Teaching Tip for the Winter Holiday Season

On the day or two before the Winter Holiday begins, students have usually completely shut down their studious brains and fully engaged their frolicsome personalities. On such days, giving students free time is about as much fun for the teacher as having a root canal.

Some teachers need activities to keep students engaged during seemingly endless class periods, and others need good activities for students to work on after they finish semester exams.

I always had a couple of holiday-themed exercises ready that would be fun for the students to do, but would also stimulate their higher order thinking skills. A little planning on my part made the hours leading up to the much needed Winter Break a whole lot easier on everyone.

Please click here or on the photo below for two FREE exercises. I hope you and your students enjoy them!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Thanks for reading,

Cyber Smile Sale at TpT

Don't you just love a sale? 

I certainly do. TeachersPayTeachers.com is having a Cyber Smile Sale November 30th and December 1st. You can save up to 28% on everything in my store and many other sellers are participating, as well. 

Enter promo code SMILE at checkout.

I stock up on clip art, photos, and valuable lessons that I will use to homeschool my grandson. Because of TpT, I can develop a complete curriculum and feel confident in the lessons I present to him because they were developed by certified teachers and tested on students in real classrooms. 

I have found that so many of the materials found in workbooks sold in stores were written and prepared by people who have never been in a classroom. My grandson used to attend a private school, and although his workbooks were filled with valuable lessons about the Bible and about how to treat others with kindness, the actual language arts, history, and science lessons were filled with errors.

I taught English and creative writing in public schools for thirty-five years, and although I am officially retired, I have never stopped teaching. Now, I write instructional materials for teachers to use in their classrooms, and I teach my grandson five days a week.

If you need a comprehensive curriculum to teach grammar, usage, and writing, I think you will like what you find in my books. Everything you need is included.

Click here to see what teachers are saying about Simple Steps to Sentence Sense. 

Click here or on the book covers below to visit my store and read more about the Simple Steps way to learn grammar and writing. And the best part is, that for a few days, THEY ARE ON SALE! Don't miss it!

Thanks for reading,

Thanksgiving Prayer

It is not only on the fourth Thursday of November that I am thankful. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best, I think, in his prayer in the photo above. 

I take a long morning walk as often as I can. The first thing I do after leaving the house is look to the east where the beautiful sunrise greets me and say a few words of thanks for the privilege of living another day.

I have lost many people that I love with all my heart, so I do not take the gift of life for granted.

May your season of Thanksgiving last all year long.

Thanks for reading,

What Can I Help You With?

I accidentally took a picture of the question that Siri put on my iPhone screen after I said, "Hey, Siri!"

Then it occurred to me that maybe it would make sense to ask teachers who follow me to let me know which lessons would be most helpful for them to use in their classrooms.

Of course, I know you can write your own lessons and prepare your own materials, but if you are busy with instruction and many other details during your hectic days, it might help to have a lesson ready to print and present to your classes.

I know. I remember. It has not been that long since I stood in front of a classroom and tried to present a meaningful, engaging lesson to a group of teenagers. If I can help you in any way, just contact me at www.booksbycharlenetess@gmail.com, and I can prepare a lesson for you to use for a minimal charge.

It's also possible that one of the lessons in my store is exactly what you need. Some of them are FREE. Be sure to take a look when you have a minute.

Thanks for reading,

All Treats and No Tricks for Teachers

All Treats and No Tricks for Teachers. 

Here's a treat just for you!

It's almost Halloween and all teachers could use a treat. Students enjoy doing activities that relate to Halloween. In this FREE activity, Practice With Sentence Patterns, students will rewrite sentences without changing their meaning by moving phrases and clauses to the beginning of the sentence. This will be good practice for students to achieve sentence variety, and at the same time, they will be reminded of the spooky things that are associated with Halloween. Enjoy! 

Here's another activity your students will enjoy. This is a fun Halloween activity that works best if students work in pairs or in small groups. They will enjoy changing the lyrics of familiar Christmas songs to spooky or funny Halloween songs. 

This handout is ready to give to students with no further explanation needed from the teacher. It is a sneaky way to work in practice with rhyme and syllables while students have fun.

I had my students do this exercise a few days before Halloween and they would sing the songs aloud in class much to the delight of their classmates. Students of all ages enjoy doing this.

I hope you and your students enjoy using this. It is priced at only $3.

I am happy to participate in the All Treats and No Tricks for Teachers Blog Hop hosted by ELA Buffet and Desktop Learning Adventures. Thank you, ladies for the opportunity.

An InLinkz Link-up