Doubly Thankful – Birthday & 3,000 Follower Giveaway

Feeling blessed cannot even begin to explain how thankful I am this week. First I was chosen for a resource in last week’s Teachers Pay Teachers Newsletter. Then I was reading my time hop and read a post from 5 years ago about being excited to have 7 followers in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. So imagine how excited I am now to have almost 3,000! I’m only 4 followers away and ready to give away those 3 products for free. Also, Monday is my birthday. I’ll be 33 and it’s the first birthday in awhile that I’ve actually been excited about! When I feel this happy, I just have to share my happiness with other people!

If you’ve been a follower for awhile, you know that I always do a big “pick your own present” giveaway on my birthday. This year I have decided to combine the 3,000 Follower Giveaway and the Birthday Giveaway together. So here’s what I’m doing:

1.) The following 3 resources will be changed to FREE from the moment I hit 3,000 followers until November 11th, double the time promised since I’m doubly excited!

2.) My entire store will be set to 20% off from the moment I hit 3,000 followers through November 11th, also double the time promised!

3.) We will begin my birthday celebration a little bit early. For my birthday, I always give everyone who leaves me a comment (here on this blog post) one resource as a gift. Nothing that comes in a .zip folder and no bundles, because it clogs up my email. However any of the other resources are fair game and with 628 listed resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, there’s sure to be something for everyone! In the comment be sure to leave a link to the resource you’d like, as well as an e-mail address that you’d like me to send it to. All resources will be sent out the morning of November 12th, so be sure to leave your comment by the evening of November 11th.

4.) Finally, by leaving me a comment asking for a resource, you will automatically get entered into a contest to win a $20 gift card to Teachers Pay Teachers, which could be very helpful with Cyber Monday coming up!

Okay, time to help me celebrate! Stop by my Teachers Pay Teachers store and start deciding what you want for free. Leave me a comment and cross your fingers that you’ll get a gift card on November 11th with your present.

Thank you for all the support. I hope at least one of my resources or blog posts have helped make your job easier.

Revving Up for a Followers’ Choice Giveaway!!!

Today I stopped by my Teachers Pay Teachers store to update a few links on my Internet Scavenger Hunts and realized that I am only 97 followers from 3,000 followers in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! Once my store hits 3,000 followers I will be having a Followers’ Choice Giveaway. For this giveaway, I will take three priced items (no bundles) and make them free starting on the day I hit 3,000 followers and continuing for three days.

Now which items will be free you ask? Well, you tell me! I am asking my followers to tell me which items they would like to get for free. From now until I hit 3,000 followers, you can leave as many comments as you’d like telling me what you’d like for free. You can also ask your friends and colleagues to come and leave me comments. The three resources that get the most comments will be the resources that are free for the three days following when I hit 3,000 followers on my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

In addition to the giveaway, I will put my entire store on sale at 20% off during the three days of the giveaway. This way if your desired resource is not chosen as one of the free resources, you can at least get your desired resource at a discount! So, start the comment competition – which resource from my Teachers Pay Teachers store (no bundles) would YOU like to get for free?

Teacher Appreciation Sale and Giveaway

Welcome to Day 2 of Teacher Appreciation Week!  If you missed out yesterday, you can check out some great teaching secrets for your classroom HERE.   Also, you don't want to miss out on the two giveaways we are hosting this week.  If you didn't enter yesterday, you can do so now.  Make sure you enter for both prize bundles so you have double the change to win!

Enter to Win Prize Bundle #2 Here

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter to Win Prize Bundle #1 Here

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Today, we are offering a collection of high quality classroom resources at a huge discount.  Below is a list of Best Selling Resources that have been discounted by 20%.  You can receive an additional 10% off at checkout by using the code THANKYOU.

An InLinkz Link-up

We have also put together a collection of $1.00 Deals to help stock up your classroom for the rest of the year and next year.  I know I have added several of these deals to my cart.  Don't forget to use the code THANKYOU at checkout for maximum savings!

