Halloween Motivator
16/10/11 19:02 Filed in: resources
This activity is suitable for Grades 3-7. The resource includes a template for a small 2’ skeleton, a large 4’ skeleton, and a fabulous writing activity.
BUILD A SKELETON AND WRITE ABOUT IT
Comments
Reading Readiness and Numbers
16/10/11 16:39 Filed in: resources | primary resources
This is a series of lessons that is designed for children aged 3 to 5 years old.
Instructions on each page can be adapted to meet your children’s
needs. This resource is very flexible, and has wonderful illustrations and age-appropriate activities
The pages are presented in black and white. This allows the teacher to give
specific coloring directions to the children to promote an understanding of the
readiness and numbers instructions.
Sets of pictures provide the reading readiness activities and faciliate the
understanding of the numbers. Small muscle development is promoted through
tracing picture outlines with a crayon or pencil. The children will identify similarities
and differences, use the numbers from 1 to 10 and sing the Ten Little Fingers action
song to the tune of Ten Little Indians.
Finally the children sing a song about Charlie Leong’s train. This is sung to the tune
of Old McDonald Had a Farm. They count the train cars, the animals, and learn to
notice details by identifying pictures that are the same or different.
These lessons integrate action, listening and song.
Read more
Instructions on each page can be adapted to meet your children’s
needs. This resource is very flexible, and has wonderful illustrations and age-appropriate activities
specific coloring directions to the children to promote an understanding of the
readiness and numbers instructions.
Sets of pictures provide the reading readiness activities and faciliate the
understanding of the numbers. Small muscle development is promoted through
tracing picture outlines with a crayon or pencil. The children will identify similarities
and differences, use the numbers from 1 to 10 and sing the Ten Little Fingers action
song to the tune of Ten Little Indians.
Finally the children sing a song about Charlie Leong’s train. This is sung to the tune
of Old McDonald Had a Farm. They count the train cars, the animals, and learn to
notice details by identifying pictures that are the same or different.
These lessons integrate action, listening and song.
Read more
Try 3 Pigs Coloring With Younger Students
17/05/11 18:51 Filed in: resources
June is a hectic time for teachers. Primary teachers need activities that engage small children, that tie into the theme, and provide a (small) break for the tired teacher. This resource works just great:
Three Pigs Enrichment Pack
Three Pigs Enrichment Pack
This Primary Enrichment pack is ideal for any primary classroom. It has a huge 27 page coloring book based on The Three Little Pigs Story, and lots of web links to other sites, videos, and resources to immerse your little tykes in this great story! The coloring book is all original art work. Preview this resource here:
Three Pigs Enrichment Pack
Interesting Online Design Tools
11/05/11 22:30 Filed in: resources | Useful sites for teachers
Fun Logo Site!
Have your students make awesome project titles, logos, and interesting graphics:
Have your students go to: Logo Design and Image Tool
Find an online image editor, logo design tools and more. Read More...
Have your students make awesome project titles, logos, and interesting graphics:
Have your students go to: Logo Design and Image Tool
Find an online image editor, logo design tools and more. Read More...
Create Word Clouds with Wordle
08/05/11 21:43 Filed in: resources
Create exciting word graphics with Wordle. Wordle is a free program that allows students or teachers to make a word cloud. The word cloud you see comes from the RSS feed of this web site.
Find Wordle here: Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds Read More...
Find Wordle here: Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds Read More...
High Interest Low Vocabulary Readers
What is teacher productivity?
26/04/11 21:03 Filed in: teacher efficiency
Being a productive teacher is not taking away anything from students, it is giving more to students in less time. AND HAVING A LIFE!
So what is teacher productivity?
ANSWER: to be more efficient and give more to students. What you give is not more curriculum, more tests or assessements. It is what students need most: hope, joy and someone who believes in them. You will be able to really care for your students if you are not over-stressed.
Colleagues of mine have pointed out some of the extensive definitions of “Teacher Productivity”, and criticism of those definitions. I still stand by my definition:
So what is teacher productivity?
ANSWER: to be more efficient and give more to students. What you give is not more curriculum, more tests or assessements. It is what students need most: hope, joy and someone who believes in them. You will be able to really care for your students if you are not over-stressed.
Colleagues of mine have pointed out some of the extensive definitions of “Teacher Productivity”, and criticism of those definitions. I still stand by my definition:
The ability to be efficient so that you can give more to your students.
That “more” that you give is:
Read More...Teach with literature
22/04/11 21:18 Filed in: teaching tips
Literature has the power to capture the imagination of students. Take verses from Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
Or the now famous:
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
The deeply affective nature of good literature works through the beauty of the language, and the universal themes it contains. Mature students know when they encounter something deep and universal.
Useful Sites for Teachers #4 Khan Academy
22/04/11 14:42 Filed in: Useful sites for teachers | resources
Khan Academy
Read More...
