The Oregon Teacher Job Fair is in Portland This Week

The Oregon Teacher Job Fair is in Portland This Week

Over 150 school districts will be interviewing more than a thousand teachers this week. The districts are looking for great teachers and the teachers are looking for great districts. After they decide on their career positions, they will need great materials to use in their classrooms.

While they are in Portland, they will be stopping by the TeachersPayTeachers booth where they will find goodie bags and freebies donated by a group of TeachersPayTeachers sellers.

I am one of those sellers, and I would like to share my freebies with you. You will also find everything in my store 10% off during the Job Fair.

Click here to get my freebie on Commonly Confused Words.

I have other freebies in my TeachersPayTeachers Store. Click here to see.

Click here to see what other teachers are offering free during the Oregon Teacher Fair.

Enjoy!

5 Capitalization Hints and a Free Practice Exercise

5 Capitalization Hints - and a Free Practice Exercise

5 Capitalization Hints 

 1. Don’t capitalize seasons: 

     summer, fall, winter, spring

2. Don’t capitalize school subjects unless they are followed by a number or they are a language.

    These are correct:  biology, Biology II, French, history, math, Algebra I

3. Capitalize directions if they name a region of  the country, but not when they indicate a direction of the compass.

    Correct: I love the food in the South. 

                 Go two blocks north, and then turn west at the stop sign.

4. Do not capitalize earth, sun, or moon unless they appear in a list of other capitalized celestial bodies.

    Correct:  I love the smell of the earth after a rain. 

                  Today we studied Earth, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus.

5. Do not capitalize, web, web page, web site, but do capitalize World Wide Web and Internet.

    Correct:  I am going to use the Internet today to create a new web page.

                   I cannot imagine how many web sites exist on the World Wide Web.

Click here for a free lesson and practice exercise with answers.

Enjoy!

Grin and Grab it Freebie Day

What is Grin and Grab it Freebie Day? Today only, several TpT sellers are offering one priced product for free. Please see the product cover pictures and links, below, to Teachers Pay Teachers to get your freebies. This promotion ends tonight, but please leave feedback while the products are still free as it can't be added after the products are priced again. We are having a give away of a $25 dollar gift certificate for Teachers Pay Teacher for our first Grin and Grab it Day! See the Rafflecopter information, below.

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th,7th, 8th, 9th, 10th	Tiny World of Insects Magnified by a Scanning Electron Microscope This Powerpoint slide show and PDF printable file includes images of insects and insect parts.
7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, Homeschool	Persuasive Speech & Visual Aid Project with Rubric Argumentative Oral Presentation Project, Rubric for Grading, Argumentative Speech
Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, Student PDFs includedThis product is updated each year with more calendar years, so check back and re-download each fall.	Calendar Math, Birthdays 2013-2016 and Printable Student PDFs For 2013 thru December 2016 SMART Board, Power Point, and PDFs
	Breakfast, Lunch, Desayuno, Almuerzo Vocabulary Practice Cloze“Cloze” sentences give clues to breakfast and lunch vocabulary words in Spanish.
6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th,Adult Education, Homeschool	Three Ways Authors Reveal Characters Authors reveal the physical descriptions and the personality traits of the characters they create by using either direct or indirect characterization.

We will not usually have a give away when we have our random Grin and Grab it Days, but today the winner was Danielle. Thanks, everyone, we hope you enjoy your new resources!

How to Choose Between 'Eager" and 'Anxious"

Before choosing between the words "eager" and "anxious," decide exactly what you mean to say. 

“Eager” means excited, interested, or impatient .
 “Anxious” means afraid or nervous about what may happen.

Note the correct words in the sentences below:

Jane felt (eager, anxious) about the math test because she had not studied for it.

The bride and groom were (eager, anxious) to say their vows.

Now you try it:

The puppy was (eager, anxious) to please his master.

The patient was (eager, anxious) to hear the doctor’s report.

These words are often used interchangeably, but they should not be. They are not the same. Take the time to say what you really mean.

Tess' Tips to Use Who's or Whose and Their, There, or They're Correctly

The words who's or whose and their, there, or they’re are frequently confused and used incorrectly. 

Here are some simple tips to help you use these words correctly.

Their means it belongs to them.

Example: I listen to their music.

There indicates a location. (Replace it with the similar word “where” to help you remember its meaning.)

Example: I am going there after school.

They’re is a contraction for the words they are.

(Read a contraction as two words.)

Example: They’re (They are) my parents.

Whose means it belongs to whom. 

Example: Whose coat is this?

Who’s is a contraction for the words who is. (Read a contraction as two words.)

Example: Who’s (Who is) coming with me tonight?

After you finish writing, search for the words above to be sure you have chosen correctly. 

Ask yourself these questions:

Do you mean “where?”  If so, choose “there.”

Do you mean “it belongs to them?” If so, choose “their.”

Do you mean “they are?” If so, choose “they're.”

Do you mean “who is?” If so, choose “who’s.”

Do you mean it belongs to whom? If so, choose “whose.”

The following sentences are correct:

Whose photos are posted there on the bulletin board? Who's going to write their names on the backs of the photos? They're going to be left of of the yearbook if we don't figure this out.

Click here to see an interactive computer lesson that students will enjoy using to learn the correct use of homonyms. It's only $3 and requires minimal teacher involvement.

I'll be back next Thursday with another of Tess' Tips on Writing and Grammar.

         All the best,