During this series, I will be doing that research for you and highlighting some of the best websites out there for teachers.

Today's Featured Site:

Quizlet is a simple website that allows you to create online flashcards. Your students can practice with them on their own (it has a feature that will read the cards to the students for those who are struggling readers) or as a group.

One feature I think it fun is that it has a matching game called Scatter. In this game, the cards are scattered all over the screen with both the front and back showing. Students must drag the front of each card to the matching back. The site times the students to see if they can get faster and beat their previous time. I can see this being a great whole group game if you use a SmartBoard or other touch screen board. Students could run up to the board one at a time and match one card, then race back to their seat and 'tag' the next student in line. Record the group's time and race again to see if they can beat it!

Have you ever used this site before? What did you think? We'd love to hear your feedback!

Make a Flip Book

I stumbled across this easy-to-use idea while looking through the pins on my BEST Teaching Tips & Tools board. I can't seem to find the original source of the photo, so if you all have any idea who took and shared this picture, let me know so I can credit their genius! 

This flip book idea could be used for all sorts of topics across many subjects. Here are just a few ideas:

• Math- a 'cheat sheet' for rules on how to do different math operations
• Science- Pictures of different types of clouds, rocks, parts of matter, etc.
• Language Arts- the different parts of a story (plot, characters, etc)....beginning, middle, end,
• Social Studies- a flip book of famous Americans. Just put one on each page.
• Foreign Language- a page is a category and students can draw a few pictures with the labels of the word.

You could paste these flip books into an interactive journal or display them on a bulletin board. 

Hmm...just thought of another idea: Write a question on each flap and write the answer under the flap. This would make a fun way for students to review for any test!

This could also work as a 'class yearbook' that you display on your door. Have each student make a page about themselves and write the name of that student on the flap. Then, just combine the entire thing into a flap book.

How have you used flip books? We'd love to hear your ideas!

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This is just one idea that was pinned to the BEST Teaching Tips & Tools board on my Pinterest page. This is a awesome board full of TONS of creative ideas pinned by other teachers. Check it out:

Wanna join the board?

Do you sell your own teacher-created products? Have a teaching blog? Just love sharing interesting teaching pins with other teachers? Then this board is for you! It's easy- just follow these simple directions.

"The Answer Is..." Bulletin Board

Mrs. Patton showcased a fun bulletin board idea over in her corner of Blogland at Mrs. Patton's Patch. Students put cards on the board that have pictures or word problems that result in the answer being whatever she's displayed on the board:

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The genius behind this kind of board is that it can be used all year long, you just change the 'answer' every time. She uses it as morning or early-finisher work.

{Via}

I can also see this being great for other subjects too, not just math! For example:

• Reading: Encourage predictions about your current book. (This is what Petey the Pig will do next!) 

• Social Studies: Put up a famous American's name and have students write facts about him or her...or draw that fact using pictures. 

• Science: put up a vocabulary word and have students draw pictures illustration what that word means.

This is also another great way to have an effective, but low-maintenance classroom since this is a board you create once and use throughout the entire year in a variety of ways. Check out this post to get some more year-round bulletin board ideas. Oh! And don't forget about this fabulous tip too!

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This is just one idea that was pinned to the BEST Teaching Tips & Tools board on my Pinterest page. This is a awesome board full of TONS of creative ideas pinned by other teachers. Check it out:

Wanna join the board?

Do you sell your own teacher-created products? Have a teaching blog? Just love sharing interesting teaching pins with other teachers? Then this board is for you! It's easy- just follow these simple directions.

Native American Unit Activities

Teaching US History was one of the things I enjoyed the most. It was just so much fun coming up with creative, hands-on ways to teach each fact. We dressed up, did arts and crafts, created skits, and played a ton of games.

One thing that was not so much fun was the total lack of curriculum. We had a textbook that was written on a high school reading level. For 5th graders. It included chapters on concepts such as transcendentalism and utopian societies. Now don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that students should be exposed to higher level thinking and ideas that may not necessarily be on the end-of-year test, but I drew the line at words that were over 16 letters long.

To compensate for our lack of literature on US History, we purchased a few supplemental items...but mostly it was left up to me to create the activities that went along with each lesson. While this was a massively huge amount of work initially, it ended up resulting in a year full of hands-on, engaging activities that were perfectly tailored to our classroom.