Useful Sites For Teachers #1: SOLARO
Another must have useful site for a techie or non-techie teacher is SOLARO. It can be found at:
SOLARO » Helping the World learn, ONE STUDENT at a time.
Solaro is an easy to use online teaching, study, practice, or assessment tool for students and teachers. This allows students to log on to lessons/ quizzes/ tests previewed or chosen by the teacher. And all the questions are aligned to the regional standards. In BC Canada, my Solaro accounts tie in directly with the Prescribed Learning Outcomes of the BC Ministry of Education. This direct tie-in is true all over North America.
An amazing thing about this service is that it is offered FREE to all schools. THAT’S RIGHT FREE! The easy to use interface, the number of options for teachers makes this site the #1 top winner of useful web sites for teachers!
Read More...
SOLARO » Helping the World learn, ONE STUDENT at a time.
Solaro is an easy to use online teaching, study, practice, or assessment tool for students and teachers. This allows students to log on to lessons/ quizzes/ tests previewed or chosen by the teacher. And all the questions are aligned to the regional standards. In BC Canada, my Solaro accounts tie in directly with the Prescribed Learning Outcomes of the BC Ministry of Education. This direct tie-in is true all over North America.
An amazing thing about this service is that it is offered FREE to all schools. THAT’S RIGHT FREE! The easy to use interface, the number of options for teachers makes this site the #1 top winner of useful web sites for teachers!
Read More...
Astonishing presentations online FREE!
07/04/11 20:41 Filed in: resources | presentation sites
Prezi is an award winning creative and free online presentation site that wows students and teachers alike. It is is hard to beat this original and effective site. Using Prezi is like having a large on-line white board that you can fill with text, video, animations, and pictures. You then set the presentation to “zoom” in and out of the different components you have added.
Prezi - The Zooming Presentation Editor
Here is an example of the presentation style:
Why should you move beyond slides? by Adam Somlai-Fischer on Prezi
Prezi - The Zooming Presentation Editor
Here is an example of the presentation style:
Why should you move beyond slides? by Adam Somlai-Fischer on Prezi
Free on the web?
03/04/11 09:45 Filed in: resources
The number of free resources on the web is shrinking. Formally free resources are being bought out to become part of someone’s business plan. A recent post on Teacher Tools tells about a wonderful teacher Sue Le Beau who has compiled some really excellent resources on one enormous page. Look around at some of her other resources on other pages. Some of those items are now on paid sites, and that seems to be the trend. We still feel her site has excellent resource links, and many still free. As far as other sites:That quiz has assured us that they will be free “forever”. There are no ads on the site. That QuizSolaro has said it will be free for schools. (For now that is.) The people from Solaro are passionate about helping kids and including all children in all schools in North America and abroad. SOLARO » Helping the World learn, ONE STUDENT at a time.Teachers Pay Teachers have an amazing large section of free items. This is not likely to change. TeachersPayTeachers.com - An Open Marketplace for Original Lesson Plans and Other Teaching ResourcesRegrettably many other “free sites” now are charging a subscription fee, or are so full of obnoxious ads with very little free stuff, that we cannot post the site on this resource web site.Please use the comments on this site and I will post your suggestions of good free (relatively ad free) web sites for teachers.I want to make a little cautionary note here:Watch that the sites you host your web pages on do not have inappropriate advertising. I remember one site I previewed for my class. This site had very good content and links, but a large side-bar banner advertised singles in my area. A large scantily clad lady was there to greet the youngsters! Was I glad I did not use that site without looking!The moral of this story is to preview everything!
Read More...Free Clip Art for Teachers
02/04/11 21:51 Filed in: resources | Useful sites for teachers
If you find that your programs can’t provide sufficient clip art, you can find royalty free clip art can be found in the following places:
http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Clipart
http://www.clker.com/
http://www.clipart.com/en/
http://www.iclipart.com/
You may consider using royalty free clip art if you plan to publish your lessons or units.
For more information go here: Make Some Money From Your Lessons! Read More...
http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Clipart
http://www.clker.com/
http://www.clipart.com/en/
http://www.iclipart.com/
You may consider using royalty free clip art if you plan to publish your lessons or units.
For more information go here: Make Some Money From Your Lessons! Read More...
Free or Inexpensive Websites for Teachers
02/04/11 21:34 Filed in: resources | Useful sites for teachers
Useful Sites for Teachers #2: That Quiz
30/03/11 17:47 Filed in: Useful sites for teachers | resources
This site is a gem of a useful teacher site. Don’t be fooled by it’s simple layout. It is just what you need: a non-distracting site for students. 
http://www.thatquiz.org/
That Quiz is an educator’s dream. Need a test for a unit? You have some options:
Read More...
http://www.thatquiz.org/
That Quiz is an educator’s dream. Need a test for a unit? You have some options:
Read More...