An InLinkz Link-up

Secrets to a Successful Classroom

We’re almost to the end of the school year. It’s a time to look back and appreciate all of the amazing things you and your students have accomplished this year. It’s also a time for everyone to take a moment to tell teachers how much we appreciate them. Within the field of education, we collaborate, we work as a team and we share, share, share. While it’s nice that parents and students take time at this time of the year to show their appreciation for teachers, too often teachers forget to take the time to show appreciation for the other teachers around them – the teachers they work with each day, the teachers they collaborate with online, the teachers who share their ideas or their resources, the teachers who help make the professional teaching community such a wonderful place. So a few teacher bloggers (including me here at Raki’s Rad Resources) are coming together to show how much we appreciate all the teachers in this great professional teaching community. For the next few days, in coordination with the Teacher Appreciation Giveaway, many different bloggers will be sharing a few of our teacher secrets. Here are three of my personal teaching secrets:

Every moment is a possible learning moment.  Learning doesn’t just happen during the precise lessons you plan out so perfectly. Learning happens when students are doing independent reading. Learning happens when students explore nature at recess. Learning can happen at lunch, on the bus, while standing in line for the bathroom. Kids process information in their own way, on their own time and can make the strangest connections to what we teach them. However, connections of any kind help students remember and process information. So grasp all those little minutes to review, discuss and build connections. Talk to students while they are lining up. Ask them to tell you three things they learned today. Quiz them on their fast facts. Make up silly songs that go over key concepts and sing them during transition times. There are tons of ways to utilize every possible moment of your instructional day, you just have to be creative!

 

**** For more information on strategies I have used to make every moment count in my classroom, check out this old blog post called: Learning Every Second

 

Building relationships is more important than building bulletin boards. They key to good teaching is knowing your students. Knowing your students is more important that knowing your content. Content can be looked up, found in a book, or discovered with students. Building relationships with your students is something that takes time and energy in class every day. However, once you have built those relationships, your students will trust you more, listen to you better and cause fewer disturbances in class. Once you have built those relationships, you will know how to help individual students connect to the content you are teaching. Once you build those relationships, you will spend more time teaching and significantly less time “managing” your class. Bulletin boards are very low on my priority list, unless they are interactive and built with the students. Building relationships with my students is my number one priority.

 

**** For more information on how I create bulletin boards that matter while building relationships with my students – check out this old blog post called: The Purpose Behind Bulletin Boards

Differentiation is easier when it appears that everyone is doing the same thing.  It makes things easier for the kids and it makes things easier for you. I have taught multi-age classes for the past three years and so my kids know that Mary doesn’t always do the same work as Johnny. They know that I give everyone work that is just right for them. However, they also know the directions for everyone’s work, because pretty much the directions are the same for everyone. Everyone is doing calendar book this morning. Now the calendar book pages may be different for Mary than they are for Johnny, but everyone is doing calendar book. Everyone will be doing their vocabulary packet later this afternoon. Juan may be doing Weather ESL vocabulary on Weather for a Level 1 while Katie is doing Long Vowel Word Work vocabulary on a Level 4, but everyone is doing a vocabulary packet and everyone is doing the Friday page in their vocabulary packet. This way everyone knows what we’re doing, they are able to help each other out with some general directions and I maintain my sanity while still providing individualized education.

 

****For some resources that make differentiation simple, check out this resource: Differentiated Monthly Calendar Books with 8 Different Levels 

 

Two lucky teachers will receive huge thank you gifts in the form of one of these two prize bundles. Be sure to enter to win so that you might be one of those lucky teachers.

Just take a look at everything you could win...One lucky reader will win this entire prize package!!!

Prize Bundle #1 Includes

Mountain Math/Language Resource of your Choice (up to $99.95)

$100 Gift Card to Teachers Pay Teachers

$50 Amazon Gift Card

Smart Class Website Designed by Flapjack Educational Resources

Pencil Sharpener by Classroom Friendly Supplies

Year-Long Writing Prompts by Mrs. D's Corner

Mentor Sentences Unit by Jivey

Dealing with Math Homework by Teacher's Clubhouse

Your Choice of Melonheadz Graphics (up to $7.00)

Growing Bundle Purposeful Problem Solving by Pawsitively Teaching

Pop Art Coloring Page for Seasons and Holidays by Art by Jenny K

Game Pack from Flap Jack Educational Resources

PLUS....$140 Gift Box of Fabulous Teacher Supplies sent to you from Amazon

We aren't finished yet....take a look at everything a second lucky winner will win!!!

