Teachers Have Class! Issue #8/May 2010 May Teaching Resources and Ideas
Welcome to the eighth newsletter of Teachers Have Class from Unique Teaching Resources!
The free resources in this newsletter and my April/May/Spring web pages have a general spring theme to them. I have focused on images of flowers and nature in the majority of these resources, so many of these teaching resources can actually be used at different times of the school year, and not just during the spring.
Since many of the resources that I designed for my Spring themed web pages can be used at different times of the school year as well, I spent more time on these resources than I have on some of my previous resources with monthly or holiday themes. There are two pages of powerpoint activities and three pages of English resources in this set of Spring web pages.
I know that May is a very busy month for teachers. You are doing final evaluations before you start your report cards, wrapping up your last units of study, and trying to cram as much into each school day as possible with the interruptions that we encounter such as field trips, assemblies, and other school activities.
During my 22 years of teaching, I have always found the first month of school and the month of May to be busiest and most taxing on my time and energy. I hope that you will find a few teaching resources on my website that will have your students engaged and excited about completing these activities during the last few weeks of school. Before you know it, it will be the summer holidays and you can relax and put your feet up.
And now, for the May teaching resources part of my newsletter....
Special Reminder:
Reminder: The links to download the free teaching resources that are found in this edition of Teachers Have Class will only be available for 5 days.
After 5 days, the links to these free May teaching resources will be removed. Then, I will post this newsletter on my website so that teachers who visit Unique Teaching Resources will be able to read old editions of Teachers Have Class.
Although teachers who visit my website can read all of the previous editions of my newsletter, I only provide these free monthly resources to the teachers who have signed up to receive Teachers Have Class. These free resources are my small way of thanking these teachers for their support and interest.
So, be sure to download your free May resources promptly!
The first thing that teachers do each month is change their calendar. Below is my May Calendar Set and the link to download it. The May title is a 2 page banner that should fit in most standardized monthly pocket charts that many teachers use. I have designed large May days of the week that you may find useful. The calendar number dates also fit in pocket charts, and I have included a blank square and a birthday square to use. There are 11 pages in this free PDF May Calendar Set.
This S.P.R.I.N.G. creative writing poetry set combines two types of poems into one fun activity!
First, this is a S.P.R.I.N.G. acrostic poem. I have added a challenge to the concept of a typical acrostic poem though, because these key letters appear in the middle of the poem, instead of at the beginning of the poem. Second, this a rainbow shape poem and students complete their final drafts by writing in the arch shape of a rainbow.
This set of free spring poetry resources includes a 5 page bulletin board display banner (above) and a first draft worksheet for your students to write the first draft of their poems on.
Students cut out their poems along the solid black lines, and then you will have unique rainbow shaped S.P.R.I.N.G. acrostic poems to display on your bulletin board. There are black and white and color rainbow templates for students to write their final drafts on.
This free poetry set includes 6 rainbow bulletin board accent pieces for you to use to help you decorate your bulletin board display.
Next, teachers need thematic worksheets for each month, especially for creative writing. Below is my Busy Bees Stationery Set and the link to download it. The title banner is 5 pages long, which you can assemble and use on your bulletin board display. There are color and black and white copies of the stationery for you to choose from. There are 7 pages in this free PDF Busy Bee Stationery Set.
This last resource is a caterpillar shaped ABC line that you can use as a display along the walls of your classroom. When this caterpillar is assembled together, it measures 14 feet in length.
You can design your ABC caterpillar classroom display to be straight across. You can also design your caterpillar to curve up and down, as if he is wiggling.
The caterpillar display is divided into 8 different colors: red, yellow, blue, orange, purple, pink, green, and brown.
I currently have 17 different book report sets available on Unique Teaching Resources.
This month I added the following book report templates to my website: movie camera, dog, sunflower, butterfly, and caterpillar.
I had a lot of requests for my butterfly book reports, but with writing responses that were a bit easier for younger students. I now have two different butterfly book report sets on that web page.
Above: The first butterfly book report focuses on students finding colorful adjectives and verbs in the story, and then writing about the plot and characters of the book using their own colorful adjectives and verbs.
Above: The second butterfly book report is designed for younger students and focuses on the main story elements of a book: setting, characters, plot, solution, and conclusion. There is an area for students to draw a picture of their favorite part of the book in one of the butterfly's wings.
When I use these butterfly book reports with my own students, I use my matching caterpillar book reports at the same time.
I have designed the writing responses to be exactly the same in both projects. My butterfly and caterpillar book reports are identical to each other except for the shape of the writing templates.
I give my girl students butterfly book report templates, and my boy students caterpillar book report templates. When they are finished, then I can create a dynamic spring bulletin board display that contains both butterflies and caterpillars.
Above: The first caterpillar book report matches the first butterfly book report and focuses on students finding colorful adjectives and verbs in the story, and then writing about the plot and characters of the book using their own colorful adjectives and verbs.
Above: The second caterpillar book report matches my second butterfly book report and is designed for younger students and focuses on the main story elements of a book: setting, characters, plot, solution, and conclusion. There is an area for students to draw a picture of their favorite part of the book in one of the caterpillar's body sections.
These butterfly and caterpillar book report templates make an ideal spring bulletin board display.
To give you an example of how these templates would look together, I have included a photograph below. This is an old classroom photograph, and I have updated and improved the caterpillar templates since this picture was taken, but it will give you an idea of a bulletin board display using both of these projects together.
Please click on the links below to go to view any of these book report sets:
If you are interested in a creative writing project, with these caterpillar and butterfly templates, I have created a story writing set using these same caterpillar and butterfly templates.
You can find the writing version of these templates on my Spring English Teaching Resources web page. Click on the link below and it will take you to the web page where these creative story writing templates are located.
I finished my April/May/Spring teaching resources during April. If you haven't viewed these resources since my last newsletter, there are a lot of additional resources that would be appropriate to use during May. Many of these resources could be used any time of the school year because their templates and themes are flowers, animals, and nature.
My Spring English Teaching Resources Page is now divided into three separate web pages and my Spring Powerpoint Lesson Plans Page is divided into two web pages because I couldn't fit all of these resources on one page.
Click on one of the rainbows below to go to a specific category of Spring Teaching Resources:
Below are examples of some of the resources that you will find on my Spring Teaching Resources web pages.
Thank you for your interest in subscribing to my newletter. Remember to download your free resources within 5 days of the date that it was sent.
Please be sure to check out the other pages on my website for a large variety of other teaching resources that will engage your students in learning and save you valuable time.
Sincerely, Heidi McDonald
Creator and Site Manager Unique Teaching Resources
Thank you for your interest in subscribing to my newletter. Remember to download your free resources within 5 days of the date that it was sent.