Useful Sites for Teachers #3: Teachers Pay Teachers
25/03/11 16:34 Filed in: resources | Useful sites for teachers
Teachers Pay Teachers is a huge marketplace full of teacher made and teacher tested resources (mostly dowloads). This includes 9500 free items.
You can link to the free items here:
Browse: Free Downloads - TeachersPayTeachers.com
You can find a wealth of really excellent and inexpensive products - usually PDF files or also smart board or powerpoint files. This site requires you to log in to buy products. It has the added advantage of being a place that teachers can sell. At teacher productivity we have put together a package for sellers interested in uploading to the site. You may want to take advantage of advice and guidence here
Check out my store here:
Store: Peter Stocker - TeachersPayTeachers.com (I know shameless and unrepentant self-promotion going on here)
For help setting up your own store to sell items you have made with promotion and Search Engine Optimization check this page first:
Make Some Money From Your Lessons!
You can link to the free items here:
Browse: Free Downloads - TeachersPayTeachers.com
You can find a wealth of really excellent and inexpensive products - usually PDF files or also smart board or powerpoint files. This site requires you to log in to buy products. It has the added advantage of being a place that teachers can sell. At teacher productivity we have put together a package for sellers interested in uploading to the site. You may want to take advantage of advice and guidence here
Check out my store here:
Store: Peter Stocker - TeachersPayTeachers.com (I know shameless and unrepentant self-promotion going on here)
For help setting up your own store to sell items you have made with promotion and Search Engine Optimization check this page first:
Make Some Money From Your Lessons!
Use Activities to Facilitate Learning
25/03/11 16:31 Filed in: teaching tips
They like to participate actively in a project. Working and laughing with their friends is likely their top priority. Read More...
Organize with all-in-one criteria sheets
24/03/11 20:03 Filed in: teaching tips | teacher efficiency
If you are giving a project to students, here is an idea: Read More...
Suggestions for Helping Troubled Students
23/03/11 10:02 Filed in: class room management
This article will suggest some approaches that may help you, as teachers, to deal with these troubled and often demanding young people.
Read More...
How to Gain Rapport With Parents
23/03/11 10:00 Filed in: teaching tips
This article will offer some suggestions that may help you to gain the confidence of the parents of your students.
Read More...
Read More...
Make Some Money From Your Lessons!
21/03/11 10:06 Filed in: resources
Have you worked hard as a teacher and made some interesting units that work with kids? At teachers-pay-teachers you can upload and sell some the work you have worked hard to create. With huge numbers of teachers uploading to the site your work can easily be lost. Successful teacher-sellers at the site say that some outside promotion is necessary.
Here is a proposal. I will help you set up your site in exchange for referral earnings. I get a cut from each of your sales BUT THE CUT DOES NOT COME FROM YOU rather TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS PAYS ME A FINDERS FEE. I will help you edit your profile and listings for clarity and key words, and promote your products on my site. You will get the traffic to your tpt site because of my promotion of your products. You win (it will cost you nothing!), I get paid because I have referred you.
Contact me and I will send you a startup package with links and advice:
Why have fun?
15/03/11 21:47 Filed in: resources | teaching tips
You want to have fun. Your students want and need fun. When you get the right mix of fun and hard work, students really learn. Learning far exceeds what is possible in a less motivating task.
But don’t run after every exciting new thrilling fad in education.
THE KEY IS USING EXCITING EXPERIENCES AND COOL TECHNOLOGY TO LEVERAGE SERIOUS READING, WRITING, AND THINKING.
Read More...
But don’t run after every exciting new thrilling fad in education.
THE KEY IS USING EXCITING EXPERIENCES AND COOL TECHNOLOGY TO LEVERAGE SERIOUS READING, WRITING, AND THINKING.
Read More...
Tips for multimedia projects!
lMultimedia projects make learning come alive! With the use of software and some of the great hardware in schools 
students are able to create amazing projects that bring a real love of learning.
Read More...
Read More...
Look Good
10/03/11 20:21 Filed in: teaching tips
THAT’S RIGHT. In teaching appearences are important. A well ordered classroom with lots of student work attractively 
displayed is important for the impression you want to make.
FINE. But lets look at the other benefits. Read More...
FINE. But lets look at the other benefits. Read More...
Pace Yourself!
07/03/11 21:10 Filed in: teaching tips
SLOW DOWN! There is time. And some of that time you have to give yourself. Here are some top tips: Read More...
Have the machines do it!
Computers can do a lot, but not all. They make us more productive as teachers. But Remember: productivity is so we 
can give more to students. Read More...
Does marking have to ruin you?
FRUSTRATED BY ALL THE MARKING AND HAVING NO TIME?
Here are some marking tips of a productive teacher: Read More...
Here are some marking tips of a productive teacher: Read More...
Classroom Management: do or die tips
02/03/11 21:27 Filed in: class room management
You are the teacher and students want you to lead and teach. They respect a confident teacher who really teaches. Your confidence and self-assurance is everything. Your positive affirming self is everything. 
Read More...