Let’s put our hands together for eight Teacher-Authors whose hard work and dedication have earned them a TpT milestone. These July milestone achievers shine bright; it’s time to meet these fantastic folks:
1. It’s Mia McDaniel from Prairieville, Louisiana
Try her: Reading & Responding, Interpreting Language & more more {with text messages!}
Her tip: “I love using teaching materials to which my students can truly relate. It’s the key to keeping them engaged and motivated! Using small bits of high interest text that are meaningful to them (like text messages, emails, jokes) to teach specific language and reading comprehension skills helps them to grasp concepts without getting bogged down in the text, especially since many students are overwhelmed by long reading passages. Also, incorporating real world scenarios shows them that ELA skills they may think are useless (making inferences, using context clues, sequencing, summarizing, etc,) are actually skills they use in everyday life without even noticing — not just skills we want them to apply at school.”
2. Say hello to Ginger from Indiana — she runs The Teaching Treehouse
Try her: “Kids & Colors” Classroom Bundle
Her tip: “I love to start the new school year with a bright, well-organized classroom. I created this bundle of classroom management and décor products to help do just that. This colorful bundle will brighten up the even the drabbest of classrooms, and has everything from supply labels to behavior management tools!”
3. JoAn Delafosse from Texas is Tiny Toes
Try her: Smartboard Forever Calendar ‘Sunny Day’ Circle/Meeting/Carpet Time CC
Her tip: “Keep your students actively engaged the first day of school until the last with a Smartboard Calendar. It’s the foundation of our day. Your students will be moving around days of the week, forming words, singing along to shape songs, creating patterns, counting coins, and much more!”
4. It’s Roy Williams from New York – He runs Lesson Universe
Try his: Survival on a Tropical Island (Lord of Flies Pre-activity) 2
His tip: “With this activity, students brainstorm how to survive on a deserted tropical island with limited supplies. This activity will inspire your students to read Lord of the Flies!”
5. Florida’s Christine Thomas is ARTrageous Fun
Try her: SUPER Hero – Classroom Decor – binder covers, banners, posters,clip charts
Her tip: “My mission: to help you keep your classroom CUTE, COLORFUL, and FUN. Selecting a ‘theme’ for your class can brighten up your space and motivate students to learn. One of the most popular themes I offer is super heroes.”
6. Congrats to Sue Lynch from Illinois
Try her: QR Code reveals story~Listening Center BUNDLE~60 Popular stories
Her tip: “When I was given iPads to use in my 1st grade classroom, I had to figure out how to engage my students with these devices throughout the day. First stop? My ‘Listen to Reading’ station. This station always gave me a headache as it took time to organize and gather my books and cassette tapes/CD’s and ‘train kids’ on how to work the cassette/CD player! My students loved listening to books on tape, but it was a constant challenge. Fast forward: iPads replaced my cassette/CD player, and now my center is engaging and fun! A headphone adapter allows a small group to plug in and listen to (and watch) stories. It’s easy as 1, 2 3! The kids love scanning the QR Codes and listening to all of the stories, and I love the ease and engagement. What center is always filled first? It would be the ‘Listen to Reading’ Center. Try my QR Code stories and see for yourself!”
7. Mrs. Bell from Utah is Tangled with Teaching
Try her: Geography: Continents, oceans, equator, hemispheres, poles Unit
Her tip: “Can you believe the school year is just around the corner? Whether you teach 1st grade or 4th grade, you’re probably going to want to teach and review basic geography about the Earth. This unit is exactly the resource you’ll need! It includes several songs for teaching your students about the continents, oceans, equator, and latitude and longitude, plus lots of great mapping activities and crafts. It even includes two test versions to choose from when you’re finished. If you teach your kiddos the songs, I guarantee they’ll want to sing them all year long.”
8. Three Cheers for Ohio’s LaraLea
Try her: Rekenrek / Bead Board Class Set & Teacher Board
Her tip: “The Rekenrek allows students to work with the visual models they need in order to discover relationships between numbers and develop a variety of strategies in addition and subtraction — including doubles plus or minus one, making tens, and compensation — thereby leading to automaticity of basic facts.
Possible activities include:
- Meet the Rekenrek: Begin by asking children what they notice about the Rekenrek. Then introduce the ‘start position’ (all beads over to the far right) and have them practice sliding beads in groups rather than one by one. ie. ‘Put your beads in start position. Now, without touching your Rekenrek, count the first three beads in your mind. On the count of three, slide all three beads at once across the string. One… two…three!’ Repeat with other numbers.
- Show me 0-10: Say a number, or hold up a numeral card (0-10). Ask students to show the given number on their Rekenrek by moving the beads with one push.
- Prompts to use:
How many beads did you see? How do you see them?
Write the number model to represent the number ‘I slide across plus one’.
Write the number model to represent the number ‘I slide across minus one’.
Double the number that ‘I slide across’.
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Guess what? Your name can be here someday, too! Want to know how to get started? Here’s a great guide to becoming a Seller. You can do it!
