Back to School Sales and Contests!

The Back to School craziness is fully upon us!  Since I know way too many of us use our own hard-earned money to buy school supplies, I am joining up with other TpT authors to giveaway a TON of goodies!  

Julie Faulkner and Lauralee, at The Language Arts Classroom, are hosting a giveaway contest August 1-5 on Lauralee's blog!  Click the link above to learn more about it and enter!

We have 87 amazing secondary sellers joined up this year and over $400 of excellent secondary resources for all subjects!  Here's a sneak peak at the Middle School English prize pack!

There are prize packs for all subjects at middle and high school levels!  

And....here's the coolest, biggest news!

Teachers Pay Teachers is sponsoring this event!  Along with grabbing over $50 of free curriculum from awesome TpT sellers, the winners will also get a bag full of Teachers Pay Teachers SWAG!

How cool is that?!?

Personally, I've been busy getting ready for the Back to School season updating and creating new Back to School activities!  I'm really excited about my First Day of School Activity Stations pack! I can't wait to use it with my middle schoolers!  Instead of kids just sitting and listening to me drone on about expectations and curriculum, this set of 7 activities will get the kids up and moving!  The activities include: 

1. Syllabus Search

2. ELA Attitude Continuum

3. Book Recommendations

4. Goal Setting

5. Confidential Questions

6. What Makes the Perfect Classroom/Student/Teacher?

7. Selfie Station

Each of these activities will help the teacher get to know their students, and help the students get to know the teacher's expectations and get them interacting with others!  The set also includes blank templates, so if you want to change any of the stations to better fit your needs, you totally can!

Another fun Back to School product I've updated is my Editable Class Rules Posters Set! This set includes posters in "teen talk" asking about common classroom procedures and expectations with the teacher responding in a clear, yet fun way.  This set is also fully editable for you to include your own picture to the teacher's speech bubble, or to add your own questions and answers if I didn't cover all your needs.  This is a Power Point slide show, so I always show it to my kids on the projector the first week of school, then print the posters and hang them in my room for year-round reference.

Here's a sample poster.  You can upload your picture or use an avatar with the bottom speech bubble! There are 2 sets of 11 different designs: 11 with rules already written, plus 11 blank templates.  Also included are a set of late homework passes.

I also have a quick print-and-go ELA Interest Survey that is perfect for middle school and high school and it's only $0.50 for the month of August!  

I wish you all the best of luck with everything Back to School!  Don't forget to check out The Language Arts Classroom blog August 1-5 to enter to win lots of great products and swag!

The Countdown to Summer is ON!

 I'm joining up with a few other bloggers to share some end of the year tips and give away some summer goodies!  

If you are new to my blog, thanks for hopping over!

I'm finishing my 16th year of teaching...wow!  In those years, I've taught everything K-8 except 1st and 7th, so I've been through my fair share of goodbyes!  I've also been a part of "graduation" ceremonies with students moving up to middle school or high school.  I've tried a bunch of different things to end my school year on a high, happy note - and some have worked better than others!  Here are my two favorite ways to wrap up the year!

1. Celebrate Your Graduates!

• I'm not the person who believes in trophies for EVERYTHING, but I do think it is worth celebrating the move from elementary school to middle school, or middle school to high school!  I've been a part of some wonderful "graduation celebrations" at the end of 5th grade and 8th grade.  Here's what I love most: PREDICTIONS.  Yes, this means work on the teacher's end, but the result is so much fun! This works best for 5th grade, because you have one whole group of kids you get to know really well. I write a story, set sometime in the future...mine usually take place at a Michigan State University football tailgate...where I end up running into a former student who tells me all about his or her classmates and what they are doing now.  It is tons of fun to create futures for my students and they love hearing about how one of them is "now" a famous football player, or that one of their own has discovered the cure for cancer, or just finding out how many kids they have!  I always tie their future to something they are currently into.  It makes for a really fun end of the year read aloud!  I print copies for each student as a graduation gift, too.   
• 8th grade celebrations are a bit tougher to make personal since we share so many kids with so many teachers!  At my school, we do a big presentation whole group, but I like to give my own kids a little something on our last day together.  Thanks to the Target Dollar Spot, I can make mini-diplomas for each student! I use Pirouline rolled wafers and just tie a ribbon around each one.  Then I attach it to a certificate I print out thanking them for their hard work all year or congratulating them on surviving middle school.  Super easy and affordable when you've got 100+ students!

