Ring 2016 in with a Sale!

Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a lovely 2015 and are gearing up for a fabulous 2016. Finishing 2015 for me meant that I completed my first calendar year of not teaching in the classroom. I decided to take this leap for two reasons. 
Reason number one was so I could homeschool my children and travel around the US in our RV, which was a ravishing success. You can read more about our year at RVing with the Rakis. 
Reason number two was so that I could focus more on bringing quality resources to you through my Teachers Pay Teachers store. This was also a ravishing success. As I added 3 new interactive math notebook lessons to my catalog yesterday to finish out my 5th Grade Common Core Bundle, I realized that this year I have added 85 new resources to my store. The majority of these resources were added to complete series and bundles that I started while I was teaching in the classroom. I always planned to complete these sets, I just never had the time. So this year I used all of my extra time to:

 - complete my Year Long Spelling Packets

 - add to my ESL Vocabulary Packets (this set will be completed to 100% in 2016)

 - complete my Aesop's Fable Reading Response Packets

 - complete interactive math notebook bundles for 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade and 5th grade

 - complete my Primary Grades Word Wall Bundle

 - complete my Primary Grades Writing Journals

 - create a Non Fiction Book Study for Any Book companion to my Novel Study for Any Book

In order to celebrate the new year, I have put every resource created in 2015 on sale for the next 3 days. So stop by my Teachers Pay Teachers store and save on these new, quality resources. 

In 2016, my plans include a full update on my Problem Solving Path sets, additional problem solving resources for primary students, completion of my ESL Vocabulary Packets, completion of my Greek and Latin Root Word Packets, and the release of my School on the Go Homeschool Curriculum.

What are your plans for 2016?

New Year Centers Packet

In addition to running this blog, my RVing with the Rakis blog and homeschooling full time, I also create and sell resources that teachers can use in their classrooms and home schooling parents can use to help out their children.  To be fair, I am not creating nearly as many resources this year as I did in the past 9 years, for 2 reasons.  Reason #1 – I already have over 500 resources available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, so much of what I need for my kiddos I have created already.  Reason #2 – I only have 3 students this year, so I have need of less resources.  However, I am going through resources that I made while I was teaching in a classroom full time and “cleaning them up” with clearer teacher directions, better fonts, etc.  I am also finishing out groupings or “series” that I have started and putting them into bundles so that teachers who are interested in buying multiple items from the same category have the opportunity to save some money.  For the next few weeks, I am going to spotlight some of the resources I have available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

The start of a new year is a great time to encourage students to look backwards and look forward.  I used this New Year’s center packet when I taught 1st grade and again with 2nd graders to help them celebrate the new year. 

The packet contains 15 activities split into three groups.  I have my students complete one group – 5 activities for three days.  This is perfect for a three day week, but can really be done anytime in January.

The first group of activities is focused on “Looking Back” at the year that has just finished.  Reflecting on time past is an important skill.  The activities for this group include: the ACK family time machine, the way back numberline, the best part of last year writing prompt, jumping through time and Nadia’s Great Year reading comprehension.

The second group of activities is focused on “Looking Forward” to the year ahead.  This helps get students used to the idea of a new beginning.  The activities for this group include: past/present/future tense, self portrait – what will you look like next year?, new years resolution writing prompt, yearly math problems and Rania’s resolution reading comprehension.

The third group of activities is focused on “Party Time”.  The traditional celebrations for New Year are as important to learn about as the traditional celebrations for any other holiday. The activities for this group include:  ball drop, party words, celebrate writing prompt, party problem solving and New York City New Years reading comprehension.

To use this in your classroom, stop by my Teachers Pay Teachers and download all 15 activities - the entire three day packet  - for just $5.00.

 

 

20 Best Posts of 2014

There’s a linky party going on at Elementary Matters for the best blog posts of 2014.  She asked for either the most popular or your favorite, but I did both!  The top list ranks the 10 posts from Raki’s Rad Resources with the most page views this year and the bottom list ranks out my favorite posts to research & write.

 

 

10 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2014 

10 – Top 10 Science Websites

 

 

9 – Why Don’t Our Students Remember What We Tell Them?

 

 

8 – Online Books for Kids

 

 

 

7 – 10 Authors That Should Be in EVERY Elementary Classroom

 

 

6 – I Don’t Do Center Rotations – Here’s Why

 

 

5 – Introducing Greek Roots – Free Packet

 

 

4 – Online Video Creation Tools

 

 

3 - Online Graphing Tools

 

 

2 – Give Kids Control Over Their Writing

 

 

1 – Math Projects for Your Classroom

 

 

 

 

Heidi’s Top 10 Favorite Blog Posts of 2014

 

10 – How to Create an Internet Scavenger Hunt

 

 

9 – Four Alternatives to Presenting in Front of the Class

 

 

8 – Centers are Not One Size Fits All!

 

 

7 – The Purpose Behind Bulletin Boards

 

 

6 – Keep Them Moving While Learning Geometry

 

 

 

5 - 15 Ways to Use Sidewalk Chalk in the Classroom

 

 

4 - Technology Accounts to Create at the Beginning of the Year

 

 

3 – Student Created Videos

 

 

2 – Use Skype to Connect Students to Experts

 

 

1 – Eggstraordinary Learning About Heat

 

 

Did I miss YOUR favorite post from this blog?  If so, please feel free to leave it in the comment section.