Winter Holiday Freebies and Tips

Just posted! The 2014 Winter Holiday Tips and Freebies ebook. Specifically for Language Arts and Humanities, grades 6-12, you'll find tons of great free curriculum for your classrooms and tips to survive the days before the holidays. My page is included, and I have a link to a fun game you might want to keep in your playbook for a classroom full of squiggly students. Click here to download.

Free Resources for Secondary Teachers

I am happy to say that my free Thesis Worksheet resource is now available. Brain Waves Instruction, Literary Sherri, and Getting Nerdy with Mel and Gerdy have compiled three free ebooks full of ready-to-print resources for secondary sellers. There are three ebooks, one for ELA, one for math and science, and one for humanities. My resource is included in the  ELA book, plus there is a link to it in my store at the bottom of this post. Each book contains 25 resources, plus a little bit about each seller and the kinds of resources he or she offers. Check them out here:

Here is a link to my resource that you can download for free in my store:

Older Kids Clip Art

There is a lot of cute clip art out there for classroom use for the younger grades, but it's hard to find artwork to use for older kids. I complained to my artist daughter loudly and often enough that she started producing more mature clip art for classroom and product use. Using artwork on worksheets and Power Points meant for older kids is tricky - if it's too cutesy they won't like it, but boring doesn't add anything. You also don't want to overdo it. A few well placed pieces are plenty.

I tend to buy clip art, use it once and forget about it, but I keep coming back to these images again and again.

This is her most recent freebie, which you can download here, from her Image Boutique store on TeachersPayTeachers. She has several other freebies which you might want to use for a test run in your classroom.

Figurative Language Posters

When teaching figurative language to students, I find a visual really helps them get the concept. I asked my artist daughter to help me make some posters that would be fun and memorable. Here they are for you to use in your classroom. This free set includes metaphor, simile, alliteration, oxymoron, and personification. Click here or on one of the images to download the posters.

If you like these and want more, I have a set for $4.50 that also includes hyperbole, allusion, onomatopoeia, metonymy, and euphemism. This set also includes the illustrations without the titles so you can use them for a quiz or review for your students. You can find the set of 20 posters here.

Free Valentine Limerick Activity

Have a little fun on Valentine's Day, while at the same time, reinforcing parts of speech, poetic form and syllables with this "Mad Libs" style activity. This activity seems like it would be best for kids, but I've used it successfully with teenagers and young adults as well. It's fun all the way around, and especially educational if you are involved in a poetry unit. Click here or on the photo to download.

Free Halloween Treat Tags and a Trick

 Halloween is my favorite time to bring treats to my students. These treats, however, come with a trick--I write a Halloween writing prompt on the inside of the tag. I have the students write a descriptive paragraph on topics such as carving a pumpkin, going through a haunted house, or eating Halloween candy.

For the treat, I like to fill clear plastic bags with candied popcorn: Melt 1 bag of candy melts (found at the craft store or anywhere that sells cake or candy supplies) in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, and add to 12 cups of popped popcorn. Stir quickly to coat all the popcorn and let set for about an hour. Break up and mix with a handful of candy corn. Inexpensive, tasty, and easy!

Click on the pictures or here to download the tags.

Valentine Blog Hop! Give-Away! Freebies!

Valentine Blog Hop Give-Away!
Enter to win any 3 products in my store.
There are two ways to enter:
1. Follow my blog, and leave me a comment that you did so. OR
2. Follow my teacherspayteachers store here and leave me a comment.
If you do both, you are entered twice.
Winner will be chosen randomly on February 15th! Check back to see if you've won, and I'll send you any three products of your choice.

Click on the icon on the left to find Valentine's Freebies and more contests!




Freebie!
What could be better than love poems on Valentine's Day? A hilarious class limerick activity that reinforces poetic form, syllables and parts of speech. Click on the picture below so you can download this latest freebie: