Freebie: Daily 5 Center Signs

Download Variety Pack

I love summer! And this summer, with its wet baby kisses and raspberries, has been the best of all! As I write, BabyP sits in my lap with one finger in her mouth while I try to type one-handed.  I think she is feeling those two pearly whites, which are perfect in this mama's eyes.  Baby, don't you know Mama needs to use the home row keys?

Now on to the freebie! Teachers Pay Teachers is littered with Daily 5 materials, but most of it is geared towards elementary school.  I created center signs with a middle school audience in mind. They are available in five different color schemes as well as one variety pack.  Hope you enjoy!

"There's nothing so peculiar as a penguin..."

Teachers often have a lot of hidden talents.  While I was in college, I spent a lot of time learning how to use Photoshop.  Ten years later, I am still improving my graphic design skills.  One of my favorite things to do in the summer is create newsletter templates.  I don't often use them myself, but I like to post them for others.  You can download this newsletter template from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  

Behind the Scenes: This particular newsletter was inspired by one of my favorite cartoon shorts: Walt Disney's "Peculiar Penguins" from 1934.  Did I mention that I was Disney fanatic? I find inspiration in so many unusual places!

• Penguins Newsletter
• Penguins Labels
• Penguins Paper

Where did the summer go, Poe?

Is August really ending? It seems like just yesterday I was packing up my classroom for the summer and patting my little 6th graders on the head as they move on to 7th grade.  Little did I realize I would be welcoming some of these children back into my room in the fall. This year I will be teaching 6th and 7th grade classes- something I haven't done since my first year of teaching.  As I looked over some of my 7th grade lesson plan leftovers, I realized how much I have grown as a teacher in the last 10 years.  None of it was usable.  So this summer, I spent planning my 7th grade curriculum.  First stop- Edgar Allan Poe.


Our English department loves Poe.  Each year, different grades study different Poe stories and poems.  The 6th graders read "The Raven," and the 8th graders read "The Tell-Tale Heart." The 7th graders, however, read one of my least favorite stories, "The Black Cat."  Having lost one of my kitties to kidney failure last May and suffering from pregnancy hormone overdrive, I knew I wouldn't be able to get through the story without crying.  So I looked for an alternative and settled on the "Masque of the Red Death." With that settled, I began tackling a 21st Century collaborative project that students could complete along with the reading.

Scenario: In this unit, a famous movie director wants his next film to be about the life and death of Edgar Allan Poe and has has tasked the film's head writer with researching the various theories surrounding Poe's death. 

Collaboration: Students will assume the role of writer, and together, they will research, create, and pitch their theory to the movie's development team. 

Research: Perfect for younger students as well as older students! In this unit, students are given a website to use in the research process, but more advanced students can use this website as a springboard, launching their investigation even further.

Communication: Students will examine the parts of the presentation, persuasive media literacy techniques, and communication skills in preparation for their pitch. The product created will be available in an online format, easily shared with the world beyond their classroom walls!

Creativity: Students have the option to create projects that appeal to a variety of learning styles. Student choices are endless! I have included a list of Web 2.0 websites my students have enjoyed using in the past as well as a few other project ideas.

In this download, you will receive the following:

• A 15 page teacher's manual including fully developed lesson plans with essential questions, materials list, and step-by-step directions with set inductions featuring links to Youtube videos.
• An ActivInspire flipchart for each lesson that uses sliders and revealer tools.
• A pdf student manual that houses all of the handouts for the entire unit in one easy to manage download.
• Ready to use grading rubrics! Available in a printable format or spreadsheet form (Google Docs)
• Student self-reflection activity also available in printable format or in Google Docs forms.
• This unit is 100% ready to use and would be the perfect technology project to accompany the study of any of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories or poems.

Download The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe: A 21st Century Collaborative Project.

Heart Maps and Word Clouds

Georgia Heard's book Awakening the Heart is a collection of exercises designed to help students find poetry in their everyday lives.  One of my favorite activities from this book is the Heart Map, which is a drawing that contains words and images that represents who we are as a person and writer.  In my class, we refer to the heart map whenever we need an inspiration in our writing.  

