Author Archives : Connie Casserly


ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS TEACHERS – “Three freebies to Swing you Into Summer”

by – Connie Casserly

Grades 7-12

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

 

Are you still in school?  Is your brain showing a Needs Charged light?  Need a fresh idea or three to swing you into summer vacation?

 

If you answered, “YES!” to any of these questions, check out the following three FREEBIES that will act as energy bars for your students during the remainder of the year.

 

1. Comprehension & Writing Activity – “Taking a Break”

takingabreakactivity_Page_1This free activity is great for an end of the year recap to assess Middle and High School students’ comprehension, understanding, and analytic skills of the material that they read, or for any time during the year prior to a vacation.

For this activity, students are going on a dream vacation. To keep them company on this trip, they ask three characters from books that they have read for school assignments that year to go on the trip with them. Who will they take? Why them? Where will they go? How will these people help them have a perfect trip? They are to answer these questions as they relate vacation plans.

Download from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comprehension-Writing-Activity-Taking-a-Break-248681

 

 

 

2. Comprehension and Writing Activity: Carry On!

CarryOnrev2014_Page_1Other than hairstyles, few physical adornments show more about people than the clothes they choose to wear and their accessories. This FREE Common Core and Bloom’s Taxonomy aligned activity not only focuses on the type of purse/attaché case/tote/ backpack, etc. that a character would choose, but also the items he/she would keep in it.

After brainstorming what type of accessory celebrities would choose, as well as what items they would put in it, Middle School and High School students will do the same for their teacher-assigned character.

Download from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comprehension-and-Writing-Activity-Carryon-710857

 

 

 

3. Comprehension – It’s Good to be Me…It’s Good to be You
ComprehensionItsGoodtobeMeItsGoodtobeYou_Page_1Here are two activities when teachers need a few go to lessons for exploring the elements of literature, in this case-Character.

These engaging activities will hook Middle School and High School students into reading and writing about the text that they are studying.The two activities will check off two of your, “Need to Do” boxes.

Not only will they engage students in their character exploration of the people they meet in their reading, but they will also allow your charges to reveal their own personalities and thoughts.

Download from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comprehension-Its-Good-to-be-Me-Its-Good-to-be-You-859283

 

 

 

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Bonus:  Hand out  this FREEBIE – Summer Comprehension, Thinking & Writing Activities: A Summer Bucket List – to your students and their parents at the end of the year. Students will be so engaged in the activity (-ies) of their choice, that they won’t even realize that they are keeping their comprehension, computing, higher lever thinking and writing skills strong.

Download https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Comprehension-Thinking-Writing-Activities-A-Summer-Bucket-List-253658

 

 

 

 

 

Make these final days, Teach It Now Days with these activities.

Have a restful and relaxing summer.

 

Connie

TEACH IT WRITE – BUILD POWERFUL ACADEMIC HOMES


A Task Card Basket Blooming with Activities and a TpT Sale

 

A Task Card Basket Blooming with Activities and a TpT Sale

by Connie Casserly

Grades 6-12

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

 

In May, lesson plan continuity endures a major blow due to standardized  testing, although teachers still want and need to teach and students still need to add to their learning homes.

These three sets of Task Cards will alleviate teachers’ frustration and stress while reviving students’ motivation, concentration and attention and creating strong foundations of learning.

Read the details for all of these products on http://www.teachitwrite.blogspot.com/2015/05/a-task-card-basket-blooming-with.html

 

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Reading Comprehension – Literature Task Cards

With this set of Elements of Literature Task Cards, Middle School and High School students will reinforce, review and develop their understanding of a text any time that they need to work on expanding their comprehension/higher thinking skills and /or writing aptitudes.

Preview and download it from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Comprehension-Literature-Task-Cards-1131263 ($4.50)*

Vocabulary – FOR THE LOVE OF WORDS! Task Cards

FOR THE LOVE OF WORDS! is an 11-page Task Card vocabulary study with 32 individual, pairs, small group and whole class activities. These activities engage students’ curiosity, and this inquisitiveness sparks learning because they are motivated  to own the words and not borrow them for a test.

Preview and download it from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vocabulary-FOR-THE-LOVE-OF-WORDS-1840502 ($4.00)*

Grammar – PUNCTUATION RULES! Task Cards & Activities

Between Tweets, Facebook status updates, Pinning,Texting and various other sites limiting characters, students are forgetting how to properly punctuate their longer writing pieces. PUNCTUATION RULES! Task Cards & Activities, enable Middle School and High School students to improve their Language and Writing knowledge and skills.

