The days may be getting darker earlier (at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere), but these 14 milestone achievers certainly shine bright. We’re excited to introduce this inspiring group of Teacher-Authors and their many wonderful resources. So pour yourself some hot chocolate or apple cider, and raise a mug to 14 November milestones. Fantastic job, everyone!
14 Phenomenal November Milestones
1. Way to go, Rachel Lynette of Woodinville, Washington
Try her: Brain Breaks
Her tip: “The best brain breaks are ones that require no prep, are quick and fun, and get everyone moving around. Try to get your students up and moving at least once every half-hour. A little bit of movement can make a big difference in your students’ ability to focus.”
2. Kudos to Robin Sellers from North Carolina
Try her: Thanksgiving: Harvest Days and November Story Starters {Common Core Writing}
Her tip: “Make writing fun. I use story starters to encourage students to come up with creative stories. I tape the writing prompts to the eraser ends of pencils and place these in a decorated container. My kiddos get to look through the story starters and choose the topics they want to write about. I get great results this way! It’s an easy way to set up a daily writing center, too.”
3. Fantastic work, Lindsay Flood — she’s Primary Polka Dots
Try her: Daily Close Reading {November}
Her tip: “In today’s classroom, close reading and finding text-based evidence is a critical part of the Common Core State Standards. Starting in 3rd grade, students go from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn.’ Close reading is an important part of this transition.
These daily close reading paragraphs are great to practice true close reading. Before diving into a full article or even multiple paragraphs, it’s important that students can master the strategy of close reading in ‘small bites’ before hitting the ground running with whole articles or even chapters.”
4. Hats off to Jessica Ivey of Lawrenceville, GA — she’s jivey
Try her: Mentor Sentences Unit: First Ten Weeks
Her tip: “Teaching grammar can be a chore for some, but using mentor sentences gives grammar a fun, fresh approach that your kids will be begging you for weekly! It improves writing skills as well as teaching grammar through the process, and it’s all presented in a way that has students not even realizing they’re ‘working!'”
5. Truly amazing, Tiffany Gannon from Tennessee
Try her: Place Value Learning Centers {Tens and Ones}
Her tip: “This pack consists of six centers that will help your students gain a better understanding of place value. They’ll practice vital place value skills with these super fun games and activities. Simply print, laminate, and go! I promise your students will love using these centers to learn about place value!”
6. A warm welcome to Valerie Steinhardt from Florida
Try her: Reading Interactive Journal Notebook CCSS Aligned
Her tip: “Keep it simple, yet creative!”
7. Three cheers for Ohio’s Danielle LaSota
Try her: Doubles Lesson Plan
Her tip: “I’ve slowly been creating math lessons to teach the Common Core Math Standards and practices. This is one of the newest creations I’ve used in our class. All materials are included, even differentiated worksheets, which makes writing an observation plan easier! Students are encouraged to think about how they know an answer; it teaches them that there are different strategies to solve it. My students LOVE the ‘Try It Math’ and ‘Math Talk’ days the most! I LOVE TpT and am honored to be a part of it! Watch out for more week-long units that I’m slowly starting to add!”
8. Hello, Elizabeth Hill from Bainbridge, GA — Tricks of the Trade
Try her: Mystery of Multiplication: Repeated Addition, Groups, and Arrays
Her tip: “This 40-page packet has everything you need to teach students about the meaning of multiplication. It has lessons that take students through the four meanings of multiplication: groups, arrays, repeated addition, and skip counting. It includes lesson plans, printables, graphic organizers, student notes, a student newspaper activity, answer keys, a scavenger hunt, an assessment, and much more.”
9. Georgia’s April Gilbert is The Creative Coach — Congrats!
Try her: Bats Informational Book Study
Her tip: “My colleagues and I have found that creating mini-readers we can place into the hands of our students when we’re studying informational texts increases their engagement and excitement in the topic. This informational book study on bats can be used with any informational text, but students will LOVE having their own bat books to read as they learn!”
10. Sensational job, Stacy from Arizona — she’s Teacher’s Take-Out
Try her: Number Ladders/ 2-Digit Addition and Subtraction
Her tip: “Number ladders help improve number sense and 2-digit addition/subtraction skills. Students start at the bottom of the ladder and move up by adding or subtracting. Students must be at a certain number when they reach the top of the ladder.”
11. Congratulations to Lori from Missouri — Conversations in Literacy
Try her: Guided Reading Small Group Anecdotal Records Notebook
Her tip: “Keeping anecdotal records on my students’ learning is an effective way to drive my instruction and be efficient with lesson planning. This Reading Anecdotal Records Notebook will help you do that and keep you organized — it’s a great way to keep documentation for what your students have mastered and can do!”
12. A drumroll for Susan Jennings of Macon, Georgia — My Happy Place
Try her: Common Core Kindergarten Math Bundle
Her tip: “The ready-to-go printables and anchor charts in this bundle make wonderful year-round supplements to the hands-on activities that kindergarten teachers use in order to teach math.”
13. Heather Wilhite of Knoxville, TN is Swinging Through Second Grade
Try her: Freezing Fun Centers
Her tip: “Do what you love!”
14. Let’s hear it for Stacey Peters from Ohio — Expressive Monkey
Try her: Roll & Draw Collection
Her tip: “One way to encourage reluctant drawers is to make drawing fun! Expressive Monkey’s ‘Roll & Draw Collection’ is designed to be fun. Students roll a dice to choose parts of their picture. Students have fun with this because they never know what their next drawing will look like.”
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Terrific job, milestone achievers! Ready to dive into more curriculum? Check out our recent post on Talented Math Teachers, for example — great resources made by great Teacher-Authors.
