Whether you’re seeing the season’s first flowers bloom, or facing another arctic front, these 12 magnificent milestone achievers will bring some early spring cheer to your day. You’ll find creative tools for teaching Spanish, short stories, nonfiction, arrays, and more — you may even find yourself turning your classroom into a giant cell!
A Dozen Magnificent Milestone Achievers
1. Congratulations to Georgia’s Karen Cox
Try her: Teach Syllables | Phonological Awareness | Pre-K and K
Her tip: “I love hands-on learning! This set teaches syllables to PreK and kindergarten students in fun, hands-on ways. It contains a variety of games and lessons that begin by introducing children to syllables and increases their learning with each lesson and game.”
2. Hello Kimberly Nellist-Ortiz from Corning, NY — A Teacher in the Rye
Try her: Common Core Ready: Macbeth Study Guide
Her tip: “One of my strengths as a high school English teacher has always been my ability to see the beginning, middle, and end of a unit. I can carefully weave concepts and learning goals throughout a unit, helping students master a concept by the end. This product for Macbeth is a great example of the goals I establish for my students, and how the materials support the learning process.”
3. Tip your hats to The Profe Store
Try her: Spanish Bundle: Preterite Vs Imperfect Tenses
Her tip: “Preterite vs. imperfect is a challenging skill that we tackle year after year. This bundle has everything you need for a full unit! It maintains a balance of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. To keep things engaging, I include notes, speaking activities, coded reading activities, jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, station activities, partner games, small group games, large class review activities, quizzes, and projects. Each item is sold separately, and there are similar bundles for each Spanish verb tense and grammar skill. Enjoy!”
4. Outstanding, Jennifer from Ohio — she’s JB Creations
Try her: Reader’s Theater: 4 Native American Legends (plays for 3rd, 4th, 5th grade)
Her tip: “Focus on differentiation! This reader’s theater set features four popular Native American legends written on three separate reading levels for a total of 12 plays. Each script contains 4-6 parts, making it a perfect activity for centers or leveled guided reading groups. Modified versions provide support in basic fluency skills, regular versions focus on expression development, and enriched versions challenge students with tier 2 vocabulary and figurative language components.”
5. Introducing Gwen Jones from San Jose, CA — Curious Jones
Try her: Nonfiction Text Feature Activities with Nonfiction Articles
Her tip: “I found students are most likely to master the names and uses of nonfiction text features when they’re introduced and practiced in smaller sets. I created this resource to do just that.”
6. Magically done, Evil Math Wizard
Try her: Multiplication Array Task Cards – Arrays Around Us Real Life Pictures 3.OA.3
Her tip: “Making math as real and magical as possible can be challenging for a busy teacher. With this set of 58 array photo cards, your students can view real life arrays, encouraging them to see that math is all around us!”
7. It’s Nicole Chavanne from Baldwinsville, NY — Learning Lab
Try her: CVC words – A Pin & Spin Activity
Her tip: “Students that participate in hands-on activities will gain a better understanding of the concepts they’re learning. Involve their hands as much as you do their brains!”
8. Just grand, Jordan S. from New York — he runs jts23
Try his: Cell Analogy – Turn Your Classroom into a Giant Cell! – Decorations, Lesson
His tip: “Transform your room as much as possible. Force students to look at and be surrounded by content. It takes effort, but students are willing to help with art projects during lunch and after-hours. Using analogies in science and social studies builds ELA skills!”
9. Applause for The Daring English Teacher
Try her: Introduction to Short Stories: a common core mini-unit for any short story
Her tip: “This mini-unit is the ideal teaching resource for any short story. I like to first teach my students about short stories with the editable PowerPoint presentation, and then use the handouts and assignments as we read various stories from different authors. Finally, I wrap up my short story unit with the thematic essay that is also included.”
10. Make way for Mrs Lindsey
Try her: Morning Message All Year Long! – {Bundle of a Year’s Worth of Morning Messages}
Her tip: “These morning messages give you a time-saving way to have fun, thematic, and meaningful morning messages.”
11. Kudos to Casey from Kentucky — Barnett’s School House
Try her: Interactive Writing Notebooks WRITING CCSS for 3rd-6th Grade
Her tip: “A lot of us, including myself, seem to struggle to squeeze in those Common Core writing skills. This notebook was created just for that. I use the completed notebooks at the end of each year to ensure that my students have a working folder. This works as great evidence for showing writing growth throughout the school year. I know keeping students engaged can almost seem like a daunting task, but it’s going to be okay. Take a deep breath, and remember that TpT is a wonderful resource!”
12. Meet Florida’s Emily Moss and Cara Walker — Number Two Pencils
Try their: Kevin Henkes Author Study-20 Day Common Core Character Unit
Their tip: “When creating a resource, always ask yourself, ‘How can I truly help another teacher?'”
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Thanks to all the wonderful Teacher-Authors for sharing their creative and useful resources and ideas! Be sure to check out our recent blog post on St. Patrick’s day for some great holiday-related tips and activities.