Directions for Heart Mapping

What's close to your bones? (Changing the language of the activity to appeal to boys)

As a teacher, I believe in giving my students choices in how they create this project.  Some students love the artistic side of the assignment, but my non-creative students sometimes struggle with it.  For the last several years, I have considered using Wordle, or an alternative word cloud website, to create heart maps, but I’ve always hesitated, not wanting to lose the heart shape component of the project.  Luckily, there are now word cloud websites that allows the user to select a particular shape for their end product.  These are my Top 3 word cloud websites I would use for creating heart maps.  

1.  Tagxedo: When it comes to creating word clouds, my students prefer Tagxedo over Wordle because of the site's ability to allow the user to customize the shape, font, and color of the word cloud.  It is free, very easy to use, and best of all, it doesn't require a login and password!  There are several variations of heart shapes built into Tagxedo.  When students are finished with their heart map, most choose to screen grab it, but the website also allows you to print or save your heart map as an image file.    

2.  Tagul: Tagul is currently beta testing but looks as if it will have a promising future.  Not only does the website allows users to create word clouds in specific shapes, but it also allows users to add links to the cloud, making it a more interactive experience for the viewer.  The word clouds can then be easily embedded into a website or blog.  Another plus? This site isn’t flash-based, so it will work with iPads!  Each user account has a 20 word cloud limit.  Since I teach approx. 140 students, I am creating multiple accounts and allowing my students to share a class login and password.  Students can work on different word clouds in the same account at the same time (just not on the same cloud at the same time).  This website works well in Chrome, but it’s still a little buggy in Safari. 

3.  Image Chef's Make Word Mosaic: This site offers a free and a "Pro" plan.  The free version allows the user to create a small heart map, customize the colors and fonts, and save it to a computer.  Unfortunately, the image is rather small and the free version of the website contains ads, which on my visit included links to pretty girls on Match.com…  The "Pro" plan, however, removes ads and allows more customizations for your students, including the ability to save a larger version of your heart map.  Image Chef is also creating mobile versions of many of their products, and perhaps one day in the future, there will be an app for Make Word Mosaic available to iPad users.

Mixbook: Collaborative Digital Scrapbooking

Mixbook is a free, online application that allows students to collaborate on digital scrapbooks.  Once the Mixbook has been created, students can login and edit the Mixbook on different computers using the same username and password; however, they must edit different pages or they will save over each other's work.  Once students are finished creating their Mixbook, they can order a printed copy (for a fee) or embed the mixbook onto a website or blog (for free).  Click on the links below to see how other teachers have used Mixbooks in their classrooms.  

• Mixbook in 30 Seconds (Youtube)
• Mixbook in 30 Seconds (Deyo.us)
• Mixbook in 30 Seconds (Vimeo)

English Mixbooks

• Figurative Language class sampler
• Heat book review
• School Uniforms persuasive writing

Science Mixbooks

• S is for Science alphabet book
• Oceanography
• Virginia's Regions and Ecosystems

Social Studies Mixbooks

• World War I 
• My Trip Through 1900s Entertainment
• Occupations in Colonial America

Math Mixbooks 

• Math is Fun
• Randie's Trigonometry Notes
• Math Words

Organization Charts in Word

In my classroom, we are always creating and using graphic organizers in our daily writing.  Since my school doesn’t have Inspiration, I have been searching for alternative ways for students to create graphic organizers on their iBooks.  On EducationWorld.com, I discovered a new part of Microsoft Word.  By clicking on Insert > Object > Microsoft Organizational Chart, students can create their own graphic organizers that look very similar to the ones they created in elementary school using Inspiration.

Adding a Soundtrack to Keynote

I recently explored a few new advanced Keynote tricks where students can turn an ordinary slideshow into an exciting Quicktime movie they can share on the internet.  To add a soundtrack to a slideshow, click on the first slide.  Then click on the Inspector button.  Once Inspector is open, click on the Document tab and then on Audio.  To add a song from iTunes, click on the Media button and drag the song from the iTunes list onto the little box under the soundtrack label.  Students can also add different songs to each slide.  To add music from their iTunes onto individual slides, students can click on the Media button and drag a song from their iTunes into the slideshow.  Then, using the Quicktime button on the Inspector, they can set the beginning and ending point of the song using the Start & Stop button.  To create a Quicktime movie from a slideshow, click on File -> Export  and select the Quicktime tab, which is on the far left of the menu.