Prize Bundle #2 Includes

Mountain Math/Language Resource of your Choice (up to $99.95)

$100 Gift Card to Teachers Pay Teachers

$50 Amazon Gift Card

Smart Class Website Designed by Flapjack Educational Resources

Pencil Sharpener by Classroom Friendly Supplies

Year-Long Writing Prompts by Mrs. D's Corner

Mentor Sentences Unit by Jivey

Dealing with Math Homework by Teacher's Clubhouse

Your Choice of Melonheadz Graphics (up to $7.00)

Growing Bundle Purposeful Problem Solving by Pawsitively Teaching

Pop Art InteractiveColoring Page for Seasons and Holidays by Art by Jenny K

Mega Task Card Bundle from Flap Jack Educational Resources

PLUS....$140 Gift Box of Fabulous Teacher Supplies sent to you from Amazon

Be sure to enter both rafflecopters for a better chance at winning one of these amazing prize bundles!

Enter to Win Prize Bundle #1 Here

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter to Win Prize Bundle #2 Here

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You won't want to miss out on all the other great secrets being shared by successful teachers!  Be sure to check out all the other great posts below.

An InLinkz Link-up

2,000 Follower Giveaway – Major Freebie Alert!

In my January Newsletter, I announced that when I hit 2,000 followers in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, there was going to be a BIG giveaway.  Well, I opened my store today to help a customer and found out that I am only 8 followers from that giveaway.  So here are the details:

 

Now that I know I’m close, I’ll be checking – a lot!  Once that ticket clicks over 2,000, We’re there!!! I’ll have set my entire store to 20% off AND I’ll make one of my biggest sellers – my Online Portfolio Packet (normally $6.00) for free.  The sale will remain for two days, but the packet will only be free for 2,000 minutes (33 hours and 33 minutes) from the time I set it as free, It will be available free until midnight on February 17th.so be sure to keep checking back.  Also, feel free to pass this on to your friends and colleagues.  The more people who know about it, the sooner everyone will be able to download their free version of my Online Portfolio Packet and save money with 20% off!

 

 

 

 

It’s My Birthday, but the Present is For You!!!

It’s my birthday weekend and I’m super excited because my husband came home with a great present for me – my own iPad mini!  After teaching with an iPad for 2 years, I have been a bit at a loss not to have one of my own this school year.  Since I in such a good mood, I decided to continue the birthday tradition that we have had for the past 3 years here at Raki’s Rad Resources.  I will be providing all of my followers with one present from my store.  Last year when I did this giveaway, there were 440 items in my Teachers Pay Teachers store to choose from.  This year there are 582 items in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.! (It’s been a busy year!)

So, here is what you have to do in order to get your present:

1.)  Leave me a comment on THIS BLOG POST (not FB or TPT please) with your name and the e-mail address where you’d like me to send your present.

2.)  Tell me the name of the resource from my Teachers Pay Teachers store that you would like to receive.  Everything is up for grabs – EXCEPT .zip folder bundles, as these jam up my e-mail service.  If you can leave a link to the resource, that is even better and avoids confusion.  One resource per person please.

3.)  Sign up for my monthly newsletter to receive information about newly released resources and upcoming giveaways.

4.)  Sit tight and check your e-mail on Monday, November 10, 2014.  We have a busy weekend planned, so I will most likely not get resources sent out until Monday morning around 7 a.m. EST.  When I start sending resources, I will stop accepting new requests, so please have your requests in by Monday at 7 a.m. 

5.)  Feel free to share this opportunity with your friends, colleagues and social media followers.