2. Keep Kids Learning All Summer with Summer Fun Packets!

• When I taught elementary and knew I'd been seeing my students back at the same school the next year, I often made summer fun packets for them to do over the summer.  Doesn't sound much like fun at first, but when they realized that the contents of the packet were really fun and that they could earn a prize from me in September for completing them, they LOVED the idea!  (Parents were big fans, too!)  I'd put in activities like my "Color By Code" grammar practice sheets, a list of board, card, dice, and domino games that practice math skills, a list of my favorite books, and a list of local field trips for families.  Parents would sign off on the activities, then when school started again, my former students would come back to visit my classroom and show me their completed packet.  I always made a big deal about them coming back to visit and congratulating them on their productive summer, then I'd give them some fun dollar store goodie.  This was fun for me, and great motivation for my new students to see that learning can be fun!  Click the picture below to grab a FREE "Color By Code" activity.

If you like that one, I've got many more Color By Code Activities covering many different ELA topics.  You can get them all individually in my store, or save money by buying the bundle! Click on the picture to find out about all the "Color By Code" activities!

You can find a list of fun ways to practice math at home here!  Parents love these activities because they probably have all the materials at home already!  Plus, these games are fun for the whole family! Click the picture to find out more!

Good luck making it through the final stretch of the year!  I hope these ideas get you excited and ready to end your year on a high note!  For more fun tips and freebies, click the picture below to hop to the next blog!

Secondary Giveaway Time!

It's GIVEAWAY time!

I've joined up with some AWESOME secondary TpT sellers to help celebrate Kim at English Oh My! reaching 50 followers!

Click on this picture to link up to Kim's blog "English Oh My!" and to find out all about this fun giveaway!

I'm giving away one of my favorite products- my Punctuation Color by Code Activity!  This (and all Color By Codes) is a great teaching and reviewing activity for middle grade kids.  These activities would be AWESOME to use as end of the year activities to keep kids learning and engaged until the very last day!  Parents may also like these as summer packets...but don't tell the kids!

When you participate in this giveaway, you'll be eligible via Rafflecopter to win my product, as well as products from 14 other TpT sellers!  Don't miss out!  Click on the link to "English Oh My!" or the giveaway picture above to join in the fun.  Good luck!

Another Celebration!

Help me congratulate Nikki at Teaching Autism celebrate 1000 followers on Teachers Pay Teachers!  A whole bunch of us joined up to create a really great giveaway!  Check out Nikki's blog "Teaching Autism" to find out how to register for this Rafflecopter giveaway!

Way to go, Nikki!  

Making Lemonade out of Lemons

My family had planned a fantastic ski trip to Breckenridge this week, but the blizzard in Denver has forced us to cancel the trip.  Major sad face :(

This trip was to celebrate my 40th birthday!  (Even bigger sad face, mixed with a scared face!)

On the happy side, though, I had a great Teachers Pay Teachers day!  I gambled and did my first paid advertisement on Teachers Pay Teachers yesterday and had a great sale day!

Like any teacher worth her salt, I know how to roll with the unexpected punches and the ups and downs of life.  Lesson not going the way you planned?  Switch gears and start over, right?  So, that's what I'm doing! Making lemonade out of the big lemon of the Denver airport being shut down, and celebrating a great TpT day instead!

So...here it is.  A big "Thank You!" to my Teachers Pay Teachers family.  I'm joining up with other fantastic teachers and putting my whole store on sale for an Easter celebration!

This is a collaborative sale with many other sellers, too!  When you log on to TeachersPayTeachers on Sunday, you can search for all sellers participating with the hashtag #eastersale.

This is a great opportunity to prepare for the end of the school year!  Yes, the end is near!  There is light at the end of the tunnel! :)

But that's not all!  If you miss out on this collaborative sale, don't worry too much!  I'm also going to be having a sale to celebrate my big birthday soon!

Happy Easter everyone!

$100 TpT Instagram Giveaway!

Want to win $100 to spend on Teachers Pay Teachers goodies?

...Of course you do!  Click on this picture and head over to my Instagram (@Tween_Spirit_Tpt)

I've joined up with 20 AWESOME middle school and high school teachers to giveaway a TpT gift card to a lucky new follower!  Just head over to Instagram and follow the directions under this picture.  You'll follow a loop around to all 20 amazing teachers' Instagrams.  Like the picture and follow the teacher and you are entered! 

Entry for the giveaway closes ats 7PM EST on March 20th.  The winner will be announced on Monday, March 21st!

This is a great way to find new, fun people on Instagram and to WIN a gift card for things you know you will buy anyway ;).

Good luck!