This 20-page packet includes Teacher Notes, punctuation rules, task cards and answer keys.

Preview and download it from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grammar-PUNCTUATION-RULES-Task-Cards-Activities-1820840 ($6.00)*

 

* Best of all, these Task Card sets and all of my products are on sale at 20% off during The TpT Teacher Appreciation Days Sale- May 5th and 6th. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

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Also, check out Vicky Leon’s THREE $100 GIVEAWAYS of TpT Gift Certificates again.  All three of the giveaways will begin on Monday, May 4, 2015.   The FIRST $100 GIVEAWAY will end at 11:00 P.M. Pacific Time on Monday, May 25, 2015.  The SECOND and THIRD $100 GIVEAWAYS will end at 11:00 P.M. on Monday, June 1, 2015.  For more information, contact Vicky at vleon999@yahoo.com

 

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day-Every Day.

Connie


FREE LANGUAGE ARTS LESSON – “Trio of Writing Freebies”


FREE LANGUAGE ARTS LESSON – “Trio of Writing Freebies”

 

by Constance D. Casserly

Grades 6-12

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

 

With this Trio of Writing Freebies, teachers will just say, “YES!” to reinforcing proper paragraph format, to luring in readers with magnetizing hooks and to reinforcing powerful word choices.

 

 Language Arts Comprehension Check: Ten Sentence Format

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This Ten Sentence Format is perfect for clarifying and reinforcing the parts of an essay, for using as an announced or unannounced quiz when teachers of students grades 6-12 wish to check reading and writing comprehension and for general writing practice or warm-ups.

This writing format reviews and reinforces the basic structure of a paragraph: Introduction (Hook, overview, Thesis statement), Body (Main Idea, supporting details), and Conclusion (Concluding statement – thelast thought). I call this final sentence a kicker, as the last statement should end with a bang and not a whimper (thank you T.S. Eliot for this phrase).

Once students master this concept, they can easily be shown how the Main Idea paragraphs can be expanded with details and developed into more paragraphs so they can create a complete essay.

Download it from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Language-Arts-Comprehension-CheckTen-Sentence-Format-16081

 

 

 

Writing (All Types) Activity: Reel in Readers With Magnetizing Hooks

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Readers are more apt to keep reading if the writer grabs their attention. Students are more apt to write with vivid verbs and specific nouns and adjectives that will snag their readers’ attention when we teachers entice them by baiting our lesson plan hooks with a multitude of opportunities for them to own their writing.

When we do this, our students will become emotionally involved with their writing and will understand that the lead sentences act as a fishing hook, and every word that forms them is the bait. They will learn that the hook has one main purpose: luring readers to the writer’s world.

Not only will they hook their readers, but they will also capture the interest of the people who rate their standardized test writing responses. Most importantly, though, they will embrace writing because they are Writing Right.

Download this Freebie from  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-All-Types-Activity-Reel-in-Readers-With-Magnetizing-Hooks-623112

 

 

Writing – “Just Say, ‘NO!’ to Dull Writing”

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This year-long activity was always one of my core Middle and High School lesson plans. On the first day of school, I  handed it out to my students right after we reviewed the syllabus and classroom rules and expectations.

I explained to my charges that they were required to refer to it for any writing-graded or non-graded – throughout the year. Also,  I made a poster of it to hang in the classroom and I taped a copy of the list to each desk for continual writing reinforcement.

Olga, a former student who is now a senior in college, asked me to send it to her because she was tutoring at a Virginia university’s writing center. She said, “I have to do a presentation on making writing concise and precise. Would you send me a copy of your taboo words list please? It has been – and will continue to be – the best advice on writing well that I’ve found.”

When this Taboo Words and Phrases List impacts your students’ thinking and writing, it will become a lifelong tool for them,  just as it has been for Olga.

Download it from  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Just-Say-NO-to-Dull-Writing-1555338

 

Give yourselves the gift of time and relax, knowing that this triple play of lessons lessons will review and reinforce the effective writing that you have been teaching them all year. If you are asked, “Are your students ready for the  standardized tests?” you can smile and say, “They are ready to hit home runs”.

 

Enjoy a Teach IT Now Day, every day,

Connie