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Sunday, July 19, 2015

Every once in awhile, there are those blog giveaways that I really, really, really, really want to win.

The Owls are hosting one of those giveaways right now. But I'm not eligible to win. And that makes me all sorts of sad.

But you can win! And that should make you all sorts of happy!



We want you to be ready to head back to school. True, it's hard to leave beaches, pools, rafts, lazy days, and fruity drinks behind, but we're giving away so much good stuff that it should help ease the transition a little bit :)

First up, you can win one of three gift cards to help you get your back-to-school shopping done over at the Owl-ways Be Inspired blog. One winner will win $100 to Amazon, a second winner will win $50 to Target, and winner number three wins $25 to Walmart.

I'll provide the link at the end of the blogpost, because I think there's a few things here you'll want to win as well...

I love bright new borders and crisp construction paper as much as the next girl, but what I really need to head back to school is coffee. And lots of it!



I'm giving away a $15 Starbucks gift card to fuel your mornings and an ADORABLE {as in, my most favorite travel mug ever} Ban.do coffee mug to house your latte with an extra shot of expresso. And in case you overslept, despite the coffee in the cute travel mug, I'm giving away $15 to my TpT store for any last minute back to school resources you might need!

To enter to win, just use the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And don't forget to enter over at the Owl-ways Be Inspired blog to win one of three gift cards AND to see what other fabulous prizes the other ladies are giving away. SERIOUSLY. It's GOOD STUFF!



Giveaway ends at midnight on Saturday, July 25th!

Good Luck!

Halle

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Goal Setting in the Classroom Freebie

Just a quick post today to offer up a freebie based on one of my most popular posts from a little ways back...

During the 2013-2014 school-year I was fortunate enough to be a cooperating teacher for a student in a local university's certification and masters program. Because she was obtaining her masters at the same time she was getting certified to be a teacher, I had her with me in the classroom for pretty much the whole year.

I feel like this was such a gift for everyone involved. For her, she got more "hands-on" time than most student teachers do and was really able to grow and be confident because she was with the same students for a longer period of time. I was blessed with someone who I worked really well with, which really helped take a load off of me as far as teaching stress goes. And ultimately, the students benefited because they had two teachers with similar styles. Win-win-win!

As part of her experience, she had to do a case-study of sorts. She chose to do goal setting in the classroom for this. I cannot say enough what a huge impact it made on student performance and self-worth.



Each week, we helped students choose a goal to work on. At the beginning of the project, they needed a lot of guidance, but towards the end, they were choosing spot-on goals all by themselves.  A few goals students chose were:

-using capitals and ending marks
-completing morning work
-completing homework
-raising their hand in class more frequently
-raising their hand to be called on {as opposed to calling out}
-playing with different friends at recess {this applied perfectly to a student who wanted only to play with her friend who expressed interest in playing with other students}

There were many more, but those are a few I can remember at the moment.

Students chose their goals, worked on them during the week, and at the end of the week, they conferred with myself or my student teacher and we decided if they achieved their goal. Again, at first, everyone said they did {some were less concrete than others}, but over time students became more reflective and answered honestly.

Students who achieved their goals were given a certificate and also permitted to join in during Minute to Win It at the end of the week. We rarely had a student who didn't accomplish that week's goal.

Since that post, I've had a few readers of my blog request the goal-setting sheets and certificates. I made a few and have made them a freebie to encourage goal setting on your classroom, no matter the grade you teach.



Click here to grab the freebie.

You can also read more about how my student teacher did our goal setting program by clicking here.

I hope you will try goal setting in your classroom this year! If you do, how do you execute your goal setting program?

Halle

Friday, July 10, 2015

the Growing Main Idea Bundle is here: Win It!!

I finally took the leap and posted the growing bundle for my main idea resources!! Have no idea what I'm talking about when I say "main idea resources"? Allow me to show you...


Since December, I've been releasing monthly main idea units. Each mini-unit features posters, 6 original passages to be printed and laminated and/or displayed on a projector, cut and paste worksheets {2 versions for differentiation}, and passages and printables to be used in interactive notebooks, or again, for differentiation.

I created this resource to introduce main idea to my students and it worked so well that I decided to make it a monthly product to use for review and reinforcement. We started in October, and by February, I was using the resource solely in literacy centers because my kiddos were just that good ;)

Here's a few snapshots:


This is a preview of the posters that you can print or project.


Here's an example of one of the printables in the pack used in an interactive-notebook. You could also print the sheet on regular ol' paper and have the students fill out the squares like worksheet-style.

This printable also includes an "Extra Time" section at the bottom. PERFECT for early-finishers. The Extra Time box has students perform an extra task involved with the story they just read: making a text-to-self connection, writing sentence or paragraphs, illustrations, lists, and even comic strips!

See below:

My students loved the Extra Time options and offered work hard to afford themselves time to work on it. I was teaching my students time management without even knowing!


Cut and Paste printables make-up yet another part of the product. There are two options for these guys as well. The option pictured above has students finding and writing their own main idea and supporting details.

The other option has the main idea and details already listed and students have to decide which is which, and then paste them in the appropriate spot.

Easy differentiation!

Now that I have your attention, you may be wondering...

So, how does a GROWING bundle work?

You will pay a hugely discounted fee up-front to receive all finished Main Idea mini-units. Currently, December-August are completed and included in the bundle. August-November, as well as non-fiction, will be added by January 15, 2016. The calendar below is included in the bundled download:

August is now included! And a week early at that!
The price for all units purchased separately would be $44. The bundled price will be $36. The GROWING BUNDLE price is starting at $26, and will grow each time I add to the bundle.

To purchase the growing bundle, click the picture below. 



If you have already purchased multiple copies of "What's the Main Idea", but you are interested in the discounted bundle please email me {acrossthehallin2nd@gmail.com}, so we can work something out! You can also email me with any questions or clarifications!

I really, truly believe this bundle is such a great investment to keep your students on track with main idea. They love the seasonal passages, and once I made this a center, they were IN LOVE!


Want to win the growing bundle as part of my Summer of Fun giveaway? You have to be fast! Enter below using Rafflecopter:



~Halle
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Summer of Fun Starts Today with a Flash Freebie

If you've followed me awhile you know that I like to have a little fun during the summer.

Okay. A lot of fun! One of the ways I do so is by running a Summer of Fun "promotion" throughout July. I do giveaways, deals, flash freebies, forever freebies, etc. etc. etc.


Well, it's July 1st and Summer of Fun starts TODAY...but you gotta be quick!

The first deal I'm doing is a flash freebie. You can grab my newest product "Did You Know?" for free for TODAY ONLY!


Did You Know: Schools Around the World features 10 fun and interesting facts about schools and students around the world accompanied by a photograph for the fact. Each card also has a reflection question for students to discuss verbally or respond to in writing.


These cards would be perfect at a writing center, but they're also perfect as extension activities for your own Schools Around the World unit. Use them at the end of a lesson and have a class discussion, during morning meeting, or even in line on the way to your special!

Schools Around the World is the first set of these cards, but I plan on making many more! Click the picture below to grab them from TpT.


Stay up to date on all Summer of Fun deals by following me on Instagram { @halleacrossthehall } and liking me on Facebook. Don't forget to get notifications so you don't miss a thing!

Halle