 

Fill Your Back to School Wishlist with a Blog Hop

Since I’m currently in Georgia, I know that “school is back in session”.  However, for my International School friends, and my family back in Buffalo, NY, school starts up next week or the week after.  This means that the Back to School sale at Teachers Pay Teachers, that happened a few weeks ago was a bit too early for them to benefit from, as they were all really still in vacation mode.  Luckily, Teachers Pay Teachers has decided to give them an extra day.  So, tomorrow, August 20th, with be a one day Back to School Bonus sale!!  Whether you have already started back, or you are starting back in the next few weeks, this is a great time to grab an extra 28% off of resources you need for your classroom.

To give teachers just a little bit more, I am participating in the Gimme 5 Back to School Blog Hop and giving away 5 teacher resources to one lucky winner.  All you have to do is to win is leave me a “wishlist” in the comment area.  Leave me links to five resources from my Teachers Pay Teachers store that you would like to use in your classroom – a Back to School Wishlist – and your e-mail address.  At 10:00 p.m. TONIGHT, I will use a random number generator to choose one person to recieve EVERYTHING on their wishlist for FREE.  If you win, you will have all five items in your e-mail account tonight, but remember this is a one day offer, so be sure to leave your comment before 10:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Also, there are 17 other Teachers Pay Teachers stores who are offering a similar giveaway in this Gimme 5 Back to School Blog Hop.  Stop by A Grade Seven Heaven to find a list of all of the Gimme 5 giveaways.

 

Feel free to pass these giveaways around to your colleague and other teacher friends, so that everyone has a chance to fill their Back to School Wishlists, and don’t forget to stop by my Teachers Pay Teachers store tomorrow to save 28% off of everything at my store – using the coupon code: BOOST.

 

Happy Teaching & Planning!

The Adventures Of Ai

Recently, I was asked to review the new children’s novel: The Adventures of Ai, which was written for children aged 9 - 11.  This wonderful story was written by Craig Bouchard, a Wall Street tycoon and the author of two adult books.  This is his first (but hopefully not last) children’s novel.  It embeds a story, inside a story, inside a story and tells a wonderful tale of adventure.  In addition to the book, there is also an iPad app where children can have adventures just in 1500’s Japan, just like Ai in the story.  Children can compete with children in other countries.  The country that leads competition wins 10% of total revenues for charities in their country.

I personally read an enjoyed this book, and I even have a novel study unit in the plans for this book.  However, when we received our free, advanced, copy I decided to share it with my 10 year old son.  He loved the book as well and wrote this review for you all:

The Adventures Of Ai is a story of a father telling a story to his three girls. The father told them a story of when he went to Japan in 1992. In Japan he had a great adventure, an adventure he would never forget. It started on a beautiful but chilly spring morning in Japan he was sitting on his patio, when a ball bounced over the wall. He found out it was a baseball, then somebody knocked on the door. This was the start of his adventures with the Hara family.  The grandfather of this family shared with him a special story, which is the third story – in a story – in a story of this story.

When the man was invited to the Hara’s home for dinner, he thought he would sit on a chair to eat, but they sat on the floor. This reminded of when I went to Morocco, and we would sit on the floor to eat when invited to our Aunt’s house. After everyone ate the grandfather told the man to meet him in his office. When the man got to the office, the man was flabbergasted to be told a story about a girl named Ai who had a  adventure with mythical creatures such as an Oni. An Oni is a mix match of a goat and a human.          

 I think that this book is good for pre-teens and above.This book would be wonderful for people who love nature, but also to people who love to be adventurous, like me! The author described the action to make you feel like you’re right inside the book. This author is great. I hope that he makes more spectacular books in the future.  

Find more book reviews and stories of my adventures at Traveling From a Kid’s Point of View.        

 

 

Would you like your own copy of The Adventures of Ai  for your Kindle?  Follow my newsletter and leave me a comment here with your name, e-mail and why you would like this book before August 1st.  On August 1st, I will choose two lucky followers to receive their own free copy of this amazing children’s novel set in current day USA, 1992 Japan and 1514 Japan. 

 

FarFaria Giveaway Winners

And the winners are…..

