Monday Made It - Objective Posters Freebie

This Monday, I decided to link up with a digital made-it that I just finished and posted as a freebie in my TPT shop.

I don't know about your district/principal, but for me, displaying daily objectives is a big "look-for" during observations and walk-thrus. This past year, my school made the switch from just requiring content objectives (the what) to also requiring matching language objectives (the how).

For example, instead of just saying:

"I can compare and contrast two fiction texts",

we need to say HOW we are going to do that; like:

"I can compare and contrast two fiction texts by using a Venn diagram to sort trait/feature cards."

As you can imagine, when you have to say HOW you are going to be learning the objective, your objectives need to change daily. I was the worst at this. I would completely forget, my personal goal was to change my objectives at least once a week.

Before the extra "how" piece was required, I used pre-made posters to display my objectives. One year, I changed all the objectives into kid-terms and printed them for each subject onto different colored paper. I put the papers inside a plastic sleeve and displayed it using binder rings. It was easy to just flip the pages to find the objective for the current day.

This year, I created posters, that I plan on laminating, so it will be easy to erase and re-write each day. I added the EDITABLE posters to my TPT store as a freebie.

Stop by to grab them if you will be able to use them too.

Be sure to swing by 4th Grade Frolics for more amazing Monday Made-It Posts.

TPT BIG SALE: Do it like a BOSS ...5 Tips

Have you heard?!? There is a monstrous sale going on RIGHT NOW over at TPT! Seriously, I'm not being dramatic when I say it is the best sale of the year! Take the opportunity now to stock up with things you know you will need (...or want) throughout the year.

The vast majority of sellers, including yours truly, have placed their stores on sale at a whopping 20%. With a total of 28% off when you use the code BTS15. Don't miss out!

Here are my tips to ensure that you WIN during this sale:

1. Buy something you NEED

Invest in something that is an absolute must for your classroom this year. It could be a teacher organizational tool or a curriculum need.

Have to teach grammar this year? Check out my Grammar Interactive Notebook.

2. Buy something you WANT

Come on, you can't go shopping and NOT get something you want. Pick something pretty or something you've had your eye on that makes you smile.

Like to eat? I know I do! 

Check out these resources that use food to hook your students when teaching comprehension skills.

3. Buy a BUNDLE

The quality of work and quantity of resources that you get in a bundle is amazing! However, for us on a budget, they can also be amazingly expensive. Take the time now to buy a bundle that you've had your eye on. 28% makes a BIG difference on higher priced items.

     

Do you INB? Check out these bundled reading and math interactive notebooks, 5 notebooks in one!

Two more tips for my fellow TPT teacher-author-sellers:

4. Invest in CLIPART

Yes! You can have a solid educational resource, but if it's not cute, it won't sell (as much). You have to invest in your business and this is a great place to start. I love Creative Clips by Krista Wallden.

5. Invest in FONT

How can you not? Fun Fact: Even fonts that were free for you to download are probably not free for you to use commercially. Take the time now to buy font licenses, you will need them. I love Kimberly Geswein Fonts.

There you have it. So go be a BOSS!

Interactive Math Notebooks: MISSION DIFFERENTIATION

I absolutely love interactive notebooks. I've used them in my room ever since I started teaching. A lot of the time I use foldables and notebook activities to review concepts at the end of the lesson. I can quickly walk around and see how some students are doing and what they understood. Sometimes, we complete activities whole-group and take notes that students can refer back to. As I'm sure you know, it doesn't matter how I'm using them or what I'm teaching, there are always students on different levels.

When I was using the exact same activity for everyone, I would have to race around the room making sure the lower buddies got all the support and scaffolding they needed while the higher kiddos were getting the extension to challenge them. By the end of the lesson my feet and brain were tired!

Then...Lightbulb! Why not create leveled foldables and interactive notebook activities ahead of time.

Yes....Yes! This would help my poor feet (and probably make my "teaching slippers" a little less stinky). I got right to work and now, many weeks of procrastination later, I have 8 activities to help me jumpstart math at the beginning of the year. I created 4 place value activities, 2 rounding activities, and 2 comparing activities.

The best part is that each of the 8 activities has 3 versions! No more running around trying to differentiate on the spot. I can simply give the lower students the circle sheets, the on-target students the triangle sheets, and the advanced students the star sheets. Each level looks exactly the same, it just varies in difficulty.
Take a look:

Below is a rounding activity that requires students to round each of the number cards and then glue it on the number line above the number it would round to.

I teach third grade, but because of the leveling this is something that I think would comfortably work with grades 2-4. I hope this is something you will be able to use. I am so excited to try these out in my classroom and create even more for our units throughout the year! To check it out, head over to my TPT store. I will return and update the post when I get some real-life pictures of the activities!

Don't forget to ENTER MY GIVEAWAY! I am giving away $10 TPT cash that you will be able to use for the big sale and an interactive notebook bundle of your choosing from my store. There will be one winner for each of the prizes. You only have until midnight so head over now!

Facebook Drama, TPT Sale, & INB GIVEAWAY!

I typically stay away from facebook because of the drama that ensues from it's news feeds, timelines, and comments. However, about 2 weeks ago, I decided to put my personal issues aside and FINALLY create a facebook page for my blog. So, I did. It was great! I started following all of you and learning about giveaways, linkys, and teacher tips from all over the blogosphere with just a scroll. I was commenting and liking and posting and within a week I had earned 0 followers.

Boo! I was sad.

"Why is this?" I wondered. Then, I realized I had created a facebook profile and not a facebook PAGE. Lightbulb! So...I googled and googled and finally found how to turn my profile into a page.

But then, "Oh, no!", I had BOTH and I didn't know how to control either. So...google, google, google; and then I merged the two. Voila! "Finally!" I thought, and then I went back to see what you guys were up to and no one was there. You had all vanished. I couldn't search for you, I couldn't see you, I couldn't like you.

Wah!

So...google, google, google. Apparently this is a pretty big bug issue for facebook. There are a ton of pages out there that lose their entire news feed and it really hurts their business. I felt only slightly consoled by the knowledge that I had company in my facebook misery. So long story short (although this has already been pretty long), I had to create a new profile to become a second admin to my page. Then I had to follow all of you, hundreds of you, all over again. But, at least it works, right? (I still can't like or comment as my page from the app on my phone, but that is for another day.) I currently have 2 likes. I know, I know, it is pretty pitiful compared the the tens of thousands of likes some of you have, but I cherish both of those likes deeply. This led me to a thought to help jumpstart my facebook page, a giveaway.

Before I get to that, I want to tell you about the TPT Sale coming up on August 4th and 5th. That's tomorrow, YAY! Everything in my store, as well as many other stores, will be 20% off.  Stop by to check out some of my interactive notebook bundles!

I decided I wanted to host a giveaway to help build up my brand new facebook PAGE (not profile) and help someone get some extra goodies during the sale. The giveaway will be open until Midnight on August 4th, so the winner will have time to spend their gift certificate during the sale.
There will be 2 Winners!

Also, one of you amazing blogger-teachers should write a blog post about how you manage and maintain your blog, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter accounts all while creating new products for your store and spending time with your family. Seriously, I don't know how some of you keep up with it all!
  a Rafflecopter giveaway