Santa's Helper Christmas Writing

There is a fabulous book called "Who Will Help Santa This Year?" that is super adorable and absolutely hysterical.

It's all about who will help Santa and Santa finding the perfect worker (elves).  I have been really working to make writing fun for my students.  I thought this would be great because it could be short and sweet and turn into a class book.  The plan is to have each student write a paragraph about someone or something that could help Santa and tell about the things that could go wrong.  Then I am going to put it together for a class book and keepsake. My kids love to be silly and I want them to work on creativity so this should be a great starting point for them.  You can download the pages at my TPT store.

 

Sub Plans

So part of the job of teaching is that inevitably you will be absent. That means sub plans. Inevitably you will also be absent for multiple days. This year I headed to the MSTA State Convention (my third year and it's like Christmas, birthday, and Thanksgiving all rolled into one). That means three days out as I travel several hours and spend two days at convention. As much as I love coming to convention I am terrified of the possibilities of a sub in my room. Let's face it, everything that can go wrong will. My first year I left almost ten pages for sub plans. Did I mention that was just for day 1? I worry. A lot. Plus, I've been a sub. I have been in rooms where they leave a stack of papers and no instructions or they don't leave enough work or there isn't a roster or any number of not great things. Not in my room. I have managed to cut it down to 4 pages or so per day which gives them enough detail that if they are clueless in the classroom it gives some assistance and if they are an experienced teacher they can quickly scan and get the important details.

One of my favorite activities though is leaving a writing prompt where the kids get to guess where I am and what I am doing. This is great for convention since I am gone several days and it gets their imaginations going. Last year I moved, changed jobs, had a boyfriend, went to the beach, took my daughter to the doctor (I am single and I don't have kids haha), and so much more. I was laughing so hard I was crying. I was actually really sad that I didn't get to be there to see it in action during the writing process and it became my inspiration for "My Teacher's Secret Life," a writing prompt about what teachers  do on their weekends. 

This year, I actually forgot to put it in my plans, so before I left I had a few minutes and we did a quick writing that was just basic ideas. The first thing I noticed was my kids wanted to write two sentences and be done. I think I need to do a daily journal to get them used to writing more. They absolutely loved writing about me though. They were dying to know what I was doing. They will be so disappointed to find out I didn't climb mountains, skydive, travel to Paris, cook a Thanksgiving dinner, get married or bring them back souvenirs. Those were just some of the awesome ideas. I think they think I'm a rockstar. My life is way too boring for their high expectations. Haha. 

Superbowl Super Sale!!!

I'm excited to participate in my first TPT and Teacher's Notebook Sale.  You can get my products at either site for a 20% discount!  Who doesn't love a sale.  While the significant other is watching football you can shop!  Sounds like a perfect plan to me!  Head on over to my TPT store or my Teacher's Notebook store to check out my products.  My newest product is a creative writing prompt called "My Teacher's Secret Life."

My Teacher's Secret Life

A few months ago I went to a conference for three days.  While I was gone, my students had a writing assignment. I told them that I was going to be gone, but I never told them why.  Their job was to create a narrative about what I did while I was gone.  There were some that told a typical story about me being sick, but a few of my kids really came through with new and interesting ideas.  Some made up stories about me working at Wal-Mart or moving.  Other kids sent me to Disneyland.  My favorite was two of my students who worked together on their stories.  They both wrote stories about me going to a beach and meeting a guy named Chad and falling madly in love.  I have to say I had a very interesting 3 days according to my kids.  I wish my life actually was that interesting.

I wanted a fresh and creative writing assignment that might spark my students' interest again, so I put together a pack on My Teacher's Secret Life.  Click on the picture to head over to my TPT store.

I thought the kids might have fun creating a strange life for me on the weekends.  My hope is that my students will come up with off-the-wall ideas.  To get them started I thought I would throw a couple ideas at them like maybe I'm an alien or I play baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals.  This packet has brainstorming, prewriting, and final draft pages in color and in blackline masters.  I can't wait to see what kind of ideas my kids come up with.