Use these simple mini-posters to teach story retelling in a very simple way! These posters cover key concepts while teaching students a simple way to think about retelling a story with these key words and key questions! Utilize these as a teaching tool all year long to reference to daily and weekly in teaching retelling and how to construct a summary of a story!

Your students will be tickled pink by these humorous posters which feature popular idioms and clues associated with their definitions and implied meanings. Use these posters to explore parts of speech, promote understanding of figurative language, and use as a spring board for further study of figures of speech and writing experiences. This packet contains forty-three popular idioms and matching illustrations. You might focus on an idiom a week or use several to display on a writer’s workshop bulletin board! Your students will love these hilarious posters!

In this packet, you will find seven great at-a glance reading comprehension strategies mini posters that are a perfect fit above your white board in your classroom. They will also work ideal on a bulletin board. The seven strategies include: predicting, visualizing, questioning, connecting, identifying, inferring, and evaluating. They are all designed with colorful animal print borders!

This is a powerpoint for training and instructional purposes. You will find fourteen slides. Ten of these slides explain homework and study shortcuts that have been proven to be beneficial to upper elementary, middle school, high school, and college students. As well, these strategies have been found to be very helpful with students and adults diagnosed with ADHD. These slides can be used in a focused faculty session, professional development session, or a professional learning community session in working to develop these strategies among teachers to teach students. As well, these slides can be used in working to equip students with these strategies. Finally, these slides can be used in a "Parent University" atmosphere to provide parents with training on the strategies as well.

Wow! It is "THAT" time of year! You know... the dreaded state assessments. Take the time to really examine the goals that students can all make for themselves as they investigate their strong points, their areas that need focus, and the steps they need to take to achieve the goals they establish. This is the perfect culminating organizer for student data notebooks. Additionally, there are desk cards (nine to a page) that allow students a constant reminder about the steps they are currently taking to achieve their goal. As well, these cards might also be used to create shorter, incremental goals if need be to meet the larger goal: SUCCESS on the STATE TEST!

This is an awesome packet to utilize to teach opinion writing in grades, three, four, and five. This packet contains seven different sources which all have critical information in trying to formulate an opinion in whether one should buy an artificial tree or a real tree during this Christmas season. Five of the sources are articles from the web and include the following titles: (1) Real of Plastic: Many Consumers Will Be Asking Themselves That Question This Season; (2) It’s Environmentally and Traditionally Wrong to Buy and Use Plastic Products to Celebrate Christmas… Here’s Why?; (3) Dear Earth Talk: What’s Better for the Environment, a Fake or Real Christmas Tree?; (4) Buy a Real Christmas Tree and Support Our Economy?; and (5) Real vs. Fake Christmas Trees: Which is Better for the Environment? Next, there are two other sources which are graphs/charts and include: (1) China Tops in Fake Christmas Trees and (2) Tree Purchases (in millions). Students can critically read each of these sources to help them formulate an opinion. Upon much discussion and examination of each of the seven sources, students then can complete one of the two graphic organizers provided to frame their opinion writing. Both organizers allow the students to provide an opinion based on what they have read. Additionally, they are asked to give reasons and evidence for their opinion. These organizers pave the way for the writing of the opinion piece asked for in CCSS: (W.3.a,b,c,d) (W.4.a,b,c,d) and (W.5.a,b,c,d).

You surely do not want to miss this resource! This packet is 32 pages long and focuses on argumentative/persuasive writing. The students conduct research on the different types of Christmas lights and how to “elegantly” decorate their tree using the appropriate lights. After conducting research and reading articles which are provided including the source, the students develop a “hook” statement that will allow the readers to want to read more to determine the best decision to make in terms of buying and decorating with the proper Christmas lights. Next, after developing the “hook” statement, students utilize a graphic organizer that is provided, and develop their claim and actually state it. The next part of the graphic organizer allows the students to state three reasons why their claims is the best decision to make. As well, after stating and writing each particular reason, there is also a space on the graphic organizer for students to write their evidence in the form of a sentence that supports their specific reason for the claim. Finally, at the end of the graphic organizer, the students are to provide a concluding sentence for their claim. Students will enjoy this particular activity so much during the holiday season; you can’t go wrong with this teaching and learning activity!

Show your students there is more than one way to express their words in poetry! In this packet, you will find eight mini posters each featuring a form of poetry to use when teaching each instructional format. Each poster also has an example of the type of poem explained. Students are sure to love writing these forms of poetry about their favorite topics. As well, this could be converted into a fall poetry unit utilizing the awesome fall scenes as springboards for brainstorming. Forms of poetry included are: limericks, diamantes, cinquains, haikus, couplets, acrostics, shapes, and free verse.