A few things we did that year:

• Colonial Costume Day
• Who Am I? Game
• Native American Museum
• The Hall of Fame 
• Create-Your-Own-Store
• Created and voted on new school laws (which usually got the VETO stamp from President Principal) ;) 
• North v. South Great Debate

I've taken these teacher-create activities and created US History packs that are grouped by unit.

The one I'd like to share with you today is the Native American Unit:

Native American Unit

Product Description

Fun & Creative Native American activities to supplement your unit!

Includes: 
- Unit Project and Presentation
- Concentration Game
- Create-Your-Own Scrapbook activity 
- Native American Chart (students draw pictures)
- Vocabulary Quiz
- General Native American Quiz. 

The current tribes used are Inuit, Kwakiutl, Sioux, Iroquois, and Pueblo, but they can be changed to match the tribes you teach. 
All pages can be edited to fit your state's standards. Pages are currently aligned with VA Standards of Learning.

To see more reviews or to purchase this product, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store or my Teacher's Notebook store.

Some Comments from a TeachersPayTeachers Customers:

JodiEZ said:

I live in PA, so we are studying the Algonquains and the Iroquois. However, I am tweaking this project to suit those tribes. My 4th grade students are getting ready to create their Native American Museum and are so excited. Hoping for quality work!!!!

Aura53 said:

If you cant get ideas from this resource, it doesnt exist.

mclarke5 said:

This is a wonderful Unit. I will use it for many years to come!!

Other social studies resources you might be interested in:

       

      

To find out more about this product, you can visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store or my Teacher's Notebook store.

Create Your Own Rubrics

In the last twenty years, the internet has drastically changed the way we do daily life, from how we shop to how we stay informed and connected. As teachers, the web can be an incredible source of great ideas and helpful sites....but it can also be very time-consuming finding the sites that are the most helpful. During this series, I will be doing that research for you and highlighting some of the best websites out there for teachers.

Today's Featured Site:

This free-to-use site allows you to quickly create your own customized rubrics to grade virtually any project or paper. You get to choose the number of grids along with the content to make it fit your classroom perfectly. OR choose from a pre-made rubric and save yourself even more time!

Have you ever used this site before? Was it helpful or just a waste of time? We'd love to hear your feedback!

End-of-Year History Project

Want a fun way to wrap up your Social Studies year? I've created a project that gives your class a creative way to review the entire year's worth of material. I used it in my own room and it was always a hit with both the kids and the parents. Check it out:

Review each of your standards using a fun activity that will creatively engage every student in your class!

This end-of-year activity allows students to work in teams to create a project. The great part about it is that they get to choose their topics and type of project. Research shows that when a student chooses what he/she will study, they are more likely to retain the information and put forth greater effort. 

I have implemented this project for several years and have always been pleasantly surprised at the quality of work my students exhibited, as well as the enthusiasm they had for their projects. (Some memorable projects were a civil war movie that was shot "on location" and a VERY creative scrapbook on the Revolutionary War.) The best part was how interested the other students were in seeing each team's projects. They were reviewing an entire year's worth of social studies without realizing it!

This 3 page packet guides students through choosing a topic that you have covered this year in social studies. It also assists them in choosing a way to present that topic. Some choices given are to create a newspaper, create a scrapbook, create a play, create a book, create a poster, etc. 

Students work at their own pace to complete the project in class. At the end of the given time, they are asked to present the project to the class. Students in the audience will use the project presentation form provided to record facts that they learned during each presentation.  

ANY topic or curriculum can be used with this end-of-year project. 

This packet includes:

- Detailed Teachers Notes to help you implement this activity.

- A student project page to guide student through choosing and creating their project.

- A student project presentation form to record facts from other teams' presentations. 

Some Comments from TeachersPayTeachers Customers:

Strykermom: love the idea on an end of year project to culminate the lesson learned

Courtney Dubord: I can not wait to use this with my kiddos this year!! I know it will make it easier for them to understand the millions of topics we will be covering this year! THANK YOU!

Make History Fun: A great review!

Jennifer Nash: I use it every year!

Other social studies units in my store: 

To see more great classroom resources, you can visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store or my Teacher's Notebook store. 

Want to know when I'm running a sale or posting a new product? I'd be super excited if you'd follow my store or subscribe to my feed!