I was recently given two 3-month subscriptions to the amazing reading app FarFaria to give away.  The app is a wonderful teaching tool – find all the details here.

 

The winners of the giveaway are:  Markisha Herring and Rochelle Garfinkel!!!!!  If this is you, expect an e-mail from FarFaria with your subscription code within the next few days.

 

Don’t forget tomorrow starts the 2-Day Teacher Appreciation Sale at Teachers Pay Teachers, and all of Raki’s Rad Resources will be on sale for 28% off.

 

Happy Teacher Day!

Teacher Appreciation Sale & Giveaway

Happy, happy Teacher Day!  Happy, happy, Teacher Day!  Happy Teacher Day!  May 6th is National Teacher Day in the United States.  To celebrate National Teacher Day, Raki’s Rad Resources wants you to save some money and stock up on quality teaching resources, for this year OR next year!  On May 6th and May 7th, stop by the Raki’s Rad Resources Teachers Pay Teachers store, which will be on sale for 20% off.  Then, use the coupon code TPTXO and receive an additional 10% off.  Here are just a few of the deals you can score:

 

 

 

 

What is on your wishlist for the Teacher Appreciation sale?  If you leave me a comment here before May 8th telling me what you plan to buy (or wish you could buy) from Raki’s Rad Resources during the sale, I’ll send you one of my new vocabulary packets – Greek Roots 2 (bio, ology & micro) or ESL Vocab – Prepositions completely free.  Be sure to leave me: 1.)  What is on your wishlist  2.)  What vocab packet you want for free  3.)  Your e-mail address (so I can send it to you).

Also, if you haven’t already entered, you still have about 24 hours to enter to win a free 3-month subscription to FarFaria!

 

Far Faria Giveaway

If you read my recent post about Online Books, you know how important virtual books are for my school.  So, when I was offered a chance to review the iPad app FarFaria, which has a library of 600 books, I leapt at the chance.  The books in the FarFaria app are geared for students from age 2 – age 9, which is slightly young for the grades I teach.  To give the app the best possible review, I turned to my friend and colleague, Courtney Nassar who teachers Year 1 and Year 2 (Kindergarten and First Grade).  We downloaded the app and reviewed it together.  She used it with all of her students and I used it with my younger kiddos (Year 3 & Year 4 or Second and Third Grade). 

When you first open the app, there is an absolutely amazing layout, set up like a map of FarFaria.  The map has different regions, like Mount Make Believe.  Each region is based on the genre of book you are interested in and each region has corresponding graphics so it looks to the kids like they are off on a magic journey.

Once students choose a genre, they receive a selection of books to choose from.  All of the books are leveled and the levels are marked clearly on the front cover of each book to help students choose books that are at the appropriate level for them – great built in differentiation tool for teachers.  Teachers can also sort the books based on topic, difficulty and age range.

After students choose a book, the book must download to the device.  This takes a minute (especially with our slow Moroccan internet) but once you download it, you can add it to your Favorites and forever have that book available OFFLINE.  This is one of our favorite features, because our internet can be in and out sometimes, so the possibility of having online books available without the internet feels like a godsend!

Once you have the books, students have the option to listen to them or read the books by themselves.  Ms. Nassar used one for read aloud and was able to project the book from her iPad for the students.  She also made the app available to the students in an independent reading center and has a few books picked out that she would like to do for Guided Reading.

FarFaria is normally $3.99 a month, with the ability to cancel at any time.  They also allow you to read one book a day completely for free WITHOUT a subscription.  In exchange for this review, I received a 6 month free subscription.  However, we liked the app so much, we have already requested funding for the app for next school year.

I have also been offered two 3 month subscriptions of FarFaria to give away to you!  This leads me to our new giveaway!!!!  In order to enter for a free 3 month subscription, simply subscribe to our monthly newsletter (which comes ones a month to let you know what is new at the blog and store, and to give you links to FREE teaching resources) and then sign up below by giving us your name and e-mail address.  The giveaway will be open until I return from work on Monday afternoon (May 5, 2014)  4:30 p.m. GMT (12:30 p.m. EST).