The RAFT strategy is a great strategy for being able to differentiate instruction in terms of content, process, and product. It is that time of the year again in terms of viewing the infamous lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree in New York City. But, have your students ever investigated the process of how that huge tree actually gets to its final destination? Have your students traced the history of how this celebration and tradition originated in the first place? Have your students investigated the history of the ornaments on the tree? What about the history of the lights on the tree? Have they determined how November 30th is celebrated in terms of “lighting” the tree? This is an awesome opportunity to explore all of the answers to these questions through using such strategies as jigsaw, discussion, inquiry, and discovery. Then, after this portion of the teaching and learning sequence has taken place, students can take part in the RAFT activity where they get to make a choice in each column of the activity. For example, students might choose to write from the perspective of the Christmas tree itself and write to the farm from which the tree has been growing all of these years prior to it being cut. The writing might be in the form of a narrative piece of writing where the tree tells the story of growing up on the farm all of those years and how he/she might have longed to become the famous tree in Rockefeller Center one day. The tree might narrate his/her journey all the way to the final destination and the lighting on November 30th. This is only one example. Of course, there are many, many other options, and many other opportunities for mini-lessons along the way!

Perhaps most importantly in today's information age, thinking skills are viewed as crucial for educated persons to cope with a rapidly changing world. Many educators believe that specific knowledge will not be as important to tomorrow's workers and citizens as the ability to learn and make sense of new information. —D. Gough, 1991 With that being said, it is critical for students to learn strategies to employ when thinking through a scenario, a problem, a situation, a research project, etc. This set of mini-posters can be used as a year long resource in any classroom to equip students with eight strategies that students should learn to use each and every day as they strive to be successful in school. With a relatively small size, the mini-posters will fit perfect above a white board or on a bulletin board as a constant reminder for students to persevere and solve problems when working.

Your students will enjoy working with the “Daily Buzzword” all year long. Use the mini-poster with the honeycomb to post the “daily buzzword” (vocabulary word for reinforcement). Students should then work through each of the activities listed on each of the mini-posters to include: defining the buzzword, using the buzzword in a sentence, illustrating the buzzword sentence, writing a synonym for the buzzword, writing an antonym for the buzzword, listing the part of speech that the buzzword is mostly used as in a sentence, and then finally illustrate the daily buzzword in general!

Enjoy this set of bookmarks with your students! Students always need a great bookmark to hold their place in a great book! Laminate these and place them in the treasure box as well. Also, you might give them out as students check out their new Accelerated Reader books from the library! Have fun and enjoy!

This resource is a mini-poster to celebrate the 100th day of school with your students. Each component of the mini-poster sets the stage for a thought-provoking response. Students must figure out what year they will be 100. They must say where they think that they will live and how they will travel. They must tell what they will be famous for as well as how they will communicate with family and friends 100 years from now. Finally, they must describe or draw a self-portrait of what they believe they will look like! Students will have a great time with this activity!

This is an awesome list of more than 100 March words to use as a springboard for writing in March. These words will aid in narrative, informative, and argumentative writing as well as poetry! These sheets can be given to each student to place in his/her Writer’s Notebook!

You are sure to want to use this informational text article with your students! This is an article about Abe Lincoln and his rise to the presidency. It is approximately 1,400 words long and has illustrations that match the text. As well, there is a ten question formative quiz at the conclusion of the article. Questions range from multiple choice to open ended short answers. Your students are sure to enjoy this text!

It’s the 100th day of school! In this resource, students are given $100.00 to spend with sample ad circulars. As well, there are two shopping lists provided in the packet. Students use the following ads and prepare their budget! Students are asked: "What do you think that you need to purchase on the 100th day of school? You have $100.00 to spend and you may not go over your budget! Make your list on the shopping list given to you by your teacher. Make sure that you get the most for your money! Show your work on your notebook paper!" Students will enjoy making their list, adding up their products, and doing their best not to go over $100.00.

This is an awesome list of one hundred fifty January words to use as a springboard for writing in January. These words will aid in narrative, informative, and argumentative writing as well as poetry! This sheet can be given to each student to place in his/her Writer’s Notebook! This is a tool that is sure to improve literacy skills of students! Have fun!

This is an awesome list of one hundred December words to use as a springboard for writing in December. These words will aid in narrative, informative, and argumentative writing as well as poetry! This sheet can be given to each student to place in his/her Writer’s Notebook!

This is an awesome list of November words to use as a springboard for writing in November. These words will aid in narrative, informative, and argumentative writing as well as poetry! This word bank is comprehensive of the many words that come to mind during the month of November and are sure to get your students' creative juices flowing! There are approximately 50-55 words that spur your students' brains for all kinds of writing-- narrative, expository, argumentative, etc. Use this November word bank for writing, ABC order, poetry, etc. It's uses are only limited by your imagination!This sheet can be given to each student to place in his/her Writer’s Notebook!

This resource is a set of critical academic vocabulary words that all fifth graders should know to master the Common Core State Standards! 85% of achievement and criterion referenced assessments are based on the vocabulary of the standards! Students from poverty, ELL students, and other at-risk students are particularly in need of learning these words in ways that meet their specific learning needs and styles throughout the year! Included in this set of Tier II academic vocabulary are the high frequency words of the CCSS and the words present in the exemplars provided in Appendix B. This awesome resource consists of over 100 slides with academic vocabulary specifically for fifth grade. These words are the perfect size to add to your word wall and spiral back to all year long. This set of fifth grade vocabulary consists of over two hundred words! Check it out!